How do you know if you smell?

Have you ever had the experience of realising too late that the garlic you had last night is pouring out of your pores into the noses of your friends or workmates?

What about the classic question - pooh! who stepped in something? Only to realise when you check your shoes who it was.

One of the greatest difficulties in life can be to get the right perspective especially about yourself.  Because just as you can smell something and assume it is coming from someone else or you can smell of something without being aware of it yourself sometimes in relationships we can be off.

For instance, how do you know if you are a genius and have an idea that no-one else can see the merits in or are a fool and have an idea there are no merits in?  When you have a conflict with someone is it them or you that is the cause?  It is so easy to assume we are right.  For some of us our default position is to think we are right.  Unfortunately, sometimes there is a fault with our default and it is actually our fault.
For me, my default position is that I am right.  I cannot really help it, it's the default I have.  I do need to be aware of it though and make sure I can get a perspective to see myself in the right light.

Jesus talked about this tendency to see other people's problems before our own when he said "Don't judge", "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"  In other words, maybe you have the problem.

So, how do you know if you are at fault or the other person?  Well here are a few clues from my own experience;

1. When it's everyone else, it's you - If you are running into several idiots a day and not being understood by any of them... oops!
2. Get a third person's view - If in doubt, take feedback, just make a pact with yourself not to shoot the messenger if you hear what you don't want to.
3. Use a mirror - The Bible can be like a mirror.  Looking into what God reveals in the words of the Bible is of value to us if we do it.  If you genuinely read the Bible to follow what it says, it is hard to keep the planks (or be concerned about the sawdust actually). 

Ultimately you can still have the Garlic problem, where you don't even know you smell and no amount of huffing into your hand can help you to smell it because you are already desensitised.  What you must realise in that case is what goes in, must come out.

Just like garlic, what we feed ourselves a diet of - in thoughts and desires and influences - will eventually come out of us, even without trying.

Smell you later.

What have you got to offer?

The most you have to offer anyone is yourself!

It is easy to forget just how powerful it is when someone makes themselves available to you. Spending time is one thing, but when someone is willing not only to spend time with you but to be available to you, to help you, to encourage you, to enjoy life with you, that is a great gift.

In the day of so many portable electronic devices it is very easy to be partially there but partially away somewhere else. But often you are neither here nor there, you are in another place, a little bit like Playstation's 'third place'. Ultimately it is a world where you are the centre, where you straddle the divide between where your body is and where your mind is. It is a selfish place in many cases.

Am I against cellphones, blackberry's, i-Phones and the like - no, of course not, they are very useful, but they are a neutral force - able to be used well or badly. In my opinion we can be tempted with devices such as these to retreat from the place where we are, where we may have responsibility, where we could interact with what is before us, where we could connect with another human in some meaningful way. We can be tempted to continue to be a receiver - of entertainment, of pastime, of input. And very often the muscle of output atrophies.

Check yourself, are you fully present with your wife, your kids, your friends, workmates etc? Or are you living in a flux between a cyber entertainment and where your body is?

My final word, don't believe the saying; "it's the thought that counts", you know in your own life actions speak louder than words, take action today.

How do I keep track of all my passwords?

If you are anything like me then you will have dozens of different online and other accounts requiring user codes and passwords.

How do you keep track of all these different passwords?

Obviously writing passwords down is a no-no right? But that means you have to keep them all in your head. Unless you have taken George Orwell's 1984 to heart or you are my wife, you will figure that no-one can mind-read. So in theory keeping everything in your head would be very secure.

It can sometimes be very secure. So secure in fact, that you yourself cannot recall what the password was for a certain account! That is where the trouble with passwords starts.

In an effort to remember your password there are few fatal traps you can resort to.

1. Get lazy - You can use passwords like 'password' or 'drowssap' (password backwards) '123456', 'abc123' or even you own name. This is like leaving the key in the door for any hacker wanting to get into your account.
2. Get sentimental - you could use the name of someone close to you, but listen, there is no romance in being hacked because you used your loved one's name for a password. This is like leaving the key under the doormat.
3. Show your colours - This is just a variation of being sentimental but about your favourite sports team instead of your favourite person. This is like leaving your key under the potplant by the door.
4. Use the same password for everything - This is potentially the worst of all passwords sins. If someone gets hold of this password, they could get into everything and since you use it for everything, the chances someone getting it are much increased! This is like putting your name and address on your key ring with your master key

So, if you find yourself described in one of those categories, you have low password security and would benefit from a change of habit. Here's an idea that may help you while also helping you to;

• avoid writing down your passwords
• avoid using generic or guessable passwords
• remember your passwords
• increase your security

Not all accounts have the same value. That is, your internet bank account probably has more value to you than your carpooling log in. Then there are some that are in the middle, like your gmail password or Facebook, perhaps your WoW password is in the middle somewhere. Lets say you identify 3 different levels. To help you remember passwords for things that are not that important from a security point of view you could use a single hard to hack password for all those. For level 2 you have a completely different password, perhaps with variations for each application. Level 1 you have a different password for each level 1 account.

Now, does all this make your memory better? No, but perhaps it gives you a framework to remember what password you chose based on the account and maybe the act of being more deliberate about setting the password helps your memory too.

Good luck and change regularly.

What we test and what we don't

You know, sometimes when I am buying shoes or something of relatively low value, I spend months and weeks trying out different ones to decide what I want.

I put them on, walk around in them, look at myself in the mirror and ask my wife what she thinks of the shoes.

The house I am living in - I didn't even sleep the night in it before buying it!

What about new beliefs?  Do I fully check them out before buying them?  Do I test them, do I see if they check out, do I talk to others about them?  

I Thessalonians 5:21 says "Test everything.  Hold onto the good."

Some things we do test.  The thoughts and beliefs we actively choose to pursue are likely to be tested - that is the front door so to speak.

But there are many other thoughts and beliefs coming to us that we don't seek out.  These come through the words and actions of others (and ourselves), our culture, our church, our surroundings and media sources to name some.  The unspoken assumptions and inferences that are behind what people say and do come to us and present themselves as the truth.  They try to enter in the backdoor and windows of our heart and mind.  They may not get the test unless we realise what we are receiving and measure it, test it, check it out to see if it is a truthful belief or not.  

II Corinthians 10:5 says "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"

Be alert to what you are building your life on and make sure it aligns to the Truth of Jesus

Praying without ceasing

I have been having some thoughts on prayer recently.  It is the lifeblood of our relationship to God at a personal level and also corporate.

Check out my latest sermon on prayer

The measure of greatness

Whether someone's leadership is great or not depends on what criteria you use to measure greatness.  Jesus says the degree to which someone will serve others is the degree to which they are great in his eyes.  Hear my recent sermon on MP3 - The measure of greatness.

Living in God's will. Part IV - Prosperity?

Some people say that one way we can know we are in God's will, is when we are prospering, since God brings blessing.  Let's have a quick look at this verse:  

"I can do everything through him that gives me strength"

This is the kind of verse that sports people often put on their gear or person when competing (eg. Evander Holyfield) and others preach from or quote from to make a declaration that the world is their oyster.  

Taking a look at its context lets look at the 2 verses before

Php 4:11b-13

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things though him who gives me strength"

So prosperity alone is not a guide.  Also check Jesus: the son of man has no place to rest his head...