Christian in the Rough

How do you know when you’re blessed?

by Larry Hehn on January 25, 2012

I used the word “blessed” in my last post, and it’s been bothering me ever since.

Because I think I did a disservice to the word.

When I hear someone described as “blessed” I instinctively think that everything is going that person’s way, that they are a “winner” in the eyes of the world. Two thumbs up.

But is that really what it means to be blessed?

Well, I checked the Amplified Bible and here’s what it said blessed means…

“spiritually prosperous”

“with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions”

Did you catch that too?

Regardless of your outward conditions.

While the world may look at your outward conditions and judge you a “loser” by its standards, you still just might be blessed. How the world measures blessing and how God measures blessing don’t always match.

Being blessed is about our attitude, not our circumstances.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”

- Matthew 5:3-12 The Message

How do you know when you’re blessed?

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Two Tickets To…

by Larry Hehn on January 23, 2012

Have you ever had a stretch where you just feel unusually blessed?

I’ve been going through one of those lately.

Last Saturday night my employer held a party for employees and their guests, with hundreds in attendance. One of the door prizes was two round trip tickets to anywhere in North America that Air Canada flies.

I was very surprised to hear them call my name as the winner!

Right away people started asking, “Where will you go?”

And after thinking about it for a while, we’ll likely be using one of those tickets to send my wife to visit her sister in the spring, and the other to bring my daughter home for a week in the summer.

Neither one of those trips were part of our budget this year. I’m so grateful that we now have that opportunity!

Though the tickets presented all sorts of vacation possibilities for my wife and me to enjoy as a couple, we couldn’t pass up the chance to connect with family.

If you won two round trip airplane tickets to anywhere in North America, how would you use them?

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Resolution Check

by Larry Hehn on January 18, 2012

My friend Mano Watsa is not an average basketball player.

He was a four-time OUA Conference All-Star, two-time All-Canadian point guard, and captain for the University of Waterloo.

In 1999 he toured with the USA Athletes In Action team, was awarded the National TSN Award for combining excellence in athletics, academics and community involvement, and was named University of Waterloo Male Athlete of the Year.

Mano is not a big man. He only stands 5’10″, yet he has a vertical of 42 inches.

Was he born with a tremendous ability to jump? Hardly.

Mano explains, “In grade 9 I could not touch the mesh. In grade 12 I could not touch the rim. But, I was determined to dunk!”

He developed a series of exercises to improve his agility. In his usual giving fashion, Mano has posted the Above the Rim jump program on his website so others may benefit. You can find it at www.morethanhoops.com.

Before you start the Above the Rim program, you are asked to measure and record your current jumping ability. Once you start applying the program, you are asked to measure your progress every three months.

Wait a minute…every three months?

Yes, in this age of instant oatmeal, instant coffee, instant cameras, instant weight loss and instant oil changes, some things still take time.

We’ve all made some worthy New Year’s resolutions over the years. But how often have we made achieving them impossible by forgetting where we are starting from, and by attaching unrealistic timelines to them? How often have we grown discouraged and dropped our resolutions altogether?

This year, be sure to give yourself a reasonable time frame to achieve those resolutions. Mano couldn’t touch the mesh in grade 9. He couldn’t touch the rim in grade 12. But today, he can dunk with the best of them.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. – Ecclesiastes 7:8

How high can you jump?

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But I Call It Pruning…

by Larry Hehn on January 17, 2012

Through my late teens and early twenties, one of my favorite comedians was Barry Kennedy. These days, Barry is host of Out in the Cold on Discovery Channel in Canada - kind of a frozen version of Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs.

I used to watch Barry perform quite regularly at a local pub. I don’t think any one person has ever made me laugh so much. In one of his routines, he talked about how having a few beers made him say stupid stuff. But he figured that it was nature’s way of getting the dumb stuff out of his head to make room for more smart stuff.

He referred to that process as “pruning”.

Well, with a tip of the hat to Barry, and skipping the beer part, I’ve decided to empty some thoughts that have been cluttering my head into this post, with the hopes of making room for some more smart stuff down the road.

I hope you enjoy these random bits of…well, randomness.

And hey, you are welcome to do your own pruning right here. Leave some of your random thoughts in the comment section below!

A-pruning we will go…

Milk-Bone dog biscuits do not taste like meat. Yes, that’s the voice of experience talking.
Wayne Gretzky and I are exactly the same size – 6’0″, 190 lbs. I wonder if he has any clothes I can borrow.
Have you ever caught yourself wondering what Arsenio Hall is doing these days? Yeah, neither have I.
When I found out that Lady Gaga referred to her fans as her “Little Monsters”, I thought it would be cool to refer to Christian in the Rough fans as “Rough-ians”. But when I explained the idea to my wife, she looked at me like I had just hatched out of a giant plastic egg or something.
My favorite word is “phlegm”. I just like the way it’s spelled. That’s all.
It’s said that arsenic tastes like almonds. How exactly did they talk someone into making that determination?
I think most of those guys who wear knee-high socks with sandals actually know that it’s a fashion faux pas, and are just doing it for the attention.
Why does my dentist always ask me whether or not I floss? Do my bleeding gums not give it away?
If I had to choose my favorite grain, it would definitely be rice.
Notice I didn’t use a “U” in favorite. I am Canadian, but I use American spelling. Unless I’m playing Scrabble. Then I’ll tuck in an extra “U” if it means more points.
My wife rocks.

What random thoughts would you like to share?

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Daily Bread

by Larry Hehn on January 15, 2012

Give us today our daily bread. – Matthew 6:11

Have you ever had a familiar verse or idea suddenly jump out of nowhere and strike you in a different way?

I’m the bread guy in our house. Regular sandwich bread, cinnamon raisin bread, even special seasoned bread for stuffing the Christmas and Thanksgiving turkeys. I make them all.

I am one with my bread machine.

A few days ago, while measuring ingredients for a new loaf, the words DAILY BREAD smacked me upside the head and wouldn’t let me go.

When words or phrases hit me like that, I know that God’s trying to tell me something.

But what was this about?

Jesus told us to ask God for ”our daily bread” when he taught us the Lord’s prayer. But did I really grasp what he meant by that?

Turns out it’s about more than just asking God for something to eat. Daily bread means:

1. We’re supposed to be in conversation with God every day. Not just once a week. Not just when it’s convenient. Not just when times are hard. Not just when our team is down by two points with less than three minutes on the clock. Every day. Give us today our daily bread.

2. We’re supposed to ask God (and count on him) to provide our needs. Not our desires. Our needs. Back then, bread was simple sustenance. They had cinnamon and raisins back in Biblical times, but apparently nobody thought about putting them in bread until Henry David Thoreau did it back in the 1800s. Thank you, Henry. Better late than never. Give us today our daily bread.

3. We’re supposed to focus on today. Scripture says not to dwell on the past (Isaiah 43:18) or to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34). God, please help me to live one day at a time. Give us today our daily bread.

“Two things I ask of you, LORD; do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. – Proverbs 30:7-9

What does “daily bread” mean to you?

What’s your favorite kind of bread?

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