reBuilding reInventing reThinking

I listen to VPR & NPR a lot at work. I love the afternoon programming, especially Dick Gordon & The Story.

One morning while I was getting ready, I flipped it on. It’s a pretty rare occasion that I listen to it in the AM, usually I tune in around 1:30 after lunch. Somehow in my fury of getting ready in the morning, my ear caught this story--an update to a family who’s home was demolished by Tropical Store Irene last August. I grabbed onto this nugget of wisdom about their recovery process from the husband:

...we weren’t expecting anything, what we’ve learned through this whole process is don’t expect. Because you think you’re good and better, but that’s just a sign that you’re going to backslide a little bit. I’ve been trying to just stay more in the moment. You can plan all you like, but something may come along and sweep them away...What matters is your attitude. That’s the one thing you can control. You can look at things and say why me and feel sorry about it. Or you can say it happened and you’ve got to move on.

All last week Dick Gordon was broadcasting from Haiti, interviewing people who’d been affected by the earthquake 2 years ago---what a humbling and inspiring series of stories. I’m convinced that we have a lot to learn from the people of Haiti. Talk about people that praise God in the storm—literally. It was so inspiring to hear story after story, and the amazing things that are happening there.

Both the Irene and Haiti earthquake series reminded me of a powerful sermon I heard about three years ago about Humility& Entitlement. Why do we (dare) to get angry at God? Because we get in a spirit of entitlement. It is so easy for this to happen, but realizing we aren’t entitled to anything, and everything we have is a blessing from God.

A few weeks ago our pastor kicked off 2012 with a sermon on "a fulfilled 2012" drawing from Ecclesiastes 1: 2-11.

 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now."

Remember to enjoy the present.  

Enjoy what you have NOW. right now you have as much time and money as god wants you to have now. 

Remember Ecclesiastes 7:14 "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future."