Thank God for the Blizzard

I was planning to drive down to the cities on Tuesday but the weather gurus predicted a blizzard, so I drove down at 9:30 Monday night. Upon arrival, I checked my email and got really confused. In the process of getting un-confused the next day (Tuesday), I found out about a new job opening. I interviewed for it at 2:30, which is half an hour before I was planning to even be in the cities, and got the job. So praise God for the blizzard!

Another Bright Idea

Last night, as I was cruising down the freeway on my way back to the cities, yet another antsy city slicker got right up on my tail as I was passing a semi truck. I started thinking about what he must be thinking of me, and it didn't slip my attention that my car has a rounded front, in keeping with the 90s, but the back is squared off like a battle wagon from the 60s or 70s. I appreciate this feature, because it looks intimidating. That pointed my mind toward demolition derbies. And then my latest great idea was born. I wonder if I could reduce tailgaters by applying the following to a prominent location on the back of my car:



p.s. For those who don't know, I really am a demolition derby veteran. 2003.

Sibling Adventures

I went home for the weekend and brought my brother back with me, since he is on Christmas break. It took us about two hours to trash both of our sleds. :-( Boy, did we have fun doing it, though. Apparently plastic sleds aren't made for 25 mph races on hard-packed snow. They probably would have survived, except that there were a bunch of little bumps and ridges on the hill that would lift us off the sleds slightly and drop us back onto them on weird angles if we were even slightly off balance. Also, Jason ran into a large, solid object. Praise God he didn't get hurt. The sled sure did. I will take pictures of the sleds and post them here- after we use them some more. Who needs sides, anyway! All they do is help you steer...

Sled Jumping

I had fun this afternoon.

Family Christmas Setup

I decided to do a time-lapse documentary of our Christmas tree setup. It isn't a normal time lapse because I don't have that kind of mode on my camera and I wasn't using a stopwatch. It is more of a random snapshot time lapse. Then I got a whole bunch of footage of our nifty little train under the tree.

Hockey!

I finally got to play hockey today, for the first time since last February. My town isn't going to open any rinks until the 19th, but I found some rinks open in the cities nearby. Then I called one of my friends to let him know. He was just heading out the door to play some hockey at a rink relatively close to me. I didn't even know it was open yet. So we played on that until it was completely trashed (today was way too warm).

Then, tonight, we went to a different rink that was in much better shape. Now I am sore and tired and happy.

Intrepid Safety

Every year, hundreds of children suffer snow up their pants and other life-altering traumatic incidents as a direct result of poor sledding technique.

It DOES NOT have to be this way. Sledding Safety is as easy as 1,2,3.

Our professional ergonomics and physics consultants were asked to develop a sledding posture that meets the rigorous safety guidelines set forth by the warning stickers posted to modern plastic sleds. They found that the traditional method no longer meets current safety regulations, due to the fact that the rider's head does not "remain inside the sled at all times." Examine the image below.


Performed on a closed course by a professional test driver. Do not attempt at home. Intrepid Safety recommends that further protection be used, including wrist and elbow guards and industrial-strength safety goggles.

As you can see, the head rides more than three feet above the sled, causing the rider and sled assembly to have a dangerously high center of balance.

Our e/p consultants next attempted to bring the center of balance lower with a modified form of the traditional style. However, it is believed the the more elderly segment of the population (those over the age of 13) may have difficulty in achieving the posture.



As you can see in Figure A., the head is still far from "inside the sled."

Our consultants decided to shift the center of balance forward in the sled, thus bringing the posterior out of contact with the sled chasis and allowing the head to reach its lowest position.



Figure B. clearly shows the head, hands, and feet safely within the sled, as the warning label instructed. However, the warning label also indicates that the rider must be facing forward at all times.

The method shown below has been approved by our consultants as a sticker-compatible safe sledding technique. Just remember, it is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Balance your posterior on the narrow strip of plastic composing the aft of the sled.



2. Align your vertebrae with the ribs in the sled chasis and bring your legs up directly over your midsection, bending them slightly at the knees, and grasp your feet with your hands.



3. Bring head back until eyes are pointed toward the bow of the sled and bring feet and hands to docking locations next to head. Notice the careful placement of the knee pads.



This stable, comfortable posture meets warning sticker specifications when performed in unison with observance of the other warnings specified therein. For a brief summary, just remember the 6 "Nos"

-No hills
-No steering or stopping
-No obstacles or jumps
-No sharing
-No one over 59 pounds
-No fun.

Enjoy the snow!

"Ride At Your Own Risk" (Oh, I Will!)

I noticed the following warnings on my toy plastic sled:
-"This product is intended for use by one child" (violated 12/5/08, three full-grown people)
-"Sled cannot be controlled, maneuvered, or stopped" (trees stop it really fast)
-"Never use near... hills" (are you serious?)
-"Do not stand or kneel on sled" (no wonder they don't think it can be maneuvered)
-"Always face forward when sledding" (violated 12/5/08, at which time I nearly ended up testing the tree- brake system)
-"Keep hands, head, and feet inside the sled at all times." (This brings a really funny picture to mind. I'll take it when I get a chance. My camera batteries are charging right now.)
-"Do not tow with motor vehicles" (This is so much fun!)
-"Helmet and other appropriate safety equipment should always be used." (HaHa! The funny picture just got better.)
-"Inspect toy periodically for loose or damaged components" (If it breaks in half, I'll know)
-"Shoes must be worn in use." (I find it difficult to pull my boots on over shoes.)
-"Maximum weight limit: 59lbs" (I suddenly feel so obese)

I wonder what the safety lawyers would think of this:

Thank God for friends, snow, and Cub Foods

I was going to go skating with two of my friends. However, the roads were nasty and we didn't get to the rink. We wandered around the Mall for a while and then ran to Target to get a sled, but it was closed. We went to Cub Foods, the only thing close by that was still open, and believe it or not they were selling sleds. So we tried out a hill near my apartment.

Breaking News!

As I stood at our patio door, admiring the evening, a big beautiful fireball caught my eye in a garage across the parking lot. As the fireball condensed into a cheery little blaze in the engine compartment of a truck, I saw two people frantically throwing snow at it. I didn't see anything else after that, because I was running around my apartment complex looking for my cell phone and a fire extinguisher. By the time I got down to the scene of the excitement, a helpful gentleman with a fire extinguisher had already beaten me to it. I stood around in my shorts and T shirt (It was about 25 degrees outside) to get the juicy details. Basically, a guy was trying to get his truck started He pulled a spark plug to clean out antifreeze that had flooded into the cylinder and then tried to turn it over (who knows why). The spark must have ignited some vapors that had collected above the engine. This, of course, also ignited all of the oil and grime that covered the engine, causing no small thrill for the man, and even more so for his girlfriend, who was attempting to jump start him. Her view of the fireball was somewhat obscured by her upraised car hood, leaving her healthy and enthusiastic imagination to fill in the details.
Then I froze over and walked back inside. About 2 minutes later the police showed up, followed shortly by a fire truck. I have posted exclusive footage of the fire truck below.

New shoot

I went out to get some pictures of the new snow and didn't come back with much to speak of. In brighter news, I made a really good supper. Corn bread and chili. Yum, yum.
I felt like decorating some more after I got back from Thanksgiving at my parents' house, so I brought back our extra tree and some lights and decorated our apartment living room.
Back home we took out a train set that hadn't been used in about a decade. It now livens up the bottom of the tree.

Taking Risks

I entered a photography contest tonight. It cost me some money to enter, which is what made it a risk. I've been wanting to DO something with my pictures, rather than just having them rot on my computer. This contest attracts an average of 250 to 500 "aspiring photographers", so there is plenty of competition. Two of the images I entered are below, and the others have already been posted to this blog in the past several weeks.

Thanksgiving

I had a great Thanksgiving. I may someday get around to posting videos and pictures and such. My brother and I got out on the lake Saturday morning and skated the sun up. Then we sorta kinda played a game of curling (curled?) using some largish rocks that he dug out of the pile on the shore. We were really bad at it. It took an hour for him to get 15 points and me 13. Then the ice started cracking a lot more than it had been, and since it was only a few inches thick we vacated.

Barf

Some days the music on my French radio station is better than other days. This afternoon they had a number of obnoxious and/or poorly written songs. I was half-listening to one of the songs (in English), and the words went something like this:

"You are touching me
What else is there to believe?"

I almost dry heaved. That's what Christianity has been reduced to? A feeling? Being "touched" by God (whatever that is supposed to mean to you) is your ultimate goal, the final meaning of your faith? Does that mean that God isn't God when He isn't touching you?

God gave us brains. I furtively believe that he means for us to use them to glorify Him, to seek out His mysteries, and to constantly seek to know Him and His creation better, even when we don't feel warm fuzzies.
God gave us bodies. He wants us to use them to accomplish the good works that He appointed for us before we were born.
God gave us souls, which He wants us to give back to Him. Not after we die, NOW. Your soul is the part of you that is YOU. It is your will, your life, your being, your identity. That's what God wants. He wants you to give up your rights to yourself, to who you are and who you will be, in the faith that He can make you who you are MEANT to be. Unlike a fuzzy feeling, THAT is something worth believing in.

It's the Little Things

I will tell another tale of God's faithfulness. My friends had just gotten married, and the rest of us were supposedly driving back to our lodgings after the wedding. In reality, we were driving around the block and parking at a nearby grocery store so we could plan the traditional defacing of the newlyweds' car. Our convoy consisted of three vehicles and I drove the lead vehicle, a minivan. During our short drive the doors, which are supposed to automatically lock at 15 mph and then stay locked, kept locking, unlocking, and relocking themselves. Once everyone in the van had cleared themselves of all claims of being obnoxious, we dismissed it as the van being strange.
When we got to the grocery store I took the keys out of the ignition and left them on the driver's seat, since I didn't know who was driving next. As we stood around planning our attack, the owner of the vehicle tossed her purse onto the passenger seat and closed the door. As soon as she closed the door, the van locked itself. After taking quick stock, we realized that there were only two keys to the van. I had left one on the driver's seat, and the other was in her purse. Both keys were locked inside a van that nobody had locked, and that showed no interest in unlocking itself. I hadn't even realized that it would lock itself without the key in the ignition. in the next 10 or 15 minutes the van relocked itself two or three more times but never unlocked itself. As far as I know it only unlocked itself once, and that had been while we were driving. So we called the police.
Shortly after hanging up, we prayed that the van would unlock itself. About 15 seconds later we all heard a clunk. One of my friends, who was standing by the driver's door, yanked on it instantly. I was standing by the passenger door and opened it just as fast. There we stood, grinning at each other through the open van.
When my friends drove the van home, a 45 minute drive, they said that during the rest of the night it locked itself a number of times but never again unlocked itself. The next day it was back to normal, locking itself only at 15 mph. Oh, and we did a great job on J and J's getaway car.
These pictures were taken by Jamie the next morning.

Another shoot

I only cheated slightly to get this deer. Okay, fine, it was right off the road.
The shot below, on the other hand, was more carefully planned and I was at it until I nearly froze over.

The End is Near

The work load is reducing at my temp job, and I think my final day will come in the next two weeks. In other news, it is a little bit cold outside. I went for a run today and felt really nice and toasting running with the wind, and frighteningly like a icicle running into the wind. I thought about my pitiful mileage and contemplated trashing my running log. Compared to the mileage I used to run, it is humiliating. However, I have decided to keep it up for now, even if I must fill it with zeros. I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps the reason will come to me presently.
In yet other news, the radio station I listen to has added Michelle Tumes and Eleventyseven to my list of favorite music-makers, which is odd because they are completely different. I'm not even sure how they ended up on the same radio station, to say nothing of one that broadcasts out of France. And in yet other news, my audio listening sessions while I make and eat supper each night have brought me to chapter 32 of Jane Eyre, a delightfully long book. I held it in deep suspicion until chapter 27. It has been growing on me since then. The conversation at the end of chapter 32 was particularly interesting to me- and maybe even helpful.
I am sure there is other news that might be good to disseminate, but I can't think of it now.
Picture Time! I haven't posted any pictures in a long time. Let's see... a sunset from the airplane would be cool. I saw another sunset from an airplane flying back home, and it was the shortest sunset of my life because we were descending on the final approach into Atlanta. From the time the bottom of the sun touched the horizon to the moment that no part of the sun was visible took less than 30 seconds-probably closer to 15. I would have gotten video, but they had already told us to turn off all electronic devices.

I will also post a picture that I took from an undisclosed secret location while on a mission with NASA.

--or perhaps I used the Gimp to touch up a picture that I took out of an airplane window. Perhaps. You will never know for sure, will you?

Lonely

I have to confess, it is hard being in a wedding when I am single. While I was actually with the love birds I was busy enough to not think much about myself, but since getting back I have been feeling a little lonely. This morning I woke up and, after saying my normal good morning to God, thought about how nice it would be to wake up to a wife. And then I thought, "I wonder what it would be like to wake up without Jesus?" For half a second I imagined what it would be like if Jesus didn't exist. I should have waited until I was more awake, because I half believed it, and it terrified me. My loneliness skyrocketed, and I was hit by a terror and depression that I have not felt since I recovered from my nervous breakdown or panic attack or whatever it was 5 years ago. Fortunately I snapped out of it in less than a second. But it made me realize just how much my life and my being is tied up in God. That's good. I want it that way. I'm sure many people would think me weak because of this. Let them think that. If my weakness is dependence upon the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, I don't think it a loss.

weddings and such

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I flew down to my friend's wedding last Thursday. It was a success. They are married. And we had a lot of fun. The only problem is, we didn't get much sleep. So today I kept almost falling asleep at work. Which means I should go to bed tonight. But my to-do list is very long, and I have a lot of emails to answer.

I appreciate your prayers.

I Make God Work Overtime

I was cruising through an unfamiliar four-lane intersection on my way home, when the SUV ahead of me suddenly merged to the left, revealing a stopped bus in my lane on the other side of the intersection. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I could merge, flicked my signal, and slid to the left. There was one car sitting behind the stopped bus, and as I was about to pull up alongside it, the driver suddenly cranked his wheel hard to the left and shot right in front of me, clearly not seeing me coming. I slammed on my brakes, and he barely squeezed between my rapidly decelerating hulk of a car and the even more hulking bus.
I had specifically prayed that God would protect me on that journey. You could compliment me on my reaction time or call it shear luck that the driver (who I later recognized as a teenager) didn't get his lightweight sedan smeared between me and a bus- an accident which might have killed him, especially if I had nailed his door. Or you can join me in praising God that He got me home safely one more night.

Things That Make Me Smile

Here are some things that have made me happy in the days since I last posted:
1. Spending the weekend with my parents on the family farm
2. Cheering for my friends at the conference cross country meet
3. Visiting my home church
4. Beating my dad at disc golf by one point
5. Taking pretty pictures of the lake I have run more miles around than most people run in their entire lives.
6. Finding a French radio station that I can listen to at work.
7. Finally getting the Bible on Tape, so I can listen to it in the car during my commute
8. Encountering a Southern-style roundabout and watching the Minnesota drivers who don't know what to do with it.
9. Cheering on my friends as they crushed an interval practice
10. Finally getting around to updating my blog
I have also really enjoyed talking to some good friends, either in person or online. Even when I feel frustrated, God is good!

Today was uneventful, which I am kind of glad about. I wasn't sure how to go about navigating the "professional" work world on Halloween. I was never allowed to acknowledge the day as a kid, and now that I am an adult, I have no personal desire to do so. Unlike my coworkers, I full-heartedly acknowledge the true wickedness of Satan and demons, and I don't wish to give them any credit. It might be funny now to dress up like a demon and decorate your office space with red tissue paper, but it won't be funny when you die and find out what hell really is. Please believe that I write that with extreme sadness, not bitterness. When I am in Africa watching people hacking at themselves with sharp knives and not getting cut because of demonic power, candy and pumpkins will be the last thing on my mind.
So this morning I resolved to not dress or act any different today, despite peer pressure. I also didn't go on the decoration tour like most of my coworkers. Understand that I am not saying everybody should do this, or that you are horrible if you dressed up like a smurf today and ate 3 bags of snickers in a dry-ice filled room. It was just my personal conviction. And, I am grateful to say, it was rather painless. Most of my coworkers didn't dress up, so I was in the majority rather than the minority. Our little secluded room was largely cut off from the candy supply, so it wasn't even a temptation. In short, although the people outside our room spent most of the day groping around in the self-imposed darkness, eating candy and being generally unproductive, work went on very much as usual (for the most part) for me and the other temps.

And now I am off. I am driving to my parent's house to pick up yet more stuff to cram into my apartment (mainly wedding clothes) and, while I am at it, I plan to attend a cross country meet tomorrow. Should be fun!

Here are two pictures from my adventure last night.

I was actually on my way home because it was too dark to shoot anything anymore, and I decided that I might as well see if there was any chance of getting anything on the river with the last remaining light. I am really glad I stayed. By the way, my dad said that the internet filter at his job kept him from seeing two of my previous pictures for some unkown reason. If anyone else has had the same experience, please let me know.

Good Things

I found out today that my boss probably wouldn't fire me even if she wanted to, because I now know some parts of our computer system better than she does. Then, on the way home I noticed that they have put up boards in the park one block from my house- so I will indeed have a hockey rink next door. After that I got gas for less than $2/gallon, thanks to the fact that my nearest SA accepts competitor coupons. After that I got a chance to revisit the park and get some okay pictures, and then I came home to enjoy Jane Eyre and some interesting taco-type things. Um... Jane Eyre is an novel that I listened to online while I made supper. Lets avoid any strange rumors.
The only thing that would have made today better is if I had gone to bed an hour and a half ago.

confession

You know that post about Name It and Claim It and Health and Wealth? It used to be much, much longer, but I shortened it to avoid being to controversial. But considering our discussion last night at small group about deception within the church, I'm going to post the whole thing. Here it is:

I have had a lot of things running through my head in recent days. One of them has to do with "Health and Wealth" gospel and "Name It And Claim It" preaching. During my commute to work one morning I heard a preacher going to town on both lines of thought simultaneously. It had never even occurred to me that the two might be connected.

Since then I have wondered if it is common for the two to go hand-in-hand, and if so, why that might be. It made me realize that I have similar feelings toward both teachings. They both involve some Biblical truth, and if taught correctly they are powerful and necessary truths. However, many people take them WAY overboard, toss out context and crucial balancing passages of scripture, and make an entire doctrine out of only part of the Bible.

I also get the impression that sometimes they are too focused on man and not focused nearly enough on God. Name It and Claim It gives immense power to the human tongue, to the point that it sometimes negates God's sovereignty. Health and Wealth extremists insist that God wants everyone healthy and wealthy, despite the obvious fact that many great saints where often neither (Hebrews 11:36-40). Both groups seem to assume that they know what is best for themselves, their neighbors, and the body of Christ as a whole, despite the obvious non-omniscience of their minds. More seriously, I feel like a lot of them think that life is ultimately about their happiness and comfort. Sorry folks, but the sooner you realize that your life is not your life and it is not about you, the sooner you can step into the freedom that a life sacrificed to God offers. We talk about "giving" our life to Jesus, but too often we don't realize that giving something to someone else means that we no longer have it. We don't control it. We don't have rights to it. That's part of the deal.

We are fortunate to be able to give our lives to a God who loves us and wants what is best for us, who desires us to have good things and who has given us power and authority to do his work. But if we focus on what we have been given and what we want to have, we are entirely missing the point. It is like a soldier who is so enamored with his sword that he runs off killing foes with it and leaves the king without a shield-bearer, or a servant who spends so much time thinking about pay day that he misses all of the little opportunities to serve his master that would have made him a truly good servant.

I'm sorry if this post touches some nerves. As far as I know, it doesn't actually apply to anyone who will read it. As I said, much of what these doctrines teach is good and true. The Bible tells us to ask God to keep us healthy and expand our material blessings. It tells us again and again to take up the spiritual authority that we have been given and proclaim God's truth with power and faith in the face of a sinful and sometimes Satanic world. In many ways, these teachings do a great job of addressing gaps in mainstream American Christian teaching. But then I hear people on the radio or television spewing out man-centered teachings that lead thousands of people into a religously-flavored version of selfish, materialistic idolatry. Or saying that everyone who is suffering just needs to have more faith, and so piling guilt on top of pain. And that TICKS ME OFF.

I will now step off my soap box.

Parents in the Park

I introduced my parents to the state park on an evening when God really put on a show. Here are some pictures.

Corn Bread and Computer Crashes

Last night I ran intervals with the cross country team (which was a blast) and then went home and made 9 servings of corn bread. I ate 7 of those servings in about fifteen minutes. I LOVE corn bread. I was tempted to make it again tonight, but I need to be at least somewhat reasonable.
Today at work we had a computer problem and had to erase several hours worth of work (just mine, nobody else's). Hopefully IT will get everything fixed by tomorrow, or it will get even uglier. No, I didn't break it. It broke itself and I was the victim. The good news is, nobody is blaming me. The bad news is, I am temporarily short on work, and once this finally gets straightened out, I will suddenly be half a week behind.
A questioned inspired by Genesis: If you had an endangered animal living on your property, and you knew that there were only seven of them on the planet, how would you treat them?
Noah sacrificed one of them to God. Maybe even two of them.
What an outstanding example to us of proper priorities, a healthy fear of God, a correct understanding of tithing and stewardship, and an active faith. And after Noah made his choice, God promised to never again destroy the earth until the end of time. I think that means that Noah made the right choice.

On another note, I have a question for all of the Bible scholars out there. How do we know whether an Old Testament prophecy/blessing/curse regarding a person concerns only that individual or also his offspring? Two that I have wondered about at this point are Canaan (Gen 9:24-27) and Ishmael (Gen 16:15). We can see in Chapter 4 how Lamech claimed for himself (for better or for worse) a promise that had been made by God to his Great, Great, Great Grandfather Cain. Was this a common conception at the time? Was it a true conception?

Still Working...

Another seat was vacant today at work, and it used to belong to one of the last people I expected to see leaving. He did the same thing as me, and he did it faster, so I am really surprised (and a little nervous) that I am still employed and he isn't.
Praise God for his faithfulness to me. I pray that I can be a good enough worker that they don't regret keeping me.

One of Many

The other day I was listening to a preacher on the radio who sounded like he was mixing "Name It and Claim It" teaching with the "Health and Wealth" gospel. It set me off on a long, long train of thought about my views towards those teachings and how they might be related.
While they both contain some Biblical truth and do a good job of addressing weaknesses in the common teachings of mainstream American Christianity, some people (especially some people on the radio and television) go overboard and make a whole theology out of only part of the Bible.

What A Day!

Today was a day of firsts. I started by going to a new church. It was very good. After that I was driving home and randomly ended up watching a sport I had never seen before- rugby. Oh yikes. If you have never seen it, imagine a 300 lb guy being pushed down field by 4 other guys and plowing into a big pile of opponents in hopes that they can mash enough of them under foot to cross the goal line. When they fail, the ball is tossed into the air and three different people are tossed into the air by their teammates to swat at it (and each other). It was quite an experience.
As I watched this display of macho destruction, I noticed some kids in the distance jumping their bikes over impressively large piles of dirt. So after returning to my apartment to eat, I rode my bike over there and participated in the jumping frenzy. I was rather hesitant to start, having never jumped anything on my bike that was more than 4 inches high, but I quickly got into it. That doesn't mean that I was any good, it just means that I had a lot of fun being poor. I even managed to not get hurt, though I came close a couple of times. Aside from being amused by my lack of talent, I like to think that the other guys there admired me for even trying it on a mountain bike.

Deep Matters

As you may recall, I used to post more theological and serious matters on my blog. I may go back to doing that. I sometimes struggle, though, because I fear that my quickly-drawn observations on the Bible and other matters lack the study and preparation that public statements should embody. I don't want to spread watered-down, Americanized theology that is based on my personal background rather than the original context of a verse. I also don't want to spew political or philosophical ideas that are unexamined regurgitations of other people's summarized views.
The problem is, doing intelligent study takes a lot of time, and time is something that I don't have much of. So please bear with me!

New Work

Last night I drove to my parents' house after work, ate with them and my Grandmother, swapped cars, and went to a Bible study hosted by my dear friend who also happens to be my roommate's sister. We had a great time (well, at least I did- hopefully I didn't bore them) and I was able to share a lot. I drove back to my parents' house and crashed until 4 a.m. I was hoping that I could beat the rush hour coming back into the city from the west. I took some back roads and bypassed most of the mess entirely, getting to work with plenty of time to spare before 7:00.

Work was fun today; I could tell it was a Friday. Everybody was goofy beyond belief. Fortunately our supervisor was in a good mood, so she didn't mind. The craziness kept me awake and I didn't even need to resort to coffee.

I also talked to my supervisor today about taking two days off in mid-November for my friend's wedding. She said it was fine, which is a real answer to prayer. Thank you God! And thank you, everyone who prayed that my conversation with her would go well.

And now I need to try to catch up on sleep. I got a lot of responses to my latest letter, which I will hopefully get to tomorrow. I am going to a cross country meet in the morning and my parents are also going to go, and then come see my apartment afterwards and hang out for the afternoon. Busy, busy! It should be fun.

I should post a parting picture. Eeny Meeny Miny... This is from Wednesday night.

STUPID DEER!

I drove into downtown to run with my old cross country team, not realizing that they are all on Fall break for the week. That was sad. So I went for a run by myself on the old trails that I used to be sick of. It was great, and I got to see the new bridge. I also saw a deer. Not from a distance. I could have jumped on it and gone for a ride, I was so close. Literally 10 feet, and it seemed only slightly nervous. It apparently reserved a small amount of hope that I was concealing food, because it alternated between ignoring me and looking at me longingly. Stupid domesticated deer. I enjoyed the experience, but it made me feel somewhat depressed about all the tromping around I do in the state park to see a scraggly white tail vanishing into the brush. Still, the experience means a lot more when you have to work for it. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

Frustrations and Photos

I did my evening commute twice tonight in an effort to find a good running path. I never did find the park, and I ended up on a major road at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was not a happy camper. I then went to a super retail store in search of a car compass, in hopes that such a magical gadget would prevent me from making the same kind of blunder again. I learned that some super retail stores have an automotive section the size of an Alaskan banana plantation. I wound up with a goofy little compass/ thermometer gadget from the outdoor sporting department. It needs to be held perfectly flat in order to work correctly, so I don't expect it to help much when I am in the car. However, I have hopes that it will help me to get home when I am photo hunting.
Speaking of which... I went duck hunting tonight. I shot some extremely poor duck pictures, which is why I am not posting them, but I did enjoy some of the wetness and overall discomfort that makes duck hunting such a wonderfully unique sport. If I find hip waders on clearance, I am getting them. As I left I was able to shoot some nifty pictures of the moon over the pond.
Work went well, despite a shortage of mail (no mail on President's Day). I was happy that we didn't get sent home early. And now I have talked to my parents on the phone until much too late at night, and I am going to FEEL IT tomorrow. Good night!


p.s. Here are some more pictures of the apartment complex amenities. Not bad, eh?

How I Spent my Sunday

Yesterday was somewhat lonely, so I was very blessed today when my roommate and I were invited over after church to the home of the people who host his small group. I watched a whole lot of football (and my team somehow even won!) and also got to goof around with their children.
The church I attended intrigued me because at times the preaching sounded like prosperity gospel, but yet it remained true. The pastor did a good job of stressing the difference between needs and "greeds," and he pointed out the fact that you aren't supposed to "eat" your "seeds." I plan to go at least one or two more Sundays and see what it is like. If every Sunday ends up being about health and prosperity, I will get tired of it in a hurry.

Today I bought $120 of groceries. It took me more than an hour. Welcome to the real world. The good news is, I shouldn't have to go shopping for the next month. Well, maybe once to get milk and bread.

I finally got to the end of Silas Marner. Great Story! Now I am starting the unusual story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I'm not at all stealthy.

I went deer hunting with my camera... I got a picture of some eyeballs in the blackness. And this fantastic video. If you listen really carefully, you can hear the snort. Unfortunately, you can't see the little white tail bouncing into the brush because I didn't get the camera around fast enough.

-no, I will probably never get better at deer hunting.

10/10/08 

 A major event occured two days ago- I hit the end of the Bible. I have been reading through since February and I reached the end. I was trying to decide where to go back and start reading, and I decided to do Genesis, followed by the rest of it. In other words, I am going through again. However, this time, I am going slower. I went through last time at a rate of 5 chapters/day, which was much too fast to really meditate on verses. This time I am reading for depth and comprehension, which probably means 1 chapter/day or less. It also means that I might need to get some concordances and commentaries. Also my Hebrew Bible, if I really want to be ambitious. 

  This week was like black Tuesday. At least half of the temp workers were laid off because there wasn't as much work to do as we expected. Praise God I made the cuts! Hopefully the work picks up again so we can bring some people back.

I took this picture out at the state park near my apartment. Isn't it beautiful out there? Praise God I get to live next to His creation.