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Discipline--Bible Intake

Read Psalm 119

Today I'm talking about Bible intake.  I don't assume any of us are great about our time in the Word.  Some of us spend more time on Twitter or Bookface than we do in God's word.  Some of us read for the wrong reasons.  Some of us just don't know how to read.  I am guilty of all that.

For those of us who struggle reading, there may be many reasons we don't read scripture.
We are functional atheists (We live as if we don't need God...we act as if we are in control).
We have comfort idols (Comfort has the throne in our hearts.  We love TV, sleep and other comforts more than we love God).

I am guilty of all that.

From a leadership perspective, this is about self-leadership.  If you can't lead yourself spiritually, how will you expect to lead others?

Back to Psalm 119.  We forget the shaping function of God's word--the inside-out working of it.  David knows this.  He says God's word is "stored up" in his heart.  It's in there so that he won't sin against God.  He may not know how it happens, but he knows that if it's inside him, it will begin to change him.  He understands there's something cumulative about God's Word that works in him.  It's not just a daily look in the Bible for the nugget of truth that will help you make the decision you need to make that day.  In other words, David memorizes scripture so its always with him.  I need that kind of discipline in my life.  More than that, I need that kind of desire.  

David also knows God--he doesn't just know about Him.  He says "With my whole heart I seek YOU."  I don't think knowing about God and knowing Him are so mutually exclusive.  But there is a question of motive.  David loves to be in God's presence.  He writes about it all the time.  God and his word aren't a tool for him to preach well.  David wants intimacy with God.  He wrote in Psalm 27:8, "You have said, 'Seek my face.'  My heart says to you, 'Your face, Lord, do I seek.'" 

This is different from Paul's charge to Timothy...that "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 

Paul is making a different point than David.  I'm not saying one is right over the other.  I'm saying that as pastors we like to focus on Paul's words and not David's.  We make Bible intake about equipping the saints, and not about enjoying God himself.  David says he delights in God. 

It's also a "lamp to his feet" in verse 105.  What this implies is that David knows he is in darkness.  He can't see where to step without God's guidance.  Do you operate in that mindset?  Or the opposite mindset, acting like functional atheists who don't need God?  Do you see the Bible as light for others but not yourself?  These are questions I'm asking myself as I work on being more disciplined in Bible intake.

Here are some tools to help you in daily bible reading, courtesy of the ESV online.  I personally like their subscription for calendars.  I created a calendar in my Google calendar with their daily reading plan.  It has a link to click on.  When I click on it, the page has a passage from the OT, a Psalm, and a NT passage all on the same page.  It can't get any easier. 
Click here for that.
The same thing is available through an RSS feed
Get a verse daily from Twitter.
If you live in your email, they'll email a passage to you.

If you struggle with finding time like me, you need to get up earlier.  You need to subtract time on twitter, blogs, and discussion boards.  Subtract time in front of TV.  If you love TV too much, read during commercials and repent of your laziness.  Keep your bible with you all the time.  Put it on your phone.  Check out Laridian or Logos for Bible software, both of which have iPhone apps.

If you struggle with how to read the Bible, check out this book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth.
If you need a Bible, email me and I'll send you one.

I'll be writing a post later about how to get ready for the day, how to order it and how to maintain the Sabbath.

Much love,
Josh

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Discipline--Make a Plan

So I'm starting this series of posts on getting discipline and I've already learned a lesson in this.
Lesson one is: Make a plan.

I hate plans.  But trying to get more disciplined when you're not naturally disciplined requires a plan.  Some goals.  Some structure.

I was meeting with a new guy in the church the other day and found out he was a personal trainer. 
I said, "Cool man.  Yeah, I'm trying to get more disciplined with my exercise." 
"Do you belong to a gym," he asked.
"Used to.  Work out at home now," I said.
"What kind of stuff are you working on?"
"The usual."
"TRX? Resistance training?  Cardio?"
I sipped on my latte.  "Uh...ya know.  I like to take dogs for a walk...or run...I like to get them included in the exercise." 
He nodded.
"I've got some weights too," I said.
"You doing interval training?"
"What's that?" I asked.

So I'm an idiot, and it's apparent to this guy and everyone reading this.  In my head, I was going to get more active, eat better, etc.  But I had no idea how.  This guy was gracious enough to me to write up a training plan for me.  It's all very accessible.  Stuff I can do at home.  So I went over to my weight bench, and cleaned the cobwebs off it. Then I watched a movie and ate a bowl of ice cream and thought about how I finally had something cool I could work towards.

But now that the ice cream is gone, I've got a plan I'm starting today, hopefully not to be ruined by Thanksgiving gluttony.  Without the plan, I would just keep talking about the big ideas I had and not about how I could actually accomplish them.  As I started making goals, I realized physical fitness was just one of many disciplines I wanted to grow in.  And discipline was just one of many goals.

So how do you make a plan?  Here's what I did.

I sat down and wrote out 5 goals.

Then under each goal, I came up with some steps to implement to reach those goals.  Here's what I wrote for Personal Discipline:
     1.  Exercise
     2.  Read more
     3.  Better diet
     4.  Bible intake

After I knew what I needed to do, I had to think about the obstacles in front of me:
     1. Television
     2. fatigue
     3. laziness
     4. time constraints
     5. trying to accomplish too much

Then I asked: What will my first steps be?  and What is my desired result? 

In subsequent blogs, I'll be talking about the specific disciplines and how I'm setting the bar in those areas to build a culture of discipline in my life with small wins.  Till today though, nothing was happening without a good plan. 

Set Goals.  Think about steps.  Know your obstacles.  Figure out where to start.  And be realistic.  Then refine it all.  If something isn't working, figure out a way to make it work. 

I'm off to the gym (the basement).
jd

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How to Tame the Untamed

Working with children is like working with an untamed mind. Leave the mind in space for a while and it will calm down by itself. Like a wild cow in a meadow, running around in all directions.

We all want order and rest all the time, but that is not the nature of reality. Like the masons say: creating order from chaos. So there needs to be chaos first, otherwise any kind of order will be artificial.

Or: not too tight and not too loose. If we force children to do what we want, that is an unauthentic way of imposing our authority. Real authority should be natural.

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Screw You Myers Briggs

How many of you have felt condemned by your personality test results?  They usually include some mix of statements about how you'll never be organized, will relate to most people poorly but will have a sense of how the universe is connected--which is invaluable if someone pays you to be an ENFP all day, but useless if you live on planet earth.  It's a mix of excitement like "Yeah, I could be an activist, or a hermit, or even an ad exec like Don Draper on Mad Men."  But it also follows with an inner resignation that you are hopelessly yourself and can't change.  (by the way Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is actually playing on my stereo right now....gotta pause on love on this guitar solo).

Alright, I'm back.  So here's what we're gonna do.  I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm actually going to start a series of posts on how to stay disciplined. I'm going to write about how I work around my personality strengths and weaknesses to stay disciplined.  Part of this is just to share some practical things that have helped or are helping a guy like me stay on top of things.  Some of it is to help me stay accountable for actually getting more disciplined. 

Some context:  I'm an ENFP who's 15 lbs overweight right now, hopelessly behind on my reading, have a cluttered desk, an illegible whiteboard, 6 half-filled journals, feel condemned about my personal spirituality and pursuit of holiness, love television, have developed a new pastime of sitting in my underwear watching NASCAR, and am renewing my commitment to actually accomplishing something in life despite the effects of NASCAR on my intelligence, weight and sleep patterns.

What I find is that for a guy like me, when I'm doing the best, I'm actually creating a "culture of discipline."  I'm using small milestones to build confidence, momentum and habits that I can sustain.  So over a series of posts, that's what I'll be writing about for awhile.  Even this blog is a sort of discipline.  It's a brain dump for me--which I'll talk about in another post.  But it's one of many things I want to do and write about that are going to help me be myself but still work on myself. 

See it's not Myers-Briggs fault that I love TV so much.  And Myers-Briggs doesn't have the final word.  Neither does Strengthfinders, prophet-priest-king roles, or the DISC assessment.  While helpful, these are just a good starting place.  So if you've taken those tests, learn from them but don't be defined by them.  Tests are good but don't search you like God does.  Blogs are good, but aren't Scripture.  Advice is helpful but sanctification and the work of the Holy Spirit are deeper than all that.  And underneath all our lack of discipline is sin.  We know what we should do, but we choose something else in its place.  This is where I'm at right now--conviction is moving me to action.

So pray, be convicted, learn from others, add to what I'm writing as I write about discipline by sharing your experience, and start moving in a direction.  Start moving.  Just start.  Do something.  Don't just read a blog.  Don't just take a test.  Find something that works.  Journey with me.  Let's surrender our comforts and idols to God and ask him to work on us. 
Josh

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30 Minutes a Day — Jack Cheng

via jackcheng.com

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On the Advent of Inadvertent Mediocrity

Fair warning, this is more of an internalized discussion written down, appropriate caveats on misinterpretations apply.

While I feel that American Exceptionalism is being apathetically eroded into guilt-ridden mediocrity, this post is going to focus on the beginnings of a sort of depressing epiphany that I’ve stubbornly fought against for the better part of my nearly 2 decade career in computing, far preferring a bloody head over what I, personally, deem an ethical compromise of commitment.

Until now.

Based on personal observation and comparison of peer experiences, exceptionalism is neither encouraged nor rewarded in corporate computing.  I’m sure the odd corporate computing environment exists out there where this may not be the case, but a very odd duck it will be.

HealthCare IT, regardless of talks of reform and funding, sadly suffers from the same issue that cancerously gnaws at the heart of ingenuity and innovation in corporate computing, but writ larger.

Unfortunately, HealthCare IT seems to have further devolved into purchasing disparate solutions and cramming them into weak integration platforms, repeated ad infinitum with insufficient focus on first, defining the problem, then designing the solution, before creating or purchasing or integrating anything. The tumor has spread to the extent that few things seem possible without the intervention or resources of a third party vendor, from defining the need to delivering the solution to supporting and training.

We’ve achieved 100% de facto outsourcing! The counterpoint of course is that you have a body of knowledge workers who have been robbed of the opportunity to gain the knowledge they need to replace that vendor mentality.

Healthcare organizations: the consultants you want are the ones who will not sell you a single license or product until they have helped you define the problem and design the solution; expect to pay for their time.

Fundamentally, this is no one person’s fault, per se, nor should this be seen as an assignment of blame, but rather a general reflection that, for all the books, talks, discussions, groups, whitepapers and consultants, corporate computing will remain mired in a necrotic momentum that seeks to continue to survive instead of thrive and grow, learning the same wrong lessons from each ancestral generation and imparting it on to each successive descendant generations in situ. What mold-breaking successes that do come, stagnate and seem to not develop into behavior that can be consistently repeated.

In considering root causes, there is one key, very lacking, cornerstone. Accountability - the accountability that speaks to a pride in ownership and a desire to excel, to step up instead of cleave to the accepted status quo, in particular by those very same computing professionals. This isn’t just a management problem, this isn’t just a business problem.

There are many understandable, wholly justifiable reasons, mostly rooted in fear and lack of support, as to why this doesn’t occur. While the parable of the tortoise and the hare teaches that slow and steady get’s you there, I have to wonder if what’s missed is that the hare likely only lost the race once, then learned a valuable lesson and modified its behavior. That tortoise is welcome to that singular gold medal, hanging lonesome on its mantle, it’s only true testament that it lead to another’s success, another who wears shades from the overpowering brilliance of its accolades.

Now replace speed with accountability in the above story. Dig deeper and realize the other lesson here is that a lesson was learned and applied.

The lesson learned for me has been that it’s not for me to expect nor to demand, except in myself and those I lead, mentor or raise, a level of accountability that I hold myself to.

For me the this leads to my epiphany. I have defined myself by my work for the better part of two decades, the cornerstone of which is accountability – from which I am convinced all other things such as delivery, flows. I can no longer afford to do so, largely for my own sanity but also because of the perception this sets.  While I take at least half of the responsibility in setting that perception, it appears that the balance of the half remains looking for a home. Sound familiar? Yes, there’s accountability (or lack thereof) again.

So, where the balance of my career in corporate computing is involved, it would appear that a reset of expectations is called for and the balance to be sought is contentment, not satisfaction nor happiness.

The sub-conclusion here is that as risky as entrepreneurial endeavors’ are it would appear that my happy professional place is there, which leads me to considered thought on my future professional growing exercises. I’m still ruminating on that; been there, got the t-shirt(s), if I’m unwilling to return to that fertile ground …

Certainly, I will not allow qualities to neither suffer nor erode, instead, they will enjoy a tighter scope!

There is comfort in this, in a way; it’s the self-inflicted globe off Atlas’ shoulders. There’s certain liberation in looking forward to not being defined by work and expelling those same energies into other avenues too long neglected.

While this still has legs to run around and finish baking, I can honestly say that I am breathing easier now than I have in years.

I will, however, shed a tear, but not for myself, but rather for the endurance of mediocrity where it already existed rather than the desperately needed elevation of excellence.

The loss here, is not mine.

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Sucking Eggs & Kicking Rocks

A couple days ago my internal dialogue went a little something like this: 

Morning

Mind: I'm so not feeling it right now. Let's leave the morning exercise routine for later. 

Self: You know it's so not going to happen later, but I'm going to trust you on this.

Night

Mind: Oh well, too late. Let's skip it, watch tv and eat some ice-cream. It's Soy Delicious, that's not so bad!

Self: Forget you. I'm walking to the gym to get in the workout that you skipped out on this morning.

Clearly my mind is finding it harder to con myself. 

Like me, I honestly think that every person in America has wondered/struggled/obsessed/been concerned with their weight at some point in their lives. We live in a country that despite all our medical advances, has one of the highest rates of obesity on the planet. Not the Western Hemisphere or even North America people...the entire planet. That is so not cute. Growing up in Jamaica, I had no idea how a microwave even worked until my parents got one when I was in high school. Even then, we hardly ever used it. There was one (1!) Burger King on the entire island and a couple KFCs...3 at most maybe. There was no McDonald's (the lawsuit that prevented the Golden Arches from coming to Jamaica is a whole other story) and my brother and I did not grow up loving that perfectly neat blend of salty/sweet little potato slivers that come packaged in the red sleeves.

Even though (much to my parents' dismay) I was never a skinny child (or adult for that matter), I was always healthy and full of energy. The term morbidly obese was nowhere in my consciousness, though it accurately describes me now. Sheesh! Then I moved to America. Talk about culture shock. The television, magazines, billboards....everywhere I turned was the message that if I didn't look like the women in the pictures, something was seriously wrong with me and I needed to fix it, quickly. Never had I been more self-conscious about my size and appearance until I was living in this country. Then there was the food...everything I could ever imagine was right in front of my face and so cheap! In Jamaica, food from America is sold at a premium. Whenever my parents brought home a couple American apples we were so excited. They were expensive, but they were from America! Whoo hoo!

To make a very long and predictable story short, I started living a very sedentary lifestyle and began eating all the wonderful junk food at my disposal. I disposed of it all right...right down into my mouth! Even when I knew it wasn't good for me, I'd still eat it anyway. Who knew that so much of that stuff is chemically engineered to make you crave it? Oy vey! I didn't stand a fighting chance. Ok, so back to the short story: I gained over 100 pounds since I started living in this country. Not just the cute little "Freshman 15" or the "baby weight" from carrying a child. All my extra weight was like carrying around 2 first graders all the time. (I know since mine weighs approximately 51 pounds.) Reality bites.

Like many people over the years, I've tried diets and workout plans and all kinds of ridiculous nonsense to make all the weight that was not there when I went to sleep the night before, go away. Yeah right. Every day, every month, every year, every decision, in some way added to my extra first graders. There was the time on Atkins when I lost almost 50 pounds in 3 months without 1 day of exercising. Carbs were the enemy. Or that time on Weight Watchers counting every point like food comes out of the ground knowing that it's worth exactly 2 points in X category. Whatever! I've been so over it for a good while now. I'm one of the biggest health nuts you'll ever come across. The granola crunching, tree hugging, green juice drinking, raw food eating kind...with the occasional splurge here and there, of course.

Since last August I've lost close to 60 pounds (not sure what the exact number is because the scale is still my mortal enemy) and have gained a whole bunch of muscle. I wake up in the morning and check to see if my biceps are still there. I can hardly believe I can actually see them with my 2 eyes! However, all the healthy eating in the world was not enough. So I started off very simply doing little 10 minute walks here and there. Every week I pushed myself a little bit more. Even the skinny girls at the gym can't keep up with me on the elliptical machine now and I'm STILL heavier than them. Hee! Hee! There are days I don't feel like going and I have to talk myself into it. There are also days I don't feel like going and I talk myself out of it. However, I haven't stopped. Last year I read that if you stop working out, after 11 days your body goes right back to where it was before you started. That was all I needed to hear. On 2 occasions I came "thisclose" to crossing that 11 day mark, but I didn't. No siree Bob, not happening. 

Mark Twain said, "Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” Discipline requires training yourself to do something in a controlled and habitual way. Willpower, which most people associate with trying to lose weight is just going to get you to decide to take action. You cannot count on willpower to carry you through. That is where discipline comes in. Nowhere in the dictionary does it say that you have to like it or agree with it. Neither does it say that you're just going to be perfect overnight. Did you get that? There is no one, nobody, nothing to blame if you're not comfortable in the skin you're in. Training is of course going to take some work and it's most definitely not easy, but the decision and the responsibility are ultimately yours. It's going to take time. I tried and tried and tried, then failed and failed and failed; too many times to count, but finally got to the point where I've had to make moving my body a habit. Working out sucks eggs, big time; but just like taking a shower or brushing my teeth, I don't have a choice. Well actually, I do. However, I'm not about to mess up my 11 days and start all over again.  

After all these years and all this time, I'm following a very simple credo: Be disciplined. Eat less. Move more. But I'm sure you already know how that works...

In case you're wondering, here is my super duper top ten list of things to ponder if you think working out sucks eggs and willpower can go kick rocks:

1. Do 1 thing at a time. Losing weight should not be on your list of New Year's resolutions. There's just too much going on. So whether you're going to commit to walking 10 minutes 3 times per week or drinking 8 glasses of water per day, just do 1 thing at a time.

2. Don't beat yourself up. If you mess up, just start over...immediately. Not after the weekend or on Monday morning bright and early. Give yourself 21 days (which people think is some kind of Jedi mind trick to form a habit) to make that commitment a habit. If you can make it past the 3 weeks my friend, you're pretty much official.

3. Stop stressing. Whether at work, home or school. Stress produces cortisol which causes fat, the not cute belly kind. Meditation, visualization, prayer, woo sah...whatever you need to do to keep your stress level down.

4. Sleep. Our bodies do amazing things when we're sleeping. All kinds of cool rejuvenating stuff that's not going to happen if you're exhausted. Get some rest.

5. Don't pay attention to other people. Especially the ones in the magazines. Photoshop is amazing...they don't really look like that.

6. Food is not religion. There is no food heaven or hell. The more you tell yourself you can't have it, is the more you're going to want it. 

7. Stop looking for the magic pill. There is none. It does not exist. There are no quick fixes, pills, or weight loss in bottles or packages. (Even though I'm still waiting on "Exercise in a Bottle".)

8. Write your plan down. Look at it every single day. Even the days you just know you're not up to it. I have sticky notes up in my closet and bathroom, on the fridge...you get the idea.  

9. Don't treat yourself. No extra slice of whatever or new shoes because you've been good, or any of that nonsense. If you need those things, go right ahead but don't tie them into your efforts. Do you treat yourself every time you take a shower or brush your teeth? I don't think so.

10. It's not about losing weight. It's about being healthy, energetic and comfortable in the body that YOU have. So even though I'm not my "ideal size", the less I've focused on "losing weight" is the more I've lost and the healthier I've become.

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Children who are spanked have lower IQs, new research finds

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I was told off by a stranger for disciplining my child... no wonder we're in danger of producing a generation of brats | Mail Online

via mailonsunday.co.uk

So bloody true!

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Simplicity

I read a blog called Productivity501.  Today there was a post about a minimalist Mac setup from the Minimalist blog that caught my eye.  While that particular post was of minimal interest to me, I poked around the rest of blog for a while this evening.  The idea of simplicity in life is appealing, but I find it difficult to practice even a little.  We almost NEVER throw anything away in my house, even though there is much that we don't use any more.  Still, we can all stand a little less clutter in our lives.

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