My First Piece of Furniture

I built a shoe rack. Not really a rack if you want to be technical, its more of a shoe dresser or bookshelf. Maybe-shoe cubbies. Either way, I- Matt Krachunis (with some help from the Master carpenter Jesus)have taken a sheet of plywood and a 4X4 and fashioned it into a functional piece of furniture. I have to be honest here. I'm very pleased with myself.

I've never built a piece of furniture before, so it was quite an undertaking. My motivation was from my dog, Ranger. See, He sleeps right next to my bed, and for some reason he finds that the most comfortable place to sleep is in the bottom of my closet on top of all my shoes. So, I thought it best to find a way to get them off the floor. Also, I seem to always be mis-placing my shoes, so to have them centrally located was a bonus.

As always, in "Victory Blog" fashion, here's what I learned in the process.

1. It hurts when you put your finger in front of the nail gun and fire it even if there are no nails in it.

2. You can attempt to do something you've never done before and accomplish it if you take your time and be patient.

3. Projects with a tangible outcome are satisfying.

4. The hardest part of trying something new is getting it started. Making the first cut took the longest.

5. You have to be committed to finishing a project with a timeline, or it wont get done.

6. God blesses our attempts .

7. Its okay if your first try at something isn't perfect. I'm my worst critic. The mess ups I see, others usually don't see.

My favorite lesson of them all is the last one- letting yourself do something that isn't perfect. That's a big one for me. A lot of times I don't try something simply because of the irrational fear of it not being perfect. I figure if it cant be perfect, why try.

But then I realize that there was only one person that walked this earth who was perfect. His name was Jesus, and I am not Him. The pressure that I feel comes from my own shortcomings about perfection, not from the Lord. There are areas of my life that He wants perfection, and I am sure that wood-working is not one of them.

Attempt something new today. Put yourself out there. God has created you with wonderful abilities that you may not know exist within you if you never attempt it. Put yourself out there and do it. You may be surprised what you can do.

Blessings
Matt

How To Encourage More

Encouragement. We all need it, but rarely receive it from people. I'm not sure why that is, probably because most people are more concerned about themselves, more than they are with the feelings of other people.

I made a decision back when I was in High School to become an encouraging person. I remember my youth pastor was talking one night and told us "if you don't have any friends, become an encourager and watch how many friends you'll have". I took it to heart. I try to be encouraging to people as much as possible.

Its pretty easy to encourage people. All you have to do is pay attention to who they are and what they are doing, find something that's special, and praise it. Most people enjoy a compliment or a comment about something that they've done.

Here's the most important part- you have to tell them! People think about a compliment or an encouragement, BUT THEY NEVER SAY IT! If you think something, but do not share it, it is wasted. You must get to the point where you speak it every time you think it.

Here's what will happen in your life when you do this. You are going to find that the people around you feel better about themselves, and you will find that you feel better about yourself also. When you're a person who encourages others, you'll spend your day making other peoples days better, which will bless you in the process.

The Bible says to "encourage each other daily", and I think that's pretty good advice. We need to be always be an encourager.

There is enough discouragement in the world. Be an encourager!

Be encouraged!
matt

The Blessing Of 24 hours

We've all been there- having a no good day. You know what I'm talking about? One of those days when your shoes don't fit right, the hair isn't cooperating? Its usually on days like that when I get annoyed at the simplest of things, like, my wife eating her apple to loudly or something to that effect. Its one of those days that in our house, we categorize as "blah" days.

Its not as if anything is specifically wrong, or that we're mad at someone. There hasn't been a traumatic event, or a stressor that's weighing us down. Its just a day that is just what it is- a day.

I had one of those yesterday. My skin felt too tight, nothing I ate satisfied me. It just wasn't my day. I can't put my finger on why, it just was. I prayed, I went to church, I preached. It went well, I just didn't feel well. I know you know what I'm talking about?

This morning though- different day. The sun is out, Ranger and I went for a brisk walk/jog and I'm feeling great. As I was out this morning I was thinking- How awesome it is that God created the earth in such a way that our days always have an end.

No matter who you are, or what you're going through, every day ends eventually. It might be a long day, but its always going to stop at 12am, and you'll get a fresh start the next day. How great is it that we get to start over every single day. Yesterday is gone, finished. You don't have to deal with it anymore, you can move on to the next day.

Thank God today that each day you live is only 24 hours. That every day ends. That those days you have that aren't the best are usually confined to that one day. Take the time to reflect on that, knowing that even the best of us have days that aren't the best, but God is still on the throne, blessing us, with another 24 hours.

Be blessed... and have a great day today!
Matt

Condi Rice and the Tonight Show

Condoleeza Rice was on the Tonight Show last night. I'm sure most of you didn't see it, since it was on after midnight. I don't usually stay up that late, but for some reason, I found myself up watching it.

She's an amazing person. I've seen and heard her alot over the last 8 years, but I've never seen her do this kind of interview before. She's real down to earth, somewhat funny, and very direct. I noticed something else about her last night that really impressed me. She knows how to be very diplomatic. I guess that's why she was our chief diplomat for all those years.

So last night Leno is asking her about President Obama, and what her thoughts were about the current administration. Now, it has been my experience that when you ask anyone their thoughts about someone or something that isn't within their sphere of influence, they have no problem unloading exactly what they think.

For some reason, people think it is completely acceptable to talk negatively about someone simply because another person asked them their opinion. Of course this happens more often in the public arena, but it still happens in the private arena also.

Individuals seem to take what ever opportunity to describe exactly what someone is doing wrong, and how they think it should be done. To them, they think that since they were asked their opinion, they have every right to tell them exactly what they think.

Do you know what Condi said to Leno last night when he asked her what she thought of the current administration? She said "they deserve our silence and support". That's it.

Wow.

Good job.

She received an open invite on national TV, and shut Leno down. Good for her. I'm sure Leno probably thought that question would fill some time, but it took all of about 2 seconds to answer that.

Condi father was a Minister. I'm sure he taught her what the bible says "He who holds his tongue is wise".

Hold your tongue today. Someone may ask you something that gives you an opportunity to speak your mind. It doesn't mean you have to take it.

Be blessed.

Matt

I'm Building A Shoe Rack

I am. I have a lot of shoes in my closet and under my bed that don't seem to have an adequate home, so yesterday, I started building a shoe rack. UPDATE- See the Finished Product HERE

I went to Home Depot, and bought some glue and wood, and made up some plans on graph paper on my kitchen table. Its going to be 4 feet high, and have 24 cubbies for shoes.

Here's the kicker- I've never built any sort of furniture before. I have made speaker boxes and that's about it. I have some wood working equipment but I've never used it to make a piece of furniture. I'm almost positive that Crystal is going to reject it being in our bedroom, seeing how its going to be plywood and all, but for some reason I got this idea in my head that I wanted to build a shoe rack.

As I was out in the garage yesterday, cutting and measuring wood, I was thinking- "how can I turn this experience into a blog-post?".

Here's some options-

1. Don't be afraid of trying something new that wont hurt anyone. You can try something new just because you want to, and lean on the Lord in the process.

2. Measure twice. Cut once. Its an old carpenters saying that ensures that you don't waste wood. God can teach you patience in wood working.

3. Sometimes, it might be better to buy something you need instead of trying to make it. In the long run, it saves you time and money.

4. Jesus was a carpenter. I'm like Jesus.

And the list could go on.

Here's the nugget for today- We all do seemingly benign things all day. Usually we just do them with no thought for their significance, but if we would take a moment to think about it, we can learn from what we are doing, truths about ourselves, or God's nature.

Today, think about something you're doing, or accomplishing, and try to think up some sort of 'life application' that you could use from your activity. Here's what I think you'll find- God speaks to us in the midst of our every day lives if we would reflect about it.

Post a comment to the blog about something you learned about yourself today that directs you to a spiritual life application. I think you'll be surprised if you think about it.

blessings
Matt