What I've been thinking about lately...

So, a while ago I read The Shack by William P. Young. If you know nothing of this book, a brief summary is this. One guy's family camping trip turns into a nightmare when his 7 year old daughter is abducted and murdered in a remote shack. He goes into what he calls The Great Sadness and becomes bitter at God. About a year or so after the tragedy occurs, he gets a note in his mailbox from God saying He will be at the shack that weekend. He goes, has a weekend with God, and you have to read the rest. I can't begin to explain what goes on, but I can tell you your life will be changed. While it's not the most eloquent book, it's definitely worth the read. I laughed, cried and was overwhelmed by it, and I am actually looking forward to reading it again in a few months. It's deep without being heavy, and an easy read. Now, I didn't write this post to briefly summarize a good book and tell you to read it, I actually am writing it for a much different purpose, but the book has spurned all these thoughts...

One of the main conversations the protagonist, Mack, has with God is about our relationship with God. I know that in my life, I have spent a lot of time trying to earn God's favor. I had repeatedly learned that God's grace was a "free gift" that I didn't deserve, but I spent so much time learning verses for prizes or points, that I felt like I was trying to earn God's saving grace. The problem was, those points were also used to get myself prizes as well. So now not only am I trying to earn God's grace, but I am getting fun prizes for myself too. In The Shack, the idea of a relationship with God is one of the central themes of Mack's coming out of his Great Sadness. In their conversation, the embodiment of the Holy Spirit tells Mack that a relationship out of love has no expectations at all:

"That expectancy has no concrete definition; it is alive and dynamic and everything tha emerges from our being together is a unique gift shared by no one else. But what happens if I change that expectancy into an expectation- spoken or unspoken? Suddenly, law has entered into our relationship. You are now expected to perform in a way that meets my expectations. Our living friendship rapidly deteriorates into a dead thing with rules and requirements."

God has no expectations of us! How freeing is that? I mean, suppose God had expectations of us. Only one person could (and did!) live up to those expecations: Jesus. We would fail Him EVERY day! But since He loves us, that relationship of love has no expectations of us to do anything. If we truly love him and want a relationship with him, the things that seem like "requirements" (i.e. prayer, Bible reading, etc.) wouldn't be done out of obligation, but a desire to grow closer to someone we care about. That's what God wants, a relationship that is built on love and what flows from that. It makes me feel better about when I make mistakes to know that I haven't failed God and that He loves me just the same no matter what happens. That is a true love relationship, unconditional and right. Faith without works IS dead, but a relationship of love REQUIRES no works. I have gone through life trying to earn God's grace and do works I felt required to do. Now when I do those daily tasks of praying and spending time with God, I feel like I'm doing them out of love, not because I have to. How much of a difference that makes in my daily life is CRAZY! Love it!

Merry Christmas

So I guess after a 3 month haitus I guess it's time to post again? I don't know, but I think it is something that I do when I feel like it. And apparently it's been 3 months. I do have 3 other blogs I am a part of, so it's only been 3 months for this blog. I am SO excited for Christmas! I love giving gifts and seeing the look on people's faces when I give them something they like. I could go all Christmas, not get a gift, give lots of gifts, and have a great holiday. Giving is more fun than getting to me. I just wish I could give more than I do...

Traditions in our house for Christmas:

Christmas Candlelighting service at Lighthouse - awesome, packed, encouraging.

Opening one gift Christmas Eve - Price is Right for the Wii...yeah baby!

Reading the Christmas story, stockings, and presents with Shannon - awaiting her, neither one of us slept well last night so I won't wake her up.

Going to both our family's houses on Christmas day - lots of driving, but well worth it :-)

New Post

I haven't posted for a while, I guess I felt like with little time on my hands right now, blogging takes a low priority for me. We're cleaning out the baby room right now, and while lots of fun it is way too much work. I don't really know what to write about. Work is great, I officially am on Route 4867 now. No one bid on it, and now it's mine :-) My Sales Manager said that this never happens this fast to a new guy, so I am super excited about that. Also, my sales should be getting better I hope, and my stale percentage has been going down too. Even though one of my stores has the highest stale percentage in my supervisor's decision. The store sells nothing, and they have a big bread wall. It's rough to be on the top at that list, but I know that it will get better I think. Too many facings and too little in sales. Oh well, I am still going to win the Rookie of the Year award. I hope. I am trying for that one...

Driving

So I drive a lot. A LOT a lot. Mostly freeway driving. I have a lot of pet peeves about driving, especially freeway driving. My wife is tired of me telling them to her, so I am dedicating a blog post to get this off my chest to the world.

1. The speed limit is 60. NOT 55!!! If you don't want to go 60 miles per hour, get off the dang freeway and drive the back roads. I would love you more if you went 65, as that's what I like to go, but 60 is the minimum you should be going. I know that speed LIMIT means that's the "max" you can go, but for the courtesy of those around you, go 60 (and in the right lane, not the left lane).

2. The way you merge is to get up to the speed the traffic is going, THEN go the speed you want. Not going super fast then having to slam on the brakes so you can fit in with traffic. Or going SO slow, not building up speed, so the traffic has to hit their brakes so you can fit in. Both instances cause TRAFFIC JAMS!! Seriously, hit the gas and let's get going!

3. For the people weaving in and out of lanes while in stop and go traffic, STOP IT ALREADY! This is what takes everyone longer to get going! Your constant switching of lanes is what is slowing down everyone behind you. Unless you need to exit soon, switching lanes in stop and go traffic is unnecessary.

4. Don't be so dang nosy! Accidents, stalled cars and people pulled over by the cops seem to be the main causes for slow downs sometimes. Traffic is super slow, then I pass by an accident or other distraction, and then traffic speeds up to normal. If people weren't so nosy and stopped to look, then we could have been going a LOT faster and not wasted time in traffic. But I know why people do it, they're like, I waited this long to get by this (because the people ahead of me slowed down), I want to see what happened. One time there was a minor accident just before the Tacoma Dome on Southbound I-5. Traffic was stopped way past the Fife curve, and sped up as soon as you got by the accident. I didn't look just hit the gas when I finally could go, and looking in my rearview mirror, saw the guy behind me stop and look instead of going. Don't be NOSY!!!!

5. Plan ahead. If you know your exit comes up in less than a mile, get over NOW! Don't wait til the last second, slam on your brakes to get over 3 lanes, then get over. This is the worst pet peeve of mine. Slamming brakes to change lanes and exit when they could've been over to their exit a mile back. This also hits on another two minor pet peeve of mine: hitting your brakes when changing lanes and not using your turn signal. You should be speeding up when changing lanes, not slowing down. Both of these combine to make for slow downs in traffic. You also have a turn signal for a reason. It's for the other drivers around you, not for you. If I know you're switching lanes then I can plan for you to all of a sudden be cutting me off, but if you just cut me off then I get pissed at you. If people planned ahead and sped up when changing lanes it could stop some of the traffic slow downs I face every afternoon coming home.

Thanks for reading my complaints and pet peeves. Also, thanks for remembering them when you are out and about from now on :-)

18?

So, the NFL is looking at an 18 game season. I don't get it, cutting out 2 preseason games and adding 2 regular season games. I love the idea of more regular season games, don't get me wrong. I love football but HATE the preseason. The problem I have, the NFL is getting SO involved in injuries with the players, so let's add 2 more games where they HAVE to play and risk MORE concussions and other head injuries that affect the players in the long run, after their careers are finished. I mean, Aaron Curry got a concussion like, 3 weeks ago during training camp and the NFL is keeping a close eye on him to make sure he's ok. Might not let him play in some games if something happens. So now, let's make these teams count on these guys for 2 more games where their bodies will wear down, and they will be at more of a risk for major injuries. An 8 year career with this setup is adding an extra year of a 16 game regular season. I don't like that for the players. I love watching them year after year, and don't want their careers to end sooner. Also, I don't know how all the single-season records would translate. A 2,000 yard season would be a regular occurance. 5,000 yards passing wouldn't be all that impossible. Fantasy football numbers would go crazy. It seems too much to me, and I vote no. I say shorten preseason, keep the 16 games, and quit trying to change the best sport in the US right now. Nothing can touch football, with the insane fans, fantasy football, and just the week to week awesomeness that is football sunday.