Jesus' Guide to Time Management

When I read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People several years ago, the book illuminated for me the difference between urgency and importance.

It’s basic, really, but every item on your to do list can be any combination of urgent and important. Just because a task is urgent—Dancing with the Stars is on television right now—doesn’t mean it’s important.

Crispy (CC)

The problem is urgent tasks have a way of making themselves seem important, when in fact, they have no lasting significance. Mowing the yard, while urgent, is probably not all that important. In a few days, the grass will be tall again. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mow your yard; there are consequences to not mowing, like unwanted bugs, scorn of neighbors, lower property value.

But in a time-deprived culture like ours, often the important stuff gets neglected because the urgent items scream at us all day long. What kind of tasks am I talking about? Which ones are important?

2 Things You Should Ask for This Christmas

Did you ever really really want something, only to be left wanting when you actually got it?

One Christmas my brother and I begged my mom to get us a Nintendo Gamecube. She kept telling us no, but we kept persisting. Finally she said she would buy it, but she wouldn’t have any Christmas money leftover to buy us any games. We agreed, counting on Christmas money from grandparents. 

Kate Ter Haar (CC)

Christmas morning we unwrapped the cube in ecstatic joy. We hooked it up to a television in my brother’s room and set the system clock and fiddled with other settings. We had managed to scrape together enough money to purchase a game for the system, but it would have to wait until stores opened the next day. So we sat on the bed, marveling at every detail of the console.

On December 26, Mom carted us to Walmart where we victoriously slapped down the $60 plus 8.25% sales tax for Luigi’s Mansion, one of the Gamecube’s launch titles. Mom wouldn’t drive home fast enough. We burst the doors open, furiously tearing through the cellophane packaging of the video game. We carefully clicked the mini disc in its spindle, fired up the system, and off we went. Our video game dreams had come true.

Sixty dollars was quite a bit of money for us jobless kids. But we thought it was well worth it to buy the game. The graphics, sound, and controllers were unlike those of any Nintendo system we’d seen before. We played the game all day, morning until night, making major headway in our efforts to rescue Mario from the ghosts. The next morning though, something awful happened.

Does God Really Have a Plan for Your Life?

[Limited time: Purchase Under the Sun and get three bonuses free! Read on for details.]

Do you ever wonder if God has a plan for your life?

You know so many people who seem to live life with a clear direction. They behave with a sense of purpose, with an unbelievably annoying amount of enthusiasm and optimism.

And dare you say it? They have the “c” word.

Calling.

These people know what they were made for, what they’re good at. They do it well. And they do it for God.

And you want that too.

3 Ways to Stay Thankful During Thanksgiving (And Have God’s Peace All Year Long)

Editor's note: please welcome Brad Andres to the blog today. I think you'll enjoy this post. -Andrew

Sale Thursday! 6:00PM! 8:00 PM! 11:00PM!

Friday follow-up sales and weekend manager specials!

VXLA (CC)

I remember the good old days when Thanksgiving sales did not start until early Friday morning.

But Black Friday is no more. Now, it seems, we should call Thanksgiving, “Black Thursday” when mainstream focus is on food, football, and fantastic deals. The largest sales end before midnight, and the weekend follows with lingering discounts and opportunities to spend more money.

It’s ironic. During Thanksgiving, when people should be happiest, they seem to become the most irritable. When we should be counting our blessings, we count our cash instead (and often spend more than we count). No wonder Americans get so stressed out.

So how can we stay thankful during Thanksgiving, and even all year long?

Want to Help Me Launch My Book?

You are probably aware that I published a book last April called Under the Sun: Discover Your Calling and Live a Meaningful Life.

What you might not know is that it almost killed me. In the weeks leading up to the release of the book I was scrambling to get everything finished on time, regularly operating on four hours of sleep.

I don’t tell you this for pity (although if you have any extra I could throw a party), but rather to point out the fact that I never really promoted the book. I never did a proper book launch. I was so exhausted and overwhelmed just finishing the thing, that I’ve been trying to recharge ever since.

Now that I’ve gathered myself, I’m ready to officially launch my book to the world. But I need your help!

I need people like you to help spread the message about Under the Sun. If you’re interested in joining my book launch team please email me at andrew @ andrewgilmore.net.

Here’s what you are committing to:

-Sharing news about the book on your favorite social media site the day of launch (11/27) plus one or two more times.
-Eventually reviewing the book on Amazon (or your blog if you have one, or both). If you could post the review within the launch period that would be great, but I know it’s short notice.
-Helping me brainstorm ideas for promoting the book.

In return you’ll get:

-A digital version of the book (in all formats)
-All of the bonuses I’m giving away to people who buy the book during the launch period (11/27 - 12/27)
-A thank you and link to your blog, twitter, or whatever you like on my website
-Membership in a private Facebook group where we could discuss the content of the book, and book promotion strategies

Space is limited in the group so let me know right away if you’re interested.

If you’re up for it, email me now at andrew @ andrewgilmore.net. If not, here’s a video of a cat:

Andy

How to Read the Old Testament Without Getting Lost, Getting Bored or Giving Up

You’ve probably started reading Genesis many times.

You may have even made it all the way through, moving on to Exodus. Moses, the plagues, the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments. All interesting stuff.

Jona Park (CC)

But then you hit Leviticus. You start reading about guilt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings, and offering offerings. (Okay I may have made that last one up.) Then you start nodding off. Your mind starts wandering to important things like how much toilet paper is left in the bathroom or who won the 2014 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

So you close up the Bible. The next day you flip to Matthew with a possible pitstop in Psalms and Proverbs. You’ll try the Old Testament next year.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who’s had this problem.

Why Doesn't God Speak to Us?

Friends and family wouldn’t have reacted so negatively had I been unable to speak. But I could speak; I just chose not to. Ergo ensuing frustration. But before I tell you the whole story, let me first inform you that I was in middle school at the time. That’s pretty much synonymous with insanity. So that's my defense. 

Thomas Leuthard (CC)

You see, I was a big fan of the sitcom, Seinfeld, back in its heyday. In a certain episode the titular character’s cross hallway neighbor, Kramer, swore off speaking. “94% of communication is non-verbal.” He said, just prior to his vow of silence. Thinking it would be funny or challenging or whatever I decided to see if I could go an entire day without talking. 24 hours. A school day no less. Nods, hand signals, gestures, all acceptable. No words.