Today 3/19

It's Thursday, and I have off of work today. That usually never happens. My co-worker needed a switch, and I'm always happy to oblige. It's nice having a day off in the middle of the week. However, it does mean that I have to work the next two days. Work has been pretty stressful lately, as the downturn in the economy has meant that the mental health treatment business if booming. It's fascinating to me how it can be that so many can be struggling while others seem to thrive. I guess this is one of those Ecclesiastes type "under the sun" mysteries of life. I spent some time last night chatting with a friend about spiritual things. I enjoy that. I really enjoy that. It's satisfying to me to know that some of the things I've learned about God and life and sorrow and marriage and everything can be of some use to others. The Lord be glorified.

This post sounds like a diary entry. I guess that's ok to blog like that, right?

It's sure ain't easy

I'm very much impressed with the fact that it is quite the struggle for me to be good at everything I want to be good at -- some things are of course more important than others, but there remains a frustration related with each goal not achieved proportionate to the value of the goal. I find great difficulty in being a good Christian, a good husband, a good father, a good son, a good brother, a good friend, a good worker, a good neighbor, a good home-owner, a good karate practitioner, a good blogger, etc. May the Lord give me grace. I sure need it.

Hurts so good

Yeah, I'm sore all over. But I'm happy about it. You see, it was about two months ago that my left hamstring went *pop* during deadlifts. Since then I backed off the weights considerably, got plenty of rest, and slowly worked my way back up. Yesterday, I got back to the weight at which I injured myself, and did it 5x5 (when I was injured, it was only on the first rep of the second set). So, while I'm nowhere near my personal best, I am quite pleased to have come back from what at the time seemed like a scary injury that could have been really really bad).

Big date

Last night I had a big date with two beautiful girls. I met someone yesterday who reminded me of how important it is for little girls to have an affectionate dad. So, I came home an told my two daughters that daddy wanted to take them out and spend some time together. We went out to eat at Friendly's (btw, there is NOTHING cheap on their menu!). We had a good time together.

In other news: It's election day, and I have no dog in this fight. I am particularly disgusted with the thoroughly secularist idea of the government delivering us from all of our troubles. It's like America is electing their messiah today -- "Vote for me, and I'll set you free." What an empty and hopeless promise!

Something New

Here's something new...

I got to take my wife out, just the two of us, to a restaurant, for dinner last night! It was really nice.

We dropped the kids off at Gampy's for a birthday bash for Cole. As we pulled our van to the curb, and opened the side doors, two spanish girls started climbing into the van, even pushing through my kids to get in. I noticed a van pull in behind me, and said to the girls, "Whoa whoa whoa! I think you have the wrong van, honey." And they quickly left our van and got into the other. So that's something funny right there.

Then out to eat we went. I had a succulent prime rib sandwich and a Guinness. Rachel got a crab melt sandwich (yum). Then we came home and just hung out and chilled in a quiet house.

Who knows when this will happen again?

Rx: Cameron

The wait was longer than I expected, but I did bring a book that made the wait more tolerable. I spent over an hour reading The Lion of the Covenant: The Story of Richard Cameron, in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

When I was finally called back to see the doctor, I tucked the book under my arm, and walked back to the room, sat down, and put the book next to me. I went there to talk about my blood work and what it tells us about my cholesterol, and we did indeed discuss that. But after the doctor noticed my book and said it looked interesting, we spent far more time talking about Cameron, the Solemn League and Covenant, the Scottish Reformation, the Killing Times, the Westminster Assembly and the documents they produced, early American history!

My cholesterol is not all that awful, but I could stand to take some Red Yeast Rice as a supplement. The doctor expressed much interest in supplementing her reading with The Lion of the Covenant, and wrote down the title and author.

It was a good visit.

The Hidden Potential of Friends

I got an unexpected phone call the other day, from an old friend that I haven't heard from in a long time. Wow, this is nice, I thought to myself. But, it soon became clear that something was... odd. He sounded like he was reading to me. He unnaturally, with pauses and restarts, told me how excited he was about 2008, asked me if I was making all the money I wanted to, and told me of a unique business opportunity that was so amazing that there was no way he could go over it with me on the phone, so he had to schedule a meeting with me to discuss it in detail.

Sigh.

I told him that I was not interested in his new business thing, but that I would like for our families to get together again and catch up on old times. He said he would make a note of that and get back to me.

Had I said I was interested in the business thing, I'd have an appointment scheduled. But since I just wanted to be friends, he'll get back to me sometime later.

Maybe it's just me, but I would be ashamed to go through my list of friends, past and present, and make contact with them only because I view them each as a unique money-making opportunity. Come to think of it, he's not the first guy to call me with something like this, so yeah, maybe it's just me.

So the new year begins...

With a head cold? I woke up this morning with pain in my nasal passages, and the beginnings of a sore throat. Yuck. So, I'm sipping some hot tea and taking Tylenol. Hopefully that's as far as it goes.

Having totally recovered from this past Friday's workout, last night I started playing around with a few things I haven't worked on much before:

The clean, and the overhead squat. The effects and benefits of the overhead squat are highly touted. Well, I tried it with a meager weight on the bar (we'll not talk about how very little), and failed after about 4 reps. Upon further research, first attempts at overhead squats will apparently make you look like a sissy. This is a personal goal for me this year, to get closer to overhead squatting my bodyweight (yeah right!)

I have to say...

This may be the nicest "ice storm" I've experienced. The icicles on the trees look so beautiful, but there's virtually no ice on the roads!

I understand that this storm isn't so nice elsewhere, but right here where I am, it's pretty cool.

Our time with a real life Covenanter minister

I dropped (Covenanter) Pastor Derek Edwards off at the Philadelphia International Airport yesterday, thus ending his visit with us. The visit was just over a fortnight long, covering three consecutive Lord's Days. The last week of his visit was spent in my home. Having an Englishman as my guest was fascinating. We were often serving up tea, and stopping the car to look at every Jaguar we happened to pass by! He's a delightful man, and was a perfect guest. My children took to him instantly, and it appeared this was mutual.


If only more Covenanters were like him, we'd be seen as a pleasant and loving bunch, and not as if "being a jerk" was our 7th Term of Communion.

This past Lord's Day, Pastor Derek Edwards baptized all of my seven children!

Below is a picture of the most recent Covenanter minister to visit Pennsylvania, standing at the grave of the very first Covenanter minister to visit Pennsylvania (John Cuthbertson):



Please forgive the fact that this post was written like a junior high kid trying to get a paper done quick before he hands it is this morning. Even though our time spent with Pastor Edwards was refreshing, encouraging, and exciting, there were also some things going in over the past couple weeks that were draining, agitating, and wearifying (I made that word up), and now I must take my burdened mind to work at the "Nervous Hospital" where I will no doubt be unloaded upon with various troubling tales and ugly stories. And I see that it's soon time for me to leave for work.

Banner of Truth Visit

Today, visiting pastor Derek and I took a trip over to Banner of Truth in Carlisle. What a nice bunch of people over there! Steve, the manager, gave us a short tour of the place, and spent a good bit of time talking to us about a wide range of things. He's a gracious and wise man. We also got to spend some time at the secret bookshelves. Did I say spend time? I meant spend money. Amongst my purchases:

Jonathan Edwards On Knowing Christ.

Ralph Venning's The Sinfulness of Sin, and Learning in Christ's School.

Thomas Brooks' Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.

Thomas Watson's Doctrine of Repentance.

And, Sinclair Ferguson's A Heart for God.

All for half-off the regular price!

If you're ever in the area, make sure you stop by and meet the nice people and buy some great books at Banner of Truth.

Black

Well, I did it.

It took me around twenty years to reach this goal (I took about 17 years off!), but I finally reached Shodan (1st degree black belt) in Karate. Getting my black belt means something to me. Part of what it means is very personal, and I don't expect everyone to understand it all, so I will not share that here. What I will share is that to me it means that I kept at something and didn't quit. And that feels GOOD.

The 2nd part of the test was harder than the 1st part. The 1st part was just an ordeal that I had to get through. But the 2nd part involved having to stay sharp, focussed, strong, alert, etc., even when I was exhausted and under much scrutiny.

And as I was presented with the symbol of my rank and accomplishment... I was reminded by those conferring it upon me the black belt meant that I have a box of tools, and that I really don't know how to use them yet. That is the aspect of training that lies ahead.

Still, I was feeling pretty good about it all until I got home and checked my email to find in my inbox something that made my stomach hurt. I don't care to go into any detail. But I will say that one thing that seems to me to be prevalent in Reformed circles, and perhaps especially in Reformed Presbyterian circles, is the tendency to shoot (the wounded) first and ask questions... alot of questions... grilling, relentless questions... later.

Why is it so hard for some people to just be friendly? Kind? Nice? Why do some have to be so jaggedly formal, cold, unfriendly?

Black... on my belt, makes me smile.

Black... on our hearts, makes me sad.

In other news: I had a migraine earlier today, and after it passed (as usual) I felt like I was dreaming for the rest of the day... in a fog. I feel much better now, thanks for asking.

Please pray that my friends don't move to Texas.

To Serve and Protect...

Ok, I just found out a bit ago that the police have seized the license plate off of my car... at 1:30 am Lord's Day morning (like they have nothing better to do than drive around looking at license plates from law abiding citizens), because I was not able to produce evidence that the plate has been transferred to this particular vehicle (well, sorry I wasn't sitting in my car parked in front of my house with the paperwork in my hand at 1:30 am!). I called the police station to get my license back, and they told me I have to go get it from the cop that stole it, at 11pm tonight when he reports for duty. I said, "So let me get this straight, you take my plate, and I have to come get it back at a time when I should be in bed?" I was told to save my hostility for the actual officer who perpetrated on me. I feel sick to my stomach!

Yeah, a tea party would hit the spot about now.

Sorry about the rant... I needed to blow some steam. I'll post something more Lord's Day appropriate in a little while.

Old Joe Brown

This morning I stopped in at my local tobacco shop to stock up on some stuff to burn in my pipe. Looking at the variety of pipe tobacco available, I noticed one jar labeled "Ancient Joe Brown." Now, let's go back a couple years....

My bud that says "Ahh-mun" instead of Almond, Jason, came out to visit us, maybe 2 years ago now (? remined me, would you Shoe?), and the two of us went to this same shop, and Jason bought some tobacco called "Old Joe Brown," and if I recall, J was a bit disappointed in it. Jump back to the present...

So I ask the shop owner, "Hey, didn't "Ancient Joe Brown" used to called "Old Joe Brown"? He says, "Yeah, but he got way older, ain't Joe?", looking to an old man in the shop who was just standing there smoking a pipe. The old man says, "Yep, I'm another year closer to retirement." Jocosity ensued.

Ok, there's my silly tobacco story that no one but maybe Jason will think is even slightly funny.

Day Trip to Luray Zoo

Since we were nearby to Luray, we decided to visit the Luray Zoo and Reptile Jungle. It's a smallish zoo, consisting of mostly rescued animals. We were greeted in the parking lot with a warning that was a bit concerning. We were glad that we had money to pay the admission price!


The kids liked the entrance to the zoo, which looked like big alligator jaws.


Inside, there were very many interesting reptiles, including a very large alligator turtle, an amazing selection of snakes, and these bearded lizards which I named "The Three Stooges":


The outdoor portion of the zoo featured some very cool animals. We especially enjoyed the monkeys.


And the petting zoo was a favorite of the littles.


The Alligator feeding was especially groovey. The zoo owner, Mr. Mark Kilby explained to us that he doesn't approve of the foolishness of jumping on crocodilians, tying their mouths shut, wrapping them up, and all that jazz that is sometimes seen on certain nature shows. Mr. Kilby just calmy approaches his alligators, and presents the food, and gulp, the alligators chomp it down.


After the alligator feeding, Mr. Kilby was kind enough to sit down with Cole and talk.


One of the questions Cole asked was, "So, were you considering Steve Irwin when you said that you didn't jump on your animals like some other people?" Mr. Kilby spoke very respectfully of Mr. Irwin, and yet with every bit as much conviction for the conservation of animals, explained why he believed Mr. Irwin was wrong in his tactics and antics. "My animals trust me, and if I grabbed my snakes by the tail and held them up and yelled stuff, they would never trust me again." He also talked about the time Steve Irwin came to the Luray Zoo, and borrowed some of Mr. Kilby's snakes for filming (under the condition that he would not act crazy with the snakes). We found Mr. Kilby to be a very knowledgeable and kind man.

Later, he got out some of his snakes to show us, including a Copperhead, a Diamondback rattlesnake, and a Cobra!


During the snake show, Mr. Kilby made an interesting point (I'm going on memory here): The most common venomous snake in Virginia, is the Copperhead. The Copperhead has killed 6 people in Virginia since 1948. That's SIX -- two of which were religious snake handlers who did not seek medical attention due to their delusional thinking. The other four deaths were intoxicated males that were bitten between the fingers and the elbow ("I know I'm a little drunk y'all, but I'll be dipped if'n I can't pick up that there snake!"). Snakes are generally hated, and killed with a shovel when seen. A far more deadly animal -- that has killed thousands of people, many of them elderly ladies, infants and other young children, is greatly loved and kept as pets -- the dog. The dog kills babies and old ladies, and the Copperhead takes care of nuts and drunks, and we love the dog but hate the snake, because one is "creepy" and the other is cute. Hmm...

We had a great visit to the Luray Zoo, and everyone had a really good time.

Of the Pitiful Afflicted

How many are in woeful straits and bodily extremities? How many, in their estates, lack bread, lack clothes, lack housing, lack heat, lack all the necessities that can be? Their bodies are diseased, full of pains, their bodies are deformed. Their very parts of nature are exceedingly loathsome and unfit for service in every way. By all outward appearances, their estates are extremely miserable. Yet, with all this, they are extremely wicked also, extremely sinful.

Go into their houses. There is nothing but poverty and misery there, and there is as much wickedness and iniquity as poverty and misery. It may be that these poor creatures who are this miserable have hearts full of atheism. They live without God in the world; they do not know God. They do not know Christ. They know nothing of their immortal souls. They know nothing of another life. They live just like brute beasts in all filthy uncleanness. It may be that they suffer for their wickedness before men and are whipped, put into the stocks or a cage, lie in dark dungeons in cold, nakedness, and hunger, and all for their sin and wickedness.

~~Jeremiah Burroughs, THE EVIL OF EVILS, ch. 66.

Burroughs speaks of poor souls who are afflicted in this life, who are to be pitied, and yet it is far more pitiful knowing that some may live a life of affliction here, only to be afflicted in hellfire forever for sin.

Today I met a man with Cerebral Palsy. His right arm wasn't all that useful, and his speech was highly impaired. He had been having thoughts of killing himself for about three weeks. His wrist showed evidence of his thoughts, if you catch my meaning. He sobbed, uncontrollably at times, while he spoke of these things to me. He broke my heart. He has trouble getting a job, because people think he's incompetent. He's not incompetent, but the poor man appears that way to some. Strange, I meet enough people throughout any given week who claim some disability that makes them unable (rather, unwilling) to work, who do not have the true disabilities that this man had, and yet here is a fella hitting the streets looking for a job, while many others far more able sit on their lazy behinds, content to collect a free check. Anyway, this poor man... his outward and temporal estate was to be pitied. But to be pitied even more was the fact that though he did believe "there was someone up there," yet he had no particular religious profession. Now, suppose he had succeeded in self-murder. What a sad case this would have been! Outward and temporal afflictions all his life, pressing him to the point of despair, taking his own life, and only to find more and greater afflictions awaiting him! A sad case indeed.

Also sad, this story out of rual Ohio, which immediately reminded me of the Ballad of Hollis Brown.

Do you have something to be thankful for today, dear readers?