I found you, you little . . .
The culprit is a broken power connector (see previous post). Now all I gotta do is order a new one on ebay, remove the old one and solder in the new one.
I told you that the last fall was not the last straw!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Dirty Rotter
The last straw? NEVER!
So my laptop fell on the floor again. Maybe for the last time. Shortly after this incident, I found that my laptop had shut off - the power surge/shorting out kinda shut off. After a reboot, I saw that my power module wasn't supplying power to the laptop. I wasn't surprised - I've had to rewire it twice due to excessive use. I tore it apart and tried a more permanent fix which involved a lot of solder. When I plugged it into the laptop, it whistled in a way I cannot explain. I thought I may have soldered it wrong. Feeling beat, I started pricing out a new power supply. Before I commiting to buying one, I had to make sure it was the power supply. After fiddling, I almost admitted defeat. I powered up my laptop with the intention of aimlessly surfing the net while wondering what one does when he knows he only has a half hour of battery life left before it dies and he has to wait a week before a new power supply arrives. Only, the laptop shorted out, this time before my very eyes. After a few cycles of this, I deducted that the short is related to internal parts surrounding the thingy (good technical term) where the power supply plugs into my laptop. I proceeded to take things apart, only I didn't get very far cause I didn't know what I was doing.
So, the point of this post is that I have found a manual that tells me how to take my laptop apart and tonight, after the boys are in bed, I am going to do surgery. I am even thinking I may take a few pictures to document this feat, or defeat . . .
So, see ya on the other side.
Is this how it is supposed to work?
I thought the parents were supposed to read the book and then follow the steps to potty train their kids.
Let me tell you the way it has been working for us, since we have not yet read the book or really begun to train Mackenzie to use his potty: Mackenzie knows what the "potty book" is. About 10 minutes ago, he grabbed it off the shelf to look at the pictures. He then proceeded to make his way to the bathroom, remove his pants and diaper, sit down, continue reading the book and dribble a little. Yeah, all on his own. The hilarious part is that he grabs the potty training book to take with him to the bathroom. This is not the first time.
We are thinking we will leave him be and hopefully he will completely train himself, only, I don't think there are any pictures in there that show him how to wipe his bum. Guess you can't have it all.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Application
Where did this idea of Application come from? Where did we get the idea that we must "apply, apply, apply" the scriptures. I was having an intense conversation with someone over the beattudes, again, and this person was constantly saying: "but I gotta know how to apply it." He was taking each verse, such as "Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy" and insisting that he needed to know how to apply it to his life.
Now I am not saying making applications are wrong but must we always read scripture with intention that we must apply what we read to our lives right now? The trouble for me is that I am still wrestling with the beattitudes. I feel that Jesus was stating a fact in this "sermon" rather than imploring that everone needs to be these things or else, know what I mean?"
So it is not that I am looking for an excuse to not be merciful, I definitely want to be that, but what I want to know is where did we get the idea that we must "apply" everything? Where did that notion come from? Who influenced our thinking this way?
Perhaps you may point to 2 Timothy 3:16 which says: "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,correcting and training in righteousness" and say that is why we must apply it. Ok. But must we make applications with such vigor?
I am just tired of having to respond by doing something all the time. I am weary of it. What I really want is for God to speak through the scriptures to tell me who I am. To tell me how much he loves me and values me. I don't get this when I read for application. I usually feel guilty that I don't measure up or could ever measure up. I seem to always read scripture through the lens of "so what should I do now?" And when I do that, I am overwhelmed with the weight of having to do something - usually something I can't do, by myself at least, or without the Holy Spirit, which is what I have end up trying to do.
* * *
So I think this tension in me - applying scripture vs. just listening to scripture - is a result of me being in the crossover between our modern and post-modern generations. The modern part of me tells me that I must measure up to a standard and do, do, do while the post-modern part of me wants to rebell agains that complusion. And for no particular reason that I can tell, other than I want to rebell. Or maybe it i wrong.
And where does this all bring me? No idea. If you've been confused by what you just read, I am more confused than you.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Quotes
2 sweet quotes I never want to forget:
"He is the God of deal with it now. Why? Simple. Because later is about me, and now is about everyone else." The Last Next Best. Mark Steele. Relevant Megazine. Nov/Dec 06 p. 56.
The bold is what I want to remember. There is a lot contained in that phrase. This speaks directly to my "always lookin to the future" complex.
The other quote I heard last night on that extreme homemakeover show. It's that one with Ty, I think his name is. The one where they basically build a house for well deserving family. The dad that died of cancer from yesterday's show was known to say "Lots to think about. Nothin to worry about."
Maybe I should add another quote, from scripture. It's one that I think is most often misunderstood. I'll throw it on the pile:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:6-7 (NIV).
So you tell me, what is the common thread in these three quotes?
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Holiday
The photos of our holiday can be found here.
This is what happened (I'm gunna make this quick cause I don't have much time):
We flew into Regina Monday night. Got to the farm pretty late. The boys travelled fairly well. I always enjoy a good plane ride.
We hung low at the farm for a couple of days. Mackenzie loves his grandma and grandpa, his uncle Richard, and everything on the farm.
We visited my sister's family in Shamrock. Those are her two oldest boys on the combine tire, Curtis and Stephen. Yes, Mackenzie got a combine ride and his dad got to drive.
We played a lot there. It was fun. I saw Stephen's very first hockey game, ever. He did well. I predict a 1st round draft pick soon . . .
Back to the farm.
More hanging low - we like that.
I hung out with my friend Shawn Hiebert for a day in Swift Current (no relation). That lifted my spirits. I was feeling pretty discouraged until then - I don't know how to relax and get my mind off of work . . .
Kristin Clark drove up from Saskatoon after that. She spent 2 days at the farm I think. It was great to see her again.
I was able to haul some hay bales via. semi truck for Angela's dad. I was happy to be able to contribute to the farm.
Angela got sick.
Then the boys got sick.
Then I got sick.
It could have been that we didn't get one full night's sleep throughout the whole holiday, or not, but I'd like to blame it on that.
That's right. No sleep, or very little at least.
I helped Richard finish Star Wars: Jedi Knight/Jedi Outcast or whatever it was called. We also managed to do some old school LAN gaming. That's always a blast.
We watched some movies.
We played with the kids.
We drank a lot of coffee.
We had waffles - twice!
We ate a turkey dinner.
Those are the highlights, I guess.
I didn't read much. I was disappointed in myself for that.
I was hoping to blog - dial up and the fact that I wasn't in the mood kept me from it.
There ya go. Check out the pictures. And this is a reminder that you can always find our photos near the top of the page on the right. "Sets" are basically photo albums and "tags" are sections or grouped pages of photos in the photo albums. For example: "Nov 06 Holiday" photos are found in the "Family" set. If you want to look at all the photos in our "Family" photo album, click on the set.
So yeah. That's our holiday summed up.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Just when you think things are going well . . .
Just when we thought things were going well . . . we get slammed with a $256 phone bill!!!!
Yeah, it turns out that Collect Calls from the US to BC are over $3 a minute!!! Who knew?
A few weeks ago, you may remember that I was in Spokane Washington for a Promise Keepers conference. One reason I know I don't really have to go to these conferences is because I love my wife. A lot. And because I love her, I need to talk to her. And because I loved her that week end, I called her that weekend. Four times as a matter of fact. Two times for 7 minutes each. That was not too bad cause I only got charged $22.60 for each 7 minute call. One night I talked with Angela for 27 minutes. K, I understand that the longer you talk, the more money it costs but does it have to cost $57.50? Need more proof that I love my wife? I submit to you the fourth piece of evidence: a 37 minute call totalling $75.60!!!!
I should have used my cell phone. Last year we only got dinged $70. I thought making a collect land line call would be cheaper. Boy was I wrong!
Moral of the story: Don't eat chicken noodle soup with a fork. . . . . in Spokane while talking on the phone with your wife - it's a waste of time AND money trying to spear those little buggers!
It begins at Creation
One of the best things I have read in a long time:
... Perhaps the most common imbalance in American evangelicalism is to overemphasize the Fall. Consider the typical evangelistic message: "You're a sinner; you need to be saved." What could be wrong with that? Of course, it's true that we are sinners, but notice that the message starts with the Fall instead of Creation. By beginning with the theme of sin, it implies that our essential identity consists in being guilty sinners, deserving of divine punishment. Some Christian literature goes so far as to say we are nothing, completely worthless, before a holy God.For some reason, I have lately taken an interest in the study of worldviews and how they develop, particularly the North American Christian worldview. I think it is because I have become to realize how out of whack mine is. Or maybe it is because I think most other Christian's worldview is out of whack and I am resisting becoming one of them. Either way, I know I am going to be challenged and stretch. I think it is up to me how far I'll allow myself to go and that scares me because even though I like the idea of changing, I don't know how far I will allow myself to go.
This excessively negative view is not biblical, however, and it lays Christianity open to the charge that it has a low view of human dignity. The Bible does not begin with the Fall but with Creation: Our value and dignity are rooted in the fact that we are created in the image of God, with the high calling of being His representatives on earth. In fact, it is only because humans have such high value that sin is so tragic. If we were worthless to begin with, then the Fall would be a trivial event. When a cheap trinket is broken, we toss it aside with a shrug. But when a priceless masterpiece is defaced, we are horrified. It is because humans are the masterpiece of God's creation that the destructiveness of sin produces such horror and sorrow. Far from expressing a low view of human nature, the Bible actually gives a far higher view than the dominant secular view today, which regards humans as simply complex computers made of meat-products of blind, naturalistic forces, without transcendent purpose or meaning.
If we start with the message of sin, without giving the context of Creation, then we will come across to nonbelievers as merely negative and judgmental. After and extended trip through Africa (described in Dark Star Safari), the writer Paul Theroux said one of the saddest moments in his journey was "hearing a young woman [missionary] tell me that she was heading for Mozambique and adding, 'They're all sinners, you know.'" Theroux concluded that missionaries only make people "despise themselves."* We need to begin our message where the Bible begins-with the dignity and high calling of all human beings because they are created in the image of God.
Nancy Pearcey Total Truth: Liberating Christianity From Its Cultural Captivity. pg. 87-88.
*Paul Theroux, interview by Susan Olasky, "Agents of Virtue," World, March 15, 2003.
Anyhow, this quote is one example how Christians have wrongly have viewed humanity and sin through a distorted lens.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Rest
"Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Him." Augustine. Confessions I.1
I have a lot of questions about rest. What is true rest? What is the rest that Augustine is talking about? I would assume it is a heart that is settled, or satisfied in being God's, in being His beloved. Something like that anyway. Is this rest something that is final? Do people who find this rest in Him always have it or does it come and go? Cause if I find it, I want to have it for ever.
I am scared of this rest, I think. I am scared that when I find it, that when my heart is no longer restless, I'll have no more ambitions or desires. Like right now I am thinking of my desire to be a paraglider pilot. Who knows when or if it happens but my life long dream has always been to fly and paragliding is the cheapest and a very exciting way to do it. I wonder if I desire to do it to fill some sort of void in life. That my desire to do it is an attempt too fill a void that only God can fill. I desire to have a rested heart but I am wondering if this is something I gotta give up in order to find my rest in Him. I hope not. I hope that I can have both. I am just not sure. But I wonder.
And I wonder why people who love God still seem to have something missing. The words to U2's "I still haven't found what I am looking for" are running through my head. Ok, I just re-read this paragraph and I should not have said "people who love God." Really, it is me who feels this way, that I still desire more of something. And I don't think I am alone. I think I desire more fulfillment, or happiness, or stuff. I don't know. I think this is my internal struggle between my "flesh" and God.
... I just took a couple of minutes to search the scriptures for the rest theme. Interesting truths in Hebrews:
1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
"So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."5And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts."8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. (NIV)
I have a lot to learn about rest. It's been promised. That's sweet. Sounds to me like disobedience is a disqualifier. And sounds like it is important to God: "make every effort." I have experienced God's rest a few times. Really only one experience comes to mind at the moment. But it was sweet. Oh, and I think that rest is different than peace cause I have experienced God's peace a lot.
In a couple of weeks, Angela and I are going to spend a couple of nights away at a condo with two other pastor couples/friends of ours. One of the wives is going to share a few of her thoughts and a bit of her journey with rest and Sabbath. She is going to share a bit from Mark Buchanon's book: The Rest of God. I am looking forward to hear her story and then or course, reading the book for myself. Angela and I think we will read it together. We have heard that it is great.
So yeah, my heart is restless. I have found God, that is not the issue. It's that I want to find rest in Him.
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