Corrie’s story

A new view

Corrie ten Boom has been gone now for almost 20 years. She died on April 15, 1983 in California. It was her birthday. She was 91 years old.

Corrie would have likely stayed in the Netherlands and lived out her days in relative obscurity; that is, if it hadn’t been for the remarkable way she responded to a period of intense suffering in her life. But perhaps you already know her story. If you don’t, be prepared, for it will bring back awful memories of the dark days during World War II.

Adolf Hitler had big plans and a big army. And the world found out what he had planned and just what his army could do on the eve of World War II. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Norway, Denmark, England, the Netherlands, etc…they all found out, the hard way.

Monument marking the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 on Cape Cod

Joni Eareckson dove into a lake and broke her neck as a teenager. A tragic accident and a pivotal life event. Paul Hewson joined a band with a bunch of guys from his high school in Dubin, Ireland. A pivotal life event for Bono and his little band – U2. Albert McMackin invited a young farm boy to come and listen to a travelling evangelist one day in North Carolina. For Billy Graham, and millions around the world, this was a pivotal life event.

Some things you and I experience in life matter more than others. A whole lot more. They pack more of a punch; they shape our future. In contrast, so many things in life are really neither here nor there.

My first car, for example, was an orange Chevette. A more lemon-like colour would have been more appropriate. As I recall, on one awe-inspiring occasion my “Shove-it” reached the impressive speed of 65 miles per hour. No really, it did. No hills, no tail wind – nothing. Just a beautiful stretch of open highway somewhere in Minnesota. Even now, I can feel the rush and picture the pistons almost popping out of the hood. If only the car-commercial people had been there. It was an event worthy of a national holiday. And, as you can see, this was truly an important moment in world history, and a personal turning point in many ways.

Direction & Deutschland

Climbing your “Mount Everest” will inevitably take more effort than planning the trip. Setting goals and putting together a practical plan to reach those goals takes time and involves hard work. If you do not have a clear sense of direction in your life right now, your energy needs to be focused, first of all, on establishing one. But once a general focus is determined, and hopefully a very specific plan is in place, the work begins in earnest.

It can be discouraging facing the prospect of a long and difficult journey. Are you up to the task? Do you have what it takes? You may not feel like you do, but do not let those feelings deter you. And, if you are looking for some inspiration in your ongoing efforts, may I suggest turning your attention towards Deutschland. That’s right. Germany.

At December 30, 2011
By Nathan
In Career & Life Planning, Meeting Needs
4

Cows. Just great. I come here looking for timely insight that will potentially launch me in an exciting new direction…and this guy is writing about cows. Doesn’t he know that I am busy, stressed, frazzled, and a bit dazed from staring at this screen for hours? Really. I have places to go, things to do, people to see, more coffee to consume, etc.

Earth to blog-posting person: I need something clear, something quick, something practical that I can take with me into my hectic day. Okay.

Where are you going?

Rather than drone on about the importance of setting goals, I have decided to tell you a little about my goal-setting journey as it relates to the development of Career & Life Direction. That way, you can gain a better sense of how identifying and clarifying goals could make a difference in a variety of areas in your own life.

So, here we go. I have 3 simple goals right now for this website:

1. To improve and expand the service that I offer.

2. To increase the number of people who are interested in this service.

3. To find a way to make this service profitable.

In other words, I am trying to provide a valuable service, to a growing number of people around the world, and eventually make a living in the process.

Spinning the globe, sitting on my desk just a few feet away, I feel small. I gain a new perspective. Yes, my home province, Saskatchewan, is bigger than many countries, but it is also just one of many places on this planet.

Most people, the other 6.99 billion or so, who live on the Earth’s vast network of large and small islands, likely hardly know this place exists. The nerve of some people, not noticing me and my place! But it does almost seem too far north to even notice if you live in Peru, and much to far away if you hail from Madagascar. And what do I really know about life in far away places? To what extent do I care?

My limited number of days in this world are measured by the constant speed of this spinning planet. Does the Earth have cruise-control? I don’t know, but eighty or ninety trips around the Sun at this speed, and that will be about it for me. Generations come and generations go. It has been going on like this for years. Planting and harvesting. Life and death. Like a passing cloud, a vapour, a sun-burnt flower, people say. It is over before you even know what it is all about; you fall asleep before you even wake up. Husbands, children, wives, homes, money – all gone, eventually.

It all seems pointless at times to me. King Solomon said as much back in his day, studying, straining to see the answers.

Must leave something of value behind, then. A memory. A legacy. Something that says, “My life mattered.” To come, and see, and conquer must count for something. That must be how you get an “Important” sticker stuck to your life. Or so some say. If it didn’t feel like it mattered much the first time, maybe it will the next time around. One way or another, our lives – we are told – will carry on…through our music, our families, etc. So says The Rankin Family in “Rise Again” – a beautiful, famous, and desperately sad song

Christ’s birth took place in such a way so as to add dignity to people who are feeling small

Some of you reading this have heard more than enough by now. “That’s it. One more melancholic comment from this guy, and I’m going to click my way outta here.” Can’t say that I blame you. But, this brief blog post could quickly expand to fill a large part of the Internet universe, if I was allowed to freely quote all the people who have ever lived who have had such thoughts. You could be clicking for a very long time as you try to escape. For who has not felt small and insignificant? Honestly? Who has not grappled with the purpose or the meaning of life? Who has not caught themselves thinking, “Why should I bother doing anything with my life, anyway?”

I don’t know about you, but I find that I have a fondness for things I have helped to create, and a special fondess for things that are small. And looking at the globe to my left once again, it is almost as if I am assuming God’s perspective. Why should it matter if a country is comparatively large or small, if a life is long or short, if memories linger of not? I can see that God would care regardless. And I can understand that God would surely be extending the possibility of a positive purpose to everyone on this planet.

Christmas is coming and I still have shopping to do. But that will have to wait. For now, I need to remind myself (and maybe a few or you) that Christ’s birth took place in such a way so as to add dignity to people who are feeling small. Jesus was born in a barn, to poor parents, in a place of little consequence. The angelic announcement was made to sheperds, to men who didn’t get much in the way of respect. The creator of the world paid a visit as a helpless child. And for the most part, nobody really noticed in Bethlehem that night or understood what was going on.

If you are wondering how all of this applies to your desire to clarify your career and life direction, may I just say that it does? I think you see how it does.

Merry Christmas fellow small people!

Belief and doubt

When it comes to choosing a career or life direction you will often, if not always, have to deal with “believers” and “doubters”.

In my experience, these two words were usually brought up in the context of discussing the truth claims, or at least the perceived claims, of Christianity. The implied message I often picked up from many of the power-people in my culture, was that “doubt” was by and large a good word and “belief” was bad. The connection was so common, it was almost like a children’s story about what sound a cow made, etc.

Holding hands

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live. Your computer might be parked in Germany or France, New Zealand or Australia, China or Japan, Lithuania or Latvia, Norway or Sweden, Canada or the United States, etc. It really doesn’t matter. If you are a human being, you need other human beings in your life.

I was reminded of this obvious and yet neglected truth after reading Robert Schullers’ account of 75 years of life and ministry in his autobiography entitled My Journey.

Robert Schuller, like Micheal Jackson and Elvis Presley, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, Billy Graham and Mother Teresa, is a household name in many parts of the world. When you think positive thoughts and picture a cathedral in California that looks like crystal…you likely also imagine a small, pudgy, poor, farm boy from Iowa standing on the platform. Or maybe not.

Life purpose coaching

Picking up the phone to talk to your very own “Life Purpose Coach” may strike some of my fellow Internet travellers as quite a strange thing to do. “What kind of ‘New age voodoo’ is that?” I can hear some old-timer say.

Can’t say that I blame you. When I first hear about this type of coaching I was both intrigued and skeptical. Is this some sort of money-making racket? I wondered. But then again, wouldn’t it be nice to move ahead in my own life with more of a sense of clarity and focus and direction. What’s next…hiring a Grocery Shopping Coach, etc? I mused. But here I am…wandering in the wilderness, so to speak; might be a good idea to look into this a little more and get in touch with a real live Life Purpose Coach.

So I did. And this is what I discovered:

At January 02, 2011
By Nathan
In Career & Life Planning, Career Planning
0

If you want to be miserable, and desire to make your career quest endlessly complicated, just focus your attention on one thing: status. Always ask yourself, “What could I do today that would improve my standing in the rating game?”

Get into the polling business. Find out what you could do with your life that would impress the largest number of people. If the Mafia is admired in your circle of friends, then by all means consider a career with the mob. If the ministry is highly esteemed, then start packing your bags and preparing for a missionary career in a foreign land.

Making lots of money and being able to buy lots of things that will really impress lots of people… may turn out to rate the highest in the polls. In that case, you will certainly need to get out of the ministry and get into a mega-money-making career of some sort. Maybe you could move to China, join the communist party, and find a few thousand peasants you could exploit in your very own factory.

If fame is the main thing that matters in the latest polls, some type of music or media career might be right up your alley. Devote your life, every waking moment, to becoming the next Justin Bieber. Get into the yodeling business and attempt to win the next world championship. Campaign for a spot in the next “reality” television show. Oprah is retiring you know.

Completely disregarding what others think is not a good idea. But being controlled by what others think is a recipe for a career disaster. And the thing is, it is often very difficult to know what other people really think anyway.

It has been said before, but I’ll say it again: In your 20s you will tend to worry about what other people think about you. In your 40s you will tend not to really care that others think. And in your 60s you will realize that most people weren’t thinking about you at all.