kenlassblog

Recently I had to buy a new wifi system for my house. I set it up, and then went about the task of connecting everything to it, computers, phones, TVs, cameras and so on. Everything went smoothly, except for the printer. Try as I might, I just could not get the printer to sync with the new router.

After hours of tinkering, I finally called the customer assistance number for the printer company. I was told that my model was built in 2017, and was no longer compatible with new routers. Just seems like a shame. It’s a perfectly good printer, but it has lost touch with modern technological culture.

Sometimes I wonder if I am the same. I still trust all of my traditional values and beliefs, but times have changed and morality has evolved. Have I lost touch with modern culture? Do I need to upgrade my thinking? Have I become obsolete?

Then I remember God and His ways are never out of date. His path for us is always state of the art.

Whatever adversity you will face today, you will conquer it. You are smart, strong, and determined. It will take work. It will take effort, but you’ll get past it. And you’ll emerge better for it.

Life is an attitude. In many ways, how you think of your world becomes your world. Worry and negativity are self-inflicted. So are peace and joy. God has the big stuff covered. He and you win in the end. Everything else is just temporary hurdles you will leap over and clear with preparation and will.

You are going to have a good day, a good life. And after life, it gets even better! Believe it. Trust it. Make it happen. You were created to love and be loved. If you focus on that, there is nothing you can’t overcome.

My wife Sharon brought home a carton of eggs from the grocery store. When I took them out of the refrigerator a few days later, I discovered several of them were cracked. Sharon swore she had checked them in the store and they were fine. Clearly, she must have broken them in transit on the way home.

A week later, she brought another dozen home. Same story. They were fine on the shelf, but broken a few days after. Sharon was upset and baffled. She had been so careful bringing them home this time. How could she have damaged them? We were both frustrated.

We finally figured out we had the temperature in the fridge set too low. The eggs were freezing in there and eventually cracking from the pressure. It wasn’t Sharon’s fault at all.

Sometimes things are not what they seem. Don’t jump to conclusions until you’ve thought things through. Otherwise, you may end up with egg on your face.

I guess everyone who writes has a dream of writing a book. I’d like to write one. In fact, I’ve started writing several of them. But I get about twenty or thirty pages in, and I lose interest. So I figure if I can’t stay interested in the subject matter, surely readers won’t either.

Following a project through to the end has often been a problem for me. I get excited about ideas and concepts, and eagerly start them, but somewhere along the way, I have a bad tendency to drift off to something else that catches my attention. People who don’t follow through on their commitments have always annoyed me, but I am just as bad.

Don’t be like me. If you commit to something, follow it through to the end. There is a certain satisfaction to completing a mission successfully. Gives you a real sense of accomplishment.

Hey, maybe I could write a book about that!

I have a couple of favorite actors. Tom Hanks is one of them. I will go to a movie knowing nothing about it, but if Tom Hanks is in it, I know it will be good. Of course, I don’t know him, and I will never meet him, but somehow I trust he will entertain me and give me my money’s worth. I suppose that’s because he has come through for me so many times in great films such as Forrest Gump, Castaway, A League of Their Own, Philadelphia, Road to Perdition, Bridge of Thieves, and so many more.

Trust is earned. It develops by coming through for someone over and over. Want to earn respect? Trust? Faith? Yes, even love? Be someone others can depend on. Every time. Every situation.

You can be Tom Hanks to someone who needs you.

When you get a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant, ever notice the predictions are deliberately vague and open to interpretation? For example, it might say “You will meet an interesting person tomorrow”. Of course, it won’t specify who that person will be. Your own mind will try to fill in that blank.

That’s the whole idea. To give you the impression you have received a prediction, when really you haven’t. Palm readers and fortune tellers operate the same way. They probe for hints about your background and let you invent the details.

Don’t be fooled. You control your future. You can make it happen. You choose to be optimistic or pessimistic. You choose to love or hate. To minister or to withdraw. To be kind or rude.

Here’s my fortune prediction for you: The way you handle yourself will come back to you manyfold. Nothing ambiguous about that.

Where is the border line between taking good care of yourself, and being selfish? You can’t minister to others if you are rundown and unhealthy. Yes, it’s true that displaying love for others is what gives life true meaning, but all of us need a little “me time” once in a while.

So it’s okay to take a break. To tell all those depending on you for stuff that you’ll be back after a little time off. Go have some fun. Or just go and do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Your mind will tell you when you are recharged and ready to come back to the routine.

You’ll return with renewed energy, stronger commitment, and a better attitude. We’re not Energizer bunnies. We can’t go on and on and on. So pull the plug for a little bit. Just don’t forget where the socket is.

When someone has a birthday, the tradition is to have them make a wish and then blow out the candles so the wish comes true. If you were granted one wish, just one, what would you wish for? Give that some serious thought. What would you really wish for? The answer might tell you a lot about yourself.

Would you ask for unlimited wealth? For good health for yourself and your family? For true love? For fame and celebrity? Prestige? If you have a lot of trouble deciding, consider it a good sign. It means your life is pretty full and blessed right now.

You may just decide you don’t even need that wish.

Did you know that when you look at the sky you are looking at the past? You are not seeing the stars as they currently exist. It has taken the light from those stars a long time to reach you. Sirius, the brightest star at night, is eight light years away. You are seeing it as it was in 2018. The stars in the Big Dipper are 125 light years away. And Polaris, the North star, is 433 light years away! You are seeing it as it was more than four centuries ago!

It makes me realize that we are but a speck on the roadmap of history. God’s creation of the universe is running the course He has laid out. We are given this brief chance to make a difference in our corner of our little world.

Hopefully it won’t take years for your light to shine on those around you.

Do you believe in luck? Scientists don’t. They say luck doesn’t exist. That outcomes such as a coin flip, or a poker hand, or the bounce of a ball, or a lottery draw are governed by probability, and with careful mathematical research, can be predicted.

That’s no fun. Most of us feel better about the twists and turns of life if we can attribute them to just bad luck, or extremely good fortune. Actually, there is something to that. Studies show, for example, that if someone is wearing what they feel is their lucky suit, they are more confident and optimistic, and thus tend to perform better. A golfer playing with what he believes is his lucky golf ball, is more likely to hit better shots because of positive visualization. In the same manner, if you feel you are on an unlucky streak, your depressed mood affects what you do in a negative way.

So go ahead. Feel lucky today. Wear that lucky jersey the next time your favorite team plays. That way you can take partial credit for the win.