I am inclined to agree. The driver reminds me of Jonathan Carroll.
He and I did, in fact, have a rather fun interaction with a Taco Bell sometime circa 1998, but I can't remember what we did.
]]>Had to share it.
]]>SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Nearly 40 people were arrested Sunday as they tried to enter the University of Notre Dame to protest President Barack Obama's appearance at commencement, police said.
At least 39 people were taken into custody on trespassing charges, police Sgt. Bill Redman said. Among those arrested were Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion.
I forgot that Roe is pro-life. Just found that interesting.
There's a new-found rage in me now when I read things like this:
Sunsara Taylor, a New York City resident and a member of the abortion-rights group Abortion on Demand, said outside the school's gates that "there was a voice missing" in the controversy over Obama's visit.
"If women don't have a right to decide if they have a child, women aren't free," she said. "We need to expand abortion access and abortion rights and lift the stigma. Fetuses are not babies and women are not incubators."
Of course, the AP has to find some person to disagree with the protestors.
This sort of poetical painting of the decision to snuff out a viable life in the name of "choice" is utter horse%$#!. It's as bad, no, worse than the South's protest of their choice to exercise state's rights to enslave another human being who, at that time, was not always regarded as fully human.
I just think of all the things I've been trying to do to preserve and protect the life of Jude ever since we found out we were pregnant, and how he had no way to protect himself except us. This morning, he decided to sleep in instead of doing his morning aerobics, and both Rosanna and I freaked out.
Don't insult the true lives who don't have a voice by complaining about the freedom of women to murder their offspring. No amount of painting it over with the label "choice" changes what's going on.
]]>The more you give, the more you will be able to give. And if it is more blessed to give than to receive, you can see what a harvest of joy this will mean.
It could be said that giving is an opposite of lust. Lust consumes and consumes and gets and gets and is never satisfied. It's like a flame that keeps on burning, and anything it gets ahold of is consumed, and still it continues to burn. When you give into lust, you become an incessant consumer.
Lust destroys everything around it.
Giving, on the other hand, produces more opportunities to give, as well as more resources to give. Instead of destroying what is around it, giving gives life to the things around it.
]]>He's been putting a lot of thought into economics and politics lately, and his perspective is one I respect. At the very least, you will be challenged by what you read.
I'd recommend for starters:
]]>In its own words, here's how it works:
You find something you want to read, but you don't have time now. You click [Read Later] (which is a bookmarklet you add to your web browser ~ Rob).
When you have time to read, you come here on your computer or phone and get whatever you wanted to read.
What's really neat is that my two favorite iPhone Twitter clients, TwitterFon** and Tweetie, support this service. That way, when I see an interesting article, I simply hit a couple of buttons, and it's instantly in my "To Read" list on Instapaper.
* *Note that the forthcoming Pro version of TwitterFon will support it, not the free ad-supported version.
]]>But it rings untrue to most ears to claim that Apple is doing a bad job with regard to security. The evidence suggests that Mac OS X has been and remains secure enough to be safe, and safety is what real people actually care about.
Gruber makes an interesting distinction between safety and security.
Security is about technical measures, like the strength of the locks on your doors and windows. Safety is about the likelihood that you'll actually suffer from some sort of attack.
While it may not always be this way, the experience I have had as a Mac user for more than ten years now is that had to worry about viruses or malware.
Not once.
]]>Bottom line, a well-known priest had some pictures leaked of him with his arms around some woman at a beach.
Honestly, I don't meant this post to be a tirade against the foolishness and the wrongness of the vow of celibacy that the Catholic Church requires of its priests. I do love having a wife to put my arm around at the beach. I mean, who wouldn't? Also, I'm aware of taking heed lest I fall, and I'm not here to point a finger because I find something fundamentally wrong and downright demonic about an institution that bears the name of Jesus that forbids marriage.
Think what you want of the scandal, I only wanted to post about what user Smiles 842 said because, admittedly, I got a chuckle out of her outlook as opposed to all the other things I was reading:
]]>10:51 PM May 07 2009
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm much happier to hear about a priest fondling an adult consenting woman than little boys... p.s. I wouldn't mind making out with him on a beach, he's pretty hot.
One thing I've noticed in this part of town is the cheeseburger bird, so named because of the three syllables it seems to be pronouncing. Rosanna told me about the name and I had to laugh, but dang if it isn't as annoying as all get-out after the first thousand or so times you hear it.
I have to agree with this blogger's sentiment: Would Someone Please Give Those Birds a Cheeseburger?!
Here's a video that shows you what I'm talking about:
Update (6:40am): Apparently, this is the black-capped chickadee. And apparently, it only likes to sing between 4:30am and 6:30am.
Lovely.
]]>Soon, thanks to David Guy, this blog will be managed through WordPress.
May not mean much to you, but it'll mean I'll be posting more. You might need to refresh this page when it happens.
And just after I tweaked my blockquotes to look like this:
Here's a quote.
Oh well.
]]>]]>The pattern of our life and growth is like a yo-yo. Up and down, up and down.
Pretty depressing, huh? But he continues:
The pattern of our life and growth is like a yo-yo... in the hands of a man walking up a flight of stairs.
Sad but interesting story about Ira Einhorn, the "Unicorn Killer" and his relationship to Earth Day.
]]>Ira Einhorn was arrested for murder March 28, 1979, the day the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident occurred. Ira Einhorn, environmentalist, was charged with murder during the same period as one of the greatest environmental accidents in United States history.
But the real irony is that more people died in the apartment of Ira Einhorn, co-founder of Earth Day than at Three Mile Island. The environmentalist killed more people than the so-called environmental disaster.
Happy Earth Day.
And now I can help Rosanna love it, too.
Myst for the iPhone and iPod Touch
It's gonna be $5.99, and according to this thread on the Cyan forums, it's currently awaiting approval from Apple.
Now, I'd really like to see Riven get ported. If you've been a long-time reader of my blog (all three of you), you'd know that I fancy Riven quite a bit.
]]>How to Obtain the Blessing of God: Introduction
How to Obtain the Blessing of God: Part 1
All these quotes are taken from The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, Broadman & Holman, 2003, pp. 22-23.
To recap, Jonathan Edwards', in his sermon entitled How to Obtain the Blessing of God, proposes that it's appropriate for us to receive His blessing through a process of not letting Him go until He bless us. He cites four reasons, and the first which was discussed in Part 1 is this:
Reason #1: Because not letting God go except He bless us reveals the value and necessity of the blessing we seek.
It reminds me of the many, many kids I heard while working at Super Target in Edmond (1398 props, Baby!) who dramatically informed their parents that if they didn't have that Bratz doll, or didn't get that squishy ball in the checkout line, they would die. The parents knew this was a passing desire that had no root in their hearts other than in the immediate moment of impulse buying. Even a good parent who takes care of his child's needs won't give into every impulse of "I want _."
In the same way, God wants us to really know how much we need this blessing so that, upon receiving it, we are able to recognize its true value and be aware that God takes care of our true needs. By temporarily withholding a blessing, we have time to think about whether this is really valuable or not.
Okay, recap out of the way.
Reason #2: Because not letting God go except He bless us gives us time to reflect on our unworthiness.
God's seeming [appearing] to deny persons the blessing for a while when they seek tends to lead person to reflect on their unworthiness of the blessing. They have that seeming denial to put them upon thinking what they have done to provoke God to withhold a blessing from them. While Christ seemed to deny the woman of Canaan what she sought, she was put in mind of her unworthiness. Jesus said, "It is not meet [appropriate] to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs" (Matt. 15:26). This leads them to seek it in a more humble manner.
Not only are we brought to the point of realizing the value of the thing we seek, we're also given the opportunity to examine ourselves for the purpose of finding out what things we may have done to cause a rift in our relationship that needs repenting. And in so doing, we are humbled and rely more on the cross as the basis of our blessing, not our righteousness.
This is not vindictive of God, as if He's only mad at you and will change to happiness if you do your part. God does have anger for sin and it is a part of His nature, just as we can be angry when someone we love does something hurtful against us, and yet love them and want their good at the same time. But according to this sermon, God is eager to bless us even when He has something against us.
I love, love, love the biblical account he calls on and it's worth meditating on. Matthew 15:21-28
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."
So Jesus went to Tyre and Sidon, and who comes before Him to seek a blessing but a woman, a Canaanite woman. This is a Gentile, a descendent of the people who inhabited the land and had stored up God's anger against them through extremely dark sins. And she comes to Israel's Messiah to seek a blessing, seeking mercy because of her daughter who was oppressed by a demon.
Jesus' response?
23a But he did not answer her a word.
If God wants to bless people more than they want to be blessed, what explains Jesus' behavior? He didn't tell her yes, He didn't tell her no. He just ignores her.
23b And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Evidently she did not give up, but was continuing to cry out after Jesus. This annoyed the disciples. Did it annoy Jesus? His answer is that He is Israel's Messiah, sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
It sure appears that Jesus is not interested in blessing this woman by granting her request.
Does she give up?
25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
She finally gets close enough to Him and, in a humble way, pleads for His help. You'd think that if Jesus was so eager to bless people He'd give in and say, "Okay, fine. Have it your way." Like Burger King.
26 And he answered, "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."
Whoa! Slam on Canaanites out of nowhere! "Not only have I been ignoring you since you're not an Israelite, but I'll also take this opportunity to remind you that you're not a child but a dog."
This seems so harsh. "My blessings are for the children, not for the dogs." I have no idea His tone, but it seems like a shocking spurn.
But notice her reply:
27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
In other words, "Yes, I may be a dog and not a child, but even the crumbs are good enough for me." She doesn't shirk off His dog imagery; she embraces it as a way to get closer to Him.
"Yes, Lord," is an amazing acknowledgment. I see her as saying, "Yes, I know I don't deserve this blessing from You. Yet I trust that You are so overflowing with blessings that even the 'spare' blessings You give are way more than I need."
28 Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.
Her faith was great and her desire was answered. She didn't give up. She sought His blessing in a more humble manner, and this greatly pleased Jesus.
So, even though it seemed like Jesus wouldn't give the time of day to this Canaanite woman, He was intending on blessing her all along and it was through her persistence and humble acknowledgment that Jesus answered her request.
My conclusion is that it's right for God to withhold the blessing we seek because it makes us remember that it's the cross we're trusting in for our righteousness and reward, and we are given time to reflect on anything we might have done that we should repent of, and casts us back on His mercy to bless us because Jesus paid for all of the sins we have committed.
It's not a matter of shoring up some sort of righteousness savings account and then saying, "See, God, reward me now." It's recognizing that He's paid for it, and that there's an "it" that needs to be paid. Then, we ask for mercy and draw near with confidence to the throne of grace where we find grace and help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Thus, if God is withholding a blessing you are seeking, don't automatically assume that He doesn't want to bless you with what you're seeking. Take some time to consider if your heart is not right toward Him, like King Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25:2.
All right, that wraps up a few of my thoughts on Point #2. On to #3!
]]>]]>A legend says that Moses once sat near a well in meditation. A wayfarer stopped to drink from the well and when he did so his purse fell from his girdle into the sand. The man departed. Shortly afterwards another man passed near the well, saw the purse and picked it up. Later a third man stopped to assuage his thirst and went to sleep in the shadow of the well. Meanwhile, the first man had discovered that his purse was missing and assuming that he must have lost it at the well, returned, awoke the sleeper (who of course knew nothing) and demanded his money back. An argument followed, and irate, the first man slew the latter. Where upon Moses said to God, "You see, therefore men do not believe you. There is too much evil and injustice in the world. Why should the first man have lost his purse and then become a murderer? Why should the second have gotten a purse full of gold without having worked for it? The third was completely innocent. Why was he slain?"
God answered, "For once and only once, I will give you an explanation. I cannot do it at every step. The first man was a thief's son. The purse contained money stolen by his father from the father of the second man, who finding the purse only found what was due him. The third was a murderer whose crime had never been revealed and who received from the first the punishment he deserved. In the future believe that there is sense and righteousness in what transpires even when you do not understand."
Moses' impatience with God in this story would surely be overcome if he had more faith in God's power and wisdom to turn all things for the good of his people. God has promised again and again in the Bible to do just that (2 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm 23:6; 84:11; Jeremiah 32:40-41; Isaiah 64:4; Romans 8:28, 32; 1 Corinthians 3:22-23). In fact, the only thing misleading in this legend is the comment put in the mouth of God that, "For once and only once, I will give you an explanation." The fact is, God has given us explanations like this repeatedly in the Bible with enough illustrations to fill a book.