Google Scared Me On My Birthday

So, getting up this morning I did the usual - after getting my Costa Rican coffee from Joffrey's of Tampa (excellent, by the way) I opened my Chromebook to get online and do what I usually do: drink coffee and read.

Well, today is the day I came into the world fat. I've just gotten fatter and slightly taller. And Google's home page let me know too much about it - and yes, that kinda scared me . . . to the point that I almost misspelled "scared" as "scarred." Maybe the extra "r" makes it extra scary!

I realize why Google did this - they can. Their intention isn't to scare, but to make me feel that this is "neato espisito." But I don't feel that way - again, it's intimidating that they know so much about me.

Maybe it boils down to the bone of advertising. So, I'm going to buy something . . . for my birthday.

I wonder what Google recommends . . .

Pluto in High Definition

Modern technology has changed vastly in the 9 years the New Horizons ship was launched into deep space. It has traveled over 3 billion miles from earth!

The standard has been the Hubble space telescope which sits above earth's atmosphere taking some awe-inspiring pics of the known universe. But the digital detail that the New Horizons cameras are taking and sending back to us is amazing. And they're being shared on Instagram!

The following link is one of the multitude of online articles to look through dealing with the New Horizons pics of Pluto—again, the detail is amazing when compared to the Hubble telescope orbiting the earth … http://www.wired.com/2015/07/nasa-teams-instagram-debut-pluto-surface-photo/

Words Have Meaning (The NRA and Common Idiocy)

Here is the article which generated the following thoughts — http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/06/20/usa-shooting-south-carolina-nra-idINKBN0P009R20150620

Please make the time to read the article referenced above. It is statements like this that generate animosity against our second amendment rights, and I can appreciate this animosity.

I understand a congregational/spiritual leader not wanting handguns in a worship service, but would this actually stop anyone from doing so? I want to be able to protect myself and those I love from the monsters of society. Therefore, I would welcome responsible gun control from those who are worshiping together. Even the Lord urged his followers to arm themselves: to protect themselves (Luke 22:36).

I cannot fathom the pain and grief the families of those slain are enduring — and in a place that is an expected place of worship.

The soul of our nation is being darkened by an evil shadow of racism. And what can I do? Not be a racist.

for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26-29 ESV)

Contentment vs. Contentment

There is a difference between being content with who we are and being content with what we have. We're supposed to be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5) but not remain content with who we are (2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:15).

I struggle with both of these.

As a gender specific man I struggle with who I am. I struggle specifically with change — whether outside of me (e.g., when the furniture gets moved, or more insidiously when the silverware is moved) or inside of me (I'm fine, right?). It's easier to find problems with others, and more entertaining. To make real change in oneself is something we should strive for — whether prompted by Michael Jackson's "Main in the Mirror," or the word of God.

And, as I said above, I struggle with contentment with the things I have — rather, the things I don't have.

Recently I read of someone who was also struggling with being content with their possessions: her advice was radical — stop window shopping. What?! In this age of keeping up with pretend people on TV and the Internet, I'm supposed to simply stop window shopping (AKA wishing, dreaming, wasting oodles of time)?

Yep, I know, loco!

Too Much to Say

As a preacher I approach the pulpit with trepidation. There really is never a time that I am asked or expected to preach that I do not approach it with trepidation. It's not because I'm unprepared: it's because I know that I am not worthy to be preaching. It's not just that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I have sinned, and do sin.

Yes, I ask forgiveness from God for the sins I have committed, but this still does not make me full worthy of preaching. As the apostle Paul put it, "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:21).

Nearly every Sunday morning I wake up tired because I don't sleep well the night before I preach. Gospel meeting weeks are especially tough because this cycle becomes the daily routine.

I am not complaining. I am stating what happens and why.

I am very thankful for the privilege afforded me by brothers and sisters in providing for me financially so that I can dedicate full time efforts into this important task. And I am thankful to God who created me with these abilities.

I pray today I use them to His name's honor and glory.

Technologically Advanced, Morally Digressing

Morally speaking, our country is not heading in the best direction. We are generally too arrogant to know better and with our arrogance we seem to be going at break-neck speed into a moral abyss (all the while we're being told it is human evolution). Our moral compass is obviously encouraged from within rather than from an outside, absolute source: we are thinking and acting as if we are truly our own standard for all things right and wrong.

There are obvious problems with this: when my moral compass allows me to do or say things that hurt others, there's a practical problem. It's not about creativity; it's about truth. And in our postmodern era of relativism, we're finding ourselves lost while declaring to everyone around us that we've "found ourselves."

Doesn't it seem weird that we celebrate weird? It's almost as if "normal" is the weirdest thing of all, and certainly nothing anyone is going to laud and applaud. We are a society of nonconforming conformists.

It's only very recently - within the last few decades - that people have been able to change themselves physically beyond tattoos and piercings. It did not begin with gender-change, it began with face-lifts, breast augmentations, Botox injections, stomach-stapling, etc.

We are not satisfied with ourselves; but the problem is not that we are unsatisfied with who we are, but rather how we look. The changes are all about the surface!

It's easy to moan and groan about society, but I am a part of society; and the only way to change the whole is to change me - from within, and by a standard that is higher than "I."

This Is Only a Test

So … where to begin?

Well, probably at the beginning.

I commented on a very well-written article by a good friend of mine. All was good. Two entire sentences of basically saying, "Good job. I agree."

And then … AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

There almost always seems to be someone who just knows everything, right? And they just can't help themselves from correcting you while simultaneously agreeing with you!(?)

I would suggest that such a person keeps us humble, but the truth is, they keep us irritable.