Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

My oldest son blew me away last night with his Bible knowledge. Well, actually, he has done it a couple of times already. There was one conversation at the dinner table where he said he liked Abel better than Cain because Abel was a shepherd. I could have sworn that Cain was the shepherd, but he insisted. So, out came the Bible and we looked it up. Sure enough - Abel was the shepherd and Cain was the farmer. Good job, Son. Last night when we were just about to wrap up bath time he asked me what the name Jacob meant. I knew what it meant but wanted him to tell me and he did. He said it meant "tricky" which is a good 1st grade translation of "he deceives" or, more specifically, "he grasps the heal". So I then asked him the stumper question (or so I thought) of what his name was changed to. Well, he got that one right too: Israel. We then talked about what Israel meant (struggles or wrestles with God) and how Jacob got the name. We also talked about who Jacob...

I was ordering some books online for the youngest boy last night and recalled the book "Goodnight Moon" that I, unlike any other "children's" book, thoroughly enjoy. The last couple of pages where the bunny is says goodnight to "nobody" and finally goodnight to "noises everywhere" strikes chords in me that I cannot explain. The quiet old lady whispering "hush" captures my imagination as well. To see the juxtaposition of the two minds and how they react to the upcoming sleep is truly amazing. What a great book. I was reading in Acts chapter 13 last night and came across verse 41 which is actually Paul quoting Habakkuk 1:5: "'Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.'" This is in obvious reference to the Gospel and the absolute marvel it is that God would be enfleshed (as it were) and shed blood to pay the price that was ...

From the "Yeah-I-Get-That" department: We were leaving the pizza shop last Friday night with the dinner we were going to share with my parents when the youngest decided to shout "Woof! Woof! Woof!" at the top of his lungs. I decided to just let it go for some reason until I noticed more than one person staring from their cars at him in utter disbelief and, I'm sure from the shock, laughing. It was at that point that I told him that was about enough of the shenanigans. Holy cow. I spelled shenanigans right. Powered by ScribeFire .

The cynic in me is not enamored with financial giving as a spiritual discipline. There has been a lot of talk lately within our church concerning this topic as we are looking to add on to the existing structure our church meets in and we need a lot of money to do it. It is funny because the same hymns/special music that are sung after a sermon on, for example, combating selfishness or lust seem to ring truer to me than those same hymns sung after a plea to be "rich toward God" financially. In my flesh I seem to equate those songs with a less-than-subtle attempt at manipulating me out of money that could go to other purposes - most of which have to do with me and my lifestyle. God will have nothing in my life that robs Him of worship and that includes my money. Again, I don't see why this is so hard for me to equate the eradication of lust as somewhat more of a priority than sacrificially giving money towards a project or a cause that will help build the kingdom. Why do I ...

I am amazed at the power of the human mind. There have been so many times that I have given up in frustration over trying to work something out. After sleeping on it and going at it the next day I seem to have no problem completing the task or seeing the error. Back from my run this morning (the first one in a while) I had a couple of ideas (one work-related and one ministry-related) that I think may merit something of value. I am working on getting the work one implemented now and doing some tire-kicking on the ministry one. All that to say that I am not sure where those ideas, or any ideas for that matter, come from. Why do they pop into my head when they do and what does the timing of their manifestation mean (if anything)? What is the genesis of the next idea I have and what processes are in place and running now so that it germinates into my consciousness? And who has known the mind of God? Who has become His counselor? Powered by ScribeFire .

I am wired to work. I would like to have known this (in my heart) in my growing up years rather than internalizing it now, but I guess late is better than never. Before going to work today I emptied the garbage and put some mole poison down in the front yard. Yesterday I was, once again, the storyteller for the High Point children's church program at North, I mowed the lawn picking up the leaves in the process, we cleaned out the bonus area of our basement and the oldest and I started a pretty good layout with the Thomas the Tank Engine track. I also had the chance to help the oldest with his math and reading homework. On Saturday I spent close to five hours cutting up the rest of the wood at the in-laws house after spending the morning with the boys and their friends. All of this is written not to pat myself on the back as to how busy I was, but to illustrate that more and more and by His grace I am beginning to realize that working satisfies me. That is no great mystery to Bible ...

Upgrading an installation of the Ubuntu Linux OS while Tourniquet is blessing my brain through my iPod is perhaps a glimpse into what life can be, but often is not. Well, I decided to take the plunge, download the .iso and upgrade from Ubuntu 7.04 to Ubuntu 7.10. There were only a few minor hiccups that had nothing to do with anyone but me: I almost blew away my Windows partition (yes, I still have one of those) which would have been a bit more than a minor inconvenience I had to restart the install because I forgot that the installation was going to do some mirror scanning for apt configuration and needed access to the world wide web. Of course that meant I had to set the proxy, but I failed to do that the first time through. Things look good for now. Samba is on there so the network connections to my lab PCs are all good. I would like to think that network printing is easier, but I will check that out. The iPod is much easier to connect to than it was with 7.04. I had high hopes ...

What is this that brings me hope in the middle of the night? Makes me run to You? - what is this, King's X Sometimes I wonder whether this whole obedience to God thing is really all that it is cracked up to be. What does prayer do anyway? Is it really worth it to serve Him and to pattern my life after that of His Son? Is He really conforming me into the image of Christ or is this something that is happening because I am maturing on my own? These questions and more like them cross my mind from time to time and unsettle me. They don't scare me, because He knows I am but dust, but maybe they should. Maybe I should be asking questions that do scare me more - is that where the real, life-changing answers lie? I do know that driving into work today I realized that I was made for more than the trips I take to the office; more than the work I accomplish; and even more than the ministries I am engaged in. I was made to love Him and find my entire satisfaction in Him. He has set His lov...

I had a hard time getting any type of persistence out of my install of Ubuntu 7.04 so I decided to go for a USB install of 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) instead using these directions: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/28/usb-ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-install/ It went much smoother than the 7.04 install so that was a nice surprise. Also, there was a separate procedure to make the 7.04 release persistent and the persistence thing is fixed with the 7.10 version. I have it all up and running and am able to read data from and save data to the USB drive now. I have noticed it runs a little slower than the 7.04 release did, but the added persistence is more than worth the speed difference. Powered by ScribeFire .

What is a gorgeous marriage? I seems to me that it is a marriage where both spouses are constantly looking to out-sacrifice each other. I think that is an amazing (albeit incomplete) picture of God for He out-sacrifices me every second of every day. And the church's sacrifices for Christ are not even considered as such when I begin to scratch the surface of His for her. I am so far from this and, hence, still (and forever) a debtor to grace. Powered by ScribeFire .

Well, after numerous attempts last week I finally have my 4 Gb USB drive configured to run a persistent instance of Ubuntu 7.04 using these directions: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/09/21/usb-ubuntu-704-persistent-install-for-linux-users/ The key for me was repairing the master boot record (MBR) using lilo. Once that was done I was able to get into the Linux install and noticed that it ran a lot faster than booting into a live instance from the CD. I am running USB 2.0 on the laptop so I guess that makes a difference. I need to run some tests to see which settings are saved upon exiting and which ones are not, but I think that will just take some time. I am just happy to have gotten this thing going after trying for quite some time. Powered by ScribeFire .

I remember when I began to exercise a while back I made up my mind that this was going to be the rest of my life. It has definitely been a case of "so far so good", but there have been obvious signs of encouragement along the way. Whether it was a comment about the the weight I have lost has staying off or a conversation about running with a friend, certain things seem to kick me in the pants and get me over a hump of a potential funk (or creeping lethargy) at just the right time. The most recent kick came from the next door neighbor who mentioned that he has seen me come back from my morning run quite a few times and congratulated me on my discipline. As superficial as that sounds things like that motivate me to keep going. There are numerous lessons in this, but one of the main ones is that I need to be an encouragement to others in the endeavors that they pursue. Who knows what "funk" I may be helping them to avoid. Then, maybe, I am the only one who needs this t...

My wife and I have been approached by a good friend to substantially increase our involvement in a ministry that she is heading. Getting the ministry off the ground has been quite a challenge for her and, to sustain what is in place now, she has asked us to come alongside and get involved. The trouble is that we are currently involved in two other weekly ministries at this time and would have to let something slide in order to accommodate her request. As it is we already gave up the 2's and 3's Sunday School ministry so that we can get involved with her ministry. I am heavily leaning towards staying in the ministries we are in now and being involved in hers in a more limited way. I want to honor the commitment I have made to the ministries we are in now even when something "better" comes along. I do have to be careful to exercise my giftedness in the fullest way possible though and that is where I think the conflict lies. Powered by ScribeFire .

Before going to bed last night my wife and I had a conversation about churches and how our perspectives have changed concerning them. One thing that struck me was that I had been more than happy to be a member of a church that was growing in depth and not in breadth. In other words, in the "more and better disciples" abbreviated mission of any church I was more than happy to focus on the "better" part and shove the "more" part to the background. Obviously, anything that is healthy grows, and growth in any church can be in the quality of the disciples of Christ, right. Yes. Now, under the present leadership of the church I am a member in now, I have come to the point that if we needed to become members of another church, I would look for one that is growing in depth and breadth - or at least has a focus to grow that way. I reject the explanation of "oh well, it is a sign of the times" when a church does not make more disciples through evangelism a...

My youngest son is in the Cubbies Awana program at North Baptist Church which is for 3 and 4 year old boys and girls. This, in and of itself, is a story, but last night it took a turn for the "worse". I was folding up a table and placing against a wall in the church building when one of the Cubbies leaders came out and mentioned that my son said that "Daddy has sin." This was a tad surprising, but I was glad that he recognized I did. I would rather have him recognize sin in himself, but that is for another day. I asked the leader what the reason was that he said that I had sin. Mr. Dave then replied it was because "Mommy yelled at Daddy in the car." We have to be careful around that boy. He is too smart for his own good. Powered by ScribeFire .

I am living with the looming specter of not being able to minister with my wife tonight and that is not a good feeling. We have a special event tonight at the Champions club I help lead (Our Second Annual Duct Tape and Super Cool Video Night) and her involvement would make a world of difference. Not only can I trust her, implicitly, with the excellent execution of any task that is put before her, but she knows me inside and out and knows what I mean when I say, for example, "The drinks need to be served outside." That is a great relief to me and makes my job so much easier. Of course that also means that her absence is felt that much more profoundly. Powered by ScribeFire .

Most people contemplate how small they are as they stare up into the unfamiliar heaven at the countless stars knowing that there is so much that they can't see. I contemplate the minuteness of my life passing over a bridge during rush hour and seeing a train heading in a tangential direction from me. Then as my gaze shifts eastward again I notice the line of cars heading from the east side of the city to points west. I need to hit my brakes ever so slightly to merge into a lane where I am usually offered the next available space between two cars. Where are all these people going? What is on their hearts and minds as they head to work, school, or even for a time of rest? How small my life is in the midst of it all and how inconsequential I have become as I signal for my exit. I squirrel another 8 or 9 hours away upstairs in this cube and assume my position again as I head for home. Just one of thousands this day that do the same. Powered by ScribeFire .