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.