Life Hack Podcast Notes

Great to have Todd Durkin back on the podcast.

To get more information about Fitness Quest 10, Todd’s gym click here  http://fitnessquest10.com/

Our notes were kind of all over the place today but if you’re looking for some great Proverbs to read here are some of our favorites.

Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Proverbs 4:10-12

Most of you are looking for that in your life. You want God to be involved in your life to help you make smart decisions.

I believe is a reason why so many people make bad decisions. It’s not because you are foolish or lack education or you’re trying to mess up your life. I think one reason why people feel so overwhelmed by decisions is because we have to make so many decisions. We are Overchoiced. Psychologists tell us that with all the choices we make we suffer from decision fatigue. With all the decisions we have to make we get worn out and end up making bad decisions.

There are some people in our culture who have decided that at least in one area of their lives they will not be overchoiced. I read a CNN article this week that talked about some famous figures who have chosen to wear the same clothes each day to reduce the decisions they have to make. If you are feeling overchoiced I have some fashion ideas for you today. I’m wearing one today. Can anyone guess who’s fashion sense I’ve adopted today? This is the Steve Jobs look. If you don’t like this one, I have some others.
Pride only breeds quarrels. Proverbs 13:10
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

A man’s pride brings him low. Proverbs 29:23

The bible makes it clear that pride is a relationship killer. Pride shows up in a lot of different ways in our lives. Let’s talk about a few of them

It shows up in criticism. If you are critical of other people, if you tend to be judgmental of other people, if you are a picky perfectionist, you have a pride problem. That’s the reason you are critical because no one can live up to your so called high standard.

It shows up in competition and comparing. Look at her clothes compared to my clothes, look at his car compared to my car. If you are always comparing yourself to other people in your neighborhood or at work, you have a pride problem.

If you have shallow relationships and you keep everything superficial. If you like to keep people at arms distance so that they don’t see your mistakes and failings, then, guess what, you have a pride problem.

Edward Hallowell writes that for most people the two most powerful experiences in life are connecting and achieving. Connecting has to do with our relational world. Falling in love, spending time with family, building friendships. Achieving has to do with our own accomplishments- winning contests, pursuing career success or realizing a difficult goal. Hallowell points out that Our society is increasingly devoted to, obsessed with, and enslaved by achieving, and increasingly bankrupt and impoverished when it comes to connecting. I believe that is a pride problem.

Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

Folks, we are great at examining hearts. We do it all the time. I examine your heart. I examine my kids heart. I examine my wife’s heart. We’re fantastic at this one. We keep a log of everything they’ve done to us. We think we have a pretty good handle on why they are doing what they are doing. But that’s not what this verse is challenging us to do. We don’t need the challenge to look at others and examine their motives. We need the challenge to examine our own lives.

Let me illustrate this for you I borrowed my wife’s camera. I bought it for her for Christmas. I’m a pretty good husband, don’t you think. Is there a person with a good camera in your house? Do you have one? What do you notice about the person in your family with the best camera. The one who takes the most pictures. Who’s never in any of the pictures. The person with the best camera. My wife complains about this. Why am I not in any of our pictures. (That’s me imitating my wife) Why isn’t she in the pictures. Trust me, it’s not because I’m better looking. Are we all in agreement on that? It’s because she’s behind the camera. This verse is challenging us to get on the other side of the camera. Instead of evaluating others and examining others we need to examine ourselves. The bible says this over and over and over.

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. Proverbs 18:9

David Rabin was a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. While going through medical school, the disease he found most frightening was Lou Gehrig’s disease. He remembered being introduced to his first patient with the disease hearing the neurologist announce, “Hopeless! He will be demeaned, isolated, unable to communicate and probably dead in six months.” When he was 46 David was diagnosed with, you guessed it, Lou Gehrig’s disease. He knew what would happen: stiffness in the legs, then weakness, paralysis of the lower limbs and then the upper; eventually he became trapped in a body that would no longer obey his commands. David lost it all. But there was one thing he would not surrender; He would not surrender his spirit. He heard from a friend that there was a computer that could be operated by a single switch. That switch could be operated by anyone- however handicapped- who retained the function of one muscle group. David had enough strength in only one body part- his eyebrow muscle. And so for the next four years he used his eyebrow. With his eyebrow he could operate a computer. So with his eyebrow he could speak to his family, tell jokes to his friends, write papers, and review manuscripts. He carried on a medical consulting practice. He taught med students. He published a comprehensive textbook on endocrinology and received a prestigious award for it. And he did all of this when the only thing he could control was a single eyebrow. He said, “Sickness may challenge your body. But are you merely your body? Lameness may impede your legs. But you are not merely you legs. Your will is bigger than your legs. For your will is always under your control.” Here is a man who had a twisted, useless body. But it housed two assets: an eyebrow muscle strong enough to twitch on command and a spirit that would not give up. And one eyebrow is enough to serve the world. (The article ends with this line) Got a good eyebrow? Then it’s your turn.

Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing. Proverbs 12:18

Here are Todd’s favorite proverbs

27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his
friend.
4:20-27; 15:1-7 (I think I referred to 15:1-7 but they BOTH deal with
“words”) — Words Matter
3:5-8   Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your
paths.
29:23 Humility; Humble & Hungry
22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will
not depart from it.