Wednesday, March 25, 2009

So much for good habits

Well, I haven't done so well keeping up with things I wanted to do this week. Obviously I've neglected the blog. I also missed 2 days of workouts. Oh well, baby steps.

I did, however, rejoin eHarmony. I created a new profile and found that my personality assessment came back quite different the second time. Evidence I've grown in four years? Hopefully, this round of online dating goes better than last time. Although, I did get a funny story out of it.

Currently, I'm emailing a beautiful blond I was matched with who lives in Jacksonville named Michelle. I'm probably out of my league again (Eric has said my taste in women is too good), but as my pastor says, life is spelled R-I-S-K. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

My relationship with God has been better this past week. I've been able to spend some time in prayer and reading the Bible. It has led to my having a better mind set in general, and led to having amazing worship times Sunday and Tuesday. I really want to be in a good place with God before my life gets more complicated (youth group in May). The last thing I want is to try and lead youth from my own abilities. My hope is that I will be able to hear and see where God is moving so that I can follow along.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Just in time...

...with one hour to go before midnight, I get a second post in. There is not much to report since two o'clock. I worked out when I got home from work, and watched some more news on the economy. I won't go into that right now, because I will start preaching. But to sum it up, the current administration appears to be putting up a smoke screen to avoid blame for mismanaging the supposed bail out funds. They are now taxing the bonuses that AIG gave their employees, which is in their contracts, and Congress knew existed before they passed the bill. Sad.

Anyway, I gave in and played World of Warcraft for three hours. I haven't played since Sunday, which is an impressive length of time away from the game for me. I'm definetly looking forward to the weekend when I can relax and get some reading done. I'm also thinking of reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine. I read a couple pages and wonder if it is at all applicable to the current situation in government.

Catch up

I am not off to a good start. I did not post anything yesterday. Partly because I spent my entire lunch break out of the office, and partly because of LOST night, and I spent an hour watching TV when I got home from work instead of writing. So, this will be my catch up post and then I'll post more tonight, hopefully.

I don't have anything terribly exciting to report about yesterday. I spent a good bit of the TV hour watching CNN and Fox News. President Obama was holding a "Town Hall Meeting" in Orange County California. The main topic being the economy and AIG's use of the bail out money. It's frustrating because it is nice to see a president addressing the people so often, but I also have a hard time believing anything he says. Not because he is a democrat, but because he is a politician. I don't believe any politicians, republican or democrat. Everything they say is not said to reveal the truth to the American people, but rather to manipulate. I just want to know the facts. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts".

Reading John Adam's biography and the historic times we are living in at the moment (the worst recession in 100 years) have caused me to take a greater interest in learning about politics. I'm not sure what I can do as it feels like there is very little that an individual can contribute to such a massive issue. This isn't just the United States, but rather a global recession. I don't agree with a lot of what Congress is doing at the moment, with all of their excess spending. I don't agree with some of Obama's stances on issues either. But I hope and pray that we come out of this with a stronger economic foundation and maybe a less federalist government. Here's hoping.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Challenged

I have felt challenged recently to change some things in my life. One being that I have read many books, but they have been predominantly fiction. After hearing from many sources that successful people read some number of non-fiction books a year, I finally decided to yield to the peer pressure.

About a month ago, I started reading a biography of John Adams. I had not intended to study Adams, and was actually reading through reviews on biographies of George Washington, as I had a desire to study our founding fathers, Washington being the most commonly referenced. The reviews were conflicted and pointed to a lack of written correspondence left behind by Washington as one of the reasons less was known of his private life. Apparently, Martha Washington burned all of their letters when her husband died. Since I was specifically interested in their private lives, to get an idea of their character, I became discouraged.

I then read in one of the reviews where the reviewer stated he would like to see David McCullough write a biography of Washington. Intrigued to find out what McCullough had written, I found a biography of John Adams by McCullough. The reviews told that letters between Adams and his wife Abigail were referenced often in the book and were plentiful. So, I ordered the book immediately.

Having only read a quarter of the book so far, I am again challenged; this time to start journaling. Adams not only wrote many letters to members of Congress and his family, but also kept an extensive journal. It is one of the tools McCullough uses to give us a glimpse of the character of Adams. So, while I am not a member of congress, nor a foreign diplomat, nor do I intend to be President some day, I have decided journaling would be a good discipline to have. Hopefully, this is but the first of many entries.