The Adventures of Captain Christopher

Ever wish your life was an action adventure story like those of Indiana Jones or James Bond. I used to think that would be the coolest thing in the world. What if I just had some voice narrating everything I did in some dramatic and action-packed way? Like how awesome would that be?! As I've gotten older, though, I've discovered that it would probably be a terrible idea for my life to be made a radio show. Want to know why? Because this is what it would sound like:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen and thank you for tuning in to 102.3 KLMB "The Boss" (Not a real radio station) On tonight's episode of Lost in Life (not a real radio show), our hero is once again desperately trying to regain the rare and valuable Free-time-ium (not a real item). But with individuals such as Lord Stressage, Count Activities, and the Evil Dr. Homework (Not real people) hot on his trail, will our hero be able to make it to the the temple of serenity (Possibly a real place) in time? Find out NOW! *STATIC*

On second thought, maybe it would be a pick-me-up to hear Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones narrate my life in that kind of way. Maybe I wouldn't be nearly so stressed. Allow me to offer you some advice: learn to say "no". Learn to say "no" to activities you don't want to get involved in, but you're too nice to say so. Learn to say "no" to activities you want to get involved in but don't have time for. Learn to say "no" to yourself when you want to do something but have other things you need to be doing. Basically, just learn to say "no". It's not worth it to be so overworked. Trust me, I'm there. And now that I've signed my soul away to all of these organizations, I'm stuck wondering how I'm going to deal with it all.

We've all been here and we all have our ways of dealing with stress. Since I'm currently dealing with stress out the wazoo, I will fill you in on some of my ways for dealing with stress tomorrow!

Until then: 

Best of luck in the real world and God Bless,

-XTopher 

#Below750

So this last week I was challenged to live off of the same budget that people in poverty live off of all around the world. So, for five days, I lived off of $7.50 - that's $1.50 a day. This was part of an awesome project to raise awareness of the conditions of poverty that so many people live in. So, what I did was I went to Wal*Mart and bought bread, peanut-butter, corn, black beans, eggs, and Ramen. My total came out to just below 7.50 and then that's what I had to eat for the week. Then, each night I posted some videos that were kind of a reflection over what I had learned that day. Here's a summary of those reflections:

• Rationing food is really difficult when you're hungry. You see more food. You want to eats the food. But you cannot eats the food, because then you would have no foods to eat on another day. This made Christopher Sad.
• Eating enough is also hard. So, you don't want to eats too much foods because you wants to eats tomorrows. But, if you don'ts eat enoughs today, you will be hungry and tired.
• I'm a student, so I'm not SUPER active, but people who live in poverty often are exerting a whole lot more energy throughout their days and are eating the same amount of food.
• Nutrition goes out the window. In America, we're so concerned with making sure we eat enough nutrients and don't eat too many fats and cholesterol, etc. But, when I was living off of only $7.50, I was paying more attention to which items fill me up and give me more calories than I was with what nutrients or vitamins I received. 
• We don't really pay attention to the amount that we're spending. Before I began the journey, I went to Burger King and got a burger for $7.99. That one meal cost more than what I had to live off of for the next 5 days! 
• Obviously this isn't EVERYONE in America, but isn't it interesting the difference in prices for one meal vs. one week?
• We're picky. I was walking through wal*mart shopping for my week, and I overheard a middle-aged couple arguing over which organic pita bread brand to buy. Meanwhile, I'm just looking for the cheapest items. 
• Authors note: I have absolutely nothing against organic pita bread or the people that buy it. I'm actually a solid supporter for organic farming. However, this really put things into perspective for me. We in America have the luxury of being able to be picky while many people aren't afforded any such privilege.

So, that's some of what I learned through this experience. Honestly, it was really tough, but I'm super glad that I did it! It was such an eye-opening experience and it was a fantastic way to reset my perspective of myself and of others. I encourage you guys to check it out. Just follow the hashtag #SCBelow750 on Facebook or check out Simpson College Spanish Awareness: Living Below $7.50!

Best of luck in the real world and God Bless,

-Christopher Hanson

Forgiveness and Paint Cans

So there's this great sermon series called "God's Will is Whatever" that was preached by Pastor Steven Furtick at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. I've seen the first three installments of the series and I've absolutely loved it. The third one is called 43 Shades of Orange, and that's what I watched recently. Go ahead, go Google or YouTube it (or click right here), it's fantastic.

Are you back? Did you watch it all? GREAT!
Did you not leave in the first place or give up when you found out it would take more than just a few minutes to watch? I mean, it IS 50 minutes long, but well worth it! I promise! So, for all of you who didn't go watch it or haven't seen it, quick recap:

Pastor Steven talks about discovering God's will and how difficult that can be. But, once we discover God's Will (or His ways) we need to DO them. We actually have to put them into application in our lives. He uses the illustration of paint cans representing the theological and spiritual knowledge we've acquired. We can stack as many paint cans as we want in the basement of our lives, but until we open them up and begin to paint with them, they're useless. In the same way, we need to make sure that instead of getting distracted by figuring out what is God's EXACT will for our lives, we can already be putting His Will into action in the little things every single day.

Of course, as I'm listening to this sermon, I'm nodding along the whole way and agreeing with every word of "go out and do it", "you have to actually do something", and "JUST DO IT" (I'm hearing Shia LaBeouf in my head for some reason.) But, as I've begun to think about things, there are some gaping holes in my life where I am not applying God's Will. There is some knowledge that I have that is still sitting around in the basement that I should be painting with this very moment, but I'm not ... because I'm scared.

So what am I dealing with that's so terrifying? Well, you know how there are all sorts of sermons on unforgiveness and how we need to forgive others like Christ forgave us and what a big deal that is? Yeah, I'm on the other side. I've done some things that have hurt other people in such a way that I wouldn't at all be surprised if there was some unforgiveness. But there's nothing I can do about it, right? I mean all of the sermons we hear preached are over the other person needing to forgive. So, I can just go on about my day without a care in the world, right? Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

I still feel terrible. I want the feeling to go away so I keep wanting to run and beg for these peoples' forgiveness, but I don't at all expect them to forgive me because I haven't forgiven myself. (*boom* life just got real) So what is it that I need to do about this situation? I'm sure I've got some color of paint in this basement that will help me. Somewhere over.. ah, here it is!

God already forgave me

This whole idea of forgiving ourselves is really something we came up with to represent what we do when we keep feeling guilty about something that we have done and continue to relive that moment. Yet I know that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9. So, if I'm already forgiven, then there is nothing for me to continue to fret about right? (Wait, am I forgiven? Have I even asked for forgiveness from God about this? That's kind of step one.) 

To continue to wallow in the fact that I did wrong is kind of like a 5 year old continuing to say that they're sorry every 6 seconds after they get scolded for taking the cookie or bossing their sibling. (Trust me, I was one of those kids.) It's kind of pathetic (and - frankly - annoying) to witness. But, what I did wasn't just some cookie snatching, I really hurt another person. How do I deal with that?

Honestly, I don't even know if I have a can of paint for that one. But, I do have some people in my life who just might let me borrow some of their paint. If you're not catching on to this paint metaphor thing (e.g. "Why's he talking about a paint can?"), I mean that I've got some people in my life that may know more than me about dealing with situations like this. In addition to some great resources, I've also got a great God that is the ULTIMATE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE (I'm hearing that in some dramatic voice like the one who announces John Cena). 

So, this really is a struggle and a journey for me. I'll keep you updated with how things go. I'm just praying I learn something and that God's perfect will would be done in all of this. I'd love prayers as I try to figure this stuff out and as always:

Best of luck in the real world and God Bless,

-XTopher