Welcome to the February 28th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story of My Week
This week was about intense focus to try and push myself to the finish line of a goal I had set for myself.
It's interesting how the last 6 - 7 weeks have evolved for me.
Aside from the goals I was pushing for at the office, I also had some personal goals I was pushing for.
This week, I had to push myself beyond my normal limits to get me closer to the finish line.
In the process of doing that, I am discovering more about what makes me tick.
One of the goals I am pushing is to run 5km by the end of March. To do that, I am using the app "Couch-2-5k".
The app is meant to get me there over 9 weeks in small steps.
This week was a bit intense as I had to run 3 different run sequences over 5 days.
I discovered that hearing the voice on the app tells me that "you have 4 minutes more to run" or "you have 60 seconds more" was a bit of a nuisance to me.
The better motivator for me to keep running and not stop is to look at a landmark and imagine that was my endpoint.
The picture of the landmark in front of me kept me running more than the voice telling me how much time I had left to run.
This is one of the goals I was chasing this week.
In both goals, I am learning more about myself - how I think and how I work best to achieve the targets I set.
I guess the biggest thing is not really about meeting the goals but more about learning how I can make myself better at becoming better.
Things I Learnt
1- Don't Be Afraid to ask to Learn: One of the things I had planned out for the new week was a discipleship program I was going to launch.
I had almost every ready to run with. But a little voice inside my head told me to share it with a friend.
I did that and she skillfully was able to put some holes in my masterplan.
Let's just say, she had the experience of doing something similar in the past without taking some of the steps she recommended for me and it failed woefully.
I learned from her experience. Her "no" was from a place of evaluated experience.
Sometimes, the people that tell you not to run off with your big idea may be giving the best advice.
It reminds me of what David Novak, former Chief Operating Officer at PepsiCo, once said. He is credited with the invention of Crystal Pepsi, a clear cola introduced in 1992.
While it didn't succeed in the marketplace, Novak stated that he learned a valuable lesson from that failure: even though every project had naysayers that would tell him something couldn't be done, "sometimes the naysayers have a point."
And she had a huge point.
It's back to the drawing board for me
2-Stories Teach Faster: One of the things we used to enjoy as kids when the electricity went out (it was a pretty common thing at that time) is that we would all sit outside the house under the skies and someone would tell stories.
It was usually the older ones that did that. Some of the stories would have songs that we would all sing along to.
But the end game of these stories would be a moral lesson that is taught. And this practice got canonized on television with shows like "Tales by Moonlight" on our national television.
I may have grown older but I still love the power of stories as a tool of better communication.
I was listening to a friend of mine been interviewed during the week. Someone sent in a question "does God punish you for your sin after you have been forgiven"
She answered as best as she could. But I realized that something was missing. She could have explained better with a story.
Afterward, I came up with a story and sent it to her - I figured that's a question she would still answer sometime in the future.
I'll share the story below - in case you might find a use for it.
"Let me share an analogy which you might find helpful to explain the question on if God punishes people for their sins after Jesus paid it.
The analogy is that of two robbers who went to rob a bank. During their escape, one of them was injured but they were both caught.
During the trial, they were found guilty and the sentence was imprisonment. Someone steps to do the time for both of them - meaning that in the eyes of the law, the guilty person is now the guy who decides to serve their term.
The judge allows it and sets both of them free to go.
Both of them are free but one of them got injured earlier. Even though he is a free man now and can't be held for the crime of bank robbery, he will still have to nurse the injury he sustained while trying to escape. On the other hand, the other guy who was not injured just walks on - happy that he is free.
Both of them got the same thing and in both cases, the judge is not punishing them.
it turns out that the Judge is a very kind-hearted fellow who knows about medical practice, he now goes out of the court to meet the injured-now-free-bank-robber and treats his wounds.
I think this analogy might help communicate that the injury suffered is not punishment for the bank robbery but a carry-over from the bank robbery which the judge is also helping to nurse to health.
God is the judge and Jesus took their place. God is not punishing them because Jesus serves their time. God will be there to help heal the hurt
Postscript
May you always be comforted by the knowledge that Jesus lives to represent you in front of God and nothing you do will separate you from Him as long as you return is humble repentance. Amen
Tata
Tola
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