"Don't worry, honey. The book says it's healthy for Junior to express his anger. Besides, he's almost out of ammo."
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We’re already one month into the new year, and it’s time once again for Posts with the Most!
Here we celebrate some of our favorite posts from around the blogosphere that were published in January 2012.
We have an unusually short list this month, so I’m counting on you to join in the fun. In the comments section, be sure to let us know what your favorite post was from the past month.
You’re welcome to give a shameless plug not just for posts you’ve read, but ones you’ve written as well!
In chronological order, here are my top five picks for January 2012:
- Be afraid. – Jamie the Very Worst Missionary had a very interesting start to her new year. It led to a very insightful talk with God.
- Billy Coffey versus the vending machine - In the battle of Billy versus vending machine, the readers win.
- Smart Phones – Newcomer to PWTM, The Joseph Craven of The Greatest Blog of All Time enlightens us with the history of telecommunication in a most excellent Bill-and-Ted kind of way.
- Marriage tip #3: Stop playing house – I like the way Brad Huebert sees his wife. We should all see our spouses that way.
- I’m ready for my close up. – Jamie the Very Worst Missionary strikes again. If you’re all about keeping up appearances, you may not want to read this. But read it anyway.
What were your favorite posts from January 2012?
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Growing up in the 1970′s in Canada, one of my favorite TV shows was The Friendly Giant. It was a staple among Canadian children’s TV programs from 1958 to 1985.
Mostly ad libbed, each show revolved around the interactions between a giant named Friendly (played by Bob Homme), and two puppets – a rooster named Rusty who lived in a book bag that hung on the wall, and an orange and purple giraffe named Jerome.
Yes, you read that correctly.
I’m not sure how they initially pitched that idea to the network, or who decided that such an unusual premise would work.
But it worked anyway.
Sometimes the most unlikely people and situations just click, and special things happen.
Who is your most unlikely or unusual friend?
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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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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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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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