Inch By Inch Life’s A Cinch
Not All Inches Are Equal
Variety More Important
Than Number
Basically there are three kinds of people: routinely organized, obsessively organized and sufficiently organized. The differences are:
The Routinely Organized person can give you a list of things they will do on any given day.
They start each day with the list in hand. During the course of the day they will accomplish all or most of the things on their list. At the end of each day they will make another list for the next day. This person is comfortable with habit.
My grandmother was this kind of person. She made many hamburgers during the course of her life using her special recipe and every one tasted exactly the same. They were amazingly delicious like everything else she cooked.
The Obsessively Organized person can give you a list and a timetable for every item on the list.
They can tell you when each item will or should begin and they can give you an end time as well. They also have a contingency plan should things not go as expected. This person loves reaching short term goals.
The Sufficiently Organized person may or may not have a list each day.
This person takes the long view not the list view so the day to day grind bores them. Living in the moment – the opposite of routine – characterizes their life. They easily over schedule and over commit but contrary to popular opinion this persons knows there is an ultimate reason for everything and can eventually achieve significance.
All three approaches are important because each one represents a different kind of inch: routine, project and ultimate purpose. None alone is sufficient. It is true that routine is the bedrock of success but you need more than a bedrock to succeed.
What you do in any one day doesn’t represent a life purpose and you can’t always “goal” your way into that purpose. The many common things we routinely do are good examples: eat, sleep, brush teeth, bath, tend the garden, go to work, pay the bills, etc.
Those things give us a sense of personal control and continuity but none of them are all important.
What about cultures where people don’t brush their teeth. Would they gauge individual significance on how many teeth you have left or how many false ones you can afford at the end of life? To them a full set of teeth would seem weird. Fortunately, meaningful living is possible even for people who gum their food. That’s good because brushing your teeth regularly is no guarantee you won’t lose your teeth anyway.
All of that is to say that ultimate success isn’t determined by numbing routine or an endless list of goals achieved and there are many proofs of this in the Bible. Biblical characters with the most impact aren’t easy to emulate. There was nothing routine or repeatable in their path to significance as the following examples will show. Read more
“Too Poor To Tithe” – Response by Sincere
I recently received an email from a man I’ll call “Sincere.” He was responding to one of my posts on tithing, Too Poor To Tithe, and was not happy with some of the remarks I made.
I decided to respond because, even though he disagreed with me, he wasn’t being disagreeable. Instead of calling me names and impugning my character he offered very sincere arguments.
There was a little bit of “mud throwing” – it’s hard to disagree and not fling a little – but for the most part he was thoughtful. I respect that.
I copied his email below for those who care to read it. What you will find is:
- He doesn’t disagree with tithing.
- He does disagree with the way tithing is taught but doesn’t repeat, ad nauseum, the same “Old Testament vs New Testament” arguments to suggest tithing is no longer valid.
- Although he makes it very clear that he thinks I am wrong, he doesn’t once lower himself to refer to me, or any other tither, as: thief, manipulator, liar, etc. No name calling.
- He doesn’t misrepresent my ideas either. He disagrees honorably.
I will offer a few responses but for now please take a moment to read what he says: Read more
“Heaven Is For Real” vs Academic Heavies
They may not believe Heaven is for Real
Susan Jacoby, for one, suggested the American public’s infatuation with his book proves they are immature minded and this isn’t a new trend for her. In a February 2008 article she referred to the same group as “dunces.”
About Colton’s book, she quips, “only in America could a book like this be classified as nonfiction.”
I’m not sure if “immature” represents an improvement or is the reason she thinks we are dumb, but you get the feeling things would change if we would just read a few books on Reason – starting with her’s, of course. She’s written several and you could almost map the road to reprobation in the titles:
- Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism – 2004.
- The Age of American Unreason – 2008.
Not that that matters to her. She doesn’t believe and is proud to say so.
The real issue is, Colton’s book has sold over a million copies – and counting – and is breaking all the records at Thomas Nelson publishers. And, as a non materialistic atheist, who apparently doesn’t appreciate people suggesting she or her kind writes books for money, she doesn’t hesitate to suggest the Burpo’s did just that, accusingly, as if there is something wrong with making money.
Her cynicism doesn’t slur it gushes arterially.
I will say that it’s good she doesn’t write for profit because her books don’t sell that well. Read more
Review: Voices From The Edge of Eternity
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Voices From the Edge of Eternity
Famous or not they were all equalized by death. Some died with visions of heaven and others expressing agony and terror at their first glimpse of hell.
Throughout the book, believers reported seeing angels coming to escort them, deceased friends and family ready to greet them and beautiful peaceful visions of heaven. Unbelievers reported dread and anxiety at being unprepared to meet God. Some died completely alone.
- Eleanor Smith, after spending several days in pain from illness, exclaimed to her sister Natalie in her moment of death, “There are so many of them. There’s Fred…and Ruth – what’s she doing here? Oh, I know!” Ruth, her cousin, died unexpectedly the week before but Eleanor hadn’t been told.
Book Review: “Father Joe”
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Father Joe
If you are denominationally minded but disenchanted by sectarianism you will love this book. If you are on the outside religiously but maintain a distant interest, you’ll find Father Joe compelling. He gives new hope to those still looking. He clarifies the issues, brightens the image of religion and puts a human, yet truthful face on truth.
He’s universal. Whatever your background you will relate to Father Joe.
This book illustrates the difficulties of combining divine and human realities. In true satirical manner the technicalities of Christian theology is juxtaposed with human frailty demonstrating the discord between the two but without the insult.
Lots of humor and very entertaining – at times Monty Python-ish – but mostly an honest, sometimes humble look at the struggle to mesh bare truth with experience. Although written from a Catholic perspective, verities embraced by all Christians are featured: selfishness is sinful, forgiveness is needed, penance has many forms, sex is a healthy reality and so on. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration
