Arrival

This morning I left the Easterwood Airport to fly to Ames, Iowa for some work training.  I always forget how awesome clouds look from above. This isn't as well lit as I'd hoped but you get the idea. It was pretty sweet.

I'm not sure what you think of when you think of Iowa, but I honestly was hoping for something like this:

This was not the case. 

It's cold and rainy here.  It's as though by going north I went back in time to January or something. Oh well.  I do have a very nice room.  Here's my humongous bed.  This is bigger than our bed at home.  That's my backpack in the middle so you can have a frame of reference. It's pretty swell other than the howling wind outside my window. But I can overlook that.

And also I have a large desk and wifi.  You probably already knew that though because we both know that I wouldn't pay extra just to have internet at my hotel.  I'm cheap.  Anyway, I got some writing done on Bellezandra on the way from DFW but it's surprisingly hard to write or draw during turbulence.  I was thinking Um...hello? I'm trying to shade with a bic pen here. It's difficult enough as it is without you shaking the whole plane Mr. Airpocket!  I'll try to post some later and then put the link on here sometime this week to the site.

Today I don't really have much to do. Just get here and get settled.  And get some sleep too.  Tomorrow I have to start training.  I have to shower in and shower out every time I enter/exit the lab this week.  In my head I see something like Andromeda Strain.  But knowing how glamorized CSI is for lab work, I assume government diagnostic facilities aren't much nicer than mine.  I couldn't find the book I wanted to bring this morning and I almost grabbed Richard Preston's Panic at Level 4, but then thought Nah, I don't want to have nightmares about giving everyone Ebola or something because I'm clumsy.  I won't be able to take my phone into the lab so I'll update this tomorrow evening.  Well, my tummy's getting angry and I'm tired so I'm going to find some food and a nap.  Catch yall on the flip side!


(....what does that even mean?)


****UPDATE*******
I forgot to give a shout out to MW, who may as well be my sister.  Thanks for keeping my baby girl company this week.  You're awesome.

Writing

For the one of you actually following this blog (thanks Heather), sorry I've been a little AWOL.  I have managed to get an electric fence up around my raised bed, but we've been out of town a lot and haven't had time to actually put anything in there.

My main project right now is finishing up my medical school application as well as my public health school application.  The med school app will be for fall 2011 admission and the public health app will be for this coming fall. I'm going to try to take a few classes to get some foundations for med school as well as improve my grades.

Interspersed between that I'm working on a couple of stories.  Yep, I'm trying my hand at writing.  I get all of these neat (at least I think so) ideas in my head but I never write them down so eventually they just shrivel and die in my brain.  But I've started writing bits and pieces down this time so these may actually get written out.  They probably won't ever get published but I'd at least like to write them out for myself because I really like my characters and think their stories deserve to be told. Is that weird?

One is about a group of teenagers in semi-post-apocalyptic America making their way from L.A. to New York.  That one I'm keeping pretty tight reigns on because I've written the most on it and if possible I would like to see it in print one day.

The other is just an idea right now that I'm trying to flesh out.  Here's a really basic synopsis of my thoughts so far:

An apothecary searching for his lost king, a military hero framed as a traitor, a pair of thieves looking for their big break and a young adventurer looking for his place in the world.  Their journeys will bring them together in the land of Kaladea where the land gives way to endless sky, and they may find the answers to all of their questions in a mysterious air ship, a behemoth of unexplained origin, known only as the Bellezandra.

I'm trying to decide how to write this one.  I think it might be a fun experiment to do it as a serialized blog, a chapter at a time.  But then I question the quality because I know that I'll get to the end and go "I wish I'd done this at the beginning so I could that at the end."  Do I write it and publish a chapter at a time, write it all out and then release it one chapter at a time or just write it all and release it all at once?


Thoughts?

Man Talk: Qualifications for Elders

I got an email from my pastor this week that detailed the qualifications of being an Elder listed in the Bible.  As Christian men, these are things that we are supposed to strive for.  This week I figured I'd just list some of the stuff from that email, because it's worded much better than I could say it. 

Titus 1:5-9  Titus 1:5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you-- Titus 1:6  if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are faithful and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. Titus 1:7  For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, Titus 1:8  but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. Titus 1:9  He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.  

 

1 Timothy 3:1-7 1Ti 3:1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 1Ti 3:2  Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 1Ti 3:3  not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 1Ti 3:4  He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 1Ti 3:5  for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 1Ti 3:6  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 1Ti 3:7  Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

And here's a summary of the qualifications laid out in those verses.  Men, think about these.  Pray that God will show you how you can improve these areas in your lives.  These are practical qualities that we can all work on.

The first 15 deal with moral issues:

1. Above reproach.  - literally means "unaccused". “Reproach” is to bring down. If we are "above" reproach, then there is no justifiable way to be brought down by accusation. That is the key to this position, because even Jesus was accused, and so was Paul among others. So, it is not just that one be without accusation from anyone for anything, but that there be no justifiable reason for accusation of wrong.
2. Sober-minded – This refers to the ability to think clearly and spiritually about important matters with balanced judgment.
3. Self-controlled - He must also exhibit self-control over the desires of the flesh, and have the discipline of patient, and wise judgment.
4. Respectable – Literally able to be respected. This is by others both inside the church and out. He must have a character that others desire to emulate and follow.
5. Hospitable – His life must be transparent and accessible to others. It requires that his home is open to minister to the needs of others. It is an “others-centeredness” that follows his Christ-centeredness.
6. Not violent, but gentle – Kind, gracious, fair, mild, appropriate. He is patient with others, never returning evil for evil. He should not be easily irritated or have a temper problem, whether displayed physically or verbally.
7. A lover of good – Loving others and desiring their good. As Jesus said, “only God is good”, therefore to love good, is to love God, because all that is truly good comes from God.
8. Upright – Being a pursuer of righteousness and desiring to live according to God’s Word. This man will be able to make righteous and fair decisions in the church.
9. Holy – Pure and undefiled and set apart for God to obey His will.
10. Disciplined – literally means “strong” or “having power over”.  This is self-discipline in all aspects of life, and is shown in his fight against ungodliness in his flesh.
11. Not a drunkard - There should be no abuse of substance that would bring shame to the church. Dependence on these things contradicts self-discipline.
12. Not quarrelsome – He must be able to defuse disputes in the church and not add to them with his own opinions. He must be a peacemaker, always seeking to be a minister of reconciliation.
13. Not a lover of money – Scripture says you cannot serve both God and money, and the love of money is the root of all evil.
14. Not be arrogant – He must not be a self-focused person, always insisting, boasting, or manipulating to his own desires. He must, like Christ, consider others more important than himself. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
15. Not be quick-tempered – To be slow to anger and abounding in love is to be like the Lord who deals patiently with sinners.

The next 3 are situational qualifications:

16. Able to teach – This is the primary distinguishing mark of the office of elder relating to his duties in the church. He must be able to accurately handle the Word of truth, and know it well enough to be able to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine. This duty is essential in maintaining the spiritual health and growth of the church. This is not necessarily referring to public preaching, but does require the aptitude to communicate truth to others, individually or in groups, for the glory of God and the good of the church.
17. Not a recent convert – When a recent convert assumes an important role in leadership, he may succumb to the temptations of pride to the detriment of the church.
18. Well thought of by outsiders – Outsiders are non-Christians before whom an elder must maintain a good reputation. The opinions of outsiders should be of utmost respect for the elder based on what is known through their relationship.

The next 2 qualifications relate to the family of the elder

19. Husband of one wife – This does not mean that an elder must be married. If that were the case it would disqualify the writer, Paul, not to mention Jesus from being an elder in a church. This phrase refers to the man’s faithfulness to his wife once he is married. Elders are to lead in setting the example for devotion to their wives. Obviously, this prohibits polygamy, but does not necessarily exclude a man who has remarried after his wife dies or an unbelieving wife divorces him.
20. Manage his own household well– relates to a man’s role as a father and his relationship to his children. An elder must have respectful and obedient children. If he cannot manage his household, then he cannot manage the household of God.  

Bird bath and Grimm

I meant to post these pictures last weekend. Ricci went out of town and my brother came into town to hang out and go to Island Party. The first pic is a bird bath that my brother and I painted and put together.  Thanks Zach!

It's a fish! When the birds are in the bath it looks like a huge bass is eating it.  We made it by putting a terra cotta drainage pan on top of a terra cotta pot.

And here's some more pics of Grimm.

He's a fan of Island Party.  You can tell how fluffy he is by seeing how much skinnier his front half looks when the shirt is pulled tight. What a goofball.  Well I gotta go mow the yard and play with this dufus dog.  Have a great weekend!

Man Talk: Fundamentals

  For my first Man Talk Thursday (I know it's Friday but I started writing it last night), I wanted to start with the basics.  There are so many things I want to talk about that it's hard for me to organize them and put an order of importance on them.  So I'll start with the problem and the prerequisites for how we fix it.  This is long so take a big breath.

Here's the issue:  Where are the men?  Specifically in the church.  A large majority of the faithful church members in America are women.  Most of the members who serve in a ministry are women.  Don't get me wrong, women need to serve as well, but in the Bible God clearly sets out leadership as the role for the man.  We've sissified the way we do worship and even the way our churches are decorated to accommodate women, because that's who mostly attends.

The next book I want to read is one we mentioned a couple of times recently in "The Man Class" at church, called Guyland by Michael Kimmel.  Here's the synopsis which does a pretty good job of defining the problem, even from a secular standpoint:

The passage from adolescence to adulthood was once clear. Today, growing up has become more complex and confusing, as young men drift casually through college and beyond—hanging out, partying, playing with tech toys, watching sports. But beneath the appearance of a simple extended boyhood, a more dangerous social world has developed, far away from the traditional signposts and cultural signals that once helped boys navigate their way to manhood—a territory Michael Kimmel has identified as "Guyland."

Coming from somebody who just recently graduated from college, I definitely understand the appeal of this "guyland" we've created.  In the past as a boy grew older he was given more responsibility and eventually became a man.  But now, you don't really have to if you don't want to.  A variety of issues have led to growing up not being necessary until a male is almost thirty if they choose.  

1.    Society has redefined masculinity and pushed us to embrace our "feminine side". WHAT?! As men we can have feelings, we can laugh and cry together at the appropriate times, but we shouldn't have to become women to do that.  Or there's the other extreme where we try to show off how macho we are all the time.  Who hits hardest and burps the loudest? He's the man. Wrong. Mark Driscoll has a great sermon here about where real masculinity is and how it's neither of those. 

2.    Another issue is how we spend our time, especially college-aged men.  I'm not saying older guys don't deal with this too, but in college (and even high school) I wasted a lot of time on video games, browsing the internet and watching TV/movies.  We don't accept responsibility and we spend every free second we have on fleeting stuff. I like video games. A lot actually.  But when we stand before God to be judged will we be able to say that the time we spent playing games actually meant anything?  When I start playing a game I have this unexplainable impulse to know every detail of the story and beat all the sidequests to 100% completion. WHY?  Does it develop my character? Does it help me love my neighbor or my wife?  Does it bring me closer to God?  But that's getting into another subject that I want to talk about some other time: idolatry
   What this boils down to is laziness and selfishness.  We aren't pushed to work hard or take responsibility so we play all day.  We're old enough to be grown ups, but we've settled for acting like little kids.  




The Solution:  We need boys to grow up and be men.  Men who aren't afraid to fight the good fight for integrity and purity, both personal and for their families.  Men who teach their boys to grow up and be men and who teach their daughters that they are loved and shouldn't settle for immature little boys.


But how do we get there?


1. Salvation.  Jesus was the ultimate man.  Not the lame girly Jesus with silky hair and a soft glowing radiance that we always see in Sunday School pictures:

This guy. Not really masculine. But the Jesus who was the ultimate counter-culture figure?  Who told society that women and children were worth more than just property;  the same Jesus that made a whip and drove money changers out of the temple; the same Jesus that will come back with his robe dipped in blood, out of whose mouth will come a sword to strike down the nations? He's definitely masculine. Sounds awesome right?  We are promised all of His power through the Holy Spirit if we will ask Him to forgive our sins and be our Lord. Until we have Salvation through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection we are incapable of doing anything different.

2.  Take responsibility.  Make Christ your (our) priority.  We spend time reading the Bible and praying, and being involved in the local church body.  The more we know him and adjust our lives to true Biblical manhood, we will see a change.  What does that look like practically? Stay tuned for more Man Talks to find out.






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PS - I just saw this commercial for the new Double Down from KFC.  If this isn't an insult to manhood I don't know what is.  This is so laughable.  First, this has to be the most unhealthy thing on the planet for you. And then they write the commercial so they may as well be saying "If you're a man, you better get to KFC pronto and start shoving these in your face! You girl!"  Please.  If you have any self respect you will not let fried chicken determine what is manly for you. That is all.

 

Food, Inc. and the unholy excesses of America

WARNING: Rant Ahead!

We just finished watching "Food, Inc." I have to say it's pretty shocking and appalling.  From the way meat is processed, to what's in the filler, to the way immigrant workers and farmers are treated, to the way Mansanto has a near monopoly on seeds.  Seriously you guys should check this movie out because it's scary what's behind our food industry.

And on top of this is the way the government rolls over because the lobbyists rub their bellies with money.  I have huge issues with the justice system in this country right now.  I'm conservative on a lot of issues, but I also have big problems with big business.

Well, let me step back.  In my opinion a HUGE portion of the problem is how we as Americans want the cheapest version of whatever, without asking what the cost is on the other end.  Where do they cut those costs?  What is the effect on the nutrition of our food?  What is the effect on the people in the developing nations around the world who produce what we wear?  Here's the issue in my opinion: it's more expensive to eat and shop healthy and morally (meaning not disenfranchising people).  People act like they can't afford veggies because they are more expensive than Hot Pockets.

Try giving up your cable.  Or getting a cheaper phone plan.  Carpool.  Do something to cut your costs elsewhere.  We need to put in effort somewhere or one day when we finally wake up to the huge problems and demand something be done about it, the corporations will say, "But you've been buying this stuff from us for 50 years!" Isn't it worth paying a little more for something healthy? Try thinking of it this way: when you buy the cheap junk food, it's cheap because there's no nutrition in it.  When you buy the good stuff (maybe it's organic, maybe it's just local) you're paying for the vitamins in it.  Food Inc, does a good job at the end of telling the viewer things they can do to help influence the industry.  Not that we can really make them have a heart change, but we can influence business by buying local and organic so that they the at least have to start putting it in there stores.

By the way, this same rationale goes for the people who complain about outsourced jobs and then go buy everything at Walmart.  *Facepalm*  Der! You want everything cheap, so they outsource what they can to cut costs. Then you complain that they outsourced the jobs.  What did we think would happen?  And I know that I said "you" a lot in this post. I'm not excluded from this.  But I will say that Ricci and I have recently been making the effort to be aware of the work conditions and what is in our food, clothes, etc.  We get our meat from Yonder Way Farms in Brenham now.  And we try to get our produce from local farmers markets for the most part. We still go to HEB when we need something quick, because yes we still settle for convenience sometimes.  But I'm proud to say we haven't been to Walmart in two months. Sure it's inconvenient but I sleep better, so I'm okay with it.

We're also working on a garden to grow what we can on our own.  Once I get a shock wire, hopefully we'll be able to plant some veggies.  Thanks for reading this til the end, and hopefully this helps you take a closer look at where your food comes from.

Shameless plug

While organizing all of the photos on our external hard drive I stumbled upon some pictures of the checker sets I did for my father-in-law and my brother-in-law. Enjoy

This one is blue and gold with Shiner Blonde and Shiner Heifeweizen caps

The next one is traditional black and red, with Shiner Smokhaus and Zeigenbock caps for playing pieces

Many thanks go to my awesome wife Ricci, who helped me with color schemes and touch up painting.  And she also gave me the idea to keep the caps in mason jars, but that's totally optional.  So if anybody thinks these are neat and wants one let me know what colors and what kind of caps.  If you provide the caps it will definitely be cheaper, but I can usually get some from friends, family, HEB or World Market if you have an idea of what you like. 

If you see me standing in the bottled soda aisle at HEB for 20 minutes, you know I'm checking out caps.  I'm working on some Mexican flavored water ones right now that have a lime on one cap and a cluster of grapes on the other.  Only the lime one tastes gross so it's taking a while to muster my strength.

Gardening and Man Talk

I was holding off on posting about this until I knew that Grimm hadn't destroyed it. I think it's safe to say he now has the understanding of what will happen enough to stay out.

This past weekend we put together the frame for the raised bed and planted some plants in pots in the garden. We (by which I mean Ricci) got all the mulch and dividers straightened out. We planted tomato, marigold (thanks Adam), petunias, citronella, mint and lamb's ear in pots, and we have jalepeños and bell peppers that are waiting to be put into the raised bed. I just don't quite trust my dog enough to leave them alone without some sort of border so we don't have any dirt or plants in the raised bed right now.






And here's the table my folks got us for my birthday. Check out the sweet Texas star base for the umbrella.




Also get ready because I think I'm gonna start have Man Talk Thursdays. I'm taking two classes at church (Experiencing God and The Man Class) as well as co-directing Cubbies and I'm learning a lot about Godly manhood and leadership. So next week I'm going to start passing along the little bit of wisdom that I've accumulated.

Actually I will say this for Man Talk right now:

I think every guy should read Wild at Heart by John Eldridge, Every Man's Battle by Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, and Mike Yorkey and Six Battles Every Man Must Win by Bill Perkins.

All three tread on similar ground and some even repeat each other but it's all Godly advice so we call that reinforcement. Every Man's Battle deals with how sexuality has permeated our society and how we as men allow God to free us from sexual sins. Wild at Heart and Six Battles go more into Godly masculinity. WaH speaks more about how God has designed men, how we deal with wounds in our past and how we start acting like mature Christians. Six Battles is similar but with an emphasis on David's Mighty Men as examples of how if we put our lives in God's hands and stop settling and being passive He can make us into bad dudes. And by bad dudes I mean men that don't compromise and who get angry and fight not for stupid things like sports teams but for what matters to God.

It's been a tough semester of self examination and ironing out a lot of little areas where I say no to God or just roll over and settle for passivity. But I can't remember a time in my life where I've grown as much. Okay I have to stop for now or I'll go on forever. Thanks for dropping in.

Presents!

Hey kiddies!

In spite of all the recent chaos around here, some really cool stuff has happened. Even though it wasn't a surprise anymore, Ricci and my family threw me a really awesome birthday party last weekend. My cousin(in law?) Ryan and my cousin Jenny's boyfriend Derek built me a workbench for the garage and brought that down.

They even set up the peg board organizer and put in most of my tools for me which was really nice. As you can see, it's wired for electricity and has a fluorescent light. They even put a surge protector on it and hooked up my power-drill battery charger. Woo woo!

So that's neat. I also got a table, chairs and large umbrella for the back porch. Ricci and I had breakfast there this morning. So fun.

In other news, the AWANAs program at our church is starting a recycling drive to raise money and buy bicycles for GFA missionaries. So sitting next to my new work bench are all the cans mom and dad brought. If you're in the BCS area and want to donate your aluminum cans, please do!



Also, now that I have a workbench I'm kinda itchin' to do some more bottlecap checkerboards. If anybody is interested in having some made let me know what you want and I'll try to figure out an estimate. Although I guess I should wait a couple of weeks until I finish taking my MCAT. Anyway, that's it for now.

Long Overdue Facelift and Update

Wow. I took a look at my last post. September 29. Haha.

So much has happened since then. If you read this I assume you know me because this isn't that interesting of a read. Moving on, since September I got a job working at TVMDL (Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Labs) in the Serology department. We've also rearranged the house a bunch of times and I tried (and more or less failed) to convert some standard nerf guns into awesome looking and higher powered versions. I haven't given up completely, but I have put it away for now. The last time I tried I couldn't get the mechanism working when I put it back together so I rage quit.

If you didn't notice, Ricci made me a sweet header for the blog. It's actually blueprints from the Batmobile. How sweet is that?

From now on this blog will be more about actual projects and plans. It seems dumb to say that but it wasn't actually about that before. Right now I'm working on a couple of things. Ricci and I tried to set up an herb garden but Grimm decided that he thought it looked better when he dug up the mulch and tore apart the tarp underneath. So now I have to keep pulling out weeds. Eventually I'll get it put back in order and we'll plant some things. But there's no rush since he also managed to eat or destroy all of the seedlings Ricci was growing to plant out there. For a couple photos of the traumatic incident look here. Keep in mind the photos were taken the same day.

I also have the wood cut to make a 4 x 8 raised bed for veggies in the backyard, but after the last incident, I'm not sure I want to put anything back there until I have a shock wire or something to keep Grimmace the Menace out.

I did finish making bottle cap checker boards. One for myself and three that I made for Christmas presents. I like them but again, a lot of work so it might be a while, or at least a really special occasion before I make another.

I'm not sure when, but at some point we bought, and put together a cheap set of bookshelves to hold most of our books. That's all I can think of for now. I'll keep a list of my projects on the right so maybe I'll do a better job of keeping this updated. We'll see. I think I've used almost all of my tags in this post, haha.