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Read part 1 below.
So, the evening service was much better than the morning service. We have noticed that this seems to be the case. He also tends to say things like "This might go over your head if you are a newer Christian." These things make my brilliant deductive skills say that he purposefully preaches simpler messages in the morning. Tonight there were many Scripture references, and it was a insightful message.
I have often been. . .intrigued by the fact that the only thing Solomon had to do to get all his wisdom was to ask. James says that that is all we need to do. If that is all that is necessary, why aren't we asking for wisdom daily? Well, I try. I have been praying for wisdom for years....mostly it involves a particular circumstance about which I need wisdom but I pray for general wisdom too. I have noticed some things where I have been given wisdom but it isn't so much what I thought it would be. Wisdom to shut up. Wisdom to listen to older wiser men. The PACEs ask, what is wisdom? Well, there it is. "Shut up and listen." I jest, yet, in that I have learned to be quiet and listen, I have gained more wisdom. God uses methods and sometimes those methods are to listen to wiser people explain things to us. I guess this paragraph is followup to the verses from Proverbs where it speaks of fools talking.
On top of that thought, which I was thinking on the way to church, Pastor spoke of being filled with the Spirit as we are commanded in Ephesians 5. "but be filled with the Spirit." Then he closed with a verse that I have never remembered reading or being referenced (very hard to pull off on me) in Luke 11. After showingthe disciples the Lord's prayer and then telling them to have importunity in all they ask, Christ concludes with: "how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Voila! Right here is pretty much the same principle from James only applying to the Holy Spirit. Maybe it is the smallness of my thinking that likes to point out the particulars that this applies too. But this doesn't just apply to things like the above, but also to anything that God desires of us. 1 John 5: 14-15. So, it was a very encouraging sermon.
I have the seed of a thought in my mind that was supposed to go in the first blog but I just cannot place it. . .
There are 1010 calories in a double whopper with cheese. In case you were wondering. Also, in case you were wondering, I burn approximately 1700 calories if I sleep all day. So, considering I don't sleep all day....meh, who am I kidding? It was still a LOT of calories. It was the Angry Whopper, and it was fantastic. I think though, that I find lots of tasty foods fantastic after eating almost all tuna for a few weeks. I do take weekends off.
I miss Roast Beef/Pork. We haven't had it since like august, and I think last time we were home we may have had Lasagna twice and no roast. =( *hint hint*
I hate walking. . .I need to find an activity that I can enjoy that will be my daily cardio. Unfortunately, we don't know what that is. Yes, we have a pool, but swimming laps in this isn't the easiest and it breaks the first rule: I need to enjoy it. There are ninjitsu classes next door to the apartment. I have thought about signing up. I still want a black belt. In three years I could have one. It just occured to me that that would be a family first...right? I can't bench 300, I don't have a PhD, I can't fly a plane, but I have a black belt.....hmm. Doesn't have quite the same ring, but its still something.
FYI, within the grammatical bounds of the English language, it is possible to use the word "that" seven times in a row. No more. Some of you knew that. Some of you probably didn't.
I think that's it for today...I'm gonna try something crazy tonight: I'm gonna go to bed at 10pm. *gasp*
Goodnight.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
many thoughts
Hopefully I remember them all.
It was a shorter week this week. The kids were off school Thursday/Friday and we had meetings. Thursday was till 3, and Friday till noon. Friday I had little to do so I hung out in Matt's room.
I heard the new X-men was pretty good, but I didn't see it.
In Sunday school today, our teacher talked about forgetting God. It wasn't the whole lesson but I thought about it, and it tends to be much too easy to do. Christianity is about a relationship, but I think we forget that. My wife and I were talking just about friendships in general and how they take work from both sides if there is going to be a good friendship there. Well, we know God is doing his part. Think about it though, those of us who have good friends or try to be good friends, it takes work. It requires that we spend time with the other person. Something that often causes friendships to fall apart.
Growing up I had friends, but how many of them are still my friends? Those that I keep in contact with. I am often reminded by my friends that phones work both ways and that I should call them more often. I feel bad about not keeping in touch with some people. Some I make sure I stay in touch with. Others though, it doesn't matter to me that I have lost contact with. Some we were friends while nothing mattered. We could run and play tag together so we were friends. Then when it came to matters of growing up we parted ways.
You can usually tell someone's friends or measure of friendship by seeing them check the caller ID on their phone and seeing how they respond. There are some people that they pick up immediately and are happy to do so. Others, they hesitate or even ignore it. I know there are times and reasons to not answer the phone, but just watch people sometime. You can tell if they care or not.
Anyway, back on track. We are to cultivate a relationship with God, and we often put that second place to even our friends that we don't quite care to talk to. We make excuses for not reading the Bible, or not praying. We don't go straight to God when we are excited about huge news. How many of us stop our formal "praying" and requesting to just talk to God? We get into the patterns of thankfulness/request, and we don't talk to God. Do we just make request to our friends? Friends need people to listen to them. That is part of being a friend, is listening. Abraham was the friend of God. I'm pretty certain that we could say Abraham did not forget God. Abraham listened to God. There is a difference between listening when being told to do something and doing it, or listening because we care. I listen to how work is going, what happens at church/school, how the little one(s) are doing. . .these are things that don't impact me except that for my friends I care about these things. It matters to me, because it matters to them. I appreciate and admire the things my friends are able to accomplish. Do we read God's Word letting Him speak to us? Do we see what matters to Him, and does it then matter to us? Yes, this applies to how much God hates sin, and so should we, but also, when God says creation is good. Can we look at it and agree, and admire what He has done?
Well, that was a long windy trail.
Side note: Wind. Did you read something like "The wind blew in the tops of the trees." Or "Please wind the clock." So above, was it a trail with gusts of wind? Or was it a trail that wound back and forth through the trees?
On to the morning service. More verses of Just as I am than I have ever experienced in my life. All standing with our eyes closed, and the way this church works, one person is up front singing the invitation. So, he sang through the four verses, then the piano played through like 4, then he sang them again, then the piano.....it went on and on and on. Apparently, a little boy went forward to be saved, and instead of taking him to a room to talk with him, they handled everything right then and there. Praise the Lord that the boy got saved. It is encouraging to see that, and we have seen many baptism services since we have been down here and that is great. But. . .yes, I hesitated to put a "but" in here at all with someone getting saved, yet here it is, but 15+ verses of an invitation with us all standing there and our eyes are supposed to be shut....that's not called for.
Oops. I read the church constitution this week and it turns out that as a member we are not permitted to have any criticism pointed at this or any like minded church or pastor. No criticism pointed at any pastor. That seems very....unamerican. ;) Maybe that is our American freedom saying I can say what I want, but it is also my Borean sense saying I'm going to analyze everything that is said and I'm going to point it out to my wife/friends/kids(eventually). Criticism does not necessitate slander/gossip. The church constitution and bylaws are pretty interesting. We don't know if we will end up here or not. It is one of the hardest decisions I have run into. Where to go to church.
Part of my difficulty comes in my faulty memory. I have been in many churches throughout my life. I don't know what has been the deciding factor in going to each of them. I wasn't old enough to give input or care. I went to church. I was a good boy. But why my parents chose church A over B I do not know. And I never learned what were the deciding factors. Of course, part of that reason is because there isn't a perfect church, and God leads different people different places. First Baptist wasn't perfect when we attended there. Still wasn't up to the split. But we attended and served and were blessed by God there.
Is Grace perfect? Is the new church in VA (can't remember name)? These are new churches with all the promise of the future? What does it take to make a church worth attending? Again, that differs for different people. I had a hard hard time with attending a church with an armenian pastor. Most the pastors out here dont claim that title, but they wont claim Calvinism either. Music is a Biblical part of worship, so when music isn't the best how does that rate with a pastoral staff that got the church in debt? Isn't the church leadership supposed to be wise financially? What about a pastor that seems to take good conservative stands because they are good conservative stands and not because he knows why? What about a church that stands for the right stuff, but seems a little overboard about it....like singing the Old King James song. (I did not hear it, but I heard of it from someone who was there.) What about a church where the constitution is Baptist in word, but goes on to define elder rule. Of course, that was the one principle that the family almost rejected our Baptist heritage for last Christmas, so that can't be bad. What about when 1/3 of the church is the Pastor's family. Is that bad? Our family was all over at Immanuel. Thus, my dilemma.
We got to Sunday School, and were the only people in the classroom at 9.30 (the start). The teacher (Pastor's son-in-law) showed up a few minutes later, and then the next couple was his sister and her husband. Then the Pastor's son and his wife. And then one other couple. Last week, there were about 18-20 in the small room because it was the last week of the Sunday School campaign. I don't understand those things to be honest. I go to church because we should be in church. Not because my team will get more points. I go to church because my spirit can feel the parchness when I'm not in church for a while. I didn't use to get that feeling. When I was young it wasn't the same.
We are going with my aunts and uncles to see the new Star Trek next week. Hopefully it is as good as its hype.
My wife makes the most delicious stir-fry. I love it.
Church is 40 minutes away. That makes for 6 long trips a week, and lots of gas. But, I have travelled longer to church before. At the farm it was an hour to Wealthy, and in WI, it was 20-25 min to Church. The church has soul winning on Thursdays and Saturday mornings. My parents used to go...probably the biggest impact on my life as far as soul-winning. If my parents had never gone I don't know what urge I would have in me to do it. I know its right, and I know I should, but that's just mental knowledge. Besides, what is another couple hours at home? Really....anyway, we don't go now because we aren't members and we can't make the time on Thursdays. Next year I hope to not have the library job and then we should be able to go. I'm sure it will be easier once we do it regularly.
So, the school here is doing the truth project. They do it with the seniors every year, and they have sessions each semester and each summer with it. It is 13 sections. That is 1 hour a week for 13 weeks. Onec you say you are in, they expect you each week. Well, my principle announced that if we haven't done it yet, we are expected to either this summer or next fall. She said she should have put it in our contracts. Well....its going to be dinner conversation with a bunch of different denominations on things that I have known for years. There is expected to be discussion. Now, let me explain. I don't discuss hardly anything with adults at the school. Maybe that is a fault. But I have not blacklisted myself yet. I am quiet and contemplative. I see the strong Catholic regularly, who, if I am not mistaken, would be happy to "discuss" why he is right. I really am not out to argue with a Catholic.
The most I come to talking with anyone there about anything meaningful is the librarian with whom I have discussed some things, but generally in less detail, and almost always holding back my full argument, but not so much my side.
I don't want to go. I don't. Matt hasn't gone yet, but he may get it over with this summer, leaving me to handle it alone. It isn't like a class where I am going in there looking for a grade. Or where in I won't see these people again. I work with these people everyday. I do not want to humiliate them, nor do I want to argue stubbornly for no reason. I think I have matured enough to just drop it.
Mrs. Coney wants me to come out of my shell though. That is her job.
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
And my favorite:
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
If you can keep your mouth shut you will be judged wise. In knowing that, there is true wisdom in not spouting everything you know or can say. What good comes of me condemning everyone in a room? None. Indeed, that would be harmful to them and myself, and prove me the fool.
I have been in contact with MBBC regarding what is necessary to finish my MA. After hearing some more things about the college, and then reading about it I have decided against turning it into a 10 year track. The professor needs to double check, but I may just have 4 credits left, at the most it would be eight. If it is four, 2 will be very easy to finish and the other 2 will be a pain. If eight, I will take a course starting in July, and the hardest part will still be the 2 Greek credits I need.
I am trying to lose weight so I look good for the wedding that is coming up. Its working a little bit. I have four weeks left. I'm back on my (yeah, you guessed it.) tuna diet. I do tire of it occasionally, but I can make it just four more weeks. Of course, they changed the amount of tuna to water ratio in the cans. Instead of 2.5 servings its just 2 servings which means I'm really eating less calories/protein than I was/wanted. Plain old white bread is not that good for us but its the cheapest so that's what we have. I can feel the difference when I take my Creatine 1.5 hours before I work out. I was taking it after because I think that's what the bottle said but I read its actually better to take it before, and I feel a difference in it. That's always cool. I'm not sure honestly if it helps so much as just gives a good feeling but the feeling is encouraging enough to keep it going. So it could be psychological help instead of phsyical help.
Well, I think that covers quite a bit. I'm sure there are more thoughts out there. How people can behave in certain ways towards their family baffles me. How "friends" aren't really friendly. How apparent it is that some people are only convenience friends. How life is not necessarily easy. How good God is. How wisdom and worry are related. How finances always seem to trouble everyone and I just don't get it. How insurance is not a must-have these days. How faith in God makes all the difference in the world, and we all know it, but don't have it.
Anyway, there were some bonus thoughts. I will see everyone in under a month. Can't wait. Oh, and I should have 9 MTG decks....maybe 10. :)
It was a shorter week this week. The kids were off school Thursday/Friday and we had meetings. Thursday was till 3, and Friday till noon. Friday I had little to do so I hung out in Matt's room.
I heard the new X-men was pretty good, but I didn't see it.
In Sunday school today, our teacher talked about forgetting God. It wasn't the whole lesson but I thought about it, and it tends to be much too easy to do. Christianity is about a relationship, but I think we forget that. My wife and I were talking just about friendships in general and how they take work from both sides if there is going to be a good friendship there. Well, we know God is doing his part. Think about it though, those of us who have good friends or try to be good friends, it takes work. It requires that we spend time with the other person. Something that often causes friendships to fall apart.
Growing up I had friends, but how many of them are still my friends? Those that I keep in contact with. I am often reminded by my friends that phones work both ways and that I should call them more often. I feel bad about not keeping in touch with some people. Some I make sure I stay in touch with. Others though, it doesn't matter to me that I have lost contact with. Some we were friends while nothing mattered. We could run and play tag together so we were friends. Then when it came to matters of growing up we parted ways.
You can usually tell someone's friends or measure of friendship by seeing them check the caller ID on their phone and seeing how they respond. There are some people that they pick up immediately and are happy to do so. Others, they hesitate or even ignore it. I know there are times and reasons to not answer the phone, but just watch people sometime. You can tell if they care or not.
Anyway, back on track. We are to cultivate a relationship with God, and we often put that second place to even our friends that we don't quite care to talk to. We make excuses for not reading the Bible, or not praying. We don't go straight to God when we are excited about huge news. How many of us stop our formal "praying" and requesting to just talk to God? We get into the patterns of thankfulness/request, and we don't talk to God. Do we just make request to our friends? Friends need people to listen to them. That is part of being a friend, is listening. Abraham was the friend of God. I'm pretty certain that we could say Abraham did not forget God. Abraham listened to God. There is a difference between listening when being told to do something and doing it, or listening because we care. I listen to how work is going, what happens at church/school, how the little one(s) are doing. . .these are things that don't impact me except that for my friends I care about these things. It matters to me, because it matters to them. I appreciate and admire the things my friends are able to accomplish. Do we read God's Word letting Him speak to us? Do we see what matters to Him, and does it then matter to us? Yes, this applies to how much God hates sin, and so should we, but also, when God says creation is good. Can we look at it and agree, and admire what He has done?
Well, that was a long windy trail.
Side note: Wind. Did you read something like "The wind blew in the tops of the trees." Or "Please wind the clock." So above, was it a trail with gusts of wind? Or was it a trail that wound back and forth through the trees?
On to the morning service. More verses of Just as I am than I have ever experienced in my life. All standing with our eyes closed, and the way this church works, one person is up front singing the invitation. So, he sang through the four verses, then the piano played through like 4, then he sang them again, then the piano.....it went on and on and on. Apparently, a little boy went forward to be saved, and instead of taking him to a room to talk with him, they handled everything right then and there. Praise the Lord that the boy got saved. It is encouraging to see that, and we have seen many baptism services since we have been down here and that is great. But. . .yes, I hesitated to put a "but" in here at all with someone getting saved, yet here it is, but 15+ verses of an invitation with us all standing there and our eyes are supposed to be shut....that's not called for.
Oops. I read the church constitution this week and it turns out that as a member we are not permitted to have any criticism pointed at this or any like minded church or pastor. No criticism pointed at any pastor. That seems very....unamerican. ;) Maybe that is our American freedom saying I can say what I want, but it is also my Borean sense saying I'm going to analyze everything that is said and I'm going to point it out to my wife/friends/kids(eventually). Criticism does not necessitate slander/gossip. The church constitution and bylaws are pretty interesting. We don't know if we will end up here or not. It is one of the hardest decisions I have run into. Where to go to church.
Part of my difficulty comes in my faulty memory. I have been in many churches throughout my life. I don't know what has been the deciding factor in going to each of them. I wasn't old enough to give input or care. I went to church. I was a good boy. But why my parents chose church A over B I do not know. And I never learned what were the deciding factors. Of course, part of that reason is because there isn't a perfect church, and God leads different people different places. First Baptist wasn't perfect when we attended there. Still wasn't up to the split. But we attended and served and were blessed by God there.
Is Grace perfect? Is the new church in VA (can't remember name)? These are new churches with all the promise of the future? What does it take to make a church worth attending? Again, that differs for different people. I had a hard hard time with attending a church with an armenian pastor. Most the pastors out here dont claim that title, but they wont claim Calvinism either. Music is a Biblical part of worship, so when music isn't the best how does that rate with a pastoral staff that got the church in debt? Isn't the church leadership supposed to be wise financially? What about a pastor that seems to take good conservative stands because they are good conservative stands and not because he knows why? What about a church that stands for the right stuff, but seems a little overboard about it....like singing the Old King James song. (I did not hear it, but I heard of it from someone who was there.) What about a church where the constitution is Baptist in word, but goes on to define elder rule. Of course, that was the one principle that the family almost rejected our Baptist heritage for last Christmas, so that can't be bad. What about when 1/3 of the church is the Pastor's family. Is that bad? Our family was all over at Immanuel. Thus, my dilemma.
We got to Sunday School, and were the only people in the classroom at 9.30 (the start). The teacher (Pastor's son-in-law) showed up a few minutes later, and then the next couple was his sister and her husband. Then the Pastor's son and his wife. And then one other couple. Last week, there were about 18-20 in the small room because it was the last week of the Sunday School campaign. I don't understand those things to be honest. I go to church because we should be in church. Not because my team will get more points. I go to church because my spirit can feel the parchness when I'm not in church for a while. I didn't use to get that feeling. When I was young it wasn't the same.
We are going with my aunts and uncles to see the new Star Trek next week. Hopefully it is as good as its hype.
My wife makes the most delicious stir-fry. I love it.
Church is 40 minutes away. That makes for 6 long trips a week, and lots of gas. But, I have travelled longer to church before. At the farm it was an hour to Wealthy, and in WI, it was 20-25 min to Church. The church has soul winning on Thursdays and Saturday mornings. My parents used to go...probably the biggest impact on my life as far as soul-winning. If my parents had never gone I don't know what urge I would have in me to do it. I know its right, and I know I should, but that's just mental knowledge. Besides, what is another couple hours at home? Really....anyway, we don't go now because we aren't members and we can't make the time on Thursdays. Next year I hope to not have the library job and then we should be able to go. I'm sure it will be easier once we do it regularly.
So, the school here is doing the truth project. They do it with the seniors every year, and they have sessions each semester and each summer with it. It is 13 sections. That is 1 hour a week for 13 weeks. Onec you say you are in, they expect you each week. Well, my principle announced that if we haven't done it yet, we are expected to either this summer or next fall. She said she should have put it in our contracts. Well....its going to be dinner conversation with a bunch of different denominations on things that I have known for years. There is expected to be discussion. Now, let me explain. I don't discuss hardly anything with adults at the school. Maybe that is a fault. But I have not blacklisted myself yet. I am quiet and contemplative. I see the strong Catholic regularly, who, if I am not mistaken, would be happy to "discuss" why he is right. I really am not out to argue with a Catholic.
The most I come to talking with anyone there about anything meaningful is the librarian with whom I have discussed some things, but generally in less detail, and almost always holding back my full argument, but not so much my side.
I don't want to go. I don't. Matt hasn't gone yet, but he may get it over with this summer, leaving me to handle it alone. It isn't like a class where I am going in there looking for a grade. Or where in I won't see these people again. I work with these people everyday. I do not want to humiliate them, nor do I want to argue stubbornly for no reason. I think I have matured enough to just drop it.
Mrs. Coney wants me to come out of my shell though. That is her job.
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
And my favorite:
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
If you can keep your mouth shut you will be judged wise. In knowing that, there is true wisdom in not spouting everything you know or can say. What good comes of me condemning everyone in a room? None. Indeed, that would be harmful to them and myself, and prove me the fool.
I have been in contact with MBBC regarding what is necessary to finish my MA. After hearing some more things about the college, and then reading about it I have decided against turning it into a 10 year track. The professor needs to double check, but I may just have 4 credits left, at the most it would be eight. If it is four, 2 will be very easy to finish and the other 2 will be a pain. If eight, I will take a course starting in July, and the hardest part will still be the 2 Greek credits I need.
I am trying to lose weight so I look good for the wedding that is coming up. Its working a little bit. I have four weeks left. I'm back on my (yeah, you guessed it.) tuna diet. I do tire of it occasionally, but I can make it just four more weeks. Of course, they changed the amount of tuna to water ratio in the cans. Instead of 2.5 servings its just 2 servings which means I'm really eating less calories/protein than I was/wanted. Plain old white bread is not that good for us but its the cheapest so that's what we have. I can feel the difference when I take my Creatine 1.5 hours before I work out. I was taking it after because I think that's what the bottle said but I read its actually better to take it before, and I feel a difference in it. That's always cool. I'm not sure honestly if it helps so much as just gives a good feeling but the feeling is encouraging enough to keep it going. So it could be psychological help instead of phsyical help.
Well, I think that covers quite a bit. I'm sure there are more thoughts out there. How people can behave in certain ways towards their family baffles me. How "friends" aren't really friendly. How apparent it is that some people are only convenience friends. How life is not necessarily easy. How good God is. How wisdom and worry are related. How finances always seem to trouble everyone and I just don't get it. How insurance is not a must-have these days. How faith in God makes all the difference in the world, and we all know it, but don't have it.
Anyway, there were some bonus thoughts. I will see everyone in under a month. Can't wait. Oh, and I should have 9 MTG decks....maybe 10. :)
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