Ice Breaker – Bumper Sticker
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)
As I was driving earlier this week, I observed the cars around me. Bumper stickers used to be glued to many cars. Now, people use magnets. In my Toastmasters meeting this week, someone asked a question about bumper stickers, and it seemed like the perfect question to use for this week’s Stretched Ice Breaker. (Thanks, Becky!)
Question: If you were going to put a bumper sticker on your car, what would it say?
My Answer: Here you go…
If you’ve been reading here for any length of time, you know the village of Xenacoj in Guatemala holds a special place in my heart. My bumper sticker design would make people think twice about my favorite Guatemalan village, and it would remind me of the special people who touched my heart. I don’t know when I’m going back yet, but it has to be sometime, because that is where my heart is.
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!
Ice Breaker – Yacht
Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.
(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)
Question: If you had a yacht, what would you name it?
My Answer: Stretch seems like the obvious choice. If I followed the pattern of my recent blog posts about having a mission mindset, you might think I should go with On A Mission. I like the name Hope Floats. I never saw the movie, but I think the name sounds “uplifting.”
Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!
The Power Of A Post
We live in a world of quick posts and status updates.
Social media is filled with short blurbs documenting our experiences, our thoughts, our observations, and our reactions to life. For the most part, I love it. There is something incredible about connecting with people from your community, your country, and your world. I truly believe social media can be used for good.
However…
Social media also provides a “danger zone” for all of us who fail to think before we hit post.
In 140 characters or less, you and I have the power to build up or destroy.
Tweet ThisIf James were speaking to us today, I think he would say this:
Be quick to think, be slow to tweet (or hit post), and be slow to react.
This is a lesson we all need to remember.
Have you ever posted something on social media or on a blog that you regret?
Strike The Pose
College football Saturday! Think I would make it as a Heisman candidate?
Who are you cheering for today? (I’m cheering for Penn State)?
Published via Pressgram
Ten Date Night Ideas
My wife and I have been intentional in keeping a weekly date night. Monday night is our night. We keep this night sacred just for us.
It hasn’t always been easy to keep date night. We struggled with this especially when our kids were younger, and we had to find a babysitter. Now that we have two teenagers, it is a lot easier to keep our date night. And actually, our kids look forward to our date night now.
A date night helps keep your marriage strong, and it helps show your kids the importance of making your marriage a priority.
When we tell people about our date night, they often ask us what we do on our date nights. They are looking for ideas. Today, I’ll share ten date night ideas which could help you kick-start date night with your spouse.
Ten Date Night Ideas
1. Picnic in the park. Grab a picnic basket, and fill it with your favorite picnic goodies. Throw a blanket in the car, and head to a local park.
2. Miniature golfing. You used to go mini-golfing before you were married. Why stop now? Miniature golfing is a fun way to spend time together.
3. Ice cream. Need I say more? I love ice cream, and there are several ice cream places near our house. I quick trip out to the local ice cream shop may be just the thing you need to do to sweeten your marriage.
4. Hike on a local trail. My guess is that you live near a few local trails. Simply going for a walk together provides time to reconnect after a busy day, and it provides the opportunity for a little exercise in God’s creation.
5. Movie night. Go out to a local theater, or grab a movie at the local Redbox. Don’t forget the popcorn.
6. Coffee shop. Stop by Starbucks or your local coffee shop, and enjoy a hot beverage together. This is an especially great place to visit when the weather starts getting cooler.
7. Dessert only. Go to a fancy restaurant, and only order dessert. You can get the best desserts without paying for the expensive meal. Eat dinner at home first. Then go grab some creme brulee.
8. Star-gazing. After the sun goes down, snuggle up on a blanket in you backyard and enjoy the heavenly sights. Plus, it’s free!
9. Tennis. Besides the initial cost of tennis rackets and the occasional cost of new tennis balls, it is pretty inexpensive to play tennis. I suppose you could make it about the competition, but I’d encourage you to enjoy volleying back and forth. Meanwhile, it’s another great time to talk back and forth over the net.
10. Dinner out. Plan ahead, and go out for a nice dinner together. We used to go out a lot when we were dating, but we’ve cut way back since our wedding. It costs money to go out, so make sure you budget for these types of outings. Once in a while, you need to treat yourself and your spouse.
Date nights are worth it! If you are married, start dating your spouse again.
What is one thing you can do this week to date your spouse?
Shower Time – Is Comfort Really The Right Target?
I’m nearly six feet six inches tall.
I kind of stick out in Guatemala.
I’ve learned that many things in Guatemala are not made for someone of my height. For example, last year, I slept on a bed that was 18 inches too short for me. When I sit in the passenger seat of many Guatemalan cars and trucks, I literally have my knees in my chin. And some of the bathroom facilities don’t actually fit my frame either.
This is the shower we used this year in Guatemala. It is essentially a concrete box, and it is six feet tall from the floor to the ceiling. There is just enough room in this little compartment to turn around. The pipe at the top of the shower is connected to a shower head better known as the widow maker. The shower head is wired to power which sometimes gives you a hot shower. The key word is sometimes. Most of the time you get a rather cold shower.
To save water and to avoid prolonged exposure to the cold water, I took military style showers while we were in Guatemala. This means I would turn the water on and get wet. Then I’d turn the water off and soap up. Finally, I would turn the water back on and rinse off as quickly as possible.
It wasn’t ideal, and it wasn’t all that comfortable, but I actually didn’t mind it so much as the week went along.
Being in the mission field isn’t about comfort.
You get dirty. You sleep in unfamiliar conditions with strange sounds. You drive on bumpy roads. You eat foreign food. Even going to the bathroom and taking a shower is a weird experience.
We live in a world and culture where comfort is king.
There is something healthy about being uncomfortable. The mission field teaches missionaries about sacrifice – it teaches that it just might be worth getting uncomfortable for something far more valuable.
Our trip to Guatemala reminded us that there is more to life than the pursuit of comfort.
I would challenge you to step outside of your comfort zone – to stretch yourself – by planning to go on a missions trip in the next year.
What have you learned by stepping into the uncomfortable? When was the last time you were really uncomfortable?
Guatemalan Dreams
“Without a dream you’ll not get anywhere.” – Kofi Annan
Where would we be without the dreams of people? The Wright Brothers dreamed of flying, and now we can fly around the world (or even into outer space). Thomas Edison dreamed of creating a better light source, and now we can flip a switch and turn on lights in any room of our house. James Salk dreamed of putting an end to polio, and now we live in a time when polio is not known.
Dreams aren’t just meant for big names and big things.
We can also dream. In fact, following through on our dreams can be the catalyst for all kinds of exciting things and changes.
During my visit to Guatemala last month, I started writing down some of my dreams for Guatemala. Sharing them is the first step in making some or all of these dreams a reality.
Guatemalan Dreams:
- To build 100 homes in Guatemala (97 more to go!)
- To come back to Guatemala more than once per year
- To return to Xenacoj for the Christmas for Thousands
- To bring a team from my office to Xenacoj
- To bring a team of bloggers to Xenacoj
- To bring a team made up of The Stretched Community to Xenacoj
- To bring a team of families to Xenacoj
- To bring a team of runners to Xenacoj
- To bring a team made up of our H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Everywhere) group to Xenacoj
- To bring a team to Xenacoj on a regular basis to build homes and serve in other capacities
- To learn Spanish
- To gather tools and supplies to help teams build more homes
- To correspond with German once a month via Skype
- To keep coming to Guatemala as a family/couple.
- To visit/serve in Xenacoj for ten to fifteen days in one visit
- To have on-going relationships with the families who are getting the houses
- To raise awareness in the United States of America for issues facing Guatemalans
- To help Susie and German open their restaurant
- To write a book about short-term missions and developing a mission mindset
- To help move Guatemala from a third world country to a second or first world country
- To help German start his church
This is just a start of my Guatemalan Dream list – I think. Over the next few days, weeks, and even months, I plan to elaborate more on these dreams. Will all these dreams come to fruition? I don’t know. But I know that any action and movement towards seeing these things realized starts with a dream. I’m learning to dream again. How about you?
What is one of your dreams? What is one thing you can do today to make this dream more of a reality?
A Week Goes By Quickly
Today is our last full day in Xenacoj.
We will be making our way down to Guatemala City tomorrow morning to catch our plane home to the United States.
I’m excited to share our journey when we get home, but there is part of me that will be here on the streets of Xenacoj.
Today, we will serve at a feeding program for widows, orphans, and needy. Then we will dedicate the second house. This afternoon, we will have time to visit our friends throughout the village. And tonight, we will celebrate the week.
It has gone by quickly.
How was your week?
Finding A New Normal – 5 Keys For Adapting To Change
What’s normal anyway? For those of you who know me, you probably know I’m not a big fan of change. I like things the way they are. This can be a problem though. Life requires us to stretch and grow. Change is inevitable. Kari Scare provides some great insights today to help you adapt to life’s changes. After you read the post and answer her questions in the comments, I hope you’ll head over to her blog and see more great writing. For more information about Kari including her blog link, see her bio at the end of the post.
Finding A New Normal
A while back right after an uneventful 3-mile run, I experienced sudden and severe pain in my hip accompanied by a knotted muscle and a limp.
In response, I did what I normally do (and what usually works) when experiencing pain and discomfort after exercise… rested, iced, medicated and stretched. Unfortunately, my normal approach didn’t work. Several months later, I finally admitted I needed to try a new approach.
After consulting my doctor and doing some research, I added the use of a foam roller to my normal routine. While more uncomfortable than stretching (it was somewhat painful, actually), the foam roller got directly at and finally resolved the knot. Hip pain no longer plagues me.
Only when I got outside of my normal routine, when I decided to try something new, did I not only find resolution to the cause of my pain, but also discovered a new and improved normal.
When Normal Fails to Work
Ever find yourself in a place where what normally works fails to work? It’s that place where usual patterns of thinking and approaches to working through life’s struggles simply no longer produce expected results.
All of a sudden, effectiveness becomes illusive. You may still move through normal routines, but they feel flat, maybe even pointless and possibly painful.
I’ve been to this place physically, mentally and spiritually on more than one occasion and each time found the only way out existed only through finding a new normal.
How to Find a New Normal
The frustration of hip pain only resolved after pushing through the limits of my normal routine to discover a new normal. Using a foam roller now exists as a regular part of my exercise routine and also provides a constant reminder of the need to adapt to life’s changing seasons, even if doing so involves pain and discomfort.
If we always do what we’ve always done even though the circumstances around us change, we’ll eventually fail to experience effectiveness. Instead, we must continually look at what’s working and not working and be willing to find a new normal allowing us to operate at our best.
Finding a new normal requires adapting to life’s changing seasons, and this means…
- Admitting the need. Refuse to get stuck in a normal routine. Realize and then admit when normal no longer works in order to open the door for stretching that leads to growth.
- Getting outside help. Avoid getting so ingrained in habits and routines that seeing needed changes is impossible. Talk to others, objectively getting ideas for change, and receive the input required for future effectiveness.
- Being teachable. Realizing the need for change and knowing what needs changed remains useless when a person remains unwilling to change. Being teachable involves a willingness to find a new normal and to adapt to life’s inevitable changing seasons.
- Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. All too often, we know we need to change and we even know what needs changed, but we still fail to make the changes. Why? We’re too comfortable in our habits. Be willing to let go of the old normal to find a more effective one.
- Staying aware of changing seasons. Find ways to continually stay aware of what’s not working and what is working. Look for ways to stay challenged and to confront any ineffective normals preventing effectiveness.
At first I resisted changing my normal routine, even when it wasn’t working, but chronic pain forced me to see my need for a new normal. Unfortunately, only after months of my body screaming desperately for change did I become teachable and willing to change.
Discomfort does sometimes indicate a need to pull back and rest. Sometimes, though, it indicates a need to seek a new normal, to adjust to the changing seasons of life. As we push through the discomfort (and sometimes pain) of finding this new normal, we will discover the benefits of increased effectiveness and productivity too.
How do you adjust to life’s changing seasons? How do you stay aware of those changing seasons?
Kari Scare blogs about ways to live in victory while still struggling on this side of Heaven. Her blog, Struggle to Victory, will challenge you and inspire you to make small changes which will lead to a big difference, to be perfected through Biblical principles, to live life with determination, curiosity, intentionality, simplicity, and balance. She has a story worth reading and sharing with others. Go check it out!