Lord, forgive me if I ever complain again!

Quality conversations

I was reading the blog of Dr. Albert Mohler today and wanted to share the last 2 paragraphs:

..."Join the revolution and refuse the seductions of the mind-numbing allure of all things digital -- at least long enough to think a great thought, hear a great lecture, enjoy a quality conversation (with a real, live face-to-face human being), listen to a great sermon, visit a museum, read a good book, or take in a beautiful sunset.


People who cannot maintain mental attention cannot know the intimacy of prayer, and God does not maintain a Facebook page. Our ability to focus attention is not just about the mind, for it is also a reflection of the soul. Our Christian discipleship demands that we give attention to our attention."

(you can read the whole posting by clicking on his name in the right hand column)

As I read this, the line in BOLD letters (emphasis mine) really jumped out at me. Because I think that is a secret to success in any relationship, being able to have a quality conversation.

No screaming, no yelling, no hidden agendas or finding fault all the time, not acting mad when someone says something (who are you really mad at by the way? But that will be another time.)

Just an honest, non-emotional, high caring, high quality conversation! As I look around me personally and professionally, people who know how to do this have a pretty good life. They seem to ride the storms out much better than those who do not know how to talk to someone important in their life.

I reflect back last week when I went and saw Sam in the hospital, no agenda when I showed up, just wanted to be there for him and encourage him. We had some really good conversations about jobs, education and things that we would have not taken the time to discuss if he had not lying in bed.

Having a quality conversation requires a couple of things:

• It requires that I put my self interest aside
• It requires that I genuinely care about the other person
• It requires that I look for a solution not that I am right or I win you lose
• It requires that I hold my emotions in check
• It requires that I assume the other person has good intentions until proven wrong
• It requires that I apologize when needed, sometimes I am the problem
• It requires that I forgive when ask, and not hold grudges

Because as Dr. Mohler says above, (Salyer paraphrase) if we cannot focus on each other and pay attention to the relationships we have with the people in our lives, it has to be hard to turn the "attention" switch on and pay attention to God when he is trying to speak to us.

Angela and I have really improved on this since we got married (27+ wonderful years), but I guess that is one of the things that makes our marriage great, the ability to talk and listen to each other.

Sure we still disagree and make mistakes (mostly on my end), she knows I love her and I know she loves me and that is the result of the best conversation of all. The conversation we have with God about each other, our boys, family members, church members, and friends.

Those conversations are called prayers and they are the best of conversations of all.

Busy Day on Saturday

This is how may day started with Angela and the kids making breakfast

Then we went to their ballgames

Where Angela also got to see little Jacob!

Next we got to see Brandon's latest purchase

Finally we took pictures of Corey and Audrey on their way to the Prom

A great day!

Do not sell your soul on eBay

Tyler sent me a book to read, "I sold my soul on eBay". It is written by an atheist of all things who thought he would prove some kind of point by attending church(s) designated by the person who won an eBay auction for his soul.

So I took Pastor Noel's advice and have actually been turning the TV off (at least turning the sound off if the Indians are playing) and reading.

The book ended up being a review of several church services and how they could be changed to attract people like him. As I read the book, it became clear quickly that this guy was never going to find what he was looking for, proof that God exists. He was looking for the wrong thing! When people come to Christ it is because they are looking to develop a personal relationship with Him through faith, not worldly proof.

Tyler and I agreed this is typical today of too many people who attend church for the wrong reasons. They want to know about God, instead of really knowing Him on a personal level and having faith that He knows how to run your life better than you do.

I continue to be amazed at people who view themselves compared to others instead of against what is right and wrong. They think "well I am better than this person because they did this", or they ask "why are you getting on me about my lifestyle when (insert family member or Church attenders name here) has also done things wrong".

WAKE UP! We are all accountable for what we do. I will have to stand in judgement one day and answer to God about what I did or did not do with my life. Guess what, I cannot use someone elses shortcomings to justify mine. I can only answer for myself and what I have done, not compare myself to others. Our comparision is to Christ and we all come up way short.

Dreary day (revised)

Angela made it to Memphis. She was delayed awhile in Columbus due to the storms between here and Chicago but finally got off the ground around 6:30 PM. Her flight from Chicago to Memphis was right on time. She called about 11:45 PM to let me know she was with Tyler and Tammy. I slept good knowing she was safe.

Headed to Columbus for lunch with Brandon and Corey.

Updated Sunday 5:00 PM

The boys and I ate lunch at On The Border by Easton, food = A+, salsa = C-, Turtle empandas for dessert = A+++++++++++++++

We then went and saw the new movie "Iron Man", very good!!! If you like sci-fi comic book characters made into movies, this was very good. When the movie was over the guy said we should stay and watch the last scene. Apparently, this type of movie has a scene after all of the credits, so of course we stayed. A short scene came on and Nick Fury asked Iron Man to join SHIELD.

Now I like these kind of movies but this guy next to Corey yelled out "YES" and scared me to death. So he was a much bigger nerd than me. Guess I need to add Iron Man comics to my reading list to get caught up on the plot lines.

When I got home I started scanning by parent's old slides into my computer. My mom is on a major house cleaning crusade so I wanted to make a digital copy of the family history so my sons and their kids can get a sense of what the "good old days looked like".

Here is an example: That's me in the yellow shirt several years ago. Mom and Dad and my brother Jim. Do not know what mom ate that made her face look that way!

70+ slides done, 200+ to go.


Finally I added "clustermap" on the right side ------------------->
If you click on it, you can find out where people are located when looking at the blog.
(Click on the map again after the website opens up for more detail.)