Tag Archives: faith

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You live with your stuff and the concept of a Sunk Cost.

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I’m up late trying my hardest to rid myself of stuff. My friend, Bryan, reminded me that you really do “live” with your stuff. It’s me, my wife and our stuff.
And I have entirely too much stuff. There are some big ticket items to get rid of (including about 100 t-shirts) and I just need to do it ASAP. I’ve posted a lot on Craigslist, hoping to make a few bucks in the process, but then there is this economics lesson nagging at me.

Once you have spent money on something and you own it, that price/value is a sunk cost. If I paid $5 a shirt for the 100 shirts I thought I’d sell at a profit, no matter what happens I’ve already spent that $5, it’s sunk. So, when I have to get rid of them I’m desperately trying to make my $5 back, but the truth is that cost is gone, and their value is only going to be what someone will actually pay for them. If I can’t sell them for $5 a piece it’s silly for me to just keep them because I don’t want to “lose money” on the deal, I already did lose money.

Thank you economics class.
So how much will you pay for these shirts?

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Threads: Design

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DESIGN: Romans 12:2 . Luke 2:52 . Genesis 2:7

-real & honest
-living life out of who you are
– the process of becoming that which God intends for us to be
-who you were created to be
-understanding who we are and who God is and the ever-happening transformation
-the way God intended us to live
-being formed into the image of Jesus
-accepting others in their realness
-not just for us but for others
-embracing God’s design for our lives
-restoration
-becoming truly human

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world” seems to me to be an extremely direct statement on radical living. If anything those words cause me to question everything. It’s my desire not to conform to the world that causes me to ask about the ethics of buying a house, I mean people give me weird looks when I say there are ethics to consider.
We are designed in God’s image. Our Creator has an intended purpose and design for how we are to live. That’s why this life of following Jesus is to be much more wholistic and encompassing then whether we’ve read our Bible in the morning and said our prayers before bed.
God has designed you and created you to live a certain way, not necessarily in the pattern that the world lives. That’s why we shouldn’t assume we should eat like the world does or sleep like the world does. I mean that in the most literal sense: Just because those in our world eat out a lot, or eat a lot of fatty foods, or eat free-trade (cheap due to unjust wages) food, does not mean we are okay to participate as well. Just because many in the world sleep through their education, stay up all hours of the night, or sleep half their day away does not mean each of those things are how we are designed.

And let me remind you God did not intend for our design to be a miserable one. We were created to Glorify God, and God is most glorified when we are most satisfied. We were created to experience joy and pleasure.
If you saw someone with a pogostick in their hand and they where playing with it by tossing it up in the air and catching it again, you’d probably look at them funny and try to explain to them, “That’s not what it’s designed for.”

C.S. Lewis once said:
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

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Threads: Love

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LOVE: Acts 4:32-34 . John 13:35 . Mark 12:29-31

-love God, love others
-not easy, but real
-service, sacrifice, selfless, unwavering
-everyday, exist for other
-forbearance
-breaking down walls
-respect
-community (with a cause)
-unnatural/supernatural/unique
-bigger than us
-messy

“Love one Another” is probably one of the most repeated phrases in the New Testament (particularly by this John fellow). And then you got that Love God, Love others stuff Jesus talks about. I start to get the impression that when you boil it all down, if you had to summarize this whole gospel thing, God thing into one word it would have to be “Love.”
My friend gave me a sticker it says: “Love Wins.” Probably already my favorite sticker of all time. Because it seems that’s the truth. In the end, the end of ends, Love Wins. And Love is not a confusing concept, it can be much more clear then we sometimes make faith and action decisions out to be.
When Christ says, “Love your enemies,” I think it’s obvious he means with a deep love, the same love as “love your neighbor as yourself,” the same as loving your own child. It’s true love can be messy, but it’s also a powerful force beyond measure.
Love means loving your great grandchildren and loving creation. Love means loving your neighbors kids and not just your own. Love means loving the man on the corner and not just yourself. Love means loving the starving child and the AIDS stricken villages.
And that Love calls us to some sort of action. That love calls us to recycle and waste less gas and other resources. The love calls us to care about public schools and the education of children. That love calls us to buy less car, less entertainment, less material possessions.

Love is a verb.

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Threads: Mission

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MISSION: John 17:18

-sacrifice.choice.destiny
-to change/impact the world
-connecting people to the living God
-real time, being real, living for others
-being Jesus among people, serving people
-allowing God to work through us, uniquely
-being out/visible
-movement
-our story

In the book of John, Jesus prays this: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” Many point to the last word’s of Jesus recorded in Matthew as the central point for what “Mission” is all about, but I think this might be a better place to start. Jesus says “As…” God has sent him, in other words, “In the same way.” This is a clear indicator that we should be looking at the way Jesus lived in the world and shape our lives to live in a similar way.
And Jesus makes it clear that we are a continuation of what he was doing, we are part of that story. I like some of the words they choose to describe this mission mindset: Sacrifice, Choice, Serving, visible, Movement, being real.

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Threads (It’s a “Mosaic” thing)

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My wife and I have been hanging around these folks from the Mosaic Community on Sundays since we’ve been in Nashville. Mostly, we’ve just been chillin’ with some cool people and talking about things that interest us (and listen to others talk about things too). Oh, and Mindy sings a bit.

A little bit ago they did a series of talks about “Threads.” This is how they introduced it:

threads: the values from the ancient scriptures that are at the core of God’s story and at the core of who Mosaic desires to be as a community of Jesus followers.
these are the essentials that are woven into all we are and all we are becoming ? both as individuals and as a whole. They shape us as followers of Jesus, defining our role in the movement of God. This is who we are. These are non-negotiables that we hold to, that we strive for. They become the rhythms that we live by.
Mission. Love. Design. Relevance. Surrender.

I found the piece of paper that listed out the different threads and gave some verses concerning each thread. I figure I’d try and take one each day this week and just sort of think outloud about each of them. So, you’ve got the intro, now enjoy the individual posts…

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I am not the Person I want to Become

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Do you ever go through a day and look back at the end of it and wish you had done things differently? And not even so much wish you had done things differently, but wished you had reacted and lived more like you desire to then you actually did?

It’s tough to recognize that we are not static creatures. Too often I think we treat our own lives and the individual days that make up our lives as isolated incidents, within which we are simply who we are. Much like the frog in a pot of water, we are content to simply sit in our environment, oblivious to the water boiling us to our death.

You see, when I eat a piece of chocolate today I do not see it immediately adding pounds of fat to my waistline, slowing my biking speed or causing the onset of cancer. Yet years of those isolated days with pieces of chocolate, extra slices of pizza and ice cream sundaes will result in thirty pounds I never wanted to gain.

It’s the same with nearly all our actions. If today I responded in anger, or unlovingly, to someone I might simply write it off as justified, or just who I am. If I do not seek to be aware that this is not who I want to be, and make an effort to change it, I will wind up twenty years later with fewer friends and much more grouchy then I ever desired to become.

Today is not an isolated event. The choices I make today, the small actions I allow myself will carry into tomorrow. If I desire to be a healthier person, those choices start today. If I am to be a hard worker, I must be a hard worker today. I am not the person I want to become, but if I am diligent I can focus my actions today towards becoming that person.

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Weekly Podcast Update 06.04.06

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Now with some regularity:

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Desert Parents and Stolen Bicycles

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From Geez Magazine:

Abba Isaac said that Abba Pambo (304-373) used to say, “The monk’s garment should be such that he could throw it out of his cell for three days and no-one would take it.”

I had not heard this quote before the last two times my bike was stolen, but I’d say this summarizes well my feelings. When my bike was stolen my initial thought was that I owned something that was better or nicer then others had and I had been keeping it for myself. Now, I understand there is a good chance the person who took it did not take it out of need for a bicycle, they might have simply taken it to sell it for some money. Regardless, I find myself uncomfortable with the need to put locks on my things.
The very act of locking up my possessions seems to say “this is mine and you can not have it.” This attitude is not how I want to live my life. Locking up my things acknowledge’s that I have in my possession something other’s desire and I intended to keep them from it. If I truely love my neighbor as myself, how can I withhold from them and keep for me?
I want my life to be one where I see another’s need and I do everything within my power and resources to meet that need. If I leave my “garment” out for three days and someone takes it, then it is a good sign to me that I probably should have already give it to them.

And, yet, I use my bike to get to and from work, which makes it possible for me to have the resources to provide for others needs. I bought a bike and I’m torn about it.

Is Abba Pambo’s words challenging advice? Or are they too radical?

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A “weekly” update podcast of Trying to Follow

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Unfortunately, I haven’t done this in a while. I try to summarize the last two weeks post in this podcast, and you can see the long list below. Take a listen and if you like anything then find and read the link to the article below.

or download here.

  • What a church should look like… (0)
  • Writing can be hard to do (0)
  • 24: Season 2: This show is darn addicting. (0)
  • In the news today… (1)
  • I bought a bike… (1)
  • An explanation of that magazine’s name (1)
  • Anyone own access 2003? (0)
  • Laptop’s for the developing world (2)
  • Why most guys should read Ms. Magazine and B**** (1)
  • Longest Night (0)
  • Gentrification: a Case Study of Cabrini-Green (1)
  • Quick thoughts on gentrification: It’s not good. (2)
  • Podcasting might be returning… (0)
  • I like free stuff. Music downloads are a treat. (0)
  • Statcounter doesn’t seem to be working… (1)
  • Landmines: More serious then you might think (0)
  • The New Iraq (1)
  • a Biblical and Christian Approach to Immigration (0)
  • Save Darfur (0)
  • The “What if?” of Cinderella Man (0)
  • GTD: The first step is getting to Ready (2)
  • Google Notebook: you clip the web (0)
  • If your cool you’ll check out slickrun.exe (1)
  • Why go to college when you can blog instead? (2)
  • Download your Facebook friends with Profilicious (1)
  • What’s happened to “Women’s Rights”? (0)
  • I’d go bananas if life was without bananas (0)
  • File folders and Paper vs. My granola soul (2)
  • Free Phone Calls from your Computer to a landline (1)
  • Question: What is with “Grills”? (0)
  • The Constant Gardener: there’s truth in it. (1)
  • USANA is worth considering (1)
  • Question: Why do most people at the DMV appear to be low income? (0)
  • Logo design contest (0)
  • No Gas Day 2006, May 22nd (0)
  • Socially Conscience Children’s Books (4)
  • Testing a new look (1)
  • Questions series… Coming soon (0)
  • It’s cheap, but is it legal? (1)
  • Have I encouraged you? (0)
    • Blog

    What a church should look like…

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    A while ago I asked a number of people for topics to write about. One of them asked me what I thought “the church should look like…” I have been procrastinating on posting about this for a long time. It’s not that I don’t have an opinion and ideas. I think, rather, it’s that I’m not quite sure how to begin articulating those ideas.
    I’ve been thinking recently that it would be neat for me to try (this is Zach’s idea) to write a fiction story about a church that embodies the values and lifestyle’s that I think are so central to the teachings of Christ.
    Needless to say I’m still not quite sure how I should go about this. But I guess I just need to start.

    My first thought about what any given church should look like is that it should be representative of the community it is in. Far too many people commute to their church and thus the church, the community, and the homes of the members are all complete spread out and seperate entities.

    If you want to know what I think your church should look like then go to this link. Type in the address of your church and look at the statistics that come up for the surrounding community.

    When you look at the statistics you see, do you feel they are accurately represented in your church body? Why or why not?