May 2007

Identity

Posted Wed, 2007-05-16 09:36

i·den·ti·ty (ī-dĕn'tĭ-tē)
n.

  1. the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity
  2. the individual characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known

This morning in my walk/bus ride to work, I thought about identity: How do I see myself? What makes me me? How do others see me? What comes to mind when they think of Paul? I didn't make any cool chart of values like Jim did, but I did come up with a top-five list.

Here are five things that I think I most characterize myself from my own perspective:

  1. Christian
  2. Intelligent
  3. Quiet
  4. Analytical
  5. Music

Here are what I guess are the top five things that characterize me for other people:

  1. Quiet
  2. Straight-laced
  3. Intelligent
  4. Christian
  5. Analytical

What about you? How do you see yourself? How do you see me? Is my guess far off?

The Upside to an Unpleasant Surprise

Posted Mon, 2007-05-14 10:06

As related in my previous post, an accident a week and a half ago left my car with significant damage to the rear passenger side. The body shop is going to be keeping her until roughly June 8 to get her torn apart and put back together. In the meantime, I get to use public transport, bum rides, and hoof it to get from place to place.

In the week that I've been car-less, I've seen some upsides to what initially appeared to be mere inconvenience:

Exercise - Between the walk to the bus stop, riding my bike to the bank, and walking to church, I've gotten a lot more exercise than any time since I was in Portugal. My upper-body workout will happen when I have to carry groceries from the supermarket back up the hill to my apartment.

Receiving help - I have had coworkers offer to take me home after work every day, and I've had friends give me a lift home whenever we've been out together. A friend is helping me get my bike back in working order. And after giving myself blisters and soreness from walking, I realized that I also need to ask for help when I need it. This kind of interdependence is, I think, a good thing for building friendships.

Community interaction - As I walk and ride the bus, I see all kinds of people that I wouldn't see--or at least not notice--if I were driving. Drivers wait for me so I can cross the street. Bus riders offer me a seat on the bus. People out working on their lawn say, "Hi," as I go by. So much happens all around me every day that I miss, insulated in my car and my life of zipping about my business.

I guess all this would be a kind of testimony, personal examples of how the Lord is proving his faithfulness in my life.

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

Unpleasant Surprise

Posted Fri, 2007-05-04 07:06

On my way to work yesterday morning a nice but befuddled retired guy mistook a red light for green and ran into my nice Corolla, spinning me 180 degrees and pretty well smashing in the rear passenger quarter panel. The guy's Jeep Liberty hit me high enough not to damage the rear wheel and thereby render my car undrivable. I guess that's a good thing. Fortunately, only the vehicle was damaged. Unfortunately, he claims he had a green light (though I'm quite sure I had a green arrow), and no witnesses stopped, so as yet I'm not sure how the insurance are going to assign fault. The guy mentioned that this has happened before, that somehow both he and another driver both had seen green lights. He is notably not 100% OK mentally, though I'm not sure how that plays into the whole insurance fault-assigning system. I guess we'll find out.

damaged car 1   damaged car 2

Anyway. That's life. Stay tuned.

P.S. It doesn't really look that bad, does it?

P.P.S. I care much more about things like this than my car. I hope that helps put things in perspective.

On Frugality

Posted Tue, 2007-05-01 18:41

A couple days ago, Tim Challies wrote about being frugal. Since I consider myself a frugal person, I found his thoughts insightful. Here is one paragraph that he shared:

I think the greater ideal with frugality, and something a lot of people miss, is the ideal of not just paying less, but buying less and thus avoiding waste and avoiding becoming captive to "stuff." To me frugality is not spending less but in having less. So a frugal person doesn’t buy as much "stuff" (or more) at lower prices, but just learns to live with less "stuff." If you find that your efforts in frugality help you spend less but to have a house that is equally filled with "stuff," I'm not sure that you're really being frugal. A definition I felt hit the mark is this one: "It's about a simpler, less complicated lifestyle, not about being cheap. While those who put a frugal lifestyle into practice do tend to be thrifty, there is a method to their madness" (source). It goes on to say "People who practice frugal living tend to look for ways to save time as well as money, and generally prefer a slower, more laid back pace instead of the hectic 'rat race' life so many others lead."

One commenter added this:

1. I have not found anywhere in the Bible that recommends trying to get things at a bargain. The Book of Proverbs recommends a dozen things that lead to having plenty/enough/no lack/fatness, but getting a bargain is not one of them. My grandfather was one of the most wisely frugal people I ever met. I can remember him tossing all of the sales ads into the trash before bringing the mail into the house. When he needed something, he'd look for an honest merchant, look for the best quality he could afford, and would gladly pay full price.

2. Some frugal people are also hoarders. It's good to store something up for the future. It's bad to store up things we'll never use, when other people could use them. Such things can be put to better use by giving them away.

3. The Mennonites have a concept they call mutual aid. If my brother or sister in the Lord has a need, and I'm able to help, and there's no good reason for me not to help, it's my duty to help, and it's the other person's duty to accept the help.

This last suggestion I find particularly interesting. How often do we pay for goods or services that someone else in our community would gladly give us or do for us? How often do other people spend their money on things that we can gladly give them or do for them? Many have lamented the loss of a sense of community in modern American society, and I think that part of recovering it is pressing ourselves to help each other and to allow others to help us, putting to death our selfishness and pride.