The expectation of words

You have a choice when someone tells you something - you believe them or you don't. A promise is made, but will it be carried out? I often struggle with this choice. I want to trust them that their future actions will follow through on their current words. An expectation is set if you choose to believe. The expectation that their words will become true in the future. But what happens if they don't? Were you foolish to trust them? Were you opening yourself and being vulnerable to being hurt by failed expectations?

The other choice is to not believe them. The "yeah, right!" mentality. You've been let down before so why bother trusting them now. Have you become the cynic? The one who won't believe until belief isn't necessary. It isn't trust when the actions have already been completed. At that point it is fact.

So what do you when someone says trust me? What do you do when someone makes a promise to do things differently? Do you allow your expectations to rise upon that promise or do you show no faith in them? Is it showing faith in them or being foolish?

I've chosen both at different times in the past. Neither is a guarantee. Who are you willing to risk choosing to believe? Who believes you? Do your words deserve to be trusted? We create expectations and promises every day simply by what we say. Are you worthy of those expectations? Like with the choice of whether to believe their words or not, the solution offers two choices as well - you follow through on your words or you don't. We like to think that there is this great area of gray in between these two. We want to justify or rationalize anything short of completely following through. We are great at excuses, or so we think. Know how weak those lame excuses you hear sound. Well, yours probably sound just as lame if you don't follow through.

So what is your choice today - believe or not? What is your decision on the promises you have made - follow through or not? Good luck choosing your words carefully today.

When do you have enough information?

How much do you need to know before you make a decision? Waiting for all of the information before you decide? Do you want to be a 100% sure? If so, I am guessing you won't ever make the decision. If you are married, looking back to when you were dating or when you proposed, did you know everything there was to know about your spouse? I've been married almost 19 years now and I am still learning new things about Lisa. So if I had waited to have 100% of the information, I would still be waiting to ask her to marry me. What about the job you have now? Did you know everything about it when you started? I'm guessing that there have been a few surprises along the way that you didn't know about when you made the decision to accept the job. Do you understand how your body works? Ever gone to the doctor and have them say it appears you might have a virus or it might just be a cold or it could be something else? We don't make decision with all of the information. We usually make decisions with just enough information. Enough to make a decision which way we are going. Not all of the facts, but enough.

Ever had a discussion with somebody about God? You know, the person waiting until they understand it all before committing. I am still learning things about God and will continue to until the day I die. They want to know everything. How does God do this? How is that possible? Those questions used to frustrate me. Now, I try to explain as best as I can. Give them the information that I can, but knowing I can't answer it all for them. At some point you make a decision based on the "just enough" information. Even indecision is making a decision in the end. What is enough information for you?

Now there is another type of person that frustrates me beyond just about anyone else. It isn't those who question things. I get that. Matter of fact, I like that quite a bit. No, the person who annoys me is the one who just gathers information. They don't ever use it though. In the church, this is the person who has listened to hundreds of sermons but doesn't serve because they just aren't sure where they are suppose to be involved. They need a little more information before they commit to anything. They stay on the sidelines gathering information, willing to critic others, offering their opinions, but just never really getting around to doing anything. They want to make sure they are 100% sure before they commit. Hmm... I don't think I will be waiting around for you to gather all of your information. Do you have enough information to make a decision to do something today? If you have questions, by all means ask, but please make a decision to do something.

Which to choose?

Does anyone else struggle with knowing when to say something or when to keep quiet? Struggle with how to balance the difference between challenging someone in love and just beating them up? I want clear guidelines. Well... not really, as I don't generally like strict rules, but sometimes it would be nice to "know" that you are doing the right thing. I need to have a conversation with a friend, but absolutely don't know what is the most loving thing to do. Listen and not say much while I try to be encouraging or challenge him to examine his actions as of late. Hard to know when someone needs to just be loved and when the loving thing is to confront them about their unwise and maybe sinful decisions.

I wonder if that is part of God's plan? Not giving us a step by step plan so that we have to keep coming back to him for guidance. He gives us room to use our judgement. A chance to grow and try to apply the guidelines He gives us. Doesn't make the conversation I need to have any easier, but glad He trusts me enough to make the decision. Even if I mess it up this time, He still keeps letting me learn and try again.

A week condensed

A weeks worth of random thoughts and happenings in no particular order.

• I love riding roller coasters. Got to ride a couple last week. Especially loved the fact that I was able to walk right up and ride one of them immediately. No line to wait in and it was one of the ones where your feet hang down (those are my favorite). Several loops and corkscrews. Nice ride.
• Had my first experience eating Ethiopian food last night. It was at a one year celebration party for when our friends got to bring home their amazing daughter that they adopted. Seems like she has been a part of our lives for longer than that. It was cool to see the pictures of when they were in Ethiopia and when they arrived back in the states last year after adopting her. Can't say that Ethiopian food is one of my favorites, but she definitely is one my favorites.
• Schlitterbahn is definitely worth it. Best water park that I have been to. Loved hanging out with my family especially in the wave river. The slides were pretty cool as well, even though we never knew for sure where we going to end up at. Nice break from the normal.
• My wife is amazing. I love just sitting down and talking with her. Yesterday was an especially long (and somewhat frustrating day), but we got to hang out last night for a couple of hours and talk. I love the insight she brings into the conversation and also that she is willing to patiently listen to me ramble on for quite awhile. I probably take her for granted more often than I should and don't tell her often enough, but she is freaking awesome!
• I don't like having to have discipline. It really isn't any fun. I know their are benefits of it down the road, but it doesn't make it any more enjoyable at the moment.
• Had the chance to open some challenge cards last Sunday at church. Love this idea, even though it will require the previously mentioned discipline. Lisa and I decided to do them together. Ours were to work out at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes and to memorize Matthew 5 by the end of the year. Like that the challenge cards will stretch the faith of those who opened them and create lots of possibilities of growth for our church. Being stretched is almost always required if you want to grow in your faith. It doesn't happen by just sitting on the sidelines or doing the same things that haven't worked in the past.
• Enjoyed the nice break of reading fiction for the last several weeks (on the sixth Harry Potter book right now with one more to go after that) and looking forward to reading Steven Furtick's book (Sun Stand Still) that is coming out in September. His blog is one of the most consistently challenging ones that I read. The book is about daring to believe God for the impossible. We settle for so much less than God is able to do.

Looking forward to the week. What has moved you this last week? How are you being stretched in life right now? Ready to jump in the deep end? I am. Bring on the week.

Thoughts from the racquetball court

Had the chance to play some racquetball last night. Here are a few things I learned while running around a small room chasing a bouncing ball.

• Don't know if you've ever seen the guys who play racquetball all of the time, but I don't think I want to ever fit the normal. The usual player appears to be somewhere between 55 to 70 (I at least have a few years before I reach the minimum age requirement). He usually appears to be pregnant or have a beer belly. Seems to have hit the jackpot on braces as he will have at least one and more likely three or four - one for each knee and elbow. Has a sporty headband for his bald head and appears to be about ready to collapse at any given point. Also he will be extremely sweaty even though he doesn't appear to run at all during the game. Optional that they talk a lot about politics (Chris this may be your sport in the future).
• Now that being said, they can absolutely kill me in racquetball most of the time. They have perfected the shot that barely touches the front wall and then just dies (a kill shot for those who don't know the term). They stand in one place and direct the ball with great accuracy. Now if they have to take more than two step for the ball, I've got a chance. Matter of fact we were given one of those compliments last night that isn't really a compliment (you know, one of those comments like you aren't nearly as fat as I thought you were going to be). We were told we had a lot of energy to run around and keep the ball in play. Translation - you can't hit a kill shot if your life depended on it. At least it sounded nice when he told us that we sucked.
• Momentum during the game can swing quickly. You can go on a streak and win 7 or 8 points in row and then it just disappears. You can't hit two winners in a row and no points are won by either of you. Or the other player seems to be able to hit serves that all of sudden you can't hit back to the front wall. A little like life. One moment everything is sailing along beautifully and then life is totally out of control. Seems to happen quickly and turns on one small event. Also we often have the tendency to run around in circles chasing the unimportant instead of just staying in the center and waiting on the ball.
• Things that look very similar are often very different. I also like to play tennis. It also involves using a racquet to hit a ball on the court, but they are two totally different games. Tennis depends on your swing and you use your entire arm. Racquetball is a game of small adjustments and depends on your wrist action. In tennis the ball is coming straight at you (most of the time anyway), whereas in racquetball in can come from many different directions. Tennis you have the net to hit it over. Racquetball requires hitting it off of four different walls. They look similar but are two totally different sports. Sometimes I wonder if we get other things mixed up because they look similar on the outside, but really they are quite different when you take the time to look at them more closely.
• Oh, and in case you were wondering. I won two of the three games. Also my shoulder is sore today. Wonder when I can start wearing some of those braces?

Hope you have a fantastic weekend! Next week will be quite on here as we are off to play for the week at Shlitterbahn and to visit Shamu.