thoughts
How do you measure moments? When life is against you and everything seems to be not going your way, moments seem to stretch forever. However, when we are engrossed in whatever we find interesting, moments seem to be so fleeting. Maybe life's lessons are better appreciated in the tough moments. In these places, maybe we are truly alive. Our biology suggests that in moments of flight or fight, time seems to slow, all our senses seem to be heightened. We are ready to make life-and-death decisions. Do the hard moments seem so long because to live in a crucible is the way we best see God? Or are we so busy looking for joy and peace outside of Him that for us to remember Whose we are we need to experience hard times so that we can turn our faces to Him who is the author and finisher of our faith? Some questions. If you have some answers, let me know.
ponderings
I have been thinking about Miley Cyrus a lot lately. No, I'm not being weird or perverted. With so much time on my hands, ideas come to mind. I have noticed a progression in this young lady. She seems to have fallen under the spell of our society that states for a young girl to be a woman, she must be a sexual being, which is kind of odd. Usually in this society, men pass through the same crucible by turning 18, learning to drive, and getting a job, but the benchmark for young ladies seem to be the stage Miley Cyrus is going through right now: wearing provocative clothes, gyrating at the CMA awards and acting out in other ways. I do not have a uterus; I will be the first to admit. But you have to admit that this seems to be perverse. If I have missed something, please bring it to my understanding. But my heart kind of breaks for this young lady, who seems to have only one way to tell the world that she is maturing into a young lady. This, to my mind, is sad.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
People
Thoughts
In class at church today, a man asked a question which on the surface meant one thing. If you paid attention to his grammar, the question would be, "What is suffering?" If you look under the question to the intent behind what he was asking, another picture appears. A struggle in this man's mind to what he fears, what he struggles with. The idea that Christians suffer scared him to his core. He seemed to want to be reassured that suffering isn't as bad as it sounds or something that he doesn't have to face because he walks with Jesus. I wish I could tell him and reassure him that he should not have a care in the world, you are in the hands of the man from Galilee. For he is, but there is an aspect of the Savior's life that we sometimes gloss over. We see first the benefits of believing in Him and living life in His will, where there is an enternal reward of life everlasting in harmony with God, forever and ever, amen. However, we seem to forget the price paid for that. The cross and the humiliation of being called a blasphemer, a bastard, and demon-possessed caused Him suffering. And if we are to walk like Jesus did, then there will be suffering. Maybe not the cross, but bills to pay, uncertainties, men wanting jihad, and the list goes on. I wish I could tell him that it will be alright, for it will be in the end. But sometime, sooner or later, he will suffer. Not because Jesus dislikes him or is making him earn his way into the kingdom but simply because we live in a fallen world. As fallen men and women, we make choices that impact everyone else upon this mortal coil. The best blessing I may be able to say to him is, "Strength and courage." For we all battle with the unspoken fears of our daily living. One thing I am sure of, though, this trial cannot be avoided. It must be embraced. What we fear, what we rage against must be faced with strength and courage in His name and His will be praised.
Ponderings
I took a class called Assessments. I hated this class. Our job was to diagnose and to say in colorful, flowery language that some people are . . . crazy. There. I said the "c" word. Let me give you an example of this: After testing and assessments, you find that the person who took the assessment is out of his mind, one cannot simply just say that. The phrases "crazy as a loon," "off his rocker," and "out of your ever-loving mind" are simply not used. The good doctor taught us well. We are to say things like, "This person exemplifies behavior found in a clinical group where one's grasp on reality is short of the standard measurement." "This person illustrates thought processes that are non-compliant with reality." "The client's attitudes suggest that they are not acquainted with time, place or person." I thought I would never get this right. The process was, to me, torture, making a great diagnosis and expressing it in a "preferred" manner. Sometime after taking this class, I had to do an official report to an unnamed government agency about an unnamed client. My supervisor at my externship had to sign off on the report before it could be sent out to the unnamed government agency. After reading the report, his words were, "This report would have done the old man proud." Some of you who are reading this might know who the old man is. In fact, the old man may be reading this! If you are, thank you. Some days, things that we don't like to do should be done in excellence.
In class at church today, a man asked a question which on the surface meant one thing. If you paid attention to his grammar, the question would be, "What is suffering?" If you look under the question to the intent behind what he was asking, another picture appears. A struggle in this man's mind to what he fears, what he struggles with. The idea that Christians suffer scared him to his core. He seemed to want to be reassured that suffering isn't as bad as it sounds or something that he doesn't have to face because he walks with Jesus. I wish I could tell him and reassure him that he should not have a care in the world, you are in the hands of the man from Galilee. For he is, but there is an aspect of the Savior's life that we sometimes gloss over. We see first the benefits of believing in Him and living life in His will, where there is an enternal reward of life everlasting in harmony with God, forever and ever, amen. However, we seem to forget the price paid for that. The cross and the humiliation of being called a blasphemer, a bastard, and demon-possessed caused Him suffering. And if we are to walk like Jesus did, then there will be suffering. Maybe not the cross, but bills to pay, uncertainties, men wanting jihad, and the list goes on. I wish I could tell him that it will be alright, for it will be in the end. But sometime, sooner or later, he will suffer. Not because Jesus dislikes him or is making him earn his way into the kingdom but simply because we live in a fallen world. As fallen men and women, we make choices that impact everyone else upon this mortal coil. The best blessing I may be able to say to him is, "Strength and courage." For we all battle with the unspoken fears of our daily living. One thing I am sure of, though, this trial cannot be avoided. It must be embraced. What we fear, what we rage against must be faced with strength and courage in His name and His will be praised.
Ponderings
I took a class called Assessments. I hated this class. Our job was to diagnose and to say in colorful, flowery language that some people are . . . crazy. There. I said the "c" word. Let me give you an example of this: After testing and assessments, you find that the person who took the assessment is out of his mind, one cannot simply just say that. The phrases "crazy as a loon," "off his rocker," and "out of your ever-loving mind" are simply not used. The good doctor taught us well. We are to say things like, "This person exemplifies behavior found in a clinical group where one's grasp on reality is short of the standard measurement." "This person illustrates thought processes that are non-compliant with reality." "The client's attitudes suggest that they are not acquainted with time, place or person." I thought I would never get this right. The process was, to me, torture, making a great diagnosis and expressing it in a "preferred" manner. Sometime after taking this class, I had to do an official report to an unnamed government agency about an unnamed client. My supervisor at my externship had to sign off on the report before it could be sent out to the unnamed government agency. After reading the report, his words were, "This report would have done the old man proud." Some of you who are reading this might know who the old man is. In fact, the old man may be reading this! If you are, thank you. Some days, things that we don't like to do should be done in excellence.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Plans of Men and Other Folly
Thoughts
I had a plan. I knew every detail, nuance, twist and turn of how my life would go after graduation. Ha. It is time for a new plan. I try to live my life by walking in my faith, but sometimes I forget my faith takes putting Him, who is the author and finisher of all things, first. It is humbling to realize that plans made of men's own desires are fragile and lowly things. So now I am walking with a new plan, waiting on His direction, with patience (oh how dearly I am trying for it).
Ponderings
On a lighter note, I think have finally found out why Texans are all so polite. They are all packing heat! It came as a shock to me that guns make you friendlier, rather than the opposite. It seems logical to think that if you carry a weapon that is capable of ending another person's life, it would make you an angry, testosterone-riddled individual. Not so, really. It seems that guns have the opposite effect, at least here in Texas. It seems when you have the ability to defend oneself, an eerie calm seems to come upon you, and you are willing to look on your fellow man with a lot more patience and consideration. If your fellow man misbehaves, a person has at their disposal the ability to settle matters quite quickly.
Another thought also came to mind. Since one does not know who is packing heat, it behooves one to treat everyone else in the Lone Star state with kindness and consideration because of the possibility of someone busting caps into one's posterior.
I had a plan. I knew every detail, nuance, twist and turn of how my life would go after graduation. Ha. It is time for a new plan. I try to live my life by walking in my faith, but sometimes I forget my faith takes putting Him, who is the author and finisher of all things, first. It is humbling to realize that plans made of men's own desires are fragile and lowly things. So now I am walking with a new plan, waiting on His direction, with patience (oh how dearly I am trying for it).
Ponderings
On a lighter note, I think have finally found out why Texans are all so polite. They are all packing heat! It came as a shock to me that guns make you friendlier, rather than the opposite. It seems logical to think that if you carry a weapon that is capable of ending another person's life, it would make you an angry, testosterone-riddled individual. Not so, really. It seems that guns have the opposite effect, at least here in Texas. It seems when you have the ability to defend oneself, an eerie calm seems to come upon you, and you are willing to look on your fellow man with a lot more patience and consideration. If your fellow man misbehaves, a person has at their disposal the ability to settle matters quite quickly.
Another thought also came to mind. Since one does not know who is packing heat, it behooves one to treat everyone else in the Lone Star state with kindness and consideration because of the possibility of someone busting caps into one's posterior.
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