Welcome to my world…
April 25, 2011
Life Lessons StumbleUpon 1 Comment
The other day, Hillary and I were sitting on the couch watching tv. By that what I mean is that I was watching tv, and she was using the StumbleUpon app on her phone. When she does this, she’ll let out a little giggle here and there because what she’s reading is oh so funny. She came across something that was making her laugh pretty hard though, so I figured I should check it out. This, is what she had discovered:
Grace & Peace,
David Stippick
October 29, 2010
They make all the difference don’t they, first impressions. If you make a good one, you’re golden. If you make a bad one, you may be spending a significant amount of time making up for that, or if you’re unlucky enough, it may have been to someone who won’t change their impression of you.
I’ve learned a lot about first impression in my last few months here at school. The two biggest things are that: 1- I usually make a pretty lousy one, and 2- They are usually wrong.
I tend to come off as loud, abrasive, rude, “all about me”. Sometimes it’s because I want to come off that way…as ridiculous as that may be. And sometimes it’s because I’m not thinking. Regardless, it’s usually a pretty big turn off to people, and I have to spend time personally repairing what that person thinks of me. Not because I want to be liked by everyone, but because I want to make sure that if they don’t like me, it’s not because of a false idea of who I am or what I’m about.
Because I’m so aware that people’s first impression of me is usually wrong, I am also aware that my first impressions of others are probably not spot on. So when I meet someone who I can’t stand because they seem loud, abrasive, rude (where’ve we read that before…), and I happen to not care for the way they look for whatever reason…I remind myself that I come off that way…and that that person is just as broken as I am, and in need of the same thing that I am. Grace. And Mercy. And the understanding of that brokenness that only Christ can impart to us through relationship with him.
Is there anyone you need to re-think how you see them? Have you recently evaluated how you come off to others?
-Stippick
August 13, 2010
Life Lessons H-E-B Leave a comment
The second thing I learned from my mom is that it is impossible to live in one place for an extended period of time (say…22 years…), and not know a ton of people…and see them everywhere you go…and stop and talk to them…
When I was a kid, nothing would make me angrier than going to the grocery store with my mom. Because I knew if I stayed in the car, I’d be out there for hours (In reality, it was probably more like 30-45 minutes…but the child’s imagination will run, won’t it?), while she bought two things, and talked to 37 people. 37, exactly. On the flip side, I could go inside and every time she stopped to talk to someone I could sigh heavily, or say that we needed to keep moving, and then get a lecture on rudeness when we got in the car. It was a lose/lose situation for me.
And now 12ish years later…wonder of all wonders…I find it nearly impossible to go out to eat, run into the H-E-B for one item, pump gas, go see a movie, or buy a pack of gum at a convenience store without seeing someone I know, and having the desire to talk to them about what has been going on in their life since I last saw them, which has usually been quite a while. I have become my mother. Which…is another blog post altogether…
So as kid, I was angered by this characteristic in my mother, and as a young adult, horrified when I saw it begin to manifest itself in my life…and then I saw the lesson.
Community. She was showing me the importance of community. Not necessarily in the sense of where you live, but how you live there, and how you live with the other people who live there.
In the last two and a half years, God has wrecked, rebuilt, and restored my idea and definition of community, and I’ll talk a little bit about that next week. But when I look back, I can see that this was a lesson that my mom had been teaching me (whether she knew it or not) since I was a kid. Even though I was frustrated by those situations then, I am thankful for them. Because now I look forward to that next opportunity to run into someone out of the blue, and catch up.
See if you can find those situations in your life that allow you to build community a little bit at a time. You never know the impact it will have on someone else.
-Stippick
August 9, 2010
Life, Life Lessons Peanut Butter Leave a comment
As promised, here is the first in a few lessons I’ve learned from my mom in 22 years.
The first of these is that if peanut butter isn’t crunchy, it’s not worth eating.
I say that as a statement of fact. Not opinion.
I like peanut butter a lot. I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, i like peanut butter sandwiches, and I like to put peanut butter on my toast. However, in all of those instances, a pathetically thin layer of creamy peanut butter just doesn’t cut it. I want to be able to feel the crunch of a peanut between my teeth as I eat my delicious peanut-buttery treat. It reminds me that there really is something to what I’m eating. And that, is where I draw this lesson from.
The peanuts in crunchy peanut butter add substance to the concoction. It’s not longer a measly spread, it’s got something going for it. I can see what it was that made it into the creamy goodness that is about grace my pallet. In the same way, I want substance in my life. To look at me, you wouldn’t necessarily know that. But it’s true. I think we all do. We don’t want to go through life with this even spread across the time span we spent here (which is just the blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things). We want substance. We want bumps, and mountains, and valleys, because those are the things that have made us who we are. We’ve hopefully learned from those things, and moved on, and corrected our course…but they’re still there. We can still see them. I’m personally glad for those things, even though they may be painful, and especially the ones that i look back on fondly.
Try some crunchy peanut butter, then look back and try and identify some of the peanuts in your life, then find was to throw some more in there. In the end, I think you’ll find your life more delicious.
-Stippick
August 3, 2010
Life, Life Lessons Leave a comment
Car snacks.
This sounds really strange when I just say it like that. But let me explain.
I can not remember a time when I got into my dads car and there weren’t a few bags of the butter Chester the Cheetah popcorn (all in various stages of being worked on), and two or three gas station fountain drink cups. Usually the big 44-64 ounce ones. And I mean that in all and complete seriousness. And it was a unusual for us to get to a gas station and him not ask if anyone wanted anything. As a youngster, I would go for the 24, or 32 ounce drinks, but as time went on, I moved up to the 44 ouncer, and on a good day, I could throw back a 64 ounce with the big guy. This made me feel really. Really cool.
I’m not going to lie to you guys. This is one that I don’t put into practice nearly as much as I should. And there’s also not even really a big life lesson from this. I jut think it’s really important to have big drinks and something to snack on in your car. I learned this from my father, and I fully intend on sharing this vital piece of information with my children.
Put some snacks in your cars people. You won’t regret it.
-Stippick
July 26, 2010
The third bit of life wisdom that I feel like my dad wanted to impart on me was the importance of always having some sort of candy on you.
This could be breath mints, peppermints, butterscotch discs, gum…most anything really. But preferably something that could be carried in your pocket. One of my cousins wrote in memory of my dad that one of the first things she noticed about him was that he always had candy in his pocket, and he seemed not just willing to share it, but that the sole purpose of having it was to share.
As I thought about this for a while I realized how true it was. I never really noticed it in a way that stuck with me. But when I rewound my brain, I remember that he always had a box of Altoids in his truck, or in his pocket, or that there was a bag of butterscotch discs in the glove compartment, and one always seemed to make it into my mouth at just the right time. And I remember seeing people at work come up and ask him if he happened to have any peppermints that day. And there seemed to be a bottomless pit of them in the mans pocket. And then I realized…I tend to have some kind of candy/gum on me pretty much constantly. If not in my pocket, then in my bag. And I’m glad for it. Because I love sharing candy.
The larger lesson here though is so elementary…I almost missed it for the sheer fun of sharing candy. Sharing. Sharing what we have with others. Whether it be something as seemingly silly as our candy…or, our time, our possessions, our money. Just. Having a heart that says, “Whenever possible, I want to share what I’ve got with others”. Though he probably learned it early in life, I can’t help but wonder if he learned that lesson from a man who gave him a pair of glasses when he was a young man and in need of a new pair, and they turned out to be his exact prescription. That kind of thing would leave a mark on a man, I think. And I firmly believe that my dad would have given you the shirt off of his back if you needed it (A quality that my brother readily inherited and doesn’t feel the need to blog about knowing that principle).
I know it seems kind of like a long shot…and hey…maybe my dad just liked to share candy. Because…candy is cool. But I think that it came out of the principle of sharing. I think he did the little things in hopes that someday we (His kids) would see the big idea.
I normally carry a pack of gum in my backpack, and I’m pretty generous with those bad boys. I also currently rock cotton candy jelly belly jelly beans…if you’re interested.
-Stippick
July 24, 2010
Life, Life Lessons Socks Leave a comment
The second thing I remember most was my father’s constant admonishing about wearing socks without shoes on outside.
I think I heard variations of these phrases 3.254 billion times. In 15 years.
“Don’t go outside in socks without your shoes.”
“Take your socks off outside, you don’t have any shoes on.”
The obvious reason for this constant warning was that it wears the socks down faster and you have to spend money on them sooner than you would if you would just go out barefoot, or slip some shoes on. No one wants to go around buying socks three or four times a year. In the past 4 or 5 years of my 22 years of experience I’ve found that buying socks once a year is quite enough. If you can’t make it through one year on 6 good pairs of socks…well. I’m not exactly sure what is wrong with you.*
More than that though, I think he was trying to save me from the insufferable annoyance that is walking around with a hole in your sock. There are few things that are more annoying to me than this (One of the things that is more annoying than that also has to do with socks…but that’s a story for another time). When I’m going through my day, and all of the sudden I can feel the bottom skin of my foot rubbing against the sole of my shoe? Oh, forget it! The day is shot. Or if I can feel a toe wriggling free of the confines of the cotton that surrounds it…I shudder. I don’t honestly know why, but there is just something so uncomfortable about it. I think he was well aware of this cursed situation and was trying to save me from the heartache that comes with it.
To this day, I think twice before stepping outside in just socks.
-Stippick
*(Keep in mind that in a week or two, I’ll be getting my second set of socks for the year. I’m ashamed.)
July 23, 2010
Life, Life Lessons Leave a comment
The first lesson that came to mind for me was this: Always carry a knife and a good pen.
I’ve had the opportunity to share my philosophy about pens several times in the last week or so, and it finally occurred to me where I got that from. My dad. I can’t ever remember a time when he didn’t carry a good pen (or two, or three) in his pants or shirt pocket. He was always ready to lend it out to someone who needed one, and I realized that it’s actually less and less of a common thing to carry a pen with you at all times. The other day, my boss reminisced about a time where you wouldn’t even be considered for a job unless you came into get the application with your own “ink pen” (I’m pretty sure this “ink pen” phrase is a Louisiana thing). I’m also 42% percent sure that it got me a bigger tip on a delivery a few weeks ago.
I also don’t remember a time in my life when my dad didn’t have a knife on him. I know a lot of people who think it’s weird to carry around a knife, and even get nervous around people who do. I’ve been told that knives are weapons and people don’t need to carry them around all will nilly like. I was always taught however, that a knife is a tool. From the time I was a tiger cub and I carried around the little Swiss Army knife, to now when I carry around a 7 dollar, 3 blade Wal-Mart knife, I’ve always understood that it is important to have one on you. It can be used to open/break down a box, open mail, screw in/unscrew something, or a multitude of other reasons. And if you’ve got a multi-tool? Forget about it. You’re in business. I learned time and again that a pocket knife is first and foremost a tool, never a toy, and probably only in a life or death situation a weapon.
You can bet that 99.99% of the time I’ve both of these things on my person.
-Stippick
July 23, 2010
Life, Life Lessons Leave a comment
I’ve recently been reminded of several lessons I learned from my dad that I think are actually pretty universal. So I thought I’d share them one at a time over the next few days. These aren’t things that he necessarily sat me down and said to me or made it a point to make sure and tell me. They’re just things that I observed while watching his life.
(Even if they’re not universal at all, it’s my blog and I get to write what I want)
So. I hope you’ll read them, and be able to take something away from it.
-Stippick
