Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Grrrrrrr

"I'M FULL OF JOY, MASTER CHIEF!!!"

I'm so ready for ALS to be over now. There's no time for recreational reading, Bible reading, writing of any sort, working out, and almost eating. Sleep is just a figment of my imagination. Unless you count sleeping in class, of course.

This weekend I did a double WOD on Saturday and did Sunday's WOD Sunday. My body has almost recovered, but not quite. The PT program ALS has in place is ok at times (like the plyometrics we did a few days ago), but all yesterday did for me was to get the fatigue and soreness out of my muscles. By the time I was warmed up, we were done.

Here's yesterday:
Jumping Jacks (till the instructor got "tired")
Pyramid Pushups (up to five, then back down)
butt kicks, 15-30 yards
knee highs, 15-30 yards
100 m sprint with SLOOOOOW jog back around to start point

Last time I did interval training:
2 mile warmup run
4 rounds of:
20 jumpies (kettlebell swing motion w/no bell or hand movements)/400m sprint
rest 2:00-2:30
100 yard dash with pushups at either end, 100 pushups total
100m walking lunges X 2
X 3 of:
50 flutter kicks
50 scullies
50 mad russians (oh the pain!)

You get the point. No comparison. Not that I'm so hot (the guy I did this with smoked me), but it's slightly frustrating to have to sit in class knowing that I'm getting fatter and slower by the second. Grrrrrr.

Kudos if you can tell me where the Master Chief quote is from.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

No, it's not a video game


Yet another cool pic from StrategyPage. Visit the site for the caption.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Check this out

This looks like a really awesome website. I haven't had a chance to investigate it thoroughly, but check it out....

http://www.purelifeministries.org/index.htm

Danny

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Telephone Poles

G'day, mostly. :)

I still think it's funny how God uses women to get my attention.

This Sunday the pastor at Life Church gave a sermon on how to know if you should think about getting married to someone. One of his points, the one that struck me to the core, was this: If you can't tell they love Jesus within the first 30 minutes of knowing them, forget it. I thought, Hey, that's a good idea. Then I thought about all the girls I've met over the past few years and wondered how often they knew I love Jesus within the first 30 minutes of knowing me.

(Blush)

Yikes. That's really convicting. Not just because I want a great wife, but because it shows what I really love. I can talk about pararescue, crossfit, and a few other things right off the bat, but Jesus? I'm having problems. Wow. How sad is that?

I'm glad God got my attention with this. The righteous life is not an issue of shackin' up with a hot chick (who just happens to be my wife) and it's not about finding an awesome, Christ-centered woman of God. It's about focusing my attentions on the One who gave everything for me. It's about loving Jesus and loving people. It's about service and self-sacrifice. It's all about God. All of it. Period.

(I wish I could live the conviction with which I'm typing right now!!!!!)

Whew,

Danny

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Fanatics!!!!!

Ever wonder why people say there is such a thing as a homosexual agenda?


Check this out.

The Pendulum Swings

G'day. Really. It's a good day. :) I got to spend a couple of hours in the Word last night and I didn't realize how much I miss sitting down for a while to read it.
I realized some things about life yesterday, too. I've actually been thinking about it for a while but haven't put it into words.
I remember when I got to Oklahoma and had a first taste of the phrase "family of believers" and how it applies to the Church. God blessed me with a large family of friends within two weeks of arriving.
I remember when, a couple of years ago, I alienated most of them when I did some things that I felt God was leading me to do. Some things I did at the time were foolishness that only a stubborn heart can do, but most were not. In the course of five days my circle of friends dropped from nearly a congregation to almost three.
I bring this up to describe a cycle I seem to be going through. Before the incident, my faith was alive, active, and growing. I watched as God did some miraculous things in people's lives. Everything from salvation to breaking addictions to supernatural healing (no joke) appeared before my eyes.
Then the incident.
After that, my heart grew cold when I stopped trusting God. Plain and simple. It took almost a year and a half to realize that and a good six months to actually own my emotions after I realized it. I trusted Him up to the point of recovery, to the rebuilding of friendships and then said, "No. No more." The pain (and selfishness!) was to great and I had no desire repent of my desire for revenge (aka justice), to repent of my "victim" status from betrayal and from the unopen attitude I carry around other people.

Geez, what a dirtbag!

So now I'm here, typing out a blog, and wondering at how foolish I can really be. I wonder what it would have been like to come to terms with this sooner (or at least to start to), but Aslan never lets the children think about what might have been. I'm praying that God opens my stubborn heart to the things that please Him and breaks it over what injures him. Faith is such a tricky thing. For the past few months it has been a thing of the head...I know God is good, I know he loves me, I know he cares, so I will believe and follow; to, God is Good! He loves me! He cares!!! SEND ME!!!!

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Thursday, January 19, 2006

TULIPs

Copied from the worksheet I told you about, the acronym TULIP is a basic understanding of Reformed theology.

T.U.L.I.P. –
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Preservation of the Saints

Each point has verses to support it. Here is Total Depravity:

Total Depravity (Radical Corruption)
-Man is sinful by nature, he does not seek after God, he loves the darkness and hates light – therefore he is unable to respond to the Gospel.
--Ro 3:10-18, 8:7-8 / Ps 14:1-3, 53:1-3 / Col 2:13
-The heart is blind, hard, and dead. By nature we are children of wrath (not God).
--2 Cor 4:4 / Ez 11:19 /Ep 2:1,5 / Ep 2:3
If man is dead (in sin), hostile toward God, and does not seek God…he can have nothing to do with his salvation
Regeneration (Conversion)
-Necessary order to our salvation – election (conception), regeneration (birth),[faith], sanctification (growth), glorification (completion).
--(Ep 1:4) Chosen (elected) before the foundations of the world
--(Jn 3:3,7) Must be born again
--faith = believe = trust in, rest upon
---(1Co 2:14, 2Co 4:4) “Saving faith is a moral act, as it proceeds from a renewed will, and a renewed will is necessary to believing assent to the truth of God” (Easton’s Revised Bible Dictionary)
---(Ro 10:17) Faith comes by hearing
---(Jn 14:12 / Jas 2:17) Faith produces good works
----a person cannot have faith and continue in sin and not bear fruit
--(Ac 15:9, 26:18 / Ro 1:5 / James) We are sanctified by faith and our good works
-(Jn 6:44) No one is able to come to the father seeking salvation (or anything else) unless regenerated
--you must be brought there by the grace of God…in one sense, there is no choice involved

I'll be going through each idea and supporting Scripture, just not yet. :) Look for a post hopefully this weekend or next week on this subject. God Bless.

Danny

You gotta be kidding me (again)

Wow, folks, I am truly a piece of work.
This is going to be one of the funniest things that I think I've ever heard or done in a formal military inspection.

We were lined up all nice and pretty for our open ranks this morning. The instructor and class leader moved on down the line doing the duck walk and eventually came to me.

"Good morning, Airman Fannin. How are you today?"
"I'm doing good, sir."
Looks me over a second....
"Oh, so you like your sideburns, eh?"
I didn't know what to say. They are within regs, so who cares? My tongue got the better of me, and I said "No."
He looked, nodded, and kept looking.
He leaned in closer and whispered:
"Sorry dude, but you need to cut your nose hair!"

Holy crap...What do I say to that? I didn't say anything. He dinged me on my shirt not being properly tucked (garters are as tight as they will go, almost) and pants being to long (thanks again, base dry cleaners!!!). After being told to cut my nose hair, that didn't bother me to much.
Geez, I hope nothing has been evolving in my primeval soup. What would it be like to have a miniature ape jump out of my nose?? Not fun!!!!

:)

Grace,

Danny

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

feet taste pretty good sometimes

Good day, again.

Today, you get to hear an uneducated man talk about something that he knows little about. There is a reason for it, though. I'm trying to get edumicated, if you get my meaning. I'm trying to approach it with an open mind and open heart, but we'll see.

Ahhh, Calvinism...nothing like this topic to divide churches and communities. It is a worthy area of study, though. I can't stand it when people believe something because the pastor said so or they fail to examine relivancy or they don't think theology is important or...etc., you get my point.

(BTW, if I haven't offended you yet, hold on, I'm getting there. :) Not intentionaly, this is just a tough subject to approach.)

Oh, and all of my Calvinist friends, I'm not trying to put you in the hot seat. Or hold you up to the world for evaluation. I'm just curious. I should also say that some of this comes from talking with Lutherans as well, so what appears on my blog may not be "true" Calvinism, but the commonalities appear to be the same thing for both.
This pros and cons list is not all inclusive. Some of it deals with people, some theology, others with states of mind. It will probably change over time, too.

Pros:
-Dedication to Scripture
-Know what they believe (and WHY!)
-Worship music is based on theology, not popular opinion
-Willing (and able) to explain things someone doesn't know
-Dedication to people

Cons:
-People, as individuals, appear to be devalued
-It appears that the love of God is not biblically portrayed

Now, just to be fair, lets take the Evangelical Movement:

Pros:
-Dedication to people
-Dedication to Scripture, depending on who you talk to
-User Friendly for today's culture
-Sometimes, I repeat sometimes, well-versed in theology

Cons:
-A lot of music has no theological backbone (or is outright heretical)
-where is repentance?
-appropriateness of some worship service activities
-abasing of communion
-nobody seems to know (or care!) what they believe

This is my starting point. I'll try to make time during ALS to do research and give the worksheet I mentioned a good study, but it'll be hard until I'm out. Don't hold your breath about anything, I'm as dumb as a rock and just as hard to move sometimes.

Dashing Dan Strikes Again!

Good afternoon.

Guess what I did today? I was late to class! Guess why! Couldn't find my ID card!! Guess what I got! An LOC!! WOOHOO!
I think this stuff has gone from frustrating to funny now. Some day I'm really going to laugh about it. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting close. A big relief was the way the instructor handled the situation. He let me walk in and catch up to class and we talked afterwards.

Anyway, to the reason I'm blogging.

After moaning about being lonely the other day I thought about seeing what the Bible says about loneliness and fellowship. Hopefully that may a) help someone else who may be going through the same thing, and b) get my punk butt out of this blue funk.

I've also decided on another topic of study to blog - Calvinism. I must admit, the reason is probably more selfish than not, but hey, it's my blog. After looking at fellowship and whatever else, I'll start on a worksheet a friend emailed me.

Actually, I'm going to start with another post. See you there.

Danny

Sunday, January 15, 2006

G'day. Sort of.

I really hate complaining all the time but it seems like that's the only conversation possible over the past few months that I've been able to keep. I like to think of myself as a cheerful person most of the time but I think that would be a far cry from the truth now.
What the heck is going on? Ever felt like Job? Thankfully, I still have health and all of my material necessities met (though I was wondering about it there for a while), but there is still a definite sense of loss, of abandonment, of 'just what the heck is going on anyway?'.
If it wasn't for worship at church today I'd definitely be in a blue funk. The sermon was mostly for married folks but I listened in and re-learned a few things that I have forgotten. I feel like I could offer marriage advice and I'm not even married. I'm sure that sensation will disappear if God ever lets me get near a woman, which doesn't seem likely.
And really, it's not even a woman that I desire (ignore the hormones for a moment) as much as it is real, true, deep and committed fellowship. I've noticed that when the the latter desire is filled, the former want fades quite a bit.
Speaking of desires, in a moment of self reflection (not in the shower this time) I made a list of things I really, truly desire and would be happy if I had nothing else:

-A family
-Meaningful work to do
-ministry
-authorship
-Knowledge of God's will
-Friends

I thought about it some more and realized that none of these things are bad by themselves, and in a general sense, all are a part of God's will in some way or another. Then I got ticked at God. I reasoned that if all of these things are good and beneficial, why wasn't he providing? I asked him that and waited for an answer. I didn't have to wait long. He asked this: "Where am I in that list?"
It's a funny thing how God's questions can have as much impact as his direct commands. I wonder at how he could be so gentle and not wipe me off the face of the earth for such a stupid train of thought. Where, indeed, is he in that list? There was a time in my life it would have looked like this:

-Jesus
-Jesus
-Jesus
-More Jesus
-Still more Jesus

Well, maybe I wasn't ever that perfect, but you get the point. Somewhere after all of that add the other list and it was a pretty fair summation of my heart. It grieves me to see how far I have gone from a childlike faith to hard-hearted and stupid.

Time is running out. I'm going to the gym to have a near death experience (Crossfit) and will finish later.

Dan the Petulant Pal

Saturday, January 14, 2006

A Study in Frustration and Pain

Today's been a good day so far. Whoever is praying for me, thanks...I need it, and it is working!

After drill practice I've got a few hours of time to write and study, which is good. I didn't actually make such a fool of myself as I thought I would. Sometimes when I have to be loud (and yes, for those people who don't believe me, I can be VERY loud) my voice sounds a little less than manly. That didn't happen though.

I have noticed something very interesting about myself. While standing in the shower the other day, I realized that I crave attention. It is such a foreign idea to my mind that it has taken a long time to sink in. I have always known that I crave fellowship, both with Jesus and with other believers, but I didn't realize the attention part until then.
In my ALS class there's a cute Christian girl. She's awesome. I'm not leading into speech about relationships or possibilities or any of that mushy stuff, just that she is there. Follow my train of thought?
So I was thinking about how I could get her attention when I suddenly realized that I'm thinking about how I can get her attention! I never realized that before. That started me thinking about how I view other people; especially people in authority, cute Christian girls, and all kinds of other persons and situations.
I enjoy being the center of attention. I actually do things to get people to look at me and hear me. Wow. That little snippet of my personality must have been hidden behind many years of self-conditioning.
You know, it's funny how God uses women to show me myself. I didn't realize what fellowship was and how badly I need it until I became friends with a lady. I didn't know what a godly relationship was, or at least looked like, or what loneliness was like, until I wanted a princess. (Obviously there is still work there to be done). I didn't know what real pain was, either, until I had to let go of a girl. Most of my life lessons (there are more private things than what I've just listed) have come through women. Very interesting.
Now all the girls I know that read this blog are going to think I'm weird. Well, to be honest, I kinda am, though maybe not what you are thinking. I don't know why God does it this way but he seems to. Of course, he'll probably change it now that I've seen it. Oh well. Romans 8:28-30, right?

Grace and peace,

Danny the weird guy

Thursday, January 12, 2006

What the heck are you doing, dirtbag????

Holy Crap.
We had our first service dress (fancy uniform) inspection today and I did just great. Absolutely, positively, out-friggin' standing. I wore the wrong pants. :)
No joke. Apparently there are two types of pants you can wear with a service dress uniform - one washable, one dry-clean only. The washable pair don't match the service dress jacket in shade of blue or weave. I didn't know this until yesterday when the ALS instructor said "Be sure your pants match your jacket!! I don't want to see any washable pants out there tommorrow!"
Who decided it would be a good idea to make two versions of the same uniform when one is acceptable and one isn't? Who decided to not tell anybody about it, either??? Maybe I just didn't get the memo. I do know I wasn't aware of it until it was to late to change anything. I guess I could have showed up in my shirt and underwear, but I'm a little to shy for that.

There's a poem I keep on my water bottle, and it goes something like this:

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

It is written by D.H. Lawrence and is used in G.I. Jane. I'm having trouble remembering it at the moment (rather, the lesson it teaches). That's why it's written on the bottle.

Nearly everything important I touch is turning to crap. First the truck, then the uniforms (still haven't been able to get a good set of BDU's), now what? More than the poems, I am struggling to remember Scriptures like

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -Phil 4:4-8 (NIV)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
-Romans 8:26-35 (NIV)

Psalm 51 and the entire book of Job apply as well. What the heck is going on? I'm not afraid of God knowing my heart, he already does. He sees my struggles and knows that at least I am trying even if I am limited in ability (whether it is my fault or not). But how do I get the instructors to know that? In this case, they need to. They need to see that I'm not normally such a dirtbag and hate it when other people are. Good grief. Well, at least it's good grief and not bad grief.

Time is short. I gotta eat lunch for the next round of you sucks and I didn't get it agains.

Grace,

Danny

Sunday, January 08, 2006

You gotta be kidding me

As a part of Airman Leadership School, we are required to study grammar.
Since I've been studying my semester's worth of grammar (due in four days), I've come to this conclusion: Whoever (Whomever {Whatever!!!}) invented (verb) the (?) English (adjective? pronoun? gerund?) language (noun, I think) should have been (don't ask) reprimanded (verb in the past tense?) in an aggressive and violent (some type of adjective, or maybe verb, I'm not sure) manner (i.e. - shot).
No, not really. I just wish the Babelites did not decide to make a tower. If they didn't do it though, someone probably would have. Maybe I just don't like being shown my ignorance. Yeah, that's probably it. I think I'm going to go to something I'm relatively good at. Like carrying a 50lb ruck out by the lake. Yeah, nothing like carrying a heavy load for a long distance to stroke my decimated ego for a while. Make me feel like a man. Put some hair on my chest. Maybe I could paint my face, too, and swim out to some unsuspecting fisherman to conduct some underwater demo drills. Just for practice though, nothing for real. I don't have an SDV anyway. Or any demo. Or face paint, for that matter. Maybe I'll just stick to rucking for now. Wish me luck.

Danny

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Prove not!

Check out this article:
Did Jesus Exist? Italian Court to Decide

This is patently one of the most ridiculous and dangerous ideas I have ever heard. About the only thing that tops it is the (non) Theory of Evolution.
Prove Jesus didn't exist! You can't prove the non-existence of anything. To do that you'd have to know everything (and then make someone else know everything, too). Not to mention the hateful assault on Christianity. (Various Bible verses about men who love the dark and can't stand the light are floating through my mind right now.)

So now the Italian courts are going to decide what is history (fact) and what isn't? Oh wait, that's not so bad, American courts have been doing it for years. Maybe they are just following our example. Maybe the American Communist Lawyers Union branched off into the ICLU.

Look for evidences of Jesus's existence on this site soon. This really ticks me off.

Danny

Friday, January 06, 2006

Wowee

Well, it's my second day in ALS and I'm already a dirtbag.
Last night I pulled my BDU out of the plastic, straight from the dry cleaners, and they had two creases going down one sleeve and three going down another. I was hot. How the flippin heck do you get THREE creases down the sleeve of your BDU? THREE????? So I was up late last night trying to correct this mistake. At least now I have a faint outline of ONE, count'em, ONE crease going down both sleeves. Let's not even talk about the pants. Let's not talk about this, too: according to the AFI 36-2903 (Dress and Personal Appearance for Air Force Personnel) a sentence says MILITARY CREASES ARE PROHIBITED. No creases allowed. Why, then, is it a requirement to have them? I would rather have them than not, they look sharp, but why bust the standard for something as silly as this?

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Hardy har har har

"USCENTCOM commanders announced today that they intend to maintain their presence in Qatar "until the sun runs out of hydrogen," thus committing the US to the longest duration deployment in humanhistory. When asked how they planned to maintain the presence in Qatar for a projected length of 4 to 5 billion years, planners said "we're working on a plan for that. We don't have one yet, but not having a planor an intelligent reason to do something has never been much of an impediment for us in the past; we don't foresee it being a big show stopper for us in the future either." Among the options that were being discussed was an innovative program to "interbreed" the deployed personnel. "We are going to actively encourage the military members in Qatar to intermarry and raise children that will replace them in the future. Sure, it may be a little hard on some of our female service members, since there currently are about 8 men for every woman over there, but we expect that to be OBE as the sex ratios will even out in ageneration or two. In any case the key to the plan is to make these assignments not only permanent, but inheritable and hereditary. For example, if you currently work the JOC weather desk, so will your children, and their children, and their children, ad infinitum. We like to think of it as job security." CPT (CJTF-180)
--taken from Strategypage.com

Let's see, my stepfather had nearly the same job I do, in the same squadron, in Connies...am I missing something here?

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Munich

G'day. I promised some movie reviews, so here is one. Note: Remember, I'm not a professional critic or anything, so take my words with a pound of salt.

I'm not really sure of what my overall opinion of Munich is. I think there is to much to process at first glance, though that could just be me making things more difficult than they usually are.

Good things:
I think the principle of "Live by the sword, die by the sword" is expressed very well in this movie. Both the Palestinian terrorists and Israeli team sent to assasinate them accumulated casualties during their covert war. Near the end I wondered if Avner (the team leader) was going to have his family killed as a result of his actions in the field.
Emotions. I noticed a development in the main charachter's emotional state throughout the movie. Initially, he seemed hesitant to make decisions, especially when it came to how to kill whom. He wasn't eager to shed blood, unlike some of his companions. Towards the end the only thing that broke his rigid control over his emotions (or perhaps his conscience?) was talking to his daughter on the phone. There's more to this, I just didn't catch a lot.

Bad things:
The only purpose of this movie was to document the assasinations of murders and terrorists. I think this just reflects the type of world we live in.
Avner's dreams. I didn't understand why he was seeing the violence of the Israeli athlete's deaths in such clarity, especially since there is nothing to suggest he was there to begin with. The idea occured to me that the only reason that was there is to lead the audience to see or feel what Speilburg wanted them to. I guess I didn't feel it, because I don't know what that was.

Controversial comments....
I don't understand why Speilburg put in the nudity that was in the movie. Most of it was naked dead people, and I can't see any sex appeal there.
One series of scenes sticks out in my mind more than any other, and mostly because I can't figure it out. The team decided to take vengeance and eliminate a threat by killing a woman who killed a team member. She apparently worked for another covert agency.
They tracked her down and visited her houseboat. She was in a housecoat and nothing else. They had "popguns" or "bangsticks;" single shot, silenced, tube-shaped weapons that fire a single .22 caliber round when you strike the back of the tube. They didn't have the weapons loaded when they got there, so after taking a few seconds to load while she tries to convince them not to kill her, they shoot her. But she doesn't die. She stumbles around a bit and finally sits in a chair, where another team member finally kills her with a round to the head.
During this process, her housecoat falls open and she is completely nude to the camera. One team member tries to cover her, but the person that killed her re-adjusts the clothes so she is nude. The final shot in this scene is her, dead and naked, on her chair with blood everywhere.
I just can't figure this one out. Maybe Speilburg was trying to disgust the audience with her death. It sure disgusted me. If that was the case, he did a good job.

Where there morals in this movie? Sure, but the only purpose of having them was to destroy them. The only people that stayed true to their convictions were the terrorists, and you can't get me to believe that a terrorist's only sin is murder.

There was a common theme of longing for another home in this movie that struck me as odd. The Palestinians talked about taking Israel from the Jews because it was home, the Jews talked about keeping the Palestinians out for the sake of having a home, and the French information brokers talked about the importance of family and all the sacrifices made for a home. It made me think of heaven and a common longing for a home of my own.

That's my two cents.

Danny