Kitchen Stories by Larry Refsland
My wife and I watched the movie “Kitchen Stories”, a foreign film set in the 1950s. The film was about researching and designing a more efficient kitchen for single men. But, if you don’t speak Norwegian or Swedish, you’d have to read the subtitles like I did. Even so, it was an intriguing and thought-provoking movie, portraying a Swedish research team that is sent to Norway to observe Norwegian men and how they move about in their kitchens. The observer for the research sat in an elevated chair placed in a corner and simply charted each and every move the host would make. The observer was not to engage in conversation or in any way assist the host. By the end, I realized the point of the movie might have been to show that to understand someone, you have to do more than observe. You have to communicate! Some people think God is just an impersonal observer who is only keeping track of the good and bad we do. The scriptures tell us otherwise; it clearly portrays God as an interactive communicator. He wants us to talk to him and he wants to talk to us. He wants us to understand his love for us. He wants us to know he cares about our thoughts, our hurts, our joys and our worries. Obviously he is speaking to us through his word. He also is sending messages through music and nature. The first step in developing any relationship is communication. Spend some time today talking and listening to God. You’ll not only gain a better understanding of God but of yourself and your purpose in life. Join us virtually for service at 3:00 pm CST Are You Making Positive Ripples? By Larry Refsland
Can you throw a stone into a lake without making some ripples? Skipping stones seems to continue to be a favorite summer pastime. It’s cheap and takes little skill. Did you ever notice how it’s impossible to skip a stone without creating some ripples? The ripples are the side effect of the rock hitting the surface. The ripples are not the exact location of the impact, but the result of the impact on the surrounding area. Our lives have similar ripple effects. Everything we do, good or bad, has an impact on the people around us. Everyday we are making ripples. Our children, our spouse, our co-workers are all affected by our actions. These ripples can be negative. For example: a job supervisor yells at one of the employees who in turn goes home in a bad mood and takes it out on his wife, who then is short with the children who go out and kick the dog which chases the cat and… you get the idea. Think how that scenario could be so different if the initial impact were positive: the job supervisor praises the employee who goes home and greets his wife with a big kiss, who decides to make the kids a favorite treat who share it with the neighborhood children; the dog and cat, well they lick up the scraps, and everyone is happy! Go out and make some ripples today! See how far a positive action actually goes in your sphere of influence. by Larry Refsland
What would baseball be without umpires? Anybody who has ever played or watched a baseball game knows how important a good umpire is. They call balls and strikes, indicate whether a ball is in fair or foul territory and decide close plays by declaring a runner either “safe” or “out”. When a good umpire makes the calls, the game is fair and orderly. We may not always like the calls, but for the game to continue we abide by their decisions. The rules of the game are followed and we enjoy the competition. The Bible says that God has given us an umpire to help us live our lives according to the game rules. Here’s what Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The original Greek word for “guard” is the same word from which we get the word “umpire” today. In other words, the peace of God will be the umpire for our hearts and minds as we bring everything to God in prayer. How do we know if we should pursue that relationship, or change careers, or buy that house? Present it to God and follow the peace that he gives. If there is no peace, the umpire is saying, “That’s out of bounds, don’t go there.” If there is a very strong sense of peace, follow it. Don’t forget, the umpire of peace can only be relied upon when we have first brought the situation to God in prayer. I encourage you to be sensitive to God’s umpire of peace to direct your life today. Now, play ball! A study just came out about how rudeness is contagious. In the workplace, if someone is rude it can negatively affect everyone, and in future incidences people will perceive rudeness where there may be none. Some workplaces have viral rudeness, but God can help us to clear the air with positive words that build one another up. Let me share how.
In a court of law, anyone about to give testimony must be sworn in, and I think it’s interesting that part of the oath is to ask for God’s help to tell the truth. The Bible tells us that God can help us with what comes out of our mouth. God is truth. He cannot lie. When God is in control of our lives, his character naturally is revealed in our lives. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew and Luke. One of his disciples, James, compared our speech to a river when he wrote, “Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh and bitter water?” We need God’s help to cleanse our inner being—our speech will reflect whether he has done that or not. Let me encourage you to ask God to “set a watch over your lips and guard over your mouth” (Psalm 141:3). He will help us to not only tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, He will also help us to speak works of healing, encouragement, and love. Just as one person can influence a conversation negatively, one person can also influence a conversation positively. The Bible encourages us to think of things that are pure and lovely and of a good report. These thoughts will come out in the words you choose. Let us be the people with words of truth and love, so help us God! Have you patched a bicycle inner tube lately? I remember getting my flat bicycle tires fixed as a kid. The repairman used “vulcanization”. This was way before Star Trek, so it had nothing to do with Dr. Spock. It was a process of attaching a rubber patch on the inner tube using glue and friction. He had this tool that resembled a spur that he ran back and forth over the patch to create friction and to completely secure the patch to the tube. If he skipped the friction, the chance of that patch holding for long wasn’t very good. The point is, that every strong bond has to have a little friction.
The same thing is true in our relationships. Whether it’s with your marriage, your work, or your kids, there’s going to be friction. The friction, or conflict, can either serve to create a stronger bond, or it can ruin them. It all depends on using the right “vulcanization” process. Becoming skilled at resolving conflict is harder than learning to fix a flat, but the process is similar. First, identify the problem and focus on that. A tire may be in excellent condition otherwise. It’s just a small hole in one spot that’s causing the tire to go flat. Don’t try to fix places that are still in good shape! Next, examine the extent of the damage and make sure the patch is adequate. A big conflict is going to take a larger patch and more effort to resolve than a small one. It may be helpful to get someone involved that knows how to fix flats. Sometimes, doing it on your own can just make it worse. Remember, friction can be good. The bonds you form that become strongest are usually the result of some friction, not the lack of it. May all your relationships be airtight today! “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the further down the roll, the faster it seems to go!” Do you ever feel that life is moving too fast? Where did the years go? How did I get those wrinkles?
I never felt old until one day, while having coffee with a number of salespeople at a real estate office, the conversation turned to the question, “Where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot?” It turned out that half the people at the table hadn’t even been born yet! That’s when I began to feel old! The Bible says that our lives are like a vapor. We are here one moment and gone the next. Because of this, I’ve decided that my number one goal in life is not to become the richest man in the nursing home. What it all comes down to is that only those things that last beyond this life are really important. So the question remains, “What are you doing that is of eternal significance?” My observation is that it’s relationships that really matter. Our relationship with God and our relationships with friends and family, these things have eternal value. What we invest in the lives of our children and our community can out-live us. What we do in discovering and knowing God will definitely out-live us. So enjoy today. Squeeze all the life out of it you can. It will never be repeated. And, while you’re at it, do something that will make a difference beyond your earthly life. God bless you and have an awesome day! |
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