I Ponder Thusly

This is going to be a quick post b/c i'm sick of being on this computer! Humans were not made to stare at a screen all the days of their lives! It hurts the cerebrum! Cerebellum! Shucks! I see it's already taken effect!

Okay, so I've had an awesome weekend and whatnot - Abby and Chad are inspiring, Randy really spoke to my heart on Sunday (er, sorry, God did), and I must have done something else good. Oh yeah. Nevermind.

But, I've also had a messed-up weekend. These are some of the crazy things I have done:

• I went to the market to buy a watermelon for my Father, and as I left the market with all my goods, I realized no watermelon had been purchased by good ol' Jac. No lycopene for me or the dad.


• I searched high and low for my cellular fruit only to realize, as I sunk exhaustedly into my cot, that it was in my right hand. I mean the left.


• I stopped at a green light in heavy traffic. This was embarrasing to me.


• I put my unduhpants on inside out and didn't change them rightside out. And yet, a few hours later, they were rightside out. Could someone please clue me in on what happened there? I'm frightened!


• Also, more than once, I heard a noise in back of me and turned around to see who it was, only to figure out that it was the door shutting behind me.

What I really want to know is, what is the reason for my dazedness? Am I always like this? I'd venture a "yes."

I think my problem stems from reading a vulgar book once that purported, "Absorb the color of life, but never its details. Details are always vulgar." So, I've pretty much been absorbing colors and forgetting everything else, including common observances.

I do think this way of thinking is hazardous.

Well, I kind of had fun with that post about truth. What I was initially planning on posting about was worms. Last week I went for a walk and I saw a worm on the middle of the sidewalk, and it was wiggling around, all helpless. And, I proved to myself that I do in fact have a soul. And by "a soul," I mean, a heart of compassion.

I thought, "Why is Georgie crawling on the sidewalk on such a dry day? Should warmer weather arrive with the afternoon, he'll dry up like a raisen if he doesn't get a move on!"

So I picked up that little Georgie and put him back in Jenny and Larry's yard. Well, no, it was someone else's yard on their block. And I smiled to myself, full of pride, and walked on my way. But my tale isn't over.

About two sidewalks squares later, I stopped suddenly, wondering...did I put the critter on the right side of the sidewalk? Maybe he was trying to get from the yard to the boulevard for some grande purpose! Maybe I had just done something...eeevvil. The whole course of the world could be changed because of it! Because of the butterfly effect - one little flap of the butterfly's wings in Guam can cause a monsoon in - in - some monsoon-afflicted country. And one little worm at the wrong place at the wrong time could dictate disaster for a nation.

Friends, let us pray that my "heart of compassion" will not turn the world upside-down.

Good morning, world! Or, good one oh-two pm, world! Isn't it a lovely day?

Encouragement for those who are in Christ:

"We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." -1 John 5:20

There is so much we can think about - so much to wonder about our own lives and about the spiritual world. Occasionally this can make me nervous - this limitless mass of questions. But...I know I can always rest secure knowing Christ as the Son of God! He is the foundation of all of our knowledge; he has given us understanding for life.

What we do not know, we can turn to Christ to know. I love this prayer of David, who is seeking of the Lord:

Psalm 25:4-6 (New International Version)

4 Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;

5 guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.

Not only does God have truth, which David asks to be guided in, but He also IS Truth!

Christ said, "I and the Father are One". (Jn 10:30) Christ also claimed to be the Truth in John 14:6.

The TRUTH! Truth is what theories strive for, religions search for. That's so big. What the world is looking for is Christ, but it may not know it! (Tangent: the song "What the world needs now is love, sweet love!" is also true, as God is not only truth, but love, accd. to 1 Jn 4:8.)

Christ spoke of truth constantly. What he said was true. When you read his teachings in the gospels, he starts off much of what he says by saying, "I tell you the truth,..."

Take note, he also said the "Spirit of Truth" would be sent to his disciples.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. - John 16:13

Sweet. :)

Presently, I really have nothing philosophical to say, so I'm just going to give a few resources that deal with a physical matter. It may behoove those of you who have horrific, let me say..."fragrances," to read on. Here are a few links to help you deal with your problem:

1. Do you have Hyperhidrosis?


2. Might you have Fish Odor Syndrome?


3. Test your deodorant know-how!


4. The ignorable dangers of Anti-Perspirants


5. Your last resort...

Thank you, and God bless, and if you are wondering if I was thinking of you specifically, dear reader, when I made this post, you're just paranoid. Or perhaps you really do have odour issues.

Alas! The wisdom of man is futile!

Solomon was wise, but who cares? He didn't care. He said everything is meaningless (if it was he who wrote Ecclesiastes).

So what is the point of defining "wisdom" as being unique from "idiocy" if it doesn't matter anyway? Solomon may as well have been an moron.

And why did he get all those concubines? Was that okay in God's eyes? Was God perhaps slightly offended, but He looked over his offense saying, "Well, Sol is the wisest one I've got, so I'll cut him some slack and let him indulge in about...800 earthly pleasures." Or was He not offended at all?

Would God have let Sol drink to excess as well? Smoke MJ? Is MJ really so bad? Not that I'm wanting to roll any doobies. It's against the law and not healthy. Maybe they didn't have MJ back then. At least not in the Middle East. Or was God only allowing the women thing? Sick. I can't handle this.

The only thing I remember reading about the dangers of Solomon's many, er, "relationships" was that his idolatrous wives led him astray spiritually by turning Solomon's heart to other gods. I'm wondering if God minded the surplus of women before they aroused His jealousy.

So...

Likely, "the wisdom of man is futile" means that God is not impressed by man's wisdom. But He wants us to be wise, doesn't he?

My word, am I ever annoyed. :)

This weekend I watched the old musical Guys and Dolls with Frank Sinatra. And by that I mean Frank Sinatra was in it, not that Mr. Sinatra accompanied me while I viewed the film. Though that would have been exciting (and morbid, considering he is not living at this present time).

I didn't even realize that one of the main characters was Marlon Brando until I saw the end credits. I guess I don't watch very many old movies. Or many movies with Marlon Brando when he was young.

From what I could tell, the theme of the movie was gambling and the relational roles of men and women. This chump named Sky Masterson (Brando) bragged to Sinatra that he could convince any girl to go lunch with him in Havana by the next day. What an ego! And, what confidence!

Sinatra said he'd give Masterson a thousand bucks if he could get Sarah Brown, the decent but unfeeling young doll that ran the local mission, to ship off to Cuba. Sky soon marched into the mission to introduce himself to Sarah. He told her that he was an awful sinner in need of the help of repentance. She wasn't buying it - for after all, he was a successful gambler (and generally only unsuccessful gamblers would want to repent). Ms. Brown was probably a little impressed that Sky could quote the Bible near better than her, however.

Of course, the two ended up talking about Sarah's personal life and wound up in an argument about what kind of man she was "waiting" for, as Masterson hinted that he was interested in her. She said something like, "You think I'm a prude, don't you? I'm one of those innocent but neurotic girls who is thoroughly afraid of forbidden sins - only because I have an unusual fascination with the sin. I know all about it -I've read two books on it."

Of course, she goes to Cuba with him and pretty much goes off the deep end - madly in love - dropping all inhibitions. He didn't even really try to seduce her. She fell all by herself because she wanted to fall. Seems kind of sad. But at least they had a proper Christian wedding right away!!

I don't know why I'm reviewing this movie right now. Probably because I have "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" stuck in my head. Right from the beginning when only the instrumental music was playing, I heard the melody for the song and was all excited that the song was in this musical (I had only heard it on Mrs. Doubtfire before that). Two or so hours into the film, I was losing my confidence that the song would be sung. I thought I was hallucinating with the instrumental melody. But then Brando sang it, yes him rather than Sinatra. And it was one choice song.

This is going to be a happy blog.

Ever heard the phrase, "I think, therefore I am?" It's a common one. I could agree with it, because certain sources would seem to make some sense of it:

"Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass." -James Allen

-and-

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." This is an aphorism supposedly taken from Proverbs 23:7, which actually reads "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Even though the altered scripture could not be relied upon as a generalizaton from a biblical point of view, obviously, I'm wondering if it holds any value. I think it might.

-but-

"...if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." - Galations 6:3 (KJV). We shouldn't deceive ourselves by believing we are what we tell ourselves we are. I do believe that what we tell ourselves we are can have a measurable effect on what we become and that thought processes are very significant. This is biblical; Paul teaches that we must "be transformed by the renewing of our mind."

I like what Jim Baumgaertel said at some such Web page:

"The world says we can mold ourselves and create our own destiny by the powers of our own minds. The Bible says we have no hope in and of ourselves. Our only hope for eternal life and abundant life now is to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ."

But we can easily detract from or destroy our relationship with and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ if we do not take our minds captive.

Well then. This is certainly something to think about (outrageously ingenius pun intended).

I would venture to change imperfect "I think, therefore I am," to another, perhaps more truthful phrase: "I think, therefore I need to think some more."