Month: September 2009

Day 36: Going Sockless

I didn’t want to, but laundry schedules conflicted with work. I had to wear my black Classics without socks. It was more than a little embarrassing. Probably no other style or color faces this issue, but my black Classics with jeans look like toed ballet slippers. I’m just not okay with that.

The owner of our agency (he is also my boss) has been fairly open minded up to this point. He’s a vegetarian and quasi health conscious individual. When he saw my feet in the breakroom, he told me they really looked like socks. He did NOT like the appearance of my foot’s skin showing. Understandable. Honestly, as long as they don’t look like ballet slippers, he can dislike them all he wants.

By the end of the day, my feet felt pretty sweaty. I like the moisture absorption I get with Injinji toed socks. Even if my feet sweat, I don’t feel that slightly squishy feeling down in each toe chamber like I did yesterday.

That’s my two cents. Sorry I haven’t updated each day. I run several blogs (including one on the Dallas Cowboys) and it’s easy to get sidetracked.
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Day 35: TOMS to the Rescue

It took my Classics the better part of a day to dry after washing, so I made Sunday a TOMS day. My wife bought me my first pair of TOMS shoes in early August for my birthday. I wore them exclusively for a couple weeks before my feet started to ache a little bit. TOMS are, by necessity, very thin shoes. The soles are thin and the fabric is thin.

But unlike the Vibram FiveFingers line, TOMS aren’t anything like barefoot. They’re still a hard, cardboard-like sole. The only appeal to wearing TOMS is the charitable side of the company. For every pair of shoes purchases, TOMS gives a pair to a child in need. What a perfect way to appeal to consumers: “Help others by shopping for yourself.”

I find myself enamored with companies who think outside the box of typical American capitalism. The age-old standard leads to toxic dumping and polluting the planet. I like companies who combine business with charitable giving, or who insist on manufacturing their products in a environmentally friendly way. Every step helps.

That’s why I read sites like Treehugger and Jetson Green. I like to see people make creative and innovative decisions in the formation of their businesses. They provide products and services I can feel good about using.

I don’t know where Vibram stands on environmentally friendly, and I’d like to find out, but they fall into a separate category of health benefits. If a company meets one of these criteria, I will consider using their products:

1. Significantly more efficient use of natural resources

2. Charitable giving I can actually see

3. Improve my personal health

4. Completely or almost completely non-toxic

Vibram meets #3 for sure. My posture and back strength has improved. I literally feel more “grounded”. No pun intended there. The materials may or may not be the most ecologically sound. But the product is making a difference in MY life.
Your Commands Are My Delight

¹⁴¹ Though I am lowly and despised,
I do not forget your precepts.

¹⁴² Your righteousness is everlasting
and your law is true.

¹⁴³ Trouble and distress have come upon me,
but your commands are my delight.

¹⁴⁴ Your statutes are forever right;
give me understanding that I may live.

– Psalm 119

What revelation must the Psalmist have in order to tell another Person that the Person’s commands are his delight? How much do you have to love someone to delight in the commands they give you?
Day 33: VFF Friday – Wash That Stank

It’s Friday and I’m exhausted. I madethe mistake of staying up late to watch Gamer online (yes, I know it’s still in theaters). After 30 minutes of gruesome bloodshed, Megavideo shut me down, offering up the usual time limit exceeded excuse.

Point being, I woke up at 6:30 this morning to find that I feel like total @$$. okay, not total… just semi. while Heather got an extra hour of sleep, I played with Katie and got our morning tea ready.

Right now, we’re sitting at the chiropractor, waiting for him to squeeze us in. How did we get our wires crossed? they’re telling us that we’re scheduled for 10am, not 8. Oops. well, I’m not coming back at 10, so its now or never.

We just left Jim Bob’s office (yes, my chiro’s name is Jim Bob), and i’m hopeful that this lasering thing will be the answer to my foot pain. I’m comitted to two months of lasering my foot befor I evaluate progress. if there’s a significant decrease in pain, it will be a success.

Stay tuned.
Is It Possible To Think Too Much?

When I was 19, I was new to the faith and growing through a nine month discipleship training school at church. I was prone to anxiety attacks and nearly debilitating fear of failure. I second guessed everything and never felt satisfied about ANY explanation. So I journaled and journaled and journaled, desperately seeking an opportunity to express my fears and concerns without being turned away by my peers or authority figures.

I’ll never forget the day when I spilled my guts to the discipleship director. Every concern I shared was extremely important to me. He looked at me with all seriousness and said, “Daniel, you think too much.”

I what?!?!?! How exactly does a person think too much? This one statement sent me into fits of confusion. How is it humanly possible to think too much? Doesn’t that just mean everyone else thinks too little?

I should have gone and talked with him further to get him to explain what he meant. Instead, I just simmered in “nobody understands me” for a few years. If my mentor couldn’t understand me, I had little hope that someone else would.

That isolation cost me a lot of growth. A lot of productivity. I still question whether it was necessary. Perhaps the soul searching phase was absolutely necessary. But MAYBE I could have moved past it with the right relationships and advice. Guess hindsight’s not always so 20/20.

Some 13 years later, I think I finally understand what he MEANT to say. A lot of my thoughts are anxiety driven noise, based on the fear of forgetting, of falling behind on projects, of disappointing my boss or my wife, etc. So much noise that can be quieted. I suppose I would actually think “less” in some respect if I were at peace. That’s always true after a good workout. The endorphins are pumping and I’m just simply satisfied with not thinking. It’s one of the only times in life that is true. The only other would be after a carthartic breakdown. The calm after that storm is very serene as well.

What do YOU think?
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Psalm 6

A psalm of David.

¹O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

² Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

³ My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.

⁵ No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

⁶ I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.

⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.

⁹ The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.

¹⁰ All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
Dwell in the Land

Something about Psalm 37:3 caught my eye last night. I felt like the Holy Spirit told me to read that chapter, and this particular part stood out.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. (New International Version)

Most of the other translations say something a little different, like:

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. (New King James Version)

Or

Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. (New American Standard)

I like the first version because of the mental image I had when I read it. I pictured myself as a shepherd in a pasture inside the land of Israel, looking out at the border of our land. I can see the pastures in the distance outside of our property. They look lush and good for grazing. The thought occurs to me that I could take my sheep and goats just a little ways beyond our borders and let them feed on something fresh and new.

Then the Word of the Lord comes to me: Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. SAFE pasture. Then I realize that I’d be taking unnecessary risk out there beyond our borders. There is no protection. I would be outside of my protected territory. I could be attacked and no one would defend me.

It may look good, but it’s not safe. It’s not where I am protected. It’s not what God has given me. Now that I think of it, I am grateful for the protection that allows me to graze safely and make a living without enemies swarming in and surrounding me.

God, in His kindness and mercy, directs me to dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. He loves me and He’s trying to protect me. I can choose to take risks and dwell outside of the land He provided. But I feel loved knowing that He’s going out of His way to warn me of the dangers and to encourage me to remain where His provision and safety can be found.
Psalm 37

Psalm 37

Of David.

¹ Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;

² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

⁹ For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.

¹² The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;

¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.

¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.

¹⁵ But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;

¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.

¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²⁰ But the wicked will perish:
The LORD’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish—vanish like smoke.

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;

²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off.

²³ If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
he makes his steps firm;

²⁴ though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed.

²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.

²⁸ For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
They will be protected forever,
but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;

²⁹ the righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.

³⁰ The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks what is just.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;
his feet do not slip.

³² The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
seeking their very lives;

³³ but the LORD will not leave them in their power
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

³⁴ Wait for the LORD
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

³⁶ but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.

³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
there is a future for the man of peace.

³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed;
the future of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

⁴⁰ The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

(New International Version)

Month: September 2009

A psalm of David.

Psalm 37

Of David.