About James and juice

Grapefruit juice ruins the taste of milk.

Listen to James:

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:1-26)


Listen to David:

1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities. (Psalm 51:1-9)

a clean break

Change is good, right? Stupid question. I don't think all change is good - but it IS inevitable. And our ability to flow with it when it comes determines whether or not we turn into disgruntled old farts, trying to cling to the "good old days". It's dangerous, especially when you're dealing with the God who made the seasons.

Even without trying, we change. We are victims of our environment. We are morphed into the kinds of company we keep. It seems harsh to draw firm lines in your life, and we all have said things like, "I'm not into that - so I can be around it and it doesn't affect me at all." I'm guilty of this. Problems arise, however, from actually believing we're immune to the natural processes of adaptation and acceptance. We will, with continued exposure to something, find that we don't feel as strongly for/against something we defended our right to be around in the past. Let me illustrate.

Jamie hates horror movies. They give her nightmares, and she thinks they're gross and scary. Jamie becomes friends with Angie, who she thinks is the coolest. Angie likes the thrill of being scared out of her wits, and always chooses what she knows will be the most terrifying movies to watch. Jamie, not wanting to be considered a weenie, watches whatever Angie wants to watch. Years later, Jamie will be at home in her living room, watching the latest horror movie. She doesn't remember why she used to hate them, and how she used to be so afraid of what she now thinks is a pretty exciting film genre. Her daughter, 13 year old Kelly, will later host a slumber party with a showing of "It" - selected from her mother's movie collection. Her friends will go along, even though 2 of the 5 aren't going to sleep for the rest of the weekend.

I'm not going to pass judgment on your choice of movies. My point is simply that people change. What you hate today, you may find you're not feeling so strongly against tomorrow. And this can happen unconsciously, without our awareness of how, when, or why.

Blink got me thinking about some of this stuff. How often are our thoughts really our thoughts, and not just a collection of our feelings at any given time? Can we trust our gut? Notice how often we judge someone almost instantly based on a perceived set of standards in our mind. We think the old guy in the torn jeans with messy hair on the park bench is poor. Maybe he's just not spending his money on clothes. Or maybe he just wants to take it easy after helping a friend move all morning, and hasn't showered up and changed out of his "work" clothes yet. We all do this - it's natural to learn from our experiences, and build up a repertoire of "if this, then that" assessments of people and situations. Saves time, right? We're even taught to hone this in goofy little logic activities in elementary school. Match the apple with the tree it came from, the piglet with the pig. Common sense.

What the heck do we mean by "common sense" anyway??

Perhaps we need to rethink. Or just think, period. I'm feeling compelled to take a look at some of the things I used to condemn that I don't feel so strongly about now. Some of these are legitimate dismissal of a legalistic mindset. I don't want to be in the way of the Pharisee...but on the other hand, there is right and wrong. And there is personal conviction. Do my feelings really get to determine either of those? I don't want to be so easily swayed. But I also believe in the leading of the Holy Spirit in me, which comes across suspiciously as a feeling all too often. When did faith get so foggy?

Romans 14:22
"Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves."

Need to ponder this some more...thoughts?

Phil Wickham

Have you, or have you not
Heard Phil Wickham??

Blink Blink

I read Blink. I highly recommend it. I loved the fact that every chapter took a different approach to the topic - which is, summed up, decision making. It is in no way a self-help book. It's definitely sociology/psychology. But don't be afraid - it's completely approachable, and even the cognitively clueless will be enlightened and not left behind.

I love how Malcolm Gladwell takes the time to explore the ins and outs of his topic - never settling on a pro-snap-judgement or pro-research-decision-making point of view. He credits and discredits both methods with various and varied examples of how people can either win or lose with these approaches - from used car salesmen in Chicago deciding who to spend their commissioned time with, to a war veteran out-witting the American forces in a military game using his experienced instinct, to the streets of the Bronx where four young policemen's perception of reality lead to unnecessary death and destruction. It's interesting. And challenging.

The mind is an incredible thing. To think that it's possible to hone your first impressions...and why that will help and hurt you depending on the situation...

Again, our only surety is that God knows what's going on. Even when we are idiots.

Run

I have, for the last two days (!) been walking. A lot. And jogging. A bit. I intend to make this habitual, but for now it's just...painful. I am vaguely achy and somewhat irritable as a result. But the fresh air is nice.

I'll let you know how I feel in another couple days...

Carbon Fibre has gone too far.

So. Cellos are made of...wood?

Traditional materials are being thrown aside, according to a recent Discovery Channel interview with some cellist who thinks it's time for a change. I don't know what he's thinking, other than to make a buck. These newly built instruments (if they can even be called that) are lighter, easier to repair, more durable in the first place, and could potentially come in colors.

Bleah.

I'll take my French 1800's baby any day. Can't speak for everyone else, but I'm sort of annoyed about the whole thing. Shame on him! Maybe I'm just a purist...

For other potentially sacrilegious information, see the Daily Planet archive.

Days I forget

Lately I can't get out of bed. I've gotten pretty good at showering, dressing, and being out the door in about 20 minutes...but I tend to forget something when I push it like that. One day I did my makeup and forgot to put on mascara. I realized it on the way to school, about the same time I realized I hadn't used deodorant. Good thing it was mid-winter, and I spent the day shivering in my classroom. Still, I felt a little self-conscious...

Today I did it again. I hit snooze until after 7am, and rushed around to get to school on time. I made my coffee and poured it into my travel mug, only to leave it sitting on the counter. Sadness!! And while I was driving, I realized I am not wearing earrings today. Honestly, I could care less about the earrings - it's the COFFEE I can't do without!

I do feel like I'm growing in this area, though - I let both of them go. I resisted the urge to be late and prepared - I decided being closer to on time was more important than me having these things I feel naked without. Priorities, I guess.

Don't worry, I did get coffee. A co-worker usually makes a pot, and shares when asked. (Thanks, Colleen!) And I'd probably have fashioned some earrings by now, but I'm all out of paper clips.

Steve's Page

You should know...

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You should visit it. I like how it looks visually, and well, it's Steve.