Monday, January 11, 2010
Wow
It has been a long time since I've written anything here. On the upside I am writing on other sites and even handwriting some things. There's something cool about writing things by hand.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Uncomfortable Shoes
I wore shoes today that are supposed to be nice work-related shoes, but I wore them all day. I decided to, granted, but my feet are not liking me right now.
The sermon tonight was in part about doing hard things, and I related doing hard things with wearing uncomfortable shoes. They may seem comfortable for the first few hours, but once you hit that seven or eight hour mark, along with knee-high stockings that are cutting off the circulation to your legs, watch out.
This is also reminiscent of the movie The Second Chance with Michael W. Smith, which I've written about occasionally. Smith goes to the inner city, slings potatoes with the inner city pastor for 10 minutes, while on camera, and then goes back to his mega-church...I won't ruin the rest; it is an excellent film, as well as Smith's debut film role. The sermon tonight also mentioned virtue, and people who are genuinely being virtuous and passionate about the inner city for God versus people who just sling potatoes for ten minutes.
I think people generally, whether Christian or not, want to be comfortable. We want to stay where it's safe, and not risk life or limb for anyone, let alone God. I believe God calls us to live riskily, and be a martyr if necessary. That's for another blog entry completely, though.
Sometimes you have to don those uncomfortable shoes for what seems like an unbearable amount of time, but you're feet will feel better once you've broken them in.
The sermon tonight was in part about doing hard things, and I related doing hard things with wearing uncomfortable shoes. They may seem comfortable for the first few hours, but once you hit that seven or eight hour mark, along with knee-high stockings that are cutting off the circulation to your legs, watch out.
This is also reminiscent of the movie The Second Chance with Michael W. Smith, which I've written about occasionally. Smith goes to the inner city, slings potatoes with the inner city pastor for 10 minutes, while on camera, and then goes back to his mega-church...I won't ruin the rest; it is an excellent film, as well as Smith's debut film role. The sermon tonight also mentioned virtue, and people who are genuinely being virtuous and passionate about the inner city for God versus people who just sling potatoes for ten minutes.
I think people generally, whether Christian or not, want to be comfortable. We want to stay where it's safe, and not risk life or limb for anyone, let alone God. I believe God calls us to live riskily, and be a martyr if necessary. That's for another blog entry completely, though.
Sometimes you have to don those uncomfortable shoes for what seems like an unbearable amount of time, but you're feet will feel better once you've broken them in.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Drive Safe
Don't people say that all the time? Drive safe, and then your automatic response is "Okay, you too," and that is the last you talk about each other's driving experiences for that trip. I have never given much thought to how important that is; how that is actually real good advice.
I know why we never pay much attention to it: because we trust our own driving so much that we assure ourselves right after we hear "drive safe" that we won't get in an accident. The only way we would have any follow-up to it is if one of the parties actually got in an accident. Think about it: Do you ever hear anyone the next time you see them say to you "So, did you drive safe that one time?" Of course not; we just go on about our own lives. We take for granted that we won't get in an accident and let me tell you, if I did get in an accident, the last thing I would want to hear when being treated at the hospital is, "I told you to drive safe" or some nonsense.
I put so much preface on this because I almost did get in an accident this evening. I almost ran a guy over, and I was going fast enough to kill him. My fault, and I said to myself, "Negligent homicide" so that it would sink in that, had I killed him, that would have been the most likely charge.
I was thinking about food, okay? Food. There's a Burgerville on the way home, and so I was thinking about their yummy milkshakes. There's a DQ but I noticed all their lights were out otherwise I probably would have gotten a blizzard. I was still thinking about DQ when I remembered there is a 7-11 on the way home as well. I started thinking what kind of desserty thing they have, and I was focusing on the lights that the business has, and noticed a bank ATM's lights were on. I was like, "Ooooh, lights, pretty," and by the grace of God my brain told me to look back at the road, where a man was jaywalking where there was no crosswalk (bugs me when people do that when there are crosswalks two feet away), and was looking at the ground while taking a drink of whatever he bought at 7-11. Didn't even look up, change his expression to acknowledge I was there, nothing. I braked when I saw him, and waited till he was safely out of my lane...
I don't think it's too strong a phrase to say "by the grace of God" either. I was seriously inches away from this guy and no one made a sound. There were some people on the curb talking and things, they didn't say anything like "Look out" or anything. Just wow.
I know why we never pay much attention to it: because we trust our own driving so much that we assure ourselves right after we hear "drive safe" that we won't get in an accident. The only way we would have any follow-up to it is if one of the parties actually got in an accident. Think about it: Do you ever hear anyone the next time you see them say to you "So, did you drive safe that one time?" Of course not; we just go on about our own lives. We take for granted that we won't get in an accident and let me tell you, if I did get in an accident, the last thing I would want to hear when being treated at the hospital is, "I told you to drive safe" or some nonsense.
I put so much preface on this because I almost did get in an accident this evening. I almost ran a guy over, and I was going fast enough to kill him. My fault, and I said to myself, "Negligent homicide" so that it would sink in that, had I killed him, that would have been the most likely charge.
I was thinking about food, okay? Food. There's a Burgerville on the way home, and so I was thinking about their yummy milkshakes. There's a DQ but I noticed all their lights were out otherwise I probably would have gotten a blizzard. I was still thinking about DQ when I remembered there is a 7-11 on the way home as well. I started thinking what kind of desserty thing they have, and I was focusing on the lights that the business has, and noticed a bank ATM's lights were on. I was like, "Ooooh, lights, pretty," and by the grace of God my brain told me to look back at the road, where a man was jaywalking where there was no crosswalk (bugs me when people do that when there are crosswalks two feet away), and was looking at the ground while taking a drink of whatever he bought at 7-11. Didn't even look up, change his expression to acknowledge I was there, nothing. I braked when I saw him, and waited till he was safely out of my lane...
I don't think it's too strong a phrase to say "by the grace of God" either. I was seriously inches away from this guy and no one made a sound. There were some people on the curb talking and things, they didn't say anything like "Look out" or anything. Just wow.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Fear
Most fears are deemed irrational by a lot of people. Cops? A fear for me. I've not gotten in trouble with police before, but something about police cruisers sometimes creeps me out. I slow down even if I am going the speed limit, I tense up, I'm thinking, "Don't pull me over, don't pull me over. I have all my info if you do, but please don't."
I know that cops can break certain traffic rules, as can ambulance drivers and the like. Some cops don't signal, for instance, and speeding is generally one of them as well. These last couple nights, however, have been very strange.
I was coming home from a friend's house around 10:30 or so on Monday, and I took a different way home than I usually do. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen this: a few cop cars were ahead of me, and one just had his brakes on, the one ahead of him had his yellow emergency flashers on. I am trying to navigate between the one with the yellow flashers (on my right), and a parked car on my left, to a stop sign that is less than 10 feet in front of me. I feel very cramped and like I am going to hit one of these cars. Okay, so maybe I have a little depth perception issue, but it has gotten better with practice.
So, that was strange, especially since no one was doing anything wrong.
Then tonight, as I make my way home at about 12:15, I again go a different route, but a separate one than before. Otherwise, I would have seen the following scene right in front of me and bugged out. So, I am going straight ahead, when I see a cop car on my right with it's yellow flashers on. Then out of no where zooms this car (which is a police-related car because of the red and blue flashers where most people have their headlights). It does a crazy circle U-turn and almost bashes into (from my view) the police car that has its yellow flashers on. Then I notice on the other side of the street, a car with it's yellow flashers on, and I see smoke coming out the exhaust pipe. My brain tells me it's smoke because of a car accident and that's why the police are there. Upon closer inspection, this second yellow-flasher car is another police cruiser. As I slow to a crawl, I look inside this second cruiser expecting to see a cop inside. There is none. The car behind me is getting impatient, as I am going 5 in a 20 mph zone. I speed up slightly, still thinking something's amiss.
I have decided to dismiss it as police messing around, but why late at night, but not too late, when there is still traffic. I thought that since I interrupted their fun they were going to arrest me. I even tricked myself into believing that the car behind me that was annoyed was a cop too.
This is not a huge neighborhood I am talking about here. This is not in the middle of a boulevard (thank God) but it nonetheless is a highway where people are driving, so I think it is inappropriate to scare the living daylights out of someone who isn't especially keen on driving at night anyway.
Penny for your thoughts.
I know that cops can break certain traffic rules, as can ambulance drivers and the like. Some cops don't signal, for instance, and speeding is generally one of them as well. These last couple nights, however, have been very strange.
I was coming home from a friend's house around 10:30 or so on Monday, and I took a different way home than I usually do. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen this: a few cop cars were ahead of me, and one just had his brakes on, the one ahead of him had his yellow emergency flashers on. I am trying to navigate between the one with the yellow flashers (on my right), and a parked car on my left, to a stop sign that is less than 10 feet in front of me. I feel very cramped and like I am going to hit one of these cars. Okay, so maybe I have a little depth perception issue, but it has gotten better with practice.
So, that was strange, especially since no one was doing anything wrong.
Then tonight, as I make my way home at about 12:15, I again go a different route, but a separate one than before. Otherwise, I would have seen the following scene right in front of me and bugged out. So, I am going straight ahead, when I see a cop car on my right with it's yellow flashers on. Then out of no where zooms this car (which is a police-related car because of the red and blue flashers where most people have their headlights). It does a crazy circle U-turn and almost bashes into (from my view) the police car that has its yellow flashers on. Then I notice on the other side of the street, a car with it's yellow flashers on, and I see smoke coming out the exhaust pipe. My brain tells me it's smoke because of a car accident and that's why the police are there. Upon closer inspection, this second yellow-flasher car is another police cruiser. As I slow to a crawl, I look inside this second cruiser expecting to see a cop inside. There is none. The car behind me is getting impatient, as I am going 5 in a 20 mph zone. I speed up slightly, still thinking something's amiss.
I have decided to dismiss it as police messing around, but why late at night, but not too late, when there is still traffic. I thought that since I interrupted their fun they were going to arrest me. I even tricked myself into believing that the car behind me that was annoyed was a cop too.
This is not a huge neighborhood I am talking about here. This is not in the middle of a boulevard (thank God) but it nonetheless is a highway where people are driving, so I think it is inappropriate to scare the living daylights out of someone who isn't especially keen on driving at night anyway.
Penny for your thoughts.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Non-Profit Group support
Raise money for Portland Community College - Northwest Collegiate Ministries just by searching the web and shopping online!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Michael
There really is something to say when a man who's 50 dies from cardiac arrest. This health class I'm taking is really opening my eyes to how important taking care of yourself really is. I know that on average people with a higher income level are going to have better health than people who are poor, and therefore live longer. Michael moved up the income ladder, but what I immediately thought of when I heard was, "Stress". There's no denying that the trial put an enormous amount of pressure on him, and he lost a lot of weight very quickly. I know that was a while ago, but the effects of things stay with us.
Part of me is still in denial, but part of it has hit home, because Farrah died on the same day. Different circumstances, but I am going through stress right now, also. I can feel it bearing down on my heart.
.TAKE/CARE.
Part of me is still in denial, but part of it has hit home, because Farrah died on the same day. Different circumstances, but I am going through stress right now, also. I can feel it bearing down on my heart.
.TAKE/CARE.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Patience
Here's more about patience. My pastor yesterday talked about how anything God does can take time. I keep writing about it, but I inevitably forget it. I need to focus on how God is good, and He has my best in mind. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own agenda that I feel like God is dragging me through the mud instead of showing me something that is going to make me grow.
In my computer class we've been learning about PIG. Personal Instant Gratification. My pastor yesterday says we're the Instant Gratification Generation, talking about how microwaves at the time of their invention were not for warming up food. It was only later that they found that micro waves were good for this purpose. Warming up coffee - 10 seconds, come on, already! 40 seconds! - half a day!
At the same time I've also been learning about discipline. You'll never come across a lazy successful businessman.
I know these thoughts are sort of all over the place, but I hope you get the gist.
In my computer class we've been learning about PIG. Personal Instant Gratification. My pastor yesterday says we're the Instant Gratification Generation, talking about how microwaves at the time of their invention were not for warming up food. It was only later that they found that micro waves were good for this purpose. Warming up coffee - 10 seconds, come on, already! 40 seconds! - half a day!
At the same time I've also been learning about discipline. You'll never come across a lazy successful businessman.
I know these thoughts are sort of all over the place, but I hope you get the gist.
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