Month: September 2011

how much coded language do i use?

i have recently been around several groups of people who constantly speak in language that is difficult to understand unless you are in their circle/sub culture. they used a ton of acronyms and and words that had meanings that only their group understood. i found it pretty frustrating because i was always having to ask “what does that mean?” they just assumed i knew but i had no context for knowing what they were talking about.

so now i am wondering how often and in what contexts i do the same thing.

 

SIDE NOTE with an image:

on a lark i decided to look on the internet for a list of questions. there are plenty. one of the lists i found was a feed of questions and answers on ask.com. some of them, like the one above, are quite funny.

why didn’t i go fishing more this summer?

i don’t really have a good answer for this question. of our four years in wisconsin this was the summer that i did the least amount of fishing. this is a sad and terrible thing. i still did much more fishing this summer than i ever did in louisiana but that doesn’t make up for the fact that i probably did a third as much fishing this year as any of the other summer’s we have been in wisconsin. this will not happen again!

today’s question comes from the quote of the week at emy j’s. the above photo is the quote. i think it is a great point. being discontent can be a terrible and selfish thing when it is focused on just me and my circumstances. it can also be a wonderful thing when it is focused on those around me and those who are JESUS in disguise. if i am discontent over the circumstances that the needy face or over the barriers that are placed in the way of people desperately wanting to experience GOD’s love then this discontent will encourage me to make changes. i like that type of discontent.

so my question is simply …

am i too content?

am i too comfortable with the way things are? is it too easy to live life right now? to minister in these circumstances? if so i hope and pray that GOD will move me to the point that i am discontent and i will do all i can with HIS help to change things. may i have a holy discontent and may it move me.

i haven’t blogged my questions for a few days but i have been writing them down in my journal. so here they are:

 

day #5 – question #5

why don’t we call former president george h.w. bush, george bush the elder, which would sound very awesome?

i was recently reading some articles related to pliny the younger and it made me think how former president george w. bush could be called george bush the younger and his dad could be george bush the elder. how much cooler would that be? you know it would be amazingly awesome.

 

day #6 – question #6

why didn’t i get an elmo document projector before now?

i used the elmo this past sunday night at tapestry and i used it again last night when i spoke at the uwsp intervarsity large group meeting. i think it is effective but i KNOW that it is a blast for me to use.

 

day #7 – question #7

how often is the motivation for power behind what i do?

here’s what i mean by this question. recently i have been looking into the events of king henry viii of england and the english reformation. part of my study has been a realization of how many people who have been canonized saints by certain religious groups have often just been people of power acting to keep their power. there are tons of pious people who have been wonderful examples of faith in CHRIST. these are people who should be looked to concerning how to follow JESUS. yet so often we celebrate power and those who achieve it. we give them pious motivations when their motivations were usually more worldly in their nature. this is strange to me since i am trying to follow in the footsteps the LORD WHO displayed HIMself in the SON as weak. HE WHO has all power became weak in order to defeat the powers that fight against all that is good. so why do i so often celebrate power and try to achieve things through its means?

pam will write a longer blog post on our garage sale. she is a great writer and therefore you should read what she posts. i’m going to talk about our garage sale as a basis for my question :

why do crazy people always seem to zero in on me?

we had one guy come to our garage sale who bought a $1 item and then spent the next 30 minutes telling me about how child safety principals had been developed by president nixon and the then director of the central intelligence agency george bush  (at least he proclaimed that bush was cia director then though bush wasn’t actually director until president ford was in office) as a means to help them institute the new world order through the implementation of “nafka” (which i assume is nafta).

you might want to re-read that last statement.

this individual stood over my seat and lectured me concerning how not giving a one year old child a choking hazard was making kids weak enough for the government to subjugate. this individual said that when he was a kid his dad had him driving a tractor around their farm and once when he accidentally drove the tractor over a 50 pound bag of potatoes his dad shot him with a gun in his arm.

again, you might want to re-read that last statement. let it sink in a little.

his dad shot him in the arm when he was three years old. apparently kids really were tougher back when he was a child. i was worried about his one year old grandson desiring to chew on a lincoln log and accidentally choking which seems kind of lamed compared to being shot when you are a three year old.

anyhow the conversation went from child safety to a lecture concerning the downfall of america due to “nafka,” the new world order, and the republican party.

my question revolves around the fact that i am wondering why he zeroed in on me. there were plenty of other people in our drive way and he focused on me. you can ask pam, the “interesting” people always seem to laser in on me. there most be some scent i realize that draws “interesting” people to me. i just want to know what it is.

why in the world are we doing a garage sale?

i have no idea but pam wanted to.

i just finished talking with one of the barista’s at emy j’s (for those of you not from point emy j’s is the coffee shop that i use as an office much of the time). the barista told me that there was an attempted armed robbery last night at emy j’s. a guy came into around 8:45 pm (15 minutes before closing), ordered some ice cream, paid for the ice cream, then pulled out a knife while the register drawer was open and said “i’m sorry but i am going to need all the money in the drawer.” there were two female baristas at j’s at the time and the one who took the order said “i can’t do that” and quickly closed the register back up. the guy then went down to a bp convenience store and tried to rob it. i don’t know if he was successful there or not.

i have mad respect for this barista at the same moment that i would chew her butt out if she was my child. of course, i also have a huge smile across my face as i am typing this because the guy not only didn’t get any money but actually paid for his ice cream.

why did george lucas make the prequels to star wars episodes iv, v, and vi?

i think i probably know the answer to this question (money) but i ask it more as a lament. as in a fan of the original trilogy screaming up at the sky “why!?!?!?” the first three movies were so good. “a new hope” and “the empire strikes back” are absolutely amazing movies and “return of the jedi” still rates as a good movie (though i believe you can see the beginning of the end in the ewoks).

knowing when to quit is such an important skill.

BONUS QUESTION – why did francis ford coppola make the godfather part iii? again this is basically a lament.