Blog Archive

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Wake Up!


I need to keeping Waking Up!

The things I worry about or concerned about at times are so silly. I create superficial and artificial battles and concerns that are so silly and meaningless. Want examples?
  • Money
  • Future for my family
  • My comforts (where we are going to live, groceries to buy and paying basic bills)
  • Parenting my two boys

I do want to be fair to myself in that I have made a ton of progress over the last six years. Because six years ago I was so out to lunch and lost that is was ridiculous. Want examples of what I thought about six years ago?

  • Flying by private aircraft
  • Front row seats only
  • Status and Ego
  • American Express Platinum card
  • 1000 in cash always
  • Gambling on sports
  • Eating out daily at the nicest restaurants
  • Swimming pool was warm and workers mowed the yard
  • Tee time at the country club

Progress has been made but still, I worry about silly things. And then I get the needed WAKE UP when I think about the real battles being fought. Consider:

  • 143 million orphans in the world today
  • 400,000 orphans will die this year because of malnutrition
  • 1.2 million children will be involved in child trafficking
  • 950 million people today are hungry
  • 1 billion people today do not have safe drinking water
  • 50 million of my fellow Americans are depressed and sad (27% of our population)
  • Today, brothers and sisters of mine in Jesus are going to be killed because of their faith
  • Today, a brother in Christ will be beaten so bad he will not be recognizable because he loves Jesus

My lack of a 401(k) is totally meaningless. My concern about paying my bills is so silly. My worry about my comforts is nonsense. My selfish uneasiness about my future and my family's future loses it's importance in comparison to the real battles being fought.

I need to get on with the program and WAKE UP to the real battles and then do something about it. These little issues I worry about need to stop. And then re-direct my efforts and life to helping solve the real battles being waged every day. This is what I have been working very hard on for the last several months. There has been an intense transformation and re-calibration in my soul. I am not sure where Jesus will take me but I know it's going to be a unbelievable ride. Stay tuned in...the story is just started!

Friday, January 14, 2011

What really matters?

I have a new fear about succeeding at things that really don't matter. I think in today's world we are all graded and labeled by society standards. But do most of those things really matter?

And so I am really working on making sure I don't succeed at things that really don't matter.

Things like:
  • Does money really matter?
  • Does status really matter?
  • Does ego stroked things really matter?
  • Does position really matter?
  • Does material things really matter?
  • Does a house or car really matter?

Being a Christian, the Bible speaks clearly on what really matters and it's LOVE. And all the rest really doesn't matter.

How about you? What are you really trying to succeed at? And does it really matter?

Copyright 2008 ChrisTapken.com. All Rights Reserved. Website Design Company: Astonish Designs