Omnivoritey...

As I was in the middle of dining during the latter part of my 16 hour workday, my mind began to wander. I took a bite of my cafeteria entrée and realized theres fine dining, fast food, ramen noodles, and then theres cafeteria food. This post will take a look at the darker side of nutrition where yesterday’s special becomes today’s “cream of” soup. Come, venture on a walk with me, through the dark narrow hallways of mass produced trays of meat and sauce. Welcome...to the Omnivoriety.

Tonight’s menu: Diet Coke, Beef Quesadilla, Make-Your-Own salad

First: the best part of the meal, the Diet Coke ($0.52). It went splashing down like rapids of carbonation tickling my esophagus. A delightful compliment to any meal, the Diet Coke had almost perfect blend of the soda water and syrup. My complaint lies with the cup, as the thin, clear plastic didn’t do much to protect my hand from the icy beverage, nor to insulate said beverage.

For my main fare, I chose the grill item of the day, a beef quesadilla ($3.30). The portion was relatively small, Ive made bigger quesadillas for less money in my kitchen, but with the employee discount it probably evens out. The dish was started with a flour tortilla slathered with oil and lightly grilled, enough to heat the oil but not crisp the edges. Then some sort of SPAM substitute was pulled out of a pan and warmed on the grill. Upon tasting, this beef seemed more like a leftover, reheated Whopper rather than mexican steak. Even Moe’s gives more effort. The grey, crumbly meat/tortilla roll was complimented with sour cream, which along with the grease, helped it slip-n-slide down like the neighborhood kids on a hot summer day. Of course, there was cheese melted throughout which salvaged an otherwise subpar course.

Finally, I enjoyed a make-your-own salad ($2.27). I thought it would be exciting to add corn to the dish, giving it a southwestern feel. Well, someone should have told me that corn holds a lot of water, meaning at by-the-pound pricing, that corn could be traded for oil barrels in Iran right about now. It did add a sweet taste though, which wont go unnoticed. The romaine lettuce was crisp and refreshing, kudos to the produce crew for renewing the batch late in the evening, when they coulda left me the days scraps and been justified, as I ate with 30 minutes left for the diner hour. 50 gold stars to the grill attendant who opened a brand new bag of those zesty garlic croutons I love, just so I could sprinkle a few on my salad. I rounded out the dish with bacos and light ceasar dressing. All the flavors danced in my mouth to help me forget the quesa-debacle, and remind me that cafeteria dining can be great, if only because you have no other choice.

ATLAJ...

So this is my first attempt at a phlog. I moved to Atlanta and I wanna post some junk to display how I live. I work at Children's Healthcare of Atlatna:

Its a beautiful place where sick kids come to get healthy. Sometimes I have a part in that.

This is my work office, where I save lives.

My bedroom, in my parents' basement.

Im proud of my bookshelves and my CD display, Im so cultured.

My study, for reading and contemplating the scriptures or soaking in a good novel.

Solamente...

This should be short and to the point. As I was driving home today, my iPod picked Save Me from the Enter the Worship Circle album. The lyrics are taken from Psalm 69 which are:

Save me, oh God! for the waters have come up to my neck.
I am sinking to the bottom, where I cannot stand
I am calling to You, can You hear my cry?

Oh my God you've turned your eyes
Now my heart has come alive!

Only You have come to find me
Only You have come to pull me out
Only You have come to save me
Only You have come to wrap your arms around me

I just thought about all the things I look to for safety and comfort. And not only will those things ultimatley not save me or help me...they cant, wont, and didnt seek me out to do it. Not friends. Not family. Not lovers. Not children. Not jobs. Not pride. Not success. Not fear. Not status. Not power. Not hobbies. Not rest. Not laughter. Not alcohol. Not clothes. Not music. Not money.

Sorry, that list is kind of random but at some point I have thought one of those things would make me feel better, would satisfy. Nothing has pursued us and chased us to save us. Why do we look elsewhere for comfort? When all else fails me, which it will inevitably do, only He has come to find me.

Calling all cars...

Ok, this isn't a typical blog post. It is an invitation to everyone who is reading this. I have been reading the bible cover to cover, and now I am in Judges. This adventure has been beautiful and challenging, but much more so lately. Reading Joshua and Judges I have seen sides of God that disturb me. Ill be honest, I am having a hard time putting what I think of God and His ways into what the Bible is clearly showing me He is like (which, He doesn't change so what He was then He still is now, even if it is not spoken of). I see brutal wrath, disregard for human life, fierce anger...which I knew was there, but had not read the Old Testament fully. I can handle that though, for He is furiously jealous and demands the love and obedience of His people, and rightly so! for He is the Beginning and the End of all things. He is to be praised for giving us Jesus, who was perfect so we can be covered in Him and spared from the destruction we deserve. But I think one of the things that I really dislike most is the appearance of a reward/punishment system in these OT passages. I don't like it, I have come to only trust his grace to me through Christ, and have rejected a rewards/punishment view of God. Nothing can separate us from His love, not our actions, mindset, words, circumstances. I have bathed in His love lately when that finally hit home and I was free of all the rules and things I had done to try to earn his approval earlier in life. But this OT stuff seems to rely fully on rewards for good and punishment for bad, and it is unsettling. I have been told that grace has always been there, and God doesn't change, so why this seemingly 180 degree change of operation? I know Christ changed a lot of things, and I'm sure my answer lies in His wounds...but I have been pondering and cant seem to be OK with what I am reading. Anyway, please feel free to comment and give your ideas on this...for I am struggling with it myself. And I think being challenged by the Word is good, but sometimes its hard and confusing. If you don't or cant comment on here you can email me or something, because I really wanna know what all you guys have to say. So, with that...I open the floor to discussion!

Take, drink...

I have often struggled with exactly what I should be thinking when I take communion. I know its important, I know its a sacrament (whatever exactly a sacrament really is), and I know some churches do it every week and some a few times a year. I know Jesus says "do this in rememberance of me," so I guess I should just concentrate on him real hard? But I am always remembering him, especially at church! Thats why Im there, so whats the deal with the special trip to the altar? I definitely think that its a solemn time, an important time, but I have never really known what to DO on communion days. Typically I will pray for a little bit, because if you just jump right up its suspicious, so I wanna make sure I mentally prepare myself for this special meal. The last ones in line are probably the ones that really got in the right mindset for this. Sometimes walking up I look real serious and thoughtful so everyone around me will think Im being really spiritual as I go to take the bread and wine. As I eat it, sometimes I try to make sure I am ONLY thinking about God or Jesus. Or I just concentrate so hard on...what? I mean, what should be going on in my heart? Maybe I seem really dumb to the reader(s) here, but honestly Ive just never gotten the real point. I know its special, but why?

Well I was listening to a message recently by Ray Cortese called Thou Shalt Have Great Sex, and in it was one of the best illustartions of the importance of the communion meal. Kinda a weird sermon for that huh? Perhaps. Anyway he talks about how sex is a wonderful gift from God for married couples and of course he tied it into the gospel (atta boy, Ray)...and it was really a good message. But at the end he talks about how in olden times a woman would be arranged to marry a man, and that groom-to-be would come see this woman (probably for the first time) and the families would throw a party for them. During that time, he would offer a goblet of wine to his potential bride. She then had the choice to drink or not drink this offering. If she drank, she accepted the offer of marriage...and if not, well that guy felt like a real jerk Im sure. So then if she drank, the man would then have to go off, back to his home and build a place for her and him to live after they were wed. Well, at the party, after she drank and accepted he would say to her something like "I am going to prepare a place for you and when it is ready I will come back and recieve you and there we will go and be forever together." Sound familiar? oh...how beautiful! Jesus said those very words at the Last Supper! (John 14: 2-4)

Communion is a constant reminder that we have a groom that will never leave us. A groom that is coming back to get us, his bride. A groom who died so we could be close to Him.

So last night was the first time I had taken the bread and wine since hearing that message. Im sure I dont get all of it, and Im sure I have plenty more to learn...but as I took part in the feast, I was no longer concerned with "shoulds" or "oughts" or what anyone else was doing. But I took it and quitely lifted this to my Savior: Yes, I accept. I will wait for only you. I do.

Wounded...

I went to visit my great aunt and uncle this Saturday, so we could see my other great uncle and some distant cousins or something. It was a nice time, although it did have a twinge of awkwardness that comes with forced mingling. And they are family, so I think there is this dynamic where everyone feels like they should hit it off and be fast friends, so silence and lack of conversation feels extra weird. Anyway, I digress. While out in the garden, I stepped on a Hawthorn branch, upon which sat a 2 inch thorn. This monstrosity (it was huge, take out a ruler and measure 2 inches - thats a big thorn) proceeded to impale a) the rubber sole of my Reef sandals b) the thick foam padding c) the leather bed and d) my flesh. This hurt.

As I cleaned my bloody instep the throbbing radiated out and affected the entire heel portion of my foot. I was pretty surprised how much damage this thorn did. I mean, my foot was still quite sore today. At my desk today, I considered this thorn and I thought about how nasty the crown of thorns must have been. That was real. It happened. I think often times we do not have a personal, physical connection with what happened to our Savior. We werent there, we didnt see the blood or hear the sounds of torture which occured on that day. But all that stuff we read and saw in that Mel Gibson movie actually happened and were actually felt by our beautiful friend and Lord, Jesus. Feeling that thorn gave me possibly a 0.00003% feeling of what He endured for us. Actually immeasurably less than that, because he endured the abscence of an infinitley intimate relationship with the Father, but that is a whole nother blog in itself. Basically, sin is ugly...and the punishment for it is devastating. Its just ridiculous the amount of love that was and is poured out on us by the Father. To go through that, just so He could be close to a continuously rebelious son like me...its astonishing.

Dont be a drone...

I was talking to my friend Jason recently about this resurgence of blogging that seems to be happening. I know people have been blogging for a while now, but only recently it seems that all my friends have started to post blogs. So anyway, we were discussing this and he commented that he thinks "one of the best things we can do with our time is read and/or write." This seems very basic, but when you think about it...do we really ever do these things? I mean, really do them to exercise our mind and not out of obligation to our job or school.

Reading expands the boundaries of our minds I think. It stretches our knowledge base and forces us to focus our energy on a subject. I have experienced the satisfaction of ingesting a good piece of literature lately and there is something extra special about it. It takes more effort than watching TV or even listening to music (both enjoyable activities) and that leads us to appreciate that act of reading more. I cant wait now to come home from work and just sit with a book for an hour or so. It is truly a relaxing activity, yes stimulates your mind at the same time. I think it enriches our souls. I have no proof of this, but that is just my recent thoughts on reading.

As for writing, I have lately discovered a new benefit to this pastime. Organization. Historically I have used writing to experiment with diction and tried to paint pictures with words. I would only write if I thought I had a really big idea or a clever way of putting something. However since starting this blog I have seen that through writing, my thoughts have an outlet to take shape and organize into useful knowledge. Nothing special, just working through the muddled thought soup that is my brain. There have been a few posts where I just started typing with a vague idea, then through spilling out words, actually identified what had been floating around in my head. Sometimes it just helps to get it out. To find the root of the situation so you can deal with it.

Thinking about this subject, writing, also led me to consider creativity in general. Writing is a form of creating, as well as the other arts such as painting, playing music, etc. I think using our minds to create is a very special thing to do. It taps into one of God's attributes that he shares with us. We are made in His image and while we certainly do not have his omnipotence we do have the capacity to create. Id go so far as to say that one of the defining characteristics of God is creativity. Anyway, using our minds to create is showing Him that we appreciate what he has bestowed on us. Its not the only way to do that, but it is one way. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then when we are creative we are worshiping Him in a way. Kinda cool, huh? I thought it was an interesting thought. Lets not let these abilities atrophy. I encourage you to read, write, and enjoy these precious gifts He has given us!