Nonsensical Ramblings of Mark

I am at my best when I am imitating God, or, more appropriately, participating in the divine nature as expressed through God's communicable attributes. It is easy for me to get lost thinking about His incommunicable attributes like omnipresence, eternality, immutability which are all the the things I can’t fully understand nor participate in.  Recently I have gotten a sense that God wants me to focus on His communicable attributes like mercy, faithfulness, love. In looking at how these are expressed in how He leads  me I find that there are plenty I can imitate as I lead others: First , God leads me while possessing a thorough understanding of who I am:  As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.  (Psalm 103:13-14) In participation in His divine nature I need to seek both corporate and individual knowledge of the people I lead. Second , God leads me ...

Recently I was messaging with a friend about a video of a dancing banana (don't ask) and thought that I would never have the ability to move like the person in the suit did. I thought that the dance that he (she? I have no idea...) was doing looked rather strenuous and would be quite the exercise. And that is where things went a little awry or veered off into the untoward depending on your perspective. I was going to say that it looked like a "butt-busting" workout and that seemed like an inappropriate thing to say. Well, I should have stuck with that description. I then thought that a more appropriate thing to say was "gut-busting" because I am a 43-year-old male that has a bit too much of a bubble in the middle. So, with the words "gut", "butt", and "busting" rolling around in my head here is what I came up with: "Actually it would be a good butt-gusting workout" ...which is so much more appropriate than what I h...

There is a popular sentiment in our office that people want every day to be Friday.  It kind of drives me crazy.  For example, on Monday afternoon I often hear, "Is it Friday yet?" or "Which way tot he weekend?" Now I understand toil and work that can be exasperating at times, but is it wrong to assume and believe that each and every day is a gift and has a value and, maybe, even a charm all it's own? Why can't I be excited about Monday and invite others into my world? We can be and I dare say that God wants us to be. I want to get all excited about Monday but I think people will take me as being sarcastic rather than genuine. But then I am thinking about the things that I tend to gloss over and look for what's on the other side. What are those things in my life? I would like to think that they are less trivial than a Monday but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.  And I don't even own a farm.

I may have been a bit overzealous thinking that death could teach me anything. There is no doubt that my dying to myself and my desires frees me from chains of death itself (it's almost too weird to think about enslaving myself to become free, but that is for another time). But as I look on the death that is all around me I am not looking into the face of a great teacher.  The Teacher that I sit under has taught me what I should make of death: how it transforms me into the likeness of Christ when I embrace my friend in the correct manner. My Teacher has also brought death to me in a myriad of ways permanently altering both my past and present. But He has used it as an illustration. He is much too jealous to leave my tutelage to another. So, death, my friend, you won't teach me for I have been and am continually taught by One who knows more about you than you do. But never stop illustrating the lessons He speaks to me. Never stop showing me what He wants me to know and how ...

Dad, I guess it kind of surprised me a bit, You know, the look I got from Will when we were at the dinner table before our friends and their children came over for our Bible study. We had asked him if he was willing to do a small devotional with the kids downstairs and he looked at us like we had three heads each. It was almost as if he was saying, "Of course Mom and Dad. What else would you think I'd be doing?" Well things got busy and we were throwing this and that together, getting the driveway blown...You know how it goes. I had completely forgotten to remind him that he was willing to do the devotional with the cellar dwellers that night. But he hadn't forgotten had he, Dad? During the course of the evening our youngest son came up to get something and we reminded him to grab the Big Bertha Bible (the NIV study Bible that can choke a mule) and the devotional book and take it downstairs. Well, he came back into the room the adults were in and said that he co...

OK, this should go without saying but I am going to give it a go anyway: When I exit a stall in the men's bathroom and you are standing at a urinal, turning around in an attempt to make eye contact with me as I exit is not something that I ever welcome.  Unless I have done something truly extraordinary in there of course.  Or I am in a women's bathroom.  But then there would be no urinals. 

Over the extended Labor Day weekend we had too good of a time with some friends in Canada. We stayed at a cottage (which is a lot more like a house than our house is) and got to fish, swim, walk, play on the beach...it was everything I expected a vacation to be and more. It was such a fulfilling time with my family that I had a strange feeling yesterday when I got into work. I ached for my wife's presence. It wasn't a dull "wish you were here" type of wistful longing. I felt a real pining for her. I wanted her near me every second yesterday and the longing I had could not be satiated until I got home. Thankfully I am less unsettled today. In fact, today is the first day ever of homeschooling for my wife and sons. I am looking forward to the report at the end of the school day today. God is so good to us to give us the resources to embark on this endeavor and we are taking it one year at a time. He is also good to me to have given me a wife that is both capable...