workin'... well maybe I should call it tryin'.

So here I am at "The Meeting Place," it's this coffee shop near where misti's parents live. It's actually right across the street from the church where I got married, and the hotel room where I spent the first night of my marraige. I really am trying to work on this paper but I've been so distracted that it drives me nuts. But now I'm starting to get dialed in on this paper, and just in time... cause this place is starting to get hopping!

But I digress. So there I am writing, and sipping coffee, generally minding my own buisness as I send a reply email to Ruthid on a matter of great importance. I think to myself as I'm typing, "AHH... I'm finally starting to wake up and get a little momentum on this paper writing buisness..." That was until the pretty, brunette of a clerk walked into my field of vision. (Now, before I get ridiculed and chastised for a wandering eye, I should be fully heard out.) Yes, she was attractive. I wasn't interested in so much as her name, but I would be lying if I didn't notice she wasn't attractive... and there's not a thing wrong with that! So, at this point I'm still able to pay attention to my paper, and work with an ever increasing aptitude for writing when all of the sudden I look up from my computer screen tucked into the corner and there it is -- this young girl standing in front of me with her rear end pointed directly at my face!

Ok, I understand how ridiculous this sounds but I'm serious... it was highly distracting! Just seconds earlier i was completely fine, minding my own buisness when all of the sudden her buisness is wiggling right there in front of me and I'm forced into evasive action, shielding my eyes from noticing anything more of her than already had!

Now to her credit, I don't think she could avoid doing what she did, as she was trying to adjust the gift baskets being offered along the half wall I'm sitting behind. But it really did screw up my attention.

On a seperate note completely... I've been listening to Grits' Dichotomy B album and it's REALLY good. I'm definitely digging it!

myspace... giving aggregious anonymity the keys to our ethical future.

I spent the last 2 hours reading the seedy underbelly of one of my student's myspace links. He's a fairly normal kid without too much going on, doesn't say much... he just kinda' comes and does his thing and then leaves. I've been pretty much of the, invite him and let him make the next move to come hang with us... I wonder if I should change my approach and become a little more aggressive.
As I read his facebook, I saw his myspace link and the subsequent name (which I'm not going to mention). I don't really know what to think about it. It was actually disgusting and gross. It was the unmonitored, unadulterated mind of a 16 year old boy with no filter, no fear, no remorse, because all the evil that's said in private has to stay in private right?
What's sad is that one day he's going to realize how juvenile all this nonsense has been, and he's going to regret the words that he wrote in private, and then one day all those words he wrote in private will be made public or else they'll eat him from the inside out. They'll destroy him, rotting him from inside. I seriously doubt he's done a tenth of the things he says he's done, but these are his aspirations and it makes me wonder if his change of mood is due to a new found look into the world of heroin and pot.
Sadly, he will go on, unchallenged and anonymous -- precisely what he'll want. He'll let his twisted fantasies work themselves out in his head over and over again, alone at his computer and then one day he'll finally get bold and do something about them. My friend, on that day your sins will find you. What was hidden will become known, and all that your anonymity was used to protect will prove to destroy all the ivory towers you've built up to protect the evil that lurks at the center.
That truly saddens me.

Everything has changed...

This is the first in a series of lifestyle changes on my part -- all thanks to the beauty of truth found within the scriptures. Anyone who says that the bible is dead and that God no longer speaks has obviously not sat and meditated on the word for any great length of time! I spent wednesday afternoon in my weekly life group; appropriately titled since that's what it's really affecting -- my life! We looked over Col. 3:12-17 and Holy Lord in Heaven what a word!

Sure, is there stuff that's exciting about those verses on the outset... OH yeah! I mean, how exciting is it to hear that we are:
1. God's Chosen people HOLY and dearly LoVED! Do you get it!! If that doesn't give you chills up your spine, you AREN'T Getting it! That's not just a suggestion to live up to... this buisness of being Holy and Loved, that's not even a suggestion... IT'S A PROMISE!!! Get it!! HOLY and LOVED is a current state of affairs, in the eyes of God we are Holy and Loved, and now as a result
2. We have the HOLY and BELOVED character of GOD... not good times Charlie down at the bar drowning his crappy sales month in a couple bottles of Jack... GOD! THE ALMIGHTY! None other than the King of HEAVEN and EARTH!
3. As a result we are commanded to act according to this new character... BAM! That means we have no reason to doubt that we can love the unlovable or those who are hard for us to love becuase we are now operating under a different standard, a different character, a different set of scruples... GOD'S personal scruples!
4. And if that's too difficult He simplifies it for us... Love them. If it's how I'd act do it! I can't believe I'm about to say this but dang! WWJD!
5. We are members of Christ's Body... We don't have to go it alone! We've got the whole of scripture, the whole of church history, the whole of the people of God, SHOOT we've got the WHOLE of GOD within us, working for our Good and his great name... I liken it to the corporate attorney who comes to you at a time of crisis.
... but it's more than just superficial implications that are striking me in the sola plexis like a well placed karate chop... it's the knowledge of what could happen if I actually take this stuff seriously! People i know that don't know christ WILL be changed for knowing me. Seriously, they will be changed for knowing me and God will have proven you can in fact, love people into the kingdom. For instance, coworkers can come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because I choose to love them with all their quirks, and not reject them or even love them IN SPITE of their wierdness. Choosing to actually love someone for who they are might actually make them long for Christ -- long for a perfect love, that drives out all fear!

You know for the first time in some time, I really believe God will use my talents in miraculous ways... "gift of Gab" you may be saying to yourselves can not save the world. Very true, but the gift of wholely loving someone can, and I believe will!!!

For anyone interested here are the verses in question:

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yo
urselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.