Way Behind
Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. As for the previous post, I think y'all are right, sort of a situation requiring application of both lessons.
This has got to be quick, since I'm at work, but I'll give you an update:
I got a puppy!! It's my dream breed, and it's a dream come true, I never thought I'd be able to afford one. Sam and Debbie helped us get her, she's GORGEOUS. She's an English Mastiff, fawn color, and her name is Tinkerbell. She's 12 weeks old and weighs 33 lbs!! I can't wait til she's huge. She'll be around 160-180 lbs full grown.
Ok, more later, gotta run!
For unto us a child is born... the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
-Jack
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Now that I'm cooled off...
Ok, now that I've had a chance to chill out a bit, I'd like to ask y'all's opinion. I want to know if this situation that I've described below is a: a) don't throw your pearls to the swine sort of situation or a b) turn the other cheek sort of situation.
I'm just not sure how to proceed at this point. Should I continue to do for her as I did before, showing her love and compassion, helping her when she needs it, loving her in spite of it all, so to speak? Or should I count my losses, cut my ties, and move on, no longer throwing my "pearls" to someone who will only trample them and then turn around and tear me to pieces?
I've considered both, and I know I can do either one, I'm just not sure which I should do... So while I'm praying on that, if y'all have any ideas on it, let me know... Thanks for listening.
-Jack-
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Spittin' Mad
As my grandma use to say, anyhow... Can I just tell you that I have come to abhor drama. I despise it. I'm so incredibly sick of it. Are we, or are we not, adults? See, because I thought we were. My bad, apparently.
I have this friend... or at least, that's what I considered her. It's L, the one who got upset that I called her husband's cellphone. At any rate, I've always gone out of my way for her, to be a good friend, to help her, to be there for her. I've physically gotten between her and her not-so-nice husband at least half a dozen times when he's gotten angry with her in my presence and raised his hand to her, I watch her kids at least every other weekend (usually for free but sometimes they'll offer to pay, which is nice), when we go shopping together, I'll buy her things that I know she wants but that her husband won't let her spend the money on, I've given her a number of items that they had need for...
I mean, I know that doesn't necessarily classify me as a good friend, but it's just an example of the kind of friend I am. I'm a people-pleaser, I need people to like me, to want to be around me (I know, I know---I'm sick. Whatever...). At any rate, I've never been confrontational with her, I've never been pushy or tried to get my way in things, etc etc etc.
So yeah... I just learned the kind of person she really is. And I now have, unequivocally, her official opinion of me. She, apparently, has been telling people that I'm sleeping with the Buddhist. She is actually telling people this. I'm. Really. Ticked.
The person in the other half of the duplex I live in is a bit of a "burnout"/didn't make much of himself/smoked too much pot in his youth/doesn't have many friends kinda guy. He's always been nice to me, I've been nice to him, I make it a point to be friendly and have conversations with him whenever I see him, etc. Well, that night that the Buddhist and I sat on my front porch talking til the wee hours of the morning, my neighbor came out at the butt-crack of dawn and saw us sitting there talking. Apparently the next day, he told M and L that we were having sex all night long.... L called me up, asked me about it, I told her no stinkin way, I told her exactly what happened.... Well, apparently she takes my crazy neighbor's word over mine... Obviously his is more juicy, so let's just go with that... nevermind whose reputation we're screwing with, or whose lives we could be wrecking. It's more exciting to think that good little Jack was screwing on her front porch at 4am. Truth be damned!!
This was WEEKS ago, people. This front-porch stuff was WEEKS ago. Well, this past Saturday night, while I'm once more babysitting her kids for her, she tells a friend of hers that Jack and the Buddhist are sleeping together. And then her friend, out of concern, of course, calls up the Buddhist's live-in and tells her... And now this whole ridiculous circle is all in an uproar.
I am so done with people. I'm not just done with guys, I'm done with girls too. I'm done with "friendships" and really trying. I'm done with reaching out to people and trying to make a difference for them, trying to help, trying to be there for them. It just isn't worth it. I'll invest only what is necessary---but I will no longer invest myself, my heart, my feelings. This is so ridiculously immature it makes me want to vomit.
I'll ask again: are we, or are we not, adults??
Ugh. Ok, thanks for letting me vent. I gotta go back to work now.
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Question #3
3) Romans 3:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life..." Since Jesus was allegedly a deity, and therefore immortal, the only death he could possibly experience was physical. So, if the death that Paul was referring to in the above verse was physical, then we all eventually pay for our own sins when we die, and therefore we should all go to heaven; but if the death he was referring to was the death of the soul, then Jesus never paid that price and we're all going to hell to do it for him. In what sense did Jesus die that is in any way different from the way we all die?
My first thoughts include that the "death" he is referring to is "separation from God". Jesus was separated from God. But again, we have to come back to no remission of sin without the shedding of blood.
Ok, let's hear it! Thanks, guys, this is awesome. I love all the discussion.
-Jack-
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Question #2
Ok, folks, here's the second question in the email:
2) Did Jesus die or not?
DeathPronunciation: 'deth
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English deeth, from Old English dEath; akin to Old Norse
dauthi death, deyja to die -- more at DIE
Date: before 12th century
1 : a permanent cessation of all vital functions : the end of life -- compare BRAIN DEATH
2 : the cause or occasion of loss of life
3 capitalized : the destroyer of life represented usually as a skeleton with a scythe
4 : the state of being dead
5 a : the passing or destruction of something inanimate b : EXTINCTION6 : CIVIL DEATH7 : SLAUGHTER8 Christian Science : the lie of life in matter : that which is unreal and untrue : ILLUSIONfrom Webster online
In the English language, to die means to "permanently cease" to be alive. If Jesus died, then he's not alive. If he is alive, then he didn't die.
Which is it?
Did Jesus die or not?
I have my own thoughts on this, graciously supplied by the Holy Spirit, right after He gave me the two definitions of sacrifice epiphany. It starts, basically, with the fact that his definition for death that his whole argument rests on is a noun. Jesus never became the permanent cessation of all vital function. Jesus died. The definition of "die" is to pass from physical life (see: Merriam-Webster). Ok, have at it, folks. Sound off!!
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Undecided...
Well, I was going to tell you all about the completely surreal occurrences of Saturday night, but then I got an interesting email. So I can't really decide what to write about: 1) the ongoing saga starring myself and hot guy from poker night, or 2) intriguing email.
How about a I just give the overview of the ongoing saga and then we'll dive into the email:
Call #1, approximately 11:00pm, he's in New York, I'm babysitting at M and L's: He has broken things off with his "girlfriend" for good, he's sick of the drama, is sick of the games, is taking my stance on relationships and wants nothing to do with one, no more girlfriends, blah blah blah. I'm happy for him, sorry things didn't work out, etc etc.
Call #2, approximately 3:00am, he's in New York, I'm just home from babysitting: He's been walking around New York, thinking, and just finished an hour long conversation with a random old man in his hotel lobby... and he's pretty sure he's in love with me... I'm like wha??? I thought you just said you didn't want a girlfriend, women were all mental patients, blah blah... He maintains they still are, but that he's found one he can deal with, and wants to deal with, and that just happens to be me...
Yeah, chew on that. Can we say "drama"? Can we say "rebound"? Though admittedly this is the quickest case I've ever heard of, let alone been the victim of. Sure I'm attracted to the guy but wow... this is way out of left field. Anyway. So there's that.
Now on to the email: Remember pizza dude way back when that asked me out? Well, he turned out to be a dyed in the wool athiest (claims to have once been a die-hard Christian), and we've emailed a few times, but I have a bad habit of not keeping up with my emails. At any rate, I haven't heard from him in a while and wasn't expecting to. Then just now, I got an email from him. He sent it to "all my Christian friends". I think God's doing some work in him because the tone of the email is very confrontational, and basically, he's demanding some answers to questions that I believe he has designed to be unanswerable, in his opinion. I think God has put some people in his life and they are pushing some buttons for him, and this is his reaction... to ask questions that he doesn't think we can answer. I'm going to put the first part of the email in here so you see his qualifications for answers, and then I'll post the first question. It's my intent to have you guys help me provide him with solid answers.
Ready to have a go?
Title: Tough Questions for Bible Believers
To all of my christian friends outh there.... Just a few questions.First.Telling me that the ways of God are many and mysterious is not a valid answer. By telling me that all you are doing is conceding that what your Bible tells you is so ridiculous you can't even come up with some semblance of an explanation. Submitting a reply that does not answer the question(s), or one that answers a question other than the one asked will not be taken seriously, although they will provide comedy relief. Answering the question with a question won't fly either.
1) John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." It is a recurring theme in the New Testament that Jesus died for the sins of humanity, and it is the foundation of Christianity that Jesus paid for the sins of the world by making the ultimate sacrifice - death.The question is: How is it a sacrifice for one to die knowing that he or she will be alive again in a few days? If the necessary sacrifice was for Jesus to die, but Jesus isn't dead, then the necessary sacrifice hasn't been made. Often times Christians attempt to answer this by alluding to the fact that Jesus suffered greatly, but that isn't the point at all. The necessary sacrifice was his death... but Christians don't believe he is dead!
WARNING: his next question debates whether Jesus died or not, hinging on the english definition of death, that being: death is "a permanent cessation of all vital functions", according to him (I haven't checked the definition myself yet).
So there you go. Please help me with this, I'd love to be able to give him some real, honest, and Biblical answers--God is the answer, and I want to show him that. Thanks!
-Jack-
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Now THAT is sovereignty...
I'm a screw-up. I know it, you know it, God knows it... even this blog knows it. Yeah... I screwed up yesterday.
Hot guy from poker night was heading for New York for the weekend, and wanted to meet me for lunch and give Tate and I a Christmas present before he had to head for the airport. I think I was a little taken aback at the notion of a gift for us, and I let that be my excuse in a way. I know I should have said no. I don't know why I didn't. But obviously, I didn't.
What is wrong with me???? AAAARRRRGGGHHH.
And you know, stupid me... For some reason my brain actually thought that I could get away with it. And then God said: "Oh really?"
And then He locked my keys in my house. Oh, I know that it was my physical body that perpetrated the act. But God totally had that planned just to show me that I may be able to slip things past others, or pretend that it's no big thing, but there's no putting anything past Him.
And so I trudged a mile to my dad's house only to find his front door locked. And so I climbed his privacy fence (in heels) to get in the back door, at which point I got the spare truck key (because there is no spare house key, that would have just been too easy)... And so I walked a mile back to my house, got in my truck and went back to work exhausted. And so I came home at the end of the day, gave my son to my dad to keep (since it was freezing outside), and sat in my driveway waiting for a locksmith. And so I waited some more... and some more... and then I froze (as I was sleeveless)... and I waited a little bit more, and then the locksmith arrived (huzzah!).
And then it took him thirty stinkin' minutes to open my door (he wasn't very happy with my lock). And then I went to pay him. And he doesn't take credit cards (I'm sorry, wha?? Is this not America in the 21st century? I'm baffled). Well, ok, I recently found my 2 year old checkbook (out of which have come a whopping 4 checks since it's birth). He's sorry, he doesn't take checks. Well, I don't really "do" cash... But! After 15 minutes of digging in sofa cushions and pants pockets and wallets and day planners and briefcases, I manage to come up with $48. Not too shabby. But, I'm still $7 short of his fee. Well, then, good merry locksmith, follow me to the gas station at the corner where I'll use the ATM and secure your seven dollars.
The gas station has no ATM.
Have I mistakenly stepped into a time warp? Perhaps a new dimension? A serviceman won't take credit cards and the gas station has no ATM. Where am I???
The locksmith is apparently smitten with me, by the look on his face. Or perhaps he's just tickled by the look of absolute shock on mine as I face the clerk at the Cumberland Farms, completely baffled at what I'm hearing issue from his lips...
I turn, still trying to wrap my mind around what I've just been told, and ask if he'd like to follow me to the bank. And so he chuckles, and tells me, "You've had quite enough to worry about for one night, pretty girl. Forty-eight will do just fine..." And with that, he tips his hat with a gentleman's smile, steps into his truck, and drives away.
So then my mind was trying to wrap itself around that too.
Even when God is reminding you of just Who the boss is, He still loves you, and shows you kindness... He used this opportunity to remind me of two peripheral lessons: 1) That He works in ways that I can't understand or explain and 2) that apart from grace, all that I am is still not sufficient.
Man I love that Guy...
-Jack-
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Speechless...
Teddy's mom just died... Just... out of the blue... Teddy is my little sister's boyfriend. He's a great guy, our family is crazy about him. Rach just called me... she died like an hour ago. We don't even know how or why yet. Today is her birthday. Teddy and Rachael were going to Tampa this afternoon to pick her up from her mom's where she was visiting for Thanksgiving...
They just talked to her this morning. She wasn't feeling well. She was throwing up a lot... but... She's dead?? I can't even wrap my mind around it. Teddy just bought her a diamond ring for her birthday, he was so excited about it. He was going to give it to her tonight.
She's just... dead. I don't understand... Rachael and Teddy are both a wreck right now. Please, please pray for them. Teddy's dad died two years ago and his mom has been in fairly poor health ever since. She did have a thyroid problem, and they just started her on a new treatment... But... dead? I'm sorry, my head is just spinning right now.
Please pray for them.
-Jack-
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