Family and Work Relationships

It is generally pretty obvious if someone is having a phone conversation with a co-worker or family member. With co-workers we tend to be polite and courteous. Only with loved ones are we quick to be annoyed and respond angrily. That's not the way it is supposed to be right?

If I have not love, pt. 2

The reason you don't sleep with married people is that it's a dramabomb, not some loyalty to the patriarchy or wherever the [heck] that lame excuse for morality is coming from.

Taken from a message board post about adultery in marriage.

Is that why you shouldn't cheat on your wife? Because of the "dramabomb" that will unfold? If we are not created in the Father's image, and if all we have is some sort of relative morality, then yes, this is a valid answer.

Photos

There may be some of you who do not read my techie blog. I've decided to keep a pseudo Photo Of The Day web site of pictures I've taken on my new camera.

It is kept on Flicker.

Weddin's

I recently attended a wedding for a couple of friends. It was raining, so everything was inside. Here are some pictures.

Like newborn babes

...as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow...

To be brutally honest, sometimes reading the Bible can seem like a chore. For whatever reasons, things just don't click, or I am incessently distracted, or I woke up too late; I just can't get it into it.

But then there are times when I can't put it down. When it feels like I have discovered the words for the first time again. I was preparing a lesson and read a quick passage in 1 Corinthians recently. I found the verse I needed, but my eyes kept scanning down the page. And then some more, and then I read the preceding and following chapter around that verse.

This makes me wonder, how do you breed passion? Generally if someone is truly passionate about something it will rub off on his students. I learned the most in school not necessarily from the teachers that had the most knowledge, but those who obviously loved their craft. This can only go so far though. I had a Physics teacher in High School who loved Physics and loved teaching it. I generally looked forward to his class, however, I could only wrap my head so far around Dempster Mass Spectrometers before my eyes rolled back and drool formed on my lips.

Is it this way too with the Word? I do think that I can show my love for the scripture to my students, but I can't make them love it. I could even force them to read it either through guilt or by whining, but I can't make the light go on.

It's frustrating at times to let God remain in control. I want so badly for things to turn out in certain ways, but I've slowly been growing more content to let Him decide how the pieces fall.

Family

This last weekend was a retreat up to Strawberry, AZ for the high school staff. As expected, the time was wonderful, and I didn't want to leave. We worshipped, prayed, ate, played games, and did everything together. The bonds you form while serving with others go deep.

One thing I thought about during the drive home is, do non-Christians have something like this? I can see maybe going camping with the buddies every now and then, but comparing something like that to this makes it seem empty. I look at some of my co-workers, those who's lives rarely extend out past the office, and I just don't get it.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy these kind of things, but ultimately it doesn't bring me real joy, only keeps me happy for a little while. When I look back on my past, what brings the biggest smiles to my face usually involves fellowship with the body of Christ.

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

The allure of sin

"Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." James 1:15.

How true this is. How do you combat sin? We, as Christians, know that ultimately sin brings forth death, but during the heat of the moment, that thought is far from my head.

Anyone will tell you that sin is often pleasurable, it wouldn't be so enticing otherwise right? But what if there are no negative consequences to it? What if this sin is enjoyable and you never get in any sort of trouble for it? You have a double whammy of positive reinforcement for a negative thing. The sad thing is that if we only receive this positive reinforcement, we will be too blinded by it to start seeing the negative creep in. If you freely commit lust over and over again in your head, it will start to bleed out into the rest of your mind, and you probably won't even realize it.

This is why we are slaves to sin. And without Christ, we are lost to it.