Stuck on You

I drive a little Honda Civic that I use to commute to work each day.  It is a used car whose odometer is quickly approaching 200,000 miles.  It is not a glamorous vehicle, by any stretch of the imagination, it gets me from point A to point B, safely and economically.  The front grill fell off of the car on the way to work one day, the headliner has started to sag and fall, and the seats have burn marks in them and the car continues to smell like a smoker's car a full two years after purchasing it. Furthermore, there is a leak around the gasket on the windshield and it rains in the car, wetting the carpet.  This adds a complex musty-mildew smell to the stale cigarette permeated interior.

I noticed the other day that with 10 months left to go until re-inspection, that my vehicle inspection sticker has curled and unpeeled from the windshield.  I've never had that happen before.  I assumed that the humidity from evaporating wet carpet caused this to happen.

Coming Un-glued!

Since I sit at a desk all day long, I try to get as much exercise as I can so I employ several tricks like making it a habit to always stand up and walk around in the office when I'm on the phone.  Another one is that I park in almost the farthest parking spot possible away from the building I work in.  This makes me have to walk a decent distance in the morning and in the afternoon.

As I walked across the parking lot, I noticed, to my surprise, that many people's inspection stickers were peeling off in addition to mine!  What is going on?  Well, Google is your friend and I found the answer in THIS ARTICLE.  It seems that a defective batch of adhesive from the vendor supplying the inspection stickers has caused the paper backing to peel off.  Police Officers won't issue tickets for this unless the sticker is expired.  If the paper completely falls off (as mine has done since I took these pictures), motorists are told to keep the fallen sticker to show officers, if they do get stopped.  

There's good news, though - help is on the way in the form of new improved inspection stickers.  The new inspection stickers have this glitch corrected and upon re-inspection, your old sticker will be replaced by a new, better one.  As I walked to the office, I thought about this.  At the risk of being overly dramatic, I think that peeling sticker is just like me.  Defective. Wanting to peel away from what holds me, but desperately hanging on.  Falling apart before my "expiration date." Help is on the way for our fragile, defective human state as well, if you know the LORD:

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.                   1 Corinthians 15:42-44

Furthermore, there is coming a day, when all will be made new!  All the sorrows, frailty, pain and death will be no more!:

  

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”                       Revelation 21:1-5

Holding on for dear life

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:58

In layman's terms, the Apostle Paul was saying this: "Yes, help is on the way.  Trust Him.  Hold on.  Don't give up.  Stick by Him.  He is Faithful."

The Arena

I'm posting one of my favorite quotes below - one that I used to have printed out and taped to my computer monitor so that I could see it each and every day:

“It's not the critic who counts. It's not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled. Credit belongs to the man who really was in the arena, his face marred by dust, sweat, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs to come short and short again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. It is the man who actually strives to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasm and knows the great devotion, who spends himself on a worthy cause, who at best, knows in the end the triumph of great achievement. And, who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and cruel souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

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Wow!  What a powerful, powerful quote!!!

The world abounds with critics - people who sit back and criticize everything. You've done it and I have too.  Take, for example, the "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" who dissect their team's performance from the game on the previous Saturday or Sunday (guilty as charged!).  Although we may have played football in the past, many of us are not in physical condition to play the game, or do not possess the physical or mental gifts to play the game, or cannot comprehend the incredible work and time commitment goes into playing the game.  And yet we criticize, sometimes making personal attacks.

It is easy to criticize.  It doesn't take any practice, or work, or risk.  That is not to say that all criticism is not justified, quite the contrary.  I think it is the spirit of the criticism that is noteworthy.  If it is constructive criticism meant to offer suggestions to better the person and build them up, then it is crucial, but we should ensure that our motives are right and our delivery is kind and thoughtful.  If the criticism is just meant to tear someone down, we should keep it to ourselves.

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But the main point of President Roosevelt's quote is not addressing the critic, but the participant - the warrior, the person who has risked it all, the person in the arena that is trying valiantly.  I like the way he says that this person may come up short again and again.  In fact, this person may NEVER succeed, BUT at least he tried, he risked, he dared...

Sometimes we plant crops and they don't grow or they are decimated by weather, pests, or disease. Sometimes we raise kids and they make decisions or do things that we wish they wouldn't have done. Sometimes we devote ourselves to some worthy cause, dream, purpose or goal - and we fail.  And we see people who picked up on that same dream and they run with it and succeed.  Why?  Why does this happen? I don't know.

There are some great life lessons in that quote - lessons that encourage you to get out of bed each morning and keep trying, keep dreaming, and keep reaching for your goals.  Get off the couch and get into the arena!

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“It is better to try and to fail than to fail to try and forever experience the inestimable loss of what might have been.”

― -Unknown_