Girl Advice

Ladies, take notes. A hilarious and wise post from Taylor E.

Excerpts from an article by Tim Keller

Up until now, my faith has been driven by "what makes sense and is right for me". I've often encouraged others to figure out "what God means and how He speaks to you". While I still believe God is immensely personal and does speak to each person in their own way, this article exposes the fine line between that, and convincing ourselves of what we want to be true. Individuality is subject to, well, selfishness and naivety. Why do we trust ourselves so much more than God? That's so silly. Read on...

(edited down with bold highlights by me)
AUTHORITY
BY TIM KELLER

... We are our own moral authority... [People] are always ready to change direction and abandon commitments and loyalties without qualms and to pursue, on a personal cost-benefit basis, the best opportunity available to them...

Sociologist Christian Smith has written a book called Souls in Transition which profiles the beliefs of young adults under the age of 25. He finds that most of them believe it is the choice of their beliefs that make them true, not their truth that leads to our choice of them. He notes how even young adults who go to conservative churches and identify as Christians often refuse to believe Christian prohibitions against premarital sex and other Biblical norms that conflict with their feelings and intuitions.

Smith relates how he often interviewed people and asked them if their moral convictions (some of which were very strong) were mainly subjective feelings or really true to reality. He found that most had difficulty even understanding what he was asking...

Many years ago as a young Christian my attention was arrested by an article on ‘Authority’ by John Stott. Stott asked, “Why should people believe that the Bible is God’s Word written, inspired by his Spirit and authoritative over their lives?” (The Authority of the Bible, IVP, 1974,p.6) This was a big question for me. I had decided that I believed in Jesus Christ, but I struggled with the idea that I had to believe everything in the Bible. Stott answered that we do not believe it simply because we want to be dogmatic and certain about our own beliefs, nor because the church has consistently taught this (though it has), nor because we just ‘feel’ the Bible is true as we read it. “No. The overriding reason for accepting the divine inspiration and authority of Scripture is plain loyalty to Jesus…Our understanding of everything is conditioned by what Jesus taught. And that includes his teaching about the Bible. We have no liberty to exclude anything from Jesus’ teaching and say, ‘I believe what he taught about this but not what he taught about that.’ What possible right do we have to be selective?” (p.7)

What did Jesus believe about the Bible? He said that not a ‘jot or tittle’ (i.e. not the smallest letter or even a part of a letter) would pass away from God’s Word until all was fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18 cf.John 10:35.) ... So, to Jesus, what Scripture says, God says. And Jesus did not simply believe the Bible, but he guided and regulated every step and detail of his life by it (cf. John 19:28.)

Stott’s question—‘what possible right do we have to be selective?’—is like a hammer blow to our contemporary way of life. We feel strongly that we have the right, even the obligation to select what parts of Jesus teaching we can accept and what parts we cannot. But that makes no sense. Why should you trust in him as Savior if you are wiser and smarter then he is? Either he is who he said he is, and his views judge our views, or he was lying or deluded about being the Son of God. So Jesus’ authority and the absolute authority of the Bible stand or fall together. If we believe he was who he said he was, then we must accept the entire Bible as God’s word.

New Song-of-the-Month

"Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol. Click image to right to listen.

HIMYM

If you don't know what HIMYM stands for, this chat with Sharon won't make sense to you. Also, I feel sorry for you.

11:04 PM Sharon: im growing wiser each year u know?

11:05 PM me: each day

Sharon: hollerrrrr

me: in 55 more minutes...wait for it...

Sharon: lol

11:06 PM omg what do they say??

i forgot!

me: OMG

Sharon: in how i met ur mother!

me: you forgot THAT??

SHARONNN

Sharon: omg!!

i forgot itttt

me: that is crucial

Sharon: OMG

hint!

me: that's like not knowing "that's whay she said"

don't look it up

don't cheat

Sharon: im not

im thinkin

omg

omg

u are making me nervous

me: ok lactose intolerant

that is your hint

11:07 PM Sharon: huh

me: think it out

lactose intolerant

Sharon: something ...ary

me: what does lactose intolerant mean?

Sharon: u cant drink milk

11:08 PM u dont digest cuz u lack the enzymes lactate

me: ok smarty pants. milk is what kind of product?

Sharon: LEGENDARY!!!!!!!

Another day, another year

My mom's text messages from my birthday this year:

"HAPPY HAPPY YOUR 23th BIRTHDAY!!
I will you tomorrow,
You have a great day.
I love you!"

2 hours later...

"I am missing something. I will SEE you tomorrow."

10 minutes after that...

"Also, 23rd birthday, not 23th.
Sorry."

----------------------------------------------

When I was 21, I posted a list of the 9 things I must do before I'm 25. 2 years left, so it's time to start assigning. Here's my progress:

1. Visit Thailand (2010)
   
2. Learn Spanish (2010-2011)
3. Do something, anything! in microfinance or non-profit (2011)
4. Fully and regularly donate 10% of my net income (2010 and onward!)
   
5. Take the GMAT (2011)
6. Be a size 4 again (pbbbtttt I'm over this one. But let's try it anyway. 2010...December)
   
7. Commit to a church that I love (2010. City Church is looking promising!)
   
8. Live in a different city (NYC!!)
   
9. Go to the gyno. Not because I want to but because I should. (Ugh. 2011. December)
   

Work Work Work

At work, we're piloting a survey where you provide confidential feedback to your manager. I wrote up this glowing free response to my old manager in NY because she is fantastic. She's definitely a model for me if I ever become a manager in my career. So here are the notes of what a great manager is IMHO:

• Perf reviews: During our 1:1, she didn't just talk to me about what she thought as a manager, but took the time to also review what I and my peers wrote about my work.
• Removing roadblocks: During our regular 1:1s, she would explicitly ask me if I was having any issues with my work and what she could do to help. She was also very available to provide real-time feedback and solutions.
• Career development and personal well-being: More than anything, I appreciated that she was genuinely invested in my and the team's well-being. She would ask questions like "What are you doing that you like/dislike, so that we can have you do more/less of it?", "What else do you want to take on or explore?", "What are you thinking about longer term and how can we make that happen?" Throughout the year, several members on our team either took on more responsibilities, completely changed roles, and a couple even left the company. She was supportive on every end to see that they were doing what was right for them in their career.
  
• Guidance: Though most of the work was not glamourous, she was keen on acknowledging accomplishments to make it seem less painful. I don't know how she knew when to give me space to be creative versus being in the weeds of the work; but she somehow balanced it appropriately. As the most junior member of the team, I also never felt that she was just shuffling off grunt work, which I have experienced on other teams and seen with other managers. There was a clear difference between doing the work that needed to be done and doing work that was interesting to me, and she openly appreciated both.
• Constructive criticism: I'll be honest, I don't take criticism well. But she would deliver it in a way that would actually motivate me to fix it and improve. I think it's because she never made criticism seem like a heavy top-down reprimand, but rather an acknowledgment that I'm trying my best and this is what I can do to be even better. She is humble about her own challenges as well, which makes me respect her and value her feedback so much more.

On another note, it's been exactly one month since I joined my new team. This team is basically a point person for all People Ops communications, and so sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is going from meeting to meeting to meeting. Here's the proof:

Last 13 weeks:
Avg time in meetings: 14.69 hrs/wk (32.6%)
Avg productive time (4+ hours with no meetings): 19.38 (43.1%)

Last 4 weeks:
Avg time in meetings: 20.69 hrs/wk (46%)
Avg productive time (4+ hours with no meetings): 2 (4.4%)

Yeesh, no wonder I'm always finishing up on the shuttle!

Grow Up!

Sharon recently whined to me that she doesn't want to grow up. Here were my tips:

• take a trip to toys r us!
• go down a slide!
• run around in sprinklers!
• roll down a hill!
• swing on a swing!
• spin in a circle until you fall over!

Oh to be a kid again...