Posts Tagged: sponsors

“SECRETLY INCREDIBLE”

On October 26, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Here was my report and affirmation to my 12-step sponsor the other day:

Dear _____,

Today, my report and affirmation to my 12-step sponsor read as follows: “No violations, other than some passing fantasies.  I didn’t let them pass as quickly as I would have liked, but they did pass.

Today, by God’s grace, I will not complain about anything or anyone.  This includes myself.  Instead, I will be grateful, and will do whatever I can to serve God and others, in order to make this a slightly better world than it is right now.”

My sponsor’s reply was at once an encouragement and a rebuke.  “So, I see a contradiction in your report and your affirmation. You said you did not let them pass as quickly as you would have liked and then you state that you won’t complain about anything. Relish your success.

Be secretly incredible today to tie in to your affirmation.”

I wrote, “Thanks so much for the correction!  You are right.

Thanks also for giving me a wonderful idea for a blog: “Secretly Incredible.’”

So, let me make a list of things about me that stand a chance of being “secretly incredible.”  Of course, since I am posting this, it will be an open secret.  So, here is a not-so-secret list of my current secret incredibles:

  • I am honest about my weaknesses, at least some of the time.
  • I am admitting to others some of my weaknesses, in order that they both hold me accountable and encourage me.
  • I am making positive affirmations, and trying to live by them.
  • I am aware of the danger and yukkiness of complaining, and am seeking to avoid it.
  • I am capable of having my contradictions pointed out without coming unglued.

What are your secret incredibles?  Most of us are aware of our faults and failings.  Are you also aware of what’s right about you?  Sometimes I think we hide all our secrets deep inside, unaware that some of those secrets might be just fine.

 

 

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“ON BEING ASKED TO TEACH SOME CLASSES AND BEING IN OVER MY HEAD”

On August 16, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Have you ever felt—at the same time—great joy and great fear?  If so, you will understand the following e mail that I just sent to my twelve-step sponsor.  It consists of a report (“No violations,” in this case) and my affirmation for the day (in bold print).

“Dear Bob,

No violations.

Today, by God’s grace and with God’s help, I am consistency in doing triage and doing what I can do, rather than the perfect stuff that I wish I could do.

The affirmation requires a bit of unpacking, I think.

This past Friday, I got an e mail from the dean at Cincinnati Christian, asking me if I would be interested in teaching some classes.  They involved helping students (master level and perhaps also undergrad) to understand a bit about Hebrew and Greek by means of software.  Of course, I was tremendously thrilled with this, and said of course.

I met with the dean yesterday, and while I am still thrilled, there are some problems, none of which are unsolvable.  However, in the interest of getting current (as well as in the interest of unpacking the affirmation), I will list them.  Then, I will solve them as best I can, one at a time.

  1.  The undergrad course begins on August 27 of this year!
  2.  I am using Accordance software applications, rather than BibleWorks.  I am fairly used to BibleWorks, but not Accordance.  However, I have downloaded Accordance onto my computer already, and am beginning the learn it.
  3.  There is a very rough draft a syllabus, but I’m going have to develop my own in a hurry.
  4. I have not read the only book that is required for the course.
  5. I’m scared.

This is the sort of class that I have dreamed about teaching.  I can do this, and do it well.  However, I need to be consistency—not just consistent, but consistency!

However, consistency is not perfection, and I need to do a good job of triage on what I can do in the length of time I have to do it, with my current understanding of the Bible and technology, and with the students I have.

Perhaps the fifth thing that I listed above is the most important: I’m scared.  I plan to let fear drive me in a good direction and at an appropriate pace, but only God is capable of leading me to be a really good instructor.  That is because God Himself is the most “teacherly” of teachers.”

(You might also want to read another post I wrote, “DTEB, “IN OVER MY HEAD”.  It would appear that I feel overwhelmed quite a bit of the time!)

 

 

 

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“OF ROYALTY AND BAD BEHAVIOR: THE LAW OF BLUE TASSELS”

On April 23, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

37 Then the LORD said to Moses,

  38 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: Throughout the generations to come you must make tassels for the hems of your clothing and attach them with a blue cord.

  39 When you see the tassels, you will remember and obey all the commands of the LORD instead of following your own desires and defiling yourselves, as you are prone to do.

  40 The tassels will help you remember that you must obey all my commands and be holy to your God.

  41 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. I am the LORD your God!”” (Numbers 15: 37-41, New Living Translation)

This is one of those boring passages in the Old Testament that is tempting to skip.  I decided that I would dig a bit deeper.  I’m glad that I didn’t skip, but dug deeper.  The brief dig was more than worth it.  Two sentences from an Old Testament scholar shed a great deal of light on this.  Pekka Pitkänen writes,

“As Milgrom suggests, the purple colour in the tassels is likely to tie in with the Israelites being a kingdom of priests (Milgrom 1990: 414; Ex 19:6).  This said, the law at the same time ties in with the fact that human nature can be susceptible to bad behaviour (v. 39).”[1]

So, the tassels remind Israelites (and us) of two things: We are royalty, and we are, at times, behaving royally badly.  Those are two things that we all need to remember.

Twelve-steppers confess two things at meetings: We are recovering and we are addicts (or, as one of my friends likes to say, “We have an addiction”).

Being recovering addicts makes us royalty.  But we are still “susceptible to bad behaviour.”  Indeed, as an addict, I am prone to very bad behavior!

I believe that these are two very important things for all humans to remember.  If we don’t affirm our royalty, we are ignoring our own worth.  If we only affirm our royalty, we ignore our innate tendency to do the wrong, destructive thing to ourselves and others—our tendency to screw up royally.

But what do we do to remind ourselves of these two seemingly contradictory facts?  What are our blue tassels?

I can’t speak for you, but my 12-step meetings, readings, and phone calls are my blue tassels.  The program and my friends in it remind me of what a good person I am, how blessed I am, how I reflect the glory of God in some dim but important ways.

But they also know all my stuff.  They have heard my unvarnished, unedited, x-rated story.  They know only too well that I am “still susceptible to bad behaviour.”

I would encourage everyone to find and wear some blue tassels.  Put them on every day.  Look at them often.

[1] Pekka Pitkänen, A Commentary on Numbers: Narrative, Ritual and Colonialism, Routledge Studies in the Biblical World (London: Routledge, 2018), 125.

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