« April 2005 | Main | June 2005 »
Caltech has entered a new "driverless vehicle" in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) race from L.A. to Las Vegas - a full 142 miles. Last year's entry, named Bob, ate barbed wire after 1.3 miles, and the furthest any entry made it was 7.4 miles. This year, team Caltech hopes to fare a bit better with Alice.
Just the other day I found myself in a tiled room, and as I stood there looking at the wall, my mind suddenly saw "<table border=0 cellpadding=... <tr><td colspan=2..."
I caught myself when I realized that I was looking at tiles.
Obviously I've been spending just a bit too much time in front of a code-editor...
Yesterday's Daily Office contained 2 Cor. 1.12-22, in which St. Paul talks a bit about vacillation and indecision; in particular, that he was not vacillating. What struck me though, was verse 12. Here he asks, "Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say 'Yes, yes' and 'No, no' at the same time?" (The Greek reads 'according to the flesh'). He was making a point, but only in passing: How does the normal human say Yes & No simultaneously?
Oddly enough, I ended up getting sidetracked with an article about Free Will and another on Hegel's Psychology of Freedom, both of which had some interesting things to say about saying "Yes."
The first suggests that "...the concept of Free Will is always tied to the issue of control..." Which means that any decision that leaves a person feeling in control is "easy" while one that is "difficult" is that way because it leaves the person feeling out of control.
While I'm pretty clear that this isn't what Paul was talking about, it brings up the point that the way most people tend to make decisions is based on an immediate & repeated access of feelings - how they felt now over against how they felt then. In this way, someone can say "Yes" and mean "No," or say "Yes" and back out to say "No." Either way, this person's word is void.
God's Word never is.
God promises and delivers.
Going with our normal modus operandi, we might be tempted to say "Yes" when we mean "No" or just plain waver. Paul has realized that God's Word never wavers, and he knows that our word should also never waver. And how does that happen? If we accept the argument that "Free Will is always tied to the issue of control" then we can see how formerly difficult decisions can routinely become easier through the development of Trust in a God whose Word never wavers, and whose promises are an eternal "Yes." True, the consequences of our decisions might still be completely out of our control, but that's because we've handed off the reins to someone with much better hand-eye coordination.
And so Paul can say that his word is his bond, his word is Yes, and he shall not waver. And he can say that he doesn't make decisions according to the Flesh, but according to a new a new model. His word is bound to the boldness of an unshakeable trust that transcends death and relinquishes all control.
How difficult can decisions be then? You do as you know God asks, and suffer - perhaps literally - the consequences of following the one to whom you always say "Yes" because you know his Word never fails.
What kind of day would it be where I spoke of black cats, but didn't include white mice? Apparently, the brains of white mice is wired for "survival first, and reproduction second." How do scientists know this? By exposing these little white mice to cat odor and female urine simultaneously. Read full coverage here.
I'm really not sure it should have taken gene studies to figure this out...
Just the other day as I was driving home, a black cat ran in front of my car. And I thought, "Hmm... bad luck, right?"
That got me interested in where the original legend about black cats bringing bad luck came from.
Apparently, black cats have been associated with evil as far back as Hebrew and Babylonian folklore. And, because of their association with witches, they are associated with the evil nature of witchcraft. They are often purported to actually be a witch who has shifted her shape into that of a cat, or a familiar - a demon - in the shape of a cat, partnering with the witch. Still, these definitions only touch on the reasoning behind the "bad luck." The only place that I could find any relation to bad luck was that Germanic and Nordic cultures held this belief to be true, and that North American folklore held it for some time, though it is not widely held so any more.
Ah well, no luck, eh?
Incidently, I did experience a spate of not so pleasant events following this run in with the cat, but I know that it was merely a coincidence...
Interesting cat info here.
Today's daily office reading included Psalm 25. And since I have been practically demanding that God give me a particular path to follow, one verse in particular jumped off the page at me.
This was verse 12: Who are they that fear the LORD? He will teach them the way that they should choose.
Now, being a programmer, I am a very binary thinker: 1/0, on/off, yes/no, true/false, black/white. And when I examined that verse and applied it to myself, I followed this path of logic:
God has not told me what the proper choice is.
No clear choice means prerequisites have not been achieved.
Prerequisite is fearing God.
Ergo, I am failing in my fear of God.
Hmmm... That opened up a can of W./o.R.M.(definition), and got me wondering about Fearing God.
Where to start? Psalm 111.10 and Proverbs 9.10 both tell us that the beginning of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, so at least we know where to start. But perhaps Hebrews 12.28-29 gets more to the point. "Our God is a consuming Fire." Non-believers should take warning, and believers take heed.
So back to my logic of 1's and 0's. The only clear path that I could follow after this was to realize that I was not showing clear reverence or godly fear. By this I mean, simple disobedience to previously clear directives. Why won't the next directive come? Because I have failed to show due reverence to the previous one, and rather than fearing the consequences of disobedience, I simply continued to strut my stuff before the throne. Definitely not wise. In addition to finding the number 666 in the book of Revelation, we find powerful angels - including St. Michael the Archangel, commander of the heavenly host - bowing to God. It's interesting that strutting looks nothing like bowing.
And why did I fall into that trap? Mike Yaconelli of Youth Specialites has some suggestions: "We have defanged the tiger of truth. We have tamed the lion... The tragedy of modern faith is that we no longer are capable of being terrified."
The Mark of the Beast or just some number? And what are we to make of it? Complicated mathematics? After all, I grew up with missionary parents in a house at 666 Caribou Drive in Alaska (a state with 6 leters).
Do a simple web search for the number 666 and you'll soon find reasons why George Bush Jr. is the Anti-Christ, and other reasons why Al Gore is. Not too handy, now is it? Especially when you make up your own rules for doing the math. But, to be on the safe side, I followed the rules on the numerology of Greek letters and inserted my own name in Greek (KARSTEN - I had to go with the phonetic spelling), and lo and behold, my name adds up to 676!!! Whew! I'm not the Beast. But you have to ask, if my name is ten more than the beast, does that mean I'm a bit more evil? Or since it contains a seven, does it mean I'm less evil - more good? The brain strain on this one is unbelievable. Ouch.
Worse yet, it seems that this number may be inaccurate anyway. Read about the wickedness of number 616, the new and improved 666.
But more to the point. How ridiculous is all of this anyway? Why bother with the complicated mathematics of deciphering evil when we have a simple equation:
Prayer + Single Focus = No Fear
The end is inevitable anyway, so why not just worry about being prepared for it, rather than judging others?
And finally, in related news, Noah's Ark discovered in Turkey.
Today's Daily Office reading, Luke 13.18-30, leaves me feeling a bit warbled.
Pay particular attention to verses 23-27. The fact that many who claim to know Christ will find themselves getting a door slammed in their face and Jesus saying "What? I don't know you. Who are you?" seems a bit harsh, especially in a world where everyone claims that God has a universal acceptance speach awaiting anyone who just says, "Hey, Jesus, buddy, pal."
But more to the point. The fact that we may expect something from God without really striving toward Him is something unnerving. After all, how do we monitor our hearts to know when we're striving, and when we've dropped the sandals and sat down in the sand of our own complacency? After all, complacency has a great way of masking itself as "All's Well," and "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Only that we're called to keep striving for perfection. And what a pain that is, eh? Especially when you don't feel like it. I'd almost rather take the sandals off and sit in this nice patch of grass....
I just got my business cards at work, and the title reads "Web Specialist," which makes me sound pretty genius-like. Which I am, mind you...
...but oddly enough, most of my days recently have consisted of exercising my hands in the much familiar "ctrl+c, ctrl+v" ritual.
So, while the cards are an exciting addition to my life, and make me feel pseudo-important, they come at a time when the irony of my job description/title & actual duties find me waxing cynical.
Jesus said that his followers would do greater works than even he did — if we ask it in his name.
There's the rub, though, ain't it? Read John 14.8-17, especially stopping on verses 12-14.
In this passage we are reminded of several things. Jesus is God, and he and the Father are One; the Spirit of God lives within us because we have received him, and also, that we too can ask God to perform miracles through the power of Jesus' name.
Of course, skeptics everywhere will want to point out how often Christian leaders and teachers pray for miracles & claim them to have happened, only to discover that they haven't in fact taken place. To which I respond, this is true: beware those who come to boast and who don't bring Christ ("Their end will match their deeds"); the only way to know for sure is to test their fruit. Falsehood exists.
But Truth exists as well. And the Power of God is real. That's why we celebrate this Pentecost - the day marking the birth of the Church, and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon those now bold disciples. It seems to me, though, that Christ mentioned that these miracles and workings of power would come to those who prayed in his name and who did this so that the Father might be glorified in the Son. It's far too easy to ask these things and to start thinking that we had something to do with it; and then to take the credit. Quite possibly the biggest deterrent to the arrival of the Holy Spirit: pride.
If we're going to pray for miracles, we ought to pray for the biggest miracle of all, humility
John 20.19-23 tells a story of several frightened men.
We find the disciples in a house in Jerusalem, where they've barricaded themselves into hiding, afraid of what the ruling Jewish Leaders might do them, especially after their leader died crucified by Roman hands — at the request of those self-same ruling Jewish leaders.
And then suddenly, Jesus stands among them and says, "Peace be with you." Now, Jesus is hardly telling them to just "calm down, I'm here." He's telling them so much more.
Blessing them with Peace means granting them with true Rest through the assurance of their salvation; calling them to true Life, through the living out of their calling and use of their gifts - free from the anxiety of wondering what others think; and prompting them to a life of boldness & courage, facing every fear with the calm resolution of one who has nothing to fear.
When Jesus tells these frightened men that he is sending them just as the Father sent him, we find that he means they ought to be sent with authority, with conviction, with boldness, purity & singleness of heart, and with a mission.
And then he blows on them, and says, "Receive now the Holy Spirit."
And when do we see the disciples next? Locked up in a house, afraid? Not at all. We find them a few days later, overcome with the power of the Spirit, preaching to all in Jerusalem - in multiple foreign tongues.
How's that for transformation? How's that for living out their calling?
Peace be with us all.
Occasionally I run across people who claim a theology of "pure grace" — as they call it — and which allows them the freedom to live exactly as everyone else does, with total disregard to the Will of God.
The theology comes, of course, from several passages in Paul's writings, the two most notable being Romans 8.1 and Ephesians 2.8-9.
Meeting someone who espouses this theology cogently and concsiously truly is rare, because most people would never consciously argue that God doesn't care if they go about killing people, lying, cheating, stealing, etc... because they simply believe.
But the problem is that too often, this theology is lived rather than proclaimed. More on this in a moment.
This morning in the Daily Office, I ran across these verses from Ezekiel. Most notable are verses 24 and 30. God Himself declares that a once righteous man, if he turns to wickedness, will be judged, and his righteous acts will be forgotten; he will die for his sins. But God also warns us (v30) that we should not let our sins become a stumbling block to us.
Now that's an interesting concept: the stumbling block. Etymologically, the word comes from the Greek skandalon meaning stumbling block, which is also the root to our word scandal, which, as the dictionary tells us, is "Damage to reputation or character caused by public disclosure of immoral or grossly improper behavior."
So, back to the this lived theology.
With the way that society has tended toward self-indulgence and entitlement, Christians living in this age no longer find themselves facing a scandal when they live as the rest of society. In fact, the situation is flipped: it's considered a scandal to actually live up to a set of proclaimed morals. And here is where the theology of "pure grace" gets lived out. What's the difference between Christ-followers and others? Often, none.
So it turns out that the only scandal is that of our own lives. We have allowed our own sins to become stumbling-blocks to ourselves, as though we were throwing cinder blocks into our own path on the way toward God. Which is easier?, to stumble repeatedly, and continue moving forward, or to sit on the block, resting in an assurance that God will overlook that one weakness? Let's not be fooled. If we quit moving forward, we have proven that we would rather live according to our own desires, because how we live is proclamation of the state of our heart (Matthew 12.33-35).
Just what everyone needs: a stream-lined content management system for a website.
And that's the next project I've decided to undertake. A CMS that allows for new modules to be added at any time, without a rewrite in code. It should allow multiple users, each with their own login access only to approved portions of the site. And templates for every page should be editable from within the CMS, so a person doesn't need to be near their own computer to make global changes.
The plan is to use PHP & MySQL.