January 24, 2007

A Dangerously Good Story

Posted in life, stories at 7:41 am by jimazing

From the book To be Told by Dan Allender, PhD. (all emphasis is mine). (Thanks for loaning it to me, Curtis.)

Death is Not the Ending

We all believe we can’t die because we simply have too much left to do. We have children to raise and goals to achieve and appointments in our PDA for next week. There is obviously a natural resistance to considering one’s own death, but what i am saying is far more than “I don’t want to face the fact that life will not last.” The harder question by far is, “Does my life really have meaning?”

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January 18, 2007

Family History Pages

Posted in family at 9:14 pm by jimazing

coatofarms.gifI just added a section to the site for family history stories. See the menu to the left and the tab above or click here. I hope to keep adding stories there about those who have gone before me because they are a part of my story too.

The first story is in my grandmother’s own words and describes of their trip to the “Holy Land” when they unexpectedly found themselves detained because of the October 1973 War (or Yom Kippur War) between Egypt and Israel. I copied it from a newspaper clipping that my dad gave me over the holidays.

January 15, 2007

Motives

Posted in family, personal, reflection at 10:40 am by jimazing

Jeanie’s and my philosophy on disciplining our young children was to consider their motive when they did something that needed to be corrected. For instance, if one of them broke a dish because they were being willfully defiant, we would have handled it much differently than if they had accidentally knocked it off the table. The former would have required a lesson in who is in charge. The latter possibly a reminder that we don’t run in the house. Hopefully that makes sense.

I believe it is important to recognize that we can do the same behavior for a myriad of reasons. Those reasons are important… maybe even more important than the actions. This is true of little children and adults.

We are way past the little children stage. Our former little girls are now adults, and I find myself asking them to judge me by my motive, rather than my behavior. You see, I don’t always behave in ways that make sense for what I want to achieve, and often, my behavior sends the wrong message. I have desires for them to have great lives because they are all great women. (I am amazed at how different they are). I love them and everything I do is ultimately motivated by that love.

but sometimes…

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January 9, 2007

Earliest Memory

Posted in reflection, stories at 6:01 am by jimazing

What better way to start telling my story than to tell you my earliest memory.  My family lived in Charleston, SC very close to where the I-526 Mark Clark Expressway is now.  My mom and dad had purchased a little house that had a screened porch on the back, a fenced in backyard and a huge oak tree that I liked to play around.

There were several children on the street that played together.  We probably did this a lot, but one day we were in the front yard of my home running and playing ring-around-a-rosie and I wondered if I would remember that.  I must have overheard some adults talking about their early memories and I wondered if I would be old enough to remember that.  I decided that I was old enough and that this would be my first memory.  That probably says a lot about the way I think.

What was your earliest memory?

January 7, 2007

Stories

Posted in community, reflection, stories at 7:15 am by jimazing

Recently, I asked myself the question that guys my age ask themselves so often. What am I here for? What is my calling? What bothers me so much that I could give the rest of my life to making it better? And you know what? I had an answer. It was so clear. It wasn’t a new idea, which made it feel even more real. But it was the first time that this was the answer that came to me when I asked the question:

Stories

Hearing peoples stories, Helping people tell their stories, telling my story.

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January 5, 2007

Hope

Posted in hope at 4:58 pm by jimazing

Happy New Year to friends and family. Please take a moment to read our 2006 annual family newsletter click here. I haven’t yet finished the collage, but I did start it. I’ll post a message when I am done. All done. It’s on the menu to your left, or you can click here.The new year is off to a bang in my life. Already I feel emotionally and spiritually stirred. The one emotion that I choose to focus on is hope. I am hopeful that by the end of 2007 I will have become more of myself and more Christlike. Does that sound contradictory? When I say that, I mean that Christ is in me and yet I carry so much baggage that is not part of what He wants for me. As I allow Jesus to reveal himself to me, he transforms me into more of who he made me to be. At the same time, He works in me to drop off the baggage in my life. I believe the end product is Christ in me, my hope of glory. It is not about me. it is about CHRIST IN me. I imagine a day when I can confidently be myself using the talents, strengths and gifts that God built into me, not in a narcissistic way, but where Christ lives in me.
I pray for physical, emotional and spiritual breakthroughs in the coming year to make me more like Jesus. That is like praying for pain and discomfort because God speaks to me when I am uncomfortable (Please see my post on The Jar). I want to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Not because I am a masochist, but because I know that it is through discomfort that change, real change happens… and I want to change more than anything.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

I wish for you a blessed 2007.