About Rick Upchurch

Married in 1976, with three grown children. Have served as Pastor in the Church of the Nazarene for 18 years and still hold ordination credentials in the Church of the Nazarene. Led and taught in Adult Degree Completion programs in Christian Higher Education since 1998. Published four books available on Amazon: Discipleship with James, Guidebook for Curriculum Development and Assessment, Spiritual Warfare, and The Principles of Life.

Using Flipboard to Build Digital Library

Like you, I am constantly bombarded by information. It comes at me from every direction and most of it I let just flow on by. However, there are somethings that I would like to keep and even share with my colleagues and family. While I use OneNote and Evernote for storing some of this information, sharing it with others has to be more purposeful. This is where Flipboard comes in. When you set up a free Flipboard account on your phone and computer you are asked to indicate which “magazines” you want to have stories feed into your account, again, all free. I can sort by specific outlets or by generic themes, like Educational Technology and get articles that fall into that category flow into my feed.  Even better, I can set up my own magazine(s) and “clip” any articles to go into that magazine. Everyone on FlipBoard can then subscribe to MY magazine(s) or we could set up a collaborative magazine.

This is a cool tool that you can use the rest of your life.  If you would like to know more, check out the link below:

Learn the Basics About How to Use Flipboard

 

Email Terrorist

An Email Terrorist is someone who uses the carbon copy (cc) feature, or even worse, the blind copy feature (bc) as a weapon. How, you ask? Very simply, when the Email Terrorist receives an email from someone containing information they are at odds with in some way, or even opposed to, they will reply all and add other names to the distribution either in the cc or bc fields.

For more on this check out the short video below:

Where Does the Bible Fit?

This is a great question and I’m glad you asked. The answer has two parts. The first part depends upon your worldview.  In another proverb I have written about worldview and I suggest you check that out. If you do not have a Christian worldview, the Bible, at best, is a book of literature, interesting stories, and moral standards. It likely has little or no impact upon your life.

For more on this, check out the short video below:

Going Somewhere?

There is a great scene in the movie Sister Act 2, where Sister Mary Clarence (Whoppi Goldbert) is teaching a class and trying to get them to understand the connection between the decisions they make now and the impact it can have on their lives. She does this first be repeating a mantra over and over. Finally, the students turn it into a song. It goes like this: “If you’re gonna’ be somebody, If you’re gonna’ go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention.”

For more on this check out the short video below:

Worldview

Every individual has a worldview, think of it as the lens of a pair of glasses. If the lens are tinted red, then everything we see will seem red.  If blue, then blue. If clear, then clear. We are all wearing a figurative pair of classes called world view. Our worldview is influenced by a lot of factors: parental influence, the influence of our friends, the society’s values we have been exposed to, our faith, and education.

For more on this check out the short video below:

You are a Steward

The Bible says that you and I are created in the image of God. While the actual implications of that are vague, the significance can’t be overlooked. I want to add to being created in the image of God an intersection with this quote: “with great power comes great responsibility.” Whether you attribute this saying to Voltaire, who said it first, or Peter Parker, who is most famous for the quote in current times, there is an obvious burden that exists when taken in light of our creation in the image of God.

For more on this check out the short video below and be sure to subscribe to my podcast Proverbs for Living a Fulfilling Life.

Taking the Easy Road

So, I was talking with a young lady the other day. She is an LPN and working for a home care agency. I asked her about her plans for her future. She responded that she was applying for nursing school. When I asked where, she mentioned a school that was over an hour away. I asked about other schools that were closer and why she chose that particular school. She responded, “I know it is farther away but everyone says it is a lot easier than any of the schools nearby.”

For more on this check out the short video below and be sure to subscribe to my podcast: Proverbs for Living a Fulfilling Life

 

Fight of the Two Wolves

The story of the two wolves is so often repeated it is hard to determine where it originated. Basically, it goes like this. A man is teaching his grandson about life and tells him that he has two wolves fighting inside of him, one is evil and expresses itself in anger, envy, greed, arrogance, bigotry, self-pity, lies, and depravity. The other wolf is good and expresses itself in joy, peace, hope, love, kindness, humility, benevolence, generosity, truth and compassion. The grandson looks at his grandfather and, after considering what he has been told, asks “which wolf will win?”

For more on this check out the short video below and be sure to subscribe to my podcast: Proverbs for Living a Fulfilling Life

Credit and You

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I allowed myself to fall into credit card debt to the tune of thousands of dollars when I was younger. At first I was so impressed that I qualified for a credit card that it made me feel important that I had it, and powerful when I used it. As I began to see the debt climb, I told myself that I would reserve it for emergency situations only, but I found that almost everything could be rationalized as an emergency with the right argument

For more on this check out the short video below and be sure to subscribe to my podcast: Proverbs for Living a Fulfilling Life.

Does Your Stuff Own You?

I’ve just started distributing an expanded version of these Proverbs through my podcast Proverbs for Living a Fulling Life which can be found wherever you get your podcasts – enjoy!

This may be one of the more difficult proverbs for Americans. After all, the American dream is all partially about owning stuff. Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with owning stuff. The problem comes when your stuff begins to own you; when it dictates how you spend your free time and your discretionary money; when that stuff takes the place of God in your life or detracts from your ability to worship Him with your time or money.

For more on this check out the short video below.