I can't sell ice to Eskimos *Kind of personal. If you actually know me, you might care*

At times like this I wish I was one of those natural born salespeople. People that could sell ice to Eskimos, not only sell it, but for a high margin, with plenty of commission in it for themselves.

I am a salesperson. I sell stuff. I find out what my client is after, I bid/design/draw/specify it, and see if I can get them their desired solution for a price they are willing to pay. I only put food on the table when I sell stuff. I have a little product management position, which brings in a fraction of a poverty level income.

Right now it is really hard to be a salesperson, period. Add to that the fact that the products I offer I heavily tied to the housing market. Add to that the fact that my largest client, Regency Homes, collapsed last year, under the weight of clueless, reckless, foolish management. The homes that are moving in this market tend to be bare bones, hardly the type of homes that require all the goodies we offer.

My identity is not wrapped up in being a salesperson. It is my job, my career of choice, not who I am.

I do what I do with, God willing, integrity. I don't jack up one person's price and cut an other's based on my perception of their income or likelihood of buying. I try to earn repeat customer's business not because I know the name of their kid's little league team, but because I deliver on what I said I would, on time, for the quoted price, and I take care of any issues by fighting for my clients when they need service after the sale. To whatever degree I do this, I credit God, because anything good I do in this life originates with Him.

So, the problem. Right now, this career of choice, that I've had at A Tech / Easy Living for 8 years doesn't seem to be enough to live on, in the manner my wife and I have chosen to live. We don't live extravagantly, but we don't have to have two cars, go on an annual vacation, or own two computers. Kelli does work catering some, and recently became a representative for Premier Designs. I'm really not sure what to do.

The easy answer is, "sell more." But since I can't sell ice to Eskimos, it can be difficult for me. I need people who are interested in buying. Unlike some salespeople, I can't use the force of my personality to talk an uninterested person in to buying something from me, nor would I want to, because I don't think I could sleep at night.

I know their are habits I could change. Small things I could do. Our management is pretty loose. They only babysit you when you prove you can't go it alone. No one is looking over my shoulder making sure I do the little things that might help me be a better salesperson.

I guess I'm just sharing what's going on. Nothing really profound, just sharing.

Normal Names with Unique Spellings

Parents, before you decide to make your child's name unique by giving a common name a unique spelling, please be aware that your child's educators and business ties may spell their name wrong indefinitely. There's nothing like finding out that I spelled a common first name wrong all along because I mistakenly thought I knew how to spell it. And yes, I know to ask about Ann(e), K(c)athy, Jo(h)n, and Bri(y)an. I also generally don't like names with like 18 different spellings, like Alycia. It's like if I spelled my name Tod. I'd either need to spell it for everyone or just accept that everyone spelled it Todd.

Free Lunch

So, there is a little secret a lot of us don't realize.

The city of Des Moines offers free lunch in several of the major city parks on weekdays. The program is there to feed needy kids.

My wife has gotten a free lunch for Elena on a couple of occasions. Sounds fine. Nice. Free lunch. They are strict about the food distribution, and make you dispose of any uneaten food. No one can take anything home...it's better to throw in the trash than to let you take it home.

So, I gave it a little thought, and then threw this out to her. Government programs are funded and perpetuated to whatever degree they are utilized. If they give out 100 free lunches at Union Park, then that means 100 needy kids needed lunch. Right? The only problem is, how many of these kids need a lunch? It's convenient. And it's free. But is it needed? Does Mom not have any food at home, or no ability to pack a lunch? In my neighborhood, at Union Park, it looks like there are people this needy. But what about the kids whose parents could pack a lunch, and just don't do it?

I know most of you reading this blog are conservatives. Do you take the lunch? Do you realize you're really being just a tad bit hypocritical by accepting a government hand out that isn't even needed. And for the handful of liberals who look at this...doesn't it seem wrong that kids in need and kids who have plenty are both getting free lunches. One out of poverty, the other out of convenience?

Non-crazy environmental rant

Usually I would not rant about environmental stuff, but this really bugs me.




#1

What's with the people in my office who print all their e-mails? Every single e-mail they receive! I could reply to an e-mail with "yes" or "no" and they would print the e-mail. You're spending our company's money on paper, toner, and you're throwing the paper in the trash can when you're done with it. They are doing their part to contribute to ridiculous fact that our paper consumption has increased since the advent of the computer.

#2

I don't need a bag for the single, tiny item I purchased at your store. For instance, I buy a little Wyler's drink mix pack from Walgreens. You know, the little packets you can put in a 20 oz. bottle of water and shake up? If I don't tell them I don't want one, they put it in a plastic sack 100 times the size of the product. The same thing is true of nearly every retail store.

Please ask me if I want a sack.

When I sell stuff from our retail store, and it's a single small item, I usally ask if people want a sack. I sometimes get a shocked, condescending look. As if to say "What!? Of course I want a sack for this tiny item I purchased which I can easily carry in one hand, along with the receipt, to my car."

I am now trying to tell cashiers not to give me a sack for small purchases. We do recycle these plastic sacks as trash bags in our home, but we have a crazy over abundance of them. Once in awhile I remember to bring a bag full of them back to one of those recycle boxes inside the grocery store.

I could probably think of more rants, but feel free to add your own.

Is it a sin to laugh at other Christians?

I'm not sure if it's the picture or the job title. It must be the combination of the two.

Trip to Minneapolis (Saturday)

Well, one of Kelli's friends got married today, so we ran up to Minneapolis with two little girls. It sounded like a fun reason to get away and enjoy some family time. My line of work hasn't exactly been flourishing in this economy, so we had to do it on the cheap.

Step 1. Book a Marriott with one of our free nights. Yeap, sign up for a Marriott credit card (or many other major hotel chains) and get anywhere from 1 to 3 nights free. Watch out, some of them have annual fees, so we'll be closing our Marriott account here shortly.

Step 2. Pack everything but the kitchen sink. Pack and Play, water toys, food, pop, milk, juice boxes, snacks, beyond the normal overnight stuff that we all need. For those of you who don't have kids yet, you have no clue how much stuff you'll need. Take your normal amount of luggage and triple it (for the first kid).

Step 3. Leave town (on time!)

Step 4. Make the big out-to-eat treat for the weekend the McDonald's dollar menu at a McDonald's with a playland. To quote Elena, "Is this a kid's meal?" "Yes, because you're a kid and you're eating it." Kelli and I ate stuff we packed, minus her side salad. $3 at McDonald's has been our only expenditure so far, other than gas.

Step 5. Go to the wedding. Very nice service. The bride walking down the aisle to "All Creatures of Our God and King" sang by a girls' chorus was pretty cool. This makes the second wedding in as many weeks that I have mistakenly not worn a suit coat to. How do you know what the dress code is at a wedding? Just when you think that no one except the guys in the wedding party, dad, and the pastor wear a suit coat to a wedding, you're shown up two straight weddings. Of course, if I would have fully understood which church this was, and that Central Baptist Seminary was a part of it, that would have clued me in to the necessary suit coat. Being at the church brought back visions of FBBC, mostly good, but some not so good. I still wonder how sinners and tax collectors can be ushered into churches where everyone else is nearly perfect in every way.

Step 6. Go back the hotel and play in the pool for a good hour and a half. Oh yes, go back to the hotel after getting totally lost. In what city do they name a street the same name on both sides of an interstate? In west Minneapolis they do.

Step 7. Do an improvised dinner in a hotel room with the food we packed. Feeding a hyper 18 month old in a hotel room with no kitchen table or high chair is a mess waiting to happen.

Step 8. Spend some family time together, put the girls to bed, and let Kelli run out to do some shopping while I sit here and write this and keep an eye on the girls. And yes, the shopping will also be on the cheap.

The Inward Witness and Outward Fruit, Part 2

So, what is the inward witness and the outward fruit? In other words, what authenticates conversion? The criteria of the Scripture is much higher than a single profession of faith.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
(Rom 8:15-17)

There is one obvious allusion to the inward witness in this passage, and a more subtle reference, also.

Verse 16 says that His Spirit bears witness with our spirit. There must be an inner witness of the Holy Spirit saying to our inner man, "you are a child of God." This is a mystical thing. It is something spiritual, that happens between God's Spirit and our spirit. This is the most crystal clear verse on the inward witness. Anyone who is saved, has this witness.

In verses 15 & 17 we see family kinship with God as a form of inward witness. There is a closeness to God that relates to him as "daddy," versus Supreme Ruler/Creator of the Universe. Verse 16 says we are God's children. Verse 17 says we are fellow heirs with Christ, as if we were His brothers. So, another part of the inward witness is kinship with God.

Other forms of the inward witness I believe are:

1. An ongoing, Romans 7 style struggle with sin (Rom. 7:7-25).
2. Progressive (perhaps) slow inward growth (Phil. 1:6).
3. And others that I won't go into here, like communion with God.

So what about outward fruit? The Scripture is plain. Someone who is getting their supply from the Vine, will bear fruit. Are there death bed conversions? Sure. We know this from the thief on the cross. But you aren't on your death bed, nor are most of the people you know, so the only exception to a fruit-bearing life is a deathbed conversion.

Here are just a few of the many verses that talk about outward fruit:

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Mat 7:16-21)

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (Mat 13:23)

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? (Luk 6:43-46)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (Joh 15:5)
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (Rom 6:1-2)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Php 2:12-13)

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (Jas 2:17)

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:26)

If someone professes belief in Christ, and has the inward witness and the outward fruit, the only conclusion that can be made is that he or she is indeed a Christian, saved from their sins and on their way to heaven.

Now the problem that particularly the outward witness presents is this: Innumerable people have made a profession of faith, as discussed in previous blogs, but are not and do not bear fruit in keeping with repentance. What's our attitude towards them? Evangelism. What damage is there in repeating the gospel to someone who has already heard it? Either they will repent of their carnal living and continue to grow (if they were saved), they will reject Christ either actively or passively by continuing to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, or they will be converted.

This inward witness and outward fruit applies to all, but we should go back and think about our children. If and when they make a profession of faith, we should rejoice assuming that they have been born again. But we do not stop teaching the gospel, nor do we present a model of "eternal security" that turns into licence. Then we look for them to have inward confidence that they are a child of God, and display outward fruit confirming God is their Vine. We must look for all three: Profession of belief, inward confidence, and outward fruit.