So Canada just won a gold in Men's Curling at the Winter Olympics. The team was made up of Newfies (4 out of the 5). My nieces in Newfoundland got the afternoon off of school in order to watch. After Canada won, I was walking up the stairs and I said to myself. I am proud to be an Honorary Newfie and then moments later my mother called to congratulate me!?!? She's cute that way!
I remember first reading a book by Dan Allender and loving it so much that I bought four or five copies to give out as Christmas gifts. Well, here is my non-Christmas, cheap, but important Christmas present to all of you. There is an article by Dan Allender called "Getting Caught By Your Calling" it is a wonderful description of allowing ones story to shape ones calling. Check it out.
Article Getting Caught by Your Calling.
Leanne and I just came back from our first Baptist Pastor's Retreat. It was three days of food, waterslides, hanging out with friends, etc. It was nice to get away for retreat. Thanks to the folks who put together a wonderful relaxing few days.
One other thing that I want to celebrate is that I belong to the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec BCOQ. The BCOQ is wonderfully diverse. It is the only denomination (We actually are not a denomination) in Canada that is a member of both the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Canadian Council of Churches. It is a denomination that celebrates its diversity and unity. In many ways it embodies a both / and. Plus, how many denominations would allow a church to have a couple as team pastors where technically the wife is the senior pastor and the husband is the associate pastor? That's the situation Leanne and I find ourselves in.
Thanks to Ken Bellous and the rest of the BCOQ staff for excellent leadership.
So I've written a bit on restraint lately. I have been reading The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less - How the culture of abundance robs us of satisfaction by Barry Schwartz. In this book Schwartz talks about how our culture of too many choices often leaves us debilitated or lacking satisfaction. Which reiterates what Douglas Coupland said in Generation X:
Option Paralysis: (page 139)
The tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.
Here are some more definitions from the now classic book Generation X written by one of 's favorite authors- Douglas Coupland.
Ozmosis: (page 25)
The inability of one's job to live up to one's self-image.
Rebellion Postponement: (page 106)
The tendency in one's youth to avoid traditionally youthful activities and artistic experiences in order to obtain serious career goals. Sometimes results in the mourning for lost youth at about age thirty, followed by silly haircuts and joke- inducing wardrobes.
Spectacularism: (page 50)
A fascination with extreme situations.
Dumpster Clocking: (page 162)
The tendency when looking at objects to guesstimate the amount of time they will take to eventually decompose: "Ski boots are the worst. Solid plastic. They'll be around till the sun goes supernova." - I told Leanne just the other day when I bought some plastic storage bins – “well, I guess we are going to give these to our grandchildren.”
Café Minimalism: (page 107)
To espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting into practice any of its tenets.
Almost all countries are in debt. There is an estimated $ 12,700,000,000,000 of debt in the world. Check out the world rankings of debt according to the CIA.
#1 USA $ 8,837,000,000,000 (or check out the US National Debt Clock)
#13 Canada $ 600,700,000,000
I know these are just numbers and people use figures all the time. The point is that in some ways the "prosperity" of the USA and Canada is false. There is so much debt that there is no plan to ever eliminate debt. That could will never happen. The world economy is built on it and it is extremely complicated. Those numbers above are larger then life. But most people (including myself) live with debt.
What does restraint look like in a system that is built on debt? What impact does debt have on my soul? How do you feel about debt?
The rich think of their wealth as an impregnable defense;
they imagine it is a high wall of safety.
A Proverb
