...when I play Civilization 3.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Contentment in circumstances
G'day, once again!
Well...I must admit...St. Paul was right.
I used to complain about work a lot. I used to hate it and was completely unwilling to see anything good about it.
Well, I still hate a lot of it, but the rest is changing. ;)
After I came back I was moved out of an office that I've worked in off an on most of my career. It can be a prestigious place to work depending on what the tasks are. Now I'm assigned to a different office and have the menial task of making sure the new guys are properly taught (or so someone said to me recently).
I thought about what this person said and realized that yes, I could probably be upset if I wanted to be. After all, I do have the experience to do a lot of good work if I was assigned to the other office. But you know what? I prefer what I do now.
As glamorous as one job is, the importance of the other can't be disregarded. I have all the responsibilities that I enjoy - maturing and mentoring new airmen - and very, very few responsibilities that I loathe. I'd rather sit with airmen that are as green as their flight suits and teach them things that will help keep our country safe than jockey for position in a race meant for others. A race that to me is worse than pointless.
So, off to work I go. The Lord Christ is good to me...much better than I deserve. He's helped me deal with the crap that is in constant circulation at work and even shown me how things are much better than I wanted to see. He's even given me the woman of my dreams. :) Wow. What a blessing to know Him.
Well...I must admit...St. Paul was right.
I used to complain about work a lot. I used to hate it and was completely unwilling to see anything good about it.
Well, I still hate a lot of it, but the rest is changing. ;)
After I came back I was moved out of an office that I've worked in off an on most of my career. It can be a prestigious place to work depending on what the tasks are. Now I'm assigned to a different office and have the menial task of making sure the new guys are properly taught (or so someone said to me recently).
I thought about what this person said and realized that yes, I could probably be upset if I wanted to be. After all, I do have the experience to do a lot of good work if I was assigned to the other office. But you know what? I prefer what I do now.
As glamorous as one job is, the importance of the other can't be disregarded. I have all the responsibilities that I enjoy - maturing and mentoring new airmen - and very, very few responsibilities that I loathe. I'd rather sit with airmen that are as green as their flight suits and teach them things that will help keep our country safe than jockey for position in a race meant for others. A race that to me is worse than pointless.
So, off to work I go. The Lord Christ is good to me...much better than I deserve. He's helped me deal with the crap that is in constant circulation at work and even shown me how things are much better than I wanted to see. He's even given me the woman of my dreams. :) Wow. What a blessing to know Him.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Craaack....those are my misconceptions breaking.
G'day!
One of those habits being that I hardly ever blog any more. Sorry. Life is very full these days and I don't often have the time/desire/energy to blog.
After a three year bout with the basics of Reformed Theology, I finally lost. Haha. Holly's going to be intrigued. I'm not a total goner yet, but am getting closer by the day.
There are a few reasons why the shift has occured. I'm not sure I can explain them all, but I'll try!
First, I've come to terms with the fact that there are things about the nature of God (mostly the way he orders the world) that I will never, ever understand. I don't like typing it, even. But it's true. So by accepting that, I feel free to look honestly at these issues, and to hopefully keep my prejudices at bay long enough to see truth.
Second, I was attending an informal Bible study a couple of months ago that caused a major shift in thinking. The passage was Ephesians 1, the verses covering predestination and such. Something the teacher said clicked in my mind - it was a verse (can't remember the address at the moment) in which God was saying that all things exist for his glory. All things exist to bring glory to him. This includes people going to heaven (showing mercy and grace through the Cross), and people going to hell (showing justice and wrath).
Third, it's the most logical thing I've run across. If people are dead in their sins, then how can someone possibly seek God? Dead is dead. It has to be Him reviving one's soul.
Fourth, fore-chose and fore-knowledge. Every original language reader that I trust tells me it's fore-chose, as in, God chose people before they were born. And then they explain the difference in detail. Every Arminianistic (if thats is even a word) teacher I run across tells me it's fore-knowledge. Right after that they usually tell me that people can seek God of "their own free will." Um, no. See above. "No one seeks God, no, not one...."
I've not hammered out what else I believe yet, but this is still occupying most of my study time anyway. Yes, there are apparent holes in it...but show me where there aren't any in other sets of theology. Here, I can see that my ignorance is a major cause of the "holes." There, I'm smart enough to see obvious discrepancies that seem to be glossed over every time they are preached. Like, can someone who is dead in their sins seek Christ? Or does God have to do something first, even if it is just revealing Himself in some small way? Since the Scriptures issue an emphatic "No" to the first question and "Yes" to the next. I tend to follow that lead. I didn't always. I do now. Thank you to all the people that have kept on me to examine what I believe and challenged me on the why.
Adios!
One of those habits being that I hardly ever blog any more. Sorry. Life is very full these days and I don't often have the time/desire/energy to blog.
After a three year bout with the basics of Reformed Theology, I finally lost. Haha. Holly's going to be intrigued. I'm not a total goner yet, but am getting closer by the day.
There are a few reasons why the shift has occured. I'm not sure I can explain them all, but I'll try!
First, I've come to terms with the fact that there are things about the nature of God (mostly the way he orders the world) that I will never, ever understand. I don't like typing it, even. But it's true. So by accepting that, I feel free to look honestly at these issues, and to hopefully keep my prejudices at bay long enough to see truth.
Second, I was attending an informal Bible study a couple of months ago that caused a major shift in thinking. The passage was Ephesians 1, the verses covering predestination and such. Something the teacher said clicked in my mind - it was a verse (can't remember the address at the moment) in which God was saying that all things exist for his glory. All things exist to bring glory to him. This includes people going to heaven (showing mercy and grace through the Cross), and people going to hell (showing justice and wrath).
Third, it's the most logical thing I've run across. If people are dead in their sins, then how can someone possibly seek God? Dead is dead. It has to be Him reviving one's soul.
Fourth, fore-chose and fore-knowledge. Every original language reader that I trust tells me it's fore-chose, as in, God chose people before they were born. And then they explain the difference in detail. Every Arminianistic (if thats is even a word) teacher I run across tells me it's fore-knowledge. Right after that they usually tell me that people can seek God of "their own free will." Um, no. See above. "No one seeks God, no, not one...."
I've not hammered out what else I believe yet, but this is still occupying most of my study time anyway. Yes, there are apparent holes in it...but show me where there aren't any in other sets of theology. Here, I can see that my ignorance is a major cause of the "holes." There, I'm smart enough to see obvious discrepancies that seem to be glossed over every time they are preached. Like, can someone who is dead in their sins seek Christ? Or does God have to do something first, even if it is just revealing Himself in some small way? Since the Scriptures issue an emphatic "No" to the first question and "Yes" to the next. I tend to follow that lead. I didn't always. I do now. Thank you to all the people that have kept on me to examine what I believe and challenged me on the why.
Adios!
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