Finally
This link was featured on the homepage of MSN.com this morning:
http://lifestyle.msn.com/Relationships/CouplesandMarriage/
Article.aspx?cp-documentid=30472>1=6967
(sorry it won't load on one line!)
It makes me happy to see this. I don't know anything about the author, but it is great to see that this acknowledgement is being told to the 'general public.' It is such an obvious thing to see as a believer but not so much as otherwise.
The only thing wrong with this article is its slight objective view. It doesn't say anything about it being absolute (like marriage being sacred), but only something that some people believe. I guess for a place like MSN, you have to take a journalistic viewpoint. Still a nice read though.
In the words of Kevin Kloesel
STOP IT!
Stop whining about things you can't change. These include (but are not limited to):
- The president
- The vice president
- The leader of most things
- Legislation
I can tolerate someone complaining about school or work because that can actually be modified. But Bush is not leaving office anytime soon. Complain all you want. He will still be here. Has he really been *that* bad? Why not just enjoy life? Even the most conservative crowd will have to deal with a liberal president in their lifetime. Get over it.
And what is this with the whole "intelligent design" issue coming up again? I thought that was over. What is it with this nation and progressivism!? If things aren't going anywhere, someone makes up a problem so that they can complain about it. Just leave things the way they are and it would be so much easier.
Rita
Forgot the Rita pic:
This is only my favorite. You can go
here to look at the rest.
Very Happy!
Even though it has put me a full year behind, I am sooo glad that I decided to only take Synoptic this semester. Everyone else seems so completely stressed. My classes aren't hard, but they have a lot of work, so I'm still spending a lot of time on stuff, but it isn't stressful.
Oh well. I get to take Air Pollution in the spring along with some other courses I want to take and also do better in them than I would otherwise. I am so glad I'm taking German. It's AWESOME!!! It would be cool to study at Hamburg for grad school. Always an option, I guess. I would be really interested in working with their wind tunnels. Or I could try to stay here and work with Petra. Or I could try for NC State and maybe work with Arya (if he even takes students). Or go to UMD.
Ahh... can't think of all that now. Must learn about Isentropic Potential Vorticity. Now THAT is scary...
Away Messages: a view of how your friends really feel..
Two away messages really got me tonight:
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1) I just saw a representative from Georgia suggest the cutting of NASA's new Moon and Mars program as a source for Katrina relief. Although a tax cut sure did make a whole lot of people happy, I haven't seen much of it....my mother hasn't seen much of it, and i would guess that most of the mid to low income families haven't seen much. I remember my mom getting a $400 check.....are these kinds of payoffs for presidential popularity necessary? I am ALL FOR increasing taxes. I am ALL FOR decreasing our ~7 trillion dollar national debt (or even just stabilizing it). I am NOT...ABSOLUTLEY NOT for the cutting of a new space program that promises even more technological advancements, educational inspiration, and a promotion of America's ability to do the impossible through hard work, knowledge and intellect, steadfastness, and a will to succeed.
2) What a horrible president and government we have right now!! We have a president who has been wanting to cut scientific funding for a few yrs now...how wonderfull is that?
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After reading this, I tried to figure out if I wanted to confront or just vent on here. I don't like conflict, so here I am posting. haha.
My opinion with respect to these away messages... Why is it so bad to cut that specific space program (or the budget or whatever)? Of all the govt programs, that would probably be the best to be cut. It's not like meteorology where we can apply that to everyday life and save lives.
Now... this is coming froma pretty avid NASA promoter, so it's not like I hate the space program. I think it is a great thing. But the funds are needed elsewhere temporarily. I am all for raising taxes too. And getting us out of Iraq. But do we REALLY need to explore other rocks before taking care of our own? I know its fascinating and I can't imagine life without it, but it's not like the space program as a whole would be cut out. Yes, there are many other things we can do, including conservation, which NO ONE is encouraging. Not just one should be done... but a combination.
Support the govt for once.. Geez.
Rita
We can see Hurricane Rita's bands here!!! It's soooo awesome! I would take pictures, but the sun is down just enough to where it wouldn't look very good. Tomorrow... definitely!
Please pray for those that will be hit. I know this is going to traumatize a lot of the Katrina survivors so it will be a very hard time.
A random post for a random mind
Peter Cetera (and Chicago) ROCKS!
Hurricane Rita is scary but awesome.
I have worn at least 4 different pairs of shoes today and three shirts.
My bird is chirping like mad.
In German, we are doing weather stuff!!! Apparantly it hails in the winter...
Tonight, I almost hit a man that was walking in the middle of a road as I was turning the corner.
I think I have only been to Boties about 4 times since school has started.
For some reason, the inside of my nose is swollen so it is hard to breathe.
I need to learn how to be a better friend.
I need to pray more.
I need to be less legalistic.
I need more water.
I miss my family.
And now, it is time for bed.
Compassion
Our small group bible study for RUF this semester is about loving like Christ. Tonight, we talked about several passages: Luke 10:38-42 (the one of Martha and Mary), Mark 8:1-13 (the one of Jesus feeding the 4000), and Mark 10:46-52 (Christ showing compassion).
I never realized until tonight how powerful these passages are. The story of Martha and Mary really hit home - not because I know of sibling relationships, but because I am so legalistic. Perhaps that is why I like traditional things so much. I like being told what I should do and I don't like to stray from that. I would definitely be Martha in this story. As Doug points out in our material, learning from a rabbi was a man's job. Mary was being the "rebel" and Martha was pointing out that she wasn't doing her role as a female. There are a lot of assumptions to be made about the tone of it all, but it seems that Martha is complaining to Jesus (instead of being concerned) that Mary is not where she should be according to tradition. And she (Martha) is not tending to her guests and is probably being short with them. I know I get this way so much and it is really hard for me to see it. I'm sure my selfishness is ten fold greater than Martha's, so it pains me to think of how little I truly love other people.
The disciples did not believe that they could feed the four thousand. These are the disciples that followed Christ and were with Him all the time, and even recently saw the same miracle performed with less available and to more people (I didn't know that until tonight!!!) Thank God for revelation! If these disciples that actually KNEW Jesus couldn't pick up on something like this, oh, how much more hopeless would I be in the same situation! I am so thankful to have the Bible available to me.
The third passage is a model that I want to adopt. "What do you want?" and "How can I serve you?" Why are these questions so hard to ask? I know that I have problems asking these because of a fear of rejection or mockery. People denying that they need help because they are strong enough on their own. I suppose I have this fear because that is typically how I respond to someone asking me that. I have been pretty independent most of my life, but have always yearned for dependency and comfort. I want to serve more than I do and I want to be able to allow others to serve me.
Sorry if this post seems pretty unorganized. I have so much going through my head right now it's hard to keep track. I have to get back to analyzing a map for Synoptic and looking over my sounding for CRP that I have to present tomorrow. And I have to work on my German assignment. And I have to read. And then maybe sleep, assuming I can breathe okay. Good night!
The Streak is Broken!
The Redskins won against Dallas like 10 minutes ago! How great is that! For 9? consecutive games, Washington just could not win, even with the home field advantage. But this time, they did! Even if it was because Dallas fell apart, it's still a win against them.
The Sooners might have lost this week to UCLA, but at least the Skins won their biggest game :-) Now to wait for October 8th and December 18th to see how things shape up.
GO SOONERS!! GO SKINS!!
And Texas still sucks.
YAY!!
I finally was able to take the battery back to O'Reilly (after searching and finding the battery warranty) and they checked it and it was really low (obviously). It was out of the 2 year replacement warranty, so I had to pay like $30 for a new one. The terminals were really corroded so I got battery cleaner too. I just got in all back together and the car starts without a problem. I know that makes sense because its a new battery, but the 'Service Engine Soon' light didn't stay on like it was doing. So here's to hoping it was just the battery. I'm kinda nervous about driving it again, but I think it should be okay for a little while. Please pray that this actually solved the problem and it is not the alternator.
Before this... Matt let me borrow his car so I could actually get to places like the grocery store and church. Nathan and Cindy took me over there and I got it earlier this afternoon. Matt's car almost didn't start either!!! It had been sitting in his garage since he left for England about 2 months ago and there was hardly any gas in the tank. It took several minutes before it decided to start. I was so scared that his was broken too!!
Now I'm stuck with two cars and a bike at my apartment. That's gonna be interesting to figure out. hehe.
Confusion...
As I was settling into bed tonight, I started reading 1 Corinthians. All was well until I got to Chapter 2, Verse 10:
"these things [wisdom] God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God."
I have always been somewhat confused on exactly how to describe the Trinity, so maybe that is where I am having problems. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one God in the Trinity, but separate entities. But it doesn't make sense that the Spirit would search God. I suppose it depends on the word being translated as "God", whether it is God as in the Godhead or God the Father. Normally, one of my bibles will have some kind of note saying what it is, but for some reason, not in this spot.
The following verses describe that only the spirit of a man knows the thought of the man and same with the Spirit and God. So is the Spirit the thoughts of God? Is that part of the Spirit's role in the Trinity?
And if that IS the Spirit's role.... WOW! We receive the Spirit when we become believers, so that means we have part of God's wisdom. I guess that makes a little more sense now. And as a result of having part of God's wisdom, we become convicted of sin and fruit of the Spirit should flow from us.
I've never really thought of it like this before... so maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong. I'm not sure I understand this, so if anyone has any comments, please leave them!!
The Unexpected...
Tonight was definitely interesting. Michelle and I left work at 8 and walked out to our cars together, talking as we went. I was parked farther away, so we said bye and I continued on. I get to my car and get in it, turn the key, and hear a "rur rur rur" of the car kind of trying to start. Not good. This problem was really random, except for when I drove my car to McAlister's (sweet tea!!) after Synoptic, it was acting a little funny, but that was the first I had noticed anything.
So I called my boss, David, (because he was still at work) and asked him what I should do. He ended up driving over to jump my car. We got it to start, but my tail lights were still reeeally dim. We snatched my bike and he followed me to my apartment. I turned my car off and tried starting it again -- not much of anything and less than when I first got to my car.
Now that my car is at my apartment, I don't mind that it's messed up. And praise God that I didn't get stranded. It is either the battery (good) or the alternator (nicht so gut). Please pray that this problem will be solved in a timely manner and that the problem won't be as severe as expected.
On a lighter note, I have my second German exam tomorrow and I feel like I can make another 103% on it :-). It's over conjugation and questions and stuff, and also a map of the German states. I thought that we were going to have to memorize the name of the state, where it is, and its capital, but apparantly we will have a word bank which will make things soooo much easier. Talking about that, I need to get studying!
Prayer
Last night at RUF, Doug was gone because he's at a conference in Montana. Mike Biggs, our
CTK pastor, spoke to us - not out of Ephesians like we had been, but from Luke. Coincidentally, it was a passage from Luke that I had read several times lately because of our bible study. It was Luke 11:1-14. The topic was prayer.
Now, I've always heard people talk about "effective prayer" but never really understood what that meant. I thought that all prayer was the same. But after examining the example prayer, the Lord's prayer, one can see that prayer is based on requests. I suppose that is already somewhat obvious, but this passage changed my view of it.
Verses 5-8 gives a beautiful illustration.
Go Bush!
//rant//
I am getting a little fed up with seemingly everyone I know (at least from school) griping about Bush and how he's not doing enough to help out the New Orleans area.
9/11 happened right after he began his first term, around the same time in the term that Katrina happened. He asked for prayer then and seemed to turn even the atheist toward God somewhat. However, when he asks the nation to pray for the Katrina disaster, he gets mocked. The only reasoning I can make of this is that terrorism is "out of our control" and was a personal attack on us and that people must see natural disasters as something we can handle on our own. Personally, it THRILLS me to know that Bush has been asking for prayer because we CAN'T handle it on our own. I am probably more glad than ever to have voted for him. If other certain candidates were in office, we would probably be in even worse. But you can do "ifs" with this type of thing.
Is it really THAT bad to have a President who stands for something? Yes, America is for the free, but it can't roam free. There have to be standards. And we are supposed to support our President. Yes, there is a point where we should not, but that definitely is not now. A house divided against itself cannot stand, and I fear that is where we are headed as a nation. That, my friend, is why we need prayer.
//endrant//
Other than that, things are going wonderfully!! Classwork is kind of annoying sometimes, but most of it is interesting.
Hosea... wow
We're going through the book of Hosea at
church this semester. A book that I once understood to be kind of controversial and very strange is now coming together in a beautiful representation of the gospel. I used to think it was controversial due to the fact that God was instructing Hosea to marry a harlot, which is against His commandments. Mike has explained it to mean that she was not a woman of harlotry BEFORE they were married, but after. Thinking of it this way puts a whole new perspective on the book. Gomer is first faithful, but after bearing Hosea's child, she conceives two in harlotry. Further, God describes the destruction of Gomer if she continued to live in unfaithfulness.
We are Gomer and Hosea is Christ. How painful is it to realize that we are so incredibly unfaithful!? We take God's gifts for granted and assume we deserve them. As strange as it sounds, we forget about God and his presence in everything. A mere friendship would not last long in that type of situation; however, God pursues us all the more!
But we can have hope in the restoration of Israel. God does not let go of His loved ones. We will always be His. He goes after us and wants us to return to Him in all things.
Praise God for allowing us to have this illustration!
