Living Our Design on Ben Baughman

How to Make the World A Better Place

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 16:43:31 +0000

I will be content to die if I know I have sung my whole song.

Our songs are the lives we are designed to live so the world will be a better place after we have passed.

We are often told to face our fears, but when it comes to determining that we want to leave the world a better place, there is a larger foe than fear.

It is selfishness.

It’s Too Bad Paul Didn’t Have Facebook

Wed, 27 May 2015 03:41:40 +0000

Frustration brings out the vocalist in us. A few of you quiet type B’s may not understand this, but those of us Type A’s that need to brush our tongue once in a while to clean up what we said that day, do. (Someone should probably come up with a brush for middle fingers and other body parts too. :) )

Sometimes, frustration clarifies things, and in the middle of saying things I hope don’t make it to Facebook, I say some really profound things. They may be said with exaggeration, but they’re good.

"Potential Reached" Must Replace "Perfection" in The Vocabularies of Our Minds

Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:51:25 +0000

The problem with perfection is that we never reach it. That’s universally accepted, and even the most arrogant would not claim its accomplishment.

The word perfection need not go away, but must be removed as the baseline for human achievement. It begs comparison and causes constant competition in realms of delusion about our individual value.

We constantly fall prey to the deceitful corruptions of power as we parry to maintain the perception of our worth on the perfection scale.

Longings

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:00:24 +0000

Do you ever long for something? To be noticed? To be loved? To be well? To be rich? To be wise? For time off? For a true friend? For life to be simple again? (Wow! I think this list could get long.)

Usually a personal longing indicates that something is missing from our lives. There is another level of longing. I’ll call it community longing. It’s a longing that forms in us for the world around us. A longing for something that we can feel way down deep.

Listen To The Grace Writers!

Mon, 20 May 2013 07:00:54 +0000

Hey-a question for you: Do you need saving? No…I don’t mean something like…”did you give your life to Jesus?” Or…”did you pray the sinner’s prayer?” Strange terminology-this religious talk we use. Many of my prayers are “sinner’s” prayers. i.e.-every time I ask for forgiveness; which in my case is frequently! And: what does it really mean to “give my life to Jesus”?

No, what I’m asking about has more to do with things like: Do you think in unhealthy ways? Do you have a sense of value that’s somewhere near the bottom of the barrel? Do you have habits that rob you of reaching your potential? Do you even believe you have any potential? Or is that something that others have? Do you really believe God cares about you? Or do you think He wishes you’d just be quiet and melt into the woodwork?

New Training for New Terrain

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:00:49 +0000

Our children are very different from my wife and I and dissimilar from each other as well. This was apparent from the day each of them was born. It was clear that even though there were familial similarities, they each had distinctive design. It was never our goal to somehow end up with clones of ourselves. We loved each one’s uniqueness and spent our hopes and time on encouraging the strengths of each design.