Bible Failures?
When I think of the characters of the bible, I can’t help but think about the awesome men & women of God that have come down through the history: David, Solomon, Sampson, Ruth, Esther, Peter, Mary and many, many others. These biblical titans are great examples of living the life of constant dependence upon God. Their stories are so great and so well known that it’s hard to not deify these mighty men and women of the bible. Yet the bible itself tells us that they aren’t nearly as perfect as we once thought they were.
Sitting in Bible Study Methods class today, a gentleman (whose name I can’t remember for the life of me) gave a devotional about how a boat had started to sink and the people were looking around for the captain and crew to figure out what to do. People looked in the captains room, the bridge of the ship; they looked everywhere, but the captain and crew couldn’t be found. Someone eventually looked out to sea and saw two life boats in the water, heading towards shore. One boat held the captain and the crew and the other boat held all of their luggage. What a shock that must have been to the people on the ship; to see the person in charge of the whole ship, being concerned with himself and his crew and none of his passengers. What a shock it must have been to see the captain fail the expectations of the people on board that ship.
When those we expect to be heroic and powerful, fail to meet that expectation, what does that do to a person? How do you handle that? Does your world come completely crashing down like so many people in the world? Did your world stop when Michael Jackson died like so many others in the world? How hard it has on the people we idolize to be a gods to us.
The thing I really like about the bible is that it doesn’t pull any punches; it tells the story how it happened. Take for example King David: He is called “…a man after God’s own heart,” yet David had multiple wives, had an affair with Bathsheba, had Bathsheba’s husband killed, and then took Bathsheba as his own wife. Does that sound like the King David we normally hear about at church?
How great is our God that He could use someone who had as screwed up a life as David? How great is our God that He could use someone with sins like mine? It’s a very humbling thought to know that I screw up a lot and yet God is still willing to use me anyways.
Posted on January 30th, 2010 by howie | 3 Comments »Hopeful things in the future
While life is rough apart from Theresa, things are getting better. I’ve got a job interview on Wednesday and I will hopefully soon be employed by the Geek Squad!
I was able to randomly see Theresa this weekend which was great! It made me really happy that I got to see her. Made getting homework done extremely difficult but I was glad to see her. I didn’t realize how much I was in need of seeing her until she walked through the door. Thankfully she’ll be back down here in a few weeks for her birthday.
I also am hopeful about the church I went to last night, interestingly enough called “Door of Hope.” The pastor of the church is the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist for the band Telecast. The church itself is only four months old and it’s a very open and welcoming place. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The pastor, Josh, preaches a theology I believe of Christ in you. Overall it was a good experience. I plan on attending again and looking for God’s direction more than anything else.
Posted on January 26th, 2010 by howie | No Comments »On Procrastination
So… who’s writing a blog post instead of doing their homework? This guy! Why is it that I find it so difficult to do homework? Really it’s anything that requires consistency and discipline… I’m not certain what it is that causes me to avoid those things but I do. It can be very frustrating at times too.
This weekend I a somewhat large assignment due, my first paper. It’s required to be between six and eight pages long on the settings of Jonah. By settings I mean, the physical places, not the mood or plot point made by the particular place. It’s an interesting paper that’s requiring me to think outside of the box that I normally think of the bible it. It’s a great brain exercise. Unfortunately, it’s making my brain exercise too much. I’m having a tough time trying to get enough research done on other points in the bible that those settings show up at. It’s made for a long week. Now it’s Sunday evening and I haven’t even started writing my paper yet. Very very annoying.
As I said, it’s a great assignment and very challenging for me; I just hope I can get it finished before class tomorrow…
P.S. I found some pure cane sugar Dr. Pepper yesterday. That stuff is AMAZING!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 by howie | No Comments »Prayers in School
I am SO thankful that I go to a school that prays before each class period starts. It’s so cool to be able to start each class with God. It’s a very unique experience and different experience from public school. We just finished praying in my philosophy class. A class on Philosophy and we’re praying! It’s awesome!
I wonder if this was what classes were like during the 1950s? Were they excited to be able to talk to the Creator of the Universe? I know being able to do that in class is a great feeling.
I really think the best part is that I get to take a class where I get to learn about a particular topic and learn about it from a Christian perspective. In particular my philosophy class has been great. It’s nice to be able to see these different philosophical thoughts and see how they line up with my Christian world view.
Another class where this comes up a lot is psychology. The teacher, Dave Jungward (youngward), is great at explaining the original theories and then asking questions about how it did or didn’t line up with the world view of the students in the class. It’s awesome to be able to think and process through the thoughts and views of the different theories out there that aren’t necessarily “Christian.” It’s really helping me to start thinking for myself and draw my own conclusions.
I’m really glad to be in school here. It’s rough being away from my beautiful wife but I am glad that I get to be here learning about my awesome Creator while getting college credit. It’s awesome! For now I’m gonna head to bed. Be blessed!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 by howie | No Comments »Welcome a new member to our family
I recently went and picked up a great new addition to the family. I haven’t picked out a name quite yet but I’m thinking I might call him Bentley. We’ll see. Here are some cell-phone quality pictures that I can post until I get a better camera.
The Guitar
The headstock. Epiphone Masterbilt
The guitar - Side profile
Close-up of the electronics
Close-up of the pick-up
Hillsong – The Stand
An amazing song that I recently discovered. What an amazing song of surrender! I hope ya’ll enjoy!
Women in the media and mens eyes
WHY?! Why must the media and the Internet always parade scantily clad women in front of men? It is so difficult as a man to keep my mind and heart pure when I have images of bikini wearing women flashing in front of me. I aim to lead a life that is a blessing to God and those around me and these pictures don’t help in any way shape or form.
I can’t imagine what it’s like being a woman and being told you have to look like that. That’s such an unrealistic look for women. I believe all women should learn to be comfortable in who they are not what they look like. Something I wish everyone could learn is that women are beautiful creations of God and they don’t need the world telling them where or how to get their worth.
I wish men would stop promoting it. If men didn’t buy the product the hot girl was promoting, it would move our society out of the dark ages of sex. While I do think sex is a wonderful thing, I only want to experience it with my wife and no one else. I don’t need some lady in a bikini (or less) making my thoughts wander. It’s frustrating and I wish it would stop.
I am not certain how to affect a change but I really want one to come about. I’ll step off my soap box now.
Posted on January 21st, 2010 by howie | 4 Comments »Another day another class
I’m sitting in the lounge of the JCA waiting for my next class to start. It kinda throws my day off when I have a break between classes. I don’t know what to do with myself. Normally my classes start at 12:30 and end somewhere around 4 or 5. On Wednesdays though I start at 11:00 and my next class isn’t until 1:30. I have no clue what to do with myself during that time.
I usually buy lunch in the cafeteria (which I don’t have money for) and then I kinda just chill and relax. Like right now I’m sitting with my friends Krystofer and Mickey watching CNN. Got class in twenty minutes though so soon I’ll be busy until 5:00 tonight. Then it’ll be on to homework and cleaning!
Posted on January 20th, 2010 by howie | No Comments »On School
Today is the first “full” day of school for me. I’ve been in classes since Monday but they’ve all been “welcome to class” and “here’s what the syllabus looks like” or “here’s how to get an A.” But today, I’m taking classes I’ve already taken which means, actual learning today! I’m quite excited.
Today I’ve got a lecture on biblical study methods at 11:00, then I’ve got a break until 1:30, then it’ll be general psychology. Followed quickly by a bible study methods lab. I can tell right now that bible study methods is going to be one of my harder classes. I also have a feeling that Philosophy is going to be a harder but a very interesting class.
I am worried I’m not taking the right classes or taking enough classes. I’m going to try and meet with the registrar and make sure I’m on the right path and everything is good to go. I think I am on the right path, I just don’t know where I am on the path to graduating. I know I officially am a transfer student but I am not certain how many of my credits have transferred over, if any… Guess I’ll find out today.
I am enjoying the schedule I have right now though. My earliest class is at 11:00 AM on Wednesday. All of the rest of my classes don’t start until 12:30 on Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Fri. I’m usually done around 3:30 on most days as well. On Friday’s I only have two classes and I’ll be done at 2:30. Quite nice. Again, not certain if I’m “doing it right” or if I need to make things harder or not…
Posted on January 13th, 2010 by howie | No Comments »
RT @branthansen: No one expects the 44 Fake Sit play.