(Green) Eggs and Ham

"The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed."

-Martina Navratilova

Okay, so I have to be honest and say that as thought-provoking as this quote is and as successful as Martina Navratilova was as a tennis player, she is not perfect and I do not condone much of what she says and does. However, she did apparently say this and I wanted to talk real quickly about this quote and give just a couple of thoughts. 

Involvement is big but commitment is an even bigger deal. I don't want to be all nerdy, but let's go to the dictionary for a look at these two words. 

Involvement simply means to have an effect on. That effect can either be good or bad depending on how you are involved and what you are involved in, obviously. 

Commitment, on the other hand, means to pledge oneself to a position on an issue or question. And again, that commitment can be either good or bad depending on if you fulfill your commitments and what you are committed to.

Here's my whole thought though: Everybody is involved with something and everybody is committed to something. The question is, are we more involved and committed to things for ourselves or others? Taking that a step further for us as believers, are we more involved and committed to earthly things than eternal treasures? Where is our focus and what is our passion? 

I'll close out with this well-known and cherished hymn: Be Thou My Vision.

And you can listen to Alison Krauss sing "Be Thou My Vision" right here right now: (It's even got a verse you might not be as familiar with) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub56L5AYyEM

Making pens and making a difference!

Daniel Patrick

www.facebook.com/PatrickCustomPens

www.stellasvoice.org

Competitive Comparison

When you hear the words competitive comparison what immediately comes to mind? Do you think of someone else and compare yourself to them as a way of making yourself feel better about your own imperfections, shortcomings, and failures? I know do this often and yes, it does make me feel better... kinda... for a while... maybe a little. However, bottom line is... IT'S WRONG! Let me explain (and when I say that please understand I still have a lot to learn):


The first question is, why do we compare ourselves to other people? And if the answer is to make ourselves feel good, we should be very wary of that. Timothy Keller in his book The Prodigal God argues that the elder brother spirit does this competitive comparison deal to make himself feel more significant and justify his own weaknesses and failures. In short, he does it to make himself feel better, but life isn't about us feeling good. The Gospel isn't about us feeling good; it wasn't even about Christ feeling good, either. The Gospel isn't intended for us to feel good. I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but that is why Matt Chandler talks about the Cross in this light, "You are going to fail, and you're going to stumble, and you're going to feel dirty, and you're going to feel awkward. The whole point of the Cross is that there'd be this mighty picture of His love and pursuit of you despite you."


And see, here's the really convicting and humbling part of it all: It is easy to compare ourselves to other people and it makes us feel good, but to pose the same question as Francis Chan, "Is Jesus your role model?" Here's the bottom line for us as believers: "Whoever claims to live in Him, must walk as Jesus did" (I John 2:6). Yes, it is easy to sit there and look at others and how they make mistakes to make ourselves feel better, but doing that is wrong. Why? Well, first of all because we shouldn't be comparing ourselves to others, but to Christ. And when I compare myself to Christ, I don't feel too good about where I am. But it is also wrong because unbelievers are still God's creation. Who are we to pass judgment on God's creation? What's just as bad, though, is when we do the same thing to believers, God's children and our brothers and sisters.


Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should dismiss accountability because we shouldn't judge others. No, it is our duty as a believer to hold another believer accountable, but there is a big difference between judging them and holding them accountable and competitive comparison inevitably leads to judgment, not accountability.


All of that to say this, competitive comparison may be easy, natural, make us feel good and all this, but it only does harm to ourselves, others, and our relationships with others. Instead of looking down on people and puffing ourselves up, we should be emptying ourselves and building others up. We are called to be like Christ and He completely poured Himself out so that we could have eternal life. The question is, what are we willing to do for others for His sake?


Making pens and making a difference!
Daniel Patrick


www.facebook.com/PatrickCustomPens
www.stellasvoice.org

P.S. The video with the quote by Francis Chan is here for you to watch if you want!

Burger King, TAN, and the Cross

Now that I have a job working for Burger King I feel like I should express the fact that I do happen to love it! I hope and trust I will continue to do so as I work there as well. Anyway, they have a slogan that is catchy and appealing (maybe that is why they use it...). "Have It Your Way." While this is true for food at Burger King and true to extents in other aspects as well, it does not apply to salvation. Why? Because "our" salvation isn't and never really was "our" salvation in the sense that it belongs to us and we make the rules. John writes, "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Revelation 7:10). But hear me out because that is actually the best news we could possibly hear! If it belonged to us and somehow depended on us to any extent we would fail and lose it for sure!

To quote Matt Chandler, "We've got this weird compartmentalization thing that happens where you don't think that God sees all that you are, or that if He could have somehow known who you were going to be He wouldn't have gone to the Cross. Um, listen, God knew you were going to be messy; Christ knew you were going to be messy. God knows you are going to screw up often. He knows that you're going to be drawn to things that are wicked. That's what the Cross is all about. That's the whole point of the Cross is that you are going to fail, and you're going to stumble, and you're going to feel dirty, and you're going to feel awkward. The whole point of the Cross is that there'd be this mighty picture of His love and pursuit of you despite you. So, the Cross is necessary because of you, but it is also the picture we have of just how far God is willing to go because He loves you.


And with that, feel free to watch the How He Loves video with Matt Chandler and John Piper, but also I wanted to share this video:

Taste and See

Salt brings out taste and light helps us see. With that in mind, let me share a passage with you:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

-Matthew 5:13-16

Guess what? As believers, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As soon as we identify with Christ, He calls us to be salt and light. That's a huge job and carries a lot of responsibility! It is also kinda scary because if we lose our saltiness, we are "no longer good for anything." I know this isn't rocket science, but salt is a preservative and so it is our job to be agents of preservation, but the reason we cannot lose our saltiness is because it isn't even ours in the first place. We are made salt and light because of Christ and He is the one who keeps us salty. However, we can and do try to work outside of Christ in the name of Christ. What do I mean by that? We try to do good things (and often succeed) but we all too often make it about our own glory and not for God's glory. God hasn't lit us as lamps and put us under a bowl. Instead we are put on a stand so that we might give light. And this is the hope: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." The goal and purpose is that others may see the light and that more and more people would glorify God.

Two Masters

I hate to be so blunt, but it is the truth and the truth hurts. If we believe God's Word is truth then we have no choice but to agree with what it says. Actually, I take that back because we do have a choice, but it doesn't change the truth that God's Word is truth. Our choice is which master we are going to serve.

In Matthew the apostle writes, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
-Matthew 6:24


Folks, it doesn't get much clearer than that. We must, to quote Joshua in the Old Testament, "Choose this day whom you will serve." I just hope I can say as emphatically as that verse (Joshua 24:15), that despite all the masters I can serve (and Joshua mentions a few), that I would choose to serve the Lord.

But all of that (to quote my pastor), "serves as an introduction."

The Israelites were reminded time and time again about the ways God had delivered and led them out of Egypt and slavery. Well, we are like the Israelites in many ways because we are human. And as humans, we forget... A LOT! So, just to reiterate and remind us of our job as the body of Christ and how Stella's House offers a great opportunity to get involved, let me re-post this straight from stellasvoice.org:

Our Arms - Hold Orphans
Our Hands - Feed Orphans
Our Hearts - Love Orphans
Our Voices - Protect Orphans


Making pens and making a difference!
www.stellasvoice.org
www.facebook.com/PatrickCustomPens

Healing Begins

"This is where the healing begins. This is where the healing starts; When you come to where you're broken within, the light meets the dark."

Late night/early morning thoughts about this...

I love it, but love hurts... true healing comes about when we are broken... consider the following Scripture: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit." (Psalm 34:18)

I can't help but think that the reason we fear brokenness, especially as guys, is a result of our pride and fear of pain. But both our pride and our fears are conquered by the power of the Cross, where Jesus was broken so that we might be healed.

Making pens and making a difference!

www.facebook.com/PatrickCustomPens

www.stellasvoice.org

Hearty Delight

Quick note: if you were expecting this to be some kind of recipe for food, I am sorry to inform you that it is not. Now that you know what it isn't, you probably want to know what it is, though.

Psalm 37:4-5 reads, "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this."

But before I make applications, let me explain some context. This passage starts off with a challenge, a command, to "not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong."

From the start, then, the Psalmist is saying don't worry when evil people prosper in their ways. Or, to quote the second half of verse 7, "Do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."


Again, now that we know what not to do, what is it we are supposed to do? And that is what verses 4 and 5 are all about. It all starts with taking delight in the Lord. Then, He will give us the desires of our hearts. Why? Because He loves us and when we take delight in Him, our desires are much more like His.

So we take delight and then we have these desires, what's next? Well, we do have a part to play, but we are not to play the part of God. That is why we commit our way to the Lord and then trust in Him because He is the one that "gives and takes away," as Job put it.

So, if we take delight in the Lord, commit our ways to Him, and trust in Him, it proves only beneficial in many ways!

Consider this picture: Our lives are like a huge white canvas and as time goes by, God adds a little here and a little there. In the end, a beautiful picture is painted, but it is because of what God has done in and through our lives. However, every time we decide to try and paint our own picture (i.e. we go a different way outside of the way we know to follow as we follow Christ), it creates a bad mark on the painting. Thankfully, even when we do mess up, God is faithful to forgive and knows our sin before we do. Not only that, but He died for it and that power conquers all our sins and erases those bad marks.

Point is this: My prayer is that I would take delight in the Lord, commit my ways to Him, and trust in Him with everything I do, including making and selling pens.

Making pens and making a difference!

Please check out Stella's House here: www.stellasvoice.org