Change…?!
This week in the Dispatch:
Really Random Sports Trivia Questions in Quick Hits
Read: “Excellence Wins”
“Lust vs Sexual Desire” - this week’s YV plan
Listen: Podcasts worth repeating
Watch: “A Major Marriage Issue” on the Awesome Marriage YouTube Channel
“Change...?!” in Insights plus Next Steps and a Challenge
This Week’s Quick Hits:
Really Random Sports Trivia Questions*:
1. True or False: In the Finnish Wife Carrying Competition men’s race, where the husband has to carry his wife the length of the course, the winner gets the lady’s weight in reindeer meat.
2. Which US superstar said “I’ve never lost a game I just ran out of time”?
3. What is the first name of Phil and Gary Neville’s father?
4. What nickname is given to the New Zealand men’s basketball team?
5. Which sport has a finishing line that isn’t crossed?
6. Mark Twain is commonly said to have described what sport as “A good walk, spoiled”?
7. Fill in the blank: Gary Player once said ‘the harder I practice, the ….. I get’.
8. What is the fictional sport played in the Harry Potter novels and films?
9. Where was it, in 1971, that Alan B. Shepard’s golf shot went for “miles and miles and miles”?
10. What sport has various versions of the rules such as Skins, Bingo Bango Bongo, and Stableford?
*Adapted from “Sports Quiz Questions and Answers” Answers below!
Read, Listen, Watch
Read:
Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze
This book is for everyone that wants to know how to treat people in a way that endears them to you. Whether in personal relationships, ministry, or business, these principles work. Horst Schulze began his career as a server’s assistant in a German resort town. From that beginning, he rose to become a legend and a leader in the hotel world. His teachings and visions have reshaped the concepts of service and hospitality in industries around the world. Schultz became a founding member of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983 and later went on to found the Capella Hotel Group. The book is full of great stories from his experiences. I also love that he is very outspoken about his Christian faith and the impact it has had on both his business and personal life. This is a great read!
YouVersion Plan:
In this 3-part plan, we will look at lust and the difference between lust and sexual desire. We will look at how to deal with temptation, how to live in a sex charged world, and how God provides a way out. This plan will help you go from the chains of lust to the freedom of sexual desire in your marriage.
Podcast:
Awesome Marriage Podcast - Worth Repeating
As Christina and I take a four-week break from the podcast, you are in for a real treat. Each week we will open the vault of 468 podcasts and select a podcast that we think is a “Podcast Worth Repeating.” Tune in and see if we picked one of your favorites or one you might have missed!
Watch:
This week on the Awesome Marriage YouTube channel, we look at “One Major Issue in Marriage.” This issue, that ends 56% of marriages, is porn. In this video, we look at the impact of porn and the first step away from its grasp.
Insights:
Change...?!
Can we really change?
Are we stuck with who we are for the rest of our lives?
Are those around us just going to have to suck it up because we are doing the very best that we can?
I have heard those statements, very similar versions of them, from a number of people in a number of situations over a number of years. Sometimes they are spoken out of frustration because the person has tried to change and feels they have failed. Sometimes they are spoken out of arrogance when the person has no intention of changing and wants the people in their life to accept them just as they are.
So, what is true? Yes, we can change! It takes effort, consistency and being intentional every day. Plus, God will be “all in” with you! God has a plan for each of us that is the absolute best version of you imaginable.
No, we are not stuck. The idea that we are just stuck with the part of ourselves that we do not like or that others do not respond to well is just a lie. As an example, I can be critical of people. That bothered me for a long time. I would really work on not being critical and think I was making progress but then find myself back in critical mode. It was frustrating. I can remember thinking that I would never break out of the pattern. Then God gave me an idea. I started asking Him to help me see the people that I was critical of through His eyes. I began to pray for them. There was no miraculous instant change, but over time change has taken place. We are never stuck because our God ALWAYS has the answer we need. He always is changing us for the better. Our role is just to invite Him into the middle of our “stuckness.”
In my opinion, asking people to accept the parts of me that are hard to live with or offensive is selfish at best and prideful at worst. I know, I am stepping on some toes here but if we really want awesome marriages and awesome relationships, we will always need to make changes. The healthiest marriages and the healthiest relationships are those in which both people are willing to work with God to become exactly who He created them to be.
If you sat down with God and asked Him what you need to change with His help, what would He say? It may sound scary but God will never change anything in you that is not good for you, your spouse and the other important people in your life. Change? It’s really only a prayer away!
Challenge:
What is something that you have tried to change on your own but just never made it stick?
Is there something that the important people in your life find difficult to deal with? What is it? How does it affect you and them?
Next Step:
Spend time with God this week - just the two of you - and ask Him what change(s) would take you a step closer to the person that He created you to be.
This Week’s Answers:
Crazy Funny Sports Trivia Questions:
False, they get their partner’s weight in beer!
Michael Jordan
Neville (yes his name really was Neville Neville)
Tall Blacks
Swimming
Golf
Luckier
Quidditch
The moon
Golf
Super Question:
Damascus, Syria. Damascus boasts archeological evidence of human habitation dating back at least 11,000 years.
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