Archive for December, 2008

Articles

>My life guiding principles

In family,principles,Theology on December 31, 2008 by mstevensrev

>Okay one more thing here.  In 2008 I worked on my life principles.  Still am working through the goals part, but at least I have these buckets to help guide me:

1. Not afraid of hard or messy work.
Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.
(this is also my “life verse”, with the ox you get crops but also a shitty barn)

2. Relationships are key to life, honor them.

Galatians 5:14
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Luke 10:25-28
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

3. The greatest opportunity I have for blessing from God is through my children.

Proverbs 20:7
The righteous who walks in his integrity—
blessed are his children after him!

Acts 2:39
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

4. A generous life is a rich one.

Psalm 112:1-5
Praise the Lord!
 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
His offspring will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.

Mark 12:41-44
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.  43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

1 Timothy 6:18-19
18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Mark 14:3-9
And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”


Articles

>One story to end ’08

In family,Technology on December 31, 2008 by mstevensrev

>This year was wacked.  Not sure how to even begin to describe it to those of you who were not along for the ride, some of you know, and I might have time to put together a list of some of the events, but it will take some thought so I want to tell a heart-warming tale to end 2008.

Christmas day I convince Karin for our family to get a wii.  Doesn’t sound like a big deal for most, but for us it really is.  We are saving, pinching pennies, the budget rules us and was feeling like a prison.  So it was a big deal and thanks to it being a gift from family it made us feel good.  Little did we know that there aren’t any in stock anywhere.  We call Bestbuy on the 26th, the person lied and said they had them, and then wasted a trip there only to be disappointed.
So I twittered on it.  Then I began searching wiiripofflist, errr  craiglist to see what was there, made a few calls, but none of the leads seemed good.  So we waited.  Then I get an email from an account manager for a very large localization company who I compete with out at Microsoft, though there is not much competition since his companies does lots more business than us.  He email and texted me that he had an extra wii.  This whole waiting time I had been hoping for a used one because frankly full price seemed silly and I didn’t want to add one more to the waste pile in a few years.  He had a system which he gave me a very reasonable price on!  We have been having a blast the last two days playing!  My daughter is amazing at bowling and has been kicking our butts!
A few lessons for me from 2008, some related to this and other events:
1.  People matter, not just a little bit, the are the most valuable thing in your life (after God) and you  need to treat them that way.  It does not matter who they are.  Yes, family get special treatment and spouses even more special, but these relationships are what we are given and God cares about what we do with them.  I hope to treat people better next year.
2.  Technology is cool and even cooler when it brings people together.  We are just making baby steps about how technology can bring people together.  The Social Web is nice, but it is worse than baby talk right now.  I am excited about how we will be brought together as we move into the future.  Twitter, blogs, facebook, wii, iPhone are all neat technologies but just the beginning.  Not only do I want to continue to take advantage of these, I’d like to drive the creation of a cool one myself.
3.  Be true.  Nothing causes more trouble than lies.  I make stupid decisions, I need to own them.  I try to cover my own butt, I need to stop it only makes things worse.  I get angry, listening and patience go a lot further than a raised voice.  People eventually learn to deal with the truth, and in the long run it is best for everyone!

Articles

>Reminds me of Thomas Jefferson’s view of the newspaper…

In Uncategorized on December 18, 2008 by mstevensrev

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Articles

>My daughter taught me…

In family,Theology on December 16, 2008 by mstevensrev

>Tonight while playing with my one year old I learned.  I was sitting on the ground, as she would get up I would grab her and hug her.  After two times I quit grabbing her, instead of running away at full speed she would actually walk backward and fall on me.  The fun for her was not the play of running away but rather falling into her father’s arms.  

Maybe that is what sanctification looks like.  Instead of the fun we think we are having running away and being grabbed by the Father, perhaps we need to find out if when God let’s us go, falling back into his arms is the way to go?  Just something I learned.

Articles

>Amazing quote

In faith,quote on December 12, 2008 by mstevensrev

>”Justice is what love looks like in public.” – Cornel West

Articles

>In route to SFO Office

In Uncategorized on December 9, 2008 by mstevensrev

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