Chris Vonada's Blog, page 18
January 4, 2013
The HA!!: Anticipation
Time for “The HA!!” – This is my mini-series on life lessons I’ve gained through my humbling sports endeavors… I LOVE sports but genuinely suck at most of them, and, therefore, I’m a “HA = Humbled Athlete.” Please check out the other posts in this series at THE HA!! page.
Martina Hingis anticipating the next shot
I think if one word could sum up the spirit of the New Year, or the future in general, it would be anticipation. So I started to look into “anticipation” and found out that much of this forward thinking revolves around negative feelings. For example, I went to brainy quote to find something inspiring and got lost in an overload of negative mantra. I didn’t really get that, the pessimism of “Anticipation” … Then I ran across a quote by Martina Hingis, one of my all-time favorite tennis players:
“I have good anticipation, and good reaction to the ball because I’ve played so many matches in my life.”
It’s all about applying our experience in learning how to focus on our objective. In Martina’s case, hitting the ball accurately and being ready for a return. Thanks Martina for this positive feeling about anticipation. Call it eager anticipation.
If you watch a tennis match try this: fix your eyes on just one player, instead of watching the ball. Why? You’ll see that professional tennis players, the best of the best, actually don’t run around the court all that much. Like Martina, these other pros know, through anticipation, where to position themselves before their opponent strikes the ball. Depending on the situation, their ideal position on the court may be purely defensive, or they may take a risk and go on the offensive, attacking in an effort to finish the point.
This bit of strategy used by the pros is no secret to the seasoned player. I used to play tennis on a country club mens doubles league in Jacksonville. This was as much a social event as a competitive endeavor, and the team that I played on was a “C Team” (“A” being the best, there was no “D” team… you get the picture?). It was lots of fun, I played for several years before having problems with my knees and retiring the tennis racket, about 10 years ago. Here’s the really interesting (and relevant) part: We played matches every weekend, and some of the best players in our league were some really old guys. Why? Well, they didn’t hit the ball really hard, that’s for sure, but they did these two things really, really well:
They hit the ball where they wanted it to go, with precision and accuracy, and
they were experts at anticipation. They knew exactly where to be for the next return/volley.
Why did these older guys play so well and win so many matches? They, just like Martina, had good anticipation because they had played so many matches in their lifetime. At the time Martina made her quote, she was on top of the world. However, she recognized that it wasn’t her excellent physical condition that allowed her to have anticipation… it was her experience. The same would be true for the older guys in our country club league. They had our respect because they knew how to play their game. Tennis. I could have smoked them at a distance race, but this was a tennis court. They owned it, so to speak. And, for the most part, the older guys did it with grace and style. I have always admired that of people… those who were better than me at something, and were humble about it. Very cool. I think of Martina in that way too…
Moving forward into the new year… I have no clue what God has in store, but I do know that His purpose and plan are always way better than mine. And while being transformed into the likeness of Jesus will have its challenges, I want to “serve and volley” each and every day with eager anticipation… making a racket about the Good News… and ace every opportunity to show God’s love and kindness to everyone who crosses my path.
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8
How can you utilize the idea of “eager anticipation” today and throughout the new year?
Photo courtesy of Bill Mitchell via Wikipedia
January 3, 2013
Carol’s Gems: Garnets For Jesus
Today’s post, “Carol’s Gems: Garnets For Jesus,” is a monthly series on birthstones from one of my favorite blogger friends, Carol Peterson. Carol is a writer with a heart for encouragement, sharing parables of faith on her blog From Carol’s Quill and making learning exciting in Fun with Finance and other teacher resource books.
Every month has a birthstone. The birthstone for the month of January
is the garnet. And it reminds me of Jesus.
The term “garnet” refers to a family of minerals. The garnet family
contains gemstones that appear in every color except blue. The
difference is what they are called and what extra minerals they
contain. For example, within the mineral family of “garnet” are
tsavorites (green), hessonite (orange, brown and pink), and rhodolite
(purplish red). When we picture a garnet, however, most of us think of
the deep blood red stone.
Red Garnet
Blood red. The color of Jesus’ blood shed for us. A forever reminder
of His sacrifice for us.
In gemstone symbolism, the garnet signifies eternal friendship and
trust. Such as is found in Jesus, our eternal friend in whom we can
place our trust.
Just like there are star sapphires, there are also star garnets. The
“stars” are produced by a sphere of tiny rods composed of titanium
dioxide. These rods reflect light back out of the garnet and appear to
our eye as a 4 or 6-rayed star that moves across the face of the
gemstone. Star garnets are only found in India and Idaho.
Star? With our celebration of Christmas still fresh in our hearts, it
would be nice to have a star garnet to always light the way to Jesus.
Star Garnet from Americanlisted.com
The garnet is known for its luminosity and high refractive quality.
Because of those qualities, early travelers carried garnets, which
they believed lit up the night and protected a person from evil. Many
extra biblical sources suggest that Noah used a lantern made from
garnet to help him see through the storms while on the ark.
Evidently, the garnet reminded Noah of Jesus, too.
Happy birthday to everyone born in January—especially my super husband
Jim, whose birthday is TODAY!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for placing reminders in this world
of who you are. Please open our eyes to see you in everything today.
Amen.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you own a garnet?
December 19, 2012
Two Things I Will Always Remember From This Christmas Season
Tis the season… to stop blogging.
I’m taking the next two weeks off from posting new material here at I’m Just Thinkin’, to enjoy the holidays and spend extra time with my family and friends. I would encourage you to do the same. Be back on January 3rd.
Sandy Hook Heroes
Until then, here are the two things that I’ll always remember from this Christmas season:
The little kids. Sad. How do we turn something good from this tragedy in Newtown? Please watch this very short video interview with Andy Stanley. Our national and personal conscience and the centering of right from wrong potentially benefits from tragic events like this… if that’s a rational choice we make. Andy says it’s in the power of the Christmas story that we find hope to move forward… through the innocence and vulnerability we strive to understand, relate to and see in the newborn King, Jesus.
The power of the Christmas story brings hope. Not a typo. Yep, I repeated some of the last sentence of the previous paragraph. Why? The beauty of the Gospel is everywhere we look. I see it in my life every single day. Stick around and I’ll be sharing more about what I’m learning on my journey…
In the mean time, please consider signing here up for email updates (Santa is on his way you know!).
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.” Luke 2:14
Don’t forget to put out lots of milk and cookies for the jolly old fellow 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
December 17, 2012
The 10 + 1 Building Blocks Of Relationships: Encouragement
The 10 building blocks are delivered in alphabetical order (with the exception of “+1″, it is last for a reason, more on that later…). Today’s post is #7 in the series… Encouragement.
Encouragement conveys a spirit of hope. Encouragement instills courage in those who receive our words of inspiration. It helps them feel capable, like they have something meaningful to contribute. This building block is another of the 10 + 1 that reaches far.
The Bible says we are to “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” Ephesians 4:29
Today I’m honored to be continuing this series as a guest at Carol Peterson’s blog, I hope you’ll follow the link here to Carol’s blog and to the seventh post in the series, The 10 + 1 Building Blocks Of Relationships – Encouragement
I’ve created a page compiling the links to the previous months’ building blocks too, you can catch up over here.
Carol Peterson is a writer with a heart for encouragement, sharing parables of faith on her blog From Carol’s Quill and making learning fun in Fun with Finance and other teacher resource books.
December 13, 2012
Life With The Tribes And The Rewiring Project
Sticking with the plan!
I was working on a project site recently and asked one of the guys working on the construction side of the project how the building was progressing. This major project consists of rebuilding an airport terminal. Part new construction, and part reworking an existing structure. He indicated it was going ok, new construction like a dream, but they were having issues with renovations to the old building. Something like a nightmare, the reconstruction part, that is.
If you’ve ever tried to remodel in the home you have probably had a similar experience… sometimes it goes as planned, and other times you find yourself facing unexpected delays, or hidden conditions. The old wallpaper doesn’t come off the wall you’re trying to repaint, or you can’t access to replace all of the old plumbing pipe as it’s now below the slab. Whatever the case, a small snowstorm has welled up and created a huge drift. That half-day home improvement project is now going to consume your entire weekend. Or you have to tell the airport authority their new facility will be delayed, opening after the snowdrift melts… next spring.
Nothing could be more true in the world today than the power of patience and perseverance, and the love of Jesus. (Click To Tweet)
Life is sort of like the rewiring project. Finding peace sometimes takes lots of patience. Consider the story of the Israelites wandering through the desert. They messed up in following God’s will and way, over and over and over again. It’s hard to imagine that God has that much patience with us, to be able to accept us even when we’re at our worst. I’m thankful that He does, that He’s rewired me through so many of these remodeling projects. He makes us whole and complete. That’s a huge part of this journey.
Truth and grace…
There’s an interesting story in Joshua, it’s Chapter 22, verses 11-34. A rather large and imposing altar was constructed by some of the tribes at the Jordan River. Why? Assumption said it was to worship a false god. Then, along came truth and grace… instead of assuming the worst about the altar, intentions were investigated and a way cool purpose discovered: the altar was constructed as a memorial. The conflict was averted and peace, harmony and unity restored.
The rewiring project is sort of like being a teenager again… pretty cool when our heart is filled with the innocence of being in love, not so attractive when it’s a chess match resembling high school drama.
Saying or doing a bunch of stupid stuff to other people does very little to draw anyone in closer to God. Quite the opposite, when we behave like a gaggle of wild animals and can’t treat each other with dignity and respect. How could we possibly reach out to have influence, touching the lives of people who are hopelessly lost? Or, maybe that’s just the point of planet earth… it’s just as important for those who “believe” to try to stay on the straight and narrow trail as it is for those who are a “lost cause.”
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3
Being at peace with learn-as-you-go-mode…
Recognize that you’re going to run into obstacles. Consider these snowdrifts to be opportunities.
Don’t be afraid of taking a risk… ask questions… listen for the truth… and offer grace.
Savor wisdom… both the easy lessons and the difficult ones.
The rewiring project..
Learn-as-you-go mode.
In many ways, I’m still there.
Maybe you are too?
Can we be at peace with that thought?
I’m going to focus thought on the season of joy and to make Jesus love now… sticking with the plan!
December 11, 2012
The 12 Scents Of Christmas
December 10, 2012
Creative Links: Why I’m “All In” With 3 Additional Social Media Sites
December 7, 2012
Finding Our Greatest Gift
December 5, 2012
Why I Chose The Chimp (and email subscription sign up)
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December 4, 2012
The Good That Happened While I Was Sick
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