Tag: life

Promise Keeping

Dr. J.D. WilkinsLeave a comment

What an interesting idea. Making a promise to myself.

After dinner last night, my wife and I were sitting around the table discussing the current state of events in our home. We shared warm thoughts about how blessed we feel to live in a nice house, swim in our pool, and have friends over for an evening feasting on delicious food, celebrating our friendships, and playing a mostly-friendly game of chicken foot. I have to admit, some of my friends can be very cutthroat when the dominoes come out. Still, it’s all in good fun and nobody takes themselves too seriously.

Turning Point

Then our discussion turned to my current activity of writing on this blog. You see, I began writing online with the idea it was important for me to have a voice. Like many others out there, I thought myself to be something of a wordsmith. Some who’ve actually read my material are yawning at this notion. Others might agree, but not with much enthusiasm. A few, (albeit probably all are friends or family) think I’m a real genius and expert communicator. Go figure. Words are like art, each often leave different impressions on various readers and observers. In the fall of 2015, which seems like eons ago, I bravely ventured into the online blogging game with a very naive expectation of what would happen next.

Here’s how I started at that time. I would write something every day. Even if only a few words or thoughts. Just to maintain my presence in the blogging community. It was important to me to write something relevant, attempt to be humorous at times, and deeply philosophical with other articles. I wrote nonsense, I wrote truth. But I wrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote. When I started I didn’t know where to start so I used the “Word of the Day” prompt to gain a subject for my material.

After a time, I found the “write something every day challenge” a bit difficult to accomplish. It was more of a goal really I equivocated. Then there were a few years when I was busy writing for a Bible Study I was leading and the effort to publish anything else was strained for time. So, I published my Studies here on this blog. If anyone is interested just search “bible study” on my home page. After that I randomly from time to time would get back online and write something that seemed to be a hot button or touch point for my current life situation. But the write something every day notion was clearly in my rearview window. Until now the last thing I wrote was in 2024.

Almost Two Years Later

I had a dream. In the dream, I believed I was dying. As a Christ-follower, I saw myself praying, “Ok, I’m ready to go. Just take me now.” Even as I was saying the words there seemed to be an unseen entity who was gently whispering “Am I not Sovereign? Do I not get to decide what is best for you, and when it is time for you to come home? What is My name?” I could hear my own voice in the dream going over the many names of God I’ve studied from Scripture over the years. Suddenly it was crystal clear the promise I should make. I will begin again.

Starting Over

The next day I got up and looked at my blog for the first time in almost two years. What I discovered sent me running to my wife to show her the revelation. Since January of this year, without writing a single word, I have had more people visit the site, and read the articles of the last ten years, than I previously had in several of those years combined. I was completely stupefied. People were still downloading the bible studies. More and more people everyday were downloading my top story “Fast Like Peanut Butter.”

In those few moments I was reborn as a writer. I knew there was a promise I had to make to myself now. Don’t stop writing. Reach out to someone. There are people all over the world just like yourself I said. Reach them, encourage them, affirm them, instruct them. Don’t stop spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus on the platform you already have. Here’s the promise: Persevere!

And I will.

Until Next Time

I’d love for you to follow my blog. I’d love to see what you are writing. I’d love to hear from you with your thoughts about what I’ve written.

Stay close… more to come!

Automatic – I am not a Robot

Dr. J.D. Wilkins3 Comments

i-robot

via Automatic

When I think “automatic-responder” I immediately think about emails I’ve received from people who are going to be out of their office for a week, who set up their servers to automatically send reply emails to their contacts.  These auto responder emails inform the contact they’ll have to wait for a personal response.  This got me to thinking about how many things we do automatically, and whether this a good thing or a bad thing.

Many people I know are entirely like robots, with quick automatic responses.  As a pastor I would often tell people, “I love you,” because I did love them as the people in my congregation.  It didn’t mean anything beyond, I love you as a person.  But more often than not, the auto-response was, “I love you too Pastor.”  As humans we do this a lot.  When you greet someone with “How are you doing today,” 90-99% of the time you’ll get the response: “Fine, great, wonderful, or ok.”  The programming in our brains, and the culture we’ve grown up in, cause us to respond without thinking.  These simplistic (and I know they are simplistic) examples lead me to my theory.  I posit that human creatures often listen to “RESPOND” rather than listening for understanding.

In the movie iRobot, Del Spooner (Will Smith) is a Chicago police detective, who is sent to investigate the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the co-founder of U.S. Robotics (USR) and its main roboticist.  Lanning shows up in a holographic projector who instructs Spooner that the “real question” is “why” he would commit suicide.  The hologram is only programmed to answer specific questions, and constantly responds with “you’re not asking the right question.” Again, humans are not robots, and we are not programmed to only respond to the right questions, but we are limitless in our ability to carry on an in-depth dialogue with other humans.  Yet, we often sacrifice this ability, because we do not listen to understand. Rather, we listen to respond, like an automaton programmed to only react to certain “either-or” questions.

Which brings me to another unique feature of being human.  Not only do we communicate with each other, we also have the ability to communicate with our Creator.  This was also a theme in the movie, sentient thought from a robot.  Sonny – the iRobot – was programmed differently from every other robot of his kind, giving him the ability to think and dream and make choices outside the normal programming rules.  As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies improve, the world awaits the reality of a “Sonny”-like robot that approaches human normalcy.  Sonny apparently in the fictional world of the future could talk and interact with Dr. Lanning (his creator).  This imagery, while unsettling to some, give us context for our relationship with God.

However, God did not create us as robots, but in His image.  The primary attribute of God with which humans are endowed is: Choice.  I choose to shower and shave daily, or not. It brings humor to the post I saw on FaceBook today: “Clean and sober means: I’ve showered and shaved, and I’m on the way to the Liquor store.”  Choice is a unique and inherent attribute of human existence.  Therefore, we can choose to know God, talk with God, hear from God, but in a spiritual sense, not physical.  So, I’ll wrap it up this way…

I am not a robot.  As such, I have a choice to listen to respond, or to listen to understand. Whether I’m talking to another person, or talking to God.  Interpersonal communications is so much more satisfying when I listen to understand.  Understanding brings context, and if I filter my responses to the people around me, or to God, through understanding, all our lives would be enriched.  I challenge my readers today to make the choice: quit listening to respond, and start listening to understand. You are not a robot either.