The Shadow Knows

The Convention

2009-10-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

Now I'm going to leave before somebody gets the idea that this blog is active again >_>

Day 1

So I got out of the house just fine at about 4:50 in the morning. Tulsa's airport is fairly laid back and I went through the security check with no problems. I even had my toothpaste all ready to go in a zip-loc bag.

When I checked in and got my boarding pass, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had seat number 1A, which meant I would be right in the front of the plane. “All right!” I exclaimed, “They must have bumped me up to first class or something, maybe there weren't enough first class passengers!” This however, turned out to be a false surmise as not only was it not first class, it had no storage area for my bag unlike everyone else's seats. And leg room was scanty. It was a smaller plane than I had previously flown in and they apparently put the passengers they referred to as “Elite Passengers” (which seemed a bit snobbish to me) in the back. I guess they do that on the smaller planes, I don't really know. It was a fairly uneventful flight and I was able to finish a book that I had started well before the semester had begun. This is the first section of time I've had to be able to do that, which was very nice.

The flight attendant (or whatever the politically correct term is) was a man that I think had mixed parents, he looked something like Obama in skin color and something like Barney Fife in mannerisms and looks. He was very polite and would always offer me things by saying “Sir, would you like.....” and with a long, flowing sweep of his arm, gesture toward whatever it was he was offering. When I got up to exit the plane (that was the one perk of being in seat 1A, I left first) he gave a slight bow, a sweeping movement with both his arms and showed me where the door was. I appreciated it but felt I probably could have found it myself. He was very polite and very obviously took his job seriously, which was one reason he reminded me of Barney.

Leaving the airport was no problem. I guess airports must trust each other's security because no one bothers to check anyone leaving the terminal. That's nice because it would take up more time if they did. I got to the group just as they were getting to drive off. They are taking multiple trips out to get all of the conference attendees. We made several more stops around the airport until we were full. I was seated next to a young man named Zack who is in bio-mechanical engineering but want to be a doctor. He is from Pennsylvania and is taking a “Shakespeare in Film” class this semester. We knew some of the same plays.

The Hilton hotel is very nice. It's eleven stories and mostly class on the outside. At the desk I found out I am sharing a room with a chap named Eli, who has yet to arrive. This didn't surprise me and I look forward to meeting him. I was a bit stunned when I opened the door to the room and saw only one bed however! Thankfully the couch does fold out into a sleeper sofa so it will be just like back home :)

The room is very nice but everything costs a lot. I would have expected that in a fancy place like this, most of the things would be already paid for and “complimentary”. Apparently they milk you for all you've got. Internet is not free. It's something like $10 for 24 hours. They offer movies and games on the TV but those likewise are not free. They also offer a continental breakfast.... in bed! But that's $11 and if you want juice it's another $4.

I get reimbursed for certain expenses but that seems like it would be overdoing it. I'll just go and get something cheap downstairs in a bit.

On second thought.... the cafe had sandwiches for $12 so I'll pass that up and just eat chips in the conference room. The dinner they have planned is free to the voting delegates but for any guests it is $57! And that's one of the cheap meals they have here. It had better taste good and there had better be plenty of it, is all I can say.

I also found out that they do have free Wifi in the lobby with an access code, so that's what I'm doing at the moment.

The actual business part starts in about 15 minutes so this is the Traveler, signing out for now.

Day1 (end)-Day 2

So now I have a brief reprieve. It is nearly 10:00pm at night and our committee has finally finished all its work and will be making a recommendation to the general assembly tomorrow.

Speaking of which, as soon as we got here we hit the ground running. As voting delegates, part of our responsibility was to conduct chapter affairs and review what had been happening. I was on the financial committee so we were looking at things such as expenses, expense reports for next year, fiscal reports, and if the chapter had been spending its money wisely. I volunteered and was voted to be the recording secretary so my little netbook came in very handy, once again.

Our Financial Review Committee was then broken up into five smaller sub-committees to review specific problems. One committee tracked down chapters that had not paid their dues, for example. My committee was probably the most controversial one.

You see, starting about 15 years ago, it was decided to start a program that would encourage secretaries to turn in their paperwork on time. Out of the 220 chapters, only about 50 of the chapters would turn in their paperwork when they were supposed to. So the committee back then decided to offer a $500 reward to those chapters who did their paperwork three years in a row. The number of chapters didn't rise significantly. This program was then evaluated and done away with but many people objected and a motion was made to have a five year trial period. Chapters would be given $100 for turning in their paperwork on time (regardless if this was their first time or not) and for the second year $200, for the third year in a row: $300. Over the past five years, the average number of chapters turning in their paperwork on time rose from 54 to 61 (I did the numbers). Out of 220 chapters that isn't very much and was spent $10,000 doing this. The answer was clear-cut to me and to most people in our committee.

The recommendation was that the trial program was not successful and the monetary award should be done away with.

However, those chapters who do get the money now feel as though they are having something taken away from them, and those who haven't feel they ought to have a chance to get some money too. One guy said “Well now there is no incentive to turn in paperwork on time!” I think this completely misses the nature of the thing. You don't /deserve/ the money in the first place, in fact it seems wrong to reward someone for doing what they are supposed to do anyway! Do I get paid by my teachers for turning in my homework on time? No, I get penalized for /not/ doing it on time. It's what I'm supposed to do.

I find that in general, there is a rather liberal mindset and people look at things in an emotional “that's not fair for me” way rather than objectively and for the good of the organization. There are SO many people saying things like “Well I feel like....” and I just want to say “I don't care how you feel about the money, just stick to the points at hand., seven chapter for $10,000 is not good!” Then some people say “but we have plenty of money” and that annoys me as well. This must be how government is run. “We have plenty of money so we can continue this thing even if it only helps one person.” Where do we get the money?

So.... minor rant aside :)

Our committee seemed by far the most busy. We debated, discussed, skipped refreshments and went straight until about 10:20 that night. Our chair had been so busy the whole time that he had skipped dinner and I had been busy trying to type up proposals and recommendations and the minutes. I did this during dinner and in-between the applau.

Yes, that's what they called it. Right at the beginning of the convention a rather down-to-earth looking chap stood up and said “I'm going to teach you guys something. We have a lot of ground to cover and lots of awards. In the past we've gotten behind schedule because people feel they need to applaud. Well at this convention we're going to “applau”. I'll teach you how it's done: hold your hands apart like this [visual demonstration] and then bring them together once [clap!]. That's it. We're done.”

I liked it very much actually. I am not one of those people that gets carried away with applause. I will clap a couple of times for a person and that's it. And if the rest of the people stand I will not do so simply because everyone else is doing it. If I feel moved by respect or something then I will, otherwise I remain stubbornly in my seat. I won't respond to peer pressure. So the idea of just clapping once delighted me. It got the urge to show some approval out of the way without wasting all the time. Brilliant!

My roommate and I hit the sack around 10:40pm, tossed around a while and went to bed.

Day 2

Breakfast in the morning was rather dull for a fancy hotel. They had some muffins that tasted a bit stale and croissants and that was about it. For drink all they had was coffee and tea, no juice or even water, which was kind of disappointing. Maybe that's to encourage people to buy the $15 breakfast in bed deal.....

Meetings with districts, meetings with chapters, committees, general business meetings, oh yes, it was all there. We met in the morning for our Business meeting, in which the various committees reported and then people voted or made motions.

Off topic, I was noticing that facial hair must really be out of style. I saw two other people (out of 500 delegates) that had any kind of facial hair. It made me think that Hollywood must really be setting the image in this country....

...anyway. The discussion was interesting but very long. The first couple of motions went over very well except that half the delegates seemed to be in a shouting contest to second a motion and be put on the minutes. The gentleman taking the minutes (retired military) was obviously rather peeved about it all since it was both disorderly and made his job harder because he couldn't hear anyone.

But then we hit a couple of propositions to accept the Computer Science programs of two different schools as being an “engineering program” and therefore the students of these programs would be eligible for membership. There was heated debate on both sides, ammendments proposed, votes called, votes contested, ammendments contests, the chair was contested and called out of order, a division was called for twice (which meant that a head count of 234 chapters had to be taken multiple times) etc. etc. The chair was amazing, I did not envy his job.

Some people on the one side were saying very “personal” things like “I feel that they don't have any other honor society to go to so we should accept them into ours.” Aw... how sweet of you.

And at the opposite extreme, one guy essentially said “engineers are better than computer science people and I don't want to be associated with them. It would water down the society.”

Votes were finally called, hours were spent on this procedure and probably 20 people were lined up to talk. It was a big circus and unfortunately our secretary award thing will also probably be hotly debated, tomorrow *wince*

Dinner was very “meager” with the cost only being $34. It consisted of pasta (and a bit rubbery in my opinion) and chicken with Parmesan cheese. It was good, don't mistake me, but it was something that I could have made myself and fed two families with $34. I should start a catering service, if people are willing to pay that kind of money. I guess the expensive part is that it looked pretty.

More chapter business, district business, and committee business. It's all rather a blur at this point. At dinner we had a nice steak and that was very good. Very tender and there was a good portion this time, with mashed potatoes and gravy. I was glad for that. It was more expensive though: $62.

More committee business (a couple of hours) and now I'm in my room and ready for bed. It's late and I'm tired, it was a long day. There were so many awards given out today it was staggering. Awards for having a good chapter, awards for doing a certain program, awards for turning in paperwork on time. Everyone gets this plaque and I wonder what is the point of it all. It seems so silly and pompous. We award each other for everything it seems! One girl was upset that she didn't receive a laureate award and felt she should have and didn't understand why she didn't get it. Maybe she just doesn't understand that some people might be more qualified. Maybe she needs to learn that no one /deserves/ any award at all! that in the real world, not everyone gets the trophy after the little league game.

But then again what do I know? I'm just the lowly backwoods guy from Oklahoma ;)

Day 3

So I began the day bright and early. Breakfast was slated for 6:45 but apparently there was nothing on the menu. I personally checked and after wandering around for a while and only finding the $11.00 breakfast from the cafe, I was pleased to find what looked like a continental breakfast. I grabbed a plastic-wrapped giant muffin and an orange and then realized that this particular continental breakfast came at a cost of $2.00 for the muffin and $1 for the orange. Out of principle (basically I couldn't reconcile paying that much money for a plastic-wrapped pastry) I skipped breakfast.

The main part of the morning was spent in the general assembly. The chair of the committee for which I was secretary presented our report. The ever-controversial Secretary Award was quickly passed by. Since we didn't actually need to make a motion (then it would just expire) we tried to be as low-key as possible. No one objected at the time but this definitely was brought up in “New Business.”

There were some other interesting and boring policies. People were making ammendments to the constitution which scares me because people often write these things on notebook paper without much thought and then we vote on it. I'm apparently very Presbyterian: I like my constitutions/Statement of Faith and I like them to be unchanged unless absolutely necessary! Short and carefully worded language is a must.

Anyway, once new business came there was a lot of discussion with one of our committee members (the one who had called for a vote to reconsider last night) and who seems the very “generous” and “knowledgeable” and “progressive” type from New York, put forward the motion that the committee may have acted hastily and asked for an extension of one year and to have another committee conduct a survey as to why the program did not work. It was a smart move on his part and very carefully worded. In effect it continued the program but only for a short while. He generously agreed that the program did not work but urged us to have a survey as to why it did not work. I could have told him but I don't think that “procrastination” and “moral depravity” are particular buzzwords on convention floors. People are lazy. People aren't naturally generous. If there is no personal incentive (i.e. “I don't get any of the money myself but my chapter does) then people don't do it for the chapter. People, like Adam and Even tend to dump their responsibility on others and don't bother to train new officers or to obey existing rules. It's all very simple really!

There was MUCH discussion and eventually someone put forward a motion to amend the motion. This is always a bad thing in my opinion. It means much MORE discussion without specifically addressing the point at hand. We then have to vote and discuss amending the motion, then go back and vote on the newly amended (or left unamended) motion. Then of course someone usually contests the vote (done by “Aye” or “No”) as needing a written vote because it was too close and much time is spent having the runners going around passing out slips of paper, then a vote is taken and we can finally get back to the vote at hand. Lots of people proposed amendments and I think all of them were stricken down. The one exception was to this particular motion about the Secretary Commendation Award.

The amended motion was broken into two different motions, one that proposed to keep the program for another year to be evaluated by the committee next year, which *cough* is /exactly/ what we did this year. It made no sense to me but again good for him. People are very free with giving away money for another year, especially when they think they can get some of it themselves. The second part of the motion was to set up a committee to survey and find out why the thing didn't work.

In the middle of it all there were members coming forward saying “I'm from a small chapter and we use this money for scholarships”, “we depend on this money, please don't take it away.” There was one older gentleman (the same who had addressed our committee personally and who looked as though he were about to cry) who said that the students at his school are not very wealthy, they have debt and they used the $300 (matched by the Dean) to set up two scholarships for Juniors and he didn't know what they were going to do if they didn't get the money.

I had to be calloused but I wanted to say “Cry me a river!” The point of the program is /not/ to help small schools who are struggling with money, it is to give incentive to secretaries to turn in their paperwork on time. It's not working. One shouldn't have to give a bribe for doing what you're supposed to do anyway. If they really want scholarships, raise the funds themselves instead of expecting to get money for turning in paperwork. Once people get it once, they feel entitled to it. Yikes people!

The survey passed (so there will be an official inquiry next year) but happily the extension to the program did not, and by a significant margin as well. I was very pleased to see that. Maybe democracy does work sometimes.

One group got up and gave a little skit about the goings on at the convention and made fun of so many awards being given out. This was particularly amusing to me since so many chapters got plaques for turning in paperwork, for having a project, for voting in members: all things they are supposed to do anyway but now they get rewarded for it. Yay! So the skit basically said “well, we know you're all special anyway and you /all/ deserve rewards so we're giving away Nobel Peace Prizes!” In light of recent happenings, this was a well-aimed remark :)

But overall, a good many of the people were well-behaved, intelligent, and reasonable. Though some appeared to be a bit prideful and even haughty, there were a good many that were down to earth and just wanted to get some work done. I think everyone I spoke to was planning on being in academia and in retrospect, it was a rather dry and dull conference without any children around. It seemed that most everyone there was childless, even some of the middle-aged folks. They had devoted their lives to academia and science and children would just get in the way. I found it rather depressing but the same thing happens at school. Either the professors are always talking about how messed up their kids are (yelling and screaming at each other) or they are married but have no children: that would ruin one's career after all......

Now for the interesting part (took me a while didn't it?!)

There was an event at the local university but... my plane left at 4:55pm, the bus going to the airport left at 3:15 and arrived at 3:30. However, the proceeding at the university ended at 3:00. and buses from there would not get back to the hotel until after the buses for the airport left. I talked with one of the local students and said that I probably should just stay at the hotel then. “No problem, I'll just give you a ride, I'll have you back before 3:00, it will be no problem.”

Upon his assurances I did go. We had a lunch outside, in 40 degree weather, under a tent, with the wind and drizzle. We had a box lunch consisting of a Fritos bag and a croissant sandwich that had been sealed in a bag. Oh, it was good and all, but not $25 good! Food prices still strike me as exorbitant....

So we went to the ceremony and about 2:45 I was getting a bit nervous, looking around because we would have to leave at 2:45 in order to get back by 3:00 and catch the bus at 3:15.

At 2:55 I was thinking we were going to be cutting it really close, the ceremony was still going.

At 3:05 I felt like we might be able to catch the bus (maybe) if it was late.

By 3:15 I gave up and finally found the guy as he was coming out. He gave a sign of recognition. “Oh yeah, you needed a ride didn't you? Well just get on the bus.”

“You don't understand, the bus from the hotel has LEFT by now. It doesn't matter if I get on the bus or get a ride.” He seemed.... slightly apologetic? He said I should have called him. I did. His cell phone was off during the meeting. That will teach me to trust student assurances! He said he couldn't give me a ride to the airport but did take me back to the hotel. I wasn't sure how much good that was going to do but when I got there I went up to the desk and ordered a taxi. It was the only thing I could do because otherwise I would not have made the plane. I was informed it would be about $70 and a call was made to “George.”

While waiting for George, another cab pulled up and looked at me and asked if I needed a ride. “Sure, how much?” He hesitated a moment and then said “Sixty dollars”. I jumped at the hesitation and feeling confident said “fifty.” He thought a moment and then said “Okay, get in.” I ran in to the desk to tell them that I didn't need George anymore and went with the new driver whose name was Josef. I tried chatting with him. He was from Lebanon and according to him had been working there for 10 years or so and was trying to earn money to get his family over. I hate to be suspicious but I have to admit that I'm not sure his story was true.

He called in to the office with my credit card number (I do have fraud insurance so I felt it was safe enough and besides that I didn't have any option) and noticed that he didn't give the person on the phone the amount we had agreed on. He didn't say any amount...... would I get it for $50 like we had agreed on?

As I got out he said “Okay, so that will be $50, then there is the $5 for the toll fee and the $5 for the credit card fee.” Tricky guy. A word to the wise: don't try to get the best of a bargain with a cab driver.

But now I'm in Chicago and things look like they are on schedule. I think I'll go get something to eat. Something that's cheap..... you know: less than $30 or something.

Echoes in the dark

2008-12-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

It's almost haunting to see this old place....

And I still need to finish part 2 of that dream. I still remember it :)

This evening was a Christmas party at the Y house, with a bit of a Bible study on prioritizing one's time based on the story of Lazarus. It was essentially about training yourself to think in terms of eternity. I think that when Christ said "I am the resurrection and the life" it really did point to His union with His people, and in Him we all rise. Not to sound mystical but it's almost as though since we are part of His body, as He rises we rise with Him. Lazarus was a token of that resurrection promised to believers and as united to Him we should strive to live as part of His church, different parts of the body carrying out the tasks assigned to us. However menial or insignificant it seems at times, all parts of the body are useful and all parts are employed in some way in every part of the world, bringing cleansing to it.

I've been feeling quite a bit unlike myself lately. Tonight I arrived early (accidentally) so took a walk down to the lake. It was amazing to see the ice frozen in wavy form all along the coves and large sheets had built up on the spits. I saw absolutely no one there, it was kind of lonely. I had not been to the lake since September. I sat out there for about 40 minutes, thinking and praying, something I've been doing a lot of lately. In some ways I feel as though a piece is gone and I'm left as a shell, or perhaps have drawn into a shell. In this current state I am certainly not a candidate for new friends (or old friends for that matter). Yet at the same time the only way I sense to get out of it /is/ for that to happen. A very odd conundrum indeed. I've been praying for things to become very obvious to me. It's not good for man to be alone and I realized again tonight how much I just want to say "I went on a walk down to the lake, the ice was really neat, would you like to see it?" Which doesn't really fit into conversations with normal acquaintances. To share with someone even simple things. Feeling like a recluse when I really don't want to be. Wanting to be me again!

Yet all the while confident and trusting that in due time God will provide for me more than I can imagine. It's been comforting to look back upon people like Abraham, Moses, and David and see how God was with them through their lives - even when things seemed difficult - and in the end they were given great joy and peace.

Psalm 128
"Happy are all who fear the LORD, who walk in the ways of God. What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be happy and prosper: Like a fruitful vine your wife within your home, Like olive plants your children around your table. Just so will they be blessed who fear the LORD. May the LORD bless you from Zion, all the days of your life That you may share Jerusalem's joy and live to see your children's children. Peace upon Israel!"

The Great Escape (pt. 1)

2008-06-30T05:54:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while a man must escape.

He must escape into the recesses of his mind while he slumbers and embark upon an adventure which only he can foresee.

Only, he doesn't know what he will foresee. The subconscious knows. And so does The Shadow.

Listen to my dream.

Darkness covered the realm like a blanket of night. Daylight was hidden in shadows as clouds formed above the small town and soon dusk had fallen. The gathering clouds huddled together as though their combined strength could overwhelm the unsuspecting population below. The wind blew and a steady rain began to fall.

It was a dark night. And it was indeed stormy.

A small group of adventurers was gathering into one of the buildings. The building itself was obscure and did not stand out from the rest. One might pass by it a dozen times without taking notice of it. But I took notice of it this night. Something was brewing and growing with intensity in sync with the rain upon the roof.

"This book says it all!" exclaimed the electrical engineeringish looking fellow standing excitedly above the others. The rest of the group was seated looking rather puzzled. A dark-haired fellow rolled his eyes.
"That's just like you Logan, always thinking about books."
"No Jon! This is for real! The book speaks of a great treasure of knowledge, hidden by the Ancients long ago. I went through a lot of trouble just to track down the missing pages from the book. Seems some old monk decided to use them for scratch paper. Lucky for me he didn't throw anything away!"
"Hmm, well that certainly sounds interesting," said the oldest at the table, a man named Bruce. "I would like to hear more about this."
"Well apparently there are clues hidden away that tell where this treasure is hidden. All we have to do is look for them!"

There was stunned silence.

"No wait, I know it sounds strange and ridiculous but I think that the clues are actually hidden right here! That's why I've asked you all to come on this trip with me. I knew you couldn't refuse once we'd traveled all this way."

The silence grew, if that is possible. Logan continued his monotonous monologue.

"Look, the people here are supposedly descended from the Ancient tribe. From all the rumours I could find while looking on Google, they are pretty reclusive and act rather strangely. All of this sounds suspicious to me. I think I may be onto something."

If there had been a cricket, it would have chirped.

"The book doesn't say much, it just tells of a certain "path" that must be followed to lead to enlightenment. I say we start by talking to some of the villagers here. I admit it's kind of a creepy ghost town with just a few residents, but some of them are old enough to at least remember a few stories. So.... any questions?"

"Yeah!" said the blonde guy with glasses. "What have they got to eat in this town?"

**********

While they are trying to figure out the answer to that question, let me introduce you to the characters of this dream. They are
Logan, which is kind of a given.
Jon, who plays a very reckless part
Bruce, brought along to bring some semblence of sanity to the madness which is this adventure (my brain must have decided it needed some)
Jonathan, who plays mostly the part of a gap-filler and really isn't important
Evelyn, the one who finds the killer and the killer's bullets.... being shot at her.
Laura, who really just appears randomly

So now that the group has apparently mysteriously eaten and is satisfied, we resume the tale after a few disappointing door-knocks later.

"Ungh!" exclaimed Evelyn, "Those who aren't home just aren't willing to talk it seems!"
"Yes, it did appear that they are rather reclusive and reluctant to share any information...." mused Logan. "I did get the impression that some of them knew about it but didn't want to speak on the subject."

A shadow flitted in one of the alleyways and the bent man attached to the shadow appeared.
"Psst, c'mere!" he rasped.
A bit dubious, Logan motioned for everyone to stay back while he joined the man in the shadows.
"I kin tell you a bit" said the gaunt figure, "but you got to promise me you won't tell that I toldja."
"I promise." was the terse reply.
"Good. Now there's a door that leads to an iron house near da edge of town. It's hidden away in da bushes, you could passit a t'ousand times an' never spot it. It's locked."

Logan waited for what seemed like a fair amount of time before asking ".....and..... you have the key?"
"Do what?" queried the geezer.
Logan involuntarily winced. "I asked if you had the key." He repeated in a louder tone.
"Huh? No! 'Course not! Else I had opened it myself a long time ago!" He cackled and scooted off.

Bruce thought he had seen some bushes on their way in so the group walked in that direction silence. The rain had stopped but the darkness seemed to be growing thicker, sort of like gravy left to simmer, if that's even an acceptable analogy.

Sure enough, the door was no where to be seen. Evelyn's keen ears detected it after a bit of poking around in the bushes with a long stick. "Here it is!"

It was locked.

But on the front were six engraved symbols: a cube shape with some intricate indented carvings, a triangle with a scene of children playing engraved. A hollow half-sphere that looked something like a planet with moons circling it in orbit.

"Well, if it's anything like the movies I've seen, it's obvious that something fits inside each of these engraved symbols." deducted Logan, as he sat down to ponder this new development.

"Oh! You mean like this?" said Laura, head cocked to one side as she reached into her pocket.
"I found it stuck in the ground near the building we first met in. I thought it looked like a stone at first but it was too heavy."
"Let me see!" Logan sprang to his feet and crossed the distance in two large steps.

It was perfectly round but had raised orbits that showed tiny moons circling the miniature globe. Though it must have been of an ancient design, the startling thing was that it showed no wear whatsoever. It might have been a freshly made sculpture from a tourist shop, only there were no tourist shops in this town for the simple reason that they had no tourists.

"Aha! This must be one of the six keys! It has probably been buried for ages but the erosion has finally exposed it. The last bit of rain we had must have been the final touch. Great job Laura! Now let's see.... there doesn't appear to be any writing, it weighs about 5 pounds, feels almost as heavy as lead and I wonder what it's made of....hey!"

He said "hey!" just then because (with another eye-roll) Jon had just snactched the sphere out of his hand. "Just see if it fits! Oh my!" He shoved the ball into the slot and the door began to creak open with an ominous sound.

"Well, that was easy." said Bruce.

"Yes.... I really expected us to have to find all six symbols..." said Logan, perplexed and admittedly rather disappointed. The group started to march inside and lit some torches that were just inside the entrance.

Logan and Evelyn were the last two.
"Hey! I said you should have been in an Indiana Jones film and here you are" elbowed Evelyn with a grin.
He grinned back and walked through the doorway wondering what was inside.

And thus falls the curtain on act one of this adventure. Act two should follow shortly.

Trip to Ireland

2008-06-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well, another long overdue post but hopefully this one is quite full of information. I make no promises but I'll try to get it all straight, in order, and just hit the highlights. Otherwise this would be far too long. Days are given according to "Stillwater reckoning" and probably do not coincide with Frodo's days.

After a few months of anticipation, the time to take a trip to Ireland to visit E ("Frodo" hereafter I suppose) had come about.

The day before the trip was relatively busy. I had a few things to prepare at home and was swamped with tasks to do at work. My employer was realizing that I wouldn't be there for the next week and a half and wanted a few things done. I got everything done and was in bed by about 10:00.

Day 1:
The alarm went off at 3:00 AM and I was up and getting ready. The N's showed up around 4:00 and we drove the hour-long drive to the airport.

Going through security was interesting and not as strict as I had imagined it to have grown. We had to take off our shoes but there wasn't really a strip-down or anything. My bag was subjected to a careful look through the x-ray machine and I suspected that the Pringles can may have been the cause of concern.

The flight to Newark was pretty smooth. I always enjoy the take-off part. The feeling of sudden acceleration combined with the moment you first gently lift off the ground makes it quite the thrill for me anyway. I was seated next to an older gentleman who sounded Middle Eastern and we didn't talk much.

Once at the airport in Newark, I happened to notice that my sticker for my luggage only said Newark while the other two had luggage which said Belfast. So I checked and it was a good thing! My bag came down the chute and would have been sitting all by itself in the airport. The attendant said it was strange and it should have gone all the way to Belfast.

Anyway, the most exciting part was when Laura and myself got on the bus and took a trip to the Empire State Building. The traffic through New York City was horrendous and I was glad for the experience though I think that if I were to try to drive it myself, I'd have a heart attack! Lanes were disregarded, pedestrians tried to push their way in front of traffic and traffic tried to push their way in front of the pedestrians. Even stoplights seemed useless as the traffic going one way blocked traffic going the other way. At one point it took about 15 minutes to go two blocks distance! Let me walk the rest of the way, please!

But we finally made it. Walking the streets was fun, there were interesting shops everywhere and a hot dog/pretzel stand on just about every corner. I bought one for each Laura and myself on the way back. We made it safely to the building but it took about an hour and half to get to the observation deck on the 86th floor. Elevators took us from the 2nd to the 80th floor in about 45 seconds and we then had to wait around for another space of time until the stairs opened up and we took those the rest of the way.

The view was fabulous. There were rooftops with gardens, one even had a small house on top of a skyscraper that was covered in ivy. The city is amazing and it's incredible that men had the skill to design and build it. It reminded me that God has endowed us with great gifts and we should use it to subdue the earth as He has commanded.

The trip across the ocean was interesting. The plane was very nice and the back of the seat in front of every passenger had its own touch screen with a selection of movies to watch, games like chess, checkers, solitaire, and sudoku to play, and music to listen to as well as relative position on the globe and flight path. I ended up just going to sleep for about four hours amidst the drone of the plane.

Day 2:
We arrived in Belfast fairly early. After going through customs and being asked if we had any plants or foodstuffs and getting our passports checked we were greeted by Frodo! It was so good to see her again and she looked quite well. She took us on the bus to the town central and then we walked to Renwick. I was excited to meet all the friends I'd heard and read about.

We went to the Zoo that afternoon. It had been quite some time since I'd visited one and this one had a beautiful setting. It was on a hillside and all the pens had grass in them rather than the concrete that I had been used to seeing. The favourite site for me was probably the black Spider Monkeys who put on an impressive show for us. The tails grabbing on like a fifth hand looked very useful.

I talked with Frodo for a while that evening and then took a walk to clear my mind before bed.

Day 3:
This was Friday and Philip was arriving so we looked at the botanical gardens briefly and then went to fetch him. It was neat to see brother and sister reunited as they hadn't had much contact the past nine months apparently.

I don't recollect much further from this day aside from Dean visiting and he's quite the interesting fellow. He told us lots of tall tales and the joke of the night was "Did you get that off of Wikipedia?" He apparently edits Wikipedia articles to his own liking, regardless of whether it's the truth or not ;)

I took another walk this evening. Being in a city rather crowds me.

Day 4:
Saturday. We took a trip to the M's dairy farm. We first got on the train and rode it out to where we were picked up by Mr M. I liked him immediately. He was very quiet but very friendly. He drove us out and when we arrived, we were treated to tea and scones (for us Americans it's kind of like biscuits, only better). I put some jam on my scones and he told me I needed some cream so he very nicely helped me to some :) It was delicious. The two boys (twins though they look absolutely nothing like each other) joined us later. I liked Reuben a lot. He reminded me of one of my younger brothers. They had a scattered assortment of guns and swords on the lawn which I thought was the way it should be: one should never have to walk more than a few steps to reach a good weapon.

Reuben showed me the ranch and while the rest were jumping off of the wall onto the trampoline (Mrs M said it would be all right), he and I did some "superman" jumps off the wall. I was kind of sad to leave them, we'd only just met!

But it was on to the Giant's Causeway. Apparently lava cooled and crystalized into these hexagonal pillars about a foot across so you have something of a stairstepped landscape. Some stick out farther than others. It really is an amazing site. It was good to be on the coastline again, I think it had been some time since I'd been to the ocean. Maybe four or five years.

We also saw Dunluce Castle which was built on a cliff and pretty impressive. I really enjoyed seeing the structure and marveling at the ingenuity and skill of those who had built it. The cliffs in this area were really neat because they were rocky and sheer yet there was grass growing all over them as well. It gave it an old and other-worldly feel.

The drive home (the M's lent us their van) was rather exciting, though I'm sure Alan would disagree. Driving on the opposite side along /very/ narrow coastline coastline roads must have been very nerve-wracking. We made it safely however.

I did not go on a walk this evening.

Day 5:
This was Sabbath and another very wonderful day. We visited Shaftsbury Square church in the morning which mostly consisted of small old ladies who welcomed us quite nicely but didn't seem to remember Frodo (who had been going there throughout the last two semesters). Frodo confirmed that they never seemed to remember her and always asked the same questions. We also met a homeless chap named Cliff that Frodo and some of her friends had been able to minister to throughout the year. Oddly enough, the first night I went for a walk I saw him and he asked for money. I was the wrong person to ask for that! I had nothing!

In the afternoon we went for dinner to the W's house and were fed quite royally. The Irish food was a bit more plain than I was used to (more like potatoes, meat, gravy and cauliflower) but it was all quite good and Mrs W kept serving more and more! I didn't want to refuse so I ended up eating quite a lot. We then went on a walk and afterwards sat talking until it was time for the evening service at Trinity.

Pastor D was preaching and I had heard one of his recorded sermons before so I felt somewhat like I knew him. It was a great evening but the best part was a Psalm sing (or "Sam sing" as I found out). I loved being in the room singing praises with the other believers in there. The men's voices were booming and it seemed so easy to follow the baseline with that sort of backing. We got home late that night and went to bed.

Day 6:
This was the day that we took a hike to Cave Hill. It wasn't a long hike and the cave was rather unimpressive (more like a spot that some people dug out of the rock) but the view was great from up at the top. It was a relatively clear day so we were able to see quite a lot. Frodo was very joyful at this sight. It was fun to watch her run from place to place.

We ate lunch down on the lawn and went back to Belfast. Frodo joined me for a short walk that evening and then we all went to bed. This was quite possibly one of my favourite days (though it's hard to choose!) and I'm sorry I don't have much more to say about it.

Day 7:
We took a look at the Botanical gardens and also took a trip to the local Cathedral. It was very impressive but with the organ music playing it was also a bit eerie. It seemed as though everything was shrouded in mystery and in darkness. Like a going back to the shadows of the Old Testament. Humanly speaking it seemed so right, so reverent. I thought about asking one of the attendants if they truly thought God desired to be worshiped in this manner, yet I knew that the answer would probably be "of course! What else could it possibly be?" It seemed right, yet was so uncharacteristic of the light of the gospel and the simple glory and majesty of what God has revealed. Men unnecessarily shroud and confound it. It made me rather sad. Maybe I have some Reformer in me. The building was beautiful though and the stained glass was absolutely spectacular. The colors were incredibly rich and the details even on cloth was amazing. It made me glad that men tried to honour God with their skill and artwork and it must have been a beautiful place to worship, yet there was still that element of darkness that just didn't seem right. It did give me reason to think about it for a while.

Oh! One of the best parts was a stop to a bookstore on the way down town. It was an evangelical bookstore but they had, without a doubt, the best selection of theological books I had ever seen. I could have spent hours looking at all the old used volumes of Brooks, Owen, Hodge, Brown, Watson, etc. Some were quite beautiful volumes too! But all rather expensive unfortunately. We had tea in a little shop (Clements, or something like that) on the way back. I actually had a milkshake, Laura had a smoothie, Alan had hot chocolate and Philip had coffee so I suppose Frodo was the only one who actually had tea. Earl Grey in fact. The stuff that Mrs W would call "absolutely horrid" because it was scented. I had tried and didn't really mind it, though it didn't quite seem like a "manly" tea, if one can consider drinks to be manly anyway.

Frodo and I went on another rather brief walk then I went to bed.

I should also mention that she did a lot of the cooking and was our guide for most of the time and I greatly appreciated all the work she did for us. We must have been quite a burden but she bore it heroically. Thank you so much!

Day 8:
We took a trip to Dublin, about a three hour drive on the bus either way. The first stop was Trinity college and a look at the book of Kells. It was very impressive that the monks who had worked on it could do it all so well without any kind of "technology." It was beautiful and the care that was taken for each page was quite amazing. They clearly had a reverence and respect for the work they were doing. The Book of Kells is a Latin translation of the four gospels.

We went up the stairs and I thought we were exiting but was astonished to find myself in what was called the "Long Hall." It was filled with many thousands of huge, old, leather-bound volumes in racks that stretched up to a high, vaulted ceiling and on the second floor. Now /there/ is a place I would have liked to have stayed in for a while longer! They had a neat display of books and artifacts that I enjoyed looking at too. We also visited a museum which was very interesting too. The artistry of the old Gaelic people was very impressive. Some of the gold filament work was astonishing. Such care was taken in just about everything they had there, from swords to bronze arrowheads to artifact and relic holders. I really enjoyed that museum.

That evening the folks at Renwick were having a "Disney night" and watched Mulan. I don't particularly like Mulan and I was feeling rather claustrophobic that day after Dublin so I excused myself. I needed time to think as well. I thought about asking to leave the house but only three possibilities were presented:
1. Leave and try to get let in later (but I didn't want to disturb the movie)
2. Ask Frodo for a key so I could let myself in. I poked my head in the door but the room was very crowded and she was on the opposite side and I didn't want to disturb the movie that way either.
3. I could climb the back wall and get back in that way but it was raining and the slate roof was rather slippery.

So I just stayed on the back stairway and stared out for a while before finally turning into bed. Frodo, if you read this I hope I didn't seem mopey, I really wasn't. I just couldn't be in a crowded room after being in a crowded city and needed to be out. I'm not a city guy, that much is obvious.

Day 9:
Last day in Ireland. We took a trip to Slemish, a small hill out in the middle of the countryside. It was a fairly steep climb and it was fun to get to the top. There are a lot of sheep in Ireland. Frodo was something of a mountain goat, urging Emmaline to hurry it up. Emmaline's defence was that she had spent the past few weeks revising and getting no exercise.

We also stopped by a forest. For more of a description of that, see Frodo's blog. But it was very beautiful too. Quite different from what I was used to with all of the green undergrowth.

Frodo joined me for another brief walk and then I went to bed.

Day 10:
We took off fairly early to let Philip off at the airport. Emmaline was driving this time which I think Alan was grateful for. The roundabouts especially seemed to be annoying for him.

We all said goodbye and got ready to get on the plane. As we left and I took my last look at Ireland, my biggest thought was that somewhere down there was a good friend whom I appreciate very much.

It was a very good trip. I was glad for the opportunity. Ireland was really neat, the people were very welcoming, and the sights were beautiful. That's about all. There is much more that could be said but I'm sure not much more that could be read ;)

Good night.

Three months?!

2008-04-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yike! Time to dust this off!

I am very, very, very seriously thinking about shutting this down after post 200. Since I've only got three posts to go after this one, that's a good possibility.

Well let's see, some brief recollections....

Friday and Saturday, enjoying the fact that it was the last day of classes, spending some time visiting my family, surprising my brother with a cool "punch card" piece of an old Fortran program.

Hauling hay, playing frisbee, watching my mother's team play soccer (she's coach). Girls running, parents yelling excitedly.

Travel home, planning to work on a project, delighted to find it was canceled. Alone in the house, walking in the park, throwing the frisbee around while listening to a lecture on my iPod. Climbing a tree and enjoying the scene as dusk settled. Prayer. Walking home.

Sunday and communion. Time with friends. Frisbee with the kids in Enid. Nerf-dart guns in the Wagner's living room (Mr Wagner shooting Beth). Austin back in town.

Studying for Motors most of the day Monday, feeling prepared. Monday morning getting crushed by the exam. It really is the least favourite class I have ever had.

Monday evening going out to supper with the Jon's at New China Buffet. Then seeing "Expelled" about Intelligent Design vs. Evolution with Ben Stein. Quite entertaining and stimulating.

Now going to work. Glad to be completely done with three classes so far.

Not quite as scheduled....

2008-02-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

So sometimes a day doesn't always go as planned. Or perhaps it never goes as planned. I think it's a humbling experience and makes me mindful that I am reliant upon God for every day. Even if I don't say it, that should always be in my mind: that I am not the one who controls my life, God does.

So what happened?

Well, I'd planned on getting quite a bit of studying done. You know, finish a lab report, work on some homework, write a prelab, things like that. Things were going nicely this morning. Since it was the first Saturday of the week it was time to clean. And like every Saturday morning, my roomies were nowhere to be found ;)

I vacuumed out the top cabinets (finally!), managed to make some cookies, and start some N---- beans for supper. I heard a hissing sound from the back and quickly ran into the hallway to see what was going on. The hot-water heater was blowing water out the top. I shut off the water going to it and it subsided. After waiting for it to cool a bit I took a look at it. I didn't know if it was just hot and something was steaming or what the problem was exactly. Every time I turned the water on and it got to the top (I was draining it with a hose) it would start spraying out the top again.

It turned out that there was a small pinhole right at the top of the heater. A hotwater heater is constructed like a cylinder inside a cylinder. The inner "core" is empty and hot air flows from the burner below up to the top. Then the water is in the outer ring. Well, the pinhole had sprung in the inner ring so water was spraying out and dripping directly down onto the burner. Not good.

I thought about trying to patch it up but realized that if the wall was that thin, then it probably would just spring another leak sometime soon. So I borrowed Dan Y's truck and got a new one at Lowe's. Since I was the only one home today, it took a bit of maneuvering to get the old heater out, and the new one in. The new one was bigger than the older so I had to make a few modifications and an extra trip to Lowe's for some parts. But it's hooked up now and doesn't appear to be leaking, which is a good sign! Lowes would have installed it for another $260! That wasn't about to happen..... It was already more expensive than I'd anticipated.

Now when I turn on the hot water in the kitchen, it's almost with a sense of pleasure. It's amazing how little conveniences like that are so often taken for granted.

So that's two lessons learned today: Never think that I control my day, let alone perfectly, and be thankful for the conveniences I have.

Now I really should get started on some homework :(

Laughter

2008-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

A while back I wrote a guide for a game called "The Hobbit" (the game was excellent by the way) and I frequently receive e-mails from people who usually don't take the time to read the guide and simply e-mail me with their questions, expecting me to take time out of my life to help them with their gaming problem that they could have simply looked at the guide to find: after all, that's what the guide is for.

Most of the time these people don't even bother to respond with a "thank you." I guess they think I'm life-less AIM bot whose only purpose in life is to wait around for questions on games that I can answer.

The following is an e-mail I received recently that caused me to laugh quite a bit. Okay, so perhaps it isn't nice to make fun of people but this case deserves sharing. It's stereotypical of what I sometimes have to deal with.

hey my name is xxxxx and i bought the game the hobbit for ps2 and im on chapter 8 im supposed to go into the cider house now i dont know if my game is bad or what but where there should be a door it looks like as if you are looking outside into the water and it wont let me walk through it its behind bard i cant get into the cider house can you tell me if there is a door there and its just my game or am i doing something wrong if i jump into the water i can see the cider house and ppl standing there even check points but it wont let me get into it please help if you can im about to throw the game through a wall thanks if you can

After a properly written response on my part (albeit confused because I have no idea what she's talking about):

ok so i have done that believe me i love play station but there is no place that i can get into across from him is a place that has side rails on the steps right well it wont let me in ive gotten all the jems in the water even the white one ive walked along the building ive jumped into the water i think i have done everything ive saved at all the save points just to see what would happen and nothing do you know what i mean when i say the door behind bard isnt there that its blue is it like that in your game there isnt even a sign in front of anything that it will let me read when i first got to that level it did but not now i have no idea what im missing and im pretty good at finding what i need to do

The punctuation police will come and find you! Do you need someone to help you fix your broken shift key! Something! Anything! I have no idea what you're asking of me!

I responded with a request for a photo of the problem she's having. In this case, a picture is certainly worth a thousand run-on words.......

Gouge

2008-01-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Gouge's book "Of Domestical Duties." It's very good and for an old book (1600s) it's remarkably accessible. Unfortunately it's also difficult to get. There was a recent reprint but it's somewhere in the neighbourhood of $35.

And I must say that I've not been this engrossed in a book for quite some time. He has quite a few insightful things to say and the topics are varied enough to maintain my attention for quite a span. There were a couple of things in particular that I wanted to share.

First, I have a confession to make, if it wasn't already obvious. I'm a very non-traditional sort of guy in the sense that if a tradition seems to have no significance, I could care less about it. Like
throwing rice at weddings. I'm sure it must signify something like the desire that God shower His blessings of provision upon the new family but unless it's something like that, it seems silly.

And I still don't get the "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" tradition. Or throwing the garter. Why?!

Gouge related a history of the Romans when talking about how the man and wife were to
make a new family and each was to love their spouse and not let devotion to parents rob their spouse of that love. Apparently the Romans used to put a yellow veil on the bride (kind of like a
blindfold) and then spin her around a couple of times and carry her to their house so she didn't know the way back to her father's! I was amused but I think that it has more of a significance in a Christian context if one chose to see it that way. It's similar to the bride seeing the bridegroom waiting for her but seeing him dimly as through a veil, like we see Christ. When they are pronounced to be wedded, the veil is lifted and she sees clearly the face of the bridegroom and the wedding feast begins, similar to how we will have the veil lifted from
our eyes and shall be wedded to Christ.

Second, Gouge talked about the covenant before marriage, which though he didn't say was absolute, yet he said that there is example given from Scripture of betrothal that would be similar in a way to what we consider and engagement. Apparently in his day there was a custom of actually making a covenant before marriage that went like this:

The man would say:
"I, A take thee B to my espoused wife, and do faithfully promise to marry thee in time meet and convenient."

and the woman would say:
"I B take thee A to be my espoused husband, and do faithfully promise to yield to be married to thee in time meet and convenient."

He did make the good point that both could begin to more carefully prepare themselves for that marriage, knowing that they had made a promise to marry when the time came. I thought this was interesting. An engagement today, if properly done, signifies the same. Unfortunately many people treat it very much like they treat marriage: as being made null when I think it should be.

Third, Gouge pointed out that one good benefit of marriage is that the love of Christ is more fully demonstrated than to the unmarried. I thought this was very interesting too and deserved some more thought.

Fourth, he also made it clear, as I've often told my siblings, that one should take especial care to look after their own duties and not be scrutinizing the duties of their spouse. A husband is responsible for loving his wife, not for seeing that his wife reverences him, and a wife is responsible for reverencing her husband, not making sure her husband loves her. Sinful, fallen creatures often lose sight of their own duties and focus on the other's duties. Thank the Lord for godly marriages that are seasoned with humility!

Fifth, and this one I particularly liked. Gouge made the usual comparison of the husband to the head, and as the head is more exalted than the rest of the body, it should be treated with respect and should look after and cherish the rest of the body, giving it its protection. However, he also said that if the husband may be likened to the head, then perhaps the wife should be likened to the heart. As an example, he cited that woman was taken from the side of man, near his heart. This made me think a bit and compare:

The heart, metaphorically is more compassionate and sensitive than the head in being tender and caring and without the heart, the head could not survive. The heart needs the head to look after and protect it so that neither can say that they can do without the other. Both have their function to perform and though the head has more honour put upon it, that doesn't mean that it is more necessary or important than the heart.

So that's what I've been reading. It goes along nicely with the study on the Song of Solomon that has been occurring on Wednesday nights with the church. I've just finished the sections on who is eligible for marriage and an exposition of the relevant passage in Ephesians. Next I believe are the common duties between man and wife.

Fust day o' class suh.

2008-01-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Indeed! The semester has begun. My first class this morning was at 9:30 so I had quite a bit of time to make breakfast (pancakes and bacon) finish up Job in Matthew Henry (very good and rewarding) and sing our new Psalm of the month, Psalm 53. I even saw my roommates before I left the house!

The first class was with Dr Bunting. We had some trouble getting the volume up for our single student in Tulsa (distance learning) but the class itself sounds interesting. We're going to be using computer programs mainly, and programming our own programs to come up with solutions. That sounds very practical and I'm looking forward to it.

However, for the benefit of the Tulsa student we are supposed to push a button on a microphone near us when we answer a question. The problem with that, is the camera in the room swivels quickly and noisily to focus right on you. This is rather intimidating in my opinion. It's like one of those robots in Star Wars poking his face directly at you, and you had better not answer this question wrong!

The second class immediately followed and was with Dr Krazinsky, an old Polish gentleman. The class was solid state devices (electronics) but his examples all seem to focus on war. He said that world war two was responsible for the rise of semiconductors and likened the movement of an electron in a material to going through a group of soldiers and said that red LEDs were good for sniping. I've heard that his quizzes and class in general are extremely difficult and require a lot of memorization. We shall see.

The final class was with Dr Fan. This was the most interesting. He had a bit of a cold so sounded hoarse but this didn't stop him from getting very, very excited during his lecture. He began by telling us what we were going to learn, then started to talk about trees. The top of the tree is called the crown but underneath is the root system which often spreads two to four times the diameter of the crown. "This class" he said, "is like these roots. It might not look pretty but it's foundational, you need this and you need this solid foundation." He went on to show us a video clip from "Facing the Giants" (a football film I've never seen) in which a coach gives a /very/ motivational and forceful demonstration, then Dr Fan starts yelling at us and saying how he believes in us, we will have to work hard and keep up and get this done so do it! I felt like we should have cheered or said "yeah!" or something ;)

The nice thing about that class is that he said that the top three people in the class will not have to take the final. I'm going to shoot for that. After he said that, one of my classmates said "ha, Logan doesn't stand a chance" jokingly, but I think that may be closer to the truth than he knows. There are some smart people there.

So that was day one. Currently there are some unexpected guests at the house but I don't mind. It's just about seven people more than I was expecting ;) I need to talk to Jonathan and let him know that he needs to /ask/ first and let me know what's going on. They are watching a movie and I'm going to join them in a bit. So good night all!

A Westful We-tweet

2008-01-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

One of the highlights of this past break (which was just a bit too short by the way) was a trip to Colorado.

After spending a good few days with my family down at their house, I brought my youngest brother back up with me to my place. I spent most of the time with him at the house and then we took a trip to Colorado to go on a retreat for the Midwest Presbytery youth. I was one of the "drivers" as I'm not sure I'm considered one of the "youth" any more ;) Not quite sure about that though.

Anyway, the trip up was rather nice, in a comical sort of way. First, my car's defroster doesn't seem to work that well with four hot-blooded boys in the car. Next, the windshield wipers were frozen and stiff so every time a vehicle passed my low-riding car, a spray of mud would come up on the windshield. The wipers were only getting one tiny patch down low so I was nearly peering through my steering wheel trying to see. Nearly got a crick in me neck ;)

A couple of hours into the trip, Stephen mentioned and I suddenly realized that the hood was smoking. We pulled over soon after and put some more radiator fluid in but soon after that it began smoking again. We limped on in this fashion nearly to the Colorado border. I was thinking in my mind that I felt like I was limping along on three wheels when suddenly we were! A tire blew out so I quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and let Alan know. We pulled over and it turned out that I didn't have a wrench to get the nuts off so we tried flagging someone off the road. It took nearly fifteen minutes! Everyone pulled over to the other side of the road like the pharisees in the story of the good Samaritan. But a nice young couple did eventually stop and we were able to get the tire off and the rinky-dinky spare back on.

It was providential that the Colorado border was within 20 miles though because it was after 5:00 our time and all the places would have been closed. However, across the border it was just after 4:00 and we were able to get into a tire shop, get a new tire, and be on our way within just a few minutes. They didn't have anyone else there so they were able to get us in and get us out very quickly indeed!

From there we started going up into the mountains. The defroster kept failing and it was simultaneously too warm and too cool because the windows had to be open while the defroster was on full blast in order to keep even a small area for me to be able to see. It was dark by this time.

We ended up making it safely to the Colorado Springs Reformed Church. We were half-way into the opening lecture but what we heard of it was good.

The retreat itself was beneficial to me, there was more time than usual for games and such. I could only take a little bit of that though, then I grabbed a book and began to read. Such a pleasure to have a bit of time for that!

After the retreat was over, we went skiing, which was very fun. However, it was also (we were informed) one of the coldest days they had had. The sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds and the snow was swirling about constantly. The wind was blowing stiffly through the trees and, in my own un-wisdom perhaps (though I didn't have anything else that I owned) was wearing a mere pair of jeans. With a hole in the knee no less! I survived as long as the bundled up people though, so I felt pretty good about that, though by the end of the day I was very, very cold. Everyone was having trouble warming up their toes but I think everyone agreed that it was a lot of fun.

I spent the first three to four hours with Laura helping to teach her to ski. She was doing great despite the poor instruction. We took two beginning trips down the "bunny slope" and then headed up the lift to a higher run. It was much steeper in one spot and quite a bit longer. Laura did very well and we went on several runs up there before trying an even longer, though still the easiest rated one. We went inside to warm up briefly, then back out to ski down a bit more before lunch. During lunch, Laura admitted that she had been feeling very terrified but she never told me until after the fact! Quite the trooper.

After lunch, Tanner, Josh Mann, and myself had time for three black-diamond runs (I fell down a couple of times, quite fun in the powder!) and then headed in because it was time to go. I was feeling rather iced over anyway. The ski mask I was wearing had ice all around the mouth and nose and Tanner's goggles had ice on the /inside/ of the mask. Later we heard that on a nearby peak, what with the wind-chill and all, the temperature was supposed to drop to somewhere around 60 degrees F below zero!

The drive back home was fairly uneventful, one of the people at the church had very generously said he would look at my car, and he found a small leak in the heater hose so he replaced that and I had no cooling problems since then! Plus the defroster worked a bit better as well. Laura drove for eight hours of the way back home, which was a great boost in her driver's permit time that she needs.

Now, as for the retreat itself. The topic was prayer and a more opportune time in my life could not be had.

I've been praying and considering trying to be more active on campus as an encourager and to help start a prayer group. I'd been talking to another classmate of mine and we've laid some plans but I've not heard back from him as to the place or time yet. I would really like to pray specifically for revival and even if it's only a couple of students a week, then that would be enough.

So the lectures on prayer were good reminders for me. There was one in particular, the last one, that was most helpful. I'm going to upload it (or most of it) so you can listen to it as well. The topic of the last lecture was "Importune Prayer" and he begins by explaining what that is.

I also had the opportunity to talk to some of the other CY about some spiritual issues. We all know that it's so much easier to say that it would be a great thing to start praying more and be very active in that, but much harder to put it into practice. I challenge you to listen to this lecture and really begin praying! God has established this as a means of accomplishing His will and what a blessing that we can come to Him.

http://www.box.net/shared/kzlrd2r4sg

"Three Topics To Think (upon)" of which this is the third.

2007-12-21T16:32:00.000-08:00

The third topic for this evening also comes from Edwards initially, but from other books as well. It has to do with marriage.

First, I was reading a little bit of Edwards' life and it mentioned that he had died of an experimental smallpox shot. He was away from his family and as he lay dying, he gave this message for his wife:

"Give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her that the uncommon union which has so long subsisted between us has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever."

This was considerably edifying to me. I had often wondered about the marriage bond. Truly the Sons of God in heaven are not given in marriage, but I've had a desire for a longer relationship than simply one that is on this earth. Please don't mistake me, the idea of heaven is not to be with our friends and family, the idea is to be with Christ! I imagine that all other affections will certainly pale in comparison to that which we will have for Christ, quite possibly one won't even be looking at anyone else. At the same time, wouldn't it be joyful to see someone you have spent your life with, sharing the shadows of Christ and helping them to grow, nurturing them in the faith, to finally be made perfect and complete and wonderfully like Christ themselves? It almost seems that the only thing better than experiencing that yourself, is sharing that experience with a spouse.

Of course I am unmarried, but is still something I'd thought about. The encouraging thing was that Edwards had that hope, and I think I may as well. There does seem to be a spiritual bond in marriage that is a good gift of God.

Edwards would often ride out into the fields with his wife, Sarah, to spend time alone with her. For someone who was so busy constantly, this must have taken tremendous discipline, especially with all their children! I imagine that this got easier as their eldest grew old enough to look after the rest ;)

It reminded me of what I was hearing when I was listening to J I Packer's lectures on the Puritans earlier this week. They are available for free on iTunes if anyone wants to look for them, just search for "Puritans." Not many results come up so it should be easy to find! Anyway, the last couple of lectures brushed on the family life of the Puritans, and marriage especially. In an age where women were often put down, coming out of the Dark Ages, the Puritans stood as a shining light. They saw their wives as a companion, and Matthew Henry used the description which seems to have originated with Augustine, that the woman "was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved." Indeed, the woman needed the man, but the man needed the woman perhaps even more. It is in his nature to desire to look after his wife and see her grow in grace and beauty. On the other hand, she wonderfully complements him by adding a bit of tenderness where he is more rough. Such a wonderful thing this is that God has done, that those who labour by themselves are sometimes inadequate for the task and that often the case is that when two Christians are yoked together and pull together in the same direction, the result is much more than the sum of their individual labours.

They were very good lectures, and were very beneficial and encouraging to me. I think today that it has turned into something more like two people living together rather than two Christian's working and honouring God together. The glory of the man is his wife, whom he delights in, and the glory of the woman is the man whom she trusts in. There is confidence, mutual help and growth, love, and protection that is not to be compared with in this world. Packer said that some of the earlier church men thought that women were subservient and that a man's true confident and best friend had to be someone of his own sex, and they appealed to the case of Jonathan and David. On the other hand, the Puritans believed that the wife (or husband) was to be the bosom friend, a good gift of God and a confident and companion like no other.

I am thankful to see the godly marriages in my church, the mutual respect and love. Oh, no life is perfect and there are some times that are harder than others, but on the whole, God has definitely blessed the families that I see around me, and I'm thankful for that. Mom and Dad, I'm thankful for your marriage as well and I do hope that it grows deeper and more rich with every passing year.

But now I've exhausted my time. I should go now. I have at least one other topic that I'd like to talk on soon, but it's much less profitable than these were (profitable to me at any rate) so I'll save that for later.

"Three Topics To Think (upon)" of which this is the second.

2007-12-21T16:18:00.001-08:00

The second topic that I wanted to discuss is the combination of two of Edwards' discourses. The first of these two discourses was on the subject of procrastination. Not the type of procrastination we typically think of, but more of the type of procrastination that puts off spiritual things until later, thinking we have plenty of time.
The second discourse was on the subject of the preciousness of time. This fit in very well with the first topic so I'll attempt to dive right into both of them.

First, Edwards draws a very good distinction between two ways of living. One is living for tomorrow and the other is depending upon tomorrow. These may, at least to my eye, appear to be very similar, but there is a very striking difference. The person who lives for tomorrow is doing what is required of him. He plans ahead, he sows so that he may reap, he lays up store for his family, he works to make a difference in the world and community and has a long-term plan. We don't know but that God may let us live a while longer upon this earth so we plan accordingly and attempt to put whatever time He gives us to the best use possible.
The second person, who depends upon tomorrow, puts off things of today because he is very certain that he will have time to do it tomorrow. Edwards, again, applies this to spiritual subjects: the man who thinks that his soul's good can wait another day. Surely he'll have time to repent tomorrow, or surely he'll have time to pray and study tomorrow and so pursues his pleasures now.

Do you catch the difference? This ties in closely with the preciousness of time. God has given us time, it is a gift to us! Edwards said that if we saw people spending money as freely as they spend their time, we would think they were mad! And yet the time that we have here is one of the most precious gifts that has been given to us. Use this gift wisely and for the glory of God, not for one's own pleasures.

Now I'll state right off that God does intend for us to enjoy His creation and relationships and everything good that He has created, but all of this tends to His glory insofar as it directs our hearts and minds to thankfulness and praise.

There are some people out there for whom time appears to be a burden. When they have time, they spend it all in front of the television or wasting it doing nothing. Their only goal seems to get this time off of their hands because it is too heavy to bear. They waste the precious gift that God gives.

One day we will have to give an account of all of the time that we were given and how we spent it. It's very similar to the parable of the talents: the master had given his three servants varying amounts of money and they were required to use it wisely. The first and second servant had been faithful with their differing amounts and were able to say to their master that they had used his gift in a very wise manner and for His benefit. The last servant had merely buried it. He hadn't done anything to profit even himself by gaining interest from it. He was a worthless servant.

It was convicting for me, to try to spend my time more wisely, to spend time alone in prayer and study, and time with others for their edification and my own. It has encouraged me to try to talk about spiritual things and things that really matter, rather than just trying to pass the time having "fun". My question to myself has been to ask how my speech and conversation edifies my friends. Spending time laughing and having a "good time" is all fine, but I should try more to profit from it, and help benefit them as well. I think that's what God intends to give true, lasting enjoyment from, not something that fades after one or two evenings.

So yes, time is precious! Seek to glorify God with the time He has allotted you.

"Three Topics To Think (upon)" of which this is the first.

2007-12-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

Yah, I couldn't think of another word that started with "T."

Hullo! It's been a very long time since I've updated. Life this past semester was busy as I'm getting into some more difficult classes. There were struggles, there were some very good things, but that's not what I'm going to talk about now.

By the way, I've thought about retiring this blog..... but I'm not ready yet! It gives me a platform to speak upon that is unlike any other.

First topic: The Sabbath
I've been reading a few pieces upon the subject. The first was when I opened up some of the works of Jonathan Edwards and began reading one of his discourses upon the Sabbath. He gave some very interesting remarks on it. First he sought to build the case that it was established by God and was meant as a perpetual ordinance. This is seen in two different things:
First, as most people will admit, it was instituted by God at the creation, along with marriage and work, which are two very good things that God has given us. It is said later in the Bible, in Exodus, that we are to labour for six days and rest on the seventh, because this is what God did. He didn't need rest, He is the almighty, rather He did it for our example and edification.

Second, God also gave the command as part of the ten commandments, which Edwards says were written on stone to signify their perpetuity, their unchangeable nature. It is interesting when looking at it, that the commandment does not specify a day, just the seventh day after six days of labour. It is the principle that is in mind here, not a specific day. We could very well begin our counting from Wednesday but the idea remains the same.

After building this case, Edwards continues to make the case that God still gives us a day of Sabbath rest. He asks the very pointed question as to whether or not God would have left the decision of when and how frequently to worship, up to the imaginations of men. There were a lot of people in his day (and in ours) who believe that Sunday is just a convenient day that we have chosen, by tradition or otherwise, to meet. Edwards says no, God has not left us without instruction on this matter.

He brings up some very interesting points, first, that as the Jews were very reluctant to change in many things, so God changed many of their traditions by degrees, or very gently. So there was no immediate command to change from Saturday to Sunday, but He did show more favour upon that than any other day. Take for example, the Spirit catching up John on "The Lord's day" which is a reference to Sunday. Or to Christ appearing to the apostles on that day, in the shut room, or when He sent the Spirit to them on the day of Pentecost. Each of these instances was a Sunday. The apostles began to set an example by gathering together weekly to break bread (communion) on the first day of the week. One important verse is found in 1 Cor. 16:1,2 where Paul makes specific command for people to lay up, or tithe on the first day of the week. This isn't arbitrary, or something that Paul just thought would be good to do and you might as well set a week to do it on, no, this is inspired Scripture and there is a definite purpose behind it. If it isn't to instruct us to meet this day, then it wouldn't appear to have any meaning at all.

The conclusion to all of this is not to become legalistic and claim that we should try to obey strict rules and make a list of "don't do's" etc. As Dan Y. described on last Lord's Day, those people who begin to do this are really forgetting the picture. They have a wonderful steak which God has prepared for them, yet they argue over whether it is all right to eat the peanut butter and jelly off to the side.

The Sabbath is a blessing! It was instituted by God for a purpose, for our rest and edification. The Puritans referred to it as the "market day of the soul" when one would feed his soul well. I have found that the gift of leaving all of my worldly cares behind on that day has been a great relief to my mind. I can concentrate on Scripture, meditation, prayer, worship, singing, things that I don't normally have much time for during the week. It truly is a blessing and a gift and yet it is so often shunned. Why? Why would anyone wish to argue for the cessation of the Sabbath? Why would anyone wish to argue that it's a day like every other and that every day is equally sanctified? We know from experience that it's not true. The testimony of Scripture seems to place more honour on one day than the rest.

Lastly, Edwards exhorts the Christian to expect, as God did in the past, an outpouring of the Spirit on this day. It's a day for the soul, take advantage of it and spend the day in study and communion with God. Don't squander His good gift, but accept it gratefully and use it to your advantage.

A few thoughts

2007-10-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Aptly named I hope, because this shouldn't be an extremely long post.

This past week I had occasion to hear of a young girl who had a child out of wedlock. Now her mother is a grandmother at a very young age. This started me thinking on a rather lengthy and possibly random chain:
This older woman is a grandmother physically. She may or may not have wanted something like this but physically she is. Very similar to this, sometimes people may become grandparents in name and in actuality not be. Something of this nature requires more than just a physical relation.

Very similarly (and this ties back to the marriage study on Wednesday nights), the relationship between a husband and a wife is not purely physical. There cannot be merely a legal agreement or a contract that the two share the house together. That is not what a husband and a wife are supposed to be. For a male and a female to call themselves husband and wife merely on legal terms would be a complete mockery of God's institution of marriage. It goes so much deeper than that! It is indeed a picture of Christ's love for the Church, of God's love for His people, and how that ought to be reciprocated by our people. Christ gave of Himself freely and wholly. His disciples certainly didn't deserve it, they were just previously arguing as to who should be the greatest! Yet Christ never complained but gave Himself. How great a love was this!

It cannot be in name only, there is a bond much deeper than this, to a spiritual level. Oh I know this is not news to anyone but I've been rather saddened by the relations I've seen around.

Just this past week a former classmate of mine was talking to me when he got a text message. He said it was from his girlfriend in China where she was on a study abroad trip and she wanted to know if he could talk to her. He said that he was at school and they didn't have webcams there so he couldn't, besides that, he wanted to get something to eat. He was complaining about it to me and my first reaction was that it sure seemed that he was focusing on himself. True, they are not a husband and wife but there appears to be very little foundation for that to ever occur! My thought was that she was in China, where quite possibly there were very little people of her own language to interact with. His thought was that she was bugging him all the time and he wanted to just live his own life. Relationships require sacrifice and commitment, selfishness only destroys because selfishness is not about the other person, it's about me, and "me" is not part of "us."

Another thought I had this morning. I was thinking of the passage that talks about the wheat that must die before it can come to life and applying that to our spiritual lives. It struck me as quite amazing:

Our earthly bodies, as Henry says, continue to die as soon as we are born. Yet the amazing thing is that our spirits continue to grow in strength. I had this mental poetry of our flesh, or earthly man growing weaker and weaker with the ravages of time. He struggles against the spirit but in the end he must give way and die. The spirit grows stronger through this time, like a bird that is breaking free of its bonds and then soars heavenward. At last, the prison of the earthly man, the flesh, crumbles and the spirit is free and not only that, but because Christ has conquered death, our flesh is made renewed because it has been redeemed. Even our very bodies were purchased by Christ. Oh yes, we grow weaker but for the Christian, it only means that our flesh (and I use that in the biblical sense) is losing the battle! We shall be more than conquerors.

And not to say that the flesh is bad, I'm not proposing gnosticism by any means, but it does afford a spiritual allegory or picture.

That is all.

Ride in the breeze/Ridin' the breeze

2007-10-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

I know it's been quite a while.

These past few weeks, and the next few have been and will be busy, with not a whole lot of time to do anything other than my school and work responsibilities.

I'm currently working on a new employee manual for one of my jobs, which should kill three birds with one stone: first it will be used as a report for one of my assignments. Second, it will be useful to Dan because that's what he's wanted me to do: basically condense all of the things I know and do for the company and write them up in a report for a new employee. Third, it will hopefully result in my replacement! I desperately need one :)

Today I took a bike ride out to see the Stillwater parade at 9:00 which they had for homecoming. It was fun to see all of the floats and vehicles they had. The "lawnmower" team was very funny (and impressive) to watch, and Joseph absolutely loved the tractors of course. When the first one came along, he was sitting near me and I said "Hey Joseph, there's a tractor" and his head snapped around so fast! Dan said "that got his attention!"

Later that afternoon, after having finished a report for my circuits lab, Jonathan was getting ready to leave for work and I decided on a whim to bike up there with him and continue on, trying to get to Dr Allison's house to collect his signature (he's never on campus). The wind was positively howling, going directly north, so the ride up there was a breeze! (if you'll pardon the pun).

According to weather.com, we had a steady average of 22 mph winds with gusts of 29 mph. I made it up to about airport road almost coasting the entire way. I needed to find Rogers street but though I had a general idea where it was, the only specifics I had was a recollection that it was somewhere past Lakeview.

So when I got near Airport road I turned back and peddled a bit south. It was nearly painful! I struggled to go past a jogging pace, right on that busy highway too, since there were no sidewalks! I backtracked for about half a mile, thinking it might be down Liberty, off of Perkins somewhere. I couldn't find anything but I did find a mailman and if anyone knew where Rogers street was, he would. He said that it was north a ways, before Airport road he thought. So I biked back north about 3/4 of a mile and didn't find it. So I headed south again. The wind had picked up and in that area where there were no trees and just a flat road going over a hill, man! It was hard peddling!

I saw a couple of guys outside the Stillwater radio station and stopped by to ask them if they knew where Rogers was. One had a map so we looked it up and it turned out that it was about 3/4 of a mile /past/ airport road. I again headed north. Going north was easy but I was dreading the return trip.

"Oh well, I'll have a good story to tell about getting Dr Allison's signature" I thought. I pulled into his driveway, which looked rather vacant. There were a couple of old newspapers on the doorstep and the mailbox was full of mail. I knocked on the door but didn't get any answer. I nearly shed a tear....

So then for the return trip. ARGH, UMMNGH, EEEPH, OORF.
I felt I could almost have made it faster walking back! Lots of people zooming past me, going to the big football game. Plump people wearing orange and driving big, shiny trucks with OSU flags. I almost flagged one down to give me a lift ;)

Traffic was worse today and several people made an attempt to run me over, though I clearly had the right-of-way or even a crosswalk signal! In the end, I made it down to OnCue, ordered a big Dr Pepper flavoured Icee and then biked the rest of the way home. Golly the wind was strong! I know I'll sleep well tonight ;)

upposedly, according to Google maps, I biked about 10 miles in about an hour. It took about 15 minutes to get up there, and 35 to get back :) Woowhee!

Until next time... whenever that may be, this is The Shadow.

New Post?!!!!!

2007-09-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I apologize! It has been a very long time since this blog has been updated and it may be a while before it is updated once again. And this update isn't much more than entertainment :)

My schedule has been extremely busy. In addition to work, TA hours, school and my own household needs, I've also been trying to join an honor society called Eta Kappa Nu which is for Electrical Engineers. It's for the upper 1/4 of Juniors or 1/3 of Seniors. It was pointed out to me though that to be in the professional school, you have to have a B average so maybe it is more honourable than it seemed at first :)

I have to help with tutoring (more Circuits, so it's not a problem, just more time) and various meetings and gathering signatures of instructors. Yesterday I went and got a few more signatures for my collection and managed to catch one older instructor while he was on his way to his office. He said that he would have to ask me a question before he gave me a signature. So he asked me
"Do you know what the speed of light is?"
I said "about three times ten to the eighth meters per second."
"Good. Hmm.... what about the charge on an electron?"
"Approximately One point six zero two times ten to the negative nineteenth Coulombs."
"Hmm, very good! Let me see.... do you know the diameter of the earth?"
I paused for a second and then said, "No, and I don't even have a rough estimate."
He took a long sigh and then proceeded to give me a speech which went like this:
"Well, now, you know. You have to know these things. Life is all about numbers and if you don't know these... say for example you wanted to know how far it is to another country, you could count the time zones and then calculate the distance based upon 1/24 of the circumference if you knew the diameter. Well, okay" (another long sigh) "I'll give you a signature if you /promise/ me you'll learn these things."

I kind of had a hard time not laughing because he was dead serious this entire time. I hope life isn't all about numbers!

Okay, so now for some pictures :D

I got a new computer (you heard right Amigo) and it's amazing. I really like it a lot. It also has a built in webcam with software that is called photo booth and you can take all sorts of goofy pictures. So......

Check these goofy things out :D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loganwest/sets/72157602126765111/

Bye now.

A Sabbath Afternoon

2007-08-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

And a busy one at that. I stayed home from Enid because I had quite a few things I've wanted to get done. The first was an e-mail to a professor at a seminary that a friend of mine is looking at attending. He had already responded to some of my questions and I wanted to ask some more and thank him for his time. He also had suggested getting in touch with another professor so I also did that, asking him varied questions on dispensationalism. Then I e-mailed Bruce the link to the seminary (I had spoken with him about this over lunch this afternoon) and lastly sent a very long e-mail to Silas trying to explain somewhat summarily, the points where I would caution him. The seminary teaches a "progressive dispensationalism" which I didn't know what it was, so I spent a bit of time researching that as well.

I have been desperately wanting to read some of my own books this week as well but time has been scarce. I've only read a couple of chapters in Henry, for example and I've dropped behind in other studies I'm doing with various people. So I'd like to do some reading this evening. So I finally decided that I should stay home from Enid and I may have to do that this next semester if I'm to prepare lessons for the next week.

Things I have left to do:
*write up some lessons for the Pilgrim's Progress Sunday School class I'm teaching this fall (I know I'm not going to have much time this semester so I'd like to get a head start).
*Finish the revisions of the Cowboy's Progress Script and finalize something that could be used by other churches.
*Post this on the CY blog as Sarah asked me to
*Write-up for Lights on Stillwater flier

The last one Dan, Bruce, and myself had been talking about over lunch. They were talking of a way to get the word out to new students who were looking for a solid church, or even to students who /didn't/ know they were looking for a solid church. I made the suggestion that something which would have attracted me is names or pictures of familiar people (Sproul, Spurgeon, Edwards, Pink, Luther, Calvin, MacArthur, Piper, Chandler) and then thought that since the question I receive the most is "What does the "reformed" mean in your name?" that it would be good to have a flier that has
"Stillwater Reformed Presbyterian Church"
"What does 'reformed' mean?"
And then go on with a brief explanation of our Scriptural beliefs and perhaps a list of names of those who might be considered reformed, like Chandler or Piper, or Spurgeon, since it's surprising (and encouraging) how many people recognize and like those pastors, yet they've never heard the term "reformed" and think it's some new and improved, fancy offshoot of the main Presbyterian church. So I was unofficially assigned that task, as well as a few articles on topics to go on the website for those interested in more information. Jon and Jonathan can help me with those since they know more what people might be interested in finding out more on (i.e. predestination, inerrancy, etc.)

Busy week. By the way, Jonathan Mounts isn't sitting behind me right now, but Mount Jonathan is, ie.e a huge pile of Jonathan's belongings that are dangerously obscuring the desk. I had to do that to get it out of the kitchen and living room. I couldn't even get to the sofa, let alone pull my bed out! :)

Hopefully this will all be cleaned up by the end of next week.

Hopefully. :)

Okay, so now for some quotes and thoughts:

I've been reading some sermons by Spurgeon at the assisted living center. I'm not really sure how the reception is. Jimmy never says anything and the two other ladies, well, one is very attentive but I have a feeling it's more politeness, but I truly hope she is listening! The other kind of nods off after a while, then sometimes says something "spiritual" that doesn't really relate to the topic. For example, today the sermon was about the Syrophoenecian (if the spelling is correct) woman that Jesus told it was not proper to give the children's bread to the dogs. The point Spurgeon kept hammering was the woman had such great faith in Christ that nothing he could say (calling her a dog, telling her essentially that he wasn't sent to her etc) could shake her faith, she still believed in him like Job who said that even though God slay him, yet would he trust in Him. Well, after the sermon, Willie says "Reminds me of 'Oh ye of little faith.'" but maybe she was thinking of something else. It's been almost a full year now that I've been doing this, I really hope that there is some benefit. It's been a great encouragement to me to read this sermon myself, to realize that even though I might not see the fruit, to not give up and to be more like the canaannite woman in the account and have faith that God does listen to prayers and does work indeed.

He brought up some very neat imagery of her bringing in this "little dogs eating the crumbs from the children's table" and how full it was of symbolism. In the East the dogs were something grown men would not tolerate, yet the children (who didn't know any better) would play with the pups in the streets and they would be tolerated near the table for the children's sake. He said that even though the children (like Christ's disciples) would be mean sometimes and "pinch and pull" (they told her to go away) yet that doesn't discourage her, she even calls herself a little dog, but one who would eat whatever scraps the children didn't eat, and the point was that even the "crumbs" were enough, she had faith to realize that Christ's "crumbs" were more bountiful than any king's table.

I can't do justice to the sermon, but it was very good, and an encouragement to me. I needed someone there to discuss it afterward, since no one joined me today except the three residents mentioned.

Another interesting thought, is that Jesus says that he was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And something Spurgeon brought up that was very interesting (that I'd not thought of) was this: That it was a reference to spiritual Israel and the doctrine of election. That Christ was meaning that he was indeed sent to her as one of the "true Israel" even though she would have understood it to have meant ethnic Israel. Now that's a neat thought! He didn't dwell on that long, but took it more as a double-meaning.

This month we are looking at Psalm 48 as our Psalm of the month and there are some neat things I'd like to share from Spurgeon's comments there as well.

First, as Dave very clearly pointed out, this can be very spiritually applied to the church as the New Jerusalem, or to the heaven which is basically the church in her glorified state dwelling with God forever. Now, one of the persons Spurgeon quoted, J.L. Porter, said the following, which I liked very much:

"When I stood that morning on the brow of Olivet, and looked down on the city crowning those battlemented heights, encircled by those deep and dark ravines, I involuntarily exclaimed, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great Kind." And as I gazed, the red rays of the rising sun shed a halo round the top of the castle of David; then they tipped with gold each tapering minaret, and gilded each dome of mosque and church, and at length, bathed in one flood of ruddy light the terraced roofs of the city, and the grass and foliage, the cupolas, pavements, and colossal walls of the Haram. No human being could be disappointed who first saw Jerusalem from Olivet."

And yet, even with all of this glory and splendour (David speaks very lovingly of this city), the real fulfillment is in the Church, and the New Jerusalem is the one which our heart also longs for.

Spurgeon also points out that the men of the earth also see the Church and are troubled and dismayed and haste away. Yet all that flee from the New Jerusalem, flee to punishment and they do so of their own choice. Yet Zion is such a joy to Christians!

He talks about the ships of Tarshish being broken and had three interesting explanations.
First, that as easily as God breaks vessels of wood, he also overturns the most powerful adversaries.
Second, that though the strength of some nations is in their ships, yet they will be broken and our strength is in God and does not fall.
Third, Though God is our defence, he takes vengeance upon our inventions and those things we trust in, our earthly ambitions so that we may look to Him. He says "Speculative heresies, pretending to bring us wealth from afar, are constantly assailing the church, but the breath of the Lord soon drives them to destruction. The church too often relies on the wisdom of men, and these human helps are soon shipwrecked; yet the church itself is safe beneath the care of her God and King."

Of course, one near to my heart is this telling of it to the following generations. He says that those who owe such a debt to the past generations can only attempt to repay it by instructing the future ones.

Lastly, under the daughters of Jerusalem being glad because of God's judgments, he points on that it's not just God's ruling or decisions, but His actual punishments of the wicked. He says
"Justice which to our poor optics now seems severe, will then be perceived to be perfectly consistent with God's name of love, and to be one of the brightest jewels of his crown."

And that is all for this evening.

Out of the dusty shadows

2007-07-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Out of the dusk
Comes a dark creature forth into the light.
His eyes glitter in the half-darkness that enshrouds him,
Teeth grinning, white bones.
Tattered remains of a past unknown
Cling to his gaunt frame,
Hands reach trembling
So also thoughts racing through numb mind.
Keyboard clatters. Fingers curl about keys as friends
Grasping at a moment untaken.
The Shadow Returns

Okay, bad, cheesy intro, but it has been a long time I realize and a lot had happened. First, let me share something I was reading this evening. It's from one of the many introductory comments to John Owen's "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ"

"There are two rotten pillars on which the fabric of late Arminianism (an egg of the old Pelagianism, which we had well hoped had been long since chilled, but is sat upon and brooded by the wanton wits of our degenerate and apostate spirits) doth principally stand.

The one is, That God loveth all alike, Cain as well as Abel, Judas as the rest of the apostles.

The other is, That God giveth (nay is bound, "ex debito," so to do) both Christ, the great give of his eternal love, for all alike to work out their redemption and "vires credendi," power to believe in Christ to all alike to whom he gives the gospel; whereby that redemption may effectually be applied for their salvation, if they please to make right use of that which is so put into their power.

The former destroys the free and special grace of God, by making it /universal/; the latter gives cause to man of glorying in himself rather than in God,-- God concurring no farther to the salvation of a believer than a reprobate. Christ died for both alike;--God giving power of accepting Christ to both alike, men themselves determining the whole matter by their free-will; Christ making both savable, themselves make them to be saved."

Part of what Owen addresses in the book is this idea of universalism, or hypothetical universalism, that God died to make salvation /possible/ for all, but they have to come to him in order to seal the deal. This view, as the above author points out, makes it to appear that God loves everyone equally alike, he basically had his son die just as much for the reprobate as the elect, it is them that makes the deciding factor. Opposed to this, the Bible teaches that God "loved" Jacob but "hated" Esau, they did not make themselves to differ, God made them differ because he first poured out his love upon them! Noah was a righteous man, blameless (Gen 6:9). Why? Look at the preceding verse, because Noah found favour in the eyes of God. Noah did not find favour /because/ he was righteous, but he was righteous /because/ he found favour. This idea is repeated over and over in the Scriptures.

So let's see, I'll try to cover as much ground as I can here because I want to go to bed/read tonight (tired) and break it up into categories:

Work:
Has been going well. We had run into some problems with the coiled loop antenna that I was trying to implement. It had been designed by my predecessor but never tested. When we got it all developed and implemented, it didn't work! I spent a week researching antennas and even the potting material (we were "potting" the ear tag boards by basically molding them in polyurethane). The potting material was having a severe effect upon the antenna tuning. See, an antenna has to be tuned using a combination of capacitors and inductors. I could go into details of complex impedance and having to "tune out" the imaginary part of the impedance, but that's probably something no one but myself would really care about. Suffice it to say, that the polyurethane was making the antenna extra capacitive and meant that the antenna's range was severely limited. So I compiled all of my findings and presented them to my employer but he didn't really listen. So he called a couple of guys and found out what I had been saying was correct, which relieved me and hopefully give him a bit more confidence in what I've researched. So we're experimenting with a straight wire (which yes, would stick out the end of the cow's ear) and I've been working on building other things.

One of them was a "golden board" for the Bolus. The board manufacturer sent us the bare boards and then we'll send them to SMD who will put all of the parts on by machine, much faster than I can do for a couple hundred boards :)
However, they have an optical scanner that will look at the components and compare to a standard "golden board" to see whether they've done it right. So I was given the task of making the golden board, which I enjoyed. The tiny perfectionist work suits me, though by the end of the day my eyes feel ready to fall out of my head. Ben (my co-worker) said "wow, it looks like a machine did it) and I was pretty happy with how it turned out too. So they'll compare to that one as they make theirs to prevent further mistakes (they've goofed up a lot of builds in the past).

VBS:

Also went very well. I wrote a script or narrative for a skit based on Pilgrim's Progress, but with a Western (Cowboy) theme. So I would narrate it and the actors would pantomime it out on stage. I was very glad to find out that it worked well in Enid too, because that means that it's easily adapted to different actors and different sets and a different narrator. I tried to make it "reusable" as much as I could, or easily "ported" from one place to another. Bruce seems to think it could be used by others too so I've contemplated putting together a package with hints, tips, and instructions along with the lessons he prepared to play off of the skit and maybe offer it to other RP churches or other churches in the area. It's very low-budget, enjoyable, easy, and hopefully spiritually profitable as well. The characters from Pilgrim's Progress afford so much good material for questions and discussion.

Sunday School:

I was also filling in for Liz in Sunday School this past week which I thought went very well. I only had two students this week because many people were out of town though. And I probably had the two quietest but even they were talking a bit. We studied 1 Sam 23 and 24 about Saul trying to kill David. We didn't have time to sing Psalm 54 (which David wrote at that time when everyone seemed to be against him) but we did look at a map and a picture I'd found. I also found I had more than ample material to talk about from having read Henry's commentary on those not many weeks ago, so I definitely didn't feel there was a lack of things to talk about or point out from the passage. I tried to ask questions to get them to think about the Christian life and apply it to their own lives. For example: when David consults the Ephod and God speaks to David, I said "Now God doesn't talk to us in a voice or through an ephod (a gold vest or chestplate that the priest wore) but he does talk to us in other ways and we can talk to him. Can you think of ways God talks to us?
Answers from the two girls included:
Prayer
The Bible
and other suggestions I gave included the Pastor, teachers, parents and others whom God uses to instruct and direct us. I enjoyed it very much.

This fall I am (D.V.) going to teach a class on Pilgrim's Progress to some of the young youth. I am really looking forward to that. I shall definitely not have a lack of material and I really want to lead them in some questions about various things. I've enjoyed hearing Abigail or Dani talk (like last night in Enid) about various things, which belies a depth to their thinking which is beyond those of their age, but at the same time, as I was talking to Jonathan, I feel like sometimes young children have knowledge like cookie dough dropped into their brains, but they lack the wisdom to use it. If the right questions are asked, they can make the connections themselves but if you were to ask right off to explain the way of salvation or even the doctrine of election or something like that, it's something they've heard but not thought through for themselves, so they might not really understand it yet. Those trails through their minds need to be blazed, the food that they have eaten all their lives needs to be used to build muscles, through the exercise of those muscles. I really hope to help in any way I can there. Of course I'll be teaching, but I don't want to just lecture, I want them to be thinking through and studying and giving me answers to my questions. So I'm looking forward to that.

Well is that enough for one night? I'm rather tired, been working since early this morning. My father and brother came up to help pour concrete. They arrived yesterday and spent the day with me in church and even went to Enid, but today, after and during digging the footings, we had quite a downpour of rain and we couldn't do much more because of the mud. We'll have to wait until it dries out so we can drive the tractor back there. I was grateful they came up, though sorry it wasted a day of work for them. I went in at about 11:20 (having stopped by the Assessor's Office to fill out some paperwork) and worked until about nearly 6:00.

Things have been going very well, but very busy. A typical day starts out early in the morning, eating breakfast, reading, singing, memorizing (if there is time for all three) and making a lunch. Then I head out at 7:40 and go to work, usually staying until after five and working through lunch time (one hand on the keyboard while the other has a sandwich) and then come home, eat dinner and then start in on customer service, calling back and responding to questions and problems, correcting accounts, etc. Then answering personal e-mail received throughout the day (maybe) and then it seems it's jut about 10:30 already. I don't know where the evenings go.

Oh, Jonathan and I went to see Ratatouille (pronounced Rat-a-TOO-ee) on Friday night and I really liked it. The voices and character development were very good. At first I thought the hair-control was a bit weird, but it suited someone like Linguini and afterward I reflected that it was clever. The high point for me was actually the villain/critic that everyone was afraid of: Anton Ego!!!!! It seemed to me that just about every thing associated with him was perfect, from the huge portrait on the wall of his study, to his old, old type-writer to his thin, wind-blown physique to his very words. Favourite line? Probably either his dialogue about ordering perspective or his response to "And you're a bit thin for someone who likes food" which was (in sinister tones):
"I don't like food, I love it, and if I don't love it, I don't SWALLOW!"

The philosophy was pretty bad and I was surprised because I could see how many parts could be scary for small children (guns, down the storm celler, dead rats etc.) but all in all, the character development and voice acting really won for me. I liked it a lot, not as good as Incredibles or Monster's Inc. though ;)

Interesting things I found out while looking at the actors for the movie:
The voice of the short mexican cook was Ian Holmes who played Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings.
There is going to be a new National Treasure movie apparently. I hope it's as action-packed and clean and clever as the other one!

And that, it all for tonight.
Feet clanking to bed
Chains to hold a person until the dawn
Freedom awakens and a new day rises.

O_O

New everything?

2007-06-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

The following is a recent post I made in "Now that's a good thought!" on my brother's message board. It follows somewhat from reading A.A. Hodge's comments on the Westminster Confession, chapter 32 and from Alan's sermon on this subject about a year ago.

Tonight I was reading a bit and contemplating the new heavens and new earth. It's strange, but it seems that for the most part, people talk about heaven, but they don't talk about the new earth.

Lewis imagined that this was the "shadow" lands, that everything we see here is only a shadow, an outline, black figure (and hard to see) of what is to come. This comes out beautifully in the Chronicles of Narnia, the Last Battle where the children see that this land where they are at is joined by many other lands, all more beautiful and more "real" than they had been while they were still "alive" (though I would argue they are more alive now than ever).

There is a very remarkable sense in which things will be familiar. We shall all be changed and shall be made perfect. The young girl whose face has been scarred by a fire will be made completely whole and beautiful, yet shall be completely recognizable. Somehow we shall know each other and Christ. I firmly believe that when I see other saints in heaven, I shall know who they are. I shall recognize my grandfather, my unborn sibling I never met, Paul, the servant of Christ, and so many more! There will be a familiarity that will make heaven "home." In the Scriptures, it also talks of the New Jerusalem in very endearing terms. Why is it called the New Jerusalem? Merely because it is the new center of God's worship? I think that is part of it, but I think it shall resemble the Old Jerusalem, or more properly, the Old Jerusalem resembled this new one! There shall be a familiarity.

Now back to the new heavens and new earth. I believe there is strong evidence that though this world shall pass away, yet it shall be remade anew.

Rom 8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Rom 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Why would creation eagerly wait for its destruction? It says that creation shall be set free from the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. This freedom obviously can't mean freedom from suffering (as in annihilation), because that isn't the same as the freedom of the glory of the children of God, to which its freedom is compared. God's children shall be made anew, perfected, brought into that state which man was meant to inhabit, as God planned from the beginning. The creation is also awaiting a "new body" and shall be made anew.

2Pe 3:12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
2Pe 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Yes, it will pass away, even as this body of ours "passes away" but as our body is made new, so the earth is made new. Completely new as in unrecognizable? I am inclined to think not! Again, the evidence seems to point to the fact that the creation will be redeemed, and re-created in glory, not merely destroyed never to be seen again.

To be honest, I have enjoyed exploring the creation God has made, and when I was young and inclined to climb rocks, trees, explore caves, and dig tunnels, it disturbed me to think that all we would have is one big city, all white and bland with gold streets and a river and a tree and that's about it. It sounded boring! Yet now of course I realize the real focus is Christ and being with Him for eternity, yet at the same time, I believe that if He has endowed us with the wonderful creation He has, and if it's only a shadow of what is to come, and if the earth itself will be renewed, then what we have to look forward to is a world BETTER than this one! Is it indeed possible that something like this passage from Isaiah, which has been figuratively fulfilled, might be literally fulfilled? :

Isa 11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

I believe it is possible! If God has made wonderful creatures here on earth for our enjoyment, how much more will He do so for the Paradise He is going to create. If God's original creation was "good" and His second creation is "better" then can you imagine what we have to look forward to? Yes, I believe that you can expect to see animals in heaven, places that are familiar, places you've wanted to visit. The creation will be entirely given to us, but more than that, Christ Himself is our inheritance and everything else, as wonderful as it may seem, will pale in comparison. Marriage and the marriage relationship is the most intimate and loving that we have, the highest form of spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental bonding, yet the love that Christ has for us, His church is even greater than this, it's only a tiny taste of what is to come, the love we shall have for Him, and the love He shall have for us and the knowledge we shall have of each other in this paradise He is both preparing and will prepare.

The short of it?

2007-06-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

So today I spent a bit of time reading. I finished a couple more chapters in A.A. Hodge's commentary on the Westminster Confession, read another chapter in Christ of the Covenants, and finished up Pilgrim's Progress in the 19th Century. The last one was fairly good for the most part, though the author certainly had an agenda. The first hundred and fifty pages encompassed some discussion about Thoughtful and how he started on his journey, some discussions between him and Feel-well and Love-Self and then they got to a town where they stayed and talked about revivals for 230 pages! The last 50 pages or so were devoted to their continuing, passing through the areas of Vanity Fair, where Demas was, Giant Despair (although now it was Giant Self-Confidence or something like that) and their going through the grounds of enchantment and finally reaching Beulah. So by far the bulk of the book, they stayed in one spot, talked with the same two people, and talked about one subject. It was good, just not really good in a literary way!

I sent out a few e-mails, finishing up some business that I'd been meaning to do. Then Jon came over with his futon in the back of Dan's truck, which he had borrowed, and I went over to his apartment and helped him move a small dresser over here as well. So now when my family comes to visit, they can use the futon :)

I listened to some music, played a little bit of the Zelda game, and barely started on day 2 of the Western Pilgrim's Progress. I've had two comments now, one from my mother. People must be busy! As I said before though, I really would like feedback, I've been kind of holding off on the subsequent parts because if I do have to re-do things, I don't want to have to re-do more than one and waste the time.

Some plans for this skit include (as suggested by JD and my mother)
* Western themed music, at least for the start-up, tentatively for mood music thoughout the play.
* Western costumes, bandannas and hats and boots and jeans would suffice generally.
* having kids from the audience "help out" each day. I plan for day 2 having one kind be "Mr Lazy" laying under the tree. All he or she would have to do is lie their with their eyes closed, snoring (and a big grin on his or her face no doubt). For day 2 I would also like to have a couple of kids acting like roaring lions that Christian has to cross through. That may take a little more planning (don't want them actually jumping on and eating poor Christian!).
* That is, if we /can/ get a person to play Christian!
* The daily lesson (which I'm also doing, to my knowledge) would be themed around the story, with questions asked like "why was Mr Lazy called Mr Lazy?" "Why did Christian want to get his burden off his back? Who could help him do that? Why did he have a burden?" etc., pulling off of names and themes I'm focusing on.
* Mr Worldly Wiseman (taking a literary license here) will appear, dapper as always, on a daily basis, always with a little more affected shine than before. There may be a final showdown between him and Sheriff Shepherd over the gospel and Christ.

So this evening I was puttering around the house, I'd washed dishes, etc. and just had to get out. Although it's not normally my custom to take a walk to spend time with myself. If I do go out by myself, it's usually to find a quiet spot to pray. I walked around in the park for a little while, singing Psalm 143 and 2 and then walked back, grabbed my frisbee and iPod and listened to the RP International conference (all the Psalm singing tracks since I listened to the sermons already) and practiced my long throws with the frisbee, for when we play Ultimate. Oddly, being by one's self during the school year is very different than being by one's self during the summer. In the former period, I guess I have more to think about, I certainly have plenty to do now as well, so I'm not sure what the difference is. But I did feel myself wishing that someone would show up, or send an e-mail or something! It's been rather quiet and isolated today...

But tomorrow is Sabbath and I'm very much looking forward to it and worshiping in the congregation once more. So good night all!

How interesting!

2007-06-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know about it yet, my "western themed" Pilgrim's Progress thing for the first day of VBS is online. I would seriously like some comments because so far all I've had is one person say "cool" and that's all the feedback. I'm concerned that it's too boring to hold the attention of the children, that it's too long, that more western themed things could be brought in, that more changes could be made. The link is at:
http://www.box.net/shared/tixa6z5nfj

But what I really wanted to do is share some thoughts from Henry:

Regarding Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan that David asked for, found, and brought into his house to eat at his table, Henry states:

"Now because David was a type of Christ, his Lord and son, his root and offspring, let his kindness to Mephibosheth serve to illustrate the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards fallen man, which yet he was under no obligation to, as David was to Jonathan. Man was convicted of rebellion against God, and, like Saul's house, under a sentence of rejection from him, was not only brought low and impoverished, but lame and impotent, made so by the fall. The Son of God enquires after this degenerate race, that enquired not after him, comes to seek and save them. To those of them that humble themselves before him, and commit themselves to him, he restores the forfeited inheritance, he entitles them to a better paradise than that which Adam lost, and takes them into communion with himself, sets them with his children at his table, and feasts them with the dainties of heaven. Lord, what is man, that thou shouldst thus magnify him!"

I thought it was interesting to compare man's impotence due to the fall, to Mephibosheth's impotence due to his fall.

Another neat comment came from 2 Samuel 10. David had heard that the Ammonite king had died and since he had showed some kindness to David at one point, David sent men as ambassadors to comfort this king's son. The king listened to his advisors however and they cut off half of their beards and their cloaks and sent them away calling them spies. David then gathers his army and the king suddenly realizes that he doesn't have enough men. Henry states:

"Yet it seems, they had not considered how unable they were, with their thousands, to meet his; for now they found themselves an unequal match, and were forced to hire forces of other nations into their service. Thus sinners daringly provoke God, and expose themselves to his wrath and never consider that he is stronger than they, 1 Cor x.22."

That is all.

WHO LET THE BLOGS OUT!

2007-06-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

*Takes of hat and cloak*

Phew! It's been a while!

Should call myself the musty traveler, or at least someone who hasn't been updating for a while :)

But things have been busy. For example, the last two days I've spent a total of 20 hours at work, Steve (my employer) wanted to get a few things done that evening, like order some PCBs (printed circuit boards) because that was the last day they were having a 20% discount from the company. I just wish I had known about that sooner so I could have concentrated on that earlier. And besides that, the money we saved from the discount probably wasn't worth the extra hours put into it. But it means that this past week I've filled in enough hours to have counted Monday (which I took off) as a work day, and four hours besides! So yes, I've put in quite a few hours this week it seems.

But I'm really enjoying my work and seem to be doing well at it. Rob does almost all of the programming of our boards. I replaced Matt who had been the hardware guy, then Ben was hired on additonally a go-between for Rob and myself and to get some more cross-pollonization between everything so it wasn't just one person that had all the knowledge for a specific part. Now however, I'm being told that they are switching gears a bit and I was called into a meeting today by Sajin and Vicke who are basically trying to organize everything and make it all "modular" and streamlined and "professional" and they wanted to know how the Bolus code works.

Bear in mind that I've never seen a line of this code, never worked on the Bolus at all. I had no clue. From their standpoint, everything has to be software development and the things they talk about all have to do with that. From my standpoint, I'm happy to let Rob do all the programming and I just go play with my hardware, now they're trying to drag me into the programming and told me to look over some of the code this next week and figure it out. I dislike programming and it's been over a year since I did my last bit of it, and I'm honestly not very good at it. Plus, this is in a language I've never worked with before, so suffice it to say that I'm not too happy about that! :)

I would much rather focus on what I have been doing, testing and developing hardware, I guess I wouldn't mind a working knowledge of the programming but not this way! I especially don't want to spend that much time just looking over code on the computer. Thursday I spent 11 hours straight at a computer, then went home and did another hour of tech support (on the computer) for Dan. Yikes! Let me out of here! I almost don't want to see any computers for a while :)

But it is going well overall and I'm really not complaining. I'd like to show some pictures of what I was working on, perhaps I'll upload those.

And I've been doing a bit of reading as well, but I'd like to move on to a couple of observations and things to share:

First, today as I was driving home and thinking about lightning (there was a thunderstorm) I started thinking a bit about light in general. More specifically, I started wondering about what would happen if the semi I was next to at a stoplight, were to be struck (since there were some near strikes) and if I would be blind for the rest of my life, and how to pull off to the side of the road to let other cars go by, but then realized that they would be blind too.....

But I started thinking that the nerve sensors in our eyes are rather sensitive, to be able to detect waves of energy and assimilate them into various forms of images that we see, they sense various colours etc., it's absolutely amazing! But give them too much and I'm sure they would be blinded permanantly, and damaged. This led me to consider how appropriate it is in Psa 36:9 to say "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." and even how the first words God spoke have to do with light. Light is used 272 times in the Bible, 25 times in the Psalms. Just like a lightning flash, or an atomic bomb flash which annihilates the sensitive nerves in one's eye, God's greatness would completely consume our poor spiritual beings, this body, this person would be completely consumed. It's only when God strengthens and brings one to Himself that we could stand it. His greatness is so excellent that He only reveals a tiny dim shadow of Himself to us on earth, and even that seems so bright at times! One day He will reveal Himself in all His glory, we shall know Him as He knows us, we shall /see/ Him face to face, we will be able to take in all of His majesty and have all eternity to enjoy it! A book I read recently talked about how marriage and the relationship enjoyed there is the highest form of friendship and intimacy that we know, to be loved and to love someone in return is amazing and something I can't quite fathom, yet it is only a tiny taste, a dull and bitter taste, a dim and faint shadow of what is to come. The love that Christ has upon us and the love that we will be enabled to have for Him are so amazing that I can't even begin to imagine, and I mean that in all seriousness and not as a cliche.

And then the light turned green and I drove off thinking it would be good blog material :)

I was also reading Pilgrim's Progress in the 19th Century this past week (again) which is still decently good. The author definitely had a motive, the last 200 pages have been spent in one town, talking with the same three persons about revivals. It's not bad, much of it is quite good, but the story hasn't been moving along in the slightest! I'd at least like it to mention that they started walking on the highway while talking, so I felt like I was going somewhere! But there was a good passage that I wanted to share, a good analogy. Lately I've been seeing so many analogies (like the one I just shared) that I've begun to suspect that God made the world the way He did so that everything could have an analogy. Like a tree's roots and growth make many good analogies! Blame it on Frodo. ;) Anyway, this one is talking about a sinner who thinks that he is saved because he submits to God, not that God saves him regardless:

"Attraction is to the world of matter, the same that disinterested love is to the moral world. It belongs to every little atom on the surface of the earth to remain in its place, and in connection with its kindred atoms, to revolve aroudn the sun, the centre of our material system, attracting and being attracted, according to its quantity of matter. But if a single atom were to take state to itself, and fly off from the surface of the earth high into the firmament of heaven, and claim to be the centre of the material system, and require suns and planets to revolve around it as the acknowledged centre of attraction, - this would resemble a rational creature who makes himself his supreme object and who wishes the Creator and all his creatures to make his good their centre of attraction. But because we deny to this atom the place of a common centre for the system, has it therefore no appropriate place? Certainly, it had its proper place. It was the place of an atom; and it behooved it to cleave to the surface of the earth, and in connection with its kindred atoms, to attract and be attracted; and in a steady and orderly manner to revolve round the real centre of the system. If this atom is not acting in character, when it seeks to make all other bodies revolve round it, so neither is any man or angel who sets himself up as the supreme object, and seeks to make all other beings subordinate to him."

And this, is my update. Adieu.

Updates? Again?!

2007-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, I guess it is a long time since there has been an update. I'll justify that by saying that I've been very busy trying to do things here at my (new) house, finishing up school, and other sorts of things.

The last few weeks of school went pretty well. Although towards the end of the semester I've got plenty to do myself but many other students begin to panic, so I had students from the Circuits class (which I was an assistant for) sending me e-mails (one guy said "Hey Morgan, how do you...." which is kind of odd, that he didn't even know my name by this time, but anyway) and asking questions. I had some people stopping me in the hall, and even when I was all by myself in a computer lab, trying to get one of the several dozen things I wanted to accomplish, a classmate showed up, 45 minutes before we were going to take the practical, saying he hadn't studied at all for it and he was worried and he started asking me all sorts of questions. Admittedly, that kind of annoyed me a bit because I was making it obvious that I was rather busy and didn't have time to baby him through the course.

But I was glad to help, and seriously I think I may have volunteered too much of my time, because with several other students who were working hard, I told them to feel free to e-mail me and ask questions. For another classmate, Garrett, who had asked me to review his project report (60 pages long) I went through and corrected as many mistakes as I could find, gave suggestions and pointers and advice on their presentation. Then went and watched it. So yes, busy, busy busy, and probably because I never said "no" to anything, so it's my own fault! :)

Because of that, a lot of projects got put on the back-burner (which is figurative, since I don't actually have any burners yet, since I have not stove) and in the week following finals, I was trying to catch up on a variety of things.

Backtrack. I got an internship, which was neat. I was helping the head TA for Dr Bunting when he got an e-mail from one of the professors saying there was an internship position here in Stillwater. I told the TA that I would be interested in that. He said, "really? Okay, I'll call Matt." So he called and I had the interview, ended up getting the job, etc. It was definitely a working of the Lord, and I was so thankful for it! It is such a blessing to be able to stay for the summer, for more reasons than one!

So during Finals week, I was taking exams, working any time I could in between exams, and then going home at night and looking over material for the next day's exam. It was rather tiring but I was able to learn quite a bit at the job. I'm replacing Matt and he's leaving at the end of this week so I need to gather as much as possible from him before he leaves.

So let me see, the end of Finals week Jonathan, Jon, and Andy came over to my house and we had a few hotdogs and then they played some games while I took off and then Frodo and myself went for a walk in the graveyard (not a "normal" place to walk) but it was a real blessing. We had an opportunity to speak about a variety of things and it really was a good finish to the week, the sunset at the end of a VERY long day you might say. Some of the gravestones had good inscriptions on them but those were rare. For the most part, they were rather disheartening or simply superficial, like "gone but not forgotten" which really means nothing. I said that I had hoped to find something like "Resting in the active obedience of Christ" or something along those lines. It made me more aware how a gravestone, if one has one, should be something meaningful that would draw the observer to reflect on his own mortality and how he must one day meet his Creator.

My family came over the next day, Saturday, to help work on the house. I went to Lowe's to pick up a countertop and helped my father install it on top of a couple of cabinets he had made and brought. The girls and Tanner painted the clotheline posts (I'm going to have to use them now!) and then we painted the house. In my opinion, it looks much, much better than it did before!

The past few Sundays have been a blessing as well, I've really been enjoying being of from school just so that in the evenings and on the weekends, my mind isn't preoccupied with such things. I can leave all of that stuff behind. Now I'm interested in learning things in conjunction with my job :) It's been really interesting and I'm learning a lot.

Let's see, this past week I've been working on soldering little tiny SMT components, for a size comparison, this is what it looks like:

So they are really small and you have to use tweezers and you have to have steady hands. And after five hours straight (like today) you have to run outside and scream before coming back in. I don't know, I can do a hundred of these (all different values and types) in a couple of hours I think. I'm getting much better at it and the boards are looking much prettier when I'm done with them :)

One Wednesday, I had the opportunity to go out to Watonga with my employer and the secretary and speak to a cattle manager. I was able to understand what he was talking about because I'd seen it for myself before when working for another feedlot, and afterwards Vicke asked me to write a report, which she said she really liked. On the way back I was talking with Steve (my employer) and he asked what "Reformed" in "Reformed Presbyterian Church" meant, because he knew Presbyterian was an elder form of government, and I explained that it was from the Reformation. He asked how it differed from mainline Presbyterian and I started talking about the doctrines of grace and God's sovereignty and he said "Oh, so calvinism basically?" I was surprised, I was specifically trying to avoid using that word so it wouldn't be an unnecessary stumbling block for him (a Baptist) but he said that he was calvinistic in his beliefs, so we had a good time talking on the way back. There were some things I disagreed with and I'll talk later I think, but you can't know what a blessing it is to have an employer who is not only a believer, but apparently one who is closer to the truth of the Bible than most! (Yes, I am saying that "calvinism" is what the Bible teaches). So that was good to find out.

I'm enjoying my work and learning a lot, we shall see what this next week yields. It's Matt's last week so I need to pick up everything I haven't before, which is pretty much not going to happen. I really hope I work out well for the company though, I'm afraid when Matt goes I won't be able to figure things out and do them well enough.

Oh, and I spent a lot of time working this past Saturday on my house, and put some plastic between the steel straps holding up the pipes under the house (and got good and dirty in the process), put some tar on the roof in a couple of spots (but not because there were leaks), raked the entire back yard, weed-whacked everything, and tore down a bit of fence that was behind my property, sealing off the little alleyway. The back fence stays.

I'm getting a lot of things done, but there is more yet to finish, hopefully these next few weeks I'll finish almost all of that up and can concentrate on reading for the rest of the summer :)

The Interview

2007-04-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

So I had a job interview today, which was an interesting experience :)

I started by leaving about 25 minutes early, which should have given me plenty of time to make the 5 miles or so necessary to get to the place. I had completely forgotten about the road construction that is going on around Sangre however (which was where I needed to go) and when I got out to the highway and saw it, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I recalled Matt (the person who was interviewing me) saying to make it to 19th and Sangre, then head north. So I decided I'd come back and try going down Western and hitting 19th. No problem.

Well, when I got down to 19th, I saw that was closed due to construction as well! I tried to bypass it by going into a little residential area but though I went all around back there, there were no outlets other than the one I had come in by. So I had to worm my way all the way back through these little residential streets back to 19th and the road block. I seriously contemplated just zooming past all of the machinery that was there because by this time I was getting a bit nervous.

I made it back to Western and went up north figuring I'd circle all the way around to the west side of Sangre (I was on the east) and get to it that way. On the way I saw 9th and 8th street and tried both to see if I could cut across like that. It was a bad idea, both were dead ends. It was like a bad dream, one where you're trying everything you can possibly do to get to the job interview and no matter how hard you try, you're blocked off every way! I made it back to the highway and went out west of Meridian and then weaved back to Sangre and found the place. By now I was ten minutes late and so I ran to the door, rather embarrassed.

Matt was very pleasant though and said it was completely understandable, with all the construction that was going on around the place. He took me in and showed me the lab where they work and then we went to a small conference room where he proceeded to grill me. The first question was what to do when you have a box that is outputting five volts and you need something less than three volts on the input of the next box. I suggested a voltage regulator in the circuit (which would have worked) or I said the simplest thing I could think of would be a voltage divider. He said that is essentially what they did, a voltage divider.

Next, he asked me what I would do if I had something that was sending and something that was receiving from an antenna. I suggested diodes to limit the flow to only one direction but he said at high frequencies, diodes would act like shorts because of their capacitance (which I didn't know) so I just said you needed some kind of module that would allow incoming signals to go one way and outgoing signals to go another way. He said that was correct and they use RF switches for that.

Lastly, he had a transceiver (which both sent and received) and wanted to get a gain on it. I suggested an opamp for that and he asked "but what about returning signals?" I thought you might have to step them back down but he said that incoming signals were usually weak anyway. So they would just go straight to the transceiver. So again, you'd have an RF switch and out of that, a gain of 1000 and coming back in you'd just have the straight wire. He asked what to do to get the maximum gain and would all the power be dissipated through the antenna (which was 75 ohms and the transceiver was 50 ohms). I said some would be dissipated through the circuitry and then he asked well, what are the conditions for max power then? I said "Oh! The antenna would have to be 50 ohms, or the transceiver would have to be 75 ohms." He said yes, usually they adjusted it with a potentiometer or something, and that was largely what he did.

"Okay, you did well. Very well actually!" And he sort of laughed. "I had a grad student in here yesterday who just stared blankly at me."

I have to say that most of what he was saying was new to me and it was only after we had worked through them that he found out that I hadn't taken fields or devices yet. But he said he'd get back in touch with me next week and I may come in for another interview then.

"What's your phone number so I can get in contact with you?"
"Actually, I don't have a phone number so my e-mail is the best way."
"What? No phone? Oh, you and Rob would get along great."

As we went back into the lab, he said "Hey Rob, there's another person in the world who doesn't have a phone." Rob looked up from the work bench and said "All right! Hi, I'm Rob." And I introduced myself.

Matt showed me some of the things they were working on and how they were used. A large plastic capsule was used to house some of the circuitry which would go into the stomach of large animals, like cattle. They could then identify it and monitor its temperature etc. He had an antenna that he said was stronger and had a range of 11 miles. "That could be used to help prevent rustling!" I said, remembering the Covington's bulls. He said "Yeah, I guess so." He said some of this stuff worked with an implant in the ear. I explained that I'd helped to put in the implants before at a ranch I worked at a couple of summers ago. "Hmm! So you actually put them in?" He thought that was interesting and said they didn't really have any interaction with the animals so they didn't know about that. They just make the components.

So I think it went well. I was thankful that they are at least considering me. If I'm going up against grad students then it's nice that they'd even consider someone who is as low as I am. The good thing is that Matt said he was just about where I was in his education when he began this job, he's graduating and going to work for Garmin.

And now a couple of things I thought really neat from Henry that I meant to post a while ago but wasn't able to:

A couple of things from Henry on relationship between Sampson's mother and father:

First, when the angel appears to Manoah's wife:

"Manoah is not disgusted that the angel did not this second time appear to him, but very willingly goes after his wife to the man of God. To atone (as it were) for the first fatal miscarriage, when Eve earnestly pressed Adam to that which was evil, and he too easily yielded to her, let yoke-fellows excite one another to love and good works; and, if the wife will lead, let not the husband think it any disparagement to him to follow her in that which is virtuous and praiseworthy."

And then again, when the angel ascends and Manoah says they shall surely die:

"In his wife's reflection upon it there is great faith, Jdg_13:23. Here the weaker vessel was the stronger believer, which perhaps was the reason why the angel chose once and again to appear to her. Manoah's heart began to fail him, but his wife, as a help meet for him, encouraged him. Two are better than one, for, if one fall into dejections and despondencies, the other will help to raise him up. Yoke-fellows should piously assist each other's faith and joy as there is occasion."

An update.

2007-04-14T20:34:00.001-07:00

It's late, but I desperately want to update my blog!

This past week has been very good, for one thing, I bought a house and have been living in it. I have really enjoyed that and I can't exactly explain why. It's just good to own a place.

I have not really had the opportunity to meet any of the neighbors since I moved in and I hope they don't think I'm unfriendly because of it, I just get home later in the evening and leave early and I've not seen anyone. Well, I take that back, I did see one guy walking around so I went out and introduced myself but he said he just used to live in the neighborhood when he was a kid and was coming back to see it and a friend.

But because of all of this, my week has been somewhat busy. Monday morning I was scrambling around trying to finish up some things that I needed to have taken care of for classes, setting up a checking account so I can pay my bills, and trying to set up an appointment for Internet access (which I do have and it's great!). I also set up a wireless network in the house, moved things around and got it set up, put my books on the shelves that my father built me for my birthday (and I love 'em!) among other things. I sometimes feel like I don't have enough time to eat (come to think of it, the last two days I've had one meal each day). But I'm staying strong and healthy and thankful to the Lord because of it (and when I do eat, I eat a lot).

On Wednesday I was supposed to meet the W's to show them the house. On my way out from class at 5:40, I realized that I didn't have my keys, so I walked back to the computer lab where I had been using them (attached to my keychain). It was about a half mile walk each way I think. Well, my keys weren't in the lab. I searched frantically around and found a janitor and we went up to the office (which was locked up by now) to see if someone had turned them in to lost and found. He told me that normally they leave them in the computers because the guy who lost it will probably be looking for his keys quickly. So I figured that
a) someone wanted the jump drive and stole the whole thing
b) someone picked them up to turn in but forgot about it.

Needless to say, things looked rather bleak. After fruitless searching (but not fruitless prayer) I went to the car and used a plastic spare key I had from AAA to get inside and then gingerly started the ignition. I went to the house and since I just moved in, the only spare key was in the house. So I managed to "break inside" by discovering that a window did not latch. Kind of good at the moment, but something I need to fix. I then went to Bible study and made it there on time and explained what had happened. The sermon was very good, about anxiety and how it really is a display of unbelief and it was good for me to hear that because at the moment, I was a bit concerned about my keys. But by the time I got home, a fellow TA had e-mailed saying that the keys had been taken to a building that was halfway across the campus. It turns out that the computer lab I was using was run by CEAT and they periodically go around straigtening chairs and such. And anything they find, they take to their lost and found. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me (you'd think they would at least let the keys stay in the same building) but I was glad to get them back and stop using the plastic key.

Thursday I was invited to an IEEE banquet. Most of the college students congregated around eachother, but I purposely went to another table and met some sponsors from Garmin (who make GPS systems) and Ditch Witch and IBM. They provided some of the door prizes and I think were something of scouts. I took the opportunity to drop in a line about my current work with MyLaptopGPS (oh, hey Dan) and how it works. They sounded impressed with the idea but I didn't get any sign-ups ;)
I enjoyed talking to them but after a while I noticed that the conversation was rather superficial. Eventually it was just talk about the weather and nothing deeper than that. The speaker for the evening was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and she showed us some very interesting things the Navy is doing in the field of engineering.

They also announced scholarship winners and I was excited that I was awarded two scholarships by the department, one for $500 for the year and the other for $2500. They will certainly help me with tuition!

Friday I was pretty busy also, trying to finish up things for the weekend. I had finished grading and there were three of us left and we needed two to enter the scores, so I volunteered to stay and help with that. We were doing that when Vignesh got an e-mail which said something about an internship in Stillwater. I told Vignesh (offhandedly) that I would be interested in that and he said "Really?" I said "Oh yes." He said "Okay, I'll call him." So he grabs his cell phone and as he's dialing says "You're sure about this?" I emphatically said "Yes!"
He talked to the guy who had put out the add and told him where I was in my coursework and highly recommended me to him. So I sent in my resume yesterday and we'll see what happens. God does provide though and I'm excited about the possibility!

Today (Saturday) Philip and I took a trip out to Tulsa to visit Evelyn. We went to the Gilcrease Museum which had art galleries of western scenes. I really enjoyed it a lot. They had some really interesting paintings, and a lot that were fun to make fun of :) I really enjoyed it. We also took a look at the gardens and then we went with Kevin, Holly, Spencer, and Jenny to a sushi place in town. I guess I can say I've had real sushi now, but I still can't say I find it particularly tasteful. It was fine, it just wasn't my favourite.

Evelyn had to go to orchestra practice and Philip and I stayed around for RUF talent night. It was supposed to start at 8:00 but it was only 7:00 at the time so we fenced in the parking lot (I had my gear) for a while, I was instructing him and giving him pointers. We went inside and helped set up a bit then hung around until 8:25 (when the event finally got underway) but had to leave immediately afterward at 8:30.

That seems like a very quick overview but it will have to suffice. Sorry for the long wait in between updates but sometimes I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off and barely getting the things done that I need to :)