On unliking people

There are a few people who I once liked very much. As I got to know them better, I liked them less but loved them more. They used to be people I wanted to be around because of commonalities. Upon closer inspection, their uniqueness became apparent and distasteful. By then, it was too late. I'd already decided to love them. Now, they're stuck with me.

I think like this

I saw this comic at http://xkcd.com and i could relate.

multigenerational family and friends

I'm in NY with my parents, my brother and his fam, and a bunch of cousins and old family friends for the holiday weekend. I know I've posted about this before, but it is great to spend time with people that have known you and a couple of generations of your family all of your life, care about you, and feel like they have some stake in your life.

I don't know exactly how to quantify the benefits of this, but they are huge. It's like an underground kindness/community economy. People trade time spent looking after each others kids in lieu of daycare, laughing with family and friends instead of therapy, and family favors for financial support. You yield a certain measure of control over your time, money, and privacy, but you as long as you don't feel that you're giving more than you get, it works.

I'm sitting in the house I grew up in and I'm sleeping in the same bedroom I had when I was 5. A number of the neighbors have lived here for the past 40 years. Parents have passed away and their kids have taken over the homes. That is amazing to me. I wonder if I'd love it so much if I actually lived here. The tough thing about being together with people for decades is that you may end up having a few decades-long disagreements and contentions. It requires greater relational skill and dexterity to avoid being entangled in other people's offenses than is the case where the neighborhood turns over every 5-10 years.

The funny thing is that I didn't even want to come to NY this holiday. Sometimes, I have the most fun doing things that I didn't want to do.

submission11-17-06

I don't really know Him well at all. I thought that He exercised power differently. His Way is unlike my own. His manner and methods are not those that I would have chosen. Submission is the model, the method, and the goal. If I had it, I think that I would use power to satisfy immediate desire and remove any impedence. That isn't His Way. Odd, yet refreshing.

-Rev 1:1, John 8:38, 10:25, 10:37, 14:10,

on preparing messages and prayer

I was told that last week when I spoke at "Pimp My Life", the campus student meeting, I delivered a great message. As a follow up to the complement, she asked "What did you do different to prepare?"

Now my pride was a little injured at that last question. I happen to believe that I gave great messages at our previous meetings as well. Apparently however, this opinion is not as widely held as I had believed.

As I began to prepare next week's message, I thought more about this and came to some conclusion. Maybe this will be useful to someone, or at least the principles behind it will be. When attempting to speak the Truth from the Scripture to others with the intent that it be applied, the preparation of the man is vastly more significant than the preparation of the message. The role of prayer should not be underestimated. The manner of prayer should not be taken for granted. Prayers to seek God's blessings to achieve my goals generate less peace than prayers to seek God's goals and His favor that I might perform them.

When I ask God's blessing, I assume that I know what He is willing to bless. This is unwarranted overconfidence at best. I've misunderstood and misapplied Scripture often enough to provide no basis for such assumptions.

On the other hand, seeking God's goals assumes that I may not be continually aware of what is on God's mind. This is more in accord with the reality of my relationship with my Father. Following that search with asking for His favor to perform, assumes that I may not be in a position where His favor may be received. This could be do to doubt, unbelief, or some other of the many sins to which I am prone. Again, this assumption is safer being more likely to accord with my actual experience.

As true as I've noticed this to be in general with prayer, it is just as true when praying about a message. This stands to reason since the idea behind delivering a message in practical terms is that the message originates with someone other than the messenger. Understanding the intentions, desires, and emotions of the sender will help the messenger to deliver the message as the sender intended. My Father makes these known more often when I ask Him what He wants me to say, what impression He wants to make, and how He feels about the people that I am to speak to.

Hope this will be as useful to you and your hearers as it was to me and mine.

Just for Laughs-"White & Nerdy"

This is soooo funny! I'm not normally a fan of this guy but this video is great. "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video from his new album "Straight Outta Lynwood" (in stores Sept. 26)

His Name

I want to walk humbly before God content to bear His Name.

I'm not strong enough to create a lasting name for myself.

There exists no institution, organizaiton, family, nation, or race whose name is worth devoting myself to.

His Name is honorable and everything sacrificed for the sake of His Name is worthwhile. His Name is worthy of unreasonable extravagant expense.