The C.S. Lewis Institute

For all you C. S. Lewis fans: The C.S. Lewis Institute

Naturally this is a good time to mention one my favorite books...

Teeny Tiny Changes

One of the biggest problems we face in trying to improve ourselves is that we want big changes, and we want them now! Whether it is losing weight or learning something new - whatever your goal - it is hard to keep doing the things that will eventually get us to our goal. The feedback loop is just too long for us to gut through.

The only way to do this is to have a goal clearly in mind (I'm going to lose 20 pounds), decide on the things that will get you there (cut back on the 800 calorie desserts, exercise 3 times per week, etc.), understand that if you do those things consistently and for enough time, you'll eventually get there - then don't give up. You probably won't see a difference the first week. Only a slight one the second week, etc. But if you have faith that you are right about the things that will get you there, you just have to "turn the handle".

The problem is that turning the handle is really hard. We don't see results quickly enough and we get discouraged and give up. We often sabotage our efforts with negative thinking, and really, just don't believe we can do it.

Henry Ford said "Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're right" and I believe that to the very core of my being. If you will combine that belief with the Japanese proverb "Fall seven times, stand up eight" you will lose the weight, learn the subject, or achieve any goal.

You have to know that the feedback loop is there, that you'll eventually get to the point where you see the changes your efforts have produced, and then it will get a bit easier. But until then, you have to have faith in yourself, faith in your plan, and believe that if you keep pushing, the results will come.

Persistence

I'm a big fan of persistence. I think it is the ultimate power tool. With it you can conquer the world! Before its wrath, obstacles are blown away, problems fall by the wayside, setbacks are scoffed at. Whatever you are trying to accomplish, persistence wins.

So many people give up just before they turn the corner. If they could just see through the clouds, they'd see success.

Here are some of my favorite quotes on persistence:

• Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. - Bill Bradley
  
  
• Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. – Napoleon Hill
  
  
• Energy and persistence conquer all things. - Ben Franklin
  
  
• Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite. - Robert Half
  
  
• Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. - Samual Johnson
  
  
• Fall seven times, stand up eight. - Japanese proverb
  
  
• When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stone-cutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it would split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before together. - Jacob A. Riis, journalist and social reformer (1849-1914)
  
  
• Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. - Calvin Coolidge
  
  
• It is the `follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop. - Charles F. Kettering

Marriage Conference

Gail and I attended a 5-hour marriage conference at Asbury United Methodist Church yesterday. It was called "Marriage, A Great Adventure" and subtitled "For anyone who is interested in applying biblical principles to help strengthen every marriage covenant to reveal the glory of God." It was created by Asbury and was just wonderful.

Few of us do enough things like this. A friend of ours (thanks Tish!) emailed me the info a few weeks ago - she & Tom were going and wondered if we'd be interested. My first thoughts were: I don't have time for that. Hey, I'm busy. Gail's busy. Where would Will stay? I've got work to do you know!

I forwarded the email to Gail who responded in like manner: "It being on a Saturday is the pits...however, if you want to go, sign us up." We both thought that if Tom & Tish were going, we'd at least be able to sit by someone we knew.

So we decided to go...and had a wonderful time. We sat with some old friends we hadn't seen in years (hi Jeff & Mary!), learned a ton of what the Bible has to say about marriage, and got closer as a couple. We are going to go back through our notes together, read the scriptures, and make sure we're following God's word in our marriage.

Two things come to mind:

1) Much of what we learned we already knew but weren't applying as well as we'd like - as Dr. Johnson said (quoted by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity): "People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed."

2) We will resist almost any form self-improvement at first. You don't have time to read that book. You'd rather listen to music in your car than the audio book. You've got things to do the day of that seminar. You know you've got a great marriage and don't need anyone's advice. You have to find a way to occasionally break through the excuses and just get started. It turns out that Tom had asked Tish to see if we were interested, and then he'd go - so we had both used each other to justify going - that's OK - whatever gets you there.

Netflix for Audio CDs

I recently ran across something I've been waiting for my whole life! I think it popped up in the little ads that run across the top of my gmail screen. It is called On the Go Books, and is basically Netflix for audio CDs. It works just like Netfilx - you pay a monthly fee, select a list of audio books, they send you one, you listen for as long as you like, then return it in the postage-paid mailer. This is going to save me a fortune in audio book purchases!

I'm back!

I initially started this blog in 2004 to share what I was learning about God. In the 3 or 4 years prior to that I had started down the path toward salvation and by the time I started to post God had become (and still is) the most important thing in my life. As you may have found, that last is an easy thing to say, but hard to live up to. I had all these ideas about sharing things I had started to discover, and hopefully encouraging others to move down the path as well.

What I found was that after a while I ran out of things to say. Or, more to the point, I ran out of confidence that 1) I knew a lot about God and 2) that it was only a matter of time until I pretty much had it down. Not to put too fine a point on it, but boy was I wrong! I finally started to realize that the more you know, the more you understand just how little you know. I didn't feel qualified to teach anyone much of anything so I just didn't post anything.

Recently I've been drawn toward taking up this blog again. I've started to use Google Reader and find that's such a great way to process information. I've started reading, and been inspired by, friend's blogs (like Tony's). I've realized that it is easier to sometimes post shorter thoughts than only longer articles that have to be written and edited over time. And I recently listened to this audio book, which got me fired up to post.

I've also decided to expand the content of this blog a bit. I've always been into self-improvement, listening to audio tapes/CDs in my car, reading self-help books, trying to amass and apply as much information as I could. As Christians we have to live in the real world, and I think everything we do should revolve around God. So I want this blog to not be a series of academic articles about God, but also about the challenges of living, working (in my case, running a business), worshiping, and struggling as a Christian.

So here I am. Some of you may be reading this because you know me and I emailed you to announce it. Others may have stumbled upon it. In any case, I hope you stay with me over time. I hope you share your comments. But mostly I hope I can think of enough stuff to write. (-:

Love

A friend recently loaned me a tape of a sermon by Fred McClure (http://www.fredmcclure.org). It was wonderful and I hope he doesn't mind if I share one of his key points with you.

First, take a look at 1 Corinthians 13 (from the NKJV):

¹ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
⁴Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
¹¹When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
¹³And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

After speaking of verses 4-7, what Rev. McClure said that moved me so much was this: "The Bible says that God is love, so let's replace 'love' with 'Jesus'":

⁴Jesus suffers long and is kind; Jesus does not envy; Jesus does not parade himself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek his own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Then he said "The church is the body of Christ, so let's replace 'Jesus' with our church name" (I'll use my church, but as you read this, use yours):

⁴Ford's Chapel suffers long and is kind; Ford's Chapel does not envy; Ford's Chapel does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Then he said "You are the church, so replace your church name with 'I'":

⁴I suffer long and am kind; I do not envy; I do not parade myself, am not puffed up; ⁵do not behave rudely, do not seek my own, am not provoked, think no evil; ⁶do not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoice in the truth; ⁷bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.

That sure gives us something to live up to doesn't it?

Getting Started Reading the Bible

It is hard to read the Bible. Not counting figuring out what it actually says, it is hard to know where to start, how often to read, etc. You may be different but I have found that reading on-line is much easier for me. Here is a site that has helped me a lot: www.biblegateway.com. The beauty of this site is that you can instantly go to any verse or series of verses. Check out this link:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?search=matthew%201&version1=50

See the box that has "matthew 1" in it? Type in any verse ("mat 12") or series of verses ("1cor 12:1-4"), click on "Update" and you go right to it!

Notice the pulldown menu just to the right of that box - you can read the passage you just looked up in any one of (at this time) 19 different Bible translations!

You can also search for a phrase or word by typing it in the box at the top of the page just above "Email this page". Just type it in and click on "Go".



I've also found that having a well-defined reading plan (whether I read on-line or not) helps me keep going. Here is a good web site that has quote a few different ones, and for some, they'll even email you the verses for that day's reading. See www.bibleplan.org.

My Sunday School class is currently following a reading plan that you might find helpful. It is New Testament plan in chronological order, meaning that instead of starting with Matthew 1, then all of Matthew, then Mark 1, etc. it starts with the earliest times in the new Testament, and proceeds in chronological order, skipping back and forth among the books. If you've never read the NT thsi way, it maybe an interesting change for you. You can download that reading plan from this link:
http://fs1.riscserver.com/~wklowe/Bible/Sunday School NT reading list.xls

It is in Microsoft Excel format. The dates won't be current but you can either a) ignore them, b) change them yourself, or c) if you aren't experienced with Excel, just email me and I'll change them and email it to you.

I've found that having a well defined plan that I've committed to makes it much easier for me to read the Bible consistantly. It is much harder to read it regularly if you are just picking it up and reading some random section. Try one of these reading plans, and if I can help you in any way, don't hesitate to ask!

An encouraging story about the good in people

A friend sent me the most interesting article - it is about a guy who has nothing to live for, and is close to suicide, and decides to do something crazy - ride a unicycle across the USA! The article was interesting to me, but to me it wasn't the unicycling, it is what he discovers about the people he meets along the way. There is also a hint (just a hint) of Luke 9:1-6 in there. It is fairly short - take a minute, check it out, and see that things aren't as bad as the media would have you believe:

http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/tales/kcash.html

A Favorite Prayer

I first heard this prayer on my Walk to Emmaus (http://www.upperroom.org/emmaus) in the spring of 2003. I think it really speaks to the message that Jesus was trying to get people to understand. I go back and forth between the dispair of knowing that I don't live up to this and the hope (the certainty!) that Christ will help me live this more and more if I just ask Him. I hope this prayer means as much to you as it has to me.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; and
where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
- Francis of Assisi