Merry Christmas!

Psssst!
Merry Christmas!

In celebration of a year without a new post

I thought I'd throw one out there and see if anyone responds.

Prayer Request

As a general rule, I am not prone to making prayer for complete strangers and drastic world events a high priority. As the number of natural disasters and weather related fatalities has piled up over the past few months, I have been more convicted by that failing. As Christians, I believe we are called to have compassion for all people, and getting desensitized by modern media does not excuse us from this. If you have a minute (and you clearly do, or you wouldn't be browsing the blog) bow your head and pray for the families suffering in the aftermath of the Myanmar cyclone, the earthquake in South China, and closer to home, the victims of the recent storms and tornadoes in our own backyard. God does not need to hear our prayer to care for those who are suffering, but perhaps we need to do the praying in order to do the same.

Philippians 1:1-11

Here are a few first thoughts about Philippians 1 before we talk about it tonight. If you read this before we meet, hopefully you can begin to raise your own questions and discover your own insights into Paul's letter that you can then share with us.

First off, a link to the text.

Philippians begins, as do most of Paul's letters, with his offering "grace and peace...from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" to his intended readers. Let's remember that Paul was in prison as he wrote this, yet he offers grace and peace from God. Paul is not the giver of grace and peace, but rather a fellow recipient, and that impresses me. When my outward circumstances are less than favorable I am not filled with "grace and peace", but Paul is even while in prison. Is peace really on offer to us full time, no matter what is going on in our lives?

Paul goes on to express his love and care for the Philippians and to pray for them, that their "love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that [they] may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."
What a wonderful idea--that love may abound in knowledge and depth of insight. Wendy and I have been watching a lot of House lately. House is a wonderful show, but one of its primary tenants is that people lie pretty much all the time for their own self-serving ends. House is profoundly aware of this, much moreso than anyone else on the hospital's staff, and as a result, it seems, he is miserable and drives anyone who would seek to care for him away.
Cameron, on the other hand, tends to believe the best of people, and time and time again she is disappointed and House proved correct in his fundamental assumptions about human nature. Cameron is likable, but naive, while House is wise but tortured. Furthermore, this concept is borne out by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:18: "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief."
Paul's take, however, runs contrary to this. He asserts that love may abound in knowledge and depth of insight. Who's wrong?
I'm going to start from them premise that House can't possibly be wrong if something is in the Bible then it's true, and that if two Biblical statements seem contradictory, they only appear so, and both, in reality, express the truth. In the beginning of Ecclesiastes, the author writes, "I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven." I think the key is in this phrase: "under heaven". As long as Solomon studies man and man's behavior, the more he learns, the more he suffers. House is the great student of man. Of course, saying that, another fictional student of man comes to mind--Sherlock Holmes. Holmes, though, was addicted to opium, whereas House is addicted to Vicodin, which is a derivative of opium. Hmmm. Could it be that studying man will drive one to despair?

It doesn't seem that Paul, then, is encouraging the Philippians to study or grow wise in the ways of man, but rather to study and grow wise in the ways of God. What does that kind of wisdom offer? The ability "to discern what is best and...be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ." That's pretty huge, eh? I wonder if my life would be any better if I had the ability to consistently discern what was best? (Yeah, that's rhetorical.) How about the fruit of righteousness? I suspect that's something that would be good to have in my life as well. But if it would be good for me, think how it would be for you, for my coworkers and students, for my wife! If my life was filled with the fruit of righteousness, would that not do more to bring glory and praise to God and draw others to him than anything else I could possibly do? Can my cleverest argument compete with fruit of righteousness and abounding love? I don't think so.

May our prayer for ourselves and one another be the same as Paul's for the Philippians.

Self Serving Tribble

Star Trek themed eighties band?

Anyhoo, I have begun occasionally posting vaguely bible-centered blog posts from time to time. Rather than force anyone who is not interested to read the post, I'll just throw a link up here.

Oh, and I vote for Ephesians for this week if no one has any preference, and if our fearless leader hasn't already prepped another book.

Genesis 50

I figured since I'd already typed them up, I might as well post my notes on Genesis 50. I tried to clean up any typos, but if any are left, please be merciful.


The first fourteen verses of Genesis 50 don't strike me much. Israel dies, Joseph has him embalmed and takes him back to the cave near Mamre in Canaan where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are buried. The embalming seems out of keeping with Judiasm, but given the length of the trip, it's probably the only plausible way to do it with a corpse.

Things get more interesting around verse 15, where we see that Joseph's brothers are nervous that maybe now that Dad's gone Joseph is finally going to exact his revenge. So they send him a message that is purportedly from their father that he should forgive them. There's no indication that this is true, but neither that it's a lie. What we're told is that when Joseph gets it, he weeps. His brothers come and prostrate themselves before him; "We are your slaves," they say to him. His response is lovely:

Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.

Before I get to that response, though, it's worth asking why Joseph weeps. I suppose it's because he realizes that, after all the kindness he's shown his brothers, after all the ways he has disclosed his character to them, they still know him no better than to expect retribution from him. This is a sad fact about sin--it breaks relationships. Even though Joseph has forgiven his brothers, their guilty consciences still prevent them from being fully reconciled to the brother they wronged so terribly.

To get back to it, though, Joseph has the attitude that I don't even know I'm good enough to wish I possessed. First off, he recognizes that God alone meets out justice, and it isn't Joseph's place to go seeking it. Furthermore, nothing in what he either says or does indicates that he desires revenge upon his brothers. Rather, he goes beyond mercy to absolute generosity toward the men who sold him into slavery. There is, of course, also the point that Joseph, in this case, is able to see a larger picture of God's plan than many of us are fortunate to glimpse. He sees how his own suffering brought about the salvation of many (gee, foreshadowing much?) and he sees that this plan was good. I pray that I can cling to that wisdom--the wisdom that God's plan is ultimately very, very good--when I'm in the midst of my own struggles.

When Joseph was getting ready to die, he was sure that God would take his brothers to the land He promised to Abraham, and he insisted that when they went, they take his bones with them. So he died, was embalmed, and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Let's note that he was "placed in a coffin" and not "placed in a tomb. His body wasn't interred, it was...well, stuck in a box, and judging by his station, I'd wager a pretty ostentatious box. One commentator points out here that Joesph's coffin must have stood as a monument--a reminder--to God's promise to give the land of Canaan to His people. In fact, we learn in Exodus 13:19 that when the Israelites left Egypt they took Joseph's bones with them. Additionally, in Joshua 24:32 we read: "And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants."

It's worth noting that when the Godly man Joseph comes and Egypt submits to him, the entire nation is saved from the famine. But when another Godly man comes--Moses--and God's words are rejected, the entire nation is nearly destroyed.

---

Wendy and I will be talking about what to read next in the coming days. I'll be sure to send out an email when we've made a decision. Ashely has suggested a non-gospel New Testament book. I'm open to that--most especially the New Testament part. Feel free to post any other suggestions in the comments.

Online package tracking

Bible reading for next week

For next week, January 22nd, take a look at Genesis 28:10-22. Then go back and reread the Tower of Babel narrative found in Genesis 11:1-9.

Also, if you look to the right at the top of the 'links' section, you'll see a link to subscribe to this blog. Feel free to do so.

Dinosaurs/Homelessness

Haven't we had this conversation before?

so, who reads this anyway...

yeah yeah yeah.

anyway, i found this by Josephus and thought that it might add a little insight from this past week.

if it doesn't, oh well.

Now, about this time the Sodomites, overwhelmingly proud of their numbers and the extent of their wealth, showed themselves insolent to men and impious to the divinity, insomuch that they no more remembered the benefits that they had received from him, hated foreigners and avoided any contact with others. Indignant at this conduct, God accordingly resolved to chastise them for their arrogance, and not only to uproot their city, but to blast their land so completely that it should yield neither plant nor fruit whatsoever from that time forward.

—Jewish Antiquities 1:194-195

And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites...when the Sodomites beheld the young men, who were outstanding in beauty of appearance and who had been received into Lots’s house, they set about to do violence and outrage to their youthful beauty....Therefore, God, indignant at their bold acts, struck them with blindness, so that they were unable to find the entrance into the house, and condemned the Sodomites to destruction of the whole population.

—Jewish Antiquities 1:199-202

Productivity blogs

Ever since I more or less gave up instant messaging, my biggest waste of online time has been productivity software and productivity blogs. Yesterday I pointed you to some good software, and today I have some blogs for you. Hopefully, the benefit you get from them will outweigh the time you spend reading them. Be sure to check out the last link to "The Top 50 Productivity Blogs".

Zen Habits- Though it has "Zen" in the title, this blog should not interfere with your Christian faith at all. It should help you get more done, stay organized, and maybe even drop a few pounds. I like it.

Unclutterer- "Unclutterer is the blog about getting and staying organized. A place for everything, and everything in its place is our gospel." This quote comes from Unclutterer.com. Personally, I think our gospel is superior, what with the eternal life and stuff...

Life Hacker- "Tips and downloads for getting things done."

These are three of my favorites, but to find your own, I suggest you visit Zen Habits' "The Top 50 Productivity Blogs".

Online tools for getting things done

D*I*Y Planner- Printable templates for planning. Includes useful things like blank calendars, project planning forms and to-do lists.

Airset- A disgustingly customizable online calendar. The absolute best tool I've found for the ability to look at my life in different contexts such as school, church, and Lunch Money. It also manages contacts, to-do lists and other facets of organization, but the calendar is what really shines. That said, if you'd like something something a little simpler, you can't go wrong with Google Calendar.

Backpackit- Coolest online note and to-do list manager I've found. Super intuitive. For projects where you need to collaborate Basecamp, which is produced by the same company, is incredibly useful.

Jott- So dang cool. You call Jott's number, tell it who to message (frequently yourself) and Jott transcribes your message and sends an email containing the text of your message to the recipient along with a link to an mp3 of the message. How amazing is that? Great for leaving yourself notes while you're in the car.

Just remember, all these tools do not substitute for actual work. Believe me, I know.
Tomorrow: productivity blogs that I enjoy.

Water

[from http://ririanproject.com. I posted this on my blog, but after tonight's discussion, thought it might be appropriate here as a quick reference as well.]

I know you’ve heard this many times - “Drink more water!”. Yet, 99% of the people don’t heed this advice. Maybe if water was more expensive, people would pay more attention to consume enough of it on a daily basis. We are living in a dehydrated world of carbonated beverages, caffeine and alcohol.

I bet you don’t know how important is water for your health, figure and well-being. But drinking water is not just a trend, it’s essential! Everything your body does it does better with a healthy supply of water, every system in your body depends on water.

So here are 10 reasons why drinking water is good for you and why you should make drinking water part of your daily routine:

1. Get Healthy Skin

Nothing will improve the appearance of your skin better than consuming enough water. It’s a pity women spend so much money on skin products, while neglecting the cheapest and most effective one - water. Water is the single most important element for cellular integrity. Drinking water moisturizes your skin from the inside out. Water is also essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness. The real fountain of youth can be found in a glass of water.

2. Flush Toxins

Water helps remove toxins from the body, in particular from the digestive tract. Our kidney system is unique in its filtering capabilities and totally dependent upon water in order for it to work. Daily fluid intake is essential to its efficient operation, particularly because there is some decrease in function with age. Water helps get rid of excess nitrogen, urea, and ketones, so it is particularly important when following a high protein diet. You need even more water to help your kidneys do their work if you’re eating big to gain weight.

3. Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Attack

Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

4. Cushion And Lube Your Joints And Muscles

Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. And although not the only element associated with muscle cramps, athletes have long recognized that even mild dehydration can produce cramps. So drinking water before, during and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, adequate fluid replacement helps to maintain hydration therefore optimizing and enhancing performance of those participating in regular exercise. They suggest flavored waters to promote hydration and to increase palatability. Products such as Gatorade’s Propel Fitness Water are, therefore, terrific substitutes for plain water to increase fluid intake and meet the optimum consumption of water per day, thus enhancing performance and lessening the possibility of dehydration.

5. Get Energized And Be Alert

On average, most adults lose about 10 cups of fluid a day through sweating, exhaling, urinating, and bowel movements. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, headaches, irritability and fatigue.

Water is also essential for proper circulation in the body. The levels of oxygen in the bloodstream are greater when the body is well hydrated. The more oxygen the body has readily available the more fat it will burn for energy without the presence of oxygen the body cannot utilize stored fat for energy efficiently. Not only will the body burn more fat when well hydrated but because there are increased oxygen levels you will also have more energy.

Drinking more water everyday will help your think more clearly. Research has repeatedly shown that staying hydrated is necessary for the human brain, which is 85 percent water, to function at optimal levels. That is why many school systems throughout the country now encourage students to keep a bottle of water at their desks and to drink it throughout the day.

6. Stay Regular

Water helps prevent constipation by adding fluid to the colon and bulk to stools. Something as simple as fluid plays a major role in preventing constipation. Not only does the liquid encourage bowel movement, but it also softens the stools.

Water is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions. The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream. But no less important is the ability of water to transport waste material out of our bodies.

7. Reduce Your Risk Of Disease And Infection

Consistent failure to drink enough water can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration. This condition where the body’s cell are never quite hydrated enough leave them in a weakened state, vulnerable to attack from disease. It weakens the body’s overall immune system and leads to chemical, nutritional and pH imbalances that can cause a host of diseases.

When you don’t have enough water in your body, your cells start to draw water from the bloodstream. Your heart has to work harder because your blood gets sludgy, and your body starts to redirect blood away from less vital areas. Dehydration can set in even before you start to feel thirsty. This is a great strain on the body because it impairs the kidneys in their vital function of purifying the blood and helping the body get rid of toxins.

Also Michaud and coworkers found that the incidence of cancer in the urinary bladder was reduced significantly by a high fluid intake in a ten-year study involving nearly 48,000 men. The top 20% of subjects who participated in the study drank 2500 ml per day or more, while the bottom 20% drank 1200 ml or less. The authors concluded that within this range, the risk of bladder cancer decreased by 7% for every 240 ml of fluid added.

8. Regulate Your Body Temperature

Water regulates the body’s cooling system. Sports drinks are useful when consumed after or during vigorous and prolonged exercise in high heat. But most experts agree that water works better than carbohydrates or sugared beverages for moderate exercise. For instance, if you drink 12 ounces of plain water, your body will absorb 8 ounces of it within 15 minutes. If you drink 12 ounces of a 10% sugar solution, less than 1 ounce will be absorbed in the same period. The typical soft drink is a 10 to 12% sugar solution.

Water is the nutrient your body needs the most. Between 55 and 75 percent of adult body weight is water, and it is critical in regulating all body organs and temperature.

9. Burn More Fat And Build More Muscle

It has been shown that dehydration decreases protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is what builds muscle. It is an energy costly process. When you suppress protein synthesis, fewer calories end up building proteins and more calories end up in your fat stores. It’s elementary: calories have two possible fates - they either get burned, or they get stored. When more of the calories you eat get burned, less will get stored.

Increased water consumption can help you control weight by preventing you from confusing hunger with thirst. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the energy (and hydration) necessary for exercise.

10. Get Well

The traditional prescription to ‛drink plenty of fluids‛ when you’re sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus. Water plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

Water is the substance of life. Life can not exist without water. We must constantly be adding fresh water to our body in order to keep it properly hydrated. Water can be a miracle cure for many common ailments such as headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and much more.

Be sure to drink even more fluid whenever you increase your physical activity, when eating a high fiber diet, during hot weather, at high altitudes, in low humidity locations, and when you’re sick, especially if you have a fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. The best way to figure out if you’re drinking enough water is to look at your urine. It should be a very light shade of yellow. Drink up if it’s darker. Let your thirst guide you, also. You might not need eight glasses to feel hydrated on a mild day. You could crave nine or 10 if it’s hot or you’re exercising. Bottom line? Your body is 70 percent water and needs it for digestion, healthy skin, blood circulation, temperature control and lots of other reasons.

Getting Things Done: Week 2 Redux

Getting Things Done: Week 2- Purpose and overview of the system of Getting Things Done

Purpose: Life, one may imagine, used to be simpler. In the past, one's activities were dictated to a large degree by time and location. If you had work to do, it was probably on the farm or in the factory and it had to be done either during daylight or else during your shift. Very few of us now, however, have jobs that fit so neatly into a 9 to 5 model where we can leave our labor behind at the end of the day. Rather, we have projects and obligations which could absorb our attention indefinitely without ever coming to a state of perfection. One thing this means is that we have a lot on our minds. Not just work, mind you, but all our obligations. In GTD, David Allen describes work as "anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is." This is a useful definition, in that it reminds us that if we're hungry, we're going to have to do work to change that. If we're not as close as we'd like to be with our friends or family, we're going to have to do work. Anything we want to change is going to require some degree of work. But as our lives become more complicated, with more and more demands being placed upon us, how do we keep up?
Getting Things Done is based on two objectives:

1. Capture everything that you need to get done in a “trusted system” outside of your head.

2. Create “next actions” for every single input in your life.

The reason we must capture everything in a "trusted system" is in order to keep us from having to think about it. Allen uses the metaphor of RAM in a computer. The more programs you have running, the more RAM is used up in order to keep everything functioning. We all also know the other thing that happens when you have too many programs running--the computer begins to function very slowly and things may ultimately start to crash. In the same way, if we allow our minds to become filled with ideas and obligations, our minds will cease to function as quickly and efficiently as we'd like them to. If you're busy remembering the four errands you have to run today, your attention cannot truly be focused on the task at hand or the person sitting right in front of you.
The "trusted system" described by Allen in GTD allows you to accept input (whether that's phone calls, emails, conversations, grocery lists, or whatever) without wasting brain power on those things. They go into the system where you know they're safely recorded and so you can forget about them and be fully present in whatever you're doing.

The reason for creating "next actions" is, quite simply" to make sure that if we're going to do something we actually know what it is that we have to do. It's amazing how much easier it is to complete a task when you know what it is. You might consider the example of planning a friend's surprise party. "Plan surprise party" is not an action, it's a project, or series of interrelated actions. Where on earth would you begin? Well, for this example, writing down a list of people to invite might be the "next action" for the party, or contacting your friend to find out what nights he or she is free. It's worth noting that next actions are always physical actions. Simply thinking about something is not a next action, but writing down a list of ideas is.

Overview: The system outlined in Getting Things Done will teach us how to get the many things cluttering our minds out of our heads and into a system where we can feel confident that the most important things all get done. This will leave us free to devote our full attention and effort to the things in our lives that really matter.

I'm going to put the homework and a few notes on tonight's discussion in the comments section to keep everything nice and orderly, so be sure to check them out.

Getting Things Done: Week 1 homework

1. Download and print a copy of the seven aspects of life along with the visual representation of how balanced your life is. (Download Word Doc | Adobe PDF)
2. Follow the instructions on the sheets.
   
3. Choose the area or areas that most need improvement and write down two to four actions you can take to improve that area of your life.
   
4. Come to house church and revel in the accountability.
   

Getting Things Done: Week 1 redux

Introduction

After about two years of uninterrupted Bible study, Pendleton’s End is embarking on an exploration of a book about time management and personal organization—Getting Things Done by David Allen. When the idea of studying a time management book in house church first occurred to me, I was almost giddy with excitement. Every week, it seems, we ask one another to pray that we will accomplish the many tasks we have to do, all the while lamenting that our prayer and devotional lives are pitifully weak. A study, a course with accountability, that would lead us to better manage our lives seemed a way to (somewhat ironically) give us the opportunity to turn our focus from ourselves to God and to doing His work in the world. As the time to begin the study drew nearer, however, I began to be apprehensive about it. I feared that by seeking to improve our lives by reference to a text other than the Bible (especially one whose author is frequently referred to as a ‘guru’) we risked idolatry or, at the least, that we were pursuing a worldly goal rather than a Godly one.

As I discussed all this with Wendy, she guided me back to the Word to seek instruction. What I found was that living as a Christian in the world requires balance between what I will call ‘worldliness’ and ‘flakiness’.

Worldliness needs little explanation. I’ll define it simply as putting one’s own fleshly desires above one’s devotion to God. It is a sin of which all Christians are guilty to a greater or lesser degree, but should not be confused, I think, with affection for or enjoyment of things in the world, so long as those affections stand in the right relationship to one’s love of and devotion to God.

Flakiness is less common and far less often discussed, but it’s a character flaw with which I think most of us are familiar. I think we all know someone who’s done something incredibly stupid because they felt (or said they felt) God leading them to do it. Now, it is certainly possible for God to lead someone to do something that appears foolish or even evil in the sight of men (see Noah and Abraham) but too often the actions the flaky person takes are prima facie not God’s will because they violate His commands. More often, however, the flake will, in following what they believe to be God’s will, harm others through neglect of responsibilities, duties or friendships. They believe they are behaving nobly by ignoring the world in pursuit of the spirit.

As Christians, we are called to be in the world, though not of it (John 17:14-15). It would be foolish to deny the physical reality of the creation, but more foolish still to worship it. As we are creations in tension between the spirit and the body, the infinite and the finite, we must find a balance—sustaining our physical selves and doing God’s work in this world while looking forward to the next. Our first week’s lesson concerns finding just that balance.

The seven aspects of life

These seven aspects of life are borrowed from Zig Ziglar. They are, as any such division of a subject as complex as human life is bound to be, both incomplete and overlapping. They provide, however, a starting point from which to assess myself and the way I’m living my life.

• Mental
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Financial
• Personal
• Career
• Family

The first question I asked myself with relation to these aspects of my life is whether or not each one was worthy of pursuit and, if so, how diligent a pursuit? Consider the following passages from scripture:

Mental

• "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold." (Proverbs 3:13)
• "Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." (Proverbs 4:6-7)
• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
  
  
• "…the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." (Corinthians 1:25)

Physical

• But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:10-11)
  
  
• Or don`t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
• Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. (3 John 2)

Personal

• A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. (Proverbs 17:17)
• A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)
• As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
  
  
• Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. (John 15:13-14)

Career

• Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son. (Proverbs 10:4-5)
  
  
• Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. (Exodus 34:21)

Family

• "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;” (Matthew10:37)
  
  
• Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. (Malachi 2:13-14)
• Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)

Financial

• "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:25-26)
  
  
• In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. (Proverbs 21:20)
• The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)
• If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)

Spiritual

• "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;" (Romans 8:5-6)
• "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23)
• If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. (James 2:16-17)

I believe these selections from scripture illustrate that God desires for us to pursue excellence in each of these areas of our lives while, and this is important, submitting them all to Him. It is in that spirit, then, of pursuing a life that glorifies God by its excellence that I look forward to studying together.

Some summer thoughts

I'm trying to get some things straight before leaving to join Wendy in France. In that vein, here are a few ideas we're considering for next semester:

1) Do a series based around the book Getting Things Done by David Allen.
This is for a few reasons:
a) Several of our members are starting new jobs that will likely require them to manage their time well.
b) We seem to pray for time management every week.
c) By managing our time, we will make time for God and, let's face it, that's what we really need.

As Wendy has pointed out, most of us, if not all of us, know things to do to manage our time well. This series, though, would offer us accountability--a chance to check in with others going through the same thing. I'm hoping that Alison, Art and Michele will also be able to benefit from this and interact with us through the blog or email. Lastly, and most importantly, this is a spiritual exercise. Paul writes to Timothy that, "...God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Note that these three qualities are spoken of in one breath as being opposed to timidity. If we are not masters of our own lives, how can we work boldly for God's kingdom? We know that self-discipline is a fruit of the Spirit and as such comes from God. I hope we can work together to encourage one another to be good stewards of the time God has granted to each of us.

2. Start earlier.
From now on, I won't be the only one who has to get up to go to work in the morning. To that end, I think it's a good time to start meeting earlier. It would be great if you'd post comments regarding your preferred meeting-time. (Remember, it's not a bad idea to leave time to get some dinner.)

Actually, despite the fact that we are a Shack ministry, those are the only two new things we're currently considering. Let us know what you think!

God at His computer

Blog problems

Hey guys,

The switch over from Old Blogger to New (Craptacular) Blogger has wreaked havoc with our little forum. I'm sorry if you're not able to post or comment. Actually, I'm not able to comment either, and I'm completely unable to moderate the blog, so basically, things are bad on the blog front. Maybe we'll find ourselves a new blog, a happier blog, a blogtastic blog. In the meantime, hope all's well.

Dispelling any Myths (per Last Night)

Jesus Is God
Don't Eat the Pooh
Sex Is Good
The Earth Is Round
Climate Change Is Real (created by Al Gore?)