Archive for September, 2008

Rick
Sep 12th, 2008

100 Things Challenge

Dave Bruno, in a post on his blog, decided to do a 100 Things Challenge.  His basic idea to to limit his personal belongings to 100 Things.  My inspiration for trying  a 100 Things Challenge came from The Story of Stuff.

My 100 Things Rules:

  • Shared or household things do not count. 
  • Collections count as one item.
  • Books do not count.
  • Tools and household maintenance things do not count.
  • Undergarments do not count.
  • Computers do not count, although they will be considered for reduction.
  • Items that are a “set” count as one (camera and lens).
  • Items of personal hygiene do not count.
My goals include:
  1. De-clutter my life.
  2. Recognize what I truly do and do not need.
  3. Not just reduce my stuff, but reduce the stuff I need, reduce my consumerism.
  4. Rules for getting stuff in the future.
In order to make this happen I need a plan.  Here is my plan:
  1. Take inventory of my stuff.
  2. Identify stuff I must keep.
  3. Get rid of stuff I definitely do not need.
  4. Make a decision on “marginal” needs items – revise rules as necessary.
  5. Repeat until 100 things goal has been met.
Goal number four is not a copout.  There might be somethings I need, for my job for example, that I might not have accounted for.  Likewise there are probably a few things in the garage that fall under household maintenance that I do not need.
I will think on my rules and goals a bit and read some more on how I might improve my 100 Things Challenge, but I will post my inventory of stuff in the next few weeks.  My tentative goal is to complete my challenge by September 1, 2009 and that includes getting rid of my excess stuff in the greenest way possible – after all my inspiration was The Story of Stuff.
Rick
Sep 11th, 2008

Walk the Walk

What does that mean, walk the walk?  Well I found a pretty simple definition:

walk the walk - to show something as true through your actions

Christians are often accused of being hypocrites and living just like everyone else.  George Barna’s The Barna Group, a research organization providing research on things concerns of the modern church, have not only found that to be true, but that non-Christians notice it.

As a Christian that concerns me.  Why?  Because odds are most people would not even notice a difference between what I say and what I do, from what they say and what they do.

Is my God the God of the universe who created everything out of nothing, a dad who lost interest in his children or a heavenly being using us as playthings?  According to my beliefs, He is a God who not only created the universe out of nothing, but cares so deeply for me personally that He actively pursues a relationship with me and regardless of the neglect I have in that relationship.  

It is time I ACT like my friend, God, is the creator of universe and not a dad who has no real interest in His children.  Nuff said.