Uncommon Common Sense

Sunday's message at church got me thinking hard about something that's always bothered me. People who try to pass off Christianity as "just another religion" or "a bunch of stories made up by people long ago". Carrie had jury duty this past week. Yes, she got selected to be on a jury. As a juror you listen to the evidence, you listen to expert testimony, frequently you hear from eye witnesses. You weight the preponderance of the evidence presented, you weigh it against the law, and you render a verdict. Let's talk about evidence, and Joe Society's ability (or inability) to figure things out. Do any of you remember 9-11? Sept 11th, 2001. i do. I was at work. Actually, I was walking back through the skywalk from getting a coffee. At that time, there were some businesses that had TVs in their windows running news feeds. People were gathered around them. i was standing in front of one of those screens when the 2nd plane hit the towers. I ca...

So the new promotion that takes effect May 1? Actually it "officially" takes effect May 1. I started performing those duties yesterday. Got to have my first team meeting with the crew, they got to meet their new "boss man", I got to do my impersonation of King Solomon to solve a minor issue, and I have my first meeting with some state contract directors and my senior manager on Monday. It's a good thing I don't really mind change. I think that's one thing that I've learned over the years...flexibility. I didn't used to be that way. I used to be pretty inflexible and rigid. Everything was black and white. It made it simpler. Or so I thought at the time. But as I've gotten older and gained more experience, I've learned that there are a few very important places to stand firm, but most everything else, I've learned to be the willow tree. The willow tree rarely gets knocked over by a strong wind. It bends, it flows, but...

Imagine a place where your co-workers are nose-to-the-grindstone from the minute they hit the door until the minute they leave. They are focused, they are smart, they are creative, they share work, they willingly step up and help each other, they argue, they resolve, they don't just get by, but they purposefully take the time and effort to do it better. AND...they keep an eye out for your welfare. Yes, dear friends, such a place exists, and I am fortunate to work there. My teammates have my back. They go out of their way to take care of and help educate the "new guy" (who is old enough to be the father of at least two of them). There is a company policy about making sure you "screen lock" your computer when you leave your desk. Granted, our team doesn't deal regularly with HIPAA-type information, or PII (personal identifiable information), but it's an everbody-in-the-company standard. I'm usually pretty good about it, especially after forgettin...

The Tenets of Taekwondo: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit. Over the past month, I've written about all of them, except the one I struggle with the most...Self-Control. I can resist anything...except temptation. And Chocolate. And peanut butter cups. And good beer. And really good single-malt scotch. And pizza. And a nice juicy steak. Did I mention chocolate? Since the start of Lent, I've really been working on this self-control. Really, for me, it's been more about self-discipline. Re-training my body (and brain) to eat better, not eat junk, break old habits that were keeping me overweight and unhealthy. And, as I've reported, that's been going pretty well. Like any modification of habits, it's a process, not an event. But that's just ONE area of my life where I need to exercise better self-control. I noticed myself getting really bent out of shape yesterday while driving home from work. Those that know me wel...

Today, I'm taking a little time to write about Light-bulb Moments. Have you ever had those? You're cruising along, thinking you have things figured out, then you have that moment when a light bulb goes on in your brain, and you think to yourself, "Oh! THAT'S what that was! Now I get it!" Ever have those? I do. It's rather humbling. I like to think that I'm pretty smart, pretty aware, have a good understanding of what's going on around me, understand people's motivations, have a clue about what's really what. and then the light bulb goes on, and I have one of those, "Hm.....I see what you did there. Now." And after my moment of realizing that I wasn't really paying as much attention to what I thought was the main thing as I really should have, I have to readjust my thinking and my orientation to the new reality that I have discovered (or that has been presented to me in some undeniable fashion.) Think about The 12. W...

This morning, the question I am asking myself is: when did it become permissible to accept moderate mediocrity, in place of excellence? There's an old Russian proverb (and it probably exists in other cultures in other forms) that says, "Better is the enemy of good enough." When I first heard that, I nodded and thought to myself that this was a good thing. We didn't need to keep tinkering with something if it was "good enough". If it worked, don't try and fix it. And there are times when that is true. If something works, especially if it's a fairly complicated process or it could be potentially "broken" by messing with it, why take the chance and putz with it? Leave it be. The flip side of that coin is that if we don't continually strive to improve and/or innovate, we might be still using a couple of tin cans with a piece of string instead of that high-tech unit that people in America pick up at least once every 120 second...

Today, we have Taekwondo testing here in Des Moines this morning. Looking forward to seeing everyone. Over the years, I've seen a variety of people come into our classes. Every now and then we get one of those people that "just wants to come and learn, they don't want to test for belts or anything." Those people are yet another opportunity to teach a life-lesson. The questions boils down to: "Why do we have testings?" Call them what you want...promotional exams, "promotion celebrations" whatever little twist you want to put on it, it's the same thing. "Oh no! We don't judge our students, we simply let them be who they are." BS. Baloney Slices. Any educator that is worth their salt is constantly evaluating their students' progress. They are constantly evaluating to see if the concept being presented is being comprehended. There is further evaluation to see if the comprehension is being retained, and in t...

I can't speak for everyone, but I have been known, on occasion, to put off doing things that I find to be either uncomfortable, or downright painful, either emotionally or physically. I know...I AM a bit of a weenie in that regard. Some might call it "procrastination", but I think it's a bit different than that.  I think procrastination is a tendency to put off pretty much everything until the last second, then rush around like a crazy person to get it done. I used to do that with school stuff. I pretended that it "made me more creative" or whatever Baloney Slices I was trying to sell in that particular instance. But as I've gotten older, I tend to look at projects or tasks from a standpoint of "how much time do I have at the moment to devote to that", and "will I be able to start, finish and clean up in the time I have available". If I have a preference, I really tend toward wanting to jump into something, start it, work it, an...

Most folks that know me are aware that I tend to be an "outside of the box" kind of guy. I'm usually one of the first to volunteer to do something, I like new experiences, and truth be told, I readily admit to being a bit of a show-off. But on a deeper level, I have had a lot of experiences in my life, so I can usually correlate something that I've done before to whatever it is that I'm attempting to do that appears to be "new". So in reality, there's a bit of a safety net there. If something is vaguely familiar or relatively similar, then it's not really "new", is it? And this performance-driven person doesn't really run the risk of total and abject failure, does he? I know...I'm working on it. I need to keep reminding myself to be patient with myself, God's not done molding me yet. So last night, I stepped out into what I thought was going to be one of those "mostly outside the box but not really" place...

Hebrews 12, verse 11: " No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." We tend to equate the word "discipline" with "punishment". But if you look at the original translations, the word we translate into "discipline" is roughly the same word as what we translate into "training". So another way of reading this verse would be: "No TRAINING seems pleasant at he time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been TRAINED by it." Gumnasia and Paideia. One refers to the training of the body, and the other refers to the training or rearing of a student or child. Both refer to "training". Not "punishment". I hate to keep referring to my years as a martial artist, but to put a fine point on it, that's the only physically challenging t...

There you go, folks. This is your "big word" for Saturday morning. Discernment. Oh great...here we go. Larry is going to make us think on a Saturday morning. Wonderful. Way to go, Lar. Can't you just right some feel-good piece of fluff? I suppose I could...but not today. Besides, I'm hopeful that even talking about discernment can be "feel-good". Or at least make somebody stop and think. Get it? See what I did there? Discernment/think... I know! Sometimes I just crack me up! Alright, back to the topic. So, what is "discernment"? Well, a dictionary-esque definition would be the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well. For those of us that are Believers in Christ, that definition might be more tailored along these lines: " perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding." Interesting. The nutshell-version dictionary definition focuses on judgement. The Christian definit...

Two more of the Tenets of Taekwondo. Courtesty, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control and Indomitable Spirit. In my opinion, teaching those five character traits are what we as Taekwondo instructors are committed to doing. The vehicle for teaching those life-lessons is simply the art and science of Taekwondo. If you ask a student (or even a senior black belt) to describe the Tenets, and give an example of each, most don't have a problem with the other three. But these two -- Perseverance and Indomitable Spirit -- sometimes give them pause. I've heard both of them described as a "can-do attitude", or a stick-to-it approach. Never give up. Never surrender. (Quick "Galaxy Quest" reference, for you movie nerds). But those explanations in and of themselves are both a bit vague and confusing. Because these two concepts are not the same, although they are similar. Let me see if I can take a stab at clarifying. Perseverance is that character trait we exhibit when...