Relationships of Love

Feb 18, 2015 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

Last night Jim and I went to the movies. Before the show were some commercials. One was for Android showing different animals playing together that are usually not friendly. For example, a tiger was lying beside a bear and a goat was trying to jump up on a horse. The message – We can all get along despite our differences.

Another commercial was for Coca-Cola and showed a coke spilling on an Internet server. The soda then flowed throughout the world spreading goodness. Where two people were fighting – they suddenly were amicable. Where someone was sad – they were happy. You get the idea.

Showing love to others – especially those people outside our inner circle or even our tribe is not just supposed to happen. It has to happen. We are simply one big group of humanity living on this giant planet spinning through space. We must get along.

I’ve been reading a book by Bob Roberts called Bold As Love. He talks about the importance of love and friendship crossing lines of race, culture, and religion. I love what he has to say, but I really love the title – Bold As Love.

Loving another human being is not a wimpy action. It requires three crucial components:

Courage: The ability to step out of your comfort zone and open yourself up to another person.

Transparency: Showing others who you really are – not the façade that is societally acceptable, but the true you.

Vulnerability: Anytime you open the door to your true self, you risk rejection. But it is so worth the risk.

Now in a practical day-to-day life, we weave out of many levels of love. Our relationships are like concentric circles around us. We have the inner circle of family, then close friends, then other friends, then acquaintances, and so forth all the way out to our touches with the grocery clerk or our banker. And in each of those circles, we love in varying degrees. I don’t have the same relationship with my waitress at Denny’s as I do my best friend. But I must still love them both.

And what about outside of my tribe? What about people of other cultures, races, or religions? Am I willing to open my heart to them in love?

Love does not mean we always agree or live life the same way. But a true life of love is filled with kindness, respect, and valuing. That kind of love can extend throughout your neighborhood, your city, your country, and around the world. Love is the unifying hope of humanity and the only way we can live in true relationship.

How do you live out a heart and life of love?

~ Jim and Jerolyn

 

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How’s Your Work Ethic?

Feb 3, 2015 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

Work ethic is one of those key core values of ours. It comes under our value of Integrity, and we believe work ethic is a critical part of that value. We do believe in our words and keeping them true and correct, but along with that our work commitment and strong ethic speaks rather loudly to being a person of Integrity.

“There is someone out there that also wants to be the best, so I have to outwork them to be the best..” Amari Cooper

Amari Cooper was the wide receiver for the nationally ranked University of Alabama and now plans to go to the NFL. This video clip attached was done this past fall and is presented by ESPN. When watching this you will hear described so well about his work ethic and who helped model and teach him that work ethic. We believe it articulates well what we often attempt to communicate, so watch, enjoy, learn, and process his words and actions to apply to your own life and to your parenting.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/90096/video-amari-cooper-the-quiet-man

Work Ethic. Integrity.

How are you doing with this value? How well are you modeling and teaching your children this value? It really is a game-changer in life.

~ Jim and Jerolyn

 

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There’s Only Two Things a Parent Can Do

Jan 21, 2015 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

I had lunch with a friend today whose son is on an around the world trip and has been for the last year. He’s 19 years old. She was telling about the wonderful adventures he has had and some of the pictures she has seen of him. Like him hanging onto the side of a cliff face. Or using couchsurfing.com to find a place to sleep for the night. I finally said, “Can you imagine how you would feel as a mother if he didn’t know the Lord and was out doing all that?”

You see, there are many things from which we can protect our children. We can control their TV watching, what friends they hangout with, the food they eat and the time they go to bed. But even that is not perfect. Short of locking them in a bubble, we cannot protect them from everything.

We have only two options: Do what we can in establishing a solid, loving foundation and trust God. That’s it.

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Reflection and Relationships

Jan 6, 2015 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

Maybe it is having a granddaughter who is now 1 year old and aging as I type this. Possibly because our youngest is 20 and life continues to move at an incredible pace. Or maybe it is just reflection as we enter into another year. Whatever the cause it is all good to get me to simply stop and reflect.

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Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!!!

Dec 24, 2014 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 ~ Jim and Jerolyn

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Repost: What’s Your Hurry?

Dec 17, 2014 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

I believe my lesson for today has been to slow down. God seems to keep putting into my path people and things that require me to put on the brakes.

At work I had to print and assemble invitations to an event. If you want plenty of time to think, hand-feed invitations one-by-one into a printer then stuff each one into an envelope and seal them. I think I solved the problem of the government shutdown while standing there.

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Repost: Complete Abandon

Dec 15, 2014 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

The other day I was watching a news report on people walking tight ropes up on high cliffs over Rio de Janeiro. My palms were sweaty just watching them. They are extreme adrenaline junkies who love the high they get from doing this. They have become very accomplished and knowledgeable about how to do it safely. They did say they learned a lot from trial and error. Obviously, the error wasn’t too tragic.

And then, I noticed the safety leash attached to their ankle and the rope.

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