Ice Breaker – Back to the Future

Like I explained yesterday, I’m planning to keep things going on the NEW Stretched Blog (jonstolpe.com), so it’s that time of the week again…time for an ice breaker question!  One of my favorite movies of all-time is Back to the Future.  I’ve always been intrigued with the possibility of time travel, so today’s question has to deal with time travel.  For those of you who are new or who forgot, ice breaker questions are used to help people get to know each other – to “break the ice” so to speak.  I love hearing what other people have to say and how they think.  So for today, I’m excited to throw out another simple ice breaker question.  I’ll answer it first, then it’s your turn.  Answer the question by leaving a comment for us all to enjoy.  Thanks!

Question:  If you could go back in time (or forward), what time period would you like to experience?

My Answer:  Here you go….

I would only use this time machine if I knew for certain that I could return to right now.  I’m so thankful for where God has me right now.  So assuming this was secured, I would choose to go back to the 1950s.  This is the time period in which my parents grew up.  It would be interesting to see what they experienced.  What were the fads and trends?  What pressures were they up against as kids?  The cars were pretty cool back then.  It just seems like a more simple time frame.  The technology that we now experience wasn’t there which could be seen as a blessing or a curse.  They didn’t have the same distractions that we experience in 2012, but they also didn’t get to experience so many of the luxuries that we now take for granted.

On a personal note, I’d love to meet some family members who passed away before I was born.  I’d especially like to meet my great grandparents.

So there you have it, my answer to the question.  Now it’s your turn….I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say!

Don’t forget to sign-up for the NEW Stretched Community.  Subscribe to the blog today!

A New Start For The Stretched Blog

Today marks a new beginning for The Stretched Blog.  We have officially moved to our own domain.  I’m excited for the new opportunities that will open up as a result of this move.  PLEASE!  PLEASE!  PLEASE, join the Stretched Community by subscribing (over on your right).  Also, don’t forget to add the new site to your blog reader.  Both these steps will ensure that you continue to receive the same ‘great’ content that goes up almost every day.  Also, pass this new link along to your friends and family.  I love meeting new people through the blog world, and I’m excited to share the Stretched Community with others.

Thanks again for Stretching along with me!

What’s new with you?

Guest Post – How To Have God’s Will For Your Life

Today, I have the honor of presenting Brandon Gilliland.  Brandon is a young leader with lots of passion and incredible talent.  He’s training to become a surgeon.  In his spare time, he plays the guitar, and he blogs about leadership, following Christ, playing the guitar, and becoming a surgeon.  Brandon currently writes at two blogs.  You can check them out here and here.  Please jump over and become one of his regular readers.

(If you’re interested in becoming a Stretched guest blogger, let me know in the comments, and I’ll get back to you.  I’m always looking for people to share their Stretching stories.)

How To Have God’s Will For Your Life

A question that encompasses many Christian’s lives is “How do I follow God’s will for my life?” I have wondered this myself many times. As a student on track to become a surgeon, I have many doubts in my mind. I commonly question myself the methods that I am going through. A few short months ago, a really questioned if this track was God’s will for my life. I sometimes still question it, but I am starting to discover that becoming a surgeon is what God desires for me to do with my life. It is a lot of work, but if it is God’s will for my life, He will give me the strength and the necessary opportunities that will ultimately allow me to become a surgeon.

Like I said earlier, there were a few moments when I was not sure what God’s will for my life entailed (on the career side of things). As Christians, we should desire to stay in God’s will for our lives. If we are truly following Christ, we should have the desire to please and serve Him.

If we are always questioning if what we are doing is God’s will, then how can we serve Him to our absolute best ability? The answer is rather simple: focus on God. This is easy to say, but it is not easy to live out on a daily basis. There are a few things that I have to remind myself of all the time to be able to be assured that I am living God’s will for my life.

Pray

First off, prayer is important. If prayer is not an important part of your life, you can be certain that you are not in God’s will. If you are not on the same wavelength as God, you are not going to make the decisions that He wants you to make.

“Pray without ceasing…”

-1 Thessalonians 5:17

Keep the Main Goal in Mind

After prayer is an important part of your life, you need to keep the main goal in mind. Obviously, this goal can not be set properly without consulting God first. When you believe that God has revealed to you a certain goal after you have prayed about it, you can begin to focus on that goal. Go can desire something else, but you can have the right thought pattern. That leads us to the next point…

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

-Colossians 3:2

Focus on the Small Things

Ultimately, it is essential to know God’s main goal, but it is not beneficial to focus entirely on it. If you focus too much on the main goal, you can begin to drift. Instead, it is important to focus on the small tasks that lead to the ultimate goal. This method insures that you can follow God’s will. If you are doing everything that God wants you to do at every moment, you can be 100% sure that you are in God’s will for your life.

That is the problem though. We do not always pray. We do not always focus on God. We are not always on God’s wavelength.

This is the reason why we can stray from God’s will. He desires so much more for us, but sometimes we give up on the blessings He has for us.

What do you need to follow God’s will on?

Don’t Hold A Press Conference

We all like to be noticed.  We all like to be recognized for doing something good.  We like to hear people say, “Good job.”  We want the praise of man.  I think this is a normal human desire.

The other day, I was reading in Matthew 6 which is part of the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus.  In part of this sermon, Jesus talks about how we should give to the needy, how we should pray, and how we should go about fasting.  Three times in this passage Christ says, “Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  When we give to the needy, when we pray, and when we fast, we should do these acts so no one knows but God.  We want the recognition.  We want to hold a press conference when we do these things.  But Christ tells us to keep it between God and us.  Surely, God’s reward is far greater than any recognition we get from man.

As a blogger this is a huge topic to ponder.  I often blog about the activities of my family including the activities related to serving others.  I hope that my main motivation in sharing these things is to encourage others to find ways to serve with their families, but I confess that there may be a part of my motivation that wants to hear others say, “Your family is so good.  You are a great parent.  You and Leanne do such a great job.”  These compliments do mean a lot, but my suspicion is that these praises of people pale in comparison to the reward that God promises.

Ultimately, I want to glorify God.  Whether it’s giving to the needy, praying, fasting, working, running, blogging, or whatever, I want my thoughts and actions to bring glory to God.

And so I stretch!  (In a year of being transformed, transformation of my motives is a great place to start.)

What do you think?  Do you struggle with seeking the praise of people?  How do you fight this?

Book Review: Starting Over A Manifesto on Being Myself by Michael D. Perkins

Over the years, I’ve reviewed many books here on The Stretched Blog.  Today, I’m reviewing my first eBook.  Starting Over A Manifesto on Being Myself is a creative and challenging eBook by pastor and blogger, Michael D. Perkins.  In Starting Over, Perkins challenges bloggers (and other creative persons) to break free of the formulas that govern traditional blogging (and other forms of creativity).  Michael’s unique blogging style which usually appears on The Handwritten is taken to the next level in this handwritten work as he encourages readers to avoid copying others and to find ways to be ourselves.

From a personal perspective, I was challenged by every page of Starting Over.  My engineering personality thrives on formulas and routines.  So much of my blogging has been influenced by “big name” bloggers like Michael Hyatt, John Saddington, and Jon Acuff.  I think it’s okay to be influenced, but it’s important to find our uniqueness in our on original styles and forms.  Starting Over definitely STRETCHES me as I consider my Stretched Blog.

If you are a blogger, I definitely recommend downloading a copy of this FREE e-book.  You can pick up a copy by clicking here.  Let me know what you think!

How about you?  Who had influenced you as a blogger?  And how have you found your unique voice through your blog?  What do you need to change in order to become yourself?

January 7, 2012 Week In Review…

It’s time for The Stretched Blog Week in Review – the first for 2012!   The traffic to the Stretched Blog is at an all-time high this week.  In fact, blog traffic on Wednesday was the highest ever on the blog (and Thursday’s traffic was right behind).  Thank you!

Here’s the rundown on the posts for the week:

Monday:  December 2011 Top Posts

Tuesday:  Meet Irwin

Wednesday:  One Word For 2012: Transformed

Thursday:  The Stretched Blog Visits The Analogous Truth

Friday (this actually posted Saturday do to a visit to me by the stomach flu):  Ice Breaker – My First Car

Your continued contribution to the blog through comments is greatly appreciated.  Your comments are what makes this Stretched Community!  Please remember to take the time to Subscribe to the blog, so you can have Stretched delivered daily to your e-mail inbox.  Also, don’t forget to stop by the Jon Stolpe Stretched Facebook fan page.  Become a fan to keep up with some additional Stretched stuff.  I have started to share more blog highlights from other blogs that I read regularly.  I think you’ll find some great stuff here.  Thanks!

Here are a few of my favorites from around the blog world this week:

• FedEx Guy Throws Computer Monitor Over Fence by Chris LoCurto at Chris LoCurto’s Blog
• The Brilliant Person You Ignore Every Day by Jon Acuff at JonAcuff.com
• Goals: Get A Bigger Frying Pan! by Chris Patton at Christian Faith at Work

It should be a fun week upcoming.  Brandon Gilliland will be guest posting on Wednesday.  We’ll have another fun Ice Breaker on Friday.  And there’s sure to be more Stretching the rest of the week.  Please stop back so you can see what’s going on here!

How about you?  How was your week?  If you’re a blogger what happened over your way this week?  Did you read any great blog posts this week?  Share with the rest of us!

Ice Breaker – My First Car

It’s that time of the week again…time for an ice breaker question!  Since it’s the first ice breaker of the year, I thought I would ask a question about firsts.  For those of you who are new or who forgot, ice breaker questions are used to help people get to know each other – to “break the ice” so to speak.  I love hearing what other people have to say and how they think.  So for today, I’m excited to throw out another simple ice breaker question.  I’ll answer it first, then it’s your turn.  Answer the question by leaving a comment for us all to enjoy.  Thanks!

Question:  What was (or is) your first car?

My Answer:  Here you go….

My answer will be pretty simple.  My first car was a 1974 Chevy Nova.  It was midnight blue with a white hard top.  It had a straight six cylinder engine in it, and I could stand next to the engine if I lifted the hood.  The Nova had four doors and a JVC stereo that I installed.  The ceiling fabric was falling down, so I used push pins to hold it up.  It had an Oakley sticker in the back window.  The Nova felt like it was floating when I drove down the highway.  I’ll always have fond memories of the Nova.

So there you have it, my answer to the question.  Now it’s your turn….I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say!

The Stretched Blog Visits The Analogous Truth

Today, I have the privilege of guest posting over at The Analogous Truth.  The Analogous Truth is a blog written by my friend, Arny Sanchez.  Arny creatively relates pop culture to faith.  My post today (I Love You Man!) fits into Arny’s theme.  Please stop over to read it and add a comment or two.  Also, please consider adding The Analogous Truth to your regular blog reading routine.  Thanks!

(Note on guest posting:  I’d love to share a guest post on your blog sometime or to have you guest post here about your stretching story.  If either of these two opportunities interest you, drop me a comment.)

One Word For 2012: Transformed

If you had to pick one word to focus on in 2012, what would it be?

For me, I’m choosing the word transformed.

Transformed means to be changed.  You might even say that transformed means to be stretched.

I want my life to be transformed by my relationship with God.

A lot of great things happened in 2011, but I felt like it was a year for recovery (not that this is a bad thing).  I want 2012 to be about moving forward and being transformed.  When I think of transformation, I think of growth.  I think of metamorphosis.  I want to grow closer to God in 2012.  I want to pray bigger and bolder prayers.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2

So there you have it – my word for 2012.  You can check out what words other people are choosing as part of the One Word 365 Community.  What’s your word?

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