The iGeneration

Stars, O how you shine.

Despite war, famine, poverty, O how you shine

Economies collapse, marriages fail, loved ones die,

Still, O how shine.

You shine because that’s what you were made to do.

You shine because doing so praises the one who created you.

You shine because you reflect the glory of the creator.

Lord, O how you shine.

Despite my failures, doubt, questions, O how you shine.

Sins return, pride grows, faith becomes weak,

Still, O how you shine

You shine because of who you are.

You shine because you have eyes like fire, and are crowned with many crowns.

You shine because you are the lamb that was slain; the one who redeemed us by you blood.

O, May I shine like the stars for you!

I’ll be heading out of town this weekend for a friend’s wedding so I won’t be posting until Monday. Have a wonderful weekend.

What is it about cooking meat over a fire that makes summer so much fun? You don’t even need an expensive grill to have a good time. Some people have huge grills which look more like Optimus Prime from the Transformers movie than the dinky Weber grill my brother owns. But when it’s summer time that doesn’t seem to matter. 

My brother Tim and his two roommates had one of these cookouts yesterday after church. Like I said it wasn’t anything fancy, just some burgers and hot-dogs and good friends. And it was a blast.

Of course I know that the reason I had a great time wasn’t the food; it was the people. I haven’t spent much time with my friends lately and that’s my fault not theirs. After work I feel so tired that I’d rather lay on the couch and watch TV instead of driving to my friends house and spending time there. And that’s one of the biggest knock’s against the iGeneration; we’d rather spend time alone with technology than in the company of others. 

We, as human beings, need to interact with other humans. We were created that way; we crave that social aspect of life. And for all the benefits the internet, and facebook, and blogs, yes I realize that there is some hypocrisy here ;-), there is also danger when we misuse them. 

So for the rest of the summer I’m going to try and make it a priority to attend more “summer cookouts”. 

P.S. Thanks to my brother and his roommates for a great time and the inspiration for this post. 

I read two articles this week about topics I had never heard of before. One article spoke about the increase in what is being referred to as “The Quarter-life Crisis”. The other, covered the Stockdale Paradox. Both very interesting, and both very relevant to my generation.

A Quarter-life crisis is exactly what it sounds like; its a mid-life crisis only it happens to those in their 20’s. It has the same symptoms of a mid-life crisis and it is becoming readily acknowledged by mental health professionals as a source of anxiety and depression in our generation. We, as young adults, are struggling in a tough job market, we feel slighted when we don’t get to use the education we paid and studied for, our desire for marriage and children, and an overall insecurity about our future. Basically we want meaning in our lives, we want something we can become passionate about and that uses our skills and knowledge, and we want to feel comfortable. 

I know I can’t speak for everyone my age but I do see this happening. In fact, I was talking to a friend this week who was experiencing this exact thing. My friend is a college graduate who is currently working two part-time jobs while he waits for a job in the federal government. There are few openings with many applicants and he’s been passed over several times for a position. He knows that he doesn’t want to work his whole life at the jobs he has now but he doesn’t see a way to do that. 

So what’s there to do about this?

That’s were the second article I read comes into play. It doesn’t work as a cure all but it does provide some good advice on how to push ahead until this season of life passes. 

The Stockdale paradox is named after a retired Navy admiral who spent nine years in the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam as a prisoner of war. Since then he’s been to source of countless interviews all asking how he could survive the imprisonment and torture and not go crazy in the process. Here’s what he had to say about it, 

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end,   which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

As Admiral Stockdale did, we must acknowledge that yeah life sucks right now. It’s hard and we can’t seem to catch a break. But you know what…in the end I’m going to make it. I’m going to put in my time and it will pay off. I’m going to be relentless. And I’m going to have faith that God in his sovereignty has given me these experiences for a reason. 

So while that doesn’t answer all my questions I think it’s a good way to view life’s ups and downs. And hey…this will also make us better prepared second time around when mid-life hits. 

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002435.cfm

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001422.cfm

If you spend any considerable amount of time driving these days there are bound to be certain things that simply infuriate you. It’s that way with me. In the last nine years as a licensed driver in the state of Oklahoma I’ve seen my fair share of idiots on the road. After seeing one of these “idiots” on my way to work this morning I thought I’d share my pet peeves of driving.

• People who leave their turn signal on. Let’s be honest if you aren’t aware enough to notice that your blinker has been on for the last 10 miles you probably shouldn’t be operating a 1,000 pound piece of steel that’s hurtling through traffic.
• Hummer, Ranger Rovers, huge pick-up trucks etc. We’re not off-roading in the Amazon jungle; you don’t need a car that requires a ladder to get into to drive through midtown.
• Drivers who cut in line. If there is a lane which is at a standstill and the one next to it is completely open it’s probably that way for a reason. My guess is that the lane ends for construction or the like and you need to merge. MERGE NOW! Don’t speed past your fellow motorists only to cut them off at the end of the road. That’s a good way to get the finger or worse.
• Old people…okay maybe not all of them but there are definitely some who should be considered armed and dangerous when behind the wheel.
• THE SHOULDER IS NOT A TURN LANE!!! That’s all I will say about that.
• And lastly, if you want to help cut back on global warming, improve your gas mileage or simply save the wear-and-tear on your engine by driving slower than the speed limit that’s fine. More power to you. But don’t do it in the fast lane. That will force me to ride your bumper until you speed up or change lanes out of fear. Thank you.

Have a pleasant motoring experience,

Kevin

Tonight was a beautiful night. I spent the end of my night outside on my parents back porch. It was one of those crisp, cool winter nights that I love. The sky was clear with the millions of stars surrounding the full moon. I loved it. I need to back track a little though.

This week has been hard for me. I’ve been in a sort of spiritual funk you might say. I’ve been neglecting reading my bible and my quiet time with God has been non-existant. I take all the blame for this too, I’ve made excuses for myself and my actions which as of late have been less than Christ like. It really hit me today. In the rush and hub-bub( thats right, I used that word, whether it is a word or not!) of the Christmas season I finally had enough. I needed to do something. 

So I read my bible then headed outside for some alone time. God spoke to me for the first time in what felt like and eternity. What I heard was a mixture. I see God act in my life in different roles. For instance I see God act in my life as a protecter, a father, a friend. I know he acts in all these ways but at times certain ones seem to stick out. Tonight I heard the father, the stern father warning me that if I wanted to continue down the path I was headed he would let me but that he was concerned more with my holiness than my happiness and he wouldn’t have a problem disciplining me. Next came another side of the father, the kind that picks me up and carries me. Looking at the moon tonight I thought of the star that lead those men over 2000 years ago to Jesus. I thought about how Mary held Jesus in her arms and how he now holds me in his arms telling me that he still loved me and that nothing would change that. Then the final side of my father appeared tonight telling me that it was time to act like a man. I’m not a little kid anymore and I shouldn’t act like one. I’m called to emulate him, its time that I did. Its time to put off childish things. This new year hopefully I will. 

On this still, silent night God reminded me that when everything goes away. When the holidays and jobs and school. When the problems and things of this universe pass away I’m left with God. A God who loves me. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a wondeful year. I love you all and you have been great friends to me. 

I have choice-overload paralysis. What is that you ask well I’ll tell you. There are so many choices about so many different things that I can’t make a decision. Heck, if you go to Wal-Mart today you’ll find at least a dozen different types of toothpaste. So how am I supposed to make a choice about what to do in my life?

Tonight I was driving home and the sun was setting in my rear-view mirror, my truck windows were down and I was content. Not necessarily happy or filled with joy, but content. It was a good night. It was another ordinary day at work followed by a night class. Nothing unusually exciting but I was fine with that.

But then there are those days when I can’t stand that. I tell myself that I should be doing something else, something more exciting, more…out there. After all I’m a single, 25 year old man with a college education, no debt and the rest of my life ahead of me. I could do almost anything. Let’s face it I’ve never been the one to sow my wild oats, why not now.

As I sit here I’m still confused, but I do know that whatever I do it needs to count. Over the last few months I’ve had this recurring thought in my head that in themselves, nothing matters. Not my job, my relationships, my car, house, achievements, nothing. Everything is like that; there is always something which gives meaning to another. Take money for instance. There is no intrinsic value to a dollar bill. It’s just a piece of paper. But behind that dollar bill is the power to trade it for something you want. That gives it value. It seems to me like life is like that. 

Kinda depressing huh. Well if you stop here then yes it is. But you can’t…you shouldn’t. But I’m tired and I have work tomorrow so I will. Heheh, that is a little mean. I’m sorry. I guess you’ll just have to come back to The iGeneration and find out where meaning comes from! 

97,760 hours. That’s how long the average person works in their lifetime, assuming you work 40 hours a week every year from the age of 18 to 65. Almost 100,000 hours. That means that roughly 11 continuous years of your life are spent working! And many of us work far more than 40 hours a week.

But why? What is all for? If were honest with ourselves we will acknowledge that we all will die. So at the end what part did work play in our lives?

I’ve been thinking about that more and more recently. I’m like many of you who are trying to jump-start careers I am working all the time. I have my current job which I use to live on and a internship, which I hope will lead to a better job. I work early morning and late nights, whether I’m at the office or not.  ourse

I think we can break the reasons behind work into three parts: working to provide for yourself/your family, working to help others who are in need, and working so that you can buy things that bring you pleasure.

All these things are good valid reasons for work. Its a necesscity (execpt working for pleasure) that needs to be done. And working so that you can buy things that bring pleasure is okay too. We all buy movies, iPods, new pair of shoes etc. All things in moderation of course, right.

Here’s what gets me though. Since I will die someday do I really want to spend more time at work than I need too? Will it really matter? Even if I start my own company that becomes incredibly succesfull across the entire world what’s the point. Companies don’t last forever.

I guess what I’m getting at is if I work for the wrong reasons, for the wrong intentions, is it a waste. I think it is. This is one are where our high ideals meet with the ugly realities of life. And its such a large reality I think it’s going to take me a long time to figure it out.

Welcome to The iGeneration, a blog those of us in our 20’s and 30’s who are still figuring life out. Over the years we’ve been called the iGeneration, Generation Y, millenials, the boomerang generation, Peter Pan generation and Echo Boomers (whatever the heck that means).

 We’re the ones who grew up watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire, read the Goosebumps books and wore Dr. Martin’s no matter how uncomfortable they were.

We’ve grown up now but that doesn’t mean that we know everything. In fact, I’m reminded everyday of how little I know. Despite all our awards and degrees we still sit at the bottom of the totem pole of life-lessons. 

So that’s what I hope this blog will be about. It will be about getting a job, starting a family and “acting” like adults. It will be about reconciling our high-minded ideals with the ugly realities of life on earth. If if affects us it’s fair game here.

 I hope that you all enjoy this site. I’ll try to link from other, more wise people, than myself as much as possible. Please feel free to comment on anything I put on this site. 

Sincerely,

             Kevin Genske

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