Spring in KY

Spring is here. Life from Death. Redemption. Fresh Air. Beauty in Nature. Blessings!

You want a piece of this guy?

I didn't think so. Get back to work...

Truth's Treasure

The Lenten readings for this morning involved 2 rather interesting passages: Jeremiah 26:1-6 and Romans 11:1-12. You should read them if you haven't already (it'll really help you understand what I'm writing about, or maybe just make you disagree with me. That and I've linked them here for you so it's soooo easy).

Jeremiah speaks the word of the Lord in the city and the hearers of his message summarily decide he needs to die because he has spoken "against the city!" Oooooohh, the city... After a little bit, they do figure out that maybe they shouldn't kill him like they did most other prophets who said things they didn't like, but the point is made. Do you see it? The city is the thing on which the people are staking their hope and salvtion. They've made it into a god. "Someone is speaking against the city? Kill him!"

Mortar fades, walls fall, comfort will leave, and riches will be exhausted. "The City"??

And if you read the excerpt from Romans, you might get why I ask this: what are these things that cause us to ignore reality? To say, "you can't say that. That will upset the delicate balance I've struck. What are those little (or large) parts of our lives to which we pay homage, be it mental, emotional, or monetary. Because apparently, there's a remnant of those who will seek truth over their comfort. I'd rather be on the good side of truth than always happy for 60 years.

The myth of an easy life

Ever talk to people who think life should be easy? Ever talk to someone who thinks the man is trying to keep them down? I know I have, and I think it's one of the more interesting parts of the human condition because it delves so deeply into what we deserve. I find myself doing this from time to time, especially with God; but that's something for a whole other time.

Erwin McManus, a preacher and writer in L.A. who works in the inner city made some interesting observations in one of his messages. He commented that one pervasive idea amongst the people he worked with was that rich people, famous people, and successful people had never been forced to endure hardship. That very few recognized that to be successful (in whatever way it is defined), discipline, focus, toughness, and timing must all be involved.

My $0.02 is that often people know the things they need to do to make their life better, but fear of the unknown and resistance to change handicaps this potential. We must be willing to suffer through painful change in order to become the people we are meant and were created to be.

Birthday Time

My niece Prema's 8th birthday was last week. Kid's birthdays are so much more fun than adults.

Aaaaahhhh! The Sky is falling! The sky is falling! oh wait....I guess we're okay

I'm thinking of starting a website named rampantyahooism.org. Why you ask when there are such quality institutions such as mythbusters and the like? Maybe that's why the blog is so aptly named with it's URL. (quick disclaimer: I've said some stupid things, so I'm not casting stones, just a foam ball or two)Here's the question: do people actually think about the questions people might ask when they say things? I would put forth to you that in fact, no they do not. I'm at work this morning filling my plastic water bottle out of the hard plastic water cooler container. A co-worker walks by (not a particularly popular one for obvious reasons) and says "you know you shouldn't re-use plastic bottles to drink water."
Sam: Oh really? Why not?
Co-worker: The plastic leaches into the water. It's okay to do the first time. You just shouldn't re-use it.
Sam: Hmmm....( this is the end of the conversation as I ran to my desk to avoid more nonsense and was thinking "that sure does sound crazy!")
#1: How is a steady state plastic going to get more dangerous between its first and second use? I can buy that heated plastic is no good, but that bottle probably sat in a hot warehouse somewhere at some point, and it's almost always at room temperature for me. Think about it.
#2: Shouldn't we be far more worried about actually drinking enough water instead of worrying about the relatively insignificant number of toxins (if it is in fact true)? I think this part probably should not apply to pregnant women as babies are pretty susceptible to this stuff. Little different for non-pregnant adults (like men, for instance).

So a quick bit of internet research (avoiding of course the plastics website and looking for slightly more respectable sources) yielded the following from Johns Hopkins (interestingly enough, the locale often blamed for originally telling people not to drink out of plastic bottles. )

http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/halden_dioxins.html

About 10 minutes later, another co-worker, who usually would be smarter than this, sent me an e-mail about Ericsson giving away free laptops if you just send this e-mail to 8 people and copy the person that works at ericsson. Oh and you'll get a better model if you make that 20.

Quick questions

#1: A publicly traded tech company is going to give away countless numbers of laptops ( a high-dollar item) for free? Or not so much

#2: So you copy this employee in an e-mail. No home address, no phone number, She's just gonna get back to you with that computer in a couple weeks with the millions of recipients and senders that are inevitably included in this mess? Right...

So some more quick internet research revealed the following:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/ericsson.asp

I'm just saying. Please ask the question why. It can save everyone a lot of trouble and wasted seconds on the internet (where everything is true).

God in the daily

This is a developing thought, so please bear with the (normal) sub-par writing and thought progression.

Before reading the rest of this post, you need to go watch two 10-sec videos on Tim's page. 1) Gabe working some drumbeats on a couple pots and pans.

http://tdmiller.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/back-with-another-one-a-them-block-rockin-beats/

2) Gabe and Tim playing around screaming "Ba-dah!"

http://tdmiller.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/ba-dahhh/

I must have watched each of this videos at least 10-15 times and smiled and laughed and felt good. There's something right and chairos (sp?) about what is portrayed. Note the seriousness in Gabe's face while drumming. He's focused, but he does it because he enjoys it and also because he knows Dad loves it. Now look at his face during Ba-Dah. Pretty easy to tell how much he's loving it, right?

I often wonder what we look like to God. It's not really any of my business, but there have to be times like these for Him. Times where we are doing things to glorify him, where he can't help but smile. But I'm really interested in the other times. The times where we sit around and laugh and enjoy life and humor and relationship.

Don't forget to look for it...

Mini, digital vacations

A friend recently brought an interesting web site to my attention. You can search for any place on earth (almost), and pictures will come up that someone has taken there. Great pictures. Check it out at http://www.trekearth.com/

Here's a little sampling...

A dilapidated concrete pier

bahamas

Flooring pics for Isaac & one new addition

The nephew has been quite curious about the thing that caused "da-ey" to travel to Kentucky to see Uncle Sam. Isaac also inquired as to when sam could come play. Just another month and change buddy. Home improvement is fun...

Kyle and Sam getting their groove on and showing off their fine hind-ends in the freshly laid living room.

The new guardian of Sam's computer - The BA fan company burro. Nobody's messin' with me now...

The living room still in progress

The dust that formed during the process.



Jon revels in his glory after doing some smooth saw work - especially on that beveled edge.

The threshhold between rooms





Kyle and Sam once again exhibiting the skills that made them famous. Or whatever...

It's Miller Time

And now he's entered the blogosphere... Tim, ladies and gentlemen.

http://tdmiller.wordpress.com/

Enjoy.