JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Ramblings

Chilly Mornings

This morning was chilly, and the fact that a vent directly above my bed allows a breeze from outside to blow into my bedroom certainly contributed to the chilly condition in my room. The temperature and breeze contributed to my reluctance about getting out of bed. I missed my morning jog, my morning coffee, and my morning reflection time. Each of these are enhancements to my day, and I sacrificed them for the opportunity to get another hour of sleep in my warm bed.

The extra sleep and warm time is great, but I don’t know if it was worth what I lost. What things do we sacrifice for a moment? Sometimes those moments are worth it, but this one wasn’t, at least not for me.

JRMITCH85 Character

What Should I Do?

In case you haven’t seen the latest Nike commercial, I have embedded it below.

LeBron James asks, “What should I do?”

In case you were in a cave, or just didn’t care, this past summer LeBron James, arguably the best player in the NBA, decided to leave Cleveland as a free agent, the team he played with for the first seven years of his professional career. This caused an uproar among people in Cleveland, and  an especially nasty public letter from the owner of his old team.

He ended up joining forces with another superstar, Dwayne Wade, and an All-Star, Chris Bosh, by joining the Miami Heat. One commentator affectionately referred to this team as “Super Team”, because these three were the three best free agent players available. Any team would have been pleased to land one of the three, but Miami got all three.

But the third strike against James in the eye of the public, was that he and ESPN got together and put together a show called, “The Decision.” (This is what he is spoofing at the beginning of the commercial.) Here he announced his decision to leave and join the SUPER TEAM. This was also when the former team found out that they were losing their best player and any hope of competing for a championship.

These three strikes and Mr. James was out.

After the summer of criticism, LeBron lashes out at those who criticized his decision and the way he presented his decision through his commercial. (Nike probably knew this was going to be a lightning rod, and probably also forcefully pushed LeBron in this direction.)

Sure there were definitely things that could have been done differently, but ultimately all he, or any of us, can do is live our lives to the greatest potential. We will have to live with the fallout from our decisions, but we cannot control how people are going to perceive or act around us. We only control our own actions.

What should I do? Live life trying to bring God the glory in all things. As for LeBron, I would suggest the same.

JRMITCH85 Hope

Hope In A New Season

With the NBA season tipping off today, I figured basketball would be a good topic. Each season starts with a some interesting questions, because each new season there are player and coaching changes, and each year starts with a number of teams vying for the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, each with new hopes and dreams. Is this the year?

So too we enter this day, a new day, a day where we can go out and be the best. We can go out and strive after holiness; we can strive to serve and love in all we do. We don’t need a new season to start over, but each day is an opportunity to live the best life you can live. The hope should always be there for living for the glory of God.

There is a sign in the Notre Dame football locker room that each player is supposed to touch as they go out onto the field that reminds them to play like champions. The team’s record is of no consequence, because each time they go out on the field they are reminded that they go out and represent Notre Dame. Similarly, we need to remember that we represent our Creator with how we live our lives.

Each day we need to remember that we are God’s beloved; be a champion for God’s love today!

JRMITCH85 Faith

Weather or Not

Not to disparage meteorologists, but the predictions this weekend were wrong, and affected my outdoor plans. First on Saturday in Berkeley the chances of rain were less than 10% before 5pm, after the game was going to be over, therefore a friend of mine decided to go with me because there was not going to be rain. However, the rain started just before halftime, and by the end of the third quarter I was soaked. Fortunately, Cal beat up on ASU, and was leading by 40 points in the fourth quarter, so we left the game early. (Although we left later than most.) Yesterday, the weather was supposed to be 70 and mostly sunny at the pumpkin patch, so I planned a trip to the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, it was much cooler than that, and it started to rain as we left. (I am thankful that it didn’t start to rain sooner, but I was not personally ready for rain, even though I did make sure my son was dressed warm enough.)

All in all I had plans based on information delivered to me through a couple of weather outlets. I trusted them.

How often has the weather forecast been incorrect? Although, this isn’t completely because of the insufficiency of the knowledge of weather predictors, but the nature of weather. It is difficult to predict many times.

It reminds me of where I place my trust. Granted, my weekend plans are very small in comparison to many things in life, but I think it is relevant I placed more trust in a prediction that has a less than stellar record of accuracy, than I place in God with some decisions I make everyday.

This should never be the case, but as I think about the things that I do in preparation of making a decision, I realize that my relationship with God is not always a major determining factor in doing something. Sometimes I feel as if the thing is below prayer, but sometimes I trust in my intellect, and still other times I trust in nothing more than a feeling.

Not that I am advocating for falling down on your knees for every decision, from deciding what you are going to eat for breakfast, to what career you are going to pursue, but I do advocate for each of us to ask how the Almighty Creator of the universe would feel about our decision, and the process we use to make the decision.

Ultimately, God is in control of the weather, not the weather people making predictions, thus God is much more worthy of my trust. Thus in life, God cares about all of my life and all of my decisions. Therefore, I should go to this personal God, and trust that I will not be led astray.

JRMITCH85 Character

Lacking Perfection

FAIL

Today, when I went to pick up the results of my four ordination exams, I found out that I passed two of them, and did not pass two of them (I thought this was a funny and gentle way of saying that I failed). My first instinct was disappointment, because I was going to have to take two of them again. However, my biggest disappointment was that I will never be able to say that I passed them all on my first try, I will never have a perfect record.

A sad thing about this experience is that I was so disappointed that I was not able to truly accept a friend’s congratulatory remarks. While I should not gloss over the fact that I should strive for perfection, I also need to be able to appreciate the good news that I passed two of the exams. It really is just a matter of perspective. If I were a hitter in baseball I would be the greatest of all time if I hit 0.500.

However, I looked at it from the perspective of a basketball player shooting free throws. 50% is Shaq territory; awful! This is why I focused upon the tests that I didn’t pass. However, there is a good lesson that can come out of this. I need to humble myself, and prepare differently for the exams that I didn’t pass. When Shaquile O’Neal, a horrendous free throw shooter, played for the Lakers he was encouraged to work on his free throws, and he reached out to one of the best free throw shooters in the history of the NBA, Rick Barry, to help him with his free throws.

As seen below, Rick Barry had an unorthodox way of shooting free throws. Shaq had set up a meeting with Rick Barry to possibly changing the way he shot free throws to the between the legs version of the free throw shot. Unfortunately, this meeting got cancelled, because, as rumor has it, Shaq’s publicist told him this would hurt his image, and thus they idea was jettisoned.

However, I cannot worry about my image in failing, and studying extra hard for the next time around, but rather I must humble myself to working on and continuing to drive into my head the things that I may think I have fully understood. I can’t be above doing the things that will help me succeed in the future. Which, to some extent is a microcosm of our relationship with God. Sometimes it takes doing the “weird” or “different” thing to really explode with success in ministry, as it is most of our greatest successes come from the lessons learned during our greatest failures.

Not that this is my greatest failure, but I must understand that there is a lesson here to learn. I must not allow the failure to rule me, but I must yield to the process and to the power of the Holy Spirit constantly at work in our communities, places of employment, and homes. My focus must not stray from God! I think this is a major struggle many of us have when we get disappointing news.

Also while I am not currently perfect, I strive after holiness, and the power of the Holy Spirit working within, and thus am continually in the process of being sanctified. Thanks be to God!

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Blame it on the Rain

Rain

Rain is a gift from God. I am thankful for all of the great things that come from rain! I love the smell in the air, the puddles that my son wants to play in, the clean cool breeze, and of course the water that makes things grow and the other beneficial effects of rain that I didn’t think of or mention.

However, sometimes it brings the worst out of some of us. Driving is more of a challenge, people drive slower because the roads are wet, and I am a great deal less patient with other drivers. The way this affects me is that I allow my stress level to rise, and I become more irritable. This is because I have allowed myself to reflect on the one or two inconveniences of rain, and given into the trap they have set upon me.

I pray that I allow myself to reflect further on the blessing of rain, rather than the fact that it takes longer to get around. I need to remember that, as a pseudo-popular country song says, “Rain is a good thing.”

For the record: I don’t like country music!

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Revelations on a Blog

Sometimes I fall short of ambitious goals I set for myself, but I realize that what causes people to read blogs is not always predictable, and I have to make a decision about what I would want to do to drive people to read the blog.

First, I know that content needs to be of high quality. However, this should be my drive in all things, as God calls us to be holy and perfect just as God is holy and perfect. I know I need to have something that is worth reading, and if it isn’t worth reading I shouldn’t post it.

Second, it needs to be relevant. I should also be relevant to the group that is reading the blog, as well as any group of people to which I am ministering.

Third, it needs to be consistent. This is something that I set out to be at the beginning, but have failed. In ministry though, we need to be consistent. Thus, even if I don’t spend the time putting together a detailed post, I know that I need consistent, quality, and relevant posts that will serve all readers of the blog.

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Why?

Is the question “why?” reserved only for little kids to ask their parents? Or is it rather intended for all of us to ask throughout our days? It really appears to be one of the dividing lines between two distinct personality types. One personality always wants to have the understanding behind what is happening, or why they are asked to do something in a particular order. While the other is given a set of rules and they either comply or ignore without ever understanding why they were asked to do something.

The other day I got frustrated at someone for giving direction without fully understanding the rationale for doing such a task. I pushed them to want to know these things, because the instruction may not be appropriate for all situations. Even though the direction was not given to me, I felt that in order to be a good leader one must first comprehend the purpose for a specific direction, otherwise there is a lack of credibility in spite of a person’s credentials.

This desire to ask the “why” behind our tasks may in fact be a requirement for someone who is desiring to lead in a particular field, it certainly is not a requirement for all individuals. In order to build a widget, there is a need for the person designing the widget and teaching the production team how to build the widget to understand the “why”, but each member of the production line need not understand “why” each part is produced in its specific manner or order. However, it is important that there are the eyes upon the overall task ensuring that each task is laid out such that the overall goal of manufacturing the widget is carried out to the highest quality, which helps the quality of the widget to be the highest possible.

If we were working on a single part, and got caught up on every single detail of the part, even those that have no impact on our task, and we would hold up the production asking all of our “why” questions. Thus I learned that it is important to set aside my “why” at certain times, and bring them back up later. There are times when it is prudent to allow leadership to lead us, even while we may not fully understand the purpose. However, we must be willing to challenge leadership, when the directives take us in a direction where we are living in opposition to our standards and values.

Depending on what situation we find ourselves, you may be the one asking “why?”, or you may be called to follow. Ultimately, in my life I must listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and allow myself to be led to following after God’s mission for the world. My questions sometime are directed at God, but ultimately I have learned that while it is part of my relationship with God to ask “why”, I am, however, called to be obedient to God’s call on my life whether or not I understand “why”.

Thus I want to add a line to Ecclesiastes 3:

“There is a time to ask why, and a time to accept as is.”

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Relationship. I said that!

As I sit down to eat dinner with my almost three-year-old son we “talk” about the day. It usually ends up with him telling me about playing with toys, and with “the kids”. Many of these “talks” are not terribly deep, but the other night, he wanted to tell me a funny story, or at least a story that was funny to him because every time I try to tell the story, no one else laughs. However, the funniest part is that when he gets to the part he really thinks is funny, he repeats it, followed by, “I said that.” In a way, he is saying, “Daddy, I don’t know if you will get this, but it is really funny, and I really want you to hear it.”

It is during these times, I can’t help but smile, not because he has a knack for telling jokes, but because he wants to share this time with me, and really wants me to engage in his story. I am more than overjoyed to be able to give him this time, as an added bonus I am given so much joy because he wants to spend this time with me.

In the show Parenthood this week, I also saw an example of how a father desired relationship with his son. I won’t give away how this ends, because so many watch these shows on Tivo or DVR, but it captures the father’s desire to engage with his son.

Similarly, God desires relationship with us. God desires us to engage in relationship. This requires us to tell those stories that we find funny, those things that are on our minds that are stuck for one reason or another. My son found value in telling me his funny story, and I engaged and was captivated not because it was profound, but because it was important to him, similarly God doesn’t just want our polished Sunday morning prayers, but rather God desires each and every one of us to sit down and talk, and share our lives.

Unfortunately, I am not always willing to give this time fully over to God, as my son is fully engaged in our conversations. Too often I am distracted by what is on television, or the list of things that I need to get done in the day, or even playing games on my computer. These things prevent me from the full relationship that God desires from me.

God went to extremes to restore relationship with us, but too often we merely give lip service to that relationship. I challenge each and every one to take some time and sit and tell God a joke, a story, or simply sharing with God in prayer. Honor that relationship, and give of yourself. Put the “Nintendo DS”, or whatever is distracting you, down and actually spend some time with the Almighty Creator of the universe that simply wants to engage you in relationship. God wants our stories, because they make up who we are, and when we really want God to hear us, our relationship becomes a unique connection to the Almighty.

JRMITCH85 Uncategorized

Sleep

While I haven’t been present on the “blogosphere”, I have been busy studying and taking ordination exams, and moving in to my new place of residence. As I write this, I am offically done with all of the moving in, and organizing my living spaces, and I have my office setup in a manner that I am comfortable. These tasks have taken varying amounts of my energy, and have prevented me from having that truly restful sleep that I so desire.

Throughout my life I have heard that you need this number of hours, or that number of hours of sleep to remain healthy. However, it seems unrealistic for me, who has never had a time when I felt I needed to be in bed in my entire adult life, to start coming up with a “bedtime” so that I will be able to get a good eight hours of sleep. Some weeks I get up at 5:30am to be able to get my son ready for school, and so I can get a workout in before heading into work. This would mean going to bed no later than 9:30pm, which IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. On these days, I am pretty much content with the 5 hours that I get, assuming my sleep is not interrupted, which is usually a 50-50 proposition with an almost 3-year-old. However, this results in the occasional “sleeping in” until 7 or 8, and missing my workout.

I go to sleep so late because unless I am absolutely exhausted, I find it hard to fall asleep and I am completely unwilling to take anything to assist in this endeavor. In this I have found that my body will usually adjust itself to force me into a longer sleep if I need it. In particular, the week following the ordination exams had me sleeping many more hours, 9-10 hours a night. SO while I know there is a great deal of science behind the necessity of our sleep, I have trouble understanding why it has become an imperative for all people to find that exact schedule for sleep.

I look at the difference between my sister and me with regard to sleep. She does need the exact amount of sleep or else she ceases to function. However, I will sacrifice sleep for good conversation, I will sacrifice sleep for the sake of exercise, I will probably sacrifice sleep for pretty much anything worthwhile.

I will, however, “sleep-in” given the opportunity, and I really enjoy sleeping in. If I need the sleep, my body tells me, thus I just need to listen to it and it will guide me, which sounds so much more reasonable than trying to place my sleep on a schedule dictated by a set of general guidelines. However, to each their own, some need it regimented, which is fine, but from personal experience I just need to listen to the weight of my eyes.

Sweet Dreams everybody! I hope you enjoy your (regimented or not regimented) sleep tonight!