Mark 7:6-8

6Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said,7`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's commands with their own man-made teachings.'8For you ignore God's specific laws and substitute your own traditions."

Ouch . . . i wonder if that's me . . . i wonder if i've made things important because i've thought they were important. This was Jesus' response to the Pharisees who called Him and the disciples out for not washing their hands in the traditional Jewish way before eating.

i hope i haven't replaced God's commands with my own ideas. that would stink. i know people have called me out on man-made stuff before . . . i wonder if i'm guilty of it?

Grace

Insurance Claims Life of 4

Insurance is fast becoming, imho, one of the most confusing things on the planet. Likely, it's mostly due to the fact that now that I'm becoming an adult, i have to actually think about insurance. But it just all seems very weird . . . maybe i'm just stupid.

i don't really want to talk about insurance . . . we just had a 'meeting' (aka firing squad) about it today.

i DO continue to realize that my actions translate into Jesus NOT being of highest priority in my life. There were some anonymous comment posters from earlier today, btw, that i didn't really understand or know who they were.

Anywho, realizing what i realized is a big kick in the pants and a blessing at the same time. i want Jesus to be more important to me that my actions say He is, but at the same time God has given me a huge challenge, which obviously means he thinks that i can handle it.

So . . . good.

But it's a busy day at work . . . perhaps i'll get more time later.

Grace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFULLY COOL SISTER, SHAUNA. Hope you have a GREAT day and I'll see you in three weeks!

Cable Guy vs. Christ

Another strange insight . . . albeit not that strange, and probably not that much of an insight either. Either way, i just thought about how i loved my cable guy yesterday more than Jesus. (Incidentally, i also just realized that I pronounce either with an 'I' sound at the beginning, when at the end of a sentence, and an 'E' sound when it's at the beginning).

So, i call Time Warner Cable on Friday and say, "Hey, i'd like cable please." After a great conversation with the operator, she assured me that my cable guy would show up on Monday, at some point between 1 & 5 PM. Great . . . had to leave work early, but with much naivity on my side, i said, "Ah, i'll be back." (It is both a blessing and a curse to live so close to the office).

So I go home at one . . . decided to stay in my work outfit, and made some lunch (read, reheated food from Sunday). I wait, watching a very snowy antenna-aided picture on my little television (which for now, sits on a tipped-over rubbermaid storage container, and will remain so until such time as I can get an entertainment center).

i waited some more.

and some more.

and then, at 4:00-ish, my cable man cometh, hooketh me up, and within 20ish minutes i'm watching the best programming standard cable has to offer.

Don't remember the last time i waited 4 hours for Jesus to show up.

MTV & the Discovery Channel, however, were apparently well worth the wait.

Out of Retirement

For my SECOND post of the day . . . here's a memory for some of you and a window into my former life for others (incidentally, it's odd having friends that know your life UP TO a point and others that know it ONLY AFTER that point).

Here's a song that, just last night, was brought out of retirement for the enterainment of others:

Elsie was a mighty fine cow
All the chickens was jealous of her
Elsie was a mighty fine cow
All the chickesn was jealous of her
Elsie won't be home no more

Elsie got loose one day
Out on the old highway
Along came a big mack truck
And took my Elsie away
Elsie won't be home no more

You can see my Elsie today
At the chicken cacciatore café
The chef made her into a stew
And now she's the special of the day
Elsie I'm coming back for more

Grace

Clearing Up

So, i feel like i need to clear some things up . . .

First of all, the point of my post yesterday was not a uniform bash . . . i've bashed it in the past, but i'm coming back around to thinking that, gosh darn it, i'm a soldier . . . the mantra of our latest territorial youth institute, in Oklahoma this year, turned out to be, "I AM THE SALVATION ARMY". And i am . . . what i (and we) make it is what the army will be. We do need to fight and my uniform displays what i represent . . . granted, i rarely see the point of wearing it to church. Harvey's comment from yesterday was that we wear it when we fight. Church is not about fighting, it's about worship (another concept poorly understood by man). i am much more apt to wear it when, as a few weeks ago, we went out into the surrounding neighborhoods and prayed with/for people. i AM a SOLDIER. i WILL FIGHT to the very end, if i have to.

Thing 2: i only rarely don't wear my uniform to tick people off . . . admittedly, when i'm feeling particularly fiendish, i will choose not to wear it, just to get a rise out of people.

Thing 3: the POINT of my post, that I really wanted everyone to get was that i'm ticked off when people have a problem with me and don't come to me about it. AND the people that really tick me off in that regard will NEVER read this post & blog, i don't think . . . but if they do . . . PLEASE either tell me what your problem is, OR prepare for me to ask you.

For my Sally Friends . . . YOU ARE THE ARMY . . . forget about 'the man' and get out on the battle field. Be an army Delta Force (can't tell ya, or i'd have to kill ya). In the US, my favorite
Army quote has been, "Most people don't know that The Salvation Army is a church . . . and it's OUR fault." (Major Allan Hoffer, ATL Temple). That probably doesn't work so well in Newfoundland, but the rest of Canada and definitely here. If people in my neighborhood aren't aware of what the army is . . . guess what? There may only be ONE representative of the army in MY neighborhood, and it might just be ME!

Don't blame the Army unless you're prepared to take the blame and do something about it.

Grace All . . . . consider this a lesson learned by me the hard way and passed on to you the easy way. Maybe I'll post something else a little more fun too . . . even out the drama.

The Case of People vs. Me

i wish, if and when someone had or has or will have a problem with me . . . that they would, oh i don't know . . . tell ME about it. Here's the thing . . . i'm sick and tired at work and at home, hearing about something 2 weeks later that i did or didn't do to tick someone off from someone whose business it neither is nor was.

Let me say first that i have no enemies.

i have people like Moe to Homer Simpson: a well-wisher, in that he doesn't wish Homer any specific harm.

Two Examples, however cryptic they may seem (you don't need to know, i just need to vent). . . the last thing i need is to tick off someone else:

Example A: i am a salvationist, QED, i wear a uniform to church. Sometimes i choose not to, or it is impractical for some other reason; so I show up in civilized clothing . . . usually some form of a buttoned shirt and khakis. Part two of this example includes the fact that i work for the same company that i attend church at . . . . my question is this: why should my boss at WORK have to hear about my not wearing my uniform to CHURCH? Reason 1 I am confused: the TWO ARE NOT CONNECTED; reason 2: it's such a PETTY issue that it BOGGLES my mind.

Example B (OK so not a specific example, but a generic conglomerate of many situations): Either professionally or personally, NO ONE complains to me about problems with me . . . LET ALONE have the spiritually maturity to confront me on the grounds of accountability. And it ticks me off. i don't like having people not like me . . . i don't thrive on confrontation. But for MY SAKE PLEASE tell me what your problems are so we can work 'em out!

Sorry . . . i'll have to remove the link from the departmental website because of my ranting i suppose.

Anywho, 2 things to finish: 1) If you have a problem with me, please tell ME about it and not the remainder of the civilized world, and 2) If you have a problem with me (and i hear about it from you or ANY ONE ELSE ON THE PLANET), i will come to you (at the advice of my wiser, beautifuler fiancée) and confront you on it.

Just so you know.

Hey, my first HOSTILE post. Nice. Don't worry, this is more of an air-my-dirty-laundry kind of post as i'm sure no one who has issues with me or my choice of attire or my lack of musical knowledge and immaturity reads this thing anyway.

i'm pretty sure i love all of you. Which is not to say that i don't love the other people too . . .

Grace

I Love Brains!

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

i'm a psycho (aka psychologist) at heart. This is EXACTLY why i love brains!

Fat Cruise Ship in a Little Dock

This is a Cruise Ship that recently visited St. John's - my homeland. All I could really think was Chris Farley - Fat Man in a Little Coat. I know the pic is small - I can send a bigger one if you'd like - let me know.

I Hate Not Writing in my Blog

i HATE not writing in my blog. It's been a LOT of days so far. i apologize.

i realized today that i'm not always happy . . . i'm content, and i'm joyful, but happy happens less often for me . . . and i'm not entirely sure why as i have nothing not to be happy about.

Ecstatic even.

Enter Shane & Shane.

Great two guys with a great album with a great song called "The Answer"

They Say:

My Happiness
Is found in less of me
And more of You

i have found the answer is
to love You and be loved by You alone
alright! alright! alright!
You crucify me and the world to me
and i will only boast in You
alright! alright! alright!

i realize that i've got a lot of de-worlding to do: in my relationship with Christ, and my relationship with others. If i would just love him, and be loved by Him.

The other thing i've finally figured out is that i have to praise God for the burden that He's currently decided to give me . . . a burden i've been carting around, under strained back, for years. Yes, praise Him. He's said that He won't give me anything i can't bear, which BY DEFINITION means that He KNOWS i can handle this one . . .

All this time i've been praying that He take it away.

i NEED to pray praise as I work through it.

And Grace.

Amen.

Sex and Cars

i have nothing of interest tonight. i'm sitting at home, waiting for the tropically depressed Frances to come visit. i guess i'll put the kettle on.

Granted, while i'm sitting here, with TV on, but giving my undivided attention to you of course, i'm realizing how much of television is about sex . . . holy smokes . . . commercials, like 4 in a row, desperate housewives (that's a show now!), an ABC primetime special about a teacher in Florida - that's all i'll say.

And then we wonder what in the world is going on in the world.

One of my sociology classes at university posed an interesting question: is content on television, for example, determined by what executives decide to show, or what society demands? i run that question through my head a lot - i'm also a psychology major, so i think about what YOU would say to that question - not in an analyzing kind of way, but a . . . . OK, so it's an analyzing kind of way. We have to take responsibility for what we ask for, what we watch, what we want, etc, etc, but what responsibility does a television station have? We have all the tools to pick what comes into our homes, on our television, our computers, our books (mostly v-chips and will-power).

It seems like there's a push to make television more "clean" - thank you Justin and Janet. i'm torn about what to feel about that. The easiest thing for me to say is "YES TAKE IT AWAY." There's no pressure then. If no one builds it . . .

However, i'm also a little more liberal than the next, thank you Dominion of Canada. i think things like how it seems public displays of religion are, at best, frowned upon. i would like to have an opportunity to spread that message en masse, thinking that if one doesn't want to hear it, one will turn it off. It's one's own decision what one really wants to hear, correct?

So, why is it OK for someone else, and not me? i've got the freakin' creator of the universe to help me avoid the temptation.

One more thought on the whole thing . . . think of a car. We can do 3 real kinds of work on a car. We can:

1. Fix broken things (a la my friend Harvey)
2. Preventative Maintenance - to keep things from going wrong
3. Improving on what you've got - e.g. suping up

When it comes to our own sprituality, we're always doing one of these things . . . we're always trying to get our sins forgiven, doing something to prevent messing up again, or adding on and buidling and getting closer to God. The more time we spend stuck in 1 and 2, the less time we have for 3. i know that i'm usually stuck between 1 and 2. i want to add a new air filter, some high-perf spark plugs, and maybe even a super charger . . . but I seem to spend too much time checking my tire pressure, patching up rusty spots, and trying to fix my alternator (sorry Harvey! It works great in my analogy though!).

Thanks for listening guys. Sorry it's so long. Keep praying. I hope the title wasn't too offensive . . . but I do hope it convinced you to read the whole thing!

Grace.

Things that make ME go hmmmm?

i DID INDEED own the C & C Music Factory CASETTE with "Things that make you go hmmmm" on it, and now your opinion of me has begun to drop. i'm OK with that. Many of you would know, that my morning ritual involves sitting on my futon, ingesting, injecting, ineverything coffee into my bloodstream, and watching NBC's Today show.

So this morning, i'm sitting back and listening to Katie Couric interview a police officer who, i THINK, was from Wisconsin. Meanwhile, on the screen they were replaying video shot from his car, a la COPS. In said video, a driver with his door open was obviously preoccupied with something eventually drops something out of his door and speeds away. Now, admittedly he did slow down, and was probalby only going about 20 mph or so at the time, but get this: the guy put his fiancées baby, strapped into its carseat in the middle of the interstate.

i took another sip of coffee.

DID YOU GET THAT? HOLY SMOKES!

i took another sip of coffee. i didn't cry, or scream, or yell with horror at the possibilities . . . i took another sip of coffee. i did the same thing when i heard about a bombing in Iraq, about flooding in Florida, about every possible human suffering. If i were involved, i'd be the first in hysterics, but i obviously don't care about the fate of anyone apart from myself.

Shouldn't that be motivation for me to want to do something . . . why am i so indifferent? Should i not sit there and change my morning routine to pray for these people . . . do a little bit to give 'em Jesus?

Anywho, i have to leave work - it's too warm here. And there's a pot of coffee waiting for me at home.

Yielding vs. Merging

So, i'm driving to Marion, NC. Yes, it is a real place, albeit small. The route takes me along Interstate 40. What i notice is that there is no observed difference between yielding and merging. Theoretically yes, all of us drivers and individuals with IQ's above 'Legally Alive' understand that there SHOULD be a difference in how one behaves in both of those circumstances . . . however, it seems like no one i've ever observed (read: no one that i've been annoyed with at a merge/yield whilst driving along a busy highway) really seems to get it.

Which is annoying to me. For example, if i'm trying to get off of a highway along side someone who is trying to get on the highway, i'm going to be looking at what they're SUPPOSED to be doing, to determine what I should do. If they have a merge, i'll probably pull in behind them, if they have a yield, i know that i'm supposed to go ahead of them. Most of the time, they don't even know that i'm frustrated with them . . . i just fume in my soccer-mom van as i speed up the ramp.

Now it's never caused me a wreck. Nothing more than frustration really.

Then i think about how people look at me when i don't tithe, or pray, or speak, or act like i'm SUPPOSED to act. Or, how I feel when I see other people. These are all things that i'm SUPPOSED to do, and when i don't, i'm sure they frustrate the tar our of some people. Let's not even talk about Jesus.

(Aside: being in North Carolina, i really need to understand what a tar-heel is . . . not the teams, but an actual tar-heel, from whence the name is taken. If anyone can explain that, that'd be great.)

So, those are my thoughts for today. Or at least one of them.

Grace.

How Travelocity Saved Christmas

One of the double-edge swords of living away from home is that you live away from home. Couple that with living on a seldom-travelled-to island and you've got a situation where you either have to buy an expensive plane ticket, or drive and buy an expensive boat ticket.

Luckily today i get an email from travelocity (my online web-travel-agency of choice) which says i can get home for like 40% less than normal. So Christmas in Newfoundland, here i come, via Newark, NJ.

Yesterday i was in Atlanta in a meeting about Praise and Worship and the Salvation Army. It was good, and generally productive.

Sometime, my thoughts are disjunct.

So as i sit here and think about home, and what that means, and how many homes one person can have, and as i drink my Tim Hortons Coffee (which has, by now, reached room temperature), i am forced to believe that life is good - even for the "momentarily poor by matrimonial preparations" like myself.

Perhaps this will all make more sense tomorrow.

It Starts with Seeing

Matt Redman has a new CD. There's a great song called Seeing You.

Check this lyrical excerpt:

No one can sing of things they have not seen
Lord, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse.

The glory of You
The glory of You
Lord, Open our eyes towards a greater glimpse

Worship starts with seeing You
Worship starts with seeing You
Our hearts hearts respond to Your revelation

Nope. NO ONE can sing of things they have not seen. i hope i see Him more this week so i can sing even more about HIM!

Grace!

Thoughts on Seedless Grapes

So, i'm trying a new look. i like it. Pretty good? Let me know what you think.

Now, on to the real meat . . . or fruit . . . of this post. i'm sitting here eating from a bag of red seedless grapes; argueably, one of the best foods in God's wonderful creation . . .

Wait a minute . . . red seedless grapes aren't God's creation . . . they're altered. They're genetically different from what God intended. If God didn't want our grapes to have seeds, he wouldn't have wanted us to have grapes; am i right?

But we didn't like having to do all the work of taking that little seed out of out mouth . . . or getting rid of it before we ate the delicious outards (opposite of innards).

And we don't like having to do all the stuff that goes along with being a Christian either. Problem is: without seeds, nothing new grows. Seedless grapes will not beget seedless grapes. Seedless Christians will not beget anything. At all.

To leave you with something yet even more deep, a quote from Paris Hilton on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: "Discover your inner heiress."

Sounds funny . . . coming from Paris, about her new book, on a silly pulblicity interview . . . but, now that I think about it we've all got a chance to inherit something.

Grace!

Purity (not the crackers, jam-jams, and syrup but the spiritual concept)

Good Day. That will serve as me telling you hello AND that i had a good day.

i keep getting challenged, which makes me happy. i also feel like i've gotten in on the ground floor of something bigger than i can really suspect. God is stirring some stuff up. It's very exciting. In the meantime, i'm trying to stay . . . well, i'm trying to stay pure so that God can really use me . . . there's a lot of pollution. Which is why i've been working on a new arrangement of this:

Lord Jesus I long to be perfectly whole
I want thee for ever to live in my soul
BREAK DOWN EVERY IDOL, CAST OUT EVERY FOE
Now wash me and I will be whiter than snow

So anyway . . . now that i've been a little deep while remaining cryptic . . . . it's very late and i've not long ago had breakfast. i LOVE making breakfast. Kristy and i had bacon and eggs and hash browns (with real WHITE VINEGAR - one of the things i miss from home . . . the abundance of white vinegar), and an amazing cup of coffee.

The joy of having a great new apartment and a great new fiancée.

Sarah is also back from Newfoundland. She has new pictures on her blog. i want to go to signal hill right now. Miss it. October i guess/hope.

Grace all. it's late and i must sleep.

Being More than a Well-Wisher

i hate computers - and i'm not too fond of the internet either.

But i love Jesus. I guess that balances out the universe.
Had a very cool day. Participated in a prayer walk around the neighbourhood where the corps is. ALL WE DID was GO OUTSIDE THE CHURCH. We were talking to people, praying with people. And God worked. Imagine that. We made ourselves physically available to God . . . He did some work.

So often we think that something like this is all about bringing more people to church . . . as if church is the best place for them to be.

Stupid humans. Just go outside. Tell people you care about them. Don't be like Moe the bartender:

"I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."

LOVE PEOPLE.

Throughts on my Foreign-ness OR Incomprehensible Immigration

i feel like a stranger sometimes. Probably has something to do with the fact that i'm stranger than most other people. i'm thousands of miles from home, heavily involved within a sub-culture that is . . . distinct, we'll say - lost in a world all to ourselves. i don't understand the inner workings of US society. Republicans and Democrats confuse me. flags are much more important here than they've ever been to me in the past. Literal flags, i mean . . . i understand their intrinsic value. Realistically, i am less than two years old in my understanding.

i know what you're thinking . . . and yes i AM an advanced two-year old.

If you've never been in a similar situation, i probably sound like a complete moron . . . which is what i meant by the very first line of this post. i feel like a stranger.

i'm still pretty fired up about wanting to change the world. what i'm finding is that i'm:

1. not in touch with the people that need to be changed
2. wading through the mediocrity of the church (holistic reference here) that had a vision at one point in its life
3. a stranger in a strange land.

Granted i usually blame someone else for efforts that i don't make. "It's the army." It's always the army. I am the army. I AM the ARMY. I AM THE FREAKIN' ARMY! Someone doesn't know Jesus, my fault. Guess who's responsible if that homeless guy on the corner (that i'm so skeptical about) goes hungry and dies? It's me. It's not my officer, my church, or the fact that some pain-in-the-butt person at my corps complains to my boss that i didn't have my uniform on this past week in church. It's me.

It's always been me and always will me me. And you.

Anyway, that's a whole lot of stuff that doesn't seem to be very comprehensible now that i re-read it. Beauty of blogging i guess. Sometimes, i don't have to make sense.

Anywho, grace to you all. Prayer needed/wanted, please and thank you .