Corby Stephens

I added the “1” to the title because, for all I know, this will be the first of many. And to describe how I got to this particular self reflection would talk a blog entry all by itself. so I’ll skip that one for now. On to the reflection.

Some people are good at something they shouldn’t be. Like lying. Kind of a no-brainer, but it needs to be said. Some people aren’t good at things at which they are supposed to be good. Like being patient. Then there are those ones who are good at things at which they are supposed to be good, but still something is missing. They are incomplete. What’s missing are the things they used to be good at, things it would be good to be good at, but they aren’t anymore. Have I thoroughly confused you yet?

One skill I have tried to develop over the years is critical thinking. Thinking through things. Identifying truths and lies, rights and wrongs, facts and faults. For whatever reason I’ve gotten good at noticing, or drawing attention to lies, wrongs, and faults as opposed to truths, rights, and facts. Pointing out what is wrong is a good things. The word tells us to test, to judges, to evaluate. But if all you do is notice the negative you are going to find yourself increasingly bitter and increasingly left to yourself. It isn’t that I don’t see the good in things, it’s just that it seems like so many people ignore the bad that needs to be dealt with to the point where there is no such thing as bad. I could go on with examples and “why’s” but I don’t need to bore you with “Corby on the couch” time. Moving on.

I used to be known as an encourager. I’m not bragging on myself or anything, that’s just how it was back in the day. I don’t know precisely how or when it changed, but I’m not known for that anymore. I think one of the bigger reasons is that I had a job where I had to be encouraging. I had to be “on” all the time. Some guys who did what I did were natural at it. I wasn’t. I had to fake it after a while. I think I had to fake it so much that even when I felt the need, urge, or instinct to be genuinely encouraging that I shrank back from it because it felt fake. The same principle applied to other areas that are normal behavior for most humans. You know, like feeling happy. I had to fake people “up” and happy so much that I forgot what it actually felt like for real.

I need to stop being good at faking it. I need to temper being good at being critical. I need to get good again, more good, gooder, at being that encourager. Instead of just noticing the good in passing on the way to nailing the bad and shining the spotlight on it, I need to also shine the spotlight on the good.

Reflect.

Words have what is called a “semantic range”. It means that any particular word can have a range of different meanings. Those meanings depend on context. For example, the word “day”. “What day do you want to meet?” “Back in my day…” “It’s the end of a long day.” One word, three different meanings.

A thought occurred to me a week or so ago and I’ve been chewing on it for a while. As I was thinking it through and how I might convey this thought, I felt it important to point out that the use of two specific words might be outside of their usual semantic range. These words are “grace” and “faith”. Were they read with the typical meaning, that having to do with salvation, what I’m trying to say might come across as heresy. It isn’t. As you read this, just bear with me and I think you will see the Biblical truth in it. It may even inspire some change in your own life as it has in mine. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the years I’ve taken an interest in the super hero movies that have come out. The writers and studios are making some great stuff. For whatever reason, when I watch these movies, I see some kind of parallel with the Christian experience. Well, at least the Christian experience as is it supposed to be. I blogged about it sometime back. With all three Spiderman movies and with Superman Returns, there are some profound illustrations of the battle between the old nature and the new nature. The flesh versus the Spirit as it were. These heroes have to come to terms with who they want to be which, in turn, dictates their actions and priorities. I even named the teaching series I did on the Holy Spirit, “Holy Spirit, Batman!” But I never used Batman in any of my teaching. I never seemed to see any parallels between his experience and that of the believer. Just last night I figured out why. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, we made it down here. So far the most I’ve paid for gas is $4.15/gallon. Still shocking. The car is getting descent millage for what is is. About 21mpg. The trip was incident free PTL. However, here is the not-so-calm part. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve found myself resonating a lot with Mark Driscoll lately. Yes, I know he’s reformed and Calvinist, that’s not what I mean. I mean most everything else I’ve heard from him. His attitude towards culture, his attitude towards the church and its mission, his attitude towards compromise in the name of communication and open doors. Heck (can I say “heck”? must be Driscoll rubbing off), I’d affiliate with Acts 29 if they weren’t openly/specifically reformed and Calvinist. But I don’tcondemn or criticize them for that. I’m sure some do. They are what they are and that’s cool. But what’s even more cool IMO is that they know and openly confess what they are not. Read the rest of this entry »