Contrast

Ecclesiates 1:18 with Galatians 5:22 (and verse 16)

While it is true that with an increase in wisdom comes an increase in sorrow, we have a great hope and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This will allow us to overcome the bleakness of our current situation and see life from the perspective of eternity. There, waiting at the viewpoint of heaven, Love, Joy, and Peace wait with arms outstretched ready to comfort the weary.

A promise in verse 16. Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Weekend

I went to the interview/discussion thing today about how Christians think about the environment. It was interesting. There was a variety of opinions held. It was very interesting to have a man who has a Ph.D. in environmental engineering there.

I was a little surprised by the student who came. I was expecting someone more opinionated. She actually seemed legitimately interested in just seeing how people thought. I've always preferred my social scientists to be descriptivists instead of prescriptivists.

We had our first pre-marriage counseling session today. It was actually pretty interesting. Even though the little lady and myself have discussed a lot of things (and I'd like to think we've addressed some of the most common argument areas) there is still we have a lot to learn about each other. It'll be nice to have someone with a lot of years of marital experience at his disposal to prompt us in the right direction.

My parents are here this weekend. I'm excited to see them :-)

Yeah you probably won't see an emoticon on here for a while. I only break those out for special occasions.

I must post something

Tonight's service was awesome. We talked about the idea of passive Christian growth versus active Christian growth. The discernment exercise was from an article published about willowcreek church. They finally realized that "seeker friendly" churches don't really promote growth and discipleship. They tend to think growth is passive (something done to the person) instead of active (something a person does). We then went through a few different verses (Rom 12:1, 2 Tim 2:15, 2 Peter 1:7-10) that demonstrated that spiritual growth is something that a person pursues, not something you have happen to you without effort.

Sentence I made at work today

I will roffle your awful waffle on a coffle carrying offal while eating a falafel.

Are there any -offle words it is missing? English words only please.

I wish

I could meet Paul right now. Reading (and teaching) through the book of Romans creates so many questions for me.

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."

The night is far spent. It's almost time boys and girls. Just remember Paul said that 2000 years ago. Still no "rapture". I think it still applies. The night is almost gone.

Environment Survey

I have been given a wonderful opportunity today. A person has come to my church asking to interview people for a survey about "What Christian men think about the environment". I'm guessing they came to my church because it's very fundamental in its views on most things. I've considered walking into the interview wearing oil company advertising on my clothes while ranting about how "there is no such thing as global warming, it's just a lie by the liberal media to brainwash our kids" or some such. I think great fun could be had with this.

Maybe I should accuse Hilary Clinton of being the anti-Christ. I'd love to see the excited look in the surveyors eyes as every neurosis she thinks Christians have is played out right in front of her eyes.

Blargy blarg blarg

Went to visitation tonight. Just now got home. I've been gone from 9:30-11:30. Woe is me, out of the house for 14 hours ;-)

Example

Yeah I'm still working on the discipline thing. Still trying to establish blogging as part of my daily routine and so far doing a poor job.

For your amusement, here is a conversation I (apparently) had last night with my fiance. I was asleep when she called.

(phone rings)
Me : HELLO?
Fiance : Hello? Honey, are you ok?
Me : HUH?
Fiance : Baby, what are you doing?
Me : ...I don't know.
Fiance : What? Were you asleep?
Me : I don't know.
Fiance : Where you sleeping when I called?
Me : I don't know!
Fiance : Ok. I'm going to let you go and talk to you tomorrow.
Me : Ok. Bye.

I (according to reports) went promptly back to sleep.

Today

Got this in at the last minute

Push-ups : 50 (25x2)
Crunches : 50 (25x2)
Jogging : 0 miles (yarg...)

Slacked off

Ok, so my over the weekend discipline was non-existent.

I'll do my meager exercises for the night later. I just ate a big plate of spaghetti so, yeah that wouldn't be a good idea right now.

More later.

Fascinating!

I need to work more on jogging

Crunches - 50 (50x1 I need to start upping this)
Push-ups - 50 (25x2) - My form is getting a lot better. I can feel the muscles getting torn now.
Jogging - 0 miles

I want one of these.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/10/04/japan.robot.ap/index.html

Not one of the robots, but rather the "muscle" suit described later in the article:

A full-body robotic suit developed by the Kanagawa Institute of Technology outside Tokyo is a massive contraption powered by 22 air pumps to help nurses hoist patients on and off their beds.

Sensors attached to the user's skin detect when muscles are trying to lift something heavy -- and signals to the air pumps to kick in to provide support.

Excuse me while I clean the drool off my keyboard.

Working From Home

I've gotten used to being around people all day at work. It is very quiet in my apartment. At least the washer/dryer are keeping me company. Unfortunately their conversation skills aren't really up to par.

Crunches - 50 (25x2)
Push-ups - 50 (25x2)
Jogging - 0 miles

Working From Home

I'll be working from home tomorrow. I wonder if I'll be doing more blogging or not. Look for something to be posted around lunch time (hopefully).

I hate my apartment complex

In part of the never-ending war I have with my apartment complex one of my tires was stolen this morning. For those keeping track this is the last in a list of grievances involving being rented an apartment with no gas, having my apartment burgularized (lost a couple grand of electronics and guitars), and random gunfire in the night.

My attempt to "get to know the rougher side of town" has left me in disgust. I have no desire to stay here and continue learning about how the other side lives. I have absolutely no intent of living anywhere near here when I'm married and have the responsibility of Katie's safety. The idea of rehabilitation of an area like this seems bleak. I'm convinced the people just accept living in situations like this as normal. Either that or they are too apathetic to move to someplace safer.

If people don't want to better their situation then I'll leave them to it. I'll pay the extra money in rent so I don't have to spend it on a security system that won't help or a car alarm that no one cares about. If I thought it would help I'd buy a gun, but in reality all of the theft is done when I'm not here so that's a dead end.

I guess I'm not a progressive. My desire to help people that abuse me quickly diminishes. While I think I'll still be happy to help individuals, as far as helping the "culture" surrounding me goes, burn it to the ground. Destroy it. It isn't a culture worth saving. Those are big words coming from someone who tries to be a cultural relativist, but screw these people. If you want to live like brutes and savages stealing from each other and having gun fights all the time, have at it. But don't come to me for help when the consequences of your poor choices comes back to haunt you.

*edit* - So yeah in retrospect this goes a bit far. I am supposed to have compassion on all people even my enemies. I apologize for having said this.

As far as working out goes for today:

Push-ups: 50 (25x2)
Crunches: 50 (25x2)
Jogging : 0 miles