It's just my junk

We all have junk in our heads. This is mine.

Archive for the month “May, 2015”

31 May 2015

Perspective matters…. Room with a view has a price to it..

Checking into a hotel in downtown Indy (Indianapolis) this previous week (Thursday), the counter person asked me a simple question, “Do you want a room with a view?”.  I simply replied sure, I guess… he smiled and proceeded to book me a room with a view. I was excited to have a view, of what I wasn’t sure, for my hotel window. I honestly was thinking it would be a view of the roof or neighboring hotel or business. I entered the elevator heading up to the fourth of five floors and waited. Once I finally got into the room, I headed over to check out the view… it was a very nice view of some artsy buildings, very nice.
Then I proceeded to wander around to find my meeting location for the day… only got lost once on this trip which is a record of major proportions… Well the meetings ended several hours later and night life began. I turned into my hotel lobby about 9PM after a long day of voting, meeting old friends, finding new connections and making a plan for the following day. I decided to do some homework, well hotel work and headed to bed about 11PM, which is good for me…. Then the perspective switched…….

I realized something as I sat in my bead wide awake listening to cars drive-bye, motorcycles racing their engines, music playing and a random drunk dude singing (well yelling would be more appropriate) along with the song till 3:00AM. It was then I decided well a room with the view has some good and bad things. I thought maybe it is was an isolated event… nope it was even louder the next night (Friday) but I did the best I could to manage the nose levels and factors till about 3AM again.

The idea of perspective is a loaded gun, allow me to share some perspective comparisons..

  • A country view are different than city view
  • A guys view is different from a girls view
  • A single guy views different from a married guy view
  • A parent views is different from children views
  • A person dating view is different from a single person view
  • A Christian view is different from a non-believer view
  • A homeless person view is different from a non-homeless person view
  • A business owner view is different from an employee or customer view
  • A doctor, nurse view is different from the patient view
  • I am sure the list could go on and on and on… feel free to think through your own perspective comparisons.

I think you will find everyone has a slightly different view (perspective) than you for one main reason.. well two.. they are not you and they haven’t been through the things in life that you have. It is that simple. Our experiences shape our view-point which in turn shapes your ability to understand everyone else’s perspective.

I was driving home to my country view and I was wrestling with the whole idea of perspective. I think God works on my more in the day-to-day life happenings than any other way besides bible reading. As I wrestled with the idea of perspective, God again had some more examples for me to think through during our church service today….

  • A music leader view is different from someone sitting in the seats
  • A musician view is different from the music leader
  • A congregation member view is different from the minister preaching the sermon
  • A greeter view is different from the one being greeted
  • and so on….

We are all subject to the same 24 hours in a day but our experiences, our history, our personalities impact our perspective. I would like to throw out a simple challenge which will not be an easy challenge in any way at all.

I would like for one day, honestly more than a day, for each of us to consider the other view-point before we make a move, say a word, make a smart helpful comment, before we judge them or fix them or comment to them… just take a minute to evaluate how our perspective is shaping our opinion and how their perspective might be shaping theirs. Then consider what if anything would be the best thing to say or do.
I am to quick to speak, to quick to draw a conclusion based on my perspective. I am praying that I as a Christ-follwer to take on the perspective of Christ and get ride of my earthly broken perspective but it isn’t an easy thing to do.

By the way, it was a quiet sleep the night at home, minus the rooster crowing at 3am, which I didn’t hear… Check the perspective to allow yourself to grow and develop.

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20 May 2015

Agree, Disagree or Agree to Disagree and move on

I often find myself in meetings, some for church, family, school, ministry, and some in my own head.
What about you? Do you find yourself in meetings?
I don’t think the nature of the meeting is the point with this subject matter. Many people come into meeting with their personal agendas, fears, thoughts, assumptions and even hurts from previous meetings.

I remember being in grade school being called into the principal’s office for a meeting… yeah, I was freaking out.
I was called on the phone and told to come into work for a meeting…. yeah, it was a long drive in and ended in losing a job.
I was invited into a meeting once… that resulted in a fun experience of helping people (my co-workers) learn problem solving skills.
I was in a meeting that was a waste of everyone’s time and in meetings that I never wanted to end.

I know many people teach, train and blog about meetings… how to run them, how to prepare for them, how to end them but one thing I generally think is missing is the skill to agree to disagree…

I know I want everyone to adapt to my opinion… but is this realistic since we all come from different experiences and knowledge bases?
I know I don’t want everyone to disagree with my opinion… but is this realistic since some people will agree with me to a point.

What I am hoping our meetings can contain is the ability to dialog without people being offended, or ignored. I want to attend meetings and run meetings where all are encouraged to speak their mind in love, be open and willing to discuss differences and work toward a common ground. That common ground might end with agreeing or disagreeing but more often I would like to see it settled with we can agree that we have difference and are will to agree to disagree on some points or areas and get to work at solving or adjusting to the changes or decisions that need to be made.

Far to often, we take disagreement as a personal slam or insult. We tend to get some tied to the cause or item we forget other people might not feel the same way… even if we try to sway or convince them. I know some will walk away from the meeting having not said a word in the meeting but will speak to others about it, which leads to more distance, hurt and resentment, not to mention the additional parties are now involved into the mess.
Far to often, we get on our stool of opinion and are not willing to listen to alternative sides. We might actually learn something new or a better way of doing things in we would just listen. How will we ever know if we don’t open our minds and ears.

Maybe one day we can simply agree to disagree but still respect and honor each other. Maybe we can trust the people God has around us a bit more each step in the right direction of being a person who is slow to anger, judge, assume and frustrate but quick to hear, listen, process and discuss?

I know I am a work in progress for sure.. sometimes I get it right and other times I fall short but I am working in the direction of being more willing to agree to disagree with honor and respect. Maybe just maybe our world will be a different place if we take the time….
One can only hope and work towards that… one meeting, conversation at a time.

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11 May 2015

The Hundred-Foot journey….What the church can learn form the movie

I recently watched the movie “The Hundred-Foot Journey” which was about a Indian family moving to France and deal with the challenges with a new culture and competitive restaurant owner.
While watching the movie… The family battled many obstacles, such as losing their mother in a house fire, moving to England and then to Italy to begin a new life and restaurant, across the street from a fancy place.
I begin to think about how a family eventually earns the love and respect of the community. They worked hard to not conform to the world they are in but to adjust in order to bring others to know them.
What can the church learn from this? Good question….
Internal church…
1. Everyone comes into the church from different aspects.
2. Everyone comes into the church with different struggles and histories.
3. Everyone in the church wants to be accepted in spite of who or what we are.
4. Take a deep breathe and try to see the others as who God created them to be not who you think they should be.
External church
1. People are created different and that is by God’s design
2. Everyone has a story and most have dreams.
3. God can use you to reach out to them in Christian love… that would require us to be giving and not selfish.
4. God could grow you and help you through interactions with “Those People”.

I am continually challenged and inspired by the youth of our community to think differently, to react differently and to reach differently.
I am excited to experience meeting new people, reconnection with ones I haven’t seen in some time and growing depth in my relationship with God by those interactions.

Please take a few moments to think through …. what or who is God calling you to become… how will people help you become that special person.

Be a light and hang on the journey is awesome.

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