Warming up
- At February 11, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 0
Coldplay, the British alternative rock band, is much more popular than the cold. Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion – extremely talented musicians – make a living being mysterious and cool, but in Europe the extreme winter weather just makes it difficult to live. What is it about their music that connects with so many people around the world, and seems to warm our souls?
Living with an artistic person, and a Coldplay fan, I have also felt the “warmth” that their music brings. With album titles like Mylo Xyloto, Viva la Vida, and A Rush of Blood to the Head, there are times I wonder what in the world they are singing about. But whatever it is they are saying, it must sound appealing to millions of people. Artistic people like my wife know good art when they see it and hear it. Beauty isn’t just in the eye of the beholder; the classics are classic for a reason. Coldplay ranks right up there with U2 in terms of popularity. That is saying something.
Read More»Flying high: Helpless no more
- At February 08, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 0
As you journey through life, it is seldom possible to ever be in complete control. There is always something that is out of your control and mine.
Accidents happen. Storms hit. Cancer strikes. Friends move away. People die, etc. Having said that, it is rarely necessary to be completely helpless and dependent either.
Infants are helpless; grown adults should not be, or at least not most of the time.
Sitting back in your seat, resting, as the 747 roars and rattles down the runway, is to experience what it is like to be helpless as an adult. No wonder so many are afraid to fly. Pilots are particular people: they never let their passengers drive. They insist on sitting behind the controls, and pushing all the fancy buttons, all by themselves. To fly is to place your life temporarily in your pilots hands. You have no other choice but to sit passively while the captain is in full control. This might be a good idea, but then again it might not. Who knows? The uncertainty is frightening.
As your plane takes flight, questions fill your mind in rapid succession: Did your pilots get enough sleep last night? They sure looked tired greeting the passengers. Did they have anything suspicious to drink this morning? Just coffee? Is he emotionally stable? Today would not be a good day for a mental breakdown. Is she physically healthy? How long has he been a pilot? Is she really who she claims to be? Do they text all their friends while they fly? And finally: Why don’t they just clear out of the cockpit and let me drive? But that could be scary too. Oh, yes it would.
An old story from the old country (from the perspective of some North Americans) describes how dangerous it can be to just be a helpless passenger on a long trip. Two older men were flying from New York to Oslo, Norway, when two explosions shook the their plane. “We just lost one engine on each side,” the pilot said calmly over the intercom. “Do not worry. Everything is under control. We still have two good engines. There will, however, be a 2 hour delay.”
One hour later, 34,0000 feet over the Atlantic ocean, another engine blew. BAM! “We lost our third engine,” the pilot said, trying to sound calm and composed. “Do not be alarmed. Expect a 3 hour delay.” Twenty minutes later…KABOOM! Everyone on board inhales, and people are about to panic, as Ole turns to Sven and says, “Oh no, now we’ll be stuck up here forever.”
Realizing that you are in a very dangerous situation and feeling out of control can motivate you to grasp at as much control as you possibly can in other areas of your life. This is futile. Pointless. For you will always be exposed to the positive or negative influence of other peoples actions. Life is full of risk and it will never be completely under your control. But as you develop your career, and journey through life, it is helpful to recognize the importance of having a measure of control over your life. The pendulum does not have to swing in the opposite direction to the opposite extreme.
So here are four things you can do to gain back a healthy measure of control in your life if you feel like you have lost it. And yes, this list is brought to you by the letter “D.” All of the other letters in the alphabet must be very, very sad. For the record, if you have been to Career & Life Direction a few times before, you will notice that none of this is entirely new.
1. Determine your career direction
It is painful to put it in such plain terms, but the goal this website is not primarily to get you to read one message after another, until the end of time, about your career and life direction. What would be the point of that? Actually pursuing your God-given potential is much more important than just reading about it here or somewhere else.
One spin-off of doing something concrete, is that you will gain a greater degree of healthy control in your life. Think about it. Who has more power? The 35-year-old guy living in his parents’ basement with little to offer in terms of marketable skills, or someone with a tangible career and clear direction in life?
2. Discover and be yourself
A few resources and a considerable amount of verbal encouragement here at CLD will hopefully inspire you to get to know yourself better than you have before. This new knowledge will empower you to make significant life decisions that are more of a fit with who you are. Being able to say, “I am going this way and not that way!” is huge.
Suddenly your life has a greater sense of focus, and it becomes more difficult to be tossed this way and that and bossed around. To be fair, most people in your life to not likely intend to run your life. Out in the ocean, by way of comparison, the waves just do what they do. It is the ship that is adrift that really has the problem
3. Defend your personal boundaries
This title is not ment to suggest images of aggression and hostility. It is intended, rather, to encourage you to continue to be yourself when you bump into people who don’t respect who you are or what you do. This will happen. Remember, their lack of respect for your dignity as a unique human being is their problem not yours. Often this takes place because of deep insecurities; so don’t be too hard on someone who is pushing and pressing you down while promoting themselves.
At the same time, don’t confuse humility with becoming invisible. You matter. Your life matters. Your contribution matters. Make sure that you show up for your own life.
4. Develop your worldview
If you think that every belief system or religion or worldview is pure propaganda, or just a matter of personal choice, you may tend to tune-out right about now. I don’t. So here is a suggestion, or if you like, some advice: Don’t let other people (media people, university people, publishing people, etc.) push you around, telling you what to think and feel and believe and exactly how to live. Take some time, perhaps a lot of time, to investigate and think for yourself.
Nowadays, a lot of people in the West – even some who attend church on a regular basis – have, say, a grade three understanding of their Christian heritage and a grade ten comprehension of the latest naturalistic philosophy of life. If this imbalance describes your situation, something needs to change.
Everybody enjoys little children. But children all need to grow up some day and become adults.
© Career & Life Direction 2012. All rights reserved.
Moving ahead
- At February 04, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 0
Gazing far up ahead, it feels like you will never, ever make it. Your destination is way off in the distance. Too far away. Barely visible. You have a long way to go. Tired, you are so tired. Weary. Everything aches. The distance is definitely more than you can manage.
Sighing, you think: This canyon is larger than you can possibly cross; your facing an ocean bigger than your canoe; a cliff that gets taller each step of the way. You’re finished – done. It’s over. Or so it seems right now, anyway.
“How will I ever get there?” you wonder.
Oh, it seemed like a good idea when you set out, such a long time ago. It was a noble vision; a worthwhile goal. You were going to make a big difference and change the world, for the better. Yes, sir. It felt good to say where you were going. Friends offered their encouragement and support. Momentum was building. Things were coming together. This was going to be great! And it was exciting to talk about. Such a lofty purpose you had. Right to the top, that is where you were headed. Straight up. And you were their friend.
Nods of approval were noticed. You would be the next Mother Teresa, the next Hudson Taylor, the next Winston Churchill, the next Dorthy Day, the next…glancing back down, you’re not even half way there – and now, you’re all alone.
“Did I aim too high?” “Is it time to settle for something else?”
These questions, and others like them, seem to have taken over your mind – that is, when you can even think. Confidence has been crowded out; confusion has settled in. “What in the world am I doing way up here?” you ask again, hanging your head. Why did it have to be Everest when it could have been Kilimanjaro, Mount St. Helens, or even the K2? No idea. You had no idea what you were getting into, what you were signing up for, what this was going to cost you. Too much. That is how it feels right now. It is costing way too much.
Youthful idealism has been overcome by cold, hard, reality. And it hurts.
But you have come so far. Does it make sense to turn back now? Is that even possible? Bridges have been burned. Commitments have been made. People are counting on you now. You are needed, necessary. Your duty must be done. When it comes to options, there are really very few. What would happen to you, to others, if you stopped trying, stopped moving ahead? What would it mean to go back now?
Frozen, staring, stuck – slowly you begin to move.
Resolve begins to build as you inch ahead. Rome wasn’t built in a day. There must be others, somewhere, just like you – struggling, straining, trying again. And maybe, just maybe you will make it after all. No, you will make it. That’s right.
“I will make it!” echoes across the canyon walls. Have to make it. Must make it.
A deep breath, and you lunge forward, scattering shale that crackles on its way down. Another foot or two and you just might reach that ledge. The rope is taut, and your whole body aches. But finally, you pull yourself over the edge and are perched on a small platform, high above the canyon floor, catching your breath.
Looking around, suddenly you notice the beauty of the valley far below. It is striking, stunning – really. And the sun seems to be shining straight at you. It is quiet, so quiet, and it feels like there is someone else present, right there with you. Strange. How could that be? Was that an eagle that just flew by?
And it is all coming back to you now: the dream, the vision, the goal, why it matters, why it is worth the cost. Nobody said it was going to be easy. Nobody said it would always feel good. They didn’t and it doesn’t.
But you have come this far, and you will carry on. You will finish this journey one way or another. Somehow you will reach the top.
© Career & Life Direction 2011. All rights reserved.
Conversation, careers, and God
- At January 24, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Career Advice, Meeting Needs
- 0
Over the years I have grown weary of all the God-talk, including my own. There’s often an emptiness and a lack of ringing reality about it all.
Depends who you are talking to and when; it isn’t always like that to be sure. But most of us are usually better at talking (or writing) than actually living. The living part – that is the hard part. But all the god-less talk isn’t much better either. Really, it isn’t. If you are like me, you have listened to enough secular sermons during the past 10 years or so to sink a ship. And a large one at that; about the size of the Costa Concordia. How this figure of speech got started, I have no idea. But you know what I mean. Day after day, god-less preachers pontificate habitually from some media and university pulpits. Wave after wave of endless chatter, produced by people who often appear to be warm and attractive and sophisticated and lively and completely oblivious to God.
Read More»Unintended consequences
- At January 23, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Career Advice, Meeting Needs
- 0
Life is confusing and complicated. On the one hand, a lot of day-to-day details are straightforward and plain. You make a list of things to do and then cross them off when they get done. You set your alarm clock and then wake up early in the morning. You determine a few goals and then go after them. You take charge and take action. Pay and purchase. Plan and progress. Seek and find. Work and succeed. Study and graduate. Ask and receive. Pursue and woo. You do what you plan on doing and it gets done. Simple. Right? So many things in life seem to required focused energy and 20/20 vision. Even when it comes to God. Part of the plain teaching of the Bible is that if you want to know God, if you really do, you will.
Read More»Building a website
- At January 17, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 2
If you have access to a computer that is connected to the Internet, and you have an e-mail address, you can set up your own website for free. Free is good. And you can do this no matter where you live. You can begin to establish a personal online presence fairly fast, if you really want to.
Today, I am going to tell you how to set up your own free website using a popular blogging platform known as WordPress.
This process is easy looking back, but you will likely feel like throwing your computer out the nearest window at least a couple of times, the first time around. Be prepared to be frustrated, for these things often take longer than you expect. Stay with it, though, and you will have your very own blog/website eventually.
Read More»Free at last
- At January 11, 2012
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 4
“You can’t make me hate you.” This stunning sentence sticks in my mind after skimming through a book by Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs. There is already more than enough sorrow hanging in the air, from the previous post, so I won’t go into his situation in great detail. But this Romanian pastor suffered greatly. He was at the mercy of his communist captors, and they offered him none.
But at least on one occasion, he still responded to his enemies with these words: “You can’t make me hate you!”
A Christmas carol, penned during the Civil War in the USA, suggests that this is not a common human response to pain. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas day” contains this familiar line: “But hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.” How many people reading this can honestly say that they have never been overcome, even temporarily, by this powerful emotion? Confinement. Injustice. After too much of it, for too long, even righteous anger can give way to rage. Hate is strong.
Read More»Until the cows…
Cows. Just great. I come here looking for timely insight that will potentially launch me in an exciting new direction…and this guy is writing about cows. Doesn’t he know that I am busy, stressed, frazzled, and a bit dazed from staring at this screen for hours? Really. I have places to go, things to do, people to see, more coffee to consume, etc.
Earth to blog-posting person: I need something clear, something quick, something practical that I can take with me into my hectic day. Okay.
Read More»Shining some light
- At November 27, 2011
- By Nathan
- In Meeting Needs
- 2
Just imagine what the world might be like if tomorrow everybody on the planet won the lottery. I know, it ain’t going to happen, so why bother talking about it? Simply to make this point: A great amount of human activity and productivity appears to be focused primarily on meeting our own personal needs.
If I had lots and lots of money in the bank, mucho dinero, would I honestly busy myself trying to meet the needs of others? Can’t say for sure, but I suspect that my country’s productivity would decline if we really didn’t need to produce and sell anything to anyone. For example, with the delay of the proposed Keystone pipeline, are Canadians more concerned about ordinary Americans who will be deprived of our oil or fellow Canadians who will be deprived of their cash?
Read More»