Of Mice and Menus

I know how eagerly some of you wait for me to post the menu for the evening so here it is:

BBQ boneless pork ribs
Sam's Club red potato salad

Now that the menu is out of the way, we can get down to the real issues at hand. We have a wireless mouse & keyboard combo on our home 'puter. I don't know who designs these things but they obviously have access to an unlimited supply of batteries. The mouse consumes them almost as fast as the Wii controllers. The keyboard can go for 6 months or better. The mouse barely makes it 6 weeks. Phew! AM I glad to get THAT off my chest!

It will be just the boys for dinner tonight as E is working and SE is having diner with her SO and his parents (down in Benicia, which, BTW is NOT in my spell check dictionary). Hopefully by the time I get home all the rock (2 yards of 1 1/4 inch salt and pepper landscaping in case anyone cares) will have been transported to the backyard by a Herculean effort on the part of AR. (He mowed the lawn yesterday, it is REALLY nice to have a teenage boy in the house again. He is a great kid and an enormous help around the house.)

I will be taking dinner into the hospital for E tonight as well.

Peanuts

I subscribe to a number of RSS feeds including the Quote Of The Day. Todays quote was from Charles Schultz and I can really identify with it

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"/ Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

Blessings on your day

Entering the Compound

So as I arrived home last night it occurred to me that we might be expecting black helicopters circling the neighborhood soon. In the evening, the ever vigilante neighbors are out scrutinizing all the cars that go by. Periodically, barriers are erected to impede traffic. Pedestrians are interrogated. The children run in armed packs. Temporary barricades are erected (in practice perhaps?) blocking access to strategic assets.

I am sure that I have seen unmarked sedans with people holding binoculars parked at the end of the street lately. I will start checking the news before I leave work at night. I may also start carrying a change of clothes and important documents concealed in my car (in the event that relocation becomes an urgent priority). Be sure to stock up on non-perishable food and water as the utilities are controlled by "the man."

My Friend

My best online buddy TH started a blog. I will add a link to the left if it is ok with him. He is a great guy who I have known for about 5 years now. We met in one of the MSN groups. We are like brothers as we have shared a lot of our lives over the last few years.

Dentist

Well I went to the dentist today. JM recommended one. Her friend's mom is the hygienist. Since it has been a year since I have been, I was apprehensive. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. The dentist gave me a clean bill of health (and the hygienist did a great job! My mouth used to hurt for 1-2 days afterwards. This time I couldn't even tell). I will go back next week to get a filling replaced that is starting to wear out.

E went to Wally world last night after work to stock up on snacky stuff. SE was still up so she helped her unload groceries at midnight (!!!!). Tonight is SE's turn to cook. I think we are having salmon in a pink sauce. AR heads to the DMV to get his CA drivers license. Since he isn't 18, he has to bring a birth certificate. E's friend from RN school and her hubby took E out to lunch today :).

NO had his first practice last night. It seemed like the boys all forgot about 50% of what they learned last year. I think it will be a good year, however as almost all the boys have experience at the farm level.

Blessings on your day

Why Bad Things Happen (long)

There are several ways that "bad things" can happen to anyone, even Christians. First, we can sin and get caught by the consequences of our actions; if we rob a bank, we will get put in jail. Second, we can get caught in the consequences of someone ELSE'S action; I will provide some examples from my own life. And third, God may allow bad things to happen so that we can learn and grow (sometimes we never do understand the "why"). The first one is obvious to most people. The problem arises with numbers two and three. With your permission, I will address these with examples from my life.

Example 1: I was raised as a Christian in a Christian home. I was saved early and rededicated my life to Jesus as a teenager. I married at age 23 and settled down to live my life. For a variety of reasons, I chose to turn my back on God and my family and, after 17 years of marriage and 5 children, I divorced my wife. My wife was not a bad person. In fact, she was a very strong Christian who honestly loved me. Through no fault of her own and through no plan of God, she was left crushed, devastated and a single mom. Because she was married to me, she was caught up in the consequences of my actions. The pain and struggles she went through as a result of my choice were not sent from God as a test nor were they as a result of her sin. Plain and simple, bad stuff happened to her simply because she was closely tied to me.

Example 2: My MIL (Mother-In-Law) from my current marriage was bitten by a mosquito while vacationing at the shore on the east coast. This was 14 years ago. As a result of that bite, she contracted a very rare, fatal disease (Amyloidosis) that is also extremely painful. LD was a devout Christian and truly was a Godly woman. For the first 6 years (prior to me meeting her), she went to prayer meetings, healing services, doctors, hospitals.... Whole churches prayed for her, laid hands on her, claimed healing for her. God said "no." No one could understand why God would allow her to suffer like He did. She was in excruciating pain constantly. I won't even describe what the disease did to her body, but it left her virtually an invalid. Throughout the course of this disease, she often wept with despair, cried out to God, got angry sometimes; but never once gave up her faith. She never turned her back on God. She remained true to her calling.

This is where I entered the picture and our lives intertwined. My marriage in shambles, my life a wreck and my faith completely dead - I met her daughter. I will skip the details, but suffice it to say, I went to Pennsylvania, packed up her daughter (an only child) along with LD's grandchildren and moved them to California. Again, she responded with love and grace. After having met me once, she threw a birthday party for me the day before we left for CA.

Because of her illness, she often couldn't sleep. E and her mom had a rocky relationship, so when mom called (often at 8:30 or 9 p.m. our time), E would talk for 3 minutes and hand the phone to me. Mom and I talked for hours at a time. Over a period of months, that Godly woman slowly drew me back to God. She never condemned me or judged me for my divorce, stealing her daughter, violating God's law or anything else that happened. I was eventually even arrested for domestic violence and mom was the first one to offer forgiveness and encouragement. As a direct result of her presence in my life, my relationship with God was restored. If it hadn't been, my marriage to E wouldn't have lasted 2 years. Today we have been married over 8 years and have been blessed with a little boy, NO.

My relationship with God has been a struggle since then, mostly due to my own poor choices; but if LD hadn't entered my life, I would never have made it this far. Six years ago, God answered her prayers and healed her. I miss her more than I can describe, but I know that she is in a better place now and I will see her again one day. If God had taken her home earlier or if He had healed her of her disease, we never would have had all those late night conversations on the phone. She changed my life - and all because God allowed her to be stricken with a painful, fatal disease.

I am not saying that we always know why God allows things to happen. There are many times that we have no answers at all. The one thing I know for sure is that His promises are true and He is faithful to keep them. God has promised that He would never allow more in our lives than we can handle and that "all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purpose." The Bible never promises an easy, pain free life. It does promise that if we choose to follow Him, it will work out OK in the end.

Studies

Some things that might help people read these:

I always break the studies down and label them (Pt1, Pt2, etc) to keep them from getting too large.

I use the "label" function and flag each study as "study" and the topic (Hebrews, angels, etc.). Clicking on the topic/label below a post will bring up all posts that contain that label. I also added a "list of labels" to the left.

I invite (encourage) people to post their thoughts and comments regarding these studies (or anything else).

Hope that helps 8-)

Angels, Pt 1

Angels – Angel means messenger.

Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.

1Corithians 4:9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

1Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

Hebrews 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

Angels are created (Psalm 148:2,5; Col. 1:16),

non-human, spirit beings (Heb. 1:14).

They are immortal (Luke 20:36),

innumerable (Heb. 12:22)

invisible (Num. 22:22-31)

sexless (Matt. 22:30), and do the will of God (Psalm 103:20). These angels have a ministry to believers. They guide (Gen. 24:7, 40), protect (Psalm 34:7), and comfort (Acts 27:2, 24).
There are good angels (Gen. 28:12; Psalm 91:11) and bad angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). The only angels mentioned by name are Gabriel (Dan. 8:16; 9:21 ), Michael (Dan. 10:13,21; 112:1), and Lucifer (Luke 10:18). Michael is always mentioned in the context of battle (Dan. 10:13) and Gabriel as a messenger (Luke 1:26). Of course, Lucifer, who became Satan, is the one who opposes God.
Angels were originally created for the purpose of serving and carrying out the will of God. The fallen angels rebelled and became evil angels. Satan is such an angel (Isaiah 14:12-16; Ezekiel 28:12-15).

Hebrews, Lesson 5, Pt 1

Hebrews – Lesson 5, 2:5-9

The topic of the passage in Hebrews is once again angels.

Hebrews 2: 5-9 For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. 6 But one has testified somewhere, saying, "WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? 7 "YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; 8 YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET." For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. 9 But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

Once again, the author compares our Lord to angels. The very first point he makes is regarding the “creation” of the future. In Exodus, we see this point made for the first time:

Exodus 23:20 "See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you on your journey and lead you safely to the place I have prepared for you.

The angel is sent to guide (remember that angel means messenger) and direct. God reserves the right of control over the future. This reiterates what the author stated earlier:

Hebrews 1:14 Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.

The passage is a reminder also, of our own future as we see later in Hebrews:

Hebrews 13:14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

Good Morning NorCal!

It is a bright, sun-shiny day here i NorCal. Winds are light and the temperature is mild. We have been running in the mid to high 60's for over a week now. NO has his first RWLL (Roseville West Little League) practice today. We are scheduled for a "dirt" field at 5. I am leaving work early to pick him up from daycare. I had hoped to get to work early enough to avoid charging PTO but it didn't happen.

Boss-man is out skiing today and I am headed to a design session with my fellow DBA. This will be the 3rd design for our real-time ETL (how we load our data warehouse/reporting system from the production database). Ok, that is enough technical jargon :)

The verse for today is truly amazing. To think that we are the brothers and sisters of Jesus - that we have the right to call God "Father" is an incredible thing. It brings into sharp focus just how personal our relationship with our Lord really is.

I pray that you have a blessed day

Hebrews 2:11 (NLT) So now Jesus and the ones He makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them His brothers and sisters.

Chili

We had chili for dinner. Actually we planned to have chili LAST night but I forgot it was the team meeting until after E had gotten it ready. Fortunately, she used the crock pot so we covered it and put it in the fridge. I got it out this morning and plugged it in. SE is out job hunting. She got a call from Kohl's for an interview (w00t!). AR is watching the Speed channel and NO is in bed. I finished up the team roster and master schedule and mailed them off. I think I will head to bed in a bit as I am dragging.

Identity Crisis (pt 2)

As I get older, it feels like my identity shifts. When I was younger, my identity revolved around my friends. As I grew, my identity was in my job. As my job increased, so did my ego. Finally God allowed me to go through a series of career set-backs that removed "job" from the picture as far as my identity goes.

Now I see my identity in my relationships. First of course, is my relationship with God. It seems that this offends some people. I try not to quote scripture "at" people while at the same time staying true to the Word. The problem comes when the only real answer to a question lies in the bible. Why are people so unhappy to hear that the answer is a spiritual one? Why is that so offensive? I know that there have been times in MY life that I didn't want to hear that either. Usually those times were when I was walking somewhere God didn't want me to be (and knew it).

My identity is also defined by other relationships (healthy or otherwise). Of my earthly relationships, by far the most important is that with my wife. She is the center of my (earthly) universe. Many are the days that coming home to her is all that keeps me going (mind you I have far and far to go as a husband, I feel inadequate at this almost all the time). Following close behind is my relationships with my children. This too has changed dramatically over the years. I see more and more that I need to focus on the essentials and trust that God will handle the incidentals.

Lastly, I am defined by my relationships outside the home. These include friends, other family members, neighbors, church, little league, etc. Much of the time, these are the toughest. These people get only vignettes from my life and have to make judgment based on (in many cases) incomplete knowledge.

I am - A Man of God, A Husband, A father, A Friend, An Emplyee, An Acquaintance. Through it all, only God really knows who I am.

blessings on your day

Time Change :)

Really looking forward to the time change this weekend. We don't start baseball practice until 5:30 so without the time change, we could not practice at all (getting rather dark by 5:30). The exception is on days when we are assigned an actual dirt field to use. The league added a couple of fields this year so each team will get more practice time on a real baseball diamond. On regular practice days, we are planning to use the playground at NO's school. Last year we used the grassy area and found that it slowed the balls down to the point that the kids were not prepared to play on a dirt field.

Pizza and Baseball

We had our first team meeting at a local pizza parlor last night for little league. NO is on the Red Sox again this year. Someone else will be the assistant coach this year and I will help out with score keeping. Our neighbor will be the team parent and NO is excited to have PJ on his team this year. There were lots of familiar faces and some new ones as well. We are getting a rather late start this year due to some roster issues at the league level. We have our first practice Wednesday.

Life is rough

It has been a very difficult week. Seems like everytime something good starts, the rug gets yanked out from under you.