Most of you will say Ryan. While Tom Hanks and Matt Damon were great in that movie, I want to think of things a little differently in light of the importance of this day.
At the end of the movie "Saving Private Ryan", a much older Private Ryan stands over the grave of one of the men that was sent to save his life. He asks his wife if the life that he lived was worthy of the cost. He was deeply concerned that he honored the men that paid the ultimate price with the life that he lived.
As I was studying for the Sunday School lesson this week, I was reading about the final day of the life of Christ and of his resurrection. As I was reading through Matthew 27, I was struck with the high price that was paid for my (and your) life. Christ gave up everything, suffered the ultimate humiliation, and became the chief of sinners just so that I could be forgiven of my sins and have the gift of eternal life. I then began to wonder if I was living a life that honored the price that was paid. I am by no means a perfect person, but do my choices, attitude, motivations reflect that I was purchased at the highest cost. I believe that part of the message of Easter is that because Christ has been risen, as followers of Christ (and those of you that are reading this blog that are not Christians - I encourage you to start that journey) we need to live in a manner that is worthy of the price.
I hope that you had a great Easter holiday and got to spend some time with your family and friends, but I don't want the fact that Christ died and rose again for YOU to be lost in the midst of bunnies and candy.
Live a life that is worthy of the price!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Negative is never positive......
I know, I know. The three people that read my blog have been asking when I will be posting another one. Its been almost 2 weeks since the last post. If you knew how many times I started a new post but fell asleep at my computer and woke up with 50 lines of a single letter, hopefully, you would laugh - but I will make it through this one.
A lot has gone on in the past two weeks. I have recovered from that spinning class, and I have gotten over the pride issue - I don't mind the grandmother of the class knowing that I am a sissy. Unfortunately, a few days after the spinning class, I had my initial assessment at the gym (you know the part where they put you through an impossible workout, and then try to sell the personal trainers to you). The guy who put me through my paces is the classic "gym rat, meat head" guy - and has the personality to go with it. He KILLED me! I know Janel was getting annoyed with me, but I was having trouble keeping my balance while walking and standing. I believe at one point I had to get someone grab a gallon of milk out of a fridge at work because I couldn't bend down. I have recovered from that experience and am happy to report that I have lost 10 pounds since joining the gym.
I have decided to take on a leadership role in my district - I volunteered to be the lead for the summer promotion. I am not sure if that is a really good choice or a really stupid choice - I will let you know in 10 weeks. If you want to help me be successful and live in the Northshore area, go to your local Starbucks and buy a pound of 3 regions blend coffee (its delicious and it has coffees grown in all 3 growing regions), buy some of the petite cake pops, and also coming back after several years is the mocha coconut latte and frappuccino. I know, thats a shameless self-promotion - but if Morgan Spurlock can get away with it, so can I.
Now to try to explain the title to this post. As most of you know, I am not a negative person. I don't like to be negative and I do not like to be around people that are - I think that is true for most people. But some people in life feel that is it their job to be nothing but negative. I am sure that you have encountered these type people at work, bosses, big wigs, or co-workers that wouldn't know how to give a compliment if their lives depended on it. Thursday I encountered one of these people and after my time with them, I felt like I was one of the unfortunate people on the MTV show "Bully Beat Down" - if you do not know about this show, look it up, it will make you feel better. When this lady walked in to my store, she was a sweet as could be but that quickly changed. I swear at some point her body was taken over by the devil. She did not have one positive thing to say.
I have been in management long enough to know that some times a little negative is needed to push someone toward the desired end. But at some point, that negative needs to be balanced with a positive. This goes for work and personal life. If all you ever hear at home or at work is negative, if all you get is someone to tell you that you are not good enough, it doesn't take long for that to affect your outlook on things. I have also found that finding something positive, even in the person with the worse performance goes a long way towards improving their work ethic.
I am not saying its easy, but everyone needs that positive re-enforcement in life. I am writing this part mainly to myself. Too often I hear my self saying "no" or "don't do that" or "stop it" to my kids, not often enough do I say "good job" or tell them how special they are. I don't want my children growing up thinking that they are not good enough. They have been wonderfully made by a God who knows them personally, and they could never be NOT good enough. They may not listen perfectly, or do what they are told right away, but if they are what God had in mind, who am I to think my standards are better.
A lot has gone on in the past two weeks. I have recovered from that spinning class, and I have gotten over the pride issue - I don't mind the grandmother of the class knowing that I am a sissy. Unfortunately, a few days after the spinning class, I had my initial assessment at the gym (you know the part where they put you through an impossible workout, and then try to sell the personal trainers to you). The guy who put me through my paces is the classic "gym rat, meat head" guy - and has the personality to go with it. He KILLED me! I know Janel was getting annoyed with me, but I was having trouble keeping my balance while walking and standing. I believe at one point I had to get someone grab a gallon of milk out of a fridge at work because I couldn't bend down. I have recovered from that experience and am happy to report that I have lost 10 pounds since joining the gym.
I have decided to take on a leadership role in my district - I volunteered to be the lead for the summer promotion. I am not sure if that is a really good choice or a really stupid choice - I will let you know in 10 weeks. If you want to help me be successful and live in the Northshore area, go to your local Starbucks and buy a pound of 3 regions blend coffee (its delicious and it has coffees grown in all 3 growing regions), buy some of the petite cake pops, and also coming back after several years is the mocha coconut latte and frappuccino. I know, thats a shameless self-promotion - but if Morgan Spurlock can get away with it, so can I.
Now to try to explain the title to this post. As most of you know, I am not a negative person. I don't like to be negative and I do not like to be around people that are - I think that is true for most people. But some people in life feel that is it their job to be nothing but negative. I am sure that you have encountered these type people at work, bosses, big wigs, or co-workers that wouldn't know how to give a compliment if their lives depended on it. Thursday I encountered one of these people and after my time with them, I felt like I was one of the unfortunate people on the MTV show "Bully Beat Down" - if you do not know about this show, look it up, it will make you feel better. When this lady walked in to my store, she was a sweet as could be but that quickly changed. I swear at some point her body was taken over by the devil. She did not have one positive thing to say.
I have been in management long enough to know that some times a little negative is needed to push someone toward the desired end. But at some point, that negative needs to be balanced with a positive. This goes for work and personal life. If all you ever hear at home or at work is negative, if all you get is someone to tell you that you are not good enough, it doesn't take long for that to affect your outlook on things. I have also found that finding something positive, even in the person with the worse performance goes a long way towards improving their work ethic.
I am not saying its easy, but everyone needs that positive re-enforcement in life. I am writing this part mainly to myself. Too often I hear my self saying "no" or "don't do that" or "stop it" to my kids, not often enough do I say "good job" or tell them how special they are. I don't want my children growing up thinking that they are not good enough. They have been wonderfully made by a God who knows them personally, and they could never be NOT good enough. They may not listen perfectly, or do what they are told right away, but if they are what God had in mind, who am I to think my standards are better.
Friday, April 8, 2011
You spin me right round baby, right round........
Hey Everyone, its been some time since the last time that I post a blog and a lot has gone one in life. As you may know, my wife is on a journey to change her lifestyle as it relates to eating and exercising. She has done an amazing job of transforming her life, she has lost nearly 40 pounds since Feb. 1, and has even won an award at the American Heart Association 5k last week (you can follow her blog at covingtonmomof2.blogspot.com - do you see what we did there with the names - genius I think). Anyway, she recently threw down a challenge on me - she may now realize it, but she did - and I joined the same gym that she belongs to. I signed up for the gym on Thursday night and Janel thought a great way to reward/punish me for this decision was for us to do our first ever spin class together. For those of you who do not know, spin classes originated from the devil, and involve you riding a stationary bike with varied tensions and speeds for approximately an hour. This sounds easy, and the instructor seemed like a very nice person as we talked prior to class but apparently, when you give a 5ft 4in tall lady that has 9 children (should have been a sign of crazy from the get-go) the reins of a spin class, the volume control of the stereo, and a mixed tape of 80's songs- they turn into drill instructors. Let me tell you, I have never in my life been so glad to walk (read stumble - I am 100% serious when I say that Janel and I both nearly fell over trying to take the step down into the parking lot after class because we couldn't support our own weight, or feel our butts for that matter) out of a class in my entire life. Luckily, Madison was getting cranky in the gym's toddler room and someone came to get either Janel and I to come calm her down - being the good husband I am, I naturally volunteered to leave class about 10 min early. I do not think I will ever return to a spin class again, for several reasons. First, the class was all females other than myself; secondly, one of the participants was around the age of 60; and finally, my male pride was severely damaged at the fact that these women were kicking my tail. I just can't have that!
As I have mentioned before, I work for Starbucks. April is the our global month of service, and as a company we hope to volunteer over 200,000 hours of time to various causes around the country and the world. Today, I had the privilege to be able to work at the regional Special Olympics that took place at Ponchatoula High School. Even though I got burned to a crisp, the day was a great time of giving back to the community. The athletes were able to compete in several events from running track races to a softball throw.
Throughout the day, one thing continued to happen. No matter how fast or how leisurely the athlete ran or how far they could throw or jump, everyone parent, friend, volunteer, and even the high school students that volunteered to miss classes all day cheered for the athletes like they had just beat Michael Phelps to win the gold medal. Every athlete had such a sense of pride, not just because of the people clapping and yelling their names, but because they had accomplished a task - and for some, the tasks were very difficult. None of them gave up, not one of them quit because it was too hard, or hot, or too far to go. They had enough pride not to quit.
Take that lesson back to my spinning class. I have too much pride to go back, but I had to ask myself today - between me and these athletes that have struggles day in and day out - who is the better person? Pride can make us do some really dumb things, and can lead us to places in life that we don't want to be, all because we are focused too much on ourselves and how me might be viewed or perceived. My hope is that you and I do not allow pride to change us into people that we don't want to be.
I will leave you will a quote from one the schools that was competing today, and I hope it inspires you to push pride aside and strive for greater things in life.
"Everything I can, I will."
On the Journey
Jonathan
P.S. - Tomorrow, we are going to the local strawberry festival tomorrow. It should be lots of fun and a lot of walking. I may have to pilfer the wagon from Morgan with the way my legs feel tonight. I will let you know how things go in a later blog.
As I have mentioned before, I work for Starbucks. April is the our global month of service, and as a company we hope to volunteer over 200,000 hours of time to various causes around the country and the world. Today, I had the privilege to be able to work at the regional Special Olympics that took place at Ponchatoula High School. Even though I got burned to a crisp, the day was a great time of giving back to the community. The athletes were able to compete in several events from running track races to a softball throw.
Throughout the day, one thing continued to happen. No matter how fast or how leisurely the athlete ran or how far they could throw or jump, everyone parent, friend, volunteer, and even the high school students that volunteered to miss classes all day cheered for the athletes like they had just beat Michael Phelps to win the gold medal. Every athlete had such a sense of pride, not just because of the people clapping and yelling their names, but because they had accomplished a task - and for some, the tasks were very difficult. None of them gave up, not one of them quit because it was too hard, or hot, or too far to go. They had enough pride not to quit.
Take that lesson back to my spinning class. I have too much pride to go back, but I had to ask myself today - between me and these athletes that have struggles day in and day out - who is the better person? Pride can make us do some really dumb things, and can lead us to places in life that we don't want to be, all because we are focused too much on ourselves and how me might be viewed or perceived. My hope is that you and I do not allow pride to change us into people that we don't want to be.
I will leave you will a quote from one the schools that was competing today, and I hope it inspires you to push pride aside and strive for greater things in life.
"Everything I can, I will."
On the Journey
Jonathan
P.S. - Tomorrow, we are going to the local strawberry festival tomorrow. It should be lots of fun and a lot of walking. I may have to pilfer the wagon from Morgan with the way my legs feel tonight. I will let you know how things go in a later blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)