TOO many Options!! : The Cereal Aisle

Throughout the day, one can lose sight of what is important. As Americans, we are so blessed. We have so many options that at times it can be all overwhelming ...

Take, for instance the cereal aisle.

Have you visited one recently?

Miles upon miles of variety.  Cheerios, Cap' n Crunch, Life, Raisin Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats, Shredded Mini Wheat's (my personal favorite), Cookie Crunch, Coco Crisp, Wheaties, Chex.  Then there is that Tony the Tiger dude and his buddy Mr. Frog. And let's not forget about the mysterious Grape Nuts (What are those things anyway? Neither Grape. Nor Nuts. Hmmmm ...).  Finally, let's throw in the mix the endless types of cereal bars, Toaster Strudels and Pop Tarts.

I was in Mexico about 5 years ago building a house with a team of volunteers, and one afternoon they asked me to go to the local store to pick up some supplies. The task was to pick up some soda pop and breakfast. I walked in and identified both of the products in under 1 minute.  There, on the shelf, was a bottle of Coke and a few feet down the aisle was a box of Cheerios. Simple. I was in and out. No headaches, no variety, no difficulty back home explaining to everyone why I didn't get their favorite. In fact, everyone had a favorite.

Do you know what they were? Coke & Cheerios.

Like I said, simple.

Have you noticed what all of this stuff does to us? It makes us very picky and it makes us very unhappy.  Too many selections can lead to unsatisfaction.  Instead of a simple cereal, we need cereal plus 18 colors in it.  AND we need the toy. AND we need the special code to enter to win something. AND. AND. AND.  Nothing is good enough because we are spoiled.  Rotten. 

Contentment is a hard thing to come by these days. I agree with Maya Angelou, “We need much less than we think we need.”  That is why I recommend getting out of your comfort zone one and volunteering your time with a person (or group of people) less fortunate than you are. On that day, you will realize that food is significant because you will rub shoulders with someone that doesn't have any.  You will realize that cable is a gift, because you might be in the home of a person that does not have a TV.  In the extreme case, you might see the value in turning on your tap water after sitting with a family that is dying from thirst. The Bible teaches, "That there is nothing better for a man than he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good labour" (Ecc. 2:24). The idea being presented is that we should find satisfaction in the simple things like a meal with family and friends.  I can remember going to visit my Italian Grandma all the time when I was little and I would find her just sitting on her porch swinging away on the glider. No book. No TV. Just her swinging. She was content to watch the grass grow.  I can tell you with absolute honesty that one of my favorite things is just to watch my wife enjoying being a mother to our daughter. When Christen is holding her or bathing her, I see mom's face almost shine.  I try hard to not pass by those simple little moments.

Because if I do, I lose a gift right in front of my very eyes. 

I have to ask:

---What gift are you letting pass you by today?

Paraprosdokians: it's ok, I didn't know either.

Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently humorous. 

Winston Churchill loved them. 

Here are some examples:

1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.  But it's still on my list.

3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.  Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

10. In filling out an application, where it says, 'In case of emergency, Notify:' I put 'DOCTOR'.

11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

12. You do not need a parachute to skydive.  You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

13. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure..

14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

15. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

16. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

17. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to find one now.

 

Does the Bible endorse slavery???

Does the Bible really condone slavery? 

I've heard the above ridiculous argument over and over in the past, and have tried my best to articulate a proper response. Luckily, I found this short & informative video that quickly clears up the controversy. 

This video features Wayne Grudem (theologian and general editor of the ESV Study Bible). In it, he explains clearly & powerfully the Biblical stance on slavery. 

Click on the link below & enjoy!

This might be worth sharing w/ a friend or on your FB news feed too!  

http://youtu.be/RXUs8vtAEA8 

7 Leadership Lessons Inspired By Nelson Mandela

By Jovanka CiaresJun 12, 2013

Every time I think of Nelson Mandela, the great South African leader, the first thought in my mind is we need more like him. We are ready and in serious need of leaders to inspire us and motivate us with action as much as words.

Leadership is hard to define, mostly because it means different things to different people. We know it requires knowledge, strength and compassion. We expect leaders to be fair, to share our values and provide direction. That to me is what leaders like Mr. Mandela represent.

When looking to develop leadership skills, whether it is at home, with your peers at work or in the community, it is very helpful to look for mentors, role models that have spent years mastering leadership traits and putting them into practice. I have many mentors but Nelson Mandela is very much at the top of that list. I continue to learn many lessons from him, but the ones that remain timeless to me are as follows:

Inspire With Action: Motivate others with your words and actions. Give them courage, inspire them to learn more, instill in them a sense of possibility. Every action that you take will lead to a learning opportunity and will encourage moving forward movement in others. Teach others by example. If you do it, they will follow.

Be Better, Not Bitter: Nelson Mandela is the impersonation of this powerful lesson. He was put in jail by a brutal regime for 27 years simply because he was fighting for fairness and equality. But even while jailed, he continued to be a leader and the symbol of the struggles of South Africans. Amazingly, after his release from jail, he became a stronger leader, not bitter or ready for revenge. He found common ground, embracing those who were once against him and helping the country bridge a seemingly impossible gap.

Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail: People fail to accomplish their goals many times because of this simple premise. Planning and organizing ahead of time is key to the success of any task or endeavor, whether in your personal or business life. Organize your ideas, write out a plan with actionable steps to take and deadlines and set out your goals.

Work With The Willing Most: of us have gotten caught up at least once in the emotional roller-coaster that is wanting to work with or help someone who has the talent, the potential or the need, even if that person is unwilling or incapable. Move on from those that don't want to do or be where you want them to do or be. And don't carry their burden. Let them go through their journey and spend your time and energy looking for like-minded people who you can partner with.

Communicate: Communication is the simple act of getting a message across clearly and unequivocally to other/s. This sounds simple in theory but communication is one of the hardest things to do because there are so many things in play (body language, cultural idiosyncrasies among others) that can get in the way and cause confusion. Nelson Mandela is a master communicator, which is one of the top traits of a great leader.

Become A People's Person: Nelson Mandela is an incredibly dynamic person who was able to motivate an entire country to work together and move past a very difficult time in their history for the benefit of all. He wasn't attached to a particular ideology or goal. Instead, he was willing to build relationships on all sides in order to accomplish his goal of a united and successful South Africa.

Develop Strong Character: Nelson Mandela and his followers knew that they were doing the right thing, even it was dangerous and could have caused them their freedom (as it did for many years) or even their lives. But they had strong convictions and a strong sense of character and get got a lot of respect (and followers) because of it.

Don't Waste your Life

"Vanity of Vanities," says the Preacher, "All is Vanity."

Famous words from a very wise man. If you are not familiar with the phrase, let me help update it in a way that a guy living in the year 2013 can understand. "Life is hopeless, it has no point at all."  
Depressed?  Me too.

I have often wondered why one would teach such a thing, until I understood the bigger idea that the author of Ecclesiastes is trying to convey.  Let me attempt to elaborate his message by way of an illustration.  
The Great Wall of China, in the height of its grandeur stretched for four thousand miles. It was guarded by a million soldiers during the Ming Dynasty and during its erection two to three million people died building it. Oh, and it took several centuries to build too. The Great Wall of China has been hailed as one of man's greatest achievements; yet today much of the wall has crumbed away ... literally miles of the wall vanish each year without constant attention and repair.

"Vanity of Vanities," says the Preacher, "All is Vanity." 
"One generation passes away, and another comes; but the earth abides forever..."

No matter now much you or I "toil under the sun" , the author teaches that man will never find true satisfaction.  People have insurmountable thirst for money, status, power, women, clothes, and everything in between, yet all of man's greatest achievements will eventually rot.

Think of the fabulous Egyptian empire.
A superpower in its day. Marvelous inventions, unfathomable beauty and colossal pyramids. Today, most of the greatness is found in history books.  The tombs are empty and the pyramids are crumbling.  And make no mistake about it, one day our great nation will do the same.

"Vanity of Vanities," says the Preacher, "All is Vanity."
"One generation passes away, and another comes; but the earth abides forever ... The sun also rises and the sun goes down, ad hastens to its place. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north ... 
All rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full."

This can all be very dark, that is unless you realize that the Preacher is trying to emphasize a certain point: life without God is absolutely pointless. We find this point at the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes.  I believe the author does this as an alliterative device, so as to drive home his main thrust of life being meaningless without God. "When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity." The idea is that God will put things in perspective for you. His Word is the litmus test for what is truly enduring in your life and what you should be spending the majority of your time pursing. I've found that His guidance is like a long strait stick that I can take and lay alongside anything so to show its true worth.  Follow His ways, and you will avoid wasting your life.  This is why you find many mega-stars pursuing meaningful endeavors like adopting and donating exorbitant amounts of money to charities.  Notice, they pursue these types of meaningful activities only after they make their wealth.  The reason? They search for significance. Somewhere along the line, they wised up and felt exactly what the wise teacher was emphasizing in his timeless book. 

In conclusion, I want to share with you a little poem I ran across that stayed with me.  It is by C. T. Studd and goes like this:

“Two little lines I heard one day,

Traveling along life’s busy way;

Bringing conviction to my heart,

And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,

Soon will its fleeting hours be done;

Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,

And stand before His Judgement seat;

Only one life,’twill soon be past,

Only what’s done for Christ will last."