Knife at a Gunfight (Part Three)

(Continued from Part Two)

Remember Abigail? Nabal’s intelligent and beautiful wife? One of Nabal’s servants tells Abigail that Nabal left David out to dry and that David is on his way to kill all the men. Abigail thinks very quickly – packing up a bunch of food on donkeys and heads out to intercept David.

She meets David and the 400 on the road. Then, by being super humble, appealing to David’s God, and by placing the blame for Nabal’s stupidity on herself, she begs David not to inflict harm on Nabal. She admits that Nabal was wrong, and she believes God will deal with Nabal himself. But as for David – she asks him to take the food she has brought and to leave in peace. Smooth operator.

On account of her masterful speech, David agrees to lay down his harsh feelings for Nabal and return back to the other 200 men. David of course receives no true closure. He gets no apology from the man that wronged him. But David recognizes that taking food back to the others and being merciful as to the request of Abigail is the best thing to do.

Meanwhile, Abigail returns home and finds Nabal partying with his money and getting drunk. She waits until the next morning, when Nabal is clear-headed but hung-over, to tell him about her dealings with David. Nabal, either out of shock that Abigail would go behind his back, or out of anger towards her for giving away his food; Nabal has a heart attack and passes out. For Ten days.

Then God snatched the life right out of him. End of story. (Oh, except that David marries Abigail. I did mention she was beautiful right? But that’s another story for another day.)

There are three critical aspects of David we can see in this story:
David knows & accepts responsibility
David is confident in conflict
David maintains honesty & integrity

David knows he has a large responsibility here. He has 600 stomachs to think about. He is the leader. They do what he says. These men guarded Nabal’s business without stealing or mistreating the employees because David told them too. But when the men are starving they needed a strong voice speaking up for them. David had to be that man.

Have you ever had a job where you knew you were working hard and deserved a raise that wouldn’t come? Did you keep waiting for your boss to call you in and give it to you, but he never did? Did you go home and rant about it? Do you always wait on others to notice you rather than speak up for yourself?

So David sent Nabal a request for food (scraps from the table). David maintained his honesty and integrity by only asking for that which was needed and not more. Even at the point of starvation David still refuses to steal. But David also recognized that he and his men were owed for their services.

Are you confident in conflict situations? Or do you run from conflict preferring to be nice? Are you ever too afraid to ask for a raise? Ask for your money back over a faulty item you bought? Do you hate asking people to treat you correctly when you’re the wronged party?

When Nabal refused to give food to David – David pulled out a sword. Actually, 400 swords. David knew he had been wronged, that Nabal was abusing him and his men. At this point, David placed his men first and went to destroy Nabal’s business and get some food in the process. David did not mind conflict. In fact he was confident in his ability to get the job done for his men.

Should David have risen up in arms and gone to kill people? Over food? Before you answer this….who snatched the life out of Nabal in the end? Does this confirm Nabal’s guilt? So if Nabal deserved to die – does that warrant David’s violent response?

When push comes to shove, do you always back away from conflict? Are you willing to go the length necessary to receive what you deserve? Are you willing to walk into conflict situations? Or are you scared of them?

I’m not saying that running around killing people is a great idea (don’t do this). But too often men would rather just be wronged than have to deal with a bad situation. When you have responsibilities requiring you to lead – you cannot hang those following you out to dry. You have to be ready to go the distance for them. David was confident in his capability to get the food his men need.

This is a little tricky. David resorted to violence, but you can’t necessarily resort to violence. In fact, 95% of the time, violence is not going to be your answer. If your co-worker steals credit from you, a confrontation may be in order – but no swords are required. However, if 3,000+ people are murdered in flaming buildings and planes by terrorists….violence is most certainly on the table.

But the story doesn’t end here. Abigail interceded and David relented. He put his men in front of any personal need for revenge, for an apology, for closure. He went home. He could have gone and plundered anyway. But he ended the situation right there rather than escalating it any further. David maintained his honesty and integrity. He lead by example.

When the wrong is righted – are you willing to forgive? Are you willing to move on? Can you put away the grudge from the person who stole from you? There’s a big difference in forgiving someone and laying down your right to what you deserved – and being a doormat for people to dump their dirt on. When Jesus said turn the other cheek – he didn’t mean you don’t have the right to not be punched. You lay that right down for the benefit of the wrong party because you are the bigger person. You know the truth. They don’t.

If men are going to be the kind of men God has called them to be –
If men are going to be the kind of men that women, wives, and daughters need –

It begins with men knowing and accepting responsibility.
It begins by being confident in conflict situations.
It begins by always maintaining honesty and integrity.

Knife at a Gunfight (Part Two)

Taking a knife to a gunfight will get you shot. Many men today are not equipped with all the characteristics necessary to be the men God wants them to be. Not only are many men missing essential elements of manhood - but women, wives, and daughters are noticing.

Women want to be married to a man:
who has flavor,
a man that’s not boring,
a man that knows how to defend and protect them,
a man that shelters their family from the storms of the world,
a man that takes care of business.

These men are few and far between. And that’s sad.

In my previous section of this series I explained how we could look at the life of David and see some of these essential characteristics in three settings: Social setting, Family setting, & Intimacy in Marriage. This section focuses on the Social setting.

What is the Social setting? The work place, the grocery store, jury duty, coffee shops, church, movie theaters, sport events, restaurants, golf course; any place where there are people that are not included in your immediate family.

Note: I am still unsatisfied with who I am as a man. Some of the things I discuss here I still struggle with daily (literally today). But I strive to achieve these things more every day. Please understand that I write this with all humility.

Look at the story of David in 1^st Samuel 25:2-38.

Painting the Background:

Sometime around the year 1000 B.C. David is ordained as King over Israel, but Saul is still on the throne and doesn’t want to give it up. Saul even tries to kill David a number of times. David flees the country with some men loyal to him. He doesn’t take much with him except his reputation. He ends up 30 miles west of the Dead Sea near the cities of Carmel and Maon.

An extremely wealthy man named Nabal lives in Maon with a livestock business about 15 miles away in Carmel. (Nabal in Hebrew means ‘fool’). He lives there with a bunch of servants and a wife named ‘Abigail’ (which means ‘my father is joy’). Abigail is beautiful and intelligent. Nabal is a scumbag businessman who has the reputation of dealing dirty.

David and his men are living near Nabal’s business in Carmel. For some time David and his men (600 men) have protected Nabal’s business – watching over his servants and livestock – preventing theft and hindrance. Because of this protection Nabal’s business has a superb year. A Fortune 500 year.

But David makes a discovery. He and his men are starving. They are far away from home and friends. Far away from aide. David hears that Nabal is shearing his livestock (the money-making time of year). Having used all the resources he could muster, David sends ten men to Nabal with a message:

‘Nabal. We wish you great blessings over your house, health, and business. We have diligently been guarding your business for months, helping your servants, fending off your enemies. We’re sure this has helped you have such a great year. We are starving. Could you please send us a little bit of food? Whatever scraps you have laying around will be greatly appreciated. Hungrily,

David.’

Nabal doesn’t respond well, pretending like he doesn’t know who David is. The truth is, Nabal knows exactly who David is (it would be like me saying I don’t know who Bono is). Nabal sends David’s men back empty-handed and hungry.

David recognizes he is responsible for 600 men. He recognizes he has done Nabal a great service (this kind of protection could not have been afforded by many people – mainly kings). When David hears how Nabal responded, David knows he has been wronged. If you want a horse to work for you, you gotta feed it right?

David has 400 of his men grab their swords and they hit the road. Like 300 (the movie). Only 400 this time. David knows he could have stolen the entire business from Nabal at any time. He had the manpower to do it. No one could have stopped him. But instead, he was honest and maintained integrity. He led his men with honor. And now he’s starving for it.

David plans to go and kill every male servant belonging to Nabal. He’ll leave Nabal alive to watch as his business is destroyed by lack of manpower. Eventually, Nabal will be destitute on the side of the road somewhere begging for money.

It really bites when you get run over by your own starving horse.

Continued in Part 3…

Divorce and the Church

One of the projects I am working on this semester is to answer the question, 'What ministries can divorced people be allowed to do in the church?'

This is not an easy question by any means. There are many volatile people on both sides of the argument that are waiting to pounce on a direct answer. To say 'yes' or 'no' will bring consequences and cut ties for sure.

There also seems to be many gray areas. For example,

Bob is an elder at your local Baptist Church on the corner. Bob has been married for eight years. Very unexpectedly, Bob's wife announces that she has been having an affair and she's leaving him. Bob hasn't really done anything to cause such an affair. He doesn't beat his wife, he doesn't drink, he doesn't ignore her either.

A few months later she gets a divorce and leaves Bob alone. Bob seeks out help from the church only to find that a handful of people are wishing his removal of the 'elder' position on account of the divorce. Bob feels rejected by all and leaves the church.

This is a made up story- but I have heard stories like it. Maybe you have too. So the big question is, how do we resolve this question? What does God really intend in divorced situations in the church?

I have posted a survey concerning this question. Feel free to take it. I will not give you my answer yet because I am not done studying it.

But don't worry. I wont leave you hanging in suspense for too long.

Thoughts?

Parents vs. Youth Pastor

I was heating my lunch burrito in the DTS microwave (they only have one. With tuition so ridiculously expensive, you would think they would have more). And I happened to hear this guy talking to three others at a table near the microwave. My eavesdropping started out as unintentional. The dude was talking loud. I have ears.

But then it became purposeful as I heard what he was saying.

He was a youth pastor at some church in Dallas and he was very frustrated. He was saying how he had given responsibilities to several of his students in the church's youth ministry. But the parents of these students thought their kids needed to be spending more time on writing their papers for school and studying for the SA T's and such.

The youth pastor dude was saying how he had a PH.D. in Seminary and how he knew all about prioritizing study with ministry. He, as the scholar he is, understood that sometimes you have to place the ministry of God first and if these kids had responsibilities at church, they needed to put those above worldly school assignments. He wrote emails to the parents explaining that they needed to put the work of God first and foremost in their children's lives and put the youth ministry first.

Seminary gone bad. Distastefully bad. A stench if you will.

It made me sick.

Sometimes Seminary people make the mistake of thinking too highly of themselves. They consider themselves above the other lowly people who don't read Greek and Hebrew. Since they can read the Bible better, they know what's best- not only for their families but for everyone else as well.

The Bible has a word for these types of people. Pharisees.

Not all Seminary students are like this mind you. But occasionally, even Betty Crocker bakes a bad batch of cookies.

For all my friends who are parents, will become parents, or hope to be parents- remember this:

It is the Father's and Mother's job to raise your children in the way they should go in the Lord.

The responsibility rests solely upon the father's and mother's shoulders. Having a youth pastor is nice- a godly child-sitter if you will. He (or she) probably has a gift for hanging out with youth and working with them in discipleship. But this does not mean the responsibility is his to train them up in the Lord. A youth pastor is just an extra help along the way.

I don't care if he has a PH.D. or GED, or neither. The responsibility belongs to the parents- ordained by God.

Further, placing your children in the youth pastor's hands does not exempt you from responsibility. In fact, the parents become responsible for anything the youth pastor teaches (youth pastors are not always right).

If you, the parent, think your child needs to be working harder in school- take your child out of the youth ministry and let him (or her) spend the time they need to study- and don't feel even remotely guilty about it.

If the parent is teaching their children in the Lord and then making their child study- and the child doesn't have time for the youth pastor this week- so be it.

And for this youth pastor dude- Chill out and learn your place in the scheme of things. These aren't your children. Work with the parents to train up the children but submit to the fact that parents have the final say homie. If parents cut you from the team- you have to trust that they are obeying God and you will have to take your seat on the bench and go on without them.

I am sorry to be harsh. But then, Jesus wasn't super sweet to the Pharisees either.
Cheers.

Paco Wont Beg

Yes ladies and gentlemen-

I stood in line at midnight for the release of the Halo 3 xbox game. Yes, there were weird people there. Yes, most of the people were pasty white from spending all their daytime hours inside playing video games. Yes, most of them were over weight. When you are inside for days playing the worlds best video game you don't have time to excersize. There were not many people under the age of 18 there. There was one father with his 11 year old son. To me, this was one of the greatest pictures of fatherly love I have ever seen. He was a father with an understanding heart of gold.

But back to the weird people. The dude in front of me had a funny smell. A mixture of marajuana and doritos I think. He acted a bit high too. I don't know what that means.

But who cares about the smell? The game freakin rocks.

I played until 2:30 a.m. at which time I was forced to go to bed (under protest) because I had a 7:45 a.m. class which I have already skipped twice and I am out of excuses.

Let me introduce 'paco wont beg'

On my 23 birthday I was given a card with a picture of a very large Hispanic man in bright blue tights posing in front of a wrestling ring. A real luchedor. The card read:

'Do you want to go to Omaha with Paco? Paco will teach you many things. But Paco will not beg.'

I practically died with laughter. Ladies and gentlemen- the best card ever. Probably in the world.

Maybe you should see it. I'll try to post it so you too can enjoy the best card in the history of mankind.

But anyways- paco wont beg was born when I named my xbox live account: paco wont beg

And as I slaughter other people on Halo 3, fathers and 11 year old sons alike- as I dominate the field and make unfrickin-believable kills- as the Master Chief takes no prisoners- as people curse the name of Paco, ruing the day he was born, using foul language and obscenities- as they threaten to call immigration-

just keep in mind-

Drop your guns cause this Paco wont beg.

Knife at a Gunfight (Part One)

There is nothing more embarrassing than taking a knife to a gun fight. But really, a lot of men do this on a regular basis. They go through their lives, one day after another, missing vital parts of what it means to be a man- but continue trying to live like one. It’s truly sad.

I checked Men’s Journal, Men’s Fitness, and several other Men’s-Magazines for lists of men’s favorite movies. You probably wont be surprised at the results. To name a few:

Dirty Harry, Rocky, Gladiator,
Fight Club, Scarface, The Godfather,
Die Hard, GoodFellas, The Maltese Falcon,
Heat, Blazing Saddles, Dr. No.

Maybe you’re like me and you’ve seen some of these movies. Watching movies like ‘Man on Fire’ and ‘Braveheart’ brings up something inside of me that wishes I could be more like the characters in these movies.

That I could be unshaken and deliver justice.
That I could stand up to tyranny and evil.
That I could rescue those in need.
That I could be willing to die for what was right and true.
That I could act without hesitation.

But then I go back to reality- where I have never been in a fight worth bragging about- where I have a dress code at school- where my job is sitting at a computer screen- where the most excitement that I get in a day is when Netflix delivers the next disc of ‘Prisonbreak’ on time (which Season 2 is pretty good by the way).

My life does not seem that manly.

I’ve also got to admit that the picture often painted of Jesus is not very manly either.

Jesus is often painted as some pasty-white dude with long dirty hair, arms wide open, always approachable, always meek and mild, always speaks softly- Jesus. Sleep in heavenly peace Jesus.

I recognize that this isn’t at all a correct picture of who Jesus really is. But sometimes I slip into trying to emulate that ‘portrait’ of Jesus just because I am used to seeing this image everywhere. And instead of being a strong, good, confident Christian man- I end up being a really nice, passive-pushover.

Jesus, the real Jesus, was confident, confrontational, quick witted, sarcastic, and bold. A few examples:

1. Mark 11:15-18. Jesus went to the temple (the building of worship) and saw a bunch of people profiting off of the people coming from the surrounding cities to worship. These losers had turned worship into a business- selling what the people needed- setting cash registers on every corner- trying to make worship and the acts of sacrifice convenient, easy, thoughtless. I imagine it was like trying to worship God in the convenience store on the corner (hey, get me a Coke while you’re there).

When Jesus sees this marketeering going on- he gets angry. Really angry. He starts grabbing people behind the counters and tables and throwing them out of the building. Physical violence. He takes a hammer to the cash registers, throws the chairs across the room, breaks the animal’s cages setting them free, and in general trashes the place.

Then to further enforce his harsh feelings for those who would profit on that which God has given man freely- he doesn’t let any of these losers leave with their loot. Not to mention that he defied the authority of the chief priests in the building. Yes, Jesus defied authority when they abused their authority by allowing such trash in the temple.

Not so meek and mild.

Before leaving the temple, Jesus yelled to the crowd, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations! But you have turned it into a robbers den!’

This is Jesus. Confrontational- Angry with righteous indignation- and one man cleans out the temple. Jesus saw the problem and Jesus dealt with the problem.

2. Mark 9:42. One day during conversation with his disciples Jesus remarked that it would be better for a person to be attached to a concrete block and sent to the bottom of the ocean, than for that person to cause someone with new faith to stumble. By ‘stumble’ Jesus means to have a person do something opposite than that which God has told them to do.

Then he says that if your hand causes you to stumble in your faith, cut it off and live like a cripple. It’s better to be a cripple than have two good hands and end up in hell.
One step further, if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and get crutches. Better to be on crutches than have two good legs in hell.
Then Jesus says, if your eye causes you to stumble, cut it out and get a patch. Better to have one eye and strong faith, rather than two good eyes to see what hell looks like.

Why so extreme? Because Jesus doesn’t mess around with being politically correct. He doesn’t have time to sit on the couch watching Whoopi on The View. Jesus knows that people are dying all around him and going to hell, and Jesus speaks the truth clearly and loudly to those around him. After hearing these comments, do you think the disciples forgot how important it is to watch out for stumbling in faith? Will you forget these examples of cutting off limbs? Jesus knows how to put things in mind where we wont forget them.

Jesus is the real deal.

Another example of a real man is David. David does great things. David does horrible things. But David is a real man.

Lately I have been studying the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel and the life of David.

David was a real man; a man after God’s own heart in fact. Although David is not always perfect (in fact, he’s not perfect a lot of the time), he has attributes and aspects to who he was that reveal qualities that I should have if I want to be the man God intended me to be. Further, I’ve noticed that David reveals these qualities in three different areas:

Social Settings
Family Life
Intimacy in Marriage

Over the next couple of posts, I am going to talk about David’s example of a real man, and I think you’ll find that David was a lot closer to William Wallace (Braveheart) and John McClaine (Die Hard) than you would expect.

No More Christian Nice Guy

This book has been a great encouragement to me and I strongly encourage you to read it.

There is a great deal of difference between being nice- and being good.

Men are struggling.

With their spouses, with their families, with the church. I hear about these struggles regularly at school, church, and from friends. The big issue? Men are told to be like Christ- and they are told to do this by being 'nice.' The problem with this?

1. Jesus wasn't always nice.
2. Nice guys don't win, but end up in the frustrated middle.
3. Nice guys lack flavor. Which is why the women in college always liked the bad guys and used the Christian Nice Guys as shoulders to cry on. I was one of those shoulders.

Men feel as though their marriages are sexually and emotionally unfulfilled (they'd never say it to their wives though). Men feel like they have no backbone at work. They get run over all day doing jobs they hate and receiving far too little pay and are afraid to do anything about it. Men are often told that any problems in their marriages are a result of their not honoring their wives enough.

Paul Coughlin presents a book that addresses tough issues- issues dealing with sexual fulfillment, respect, strong marriages, communicating with spouses, dealing with fear and abuse, and following the real Jesus (not the wimpy looking portrait that's often painted of Jesus).

For all the men out there, I cannot encourage you enough to read this book. It will change your marriage, your outlook on life, and the way you lead your family.

Lunatic Pet People

So I got my wife this Siamese Cat that she calls Contessa (but I call it- The Krackin, Mad Butt Cat, or Demon Kitty). So after the cat began acting really really weird, it was decided that we had to get the cat spayed. Really really quickly.

So somehow I got roped into taking this MBC to the Veterinarian on my way to school. The entire ride there the MBC whined and hissed through it's little kitty carrier door. I am sure that it was hissing cat expletives.

So I finally get to the Veterinarian's office. (I was told to get there at 7:30 when the doors opened to drop the cat off). I pulled in the parking lot and was shocked that there were people lined up outside the doors and all around the building. Kitty carriers everywhere, dogs barking, people speaking to their pets in that EXTREMELY OBNOXIOUS pet voice (it was like pet voice surround sound). A St. Bernard marked my right rear tire. Twice.

I felt like I had entered one of those TV shows where you watch people who you can't believe really exist but they do....(and they vote. How scary is that?)

These people were freaks. One dude pulled up with 7 cats. Who in the world owns 7 cats? Or 7 cat carriers for that matter? The dude carried three in one arm and balanced the other four in the other. It was like a circus act. All the cats providing the theme music.

Several of the dogs were wearing clothes. Jerseys. Terrel Owens Jerseys.

When the doors to the clinic opened, I pushed my way through the sea of people, using my hissing cat as a people scatterer (like Moses parting the Red Sea) I filled out the kitty-forms and was the first one out of there. Freakiest thing I have seen in a long time.

Fortunately, Cassie is going to pick up the MBC this afternoon and I don't have to see those crazy people again. And to make the day even brighter- the MBC is coming hope short some hormones.

So it's a really nice day if you think about it.

Pixeldust Photography

My sister just started her own business (following in the typical Laing footsteps I guess). Pixeldust Photography. She is very talented and has a great eye for good shots. She just finished her logo last night and I wanted to share it with you guys. Her web site will be up soon. If you need a good photographer for baby shots or family shots please contact her at caroline@pixeldust-photography.com.

Serving Neighbors 9-16-07

Serving others is not the most fun in the world, and it certainly isn’t easy. I would much rather be the person at the table ordering the food, than the waiter taking my order down on his little pad and serving me my dinner.

Serving requires me to stop thinking about my personal wants and focus entirely on someone else.

In Luke 10:25-37 a Jewish lawyer comes to size up Jesus in front of a crowd and asks him, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’

This sort of question was probably not all that unusual of a question for teachers or rabbis back then. No doubt the Jewish lawyer had learned from childhood the Ten Commandments and other aspects of the law. As a lawyer he would have to know all the ins and outs (loopholes) of the law for the benefit of his client. It is probable that the Jewish lawyer just wanted to see how Jesus would answer, and that he was not really seeking this information on his own.

Jesus answers him by asking another question,

'And Jesus said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"

Jesus knows that the Jewish lawyer has studied the Old Testament laws and regulations. He also knows that the Jewish lawyer is merely asking for a response and not for a real answer. So Jesus’ answer is direct and pointed (maybe even a little sarcastic).

The Jewish lawyer doesn’t miss a beat and answers perfectly,

‘And he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’ (10:27)

The first part of this answer is taken from Deuteronomy 6:5, in which Moses delivered this commandment to the Israelites. The Hebrew words used here give us a better picture of what God is talking about.

The Hebrew word used for heart is the word levav, which means ‘that which is the inner or central part of man.’

The word for soul is the Hebrew word nefesh, which is the same word God used when he breathed life into Adam. The nefesh is the living being, that which is the life in man.

The word for strength is the Hebrew word mod (sounds like mode). It is not merely a man’s strength, but his much-ness, all of his force, the extent of a man’s might.

Basically, man is to love God with all that he is, with all of the force he can create, with all that makes him alive. Guts to bone.

The second part of this answer comes from Leviticus 19:18, ‘'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

The Hebrew word for neighbor here is reah, which could mean neighbor, friend, fellow man, companion, or fellow citizen. Pretty much, the person standing in front of you at Taco Bell, sitting across from your cubicle at work, the people living next to your house, are all your reah’s.

Jesus confirms the Jewish lawyer’s answer, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’ (10:28)

But with the word reah being so ambiguous you can see why the Jewish lawyer asked Jesus to help define exactly who his neighbor was.

‘But wishing to justify himself, he (the Jewish lawyer) said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

But rather than define who is or is not the Jewish lawyer’s reah’s, Jesus tells the man a story for clarification purposes.

(10:30-35) Jesus replied and said, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead.

³¹ "And by chance a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² "And likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

³³ "But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, ³⁴ and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ "And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.'

Now, this parable requires great care in interpretation because we want to neither read too much into it or too little out of it. It is an analogy after all. However, we can glean some basic principles from it.

The distance from Jericho to Jerusalem is about 17 miles, a long way for anyone considering the fastest travel was on horse or donkey. To be severely wounded out on this road would probably mean certain death considering any help would have to come from either catching a ride on someone’s extra donkey, or being carried by another person or persons.

The first guy to pass by was a priest, probably on his way home from Jerusalem where he worshiped God and observed the law. Priest’s served at the temple where they made sacrifices to God.

The Levite who passed by second, also served at the temple doing maintenance or helping with the orderof things. We aren’t told why they past by without helping the man. But considering both men were servants of God, it is clear that neither of them had a good excuse for not helping the wounded man.

To go further we must discuss Samaritans for a moment.

Understand, Samaritans were looked upon as half-breeds at best by the Jews. Strong hostility was felt by both parties towards each other. Jews hated Samaritans. Samaritans hated Jews. It was an ugly situation for both parties.

Now, Jesus has just said that two important, religious, upper class, Jewish men passed the wounded guy without aiding him. But then, a Samaritan comes along and helps the guy. It couldn't have made the Jewish lawyer happy to hear that a nasty, worthless, half-breed Samaritan would become the saint of the story.

Not only does the Samaritan help the wounded man, but he goes way past an extra mile. He bandages him up, cleans his wounds, sets the wounded man on his own transportation (which would mean the Samaritan would have to walk the rest of the way), and takes him to an Inn paying the wounded guy’s room and board.

Then Jesus asks the Jewish lawyer, ‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"

Jesus had to have enjoyed the look on the Jewish lawyers face at this moment.

The point was pretty clear and the Jewish lawyer had no choice but to admit that the Samaritan was the true reah.

Jesus concludes by commanding the Jewish lawyer to, ‘Go and do the same."

As Christians, we are called to these same commandments

1. Love God as in Dt. 6:5
2. Love our neighbors as ourselves as in Lev. 19:18

Loving our reah’s isn’t always easy. It requires us to go beyond our own prejudices, pride, and selfishness and assist those who need it. And usually they need it at times that are not convenient to our schedules.

So tomorrow when you see someone who is overloaded at work, are you going to help?

When your next-door neighbors have just had a baby and they haven’t been getting any sleep and their lawn needs mowing- are you going to step up?

When some guy blows a tire on the freeway are you going to stop?

May you find the time to put others first and grow closer to God in the process.

In Class...

It never ceases to amaze me.

I cannot begin to tell you how many classes I have been in where the teacher repeatedly requests students not to play video games in class; and yet people play video games anyway (often playing them while being asked not to play them. Yup. Back in third grade).

In college I didn't think this was such a bad deal. Some of the professors were really boring. Or flaming biased. I don't know which was worse.

But I am 26 years old now and it shocks me that most of the people playing games are older than me.

And they're not even playing cool games. They play Solitaire or Minesweeper. What happened to Command and Conquer? How about World of Warcraft? Or even Chess? But no. I'm stuck watching a dude with a pocket protector flip cards for an hour and fifteen minutes.

And you know how it is. You try to ignore him as he loses round after obnoxious round. You try not to look at the screen. You try to pay attention to whatever the prof is saying. You focus.

BUT YOU CAN'T LOOK AWAY.

Your eyes are drawn back, like some bizarre magnetism, mesmerized to his stupid screen.

And there your eyes stay. Until the class is over and the dude shuts his computer down. (Not wanting to discriminate- lots of ladies play games too. Mostly Sudoku. Paradox? I don't know.)

Ladies and Gentlemen. Shut your stupid computers off in class unless your taking notes. (This includes you MAC people.)

Cheers.

Q & A

I realize that I wont address every topic that may be on your mind. So rather than making you wait patiently for me to get around to whatever you feel like discussing, I am going to make posts (like this one ) that you can comment too. Please ask or state whatever is on your mind. That way, I can talk about whatever you feel like.

You're happy. I'm happy.

It's a good world isn't it?

The Office Season Three

'Monkey to Possum. Come in Possum. What's your twenty?'

I have to say that the third season of The Office was just as good as the previous two. Every episode, I sat cringing at the utter embarrassment I feel for Michael Scott, while at the same time laughing at the insanity of it all. The really sad part of it is that I actually know people just like the characters on the show (Maybe not like Dwight. Those people tend to commit suicide early on in life before I meet them).

My favorite scene was when Jim conducts Pavlov-esche experiments on Dwight. Every time Jim shuts down his computer (and it makes the Windows chime) Jim hands an Altoid to Dwight. After doing this multiple times, Dwight wants a mint every time he hears that sound. Very funny. Gotta see it.

Cassie knew the entire season that the Jim/Pam situation would get worked out. I for one was frustrated with Pam for taking so long to get down to business. So maybe I was in the Jim/Karen fan club but whatever...no one ever listens to me.

As with almost any show anymore, viewer discretion is advised. Sometimes the adult humor does get to be a little much. But overall, I really enjoyed this season.

The 15 Minute Genius

Here's the story of how the 15 Minute Genius came into play. I am a creative person. My Father is a creative person. His Father not so much (at least not in the same way).

My Father owns an architecture company. He does most of the original concept design work and then passes the rest of the fun onto his employees. Although he would say it takes a great deal of time to create a conceptual floorplan that works; he would also tell you that all of his ideas for just about every building he has ever designed came to him in about 15 minutes.

Throughout my years growing up, my father would sit at his desk listening to the Police and waiting for his '15 minutes of genius.' In these 15 minutes, God would give him the inspiration he needed to create whatever he needed to create.

Then it would come. He would get the slightest spark of inspiration and then, 15 minutes later, the entire building would be drawn out.
It didn't really matter where he was either. Numerous times his 15 minutes of genius would come while eating at a restaraunt, where he would scribble the design down on a napkin or my sister's coloring sheet. Ironic that million dollar buildings could begin on a dirty Don Pablo's napkin.

The truly amazing thing is that all of his clients, once seeing his conceptual designs, always loved the ideas (Of course he had redrawn it on real paper by then and didn't just show them the dirty napkin).

I never noticed the 15 minutes of genius in my own life until the end of high school. Then, I began to notice that I too recieve inspiration in 15 minute intrervals. In fact, almost everyone of my really good ideas come in that time frame.

So now, whenever I need to think or be creative, I just sit and doodle and wait for those 15 minutes. Then, whenever God sends it, I shut everything out and focus; and that my friends is where the well of creativity comes from.

House Season Three

I don't watch TV 95% of the time (who needs to see another stupid reality show?). But I do have several shows that I really enjoy and watch whenever they are released on DVD.

Recently I began watching the seasons of House MD and have overall really enjoyed the show. The similar show Grey's Anatomy annoys me with all the sex and and obnoxious 'I'm sleeping with him now. No- I'm sleeping with him now' girl fights. It's just dull and why can't they keep their pants on?

House MD on the other hand has way less of the sex-drama and a lot more interesting characters and plot lines. The character Dr. Greg House is extremely sarcastic and eccentric and is great fun to watch. Sometimes it's nice to watch someone say what needs to be said without holding back. It doesn't happen anymore with all the whiner lawsuits out there.

I would recommend this series to most of my friends and adults or older children. For children I would strongly suggest adult supervision because this show is adult and not always perfectly clean or children-friendly.

Too edgy.

After much thought and careful consideration (and serious prodding from Cassie), I have decided it best to place my more 'personal' thoughts here rather than to directly associate them with my business. The reasons for this are threefold.

1. We need a forum in which to discuss the thoughts, issues, and highlights surrounding our lives. Here we can discuss the things that need to be addressed clearly and precisely.

2. I have sarcastic tendencies, don't like bull crap, and tend to be opinionated. Thus I am going to have people agreeing or disagreeing with me frequently. I'd rather hold these discussions on a personal level than support them through a company which affects other people.

3. Because Cassie told me to.

At least this way, I can say what I think without restraint and you (the reader) can take it or leave it at your own discretion. But I think good times lay ahead.
Cheers.