I found myself in an interesting (but not unusual) situation this morning. I needed some clean pants. So I started my laundry, and now I’m waiting in my pajamas for the dryer to finish. I would never go outside without jeans, a shirt, and everything I needed for the day. But how often have I walked outside without spiritual clothes on?
It’s a rather humbling and even possibly humiliating question. I’ve walked outside several times with the confidence that I could do everything I needed to do that day, but I haven’t put on my spiritual clothes for the day. If something bad happens, I’m very likely to stop everything and curl up in a ball until the problem goes away. Or I’ll run from it and hope that it can’t catch me. But I don’t have to do that. I can renew my mind in God’s word everyday and know that God has the answer even if I don’t. (YAY! CHRISTIANESE ANSWER!!)
Here’s what it actually boils down to. If my mind is focused on my ability to do a task, I might get the job done. Or I might not. But if I am focused throughout the day on the ability of my God, I’m much more likely to turn to Him. If I can do a task in my own power, then I typically will so I don’t “b0ther” God. If I take this attitude, then God doesn’t get any glory. I think “Haha! I did this myself. I don’t need God,” which is a completely untrue statement. Jesus is the reason that I am typing this and that you are reading it. If you don’t believe me, go check out Genesis 1. Or maybe Acts 17 if you don’t believe in the Old Testament. For those hard cases, go look at Colossians 1. Paul is pretty clear.
At the end of the day, we as Christians absolutely have to renew our minds in God’s word. We have to fellowship with Him. If we don’t, then we won’t have the ability we need to do things. If we can do things, we won’t have fulfillment from doing those things. Now, I’m not giving you a specific time to set aside everything and be with God, just that it needs to be done. Nor am I just looking at readerland, because you have everything together. This blog post is just as much pointed at me as it is directed at that one guy in the back of readerland.
In conclusion, don’t forget to put on your spiritual pants. You just might look silly otherwise. Until next time, flip out like a ninja!
As a normal, human writer, I have made several meals of writer’s block cereal. So I can say with absolute certainty that this is a terrible cereal. There aren’t any prizes in the bottom of the box, there’s no inner fulfillment from eating it, and there is most definitely not a reader who likes reading the alphabet soup that this cereal becomes. Of course, all you other human-y types want to know I beat it. How I changed from writer’s block to inspired cereal (now with marshmallows and a treat inside). Well, it’s not that easy. When you go to the store, you will be tempted to pick up the same old cereal that you’ve been crunching on for however long. But you can’t do that, which is one of the tips I’m about to share with you.
1. Recognize that writer’s block does exist.
Some people just want to ignore writer’s block and hope that it goes away. Unless you’re a brilliant author like Lewis, Tolkien, or whatever author you idolize, you are going to be stuck for ideas. Sometimes your ideas will run out in the middle of a blog…
2. Go do something different.
A few years ago, I remember glancing through this book on how to draw. The primary focus of the book was learning how to draw with a pencil. However, the author also suggested that you draw with charcoal, or paint with a brush. He referred to this process as a “mental bran muffin.” Sometimes the creative juices get stuck, and they need a little help getting unstuck. If that is the case, go do something different. You can try out a new skill, like juggling or standing on your head. Break up your routine in such a way that you do something different. This will give you a slightly different perspective on the world, which is often all you need.
2.5 Write about something different.
If you are not currently writing about them, write about fluffy unicorns and how they were all destroyed by the ninja clans. If you are writing about fluffy unicorns, write about how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were suddenly allergic to all forms of pizza. The list of things to write about is simply endless. If you don’t know enough about a topic (like fluffy unicorns) either do some research or make up your own rules. Maybe your unicorns have a tendency to stab frost giants in their big toe, and run away chortling madly. The point is, you can’t get stuck in a rut when there is literally a world of possibilities to write about.
3. Bounce ideas off your family/friends
One of the greatest literary group of minds in the recent past was the Inklings. This famous group of writers included but was not limited to: J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Agatha Christie. They met together frequently to discuss ideas for their books and just to fellowship with other people who were similar to them. Now, you may not have writer friends, but your friends are definitely creative. They may not know that elves are limited to bows and arrows, and come up with the idea that elves should be short-tempered, laser-gun wielding guitarists from Mars. Some of the greatest stories have been told because people broke the traditional rules of what was and was not supposed to happen.
In conclusion, if you want to break the writer’s block feeling in your stomach, you have to make an effort. You can’t just sit around in your rut and feel sorry for yourself. If you do, you might get hit by inspiration, but it’ll probably pass you by. Until next time, be creative, do something different, and flip out like a ninja.
I’ve recently been looking at a job over the summer. But it’s not just any job. It’ll be a cat-herding, ninja training adventure of amazing proportion. The only catch? I have to serve. But, “knowledge ninja,” you say, “Aren’t you already wonderful and amazing at serving others?” Serving is great, but it’s not always that easy. That’s why I’m chewing over this before I get started.
Service is great. It gives us a warm, fuzzy feeling. It gives us something to do. We might even get paid for it. But why do we serve? From what I’ve seen, it pretty much boils down to four reasons. I’ll let you (in the all-wise, all-knowing readerland) decide which one is the best.
1. We serve because Jesus said to.
That’s great. You do something because the boss-man told you to. Sweet. You’re on the road to heaven now. Or are you? If you just serve because it’s your Christian duty, you’re doing it wrong. Take the Pharisees for example. Jesus described them as traveling hundreds of miles just to get one convert. That’s serving someone by telling them about God. WOO! But Jesus then said the Pharisee made the new convert as much “a child of Hell as yourself.” (Matthew 23:15, ANV) Hold on, so Jesus doesn’t want you telling other people about Him? No, that’s not what I said at all. It’s about the attitude that you take with you to get that convert. Moving right along…
2. We serve so we can be leaders.
There’s a great emphasis on the concept of servant-leaders at my college. That’s really good. But if you’re just serving so people will look at you and marvel at your servitude, you’re doing it wrong. If you serve so you can be in charge next time, you’re doing it wrong. In that case, you’re just using the people who you are serving to get ahead in life. I’ve been guilty of this too. I’ll go around doing stuff for people, just so important people will notice. And when the important people are gone, so am I. That’s why it’s important to look at your motives for service, even when you’re in the middle of it.
3. We serve because we love Jesus.
This one kinda goes back to the first point. It’s not so much that we love the people around us. It’s that we want celestial brownie points, and service is the easiest and most obvious way to get them. Especially here on this earth, which seems somewhat contradictory to me. I mean, we serve, but we want people to look at us while we do it. Or we want Jesus to bless us here and now. Either way, we love Jesus, and we want everyone else to know that we love Jesus, because then people will congratulate us on how well we serve.
4. We serve because we love other people
This is it. This is the reason. If you’re going to witness to someone, like in the first reason for service, this is why you do it. If you want a good reason, this is it. Service isn’t going to get you to heaven. It’s not. There are several places in the Bible where this comes out, but let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. Go look at it. Shoo. I’ll be here when you get back. In the Authorized Ninja Version, it says “You can do all these amazing things, you can serve, you can teach, you can be a super-Christian. But if you don’t have love, you’re just making a lot of annoying noises.” If you serve with God’s love in your heart, then you’re representing God to the people you’re serving to. That’s a humbling thought. When we serve, we’re showing everyone around us what God looks like. So the question is not “Why are you serving?” but instead “What does your God look like?”
Here’s the good news though. You don’t have to be serving for reasons 1-3. You can take your service to God and say “God, this is yours. I’m gonna do the best I can because I’m showing the world that you exist, and that I love you.” I’m not gonna promise that your service will immediately get a million times better, but at least you’ll be doing it for the reason. You’ll be serving not only because the boss said so, but because you actually care about the people who are in need. If you actually care and love the people you serve, you’ll be willing to give more of yourself. Until next time, serve well, and flip out like a ninja!
I recently became a fully-fledged ninja. At this stage, I thought I had learned everything that I needed to know. Defeating other ninja? Peace of cake. Teaching little ninja-lings? I’ll even add in several clever visual metaphors so they’ll learn more. But I was thinking about it the other day, and I still need to be teachable. Here’s some reasons why.
#1 I don’t really know much. Yes, I’m a fully fledged ninja of awesomeness, but my knowledge is limited at best. There are several other ninja who have gone before who I can learn from. There are even those today who are saying something valuable. Even if I have heard what everyone has said a million times, and “know it”, unless I apply it in my life, that knowledge does me absolutely no good. For example, I’m in a narrowed and specified study about ways to be a better ninja. I’ve heard everything in this class a million times. But I wasn’t doing these things, much less thinking about them.
#2 Being teachable keeps you humble Humility is usually a good thing, unless it’s pride disguised as humility. If you’re not humble as a ninja, you are probably going to get killed. Yes, I’m aware that I’m stretching the whole ninja thing a bit far, but bear with me. Let’s say you’re a teacher. If you aren’t humble and willing to learn from those who have been doing this longer than you have, your students will suffer for it. I can remember asking one of my teachers something and he replied “I don’t know.” But the follow-up was, “I’ll find out.” This guy has been teaching for over 20 years. He could have just brushed my question aside, but he didn’t. He stayed humble, and both of us were able to learn more about that subject. Learning happened! For this guy who is clearly an expert.
#3 Someone else out there may be right. Whoa! The idea that another ninja or even a pirate somewhere could be right where I’m wrong. If I don’t learn from those who disagree with me, how in the world can I keep learning? I hate to break it to you, but there will be someone somewhere who disagrees at some point with what you say. It’s just the simple fact of being human, we each have our different opinions. But if we can emulate the good part of what someone else believes, then both parties will improve. For example, I disagree with certain religious groups. But I envy their supreme dedication to their faith, and I wish I could be that dedicated to my own faith. I laud (yes, that’s my word of the day) their kindness and generosity, but I still think that they are wrong. Should my belief that they’re wrong stop me from copying their kindness, their dedication, or their generosity? Definitely not. It just means that while I am taking the good things, I can explain why I disagree with them.
For that one non-Christian reader in the background (yes, I see you back there making faces), Christians do not always act on the truth that they’ve been given. Unfortunately, there are some non-Christians out there who behave better than we do. It’s a sad fact. To everyone else in the room though, let’s go out and do what Jesus told us to do. Let’s be good people, not because that is what will save us, but because that’s what Jesus told us to do. Let’s share God’s love with those who surround us, not because we’re better than them, but because we want to share something amazing with them.
In conclusion, and with not a ranting moment to spare, stay teachable. Learn from those around you. Even if you disagree with them, find out why, and find out if they hold any truths that you could be working on. Until next time, flip out like a ninja!
The innkeeper glanced at James’ face. He turned to the crowd and bellowed.
“If I toss this man out, will that satisfy you?” James whirled on him, but he continued. “There doesn’t need to be any unpleasantness in here.” The crowd seemed appeased by his offer and slowly backed away. The innkeeper strode over and murmured in James’ ear. Dagmere glanced at the two men between her and the crowd. She could hardly believe her eyes as James’ shoulders relaxed. He turned, grabbed his wife by the hand, and they climbed the stairs to their room in silence. Dagmere busied herself by packing her things into one of the two small sacks they possessed. Wordlessly, James did the same with his sack. After she had finished, she followed her husband into the Common Room and felt the stares of the crowd hit her. James noticed her discomfort, and began to glare at the old man who had turned the crowd against them. They walked out, and James immediately grabbed his wife’s hand.
“You ready?” he asked with a mischievous grin on his face. Suddenly, Dagmere heard a disturbance behind them. James dashed forward, shouting “Time to go!” Dagmere craned her neck around to see angry villagers starting to follow them out. They were led by the old man, whose hair was blazing cheerily. Dagmere felt James hug her tightly as her feet left the ground. The crowd started to shrink, but not before some of the angrier villagers could fling mud at the couple. They flew until the sun was starting to sink below the horizon.
As soon as they landed, James started to laugh again and Dagmere slapped his chest.
“What were you thinking? Now we can never go back there, and I’ve got mud all over me.” James grew serious.
“No one calls my wife a thief, especially when something’s been taken from her.” He grinned again. “And you’ve gotta admit, he did look pretty funny with his hair on fire. I’ve gotta wonder why he didn’t put the fire out though.” He continued as Dagmere gave him a quizzical look. “That old man was a firebreather. I could feel him raising the temperature in there. It felt like a furnace.” Dagmere considered this, and then pointed at a mud stain with mock anger.
“I think I saw a small pond nearby as we touched down.” James laughed. They made camp beside the pond, which was cool and refreshing. As the embers began to die, James started to braid Dagmere’s hair in a braid she had taught him.
“Do you remember that night when I came back?” he murmured into her ear. She leaned back against him, drew in a deep breath, and whispered “Yes.” James continued to braid as he talked.
“I was just thinking about how different life has been since then. How much has changed…”
“Like you.” She tilted her head back and smiled at him. He smiled back and said, “I remember the first time I spoke to you after that. My heart was pounding.”
“And now it doesn’t?” she teased.
“It does. But it’s different now. Now when I look into your eyes, I know my heart is pounding, but I also know that yours is too.”
“As long as we’re even.” Dagmere turned slightly and leaned on James’ chest again. She listened for a moment, then asked softly, “Have I ever made your heart stop?”
“Twice. The first time was when I offered you my dragon scale and asked you to marry me.”
“And the second?”
“The day I asked you if you would go on adventure with me.” James leaned around and kissed her.
“What would you have done if I’d said ‘No.’?”
“I would stilil have gone. It would have torn me apart, leaving you behind, but I would have gone. I’m glad you decided to come with me though.” He kissed her again.
“You need someone to help you not be lonely. It’s not good for you to travel alone.” As she said this, James finished the braid.
It has been a hectic several weeks since I last spoke to you. Ninja training got really challenging, and I haven’t had time to write or do much else on the computer other than homework. But I did have the chance to go hiking.
Last weekend, I went hiking with a Lieutenant, a mini-Dalek, and Jules Verne (Real names not used because I don’t have their permission to do so). So we get started, and I reach down to pick up a walking stick because my ankle was hurting a little and we had 3.5 miles to go. Once I had picked up the stick, I didn’t notice my ankle at all. I was able to lean on it for the entire 3.5 miles until we reached Panther Creek. Unfortunately, I lost it at Panther Creek, so the trek back was much more of a hassle. Hang in there, because that just proves the awesome point I’m about to make.
We all need sticks in our lives. Obviously, we are not all going to be in the outdoors, so what do I mean by that? I mean that we all need people who we can lean on when we need to. For all those Christian people out there, the Bible portrays this by saying “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” The author is talking about having someone who can pick you up and dust you off when you fall. For everyone else out there, just think of the film “The Two Towers”. In it, Gandalf is about to enter Theoden’s throne room. The guard tries to take his staff away, but Gandalf pretends to be enfeebled so he can keep his “walking stick.” At some point in your life, you’re going to need help, so now is the time to make at least one friend who will have your back for life. But it’s not just about someone having your back.
The best kind of people are those who can give support as well as take it. This means you can’t be focused entirely on yourself. You have to be able to recognize the needs of others, and be willing to fill them, even at your own expense. Now, I’ll admit that this doesn’t make sense to me. How does helping someone else when they need it help you out? First of all, it makes you a better person. It shifts your priorities to not simply think about yourself and your own needs/wants. It makes you more aware of those around you, which will in turn should make you a better person as you care and do good for them. For example, I was talking to that same Lieutenant a while ago about some problems he was dealing with. I was the stick for my friend, and now we have a closer friendship than we did.
In conclusion, and not a moment too soon, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and never be too busy that you can’t help out someone in need. Until next time, flip out like a ninja!
