Here is a great link to Fred talking about social issues. Now we just need to get him to officially run.
We bought and watched Bridge to Teribethia last night. Great movie. There is a scene where one of the characters is riding back from church and makes an interesting statement after having a discussion about the consequences of not following the Bible. The character says: I don't think God has time to go around damning people, He is too busy running all of this [The world]. Now we know that it's not God that damns us to hell, it is ourselves choosing our way and not God's that does it. However I thought the statement was interesting. It is fairly common in today's society to think that God is "too busy" to care about us. Someone will give God credit for helping them win a ball game and then the very next thing someone else will say is I think God is a little busy to be concerned with a silly game. I think it is so sad that people think this way. It doesn't make sense to me that a God that loved us so much that He died for us, would then turn around and not care about our every day lives. So the question raised by the movie is a good one: Is God too busy? Not even close.
So, for the last few months I have been a big time Mitt Romney fan. However I am starting to like the idea of the Law and Order guy. He hasn't officially entered yet but he has a website: www.imwithfred.com . I think he might be a bit more electable than Mitt. I don't know how he stands on social issues yet though. This next presidency is another big one because at least one Supreme court Justice will be retiring.
Well the Red Sox are starting to suck. Oh well, At least they won tonight and are still up 8.5 games from the Yankees.
I had the day off today. That was pretty cool. I watched the extended edition of the Fellowship of the Ring today. I hadn't seen that yet. It added a lot of cool scenes. Here's an awesome article about one of my favorite scenes from the 1st LOTR movie. http://www.theonering.com/articles1-17606/Alightindarkplaces
So...Something has been bothering me for a couple weeks now (Amanda is sick of me talking about it I am sure). Every morning we drive by the Scarborough Marsh. On the Western side The sea grass has already started growing and can be seen easily. However on the eastern side...a mere two lanes of road a way, it hasn't even started. I just don't get it.
We went canoeing Sunday afternoon! Haven't done that in 2 summers. So the front seat breaks. Wooohoo. It's okay though because I had already Duct taped part of it, so now it gives me an excuse to replace it. I think I am going to buy some new paddles too.
So I turn 29 tomorrow. One of the interns at work is leaving this week so we are taking her out tomorrow, so Inverness is going to pay for my birthday lunch! Pretty cool deal. Going to get the Man's meal tomorrow night at Bugaboo. Steak and Ribs. I might pass out in the middle but...It's worth it.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle earth mythology there are two kinds of creatures that were made by Eru (The One): elves and men. Now the elves were bound to the earth in such a way that if they did die they would return to another part of middle earth. Men however were not bound to the earth and were in fact frail and mortal. When they died their spirit would leave the earth.
Tolkien called this distinction between the elves and men: The Gift of Men. It is said in his mythology that honorable men did not fear death at all because of this fact and it was only by the influence of the dark lord that some men feared death.
I was thinking about this the other day in reference to Romans 6:23. It is always said that death (both spiritual and physical) was born because of sin, however I think we may not truly understand the purpose of death.
So...God is holy and man isn't. Kind of hard to sit down at a table together with differences like that. Jesus dying for us didn't change that did it? I am still guilty of sin even though I believe that Jesus has saved me. If sin = death then shouldn't that have changed when Jesus gave His life for us? Instead what happened was Jesus repaired the link so that we "could" have a relationship with God.
God longs to renew his relationship with man (Like He had with Adam). Romans says the wages of sin is death and that is true, however for the Christian it is a good thing. In God's perfect plan death has become the mechanism of physical and spiritual relationship with man. It truly is a gift like Tolkien envisioned. Could you imagine going through life learning about God, reading the Bible, worshiping, going to church but never getting to see Him face to face?
So...believing in Jesus is the first part. That starts the relationship, but it isn't until death that the relationship is fulfilled.
The gift of men is that we are destined for a better place and for direct relationship with God.
I thought in case there was just a slight possibility that someone besides me will be looking at this blog that I would explain the pictures in the banner.
The first picture is at Dr. Camp's retirement party. He was my advisor / prof in college. Here is a video of him singing one of his famous biology songs: DNA. He taught me to love studying God's creation. Some people might not understand it but when the Bible says that the Heavens declare the Glory of God, it really means it. Science points directly to God. Click the link bellow to see the video (I haven't figured out how to embed it yet).
The second picture is of me my wife and my dog molly at the beach. Our Dog loves the beach so much that when we say the word, she gets all excited!
The third picture was taken in PuntaCanna on my Honeymoon. I don't get to smoke cigars too much any more, but that is a picture of me smoking a Cuban Monte Christo (Not the Dominican ones you can buy in the states)
Amanda has been wanting me to do this for awhile. I doubt anyone will actually read any of this but it will be fun to look back on in a few years. You know how ideas and concepts sound so great in your mind, but the second you say them it comes out all wrong. Well hopefully I can type out some of the things that are zooming around in my head in a way that doesn't resemble the ramblings of a drunk old man yelling at the TV.
