djchuang.com » life

My Random Life: A Work In Progress

djchuang — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:43:38 +0000

I’m authoring a book about episodes in my life and thought I’d share the work in progress while it’s in progress. The idea of the book is to honestly share about (some of the) struggles in my life in a transparent and vulnerable way so that people, especially Asian Americans, can know that they’re not alone in their struggles. I also intend for this to be an example of how to come out from hiding behind shame and to finding courage to be vulnerable, getting healing, and helping others.

Though I wasn’t able to list it on Amazon as a free ebook (but I did list my eBook there for easier download), I can post it here as a free download.

Download ebook in .MOBI format - for Kindle [instructions]
Download ebook in .EPUB format - for iBook on iOS (iPad), Nook, Sony, etc [instructions]
Read it online via Issuu or Slideshare

For me, it’s about the speed to publish. (so not everything is perfectly formatted; and this also gives me an opportunity for me to experiment and to learn digital publishing on different platforms)

The e-book that’s I’ve just published is a compilation of blog posts from my 12 years of blogging that will serve as the starting point for telling more about my life. I’ve dubbed it a “chronological edition” because the blog posts are ordered chronologically, and the book title is tentative. In the final edition, I think the ebook’s length will more than double in size, as I’ll be expanding on a number of issues, including: depression, bipolar disorder, career choices, and identity formation. As a bunch of blog posts, the ebook is obviously disjointed and not an easy read.

I realize that I don’t have a most sensational life story like some others who’ve been published, be it a courageous battle with disease, growing up in adverse circumstances, turning from a life of drugs and/or crime, or going from rags to riches. On the one hand, I see myself as an average guy, and yet, I also know I’m terribly unconventional so it’s taken many years to begin to feel comfortable in my own skin.

My thinking about the book is to just tell the story and avoid being prescriptive. In that sense, it won’t be in the genre of self-help nor inspirational. The telling of the story itself is the point. Maybe this is a new genre? But I am eager to hear feedback from you readers as to how I can better shape this ebook to be of more help to people.

In the ebook, I explain more of why I’m writing this ebook and what’s prompted me to author at this stage in my life. So, please do download it, read it, and provide much needed feedback. Your voice matters!

Whether the final edition will be published by a traditional publisher or if I’ll be self-publishing is yet to be determined. Either way, it will be published and not perish.

In the 21st century, what ought to be published is no longer is prohibited by the market. (others who have self published: Ben Franklin, Ezra Pound, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Paine, Jane Austen, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Virginia Woolf) And, I will make the final edition available in digital and print formats.

Anxiety and Christians don’t mix, usually

djchuang — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:42:10 +0000

A timely book arrived in the mail last week and I happen to have some time to read it all in one day. The book? Rhett Smith‘s The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good? What I love about this book is how Rhett vulnerably and honestly reveals his own life story, how anxiety has been a traveling companion throughout much of his life, even how it showed up as stuttering and near-paralysis before public speaking.

All too often well-intentioned Christian ministry leaders / preachers / teachers / people give encouragement with pithy sayings and the quoting the Bible verses, without the demands of genuine compassion that requires entering in and walking alongside someone’s pain and confusion. (cf. Overcoming Anxiety: Dealing with Anxiety and Worry) If you’d not been schooled in the right-of-center flavor of Christianity, the answer to life is always: Jesus, Bible and prayer, not necessarily in that order.

Thank you Rhett for taking a whole different approach, a very personal one at that. By sharing your life and the things you’ve learned along the way, it draws me relationally and I’m freed to know that my own anxiety is not necessarily coming from a place of doubting God and I’m not someone to be fixed per se. And more than that, anxiety can be invitation from God towards a more rewarding faith.

My confession: This book came timely for me as I’d been simmering about anxiety in my life, not in a paralyzing manner from an overwhelming number of choices, but more of an annoying nagging feeling. My anxiety seems to be recurring about performance, and the discomfort of having to evaluate my work, or worse, to have others evaluate it. Whether I success or not, or could do better, or am celebrated for excellence, there’s that thing about performance evaluation that I just plain don’t like. That’s all I got to say about that right now.

[disclosure: I received a complementary review copy]

Thanksgiving for people in my life

djchuang — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:40:27 +0000

Gratitude can’t be disconnected. Thanks has to be given to someone. And, I want to give thanks for someone, for a lot of people in my life, the ones who have made the greatest difference and positive impact in my life. As they do in book acknowledgements and acceptance speeches, I want to thank the many people who have help me through what I consider to be turning points in my life. My Dad and Mom. My wife Rachelle. My son Jeremiah. Buggs Bugnon. Paul & Alice Chou. Ray Chang. Bernice Imei Hsu. Dave Travis. Sabastian Huynh. Chuck Fromm. And I thank God for giving me Himself and for Jesus Christ and for the Holy Spirit, for the very breath of life itself and all the days of my life, however many it is that I will be granted – what a gift! (aside #1: some say religion is a crutch, so be it for them. I say I can use all the help I can get, and I’m not too proud or too ashamed to say I need lots of help.)

And THANK YOU for being a regular reader or even a random visitor to my website and blog here at djchuang.com! Thank you Twitter followers and Facebook friends too!

(aside #2: It’s hard to make these lists of people to thank, because I don’t like leaving people out, as a highly-inclusive kind-a-guy… the list above are those that have made the biggest difference, you make a difference too, just not as big as theirs, in my life, yet…)

Why We Sin When We Know So Much

djchuang — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:55:53 +0000

There’s something ugly about moralism and self-righteousness, the exhausting effort of trying to be good and to do the right thing all the time. Doing good is a good thing. This isn’t to say we give up and give in to our lustful desires and “animal” instincts.

What I’m realizing as I revisit this topic is: the point isn’t to try harder to be moral and to feel more badly when we fail. The point is to be more honest in acknowledging this aspect of our humanity, to humbly confess them to a few trusted others [ed.note: the hardest thing to do!], and to freely choose to depend on God’s spiritual habits to do the slow work of changing the very depths of my heart.

Dr. John Coe has given these spiritual formation talks on numerous occasions, about why we still sin when we know so much. Hearing these talks is so freeing and liberating. During his seminary-level course, he’d take 5 lectures to unpack this thorough understanding of our heart (the core of our being: intellect, will, and desire) and its innate remnant capacity to sin. Here’s several recordings for you. Those who have ears, let them hear.

BiblicalTraining.org has online courses with Dr. John Coe, these two below posted with outlines –

Spiritual Formation Class: Why We Sin When We Know So Much, part 1 of 2 (TH250-3)
What is in our heart determines how we act. There is more going on in our heart than what shows on the surface. In our hidden heart, we often have negative beliefs and desires that affect our actions.

A. Introduction
1. Ephesians 4:22ff
B. The Christian faith is foremost about the heart
1. “Heart” is used for the real or core person.
2. The heart directs our life. What is in the heart determines our whole of life.
3. Principles
C. Why is the heart so impregnable and slow to change?
D. Things to know about a biblical understanding of the hidden heart
1. There is always more going on in the hidden heart than what is on the surface.
2. The degree to which we have a hidden heart of negative beliefs and desires that have not been dealt with is the degree to which we are not in control of that material and it can control us.

Spiritual Formation Class: Why We Sin When We Know So Much, part 2 of 2 (TH250-4)
When we sin, it’s often the result of sin in our heart that has deep relational and historical roots. God wants us to pursue Him so he can transform us from the inside.

D. Things to know about a biblical understanding of the hidden heart (cont)
3. Thus, most Christians do not intend to sin; rather, they just leak.
4. This “leaking” is all about warring beliefs and desires in the heart.
5. Thus, most sins are not intentions of the moment but are merely the tip of the habitual iceberg.
6. Thus, beware of “prayers of magic” or avoidance to have God take away sins.
7. Becoming a Christian can even exacerbate this problem of not knowing your heart.
8. No amount of surface correcting or behavioral change will transform the heart.
9. Self-awareness is a necessary ingredient but by itself will not transform the heart.
10. The process of transformation requires a power strong enough to penetrate into your heart to resolve whatever need at the core is driving you.
E. How does God open the heart and begin the process of change-transformation?
1. Opening the heart in honesty to the Word of God in prayer.
2. Trials and “thorns in the flesh” (2 Cor 2:7-10)
3. Opening to God’s sovereign work of transformation in all circumstances.
4. Fellow believers
5. Prayer and soul work
F. God delights not in sacrifice, but a broken and contrite heart.

Also online as part of the Spiritual Formation Lecture Series [iTunes link] with Dr. John Coe, Biola University — This five-part lecture series featuring Dr. John Coe provides listeners with an in-depth integrative theology of Christian spiritual formation and soul care. Hosted by the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton and co-sponsored by the Institute for Spiritual Formation and Talbot School of Theology.

all kinds of spiritual formation going on

djchuang — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:44:02 +0000

For followers of Jesus wanting a more transformational life, more people seem to be engaging in some kind of spiritual formation process. I’m finding a number of different programs and processes that are percolating in the evangelical world at large (though the concept has been around for Catholics for centuries.) Here’s a short list of ones that I’ve heard of, (mostly) in a chronological order of when I first heard of them:

School of Spiritual Direction (via Larry Crabb)
Renovare
Dallas Willard on spiritual disciplines & formation
TrueFaced (aka Leadership Catalyst)
Institute for Spiritual Formation (Talbot School of Theology and Biola University)
Cloud & Townsend
the Association for Christian Character Development (ACCD)
Soul Renovation Ministries
Monvee
SOULeader Resources

It seems to me that a slightly increasing number of church & ministry leaders are going after these spiritual & heart matters to help people be more like Jesus. Well, some of them say it that way. Others might use different language and terms. Each probably have their own “spiritual growth” model.

In my own thinking (at the time of this writing) I think there is overlap between any of these categories: spiritual formation, spiritual direction, personal coaching, mentoring, discipleship, sanctification…

And somewhat like brands of clothing, people may be fiercely loyal to the genre of spiritual formation that’s been most transformative for them. It’s not the kind of thing that people go comparison shopping for, and let’s hope it doesn’t become commoditized that way.

And, to let my own bias show, it’s not really about the content or exercises of a spiritual formation program. It’s about one’s response to the Holy Spirit, and more telling, the person’s willingness to give permission for (a few trusted) others to speak into their lives.

Why I think this to be the case — it’s an idea from Fierce Conversations, “All conversations are with myself, and sometimes they involve other people.” So when a person goes through exercises, even if guided, it’s all too easy to reinforce one’s own perceptions. Until someone else can call out and speak to the matters of the heart, and the blind spots, transformation rarely happens to the degree that it could.

overused word: busy

djchuang — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:17:45 +0000

Words have meaning. Overused words lose their meaning. I’m going to sprinkle my blog from time to time with overused words that I notice all too often.

When I hear an overused word, I wonder to myself: have we lost the creative use of our vocabulary? Wouldn’t it be better to use other more descriptive words instead of defaulting to overused ones?

The word of the day is BUSY. In response to the question, “How have you been?” it’s easy to answer, “Busy.” Or, someone reluctantly starts a conversation with, “I know you’re busy…” Then there’s the times when we look at the calendar and say, “It’s going to be a busy week.” Include the sigh. Aside: while composing this blog post, another 187 tweets with the word “busy” got twittered.

The thing is, life is busy. That’s just part of life. We’re not in school any more; we’re thrust into the real world of adult responsibility. (I’m assuming that most blog readers here are older than high school and college age.)

I prefer to say that “I like to live an active lifestyle.” Seems redundant to say that I’m busy; overstating the obvious. Meaningless.

[photo credit: mrmole]

how a conflict played out in social media

djchuang — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:21:16 +0000

“Conflict is something that will always be. It is neither good nor bad, it simply is.” [cf. Sam Chand]

The incident regarding Deadly Viper had set the online world ablaze, and very uncomfortable words of pain festered in the open space [cf. read this summary]. My prayer was that the key leaders at the core of the conflict would resolve it privately, walking through their respective pains together with each other. This direct conversations has since happened offline in private, and an appropriate resolution is in the works. A public statement has been issued. I commend all involved for giving of their time and energy to walk thru this via dolorosa.

There’s already quite a number of thoughtful reflections about this incident posted::

Jonathan Brink, who linked to reflections from Dan Iwao, Todd Thomas, Marian Wang, Edward Gilbreath, Dave Ingland, LT Tom.
Eugene Cho, Charles Lee, David Park, Shaun King, Glennis Shih, Skye Jethani, Rudy Carrasco, Drew Hyun, Ed Cyzewski, Daniel So, Jim Gray, DK Daniel Kim, Kathy Khang, and more…
[update] more from David Swanson, Church Marketing Sucks, Ken Fong, Joel Hamernick, Benson Hines, Scott McClellan, Andrew Lee, Dave Diller, Jessica Pegis, Melody Hanson, Jonathan Tran, Bo Lim, Amy Moffett
[update 11/19] Zondervan Statement Regarding Concerns Voiced About “Deadly Viper: Character Assassins” via @eugenecho‘s Zondervan Pulls Deadly Viper from Stores and the Deadly Viper website shut down by authors Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite; Dave Gibbons’ thoughts Zondervan Issues Apology for Publishing ‘Deadly Viper’ (CT Liveblog); open letter response from Eugene Cho, Ken Fong, Helen Lee, Kathy Khang, Soong-Chan Rah, Nikki Toyama-Szeto

I want to offer a few more ideas in debriefing, with which I’d anticipate some people would disagree with. Conflict in the open was a good thing for 3 reasons [cf. The Necessity of Open Disagreement by Stephen Shields] ::

This shows us what conflict resolution can look like. Conflict is not a pretty thing. We’ve all seen how ugly it can get, how destructive it can be, how it can ruin relationships. By being in the open, via social media, we saw how the conflict surfaced and moved towards live offline discussions, apologies, forgiveness, working towards resolution. There is a better way through the conflict. After all, conflict simply is. And I for one am tired of overly-positive spin that’s all too common in evangelical circles; I think the younger generation can smell spin a mile away.
We heard new voices open up their heart and soul. While I did not read every single comment in the initial blog posts, a wide range of voices from new names spoke up, both Asian and non-Asian. It is not easy for anyone to share their pains, particularly Asian Americans, for fear of being misunderstood, misrepresented, or shamed. Asians tend to be a little more (or a lot more) sensitive than non-Asians because of its shame-based culture. Social media empowers anyone and everyone to speak out. This helps us to empathize with the offended much more than signing a petition. (Now, not every Asian American finds this publication offensive, granted.)
We’ve got a long way to go with racial sensitivities in the church. A loooong way. Conflict that arose up over a relatively minor incident, in the whole scheme of things, shows how little experience we collectively have to just start any discussion about faith and race. And, yeah, these issues are complicated and messy. They don’t sell books nor increase conference attendance nor make churches grow rapidly in size. It doesn’t fit neatly in the systematic theology section.

Now a personal confession. I knew about an earlier edition of this book back in September 2007. I did not get a copy of the book. I did not look out for the authors to review their book to find out how the Asian motifs were being used, in case it might come across racially insensitive. I did not bear the burden for my fellow Asians Americans (the sensitive ones, not the insensitive ones). For my part in this neglect, I am sorry. [No if and or buts.]

how to have real relationships online

djchuang — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:21:05 +0000

Being on vacation, I’ve resisted making plans — I find planning to be drudgery work. So I’ve been quite spontaneous, even though that makes it hard to sync up with others who aren’t able to be spontaneous with me at the same time. Nevertheless…

Got to connect with Mary Beth Stockdale on this wetoku video chat interview today. We talked about her experience in being a part of a community with the LifeChurch.tv online church, and how online relationships are just as real as their offline counterparts.

Tony Steward (LifeChurch.tv’s Online Community Pastor) recently wrote a great explanation for how online church offers real ministry and engagement in response to concerns about online church. I’m glad we can also hear about the value and impact of online community from a participant, too, in above video.

You can meet Mary Beth, Tony, and others in person at Cultivate Conference on October 27th in Chicago.

sticking a fork into my lifestreaming

djchuang — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:25:03 +0000

Steve Rubel (formerly of Micro Persuasion) is one of those “A-list” bloggers, and he explained “why I am forking my content“. He signed off his main blog with: So Long Blogging, Hello Lifestreaming!

I’ve started to put my content into several different buckets, too, coincidentally. And it happened to happen around the same time.

My upcoming multi-site road trip next weekend triggered my exploration on what to do with my online content. You might call this “content segmentation.” Here’s where my content is now being posted:

djchuang.com – my personal blog here will remain the place where I write out my more lengthy color commentaries on my eclectic thoughts and personal feelings

twitter.com/djchuang – @djchuang is my main twitter feed with updates primarily covering the topics of faith and culture, and joining in on related conversations

twitter.com/djchuang247 – @djchuang247 is my new twitter feed with updates that will be reveal glimpses of my personal everyday life and more extensive commentaries and sound bites during conferences I attend

daily.djchuang.com – this is my tumblr-powered daily blog that’ll mix mostly a photo blog and an audio blog, with occasional deep-dive event live-blogging

facebook.com/djchuang – this connects me to a smaller circle of people. If I instinctively recognize the face or name, I’ll accept a friend request. If not, sorry.

friendfeed.com/djchuang – this will get you everything in my lifestream, including blogs, tweets, yelps, delicious, flickr, youtube, etc.

I also contribute to these blogs as a part of my professional career life:

L2 Foundation blog – relevant items to develop leadership and legacy for Asian Americans
Books @ Leadership Network – Practical innovations from books that leaders are reading
Digital @ Leadership Network – church tech blog for non-techies
Learnings @ Leadership Network – what innovative churches are doing
Multi-site Church blog – informing & equipping churches to reach people at multiple locations

I’ve heard not everyone wants to read everything I have to write or comment on everything, particularly some of the inane personal things I’m doing at the moment, to which I even say to myself, “so what?” I’ve even had one person _block_ me on Twitter just to make sure he doesn’t get my too-frequent updates — when all he had to do is unfollow me.

All of us have to be selective on what content we’ll subscribe to, filter through, follow, or manage. No offense taken if you choose only a portion of my lifestream.

[photo credit]

Where do people get schooled in common sense?

djchuang — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:21:06 +0000

I don’t find common sense to be that common. Okay, let me just confess that I find myself gullible and naive more often than I need be. And I don’t think of myself as a practical guy either.

I see the world as a place of new possibilities and unpredictability, and I dislike being in the driver’s seat or controlling time, things, or other people. Then I get called on it– that everyone has control issues.

Thinking back my educational life, there were many courses on reading, writing, and arithmetics. And there was a mix of science classes about how things work in the created world, history classes about what has happened in generations before us, and in higher ed, more specialized knowledge imparted in political science, communications, philosophy, sociology, theology, technology, law, medicine, economics, engineering, arts, architecture, music, business, and so on.

Notably absent: every day life in the areas of relationships, personal finances, housekeeping, using tools, cooking, life management. Let’s assume these topics don’t belong in academia, where topics of studies are mostly cognitive. If not in schools, then where do people learn this stuff of life?!

I can think of a few: at home, from media like television and movies, and how-to books.

In the world we live in, be it America or elsewhere, broken homes and domestic messiness, home doesn’t seem to be the best place to learn good things. Movies and television aim at entertainment, whether sensationalism to feed our warped sense of curiosity or storytelling about the human condition.

Maybe this is why book series like Idiot’s Guides, Books for Dummies, How-to books for do-it-yourselfers, and self-improvement take up more shelf space in bookstores and libraries. Books written by self-proclaimed experts.

The source of common sense remains a great mystery… God help us all.

pumped up to take a flying leap of faith

djchuang — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:03:15 +0000

This week has been an extremely full week of Christian/ church leadership conferences: Exponential Conference in Orlando, Gospel Coalition in Chicago, and Catalyst West Coast in Irvine, California. All of that adds up to many hours of inspirational and motivational speeches.

I attended my first Catalyst conference, which ended a few hours earlier, and undoubtedly the most highly-charged energetic kind of Christian leadership event I’ve ever attended. I do love going to these events to meetup with people in person and not so much to attend the sessions — I buy the recordings for the content. I can always get the content plus have the ability to rewind and review, whereas being able to talk with people face-to-face is irreplaceable.

I did hear several of the messages, and sure it moves me to do something. Everything grabs my attention. Everything is urgent. Everything is so compelling. Everything is so good.

Kinda feels like being drawn and quartered. It’s a tough call to choose the one that God has for me, and that is not everything. I can’t do it all.

Plus, It’s less easy for me because I don’t think of myself as a natural born leader, or an organizational leader type. It seems to me that most, if not all, of these platformed Christian leaders are driven Type-A goal-oriented entrepreneurs who have launched their own organizations. So when I hear them, it takes an enormous effort for me to translate all of that into something that could work for me.

Sure, God can do it all. And I could take a flying leap of faith and “trust God” blindly. The impulsive and spontaneous me would love to sell all and follow Jesus, to jump into a new endeavor with full abandon and see the hand of God move. But, that naive leap would hurt me badly. Been there. Done that.

I confess I haven’t figured it out. And I have to keep leaning into God to walk by faith and not by sight. No leaping. Just walking.

Aside: the audios and videos from The Gospel Coalition 2009 are online already and free to listen and watch! One of my favorites is Tim Keller’s The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry.

Bob Buford’s Top 10 Values

djchuang — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:14:05 +0000

When it comes to vision and values, I wasn’t sure how that actually plays out, how to translate those values into reality, and what it would look like in everyday life. So when I got the latest issue of Bob Buford’s Muse-Letter (v 5.4) email newsletter, he shared the lifetime values he developed working with Peter Drucker, the ultimate global thinker. And now that I’ve been a part of Leadership Network, an organization he co-founded 25 years ago, I can see how these play out in the organization, and in his life too.

Here are his Top Ten Values as Peter taught them to him over their 20-year relationship:

Build on the islands of health and strength.
Work only with the receptive and only on what’s trying to happen.
Go big or go home. Focus, don’t do dribs and drabs.
Giving is not a result – changed lives are.
The fruit of my work grows up on other people’s trees.
The entrepreneurial-style leader is where the leverage begins.
Bet on a great leader with a big idea.
The essential ingredient for success is a steady stream of innovation.
“It’s your job to release and direct energy, not to supply it.”
Structure follows strategy, and strategy begins with clear desired outcomes. To What End?

And how inspiring it is to see how he’s focused his life to some core things that exemplify his calling. See these Cliff Notes [PDF] to how Bob Buford is living his life and using his time, talent, and treasure.

how Randy Pausch lived a full life

djchuang — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:09:05 +0000

I’m a bit late on the Last Lecture phenomena. Never read the book. Didn’t see the Youtube video that millions saw last year — 8.6 million views to date.
I only watched it a few weeks ago in 2009.

What prompted me was listening to a Menlo Park Presbyterian Church podcast, of an 11/26/08 interview with Steve Seabolt about Randy Pausch, with John Ortberg (video | audio). Steve was a close friend of Randy, even being with Randy during his last moments. Steve described Randy’s faith convictions as follows:

“So Randy chose not to talk about faith, and a lot of people very wrongly concluded that he was not a Christian, or he was not a believer. And that simply wasn’t the case. Religion as Randy had so often seen it practiced was more about words and divisiveness, than action. And he believed in Christianity in action, and not so much talking about it.”

The Wikipedia entry for Randy Pausch notes that his faith was Unitarian Universalist, with the family regulars at First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh.

As a person of faith, it’s my opinion that none of us have a perfect theology, though some people think they have the gold standard. I’m not one to venture to say I have the “ONE” right one out of the 3,000+ Christian denominations and sects. While I certainly do not agree with the Unitarian understanding of God, the comment by Randy’s friend Steve does give us pause to re-consider and not be so quick to judge someone’s faith convictions. I’m not God, and neither are you.

From the videos I watched of Randy’s lectures and interviews, he did have a good perspective and understood the value of life. What was compelling was not the profoundness of his insights, but that he knew his life was terminal, and did not give up on living life to the full. That got people’s attention. Some of the salient quotes I caught:

tell the truth all the time
we can’t change the cards we’re dealt, just how we play our hand
[live with] no regrets, [and able to say that you] gave it your best shot
[about the last lecture] It’s not about achieving your dreams, it’s how to lead your life. And, the talk is not for you, it’s for my kids.
Think of time as a commodity.. you can never get time back; you can always earn more money..

The last quote is the one that is still swirling around in my brain matters. It came from Randy Pausch on Time Management w/ associated lecture notes.

Truth of the matter is, all of our lives are terminal. My days are numbered.

Contrasting the journey and the destination, I’m much more excited about the journey and who comes along with me, and very uninterested in the destination or goals or milestones. I ask myself: what would it look like to live my life well?

how emotionally maturity is connected to spiritual maturity

djchuang — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:50:57 +0000

Continuing the series on “Developing emotional maturity – part 3 of many”. [cf. part 1: what is emotional maturity? part 2: how to develop emotional maturity]

Peter Scazzero is one of the few authors that compellingly connect spiritual maturity and emotional life. Since he’s got a couple of published books, that lends reliability and rings authoritative more than articles I’ve found randomly on the internet. [ cf. official website, EmotionallyHealthy.org, has resources for individuals, groups, and even church-wide; video introduction to emotionally healthy spirituality ]

Jay’s Library noted these 4 points from Peter Scazzero’s book, The Emotionally Healthy Church [read Jay's comments too]::

It Is Impossible To Be Spiritually Mature Without Being Emotionally Mature.
To Be Emotionally Mature You Must Be Willing To Look Beneath The Surface.
To Be Emotionally Mature You Must Go Backward To Go Forward.
To Be Emotionally Mature You Must Learn To Manage Pain.

Ginger comments about Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality book ::

… It’s the most down-to-earth, spiritually practical and inspiring book I’ve read in a very long time…

Peter Scazzero, the author, makes the point that you may be spiritually committed, yet so emotionally unhealthy that it renders you spiritually unhealthy. He states that unless we deal with our emotional immaturity we can’t be effective or whole as Christians, and in fact it can cost us everything.

… I wanted to buy a copy for each of about fifteen people in my life. That, my friends, is the mark of a life-changing book.

Kevin Martineau listed the “Top Ten Symptoms of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality” from Scazzero’s book::

Using God to Run from God: At times we use Christian activities as an unconscious attempt to escape from pain.
Ignoring the Emotions of Anger, Sadness, and Fear
Dying to the Wrong Things: Some people believe that the miserable you are the more that God loves you.
Denying the Past’s Impact on the Present
Dividing Our Lives into “Secular” and “sacred” Compartments
Doing for God instead of being for God
Spiritualizing away conflict
Covering over brokenness, weakness, and failure
Living without limits
Judging others people’s spiritual journey

Read the original list with descriptions for each of the Top Ten Symptoms of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality [pdf] via the official website.

And, there’s one more thing.

I just found this series of 16 talks titled Emotionally Healthy Spirituality from Newheart Foursquare Church (Simi Valley, CA) by Paul Kuzma. Though I haven’t listened to them all, yet, I have faith that these would be wonderfully holistic and healthy for the heart and soul.