With the need to be physically distant from others in this season, it can be a very trying time for human connection. Here are 8 ways to be physically distant but stay socially connected.
Source: Stock
A positive look at our great opportunity during this trying time.
I’m writing this in the midst of a world in chaos. COVID-19 AKA Coronavirus is ripping through the world and destroying much of the societal norms that have existed to this point. Affecting China for several months at this point, the spread of the virus has become fairly widespread. As a result, governments everywhere are making necessary decisions with far reaching consequences – closing borders, reimbursing small businesses, and mandating that most social gathering and large scale events not occur, or occur within certain sizing limits.
There’s been a fairly simple, fairly underrated yet fairly profound encouragement echoing through my mind for the start of the year – do the right thing even if you get the wrong result.
The Twenties are back, baby. I hope you’re putting the full four digit year down on dates to keep the lawyers happy, that you’re over the jokes about 2020 vision (although I hope you have it physically and towards your purpose), and that you’re well acquainted with Baby Yoda.
There’s been a fairly simple thought going through my head for the start of the year. Usually I write in much greater depth on things with a whole bunch of research and reflection on the facets of life I’ve been thinking about, but in starting this year, I have been thinking about and living through what seems to be simple… and yet is one of the hardest things any of us can ever do. That is this – do the right thing even if you get the wrong result.
In life we face so many challenges. There is great power in sowing and reaping, and I think all of us have seen its power in full effect. And yet it can feel at times that you’re doing all the right things and not seeing the results you would expect or hope for.
It can be in the simple things like trying to keep a dog’s teeth clean, keeping up the exercise with slow results, or even wondering why the grass in your yard doesn’t stay growing. Or it can be in the more complicated things like investing in people without seemingly seeing any difference or return, like forgiving without reconciliation, like being your best but not being seen to be doing so.
And yet consistency will always win the day.
As I read it written recently, if you’re doing the right thing and not getting the right result, then at least you’re doing the right thing.
The truth is that nothing sown in faith is ever wasted. While we don’t always see an immediate harvest or a return in one area, the right actions will always come back to us. Just like the wrong actions will always come back to us.
So my simple encouragement to you for the start of the year is this – keep investing. Keep serving. Keep sowing and being generous. Keep forgiving and keeping an open heart. Keep opening your life to others. Keep treating people as you should, rather than hesitating when they don’t return in kind. This is my charge to you, and certainly the biggest charge I am giving myself at the moment.
Because one day, it’ll all come back to you, and if you’ve stayed faithful with what you can control, it’ll be a happy day indeed.
And don’t grow weary doing good, for in due season we will reap a harvest… if we don’t give up.
Through the ups and downs of the year, one thing is clear – 2019 has been a classic example of the constant struggle of expectations vs. reality.
Me at Mars Hill, Athens this year – where reality was much better than expectations!
The end of the year is one of the most reflective times in our calendar. Please join me in looking back on my year with a lot of “oh yeah that happened” and “oh wow that happened?”, and hopefully in finding something useful reflecting on your own.
“I want a man who’s unemployed, lazy and directionless”, said no woman ever. Here’s why men need purpose, direction, and yes – income.
Source: Warner Bros (and a really brilliant movie)
The last post I did was a response to a very popular ABC article about man drought in the faith community. That post definitely got a lot of attention and a large number of readers in a short time. It’s a topic that really resonated with a number of women who feel like it’s extremely hard to find someone to settle down with. In that post, I tried to rebalance a number of the criticisms aimed towards men, and called for a more realistic look at what’s really happening.
It’s a terrible thing trying to lead a full life while running on empty. Here are 8 ways to recover from burnout.
Photo by Craig Adderley from Pexels
There are few things worse than having the desire to live life to the best of your ability when your energy is absolutely sapped. When you know there are so many things you should or could be doing, but you’re just not able to do it like you used to.
Whether you’re a fellow writer, a regular reader, or looking to get started yourself, I get asked about the world of blogging on a regular basis. Here are 10 questions I always get asked about writing online.
Walking The Shoreline started way back in 2014 after I had told a group of men my age that I wanted to write online in a more public capacity one day. I had been writing online on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and other little places here and there and had a lot of people quite interested in what I would have to write. I went home that night and started the site . Fast forward to today and my public presence on this site attracts 400-500 readers every day from all over the world, having had over 430,000 hits and hundreds to thousands of reshares, comments, and mostly positive responses.
However, that makes me a relatively medium sized fish in a huge pond. There are no doubt many more prominent writers out there than me, and an overwhelming number of blogs you could follow on any topic, especially the growing number of health and fitness blogs, each doing numbers successful enough that the authors can quit their day jobs and spend their days writing articles by the pool. Continue reading
Are you doing it alone when you don’t have to be, or dealing with someone who is? Here are 7 reasons we won’t ask for help.
Source: pexels
Wedding planning is a crazy time. It’s exciting, it’s confronting, it’s encouraging, it’s challenging, it’s happy, and it’s up and down. Or at least those have definitely been my experiences with it. The death of individualistic living and the birth of something completely new. My poor utilitarian mancave of a house will never be the same.
PS. That’s actually a really good thing, I can only imagine the thoughts people have kept to themselves over the years when they’ve come over!
I remember some advice that’s been passed on to other people during their engagement and also recently repeated to me – “don’t be afraid to ask for help”. And how awesome it has been to ask for help and to get it. Continue reading
Hakuna Matata and eating bugs accompanied by utter devastation. Here’s why Timon and Pumbaa are the true villains of The Lion King… and of the lives of many of us.
Source: Disney
I had the awesome privilege of getting to witness the Aladdin musical featuring The Genie from Broadway last week. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. You get the point. It was stupendous. The sets, the songs, the costumes (!!!) were all top notch. Yes, I did cry… but it was from laughing so hard during the song High Adventure. People missed Abu but his replacements are quite hilarious. And the set they used for The Cave Of Wonders is something I won’t soon forget!
Unfortunately, I have yet to see The Lion King on stage yet, but definitely one for the list. What a timeless story that one is. Full of adventure, family, love, friends, conquering evil…
Oh yeah, and some of the most devastating villains in cinema history. Continue reading
When you’re in your 20s and 30s, sometimes all you want is someone older to help guide your way. Here are five reasons millennials struggle to find mentors.
Source: Warner Bros., and an amazing film on this topic
One of the biggest issues I get raised to me by people in my age group is the question of finding the right mentors for this season of life. The ages between 20 and 40 are drastically diverse, and seeking direction from your peer group who are struggling with divergent issues to your own can be difficult. Sure, at the start of our 20s, all of us are in a similar boat – getting set into full-time work, completing university or college courses, stepping out after a few years in our apprenticeships, starting relationships at the same time. But once you go over the age of 25, all of a sudden finding people who are similar to you is a major struggle. Some already have kids, some have never dated anyone, some have been married, some have been divorced, some have started thriving businesses, some have already filed for bankruptcy, some consider themselves professionals and are well established in the path of their choosing, some have no idea where the path even begins.
Brisbane, Australia is probably the best city in the whole world. Or at least to me. Here are seven things I love about Brisbane.
This was taken by me at the end of last year on a cruise of the Brisbane River
Okay, so I can’t comment on the excellence of Brisbane in California (which is pronounced “Brisbaaaane” instead of what the Australians call “Bris-bin”), and I can’t comprehensively rule out the greatness of all the other cities on earth, but my personal bias leads me to loving the city I was born in. Like most Brissie babies I was born at the Mater Hospital (now the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital), and have lived here for the majority of my life. I’ve known many people who have come from all across the world to spend part of their life here, and any of my friends who have ever moved on from here will always tell me that Brisbane has something that nowhere on earth has.
And I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on a lot of the reasons why Brisbane is the place people never forget, and the place many people never want to leave. Here are 7 things I love about Brisbane… and 2 that I don’t.
The start of the year is the time when most people receive the most call to action. Everyone starts with new resolutions and dreams for the year. Valentine’s Day in February calls on people to reevaluate their choices and actions in the area of relationships. Businesses, schools and families all get back into the swing of new routines and patterns that will frame the course of the next 365 days. For the first two months at least, it’s the common thing to have people pressuring you into actually following through on the things you said you would do, or taking a hold of the things you’ve said you’ve wanted.
And yet we’re already in February in another year that we said we’d finally do a lot of the things we said we’d do. We’re already in 2017 and doing without a lot of the things we said we wanted. Complaining to everyone else about how sad it is that we don’t have all these things that we wish we had. Well, it’s time to stop blaming everyone else and to start going after what you’ve always wanted. Here are 7 reasons you’ve gotta just do it. Continue reading
