Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

For the three of you interested in the saga of my lost then found wedding ring, well, read on. Thursday night I had the opportunity to help out at my youngest son's baseball practice at Brookside School in Greece. It was coolish but not unbearable and we actually got a full practice in. I was on my feet the whole night backing up the various coaches when there was an overthrow from one of the boys (there were not as many as I expected) and kept my glove on practically the whole night. I remember taking it off twice and also noticing that it was fitting rather snugly for some reason. Well, the practice ended and my son was home and in bed when I sat down to do some work on the computer. That is when I noticed that my ring was gone. I knew exactly what happened. Well, I knew that it fell off when I took my glove off at practice, but I didn't know where or when. I went into my son's bat bag and looked for the ring inside of the bag and my glove. Nothing. I looked around in the...

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... Romans 8:28-29a Even though I had to read 49 chapters in Genesis to get to this verse I think that it sums up the full transformation that God has performed on evil. Because He is righteous (really righteousness given His simplicity) God must have hated all of the things that Joseph's brothers did to him and to their father. Now this is rather presumptuous on my part but I would think that, given the fact that God hates evil, if God could have accomplished His will any other way then He would have done that. But He didn't. He permitted what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves. He saved Jacob and his family and, in so doing, gave me...

For all of you tempted to say, "Wow...that's different!" in response to the title of this post please do so because it is kind of funny. Anyway, I have noticed that when I listen to people talk about something I am more inspired to write than if I read something. Whether it is a lecture on a topic of interested (usually theology and the like) or something I heard on NPR there is this "something" that is generated in me that shows up in my blog or somewhere else other than the bathroom wall. I don't know why that is and what the connection between listening and writing is for me. It is just something I have noticed and may figure out. At some point. Or not. That's all.

You've got a friend in me When the road looks rough ahead And you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed You just remember what your old pal said Boy you've got a friend in me - You've Got a Friend in Me, Randy Newman This song by Randy Newman has got to be one of my favorite songs. Ever. Call me a sap, but it is just fantastic and the movie that it is forever attached to (Toy Story) is not bad at all either.  It is so interesting to me this whole virtue on Friendship that we have been focusing on this month. My wife and I are very interested in the friends our boys have at school and in the various other settings they find themselves in. We are probably being a little annoying by asking questions (over and over and over...) like "Who did you sit with in lunch?" or "How did you end up in the project group with those people in History class?" or "How was recess? Who did you play with? What did you do?" and I think that we ask more q...

There is a semi-related post to this here , and this post is pure speculation on my part. If I was created (and I was) then the only rational position I can take as a creature is dependence upon my Creator. This dependence encompasses every part of my life and both the recognition of it and the resulting action would have me functioning at my best. If there were aspects of my Creator that I would have no knowledge of then it seems to me that I would not be everything that I could be. If there were parts of God that could be accessed (experientially, emotionally, intellectually, etc.) and that I could not access in dependence and worship then I would not be the best, possible creature. Are angels the best, possible creature that God has ever created? No for they can only observe God's mercy. They have never experienced it. They may or may not have experienced His grace, but not to the extent that we fallen and redeemed creatures have. If God were to eliminate evil today then in 2 or...

This idea may be a bit half-baked and perhaps a little to speculative. The complete thought may even be spread over multiple posts. I guess how it all plays out will be based on how bored I get about the topic. At any rate I was driving into work today and thinking about evil and why God has not eliminated it (yet) and why He has seemed to have "merely" transformed it. And then I thought about soup. I thought about a cook tasting soup and thinking that there is something missing in the spoonful of it that they just put into their mouths. The cook is looking for, or expecting, a particular taste and if they do not find it they'll add this, that, or the other thing to get it to the point where they are satisfied with how it tastes. That's what cooks do. If they didn't do that then they would not be cooks. I am not sure what they would be but a cook they wouldn't be. As a created being the only rational position I can take before my God is one of pure dependence ...

God's goodness does not depend upon our definition of suffering.  - Cliff Johnson And this is where I fall down isn't it? I have this notion in my head that I am the arbiter of the goodness of God. It comes out when I say, in my heart, that "God is good when ____________" or "God is good if ___________". Of course I would never say this out loud. I would never be so vulgar as to let that slip my lips. Talking with this Christian or my wife I will always offer up the platitudes that God is good all the time, but deep in my heart how many times have I tried to kill God or assail His reputation because, like a spoiled brat, I didn't get what I wanted? How many times? Howe many times have I justified my sin because this happened or that didn't happen or because the good thing that He brought my way was not how I was expecting my prayer to be answered? How many times have I said to Him, "Not today God" in reference to prayer or even my devotiona...

Won't you be my number two? Me and number one are through There won't be too much to do Just smile when I feel blue.  - Be My Number Two, Joe Jackson "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." - C. S. Lewis Yeah - I would have settled on being a "number two". There were so many times that, while pursuing this or that girl, that I would run up against the fact that they had a "number one". I would always say something to the effect of, "Well...I am here if you need me." thinking that, at some point, they would. But it never really worked out that way. Fixing my attention on something less than what God would want me to ...

Sometimes I have to grit my teeth really hard and not spoof things (graphics, quizzes, games, status updates, etc.) that I see on Facebook. I just don't know how sincere people are when they post them and I, yes even I, do not want to woefully offend someone. But I think that I would have a lot of fun doing it. I guess I just care a bit too much about what some people may think of the adaptation. And, in this case, I am sure that is a good thing.

(With apologies to the Boomtown Rats) I was driving into work today and praying with the radio off. I don't do that as much as I should, but I have found myself, by His good grace, praying a lot more lately and it has been a great thing. At any rate, I have not ever been one of those "Ugh...it's Monday." people, or one of the TGIFers as I see just as many gifts coming from God on Monday morning as I do on Friday evening (even when we are childless for the night). I have to admit that it is hard for me to live my life one day at a time and not to miss the everything that God has for me today and now. I do get lost in making plans for another day or another season so much so that I find myself desiring to be there more than here. Not that making plans is a bad thing, but letting that plan-making take over my affections smacks of me being ungrateful for where God has placed me today and now. All that to say that every second of this life is a revelation of God's sove...