Joel Stiff's Adventure

When I was a kid, we lived on Ivanhoe Avenue in Flint.

Shortly after moving there, I went for a walk down the street and saw a man cutting his grass with a reel mower.  I had never seen anything like this before so I asked the man if I could try it.  He let me, but I was only about five so I couldn’t even budge it.  I spent some time hanging around this man helping him do some basic yard chores.  He never seemed to mind putting up with me.

Eventually, my brother and his son would become great friends.  The four of us would ride bikes to a local nature preserve and sometimes venture out farther than we would alone.  Mark was always young at heart and rode his bike to stay in shape.

For some reason, he and I took his truck somewhere and he was going to drop me off at home.  I asked him if he cared if I jumped out of the truck while it was still moving.  Mark was good with it.  In our neighborhood, there were small rectangular patches of grass in between the curb and sidewalk.  My plan was for Mark to slow down and ride along the curb while I leapt out onto this grass.

He slowed to about ten miles per hour and I opened the door.  I turned sideways out of the doorway with my feet on the bottom of the door frame.  My plan was to push off with my feet and launch myself out onto the grass.  The three count was made and I pushed off and hit the ground hard.  For some reason I thought the landing would be a bit softer.  Also, I didn’t realize I would roll as far as I did.

Needless to say, it wasn’t a great experience.  As I lay there, I could hear Mark laughing as he drove down the road.

Two lessons: one, there is rarely ever a need to jump out of a perfectly fine truck and two, people will let you do some really stupid stuff and then laugh at you after you’ve done it.

The only thing that brings about a change in results is a change in behavior.

I notice that over eating causes weight gain.  If I want to change that, I must change my behavior.  I must either eat fewer calories or burn more calories.

I notice that over spending causes a low bank balance.  If I want to change that, I must change my behavior.  I must either spend less or earn more.

I notice that when I face the day ornery and with a bad attitude, I deal with conflict and stress all day.  If I want to change that, I must change my attitude.

Unfortunately, the change in behavior has to be my behavior that is changed.  I cannot afford to wait for someone else to change their behavior.  It may never happen.

The only person I can change is me and if I am willing to change, I am in control of my results.

My life will be whatever I decide to do about it.

Therefore, I can never be a victim.

Your oil or your engine?

Would you rather floss your teeth or get dentures?

Train your son or bail him out of jail?

Go to a marriage retreat or a divorce attorney?

Clean your gutters or replace your roof?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In the early 20th century, the industrial revolution profited off of child labor.

Children in the mines and on assembly was were not unusual.  This was problematic for a number of reasons.  It is unethical to take advantage of children.  The rate of injury was terribly high.  Adult men who needed work were being pushed aside for children who would work cheaper.

To remedy the problems, child labor laws were enacted and children were sent to school.  The schooling, however, was set up to train these kids to go right back into the factories and mills.  They were and still are taught to move as a group, obey immediately and without question and simply do as they are told.

Prior to this, people did not primarily go to work for someone else in a job capacity.  Families passed down knowledge, skills and trades to their children.  Most families were entrepreneurial in nature and the members of those families lived life according to their own personal choices.

And for one hundred years we changed all of that.  Conformity was the expectation and there were stiff penalties if rebellion was found.

Are you listening, maggot?  Sir! Yes, sir!

Now, the world is changing and we are not preparing our children for it.  Our college graduates are moving back home and remain unemployed for years because of an inability to find a job.  They are simply waiting to do what they are told because that’s what they’ve been taught to do for seventeen years.

My dad worked for Buick for 32 years and retired with a pension.  About fifteen years ago, it was projected that most adults would work an average of five jobs.  Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts twelve to fifteen.  Start ups and freelancing are more popular than ever.

Here’s the real problem.  When someone tries to go outside of the norm, they are criticized and laughed at.  They are even maligned as being clueless.  The establishment is unwilling to let people do what it is they want to do.  If we do what we want anyway, we are accused of any number of foolish reasons why we are doing things differently.

We homeschool our children, therefore, we are religious wackos who will turn out socially awkward hermits.

Donald Trump decides to lay out of the final debate before the Iowa Caucus so he must be afraid of Megyn Kelly.  No mention of the fact that Ronald Reagan did the same thing in 1980.

If I decide college is a rip off and it’s stupid to spend fifteen years paying off $80,000 in student loans, then I will be an uneducated fool who will flip burgers the rest of my life.

Newsflash, we do not need permission.  Keep marching in lockstep if you wish, but the rest of us are going to color outside of the lines and daydream.

Laugh if you must, but I don’t need to show you any stinking badges.

Occasionally, I’m a designer.

On paper that is.  Flyers, brochures, posters and video graphics are things I design once in a while.

Font choice is always one of the most time consuming parts of the job.  There are so many to choose from that you can spend more time than you’d like selecting just the right font for the tone you are trying to set.

One font that gets no respect at all is comic sans.  I’m not sure why it is so disregarded.  Maybe it’s the casual nature.  Maybe it was overused.  But it still has its place.

I wouldn’t use it for the Oscars.  I wouldn’t use it for a five star hotel.  But for a carnival flyer, a children’s book or a comic book, it is totally appropriate.

Why should a perfectly good font be disregarded simply because someone doesn’t think it has a place in the font book?

Sometimes we treat people like comic sans.

 

If you wish to lift a man, it will take praise and not criticism.

We believe that pointing out the flaws and shortcomings of a person will encourage her to do better.  It serves quite the opposite purpose.  It further discourages and saddens the heart.

The reason is that we already know our flaws and shortcomings.  Having them pointed out only teaches us that others are not noticing our contributions, but our mistakes.

Praising the goodness of a man breathes life into the spirit by making him aware that others are seeing his efforts.

It is a sure fire way to make certain he will repeat and go even further.

I’m running the Twin Cities Marathon in October.

There I’ve said it.

Now I have to do it.

Feel free to hold me accountable as to my training, etc.

 

When I was a youth director in Georgia, we attended a youth conference in Louisville, Kentucky.  Part of the event was a day at the theme park, Kentucky Kingdom.

I spent the day with two of our great guys, Luke and Tom.  I still count them as dear friends and love them both very much.  Although, I hold a bit of bitterness toward them for what I am about to tell you.

One of the attractions was a cable swing.  Two or three people would be strapped together in a harness and then drawn a few hundred feet above ground.  They would then pull the release and swing through the air, back and forth, until they came to a stop.

Tom and Luke asked me if I would go on this ride.  I noticed that it was an extra cost of $30 and used that as my excuse for not wanting to do it.  It backfired because they offered to pony up the cash.  I was doomed.

So they have us get in position with this thick trampoline type material wrapping around us like a human burrito.  The attendant put me on the bottom with Luke and Tom on top of me, but side by side each other.  We were like an upside down pyramid.  I’m still not sure why I was put on the bottom.  The attendant said something about being the heaviest, but I think he meant strongest.

Right before we began our ascent, he told us that a loudspeaker would be at the top and a countdown would begin.  When we heard “go” the release was to be pulled.  He then looked at me and said, “You have to pull the release.”

Oh, man.  This was not my day.  I’m going higher in the air than I ever wanted to go, supported only by a single cable, with two monsters on my back.  On top of it all, I have to be the one to pull the cord.

From the peak point, I saw the loudspeaker and the attendant confirmed that we could hear him.  He then began to count down.

When he said, “go”, I just yanked the release cord.  No hesitation, no waiting, just a quick and sure yank.  It was my only option.

Whenever something comes up in my life that I do not want to do, I think about this story.

Nothing good ever comes from waiting to something that you know you need to do.

The best thing and only thing is to just pull the cord.

II Corinthians 10:5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

It has been said that our lives are nothing more than the sum total of our choices.

Since our thoughts dictate our choices, I believe it can then be said that our lives are nothing more than the sum total of our thoughts.

If our lives are determined by our thoughts, we should then protect and direct them accordingly.

That means restraining fools from whispering in our ears, not allowing our own weakness to take over our thoughts and guiding our minds to think on that which is Philippians 4:8.

In Genesis chapter one, we are introduced to God as the Creator of the universe.

He creates light, the sun, moon, stars, fish, fowl, animals, man and woman.

God is a creator.

In the same passage, we are told that God created us in His image.

So the Creator’s creation was created to create.

Am I spending my life creating?

Am I improving the world around me?

Am I making things better?

Am I creating?

Satan is just the opposite.  His purpose is to steal, kill and destroy.  He is the destroyer of that which God creates.

Am I a destroyer?  Destructive?

Do I tear down or build up?

Am I a follower of God or Satan?