Breaking Bartering, The Empowerment of Independent Wealth

I just watched this marriage seminar with some friends, the guy talked about how husbands and wives should barter- just like how we barter for our jobs.  He said couples should barter for sex or favors.  I don't know about all that, but the thing that stuck out to me was what he said about work.  He said we only go to work because they pay us.  So if they didn't pay us, we wouldn't show up.

That makes a lot of sense, and it helped me put my greatest career goal into words- To truly show up- even if I wasn't getting paid.  

That is how I want to live my life, and I intend to as soon as possible.  To really do this, though, I do need to be in a place in my life where I can truly not worry about money.  Being the practical nerd I am, I need to do this in a healthy way, I can't just live on a credit card for 12 months and call that being able to "not care about money."

When Real Growth Starts

I've always thought my ability to grow my business was a direct reflection of my ability to grow myself.  After hearing a sermon this morning about accepting the hard seasons of life and enjoying the moment, though, my wife and I's post sermon discussion made me realize something.

I realized my ability to grow myself is about so much more than just growing my business.  So many of us have issues in ALL areas of our lives that land in the exact same category (myself included).  I realized our ability to grow ourselves is a direct reflection of our ability to grow ourselves.  No duh.  Right?

I really think there is something to be said about grasping this truth, though.  Really identifying that person in the mirror- objectively looking at their weaknesses, short comings, and hot buttons.  Our lives are a result of the decisions we make.  Those decisions are influenced by our character, and our character is shaped by our habits.

Thank You, Milltown

God has done much molding to my spiritual lens through Milltown over these past 4 years.  I am the person I am today, and living the life I'm living today, largely because of Milltown's influence on my life.  The way I view community, proximity, evangelism, vocation, Church, myself, going to the grocery store, and countless other things have all been radically shaped through my interactions with this small community.

The silver lining of the lingering mash

Scouring my brain for stories, I'm about as valuable as a mechanical pencil without lead.  I'm not thinking about any story.  I'm trying to make sense of THE STORY.

MY STORY.

I decided to become a semi-famous author last night, so I'm trying to figure out the story I want to tell.  My first task of vulnerable valor:

Bad Joke of the Month

What do dyslexic atheists who have insomnia spend their nights doing? 

Wondering if there really is a dog.

ridiculously naked lives

I haven't been able to get these lines from Dr. Victor Frankl's book "Man's Search For Meaning" out of my mind (p. 34):

"... the illusions some of us still held were destroyed one by one, and then, quite unexpectedly, most of us were overcome by a grim sense of humor.  We knew we had nothing to lose except our so ridiculously naked lives." 

It's funny, because I think all any of us really have are our ridiculously naked lives.  Since the creation of man, our creator has given us nothing more, and nothing less.  Yet it takes the hell of a Nazi concentration camp to remind us of this.  Most of us forget it still, often.  As I ceaselessly do.  Worrying and afraid, foolishly, as if I had something to lose.  God is not a void where we sit when we're naked.  Our nakedness is the truest expression of God we will never know, by our own power.