I Don't Want to Hear It...

...but that's no excuse for having a 3-year-old-just-lost-his-favorite-toy attitude.

None of us like being corrected, or at least I know that I don't. Sometimes correction means that something I've been doing is way out of line and I really to check my heart. But other times it's simply a kind word from a dear friend telling me I need a little course correction. I know that I need others to help me stay on the straight and narrow, even though it's uncomfortable sometimes to face the fact that I've been wrong (though it really shouldn't be surprising, as it happens all the time), be it a huge log in my eye that a Brother is gently pointing out, or merely a speck
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For those of you who know me, you know that I tend to over think issues, I can spend days wondering about something someone said, trying to figure out if they were simply being nice, or if they really didn't like my hair. And while it hurts to be told that I'm wrong, in hind sight I am always thankful that they were willing to take my hand and gave me the guidance that I need. But there's one thing that hurts even more than being told "you're wrong": not being told "you're wrong."

When I'm doing something that hurts others, or even simply makes them uncomfortable, like belching at the dinner table for example (though that's not a dining sin that I'm in the habit of committing, just FYI), I'd want to know. But there have been times in my life when there has been something that I was doing that did make others uncomfortable, and it was a while before anyone would tell me.

This happend to me again recently, and needless to say I was a little upset when I finally did find out. I distinctly remember thinking "why didn't they tell me!?!" and I was just starting to get upset when the Lord brought something to mind that my mom told me a year or so ago. In fact, it was shortly after writing this blog post: Would Someone Please Just Tell Me!?!. I even considered titling this entry "Please Just Tell Me!" but I realized that this title would completely miss the point that I apparently still needed to learn.

What my mom had pointed out to me so long ago, and indeed has had occasion to point out several times since (ok, a lot of times, my noggin's pretty think), was that I often don't accept correction with a Christlike attitude. For instance she said that I often argue when others correct me, and I remember getting ready to say "well that's not always true!", and that's when it hit me.  I don't have "ah ha!" moments very often, but I had one then. I had just proven to myself that mom was right (as she usually is).

It's not about others not telling me, it's about me not listening with grace and humility.

I wasn't accepting her correction with enough humility to see that she was right, or enough grace to accept her reproof with thankfulness. The fault lies completely with me. I can't complain that others didn't tell me the hard things, because I hadn't made it safe for them to do so. They weren't making life difficult for me, I was the one making life difficult for them. If I was known to accept correction and reproof with grace and humility, others probably wouldn't hesitate to help me see my flaws.

I think that two of the verses in particular that I quoted in "Would Someone Please Just Tell Me" apply to this situation quite divinely:

Proverbs 15:31: The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. 

Proverbs 15:32: He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding. 

Getting mad at others when they are trying to guide me is like getting mad at the messenger, it doesn't make the message untrue, but it can drive away even my closest friends. By the grace of God, I need to man up and accept responsibility for my actions, and especially when others come to point me towards Christ. After all, those are the best kinds of friends to have.

By God's grace, and with a little more humility than before,
Paul

P.S. This was post 100!

The one thing Christians should keep saying

I don't make it a habit of simply posting links to other blogs (that's what facebook and twitter are for, right?), but given the widespread popularity of the article that this blogpost is critiquing, I thought it worth re-sharing. You've all probably seen the article "The One thing Christians Should Stop Saying" floating around in your various feeds and updates.
I read it a week or so ago, and while I saw Mr. Dannemiller's point, something seemed off, like he was reacting against an improper emphasis, but in doing so swinging too far in the opposite direction. The pendulum is a very easy thing to ride, and Justine does a sound job of pointing out the error and offering correction. Head over to MI Taylor Family's blog and give "One Thing Christians Should Keep Saying" a read, and drop a comment over there if you feel so inclined.

~Paul

Paul Leavitt Photography

As promised, here's one of the updates that I'd like to update y'all on: I have a website! It has an extremely creative and original title, so clever that no one else on the internet had ever thought of it (so the domain was available)! It's paulleavittphotography.com

Ok, so I suppose it's not super creative, but it does the job, and it's name recognition. Anyway, I'm going to try to be updating it at least once a month with some new photos, and I'm kicking around the idea of starting a blog section of the website to include projects that I've worked on, and possibly tips and tricks. Thoughts?

And just for good measure, here's a a slightly HDR'd photo of the Yaquina Bay Bridge that I took yesterday while on vacation in Newport.

I'm Back!

Four-hundred and seventy days since I last posted. I'd say that's a long enough break.

But It's time to break the silence, and I'm reentering the blogosphere! I'm not entirely sure what the tenor of my blog will be now, by the grace of God, I'm not the same person I was a year and a quarter ago, and hopefully that will be reflected in my writing. But here's one of the main realizations that I had sometime last year, which I think will impact my blogging significantly:

Longer isn't inherently better.

Really, it's not. Now normally I'd be one of the first to say that Twitter, with it's 140 character limit, is dumbing us down, and reducing our attention spans, and that rather than reading what a bunch of twits have tweeted (and I say that in the most loving way), you should be reading a book, and preferably one that's at least 500 pages long. But sometime last year the Lord showed me that I was not only being hypocritical (because I'm not reading any 500+ page books right now either), but that there is a place for short thoughts. I follow a number of blogs, and I must confess that when a post is more than one or two thousand words, I start skimming. Not that there's anything at all wrong with long blog posts, but if I'm going to devote that much time to reading, I should be working through a book, especially since I have often lamented my lack of time for reading books.

It was this perspective, that longer is better, that I think partially contributed to my blogging stasis. I kept waiting until I had a long post to write, but even when I did, I usually didn't have time to sit down and write. So it never happened, and eventually I simply fell out of the habit of writing.
Also contributing to my return is a number of close friends (you know who you are, thanks!) who have all encouraged me to start writing again. I've taken two college writing classes in the last year, and I don't want my new found (though still rough) skills as a writer to deteriorate.



So with their encouragement and new found purpose, I plan on blogging again, and hopefully with more regularity than in times past. There are a couple of other things that have developed in the last couple of months that I'd like to tell you all about, so stay tuned.

In Christ,
Paul

Commentary on Psalm 127:3

In Calvin's commentary on Psalm 127:3, he once again asserts God's sovereignty in every area of life. (Emphases mine.)

Lo! children are the heritage of Jehovah. Solomon here adduces one instance in which, in a particular manner, he would have us to recognize the truth which he has hitherto asserted generally -- that the life of men is governed by God. Nothing seems more natural than for men to be produced of men. The majority of mankind dream, that after God had once ordained this at the beginning, children were thenceforth begotten solely by a secret instinct of nature, God ceasing to interfere in the matter; and even those who are endued with some sense of piety, although they may not deny that He is the Father and Creator of the human race, yet do not acknowledge that his providential care descends to this particular case, but rather think that men are created by a certain universal motion. With the view of correcting this preposterous error, Solomon calls children the heritage of God, and the fruit of the womb his gift; for the Hebrew word skr, sachar, translated reward, signifies whatever benefits God bestows upon men, as is plainly manifest from many passages of Scripture. The meaning then is, that, children are not the fruit of chance, but that God, as it seems good to him, distributes to every man his share of them. Moreover, as the Prophet repeats the same thing twice, heritage and reward are to be understood as equivalent; for both these terms are set in opposition to fortune, or the strength of men. The stronger a man is he seems so much the better fitted for procreation. Solomon declares on the contrary, that those become fathers to whom God vouchsafes that honor.

Family Voting

Now that I'm old enough to vote, I've been spending a fair amount of time looking into the various measures that are on the ballot for my home state of Oregon. As I was researching, I thought I should call Dad and get his opinion on one of said measures, the thought dawned on me "What if I don't agree with my dad on one of the measures, do I really want to have the effect of nullifying his voice, by voting contrary to him?" That begs the question, what will I do if I disagree with my dad, what will I do? As far as I can tell there are three possible options:

Option 1: Copy how dad votes, and just hope for the best.
Option 2: Thumb my nose at him and vote the way I want to.
Option 3: Work through the issues, and try to come to resolution.

Now, obviously option one and two are absolute non-options (if it were possible to burn bits and bytes, number two at least, should be burned). The third option is the one that I want to elaborate on, which I will procede to do, thusly.
In the unlikely event that we're unable to come to agreement on an issue on which I have a scriptural conviction, I feel that I would have to, as respectfully as possible, cast my vote based on biblical principle.
Thankfully, I don't expect the above situation, and I think that the most desirable outcome would be that through respectful and loving discusion, one of us would be convinced of the others position, thereby bringing harmony.
However, where that isn't possible, I feel that it would be my duty, and my honor, as my fathers son, who, not being married (and thus, head of my own household), is still under his direct authority, to vote the same way as he does, so long as doing so would not violate scripture (i.e. pro-life vs pro-choice). Even if he did not require me to do so, I would not relish the thought of negating the effectiveness of my fathers voice. Praise the Lord that He gave me such God fearing parents, and I think that this voting season will go quite smoothly.

Semper Reformanda!

Creativity

Have you ever thought about creativity, and how it comes about? I've been trying to come up with an idea for a short film, but story telling has never been my strong suit. I know that there are people from whom stories and strains simply emanate, but that's not me. So I got to thinking, is that sort of creativity always a gift, or a talent, that you either have or don't? Or is it a skill that can be developed like math or writing? If so, how does one go about said daunting task?

Movie Survey

Over at the Botkin sister's blog: Visionary Daughters (which I would highly recommend), they have a Movie Survey going right now. I just finished taking it, and the results are pretty interesting. It just says that they're gathering intel for a project they are working on, so the more people that answer it, the better!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

The Importance of being honest.

My Dad runs a trucking company, so we hear about the administrative things that happen there from time to time. I just talked to Dad briefly on the phone this morning, but I happened to call him just as he was pulling into the shop, and he said that he had two terminations that morning. I asked if a truck had rolled or something (that being a common cause of a termination), but it wasn't an accident. The two drivers had been fudging their logbooks (drivers equivalent to a time card). So they're being fired, not because they did a bad job, but because they were dishonest. So no matter how good of a job you do, if you aren't honest, it's all for naught.

Honoring your Parents

If you ever feel contention between you and your parents, the cause could very well be that you're not honoring them like you should. That was the situation with me not to long ago. There was this ongoing tension between me and my parents, and I was starting to get frustrated because it seemed like they were being unreasonable. However, one day my older brother told me over the phone that the reason they were being strict was because I wasn't honoring their requests, which ment that I wasn't honoring them. That was like a solid kick in the pants. I wanted to argue with him, but I knew he was right. I could think back to multiple instances where I hadn't obeyed, or had drug my feet, when they asked me to do something. As the Lord says in John "If ye love me, keep my commandments." That's true for our relationship with our parents as well.

If I were to tell my dad that I love him, but then went out and disobeyed everything that he told me to do, do you think he would believe me when I said that I loved him? Why should he?

Our words aren't worth anything unless they are backed by action. And that's precisely what I've been failing at for the last few months. But by God's grace, I have confessed my sin to them, and we can start rebuilding the relationship once more!

So, if I, a sinner, guilty of this sin as well, may give you, my reader, an admonition, it would be this: Honor your Father and Mother, no mater the cost, no mater the inconvenience it may cause you. It will all be worth it. When you are grown and married, and have a great relationship with your parents, which grew out of years of honoring them, you will look back on the times when it was hard, and thank the Lord for giving you those opportunities to honor them.

Semper Reformanda!

Paul