Joel Stiff's Adventure

I remember seeing an episode of Green Acres where Zsa Zsa was getting a driving lesson and asked if the car she was in had a Perndle. She was talking about the park, reverse, neutral and drive functions of the gear shift.

I have driven a car without reverse.

It’s no fun.

You have to really plan ahead regarding your route and choice of direction. If you don’t, you WILL get stuck.

I’m thankful that life is reversible or reverse-able.

No matter where you find yourself, you can back up and try again.

If your finances are a wreck, start today reversing the problem.
If your marriage is not what it could be, reverse it.
If you have blown a relationship, back up and try again.
If you have lost someone’s trust, put it in reverse and start over.

Everything in life is reverse-able.

Be aware of the things that make you happy and do them.

Be aware of the things that make you unhappy and avoid them.

Knowing when to speak and when to remain silent is an art.

It also requires a great deal of self control.

Also, a security about ones self.

Is it better to be right or smart?

When we truly understand love, our speech will begin to change.

I like this Thoreau quote about selling baskets:

“Did I think it worth my while to weave them, and instead of studying how to make it worth men’s while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them. The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?”

The point is made after noting that Indians were making baskets and expecting people to buy them. They had the belief that people would buy the baskets simply because they existed and not because they had been marketed and “sold”.

Henry also made some baskets. He then tried to decide on a path to success. One way was to make the baskets, market them, sell them and gain a profit. This would be seen in almost everyone’s eyes as success. A product has been created, manufactured, marketed and sold for a profit. Success!

He thought another way to succeed would be to figure out a way to carry on without doing any of that.

One man finds a job, goes to work, earns a paycheck and buys some groceries. Success!

Another doesn’t bother getting a job, works for himself planting a garden and raising chickens, never earns a paycheck and eats just as well. Some would call him lazy or even a bum.

All he did was choose a different path to the same result.

One is viewed as successful and the other not.

It is indeed a strange world we live in.

Still feels like high school.

True success comes to those who can do what needs to be done in any way they please without feeling obliged to appease the crowd.

When we look at the trades people make in their lives, it isn’t logical.

Thirty minutes in a casino can cost you what it will take thirty years to recover.

Thirty minutes misbehaving as a teenager can cost you thirty years raising a child.

Thirty minutes of adultery can cost you thirty years of a great marriage.

Thirty minutes pulling off a crime can get you locked up for thirty years.

Satan tries to sell sin as fast and easy.

In the end, we do long and hard time.

I absolutely love this illustration about real accomplishment versus procrastination and lack of productivity.

A yak shaver is a person, who upon deciding something needs to be done, finds a number of other steps that must be accomplished before the original task can be completed.

Here is an example from Seth:
“I want to wax the car today.”

“Oops, the hose is still broken from the winter. I’ll need to buy a new one at Home Depot.”

“But Home Depot is on the other side of the Tappan Zee bridge and getting there without my EZPass is miserable because of the tolls.”

“But, wait! I could borrow my neighbor’s EZPass…”

“Bob won’t lend me his EZPass until I return the mooshi pillow my son borrowed, though.”

“And we haven’t returned it because some of the stuffing fell out and we need to get some yak hair to restuff it.”

And the next thing you know, you’re at the zoo, shaving a yak, all so you can wax your car.

We all find ourselves wrapped up in such a situation every now and again.

The key is to notice it early on and do your best with what time and resources you already have. It’s better to do a good job today than a perfect job in a month.

I’d rather accomplish twelve tasks at a “7” than one at a “10”.

I can be a bit high strung.

Of course, for every asset, there is a liability.

Being high strung is great when it comes to ambition and tackling a goal.

It is problematic when a softer touch is necessary.

I have pounded a nail and soldered a circuit.

If you put a hammer to a circuit board, it’s going to be destroyed.

If you try to use a soldering iron to pound a nail, nothing is happening.

Different tools are needed for different jobs.

When it comes to relationships and working with people, a hammer is usually not the best option.

The struggles of today are so temporary, yet overwhelming.

The amount of energy we put into worrying over our problems is truly illogical considering that our finest memories in five years will be those we are making today.

Today will be a day we will wish we could have back in ten years.

Tomorrow will be something we miss in twenty years.

Seems like the best thing to do is focus today on what we will wish we still had in thirty years.

One thing you have to learn about the internet is that it is a time vacuum.

How often have we sat down and planned to check a few sites only to find that one click leads to another which leads to another yet?

Before we know it, an hour has passed. Maybe two.

It’s the digital version of being busy but not productive.

It’s hard to lecture kids about video games and tv when an addict to pointless ones and zeros ourselves.

My brother is the primary audio/video man at our church.

Last week, a friend of mine was in town and highly complimented the job that my brother was doing. He noted the quality of sound as well as the instant response when our video images needed to change.

My brother takes what he does at the table very seriously. He takes it as seriously as what I am doing on the platform in front of him.

He took this picture at VBS last week.

It represents perfectly what happens during a service. I am in front on the platform leading the kids. In the middle are a myriad of workers handling the children and working with them. In the back, behind the monitor is my brother working to make sure the tech is cared for.

Every part is necessary. Every role is vital. Every responsibility must be taken very seriously.

It is usually the frontman that gets all the attention and glory, but without those willing to do what they do without any credit or recognition, the frontman’s message would never be heard.

Thank you to all of you who labor behind the scenes. Thank you for being willing to do the jobs no one knows you do.