Do or Done?

I am created in the image of God, yet I am descended from Adam. I may have a godly visage, but I bear a boatload of sin. I want to be a good person, I follow the law especially those that are easy and don’t inconvenience me. But, still I realize i’m not good enough. How can I become good enough that God would approve of me?

What can I do? Are there rules I can follow? Not really. The rules only point out how much I can’t follow them. There is nothing I can do, but fortunately it has all been done! Not because of any thing I do, but because of what Christ has done. He has borne my sin and has taken the punishment I deserve for my failure to keep the law and follow the rules. His death is my sacrifice. His blood clears my transgressions. His death and resurrection are my redemption. I cannot redeem myself no matter how much I try. The death I deserve has been absorbed, my condemnation had been lifted.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

Praise God!

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“Overwhelming”

via “Overwhelming”

I’d Like to See the Light

I was recently scrolling through my facebook news feed. I happened upon a post that linked to a WND article titled:

LET THERE BE LIGHT BULBS! TRUMP LOOKS TO FLIP SWITCH ON OBAMA BAN

Energy Dept. cites misunderstanding of law

The article is full of a lot of non-science and even includes this line as a stand alone paragraph: “Opponents of the ban argued incandescents have benefits not offered by alternatives.” Such as?

Given that this ban went into effect not so long ago I remember all of the hub-bub and debate.

Allow me to take a moment to qualify myself.

I am a man. I am a follower of Christ. I am middle class, I am white. I am a republican. I was raised on a farm in the mid-west. I am a bit cheap. I like classics and technology. I (like to think I) am generous. I am concerned about the environment. I did not vote for President Obama. I did not vote for President Trump. There is more, but at some point you have to stop and hope that people will accept that I have reasoning capability beyond my ‘tags’. I do have to include this one, even though it is a bit long – I am reasonable and believe that things and ideas are more complex than the single perspective from which they are presented.

Okay the ground work is set.

I enjoy seeing. Sounds strange to read that line. I am legally blind in one eye so I really don’t see as much as some, but still seeing is not over rated. I think the light bulb is a wonderful piece of technology and surprisingly, even after so many years, it is technology that is being improved and made better.

At one point there was just the incandescent bulb. Electricity flows through a filament and the excited electrons generate heat and light. Not terribly efficient, but it works. That technology was refined and various types of filaments were developed allowing the consumer to decide between a plethora of ‘wattages’ or brightness levels. 40 watt bulbs produced less light than 100 watt bulbs, but they also consumed (or wasted) less energy. I use a bulb for the light not the heat. I do know that bulbs can be used for heat – two uses come immediately to mind; Brooder house lamps and the Easy Bake Oven. (I hope that you do a web search on those two distinctly disparate items.)

Lights are lights – well even lights must change. See what I did there. As technology and the desire for more efficiency pushed forward the common light bulb was reinvented and redesigned over the years until a first real big break, the Compact Fluorescent Bulb or CFB. This was certainly more efficient, but not as pleasant. It was oddly shaped and didn’t cast the same pleasing tone of light as the incandescent bulbs of yore. Environmentally and health wise the CFB posed great risks and dare I say – DANGER! Hazardous chemicals and heavy metals were used in the manufacture and as components of the CFB. Tossing a used CFB into the trash-bin was really not a safe thing to do. All of these negatives meant the bulbs were universally disliked. They weren’t expensive and lasted longer than incandescent bulbs, but they were rejected by consumers.

Next up on the light bulb evolutionary trail the Light Emitting Diode or LED. This bulb used far less energy, produced almost no heat (extremely efficient), lasted a long time, posed a much-much smaller environmental threat (manufacturing), but the LED bulb was (past tense) wildly expensive. The initial bulbs were weird looking and the light was glaringly harsh. As time and technology moved forward the LED evolved. It was manufactured to look like the old reliable incandescent and the LED components were modified to produce a wider range of light. Now you could purchase an LED that was a direct replacement for the incandescent. It cost 3 times more, but lasted 6 times longer. (My numbers for hyperbole only. Just pulling your leg, these are seat of the pants numbers based on my experience.) The cost is coming down as the LED gains wider acceptance.

Why then is this article in WND such an issue? Heck, why is this light bulb thing such an issue? I do not know. I wondered about my friends who rushed out to buy and stockpile all the 100 watt bulbs they could find. I tried to understand the logic. Why in the world do you desire to buy a bulb that is hugely inefficient and must be replaced more often than a babies diaper? You willingly incur greater operating cost for no appreciable (potentially negative) benefit? Does this sound rational? Sane? Reasonable? Responsible?

I suggest we also give up electrical starters in our cars. Hand cranks baby! That’s the way God and Henry Ford made ’em and that’s the way it should be.

Now I understand the market drove the innovation and adoption of the electric starter. I also acknowledge the government stepped in and banned the manufacture of the 100 watt bulb. I abhor the growth and over reach of the government intrusion into my life. But this light bulb thing is an issue where I really don’t understand the uproar. The government did step in and force the early demise of an outdated and inefficient product. How did that change the course of my life really?

I’d really like to see the light.

Doing justice to our bodies: How race wrongs us

I love this.

“The problem is solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.”

| Ludwig Wittgenstein

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Baptist World Alliance’s Annual Gathering in Zurich, Switzerland and to present a  paper as a member of the Commission on Racial and Gender Justice.  Below is a portion of the presentation.

Post- racial.  The word causes angst and anxiety.  “Race is not behind us,” some say.  Because we continue to judge persons based on their external appearance.  But, not only that.  Based on physical characteristics and traits, we have created a system of rewards and punishments.  It is a privilege to be socially colored white and it is a problem[i] to be socially colored black and most any other skin “color.”

More than a word, the social construct of race creates a way of being and seeing…

View original post 2,001 more words

I Don’t Live in Your Ashtray

Or your trashcan and by the way the world is not your dumpster.

I grew up having learned that the nazi and communist regimes encouraged their populace to spy on and report on the behavior of their fellow citizens. I’ve become someone that reports on the behavior of my fellow citizens. I’m as conflicted as I can possibly be. Why am I acting like this?

I live in a city that really is beautiful, but it seems to be populated with far too many incredibly selfish people. Am I still conflicted? The city of Huntsville has a program that I really have bought into. It’s called Green Team, yes I’m a tree hugger. No that’s not true, at least in the condscending way that phrase is typically used. I’m not a tree hugger, but I am an individual that is aware of how important trees and the environment are to a healthy planet. Into that comes the litter prevention program of the Huntsville Green Team.

Back during Steve Martin’s stand up comedy days he had a bit where he talked about the importance of having a litter bag in your car. He said it doesn’t take up much space and if it gets full you can just throw it out the window. I’ve always thought it was a clever bit of sarcasm. I had no idea so many people would regard it as advice.

I have embraced the litter prevention program as it ran smack into my disdain for cigarettes that goes back decades. Turns out the Green Team has a hot line – 53CLEAN (532-5326) and if you call it and report the offendor they will send them a warning. Of course this program only works if there is a modicum of shame and it is my fear that the kind of person who will toss a cigarette butt out of their window probabaly doesn’t have a strong sense of shame. And I’d guess that actually doing the right thing is just a concept with a flexible reality for this type of person. None the less I use the hot line with much glee.

Last night was an entirely new experience for me. I noticed a piece of paper that I initially thought was tossed out of the passenger window of the car in front of us, but surely that wouldn’t happen. There’s no way people are that shameless that they’d just toss litter out while in traffic is there? Well I’m glad you asked, yes indeed people are in fact that shameless that they’d toss the garbage they couldn’t put inside of themselves out of the window inspite of traffic. And here comes the bag from the fast food place to prove it. Fortunately I got their information and I have the Green Team on speed dial.

I wish this was an odd occurance, but it seems to be something that is beoming far too common. Why are people de-evolving? Keep shoveling stuff against the tide, I know I will.

Even though I am reporting on my fellow residents, I do not in any way feel bad about it. I really wish the penalty was a loss of license and vehicle. But truth be told I accept that this is a new reality where we demand to be respected while disrespecting everything around us.. I’m still conflicted.

Where Have You Been?

What’s Been Going On?

How Are You Doing?

It’s been more than a year since I’ve posted anything on this site. So I guess the questions above are valid for anyone who really followed this site out of interest. Here’s a question for you – Are you interested?

I do not believe I can answer the questions I opened with here on this site unless you have a great deal of time or unless you are really interested. Turns out, inspite of my constantly saying it isn’t so, it all too often is more complicated than it should be. What is more complicated? Most everything, right down to choosing the shoes I’ll wear today. Brown shoes, with these socks? what color is my belt? does this belt go with the style of these pants? What is Kim wearing today, will I clash with her style? Will my wordrobe choice cause her to feel differently about her choice of wardrobe?

Time to go take a shower and continue the neuron and synapse battle in my head over getting dressed.

Pizza Time

I really do like pizza.

We lived near the top of a long hill when we lived in Wiesbaden, Germany. At the bottom of the hill was a small shop by the name of Capizzis. They made some amazing pizzas. The pizzas were small, only about 9 inches across, but they were delicious. We’d buy three so that we could eat one in the car on the way home to our apartment. I can practically smell that shop as I sit here thinking about it.

Now there is an odd thing between me and pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much pizza that I couldn’t take another bite or just one more slice. And I believe I could eat pizza for every meal. I’ve left many a pizza buffet with plenty of room for more. In fact I think the main reason I don’t eat until I explode is 10% embarrassment and 90% hassle. Or maybe those numbers are reversed.

Are there any foods / meals that you just can’t get enough of?