Tag: friendship
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Honest reflections on Unhealthy Relationships part 2: complaints
We can often find outselves hiding our needs in a complaint. We haven’t had a date in a week. You never listen to my ideas. You never take initiative. All these can easily be reframed as a simple request to have your needs legitemately met. Could we go out on a date tonight? Can we […]
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Faith and Constipation are not the same thing
I haven’t had much faith lately. I know, I shouldn’t say that. I haven’t lost my faith. You can’t lose something you don’t have. “Don’t confess that. “ But you can’t fake faith. You can’t hype yourself up. Faith that is faith is real.
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Depression, Robin Williams and why Matt Walsh is wrong
“Just get over it.” “Just let it go.” “Just snap out of it.” The tragic death of comedian and actor Robin Williams has brought to light once again the terrible battle that those who face depression fight. But as a Christian, what should I do with depression? Popular blogger Matt Walsh as usual has all […]
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How to be popular: Life Lesson #27
The secret to popularity. The first popular kid I remember from school was in 4th or 5th grade. From then on, the popularity contest ran full swing until graduation night, populating the hallways of highschool with “in” kids and everyone else, “cool” kids and everyone else. These were rarified airs to travel in, and being […]
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Learn to talk to a human. Life Lesson #24
Learn to talk. (credit to my older, wiser brother, Stephen Porter, on the original idea here). I speak 6 languages. Not fluently, and I have an accent in most of them. Swahili was the most recent one I learned and what a fun, challenging experience. My sixth language though? Digital media. You may be a […]
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Why the way you apologize is wrong. Life Lesson #23
Learn to apologize. Saying “I’m sorry” takes practice. For some, the process is akin to extracted impacted wisdom teeth. For others, the words flow out so quickly you wonder if there is any meaning associated. Ever had someone apologize to you and afterwards you felt worse? “I’m sorry you are such a jerk and I […]
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Why Starbucks gifts certificates are better than Amazon Gift Certificates. Life Lesson #19
Don’t give gift certificates (except to Starbucks) My wife loves cards. When we were dating, I’d frequently be the recipient of a lovely, love filled card which I would read and promptly discard, much to my wife’ consternation. She learned that cards aren’t really my thing. You might find it interesting then that among my […]
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Your emotions are a lie (sometimes). 40 Life Lessons I learned before I turned 40: #18
Emotions are real, but not necessarily true. Doug Lowenberg has both a DMin and is currently finished a PhD and teaching at a school in East Africa. He also taught many of the classes Tahnya and I took in our degree program in college. But his greatest statement to Tahnya and I was made in […]
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Scuba diving makes communication difficult. Life Lesson #17
Keep your communication above the water line. This one is a bit cultural, so you may have to contextualize. Some background might help though in understanding cultures. Culture, we often see as a geopolitical thing. Tribes in Africa, countries in Europe, regions in America. Barbeque versus Vegan type thing. But culture goes deeper than that. […]