If you were stranded on a deserted island and had a solar-powered ipod, but could only have one artist on it from the following three options, who would it be?
1. Lady Gaga
2. Charlotte Church
3. The Bieber
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
knowing when to let go
At church yesterday I sat in the back corner next to a compass guy. When the worship leader told everyone to greet the person on the right/left, I turned to him and introduced myself. As we were shaking hands, I gave the customary 1.2 second firm handshake (yes it gets very scientific…), and started to look toward the other person next to me as I proceeded to pull my hand away. Clearly, he goes by a different handshake standard (2-2.4 seconds...must've been on metric system), and did not let go. So at that point he was basically just holding my hand. As I looked back to check on my trapped hand, he let go, gave me an awkward look, and turned to the person behind him. Needless to say the rest of the service was a bit awkward.
*sigh* There should be a unified standard for handshakes so that such church-time crises can be averted.
*sigh* There should be a unified standard for handshakes so that such church-time crises can be averted.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
a life worth nothing
As I prep for Wednesday’s small group study through Acts 20, I came across something that puzzled me. In the passage, Paul meets with some Ephesian elders for the last time, before heading across the Mediterranean Sea to Jerusalem. As he speaks with them, he remarks that he doesn’t know what’s in store for him in Jerusalem, only that wherever he goes, the holy spirit has assured him that prison and hardships await. But that’s ok, because he considers his life worth nothing.
Paul was fully aware that any day could be his last and, to him, that didn’t matter at all. In Philippians 1, Paul is torn between dying and being with Christ, and living and working for Him. He realized the opportunity to stay here and serve God was good as well. I suppose this is the best way to live. He fully understood his mortality, and the value of both living and dying for Christ. When our purpose is to glorify God, we can do it both on earth, and in a more perfect way in Heaven.
Paul states pretty plainly that he values his life at nothing except for what God has tasked him to do. He is completely focused on the task at hand and nothing more. How come I can’t be as focused as that? Sadly, at this point in my life I’m most certainly not of that mindset. Regardless of how I describe my walk with God, I’m still of the mindset that I have my plans for my life, even though God has plans for my life as well. Having the stubborn personality that I do, I need to learn that God’s plan is much greater than mine.
I guess what puzzled me was that the concept I’ve always had of how to discern what God's will for me is, essentially to be faithful in prayer and wait for God to open doors and reveal His will. I’ve had this notion that if something is God’s will, that he will open doors and things will go smoothly, and yet, here Paul says that he doesn’t know the details of what lies ahead, but the only thing he knows is that things will be hard and painful every step of the way. Hard and painful. There’s no smooth sailing, there’s no “if it’s God’s will things will just work out”. He says that he doesn’t know what will happen to him, but that the only thing the Holy Spirit has assured him, is that wherever he goes he will face prison and hardships.
In my flawed mindset of what I want vs what God wants, I think my interpretation of God’s will is tainted by my own sinful desires. Paul’s mindset in Acts 20 is very clear. I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (vs. 24) And that’s why he is perfectly fine with facing the prison and hardships that the Holy Spirit assures him he will face.
**shameless plug: if you're interested, please join us tomorrow night for small group (7pm) where we will meet for dinner and go through Acts 20**
Paul was fully aware that any day could be his last and, to him, that didn’t matter at all. In Philippians 1, Paul is torn between dying and being with Christ, and living and working for Him. He realized the opportunity to stay here and serve God was good as well. I suppose this is the best way to live. He fully understood his mortality, and the value of both living and dying for Christ. When our purpose is to glorify God, we can do it both on earth, and in a more perfect way in Heaven.
Paul states pretty plainly that he values his life at nothing except for what God has tasked him to do. He is completely focused on the task at hand and nothing more. How come I can’t be as focused as that? Sadly, at this point in my life I’m most certainly not of that mindset. Regardless of how I describe my walk with God, I’m still of the mindset that I have my plans for my life, even though God has plans for my life as well. Having the stubborn personality that I do, I need to learn that God’s plan is much greater than mine.
I guess what puzzled me was that the concept I’ve always had of how to discern what God's will for me is, essentially to be faithful in prayer and wait for God to open doors and reveal His will. I’ve had this notion that if something is God’s will, that he will open doors and things will go smoothly, and yet, here Paul says that he doesn’t know the details of what lies ahead, but the only thing he knows is that things will be hard and painful every step of the way. Hard and painful. There’s no smooth sailing, there’s no “if it’s God’s will things will just work out”. He says that he doesn’t know what will happen to him, but that the only thing the Holy Spirit has assured him, is that wherever he goes he will face prison and hardships.
In my flawed mindset of what I want vs what God wants, I think my interpretation of God’s will is tainted by my own sinful desires. Paul’s mindset in Acts 20 is very clear. I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (vs. 24) And that’s why he is perfectly fine with facing the prison and hardships that the Holy Spirit assures him he will face.
**shameless plug: if you're interested, please join us tomorrow night for small group (7pm) where we will meet for dinner and go through Acts 20**
Monday, January 9, 2012
missed the bandwagon...
It doesn't matter if you avoid the TV, turn the radio to classical on the morning drive, or completely ignore the internet this morning, it's unavoidable that you'll hear someone, somewhere, talking about tebow-mania. You got elementary students tebowing next to school busses, radio commentators on sports and christian radio stations gushing about this hairy-faced kid, even pastors mentioning him in sermons.
I'm not sold yet.
Don't get me wrong, the guy's got talent (I don't think he would've gotten drafted otherwise), and he's a good role model for kids and grownups alike. I just don't see how one game, one game changes all of that. I'm still not sold on the "tebow magic" or what everyone characterizes as a game-changer. I think that's not giving others on the team the credit they deserve for the victory. Denver's defense got five sacks on the steeler's QB and the offense was playing better than usual. I still don't see how it's tebow magic (at least I'm not convinced yet).
I don't mean to be a downer or anything. I mean he's a good player and if I had kids, he'd make a great rolemodel (although Brian Dawkins on the Broncos is also a good rolemodel). I dunno, maybe after a few more weeks of winning I'll be convinced, but for now, you will not see me tebowing, or gushing/fawning, or tatooing I *heart* tebow anywhere yet. We'll see how he does against the buzzsaw next week.
I'm not sold yet.
Don't get me wrong, the guy's got talent (I don't think he would've gotten drafted otherwise), and he's a good role model for kids and grownups alike. I just don't see how one game, one game changes all of that. I'm still not sold on the "tebow magic" or what everyone characterizes as a game-changer. I think that's not giving others on the team the credit they deserve for the victory. Denver's defense got five sacks on the steeler's QB and the offense was playing better than usual. I still don't see how it's tebow magic (at least I'm not convinced yet).
I don't mean to be a downer or anything. I mean he's a good player and if I had kids, he'd make a great rolemodel (although Brian Dawkins on the Broncos is also a good rolemodel). I dunno, maybe after a few more weeks of winning I'll be convinced, but for now, you will not see me tebowing, or gushing/fawning, or tatooing I *heart* tebow anywhere yet. We'll see how he does against the buzzsaw next week.
Friday, January 6, 2012
the supermechanical twine
My friend sent me this kickstarter link to this gadget this afternoon called the Twine. It’s a pretty cool idea, one that basically takes little things you wish you could do, and gives you the ability to do it. For instance, have you ever wondered if the FedEx guy really knocked on your door before just deciding to leave your package on the front porch? Well you simply attached the Twine to your door, and a sensor in the little device will sense knocking at the door, and send you an email saying that someone just knocked at the door. This way, you basically know when the FedEx guy actually came to your house instead of stalking your package online.This device, created and peddled by two guys from MIT, has the ability to effectively link ordinary things to the internet. It’s pretty much the size of a post-it note pad, and syncs wirelessly to allow objects in your life to communicate with you. You can attach the Twine to your laundry machine so that when the accelerometer detects the vibration has stopped, it’ll send you an email saying your laundry is done. If you have a mouse at home, you can mount the Twine to the bottom of the mousetrap, so that the vibration of the spring trap will trigger an email message so you know exactly when something happened. The device syncs wireless to a web app that lets you set the parameters and the alerts that this generates. This thing can output anything from emails, twitter, and text to even more complicated http applications.
I suppose the possibilities are endless, and the Twine features an internal temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a magnetic switch, a moisture sensor, and a breakout board for plugging in any additional sensor you feel you may want. The practical applications for this could be anything! I have a funny feeling that eventually, production scales will help drive the price of these gadgets down so that people will be able to mount them on various things in our ever increasing desire for information. This gives you access to info you couldn’t really access before, things like knowing if someone knocked on your door when you were out at work or knowing if your kid opened the door to the pantry (magnetic switch sensor) after you told him no more cookies.Right now the kickstarter no longer needs backers, but they have the twine on preorder, with an estimate ship date of March 2012. I know that early adopters always have to deal with the glitches and stuff, but this is actually one gadget that I’m definitely curious about checking out. I guess $99 is a bit steep for a gadget, but I have a feeling this is the start of something big.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
I'm totally sold. lets go.
It didn't take much convincing, when I saw it on my friend Gajan's FB, I was pretty much on board. Disney's building a Cars Land at California Adventure in SoCal!! Ok...so I suppose it's not just the cars land that's getting me excited, but also the fact that I've never been to california adventure before and this is the perfect excuse to go visit! Ok, ok, it's going to be packed next summer when cars land opens, but maybe in the fall when it's no so hot and stuff. Ok...enough sittin around! Lets make this trip happen!!
Monday, January 2, 2012
the beauty of a snooze button
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases an annual survey on American time use. This is basically a collection of data on how the average American spends his/her day. One of the statistics stuck out to me:
Sleeping:
Men – 8.56 hrs/day
Women – 8.76 hrs/day
I don’t get nearly that much sleep! I’m closer to the 6 hour mark on a regular basis, although sometimes I get close to 7 hours, usually on weekends. I’ve worked to fill my time with stuff to do. When I have down time, I find books to read, tv shows to watch, games to play. I barely have time to sit and unwind. I’ve basically cluttered my day with things to do so I won’t be bored. This eventually leads to less sleep. You see, I suppose my thought process is, why spend time sleeping when you can be doing something? I know, definitely not the healthiest approach, and something I’m resolving to change in the coming year.
I find I’ve filled my life with mundane things, things that I do day in and day out. I’ve come to realized that I have this tendency to ignore God’s glory in the mundane things, things like sleep, eating, or even going to the bathroom (yes there’s glory in that). You see, it’s easy for me to give God glory when I’m at church on a Sunday, singing my lungs out, but it’s hard for me to remember to give Him glory when I’m checking my email, or waiting in line at starbucks. I appreciate the fact that in 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul uses the everyday activities to describe how we can glorify God: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
While it’s easy to say I should do it all for God’s glory, what exactly does that look like in real life? How do I nap and glorify God at the same time? How do give God glory when I’m chugging a cup of coffee? These aren’t exactly questions I can answer, as I’m not really sure how I’d be able to glorify God in those moments. The only think I can think of is acknowledging that God is great and doesn’t need sleep or caffeine, but in his graciousness, has given us the privilege of doing the commonplace things to sustain ourselves like napping and drinking coffee.
Of course, this is much easier said than done. It means I’d have to change my behavior, as it has sort of been my tendency to ignore God’s glory in the commonplace things. Ohh boy, I have quite the task ahead of me…
Sleeping:
Men – 8.56 hrs/day
Women – 8.76 hrs/day
I don’t get nearly that much sleep! I’m closer to the 6 hour mark on a regular basis, although sometimes I get close to 7 hours, usually on weekends. I’ve worked to fill my time with stuff to do. When I have down time, I find books to read, tv shows to watch, games to play. I barely have time to sit and unwind. I’ve basically cluttered my day with things to do so I won’t be bored. This eventually leads to less sleep. You see, I suppose my thought process is, why spend time sleeping when you can be doing something? I know, definitely not the healthiest approach, and something I’m resolving to change in the coming year.
I find I’ve filled my life with mundane things, things that I do day in and day out. I’ve come to realized that I have this tendency to ignore God’s glory in the mundane things, things like sleep, eating, or even going to the bathroom (yes there’s glory in that). You see, it’s easy for me to give God glory when I’m at church on a Sunday, singing my lungs out, but it’s hard for me to remember to give Him glory when I’m checking my email, or waiting in line at starbucks. I appreciate the fact that in 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul uses the everyday activities to describe how we can glorify God: Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
While it’s easy to say I should do it all for God’s glory, what exactly does that look like in real life? How do I nap and glorify God at the same time? How do give God glory when I’m chugging a cup of coffee? These aren’t exactly questions I can answer, as I’m not really sure how I’d be able to glorify God in those moments. The only think I can think of is acknowledging that God is great and doesn’t need sleep or caffeine, but in his graciousness, has given us the privilege of doing the commonplace things to sustain ourselves like napping and drinking coffee.
Of course, this is much easier said than done. It means I’d have to change my behavior, as it has sort of been my tendency to ignore God’s glory in the commonplace things. Ohh boy, I have quite the task ahead of me…
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