Differences in Beliefs

This should be my last reflection from my family reunion and this one should be pretty high on philosophical/theological side.

In my family we have many strong beliefs on religion and almost everyone has a different religion, or at least part of religion, in which the thoughts are based on. I love everyone in my family but we have several (non-practicing) Lutherans, a few atheists, one family are strong, devout Jehovah's Witnesses, another family Catholic (with one cousin in school to become a priest), and then my family - Pentecostal with a pastor.

As you can see there is quite a bit of diversity. So there is an unwritten rule in which we do not talk about religion often. I think it's great that we can agree to disagree but at the same time I realize that there could be catastrophic consequences for this. If we were to bring up religion around the dinner table then it would leave to a lot of arguing and then our reunion would become very unpleasant.

I did start a conversation with my cousin that wants to be a priest. The truth is I am curious as to why he would want to be a priest just as I know many people are curious as to why I decided to become a pastor. I came away with two thoughts. 1) Catholics are far more disciplined than evangelicals in many ways and we should be ashamed. 2) I find it sad that all hope and faith are placed in the Pope and Mary. Now I am not well-versed in the practices and theologies of Catholicism and I may have already said something inaccurate. But something I really do want to know is how their theology came to be over the centuries.

Then there are my dear relatives that converted to become Jehovah's Witnesses a few years ago. They know their beliefs (for the most part) and they go to Bible Study four times a week. They are prepared to defend their faith and are taught well. Now I know that a lot of Christians would say that they are manipulated and only given bits of what they see to be the truth. Maybe that's true and maybe that's not. But my biggest question/concern is whether or not you read that in a book, heard it from another person who read it from a book, or whether you have actually talked to and loved someone from this faith.

In the end, I absolutely believe that Jesus was the Son of God, a part of the Trinity. I believe that all we have to do is believe in Jesus as being the Son of God to attain heaven. I also believe that there is a lot more to belief in Jesus than simply going to heaven. I will put my life on this.

But my family members will bet their lives on their beliefs too. How does all of this work out in the end? How can we have honest, respectable, knowledgeable conversations about this?

What are your thoughts?

Past, Present, Future

I guess it's safe to say that there are three different times in our lives - past, present, and future. And that brings me to a philisophical question...

Is it better to live in the past, the present, or the future?

In the last post I discussed how I love to dream. Honestly, I love to look into the future to see what could be ahead of me. In the future my life can be so perfect and amazing. I love to think about that. And I still have 1/3 of my life ahead of me. My best days are in the next 30. I will peak in my career in the next 20-30 years. How can I not look into my future and be excited about my life?

Then there's my past. Some bad and a lot of good. Most of the things that I have done in my life have been so fun and so excited. I definitely have regrets and there are definitely some things I have done that have had negative influences on my life. But for the most part my past has been great. If in the future my best career and family days are in front of me I think my best social/fun days are behind me. College was good to me. High school wasn't too shabby either. I can go on for days with stories of my past.

Then there's my present. My present kinda sucks. Actually it definitely sucks. I love my roommate and that's about it. I hate my job. I love where I live, but I would give anything to be in the career I want to be in. But at the same time I am in the present. So how come I have to live in the only time era I don't want to be in? How can I change this? Is it possible to love my present right now?

What about all of you - would you rather be in your past, present, or your future?

Any advice on how to love my present more?

Any advice at all?

Dream Dream Dream

The only thing that keeps me going these days is the five letter word - dream. 

I have dreams. I am full of dreams. Dreams of the future. Dreams of God's plan for my life. Dreams of excellence and grandeur. Dreams of glorifying God. Dreams of taking every talent and gift that God has given me and using it to the fullest extent that God allows.

See, I don't want an average life. Now, I may live what is looked to be an average life but if it is what God wants of me then I know it won't be average. But I still don't think that I was created to live an average life. I have so many dreams inside me. I cannot wait to let it all out. Some day I will know exactly what God wants me to do and I will do everything I can to glorify God.

Until then I will glorify God in every way I can today. I will also continue to dream because it is honestly the only thing that gets me through most days.

The Little Things

It's amazing how when one is in a difficult position or transition that it is always the little things that can change a day. I just got back from a wonderful time with family and now I want to do nothing but sit and sulk. And I don't really know why.

Being the guy that I am I am very self-analytical and so I always try to figure out why things are going on in my head. So right now I am trying to figure out why. And I can't. All I can figure is it is something little and insignificant. 

Before I have mentioned that stability is something I feel that I lack. My guess is that I felt a level of stability and security earlier in this week and now that sense of stability is gone. It just makes things hard.

All I can do is continue to remind myself that there are better days ahead of me. I know that God still has a plan and a purpose. I know that God is still grooming me and preparing me for something great. But on days like this it is hard to keep that in focus. It's just like trying to fight off the onset of depression everyday. But I know God is still here for me and my life is worth the fight.

The Jonah Theory Continues

At the reunion I won the award for the Best Participant. As my uncle announced he told everyone that I participated in basically everything I could have. Then he mentioned that I lost everything too. He made fun of us for losing people from our raft. He made fun of me for losing in darts to my aunt. He made fun of my golf game.

I have to wonder about this Jonah thing again. 

I don't normally lose chronically. I'm not a loser. But lately I have been. In the story of Jonah everyone on the boat had the fear of falling out and/or being shipwrecked. I lost 3 out of my boat. I lost at all kinds of things I don't normally lose at. It's one thing if I'm losing in things I don't expect to win or if I'm losing to someone that is amazing at what they do. But I lost to my aunt in darts. Should not have happened. And I lost 3 out of my raft. I'm just not OK with that however funny it was and even though I laughed hysterically.

What do you think about this Jonah theory?

Love for Leadership

I love anything to do about leadership. Truthfully, I see myself being intimately involved in some way with leadership some day in the future. I see myself as a leader and I want to be the best leader I can. Well, with all of that said, I want to give a few observations from my rafting adventure.

As many of you know, especially those that read yesterday's post, I went rafting this last week and 3 of my fellow rafters fell out. Well, I am of an unwavering belief that this "accident" should not have happened. I want to discuss this with anyone that may be reading now.

OK, here we go. Less than a mile into the trip down the river we hit a rock and got stuck on it for a short period of time. This should have been our first indicator. There were 8 of us on the raft, including the guide. On one side we had two strong paddlers, a foreigner, and a little kid. On the right side was myself, a 15 year old girl, a disabled guy, and the guide. Now, I mean no disrespect toward anyone in anything I may say because I love everyone. Anyway, we hit a rock - first indicator.

A little ways further we hit a second rock and got stuck on it. Our second indicator. Now my 15 year old cousin Rachel was in front of me. Anyone that has been rafting knows that the two in front are kinda the leaders in when we all paddle. Jered was on the left side in the front and he's strong. Then Rachel was in the front on the right. She just couldn't match his strength. I'm not even saying she wasn't strong or that she was incapable. I'm only saying she couldn't match his strength. We just got stuck on a second rock. HELLO!!!!

Well, our guide remained silent on the subject. I screamed out that we sucked. My cousin Mandy, whom I love, said we were the raft of misfits. I think she was right. I did talk a lot. I was in a way the entertainment of the raft (if you can possibly imagine that.) Our guide couldn't speak over me. He didn't even try. (In my defense I hadn't seen Mandy at least 9 years and I haven't seen Rachel since she was like 5. I wanted to talk.)

Later on, we were going through one of the most technical rapids and we hit a rock which sucked in our left side of the raft and we lost 3 of the 4 on that side of the raft. Mandy and Nadia made it back to the shore where we left our raft fairly quickly while Rowe was too pathetic to swim to the shore and was picked up by our second raft of Carlsons.

Now for the observations. Mr. Guide (Lloyd), what were you thinking? You are the guide and you need to get things under control. I have been rafting 4 times now in my life. Never have we had a single problem at all, let alone have people fall out. After getting stuck on that second raft our guide needed to address our problem and fix it.

At least two or three times I asked Lloyd what we were doing wrong. All he said is we weren't paddling well enough. Really? Thanks for the observation. He needed to point out where the breakdown was. I'm sorry, but Rachel cannot keep up with Jered in paddling. Lloyd should have switched Rachel and I. We should have worked on our paddling more. We should have shifted around some more. 

After the "incident" I switched with Rachel and took the lead. It's amazing that we never even hit a rock after that point. Hmmm.

Leadership 101 says find the problem and fix it!

What are your thoughts?

Reflections from Breckenridge

I have two options right now. 1) I could tell you about the fun stuff from my family reunion I just came from. 2) I could get way too deep and philosophical about stuff that it would take the fun out of the week. I absolutely intend to do both in the next few posts.

I love my mother's family. The Carlsons. Boring name but fun family. This year we had our family reunion in Breckenridge, CO. We only have reunions every three years and this year it was put on by two of my cousins who live in Colorado. So I was pumped. 

Unfortunately though we only got four days. So on Monday I arrived in Breckenridge and saw the rest of my family, many of whom I hadn't seen in years. I saw all of my mother's siblings and then I saw some cousins and second cousins I haven't seen in years, if at all. Sadly I only have two cousins within five years of me. One is married with two kids and the other is still in college. As much as I love my family, it is hard to find a lot to do or know who to hang out with because of the lack of similarities between me and my family members. So my roommate came and hung out with us for a day too.

On Monday night we just sat around the pool and played some games and ate some barbecue stuff. We played a little trivia game and then we played the longest card game of my life. I didn't win.

Tuesday we went whitewater rafting in Buena Vista in the Arkansas River. During the ride three from our ride fell off during one of the worst rapids and I laughed.  But we finally made it to the end without losing anyone else. More on this tomorrow. After rafting we got back and went to the hot tub for a while and then we went out to eat.

Wednesday I got up and took some others on the alpine slides. That was a blast. Flying down a mountain in the summer on a little sled on a bobsled-like run can never be boring. After that I went golfing. It was my first time golfing in two years. I didn't play too horribly and my team one by one stroke. Then that night we went to a chuckwagon and listened to horrible cowboy music. And it was COLD!

Then on Thursday we all left. 

I had a blast though. Anytime I get to spend time with loved ones I will always have a blast. What a great vacation and a great time to getaway from stuff.