Tag: family

The Tebowing of America…. or Being our own worst enemy….

Tim Tebow Praying

Lately in the new there has been a lot of talk about the actions and faith of one Tim Tebow.  (Tim Tebow criticism says a lot about us … and it’s not good – NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Tim-Tebow-why-the-heck-do-we-hate-him-110211)  This is just one article out there and I think it sums up a lot of things.  I couple of years ago, I did not like Tim Tebow, QB of the Florida Gators.  I did have respect for Tim Tebow as a man however.  I couldn’t like him a few years ago, I am a proud Ohio State Buckeye fan, but sports aside, the faith that Tebow displayed in his college and now professional career, is amazing.  The amount of missions work that this young man has done, his charity organizations to build hospitals, etc.

We see this all the time in America, a supposedly “Christian” nation, all jokes are made about Christians.  Things get pushed back at Christians, we get mocked, we get told to stand down, we can’t use the name of Jesus in a public prayer.  In an Gallup poll from December 09 http://bit.ly/txPLIV 78% of American’s identified themselves as Christian.  So how is it that the MAJORITY loses.  If we are truely a 78% Christian country, why do so many things get pushed forward.  Are we only Christian by name?  Are we only Christian on Sunday? Are you a Christian in your work place? There seems to be such an intolerance for the majority now, and honestly I realize most of it has come from inside the 78%.

I want to be fully open with this post and say that things like this church here in Eastern Kentucky makes me sick, however this has changed Today and has been overturned.  Things like this, give us Christians a black eye and a bad name around the country and around the world.  We are our own worst enemy, when it comes to things.  Read online comments about this article, about Tebow, about any Christian topic, and there are remarks from Christians that make me cringe.  I’m not a fan of the warm fuzzy Christian – the everything will work out, I love you God loves you, you don’t have to feel guilty; however I’m not a beat them over the head with a Bible, either.  There IS a happy medium out there.  Believe me I have been around both ends of the spectrum on this, and the results that you get are Sunday only/Convenient Christians or people who can’t stand to be around Christians.

The comments that get made, are peoples opinions.  As a Christian myself, I don’t always support the delivery of others opinions.  There is something that is to be said about how you use your words.

…….So back to my original reason for this post…..

Tim Tebow – Quarterback/Christian

This man has the courage to step out in the public eye, and be seen praying and giving recognition to God.  This is something many of the supposed 78% would be scared to do.  Taking the time to say thanks to God, for what He does in your life moment by moment, to follow what Jesus told us to do by, praying without ceasing — Just take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22.

Tebow hasn’t reacted irrationally to the mockings, he just rolls with them, turning the other cheek if you will, and keeps on doing his job.  We all need to take a look at our lives, and see why we don’t have the courage to say a prayer as we walk into our office, answer that next phone call, start driving on a trip, or go out to eat.  Be thankful for all that you have.  Rejoice in the life that God has given to you.  And please please please Think before you react to things.  People know you by your actions, if they can’t see God working in you daily, what are you doing wrong?

 

by corymcglone

Sit down, keep your mouth shut and your eyes open….

Over the past few weeks I have been putting in quite a few miles for work, 6 different states, 4 different sites, over 3000 miles in about 20 days.  Over this time I have had many hours to reflect on the things around me.  The one thing that I do when I am going to have to travel is to make sure that I spend the morning with the munchkin.  I take the few hours before I get on the road to keep her home from school for a bit and just have time with her.  If she wants to lay around in bed, we do that, if she wants to go get pancakes, we do that.  This is her time to have daddy to herself.

By having this time and then the time on the road I go to thinking about all the distractions we have in life.  I know I have wrote about turning the phone off, playing, listening, and all that before, but this time is a little different.  I got to really thinking about some of the things that we tell our kids; Do it this way, Color inside the lines, write with the other hand….. We try so hard ourselves to conform to society and we push our kids to conform as well.  But why not, to a safe extent, let them do what comes naturally to them.  By just observing my daughter I have seen her emmense ability to comprehend and grasp many different concepts.  The way she figures things out is amazing, the things that she understands at 4 blows my mind.  Then I started thinking about how she is able to do this, she will watch everything that we do and then act that way.  Even though I don’t think she is paying attention sometimes, or she isn’t listening, the actions that come later prove me wrong.  Also in all of the driving, I was listening to some old @Common tracks.  One track jumped out at me, Pop’s Rap II, from One Day It Will All Make Sense.  In the middle of the track, Pops is talking about how when Common was a kid he taught him more than he taught Common, with a few simple words.  It is when we shut up and listen to our kids, that we can learn the most from them.

We have all heard the saying, Out of the mouth of babes, and it is true, the most honest answer that you will ever get is from a child.

When, I was thinking about all of this, I was trying to figure out what God was trying to tell me or if it was just on my mind.  Then Sunday at Church, our Pastor was continuing our current series called Strong.  It is about having a stronger relationship with God, and doing the things that He has told us to do to build that relationship.  This week was about fasting and solitude.  And this really started to hit home, I have fasted before…. Usually when I want God to do something or show me something.  But never to do it just to get closer to Him.  Fasting is all about getting closer to God, it was laid out as something we should be doing as Christians.  It helps us to focus in on JUST God.  It is that time that we put everything else out of our way, and listen to Him.  Just like when we think our kids aren’t listening to us, Are we listening to God?  The example our pastor gave was of when you are listening to the radio, while driving down the road.  You get some stations perfectly clear, no static just pure sound; then as you go on down the road there is a little more static, and more and more and more, until finally you can’t hear that station anymore for all the static and other noise you are picking up.  In our daily lives, it may not be that we are getting farther from God, but that we have too many things fighting for our attention.  Too many things are putting static into our minds, that we think that we can hear God, but we aren’t sure.  It is our uncertainty that causes us to not act on things that He has in store for us, we get nervous, and continue with our mundane lives.

God listens to us whenever we come to Him with our whole heart, He knows what we are coming for before we ever talk to him about it.  He listens to us as if we were the only ones around, we have a direct communication line with him.  He doesn’t get distracted and bogged down like we do.  I know many of us, specifically us dad’s – lets face it we all have ADD; Will respond to our children, out of routine, with an “Uh huh”, or something of the like, when we don’t know what they really said, (We get in big trouble when we take this approach with the wife, who knows the things we really agree too.)

So I challenge you, to take an extra 20 minutes in the morning, to Shut Up and listen to God.  Then take an extra hour with no TV, no phone, no electronic interference, to talk with your kids, talk with your wife/husband/significant other, and just see how things in your life change.  Hey if nothing changes, I just saved you some electric and phone minutes, but I hope things get better.

by corymcglone

In a hurry and don’t know why.

…Ok so i am just now finishing up this post.  This post began the beginning of October last year.  A lot has changed since then.  But remember the things that are most important in life…

This past weekend and few weeks have given me some time to reflect and think about some things. We spend life rushing through, all that we do. Life is about speed, fast food, fast computers, fast cell coverage, fast cars, fast w……. I’ll stop there. The past few weeks at work have been busy, I’ve logged a lot of miles, about 1800 in the last couple weeks. During this time I’ve been able to really think on how blessed I am. In all this time driving I have been able to see sunrises and sunsets that are absolutely beautiful. These are the things we miss in our day to day lives because things are so planned out and “busy”.
When was the last time you took the time to just thank God for a beautiful sunrise or sunset? When was the last time you and you spouse just went on a date, sat together and didn’t talk about work? Spent quality time with your loved ones, no cell phones interrupting you?
We live our lives planned out minute by minute only concerned with us. There is a line in the Kirk Franklin song “Little Boy” that us directed to parents and how they have been so driven for success that they “bought a house but your kids live at 106 and Park. ” We get so caught up in the day to day that we quickly lose sight of what is most important. When everything else is gone family and God will still be there.
No matter how hard we try many of us become workaholics. It’s happened to me. I find myself checking email first thing in the morning and just before going to bed. Along with the hundreds if times during the day that I am checking it. I try to tell myself hey I’m in IT I need to know if something goes down, but it’s nothing that we can do about it right at that time so it doesn’t matter that much. Instead of spending time just relaxing and enjoying life, we don’t take actual time off. During this time we are checking our phones and messages just so we don’t miss something. There is nothing important enough to pull you away from your family when you should be with them. We are all bound anymore by out schedules, every minute of every day us planned out. We try to do this in all aspects of our lives and sometimes you just have to accept that real life cannot be planned.  One of my favorite quotes from 30 Rock is, “If you want to make God laugh, Make plans…”

3/3/11 How many times in life, do we think we have it all under control just to have things go a complete different direction.  Last month I was the VP of a small IT firm, now I am an IT Analyst, at a Fortune 500 company.  In life we look at all of the things around us and “try to make time” for them.  I wish I had time for this or that, however we will make time for other things that don’t matter.  We have all heard it said that you can’t take it with you when you go, and its true, spend time with your family and loved ones while you can.  At my last job it was nothing for myself and the other managers to put in 60 -80 hours per week.  When you work like that it takes a toll not only on you and your body, but on your family and friends.  At the end of the day, family is all that you have, the jobs and the work goes away.  The more time you spend at work, the harder it is to get away from it.

Do you find yourself not able to go without checking email at midnight? Do you look at your phone as soon as you hear a sound?  Take one day, just one day, leave work at the end of 8 hours turn your phone off and relax with your family.  Eliminate the disruptions that we all have, not by acting that problems and stresses don’t exist, but by taking 2 hours to get in the floor and play with your kids, by talking like normal people — not about work, but about life, listen really listen to what your kids, or wife, or husband has to say.  Keeping things inside will make you go crazy, talk it out and relax.

Take time also to spend time thanking God for your blessings and spend time reading His word.  God wants to hear from you and hear you voice your problems even though he already knows what is in your heart.  Getting into His word will show you what others have gone through, and sometimes the same verse you have read many times before, will have a different meaning.

Take your time, remember what is important, and listen for God.  He is still working today much in the same way He did in the days of David and Moses.  It is when we just stop and listen that we will hear what He has for us.

by corymcglone