Sand Dunes

I am reading the Dune cycle (Frank & Brian Herbert) right now so desert imagery is fresh in my mind. Some see deserts as dry, arid and uninviting - I see deserts as clean, pure and beautiful. A desert is a place the is not cluttered or overrun with the business of life. Deserts are places of solitude and contemplation. May times in the bible we find men of God leaving behind the cities and farms ad heading off into the desert to be alone. They spent time with God and themselves. They examined their heart and looked for guidance.

There are many times in our lives that we feel that God has us "in the desert." Instead of feeling that we are being ignored, perhaps we could look at this as an opportunity to grow and learn God's heart.

blessings on your day

Going in Circles

I have always enjoyed the work of M. C. Escher, perhaps because there are times that I feel like I am on a stair that goes nowhere or in a place that makes no sense :) This particular work has long been one of my favorites and I thought it time to share it with you, the "casual reader."

Enjoy

View From a Cave

Believe it or not, this is a real , unmodified picture

Our 1st Win

Thorns

The above picture (by Robbie, check out his photography site to the left) spoke to me this morning. Thorns, whether natural or man-made, present barriers to progress. When presented with a hedge of thorns, a casual hiker will turn aside. When presented with a barbed-wire fence, animals will turn aside.

We all encounter thorns in our lives - barriers to progress. Sometimes these barriers are built by circumstances and other times as a result of our own words and actions. The interesting thing about these types of barriers is that they won't stop anyone who is determined enough. If you doubt this, watch a bear pick berries sometime or extract honey from a hive - bees are mobile thorns; read up on the Lance Armstrong and other survivors of tragedy or disease.

The problem of course is persevering through the barrier. It is much easier to simply turn aside than to push through the thorns and endure the (potentially very severe) pain. I understand that *your* pain is intense and can NOT be faced (it is always easier when we talk about the pain others feel and avoid touching our own). I also know that if I don't face my own pain and push past it (no matter what the risk), I will lose out on enormous opportunities for God to bless me.

My tendency is to run from my pain - to turn aside at the thorns. Over the years this has cost me treasures beyond measure. What thorns are there in your life? What pain must be faced and overcome? What must you risk to get through the wall of thorns (we know there is no gain without risk)?

Will you run (like I have most of my life) or will you join me in committing to pushing through the thorns?

blessings on your day

Emmy Show

What a disaster that was this week. Having the thing hosted by the reality show hosts was a mistake. It was like watching Survivor: Emmy without any good bits. Due to the dominance of reality TV, it is apparently no longer possible to get writers for shows. It seems most reality shows are written by and geared towards your average 8th grader.

Project Time and Annoyances

Work has settled down this week after a crazy start. I am finally able to allocate some time to the 2 largish projects on my list. I prefer working on projects to scrambling after fires. For me, constant task switching is not efficient.

On a more personal note, I hate it when the gym is crowded. For the last 2 days I have not been able to get the machines I wanted. At 5 a.m., I am not very good at ad-libbing (is that a word?) and it tends to throw my routine off. The really annoying part is that most of the "new people" won't last. They will show up every day for a week, drop back to 2-3 times a week for a few and then disappear. I wish they would simply not join in the first place.

Stormy Weather

For Chocolate Lovers

From an article on Yahoo:

A small square of dark chocolate daily protects the heart from inflammation and subsequent heart disease, a new study of Italians suggests. Milk chocolate might not do the job.

The full article is HERE

News Flash

Found a place that quoted E about $1,600 to swap out the engine in the 'stang. We have a new ballgame :)

G1

T-Mobile released the first truly new phone to the market since the Apple iPhone today. What is new is not the touch screen, the slide out keyboard, integrated web browser or customizable interface.

No, what makes this phone unique is that it uses a new operating system called Android. Android was developed by Google (through collaboration with the open source community). While T-Mobile is not perhaps the best bet for releasing a 3G phone (the only have 21 cities with 3G capability), it may be sufficient to get some competitors customers to jump ship, particularly if they are techies.

See link to manufacturer's website HERE, and T-Mobile HERE

Escape

Apparently there is a wallaby running loose in Merry Ol' England these days. A petting zoo in Berkeley (west of London) suffered a breakout over the weekend. The wallaby, who everyone thought was content to be petted poke and prodded by small children, apparently has gone on holiday. As of this morning, while numerous sitings have been phoned in, the unnamed wallaby remains at large in spite of the best efforts of the zoo staff and local constabulary.

Of Ice and Men

Got home last night and joined the neighbors on the driveway for a bit. No one has seen Jack-Sean for quite a while and we were speculating on his whereabouts. While we were gossiping about the neighbors that were absent, NoDogs decided to see how those disposable ice-packs worked. I won't go into details other than to say he applied it in an unusual location.

E was driving a Ford Taurus as her car was getting the clear-coat reapplied (last bit of unresolved repair following the accident a while back).

I kicked up the workout schedule a notch and am going 5 days a week now. I tell people it is because I feel better when I exercise but in reality I am too undisciplined to take days off between workouts. It is actually easier to set the alarm and get up every day. That way this is less temptation to hit the snooze button.

Footnote to Sue-Anne, I can see how people get addicted to exercise. I find myself wishing I had more time in the morning at the gym.

Need More Light

As the days go by, more and more details of the current fiscal disaster are coming to light. Bloomberg reports that a bill was introduced in 2005 that almost certainly would have averted the collapse of the mortgage industry. The bill was co-sponsored by McCain (yes, that McCain) and would have regulated Fannie and Freddie much the way the banking industry is regulated.

Alas! The bill was killed in committee by a partisan vote from the controlling Democrats. As a result (perhaps), these 2 institutions and their employees have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the war funds of some of the leading democrats, among them Obama and Clinton.

For the full article, click HERE

Seasons - They Come And Go

One thing that has comforted me over the years is the fact that no season lasts forever. This is true whether you are talking about the drift through the solar year or our journey through life. Sometimes a season seems to drag on long past the time you think it should be over and done (like NorCal summers). Sometimes a season passes in the blink of an eye.

Today marks the turn of a page in the calendar (metaphorically) as we officially pass from summer to fall. The summer passed quickly for us. It seems like there was little to differentiate it from the spring other than the heat. We did little of the vacation sort of things and even the kids were occupied much of the time with activities and jobs.

From a life standpoint, the season has not turned yet. We still struggle with many of the same issues and are having a hard time finding any resolution to some of the more nagging issues. I know that God is working in our lives (partly by seeing His hand, partly by faith) so I know progress is being made. For the traveler who is passing through a dark and heavy forest, it often difficult indeed to see the end of the road until the edge of the forest is reached.

Lincoln Brewster has a song that states "God is good all the time - and all the time God is good". Holding on to this is what gives me hope and a purpose. I know that this season too shall pass.

blessings on your day
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Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pull up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.