all day I have felt a little off. i couldn’t put my finger on it. my head felt funny, i felt ‘weird’ like a strange pressure in my head- and tired. all day i have wondered… am i getting the flu or something?
neil was gone this morning and my schedule was thrown off with some sudden things i had to think through early on.
he didn’t make my coffee!!! it took me all day to realize, i am having caffeine withdrawel. i have had a cup of coffe every morning for the past several years. today i didn’t. no wonder i feel so crummy. neil is camping with the little Pirate and i am going to have to make my own coffee in the morning. the nerve…
One major complaint another dominant religion has against Christians is that a lot of us don’t seem to act very moral. Now, understandably, there are different opinions of what Godliness is. And we may be accused of ‘not being Godly for various external reasons’.
But at the heart of it, the accusation is so often true. Why do we believe one thing, but do another?
Truth, known with the mind and loved with the heart, is the way God produces all godliness.
I thought the above quote from John Piper was a rather intriguing idea. The kids verse right now is from Psalm 86:11.
Teach me thy way oh Lord, that I may walk in your truth, unite my heart, to fear your name.
Seems like for Godly character to be produced, we have to know the truth, and be affected by it.
So how do we arrive at that place of knowing truth and loving it on a daily basis???
Last week I had Tasha over to make fresh pasta. Neither of us had ever made pasta before.
It was really time consuming, but really delish. Here we are with our fettuccini. We made one with tomato paste in it and it turned a nice redish color and the flavor was slightly tomato-y. We didn’t use a recipe, I just used the guidelines I had seen online, 1 cup flour and 1 egg per person. It was a pretty good guideline.
I’m realizing some things in my increasingly old age. I realize that I have always had a bit of a condescending attitude towards a lot of pre-planning. I have always held a superior view of just being spontaneous. (Funny thing is that I’m not that spontaneous.)
I would be amazed when people had planned their vacation a year ahead. And I would always wince at the thought of being tied to day-planner, especially for personal endeavors like exercise, reading, or study.
But I realize that I need that sort of thing in order to make it happen. Left to my own tendancies, I would just sit in front of my computer to do my work until late in the evening, delay using the bathroom, delay playing with the kids, delay talking with my wife (while looking at her), delay going on walks, excercising or various other things. I will be 32 this year. I doubt that I am going to have a radical change in temperament, bodily condition, or spiritual state without some effort. And I’m not happy with where I’m at. So here is my plan each day (maybe skipping wednesdays and Sundays)…
wake-up, make coffee
take my Dr. Natura Cleanse & a multi-vitamin
Stretch
read my Bible & drink my coffee for 30 min.
2 reps of 12-15 Handweight Lifts
2 reps of 12-15 Incline Push-Ups
Increasing numbers of normal Push-Ups (goal is 100)
Get to work on the computer, errands, appointments
Lunch, Play with kids outside on the deck or in the pool 2 hours
Get to work until dinner time and stop
Hang with the family and kids or other activities
MINIMAL work emails etc… in the evening
Saturdays several hours MUST be spent doing stuff other than computer work
Sundays NO WORK on computer!
The terrible thing is, not only do I tend to do work on my computer too much, but I tend to spend moments of relaxation there also, music, downloads, reading, surfing the net, online communities, etc…
Unless there are boundaries to my computer time, my whole life will be spent there, and I may miss a lot of life and become even more unhealthy!
Yesterday I went and had a little ‘tea time’ with a few ladies that I have been getting to know here. We go to the ‘oriental’ tea houses and in the winter we order a delicious moroccan mint with with pine nuts in it. Its delish.
However, its summer now and hotter than pavement in El Paso and we all desired something a little more refreshing and cool. 2 of the ladies ordered tea, my friend Megan and I ordered the iced cappuccino. She had had this before and it was delish. So, off I go, slurping down my iced coffee through my straw, yummm…. creamy, slightly sweet… mmmmmmm…..
blech…. erg….. ugh!
what was that???!?!??!? in my mouth I could feel something foreign, something not liquid. I pulled it out and quikly expelled the rest of the liquid in my mouth. In my hand I held the string of a rag mop. A dirty, disgusting, filthy, bacteria laden piece of a mop. I ran to rinse my mouth out with water and took the piece up to the counter. I was in shock and so I said yes to him making me another one. I didn’t really want another one. I really just wanted that never ever to have happened ever.
Whats most important is that I learned something. Always order the clear teas.
Tonight while I was putting Chikadee to bed I remembered that when she was younger- maybe 12-18 months- she would sit in her car seat and we would hear her laughing. When we turned around we saw that she was making herself laugh by lifting up her arm and tickling herself under her own cute little armpit. She is hysterical. She does just fine at self entertaining….
Anita took her French language test on Wednesday. She scored ‘Advanced or ‘Superior’ in all categories for speaking and comprehension. However, she does need to work a bit on her conjugations.
Here is an interview where Ed Stetzer speaks with Mark Dever. Mark Dever just spoke at the WhiteBoard conference, which is more of a young, non-traditional church crowd. Very interesting to hear both sides. As someone who loves the some of the teaching and values of the traditional, Bible church, as well as someone who loves the relevance and welcoming culture of the non-traditional, contemporary churches, it’s nice to hear him reflect on this.
She is hysterical. She does just fine at self entertaining….
