t-shirt lesson

sometime around winter break, i went around telling people that I was going to start wearing solid color american apparel t-shirts. The main reason for this was that i have a profuse sweating problem to the point where all my t-shirts get really disgusting pitstains after a little while. I love t-shirts. If i wasn't poor, i would collect them. There's something that i really really like about wearing art. Except that i end up buying shirts and then ruining them. So i figure, why not just wear $5.50 shirts and not be sad when they start looking nasty.

So here's what i did.
I started telling everyone i know that i was gonna wear solid color shirts.
Then i bought some.
I got 6.
I only really wear 4 of them, since i'm not bold enough to wear bright pink or purple around people i might want to make a good first impression on.
I have enough shirts where i only wash them every 2 weeks. In any given 2 weeks, 4/14 days i wear a solid color shirt without anything printed on it.
That's less than a third of the time.

But strangely enough, people mention it to me, often enough for it to be memorable.
things like, "i can't picture you not wearing a solid color shirt"
or on the 10/14 days, "woah! you're not wearing a solid color shirt!"

I seem to have created a bit of a reputation for non-printed t-shirts.
I don't wear them most of the time. I only have 6 to begin with. But the reputation is there.
I think there's something to be learned from this.
That it doesn't take nearly as much work as some people think it does to build a reputation for yourself. All it takes is communication and some action. But mostly communication. The important part is any action at all. It doesn't need to be grandiose or extravagant or all-consuming. It just needs to be enough to show that you follow through with what you tell people you are going to do.
I could be wrong on this, but it seems to be what happened with my t-shirts.

On Excellence

Excellence is always lacking.
Not in the sense that it is unachievable, since excellence in a mostly relative term.
But no one will ever tell you, "nah don't worry about it, we have enough excellence."

Joseph gave us a great example of excellence in action in Genesis 41.
The Pharaoh of Egypt, of whom Joseph has been a prisoner for more than 2 years, has a dream. It freaks him out so he calls all of his officials together to see if any of them can tell him what it means. No one can, but his cup bearer remembers that there's this guy named Joseph in the dungeon.
"I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it." (Pharaoh)
Joseph replies in 41:16, "It is beyond my power to do this, but God can tell you what it means and set you at ease."

So they go over the dream and Joseph interprets it.
"This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do. The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased." [41:28-31]

Cool. Surplus. Famine. Thanks Joseph. Thanks Joseph's God.

but what comes next is cooler.

"Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land." [41:33-36]

pharaoh didn't ask for advice.
he had all sorts of royal advice-givers and planners and such who were in charge of telling pharaoh what's what. All Joseph needed to do was mention seven years of surplus and seven years of famine. Then he was free to go back to his dungeon and be sad.
Instead, he followed up on his interpretation. He thought up a good idea on how to deal with the situation, and it was good enough (or God enough) to get him hired up as the chief adviser in charge of everything except for sitting on the throne.

I believe that we are called to exceed expectations and break barriers of "good enough".

Another Pet Peeve

Going on right now is Air1's spring pledge drive.
That means they play much less music and do much more harassing to convince people to give them money.

I would be alright with supporting them if they were a radio station.
But what bothers me is how they're talking about how they have 5 pastors "on staff" and "on call". Phone pastors. Not a fan.
I put my radio at air1 so i can listen to music.
Not so i have the option of calling a pastor i've never met so i can tell him my problems.
Counseling, support, growth, that's all what the Local Church is for. Not radio stations.
I don't want to listen to a parachurch ministry. I'm glad you think you're making a difference, but i'm not into that. Play music. Do nothing else. Be good at what you claim to do and don't stretch yourself into what you shouldn't be doing.

Kinda like churches with "libraries" and thrift shops.
There's no need for that. Get your books at a bookstore. Steal your clothes at walmart.
That is all.

A Complaint

Last night i finished reading through the entire Bible in 90 days.
Today i'm starting reading through the entire Bible in 90 days.
On January 1st I decided to read from the New Living Translation, since i've had a NLT bible for a few years and have never really read from it.
Now i have.
I don't mind it as much as i used to.

Today I'm starting through with the Amplified bible.
The amplified is a little scarier. The language isn't as nice.

At some point this week, i also have to get around to looking at the notes i took in the past 3 months.

One thing that bothers me is how difficult it is to find a 90-day Bible reading plan.
The internet is full of "one-year bible" plans, but i'm struggling to find even the original list that I used last time.
This is ridiculous.
Christianity is supposed to be based entirely on the bible.
With the sheer amount of marketing done in the "Christian" industry with music and books and other consumer nonsense, you'd think someone would encourage people to actually get to know what they say they're living for. Come on. A year?
In a year's time, I've gone from an overstressed highschool student wanting to get out of "here" into an overstressed college student wanting desperately to get out of "here".
Seriously though, a lot has changed in a year's time.
...if my life can change dramatically in less time than it takes to understand what my life is all about, i'm not in a good place.
So that's my complaint.
That christians don't read the bible enough, and aren't demanding that people help them read and understand it completely.

Frustrating.