love the V-Twin

waxing nostalgic... what can I say about this lovely. I miss her. :)

Do not worry

Matthew 6:25-34

"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? 26 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? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Walking the Walk

While looking for encouragement and examples of courage, I ran across a little bit of wisdom is Philippians as well. Basically, what really hit me the most about it was the idea of what it means to "walk the walk". What does it mean to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel ?

Philippians 1:27-29
(27) Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel
(28) without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God.
(29) For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,

To get a little more insight into this, I suppose looking at some examples of what the Gospels say about conduct would be a good starter. In Galations 5, I found a pretty concise summary of this idea. In one word, it can all be summed up as Love.

Galatians 5:13-26
(13) You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.
(14) The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
(15) If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
(16) So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
(17) For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
(18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
(19) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
(20) idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
(21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
(23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
(24) Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
(25) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
(26) Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Reading through this passage, clearly the predominate thought is that love is the foundation of it all. All the other other things can be considered manifestations of that love. One of the real dangers that the previous passage represents is the interpretation of what it means to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel

Looking at the passage in Galations, we get an idea - the trick is to not then create our own law structure around these ideas.

Still here?!

So today is day 6 of the ongoing saga. I thought I was going home today, but the doc just told me otherwise. Bummer. I was really a little surprised at how upset this whole thing gets me. I think it is the frustration of not knowing compounded by being away from my family and a little of the fear of what happened in the past.

Philippians 1:19-21
(19) for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
(20) I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
(21) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

I have spent a little time looking for verses on faith and courage and I think I like Philippians 1:19-21 a lot. I know I am not really totally qualified to claim this passage, but then, little things like qualifications has never stopped me before. :)

While the context is different, I hope that I can attain the passion outlined in v.21. To live as God would have me live, not because it is what I have to do, rather because it is my passion.

Maybe this will serve as a vehicle to help get me one step closer.

Resolving Bitterness

While hanging out here in the "Hotel Paoli" I have taken the opportunity to catch up on a few podcasts from Daybreak. The most recent one was Break Through Bitterness which talks about identifying and eliminating bitterness in your life. Forgiveness through grace being the predominate route for this difficult task. Well timed, I think. Some time ago I went through a difficult professional experience and then a month or so ago I had the chance to face one of the individuals primarily responsible for this difficulty. I found it surprisingly cathartic to shake his hand and let it go. How many more applications for this are there in my life? I think it's pretty easy to allow these things to fester under the surface and then ignore the bubbling up of the bitterness out of context. It is harder to address the issue in question directly and deal with it but far more efficacious for healing and restoring or maintaining relationships.

All that being said, one thing hit me particularly hard. John mentions the timing of this process. His summary was basically (forgive me if I don't get this exactly) When God says to forgive, He does not give a time table or add a bit about, When it is convenient, rather it is a directive to ACT. I have a few more applications for this that I am struggling to ACT on and this is pushing me to prayer in these areas.

Update on my ppc-6700

So... After my posts about the rotten experience I had with Verizon and my phone, I got a new one and I'm happy with it. Finally. Actually, I am very happy to have it right now. The 802.11 support and the office and other app integration has been a boon to me as of late. Being disconnected from my laptops, I have relied on my phone for email and web connectivity as well as office docs and so on.

Having a convergence device that holds music, photos, accesses the cell networks and 802.11 networks as well as lets me run my productivity apps is better then you might think at first. One device - manages most. Nothing optimally, but most things acceptably. I'll keep it. (for now)

Careful what you ask for

Right now, Im composing this post on my smartphone using the hospitals wireless network while I lay in my bed. It's 6 something in the morning. I was praying the other day for a renewed closeness with God. Not that I was distant or anything, I was just looking for more. Maybe this is His answer. ;)

Nothing deepens a relationship like dependence, right? I thought the days with this illness were behind me but maybe I just needed a little reminder that there is a bigger picture I'm a part of. Reference my earlier post - what's my role? For now I think, it is to be thankful for grace and strength. What a gift we have.

Wildcharge

While at work today, I finally came across an (almost) shipping version of what I have been hoping for. It's called Wildcharge and it offers true wireless power. There are a number of competing products that I've found as well indicating that the market may finally be ready! True wireless - I will buy it!

Verizon and my ppc-6700

So a while ago, I bought a new ppc-6700 from Verizon wireless to consolidate some functionality. I have my office apps, mapping software, photos, some tunes and oh yeah - a phone, all in one convenient device. Sounds good, right? I thought so. Then it happened. The screen stopped responding to input - bummer, but hey, I have the warranty through Verizon, plus the insurance plan so I'm covered. (I thought)

I went through all the troubleshooting steps in the manual and also the ones I found online, finally resetting it to factory defaults. When I took it to the Verizon tech, it took over an hour of explanation and repeating the steps to convince them to give me a replacement. Of course, none was to be had in the store but they would mail me a refurb device (I thought it was supposed to be a new one) in a week - quicker if I wanted to pay for it. No thanks, I'll wait the week.

The new device arrived! So I got it up and running and I moved all my stuff over. Then it began flaking out on me. At first, it was random - power cycling and so on. As time went on, it got worse and worse until it just shut itself completely off every time I left it alone for more than a matter of minutes. This is bad, especially when you use it for business as well as fun. Another trip to Verizon#$%@ This time, only 20 minutes to convince them it was broken since it would not stay on to troubleshoot - I suppose that's progress, right? Then I had to convince the phone rep that I did not want to buy another phone (I was eligible for an upgrade) but I wanted them to replace the phone again under warranty. Well, they are shipping a new one, we will see how it goes. I think the next phone I buy will be a mil-spec basic phone...

Got my new phone - wouldn't you know it, it failed also. Again Verizon hit me with the, why don't you just pay to upgrade line. Well, that's customer service. It took a mention of the better business bureau to get them to rethink their position. Finally I got a new phone. Let's hope I meet with more success then the last couple of times. At this point I have spent hours on the phone with Verizon and as much time in the store itself. Whatever happened to customer service? I guess it went the way of the dinos and bag phones...

The story of life

I recently read a book titled Epic, suggested by a friend of mine. The book was written by John Eldredge and was a very quick read with an interesting message. The basic idea of the book is that life is a story that God is telling and the story of creation and the universe is imprinted in every person. The essential elements of hero, struggle and redemption are being reflected in popular culture and stories.

After reflecting on the ideas for a while, I like the image that it provides me. The question of, is there something more? is answered in the story. We have to identify our part in the story and what role we play. I had another friend recently ask me what my role was in life. He had watched the movie, "The Lady in the Water" and was caught up in the idea of the story and roles we play. I think the ideas are directly related and worth working through.

What is your role?

What is mine?

The wisdom of Veggie Tales

This morning, my 3 month old daughter and I were watching Veggie Tales on television and I was reminded of the simplicity of the real message. I think we often over complicate things for one reason or another when the truth is, it is simple enough for a child to understand - probably better than most of us adults.

We came into the episode underway. There was this little creature who climbed a large mountain to get away from others who were not being nice. He encountered a wise and gentle man who turned out to be the creator. They had some dialog that built the message of love and tolerance, and ultimately, the little character asked the age old question we have probably all wondered about at one time or another. "If You created everyone, why didn't you make them all obey you all the time and be nice?".

The answer was so simple - essentially, "If I made them love me, it would not be love. Love can never be forced, it has to come of free will". Some of the elegance of the response is lost in my retelling, but you get the idea I hope.