The cube...or the car...

When I travel, I often rent cars.  It's kind of cool driving a different car each time I land somewhere and then getting the surprise of the vehicle I am able to drive. I have driven a bunch of different vehicles over the past five years from trucks to SUV's, to compacts, to trendy little cars, to sporty vehicles, to a Volvo (look at my blog titled "Patience and the waiting curve").  In one job, I had a rental for eight straight months and I just swapped vehicles each week. It was very interesting to drive so many different cars, but I truly like to have my own car and be at home, when it comes down to it.

This week, I got got to the lot and had the choice of an HHR or the Nissan Cube.  I chose the cube, because I thought it would be different and kinda cool, plus my youngest son would love the idea that I was driving the car that the hamsters drive in the Cube commercial (funny commercials to us). The cube has been fun to drive, but it's a little small for my tastes.  Still cool and fun though. 

There is no real fail in this story, but the name of the car "Cube" made me think about some things. A cube is a box and in my jobs, over the years, I've always been told to think "Out of the box." I'm supposed to focus on bigger and better ways that get sales, help customers, organize goals, help my team, impact the company, etc. The "boxes" in life are good for us sometimes. They are the rules we abide by, the guidelines that lead us, the directions that help us know what to do next and the help that we need to do the right thing in life. These types of boxes should be abided by and not bucked up against.

However, the times that we go out of the box are not times of disobedience, but times to improve on how we impact others and sometimes, even ourselves. The times where we change another’s life because of what we do. The times we move beyond the norm and fully focus on the needs of others above ourselves and what we do. Sometimes these out of the box experiences cause us help those around us, which is the best reason to get out of the "cube" in my opinion, whether it’s in the job, home or ministry. Change can be good.

Lessons Learned: Even the name of a car can influence us, if we think about it. There are way to many "quotes" in this blog today.

Thoughts: What "Boxes" have you gone out of to help another?