August 4, 2008
On Saturday I was chatting with a good friend of mine and we were discussing our common desire to write. At some point, I can’t remember which of us brought this up, we talked about the difference between actually writing and simply thinking about writing. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about writing recently, pondering stories and plot lines and metaphors, but very little has actually made it to paper or published electronic media.
Basically what we discussed was that writers write, it’s just what they do. I know that sounds a little simplistic, but if I want to be a writer I’m going to have to start funnelling the potential literary contents of my brain onto paper and possibly into this space.
July 23, 2008
I can’t promise any profound insights today to answer that question just this video.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080722.html
I hope you enjoy it, especially if you want/need to smile or laugh from your soul.
July 17, 2008
On the Jpg magazine website is a collection of pictures of strangers and their stories. Here is undeniable proof of the humanity of others. It is a very helpful site to go to if you have a few minutes and need a pick-me-up.
http://www.jpgmag.com/themes/3
June 20, 2008
A recent read of Matthew 15 has made me take a 2nd look at the people who receive Jesus’ highest praise in the gospels. In Matthew 15, Jesus and his merry band are traveling when a Caananite woman shows up and begs Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus adopts the standard Jew-first position, and even makes a derogatory comment about the woman.
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Undaunted, she fires right back. “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
At this point Jesus commends her for her faith and informs her that her daughter has been healed.
I think Jesus is pleasantly surprised by this woman. In Matthew’s gospel, this story follows some serious teaching about purity and action which the disciples did not get. You can almost hear the exasperation in Jesus voice as he explains how it is the content of the heart which makes a man unclean rather than the contents of his stomach. It must surely continue when his disciples come to him and ask him to send this woman away because she is bothering them. Instead of sending the woman away, he grants her an audience. Personally, I think the 2 of them have a private moment that no one else around them gets when he sees her determination and faith to carry this issue to this extremity, and she sees that he is genuinely concerned for her and her daughter.
She goes away affirmed in her faith and her daughter is healed. He goes away marveling at the faith of an outsider. What is shocking is that this is not an isolated incident in the gospels. Jesus is confronted several times by those outside the community of the faithful. A woman who is rendered unclean because of a medical condition braves the crowd and the dire consequences which may follow if she is discovered to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. A Roman centurion with an intimate understanding of what it means to have authority, and the humility before Jesus to believe that all he should do is speak the word.
These are the people who receive commendation from Jesus, not the knowledgeable insiders who keep ever pen stroke found in the law. These are the people who truly understand who Jesus is and what he is about.
I pray that God will help me to have that kind of faith.
April 17, 2008
Warning: Ranting ahead.
At my job I have a new 20″ iMac that is sufficient to my needs now that I have replaced the fake keyboard that came with it with a more substantial and finger friendly model. However, it is still hamstrung by the mighty mouse riding shotgun with it. The factory Dell mouse I have attached to my computer at home with it’s antiquarian 2 button and a wheel format more accurately communicates my clicks and scrolls than does the Apple Mighty Mouse with its 1=3 button and a ball configuration. For example: when I right click on my stone-age mouse at home I click the button on the right side and voila it transmits a right click to the computer. After having to go into system prefs and turn on the right click feature I still have to click way over on the right side of the mouse to right click except for the times when clicking on the left side of the mouse irrationally constitutes a “right” click.
Next on the block is the ball that will scroll down without any problem, but with no warning will cease to scroll up. This is not a problem with the Neanderthal wheel design at home.
All your vaunted technological advances aside Apple, when it comes to simple input devices that other companies have excelled at for years you FAIL.
March 20, 2008
Due to an unforseen technical glitch, pictures from the first part of my Chicago trip will not arrive until early next week. However, pictures from today’s journey to the Field Museum and downtown Chicago (including a doozy of me with the Sears Tower sticking out of my head) should be posting later this week.
Thank you.
March 18, 2008
I started out St. Patrick’s day at 4:00am, wandering out to the Abilene Regional airport to meet my 5:40am flight to Dallas where I would catch another flight to St. Louis where I would catch another flight to Chicago to visit my friend Jaime Hooten. At least that was the plan.
When I got to the airport I discovered that my 5:40am flight was delayed until 1:30pm. I stood in line wondering if I should even go, but when I got to the counter the gate agent booked me on the 7:00am flight to Dallas and found (magically created) a seat on a full flight direct to Chicago. When I arrived in Chicago after an uneventful travel experience I found out that the flight I was supposed to be on out of St. Louis was cancelled. As we drove away from O’Hare I was left to puzzle about the nature of what I can only call providence. Had my 5:40 flight run on time I most likely would have been horribly delayed or even stuck in St. Louis.
I adamantly believe that God does not grant us parking spaces or other such mundane things, but events of yesterday have eroded that belief a little bit. I believe that religion is made by acting as God desires in the mundane day to day events of our lives. A thousand microscopic acts of faith / unfaith through the course of the day. If God expects me to be faithful in such areas, should I be surprised to find him there waiting for me?
