God, help me to not be "polite"
I've been thinking quite a bit over the last few days about a comment made by a friend of mine who went through sonship training with his wife.
he and I have a lot in common and as the trend, this fault in his nature is also in mine. One that i have known about but haven't addressed. this is that of a passive nature. I am a people pleaser - in short I am polite. you may wonder why this is a bad attribute. it is only because it is stonger than my will to see the gosple grown, stronger than my desire to sharpen my brothers and sisters (including my wife), and stronger than my willingness to challenge the beliefs of the unbeliever. I like to be liked. no surprise, so does everyone. I don't like conflict. I don't think on my feet very well when under preasure. The comment made to my friend by his counselor was shocking, but true.
After my buddies wife told the couselor that her husband was "polite". the couselor responds "Polite? I would rather be a called a fucking shithead than polite. your wife would be better off being married to an alcoholic. At least then you would both know what the problem is." that is not an exact quote, but the major points are all there.
Wow! don't focus on the "fucking shithead" part other than the implications of something so profound. He went on to explain that being polite is depressing. if you are always wanting to have the right response according to the other person's expectations or society's expectations you will except everything and challenge nothing. you will never make a difference in anyone's life or spread the true gosple. But how to be compasionate and gentle (my common excuse for silence)? In further discussion on the topic this moring with a few brothers (while sitting "in" my regular spot "in" the couch) it was brought up that Jesus was compasionate and gentle yet he turned over tables.

The implications are staggering. To carry this in to real life and look those implications in my own heart at its core is scarry and freeing at the same time. When a situation arrises I am called to react like Christ, but my nature is to react like me - a sinful, self centered moron. Let's say I do recognize a situation as it is happening. Here is a real chance for me to respond as Christ. I look to my heart for that inspiration and say, because I really believe I can react in love. But wait. my heart deceives me. my faith is wavering. In my heart of hearts it is not I who is the instigator of belief in the gosple. I have to recognize that all my faith, my belief from the beginning rests in Jesus' hands. Talk about a one-two punch. The implications for everyday situations spin on and on and I'm getting dizzy (sorry, that was too easy).

We have also been talking about how concieted everyone is in life. We are either looking down our noses thinking we are doing better than others or we are looking up our noses at those "doing better than us". This constant battle has most of us rollercoasting. What if we recognized that we will never be as good as Jesus and let that lead us to a greater appreciation for salvation and it would set us free to do the good things that He has prepared for us to - for His glory! ::deep breath:: wow. Lord, thank you for working in my heart and do so more today.

In other news, I have mice in my house. Number 3 went down last night with the crack of lightning from the spring loaded trap. As I sat in my living room this moring talking through some of this stuff with a pastor/friend I saw # 4 licking his little bastard paws in my kitchen. if there are four, there are more. there is a war at the threshold of this house. I will be the victor, I will rain down the lightning and consume those who trespass near my baseboards. I do not have mercy, though it has been shown to me.
If you come over, watch your toes.

R.I.P. 7/8
7/8 pasted away on Friday, November 22, 2002 at 12:14 PM on hole number 7 at Seven Oaks Disc Golf course in Nashville, TN. He lived a life familiar with traveling and although loyal to his owner exchanged hands in trust, gaining appreciation with each new caregiver. His exact age is unknown, but his flight path was a sure and steady one. Thrown from a backhand his sturdy weight was appreciated and respectable, and from a persuasive side arm a sure roll would could be used to travel great distances.

7/8 passed from such a sidearm that carried him into a young beaten oak tree. One who has obviously been embittered by repeated attacks by fellow brothers of 7/8. He passed suddenly and without pain. A solid split snapping directly between 7 and 8 - a stroke that would kill the heart of any disc. There will be no service, only those held on hole 7 at Seven Oaks.

7/8 leaves behind children Whippet and Rattler and grandchildren Cheetah and Supersoft.

just a little face to face from me to you.

worthy bookmark
The last dictionary you will ever need.
Each word in the definition can be looked up with a click of the mouse.

Thanks to The Heidelblog for posting the link.

"God will not suffer man to have the knowledge of things to come; for if he had prescience of his prosperity he would be careless; and understanding of his adversity he would be senseless."

You are Augustine! You love to study tough issues and don't mind it if you lose sleep over them. Everyone loves you and wants to talk to you and hear your views, you even get things like "nice debating with you." Yep, you are super smart, even if you are still trying to figure it all out. You're also very honest, something people admire, even when you do stupid things.

What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson

we're going to an African Leadership fundraiser dinner tonight. It should be great!
There are pastors from Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya as well as Marc Devries who is the coordinator I think.
Turns out the thing is being held at Michael W. Smith's farm in his barn... should be pretty cool.
I might try to take my digital camera, but I don't know. If so... I'll post some shots.

got a few photos scanned and loaded... also fixed link to goto photo page.

Just added some photo links on the left... some pics of the boy and some random ones so far.
Planning on adding some wedding, vacation, etc soon.

Great article on Karl Rove, W's political advisor, his relationship with the president and the effect Rove had on the mid-term elections.

Inventions Update - #2
I just made it easier to get home at a decent hour from work by installing a super slide that drops from a window near my cube directly to the row where my car is parked every day.
The only catch is that security makes me leave all my clothes but my skivies at work so I can't make off with an automatic pencil sharpener or file folder rack.
Thank goodness a warm front just blew in.

This family apparently takes pictures of each family member on the same day every year.

I think it would be cool to have similar pictures of that guy from Guiness with the really long finger nails or the guy with the really long beard. Maybe I will start taking pictures and grow both my beard and my nails so I can have a cool web site too.

I changed the oil in both my car and the wife's car last night. while the oil was draining and I was nursing a cold frosty adult beverage I decided to clean out my tool closet. "interesting," you say. "a tool closet." Well it's really not that intersting. I did find some very cool things in the tool closet though. For one, I found out that I have 4 cans of WD-40. I am totally set on WD. Out of the four cans, there are three different sizes. Two of the cans are monsters with "15% more free" written in white on a red stripe around the top of the can. The stuff is amazing. Last night while I was playing around in the garage, I quieted the hinge for the garage door, a squeak in my car door hinge and a couple of spiders that were living in my tool closet.

In similar news I have 2 years worth of used oil stored in my garage in grape juice, milk, old radiator fluid and Gatoraid containers. Free to the first bidder. Buyer pays for shipping.

The most annoying web site ever.
Time yourself to see how long you can stand it. Make sure your sound is on.

Some of his other stuff is pretty funny too. Strangly I feel a kinship to this man

one more

fun

Just got an email from a guy who was seaching for WDVX on Google and he found my site.
Pretty cool. I didn't know google would search blogs.

I am thinking lately about inventions. In the wake of the Seway Trasporter I think I could not only help the world, but my wallet as well. Applications will very.

Inventions Update - 1
so far I don't have any good ideas. Mostly things that have already been invented and that are laying somewhere within eyeshot of my cube.

The eye is watching you.