Comments on: The Grace Factor

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:12:03 +0000

I back up Joe’s comment on the ’spark’ (am a service tech at heart). The same spark that lights a lamp or gives life to a campfire can also ignite a forest fire or cause an unwanted explosion. Those explosions (blowups and flareups) are what we tying to this analogy, and what we’re trying to avoid. When we pump gas into our ‘internal combustion engines’, what we’re setting up is a controlled burning–which makes the car run and in another application, a different fuel makes ‘us’ run (not blow up).

By: Roger Butner

Roger Butner — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:28:06 +0000

Janice – So glad to hear the Spirit in you won the battle with your flesh. Isn’t it baffling how much the war wages on?!

Thanks for your two cents, Joe. I love me some insider, techno-geek, jargonized wisecrackery!

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:09:23 +0000

Just to add a little techno-geek factor here…

there is a significant contingent of professionals in the safety field who say you CANNOT blow up (or set on fire) the gas station with your cell phone. There are no documented cases that it’s happened (yes, I’ve seen the videos, and they can be discredited), and the energy required to ignite a vapor cannot be generated by a cell phone (that is, IF a spark occured in the phone, it wouldn’t carry enough energy to light off the vapor).

So when your wife calls at the pump, answer it. As in this case, you’ll probably be glad you did.

On the other hand…I do have some concerns about transferring hazardous materials (i.e. pumping gasoline) while being distracted…but that’s another issue…

signed,
a quasi-safety professional who works for one of those “oil majors” who puts the sign on the pump saying not to use your cell phone while pumping gas.

By: Janice Garrison

Janice Garrison — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:00:34 +0000

I had a different kind of experience this week. I was in a very bad mood, even felt angry at my husband. Poor guy hadn’t done a thing to deserve it either. There was a battle going on in my mind between “good” me and “bad” me. Imagine if you will, one of those big fat round bottomed blow up clowns. You know, you punch it, it leans over and pops back up. That’s what was going on in my mind. “good” me was saying…you can choose your attitude…you don’t have to be in this grumpy mood. “Bad” me countered with….back off! I want to be grumpy! And so it went for about 10 minutes. The good attitude won over, thankfully…yet were it not for “God’s grace, being sufficient for me”, the circumstance would have been very different that day. I expect it was mainly hormonal, my bad mood that is. I’m just glad it didn’t win out.

By: Roger Butner

Roger Butner — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:33:05 +0000

Yeah, Glenn – sometimes I feel kinda like the monks from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, repeatedly banging my head against the plank that somehow keeps re-appearing in my hands!

Donna & Lori – glad it resonated with both of you. I try to be honest about the lessons I am learning along the way, even when it seems I have to keep learning them over and over.

By: Lori T

Lori T — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:27:08 +0000

Perfect example of the ‘adam & eve’ complex, as I like to call it. our first response is always to point the finger at the other guy. good thing for all of us that we have the ‘grace factor’! I really needed to read that today! Thanks, Doc.

By: Donna L.

Donna L. — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:06:00 +0000

AMEN!!

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:56:26 +0000

Grace manifests itself in the plain down-to-Earth command to ‘take the board out of your own eye so you will see clearly enough to take the speck from someone else’s eye..’ Be it spilled paint–or broken vows–putting yourself in someone else’s predicament does not come easy or natural. Thanks for sharing, Roger.