How Do You Think? Deeply!

What is your process when you focus on thinking…?

Listening to a news report, former President George Bush has produced a new book called, “Portraits of Courage” (my Amazon Link) where he details the backstory of selected vets, with his personal painting of them.

And I thought a shallow thought, as I’m sure many will do. He was the Commander in Chief, and President of the United States, and is now a painter and author. Which is he the better at doing?

I paused and started to listen to the words of the story and realized, again, that with every story there is a unique backstory. And with every thinking moment, listening, analyzing, comparing to perspective, and bringing up my own unique method of reading the story between the lines, I realized that the stories are deep.

I have a contact who does not know how to read anything quickly. It seems he analyzes every word, thought, and sub-thought, and attempts to put it all in the context of the paragraph, section, chapter, and full story. When he has finished, he believes he has a deep understanding of the story someday in the future…

Think about all the news we’ve dealt with these past few years. How much do you really know about the reporting? Story crafters? Real-to-life characters of the bottom line? Can we know the back story? Who do we trust?

News reporting can only cover something due to time and space limitations, along with the sagging interest of the audience. Too much reporting is based on what the graphic images portray. Most investigative questions are asked to solicit a response to help paint the storyline. Much like an attorney in a court case, the news reporter must keep the focus of the story moving forward. Perhaps extra tidbits will be a separate news story in and of itself, but do not let the answers spoil the story.

Most of what we hear is simply a surface story, full of one-liners, short thoughts, and graphics to keep it alluring. If you want to know more you must dig it out yourself, but can you trust the source? That’s the Key.

Think It Through

Most of what we read is surface-level. There are deep pools of information we will never know.

For the most part, that’s me. I’m a surface reader. I glean quickly, move through the pages rapidly, and have high-level understanding of the information.

Until something grabs my attention… Then I’m like a submarine. Go as deep as the thought will allow!

I love to hear other perspectives, however, and when someone preaches the Word, then I realize I don’t know it all! Another’s perspective piques my own interest to dig out more!

Think about the background of information found in the names of places, mountains, tribes, and even a country – they all have a sub-story of meaning. You must look far into the past with reason to determine what you will never find on the surface.

I found this artwork about all the Native American tribes found within the borders of Texas. Their history is vast, but we have no true collection of this historical data.

Here’s My Thought Today

Did you know that Washington State is the only state named for a president? Or, that Texas has a different meaning in its more “native” tongue? Or, on some level, if you want to talk about Alaska it’s also known as the “Great Land.”

Texas-teshay. We take both of these words at current face value, but each is simply a restatement of earlier languages, dialects, and history from the lands of time. We seldom ever take the time to research. Go ahead, look it up. Texas comes from the Caddo Native American word “teshay” – which essentially means “friendly.”

However, mention these words in conversation and you will get different responses from many that depending on their perspective.

Research For Yourself

I love to research, but mostly only those things I’m interested in. When I’m not reading for entertainment, or attempting to get a high-level understanding of a book, then I love to research every historical portion a single sentence may contain.

If you are willing to ask the question, then they should be willing to dig out an answer. You never go at it blindly. It will take you too long to find an answer. To really learn, we all need guides and helps that focus our attention, resolve our questions, and provide insights.

But, the final thought will be what I get out of it.

Someone challenged us to read through the book of Acts every day for 30 days. My first day? No problem. But each day I got bogged down in chapters that ended long before the book was done. By the end of the first week, I was lucky to read past the first chapter. My research habit was working in force! Dig deeply!

“There’s history in ‘dem ‘der words!”

Think This Through

It was on the Day of Pentecost, the fledgling church is born in power and full of the Spirit of God. Research it. This is what the Bible says.

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
Acts 2:5-12 NKJV

By my count, there are 17 national identities represented in the crowd. Devout. Jewish. From every nation under heaven. Think about it! it sounds like a multicultural and ethnic grouping even if they were all Jews.

The Holy Spirit, obviously, is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), because over 3,000 folks gathered around the 120 that were in the Upper Room that morning and they received the Holy Spirit.

John, the Revelator, published this phrase in the last book of the Bible:

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people—
Revelation 14:6 NKJV

Think about this for a moment. It’s a tough lesson many must learn, over and over. God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality even when we cannot comprehend. (Acts 10:34-36) How do we prove the love of God, by showing love one to another. (John 13:34-35, 15:12,17, Romans 13:8, 1 Peter 1:22, and others) Love must not be partial.

It’s funny that we choose one side of the coin over the other. Those that want to be inclusive are just as quickly tossing some over the side as those who want to have a closed mind. There’s no love here. If there’s no love then how do we obey the scripture? One-sided, of course.

Thimk It Through… Click below if you want to research.

Thimk and Do (Click to Read my thought on Thimk!)