My God version of ‘Where’s Waldo?’

I’ve decided to tag “God” in each an every one of my posts. As a Christian, I believe He’s always there. Most of my posts won’t explicitly discuss God or His involvement in a particular situation. Feel free to comment and excitedly declare where you find God in each one of my posts. Similarly, if you think one of my posts is devoid of God’s presence, please comment and let me know. I’d love to talk about God and where He is (or isn’t).

Bill Clinton, “Giving”

I started reading Bill Clinton’s new book, Giving, today. It’s incredibly interesting. Like Oprah’s transformation (which is interestingly discussed in this book), its a prime testament to the presence of good in the world. The book is essentially a series of vignettes. Each segment shares the story of some individual who has or is dedicating his/her life to making the world a better place. Clinton honors people have given both time or money (or both).

The thing that blows my mind about this book is how prevalent this goodness and servant heart is… with each new paragraph Clinton unearths another amazing individual. It is a little overwhelming.

I’m not even half-way through the book so I can’t speak to where Clinton takes this parade of do-gooders or how he wraps it up. However, I will say that I felt Clinton fails to explore the source of all this giving. I personally was left wondering what motivates each of these people. It seems like there is such a rising tide of good deeds in the world (or at least an increase in light shed on such deeds).  I’m left searching out the context. It seems like there is an inherent hope that there is still good in this world. It’s a hope on which all the people in Clinton’s book were willing to act. But where does that hope come from?

Pipes Burst

I’m staying at this beautiful house up in the mountains of Colorado. Last night, right around midnight, one of the main water pipes burst in the mudroom. Within seconds there was a massive waterfall. Within five minutes we were able to shut off the main, but the floor in the mudroom and the hallway were already covered in almost a half-inch of water. We were all pretty impressed by the water-pressure (side-note: the waterfall looked pretty sweet and for a moment I thought it was a sweet interior design feature of the house that I had missed previously).

None of us who were staying at the house actually owned the house or were related to the owner and the burst was in no way our fault. So it wasn’t really our place to worry about cleaning it up. But we all did. Within a half-hour or so we had the majority of the water down the drain below the washing machine and had dried most of the baseboards. We didn’t even question whether we would help clean or not. I think there is an instinct in a lot of people that automatically kicks in when crisis occurs. It was like a knee-jerk reaction–a problem occurred right before our eyes, we couldn’t walk away without trying to fix it.

I’m not saying that this instinct exists in everybody. Plenty of doors go unopened before over-laden delivery men; many people who fall never get a hand to help them back to their feet. But I think this instinct dwells in the hearts of enough people to tip the world’s scales towards good. I also think that this type of positive action begets more positive action… check out this Liberty Mutual TV commercial to see proof that a few other people think along the same line….

Skiiing, the Trombone and Our World

Today I skied for the first time in ten years, and for only the third or fourth time in my life. I was nervous. I thought I was going to be absolutely awful. A horrid embarrassment. I didn’t even really want to go. I forced myself to though. I sucked it up, and prepared to humble myself in a mighty way before my friends and girlfriend. It’s always been hard for me to try new things that I know I won’t be good at in the beginning. It’s definitely a pride issue. When I was in middle school all of my friends were in the band. I felt left out so I wanted to join them. My mom and I went to chat with the band director and he said he’d love to have me because he could really use some trombone players. My mom went out and rented me a trombone. The day came to report to school with my trombone and I froze. It was like I realized all at once the implications of the fact that I had no clue how to use that instrument. I would have to lug it to school in the ginormous bulky case and answer as everyone asked me if I knew how to play it. I didn’t even know how to spell trombone, much less how to make it sound “cool.” I backed out. There was no way I was going to submit myself to the months, years of being a novice. I forced my mom to take the instrument back to the shop and tried to pretend that I never even thought about playing the trombone.

As I strapped on my rental skis and sat down on the lift today my mind was swimming with the thoughts that all those around me must be having. “Look at that poser!” “Chuckle, Chuckle, what a loser, I can’t wait til he falls.”

Pride inhibits us from trying new things. But to truly explore and experience all that the world around us has to offer we have to humble ourselves. I surprised myself on the slopes… I really didn’t do so bad AND I had a phenomenal time. However, the fact of the  matter is that very few people at the ski resort today even cared that I was there. Everyone has their own life, their own ski skills, their own pride to worry about. I’m discovering how incredibly often I overestimate my importance in the grand scheme of things.

A New Year, A Resolution

This year I resolve to write one post per day to this blog. I may not be able to upload one post per day, but I’ll write one everyday and post it as soon as I can.
I want to do this because I want to be an explorer. This blog will keep me accountable to acknowledging the little discoveries I make everyday. Maybe my posts will even encourage you to do a little bit of everyday exploring yourself…