Have you ever tried to read through the whole Bible in a year? What about the Catechism? What about both the Bible and the Catechism? Well I have some options for you! The Coming Home Network has a pamphlet you can print out to read through the entire Bible and the entire Catechism in one year. It's here (warning: PDF) as a free printout.
Are you familiar with Jeff Cavins' The Great Adventure? I've linked to the site, but let me quote here from the What is The Great Adventure? information page:
"The Great Adventure is a Catholic Bible learning system that makes the complex simple by teaching the story (the narrative) of the Bible...Jeff Cavins developed The Great Adventure in 1984 when he realized that most people, despite their strong faith, did not grasp the 'big picture' of the Bible. Though they knew selected stories, they were not able to connect them into a full narrative. His answer was to identify the books of the Bible that tell the story from beginning to end. By reading just these 14 'narrative' books, a chronological story emerges."
Mr. Cavins has a printable PDF document (also free) on his site that will let you read these 14 narrative books in 90 days. Click here for it. If you're not that ambitious, I've developed my own version of this list which allows one to read these 14 books in a year. If you're interested, e-mail me from my profile page, and I'll e-mail you a copy as a Microsoft Word attachement. Use "Reading guide" as the subject.
Also, I have a Microsoft Word document I can send you as an attachement to read the Catechism through in a year.
My guides use the following format:
February
01: 257-267
02: 268-274
03: 275-281
04: 282-289
05: 290-294
This example shows you February 1-5 of the Catechism guide. On Feb. 01 one reads paragraphs 257-267; on Feb. 02 one reads paragraphs 268-274; etc,
Both guides have little boxes before the dates you can check when you've done your reading for the day.
If I get enough time, I'll develope a plan to read the entire Bible through in 2 years. Should that ever happen, I'll post it on my blog.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry CHRISTmas, everyone!
And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, unto the City of David which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men!"
And it came to pass, when the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men!"
And it came to pass, when the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Hallelujah Chorus Nuns
I just found this video on YouTube. It's quite funny. I hope you enjoy. (Jeron, I'm sorry you can't watch all the silly videos on my site.)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
My roommate is gone till Christmas.
I get to throw food away with abandon! This means nothing to you reading this, so I'll explain.
My roommate, by his own admission, is cheap. And he has weird ideas about food. Even his mom thinks his food ideas are weird. He thinks spending money on food is a waste of time, so he tries everything he can think of (within ethical and moral limits) to get it for free. Within this past year, his most fruitful plan fell through, so he actually does go to the grocery store now. I, on the other hand, have always gone to the grocery store. I buy food, fully intending to eat it all. Unfortunately, very often I don't make it to the food before it expires. Tim, my roommate, eats things well past the expiration date. Indeed, if there's something in the fridge with a surface layer of mold on it, he will remove the moldy layer and eat what's underneath it! If I knew how to use HTML to make a smiley that is puking, you would see one here. The smiley would not represent Tim puking, it would represent me puking! If I have food that's old, he tells me to let him know about it and not to throw it away so he can eat it. I always so "Okay," but throw the food out anyway. I feel a little guilty about this. Not the lying part, the throwing away food part. It's like I'm being naughty!
But Tim is visiting family out of state till Christmas. I went on a throw-out-food-free-for-all last night. I hope something else expires before he gets back!
My roommate, by his own admission, is cheap. And he has weird ideas about food. Even his mom thinks his food ideas are weird. He thinks spending money on food is a waste of time, so he tries everything he can think of (within ethical and moral limits) to get it for free. Within this past year, his most fruitful plan fell through, so he actually does go to the grocery store now. I, on the other hand, have always gone to the grocery store. I buy food, fully intending to eat it all. Unfortunately, very often I don't make it to the food before it expires. Tim, my roommate, eats things well past the expiration date. Indeed, if there's something in the fridge with a surface layer of mold on it, he will remove the moldy layer and eat what's underneath it! If I knew how to use HTML to make a smiley that is puking, you would see one here. The smiley would not represent Tim puking, it would represent me puking! If I have food that's old, he tells me to let him know about it and not to throw it away so he can eat it. I always so "Okay," but throw the food out anyway. I feel a little guilty about this. Not the lying part, the throwing away food part. It's like I'm being naughty!
But Tim is visiting family out of state till Christmas. I went on a throw-out-food-free-for-all last night. I hope something else expires before he gets back!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Te Deum Laudamus
We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
"Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy Glory."
The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.
The godly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Paraclete.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man:
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee,
help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Thy people: and bless Thine heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify Thee; and we worship Thy Name,
ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.
All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
"Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy Glory."
The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.
The godly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Paraclete.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man:
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee,
help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save Thy people: and bless Thine heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify Thee; and we worship Thy Name,
ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.
I have many ideas for posts...
...but very few of them actually make it to this blog. And when they do, they don't quite turn out the way I expected them to. I spend a lot of time driving for my job. This gives me a lot of time to think. Sometimes, I come up with great ideas for this blog, excellent posts, intelligently written, thoughtful, real sharing from my heart. By the time I get home, I'm too tired to write. Then when I'm finally able to sit down at the computer, my mind goes blank. I wirte silly things like this, or I do one of these. One day, I'll post something with real content again. For example, I could finish up one of my series: The Story of my Faith and Missions, Sex, and All Things New. Maybe I'll make time this coming up weekend, wherein I will (hopefully) have four days off in a row! We shall see.
So many bloggers have written about this lately...
...that I'm going to throw my two cents in, as well.
I shared in a previous post that I was at Urbana '96.* As I said in that post, "Sometimes I miss the unity I used to feel with my Evangelical brothers." When I was an Evangelical, I was ignorant of the true devastation the Great Schism and the Protestant "Reformation" have caused. I wasn't sure if Catholic and Orthodox Christians were actually Christians, so I viewed them as "targets for evagelization". Now that I'm Catholic and have a much better understanding of the nature of the Church, Church history, and, especially, Common-union, it hurts that there's so much division among Christians! It hurts! Sometimes, I cry over the un-community we've created. And remember, it's not just a split between Catholic and Orthodox. The Coptic and Armenian Churches broke off from the Church around 500A.D. The Protestant groups broke off in the 16th century and started fragmenting off from each other. The Old Catholic Church broke off from the Western Church in the 1800s, I believe, and we also have the SSPX, the McFeeny-ites, and other groups. The Orthodox Communion deals with "Old Calendarists" (the Orthodox version of the Catholic "rad Trad"). The Antiochan Orthodox communion broke off from the Orthodox Church in the 20th century. And let us not forget the heretical "Christian" cults: the Watchtower Society, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (which has also experienced schism), the Worldwide Church of God, etc. Let us fast, pray, and work to bring the heretics into the Truth, and let us fast, pray, and work to heal all the divisions within the mystical Body of Christ.
*Urbana home page link here.
*History of the Urbana Conventions here.
I shared in a previous post that I was at Urbana '96.* As I said in that post, "Sometimes I miss the unity I used to feel with my Evangelical brothers." When I was an Evangelical, I was ignorant of the true devastation the Great Schism and the Protestant "Reformation" have caused. I wasn't sure if Catholic and Orthodox Christians were actually Christians, so I viewed them as "targets for evagelization". Now that I'm Catholic and have a much better understanding of the nature of the Church, Church history, and, especially, Common-union, it hurts that there's so much division among Christians! It hurts! Sometimes, I cry over the un-community we've created. And remember, it's not just a split between Catholic and Orthodox. The Coptic and Armenian Churches broke off from the Church around 500A.D. The Protestant groups broke off in the 16th century and started fragmenting off from each other. The Old Catholic Church broke off from the Western Church in the 1800s, I believe, and we also have the SSPX, the McFeeny-ites, and other groups. The Orthodox Communion deals with "Old Calendarists" (the Orthodox version of the Catholic "rad Trad"). The Antiochan Orthodox communion broke off from the Orthodox Church in the 20th century. And let us not forget the heretical "Christian" cults: the Watchtower Society, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (which has also experienced schism), the Worldwide Church of God, etc. Let us fast, pray, and work to bring the heretics into the Truth, and let us fast, pray, and work to heal all the divisions within the mystical Body of Christ.
*Urbana home page link here.
*History of the Urbana Conventions here.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
I'm dying.
I think that's the message the grey hairs I found in my goatee today are telling me. I'm only thirty-three! I'm too young for this!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A Random Conversation I had with a Coworker
Dave: "I think [another coworker] forgot to show the nurse the Trendelenberg function on this (hospital) bed when he placed it."
Me: "I usually forget to tell the nurses how to use Trend. when I place a patient on that bed, too.
Dave: "Fortunately, most of the staff at [the hospital under discussion] know our beds."
Me: "Yeah, but sometimes you find someone that doesn't know anything at all about them, and you have to give them a complete inservice. The other day I was in [one of the ICU departments] and had to give an inservice to a hot nurse...Anthony."
Dave: "You know, it doesn't bother me that you're gay, but when you say 'hot nurse' and follow it up with a guy's name, it kinda throws me."
Me: "I usually forget to tell the nurses how to use Trend. when I place a patient on that bed, too.
Dave: "Fortunately, most of the staff at [the hospital under discussion] know our beds."
Me: "Yeah, but sometimes you find someone that doesn't know anything at all about them, and you have to give them a complete inservice. The other day I was in [one of the ICU departments] and had to give an inservice to a hot nurse...Anthony."
Dave: "You know, it doesn't bother me that you're gay, but when you say 'hot nurse' and follow it up with a guy's name, it kinda throws me."
Thursday, December 6, 2007
"On this very night...
...ten years ago, on the same stretch of road, in a dense fog, just like this, I saw the worst accident I ever seen. There was this sound like a garbage truck dropped off the Empire State building...and when they finally pulled the driver's body from the twisted, burning wreck, it looked like THIS!
"Yes, sir. That was the worst accident I ever seen...
"Be sure and tell 'em Large Marge sent ya! A-haa-haa!"
"Yes, sir. That was the worst accident I ever seen...
"Be sure and tell 'em Large Marge sent ya! A-haa-haa!"
A New Blog in My Favorite Places on the Web blogroll:
Islam and Christianity
I should have added this one awhile ago. It's full of great information about Islam, Christianity around the world, quotes from the Church Fathers, all kinds of good things!
Use it often. Learn about Islam. Remember Christians from a Muslim background who are persecuted for their faith. Make the issues this blog raises and the information it gives you part of your regular prayer life. And pray for Abu Daoud and his family, too.
I should have added this one awhile ago. It's full of great information about Islam, Christianity around the world, quotes from the Church Fathers, all kinds of good things!
Use it often. Learn about Islam. Remember Christians from a Muslim background who are persecuted for their faith. Make the issues this blog raises and the information it gives you part of your regular prayer life. And pray for Abu Daoud and his family, too.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
A New Encyclical from our Pope!
Spe Salvi...
So far I've read only the first two paragraphs. Can't wait to read the rest, but I'm taking a nap now. I've been working since 7am! (I don't usually get up till noon-I'm not lazy, I just work a late shift except sometimes on Sundays when it's a really early shift.)
So far I've read only the first two paragraphs. Can't wait to read the rest, but I'm taking a nap now. I've been working since 7am! (I don't usually get up till noon-I'm not lazy, I just work a late shift except sometimes on Sundays when it's a really early shift.)
Saturday, December 1, 2007
"You are loved with an everlasting love. That's what the Bible says. And underneath are the everlasting arms."
Thus began the radio program called Gateway to Joy, hosted by Elisabeth Elliot.
I don’t know if anyone who reads my blog is familiar with Elisabeth Elliot. If not, I'd like to introduce you to her. She is the widow of Jim Elliot, whose journal I quoted from in my last post. She and Jim were missionaries in Ecuador. Jim and four other missionaries were killed in an attempt to take the Gospel to a tribe of people who were so fierce the headhunters were afraid of them! A few years after Jim's and the other missionaries' deaths, she wrote a book about it called Through Gates of Splendor.
Elisabeth continued her missionary work for a few more years, and even, with her daughter (born a few months before her father's death) and the sister of one of the other missionaries, went to work for about two years among the tribespeople who had killed her husband. Eventually Elisabeth returned to the US and became a highly respected Evangelical author, speaker, and radio host.
I have never met Elisabeth Elliot, but if I ever get the chance, I will. Her writings have had a great impact on my life, and I hope they continue to do so. In many ways she has been a spiritual mother to me. You know how God is sometimes referred to in the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, a few years ago, as I was going through a time of great doubt and trouble in my life, I could only pray to God as the God of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. I wasn't sure if God was with me, but I knew He had been with them.
Elisabeth Elliot is no longer on the radio. In August of 2001 her program went off the air. When she announced that she was discontinuing the show, I cried! The website is still up, but it's not as good as it used to be (it's under constant construction lately). There used to be audio archives on it, but I think Mrs. Elliot asked that they be taken down. I miss those archives! There are transcripts of the broadcasts on the web site.
May God bless Elisabeth Elliot with many more years of life and ministry! Amen and amen!
Here are some links (some of which have been provided in the above paragraphs):
Elisabeth Elliot's web site
Gateway to Joy web site
Elisabeth Elliot on Wikipedia (contains a bibliography)
I don’t know if anyone who reads my blog is familiar with Elisabeth Elliot. If not, I'd like to introduce you to her. She is the widow of Jim Elliot, whose journal I quoted from in my last post. She and Jim were missionaries in Ecuador. Jim and four other missionaries were killed in an attempt to take the Gospel to a tribe of people who were so fierce the headhunters were afraid of them! A few years after Jim's and the other missionaries' deaths, she wrote a book about it called Through Gates of Splendor.
Elisabeth continued her missionary work for a few more years, and even, with her daughter (born a few months before her father's death) and the sister of one of the other missionaries, went to work for about two years among the tribespeople who had killed her husband. Eventually Elisabeth returned to the US and became a highly respected Evangelical author, speaker, and radio host.
I have never met Elisabeth Elliot, but if I ever get the chance, I will. Her writings have had a great impact on my life, and I hope they continue to do so. In many ways she has been a spiritual mother to me. You know how God is sometimes referred to in the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, a few years ago, as I was going through a time of great doubt and trouble in my life, I could only pray to God as the God of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. I wasn't sure if God was with me, but I knew He had been with them.
Elisabeth Elliot is no longer on the radio. In August of 2001 her program went off the air. When she announced that she was discontinuing the show, I cried! The website is still up, but it's not as good as it used to be (it's under constant construction lately). There used to be audio archives on it, but I think Mrs. Elliot asked that they be taken down. I miss those archives! There are transcripts of the broadcasts on the web site.
May God bless Elisabeth Elliot with many more years of life and ministry! Amen and amen!
Here are some links (some of which have been provided in the above paragraphs):
Elisabeth Elliot's web site
Gateway to Joy web site
Elisabeth Elliot on Wikipedia (contains a bibliography)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
A journal entry from one of my Protestant Missionary Heroes
"Psalms 104:4 - 'He makes His ministers a flame of fire'. Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of "other things." Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul, short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God's house consumed Him, and He has promised baptism with the Spirit and with Fire. 'Make me Thy fuel, flame of God.'"
Jim Elliot
July 7, 1948
as recorded in The Journals of Jim Elliot
Oh to have a heart after God like Jim Elliot did! I still love this man, even in spite of his anti-Catholicism. I don't know what to think of him and many of my Protestant heroes now that I'm Catholic. Are they in Purgatory? Heaven? Hell (because of their anti-Catholicism)? I don't know. I pray for their souls and trust them to the God of mercy who will not treat them or anyone unjustly.
Jim Elliot
July 7, 1948
as recorded in The Journals of Jim Elliot
Oh to have a heart after God like Jim Elliot did! I still love this man, even in spite of his anti-Catholicism. I don't know what to think of him and many of my Protestant heroes now that I'm Catholic. Are they in Purgatory? Heaven? Hell (because of their anti-Catholicism)? I don't know. I pray for their souls and trust them to the God of mercy who will not treat them or anyone unjustly.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Ghosts from years past...
I've been reading this guy's blog off and on for a while now. He's funny. This particular post brings up a point that makes me feel better about an eccentricity I have. First, quoting from James' story:
"…I did not take into account my fear of smelling bad.
"It sounds like such a juvenile fear - smelling bad. I suppose it sounds so juvenile because its roots reach back into my juvenile years. I don't recall the age at which I first began to wear deodorant, but I do know that I only started following a suggestion from my parents. When it came to the pain of childhood and teenage social interactions, my parents subscribed to the School of Gentle Prodding. For the most part, they only spoke up when it became pathetically obvious that I was not going to figure some obvious truth out on my own. In the case of deodorant, they had to buy me my first stick, along with some gentle prodding: "Here. Use this." A few years later, they repeated this exercise with a small selection of cologne brands. The implications were appalling: I smelled bad."
It's amazing how little things from childhood can "scar us for life". Once, when I was in the third grade, one of my teachers told my parents I had a propensity of talking about things that had no bearing on what was being discussed. She provided no examples, so I don’t know exactly what she meant by that. Unfortunately, I went into panic mode and started analyzing my thoughts as I listened in on conversations. If someone talked about their pet, I would consciously follow my thoughts as they traversed the fields of association. Their pet would remind me of my pet which would remind me of the time Lassie did something in the car which might remind me of the time the car caught fire which would remind me of the time we had a bonfire, etc. The ultimate end of the association process had nothing at all to do with the original thought. So if I felt like contributing anything to the conversation, I would worry that what I was about to say would fail my third grade teacher's relevancy test, even if my contribution did have bearing on the subject at hand. Using the pet example above, someone might relate how his pet fell off the bed. I might talk about how I once thought I broke my dog's leg by dropping him off the bed, but I would begin my story with: "I don’t know what reminded me of this, but…" To this day, I still begin many stories with, "I don’t know what reminded me of this…" I doubt my teacher meant for me to be haunted by that phrase for the rest of my life, but it has haunted me! I wonder how some of my other insecurities developed? I wonder if I've caused my nieces and nephews any worries like this? I hope not.
And "that's all I've got to say about that."
"…I did not take into account my fear of smelling bad.
"It sounds like such a juvenile fear - smelling bad. I suppose it sounds so juvenile because its roots reach back into my juvenile years. I don't recall the age at which I first began to wear deodorant, but I do know that I only started following a suggestion from my parents. When it came to the pain of childhood and teenage social interactions, my parents subscribed to the School of Gentle Prodding. For the most part, they only spoke up when it became pathetically obvious that I was not going to figure some obvious truth out on my own. In the case of deodorant, they had to buy me my first stick, along with some gentle prodding: "Here. Use this." A few years later, they repeated this exercise with a small selection of cologne brands. The implications were appalling: I smelled bad."
It's amazing how little things from childhood can "scar us for life". Once, when I was in the third grade, one of my teachers told my parents I had a propensity of talking about things that had no bearing on what was being discussed. She provided no examples, so I don’t know exactly what she meant by that. Unfortunately, I went into panic mode and started analyzing my thoughts as I listened in on conversations. If someone talked about their pet, I would consciously follow my thoughts as they traversed the fields of association. Their pet would remind me of my pet which would remind me of the time Lassie did something in the car which might remind me of the time the car caught fire which would remind me of the time we had a bonfire, etc. The ultimate end of the association process had nothing at all to do with the original thought. So if I felt like contributing anything to the conversation, I would worry that what I was about to say would fail my third grade teacher's relevancy test, even if my contribution did have bearing on the subject at hand. Using the pet example above, someone might relate how his pet fell off the bed. I might talk about how I once thought I broke my dog's leg by dropping him off the bed, but I would begin my story with: "I don’t know what reminded me of this, but…" To this day, I still begin many stories with, "I don’t know what reminded me of this…" I doubt my teacher meant for me to be haunted by that phrase for the rest of my life, but it has haunted me! I wonder how some of my other insecurities developed? I wonder if I've caused my nieces and nephews any worries like this? I hope not.
And "that's all I've got to say about that."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Fluff, I tell you! This post is pure fluff!
Terry Nelson over at Abbey-Roads 1 has a post called "Thanksgiving at the Gretels". It's about "dysfunctional fairytales." He inspired me to share a few of the stories I re-wrote for my nieces and nephew. Here's the first one.
Once there was little girl called Red Riding Hoodlum. In spite of her name, all the other kids at school thought she was a goody-two-shoes, but that was just her cover. Red, as her family called her, and her grandmother ran an underground arms smuggling racket. Red constantly made trips to her grandmother's house, taking her baskets of "goodies". Goodies, indeed! The baskets had false bottoms in them. "Why?" you ask. Because under the false bottom was the place they hid the weapons. "What kind of weapon would fit in a picnic-type basket?" you ask. Well, glass vials full of biogenic serums, silly. Don't you know anything? You see, Red and fam. lived on the edge of a forest right where the borders of the Seven Great Kingdoms met. (There were actually nine kingdoms altogether, but two of them were just mediocre.)
Now the kings of these kingdoms were all wealthy men who had great power and prestige and control. Sometimes, an evil witch would rebel against a king and threaten him. For example, she might say to a king, "Give me one million dollars, or I'll turn your oldest son into a frog!" If the king refused, the witch would get a serum from Red and her grandma (her grandma's name was Large Margo), inject it into the prince, (don't ask me about the logistics of this—I don't know how it happened, only that it happened), and the serum would re-write the prince's DNA turning him into a frog.
This went on for a few hundred years (Red and her grandma had a serum that would allow them to live for centuries. On a side note, while they were still figuring out the long-life formula, they gave one of their early tries to an old homeless man. It horribly disfigured him, and he ran away. Red and Margo had to hire the mercenary Gruff brothers to take care of him. They took care of him all right. Hungry troll, indeed!). As I said, this went on for a few hundred years, until one day the king of the smallest kingdom and his wife had a baby daughter. She learned how to speak in complete sentences by the age of six months, and had Ph.D.s in chemistry, biology, zoology, physics, and philosophy before her twenty-third year, and because of her great athletic abilities, had won Kingdombledon, the Tour de Seven Kingdoms, and the Kingdom Chase, too. Her name was Priscillaquareanimamacita, but people called her Fred for short.
Princess Fred loved science. She loved science so much, that she started a research institute when she was twenty-four. Fred invited all the brightest minds from all the surrounding Kingdoms to join it. It was a huge success and was called the Kingdoms' Institute for Scientific Studies. This gave it the acronym KISS. In its third year, Fred and her chemistry team found a way to reverse the DNA re-write. Kings brought their sons to the Princess's KISS to be cured. It was lovely and a good time was had by all (except for Red, Large Margo, and the witches. I don't know whatever happened to them).
Once there was little girl called Red Riding Hoodlum. In spite of her name, all the other kids at school thought she was a goody-two-shoes, but that was just her cover. Red, as her family called her, and her grandmother ran an underground arms smuggling racket. Red constantly made trips to her grandmother's house, taking her baskets of "goodies". Goodies, indeed! The baskets had false bottoms in them. "Why?" you ask. Because under the false bottom was the place they hid the weapons. "What kind of weapon would fit in a picnic-type basket?" you ask. Well, glass vials full of biogenic serums, silly. Don't you know anything? You see, Red and fam. lived on the edge of a forest right where the borders of the Seven Great Kingdoms met. (There were actually nine kingdoms altogether, but two of them were just mediocre.)
Now the kings of these kingdoms were all wealthy men who had great power and prestige and control. Sometimes, an evil witch would rebel against a king and threaten him. For example, she might say to a king, "Give me one million dollars, or I'll turn your oldest son into a frog!" If the king refused, the witch would get a serum from Red and her grandma (her grandma's name was Large Margo), inject it into the prince, (don't ask me about the logistics of this—I don't know how it happened, only that it happened), and the serum would re-write the prince's DNA turning him into a frog.
This went on for a few hundred years (Red and her grandma had a serum that would allow them to live for centuries. On a side note, while they were still figuring out the long-life formula, they gave one of their early tries to an old homeless man. It horribly disfigured him, and he ran away. Red and Margo had to hire the mercenary Gruff brothers to take care of him. They took care of him all right. Hungry troll, indeed!). As I said, this went on for a few hundred years, until one day the king of the smallest kingdom and his wife had a baby daughter. She learned how to speak in complete sentences by the age of six months, and had Ph.D.s in chemistry, biology, zoology, physics, and philosophy before her twenty-third year, and because of her great athletic abilities, had won Kingdombledon, the Tour de Seven Kingdoms, and the Kingdom Chase, too. Her name was Priscillaquareanimamacita, but people called her Fred for short.
Princess Fred loved science. She loved science so much, that she started a research institute when she was twenty-four. Fred invited all the brightest minds from all the surrounding Kingdoms to join it. It was a huge success and was called the Kingdoms' Institute for Scientific Studies. This gave it the acronym KISS. In its third year, Fred and her chemistry team found a way to reverse the DNA re-write. Kings brought their sons to the Princess's KISS to be cured. It was lovely and a good time was had by all (except for Red, Large Margo, and the witches. I don't know whatever happened to them).
Monday, November 19, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Yet another Web Test!
| Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
My great friends.
In my last post, I wrote about my friends, my roomoate especially, driving me crazy. This post is positive. First, starting with my roommate: He's been a great encouragement to me in my struggle. He also has problems with chastity, and has been much more successful than I at overcoming them. He has pointed out to me good things about myself and tried to help me "love myself" in the Christian sense. Also, he charges me cheap rent!
In spite of the fact that I'm kind of a loner, my friend Larry indefatigably invites me over to his house to hang out, let's me know when the guys are getting together, and does his best to get me involved.
Marty is the most loyal person I know. He'll stick by you no matter what. He's like the grass: if you crush him, he gets right back to the business of growing. He prays for me and tells me he loves me. Here's a funny story about him:
Once, when I had just started being honest with myself and my friends about my sexual orientation, he asked me, a little nervously, whether I had found any guys in our church group attractive.* I told him I had, but had made a conscious decision not to lust after any of them because doing so would have warped my view of them. (I'd made that mistake at the last church I'd attended.)
Marty: "What about so-and-so?"
Me: "Oh yes, he's cute."
Marty: "What about ------?"
Me: "He's hot! But I still don't allow myself to lust after him."**
Marty: "What about me?"
Me: "Well, truthfully Marty, I am not attracted to you at all."
Marty (in a huff): "Well my wife thinks I'm attracive!"
I love that he got offended!
These are the guys I hang out with regularly. I love them. They're good friends.
There are a few friends I don't see very much because they moved out of town. I miss them terribly. My friend Danny, who was like a brother to me. I used to know him like the back of my hand (but not know in the Biblical sense; he's straight, after all). My friend Kim who was my best friend in high school. She tells me if I ever go straight to let her know because she'll marry me. Matt who was not afraid to share deeply shameful things about himself with me. My friend Steve who is the most intellectual of my circle of friends, although he's not comfortable with that moniker. He and I started learning about the ancient faith around the same time.
I'm thankful for each of these individuals. They're good friends. May God richly bless them!
*At this point I was still an Evangelical. I had attended for a few years a church which had a group, an excellent group, for twenty-somethings. I was not attending this church any more when Marty asked me this question. (I was in a different church, a few years away from being Catholic still.)
**And that can be difficult because this particular individual is HOT!
In spite of the fact that I'm kind of a loner, my friend Larry indefatigably invites me over to his house to hang out, let's me know when the guys are getting together, and does his best to get me involved.
Marty is the most loyal person I know. He'll stick by you no matter what. He's like the grass: if you crush him, he gets right back to the business of growing. He prays for me and tells me he loves me. Here's a funny story about him:
Once, when I had just started being honest with myself and my friends about my sexual orientation, he asked me, a little nervously, whether I had found any guys in our church group attractive.* I told him I had, but had made a conscious decision not to lust after any of them because doing so would have warped my view of them. (I'd made that mistake at the last church I'd attended.)
Marty: "What about so-and-so?"
Me: "Oh yes, he's cute."
Marty: "What about ------?"
Me: "He's hot! But I still don't allow myself to lust after him."**
Marty: "What about me?"
Me: "Well, truthfully Marty, I am not attracted to you at all."
Marty (in a huff): "Well my wife thinks I'm attracive!"
I love that he got offended!
These are the guys I hang out with regularly. I love them. They're good friends.
There are a few friends I don't see very much because they moved out of town. I miss them terribly. My friend Danny, who was like a brother to me. I used to know him like the back of my hand (but not know in the Biblical sense; he's straight, after all). My friend Kim who was my best friend in high school. She tells me if I ever go straight to let her know because she'll marry me. Matt who was not afraid to share deeply shameful things about himself with me. My friend Steve who is the most intellectual of my circle of friends, although he's not comfortable with that moniker. He and I started learning about the ancient faith around the same time.
I'm thankful for each of these individuals. They're good friends. May God richly bless them!
*At this point I was still an Evangelical. I had attended for a few years a church which had a group, an excellent group, for twenty-somethings. I was not attending this church any more when Marty asked me this question. (I was in a different church, a few years away from being Catholic still.)
**And that can be difficult because this particular individual is HOT!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Warning: High Rambling Alert!
Do you ever have crises of faith? I do, every three or four months. This has been going on since late '99. I was 24. Although I'm not sure I should call them crises of faith. This is the first time I've ever tried clarifying what I'm going through, so forgive me for rambling. Sometimes I read things by critics of Christianity or by people who are skeptical of all religious belief and I worry that they may be right. But I'm not sure I really doubt that Christianity is true. Maybe I just worry because I don't think my faith is entirely rational but believe it should be. Maybe I worry because I can't explain it rationally; that is, I cannot quote facts that disprove some of the critics' assertions. And I cannot quote facts because I don't know what criteria historians use to verify the truth of an historical claim or what criteria scientists use to determine the truth of a scientific claim, etc. It bothers me that I cannot do this. Maybe I worry too much about the skeptics. After all, I don’t really know any personally. That worries me too. As a Christian, shouldn't I know and hang out with non-Christians? I've been isolated in the Fundamentalist- and Evangelical-Christian subcultures my entire life. Even after joining the Catholic Church I'm still surrounded mostly by Evangelical Christians. I don't have any friends who are not Christians. No Muslim, Hindu, agnostic, Jewish, etc. friends to challenge my faith, make me think through what I believe and why I believe it. My Christian friends don't do this either, in spite of the fact that they're all Evangelicals and I'm the only Catholic among them. My roommate can be especially frustrating in this respect. Every time I ask him a question about the Christian faith, any question, even about things we'd both agree on, I get a negative response. For example, one day I was talking about Hebrews 13:3: "Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured." (NRSV) For awhile now I've thought about doing practical things to help myself remember Christians who are persecuted for their faith, but I have no ideas. I asked my friends, my roommate among them, if they had any thoughts. My roommate only said, "I don't know, but God doesn't want you to go around hurting yourself." Well, duh! But instead of telling me what I (obviously) should not do, how about suggesting "You could fast lunch on Tuesdays so your hunger pains will remind you to pray for them, and then you could give the money you'd save by not eating to Open Doors or Amnesty International." (Actually, he'd never suggest I give money to a secular organization.) Another example: He believes Bible teachers should not exist; somehow they're un-Biblical. I asked him how he understands Ephesians 4:11, 12: "And He [Jesus] gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ…" (TMB) Teacher is an office specifically mentioned. His response: "I've prayed about that and I've come to the conclusion that they're not supposed to teach people where they're [the teachers] at spiritually." Third example: "Where did we get the Bible?" Roommate's response: "The church did not produce the Bible!" Note the negatives: 1) Heb. 13:3-remembering suffering Christians consists of not hurting oneself; Eph. 4:11, 12-teaching means not teaching; Bible's origin-not produced by the church.
Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent. To reiterate: it bothers me that I don’t hang out with non-Christians (or even so-called "liberal" Christians).
Another concern: I don't spend enough time with people. My job keeps me pretty busy. For example, since November 1, I have worked 123.43 hours. I'll put in another eight hours minimum tomorrow, followed by Saturday in which I'll be on-call for 24 hours with the potential to work that many with a chance of some more hours spilling over into Sunday's morning time. How do I fit a social life in with a schedule like this?
Okay. Here's another crisis issue: I wonder if I have faith. As a Protestant, I never understood what faith is. As a Catholic, I think I may be starting to understand what faith is. I find that I can't really disbelieve in God, even if I try. I believe in God. I have faith on that point: God exists (although I do sometimes doubt it). But do I have faith in God? That is, do I trust Him? Do I believe in His mercy towards me? I used to know God, when I was a teenager. I really did. Now, I'm not so sure anymore.
I'm not done addressing this crisis yet, but I want to post this right now. So here goes.
Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent. To reiterate: it bothers me that I don’t hang out with non-Christians (or even so-called "liberal" Christians).
Another concern: I don't spend enough time with people. My job keeps me pretty busy. For example, since November 1, I have worked 123.43 hours. I'll put in another eight hours minimum tomorrow, followed by Saturday in which I'll be on-call for 24 hours with the potential to work that many with a chance of some more hours spilling over into Sunday's morning time. How do I fit a social life in with a schedule like this?
Okay. Here's another crisis issue: I wonder if I have faith. As a Protestant, I never understood what faith is. As a Catholic, I think I may be starting to understand what faith is. I find that I can't really disbelieve in God, even if I try. I believe in God. I have faith on that point: God exists (although I do sometimes doubt it). But do I have faith in God? That is, do I trust Him? Do I believe in His mercy towards me? I used to know God, when I was a teenager. I really did. Now, I'm not so sure anymore.
I'm not done addressing this crisis yet, but I want to post this right now. So here goes.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A Meme I got...
...from EveTushnet:
Pick ten passages (I'm including individual verses as well) from the Bible which are especially meaningful or striking to you.
One:
Psalm 139
To the chief musician. A Psalm of David. (For some reason Crosswalk doesn;t include the title of the psalms in most of the Bible versions. It drives me crazy.)
Currently memorizing this one. God sees me deeply. I don't understand my thoughts sometimes, but God does. There is not a word on my tongue, but He knows it already. I need Him to search every nook and cranny in me so any evil or sinful thing can be brought into His light and cleansed by Jesus' blood.
Two:
Philippians 2:5-11
I remember saying this with 20,000 other Christians at Urbana '96. What an experience of Heaven that was! Sometimes I miss the unity I used to feel with my Evangelical brothers. I was ignorant of the consequences of the great divisions that keep Catholics and Evangelicals apart. Being in the Church is worth it, though. And I can't wait for reconciliation between the "daughter communities" who came out of the Reformation, some of them very rebellious, and Holy Mother Church.
Three:
Revelation 3:14-22
This passage convicts me because I live in Laodicea so much of the time. May God have mercy on me, a sinner.
Four:
I Corinthians 6:9-11
There's hope for me, too!
Five:
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission as given in Matthew's Gospel. But what I want to concentrate on is this little phrase: "…they worshipped Him; but some doubted." I doubt sometimes, too, even while worshipping.
Six:
Mark 9:24
Same reason as above
Seven:
II Maccabees 1:1-6
I like that they told the other Jews they were praying for them, and what their prayers were.
Eight:
Hebrews 13:3
It convicts me—remember those Christians who don't have as much freedom, food, and fellowship as you. Remember! Remember! Remember!
Nine:
Lamentations 3:21-23
I begin my morning prayer with this passage every day.
Ten:
I John 1:9
Forgiveness. 'Nuff said.
If you read this, love the Bible, and have a blog: consider yourself tagged.
Pick ten passages (I'm including individual verses as well) from the Bible which are especially meaningful or striking to you.
One:
Psalm 139
To the chief musician. A Psalm of David. (For some reason Crosswalk doesn;t include the title of the psalms in most of the Bible versions. It drives me crazy.)
Currently memorizing this one. God sees me deeply. I don't understand my thoughts sometimes, but God does. There is not a word on my tongue, but He knows it already. I need Him to search every nook and cranny in me so any evil or sinful thing can be brought into His light and cleansed by Jesus' blood.
Two:
Philippians 2:5-11
I remember saying this with 20,000 other Christians at Urbana '96. What an experience of Heaven that was! Sometimes I miss the unity I used to feel with my Evangelical brothers. I was ignorant of the consequences of the great divisions that keep Catholics and Evangelicals apart. Being in the Church is worth it, though. And I can't wait for reconciliation between the "daughter communities" who came out of the Reformation, some of them very rebellious, and Holy Mother Church.
Three:
Revelation 3:14-22
This passage convicts me because I live in Laodicea so much of the time. May God have mercy on me, a sinner.
Four:
I Corinthians 6:9-11
There's hope for me, too!
Five:
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission as given in Matthew's Gospel. But what I want to concentrate on is this little phrase: "…they worshipped Him; but some doubted." I doubt sometimes, too, even while worshipping.
Six:
Mark 9:24
Same reason as above
Seven:
II Maccabees 1:1-6
I like that they told the other Jews they were praying for them, and what their prayers were.
Eight:
Hebrews 13:3
It convicts me—remember those Christians who don't have as much freedom, food, and fellowship as you. Remember! Remember! Remember!
Nine:
Lamentations 3:21-23
I begin my morning prayer with this passage every day.
Ten:
I John 1:9
Forgiveness. 'Nuff said.
If you read this, love the Bible, and have a blog: consider yourself tagged.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Prayers
Betty Scott Stam's Prayer of Dedication
Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.
Make Me Thy Fuel by Amy Carmichael
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified),
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt. Send me where Thou wilt. Work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever.
Make Me Thy Fuel by Amy Carmichael
From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.
From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified),
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
I don't know what to name this post
In my late teens and early twenties, Protestant missionary biographies were my constant source of enjoyment. Books like Through Gates of Splendor, Peace Child and Lords of the Earth, The Little Woman, Tales of a SeaSick Doctor, and The Journals of Jim Eliot fed my spirit, formed my heart, and fired my imagination. To take the Name of Jesus to peoples who've never heard It, to enthrone Him where He is not enthroned, to proclaim His Gospel – His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coming-return – what else is worthwhile? Anything less seems banal and jejune!
Taking His Name where He is not named…
He actually is named among the Muslims of the world. He is called Isa al'Masih (Jesus the Messiah), but the Muslim idea of what Messiah means is very different from the Christian understanding. And while Muslims do call Jesus Messiah and believe He is a great prophet, they do not believe He is Lord and Savior. And there are very few missionaries working with Muslims to help them know the Truth about Isa al'Masih. The booklet The New Context of World Mission relates the following facts: over 1.1 billion people in the world are Muslim; over 80% of all Muslims have never heard the Gospel, yet regard Jesus as a key prophet; there are only about 900 missionaries working with Muslims. 900 missionaries for 1.1 billion Muslims!? This number is distressingly small: realize that there are approximately 30,000 missionaries working with Westerners. (And while Muslims are the least evangelized group, Hindus and Chinese peoples only have about 4,400 missionaries working with them!)
As I've mentioned before on this blog, I would like to be a missionary. Indeed, I'd like to be a missionary to Muslims. But I really wonder if I am willing and able to pay the price it would entail? Just before the War on Terror began in Afghanistan, Dayna Curry, Heather Mercer, and Stacy Mattingly were arrested and imprisoned by the Taliban for evangelizing. They denied they were doing it, but after the Taliban fell, they admitted that's exactly what they were doing. Their example frightens me. It doesn't bother me that they had to lie to the ruling Taliban government about their motivation for working in Afghanistan (human governments do not have the authority to override the Great Commission* and therefore, truth and obedience are not due any government that tries to do so; see Acts 5:29 and surrounding context), or that they were asking Afghans to make a commitment to Christ while knowing that Afghans faced prison and probably death for doing so (Luke 9:18-27). What does bother me is that they were not willing to face the same consequences as the Afghani Believers. If the Gospel causes people to suffer, Western Christians must be willing to suffer for the Gospel! If I am to be a missionary to people who might be imprisoned, tortured, and executed for the Name of Jesus, I must be willing to be imprisoned, tortured, and executed along with them. I don't know if I will ever be a missionary. I don't know in what land I will serve if I ever do become one. But will I choose to suffer for the Gospel? Will I choose to suffer for the Gospel? May God have mercy on me if I won't. Please pray for me.
*1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Taking His Name where He is not named…
He actually is named among the Muslims of the world. He is called Isa al'Masih (Jesus the Messiah), but the Muslim idea of what Messiah means is very different from the Christian understanding. And while Muslims do call Jesus Messiah and believe He is a great prophet, they do not believe He is Lord and Savior. And there are very few missionaries working with Muslims to help them know the Truth about Isa al'Masih. The booklet The New Context of World Mission relates the following facts: over 1.1 billion people in the world are Muslim; over 80% of all Muslims have never heard the Gospel, yet regard Jesus as a key prophet; there are only about 900 missionaries working with Muslims. 900 missionaries for 1.1 billion Muslims!? This number is distressingly small: realize that there are approximately 30,000 missionaries working with Westerners. (And while Muslims are the least evangelized group, Hindus and Chinese peoples only have about 4,400 missionaries working with them!)
As I've mentioned before on this blog, I would like to be a missionary. Indeed, I'd like to be a missionary to Muslims. But I really wonder if I am willing and able to pay the price it would entail? Just before the War on Terror began in Afghanistan, Dayna Curry, Heather Mercer, and Stacy Mattingly were arrested and imprisoned by the Taliban for evangelizing. They denied they were doing it, but after the Taliban fell, they admitted that's exactly what they were doing. Their example frightens me. It doesn't bother me that they had to lie to the ruling Taliban government about their motivation for working in Afghanistan (human governments do not have the authority to override the Great Commission* and therefore, truth and obedience are not due any government that tries to do so; see Acts 5:29 and surrounding context), or that they were asking Afghans to make a commitment to Christ while knowing that Afghans faced prison and probably death for doing so (Luke 9:18-27). What does bother me is that they were not willing to face the same consequences as the Afghani Believers. If the Gospel causes people to suffer, Western Christians must be willing to suffer for the Gospel! If I am to be a missionary to people who might be imprisoned, tortured, and executed for the Name of Jesus, I must be willing to be imprisoned, tortured, and executed along with them. I don't know if I will ever be a missionary. I don't know in what land I will serve if I ever do become one. But will I choose to suffer for the Gospel? Will I choose to suffer for the Gospel? May God have mercy on me if I won't. Please pray for me.
*1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
A Lord of the Rings Parody
It's about 19 minutes long, but well worth the viewing.
It has some really great lines!
"Long ago in the Second Age of Middle-earth, which was twinkle-tee-twinkle-tee-two..."
"Oh Grandalf...I'm glad you're back...until you arrived life in Hobbiton had just been so naturalistic."
"Then let us look into thy paperweight, O mighty Saruman."
"Now look what you've done! You've upset the hobbits!"
"Grandalf! Something lurks on the shadows!"..."Ignore it. It's just Madonna. She's been following us for sometime."
"You will not paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!...Take the step-ladder away now, darling."
"Who are you, great sphincter of light?"..."I am Galadriel, the Lady Galadriel. So yuh ah Dodo." "Yes, I a' Dodo, neh you of...you say it." "Gilgo Gaggins."
"I am Galdriel, the Lady Galadriel, grandmother or Arwen and auntie of Jordan, dwarf-princess of the nymphomaniacs."
"Look here, Dodo, into the magic birdbath. And there you will see things that have been, things that will be in the future, things that are, things that were, things that could been were they ever were..."
"I have passed the test. And now I will diminish and go to the West and remain Galadriel."..."You will what? Sorry."..."I'll diminish...I don't understand it, it's in the book"..."Okay."
It has some really great lines!
"Long ago in the Second Age of Middle-earth, which was twinkle-tee-twinkle-tee-two..."
"Oh Grandalf...I'm glad you're back...until you arrived life in Hobbiton had just been so naturalistic."
"Then let us look into thy paperweight, O mighty Saruman."
"Now look what you've done! You've upset the hobbits!"
"Grandalf! Something lurks on the shadows!"..."Ignore it. It's just Madonna. She's been following us for sometime."
"You will not paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!...Take the step-ladder away now, darling."
"Who are you, great sphincter of light?"..."I am Galadriel, the Lady Galadriel. So yuh ah Dodo." "Yes, I a' Dodo, neh you of...you say it." "Gilgo Gaggins."
"I am Galdriel, the Lady Galadriel, grandmother or Arwen and auntie of Jordan, dwarf-princess of the nymphomaniacs."
"Look here, Dodo, into the magic birdbath. And there you will see things that have been, things that will be in the future, things that are, things that were, things that could been were they ever were..."
"I have passed the test. And now I will diminish and go to the West and remain Galadriel."..."You will what? Sorry."..."I'll diminish...I don't understand it, it's in the book"..."Okay."
Saturday, October 27, 2007
One last post before I go...
I was listening to The Fast Food Song while looking at the links on the right side of the screen (beneath the Unreached People of the Day). Andrew Cusack is probably not aware that I've linked to him. That may be a good thing, I feel so low brow compared to him. He may not like being associated with my blog. I envy his intellect!
The Story of My Faith, Part One-One: Childhood Years Continued
This is a shorter post than I'd intended it to be because while I was working on it, my boss called and asked me to work from 6pm to midnight. I gotta get going, but I'm posting what I've writted so far before I do.
The Story of My Faith, Intro.
The Story of My Faith, Part One: Childhood Years
The Story of My Faith, Comical Interlude
As time went on and I absorbed more and more of some of the ridiculous teachings of my church and school, I became proud and arrogant and isolated. The isolation came in because, as the Comical Interlude relates, I was taught that to have friends who aren't Christians is sinful. My fellow private school classmates were from all around the area, and none of them lived in my home city. At home, there were only non-Christians to hang out with, but of course hanging out with them would be sinful. Most of my summer days were spent watching TV, and I became a huge Trekkie. I was always more interested in learning Truth than my classmates (and family), and so gained a better understanding of theology and doctrine than everyone else around me, with the exception of my pastors and teachers. I was also a very obedient child, more out of fear of punishment than a good heart, though. My oldest-younger sister (both my sisters are younger than me) was the really rebellious one of the family, and I became a holier-than-thou goody-two-shoes. My pastors and teachers, especially one particular teacher who I had for a few years in a row, fed these bad attitudes. My past attitudes fill me with shame.
The Story of My Faith, Intro.
The Story of My Faith, Part One: Childhood Years
The Story of My Faith, Comical Interlude
As time went on and I absorbed more and more of some of the ridiculous teachings of my church and school, I became proud and arrogant and isolated. The isolation came in because, as the Comical Interlude relates, I was taught that to have friends who aren't Christians is sinful. My fellow private school classmates were from all around the area, and none of them lived in my home city. At home, there were only non-Christians to hang out with, but of course hanging out with them would be sinful. Most of my summer days were spent watching TV, and I became a huge Trekkie. I was always more interested in learning Truth than my classmates (and family), and so gained a better understanding of theology and doctrine than everyone else around me, with the exception of my pastors and teachers. I was also a very obedient child, more out of fear of punishment than a good heart, though. My oldest-younger sister (both my sisters are younger than me) was the really rebellious one of the family, and I became a holier-than-thou goody-two-shoes. My pastors and teachers, especially one particular teacher who I had for a few years in a row, fed these bad attitudes. My past attitudes fill me with shame.
Same song, two videos.
Warning! This song can get stuck in your head for WEEKS!!!!
Those crazy Brits!
Those crazy Trekkies!
Those crazy Brits!
Those crazy Trekkies!
Hobbies...
I need one, other than reading. Or a new job, maybe. How about Stellar Engineer like Rassilon? Or I could join the nerf herders Luke Skywalker makes mention of. Or I could become a student at the Vulcan Science Academy. Working for Psi Corps may be fun, but I probably would have less of a social life than I do now! Doorkeeper at Cair Paravel sounds great! I know! Galactic hitchhiker!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Keystone Rent-A-Kops, Part Two
When last we left our fearless hero, he was proceeding down the hallway of [main hospital] wondering about the intelligence of [main hospital]'s security.
Enough of the third person:
I finished up my business with [upper level hospital] and proceeded to pick up some equipment from [main hospital], after which I proceeded to the CSPD department so I could get a signature (I don't know why my company wants me to get a signature from our customers when we're the one's picking up used equipment. I'm sure Management has its reasons). I told them of my encounter with security. One of them, we'll call her Tabitha, started laughing and said, "We really do have some dingbats on our security team!" [Main hospital] recently did some major renovating. Whole sections of the building changed. One night, while Tabitha is doiong her work, two security guards walk through the door of CSPD:
Guards 1 and 2: "Where's the elevator?"
Tabitha: "What elevator?"
Guards 1 and 2: "The elevator that's back in this hall somewhere."
Tabitha: "There isn't an elevator in this hall. There hasn't been one in this hall for eight months."
Guards 1 and 2: "We've got to find it. Someone's trapped in it!"
Tabitha: "They can't be. That elevator hasn't existed for eight months!"
Guards 1 and 2: "Okay." They leave.
Twenty minutes later, Guard 1 walks in with a third guy.
Guards 1 and 3: "Where's the elevator?"
Tabitha: "I told you, there's not an elevator."
Guards 1 and 3: "Somebody is trapped in it. We've got to find it."
Tabitha: "It was taken out eight months ago!!!"
Guards 1 and 3: "Well, someone's trapped in it right now."
Tabitha: "Are you sure you're looking for the right elevator?"
Guard 3: "Uh...I don't know." They leave.
About a half hour later in walk Guards 2 and 3.
Guards 2 and 3: "Someone's trapped in that elevator that's back here."
Tabitha: "Look. That elevator doesn't exist! It has not existed for eight months! I'm sitting where the elevator shaft used to be!"
Guards 2 and 3: "But somebody's trapped in it!"
Tabitha: "Nobody is trapped in it. They can't be trapped in it. It doesn't exist!"
Guard 3 to Guard 2: "We've got to find that elevator."
Tabitha: "Fellows. Wait right here for a minute."
She leaves the office, goes to the Engineering Office, and brings an engineer back with her.
Tabitha: "These gentlemen are looking for the elevator that's in this hall."
Engineer: "That elevator isn't here anymore. We got rid of it awhile ago."
Guards: "But someone's trapped in it."
Engineer: "Impossible!"
Guards are interrupted by a voice coming over their walkie-talkies (I'm paraphrasing this part): "We found the trapped person. The cafeteria elevator got stuck between floors. All clear."
Guards and Engineer leave. Tabitha remains at her desk hoping she never needs security to rescue her from malfunctioning elevators.
Enough of the third person:
I finished up my business with [upper level hospital] and proceeded to pick up some equipment from [main hospital], after which I proceeded to the CSPD department so I could get a signature (I don't know why my company wants me to get a signature from our customers when we're the one's picking up used equipment. I'm sure Management has its reasons). I told them of my encounter with security. One of them, we'll call her Tabitha, started laughing and said, "We really do have some dingbats on our security team!" [Main hospital] recently did some major renovating. Whole sections of the building changed. One night, while Tabitha is doiong her work, two security guards walk through the door of CSPD:
Guards 1 and 2: "Where's the elevator?"
Tabitha: "What elevator?"
Guards 1 and 2: "The elevator that's back in this hall somewhere."
Tabitha: "There isn't an elevator in this hall. There hasn't been one in this hall for eight months."
Guards 1 and 2: "We've got to find it. Someone's trapped in it!"
Tabitha: "They can't be. That elevator hasn't existed for eight months!"
Guards 1 and 2: "Okay." They leave.
Twenty minutes later, Guard 1 walks in with a third guy.
Guards 1 and 3: "Where's the elevator?"
Tabitha: "I told you, there's not an elevator."
Guards 1 and 3: "Somebody is trapped in it. We've got to find it."
Tabitha: "It was taken out eight months ago!!!"
Guards 1 and 3: "Well, someone's trapped in it right now."
Tabitha: "Are you sure you're looking for the right elevator?"
Guard 3: "Uh...I don't know." They leave.
About a half hour later in walk Guards 2 and 3.
Guards 2 and 3: "Someone's trapped in that elevator that's back here."
Tabitha: "Look. That elevator doesn't exist! It has not existed for eight months! I'm sitting where the elevator shaft used to be!"
Guards 2 and 3: "But somebody's trapped in it!"
Tabitha: "Nobody is trapped in it. They can't be trapped in it. It doesn't exist!"
Guard 3 to Guard 2: "We've got to find that elevator."
Tabitha: "Fellows. Wait right here for a minute."
She leaves the office, goes to the Engineering Office, and brings an engineer back with her.
Tabitha: "These gentlemen are looking for the elevator that's in this hall."
Engineer: "That elevator isn't here anymore. We got rid of it awhile ago."
Guards: "But someone's trapped in it."
Engineer: "Impossible!"
Guards are interrupted by a voice coming over their walkie-talkies (I'm paraphrasing this part): "We found the trapped person. The cafeteria elevator got stuck between floors. All clear."
Guards and Engineer leave. Tabitha remains at her desk hoping she never needs security to rescue her from malfunctioning elevators.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Comical Interlude
I posted this over at Adoro te Devote, and thought I'd post a modified form of it here, as well.
A story from my childhood. Do you remember the Looney-Toons in which Bugs Bunny or some other character is placed in a pot to cook? While the Bugs is standing there, the cannibal (or whoever) would chop up potatoes and carrots and throw them into the pot, too. Eventually Bugs realizes he's dinner and gets out of the pot (and usually run for his life). When my sister and I were very young, we thought these cooking cartoons were very funny. Now, my dad used to fall asleep in the bathtub quite often. On one particular day, he did so, and had forgotten to lock the door. My sister and I found him and, inspired by these 'toons, we filled the tub with little plastic animals (our version of the potatoes and carrots). He woke up when we started stirring the water with plastic bowling pins. He asked us, "What are you doing?" We replied, "We're cooking you, Daddy." He never forgot to lock the door again!
A story from my childhood. Do you remember the Looney-Toons in which Bugs Bunny or some other character is placed in a pot to cook? While the Bugs is standing there, the cannibal (or whoever) would chop up potatoes and carrots and throw them into the pot, too. Eventually Bugs realizes he's dinner and gets out of the pot (and usually run for his life). When my sister and I were very young, we thought these cooking cartoons were very funny. Now, my dad used to fall asleep in the bathtub quite often. On one particular day, he did so, and had forgotten to lock the door. My sister and I found him and, inspired by these 'toons, we filled the tub with little plastic animals (our version of the potatoes and carrots). He woke up when we started stirring the water with plastic bowling pins. He asked us, "What are you doing?" We replied, "We're cooking you, Daddy." He never forgot to lock the door again!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Keystone Rent-A-Kops, Part One
I work for a certain international medical supplies company that has a branch in southeast Michigan. Among other things, this company manufactures hospital beds that are designed to assist in the healing process of certain medical conditions. Part of my job consists of delivering these beds to hospitals and nursing homes, helping the nurses move the patients onto the beds, and getting the therapies going. I work a later shift (2pm to however-long-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done-but-you-can-bet-you're-definitely-not-getting-off-work-on-time!), so I often arrive at facilities after their docks have been locked for the night. No big deal: one merely calls security to come let one in.
A certain hospital in southeast Michigan rents one of its upper levels to a second hospital. As a result, there are two hospitals functioning in the same building. One gets to either hospital using the same doors and dock. This facility began locking its dock only earlier this year. The first two times it happened, no big deal: I merely called security, and they came and let me in. The third time I called security, there was a dispatcher I hadn't spoken with before. All was still well...until I started talking to this person. Remember as you read the following conversation that there is only one dock at this facility:
Me: "Hello. My name is Woodrow. I'm with [the company for which I work]. I have a delivery for [the upper level hospital], and the dock is locked. Can you please send someone to let me in?"
Security Dispatch (S.D.): "Which dock are you at?"
Me, incredulous that anyone would ask that question, but wondering if there's another dock I don't know about: "Uh..I don't know. The delivery dock in back."
S.D., with a tone in her voice implying that I'm a moron: "Are there any signs near you?"
Me, looking at the only sign I see, and gravely disappointed at its total lack of a dock name: "Well, there is, but I don't think it's going to help you figure out where I'm at. It says 'Hospital vehicles only beyond this point.'"
S.D., sounding very irritated and with a tone that I'm not just a moron, but a complete-and-total moron: "I'll send somebody around!"
Me: "Uh...okay." At this point I'm wondering to myself: "If she doesn't know where I'm at, how is 'Somebody' going to find me? And if my location is so difficult to figure out, why did the last two dispatchers have no problem understanding which dock I meant? Waddafuh?"
Now, the last two times a security guard came to let me in, he walked through the building and opened the door from the inside. This was what I was expecting to happen. However, five minutes later, a security vehicle pulls up. I wasn't sure if this was "Somebody", or if this guy was here for another reason.
Me: "Are you here to let me in?"
Guard: "Well, there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not you know where you're going."
Me, to myself: "What?! What did the dispatcher tell this guy?"
Me, to Guard: "I know where I'm going. Your dispatcher is confused."
And so I repeated to him: "My name is Woodrow. I'm with [the company for which I work]. I have a delivery for [the upper level hospital]."
Guard: "Well, what are you here for?"
By "here", I understood Guard to mean "the dock".
Me, to myself: "What is it with these people? Delivery guy with a delivery truck parked at the delivery dock, making a delivery: these concepts all go together."
Me, to Guard, pointing at my huge truck, unsure how to respond to his rather stupid question: "I didn't think my truck would fit under the awning at the main entrance, so I thought I'd better come around the back to the dock."
Guard let's me in. I proceed on my way reflecting on the stupidity of the security at this place, and wishing that when Guard said, "Well, what are you here for?", I had responded with: "Why is everyone around here so preoccupied with existentialism?" Oh well. Hopefully I'll get to use that line some other time.
To be continued...
A certain hospital in southeast Michigan rents one of its upper levels to a second hospital. As a result, there are two hospitals functioning in the same building. One gets to either hospital using the same doors and dock. This facility began locking its dock only earlier this year. The first two times it happened, no big deal: I merely called security, and they came and let me in. The third time I called security, there was a dispatcher I hadn't spoken with before. All was still well...until I started talking to this person. Remember as you read the following conversation that there is only one dock at this facility:
Me: "Hello. My name is Woodrow. I'm with [the company for which I work]. I have a delivery for [the upper level hospital], and the dock is locked. Can you please send someone to let me in?"
Security Dispatch (S.D.): "Which dock are you at?"
Me, incredulous that anyone would ask that question, but wondering if there's another dock I don't know about: "Uh..I don't know. The delivery dock in back."
S.D., with a tone in her voice implying that I'm a moron: "Are there any signs near you?"
Me, looking at the only sign I see, and gravely disappointed at its total lack of a dock name: "Well, there is, but I don't think it's going to help you figure out where I'm at. It says 'Hospital vehicles only beyond this point.'"
S.D., sounding very irritated and with a tone that I'm not just a moron, but a complete-and-total moron: "I'll send somebody around!"
Me: "Uh...okay." At this point I'm wondering to myself: "If she doesn't know where I'm at, how is 'Somebody' going to find me? And if my location is so difficult to figure out, why did the last two dispatchers have no problem understanding which dock I meant? Waddafuh?"
Now, the last two times a security guard came to let me in, he walked through the building and opened the door from the inside. This was what I was expecting to happen. However, five minutes later, a security vehicle pulls up. I wasn't sure if this was "Somebody", or if this guy was here for another reason.
Me: "Are you here to let me in?"
Guard: "Well, there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not you know where you're going."
Me, to myself: "What?! What did the dispatcher tell this guy?"
Me, to Guard: "I know where I'm going. Your dispatcher is confused."
And so I repeated to him: "My name is Woodrow. I'm with [the company for which I work]. I have a delivery for [the upper level hospital]."
Guard: "Well, what are you here for?"
By "here", I understood Guard to mean "the dock".
Me, to myself: "What is it with these people? Delivery guy with a delivery truck parked at the delivery dock, making a delivery: these concepts all go together."
Me, to Guard, pointing at my huge truck, unsure how to respond to his rather stupid question: "I didn't think my truck would fit under the awning at the main entrance, so I thought I'd better come around the back to the dock."
Guard let's me in. I proceed on my way reflecting on the stupidity of the security at this place, and wishing that when Guard said, "Well, what are you here for?", I had responded with: "Why is everyone around here so preoccupied with existentialism?" Oh well. Hopefully I'll get to use that line some other time.
To be continued...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Just for fun
Since I'm a new blogger, I'm just catching up to the things that were all the rage around the blogosphere a few months or years ago. Here's one of the things I am now able to post:
 | My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Very Reverend Woodrow the Simple of Walk upon Water Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title |
Friday, October 5, 2007
Saint Francis of Assisi
He's one of my heroes and one of my patron saints. I just found this quote by him: "Each one should confidently make known his need to the other, so that he might find what he needs and minister to him. And each one should love and care for his brother in all those things in which God will give him grace, as a mother loves and cares for her son."
Brothers and sisters who read this blog (I don't think there are very many of you), inspired by this statement I make known to you that I need your prayers to live chastely and to use my financial resources wisely with a glad and generous heart. If you'd like me to pray for specific things in your life, e-mail me (via my profile page). I'll be happy to return the favor of your prayers.
P.S. Don't forget to pray for the Unreached and the unborn!
Brothers and sisters who read this blog (I don't think there are very many of you), inspired by this statement I make known to you that I need your prayers to live chastely and to use my financial resources wisely with a glad and generous heart. If you'd like me to pray for specific things in your life, e-mail me (via my profile page). I'll be happy to return the favor of your prayers.
P.S. Don't forget to pray for the Unreached and the unborn!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
I'm For Life!
I hope you are, too.
Here's a link to an article at Mission Territory, a blog I just discovered today. The article is about embryonic stem cell research, or rather, the options we are now forced to face with the advent of this research. Great article. I think I'll print it out (with MT's permission), and leave it in the lunch room at work soemtiime this week.
Here's a link to an article at Mission Territory, a blog I just discovered today. The article is about embryonic stem cell research, or rather, the options we are now forced to face with the advent of this research. Great article. I think I'll print it out (with MT's permission), and leave it in the lunch room at work soemtiime this week.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
My introduction to the whole Numa Numa phenomenon of a few years ago...
...was via accidentally discovering this video on iFilm.com. For some unfathomable reason, I love this video! I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that Harel Ska'at is really cute, Harel Moyal is really sexy, and Ran Danker is really hot!* And also, because of my Fundamental Baptist past, I have a fascination for Israeli culture. There's a great deal of fun to be had in web-searching the English lyrics to this piece. At least, I had fun doing it.
*To make it easier to identify these people in the video, Harel Moyal is at count 2:04 to 2:01 (playback count goes backward), Ran Danker's foot is stomped at 1:25 to 1:20, and Harel Ska'at is seen at 1:11 to 1:09.
*To make it easier to identify these people in the video, Harel Moyal is at count 2:04 to 2:01 (playback count goes backward), Ran Danker's foot is stomped at 1:25 to 1:20, and Harel Ska'at is seen at 1:11 to 1:09.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
I have just barely enough time to post this...
...before I go to work.
Via Intentinal Disciples, here is part of an Easter Liturgy in Malawi. I'd love to be in the middle of all that exuberance! It's good to see that not all Catholic congregations go by the rule "I can sing more quietly than you can."
Via Intentinal Disciples, here is part of an Easter Liturgy in Malawi. I'd love to be in the middle of all that exuberance! It's good to see that not all Catholic congregations go by the rule "I can sing more quietly than you can."
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sporadic postings.
Sorry I haven't been posting often lately. My work schedule has increased. My time off is usually devoted to sleeping. I'll try to continue both my series ("The Story of My Faith" and "Missions, Sex, and All Things New") this week. God be with everyone.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Missions, Sex, and All Things New, Part One
A while back, I mentioned to Jeron in an e-mail that I have an interest in missions. My favorite Christian singer is Twila Paris because of the missions focus in her songs. As an Evangelical Christian in my early twenties, I really, really wanted to be a missionary. When I joined the Catholic Church, that desire kind of went "underground", in part, I think, because I had so much to learn about the Faith, my worldview was going through a massive upheaval, and my sexual issues became more intense. My latent desire to be a missionary has recently come back in full force, as you can probably tell from my blog. I want to discuss all of this, but in multiple posts. I'll start with the sexual issue.
After joining the Church, even with having access to the sacraments, I became less chaste than when I was an Evangelical. Sex became a major preoccupation, as well as the fact of my "being" a homosexual. As a Catholic, I was no longer sure of what it meant to be "gay" and a Christian. I had more sexual encounters after joining the Church than I did before. Well, that's not quite true: the rate of sexual encounters increased, not the number. I worried about this because I know that any type of sexual activity outside of the marriage bed is mortally sinful. My susceptibility to this sin preyed on my mind, and during quiet moments, sex would always come to my mind. With sex always on my mind, masturbation became a daily habit. Only in the last few weeks have I noticed less of a preoccupation with sex, and I'm working to end the daily habit.
As an Evangelical, I was convinced I had to change my sexual orientation. Back in 2001, I got involved with Exodus International, which seems to, well, let's put this charitably, mistrust celibate homosexuals (more information on this here at Disputed Mutability—a great blog, by the way). I contacted a local Exodus affiliate and went through a six month program called Living Waters. This was followed up by an "aftercare" group (we actually called it AfterC.A.R.E.; I forget what the acronym stands for). This group met weekly for accountability, prayer, and encouragement. I made great friends in AfterC.A.R.E., but was worried because I could never detect the slightest changes in my sexual orientation; I thought I'd never be able to get my life right with God, which meant, remember, that I would come to have a predominantly heterosexual attraction. Before I go any further, I want to make it a matter of record that I firmly believe that some homosexually inclined people can change their sexual orientation. Some of my friends were helped immensely by Living Waters and AfterC.A.R.E. I do disagree with those who claim all homosexuals can change their orientation. Practical experience dictates that not every one can.
During this time period, I was in a state of what I call theological flux. In late '99 I left the charismatic church I'd been attending since December of '96. I didn't go to church for most of 2000, but in early 2001 began attending an Evangelical Southern Baptist church. I wasn't really Baptist at this point, but I needed some stable place to rest. I'd left the charismatic church because, while that specific, local church taught only a mild heresy, the pastors publicly supported people who taught grave heresies. Many of these "graver heretics" are popular in charismatic and Pentecostal circles, so I wanted nothing to do with these types of churches. To make a long story short, on Thursday, May 1, 2003 at 2:43pm, after years of trying to learn the truth about God and the Bible, I was convinced the Catholic Church had it. I joined RCIA that September and was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil in 2004. Coming from an Evangelical background into the Catholic Church can be a little "disorienting". There's a major worldview shift involved. Learning a whole new way of looking at the Bible and the Church can be confusing itself without also having to deal with the Church's view of one's homosexual inclination. Since I am convinced that the Catholic Church has the Truth about God and the Bible, I fully accept Her teaching on sexuality. Okay, one must be chaste, but one doesn't have to become straight. What does being "not straight" look like in every day life? My hetero friends will sometimes comment on a women's beauty when we walk by a beautiful woman at the mall. Can I make similar remarks about a good-looking guy? If my behavior is on the flamboyant side, must I become more "straight-acting"? There are many such questions to be addressed as a Catholic. Thanks be to God for COURAGE and its conferences! You can learn a lot from the talks, but also just from being around others who have dealt with the same issues you do. I'm still assimilating some of the lessons I learned from this year's conference (my first) and am looking forward to next year's.
After joining the Church, even with having access to the sacraments, I became less chaste than when I was an Evangelical. Sex became a major preoccupation, as well as the fact of my "being" a homosexual. As a Catholic, I was no longer sure of what it meant to be "gay" and a Christian. I had more sexual encounters after joining the Church than I did before. Well, that's not quite true: the rate of sexual encounters increased, not the number. I worried about this because I know that any type of sexual activity outside of the marriage bed is mortally sinful. My susceptibility to this sin preyed on my mind, and during quiet moments, sex would always come to my mind. With sex always on my mind, masturbation became a daily habit. Only in the last few weeks have I noticed less of a preoccupation with sex, and I'm working to end the daily habit.
As an Evangelical, I was convinced I had to change my sexual orientation. Back in 2001, I got involved with Exodus International, which seems to, well, let's put this charitably, mistrust celibate homosexuals (more information on this here at Disputed Mutability—a great blog, by the way). I contacted a local Exodus affiliate and went through a six month program called Living Waters. This was followed up by an "aftercare" group (we actually called it AfterC.A.R.E.; I forget what the acronym stands for). This group met weekly for accountability, prayer, and encouragement. I made great friends in AfterC.A.R.E., but was worried because I could never detect the slightest changes in my sexual orientation; I thought I'd never be able to get my life right with God, which meant, remember, that I would come to have a predominantly heterosexual attraction. Before I go any further, I want to make it a matter of record that I firmly believe that some homosexually inclined people can change their sexual orientation. Some of my friends were helped immensely by Living Waters and AfterC.A.R.E. I do disagree with those who claim all homosexuals can change their orientation. Practical experience dictates that not every one can.
During this time period, I was in a state of what I call theological flux. In late '99 I left the charismatic church I'd been attending since December of '96. I didn't go to church for most of 2000, but in early 2001 began attending an Evangelical Southern Baptist church. I wasn't really Baptist at this point, but I needed some stable place to rest. I'd left the charismatic church because, while that specific, local church taught only a mild heresy, the pastors publicly supported people who taught grave heresies. Many of these "graver heretics" are popular in charismatic and Pentecostal circles, so I wanted nothing to do with these types of churches. To make a long story short, on Thursday, May 1, 2003 at 2:43pm, after years of trying to learn the truth about God and the Bible, I was convinced the Catholic Church had it. I joined RCIA that September and was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil in 2004. Coming from an Evangelical background into the Catholic Church can be a little "disorienting". There's a major worldview shift involved. Learning a whole new way of looking at the Bible and the Church can be confusing itself without also having to deal with the Church's view of one's homosexual inclination. Since I am convinced that the Catholic Church has the Truth about God and the Bible, I fully accept Her teaching on sexuality. Okay, one must be chaste, but one doesn't have to become straight. What does being "not straight" look like in every day life? My hetero friends will sometimes comment on a women's beauty when we walk by a beautiful woman at the mall. Can I make similar remarks about a good-looking guy? If my behavior is on the flamboyant side, must I become more "straight-acting"? There are many such questions to be addressed as a Catholic. Thanks be to God for COURAGE and its conferences! You can learn a lot from the talks, but also just from being around others who have dealt with the same issues you do. I'm still assimilating some of the lessons I learned from this year's conference (my first) and am looking forward to next year's.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
30 Days of Prayer for Muslims
Muslims celebrate a "Holy Month" every year called Ramadan. During these 30 days, they will not eat, drink, smoke, chew gum, kiss, or have sexual relations from sun up to sun down. Instead, they will concentrate more on prayer and almsgiving. Some of our Evangelical brothers and sisters have issued a guide to pray for Muslims during this month when they are more open to God. You can order prayer booklets or get the free e-mail guide. Ramadan starts tomorrow (September 13-October 12), so the booklets are probably not an option for anyone reading this post today, but you can still sign up for the e-mail guide. I encourage every Christian to do so. Let us pray that God will reveal the truth about Himself and His Son to the Muslims of this world. Let us pray for Muslims all over the world to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Here are two links. Follow the first to get the prayer guide. The second links to the stories of Muslim Background Believers.
30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus
Testimonies of Muslims who became Christians
Here are two links. Follow the first to get the prayer guide. The second links to the stories of Muslim Background Believers.
30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus
Testimonies of Muslims who became Christians
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Yet this I call to mind...
...and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23 NIV
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:21-23 NIV
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Shout Out to the Aussies!
Because SiteMeter says they're the third largest national group that visits my blog! (I'd post something for the Canadians because they're the second largest group, but I cannot find any good YouTube videos of O, Canada. Sorry, SheepCat!).
Thursday, September 6, 2007
The Story of My Faith, Childhood Years: Comical Interlude
For your entertainment, I interrupt the seriousness of the Story of my Faith to offer these hilarious tidbits of Fundie teachings. They're in no specific order. These are things I was actually taught during my school and church years.
(Obligatory disclaimer: Not all Fundamentalist Baptists or Fundamentalists-in-general believe or behave in this way. Some of these teachings were never specifically formulated this offensively, but these are the gist of what I was taught.)
At the first Fundie elementary school I attended (first grade through half of sixth grade):
We may not wear clothes that are black and red. Black and red are the devil's colors. We know this is true because if you walk into any bar anywhere in the world, it will be painted black and red. It is especially offensive to wear a black and red tie because then you are wearing the devil's colors on an article of clothing that is pointing down to Hell!
At the second Fundie school I attended (half of sixth grade through tenth grade) and the church I attended from third grade to a little after high school graduation:
God is into racial purity. God does not want the races mixing in marriage. We should win peoples of all colors to faith in Jesus Christ, but once we do, they should segregate into their own churches. (On a very happy note: the gentleman who pastors this church today preaches against this attitude as sinful!)
Atheists are morons. Agnostics are morons. Muslims are morons. Hindus are morons. Any individual who is not smart enough to recognize that he must accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior is stupid. We should hold such people in contempt.
The King James Version of the Bible is the only acceptable English translation of the Scriptures. The rest are corrupted perversions. If you were to buy a modern translation to use by yourself in your own personal study, you would be by yourself because God would not be there with you!
It is a sin for a Christian to have friends or hang out with people who are not Christians. It is too easy for these sinners to pull you into their sinful lifestyle, listening to worldly music, seeing worldly movies, using worldly language. In short, friendship with non-Christians is apostasy. So is friendship with "Christians" not of "like faith" (Lutherans are not Christians of like faith, neither are Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and the list goes on and on).
Jesus did not turn the water into wine at Cana. It was grape juice. Drinking is sinful. God would never create anything people would use for sinful purposes. (I must have missed that part in the Bible where God did not give us food [gluttony], sleep [laziness], hands [violence], etc. The illogic of many of these positions is so laughable, I'm surprised Fundamentalism has lasted as long as it has.)
I'll update as I think of more. Also, if you're from a Fundie background as well, feel free to contribute to the list.
(Obligatory disclaimer: Not all Fundamentalist Baptists or Fundamentalists-in-general believe or behave in this way. Some of these teachings were never specifically formulated this offensively, but these are the gist of what I was taught.)
At the first Fundie elementary school I attended (first grade through half of sixth grade):
We may not wear clothes that are black and red. Black and red are the devil's colors. We know this is true because if you walk into any bar anywhere in the world, it will be painted black and red. It is especially offensive to wear a black and red tie because then you are wearing the devil's colors on an article of clothing that is pointing down to Hell!
At the second Fundie school I attended (half of sixth grade through tenth grade) and the church I attended from third grade to a little after high school graduation:
God is into racial purity. God does not want the races mixing in marriage. We should win peoples of all colors to faith in Jesus Christ, but once we do, they should segregate into their own churches. (On a very happy note: the gentleman who pastors this church today preaches against this attitude as sinful!)
Atheists are morons. Agnostics are morons. Muslims are morons. Hindus are morons. Any individual who is not smart enough to recognize that he must accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior is stupid. We should hold such people in contempt.
The King James Version of the Bible is the only acceptable English translation of the Scriptures. The rest are corrupted perversions. If you were to buy a modern translation to use by yourself in your own personal study, you would be by yourself because God would not be there with you!
It is a sin for a Christian to have friends or hang out with people who are not Christians. It is too easy for these sinners to pull you into their sinful lifestyle, listening to worldly music, seeing worldly movies, using worldly language. In short, friendship with non-Christians is apostasy. So is friendship with "Christians" not of "like faith" (Lutherans are not Christians of like faith, neither are Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and the list goes on and on).
Jesus did not turn the water into wine at Cana. It was grape juice. Drinking is sinful. God would never create anything people would use for sinful purposes. (I must have missed that part in the Bible where God did not give us food [gluttony], sleep [laziness], hands [violence], etc. The illogic of many of these positions is so laughable, I'm surprised Fundamentalism has lasted as long as it has.)
I'll update as I think of more. Also, if you're from a Fundie background as well, feel free to contribute to the list.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Jeron e-mailed this to me
1. Were you named after anyone?
My parents named me after both of my grandfathers. In my mom's case, that would be her step-father. I met my biological grandfather when I was 13 or 14 and discovered what I knew to be true already: Woodrow, my step-grandfather, is my real grandfather.
2. When was the last time you cried?
A couple of weeks ago, in the confessional.
3. Do you like your handwriting?
No, but I'm unwilling to put in the effort to change it.
4. What is your favorite lunchmeat?
Hillshire Farm ™ Deli Select Brown Sugar Baked Ham.
5. Do you have kids?
No, but I do have certain anatomical features which are necessary in begetting them. Alas! I'm uninterested in the necessary-to-procreate anatomical features of the female of the species, and will therefore never have children.
6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
Since I don't know this hypothetical alter-ego, I can't really answer that question.
7. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
I don't think so.
8. Do you still have your tonsils?
As far as I know, I still have all my parts!
9. Would you bungee jump?
That depends—am I under pain of death if I don't bungee jump?
10. What is your favorite cereal?
Basic 4™. Either that or Fruity Pebbles™ with Nestle Strawberry Milk™. Or Cookie Crisp™ with half-and-half.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
No, my shoes are into bondage.
12. Do you think you are strong?
To quote the Princess Buttercup (I love that movie!): "Only compared to some."
13. What is your favorite ice cream?
What indeed?
14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Guys—hair (probably because I'm balding). Girls—face.
15. Favorite US city?
Have to say the Detroit metro area because this is the only place I've lived, and is therefore the only place I'm familiar with.
16. What do you like least about yourself?
The stretch marks on my belly.
17. Who do you miss the most?
That super-hottie Dean Cain. Never met him, but boy do I miss him! No, really, in all seriousness, I miss my friends Matt B. and Steve F. the most.
18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you?
Since I'm posting this on my blog, this question is irrelevant.
19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
I'm not wearing clothes, heh heh!*
20. What was the last thing you ate?
A sugar cookie with blue frosting and "patriotic" sprinkles.
21. What are you listening to right now?
A cricket chirping in the driveway.
22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
I would like to be some cheerful, heart-warming color. Suggestions, anyone?
23. Favorite smells?
An acre of lilacs in full bloom in the early morning. Fresh cedar chips. Vanilla.
24. Who was the last person you talked with on the phone?
My friend Marty.
25. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
I don't know him very well, but so far I do.
26. Favorite sports to watch?
Male swimming and gymnastics competitions. And real wrestling. And men's beach volleyball. And Aussie Rules Football.
27. Hair color?
Light brown, just a few shades away from blonde.
28. Eye color?
Blue.
29. Do you wear contacts?
No.
30. Favorite food?
Hmm. Don’t know. I like the shrimp chips at Thai restaurants. Lentil soup, hummus, and fattoush from Mediterranean places. Chinese: crab Rangoon. Mexican: tacos. Soul: black-eye peas with ham hocks and corn bread. "Whitey" food: Orange glazed salmon with rice pilaf and asparagus.
31. Scary movies or happy endings?
If by scary you mean slasher flicks, you can keep them! They're so cliché, they drive me crazy. And they leave nothing to the imagination. Give me the old black-and-whites of, say, Village of the Damned or Psycho—something that keeps my sub-conscious at work, making me feel eerie and suspenseful. Comedies are good, too.
32. Last movie you watched?
The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green. Or maybe it was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
33. What color shirt are you wearing?
See the answer to question 19.
34. Summer or winter?
Spring and fall.
35. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs because I'm not supposed to do that kind of kissing, what with the chastity thing and all.
36. Favorite dessert?
Don't have one.
37. Most likely to respond?
See question-and-answer 18.
38. Least likely to respond?
See question-and-answer 18.
39. What book are you reading right now?
1. The book of Sirach. (Second time reading it)
2. Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach – Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Third time reading it)
4. How to Read a Book – Mortimer Adler
5. The Iliad
6. The Consequences of Ideas – Dr. R.C. Sproul
7. Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America – Mike Yankoski (Second time)
8. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
9. The book of First Samuel (at least the sixth time)
10. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: An Ordinary Christian – Maria Di Lorenzo
11. The Battle for Normality: A Guide for (Self-) Therapy for Homosexuality – Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg, Ph.D.
12. Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie (fourth time)
13. Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-year-old American – His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe – Bruce Olson (Third time)
14. A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning – James V. Schall (Fifth time)
15. Finding God at Harvard - Kell Monroe Kullberg, editor
40. What is on your mouse pad?
I don't have a mousepad.
41. What did you watch on TV last night?
I don't own a TV.
42. Favorite sound?
Some of my favorite sounds: flowing water, the cries of mourning doves, babies laughing, Gregorian chant
43. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
Enya, Moby, Charlie Peacock, Bach, Mozart, R.E.M., Twila Paris
44. Where is the furthest you have been from home?
Haiti, from August 7-14, 1995. My friend Dan and I went to work with a mission there.
45. Do you have a special talent?
Not that I'm aware. Well, maybe. When I was four years old it took me all of fifteen minutes to learn how to read at a second grade level.
46. Where were you born?
Wyandotte General Hospital, Wyandotte, MI
47. Who's answers are you looking forward to?
Now that I've reached the end, I've decided to tag Steve and David. Anyone else who wishes to consider him- or herself tagged may do so.
*Just got out of the shower.
My parents named me after both of my grandfathers. In my mom's case, that would be her step-father. I met my biological grandfather when I was 13 or 14 and discovered what I knew to be true already: Woodrow, my step-grandfather, is my real grandfather.
2. When was the last time you cried?
A couple of weeks ago, in the confessional.
3. Do you like your handwriting?
No, but I'm unwilling to put in the effort to change it.
4. What is your favorite lunchmeat?
Hillshire Farm ™ Deli Select Brown Sugar Baked Ham.
5. Do you have kids?
No, but I do have certain anatomical features which are necessary in begetting them. Alas! I'm uninterested in the necessary-to-procreate anatomical features of the female of the species, and will therefore never have children.
6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?
Since I don't know this hypothetical alter-ego, I can't really answer that question.
7. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
I don't think so.
8. Do you still have your tonsils?
As far as I know, I still have all my parts!
9. Would you bungee jump?
That depends—am I under pain of death if I don't bungee jump?
10. What is your favorite cereal?
Basic 4™. Either that or Fruity Pebbles™ with Nestle Strawberry Milk™. Or Cookie Crisp™ with half-and-half.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
No, my shoes are into bondage.
12. Do you think you are strong?
To quote the Princess Buttercup (I love that movie!): "Only compared to some."
13. What is your favorite ice cream?
What indeed?
14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Guys—hair (probably because I'm balding). Girls—face.
15. Favorite US city?
Have to say the Detroit metro area because this is the only place I've lived, and is therefore the only place I'm familiar with.
16. What do you like least about yourself?
The stretch marks on my belly.
17. Who do you miss the most?
That super-hottie Dean Cain. Never met him, but boy do I miss him! No, really, in all seriousness, I miss my friends Matt B. and Steve F. the most.
18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you?
Since I'm posting this on my blog, this question is irrelevant.
19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
I'm not wearing clothes, heh heh!*
20. What was the last thing you ate?
A sugar cookie with blue frosting and "patriotic" sprinkles.
21. What are you listening to right now?
A cricket chirping in the driveway.
22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
I would like to be some cheerful, heart-warming color. Suggestions, anyone?
23. Favorite smells?
An acre of lilacs in full bloom in the early morning. Fresh cedar chips. Vanilla.
24. Who was the last person you talked with on the phone?
My friend Marty.
25. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
I don't know him very well, but so far I do.
26. Favorite sports to watch?
Male swimming and gymnastics competitions. And real wrestling. And men's beach volleyball. And Aussie Rules Football.
27. Hair color?
Light brown, just a few shades away from blonde.
28. Eye color?
Blue.
29. Do you wear contacts?
No.
30. Favorite food?
Hmm. Don’t know. I like the shrimp chips at Thai restaurants. Lentil soup, hummus, and fattoush from Mediterranean places. Chinese: crab Rangoon. Mexican: tacos. Soul: black-eye peas with ham hocks and corn bread. "Whitey" food: Orange glazed salmon with rice pilaf and asparagus.
31. Scary movies or happy endings?
If by scary you mean slasher flicks, you can keep them! They're so cliché, they drive me crazy. And they leave nothing to the imagination. Give me the old black-and-whites of, say, Village of the Damned or Psycho—something that keeps my sub-conscious at work, making me feel eerie and suspenseful. Comedies are good, too.
32. Last movie you watched?
The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan Green. Or maybe it was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
33. What color shirt are you wearing?
See the answer to question 19.
34. Summer or winter?
Spring and fall.
35. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs because I'm not supposed to do that kind of kissing, what with the chastity thing and all.
36. Favorite dessert?
Don't have one.
37. Most likely to respond?
See question-and-answer 18.
38. Least likely to respond?
See question-and-answer 18.
39. What book are you reading right now?
1. The book of Sirach. (Second time reading it)
2. Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach – Dr. Joseph Nicolosi
3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Third time reading it)
4. How to Read a Book – Mortimer Adler
5. The Iliad
6. The Consequences of Ideas – Dr. R.C. Sproul
7. Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America – Mike Yankoski (Second time)
8. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
9. The book of First Samuel (at least the sixth time)
10. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati: An Ordinary Christian – Maria Di Lorenzo
11. The Battle for Normality: A Guide for (Self-) Therapy for Homosexuality – Gerard J.M. van den Aardweg, Ph.D.
12. Poirot Investigates – Agatha Christie (fourth time)
13. Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-year-old American – His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe – Bruce Olson (Third time)
14. A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning – James V. Schall (Fifth time)
15. Finding God at Harvard - Kell Monroe Kullberg, editor
40. What is on your mouse pad?
I don't have a mousepad.
41. What did you watch on TV last night?
I don't own a TV.
42. Favorite sound?
Some of my favorite sounds: flowing water, the cries of mourning doves, babies laughing, Gregorian chant
43. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
Enya, Moby, Charlie Peacock, Bach, Mozart, R.E.M., Twila Paris
44. Where is the furthest you have been from home?
Haiti, from August 7-14, 1995. My friend Dan and I went to work with a mission there.
45. Do you have a special talent?
Not that I'm aware. Well, maybe. When I was four years old it took me all of fifteen minutes to learn how to read at a second grade level.
46. Where were you born?
Wyandotte General Hospital, Wyandotte, MI
47. Who's answers are you looking forward to?
Now that I've reached the end, I've decided to tag Steve and David. Anyone else who wishes to consider him- or herself tagged may do so.
*Just got out of the shower.
Not a Meme
Found this over at Leave Your Head at the Door. I'm ripping off most of his post, even his title!
Grab the book that is closest to you.
Open it to page 161.
Find the fifth full sentence.
Post the text of the sentence.
Don't search around for the coolest or most impressive book you have: use the one that really is closest to you.
"In other words, there was a split between external and internal piety."
from Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. ISBN 978-0-8308-3433-4
I'm reading it, and you should too!
Grab the book that is closest to you.
Open it to page 161.
Find the fifth full sentence.
Post the text of the sentence.
Don't search around for the coolest or most impressive book you have: use the one that really is closest to you.
"In other words, there was a split between external and internal piety."
from Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. ISBN 978-0-8308-3433-4
I'm reading it, and you should too!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Sci-Fi...
...I love it! Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc. It's almost cliche to say it by now, but the Star Wars prequels suck! All Star Trek is okay, with the exception of Enterprise. Enterprise is okay only if one thinks of it as Star Trek in an alternate universe. Like the old Doctor Who series, but the bew Doctor Who series kicks ass! They've done some great stuff with new DW. The Empty Child from the 2005 season was the eeriest Doctor Who ever: people turning into gas mask monsters, a typewriter typing by itself, a strange child always asking "Are you my mummy?", and the TARDIS phone ringing when it's not connected to anything. Spooky! And then comes 2006 with The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. This one was Doctor Who turns horror movie--great concept! The set, the story, the special fx, the soundtrack, it was more like a movie than a Doctor Who episode. But my favorite part of the new series is when the Cybermen and the Daleks meet for the first time ever in any Doctor Who. Video following (the relevant part ends at about 2:47):
The arrogance of both sides! (Of course, I realize this is only interesting to Doctor Who fans, but I'm going to blab some more about it anyway.) If the Daleks had the abilities in the old series that they do in the new series, they would have won the Time War looong ago! When the Daleks said they would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek, it was not an idle boast. These new ones could do it. The battle scenes were just awesome! I've always liked both villains (Cybers and Daleks) but the Daleks are the best!
The arrogance of both sides! (Of course, I realize this is only interesting to Doctor Who fans, but I'm going to blab some more about it anyway.) If the Daleks had the abilities in the old series that they do in the new series, they would have won the Time War looong ago! When the Daleks said they would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek, it was not an idle boast. These new ones could do it. The battle scenes were just awesome! I've always liked both villains (Cybers and Daleks) but the Daleks are the best!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Sometimes I worry...
NOTE: I had a posting in this spot earlier, which began with the following parable and ended with some questions I have; questions to which parts of this parable speak. I have removed the post for heavy editing (will re-post it later), but have kept the parable here because "All Scripture is profitable..."
Woodrow
And one of the Pharisees desired Him (Jesus) that He would eat with him. And He went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meat. And behold, a woman in the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and began to wash His feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had bidden Him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is who toucheth him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answering said unto him, "Simon, I have something to say unto thee." And he said, "Master, say on." "There was a certain creditor that had two debtors. The one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, "Thou hast rightly judged." And He turned to the woman and said unto Simon, "Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house: Thou gavest Me no water for My feet, but she hath washed My feet with tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." And He said unto her, "Thy sins are forgiven." And those who sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves, "Who is this that forgiveth sins also?" And He said to the woman, "Thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace." (Luke 7:36-50 TMB)
Friday, August 17, 2007
Random Ipod Shuffle (Modified)
Modified because the closest I come to an Ipod is Windows Media Player. Don't laugh! I plan to buy an Ipod. Until then...
The rules, for bloggers who want to play:
Get your ipod or media-player of choice, select your whole music collection, set the thing to shuffle (i.e., randomized playback), then post the first ten songs that come out. No cheating, no matter how stupid it makes you feel!
I was hoping to link to places where one could download the songs, but decided to link to the CD on Amazon, instedad.
Got this idea from Father Jim Tucker at his blog Dappled Things.
1) Holy, Holy, Holy – Hymnstyles Praise Ensemble
2) Shepherd Moons – Enya, Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya
3) What Did He Die For? – Twila Paris, Where I Stand
4) L'elisir d'amore, opera Act II: Una furtiva lagrima – The World's Greatest Arias
5) Enter In – Twila Paris, He Is Exalted, Live Worship
6) Into the West – Annie Lennox, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Limited Edition
7) The Good Way of the People – Instant Zen, Ambient Amazon
8) A'machair – Iona, The River Flows Anthology, Volume One (Disc One)
9) Milonga De Mis Amores – Tango Lorca, World 2004 (Disc One)
10) Do I Trust You Medley – Twila Paris, A Heart That Knows You
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