Whether it is in a race or in life it is important to finish strong. We see how examples like terry fox, a man who ran cross country with a prosthetic leg to raise money for cancer research. Another example is Jacob from the Bible, and his story of when he betrayed his brother, but after many years returned to his brother to apologize for what he had done. A final example is how you have certain relationships with people that start off terrible, but over time things get better and it ends well. All these examples point to that fact that finishing strong can be a difficult part of our lives.
One part of finishing strong is doing it on your own. An important thing you need to finish strong on your own is determination. Without determination you will simply lose the strength to continue on, and abandon your goals. You will notice the type of people that seem like they can go all the way at first, but when they arrive at the difficult part of the situation, they seem to lose all their strength and give up; these people lack determination. Another important thing you need to have is the proper physical capabilities. No matter how much determination or dedication someone has, if they cannot physically perform the task, they will not be able to do it. Being physically prepared to encounter hard situations is incredibly important; our physical bodies are what let us interact with the world, to put our ideas and ambitions into actions, which ultimately aid us in finishing strong. A final important thing you need is the proper mental capabilities. Mental capabilities affect many events in life. An example is if you were going for your driver’s test to get your license, if you are not prepared mentally for the exam, you will fail and not receive your license. Another example is if you were taking a class on cooking, but had forgotten your recipes, in this case you would also fail. Without being mentally prepared for challenges, you will lack the knowledge needed in order to complete the presented tasks.
A second part of finishing strong is with the help of another. One of the tasks of getting help from another to finish strong is the sacrifice of your pride. For example, if a man was running a race but could not go any further on his own, and his friend offered to help him finish, that young man would have to sacrifice some of his pride in order to finish strong. Pride is often hard to let go of since it is so deeply rooted in our conscious minds, but it can be a burden when attempting to finish strong. Another one of the tasks is actually having someone who’s willing to help you complete the task. This is more of a preparation task, if you refuse to have interpersonal relationships with people, there will be no one there to help you finish when you need it most. Whether the situations is a lack in physical capabilities or mental capabilities, even with the help of another, as long as you gave it your all it is still considered to be finishing strong. The final and maybe most important task is gratitude. When getting help from someone after being incapable of finishing on your own, gratitude is extremely crucial. For instance, if you are studying for a test but cannot seem to remember one question and no matter what you do you keep forgetting. Then comes along your friend and teaches you a method on how to study efficiently and you ace the test. Without gratitude towards the one that helped you it shouldn’t be considered finishing strong at all, because it would be a selfish act and to most people would not be considered honorable.
The final part of finishing strong is helping someone else finish strong. One of the things to recognize is when to help. This can sometimes be difficult because it’s not always clear if the right thing to do is to help, especially when you don’t know the entire situation. Normally if you have some form of the relationship with that friend, you’ll know when they have reached their limits and need help. Another one of the things to recognize is when not to help. Knowing when not to help is equally as important as knowing when to help. For example, if your friend was attempting to run a race and hurt their leg but could still limp, if you helped him in that situation you might crush his hope and make him feel weak. Another example is if you had a sibling who had an important test coming up, if they spent most of their lives letting others do the work for them, then helping them complete the task will only feed their laziness, and lack of determination.
Finishing strong is an important factor of life no matter which of these methods that were discussed. Many will agree that it is not who you were before you died, but what you accomplished before you died. It does not have anything to do with getting lucky; it has to do with determination, dedication, and completing your goal by giving your best effort in every way. There will always be those who finish strong and those who give up along the way, but no matter which path a person chooses, the rest of the world will always feel the effect of both groups.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Witnessing to rober
Here's a video of an old woman in her 90's, protecting herself from a robber threatening her life. She didn't use any physical force or any kind of "hypnosis" to stop this criminal, but juts her words. She just talked about what she believed in, her Christianity. I wonder what was going through the mind of the criminal when these words came out from her mouth.
What we have here is a robber who is emotionally unstable; he probably needed the money for an urgent situation, basing that assumption that even though he no longer demanded money from her by the end of their conversation, he took it anyway. I think if he wanted to spend his money on whiskey or whatever else that is unnecessary, he would not have accepted her money and the end of their deep conversation. He also had a religious past, probably from his parents and he gave up on the church either for small periods of time and he was suffering from an addiction, or he had given up on the church permanently for his own reasons.
He was a hurting man on the inside, that's why when she starting talking to him about Christianity, of which the main theme is "love", he was deeply interested in what she was saying and forgot about his main objective when he entered the car. He got distracted and was surprised by the word's of this old lady who didn't seem scared at all, she had such confidence that "Jesus" was in that car with her. Painful memories probably rushed back to his head when she said that, and how she said it with such faith.
I still think this criminal should be punished though for threatening this old lady however, if she was not calm like she was, she could have suffered a heart attack or a stroke. Elderly people are extremely sensitive when it comes to high blood temperatures rising quickly due to nervousness, or fear. If he would have frightened her too badly he would have not only been a thief, but a murderer. He should be thankful that this lady has such confidence in her religion that she did not fear death, and was merciful enough to evangelize to him.
Most crimes are committed by people who think they have "no choice" but to do it. They have such an addiction that they cannot control their urges and will find money in the most desperate of situations. He was probably acting impulsively and was thinking "This is the only time I will do this" based on his character from being so easily convinced by an old lady. What a fragile and emotionally hurt mind this man had.
What we have here is a robber who is emotionally unstable; he probably needed the money for an urgent situation, basing that assumption that even though he no longer demanded money from her by the end of their conversation, he took it anyway. I think if he wanted to spend his money on whiskey or whatever else that is unnecessary, he would not have accepted her money and the end of their deep conversation. He also had a religious past, probably from his parents and he gave up on the church either for small periods of time and he was suffering from an addiction, or he had given up on the church permanently for his own reasons.
He was a hurting man on the inside, that's why when she starting talking to him about Christianity, of which the main theme is "love", he was deeply interested in what she was saying and forgot about his main objective when he entered the car. He got distracted and was surprised by the word's of this old lady who didn't seem scared at all, she had such confidence that "Jesus" was in that car with her. Painful memories probably rushed back to his head when she said that, and how she said it with such faith.
I still think this criminal should be punished though for threatening this old lady however, if she was not calm like she was, she could have suffered a heart attack or a stroke. Elderly people are extremely sensitive when it comes to high blood temperatures rising quickly due to nervousness, or fear. If he would have frightened her too badly he would have not only been a thief, but a murderer. He should be thankful that this lady has such confidence in her religion that she did not fear death, and was merciful enough to evangelize to him.
Most crimes are committed by people who think they have "no choice" but to do it. They have such an addiction that they cannot control their urges and will find money in the most desperate of situations. He was probably acting impulsively and was thinking "This is the only time I will do this" based on his character from being so easily convinced by an old lady. What a fragile and emotionally hurt mind this man had.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Blackmail-David Letterman
Blackmail-is it really an effective way to get what you want? Is it worth the price of the pain in can cause to others, and the trouble you can get yourself into? People use other peoples fear to their advantage. Some people are so afraid of other people knowing there "darkest" secrets that they're willing to do anything to keep those secrets from being shared.
There are different views of blackmailing, what’s going on inside the mind of the person black mailing, and what's going on inside the mind of the person being blackmailed. Most of us have been blackmailed at least once in our life, and most of us have at least thought about blackmailing someone, maybe you were in a place of anger and were just acting impulsively. When we see a case of blackmail, we always try to see what has the blackmailer done wrong so that he can be punished, and how greatly is the blackmail victim being affected?
Normally if you've ever thought of blackmailing someone, you were probably being impulsive and were maybe scared, nervous, maybe you were in a deep place of need and couldn't think of any other way to get what you need. You know yourself that you have dark secrets which you don't want anyone else to know, and you use this to point it in the direction of other people's dark secrets, because you know how much it can scare them. Whether you think you're doing something wrong or not, you know it's not natural to manipulate someone in that way, in order to get something from them.
Being the victim of blackmail can be frightening. You have two choices during these situations, you can either meet the blackmailers demands which usually cost you something you don't want to give away, or you can deny their demands and "face the music" when they decide to tell everyone what they threatened you with. Of course there are the cases when the court gets involved and the blackmail victim is saved and there's nothing to worry about. Those situations we rarely experience in real life however, most of the time we're blackmailed with small things that are too small to make a court case about it thus leaving it between the two people to work out.
In the end it comes up to how much you value the secrecy of those "dark things" you don't want anyone to know, are you willing to let people find out in order to stand your ground? Will you be pushed around because of the fear of being found out for what you really are? We all make different decisions, but it' normal to feel afraid about it no matter what decision you choose.
There are different views of blackmailing, what’s going on inside the mind of the person black mailing, and what's going on inside the mind of the person being blackmailed. Most of us have been blackmailed at least once in our life, and most of us have at least thought about blackmailing someone, maybe you were in a place of anger and were just acting impulsively. When we see a case of blackmail, we always try to see what has the blackmailer done wrong so that he can be punished, and how greatly is the blackmail victim being affected?
Normally if you've ever thought of blackmailing someone, you were probably being impulsive and were maybe scared, nervous, maybe you were in a deep place of need and couldn't think of any other way to get what you need. You know yourself that you have dark secrets which you don't want anyone else to know, and you use this to point it in the direction of other people's dark secrets, because you know how much it can scare them. Whether you think you're doing something wrong or not, you know it's not natural to manipulate someone in that way, in order to get something from them.
Being the victim of blackmail can be frightening. You have two choices during these situations, you can either meet the blackmailers demands which usually cost you something you don't want to give away, or you can deny their demands and "face the music" when they decide to tell everyone what they threatened you with. Of course there are the cases when the court gets involved and the blackmail victim is saved and there's nothing to worry about. Those situations we rarely experience in real life however, most of the time we're blackmailed with small things that are too small to make a court case about it thus leaving it between the two people to work out.
In the end it comes up to how much you value the secrecy of those "dark things" you don't want anyone to know, are you willing to let people find out in order to stand your ground? Will you be pushed around because of the fear of being found out for what you really are? We all make different decisions, but it' normal to feel afraid about it no matter what decision you choose.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Forever and ever song
Today's blog shows an interesting video about a song called "forever and ever". Here is what I think about it.
At first it was pretty unclear what the message behind this video was, it seemed a bit random, like it didn't have any relation to the lyrics at all, and was purely meant for entertainment. That is possible however, some music videos are only meant to be entertaining to the eye while you listen to the audio, this could possibly be the case. Perhaps they just made a funny video of the band joking around and decided to put this song to it, but to me that's unlikely.
Seeing as it's a Christian band, if I had to interpret this, I would say the band is saying that their worship music is not greatly appreciated by the world. When they play their music about "God's love" the world will fight back because they do not agree, and try to get rid of them. Despite the world's efforts to put a stop to their music however, the band keeps playing their music because it's what they believe.
I'm not sure what exactly happens when that atom-shaped object appears. Do they get super powers from this object? Anyways, my interpretation for that would be, since they kept on playing their music for God despite the world's efforts to stop them, they were rewarded from strength with something they could not describe. These powers each amplified the strengths of each person, who had their own "calling from God." That's what the different instruments could represent, God's separate callings for his people, we do not all play the same instrument.
Overall it could have been a good video to think about, but I still do not think they made a very good choice for the song, the song has to relate to the video in some way, and in this case it did not really. They should of made a song about continuing to sing their worship music despite the world's opinion on it.
At first it was pretty unclear what the message behind this video was, it seemed a bit random, like it didn't have any relation to the lyrics at all, and was purely meant for entertainment. That is possible however, some music videos are only meant to be entertaining to the eye while you listen to the audio, this could possibly be the case. Perhaps they just made a funny video of the band joking around and decided to put this song to it, but to me that's unlikely.
Seeing as it's a Christian band, if I had to interpret this, I would say the band is saying that their worship music is not greatly appreciated by the world. When they play their music about "God's love" the world will fight back because they do not agree, and try to get rid of them. Despite the world's efforts to put a stop to their music however, the band keeps playing their music because it's what they believe.
I'm not sure what exactly happens when that atom-shaped object appears. Do they get super powers from this object? Anyways, my interpretation for that would be, since they kept on playing their music for God despite the world's efforts to stop them, they were rewarded from strength with something they could not describe. These powers each amplified the strengths of each person, who had their own "calling from God." That's what the different instruments could represent, God's separate callings for his people, we do not all play the same instrument.
Overall it could have been a good video to think about, but I still do not think they made a very good choice for the song, the song has to relate to the video in some way, and in this case it did not really. They should of made a song about continuing to sing their worship music despite the world's opinion on it.
Monday, September 28, 2009
What is love
Today's blog shows a video on the "worlds" view of love from the perspective of a christian. I do agree that a lot of people confuse love with infatuation and lust but I do think there are people who are not Christians who have experienced real love.
Most people get excited when they first meet someone they like, and they get infatuated, they almost "love" them for no reason at all, just because they want to experience love. Some people aren't patient enough to wait for a strong connection of love, and want it right away. They feel the need to be with someone, to have that strong connection that is advertised so much around them. Some people also just don't want to be alone.
One of the other main things that get's confused with love is lust. People can get extremely physically attracted to someone, to the point when they think it's more than just a physical attraction, the only time they find out it's only lust is once they get bored of that person, and want to find someone more physically attractive. People like to be pleased, they'll pay big money just to be pleased. Some people base their entire lives around being pleased. I don't consider physical attributes about a person as important as personality, and mental attributes.
People in today's world want things right away, and they want it fast, they don't want to have to wait. Most of the time whenever I see people "in love" they normally end up fighting and ending their relationship anyways. Without even exaggerating, 50% of marriages I've seen have ended in some way. I think that if someone wants to find love they're going to have to be patient, they're going to have to be committed, they're going to have to work at it, and they're going to have to be able to feel it.
I don't think I've experienced love yet, but I don't doubt that if I find someone and create a bond with them and it grows to the point where I consider them more important that myself, then I'll experience love. Right now I don't really understand love like people say, or even some other emotions people talk about, but I'm sure one day I'll understand.
Most people get excited when they first meet someone they like, and they get infatuated, they almost "love" them for no reason at all, just because they want to experience love. Some people aren't patient enough to wait for a strong connection of love, and want it right away. They feel the need to be with someone, to have that strong connection that is advertised so much around them. Some people also just don't want to be alone.
One of the other main things that get's confused with love is lust. People can get extremely physically attracted to someone, to the point when they think it's more than just a physical attraction, the only time they find out it's only lust is once they get bored of that person, and want to find someone more physically attractive. People like to be pleased, they'll pay big money just to be pleased. Some people base their entire lives around being pleased. I don't consider physical attributes about a person as important as personality, and mental attributes.
People in today's world want things right away, and they want it fast, they don't want to have to wait. Most of the time whenever I see people "in love" they normally end up fighting and ending their relationship anyways. Without even exaggerating, 50% of marriages I've seen have ended in some way. I think that if someone wants to find love they're going to have to be patient, they're going to have to be committed, they're going to have to work at it, and they're going to have to be able to feel it.
I don't think I've experienced love yet, but I don't doubt that if I find someone and create a bond with them and it grows to the point where I consider them more important that myself, then I'll experience love. Right now I don't really understand love like people say, or even some other emotions people talk about, but I'm sure one day I'll understand.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Marshmallow
Today's blog shows a video of kids being given a marshmallow and they are tempted to eat it, but they are told if they wait for a certain period of time, they will be rewarded another marshmallow. This has a few christian principles behind it, the main one I see is the idea of temptation, and how you'll be rewarded if you resist it, instead of giving into it. Some of the kid's waited, some tried to compromise and "play" around with the marshmallows, one of the actually just ate the marshmallow right away.
Those who waited got their second marshmallow, just as the bible say's that those who follow God's commands, be patient for the fulfillment of his promises, and stay faithful. They looked satisfied with their marshmallows. Those who nibbled at them, are like the Christians who tried to make deals with God, instead of jut following what he said, and most of the kid's actually did that. Then there are those that are not patient for the fulfillment of promises, and just "eat the marshmallow" right away instead of waiting for a second one.
Personally I wouldn't of ate the marshmallow at all, there not in my list of liked foods. If I was being tested on patience, it would actually depend on what I was holding on the line, and what I would be given for waiting. I would have to compare them and analyze the situation, some things juts aren't worth waiting for to me, while others I would wait a long time for. If I was going to eat the marshmallow or wait 10 minutes for another one, I would eat it right away, 10 minutes of waiting for another marshmallow is too much time for me, I could be out of there in 30seconds and have had one marshmallow. Instead of waiting for 10 minutes, but then again it depends on how "marshmallow" is interpreted into you on a personal level.
Those who waited got their second marshmallow, just as the bible say's that those who follow God's commands, be patient for the fulfillment of his promises, and stay faithful. They looked satisfied with their marshmallows. Those who nibbled at them, are like the Christians who tried to make deals with God, instead of jut following what he said, and most of the kid's actually did that. Then there are those that are not patient for the fulfillment of promises, and just "eat the marshmallow" right away instead of waiting for a second one.
Personally I wouldn't of ate the marshmallow at all, there not in my list of liked foods. If I was being tested on patience, it would actually depend on what I was holding on the line, and what I would be given for waiting. I would have to compare them and analyze the situation, some things juts aren't worth waiting for to me, while others I would wait a long time for. If I was going to eat the marshmallow or wait 10 minutes for another one, I would eat it right away, 10 minutes of waiting for another marshmallow is too much time for me, I could be out of there in 30seconds and have had one marshmallow. Instead of waiting for 10 minutes, but then again it depends on how "marshmallow" is interpreted into you on a personal level.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Love video
Today's blog is a video on love from a Christians perspective. I agree with him for the most part of the video. I believe love is priceless, and that it's getting to the point where you would lay down your life for someone. When he starts saying laying down your life for your enemies however, it's a different idea of love from what I'm thinking. He's looking at it from more of a you showing love to everyone, when I'm thinking of aiming love at certain people.
I find if you love someone, or someone loves you it means more because they don't just love everyone, it makes you unique out of everyone else, makes you feel wanted. I would definitely not love an enemy of love, much less lay down my life for them. If I love someone it's because they deserve it, and its not just a thing I would say about anyone, it's extremely rare for me. Though I don't revolve my life around love, I do consider it to be important.
Like I said before he was looking at it from more of a point of view like, "This is what BEING love is". Since God is love, then people who believe in him should act the same, which is why I understand where he's coming from. I'm sure every christian want's to be his best for God, being Christlike. Being Christlike involves loving everyone, even if they despise you.
I find if you love someone, or someone loves you it means more because they don't just love everyone, it makes you unique out of everyone else, makes you feel wanted. I would definitely not love an enemy of love, much less lay down my life for them. If I love someone it's because they deserve it, and its not just a thing I would say about anyone, it's extremely rare for me. Though I don't revolve my life around love, I do consider it to be important.
Like I said before he was looking at it from more of a point of view like, "This is what BEING love is". Since God is love, then people who believe in him should act the same, which is why I understand where he's coming from. I'm sure every christian want's to be his best for God, being Christlike. Being Christlike involves loving everyone, even if they despise you.
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