Rebelious Vegetable Blog

Jenny will not appreciate that I chose to blog about this topic. She is afraid of how often I'll refer to this line of thinking in the future.

We were driving to church this morning. I was waking myself up with a Pepsi and I started to progress through some thoughts.

How do they make corn syrup? Does it come from corn? What about corn starch?

How many steps does it take for something not to be "from corn" anymore?

My Pepsi has corn syrup in it, does that make it a vegetable?

She did not like this line of logic. It did not lead to a healthy result in her mind. I disagreed. It was the most exciting result to come to.

I'll try not to torment her with this line of logic in the future, but if anyone wants to tell me how much corn remains in corn syrup, i'd appreciate it.

Against Perfection

I found myself rooting against the New England Patriots tonight.

The game didn't have any relevance towards the NFL playoffs, but I wanted the Patriots' undefeated season to come to an end.

It was close, but the Giants came up short and the Patriots finished the season undefeated.

Now I'll be rooting for them to lose in the playoffs.

Even if I didn't dislike the Patriots I would have rooted for them to lose, as I hope the Colts would win the Superbowl, thus the Patriots would have to lose at some point.

Here's to hoping they don't finish the year 19-0.

Making Digital Me

I bought myself a video game tonight. In said video game, you get to create yourself, including trying to make yourself look as much like the real you as possible.

Jenny spent 45 minutes trying to make the perfect portrait of digital me.

I like it when she plays video games with me.

If You Can't Trust the Priests...

I read this article today on UsaToday:

Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests had a rumble today inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, in a dispute over how to clean the church after Christmas celebrations.

AFP says the priests came to blows -- and in some cases even attacked each other with broomsticks and iron rods -- after the Greeks allegedly started cleaning a part of the church controlled by the Armenians. The church, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, is shared by various branches of Christianity -- each of which controls a slice of the building.

Palestinian police had to be called in to break up the battle, and two of them were among the seven people reportedly hurt.

If we can't trust the Priests not to fight amongst themselves, or even to respect the work of the police officers, who can we trust?

Jenny Got a New Sweater

It's the holiday season, and Jenny has a new sweater.

Odd thing is, the two aren't related. There is an awkward tradition that has started with Jenny and I. Every time I buy a new golf club, Jenny is allowed to get a sweater. It started when Jenny felt guilty about buying a sweater, just go get home and find out I had bought myself a golf club. Since then, she has just decided she'd buy a sweater every time I bought a club.

Since winning the fantasy football league, I went and bought myself a new club. Today, Jenny picked out her sweater. To make sure she didn't miss out, I also bought Jenny a starter set of golf clubs, so she has her own set now.

Yay for new sweaters.

The Luxury of Comfort

The championship game culminated today. On the way home from church, I didn't know the lineup of my opponent, but knew I would be done at the end of the noon games. I needed to have a comfortable lead at that point.

The day started with me leading 13-8 after we had each gotten some points from either the Thursday or Saturday Night football games. Unfortunately, my 5 point lead came at the expenditure of using an extra player. I had played 2, he had only used 1.

With only 8 roster spots to play each week, that 5 points wasn't as secure as the extra spot might have been.

While my remaining 6 played, 4 of his remaining 7 were playing. He would be left with three players in the 3:00 games that could only close the gap of any lead I had. I needed to be far ahead.

Lucky for me, it was my fantasies, and fantasizing powers that seemed to be controlling the day. At half time of the first games, the score was roughly 41-8. He had not accumulated a point from his 4 players yet. My 6 were doing far better than that.

By the end of the first set of games, I had a comfortable lead at 69-9. He had three remaining players to try to amass 60 points to catch me. Comfort was a luxury you don't get often in this setting, but I was pretty comfortable.

At half time of the second games, I got a little nervous as I realized he had made up 26 of those points. Another half like that and the game would be much closer than comfort. Fortunately, it never got close. I ended the day with a 25 point margin of victory.

I am the fantasy football champion.

For anyone curious, had Jason won last week and faced me in the championship, I would have beat him, though it would have been much closer than the game I ended up with today.

Yay for an early Christmas.

I'll be spending the night away and with family tomorrow night, so I don't know that the blog will be updated.

Merry Christmas!

24 Hours of Fantasy

24 hours from now I should have a pretty good idea if I'm the fantasy football champion this year.

My opponent played the man who is arguably his best player on Thursday night and got 8 points.

The man who is arguably my best player played tonight, got injured during the second quarter, but had scored me 7 in the first quarter. It really was too bad he got hurt, he could have had a much more valuable game.

All the rest of my players play in the first set (12:00) Sunday games, while my opponent can have anywhere from 1-4 remaining after that. At this time tomorrow I should have a pretty good idea who is going to win. He might have someone play on Monday night, but even if he does, I should have a pretty solid understanding of where I sit.

Root hard tomorrow for:
David Garrard
Kenny Watson
Brandon Jacobs
Reggie Wayne
Kellen Winslow
Phil Dawson

The Important Things I Read

What happens when you flush a toilet on a cruise ship? (Taken from UsaToday)

Comedians love to joke about the toilets on cruise ships, which often sound like they're exploding when you flush them.

But the water-saving, vacuum-driven toilet systems are no joking matter to environmentalists, who have complained about the amount of wastewater that ships are dumping into the seas.
Just how much sewage from ships is making it into the world's oceans? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which finally released its long-awaited report on the matter Thursday in draft form, says it's a lot, although it may not be as bad as you think.

The report notes that a growing number of cruise ships have new advanced treatment systems that are "very effective" in removing pathogens, suspended solids, oil and grease and other bad news items from wastewater before it's released into the ocean. With the new systems, which are on about 40% of the 130 ships run by Cruise Lines International Association members, "most volatile and semi-volatile organics are removed to levels below detection limits," the report says. About 10 to 15 more ships get the systems each year, it adds.

One interesting tidbit in the report: The typical toilet on a ship uses just a third of a gallon of water per flush (thanks to that noisy vacuum system). Compare that to a typical residential toilet on land, which uses 1.3 gallons. With water increasingly scarce in parts of the USA, will "exploding" vacuum toilets become a mainstay on land, too? We wonder.

Can't get enough information about toilets on cruise ships? You can download the entire report, dubbed the Draft Cruise Ship Discharge Assessment Report, by clicking here. In addition to sewage, it talks about the hazardous waste, solid waste and other waste products discharged from cruise ships. Readers have 45 days to comment on the draft report to the EPA before it prepares a final version.

Dealing with the Offseason

The last couple of days I've really wanted to go golfing.

There is snow all around.

Today, I resorted to watching my favorite golf movie (The Legend of Bagger Vance) as I awaited my next golfing fix.

Yesterday, I spent time at a golf store, looking at clubs, hitting some golf balls, and browsing through things that are more expensive than I want to pay.

It won't take long until I make my next golf purchase. I have a gift card to a golf store, and am guaranteed some money from fantasy football. Hopefully, I'll win, and be able to purchase other things as well, but if I lose my matchup this week, it is likely that a golf club will be the purchase made with that money.

I live in the wrong state for golfing in the winter.

White Elephant Gift Exchanges

I like the concept of a well done white elephant gift exchange. Unfortunately, I have never seen this concept done well.

Most of these times turn into comical re-gifting extravaganzas with little value to be found in any of the gifts. What amazes me, is that year after year, the same group of people will gather to do the fruitless exercise. There has to be a better way.

Someone, somewhere must have been to a white elephant gift exchange that worked well. Please tell me what it was like.

One of us likes cameras

Between Jenny and myself, one of us likes cameras. Whenever something cute or artsy is going on, Jenny enjoys taking pictures. I'm glad she enjoys it so much.

My photography knowledge base is limited though. She has explained aperature to me too many times for me still to have no clue what it means.

Nonetheless, she took some pictures tonight, because what was going on was "just too cute."

Here is one of those pictures:

If you look closely, you'll notice my middle finger is lifted just high enough to feed him. He likes to hold the bottle himself, but doesn't always make sure the angle puts food in for him.

And.... Exhale

I've secured a spot in the fantasy football championship. I needed to wait and hope that the Vikings Defense didn't score enough points to knock me out, and then I could breathe my sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, Jason lost this week. I won't have the chance to disappoint him next week. Instead, I get to secure all of the fantasizing powers from the collective family.

My Heardened Heart

Every year this happens to me. Every year I disagree with choices of churches all around the country. This year is no exception.

Please, as you read this, understand this is a reflection on me, not on my church.

I think my heart must be too hard. I simply cannot enter into worship the way I normally can when the songs are all Christmas Carols. I understand that many of these songs say great things in very worshipful ways. For all I know, they even started as worship songs.

It just doesn't work that way for me. I learned them as Christmas Carols and Christmas Carols they remain. I don't say this as a negative against any church, or even any worship director, but I have never been able to worship through these songs. I don't know that I ever will. Even typing that is a sad statement of my spiritual frailty.

Wishful Thinking Starts Now

Hopefully, we can deal with the debate of who is the underdog between Jason's and my fantasy football teams next week.

As for now, I just turned in my last assignments for the quarter, 13 hours before they were due. I'm way ahead of the game.

The rest of the weekend will now be spent thinking wishfully about how my fantasy team might defeat its opponent this week so as to meet up with either Jason (and hopefully Jason) or his opponent the following week in the championship.

If you know much about football, here are the people you will cheer for this week:
David Gerrard
Vince Young
Reggie Wayne
Terrell Owens
Rudi Johnson
Frank Gore
Brandon Jacobs
Chester Taylor
Jesse Chatman
Kenny Watson
Kellen Winslow
Phil Dawson
San Diego's defense and special teams
Dallas' defense and special teams

I would have listed who was starting for my team, but I haven't made all of those decisions yet, so you can root for all of them.

What Will Glow Next?

This evening, I was updating myself on the national news that didn't relate to sports. Listening to sports talk radio in the car negates my need to update myself on the top sports stories of the day, so I was already sick of hearing about the new baseball steroids report.

UsaToday almost always has something worth reading. Tonight's story of choice was about glow in the dark cats. It seems that in South Korea, they have effectively given cats some pills that make them glow in the dark. They assume that this is going to help them discover and track diseases and that there is a scientific purpose for being able to do this. I don't know if I agree.

I just found it interesting to read. Glow in the dark cats. What will glow next? I think I would like a pair of glow in the dark socks. I feel like I might trip on less things, or at least stub my toes less if I could wear glow in the dark socks or slippers.

Two More Good Weeks

Tomorrow night starts the next week in the quest to be Fantasy Football Champion of the world.

They bye week has passed, Jason and I are poised to play our semi-final matches, hopefully concluding in my triumphant victory over him in the championship.

For such a thing to happen I need to have two more good weeks. Everyone use your fantasizing powers for me.

The God Of Grace

Tonight I took my Genesis-Ruth (Hebrew) test. This is my first of the three Old Testament classes I'll take this year. The "(Hebrew)" is to signify that I'm taking it with an understanding of the original language.

The final was interesting. 6 short answer essay questions and 3 long essay questions. One of the long essays was quite interesting to me.

The teacher opened the first day of the semester arguing (correctly) that it is unfortunate that so many people paint the picture of the Old Testament God as one of wrath, anger and war, and the New Testament God as one of grace, peace and love. He argued that this dichotomy as unfair to the Scripture (which I agree with).

So, the last essay question of the test was simply this.

Show how each book from Genesis to Ruth shows God as a gracious, working to reverse the effects of the fall and reconcile all people to himself. Use specific examples from those texts themselves to support your arguments.

Being that this test was closed book, and no Bible was allowed, the using texts parts became interesting for me.

Ultimately, I just wondered what influences have placed this dichotomy of the two separate Gods of the OT and NT upon our culture and if anyone has anything to chime in on the topic.

As for me, I'm just happy to have the test completed and mailed away.

Two Down, Two To Go

Almost done with another quarter. I have four major projects due this week. 2 of them were due by midnight tonight.

I was way ahead of the curve for me as I had both of them finished by about 5:30.

One more due Wednesday by 5:00 and the other Saturday by 5:00 and then I'm free until classes resume in January.

Fortunately for me, Jenny and I have come up with a list of other papers I will get to write between the quarters.

Yay for schoolwork.

View From The Shoulder

I learned one of Jenny's pet peeves I had not yet known today. If Jenny is driving, she doesn't want the passenger of the car to take control of things like the windshield wipers.

I did not learn this because I peeved her. Instead, while driving home from my parents' tonight, Jenny decided she could not see well enough out her half of the windshield and thought that maybe I (the driver) might be having the same problem (I was not). She then reached over and clicked the windshield wipers on, which as they do in this kind of cold, spread the liquid drops evenly over all of the windshield. Now I couldn't see.

Using the windshield wiper fluid is always the first attempt, but as we had only been in the car about a minute, the windshield was still cold enough to freeze that fluid on contact. It was time to pull off unto the shoulder and wait for the defrost to kick into high gear.

We laughed a lot of the way home. She also then informed me that she didn't exactly know why she did it, as it is one of her pet peeves.

A New Student

Tomorrow marks my second Rubik's cube student.

Jenny started by having me teach her how to solve one just after the "Pursuit of Happiness" came out.

Shortly thereafter I showed my mom the first couple of steps, but didn't finish showing her how to completely solve it.

After a long delay, she has now requested I bring my cube over tomorrow so that she too can master it.

We'll probably also have to see if Jenny can still do it on her own.

Still the Best Show On Television

Jenny and I finished watching the rest of season two of How I Met Your Mother on dvd. I got the set for my birthday. Jenny had seen all of them during their original airings, but I had to miss some because of my class schedule last year.

Re-watching these episodes has confirmed that I believe How I Met Your Mother is the best show currently on television. It is currently halfway through season three, but has been halted because of the writer's strike.

You should all check it out.

The Search Is Over

... and we are happy.

The best friend got a new job. He doesn't have to leave us for the home state of Delaware now.

Too many dumb companies passed him up in his search, but we are happy he has found a new employer.

Go Matt Go!

Discussion Topics

MSK stated:

So, is there a way to "simplify" for laymen, some interesting topics, not necessarily obscure topics, that might generate some discussion. At the same time, maybe I was being too optimistic about some topics being useful for general discussions. I can understand why the merits of "The Golden Mean" in architectural layouts, may not be of interest to the general public.

Here is what we are going to do. We'll have some discussions. Periodically I'll pick a topic (suggestions can be given in the comments here) to discuss in "laymen" terms. By that I mean that the discussion will be generated in discussion of terms that we all understand. I won't give the 7 syllable word names of different views or aspire to quote the leading holders of those views. Instead, we'll cover what comes up in conversation.

The Format:

I'll post a brief overview of a topic to discuss. I'll follow that with some questions that someone might want to think about as they begin to discuss the topic. The discussions will then take their own form, but will try to always adhere to the interest of the general public and not deviate into minutia discussions of tangents that disclude the interest of the majority.

I'll refrain from any kind of opinionizing in the actual post to the best of my ability, and will instead wait for discussion to start from outside of me before weighing in.

The Blog Resources:

Because I try to blog everyday, I don't want these discussion to get lost simply because they are 6 days old. I'll maintain a link section on the right side of the page which can quickly get you to a discussion topic blog. I would also suggest that when commenting, you check the box that has replies sent to you when more comments are added so that you know if someone addresses a question directly to you.

Discussion 1 can be found below, and takes place on the ever controversial topic of creation.

Discussion 1 - Creation

There isn't a much earlier place in the Bible to find controversial discussion than the story of creation. So lets start there.

Brief Overviews:

Many people believe that creation by God and evolution are opposed opinions and must always be viewed as such. You either believe in the creation tactics shown by science, such as evolution and the big bang, or you believe in creation by God, over seven days, whether taken as a literal or symbolic seven days.

I'd like to discuss this topic.

Must people who believe that God created the world have a disdain for the views of evolution?

Must people who believe that God created the world believe it happened in a literal 7 days?

What was the author's purpose in his telling of the creation stories (there are two different accounts given in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2)?

What might the audience have thought when they heard these creation accounts?

What was life like then (at the time of writing) that might give us an understanding into why these accounts are presented as they are? (were there similar stories, a need for the people to hear, was it a hot button issue... etc.)

Do these accounts have a scientific understanding of the world in mind?

Answering a Comment

MSK asked:

Have you thought about putting links to your papers on the website so that we could see the assignment, how you responded, and hear what the instructor/class mates thought?

I have a couple of responses.

First, "Blogspot" does not readily offer (to my knowledge) the ability to upload my papers, so I would first need another site to upload my document to which I could then link to here. That is only, albeit easily solve able, issue I would have with the mass posting.

The second thought is that of value. Many of my assignments assume background knowledge of class discussions and readings thus my professors and classmates will have a collective knowledge base that I would imagine no one else (even seminary students or graduates) who are not enrolled would not share. That being said, I don't know of the value that their comments, or sometimes even my papers (as written for the teacher) would provide.

I guess i'm wondering if there is an alternative. I can easily post the questions posed for my papers, and am more than willing to write my understandable (read: without footnotes and supporting quotes) versions of my answers.

It isn't that I don't want to post my papers as much as they are not great for discussion of a topic. I would much rather give my opinion and invite others to give theirs.

What do people think?

Important Accomplishments

Many important things got accomplished today.

Here are three great examples.

1. Our Christmas tree has ornaments on it. We are now fully decorated for Christmas.

2. The hot tub was used despite the snow. My feet got cold, but it was well worth it.

3. I secured my first round bye in the fantasy football playoffs. That leaves me and my brother as the top two teams in our league, Jason having only lost one game (the one time I played him).
I hope he only loses two. We can't play each other in the playoffs until the championship game and that would be fun.

An altogether good day.

Barn Burning Fantasy

My fantasy season's playoff implication is playing out as a barn burner.

I need two things to happen for me this week. I need to win my game, and then win the tie-breaker to secure my first round play-off bye week.

This is of little interest to many of you, but is vastly exciting to me.

I'm ahead in the game I need to win by 27 points. Thus, the person I'm playing can score 26 more from Randy Moss and the Baltimore Defense. I'm feeling fairly secure about this game at the moment.

More secure than the second task. I'm ahead in the tie-breaker currently by 22 points. The other guy can then score 21 from Tom Brady and the New England Defense. Any more than that and I win.

Root against those four entities.

Belly is Full

We accomplished the filling of my belly tonight. For our birthdays, my mother and I got taken out to The Melting Pot, with our close friends and family.

2 and a half hours later we were all very full.

Tomorrow, my heart can be made happy. If I do well enough in Fantasy Football this week, i'm guaranteed my money back in the playoffs.

Let's all hope that happens.

Trivia Time

First one to guess correctly what Jenny is making gets a prize.

Jenny and Myself not eligible.



It started on the floor...

but also required sewing

more than one piece of material needed to be sewed

at the finish, the product is filled with something from the kitchen.

Guesses welcome in the comments section.

Celebration Successful

The paper is turned in, the Hebrew quiz is over and the celebration was successful.

I haven't slept in the last 40 hours or so, since i never made it to bed last night. Instead of longing for rest after class was over today, I celebrated by heading to the parent's house to watch the NFL game on the NFL network.

The celebration could only be deemed successful if Terrell Owens caught a touchdown as he was the only fantasy football implication I had in the game. Fortunately for me, the celebration was successful.

Now I do need sleep.

My New Paper Standard

I decided tonight (this morning) that I have a new standard for judging the length of papers. If a paper takes long enough to print that your computer gets to its screensaver just because of the printing process, you have written too long of a paper.

I kinda had to cheat on my paper tonight. This instructor told us that our paper needed to be 2650 words. Fortunately for me, he did not say if this counted footnotes or not. As word counts can be done either way, I would get to pick which one suited me. Usually my instructors are clear on if footnotes count or not.

If I don't count the footnotes, my paper is 2667 words. Adding the footnotes to my word count would put me beyond the 5% of grace that is given for being either short or long of the word count.

Go Jephthah go.

Pizza Pizza

There has been an uprising of Little Ceasars Pizzas around the twin cities recently. I was excited about this because of their breadsticks.

Their breadsticks still taste wonderful, though they are cooked well before you order them.

The biggest downfall, they are no longer the owners of a uniquely square pizza. They have instead gone the way of a fast food chain and offer their pizzas more reasonably priced than the other pizza changes, but also cook them before you get there. They simply keep large pizzas in stocks of the normal one topping favorites.

The price is right, and they give a decent product for what they charge, but they aren't quite the original.

Morning Paper-Boy

I'm usually a late night enthusiast when it comes to homework. But tonight, I'm feeling sleepy.

I did my research, found the quotes I needed and placed those books on the couch. Soon, I'll actually go to bed.

Then, as I wake up in the morning, I'll write my paper. Not the long one due Thursday, but the shorter one that is due at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon.

Sounds like fun.

A Different Kind of Christmas

It was June I think. I know it was in the summer. I was listening to sermons I had downloaded, while I was up late one night. The series I was listening to was from late fall or early winter 2006. They were just beginning their Christmas kick.

It ended with a challenge to their congregation on what Christmas would look like. It challenged my views of what Christmas should look like.

Jenny and I began discussing Christmas that week. We are that weird. I wouldn't shop until Christmas Eve, but I'll talk about it in June.

Tonight, we finished our "Christmas List." If you can call it that. It is titled "Re-Claiming Christmas While Empowering Giving."

That's right, our list has a title. That's when you know you are in for trouble. Here is the first half as a tease.

Re-Claiming Christmas While Empowering Giving

Jenny and I have a different desire for our Christmas celebration this year. We are hoping that this helps us to reclaim for ourselves what we envision Christmas to be about, while also allowing people to give in the fashion they desire.

Our belief is that the greatest gift we could ever have been given was given in Christ himself, his birth being the reason for Christmas. We also believe that God gives us gifts (blessings) so that we can give gifts (blessings) to other people. Our desire is that our celebration of Christmas reflects these truths in our context today.

We want our Christmas to be about us being a blessing to other people. Therefore, instead of a list of things that we want for ourselves, Jenny and I have each chosen an organization that we feel blesses others in a way that moves our hearts. A little bit about these organizations and how to give to them can be found below. It is our hope, that you will consider giving to these organizations instead of searching for some material possession to give Jenny or myself.

At the same time, Jenny and I have experienced the joy of finding a gift that you know is meant for someone you care about. Because of this, we hope no one feels obligated to give to an organization if you would rather give us the gift you found or thought of for us. The experience of giving is a powerful one and we don’t want to take that away from anyone. We just hope that any gifts we receive come from that notion, and not the notion of obligation. Trust that we will be extremely excited about donations made to these organizations.

Who Reads Novels?

At some point in my life, I'm hoping to broaden my reading horizons back into the novel world.

I don't have a lot of insight when it comes to entering this world though. Outside of some of the classics that I've wanted to read for a long time (I'll buy and read The Brothers Karamazov eventually) I don't have ideas of who or what to start reading.

What would you recommend and why? You can freely assume I haven't read many of the classics themselves.

Thanksgiving Day Question

MDK asked:

What are pimentos? Are they a food product of themselves or are they a by product of something else such as red peppers? Where are they grown?

"Pimentos" most often spelled pimientos are a by product of themselves. Pimientos are actually there own kind of pepper. They are mainly grown in Spain, but can aslo be found in a few South American countries. They are a very sweet pepper, which is why they have been combined often with olives, to counteract the acidic nature brought to olives.

They are also the pepper that is responsible for paprika, as that is the result of a ground pimiento pepper.

This was something that was too difficult for me to research on my own, so I found myself a companion to help.

Jenny and I (read: Jenny did any diaper changing, though I did do some feeding) babysat our nephew Luke today while his mommy had to work.

My War With Tryptophan

I won the day battle, as I never felt the need to take a nap this afternoon.

But as I sit down at 11:15 tonight, I feel abnormally tired. Maybe Trypto (the fighting name of tryptophan) will win the night battle.

We'll have to wait and see.

Mmmm, Mmmm Good

I'm thankful for turkey, for noodles, for stuffing, for broccoli casserole, for homemade rolls, for jello, for mashed potatoes, for red velvet cake, and for anything else that my grace the dinner table tomorrow evening.

Fun with Academics

Maybe you all will find this as amusing as I will. I get to write a 10 page paper on this passage, due in a week and a half. Curious as to anyone's impressions.

Judges 11:29-40 (NIV)

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."

32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.

34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."

36 "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."

38 "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.

From this comes the Israelite custom 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Interesting things to Note

2 interesting things today, 1 a phrase origin, and 1 statistics.

The first: Where did the phrase "skin of my teeth" come from?

Answer, the book of Job in the Old Testament. (Job 19:20)
Meaning: The expression derives from the fact that there is no skin on the teeth (one of the few parts of the body) (Fingernails and toe nails being the others)and so to IN THE FULL EXPRESSION 'Escape by the skin of ones teeth' means to avoid a catastrophy by the very smallest margin.

And now the statistics:

Detroit, Michigan found its new rank atop the countries most dangerous cities (leaping over St. Louis) this year and Mission Viejo, California was found the countries safest city.

I was hoping to find out where Minneapolis might land on the list, but it was excluded from the list because of incomplete data.

Oh well.

You can find more fun city facts here:

UsaToday Article

Don't Touch The Stove

I keep burning my hand on the stove. Not literally, but spiritually.

No matter how many times someone tells me, or how many times I repeat in my head that my worth comes from God alone, I continue to find myself depressed. I find my worth limited, not because I believe that to be true, but because that is the impression I get from people, or at least the message I hear from them, regardless of their intent.

Someday I hope to be able to trust in my worth and where it truly comes from, but until that day is realized, I imagine that the burn will continue to hurt.

I'm desperately hurting now.

Sunglasses and Sideviews

It's all about CSI Miami. More specifically, Horatio Caine.

What is it with Sunglasses and Sideviews. Add in repeating himself and promising someone he'll always be there for them and you've covered every scene he has ever been in.

He is easily my least liked character on Television, and the sole reason I never care if I miss an episode. It's too bad too. Some of the supporting cast in the Miami version are my favorite supporting cast members of the CSI trilogy.

I hope he gets shot in the eye.

Strange Request

I got a phone call today with a strange request.

I was actually asked what someone else wants for Christmas. That isn't necessarily the unusual part, as people will likely ask me for suggestions as to what they might get Jenny.

The odd part was, the person calling asked me for suggestions on what they wanted for Christmas. How am I supposed to know what they want for Christmas any better than they do?

Twas a puzzling situation. I hope I helped.

Marathon Memories, The Poetry Version

It doesn’t take long, until you feel all alone
Thousands with you on the road, but you want to be home

You are tired of the cameras, documenting your run
You are tired of running, its no longer fun

You find yourself doubting, at the end of your rope
You don’t think you’ll finish, you abandon all hope

Your legs feel too weary, to continue this race
You’d gladly walk away, with a towel over your face

You no longer care, about the finish you desired
Not just your body, but your spirits are tired

If it was just about you, you would quit this race
But at the next mile, you recognize a face

Three people have come, with clapping and cheers
Statements they’ve forgotten, that you’ll remember for years

“You’ve got just enough left, we know you can make it”
Says your mother in the group, so you decide you can fake it

Those words of belief, ring loud in your head
You won’t let her down now, you’ll fight through instead

You notice your surroundings, dejected women and men
But you turn the next corner, and see them again

“Come on, you can make it.” says father to son
You feel if you finish, he’ll believe he has won

You run for father, who supports from the sides
You continue moving forward, with the monotonous strides

Again all alone, no finish in sight
You debate giving up, but it wouldn’t feel right

Not because you care, but because they do
They’ve been here for hours, they're invested in you

Your body has slowed down, your legs tight with pain
A finishing medal, seems like little to gain

But your wife says "I love you, and will be at the end”
She decides not to hug you, but a kiss she does send

The last three miles, you must do on your own
No friendly faces, beckoning you home

They’ll be at the finish, cheering you on
They’ve been there all day, their support never gone

You see them again, they’ve awaited this time
They are there to watch you, cross that finish line

As you do so with pride, you know one thing that’s true
Three people came out, and made the day about you

You hobble through the finish, adorned with medal to chest
You think I need three more, they made me my best

You couldn’t have made it, you were at the end of your rope
You wouldn’t have finished, but they gave you hope

Faith and Politics, Where to Start?

As the next year plays out, I'm sure I will end up having lots of political discussions. What an opinionated topic.

It will be interesting to see how many of these political discussions also involve religion. Possibly the two most argued upon subjects in America, and we'll combine them for a year. Yay.

The relation of the two topics is always an interesting one to me. I make my political decisions different than many traditional Evangelical Christians think I should, but also make them differently than many "controversial" teachers on the subject of faith and politics (i.e. Greg Boyd) thinks I should.

But my thoughts jumped forward today as I read the news. On UsaToday's website I found an article in which the discussion of the nation's Catholic Bishops was concluded with their statements on how people should vote during the elections.

They didn't go as far to endorse a specific candidate or party, but made many other bold statements, three of which I'll list below:

The article starts with a statement that aims to "remind" Catholic "voters that their choices in the 2008 elections 'also may affect' their salvation."

WOW.

It moves on saying "life issues such as abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, artificial contraception and racism are 'evils' that can never be supported."

While I agree that evils shouldn't ever be supported, I feel this has little to do with the Presidential elections as I evaluate them.

The last statement claims that "there's also room for a prudential voter, seeing no candidate in line with Catholic teachings, to weigh other critical moral issues such as poverty, peace, or social justice."

Really? We should only way issues like poverty, peace and social justice if we find no candidate in line with the issues on abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, artificial contraception and racism?

I struggle to find any rhyme or reason to their ordering of these topics.

I look forward to many discussions on the topics in the future.

Scripture: Infalliblity vs. Inerrancy

Jeremy stated:

I would be curious to hearing about your conclusion and finding on your scripture paper. I would love for you to illustrate the infallibility vs. inerrancy debate. Just a thought.......

Here Goes:

Lucky for me, the paper was about what I believe (it was a credo paper, not an academic process), so the scholarly language and background was assumed on many topics. In that specific paper, we were asked to pick any topic from the doctrine of scripture (examples: how the canon was formed, infallibility vs. innerancy, modes on inspiration) and write what we believed to be true about the subject.

I chose infallibility vs. innerancy. I was granted the luxury of being able to assume that the Bible was seen both as inspired and authoritative, so i'll speak little of either of those issues here. Instead, I'll briefly explain (as Jeremy asked) the infallibility vs. innerancy debate and give my brief opinion and conclusion.

Both "infalliblity" and "innerancy" are traditional theological terms to describe the level of "truth" that scripture contained. Both are terms I'll start by defining in the traditional sense.

"Innerancy" is the belief that the original autographs written by the writers of the Bible contained no errors. The premise is that God is perfect, cannot lie, and inspired the Bible, thus the Bible is perfect and cannot lie. It holds this view to the original autographs only as translating and updating and editing may have altered the validity of some claims the Bible makes.

The major critique of inerrancy comes with things that appear to be invalid or contradictory. Generally, issues of science and history that today are proven to have happened, or be different than the Bible says are hard for some to validate as true. It is because of this critique that the "infallibility" view has also become well known.

"Infallibility" is the belief that the original autographs written by the writers of the Bible contain no errors as it comes to faith, life and practice. It allows for the Bible to be wrong in areas of science and/or history because, generally, scientific and historical motivations were not on the mind of the authors. Instead, the author's intent was to communicate on issues of faith, life and practice. It defines lying differently that the "inerrantist" view would.

The "inerrantist" would say that God cannot lie, therefore, all he inspired must be true, while the "infallibist" would define truth as willful deceit and thus say that God did not try to willfuly deceive us in any matters of faith, life or practice and thus has not lied in the Bible, regardless of what the original authors thought to be true of science or not.

In my paper, and here both, I easily proclaim that based on the traditional definitions, I fall on the "infalliblity" side of the argument.

I however, would also claim that the "infalliblity" side of the argument believes that the Bible was "without error."

As all true "inerrantist" would say, genre and context matter. For example, "inerrantists" would not argue that all things said in poetry happened as stated. They give the liberty to the author to use a specific genre to accomplish a specific purpose. Thus, the imaginative language used to describe God, or us, does not have to accurately reflect (in a literal way) God or us.

Because "innerantist" themselves have decided to include this criteria for defining "errors of fact" I would argue that no scientific misconceptions be seen as errors in the Bible.

The Bible was not a science manual. The scientific knowledge available at the time the Bible was written is limited compared to today, which is limited compared to the future. Fortunately, the authors were not concerned with giving its listeners a correct scientific understanding of the world (or even the creation of it) but were concerned with teaching people what it looks like to be the people of God.

The Bible does this without error. It is INERRANT to that effect. That however is not the typical view of inerrancy.

I am unashamedly "infalliblitstic." I just wish the terms could be re-defined.

I believe the closing statement in my paper was something like:

I believe that someone can affirm that scripture is both inspired and authoritative without having to hold that it is inerrant.



I'm positive this might be clear as mud, so feel free to ask questions or state opinions.

Questions, Queries, and Requests

I again have hit a dry spell for blog topics.

If you have any questions, queries or requests, feel free to leave a comment for me on under this post and i'll get to them as I can.

Otherwise, lets hope something eventful happens, or my brain turns on again.

No Disappointment

The "showdown" between Jason and I was not one of disappointment.

Between the two of us, we accounted for the 1st and 2nd highest point totals of the week. Unfortunately for Jason, that means he played against the only person who could beat him this week (and maybe this whole season).

Jason's undefeated season is now ruined as his 9-0 team fell to my 5-4 team because I finally decided to lead the league in scoring for a week, and he happened to be playing me. I always find the motivation to pull it out against him.

It looks like we should both make the playoffs this year, so if we meet again, money will actually be on the line.

I wish him the best for the future, that is, unless I face him again.

The Showdown

Tomorrow, Jason and I face off in our most important Fantasy Football League.

He is currently sitting well ahead in first place in the league, undefeated in every match he has played.

The hope is that I can change that tomorrow. We are in different divisions, so we only play each other once in the season, and only again, if we happen to meet in the playoffs. But tomorrow, none of that matters. All that matters is that I score one more point than he does.

How To Draw

I have gotten bored with my own doodles. I have/had four objects that I would draw as doodles. None of them required a curved line.

I was disappointed in my own doodling ability to the point that I asked Jenny to show me how to draw some stuff. That same night, after Jenny went to bed, I scoured the Internet for directions on how to draw some cartoon characters.

Now, I'm a proud Homer Simpson doodler. He might be the easiest cartoon to draw ever.

That is good, because when it comes to art, I need either straight and logical, or easy.

Supreme Short Term Memory

Our memorized verse recordings were due in Hebrew today.

We all valiantly walked in with different types of media to hand them to our instructor. I had chosen the miniature, journalist size, cassette tape for my preferred canvas.

The funny thing to me, was hearing when people decided to do this assignment. We had three weeks. I did it Tuesday night, many did it this morning, one did it two and a half weeks ago.

We then decided it would be fun to see if any of us could still remember it, and I got crowned, "Supreme Short Term Memory Man" as I was the only person who could make it all the way through.

I was astonished that the person who recorded theirs at 10:00 this morning had forgotten it by 1:00, but my pride was thankful as it enabled me gloating ability for the day in class.

Don't worry, I know I have issues.

Learning My Lesson

Jenny told me this evening that she was "glad I had learned my lesson." I didn't know if she was being sarcastic or not.

I'm a messy eater sometimes. Specifically, if i get a bowl of salsa and bag of chips to eat on the couch while watching television. It isn't that I spill on the couch, just on myself. Frequently.

After this weeks laundry loads, I pulled out a long sleeve white T-Shirt of mine that now has a salsa stain on it forever. I wasn't excited about this and didn't want to repeat this in the future.

Therefore, tonight, I sat down to eat salsa, and thought beforehand, "am I wearing anything i don't want stained?"

I had on a zip-up, hooded sweatshirt displaying the Kentucky Wildcats name and logo. I didn't want to stain it, so I unzipped it, still wearing it for warmth, but proudly putting my undershirt in harms way. After about 5 minutes, when I finally spilt salsa, I exclaimed "YES!"

Jenny was initially confused until I told here how wise I had been to unzip my sweatshirt and that I was excited that I had thought of it in advance. My actions were now justified in my opinion.

I told her, "I didn't want to get my sweatshirt stained, but don't care if I get a salsa stain on this undershirt."

Her only response was, "I'm glad you finally learned your lesson."

Was she being sarcastic? That is for you to decide, or for her to tell us.

Helping through the Unknown

Maybe you are better than me. Maybe, when you have to memorize something, you can do so without cheating. I cannot. If i'm holding the piece of paper, or the flash cards, or looking at the screen of what I need to memorize, I almost always find myself cheating. It is because of this that I often need Jenny's help when I'm required to memorize.

With Vocab words for Hebrew last year, she often had to hold and flip them for me so that I couldn't just cheat and convince myself I would remember it.

Tonight, Jenny had to help through the unknown. I had to memorize 6 verses of Hebrew text for the Old Testament so that I could record myself saying them to hand in on Thursday. As I was doing so, I would constantly find myself looking at the paper to "remind" me. I had convinced myself that I would remember it all. I needed to let go of the paper though, and needed to do so in a way where there was still accountability to what I was saying. The hard part was, the Hebrew symbols meant nothing to Jenny. There was no bit of pronunciation to be found in them, so she wouldn't have been able to tell me if I skipped a word, or mispronounced it.

So I got to "transliterate" it for her. Fun words like "lka" or "vsamu" and such. It worked wonderfully though. She asked informative questions to me, and gave a critical opinion on the precision of my regurgitation of the text even though she could probably only translate 5 of the words (God, Moses, Aaron, Israel, and Shalom).

She did a wonderful job of helping through the unknown.

P.S. My spellchecker doesn't like the words "lka" or "vsamu."

Conviction is not Fun

I haven't been doing well. After waking up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday (see previous blog) I proceeded to go to bed on the wrong side as well (read: my night didn't end well so I quit what I was working on and went to sleep). That didn't put me in a frame to wake up doing well this morning so the trend continued today.

Except, that one thing was added.

Conviction.

About a week ago, I talked about being someone worth watching. I want to show that spirituality is in all of life, not a separate facet of it. Today, that hit me over the head. I had encouraged people to be comfortable asking me how I was spending my time.

I have not been spending it well. I hadn't been nearly as focused over my two week break as I needed to be on my schoolwork. That lead directly to last night's downfall. It didn't take me long to make the connection. I really do need to get my act together.

Not, I need to get my act together so I can pass a class, or get my act together, because students need to have their acts together. This reaches much deeper. I need to be the kind of person who will do the hard work, even when it isn't exciting to them.

Time for some more vomiting on you all:

There are recurring trends in my life. One of which particularly, is against the trend that the Bible says our life should look like. I'll unfold.

When it comes to doing something well, I excel if two things are true: 1) I'm naturally gifted at doing what is required, and 2) I enjoy the process or outcome of the actions. What is unfortunate, is the rarity in which both of these things are true.

Soccer has been one of those examples in my life. I never really minded doing the training for soccer that wasn't fun, I even allowed myself to be convinced to play positions that I didn't prefer, because both of these things were true. Basketball is the counterpart. I played organized basketball for one season. I wasn't good. This gave me no desire to put in the effort to become better. I wasn't naturally gifted, therefore, I quit.

The second aspect is easier to see in some leadership positions I have held. In college, I served in the same role for two different years, the first of which, I served very successfully, the second of which I mailed in. I didn't put in the effort to be as good of a leader the second year, not because I wasn't gifted to (quite the opposite actually), but because I no longer found excitement in the process. It was old. It had worn off on me. The magic had left.

Well before I resigned from my Youth Pastoring job, I knew this was happening again. I had worked for the first year the way I had been trained to: don't change much the first year. Form relationships and positions yourself to adequately assess where the situation is and how you might make changes during the second year. I could do this. The excitement even carried into the second year, because...I got to make changes. I had talked to my mentors during this process and mentioned my fear that the third year would become one of boredom for me. The excitement of making new changes might wear off, and because of the influx of new students over the two year period, I would now be re-teaching things I had taught two years ago. I was concerned, but never had to face the issue. For very different reasons, I resigned before the third year started.

I find myself in the situation again. Seminary was great last year. I never regretted being there, I rarely decided not to pay full attention in class. Only church history bored me enough to browse the internet or play Free Cell instead of listening intently. This year seems different. School feels like something I have to do again this year, not something I love to do. Part of we wonders if it is just a cycle I go through, or if some of it has to do with the fact that I have no preaching class this quarter. This is my first quarter without one and I desperately miss the act of crafting sermons, even if they are sermons I will never preach.

Regardless of the reason, I know that the second premise (me being excited about the process or outcome of my action) is not true right now. I'm highly gifted to be in Seminary, but my motivation isn't so keen right now.

God has been challenging me in this because His Word seems to consistently affirm that perseverance is a key trait to the Christian life. As I've reflected on my life, perseverance is something that I haven't always portrayed.

My prayer tonight, is that I would decrease and God would increase. Through this, and this only do I actually have hope that perseverance will become a characteristic of my identity.

With all that said, I now get to write a paper on my belief on inerrancy vs. infallibility of the Scriptures. I know, you're jealous.

One of Those Days

Some days, things just go South from the get go. Today was one of those days.

I don't know when it started, but I was in a bad (read: depressed) mood for most of the day today. That is understandable as I type now, as little that I was hoping to have happen today actually happened, but I felt depressed long before the football games ever started.

I don't like the cliche of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but today, I must have done it.

Around 6:00 this evening all I could think was, I'd like to lose that hour I gained. Most of the day, I just wanted it to be an hour later that it was. There was so little I enjoyed. I just want it to end.

I hope, that as I wake up tomorrow, this mood has left me. I have a paper due Tuesday that I'll be writing during the afternoon and late evening tomorrow, so it'd be nice to be in a normal mood and go down because of the paper, but if I start depressed, tomorrow will be another long day.

Saved by the Internet News

I was glancing over the top news stories before deciding what I should blog about.

In doing so, I saw the story to remind people to set their clocks back an hour. I was glad I did.

Both Jenny and I would have forgotten and been to church an hour early tomorrow morning. Now we can be excited about staying up later than we should.

Woohoo for the internet news.

Un-Recognizeable

Part of me wonders if I can ever become "un-recognizeable."

I read a news story today of a cat and a dog that were given awards today for their actions. Both of them life saving actions. We recognize pets for their life-saving efforts. We recognize people for their bravery, courage, good deeds.

We recognize people for living the way we are all supposed to live. We recognize people for being the things we are all supposed to be.

What puzzles me is that it is the recognition that drives many people. There are lots of things I'm supposed to do, that I do with hopes I'll get recognized for doing them. This isn't the way it is supposed to be. I need to stop worrying about "who is the greatest" and start becoming "un-recognizeable."

What Advice Stuck?

I've been on a finances kick recently. It started when I heard a person being used as the financial expert to give advice to those who were in the studio audience of Oprah (that's right, I watched Oprah this week).

The advisor didn't say anything I hadn't heard before. She even used many cliche's while giving her opinion in response to people's questions.

So when it comes to advice like, "a penny saved is a penny earned" or "pay yourself first," I find that many lines are quoted without being practiced.

Now I'm curious. What financial advice, and from whom have you found to be a staple, or at least helpful in your life?

What recommendations do people have for saving and investing on a tight limited budget?

Give me your best, and good luck, I've heard and read a lot, so I'm fairly savvy, just undisciplined.

Who's Halloween For?

Yesterday, while driving in our car, Jenny mentioned that we didn't have any Halloween candy to hand out and asked if we should just go to Olive Garden (gift certificates are fun) and not be home. We decided this would be a good idea, and to spend more time away from the house, we also decided to stop by and see our nephew Luke.

Luke's father is a fireman, so his costume was very cute:



However, seeing Luke was not the main reason we went to Kristi and Tony's house. In fact, that isn't how our car conversation ended. I replied to Jenny, "are we going to dress up?"

She responded that I could wear a suit if I wanted to, but that she had no intentions of putting on a costume. Afraid I would spill pasta on my suit, I decided against that being a good idea, but for some reason postulated the idea that we could both dress in our wedding day attire.

Jenny's eyes lit up. She likes wearing her wedding dress. It gives here a high, like a drug. She loves an opportunity to put it on, and wouldn't drop the idea I had given as a joke. So, the real reason we went to Kristi and Tony's was because Jenny wanted to put on her dress and thought it would be funny to show her sister.

I find it amusing that we now have pictures of Luke, as if he was at our wedding, even though he was not alive.

We also had to get the picture that watching the show "Friends" makes obligatory, so here is Jenny, washing dishes in her wedding dress:

I managed to stay behind the camera, but was wearing the suit I wore at our wedding.

I don't know who Halloween is for anymore. Jenny seemed so happy getting dressed up. It wasn't about little kids or candy for her.

2 Lines from Glory

I was listening to more sermons and playing more Tetris tonight. I actually got upset with myself playing Tetris.

You see, there is only one goal I have in Tetris that I have yet to accomplish. I have beaten the game (getting to the speed where it is impossible to move a piece all the way to the edges) by starting on every level through 18. On the original Nintendo, the highest level you can start on is 19, which is the fastest the game gets until level 29. There is actually no speed change between 19 and 28, and then 29 is impossible.

Tonight, I got two lines short. TWO LINES. I died, after starting on level 19, with 228 lines. Two more and I would have accomplished my final Tetris goal.

It won't be long.

Becoming Someone Worth Watching

It has been helpful for me throughout my life, to simply watch and observe the actions of others. Whether it is getting a hold on what parenting should look like, how to play sports, how to treat a woman, or even how to tie my shoes, watching others has been important in helping me to develop.

The same has held true at a higher level when it comes to understanding and living out my spirituality. If I neglect to mention Christ's example, I'll feel guilty, so lets get that out of the way here. His example is the paramount example which I aim to follow.

On a more practical note, being able to closely observe the life of my mentor Paul Hurckman has provided immeasurable benefit to my growth. Recent conversations with him have challenged me to be this in other's lives.

As I evaluate spirituality, especially as practiced in America, the individualness of it scares me. So many people have made spirituality something that takes place in their heads, or in their lives behind closed doors, but not something that is public, something all can see and learn from. I've been trying to understand how I might fit into that puzzle somewhere.

I don't want to come off pretending that I live a perfect spiritual life, or even that following me will get someone anywhere, but I don't want people to continue to believe that spirituality should be a private, separate from the rest of life, matter.

So, I'm striving to become someone worth watching. I don't know what that will look like, but I know that even understanding someone might be watching will give me motivation to improve on certain areas.

So I'll start tonight.

I Love God! That doesn't mean I always do a good job of putting Him first. It doesn't mean I have everything figured out. Fortunately, God is constantly at work with me.

Currently, God is helping me to see what things are worth being motivated about, what things I need to start being motivated about, and what things I can start to do less of. He is constantly challenging my laziness. I'm finding myself guilty some nights when I lay in bed and think of the few things worthwhile I did with my day. I continue to battle in my mind what it means to set proper boundaries and have "Sabbath" times while also understanding that there are things I've been called to help accomplish through God's power.

That's a start for now. Feel free to watch how God deals with my life in these areas. Feel free to question (not judge) me on how I'm spending my time. It will likely help me for you to do so.

Misguided Childhood

There are lots of ways to steer a child wrong. Whether it is the misguided direction from a parent, or the neglect, or simply the child finding their own trouble with their friends, it doesn't take much before an entire childhood has been misguided.

I fell victim to such a thing. I wasn't misguided by my parents, or my brother, or for the most part, not even my friends. I was sometimes misguided by my own mind, but that isn't the point. Their was a much more troublesome influence on my life.

Television. Not television in the, I needed to watch less of it kind of sense, but I was misguided by television by being warped into handing my life over to the direction of possibly the most heinous Hollywood figure to ever exist.

The bandage on my knee and shirt on my back go to prove, nobody should trust their kids with the Hasselhoff. Not even through the popular influence of Knight Rider. Don't let the smile fool you, this time of life obviously warped me for the worse.

Your Turn To Do Research

Why does every new reality show have a British judge or host?

Please, someone tell me. It annoys me.

That is all.

Late Night Discussions

I've been on break from classes for a week now. After the time that Jenny has gone to bed, I've been playing Tetris while I listen to sermons on my computer. I've listened to roughly 30 sermons so far this week.

One of the series I have been listening to is a church that is having many guest speakers (from within their congregation) speak about passages from the Bible that have greatly impacted their lives. The church's hope is that it will cause the rest of the congregation to allow the Bible to become more than just a book, and realize the significance that its truths can have in their lives.

I began thinking last night, if I had to preach a message on the verses that have meant the most to my life, what would they be? It doesn't take long for me to pick the verse.

"But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." (Hebrews 10:39)

Easily the verse that has meant the most in my life. Unfortunately, I don't know what message I would preach on this verse. It so quickly became a theme verse in my life because of other things and times that it signified, that I don't think I've ever actually studied the context of the verse, nor its original meaning to its original audience.

I haven't ever done the good hermeneutical or exegetical work on this verse, yet it remains the most influential in my life. I don't necessarily feel good about this. Someday, it will have to change. That change will either force me to understand this verse better, or force me to pick a new theme verse. Only time will tell.

P.S. Even though I blogged about it, I'm not a big fan of people having "theme" or "life" verses.

Google Gadgets

I've always been impressed with the Google company. I've enjoyed most of the gadgets they have created that I have tried, so I wasn't upset in any way when they purchased Blogger (the company that runs the ".blogspot" domain).

If you use a Google account, you even get some special treats, regardless of if you have your own blog or not. From now on, if you leave a comment on mine, or someone else's blogspot blog, and you log in using your Google account as your username, it will allow you to have e-mail follow up to the posts you comment in. You simply have to check the box.

Go Google go. Keep improving fun things.

What Hurts Today?

The legs have been in good shape for a while now. They have almost forgot altogether the stress put on them from the marathon.

Unfortunately, the rest of my body isn't feeling as good.

It seems that on the way to my new goal (bench press 225) that it would have looked awfully silly to work out my chest and not the rest of my upper body, not to mention how ineffective it might be.

So this week, was the major first leg. The first two workouts for each muscle group will leave the most noticeable lasting soreness and in the last three days, chest, back, shoulders, arms and abs have all had that first workout.

I don't even like washing my hair right now as it uses most of those muscles.

Maybe I just won't shower tomorrow. Baths are from God.

Vessel of the Holy Spirit

I got to talk to one of my mentors today. These are occasions I cherish as the two most influential mentors in my life don't live in MN anymore, and the third most important has far too important of things on his plate to have a consistent meeting time with me (my assumption).

It was a good two hour meeting. The weather was even nice enough that we spent the first hour and a half at a park. Upon closing that conversation time and moving back towards a building he said something that will stick with me.

"Nate, I don't mean this to be the capstone to a conversation, or that we have to be done talking about serious things, but I want you to know, in case you haven't heard it in a while, 'I'm proud of you.' I don't know how often you get to hear it, or if you care, but you need to at least know, there is someone in Texas that cares about you."

It was weird really. I didn't even know he was in town until I ran into him by chance (literally I saw him walking while I was driving) yesterday, and he is only in town for two days. We happened to be able to meet today.

Instantly when he said "I'm proud of you" I informed him that he had just spoken his most important words of the day.

When Pappy died earlier this year, the one thing I knew I would miss most is hearing that someone was proud of me. It isn't that I don't know that others are proud of me, it was just that Pappy would say it every time he talked to me. I always heard it. It is often easier to remember the things you hear, even when you know there are countless others proud of you.

I hadn't heard anyone tell me that since Pappy died. I'll admit it. I cried a little today. It meant a lot to me. As I told Paul this, he immediately said, "then you know it couldn't have been me, it must have been the Holy Spirit. What are the chances you'd run into me yesterday and that of all the things I'd chose to say today, I'd say the exact one thing you needed to hear."

He was hard to argue with. Paul usually is. It was a wonderful afternoon for me.

An Endorsement Matter

Oprah has gotten Americans to do many different things. From what books to read, diets to try, bras to buy, countries to donate to, clothes to wear, or cars to buy. She is now entertaining the idea of publicly campaigning for her favorite Presidential Candidate.

UsaToday had an article on its site today which states that Oprah will be campaigning for Obama this presidential season.

The outcome of her endorsement is yet to be understood, as in politics, celebrity endorsements have not been of much value in the past. However, Oprah has a proven track record of moving the public to agree with her. She also reaches 49 million or so people a week.

I'll be interested to see what kinds of tactics she employs to convince others of her opinion. I'll have to do that through the news though, as I don't frequently catch her show.

Trivial or Worthwhile

Amongst the things I'm often excited to tell Jenny I learned in Seminary are many trivial Bible facts, or scholarly opinions, that will be of little use to me when I pastor. This lead Jenny to ask me "Do you find yourself learning lots of trivial facts that won't help you in the future, or do you learn more worthwhile things?"

Her questioned spawned about an hour long discussion of many of the worthwhile things I have already learned this semester, in one class. It was a great reminder that I'm properly preparing for my future.

It also pinpointed (to me) that some of my classes are a waste of my time. Oh well. They are required and i'll make it through. Fortunately, most of my classes are helping me to be a better person now, and preparing me to be a more effective pastor in the future.

Unimpressed

I got to spend a chunk of the evening watching Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel tonight as we babysat 6 kids. I have to say, I'm unimpressed.

I wasn't exactly excited about the topics that even the shows on these stations present to children. It isn't that I think kids need to be sheltered, but shows targeting kids shouldn't be teaching the values they are teaching. This has nothing to do with my religious beliefs and has everything to do with what even the news would say is a problem.

You can only read so much about students having sex more frequently, drug use starting at younger ages, and the violence in today's school and wonder why they portray these things the way they do on kids shows.

I get why they do it in adult shows. Those things sell. I just don't know why Disney or Nickelodeon has bought into it.

Thanks a lot MTV (I blame them for all of life's problems, it's convenient and fun).

Another Expedition

Tomorrow night, Jenny and I are doing the "babysitting for 6 kids" thing again. We doubt that I'll have to do any life threatening maneuvers to keep them entertained like I had to the last time.

Here is to hoping I don't need to climb any two story decks in the rain in a game of surprise the kids.

On a more exciting note, I don't have classes for the next two weeks. Though I do have a bunch of assignments to finish, and books to read, I at least get to sleep in every day. :)

Jenny may not enjoy that, but I sure will.

Elite Comparisons

Do you ever find yourself in a stage of life where you are comparing something you want to something you don't know if you need? I tend to find this is most frequent when people are buying cars.

When I was shopping for my first new car, I had test driven a couple of mini-suvs with a smaller engine than what I ended up with. I can still remember my mom telling me not to bother test driving the more expensive ones if I was happy with the slightly cheaper one, because it would be too hard to turn back. She was right. Moms have a tendency to do that.

Now, it is Bible software. I've been hoping to find a manageable Bible software to meet my Seminary and future Pastoring needs. I have been trying to find one that isn't the most expensive. That tends to mean I need a free one. There isn't a lot of middle ground with Bible software.

Unfortunately, all of them I have experimented with fall well short of the standard I feel I need, and even further from the best Bible Software out there. I continue to compare with the elite, knowing that I can't pay for the elite. I wonder if any of the others would have sufficed for me had I not ever seen the best one.

This is slightly different than cars, at least, in the fact that I tried the best Bible Software first.

Bloggers Block

Much like writer's block, I can't think of anything to write about tonight, so i'll ask Jenny for a topic or word and freewrite from there. Here goes.

She picked the word "sweater." Here comes my unedited thoughts.

Just a couple of days ago, Jenny realized that laundry should not become one of my habitual jobs. I was doing loads of whites and the second load was smaller than it could be so I grabbed an armful of light clothes to put in with it. When we went down to put those clothes in the dryer, we found out that I had put a "dry clean only" sweater in and it had gotten ruined in the wash.

I destroyed that sweater. My favorite song by the band Weezer is about destroying a sweater. To do so, you just need to pull this thread as I walk away. Weezer was the first band that I paid for concert tickets to go see. I saw them in my early high school years playing at first avenue downtown.

Whenever I picture the first avenue concert complex I can't remember Weezer and instead remember the band who opened for them and the weird video animation they had going on the screen behind them. It was like an old Japanese horror film.

I never understood why Class Sweaters got changed to lettermans jackets. I probably would have liked a sweater better, and never got a jacket, instead choosing to get a class ring. I haven't worn my class ring since high school. Do students even buy class rings anymore?

I feel like i've typed enough now, so i'm finishing this unedited, free-flowing thought of a blog. Sorry for the randomness that ends with no actual point.

Strict Policy

There aren't a lot of strict policies I live by. However, the few I live by are very important to me. Important enough that I respect those who follow them unaware as they may be.

One of these policies is my "No forwarding" policy. There are too many email forwards traveling the internet today. If you send me one, I am likely not to read it. Fortunately for me, I have waded through the consistent emailers in my circle to find whose forwards are worth my time.

My father's forwards are often worth my time. He seems to understand what will be enjoyable to me and to not forward anything stinking of a scam, a guilty sob story, a chain forward, or any potentially harmful digital material. I wish more people either followed my policy or were graced with my father's discernment.

I was lucky enough today to get one of those amusing forwards from him. It was entitled, "Why Mom Said Not to Run in the House." I was happy to see that this particular forward didn't require any more reading. It simply had two pictures:

This was the first picture and I didn't know what to think.

The second picture brought a little more clarity to the subject.

Making It Official

I have a tendency to only find motivation for some of the things I make official to the public.

I knew I would run a marathon once I posted I would on my blog.

Now starts my next physical goal.

I plan to bench press 225 pounds. For those of you who know me well, working out my upper body has been a very limited activity throughout my life as soccer put my focus solely on my lower body's development. I'll likely have to gain some weight to accomplish this goal as my current body mass won't allow me to lift that kind of weight.

I am not currently setting and end goal on this project. We'll have to see how slowly the progress comes.

I Survived

Some people thought surviving a Marathon with any kind of mobility might be the best accomplishment of October.

It was not.

Today, Jenny and I survived teaching our 1st First grade Sunday school lesson.

I was surprised by some things, while others were exactly how I expected them to be.

I'm looking forward to watching the kid's progress as they are at an age where their growth will be easy to see as improvements are often drastic at that age.

Congratulations

Jason's wedding is over. Congratulations to the both of them.

I'm too exhausted to offer anything else right now. I simply couldn't do justice to my excitement about their marriage with this little brain power.

Proof

I'm too tired to type much, so instead, here is proof I crossed the finish line of the marathon.

Now I never have to do it again.

How Much Meat?

I decided during class this afternoon that I don't think people will eat meat in heaven.

I believe that God's original plan would not have included the eating of animals, then, allowed the eating of animals, but ultimately will be restored to its original intentions.

Luckily, I feel no guilt about eating meat right now.

In fact, tomorrow night is my brother's rehearsal dinner before his wedding and I know I'll be ordering a steak.

Just curious though, anyone else not think we will eat meat (or any other thing you're willing to argue biblically) in heaven?

USAToday Article

Study: Youth see Christians as judgmental, anti-gay

By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

Majorities of young people in America describe modern-day Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay. What's more, many Christians don't even want to call themselves "Christian" because of the baggage that accompanies the label.

A new book based on research by the California-based research firm The Barna Group found that church attitudes about people in general and gays in particular are driving a negative image of the Christian faith among people ages 16-29.

"The Christian community's ability to take the high road and help to deal with some of the challenges that this (anti-gay) perception represents may be the ... defining response of the Christian church in the next decade," said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity.
"The anti-homosexual perception has now become sort of the Geiger counter of Christians' ability to love and work with people."

The findings were based on surveys of a sample of 867 young people. From that total, researchers reported responses from 440 non-Christians and 305 active churchgoers.

The vast majority of non-Christians — 91% — said Christianity had an anti-gay image, followed by 87% who said it was judgmental and 85% who said it was hypocritical.

Such views were held by smaller percentages of the active churchgoers, but the faith still did not fare well: 80% agreed with the anti-gay label, 52% said Christianity is judgmental, and 47% declared it hypocritical.

Kinnaman said one of the biggest surprises for researchers was the extent to which respondents — one in four non-Christians — said that modern-day Christianity was no longer like Jesus.

"It started to become more clear to us that what they're experiencing related to Christianity is some of the very things that Jesus warned religious people about," he said. "Which is, avoiding removing the log from your own eye before trying to take the speck out of someone else's."
Kinnaman said some Christians — including those in the entertainment industry — preferred to call themselves "followers of Jesus" or "apprentices of Christ" because the word "Christian" could limit their ability to relate to people. Even Kinnaman, 33, described himself as "a committed Christ follower," though he has called himself a Christian in the past.

In addition to reporting on the negative statistics, Kinnaman used the book to also give advice — from himself and more than two dozen Christian leaders — on new approaches.

"Our goal wasn't simply to say here's all the problems, but to hopefully point a way forward," Kinnaman said.

"When Jesus pursued people, he was much more critical of pride and much more critical of spiritual arrogance than he was of people who were sinful. And today's Christians, if you spend enough time looking at their attitudes and actions, really are not like Jesus when it comes to that."

Megachurch pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., used the book to say he hopes the church will become "known more by what it is for than what it is against.

"For some time now, the hands and feet of the body of Christ have been amputated, and we've been pretty much reduced to a big mouth," Warren wrote. "We talk more than we do. It's time to reattach the limbs and let the church be the church in the 21st century."

Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Ministries in Atlanta, suggested that churches should not focus solely on converting people, as has been the emphasis for generations.

"If we were able to rewrite the script for the reputation of Christianity, I think we would put the emphasis on developing relationships with non-believers, serving them, loving them, and making them feel accepted," he wrote.

"Only then would we earn the right to share the gospel."

The research reported in UnChristian reflected larger Barna Group studies with about 1,000 respondents as well as the specific study of young people. The sample of 440 non-Christians had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points and the sample of 305 active churchgoers had a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

--Nate-- If any of you actually read the whole article, I'd love your responses before I give mine.