iota of life

Check out this video link. Is this real? Even when I was younger, unmarried and invincible, this did not fit my risk profile.

Wingsuit Flying

What bothers you more: Things that you disagree with or things that may change you? I suppose that being forty means that I’m set in my ways and have formed strong opinions about many things. I have a core that will not easily be shaken.

Sitting in church today, I learned about a series of upcoming sermons that will be focused on the parables of Jesus. Though familiar, there will be some perspectives shared that will be uncomfortable for me and others. To Pastor Dave I say, “Bring it on.” I don’t expect the essence of the gospel (part of my core) to be challenged, but I should be open to the idea that what I understood the meaning of a parable to be for thirty years, might be a bit more confusing ,challenging or paradoxical.

Tomorrow I’ll read the news. I’ll see and hear many ideas and opinions that are different from my own. In most cases, I can articulate why I disagree, but I will certainly listen to the opinion of others, first to understand, second to decide whether or not it matters to have a strong opinion, and third to form/adjust/share my opinion.

The next time you’re bothered, figure out why it matters so much to you. Then do something about it.

I see it often with my kids. One of them will come to me crying because of some great injustice. Just a little bit of probing reveals that their ‘injury’ is minor and that they’re more upset at what was intended to harm them. We learn this and perfect it as we grow older.

Remember the last time someone cut you off on the freeway? Or when your child repeatedly disobeyed you? I do and both times my reaction was beyond what was appropriate. I’ve been reading a little book by Richard Baxter on anger management. I don’t consider myself to have ‘anger issues’ but it is an area for me to improve. Baxter discusses occasions when anger is sinful. Some examples:

• When it disturbs our reason, and hinders us from thinking rightly.
• When it causes us to act unbecomingly, so as to use sinful words or actions.
• When it is greater in measure than that which provoked the anger.

What’s my point? I think a lot of us, me included, feign anger, hurt, many other things, for personal and selfish reasons. When things are not going our way we try to redirect the situation. There may be circumstances where this can be justified, but think about it the next time it’s not. What’s a better way to respond? For someone who does this all the time, watch Everybody Love Raymond.