Thursday, 27 March 2008
being on the same page
I had an object lesson in the importance of being on the same page over the last day. I was trying to watch a video of a sermon from my church. It didn't play, I thought, all the way through, no matter what I did. I e-mailed my assistant pastor. It worked for him. Of course. Later, I tried on another computer. Still didn't work. Humming along for pastor, just fine. Finally, I clicked on another tab, entitled "Media". There, big as life, was a link to watch last week's service. The video ran fine; I just needed to be on the same page. Now, that's a life lesson. Once again, thanks, God!
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
corporate greed and stress alleviation
Okay, so I'd been stressing about gas prices and corporate greed. I just didn't see any justification for such high gas prices--not that I couldn't pay for gas but it was the principle, you see. So, I asked about it--asked a minister and finally asked God for some peace concerning this (not as a last resort, not out of desperation).
Well, praise God, God showed me the answer to my questions, and I thought I'd share them: as for gas prices, God is able to get more than enough money to me to cover the price of gas (2 Corinthians 11:9, Phillippians 4:18). As to the corporate greed, the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just (Proverbs 13:22, Eccl. 2:26), and vengeance is God's; He will repay (Rom. 12:19) (though I might be missing it with that vengeance part--that might be me adding in something out of context which may not apply here). In other words, don't worry about it.
I find a lot of comfort and peace in that.
-Sean
Well, praise God, God showed me the answer to my questions, and I thought I'd share them: as for gas prices, God is able to get more than enough money to me to cover the price of gas (2 Corinthians 11:9, Phillippians 4:18). As to the corporate greed, the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just (Proverbs 13:22, Eccl. 2:26), and vengeance is God's; He will repay (Rom. 12:19) (though I might be missing it with that vengeance part--that might be me adding in something out of context which may not apply here). In other words, don't worry about it.
I find a lot of comfort and peace in that.
-Sean
Saturday, 22 March 2008
soapbox
soapbox
Insurance:
Okay, soapbox time: I just found out that my car insurance rates got jacked up because of some things on my credit. Those things are there correctly, but my issue is this: insurance companies should not be allowed to go back and check the credit of people who are already their customers and have had good histories with those companies. The insurance company, as I understand, is trying to protect themselves against people who have risky behavior because that behavior will likely cost them money. They go based on a study saying that this type of person who does this or that will likely do this or that thing, which will cost the insurance company money. Here's the thing: I, and many others, are being judged on what we are deemed likely to do, not on our actual history as regards the company. So I think that the only thing which should affect our insurance rates should be auto-related. Do we get into crashes? A lot of speeding tickets? Do we park in the wrong places and get tickets for that? Do we not pay our insurance bills? Do we live in a particularly high crime area, which may increase the likelihood of our cars getting stolen or broken into? These and only these should affect our rates. Not whether we carry this or that balance on our credit cards or have a lot of student loans.
I think what my insurance company is doing is unfair and unjust. Myself, I am willing to pay the cost for irresponsible credit decisions, but not to a company with whom I have an established, excellent record. When that company, four years into my being a customer of theirs, suddenly wants more money because of credit issues on an automatic check, which not every insurance company does, that tells me they're using those results as a way of getting more money for themselves from me and cloaking it under the guise of protecting themselves.
Based on my history with this company, they should be lowering my rates because I am such a good customer of theirs, not raising them because I made some mistakes with other, unrelated things.
As a side note, the person with the company to whom I spoke said that their activities are approved by each state in which they do them. So the state I'm in approves of this practice. This is also unjust and unfair and needs to be changed.
Judge a person on what they've done that relates to you, not what you think they'll do based on relatively unrelated history.
If this has happened to you, make some appropriate noise (be a grown-up and don't get personal) to your insurance agency/company. If enough people complain about this practice, the insurance companies are likely to change. Though I don’t have a study to prove that.
Insurance:
Okay, soapbox time: I just found out that my car insurance rates got jacked up because of some things on my credit. Those things are there correctly, but my issue is this: insurance companies should not be allowed to go back and check the credit of people who are already their customers and have had good histories with those companies. The insurance company, as I understand, is trying to protect themselves against people who have risky behavior because that behavior will likely cost them money. They go based on a study saying that this type of person who does this or that will likely do this or that thing, which will cost the insurance company money. Here's the thing: I, and many others, are being judged on what we are deemed likely to do, not on our actual history as regards the company. So I think that the only thing which should affect our insurance rates should be auto-related. Do we get into crashes? A lot of speeding tickets? Do we park in the wrong places and get tickets for that? Do we not pay our insurance bills? Do we live in a particularly high crime area, which may increase the likelihood of our cars getting stolen or broken into? These and only these should affect our rates. Not whether we carry this or that balance on our credit cards or have a lot of student loans.
I think what my insurance company is doing is unfair and unjust. Myself, I am willing to pay the cost for irresponsible credit decisions, but not to a company with whom I have an established, excellent record. When that company, four years into my being a customer of theirs, suddenly wants more money because of credit issues on an automatic check, which not every insurance company does, that tells me they're using those results as a way of getting more money for themselves from me and cloaking it under the guise of protecting themselves.
Based on my history with this company, they should be lowering my rates because I am such a good customer of theirs, not raising them because I made some mistakes with other, unrelated things.
As a side note, the person with the company to whom I spoke said that their activities are approved by each state in which they do them. So the state I'm in approves of this practice. This is also unjust and unfair and needs to be changed.
Judge a person on what they've done that relates to you, not what you think they'll do based on relatively unrelated history.
If this has happened to you, make some appropriate noise (be a grown-up and don't get personal) to your insurance agency/company. If enough people complain about this practice, the insurance companies are likely to change. Though I don’t have a study to prove that.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
more blessing manifestations
Well, a couple of great things happened recently: 1) I got invited to be in a band as a bass player, and I'm getting loaned a bass until I can get mine (soon).
2) Turns out I can go to the wedding of a relative when I thought it was not going to happen.
I count these as manifestations of the blessing of God in my life. I had pretty well, though not officially, given up on each of them, but God's made them possible. How is up to Him. All I can do is thank Him and those people through whom He moved who are helping me out (you know who you are--thank you so much!).
Also, the movie company person who was reading my script passed on it, but that just frees me up to approach another company with it. :)
-Sean
2) Turns out I can go to the wedding of a relative when I thought it was not going to happen.
I count these as manifestations of the blessing of God in my life. I had pretty well, though not officially, given up on each of them, but God's made them possible. How is up to Him. All I can do is thank Him and those people through whom He moved who are helping me out (you know who you are--thank you so much!).
Also, the movie company person who was reading my script passed on it, but that just frees me up to approach another company with it. :)
-Sean
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
God is good
I have been thinking about buying a townhouse or condo lately. This from a guy who was uncomfortably close to being homeless in Los Angeles not that long ago. I just want to give witness to how good God is: In a relatively short time, He's taken me from there to where I am now, where I can have the option of buying a house. Whether I do or not is irrelevant; what's great is having the option. As ever, thank God!
Sunday, 2 March 2008
one of the coolest things...
This is one of the coolest things I've heard, and I wish I had remembered to blog it before: the parents of a friend of mine recently got to buy a house of the sort they'd been wanting for some time. My friend's mom told me it has everything she'd been praying for, even a pool in the backyard. It blessed me so much to hear that and see how God's blessed them and thought I'd bless you by sharing the good news. Praise God! :)
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