Update for Christmas time

Well, things have been great and a bit chaotic. It is amazing how much easier things are when I have my regular work schedule. I haven't been doing my quiet time, or memorizing scripture. That is pretty sad. I really need to make a better effort to work on what is important on my days off from work. I need to make a stronger effort, but usually when I get off on my days off it is because a kid is awake and needs attention. It is easier to do in the morning than trying to do it during nap time. But if that is the time available then that is when it should be done.

What about everyone else? Do you find it easier on your regular routine days or is it easier on a day off when you have more time? I could see it being very different without kids.

Starts Up Quick

So I finished Deuteronomy and decided to read Luke since it is the Christmas season. Man it jumps right into it. So much is going on. Zacharias receives a prophecy but doubts so he is punished by being mute so he can't really explain what is going on. His wife Elizabeth conceives. Then Mary is visited by the same angel and given a prophetic message. She believes the message and commits to serving God.

Then Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth who is filled with the Holy Spirit and blesses Mary. Then Mary praises the Lord. She hangs around for a few months then goes back home. John is born and named John instead of Zacharias after his father or any family name for that matter. Then Zacharias is no longer mute and prophesies praise to God.

A few important little details that are pretty cool:
45Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
man, if Zacharias was in the room this may have stinged a bit.
63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." 64Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Go Zacharias. Now he steps up. Elizabeth had just said his name was John and the people thought her crazy and asked Zacharias what he thought. Apparently Zacharias wasn't in the room to know about Elizabeth wanting him named John. This amazed the people when both parents said his name is John.

Man this stuff is exciting. And this is just the prophet of the Most High. Wait until the Most High is actually born. Then the two get to meet.

Slacking off on Memory Verses

Not sure why I have started slacking off. Things haven't really gotten that much busier. But moving on.

Obedience to God, Rom 12:1 and John 14:21

Use the first two days of the week to memorize Romans 12:1 and the next two days for learning John 14:21, then review both the rest of the week. Also, each day of the week review the first two verses learned. 2 Cor 5:17 and Gal 2:20

Romans 12:1 Read the context of Romans 11:32 - 12:2
questions to ask while learning the verse:
What is the right motivation for yielding ourselves to God?
What is sacrifice?
What is worship?

This is pretty much all taken from the Topical Memory System. I feel I need to reference it because most is a direct quote.

Obedience to God
Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."
Romans 12:1

For some reason I don't actually have a lot to say myself, so have fun with the homework.

Blessings

Deuteronomy 33 has a record of Moses speaking to each tribe. He is giving a blessing to the tribes before he dies. This seems somewhat common, but it is surprising that it is done just before death. Think how many missed a blessing due to not dying of old age. The book "Raising a Modern Day Knight" speaks of having celebration type events to commemorate certain milestones along the way of becoming a man. I think the blessings could have a good part to play in this.

The book speaks of how today's culture is more turbulent and confusing for boys. By laying out a path with milestones it gives a son better confidence and a stronger sense of identity. Some example milestones would be turning 13, or just the onset of puberty, turning 16 and having the freedom of a car, high school graduation, and marriage. I really like the ideas presented in this book, and I feel it is also easy to incorporate scripture into this thinking. As a man we are told through scripture about how to live. Ephesians is a great book on the Christian life. As they grow people need to gain responsibility and freedom. I think most would agree with this. As a parent your job is to raise adults, not big kids.

What do you guys think? Does this culture make it harder? What about lawsuits... they define who is responsible for what, which tells me our culture isn't doing very well guiding children to be responsible adults.

Tough decisions to be made in everyday life

Today is date night. But the roads are still pretty much frozen. I'm pretty sure my wife would like to get out of the house, but is it going to be worth it? I should have a better idea after I drive into work. the roads weren't real terrible, but it was only me in a light weight car. I would think a heavier vehicle may be harder to control.

Hmmm, I just thought of a pretty good date idea. It isn't too far from home, so hopefully it won't require a lot of driving.

Winter is here

I can't imagine bike commuting today. I woke up this morning, checked the weather to see that it is 15 degrees Fahrenheit. You would definitely need to cover all the skin. If anything is exposed I think it would be very uncomfortable. On top of that is the possibility of slick roads. I'm not worried about the bike losing control, but the car losing control next to me.

Days like this make me want to get the house better insulated too. We purchased some windows from Window World, but they aren't going to be ready to install until January.

Saturday Morning

Well, here I am on Saturday. I really messed up Julie's plans with my own selfish desire to play Battlefield. She has been wonderful and adapted her schedule for me. Still need to figure out what to do with the kids while we play. I'm thinking Katie may just be on the floor, and David could play in my lap... maybe. Maybe I'll let him use the mouse. That would be a challenge. I wonder if there is a keyboard button to fire. I still think it will be a lot of fun. I just don't know why Katie didn't sleep better tonight.

Traditions

So, it seems one of my favorite Christmas traditions is getting started this weekend. Battlefield 1942 lan party. Everyone should celebrate this tradition around the world. Lan parties are a fun way to spend time together.

Next will probably be the massive amounts of food tradition and then the gift exchanges start. Actually I think we have a gift exchange this weekend.

I look forward to all the festivities. I'm not too keen on gift exchanges because it is typically an item of little use, but they are still fun. More for the social interaction. I've gotten some nice gifts before.

Hopefully with the holidays coming and me being of work in a couple weeks I'll be able to continue to be disciplined and work on memory verses, working out, and continuing to have a quiet time. Maybe I'll even take time to write in this blog too.

Improving Christmas

Gifts for Christmas aren't really gifts. They are somewhat required... doesn't that take away part of what a gift is?

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday because there is family and food. It is a nice restful time. I think Christmas should be a wonderful time too, but I think we(as a culture) focus too much on giving gifts. I know this is supposed to reflect the great gift of Christ. We started drawing names which helps with some of the chaos, but I also think I receive too many gifts. Us kids need to get the parents to lay off or something. Or maybe gifts aren't even the problem.

Maybe it is just me, and I took too long to start shopping. Maybe I have a problem and it is unrelated to the culture and events. Maybe it is simply a need to change my attitude. Maybe I simply get annoyed with all the traffic on the roads and all the people in the stores. It even makes grocery shopping harder.

Do others think there is a problem?
Am I crazy? Yes, but am I completely off base on this topic?
How can we improve Christmas?
Help me out here.

Other Ideas

Marriage is great

Marriage is indeed great, and another wonderful part of it is that it can get even better.

I recommend:
Mistletoe for Marriage - 25 days of comfort and joy
Family Life

Due to being so busy I haven't been doing very well with the Mistletoe for Marriage assignments.


For December 3

Dear Julie,
I love you so much. I love you for who you are and what you do.

You are a wonderful daughter of God. I feel so fortunate to have you as my wife. I love you very much and probably don't say it often enough. Or maybe I just say it too casually. The words are still true even if I do a poor job communicating it. Hopefully I do an adequate job of communicating it, especially without using words. Love requires action, and I plan to continue to show you my love.

You have been so great to me. You are a beautiful, loving and serving wife. You are a caring and loving mother. I love to see your face when I come home from work. You are warm and welcoming. I enjoy talking with you and hearing your insightful view in matters. Thank you for helping me think things through better.

I am COMMITTED to you and look forward to continuing our life together. Merry Christmas.

Love,
Bobby

P.S. In the final sentence "life" is intentionally singular. Think about it.

Order in the Chaos that is Life

So, Julie is done with her women's Bible study. So that means it is time to go back to the memory verses with her. And at the same time we are trying to work out at least 3 times/week. The thinking for the workout was after David went to bed, but we are feeling that we are too drained at that time. So we are trying to think of a better time.

I'm afraid that will the holidays coming up so soon this great plans we have just won't work out. On top of it all I would like to try spending 10min a night cleaning the house. It has been a long time since our bathrooms have been clean, and I'm pretty sure I could get one done in 10 minutes.

Then another piece I would like to add to my chaotic life is encouragement. I want to encourage others, and I try to, I just feel the words I use don't seem to come across that way. Maybe I really just need to work on communicating better.

So with the holidays coming life gets more chaotic, and to make it more of a challange since it isn't once already (sarcasm), we are trying to accomplish some additional goals. YAY!

Balance Work and Vacation

Too much vacation. The problem isn't the vacation, it is how much there is to get done at work. I plan to take off a week after Christmas, but I still have vacation time, I just don't think I can spend it due to the amount of stuff I need to do at work.

Also, it is hard to get going once I get back to work after being gone so long. Too many things left in the air that I have to get back to juggling when I return. I look forward to the vacation, but it would be nice to have these projects done as initially planned.

All well, I'll do what I can, but I'll enjoy the vacation.

Worry

So, I have anxiety issues. It is something that just adds stress to my life that I don't need. yesterday when David got up from a second nap he had some weird bumps on his face, so we thought maybe he got some sort of bite while he was in his crib. We checked the crib and didn't find any bugs or anything, so we took pictures of his face and watched him for a bit. The bumps went away within 10minutes and weren't that bad to start with. We also checked his belly and back for maybe some sort of allergic reaction to something, but fortunately found nothing.

Well, during bath time I noticed some more bumps on the back of his legs. Then I noticed a whole lot on his little left butt cheek. Well, this was a bit freaky, so I called Julie in to look at it and she didn't know what ot make of it either. We cleaned him off and got him out of the bath and paged the doctor, but now I'm pretty sure it went wrong because we haven't heard back yet. So last night I was very parinoid. I would have liked more time to watch him, but felt he needed to go to bed. So I put him to bed and turned on the monitor. I was about to get in the shower when I thought I heard some weezing, so I put on a robe and called Julie and grabbed David. Who was completely fine. I'm pretty sure everything I'm so worried about is just in my head messing with me. So I prayed with David and Julie after I got him up. It helped me relax a bit. David was up a little more just hanging out, I checked him again and it looked like the bumps were going down a bit so I read to him and put him to bed again. Now I'm trying my best to wait and not wake him up since he went to bed so late, but for some reason I still worry about him.

Busyness of the Holidays

Well, I quit WoW. This should give me a bit more time for holiday happenings. I'm not sure if I'll start up my subscription again or not. While I was active I wasn't spending much time with the family or getting much done. So now I have a bit more time and a bit more money. Time will be gone with everything that is happening. Hopefully we will setup the Battlefield 1942 lan at the parents' house.

That is one reason why I love laptops. To go to a lan you just bring a small bag, get there, plug in power and mouse and you are ready to go. So much easier than a desktop. Yes they are more costly for the same performance. Yes the screens are smaller. Why is there such an obsession with large screens? It is my computer, I could understand wanting a bigger screen if others were watching, but I'm sitting about 18 inches from it. I don't need a big screen.

For those who are following along on memorizing scripture, Julie is almost done with her women's bible study, so then I'll get back into the Navigators topical memory system verses. But for now I'm going by an old list of memory verses I want to learn.
Topic I chose for this was missions. I feel that by thinking of missions this verse should easily come to mind.
Reference: Matthew 28:18-20
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"
Matt 28:18-20

Short term goals

Well, Julie has a short term goal to lose 5 lbs before Christmas. This is great, I'm so glad she is actually making goals for herself. I'm going to join her in her fitness, not the losing of 5 lbs. I would rather gain weight, but I could use the training and exercise.

Unfortunately this reminds me of my goal of memorizing scripture which I have already got messed up with. I think that is my biggest problem with the holidays. It messes up any routines I have.

Last time I was working on:
Judgement, Romans 14:12
"So then, each of us is to give an account of himself to God." Rom 14:12

Yeah yeah, I know it is easy, but it is on the list. It just gets balanced out by the new one.

Matthew 28: 18-20
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'" Matt 28:18-20

Now that is going to be much harder. So now I have some more motivation to spiritually exercise since Julie is wanting to physically. I just don't want to fail at my job as being priest to my family. I think this is one area where most men fall short. But reading Romans 14:12 you really don't want to have to stand before God and give an account of how you were too busy with hobbies/entertainment to train your family.

2008 Thanksgiving Review

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with the in-laws at NLR. Julie's brother drove in on Wednesday, and I worked Wednesday, but got off at noon. That was crazy. I have no idea why we got off so early, but I'm pretty happy about that. We enjoyed a nice meal with Travis and Beka and all the kids. Then we headed to the ranch.

Thursday morning was the "Casserole Crawl". This was 5k that was organized by some NLR staff. And this was to be the 4th time, so it was fun to partake in this. Julie's family isn't the most athletic, so it was great when Julie, Travis, and Beka did it with me. Little David even came along. I brought my child carrier backpack that Julie got me for my b-day. It was great. The pack with David gave me a decent workout so I didn't feel that the walk was boring at all.

We had a good Thanksgiving meal at about 1pm. Then sat around for rest of the day.

Friday morning the ropes course was opened up, so the four of us went over there with Abigail and David. We did the 4 person zip line while some others held David and Abigail for us. It was a lot of fun. Later that day we had an outing to town. Had mazzios pizza for dinner and strolled wal-mart. Oh, and somewhere in this day we had a 1 mile walk.

Saturday the weather changed. Morning started out nice but it got colder throughout the day. Not a lot happened here, I did take the dogs out for a run on the trails. I have no idea how long it was, but it was pretty good distance. I guess this would be a good time to mention that we brought our dog Sandy along for the trip. The dogs ended up breaking out of the fence every night. It wasn't just a cleaver escape or anything, they literally broke the pickets to get out.

Sunday was mainly spent packing up and coming home. David, Katie, and Sandy all slept on the way home. It was a good trip. We just need to remember to bring Sandy's tie out stuff so she won't be escaping all the time.

A few highlights:
David and Abigail had a great time together. They played together really well and had fun.
Somehow all the kids were asleep for the Thanksgiving meal. This wasn't even planned.
We were active!

Start of Vacation

Yay, time for a relaxing long weekend. Work was pretty great, they let everyone go home at noon, so it made for an earlier break. Pretty cool, spent some time with Julie setting up more Christmas decorations. Julie's justification is that we will be out of town this weekend and can't set them up.

Now I'm out here with some family, and a bunch of little kiddos. So far things are going well. Had a good trip. Glad I brought my laptop. Not really for this right here, but for the football games. I'm not into sports. So this will give me something to do. Though I'll probably not use it, but instead play with the children.

Attempted schedule change

This morning was a little different, I had some friends over last night to game and left the kitchen somewhat of a mess so I could get to bed. Well, that was a mistake. I didn't realize how bad of a mess the kitchen was. It took me too much time to get it cleaned this morning, so I wasn't able to write in my blog this morning, but I planned to post during my lunch break. Well, lunch was a bit busy but now I have some time. Basically I need to figure out a good time to post. I don't think I can continue with mornings because I need to leave early when I bike. Granted I won't really be doing much biking until after Christmas, but it would be fun to develop a routine. I'm planning on gaining some time by quitting World of Warcraft again. It is amazing how much it eats into family time.

With this new found time I plan to spend it with my family, or maybe reading, or posting. I have plenty of things to do with it. Hopefully I can keep the house in decent shape too.

I think I need to evaluate things in my life more often and try to deal with them quicker. We have so much stuff in our house that we are trying to sell now which is good, but we have held onto some of this stuff for so long and we don't know why. A lot of it is stuff that came with the house that the sellers left. Other things are upgrades we have made, like our fireplace.

Thanksgiving is coming

Well, now that I think more about it, I should have chosen a more appropriate memory verse than Romans 14:12. Thanksgiving Holiday is great. You don't have to mess with gifts (shopping, purchasing, wrapping, delivering), but you get to meet with family and have a relaxing time. I do think too many people put too much effort into the food preparation, but I'm not too sure how to fix that. Well, I've run out of time, so I'll make this entry short. We got some lights up on the house and plan to do the big decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving, but part of me thinks due to this Thanksgiving is being lost in the business of preparation for Christmas.

Judgement
Romans 14:12
"So then, each of us is to give an account of himself to God."
Rom 14:12

I did it.

Setting small achievable goals is fun. I was able to post ever weekday this week. For some reason that makes me happy. I was really surprised that I actually had a lot of text too, not just some short paragraph.

Back to the verse memorization theme I've been using. Julie is wanting to wait a couple weeks until her women's bible study is over, then she will join me in learning the scriptures, so I'll try to grab some different verses and not go through the book for a couple weeks.

Romans 14:12
"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God."
Romans 14:12

But wait, there is more. Since this isn't from the book (I don't think it is at least), I have to come up with my own topic so that it can be remembered when discussing that topic. Looking at this verse I see judgment and accountability. So if others actually read this I could use some suggestions here.

On a complete side note I find it strange that judgment isn't spelled judgement.

Baby, need to go.

Culture Shift

I was reading in exodus last night in bed. I think it was close to chapter 26. It spoke of consecrating Aaron and his two sons for the work of a priest. It went into detail about the clothes they are to wear, but then it went on to a consecration ceremony. Reading this is pretty weird.

Sacrifice a bull and poor some of it's blood on the alter. Take it's liver and kidneys and burn them on the alter. Then get rid of rest of it by burning it outside of the area.

Take a ram and sprinkle it's blood on the sides of the alter. Put some blood on the right ear lob, right thumb, right big toe. Cut the body in pieces and burn it.

Take another ram and perpare it for food. Aaron and his sons now eat this at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

When I read that i was thinking of how different things were. Could you imagine being there for this? I don't know if I could handle the sight of all that blood. But then I thought about it some more, and this was the culture they were raised in. It wasn't really all that different, it was part of their lives. I think I lose a bit perspective sometimes, and reading this helps put in perspective what our sin does. We are sinners, and it requires blood to be made clean. This isn't just a figure of speech, it requires blood. The life of Christ was poured out as an offering for our sins.

Daily

Well, I've been trying to write something on this blog five times a week, and I'm starting to wonder if I should simply focus on one aspect instead of making it simply about life. For now I'll probably continue to keep it general. This allows me to jump around in my thinking which I do so well.

I like the topic though. I can focus on a certain item at a time. For example I've been working on scripture memory. So now I need to discuss reviewing memory verses. In the past I have always done it on my own, but the navigator's book recommends having a partner to test with. This would be really useful especially in getting it word perfect as suggested. I think this would also have the benefit of keeping Julie involved without being so directly on her.

I know it is Wednesday and time for the new verses, but I don't think I have established the proper pattern with Julie, and I can't leave her behind. She is still working on getting the verses word perfect, and I don't want this to add any stress to her life, so I'll take it easy and try to establish more of a routine in memorizing, then hopefully we can really go for it.

A few things the book suggests and I think I have posted on, but are worth reviewing. On each scripture it isn't about just knowing the words. It is about knowing the word of God. The point of a sentence is to communicate meaning, and when memorizing scripture you better know what it means. So knowing the reference is important so you can look it up quickly and demonstrate that you are not using it out of context.

You should know the context of the verse. Not just the surrounding verses, but also putting in perspective the culture, current events, political setting, and what audience it was meant for.

You should know the meaning of the verse. Reading other translations can help, but I find it a bit confusing on getting the verse word perfect.

Study the verse. Why is it in the bible? Why is this author using it? Who is the author writing to? Why did he say what he said this way? Is there cultural relevance?

Discuss the verse. This really needs to be in prayer to God. It is His word you are trying to learn, so discuss it with Him. But also talk about it with others, especially if the meaning isn't really clear.This discussion can help encourage others to grow spiritually, and could help equip the saints (Eph 4:11-12).

I'm thinking I need to be making these posts in the evening and not the morning. But at the same time I have time to relax and think in the morning. It just seems that I don't have as much time as I need to get everything done. This would be even more true if I was still biking in the mornings.

Sin and Confession

I don't know about rest of you, but I enjoy having Julie in my life. It is wonderful to have someone that I can be so real with. Even with my family it isn't the same. But with my wife I let her know me. All the good and all the bad. It is a wonderful thing to be able to talk to someone about specific sins I have done and be able to be encouraged.

Sometimes I wonder why I feel so protective around others. Why I hide things I feel shame for. Would I be rejected? I doubt it. Is shame really so bad that it has to be avoided? Even to decrease the closeness of a relationship? Would the relationships in the church be better if we truly opened up to others? Probably. Am I willing to step up? Not yet.

The weekend

Well, this weekend was great. Got to go do some camping with family and had time to play video games (yes, it was World of Warcraft). The camping was nice just to get away from things. But once I got back the house still needed a lot of work. So I actually did some work around the house. Not nearly enough, but did some. Hopefully this week or at least over the weekend I can get some more done.

On to more important things. Let's review.
Christ the Center, 2 Corinthians 5:17; "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Now it is time to start working on the next verse. Actually this should have been done Friday Saturday, but I haven't gotten started with Julie on this yet.
Christ the Center, Galatians 2:20; "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Gal 2:20

Man, I didn't do very well on the Galatians verse. I didn't even spell Galatians right, I spelled it Galations. Yea for backspace right. I don't know about the rest of you, but I consider it a sign of respect when capatilizing the references to God. Such as "Son" or even pronouns like He or Himself.

Busy

Well, wife and kids are out of town without me, so I'm doing what I can to stay busy. This mainly involved playing video games. I'm thinking Julie is going to be okay with attempting the scripture memory, so now I have to be really sensitive to how she is doing since she doesn't really want to be doing it. I really don't want to turn her off to the idea. But at the same time I doubt it will make things worse. Neither of use have been even attempting to memorize any scripture.

So we are working on 2Cor 5:17
The topic is Christ the Center, the reference is 2 Corinthians 5:17, the verse is "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.", and reference again is 2 Corinthians 5:17

Context of 2 Cor 5:17

Time to look at the context of a verse.  2 Cor 5:17 was written by Paul to believers in the church of Corinth.  Second Corinthians addresses unity to Paul's ministry and offers perspective on the ministry of the gospel.

So today we need to read 2 Cor 5.  But focus on the verses surrounding the memory verse.

Christ the Center

2 Cor 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.

2 Cor 5:17

Oh, and baby update.

Katie went in for her two month checkup and was 22", 12lbs 6oz.

Slight change

I'm wanting to be a loving husband and try and get my wife involved.  Looking at the benefits of scripture memory how would I not try and get other involved.  

But she likes the NIV version, and a lot of the older verses from childhood I know were NIV.  

Christ the Center

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Christ the Center 

Galations 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galations 2:20

Starting the plan

So this week I'll start for real.  Which isn't really fair since this is a review.  I pretty much already know these verses.  The plan is the first two days of the week to focus on 2 Cor 5:17, then the third and forth day to focus on Gal 2:20.  For rest of the week work on both.  

A few things to help memorize the verse is to say it aloud, pray about the verse, read other translations to help get the meaning of the verse.  Think about how the verse applies to self.  Always include the topic and reference when saying it.

Once you know the verse the book recommends you write it down from memory.  I actually prefer to write it down first just by copying it from the Bible.  

Christ the Center

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

I actually did that wrong first.  My problem is a lot of these older verses were memorized as NIV and some as NASB.  Well, I think I'll stick with NASB for now on, so I have to relearn some verses.

Christ the Center

Galations 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galations 2:20

I know I said this yesterday, but then I decided to follow the actual book, so we can look at context tomorrow.  When I say context I basically mean a quick look at the book itself and the chapter specifically.  It is important to know who wrote it, and who it was written to, and try to understand what was going on at the time.  Reading the chapter helps to understand what was being talked about at the time when the specific verse was used.

* picture taken from navigators.com

Benefits of memorizing scripture

So I'm rereading through the topical memory system, and the very beginning goes over some points that are worth noting.  

Here are a few things the book mentions scripture memory can help with:  Overcome worry, victory over sin, confidence in witnessing

I don't know about everyone else, but those items right there are enough to get my interest.  But the book goes on to mention what the system is for.  It helps memorize and meditate on scripture effeciently, apply the verses to life, review the verses to be able to recall them later, and continue memorizing beyond the verses covered.  

The system groups verses by topic so they can be recalled by thinking of the topic the verse speaks of.  The verse I picked to start with Eph 4:11-12 isn't actually part of this.  I may start with the system's verses tomorrow.  It recommends a pace of two verses/week.  which I thought was hard, but it really isn't that bad.

So what topic does Eph 4:11-12 refer to.  "And He gave some as apostles and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ."  Eph 4:11-12  

One of the topics listed in the system is "Be Christ's Disciple" which I feel is a good fit for this verse since it deals with equiping and using our gifts.  So according to the system you are to say the topic, reference, verse, reference.  So...

Be Christ's Disciple

Ephesians 4:11-12

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-12

How things can add up

Typically I don't like how things add up.  For example, I pay $15/mo to play a game.  Yes, a game.  well, $15 isn't that bad, but that is per month.  So in one year I am spending $180.  I could do some stuff with that kind of money.  

But beneficial things add up too.  That is what I'm really wanting to get at.  I'm wanting to take scripture memory more seriously.  If I can memory  a verse once a week then that is at least 50 new verses a year.  What do you think about that.  So feel free to join me on this adventure.  

Ephesians 4:11-12

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-12

Now I have a great book on scripture memory, unfortunately I lost a bunch of the memory verse cards, so I'm thinking I can use this blog and may palm pilot to do this with.  But the concept is that you don't just repeat the verse over and over, but that you study it.  For now we will simply look at the verse itself, and hopefully tomorrow we can look at the passage to provide some context.  It also helps to write it out instead of just reading.  And also reading aloud gives you the audio feedback to help in memory also.  I've always struggled with the reference, but the book recommends to do the reference scripture reference, and this has been a huge benefit.

The book I'm refering to is "Topical Memor System" from the Navigators

Where is the light

When I was younger I would love winter.  I liked the cold, but mostly I loved the snow.  But now that I work all day I get out of work and it is dark so soon.  There is very little time to enjoy the outdoors with any light.  This probably didn't bother me much when I was younger, but now that I have kids I want it to be light so they will be safer and I have more visibility which somehow provides me comfort.  

So now I'm not so sure I enjoy the winter.  It is different for sure.  I think part of it is that I have been bike commuting, but that is becoming difficult.  It is too dark and I need some new lights and some better cold weather clothes which I asked for Christmas, so I can't really buy for myself now.

The way it has always been

So I read Deuteronomy 6 today.  I found it very interesting in the response they are to give their children when they ask what do the statuets mean.  

 20"^(X)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?' 21then you shall say to your son, 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22'Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.' 24"So the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes,^(Y)to fear the LORD our God for our good always and ^(Z)for our survival, as it is today. 25"^(AA)It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us."[BibleGateway.com]

They are to present them the history.  The commands are "for our good always"

Bike Log

This morning was nice weather.  Started out just over 50 degrees, and warmed.  It was pretty dark.  Probably should replace the batteries in the back light because I really don't want them going dim.  

Wore 

insulated windbreaker pants

cotton undershirt and yellow fleece

insulated gloves.

Took a new route through the neighborhood.  Stopped before coming out on garnett and switched gloves out for bike cutoff gloves, and took off the fleece.  May have been too cold with just the undershirt, but too hot with the fleece.  Pants worked well.  Pushed too hard at 61st and Garnett, need to remember to not go so fast.

Also think of doing a different blog to track this info or something.  Put it somewhere else maybe.

Bike Log

Thought I was needing to start logging my bike conditions.  As it gets colder I want to know what works and what doesn't.  For those who don't know I've started biking to work a few times a week.  Well, now it is cold.  Temp this morning was about 46 degrees starting out.

This morning I wore 

nike long sleeve coolmax shirt and yellow fleece

snow gloves

North Face hat

kahki work ants and insulated windbreaker pants

cotton socks and New balance shoes.

My feet were cold, but everything else went pretty well.  I may need to try a face mask, because going at 20mph makes the air very cold against the face.  Probably should also tuck my shirt in, at the begining it was pretty cold.  Also I should probably wear some socks other than cotton.

Faith and Works

James chapter 2 of course.  

As I though over this chapter of scripture it started to make since.  Works is the natural outflow of faith.  So we shouldn't have to truly strive for good works, it should be a natural outpouring of our faith.  

Faith without works is dead.  What is the point?  To bring glory to God.  Does faith without works bring glory to God?  I would say no.  Possibly even worse than that.  Faith without works may be considered a disgrace to God.  Jesus Christ transforms lives.  If you don't have works then you are not letting God work in Your life.  

So how do you increase Your good works?  Maybe by increasing Your faith.  First you need to be involved and not isolated.  You need to have opportunities, and take them.  Short term missions are wonderful.  Raising kids in the love of Christ is incredible.  But if you have faith in Christ, and understand that He is in control then wouldn't you naturally want to serve Him and do things for the God of the universe?  He is God!  What is more important than serving Him?

A Worthy Sacrifice

This morning I read the first chapter of Malachi. It was really eye opening. The actual animal sacrifices no longer apply to use today, but the principle is very relevant. The passage speaks of the people of Israel not honoring God with the sacrifices by offering blind, lame, or sick animals. God has asked for an unblemished sacrifice and this is what His people bring Him. It isn't the act of sacrificing that is the point, God said he rejects their sacrifice. The sacrifice needs to be a proper sacrifice, not just a poor effort.

But wait, I'm supposed to be a sacrifice. I'm supposed to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to the Lord. How many times have I grumbled but still did something thinking I was doing what is right by sacrificing my time or something. Well, I'm pretty sure in light of this scripture from Malachi that God won't accept that. It needs to be honoring Him. Is a sacrifice with grumbling showing any respect to God? I don't think so.

Body Building

Saw a shirt the other day for bodybuilding.com But it didn't make me think of fitness, but rather building up of the body of Christ. So I thought about it some more and it is an amazing example.

For example, you want to grow. But putting on weight is only part of the picture. You want it to be useful muscle, not just fat. Same is true in the church, yes we want new members, but they need to be productive and not just sit around. They need to contribute to the body.

Another good corollary is what you feed the body. For fitness purposes this is your diet. But it relates very well with your spiritual food. If you want to properly nourish the body it needs to be on the word of God.

Activity is also a big point. For fitness you need to excercise, and for the body of Christ you need to be involved and contributing. Mission trips is a big one that I can think of. But in the scriptures we are commanded to "go" several times. We are given imperitives that involve action, not just going to church and sitting, but having an effect on those around us all the time.

Journal update

So you get to be graced with a double post.  I thought of making it just one post, but they really don't relate at all.  Of course I'm beginning to think that I do this just for me and people don't really read, which is fine.  I really am doing this for myself.  I wanted to do a journal and have been failing.

Katie has been growing really well.  I am surprised to see how much bigger she already is.  I still am amazed sometimes by having two children.  I'm really not sure how Julie gets through the day.  

David still isn't talking.  This is disappointing, because with Katie here it takes longer to figure out what he wants than it should.  I just need to do my part and work with him on it.  

I've started really biking to work now.  It isn't much, but it is fun and I like to think it is helping.  But since my trip is only 5mi it isn't that much in savings, but at least I get some exercise finally.  I've been needing to excercise, and now with Ben going back to body building I feel I should try to get some strength training in sometime.  For strength training I try to just use David.  He likes being tossed around and I like spending time with him where he isn't an "interference" to what I'm trying to do.  

Life is getting busy.  Impact (Bible study) classes started at the church.  Julie and I are taking the advanced doctrine class on Bible interpretation.  It is a very interesting class, but a little disturbing how the Bible has been translated in the past.  The alagorical method and neo orthoxy method are incredibly strange.  But I'm amazed at most of the methods how they look over what the text is actually saying to try and explain away things they don't understand.  

With life being so busy, part of that is still due to Katie's newness.  Family and friends have been visiting, we have a baby shower this weekend.  But it looks to be calming down some.  It will be nice to have a weekend again.  

On another note, I have been too busy to mow the lawn and then Julie surprised me by mowing it herself on Tuesday.  Now she is a little sore, but I am very grateful to her.  

That is it for me, time to get some breakfast.

Sound Doctrine

I would encourage everyone to read Titus chapter 2.  Then count how many times it speaks of doctrine.   I count three (NASB).  For a short little chapter it seems to be a popular word.

This is one of those chapters I find difficult because I see how much improvement needs to be made in my life.  I'm currently working on improving my knowledge and understanding of doctrine/theology/The Word of God.  Man has really made up some big words(Justification, dispensationalism) to capture some of the points.  

This chapter is nice, I think I like it because it is so short and to the point.  I could just see it as a nice power point presentation.  It is hard to imagine what it was like 1000 years ago when people just listened to someone else's interpretation of the bible and didn't actually read it themselves.  Then I have to ask myself how some of these people could handle the truth in God's word with such disgrace by warping and twisting the meaning to control people.  

Freedom

1 Corithians 10: 23 says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

But often times verse 24 is left out.  "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor."

I'm not sure how many times I have used verse 23 to excuse some sort of behavior or action.  If other people have a concern/problem with something then maybe it shouldn't be excused so easily.  Especially if that person is also a believer.  Christians are supposed to be different, there is something magnetic about a new life in Christ, and they need to see that.  

So the question may be if verse 23 is still true.  Yes it is, but take into account how things are veiwed by others. 

Trying to establish a routine

The good news is that time isn't flying by real quick and I get to enjoy the kids while they are young.  The bad news is that time isn't flying by real quick and the nights aren't a restful as the once were.  

Over the past couple weeks I've learned just how much my hobbies cut into the limited time I have.  I like to play video games, and played a lot that first week Katie was around.  We had plenty of help people brought us food (and still do), and I only worked half days.  But the next week I worked a full week and what a difference that makes.  So I think I need to reexamine how I spend my time.  That week I really didn't play much at all with my video games.  Which is ok.  I enjoy my games, but they aren't fullfilling.  This week I'm trying to increase how much reading I do.  There are so many good books I already have and want to read.  Last Friday we finished reading through the ESV Bible, so now we are reading through a narrated chronological bible.  I can't remember what version, but I think NIV.  

But is reading books all that important?  I say no.  I try to spend more time with my son during the day and he goes to bed around 8, so that is when I take time to read.  Last night was great, Julie had the TV off so I read some with her and I enjoyed it.  The house just feels so much more peaceful without the TV.

Surprisingly Easy

I'm finally taking the time to post on this blog again.  Not sure why, I don't have a lot to say.  My daughter was born and is really cute, and amazingly easy.  

People kept saying how easy we had it with David, well Katie is much better.  Since we have been home I have been sleeping really well and not disturbed by the baby in our room.  She is so quiet and sleeps great.  Our biggest struggle is trying to keep her awake during the day to get some stimulation.  

I've been working half days this past week to help out at home, but I'm thinking it wasn't really needed.  We were able to get things done around the house, but it was more of the major cleaning and not really working to keep up with two children.  

Still not sure how Julie is going to do being a mother of two, but for now she has help when I'm away.  That should change in about a week, so hopefully she will make some progress on how to handle a toddler while she is feeding the baby.

I should also mention how appreciative we are to have visitors.  For some reason we really didn't need a lot of rest at the hospital, so it was nice to see people.  

Improving my quiet time by remembering

I read through Pslam 101 this morning for my quiet time and wasn't really getting much out of it.  Then I realized it has been this way for a few weeks now.  So I thought about it a bit and realized it isn't really about getting "something" out of it.  It is a relationship.  I remember in revelation it speaking of the church of Ephesus losing its first love, and the solution to that is to remember.  

So I thought briefly about it and was like "oh-yea" this is a relationship, not a bible study I'm working on.  My quiet time is not a bible study.  My quiet time is about being with the One I love, my creator redeemer and friend.  I need to work on that relationship.  I want to be close to God.  So I took a short break to remember some key points in my life where I had a very close relationship with Him, and I also remember other key points where He proved Himself.  

I just felt that this info is useful for everyone to remember, so I decided to share.  

Real Cleaning

Well, I'm running out of time before the next baby arrives. So Julie is wanting to get some serious cleaning done. Like the bathrooms, dusting and other not fun cleaning. Organizing is pretty fun, but getting out the chemicals to clean isn't fun in my book.

Fortunately there isn't a whole lot to do, so if I just do a bit each day it will be done soon. But I still have some projects I need to get done before the baby arrives, mainly to get all the wood out of the garage so there is more room to get a car seat in and out. Hopefully this weekend will be a good time.

Man, it is so nice to be in town for the weekends. Earlier it just felt like we were always traveling and do something out of town, but now that Julie is so far along in her pregnancy we can't travel out of town.

Obviously I didn't have a whole lot to say, but felt I should try to be somewhat consistent in posting.

Story telling

Well, having a son, I like the idea of telling him different stories, some real and others made up. But just with playing around with this I find it a bit more difficult then expected. I lack a natural flow. My stories are full of pauses. But I have learned a few things from going through the Christy Miller books with Julie. She really likes the books and they are well written and actually pretty fun.

Each main character needs some defining descriptions. Usually there are a few short phrases that help to quickly describe and identify a character. These are memory tools. It may be hard to remember someone's name, but if the name is coupled with a short key attribute then it becomes easier. For example there is a character in the books named Katie. The main description associated with her is her copper hair. But it isn't only a physical description each time, there is also a bit of personality that is sometimes mentioned. Katie is known for her adventurous spirit too. She is commonly associated with failure to plan along with an excitement about things.

So if you think about it, those short descriptions add a lot to the character but don't take much to think up. I just thought this was a fun point to share

Get Organized Part 5: Common Areas

This refers to areas like the living room, kitchen, and dining room.

In my house the common areas seem to be prone to clutter. I think it is related to the fact that we don't use most of the space very much. There are only two of us that sit at the kitchen table, so that allows a good portion of the table to accumulate clutter. Same with our couches. We rarely use the love seat, so it gets to hold stuff for us. Basically this is simply caused by laziness and isn't hard to clean. Using the space is fine, it just needs to be temporary and cleaned up afterwords.

Decorations become somewhat of a conflict for me and Julie. She really likes them, but there comes a point when there are too many and they take up too much space. These decorations typically take up some useful shelf space or something. In my opinion the best decorations are pictures that you can simply hang on the wall.

Well, that is it for my Get Organized series. What have we learned? I know nothing about cleaning and organizing? Probably. That would explain why I have to clean the house before guests arrive.

Get organized Part 4: Dependent's Stuff

I made this section because of my baby boy. He can really make a mess, and he has a lot of stuff. Being so little he lacks the ability to truly organize. At this stage all he can do is put stuff in a bin. The problem with this is he thinks putting anything in the bin is good even if it doesn't belong in the bin.

How do you decide if an item is a keep or discard. I usually can't make this decision, but Julie can since she deals with him all day long each day. With a child you have an extra option. You can discard, keep, or hide it for later. The hide it for later typically takes care of itself in our house. David will run around and put things where they don't belong. Then when we get around to really cleaning the house we will find these toys just scattered here and there.

I don't have a whole lot to say on this subject since I lack experience in the area. Maybe my parents can post some tips or something. At this age David doesn't really have just a favorite toy, so anything is up for grabs with him.

Ah, so I thought of something worth mentioning. I like how many of his toys are kept in his room, but we also have this ottoman that can store things. This is great for the living room. We can store several toys for him to play with. And the thing with his toys right now is that it doesn't have to be very organized, the bin works great because he enjoys digging through it and seeing all the toys.

Now I want to talk about his room. This area is more difficult because he likes to make a mess. Julie had the wonderful insight of putting things in small bins on the shelves to help keep it organized, and this helps David just from seeing it all on the shelf and throwing it on the floor. He typically will leave these bins alone. The closet is a wonderful thing because the door allows you to block access to those things, but at the same time it is also harder access for us to use.

Well, I can hear my baby boy even though it is way too early for him to be up. So i guess it is time for me to go.

Get organized Part 3: Other's Stuff

Now things get complicated. You may have a say in the matter, and it could even be the final say, but someone else is involved in this. You can easily make someone frustrated by simply moving there stuff or they could become angry when you discard something of great sentimental value.

In my opinion it is best to handle this with the "other" helping. Ask their opinion or what they want done with it, and offer suggestions with respect. You don't want to be responsible for them having regrets, so unlike your stuff it is better to lean towards keep than discard. Another thing to keep in mind when helping to organize someone's stuff is that it can be a bit overwhelming. They are doing their best to clean up, and all you are doing is adding to the difficulty by continuously asking them what they want done with this or that.

For me this is the hardest part to do. It requires patience and also endurance. So just remember to show respect and be patient and things should move along nicely and you can end up making great improvements to getting organized.

Get Organized Part 2: Your Stuff

The best place to start when getting organized is with your own stuff. These are the things that you get to decide what to do with it. The choices are numerous, but I can list a few choices you have. The first choice is weather to keep it or not.

I definitely want to keep it
If you decide to keep it then you must make another choice of "where" to keep it. Where to keep something is a personal decision. But this can be broken down into several easier questions. Storage or easily accessible? If storage then it should probably go in a box with similar items. If easily accessible then you must decide what room. To make this decision even easier you can start by asking if it belongs in the room currently being organized. If not then put it in a pile of things that needs to be moved and deal with it later. If it belongs in this room then you need to find a home for it and then you are done with that item.

I think I want to keep it
Are you sure? When was the last time it was used? If it hasn't been used for a couple years you probably want to get rid of it. If it is just rarely used then it probably belongs in storage.

I guess I can part with this treasure
Great, quickly put it in in a pile/bag/box that will be sorted through later of things to get rid of, and try to do it before you change your mind. Also, this isn't the final good by, so if you have a little doubt go ahead and still get rid of it at this point, it can be rescued later when it is evaluated.

I definitely don't want it
Place in the pile/bag/box of things you are getting rid of.

This is trash
Trash it, simple enough.

So, you have finally cleaned up a room and are left with a few piles of stuff which doesn't seem like an improvement, but it is. For the keep pile you need to start finding a home for each item, weather in storage or just a different room. For the discard pile you must evaluate how to handle each object. Do you know someone that could use this item, or would like to have it. Then make a new pile/box/bag of give away items. If the item has some value then put it in the sell pile/box/bag. If the item doesn't fit in any other categories, then trash/recycle it.

This is basically a compilation of tips I have read from other places. I usually don't break it down into piles to be reevaluated later, I like to have the room getting clean. So if you think you are up for it then make the decision what to do with each item and handle it immediately. If it belongs somewhere else, put it there. If it is a give away we have a collection of stuff for that. If it is sell we have a pile in our home for those items too.

Get organized Part 1.5: Timing

So I realized this morning that I missed an important aspect of getting organized.

I don't know about everyone else, but I have a strange natural ability to clean. For some reason when I procrastinate I typically try to do other productive things. So if I'm trying to avoid something I will do something like clean house as procrastination. Another timing aspect that may be more common is just to go on some sort of kick where you feel like cleaning house. Sometimes I ignore this and do something else, but in reality I shouldn't. Cleaning house isn't bad if I feel like doing it.

I say cleaning, but I rarely have a desire to clean, it is to de-clutter/organize. I rarely want to scrub anything, but I like moving things around or trashing stuff and making a visible difference.

This morning I did a bunch of organizing, and I found the timing worked out well. For some strange reason my son woke up early. Well, organizing the house with him can be slightly challenging. You have to be fast. Over all though, it is a great time to organize the house. He enjoys going to the different rooms and exploring and watching me. He follows me around pretty well. I can enjoy this because I am fast and having him adds a bit of a challenge. Another note to mention is that even if I am just cleaning up after him it is better than just sitting around doing nothing. At least to me it is. I don't really like to sit and be bored.

So there it is. My comments on timing. So let's review. Good times are when you feel like it; with a toddler; and that is it. Not much to work with, but hey I'm a guy and somehow it seems to get done occasionally. Maybe not as often as it should.

And in case you are wondering and haven't realized it yet this entire post is because I have a get organize kick that I am working with.

Get organized Part 1: Overview

I'm going to try something different, because this is something I'm wanting to do. I want to get organized, especially with only a month before a new baby arrives. So for now I plan to use this blog to help get my thoughts together on how to proceed.

I plan to do 5 parts for this thought.
Part 1: Overview - laying out the framework
Part 2: Your Stuff - what to do with the stuff that you get the final say in
Part 3: Other's Stuff - what to do with the stuff you don't get the final say in
Part 4: Dependent's Stuff - how to handle the stuff of someone who can't handle it
Part 5: Common Areas - How to handle common areas like the living room

I'm just starting this and not sure how to proceed exactly, but I think this is a decent framework to start with. I'll probably be using links to other places, and maybe I'll get Julie's input too, that would be cool.

Some basic ideas that should apply to all categories.
Start with one room and stick with that room till it is done.
Evaluate all items, if not used at least once in two years get rid of it.
When evaluating an item it is either keep or discard.
Keep items can be in the current room, different room, or store
Discard can be sell, donate, or trash
Schedule maintenance times - usually for common areas
Some things should be done daily, others weekly, some monthly and others biannually or just annually.

Toys and stuff

I like electronics, and have been thinking of getting a new pda and maybe making it a smart phone. But my wife is so good about reminding me that I don't need it. My stuff works fine, I don't need to buy more things. Well, she is right. I need to get away from the throw away mentality of life. I get to conserve this way. Conserve money for one thing, but also contribute less to the electronic waste.

I like to declutter. I like to simplify my "stuff", so combining a phone and pda makes since, but to do so I have to buy more, not reduce what I have. Looking around my house I think how much of all this do I actually need, and the answer is very little. Now the house is typically filled with baby toys, which he rarely plays with. He has a few, but in reality we could stand to sell several of the toys that he has simply lost interest in. He seems more interested in remotes and cell phones than his toys. But we can't get rid of them, he has a sister coming in a month, so she may have interest in different toys. So I think I'm stuff with only decluttering my own stuff.

What it is all about

Read first part of Psalm 89 this morning. At least I think it is 89.

Don't have a whole lot to say other than I want my life to be all about Jesus. Wouldn't that be great?

Big or Little Problem

Two days ago my palm pilot wouldn't turn on. Well, this is an unusual problem, so I did what I had to do and pressed the reset button in the back. Pressing the button had the wonderful result of turning on the unit, but with it I lost all my data. I mean all my data, except for the date, somehow it remembered it was Aug 13th. As a result, this loss of data was an inconvenience, but not really a big one. I knew I hadn't backed up my palm in several weeks, so that was a disappointment, but still nothing really big. But for some people I could see them reacting horribly. They would think this was some really big problem, but I just can't see why. It is annoying yes, but not a real issue. The PDA is a convenience, and you can live without it. Just like a cell phone, people seem way too attached to them.

On a completely separate note my health is fine, apparently my past illness caused my stomach acid to act up but I have some meds to take care of that, and I'm doing well.

Hobbies

So I was thinking about how much time we have and how we fill it with different hobbies. I was thinking about getting more into athletics, but the time requirement is pretty high. I spend a good chunk of time playing games that I have thought about cutting out. But this morning it occurred to me. I need to make sure I'm serving God in all I do. So am I doing so in my hobbies. Video games are typically a big waste of money and time, but there is something gained from athletics (besides the injuries).

Just something I thought worth noting. Is what I do beneficial to God?
Some may counter and say they need their own personal time to unwind and reflect, but I don't think that is the case. But what about burn out? Well, I think that has more to do with over doing it, and less with actually doing what God desires of you.

A bit on health and some wisdom

So I was reading in 1 Corinthians last night and it really stood out how Paul says that he did not come with "superiority of speech or of wisdom" (1 Cor 2:1). What he did was what any of us can do, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (1 Cor 2:2)

That really is the core issue that needs to be addressed, not the other matters. Later on Paul speaks of feeding the Christians in Corinth milk instead of meat because they can't handle it. So why is it that I get into debates about meatier matters when we don't get the easy stuff. When dealing with non Christians especially, why debate the more difficult issues when they haven't accepted the core concept.

On the health and unrelated note, I have been having some strange health issues that are simply annoying. For now it doesn't seem to be of significance, but I often ask God why, and then I look forward to getting the answer, because I'm sure I'll get the answer. It could be something as simple as gaining empathy for someone else, but I'm excited to see how God can use this.

Tough to get started

It is hard to make some significant changes in your life and stick with them longer than a week. These changes can range from activities like training for a race, dieting or even hobbies.

Some changes I would like to make, and would like some input on are my prayer life and study of scripture.

Prayer requests can seem overwhelming, so I'm thinking of making it more manageable by picking different days of the week to pray for different groups. I need to put more thought into, but let's start with today. Tuesday I could pray for my wife and children, that should be plenty for one day, and I want it to be a good time not a burden, so I will try to keep it thin. Better idea, let's start out just listing some different things. NLR sends out an update with prayer requests each week, my household, my family, my extended family, government, military, schools and other authority, there is also my church group that meets once a week that has different requests. And let's not forget my friends and then we need to leave room for other things that I'll add on later.

So Tuesday let's leave as my household.
Wednesday can be family and extended family
Thursday can be government
Friday can be NLR
Monday can be church

Now I purposely left out Saturday and Sunday because being the weekend those days are pretty chaotic. I also need to watch Friday, but if I'm busy Friday then I could move it to Sunday. I want this to be achievable, and again non burdensome. Now that I have a general idea I need to make it doable. So that means picking a specific time to set apart each week day to do this. Mornings or evenings come to mind at first, so I'll start and try to do this in the morning with my quiet time. I could even put this on a card to reference for each day.

Time to move on to the scriptures. Mainly I would like to focus on memory. I already have a good habit of nightly reading and morning quiet times, but I'm not memorizing the scriptures. So recently my church has a life response section that start with memorize and meditate on a passage of scripture. Well, I've started to do this in the evenings, but haven't been putting enough effort into it. I'm thinking I need to write the verse more often, because simply reading it isn't enough. I'm thinking of working on the memory during lunch at work, I have time for that except Thursdays and Fridays when I have lunch with some friends, but hopefully by that time I can just recite it during the drive.

What do you guys think? Any tips on making this easier and more enjoyable?

Also, I thought I would provide a link for Fellowship Bible Church http://www.fbctulsa.org

What about the change, what about the difference

If you don't recognize the title you should listen to more music by Steven Curtis Chapman. But the song has a point. It actually wasn't even the song that brought it up.

This started when I was reading in Act a few days ago and it spoke of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 10). Later on you read how a group was saying they were baptized by John and not the Holy Spirit (Acts 19). In these instances there was a dramatic and noticeable change. They received power. So why don't we now?

How is the church different from the world. Through out the Bible God's people (both Israel and the Church) are to be different. I think having a nation with so much religion as being standard we just don't get it. For some reason people believe that by going to church they are Christian, or because their parents are Christians they are somehow automatically Christians. It seems that the Christians are not doing a good job showing people Jesus but are being sucked into the world's system. So with that out there I have to ask myself... am I part of the problem? Probably. What can I do to change? How can I show Jesus to those around me?

These are a few questions I need to work through, and would suggest others to ask themselves also.

Sorry for the hurt I caused

Last night I was looking through the life response notes from church, and the question I was reading dealt with how things could be different if we focused more on how sin effected God rather than its effect on others.

It relates to Psalm 51:4

But I can really see this, we focus so much on the effect of our sin on others or ourselves, and we fail to see how it is a sin against God. We have hurt God. We have hurt our relationship with God. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. He sacrificed Jesus so that our sins would be forgiven, yet when we sin we gloss over how that effects God. But we should feel a strong conviction, and then confess our sin to God so that we can restore our fellowship with Him.

A fun moment with the one you love

Yesterday just was not the best day with my son. I got home after a busy day at work and the house is a wreak and my poor wife is really having a hard day. So I quickly learn that our little boy has been somewhat of a monster that day, and now Julie is just exhausted.

Well, I'll skip over all the boring stuff because that is not what I want to focus on. The moment to be remembered that day was after the baby went to bed Julie suggested we make cookies. Well, as we got started she decided to go with brownies instead. Well, I really enjoyed this time with her. We were in the kitchen make some yummy desert together. I think it is these times that are worth remembering. They are real fun, and add a lot to marriage. They are the moments that bring people together. Or maybe that is just for me. Do others feel that closeness?

I say maybe it is for me, because early in our marriage we discovered what makes me feel love. It is activity. Well, if you know much about my life when I dated Julie you can understand why I loved her so quickly. We were always doing things together. During the summer we worked together, we did a mission trip together, and we just spent a lot of time together. But now that we are out of college and into "the real world" these moments are fewer and need to be treasured.

Generic Update

Well, it is already July. There is so much to do and so little I'm getting done.

I took off last week for an anniversary trip to Chicago. It was great, had a fun time with my wife. Our poor son spent the whole week with his grandparents and was ready for us when we returned. Apparently that day he wasn't very happy.

So, on this grand adventure, I failed to have my quiet time even once. I think that is pretty sad. We were not rushed or anything, but we just always wanted to get out and do things. I think I really missed out on some great time with Jesus, and that saddens me. But now I'm back in my routine and ready to spend time with my friend.

Thanks for who You are

Are we thankful for who people are and not what they do? I think it is this way with children. It should be this way with spouses. But is it really?

So, this morning I read Psalm 54 this morning. The second part of verse 6 really stuck out for me. "I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good." Actually, let me quote all of verse 6 because it is a great verse.

Psalm 54:6
"Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good."

So you have a willing sacrifice, and a spirit of thankfulness. I just think it is great how he gives thanks just because of who God is, not based on what God has done. I usually give thanks for the blessings God has given me, but I need to be thankful just for who God is.

Not just obedience

So, I read Psalm 50 this morning. It was interesting. What I pulled out of it the most was that God didn't want the people's sacrifices. Verse 14 says, "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;"

So it is not just obedience that God desires from us, but we are to obey with thanksgiving. So next time I just show up for my quiet time I need to remind myself that is not what is desired. I'm to be joyful to take time with my Lord.

Just being there

So, for my quiet time this morning I read Psalm 48. I actually didn't get much out of it, but I remembered what a friend told me over lunch on Friday. It isn't about getting something out of it every time, it is obedience. I did my part, I showed up to have some personal time with God.

That is what we are asked to do. Christ wants us to show up. We are to take time out of our day to spend it with Him. That isn't much to ask is it? Now let's take our thinking another step and look at who we are taking time to be with. This is the sovereign Lord and Creator who wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. So how crazy are we to think "I am too busy to spend time with my creator today, I need to do so many other things." Seriously, I think this sometimes. Mainly because I overlook who it is I'm spending time with.

Praise in other forms

So I was thinking of my last post about singing praise. But then I got to thinking of all the other ways we can praise God. Well, this morning I read Psalm 47. Verse 2 is what I would like to focus on. "For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth."

Several areas in the Bible tell us that we should fear the Lord. I need to admit right now I don't have a real good understanding of what that is. I prayed for understanding this morning in fact. So along this journey I will eventually get what that means. But the point is that there is praise when we fear God. It is praise when we obey Him.

I guess that is why there are songs about a life song. It is with our lives that we truly praise God and get away from mere shallow words.

Just because I feel like it

I think it may have something to do with reading Psalms as my quiet time for the past month or so. But I'm finding a nice change. I find myself singing praise more.

I don't think you need a reason. Times can be good yes, but also when things are bad God doesn't change. He is still worthy of praise. You don't even have to sing out loud, I find a tune just in my head I can think about and tap my foot to.

Have you sang a song today? Was it praise to The Lord?

Time to think

So I read Psalm 43 for my quiet time this morning. Apparently David is going through some tough times and seeks God's help. Well, that isn't new. But then I got to thinking. Usually when I am facing hard times I try to correct it myself. Then David takes it a step further later and the chapter and gives praise to God, he says, "To God my exceeding joy". For me though, I struggle with focusing on the problem and having my mind dwell less on God.

This is where a good habit I am trying to form comes in. "Silence and Solitude" is what I know it as. This concept is also from "So You Want to be Like Christ" by Charles Swindol. The concept is that you take time out of your day to just be alone and think. Let your mind dwell on God. This isn't for reading, and not really praying. It is a time to let your mind calm down and slow down. We get so busy throughout your day, or at least I do. I haven't been doing this very long, and need to continue. For now my time is only 10min each night, but I would like to increase that time. My problem is that I feel I can spend my time in better ways than dwelling on God. Hopefully some other people are as crazy as I am in that regard.

If the Bible is true, if God is a loving sovereign and just God, why in the world don't we act like it?

Who do you work for?

So, I get with a group of guys in my mini-church for Friday lunches. I really enjoy this time of fellowship and good food. So this Fridays discussion was about how we are to be disciple makers.

Well, I always struggle with how I'm to spend my time. I'm being paid to do a job, and shouldn't be spending my time just talking with coworkers about life and how things are going right? Wrong. The question was presented of what my job is. Well, I'm a computer engineer and work for Qual-Tron. But in fact I work for God. He is the one that pays me. He chooses to do that through Qual-Tron. But you must also remember that we are to glorify God in what we do. So if I'm slacking off at Qual-Tron, then I'm not glorifying God. So there is this balance, but if I'm spending my time at work making disciples, then this is glorifying to God and I need not be concerned about what my immediate employers may think, because I am indeed doing what my overall boss (God) wants.

Now that hard part is remembering this throughout the day. I work for God. I am an ambassador of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What do you do? Who do you work for?

Discipline and Anger

So I read Psalm 38 this morning for my quiet time. It is interesting how often in the Old Testament that God's anger and discipline is mentioned. Yet we focus so much on His love and forgiveness. It is strange how much more I can understand these concepts now that I am a parent. It is the same stuff. If you want your child to stay a child then don't teach or discipline them, but that isn't the goal. Our goal is to raise them to be capable adults that can contribute and have an effect on the world around them.

Well, God wants the same from us. He doesn't want us to be incapable and lacking in understanding. The book of Proverbs is full of verses that tell us to seek understanding and wisdom. I guess what this reminds me of is my need for others in my life. Someone you can talk to about what is going on and how you can improve. We need to encourage each other, and push each other to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24).

A simple update

Well, things have been really busy. May was a crazy month, so crazy that events leaked over into June. Basically May was too crammed full of stuff that we started scheduling things in June just to spread all the events out. But that doesn't mean it is too much. I'm enjoying how things are going.

Planning on finally getting out and going camping with a couple other guys this weekend. Julie and David are out of town this week, so I have a big list of projects that should keep me busy. I decided I should start with the project that has some pay back.

For my birthday I got several Lowe's gift cards and some coupons for $10 off purchase of $50 or more. Well, last night I used it all and then added about $80 of my own money to get all the materials I would need for putting a floor/path in my attic. My attic currently has 2x4 beams in it, so if I just floor that my insulation value is going to be really low. So I bought over 100ft of 2x6 beams to place perpendicular to the 2x4's. I just plan to run a 4ft path from my garage area all the way to the other side of the house. So I got the lumber, plywood, and insulation. Now that I'm writing this I realize I forgot the brackets. Maybe I won't need them, I'm not sure. But I have a lot of work ahead of me. I should ask some friends and find out if I can borrow a compressor and nail gun, that would make this project easier.

Well, I don't really have a whole lot to say. In more important areas of my life my quiet time has been pretty weak. I'm at least still doing my evening reading which seems strange without Julie. Hopefully once I get some of these projects under control I can relax more. I need to take some time out just for silence and solitude. If you don't know what that is, I suggest you pick up the book "So You Want to be Like Christ" by Charles Swindol.

Gaining independence

So my last post was about the start of life. But I was thinking about how we start out helpless and dependent. Do we ever really get away from that? We gain abilities, skills, and coordination so that we can do a few things on our own, but we are all still very dependent. I depend on the income from my job so that I can use that money for food. Well, that food is harvested by someone else who I depend on. And then there is the transportation. The oranges have to get from Florida to Oklahoma somehow. I don't have a garden where I live off my own food, and I don't think others do either. But even if I did, it is still God that allows it to grow, even if man does the planting and harvesting.

Now for something more fun and not serious.
Yesterday we decided to baby sit for some friends. They have a little girl a few months older than my son. Well these friends are going to have another little girl in less than a month, so we thought we would help them out by babysitting so they can go out and have a nice date. Well, they said they had fun, but I was not expecting how much fun we would have. My son David and their daughter Charlie had a great time. My wife and I had a wonderful time watching them play and playing with them. David doesn't talk yet, but Charlie can say a few things, or rather we can understand a few things. Charlie can actually say a lot, we just can't understand her like her parents can. So we had a great time playing with this ball blowing toy and a shape sorter, a telephone. One of the best is when David stole my cell phone which he does regularly. It is pretty funny, he will walk over to me, open the pouch on my belt and pull the cell phone out. Well, I grabbed my wife's cell phone and called mine. So we spent several minutes just having fun. Charlie would say hello on the phone, and David would just hold it to his ear and pull it away to look at occasionally. Sometimes he would smash some buttons too.

Good times.

-Bobby

The start

Well, so I decided to create a place where I can speak of things in this life, the life to come, and also discuss events, moments, and goals. So why not make my first post about the start of life's journey.

Well, maybe I should say something about me, or maybe I should be more general. I have yet to fashion goals for this blog or whatever it will be called. So I think I'll keep things generic for now.
We all start out the same, helpless and dependent. The environment we are in varies greatly. Fortunately I was born to a loving environment. I pray that others would be able to grow up in a similar way, but it isn't so. Some may ask, if you pray and it is in God's will why is it not so? Well, I don't really know, but I believe it is still due to free choice, and the fallen world that we live in. Yes people make horrid choices, so which is better, preventing them from making that choice, or making that choice result in something good down the road. I rejoice for God's sovereignty.

Well, I feel this post sets the tone of my blogs, but due to it being a journey we never know what side roads may be taken, and what changes await.