{"id":1005,"date":"2009-11-22T16:00:58","date_gmt":"2009-11-22T22:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"1025588458"},"modified":"2009-11-22T16:00:58","modified_gmt":"2009-11-22T22:00:58","slug":"this-weekend-the-gathering-i%e2%80%99m-not-crazy-but-i-am-a-carrier-why-smart-people-do-dumb-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/this-weekend-the-gathering-i%e2%80%99m-not-crazy-but-i-am-a-carrier-why-smart-people-do-dumb-things\/","title":{"rendered":"This Weekend @ The Gathering: I\u2019m Not Crazy, But I Am a Carrier (why smart people do dumb things)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Today we continued our series, \u201cThey Promised Me Chocolate: The True Confessions of a Disappointed Christian,\u201d with installment number five, \u201cI\u2019m Not Crazy, but I Am a Carrier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oftentimes we become our own worst enemy.\u00a0 We like to blame it on culture, our parents, or the people we work with.\u00a0 But the truth of the matter is, we have enough weirdness residing in our own soul, to wound ourselves for the rest of our lives.\u00a0 We talked about five self-inflicted wounds:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The wounds we inflict upon ourselves by the words we speak in anger<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. The wounds we inflict upon ourselves by the shortcuts we take, and the pain it causes when we get exposed<\/strong>.\u00a0 Remember there is no shortcut to anyplace worth going.<\/li>\n
  3. The wounds we inflict upon ourselves by the lies we spread<\/strong>, by the gossip that we encourage and ultimately comes back to bite us.<\/li>\n
  4. The wounds we inflict upon ourselves by the promises we make and break<\/strong> over and over again so that we wind up with no one close to us and few who trust us.<\/li>\n
  5. The wounds we inflict upon ourselves by the jealousies we justify<\/strong> through self-talk that robs us of our joy, our freedom, and our future.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In order to deal with these self-inflicted wounds, we form some coping mechanisms:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. We withdraw and retreat.<\/strong> We stay away from people because we don\u2019t want them to see how we look and maybe figure out how we feel.\u00a0 We feel ashamed and humiliated so we stay away from people.\u00a0 We sit on the couch, eat, and feel worse about ourselves.\u00a0 And over time this becomes a cycle.<\/li>\n
    2. We turn inward and entertain dark thoughts<\/strong>.\u00a0 When all you think are your own thoughts, the doubts and accusations in your brain can help you justify almost any behavior.<\/li>\n
    3. We end up living shame-bound and bitter<\/strong>, which is the very opposite of trust.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Remember we\u2019ve said that God uses disappointment to push us past our current state to a place of delight.\u00a0 Delight in my life is in direct proportion to my ability to trust God.<\/strong> And the way of trust is expressed in the three never, never\u2019s.\u00a0 We never sour, never settle, and never stop.<\/em><\/p>\n

      In order to combat our own weirdness and shame-bound nature, we heard three suggestions on how to get out of our own way in life:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Make a habit of thinking B.I.G.<\/strong> \u2013 beyond the immediate to the goal<\/em>.\u00a0 This means I\u2019m not into immediate gratification.\u00a0 I\u2019m into long-term success.<\/li>\n
      2. Make it a habit to do the details.<\/strong> It\u2019s the little foxes that spoil the vines<\/em>, The Scriptures tell me.<\/li>\n
      3. Make it a habit to lean hard. <\/strong> No matter how smart I am, I\u2019ll come upon situations I can\u2019t explain; not by religious formulas or earthly wisdom.\u00a0 This means I must trust God.\u00a0 I must lean on Him with all my heart and understanding.<\/li>\n
      4. Make it a habit of traveling light,<\/strong> which means there are burdens I need to lay down and not carry with me anymore.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve not been forgiven, seek God\u2019s forgiveness and once you have it, lay it down.\u00a0 If you need to be forgiven by people in your life, ask for it, and once they extend it, lay the burden down.\u00a0 Don\u2019t carry anymore than you absolutely have to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Next week we\u2019ll be talking about why most married men are miserable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Today we continued our series, \u201cThey Promised Me Chocolate: The True Confessions of a Disappointed Christian,\u201d with installment number five, \u201cI\u2019m Not Crazy, but I Am a Carrier. Oftentimes we become our own worst enemy.\u00a0 We like to blame it on culture, our parents, or the people we work with.\u00a0 But the truth of the … Continue reading “This Weekend @ The Gathering: I\u2019m Not Crazy, But I Am a Carrier (why smart people do dumb things)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidfoster.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}