Carter's Corner: Habits of Contentment

*Carter's Corner posts are articles I wrote for our Monthly Church Newsletter.  

Are you content with your material possessions?  How about your paycheck? Marriage? Health? Relationships? Job? Retirement? Politics?  We all tend to be discontent from time to time and that can lead to complaining.  We complain because we simply are not happy.  Be honest with yourself. What area in your life do you tend to be the most discontent?   
I have an obsession with gadgets and as of late, specifically cell phones.  There is a phone that hasn't even been officially introduced, nor will it likely be available on my carrier but I’ve been keeping up with the rumor mill on this phone since April.  My habitual checking on this phone slowly breeds discontentment.
 What habits do you have that breed discontentment in your life?  Habits of discontentment can be focusing on the past, making comparisons, or focusing too much on self. Just as certain habits or actions can breed discontentment in our lives we can replace bad habits with actions that will lead us to contentment .  

Focusing on God

“There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.”  (1 Samuel 2:2, NASB)

When we realize who God is and what he has done for us, what else could we possibly desire or want?  When we focus on God we also desire for His will to be done and not our own selfish will.  We submit willingly to His will.  We understand that God’s way is best.  One of the best ways to focus on God is to laud and magnify His name.  You can do this in prayer, song, or conversation.  

Serving Others

“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4, NASB)

A root cause of discontentment is a focus on self.  We spend a lot of time on our “own personal interests.”  We eat, sleep, and work all as a part of serving our own personal interests.   We need to use our time and resources to serve other people.  You can’t successfully serve someone else, unless you stop thinking about yourself and look to meet the needs of others.  

Counting Your Blessings

I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations. (Psalm 108:3, NASB)

No matter what you your lot in life, you are blessed.  We are blessed by simply being introduced to the gospel of Christ Jesus.   Just consider the blessings we have in one chapter of the Bible. In Romans 8, we are told that we are free from sin (1).  We have the spirit of God living in us (2). We are co-heirs with Christ and our future glory does not compare with our present shortcomings (17-18).  God is working all things for our good (28). The Almighty King of the Universe is on our side (31) and that nothing can separate us from the love of God (39).

When life gets rough and discontentment rears it’s ugly head, may we focus on the blessings we have in Christ and beyond.  May we see clearly those things that we often take for granted that God has already given us.  May we identify habits of discontentment, repent and replace them with habits that will lead to contentment in Christ.   

What the debt ceiling debacle reminded me about my diet

Well the government shutdown is over and the debt ceiling has been lifted.  While our Congress continues to be rather incompetent on both sides of the aisle, I think we can reflect on this latest debacle to think about our diet.  

    Republican, Democrat, Progressive, or Libertarian all agree that the enormous amount of debt our country has is not a good thing.  There is one reason we have to raise the debt ceiling, deficit spending.  Every year the government spends more money than it ever could receive in revenue. 

   This parallels America's obesity epidemic.  We are consuming too many calories than our bodies could ever use.  I had a very clear head about this when I started on MFP (MyFitnessPal) back in February 2011.  I hit my goal weight by December of that year and was regularly exercising.  After hitting my goal weight I stopped logging regularly, yet I kept losing weight.  In June of 2012 I had nerve damage in my leg and was told it might take a year for the damage to be repaired.  Since I couldn't run I didn't do any exercise.  I got even more lackadaisical in my calorie tracking and eating habits and the weight went up.  As of today I am 24.4lbs up from my lowest weight.  

     Don't exercise to lose weight.  This is the principle I forgot.  When we are eating so many calories exercise alone won't make the difference.   People used to ask me, how did you lose the weight?  I would always answer, calorie tracking.  I wouldn't even mention exercise because I was clear headed about what made the difference.  However, as time has passed I have forgotten.  


    I have run the past 6 weeks and gained 2lbs.  How is this possible?  I didn't track my calories.  Exercise is vitally important and is essential for achieving our fitness and wellness goals.  However, do not rely on exercise alone to get the pounds off.  Just as America is spending more money than they could ever bring in, Americans (including myself) are consuming way more calories than they could ever burn off.   

Why a Google fan boy bought an iPad

I love Google. I was not, however, an early adopter. In the late 90s people were beginning to allaud the wonders of google search, but I was using Dogpile. Dogpile is a still active search engine which complies the results of various other search engines. The first regular email account I had was with Hotmail which I used faithfully until 2010.

In late Spring of 2010 I was in the market for a second job and thanks to my best friend Michael White I was able to land a job working as at a Verizon Wireless retail location. The company's policy stated that you had to have a Gmail account. After a bit of research I officially made the switch. Soon after working at Verizon I made the switch to an Android smartphone and a Google fan boy was born.

Today I use Google for just about anything online: email, search, web browser, cloud storage, rss feeder, blogging, videos, music, maps, calendar, photos, e-books, and more. I love Google. I enjoy how my experience is synced to any web connected device and that is one reason I bought an iPad.

I once read that Google has a commitment to bring you all their services to all your devices. Along with Google other companies can use their syncing capabilities to bring you your Google content with their vey own user interface. Therefore, though Google doesn't have their Reader or Calendar apps available on iPad I have found two great apps that user my Google account information to bring me that content. Google already offers great iPad apps for search, email, blogging, and more.

Tablet specific apps, however, are the main reason I chose the iPad. Apple offers 275,000 iPad specific apps. Google doesn't release their number. When you search for an app on an Android tablet they don't even separate your results by phone and tablet apps. Also, it made news recently when Google was asking developers to develop more tablet apps. The reason that they don't have tablet apps is two fold: 1. Apple continues to be a more profitable platform for developers. 2. They haven't had a very significant Marketshare of the tablet market.

I believe the second of these is going to change with the recent release of the Nexus devices. I imagine Google will have a comparable tablet app experience in as a little as 18 months. But until then when it comes to a great tablet experience, iPad reigns supreme.

Is God in Control?

God is all-powerful.  He can do what he wants, when he wants.  But why doesn't God stop senseless acts of violence against children?  Why does God allow people to have so much free will?  God is not the ruler of this world.

I think sometimes we forget that but senseless acts of evil such as the one that happened today in Newton, Connecticut are a sharp reminder.  1 John 5:19 says,

"We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one."

I John 5:19 NIV

   If you a Christian then God reigns over your life.  Jesus himself says that his "kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36)  This is something I have been thinking about now for about two weeks and even  more so with the events today in Newton, Connecticut.  

Two weeks ago I attended the funeral of my wife's cousin.  He died as a result of a senseless act of violence.    The minister who offered the eulogy obviously did not know Daniel but in an attempt of comfort said, "God is in control."  He also edified the mourners gathered there by telling them not to ask, "why God?"  I guess I didn't listen to his advice with the start of my blog post!

  After reflecting on those comments I began to question whether God was in control.  Christians will often claim that God is in control but rarely offer theological or biblical support.  I believe the only place that God will be in full control is in Heaven on the New Earth.  Paul writes,

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

Philippians 3:20-21 NIV

   Did you catch that?  We "await a Savior" who by God's power will be able to "bring everything under his control."  Doesn't that imply that everything isn't under his control now?  Isn't that why we are to make Christ Lord of our lives and yield control of our will to God?  And doesn't Jesus encourage us that the "prince of this world" has "no hold on me"? (see John 14:30)  

   I believe this is why we are to live for our citizenship in Heaven.  I believe this is why we need to invest our energy, time, and resources in the kingdom of God and not the kingdom of the world.  I believe we can be apart of God's kingdom today and help increase His reign on the Earth.  God is not in control of this world, but He can be and will be.  I believe this is a prudent time to recall Jesus' teaching on prayer,

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’"

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV

My blog is called Carter's Candor, this is what I think, what about you?   

Welcome To My Blog

Me, My Beautiful Wife Renee, & My Son Cole

Welcome to my blog.  The title of my blog is Carter's Candor.  Why?  Because my name is Justin Carter and I intend this blog to be a place where I share my raw, honest, politically incorrect thoughts & opinions.  I am a follower of Jesus, a full time minister, 29 years old (I'll never be 30), a husband, & a father.  

  I will only post articles that I feel like I have been 100% honest and real.  I will talk about a variety of subjects on this blog.  I will talk about faith, spirituality, wellness, politics, technology, and the news among other things.  

  I don't know if anyone will ever read this or follow it but I just see it as a place to unravel my brains  If you read my blog, I would love to hear your feedback and response.  I wouldn't mind this blog becoming a place to have conversations.  My name is Justin Carter, Welcome to my Blog. 

Subjects in the Works: 

• Why a Google fanboy, prefers the Apple iPad. 
• States Petition to Secede, What? 
• Is Baptism Essential for Salvation? 

Happy Reading!