My path

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."

-Psalm 119:105

Sometimes when you walk in darkness, you trip, you fall down, you break stuff, you hurt yourself, you hurt other people. When we are walking without the light of God's word we do the same thing. We walk blindly into major decisions, we start bad relationships, we destroy good relationships, we hurt people we love.

God gave us His word to help us through tough situations. Whether it be a major life decision or dealing with a certain issue going on in your life at the time. I've done all of the above and I'm not ashamed to say it, because I know that even though I turned from God and didn't listen to what He was trying to say, He stuck by me and never turned from me.

Free Tibet...and China!

As most people know by now with the increased coverage of the protests going on at the Olympic Torch Relay sites, there is a whole lot of controversy surrounding these upcoming Olympics. There is the issue with Tibet, Darfur, and even their own people, but that's not what I'm writing about today. I'm writing to warn the people who are protesting against China.
Protesting is a good thing, but I worry about what image is being made of Chinese people. I worry that a whole generation will grow up with a hatred or dislike of Chinese people. This is what happened with World War I and II. My grandfather is a testament to this very thing. He has a hatred for not just Japanese, but Asians in general. He even admits that he knows the current Japanese and Asian-Americans had nothing to do with World War II, but he just can't let it go.
The Chinese government and the Chinese people in general may have done some wrong things. They may have some crazy beliefs, but let's get one thing straight. They are still PEOPLE. Let's protest, but let's do so to change beliefs, not show our hatred for a group of people.

Love of my wife

I could go on and on here about how much I love my wife, but I'm pretty sure nobody (with the exception of my wife) wants to read that. I just want everyone to know how awesome it is to know when you've found someone that is just perfect for you. I obviously knew this before I married her, but I realize it more and more each day. She knows me so well, and yet for some reason still wants to be with me.

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies."

- Proverbs 31:10

Love of music

So, I just listened to some of my old music yesterday and it was one of my favorite bands of all time...Relient K. To those who don't know, I love music. I really love to pay attention to the lyrics to find out what certain songs are really about or to draw out a special meaning from various songs. The follow song that I'm about to post the lyrics to is not one of these deep songs with lots of meaning. It has very little meaning, but it's just a great song that brings back lots of memories...Cornerstone '03 (Combos in the microphone).

So this is how the story goes
I want everybody to know
We love Skittles and Combos
So bring some to our next show

From our head down to our toes
We love Skittles and Combos
So if you want to see our faces glow
Just bring some to our next show

Deny us Combos
Refuse us Skittles
I'll admit those words hurt a little
But we know it'll be okay
If you just send some our way

Brave New World

"...I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

Just an interesting quote that I read from the book Brave New World. The character who made the statement was frustrated with the people in the Utopia that he lived it. They had elimated all things painful, difficult, or challenging from society so they wouldn't have to deal with it.

Too often we complain about the difficulties in life, but we fail to see the importance of the difficulties...we just want to get rid of them. Trials and tribulations make you who you are, allow them to shape you.

Carpe Diem!

Da Bulls

Last night Kimberly and I attended our first Bulls game of the season. We only stayed for the first 5 innings (it was bitterly windy and chilly), but I later found out that we saw all of the runs scored for the game. The Bulls defeated Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (formerly Phillies) 2-0.

The Bulls don't look especially hot this season on the offensive side. They did get the job done in the 5th last night, scoring both runs and finally knocking Kei Igawa out of the game. I didn't even realize that it was Igawa pitching until we were listening on the radio after leaving the game. But other than those 2 runs it was pretty sad for them. At least 4 guys I saw for the Bulls had a sub-.200 batting avg. I understand it's early on, but one guy who's been playing the entire year had an OBP of .100!! All you have to do is at least draw a walk every 10 times to the plate to get that.

They'll get better I think, though they just lost their best player to Tampa Bay (Evan Longoria). Remember that name, he's goooooood! I don't think you could forget that name...he sounds like he would be Eva Longoria's twin brother, but no relation. Baseball season has started in Durham!

College days!

I can't believe I ever wanted to leave college, but I did. I distinctly remember being sooo tired of college and ready to get away. I was so happy on graduation day not to have to ever be there again unless I wanted to. Now, I would go back and live my college days all over again; I miss them so much. Some of the things I miss about college are:

1. Free internet, cable, and rent (that stuff's so expensive in the real world).
2. Late breakfast on Saturday mornings.
3. Sleeping in and skipping out on responsibility if I wanted to.
4. Spending hours in the cafeteria just hanging out.
5. Eating dry cereal or ice cream for supper if the food in the cafeteria was bad.
6. Buying hot dogs, chips and dip in preparation for an afternoon of college football.
7. Getting angry at bad basketball games.
8. Victoria Bryant (this is a park, not a girl for those who don't know).
9. Refilling the 67 oz. Big Gulp.
10. Van Guard and Barney.
11. Pranks.
12. Sign-stealing.
13. Dorm room rock concerts with Jace.
14. Having lots of friends together in one place.

I'm going to have to stop or else I'm going to start crying here at work...I really do miss the ol' Alma Mater.

Erosion

Oh, erosion, come and wash away my sins
Oh, erosion, I need a second start again
Oh, erosion, would you break my heart again
Oh, erosion, I'm a broken hearted man

Switchfoot - Erosion

Evil!!

If Skybus isn't an evil corporation I don't know what is? Okay maybe not evil, but I don't like them anymore. Not that it matters since they don't exist anymore. Kim and I had tickets with them to fly to Boston next month. Tickets that were only $160 total for the 2 of us. They shut down on Saturday!

Blurry vision

Fact: Half the world - nearly 3 billion people - live on less than two dollars a day. (http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp)

Fact: The top 3 presidential nominees (McCain, Obama, and Clinton) have raised a combined $445 million just in the last year and a half...for their campaigns.

When did we lose sight of what was important?

In the name of love

Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. I think sometimes people underestimate the impact of what Martin Luther King Jr. did, I think some people think that all he was doing was achieving equality for Blacks. For the most part, yes, that's what his goal was. But I think his real goal was for us to view EVERYONE the same way. Without prejudice, without respect to race, sex, or social standing, the way God views us.

Today we remember him. As U2 wrote in their famous song "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

Early Morning April 4th

Shots ring out in the Memphis sky

FREE AT LAST!

They took your life

They could not take your pride!

Happiness

"Happiness only when shared"

It's a quote from a movie that I saw last night...Into the Wild. The main character, after being burned by previous relationships, decides to abandon civilization and go live in the wilderness of Alaska alone. After a few months in Alaska he writes this in a book, realizing how lonely he really is.

True happiness really comes in our experiences with other people. I think about the times when I'm most happy. Sure, I enjoy the time to myself and the rest I get when nobody is around, but when I'm happiest is when I'm with my closest friends. God did not intend for us to go through life alone, but to share life with other people.

Babies

Contrary to popular belief I don't have a problem with babies. I know I've put off this image that I don't like babies and that I'm terrified of having a baby, but it's just not true. I probably do it to keep people from asking me when me and Kim are going to have a baby. Hopefully this Peace Corp thing will calm the questions down a little.

My real problem is that people expect me to have a baby when I haven't even begun to fully enjoy my current life yet. I've been married for almost 2 years and it's been amazing, but there's so much more. Also, I'm just getting to the age where I can go places pretty frequently, explore the country that I live in, learn new things. I just don't think that would happen if I had a little kid to take care of right now.

I know people who when they get out of college and get married, the first thing they want to do is procreate. And being that I went to a small, Christian college, this is a very popular thing to do. I just can't get past the fact that I think they are limiting their lives and potential. I'm sure they love being parents and are probably great parents, but don't think it would have been more fun to enjoy life for at least a couple of years first?

Benjamin Franklin

So I've discovered the problem with me deciding on what I want to do with my life...I have an interest in too many things. Actually what the problem is, I have a little interest/knowledge of many different things, instead of a lot of interest/knowledge in a few things.

Benjamin Franklin was an author, printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. So why can't you do this now? I would love to be a statistician, architect, historian, and scientist. Unfortunately, I only have a little bit of information about each of these things, but combine them together and you have a whole lot of information.