"Are you cold at night?"

Yesterday my beloved asked DS2, "are you cold at night". Most people who read this will know what she was asking. My beloved wanted to know if he was having trouble sleeping because he was too cold. She wanted to know if he had enough blankets, etc. His answer made me laugh. "Yeah, but then I heat it up and I have to move to find a cool spot." LOL - he was saying that he was getting too hot, and had to shift around so he could get cooler in order to get more comfortable. The acorn doesn't fall too far from the tree. We're both nuts. :) I'm in trouble. I will be leading the discussion for our Bible study Friday night and I've not even started to study up! *sigh* I still have 48 hours though... There is a really good blog entry over at "Preachers Preaching" about "Lazy Preachers" - in my case, I am being a lazy 'lay-leader'. Verse for today: Philippians 4:4-9, ESV Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The joys of growing pains

Well, I decided to go ahead and "move" the 'Dojo' to the new Blogger digs yesterday afternoon, but I failed to follow the first rule in any form of data upgrades. BACKUP YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING! LOL. (I'm yelling at myself here...)

What I failed to do was save a copy of the old HTML code. Blogger is great at moving all of the original content from the old to new, but what was not moved were some of the 'bells and whistles' that I'd added over time. Things like my little 'blogthings' (yes there are non-girly teeny-bopper ones), and the blog award that I'd been given, so I will be working on sprucing the place up some. I really want to add a graphic for the Japanese charecters for "Christian Samurai" (クリスチャン侍 - or 'Kurisuchan') - after doing a little research I am told that this is the 'most correct' way of expressing this concept. I had learn of two different ways of saying it, one was sort of diragatory (which was kind of an eye opener to the gaijin), but this one is 'more correct' in that it is basically a term that is used to describe someone who 'has the mind of a Christian' (or perhaps the mind of Christ?), with the last charecter referring to the term 'samurai'.

Oh, and before I forget... I saw a NOVA episode titled, "The Secrets of the Samurai Sword" - facinating stuff. For example, I had been unaware that the reason the samurai sword has the characteristic arc in the blade is because that it is made with two different levels of carbon in the steel. When the blade is cooled during the process of making it, the inner core cools faster than the outer shell and thus pulls it up into its distinctive shape.

Ok, well, I've rambled on long enough about nothing particularly important so I will just say this... remember to back up your work! :)



Verse for today:
Hebrews 4:9-13, ESV
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any katana*, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

* Note: the text is actually, "...sharper than any two-edged sword, ..."

Day 8, and it's flannel pajama time once again

Man what a long weekend. Ok, it was not overly taxing, but I am pretty tired this morning.

With all the things going on I headed into my unit Friday night and as usual, I didn't get much sleep before drill (too many things running through my mind). Got up WAY before dawn on Saturday, "ran" for about twelve hours before the day was done, got to bed late Saturday night and up early again yesterday. Thank God for daylight savings time ;-). Sunday was sort of a repeat of Saturday (lot's and lot's going on for almost twleve hours), and then get home for the second shift. Once the kids were in bed I could barely hold my eyes open.

It was not all "pain and suffering" though. I went to a Panera Bread for dinner on Saturday night - I just love their food - and because I was in uniform they gave me 50% off! Man that was cool! I was also able to learn a few things over the weekend.

I was able to get the sections aligned under the respective Staff Sergeants so I do not have to worry about so much "direct intervention", and we were given a "Commander's intent" for the rest of the training year. It will be hard, but if we can pull it off, it should be very memorable for the guys, as well as for me (seeing that this is definetly my last year in uniform). I also found out that the guys that are detached will probably be back sooner than (I) expected. Which is a good thing. I also found out that my commander nominated me for the Honorable order of Saint Barbera. I am not sure that it will go through, but it was nice. I am not into things like 'orders' and all that, but it seems like a nice jesture - and I really appreciate the thought.

He also, and more importantly, nominated the head of our Family support group for the "Order of Molly Pitcher" - which is way over due. This woman has worked countless hours and taken a lot of time out of her schedule dating back to at least 2001. Even after her husband (the blankety-blank) left her, who is in my unit, she has remained a steadfast supporter of the troops. I hope she gets it.

Well, I am sure everyone who reads this blog (all, maybe, six of you) knowns now that we've turned the clocks back to "standard" time. It was wierd this year. Mostly because of the changes to the 'norm'. This year it ended a week later than usual, and will start again two weeks sooner next year. The more I think about it... I feel that "Day light savings time" should just become the norm. I used the think the other way, but then I realized that if we didn't do daylight savings... there would be times the sun would be up before 5:00 AM! But... now the sun will be setting before 5:00 PM! *sigh*... LOL

I actually had some good theological thoughts this weekend... but my tired mind is having trouble recalling them. I was able to listen to two out of three Cd's in a series titled "Christ and Him Crucified", by CJ Mahaney. It is a series that was done around the time the release of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ". It is an excellent series and highly recommend it available for free MP3 download through the website, click on the links to each sermon). I might not get to expound upon my thoughts on it this week, as I am preparing to lead the discussion at our care group this week, but I am going to be talking about the "why's" of small groups so...

Ok, so I've rambled on long enough for today...



Verse for today:

1 Corinthians 15:3-6, ESV
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Day 5 of 12

Drill weekends are a pain in my tush. For over twenty years now I have endured this once a month 12 day work weeks. Just after I got married there were times when I went about twenty days without a day off. And now that we are making sure things are set and ready for the fellas to get back there is twice as much to do, with about a third of the men. I know this is short today, but a lot is going on... Verse for today: Proverbs 2:1-8, ESV My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

HTML, part II - and a snipet about "Heroes"

Well, even before Susan was kind enough to remind me about how we can either allow others a chance at a blessing (by serving others, even if we are not in need), or we can squelch it - I contacted a friend of mine. I asked him if he does that kind of thing for fun, which he does. I just need to make the time to go meet with him and we can sit down and talk things over. Who knows, maybe I can have a spiffy page like my "blog friends" Susan and Linda. :) I have been keeping up with Heroes and The Unit again this year. With all the stuff going on I rarely watch the shows live any more. Especially because my beloved does not like Heroes - it disturbs her somehow. I've especially enjoyed Hiro and his journey through Feudal Japan (a real surprise, eh?). I'm not sure how many people would have known that "Kensai" means "sword saint", but the charecter is anything but. I do not want to give anything away one way or another. But it has been interesting that several charecters have been in New York - again - after some kind of disaster like occurance. The story is definetly ramping up for another kind of showdown next Spring. The Unit is fun because of my interest in Special Ops - especially military style ones. The producers have done a pretty good job in keeping costs down, while keeping the story lines interesting. I've especially enjoyed the season 2 cliff hanger, and the season 3 opener. Like the guys in dark suits and sunglasses would ever play fair. ;-) Those two shows, along with any NFL game I can get on the tube, is pretty much all I'm willing to watch on TV anymore. Just another rambling blog entry... Verse for today: Proverbs 1:1-7, ESV The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Pour salt on an open wound why don't ya!

Due to illness today's blog will probably be more brief than usual... Linda, from 2nd Cup of Coffee fame, was wondering why I did not comment on the pounding my Carolina Panthers took at the hand of her Super Bowl champions, the Indianapolis Colts. LOL - Payton Manning, Tony Dungy, and crew did what they do well. When one thing was not working as well as they wanted - they adjusted. In this case the went to the no-huddle offense, which the Panther defense could not adjust fast enough to. The Panthers had almost a complete first half of that game, but the game is played for sixty minutes worth of game clock. I wrote more about the game on my sperate Panthers blog. Well, to quote Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that." :) Still, the Panthers are leading the NFC South by half a game, but I am concerned about their ability to hold it. The 4-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Susan's (of Learning for Lifetime fame) favorite team, are still in a good position with a bye week still to come, and a "weaker" schedule (the combined winning record of their remaining opponents is 21-36, or 36.8%), only two of their remaining opponents have a winning record so far - Carolina being one of them. Even the Saints are not out of it at 3-4 - they too have a "weaker schedule (the combined winning record of their remaining opponents is 26-41, or 38.8%), who also only have two oppinents with a winning record remaining, one of which os the Carolina Panthers. Meanwhile Carolina will have to face the likes of the Tennessee Titans (5-2), the Green Bay Packers (6-1), the Jacksonville Jaguars (5-2), the Seattle Seahawks (4-3), and the Dallas Cowboys (6-1) - three of which are their respective division leaders currently, and the only reason the other two are not are because they are in the same division as the Indianapolis Colts!. Coach Fox has a reputation (so far) of being able to lead his team through adversity during the second half of the season (he's 24-16 so far), but it's not going to be easy. The Panthers really need to keep their head in the game. With three injured Quarterbacks (one of which is on IR), and a relatively healthy undrafted rookie free agent in Matt Moore, the Panthers really need to get their Running backs in the game - and the other receivers need to get open because Steve Smith can't carry this team forever. Oh, and the defense... don't get me started on the defense. ;) By the way - the remaining opponents records for the Panthers is 36-28, or 56.25%. Verse for today: James 1:2-18, ESV Count it all joy, my brothers, [2] when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass [3] he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [4] Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Long weekend

I have no idea how it could be Monday already. I mean, it was just a moment ago I was heading home for the weekend. Friday night - I can't even remember what we did... but I do remember getting to bed a little late. Saturday we had a few errands to run before an afternoon Fall party that my beloved was throwing (she is an awesome hostess IMO). Friends stayed WAY late (into Sunday AM). Sunday was a real blur. DD3 has a music thing at 8:30, and then we get the whole gang for 9:45 service. We (my beloved and I) were not slated to serve in the children's ministry, but since my beloved heads that ministry up we ended up serving (well she did) at the 11:00 o'clock service. After that we got DS1's hair cut.. ran to Sam's... then to DS1's last soccer game of the season, and then we split up. I took DD3 to Awana's and she took both sons to the season end soccer thing at Pizza Hut. When we got home around 7:45 last night there was still one more errand to run... as a result none of us got into bed at the time I would have preferred. And now it's Monday, and I am wondering where my weekend went. If anyone finds it, please let me know. :) In other news there were three things that God spoke to me about over the weekend. And they were kind of "whispers". The first one was during the sermon yesterday morning. It had to deal with "do unto others". Not just our friends, or those who are kind to us, those we get along with. But we are to be kind to our enemies too. What would we do for ourselves? Would we be really willing to do that for an enemy? And what about rejoicing when a foe suffers in some way? Do we rejoice? I really wanted to think about this one some more... what does it mean to love myself... and how does that reflect in my dealings with others. I'm mortal so I am going to look at my own house first (my beloved and children). The second thing was do I really expect the best when I pray. Do I expect the God's best in my life? Now, I have to admit that this point was given me through Joel Osteen. I was listening to his broadcast again yesterday as I was getting ready for church. When we come to God are we acting like "Eeyore"? We can come to God with joy and expecting our prayers to be "yes, and Amen" - even if the answer is "No" or "not yet". The greatest gift (Christ dying on the cross) is exactly what enables me as a Christian to have such a joy and expectation. I know Pastor Osteen has been criticozed for not taking a stand about the path of Christianity being the only way to heaven, and for not presenting the gospel in his sermons. He did conclude his broadcast yesterday with (albeit brief) invitation and sinners prayer for those who do not yet believe in Christ. While I do feel he should do more, Pastor Orsteen did present the message in light of the Gospel yesterday. It may not have been as thorough as I personally would have preferred - it was there. The last item, and most likely by far not the least, has to do with the sabbath. God made it a point to include it in His "top ten". It is not a little thing. Thinking through this entire post, and my real life scheduling of things. Do I take a sabbath day? Be it Sunday, Saturday, or any other day? There is a reason God made the sabbath for man. And that was because we are indeed limited. We require sleep, we require rest, we require sustanence. If we do not take that time to rest (let alone time to worship and reflect on the Creator) we will eventually just collapse (wither metally or physically). All of these things God spoke to me... and I really need to take some time - make some time - to reflect on them. Verse for today: 1 Kings 19: 9b-13, ESV And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. [1] And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”