The End Is Near

As I stated yesterday, I thought that I might just throw together a few of the cd's that I thought turned out to be quite decent offerings. Now, these aren't necessarily the ones that only came out this year, but they are the ones that I found this year and have come to appreciate. They are not in any particular order, although if I do have a strong preference for a particular one, I will star it. So here we go:

Album /Artist /Genre / Favorite Track Title

1) Beauty in the Broken / Starfield / Contemporary Christian / Shipwreck
2) Beyond Measure* / Jeremy Camp / Contemporary Christian / When You Are Near
3) Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing / Keith Urban / Country / Stupid Boy
4) The Chronicles of Narnia: LWW / Harry Gregson-Williams /Film Score / The Battle
5) Comatose* / Skillet / Hard Rock, Christian / Better Than Drugs
6) End of Grey* / Decyfer Down / Hard Rock, Christian / Here To You
7) Hearts of the Innocent* / Kutless / Hard Rock, Christian / Winds of Change
8) Learning To Lose* / The Turning / Contemporary Christian / Escape
9) Music Inspired by Narnia /Various /Contemporary Christian /Turkish Delight
10) The Open Door* / Evanescence / Rock / Good Enough
11) Scars Remain / Disciple / Hard Rock, Christian / Dive
12) Well Meaning Fiction* / Mainstay / Contemporary Christian /Yesterday
13) Move Along / The All-American Rejects / Rock / Move Along
14) Phobia / Breaking Benjamin / Hard Rock / You
15) Over The Rooftops / Sevenglory / Contemporary Christian / Waiting For You
16) Exit Lights / Falling Up / Christian Rock / Fearless
17) End of the Spear / Ronald Owen / Film Score / River Requiem
18) The Da Vinci Code / Hanz Zimmer / Film Score / Chevaliers de Sangreal
19) Me And My Gang / Rascal Flatts / Country / Backwards
20) Good Monsters / Jars of Clay / Christian Rock / Surprise

There we have it. Some of my personal choices for some of the better albums that I have listened to during the course of this year. Check some of them out if you feel like you're in the need for some new music.

And in continuing yesterday's newly started game that will last for the next several posts (and depending how often I get around to it during the Christmas holiday, possibly next month), here are a few more of those mind-benders to get your brains thinking. I think they'll pose a little more of a challenge today...they certainly did for me. Except maybe the first one. As a note, the letters in parenthesis are designed to assist you in figuring out the meaning of the letters. For instance, should I put 65 is the S L (in A), you would write 65 is the Speed Limit ( in Arkansas). I know, bad example, but it gets the point across.

6) 39 B of the O T
7) 5 T on a F
8) 52 C in a P (W J)
9) 3 B M (S H T R)
10) 32 is the T in D F at which W F

Good luck!

2 To Go

There are 2 days left in the semester. I have my final at 5 on Wednesday, and then there is no more class or testing for me. Sadly, it will be an awful exam which I will fail horribly. But that's alright, because I frankly don't really care that much since I don't feel like I learned a thing this semester, and certainly not through lack of effort throughout the semester on my part. Oh well.

I was at our small group meeting yesterday, and got these cool little mind teaser things. They work like this. There is a number, followed by a series of letters interspersed with little filler words, kinda like this:

24 H in a D:

Clearly, this is translated as 24 Hours in a Day. Now, I have about 75 of these, so I figured I'd throw a few of them on here each day. Some of them are fairly easy. Some of them are quite difficult. But they are fun, nonetheless, and get you to think for a little bit. I apparently am a genius based on the first one since I got 19+ of the 33 on the list. So I don't care what anyone else says, I'm a genius. Haha. So here you go. Try 5 to warm up on. I'll put up answers after a while if one of them seems abnormally difficult.

1) 26 L of the A
2) 7 D of the W
3) 7 W of the W
4) 12 S of the Z
5) 66 B of the B

The pig challenge continued today as I made my purchase to supply a pig and other supplies to a family. Reference one of Paul's posts from about 2 months ago if you have no idea what that is referencing. Also, in a similar vein to Paul's list, I'll put up some of the top music albums that I picked up this year on a later date. For those of you interested in music it might prove interesting. For now, though, I'm going to attempt to stave off my addiction to my newly acquired Tiger Woods '06. I've just moved up in to the amateur level where I won my first tournament. Now it's on to bigger and better things. If only I was really making $2000 per tournament that I win in the computer world.

Frustration

So we're in to the final week. Classes ended Tuesday, and my final for stat mech is on this coming Wednesday. I spent about an hour and a half in the car today driving back and forth between ORNL and my apartment. While at the lab, I realized that I had a flat tire. Just my luck. Plus, today it's reaching record cold temperatures (I think that tonight's low is supposed to be around 15 degrees with wind chill close to 0).

I came back to campus in the hope of gaining some insight for our final next week at a class meeting where a teacher was supposed to try and help us out. The teacher ended up coming late and not doing anything more than sort-of reading through some homework solutions that he had already given us. Not exactly the most beneficial hour and a half of my life.

I guess that for some reason I've just been in a bad mood today. I don't exactly know why. Little things that normally wouldn't bother me have gotten me all out of whack. I don't even know what would bring that type of attitude around. I went hunting later because if there is anything that I have a hard time dealing with it is getting angry and being quick to take it out on others. I found Psalm 37:8 which says "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath- it leads only to evil." I can attest to that statement. It never does any good being angry about something and proceeding to take it out on the person that you perceived to have wronged you. God works in the complete opposite way: referencing Nahum 1:3a (when was the last time you read that book? It's been a while for me) which says, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power..." It's impressive the number of times that God's anger is referenced in the OT.

At church last night we had a real interesting talk regarding a little referenced section of scripture from 1 Chronicles 11:22-25. The title of the talk was "How To Kill A Lion On A Snowy Day". If you read the passage, you will understand where this comes from. The enemies in this passage (The Moabite men, the lion, and the Egyptian giant) were compared to three enemies that we commonly struggle with (the flesh, the devil, and the world respectively). These distinctions were made based on the following:

The Moabites: These are the descendants of Lot that came about because his daughters made him drunk and slept with him and conceived a child. See Gen 19:30-38. The sinful nature of how these people came in to being is what referenced this group as being a sin of the flesh, or inner struggle.

The Egyptian Giant: Egypt, at the time, represented the world. You can remember how often the people complained of having left Egypt even with all the suffering they had to endure while there. They wanted the earthly pleasures (good food, homes, relative safety, etc.) instead of taking what God wanted them to in the Promised Land. The world is often easier, possibly even more exciting, and definitely the way everyone feels compelled to go at one point or another.

The Lion: The devil himself is represented as a Lion. Simply read 1 Peter 5:8 which says that "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

It really is intriguing to apply those schools of thought to the passage and then see how this man was able to defeat these enemies, but how it can be used to encompass something much more meaningful than simply an animal, 2 mighty men, and a giant.

I'm going through this in a very round-a-bout manner, but during the course of this talk, he mentioned a name that I have heard many, many times; and I'm sure that you all have as well. That name is Methuselah. He was the son of Enoch. Now, our speaker put an interesting spin on this, as well as addressing the naming (which has always been important) of the son. He inferred that due to the passage in Gen 5:22 that Enoch had not walked with God until he was 65 years old. Everyone can remember how Enoch is one of 2 men to not experience death since God simply took him away (Elijah being the other one if I remember correctly). However, he had a life changing event that occurred when he was 65, and that was the birth of his son, Methuselah. Methuselah in turn became the grandfather of Noah.

Now, if you read in Gen 7:11, you will find that Noah was 600 years old when the rains began. Adding up the years before, you will see that at this point Methuselah would have been (you guessed it) 969 years old. The exact age the Bible says that he died at (Gen 5:27). Now, you may wonder why the speaker, and now myself, are making a big deal of all this age stuff. Do you know the meaning of the name Methuselah? I sure didn't, at least until last night. The name means "His death shall bring". What shall his death bring? The flood of course.

I use this as an insight to my own extremely visible, painfully obvious shortcomings. I have no patience with people when I feel that I am in the right and they are in the wrong. I have no sympathy for those that I feel have no reason to deserve it. I certainly don't give any benefit of the doubt to people that I think have obviously gone in other directions and show no signs of ever wanting to change their school of thinking. I can't give someone a couple hours. God gave the whole of the earth 969 years. It's strange, how sometimes a lesson or a talk with someone can really hit home to an area that you are personally going through.

In one funny (and yet terribly sad) news story that I saw the other day...I have to say just go read it for yourself. And get them out of the SC...it's too good a state for her. Send her to Texas or something. Maybe the part of southern California that will break off and become it's own island. Who knows. Go here to get the story.

Exhaustion

It was a fun weekend out in Searcy. The tournament consisted of 7 teams, 3 of which were comprised of Harding people. There was also a girls round-robin tournament played on Saturday. The team that I played on along with Whit came in second to the Harding A team on Sunday, which isn't too bad considering that most of them don't play together more than maybe once a week for a few hours. It turned out to be pretty fun, although I only subbed for about 4 points all day Sunday, and I'm completely sore and tired today. I wouldn't have it any other way though. It was also cool playing with some fellow "Fighting Crackers" in Luke and Will Dockery, even though Will is my well-known arch-nemesis. Still, it was good times.

Tomorrow is the last day of class here at UT. 9:45 tomorrow morning I will be turning in my last homework assignment for a good long while. I'm looking forward to it, although I've only answered maybe 1/4 of the questions on it since we never talked about any of it in class and it's not anywhere in the text that I can find.

I got my first experience in setting up a sample and preparing the machine to take a reading today at the lab. It's kinda hard and tedious, because everything is so incredibly small. I don't think that it helped me any that I was running on caffeine from the Mountain Dew's I have been drinking. The superconductor samples are about 4000 microns by 200 microns in terms of dimensions (I think those are the numbers). You then have to cut a piece of Indium metal and place it on to the two sides of the superconductor. Once those are attached (done simply by pressure since the metal sticks to the silver surface on the superconductor), you then place it on the plate that is put inside the machine. This alone took me about 3 tries to get it to not flip over on me. Once it's on the plate, you have two silver dots on this tiny piece of metal that you must line up with two equally small metal connectors that carry current. If those do not line up correctly, you will have problems in the measurements and possibly destroy the sample since there will be a large resistance building up. All in all, it took about 30 minutes to put a piece of superconducting metal onto a plate to be measured. That doesn't include any of the stuff for playing with the helium gas, air pumps, and always fun liquid nitrogen. I'll just have to get my hands to be a little steadier in the future.

At any rate, I'm off to collapse in a heap in the hopes of being able to make it through tomorrow morning without needing a sugar injection directly in to my blood stream.

Fighting Cracker

This coming weekend is going to be strange. It's not strange that I'll be driving 8 hours to go to a small college town in middle-of-nowhere Arkansas. It's not weird that I'll be playing ultimate frisbee in 40 degree weather with 30 mph winds. It's not even strange that I look forward to the idea of being sleep-deprived and completely exhausted before making the trip back to Knoxville. It is strange, that for the first time in about 4 years I will be taking the Frisbee field as a member of a team other than Harding Apocalypse. Apparently, due to the lack of our captain sending in a team name, we are currently named Gratuitous in honor of Whit Jordan. I don't mind the name so much...I think it's kinda funny. It brings back memories of Frisbee highlight videos with Whit jumping, kicking his legs up even higher, and landing 5 feet on either side of a guy that had fallen down in front of him. To many of you, that won't mean a thing. But it makes me laugh.

Luke did remind me, however, of my very humble beginnings in the world of frisbee. Rewind 4 years to my sophomore year at Harding. I'd probably played frisbee for about a semester or so after Paul had told me I should go give it a try. I couldn't really throw the disc, I had no idea what a flick was, I didn't know how to force home/away, and I certainly had no clue what a stack was. Before one of the SA ultimate tournaments I got a call or something from Luke, or maybe Will, or maybe someone else about a team called the Fighting Crackers. I figured, why not, I don't really know who I would play with, and it should be fun regardless. Little did I know.

I don't quite know what they saw in me as a Frisbee player at that point, since about the only thing that I had going for me then was that I was still in good shape, meaning I could run and sprint with about anyone. Other than that, the finer skills of frisbee were certainly not something I had mastered. I think that instead of throwing a flick I would rather risk throwing a left-handed backhand pass. I despised playing a man defense and always wanted to play a zone, regardless of the weather or wind. My concept of good movement on the field had not yet gotten away from that of soccer. I recall playing against teams consisting of people like Stephen Lamb, David Jones and Adam Kirkland. I remember losing to that team. But despite all of that, I had a blast playing, and got to learn quite a bit playing in those tournaments.

I mention this because, due to my being on a team with Luke this weekend that is not Apocalypse, he had the brilliant idea that since our team color is blue we should bring out the Fighting Cracker jerseys for one last go-around. It'll be fun to do so, but strange at the same time. I guess you can't stay on a college team forever, but at the same time, those were some of the best guys I could ever hope to play with, and it will be strange playing against the team that I was lucky enough to be on during the formative years. Maybe one of these days all of us "Former Apocalypse Members" can form up again as a team and go play somewhere just for the fun of it. I can't think of a better group of guys to do it with.

As an addition to yesterday's post, if you're looking to know what all the songs are, please go here. And as for gongs at camp (see the comments), I think that they should certainly have a couple at least. And then, instead of the whistle, they can let a couple lucky kids take a good whack at them to get everyone to come in to the ark or wherever else they're needed. Or perhaps, during the 15th song-sing-a-long-posing-for-a-talent skit, someone can just go hit it repeatedly to drown out the...talent?.

The Evolution Of Dance

I figure Paul could do this as his next big act in the camp talent show if they would let him. He's already got the lawnmower down.

Beginning of the End

I've noticed that it's been a while since I've written anything of note in here. The past couple weeks have been crazy hectic, but it's been good. Thanksgiving week was awesome, with Mandi being back at home for most of the week, my brother coming in for the last half of the week, and getting to hang out with the family and have one really excellent meal on Thursday. We also got up some Christmas lights and bought ourselves our tree for the year. It was kinda strange doing it so early, but it worked out nicely. My brother and I also re-ignited our yearly battle of Blitz on the Nintendo 64 with our younger cousins who are aged 15 and 12. And who thought anyone still played that system, huh? My brother and I hold a 2 games to 1 lead over them going in to the Christmas season. We'll have to wait and see who comes out on top in our best of 7 series. With an average scoring rate of 65 ppg for both of our teams, it's certainly not down to any defensive play...although my brother and I did manage a goal line stop when they started on the 8 yard line (those of you familiar with Blitz know that 8 yards is nothing).

THE END IS COMING!!!! Ok, not really, but Armageddon is in fact coming this weekend. I shall be traveling to Nashville, meeting up with Whit and possibly Jonathan Lindsey, and heading for Searcy, AR with about 10 guys that I don't know. This will be my first tournament not playing with the Harding Apocalypse, but it should be fun as I will be on a team with the aforementioned Whit and Luke Dockery. I'm looking forward to it. We'll also be busting out the Fighting Cracker jerseys of yore. It's been a while, but it'll be fun to put those things on for a day of ultimate. The forecast for the weekend? Highs maybe reaching 45 and and winds forecast for 30 mph. Sounds like the usual frisbee weather.

The school semester is quickly coming to a close. There is 1 week of classes left, with finals coming up over the following week. It's been a disappointing semester to say the least. I don't feel like I've learned anything in either of my classes for the entirety of the semester. I'm not sure whether that's due to my lack of effort, or the teachers inability to get ideas across, but I figure that when I'm unable to do a single homework problem after attending every class and reading relevant chapters, then something is missing in terms of the whole learning experience. At least it will be over soon. The bright side was that I have started a research project, so that will help in moving forward. Also, this time next week, I will have turned in my LAST homework assignment for quite a while (at least to my knowledge). That doesn't include the thesis paper and everything, but I won't have weekly assignments to worry about anymore. It's a nice feeling, really.

There you have it. The beginning of the end. Over the course of the next month thoughts of the past year will surface frequently, new beginnings will be looked for, New Year's Resolutions will become part of everyone's vocabulary (at least for a week), and it will feel like a clean slate for the coming year. Things just go by so quickly. And now a surefire sign that Christmas is coming quickly - Charlie Brown's Christmas is showing on TV. Gotta love it.

Holiday

So it's finally here. Thanksgiving break. It's different, not being at Harding where you go for 3 months straight and get a week off. UT gives smaller breaks at more frequent intervals, so we get Thursday and Friday off. As such, we supposedly have classes during the first half of this week. Not that I really went to anything. I went to one of my two classes because I wanted to hang out with Mandi and not stay on UT campus until 5:30 in the afternoon. As such, I've spent today grading lab finals. A lot of people actually did surprisingly well this semester as compared to others. I had people making 100's on the test for the first time ever. So either I taught it better (possible, but not likely), the test was easier (not possible, since it was the same test), or the students were smarter (given last year's class, this is the most likely option). It's nice to have that stuff out of the way, since it will free up my Monday and Wednesday mornings.

We lost our championship soccer game for the Knoxville Rec league. It didn't help that there were only 9 of us without a goalkeeper. We ended up losing 3-1. So not bad, given our lack of personnel. We just need to get some more trusty people that will play with us next year. Or at least a real goalkeeper each week.

At any rate, I'm on my way to the parents house for the next few days while Dustin is home. I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxation, good food, and hanging out with the family. Enjoy the break everyone.

Name Game

You know, it's really kinda funny how many people can have the same name as you. I think I saw something on Josh's page or somewhere that had a website that would list the number of people that had your same name. However, in it's database, I didn't find anyone with the same last name as me. I know that this is not a fact, since if I do a Facebook search to see how many people have the name Travaglini, I get a fair number of matches. Of course, the only one that I know is my brother, and all the rest seem to live in places that are nowhere near here that I didn't know we even had any relatives at.

After doing this at some point, I also decided to do a Google search to see what would turn up, just for the fun of it. Now that I've got this blog thing, it's actually the first link that comes up when I search for my name. Next, I actually just learned that I got my name on a journal article published in the Journal of Electron Microscopy on the 29th of March this year. That comes as quite a surprise. I should probably read it at some point and see why I got my name on that. Then there are some articles from the Oak Ridger (local town paper) regarding either piano or soccer stuff. It's kinda funny to go back and read some of the articles about the soccer games that I played in during my high school years. I actually scored a few goals during that time which I certainly don't remember. It's also interesting to see the articles on the piano concerts to see what other people thought about them. It seems like so long ago reading those things...

Speaking of high school soccer, one of my favorite memories probably isn't even something that would really seem like it was all that memorable. It was what would turn out to be the last competitive soccer I would play in my career. We were playing Bearden High School in the region semi-finals. I had been injured rather frequently throughout the season with various pulled muscles and ankle problems and had been having trouble maintaining my starting position since by the time I had made my way back in, I would get hurt and fall back down the line again. It was rather disappointing since during this year my brother was starting as our team sweeper as a freshman. By the time this last game had come along I had made my way back in to the starting line-up, and I got to play a meaningful game on the same team as my brother. During the season, I had been hurt for a number of the big games and so the ones that I had been healthy for weren't as important. This one, however, was to be able to go on to the state tournament. We came back from being down 2-0 in the second half to take a 3-2 lead with what we thought were only minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the gay referee managed to somehow add on 10 minutes of extra time, during which Bearden scored to tie the game and take it to extra time.

As soon as extra time started, they broke down the field. I chased my man and my brother made a hard tackle on him to get the ball out. The guy jumps up off the ground and squares up to my brother, and starts spouting off some expletives seeing as how he just got owned by a freshman. He was about 5 inches taller than me, and I was about 4 inches taller than my brother at the time. Now, Dustin is no push-over, and he stared the guy down. I stepped up next to Dustin and we both just looked at him until he quit ranting and walked away. It was a good feeling, being able to stand up to someone with Dustin next to me. Then again, that's what brother's are for, isn't it? Standing up to the enemy and making them rant and rave and in the end realize there is nothing they can do but walk away.

So who has your name? Is it just your family? Is it your friends at school and work? Is it people from church? Is it the nameless person that always gets picked on? Who is willing to step up next to you when the enemy is staring you down and take a stand next to you? More importantly, who are you willing to stand up for?

Face

So we went 4-3 in the tournament this weekend. Given that we only had 12 people (9 by the time it ended) I think that it went pretty well. Of course, of sad note is the fact that Jake Beveridge had his face busted by a huck arm's elbow. Afterwards, he had blood flowing from his nose, and an eye that he couldn't see out of. He went to the hospital and now him, Stone, and Jake's gf are staying here in Knoxville through Thursday because they didn't want him to drive back so that they could monitor his eye all week. Obviously Becca won't be staying here, we've got her a place down the block a little bit, but they'll be hanging out here during the day. unfortunately, it's a busy week for me, so I don't know how long I'll be able to hang out with them, but I think it'll be fun having them around for a while.

This is going to be one busy week though. Project is due Thursday (still haven't started it), I give my lab finals this week, the usual homework is due (7 problems for Tuesday, haven't started it), and probably some other stuff I haven't thought of. At any rate, it seems like it'll be another tiring week. At least Thanksgiving break is around the corner. It'll be cool to have that since Dustin (brother) will be home for that weekend, and we'll get to see some of the family and I'll get to hang out with Mandi for a while.

At any rate, it's been a long couple of days. I think that I need to start researching some for this presentation that I've got to give. And we need to get Becca to where she's staying for the night. Perhaps there will be more interesting stuff to talk about throughout the week.

Mouse Trap

Do you remember that game from way back when? I sure do. It was a classic in my opinion. I don't really remember ever playing the game, I'd just set up the thing and then make it go trap the mouse. It was a lot of fun, seeing all those random things come together just to make a simple trap fall down on the mouse. So when I found these on Ebaum's world the other day, it made me quite happy. Of course, someone has way to much time on their hands to be setting them up (and of course it's from some asian tv show I think), but they are pretty fun to watch nevertheless.

The Harding Apocalypse and Abattoir teams are currently driving in to Knoxville to take part in the tournament being held here this weekend. I don't really know what it's called, but I know that we're playing tomorrow morning at Victor Ashe Park (or at least the guys are). I'm looking forward to it, as these tournaments are always fun, but I think we're going to be missing a few of the guys. I'm particularly saddened by the absence of Bland. Apparently there were only 9 people from Harding making the trip, so hopefully there are some random people meeting us here? I don't know...but I'm guessing I might be really tired by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around.

Outside of that, it's been a hectic week, in case you haven't noticed from all my posts on things ending and realizing God's in control and everything. By this time next Friday, a lot will have happened. A 200 point project will be completed, I will be mostly set up at the lab and hopefully moving forward instead of still getting signed in for everything I need, Mandi will be home for Thanksgiving week, I won't be teaching anymore labs as they are having the final next week...in general I won't be stressed. It'll be some good stuff. But as far as things go, I guess it's really not all that bad. A highlight for today though is that I borrowed Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 from someone at the lab. Which means I might be able to make a decent DVD disc of things that I record off the TV. That would be quite exciting. And perhaps that might mean that Paul wouldn't have to watch all of his House and Whose Line episodes at the computer if there is another dvd player available. Don't get your hopes up yet though. I figure I've got a few minutes before the guys get here, so I'll fool around with it.

By this time tomorrow night, I won't know what's going on. But it's a frisbee tournament weekend, how else would you really want it?

No End At All

In case you haven't been able to tell by now, I'm a big fan of music. I've been playing/listening to music since a very early age (at least age 4 for playing, listening was surely before), and it's something that really gets me through a lot of days to keep me from going crazy. I'm one of those people that needs some kind of noise to get work done. For my noise, I prefer to have some music going, whether that be some classical orchestration, hard rock, or some quiet acoustic stuff. People that have lived with me, or been around me for any appreciable length of time, can attest to that.

It's funny how there are times when a song can really speak to an individual, and it's amazing how many times people can relate to a song when they are going through a hard time or needing something to say the words that they can't say themselves, or simply going through their day. Of course, the music doesn't even need to have words to make an impact. I can still remember a song that I had playing when I was reading The Hobbit what seems like forever ago when I was still in middle school. The "New World Symphony" by Antonin Dvorak was playing while I was reading a section of that novel, and now whenever I re-read that book or see something that reminds of it, I can think of that song playing while I was reading it. They've essentially merged in my mind. It's the soundtrack to that part of my life.

There have been many other instances for me personally. Matchbox Twenty's "Mad Season" was the first album that I bought with my own money. Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony 3rd Movement is perhaps some of the most gorgeous music ever composed, and most heart-breaking if you listen to it under sad circumstances. My favorite piece of all time to play for an audience is the Mephisto Waltz by Franz Liszt. The favorite piece to play for myself is something much slower, the Barcarolle by Frederic Chopin. I woke up to a song affectionately called "The Butterfly Song" by one Josh Murphy for an entire semester my sophomore year. When I make a CD mix I like to start it with a rocker, and end with a slow, introspective song. My first impression of a movie is usually based on the soundtrack. If I'm needing to create a slide-show or some other presentation that can use music, I probably spend more time picking what I deem to be the perfect song than I do putting the show together. I guess it's just how I'm wired.

So all that build up to get to the point of saying that I recently got a new album (for $5 actually) by a Christian group called Disciple. One of the really cool things that they do, is in the liner notes where they put the lyrics for their songs, they place scripture references for each of their songs that show where they got the inspiration for the message of that song. For this particular song (the title of this post), they referenced Romans 8:38-39 that says "38)For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39)neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The lyrics for the chorus go like this:

Feel this grace shining in, There's nowhere that you've not
Walked with me on, carried me on
There is nowhere I can go,
Even in the depths of the sea, You're not too far away
When I wake, when I sleep, You are capturing me
With a love that knows no end at all.

It's a good reminder in times when it's easy to forget. Everything of this world is short-lived. It only lasts for an instant. God's love, however, will last forever. In times when things feel like they're never going to end, just remember that everything in this world will end. What matters is what doesn't.

Construction

So this week there has been much rejoicing in the area of downtown Knoxville, specifically between mile markers 379 and 383 as the road construction that has been going on forever, at least for the time, has been finished. That's right, we now have 5 lanes of traffic flowing in those four miles through one of the most congested areas in East Tennessee. It's really quite amazing. I managed to go from my apartment to Oak Ridge this afternoon at 2:45 and I didn't even have to slow down. Before now, it would have been a mile long stand-still and would have taken about45 minutes to get through. Today, 10 minutes, and no complete stops. Amazing. So it's all well and good, until they start finishing the exit interchanges and probably closing stuff again. But at least for now we can enjoy free-flowing traffic.

I made my 3rd trip out to the lab today. At the moment, it's all reading and learning about how the machines work and some of the theory on why things go as they do. I don't really get everything that I've been reading, but it makes sense while I'm looking at the book, at least to some extent. Essentially, the superconductor is placed in a magnetic field, and then it is cooled in order to become superconducting. Once it is cold enough to be superconducting (lower than 77 K), the magnetic field is turned off. This change in flux induces an electric field within the superconductor, which can then carry on forever, since the resistance, the force that would dissipate a current, is zero. So you've essentially got a machine that can run forever on an initial set of conditions. It's really quite interesting. Of course, the materials are currently made in rather small portions, and it's difficult to get things super-cooled in an environment other than a lab with specific equipment to maintain these temperatures. In the next couple weeks, once I get through the reading and start to know how to work the machinery I should be able to start taking some of my own data. Exciting stuff. That Masters degree is getting closer by the day.

Just to top it off, if you haven't seen this video then check it out. I think it fits nicely with my need to push up my glasses after that last paragraph.

Craziness

So it's been a whirlwind couple of days. Mandi actually ended up coming back in to town for a job interview, so I got to spend the weekend for her. Of course, that meant putting off pretty much everything else, which is perfectly fine with me. It does however, make for a crazy couple of days when I have to play catch-up with school and stuff. We did have quite a good time over the weekend however. Mandi became addicted to Sudoku, we went to a corn maze and had some fun, my team won the semis of our soccer tournament to get in to the final, and I got to hang out with Mandi for an extra weekend.

The soccer game was pretty exciting. We played the team that had won the league for however long it's been around (like 10 years or so) and dominated them. Unfortunately, that domination didn't show in the score as it was 0-0 at the end of regulation meaning PK's. We certainly should have scored before then. I had an excellent shot from about 25 yards out barely tipped over the bar, and I had one taken away from me (by my own teammate) when all I had to do was pass it forward in to the open goal. They ended up swinging wildly with their weak foot and kicking it out for a throw in. Man was I mad. Oh well. Penalties are never fun, and I hadn't taken one in about 6 years. I hadn't taken one that actually mattered for probably closer to 10. As such, mine was saved, even though it was a good kick. Keeper just did well to get it. We ended up winning the shoot-out 6-5 in 8 rounds. So it's on to the final in two weeks, since they've conveniently canceled the games for the frisbee tournament that I'm playing in with HU Apocalypse this coming weekend. All sorts of fun to be had.


Since Mandi left yesterday afternoon, things haven't been as fun. I've been doing homework frantically attempting to get things finished before they're due, and now I'm getting started on finding information for the 15 min talk that I have to give in a week. Along with whatever usual homework there is, as well as going to the lab. I missed yesterday, so hopefully that won't matter too much. Next week is the astronomy lab final for my students that I have to make and give to them. Having taught the same lab sections last year, I simply get to use basically the same one again, which makes it easier. I do the Elrod challenge, as I believe it is called, on a smaller scale, since I give them about 15-20 T/F questions and say that if they answer them all wrong and tell me they're doing it they get to double their points for that section. I'm pretty sure that Dr. Elrod at Harding does that, although since I never had him, I might be remembering the wrong name. Oh well. It's always fun to see the students faces after I tell them that, because most of them just don't get it and I have to take about 5 minutes attempting to get them to understand what I mean. Here is a usual exchange after I tell them this:

Student 1: Does this mean we can miss everything on the test and get double credit?
Me: No.
Student 2: But if I miss them all, doesn't that mean that they're wrong?
Me: No. It means that they're right, and you get double credit if you tell me you meant to do
this.
Student 1: So we do get double credit if we miss everything on the test.
Me: No.
Student 3: I don't understand what you mean by miss them all.
Me: I mean, you get them all wrong, and you will get 30 points instead of 15 for that section.
Student 2: So on the T/F section, if we tell you that we're going to get them all wrong, we get
double credit for this section if we miss every question.
Me: Yes!!!
Students: We don't get it.
Me (doing my best Will Ferrell impersonating Alex Trebek impersonation from SNL):
Please someone, take me now.

To me this doesn't seem like a very difficult concept, but sometimes I'm surprised how hard it is for them to grasp this. Last year, out of the 6 people that attempted this, nobody got it. It's only 15 points of the test, and I would think that everyone would go for it. I mean, you can effectively get your grade to go up a letter grade without much difficulty. Oh well, we'll see if someone can correctly navigate through all the wrong answers next week. And speaking of Trebek impersonations, it's been a while since I've watched those old celebrity jeopardy clips...

At any rate, I guess even through all the insane busy-ness that I feel like I'm experiencing right now, I need to realize that it's all going to be ok. There's this song by Jeremy Camp off his new album entitled "Beyond Measure" (which also happens to be the album title) that I think says this better than I can. The chorus line goes like this:

I know that I've been given more than beyond measure.
I come alive when I see beyond my fears.
I know that I've been given more than earthly treasure.
I come alive when I've broken down and given You control.

He's right. If I trust in God and let him have control, everything else falls in to place. What I need to realize is that it's OK not to know everything that's going to happen and be alright with things feeling pressing. God is there for me to help me get through it if I just turn to look at Him. I just need the humility to know that I can't do it all myself.

Cecilia

So, for a random post. Those of you that know me know that I love listening to music. I was sitting here grading all my students lab reports for the astronomy labs and I had my computer music player running. One of the songs that popped on while I was grading was the song "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel. This song is one of my enduring memories from Harding. I was in the dorm with the music going (as usual), and this song comes on. Suddenly, the door bursts open, Paul comes running in to the room screaming, and tells me that this is the song. The song? Yes, the song that he had in fact been looking for for a number of years since he'd heard it on the radio and that he hadn't ever been able to find it or figure out what song it was. Probably one of the strangest joyful moments I've ever seen Paul experience.

In other news, I've finally started my work out at Oak Ridge National Lab. I'm going to be in a group that is studying superconductors, and how well they work in the presence of a magnetic field. The idea is to move the superconductor to different orientations in order to see how it maximizes the superconductive abilities. The cool thing about superconductors, other than the fact that they are all extremely cold in order to be superconducting, is that they can carry a current, in effect, forever. Current superconductors have gone for months without having a noticeable drop in the current flowing through them. And there are some pretty cool applications that could use these superconductors once they get working. Check out this site if you're interested in some more info: http://www.superconductors.org

It's been a long day...off to relax for a while.

The Title

When I first got this thing started a couple weeks ago, Mandi asked me what I was getting at with the title. I told her that it was kind of a double meaning. Since I'm in grad school, I'm seeing stars in the cartoon sense of someone who gets whacked in the head with a bat or other hard object and doesn't really know what's happening. I'm also seeing stars in the sense that I work as an astronomy TA and we get the cool job of playing with telescopes and taking pictures of the night sky with the fancy camera/computer combo and seeing things that you wouldn't think were visible from downtown Knoxville.

You know, it really is amazing how much is out there if we look past our little section of Earth. We're such an insignificant part of what this whole universe is. If you've ever been out to the Rockies, or way up north and away from the cities, to see how many stars are in the night sky really is awe-inspiring. I would imagine that the Murphy's down in AS probably have some pretty impressive views at night. Maybe I'm wrong about that. All that to say that all you really have to do is look up to see the splendor of God's creation. And to think that He can create things that are so magnificent and vast and still think about us as an individual and care more about us than anything else. And if you need any other reason to think that there is a God that created the universe, I would think that seeing something as complex and huge as a galaxy would give you reason to think that everything is all just down to chance and a big explosion.

I can't say that the big bang isn't how God brought everything in to being. You know, I find it strange how so many things appear to need to be argued over when comparing things in religious views and science. From a personal viewpoint, I think that there is a complete harmony in them. Now, there is no way to know how God went about doing everything. But from what we do know, I find it very hard to believe that it's all just chance and probabilities and we're all just lucky to be around because the genes and evolution just happened to spit us out. I would recommend reading the book "The Case for the Creator" by Lee Strobel if you would like a look in to these issues. Strobel is a former atheist who is a reporter, and he writes his books is this manner. He simply goes to leaders in the fields of science (biologists, cosmologists, astronomers, chemists, etc.) and asks them questions regarding why there is proof in these fields of God. It really is a well-written, clear and concise book that covers a lot of ground. He has a number of other books that follow in this vein if you would like to check them out as well.

This is a good week for TV. There are 4 Champions League games on tap from ESPN2/ESPN Classic on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Before my next section, I will apologize specifically to Luke Dockery since he is the only true baseball fan that I know of that reads this.

Personally, I'm tired of hearing about baseball. Who wouldn't be after 162 games. Is it really necessary to play that many games? I guess I hate baseball for the fact that they call it the World Series and it's just a bunch of North American teams. If this wasn't such a self-serving country they might try playing someone from another part of the world before they call themselves world champions. I mean, at least get Central and South America in on it and call it the American Series or Western Hemisphere Series or something. Plus, they never sprint to first base. They just jog regardless of how close a play it will be, or that perhaps from running hard they might force the fielder in to making a mistake. It's just 90 feet people, I think you can attempt to out-run a throw for the amount of money you make. Soccer, on the other hand really is a World Cup with a true World Champion since there are 2 years of qualifying games from essentially every country in the world who play their way in to the tournament that they must win over the course of a month in order to be the champion. Maybe I'd respect the sports in NA that call themselves world champions if they switched it to something that's an actual representation of what goes on. Therefore, the return of "House" on Fox (Tuesday @ 9/8 Central) is most welcome after a month of boring baseball action (or is that inaction?). Can you tell how much I despise baseball? Now, I'm sure the people that like baseball will tell me that I just don't understand the intricacies of what goes on in the game and don't really see the great duel between the pitcher and batter. That's ok. I'm sure people who don't like soccer don't see the skill in the touches, the ability to pass a ball 50 yards with your feet, the intelligence of the runs off the ball, or the difficulty in shooting the ball in to the goal when you've got 4 people kicking at you, pulling you down, and a goalie sliding in to your feet. Oh well, I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Impressions

First of all, I'd have to say that the next time I go to a concert, I'm taking a pair of earplugs. I can't handle about 2.5 hours of incredibly loud rock music. Don't get me wrong, it was a great concert, with awesome bands and a good message...it just had my ears ringing for about an hour afterwards. I'd have to recommend seeing them if you get the chance however. They also had one of the best CD deals I've ever gotten for new CD's which was 2 for $10. Not a bad deal to add to an $18 dollar concert that lasted 3 hours. All in all, a good evening.

Concerning the title of this post, I attend a bible study on Friday nights. It's a study that's designed to increase our personal study in the bible and encourages us to become stronger in terms of personal goals and objectives for study, prayer, and sharing of our faith. I believe that all of these things are good things to focus on and look to improve since we should be wanting to do all of these things of our own accord. However, I can't say that I agree with or completely understand everything that is said there by the leaders.

Take tonight, for example. The main message was one about excuses; excuses that we make that affect our personal relationship with God. Now, we were given 4 main excuses that are commonly used for missing personal study or not attending something such as church or a bible study; these being lack of time, family, work/school and hobbies. I realize that the reasons of being too "busy" and hobbies are things that should not keep you from improving your relationship with God. We all know that "busy-ness" is not something that really hinders us as we waste more than 30 minutes a day doing random, unimportant things. And if hobbies that are simple interests take more time in your life than it takes to read a few chapters of the bible, then I don't exactly know what you're doing with the rest of your time.

Despite agreeing with these two, I have a hard time understanding the other two. Of these, I would guess that the "excuse" of work/school would appear to fall in to the same category as being busy. However, I also know that in Colossians 3:23 we are told "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." I'm not sure, but I don't think God wants us to just stop working at our jobs or school to sit and study his word all the time. And if we're working at something diligently as if for him, is that not in itself a form of worship and obedience? I understand that if you continually claim school/work is keeping you from meeting together or personal study that it is not a good thing, but I don't understand how it is something that should be looked down on every time. There are times when you really are genuinely busy, whether it's with tests, homework, a thesis, being a graduating senior, starting a new job without flexible hours, or any number of things. Does not meeting together like you had been make you less of a follower or a sinner? I don't think so. And I believe that God would put us in those situations for a reason. And if we're there for a reason, why should it be considered sinful? I have a hard time accepting that reasoning.

The same holds for family. The well-known story of the man wanting to bury his father in Matthew 8:21-22 was mentioned showing how Jesus expected to be followed over your own family. I take this to mean, however, that since his father was not a disciple of Jesus and apparently had no intention of following (since he didn't come along with his son), that he should not worry about the fate of the "dead" and instead concern himself with learning of Christ in order to better understand. This view comes from the interpretation that the father was not yet dead, and that the son was wanting to wait for his passing before following Jesus. I'm guessing that most of us (meaning people that I know reading this thing) come from good Christian homes. Frankly, I am often able get more out of being at home with my parents or out in Searcy with friends and having discussions with them concerning spiritual matters than I do in weeks here in Knoxville by myself, or even in this devo group.

I guess that I resent the idea that it should be considered a sin because they put something like family or supporting themselves ahead of a bible study, or even personal study time occasionally. I understand the view that was being put forward that was focusing on the fact that if it becomes habitual, it is indeed harmful. I completely agree with that. I can't bring myself to accept that they are never valid excuses and should always be discounted and avoided at all costs. I know that if I have to choose between being with my family for a weekend or going to a bible study with some cool guys on a Friday, I'm going to choose being with my family. Does that make me less of a Christian, or a poor example to non-Christians, or a disobedient follower of Christ? I certainly don't believe so.

Tomorrow, the church I attend is having an event called "Trunk or Treat". I'd never heard of it before, but essentially they will have car trunks filled with candy and have a lot of the neighborhood kids come by and have their own kind of trick or treat. Should be pretty neat. We're also supposed to have some kind of Halloween party with the young people that are around my age from the church. The only downside is that they are requiring a costume. I did have a stroke of genius in that department, although my attendance at this event is severely hampered due to the new project I learned I have due in 2 weeks just the other day. My brilliant idea for a costume came to me just the other night. I thought it would be pretty funny to dress up in a tacky Hawiann shirt, get a camera and a baseball hat, and be a Japanese tourist. I wonder if that's just completely wrong...

Why Worry?

You can tell that today is a homework due day in the classes that I'm in. My friends and I are sitting here frantically writing random equations down hoping that the grader will be to the point where they don't care to carefully read through what we've written and just arbitrarily give us some points for the problem. It has been referred to rather frequently as the "fog of war" approach to homework. Throw down all sorts of stuff and they'll just assume you know something and give you some credit. It works amazingly well, and it's not like any of the teachers here know who you are from anyone else. I think this has been possibly my most un-educating years of higher education. I couldn't tell you half of anything that's gone on for the past 2.5 months of classes. Based on my mid-terms, I couldn't tell you 60% of anything that's gone on. I don't know if that's a reflection on the classes I'm taking, the teaching quality, or my ability as a student. As far as I'm concerned, nobody really understands statistical mechanics, and well, nobody in my class understands solid state mechanics, so we'll just blame the teachers for their inability. At least I'll feel better until I get these homework sets back.

Does anyone know if it's legal to put out "decoy" flags in capture the flag? Cause I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a spirit of the game foul. I ask this, because we were playing last night using the yellow milk-jugs with glow sticks placed inside. Since our team dominated the first round, we were planning on doing the same the next. When one of our team members caught a glimpse of something glowing, we naturally assume that it's the flag. One of our team runs around to get the defenders attention, and I make for the flag. It's in a tree, I get it out, and wondering what happened to the bottle it was in, make my way back to the base. About 30 seconds later, the other team comes out with our flag and promptly states that I took the decoy flag and that they have in fact won. I've never played with decoy flags before, but I certainly think that it should be illegal. We'll put it down that the final score was indeed

Yellow Asian Kamikaze's - 2, Poor White People - 0

Tonight is a concert with Kutless as the headlining band. It's probably the first (rock) concert that I've ever gone to if you discount those ones that they have at big church festival things where they bring in bands to play for the teens and stuff. I think it should be pretty cool. They're an awesome band if you like Christian rock, so check them out if you're in to that kind of music. That should at least improve this week.

As a note about food, stir-fry with Hoisin sauce sprinkled in, soy sauce and some rice to mix in with everything works wonders for a dinner. Just ask mandi about it, and she'll tell you how to cook some mean stir-fry. Off to class. Blah.

Memories

First off, this post is dedicated to Paul Murphy since he apparently hates being commented on in anything titled memories.

So I went back out to Harding this past weekend. It really is strange going back there and seeing the many different things that are there. It's not like it's been that long since the last time I was there. Probably about 2 months, but the changes over the course of the past year and a half are really quite substantial. For starters, the Heritage is a completely different building. There are waterfalls in the lobby, spiral staircases to the second floor, and a large metal globe in the center of everything. Not to mention that it actually looks like a nice hotel now and not just a pathway between the student center and the (Charles) White Dining Hall. There is a new fountain (was this really necessary?) by the Admin that is (overly) elaborate and huge, the dorms are all being renovated to eliminate community showers, and the front lawn now has another pathway that is crossing over it.

I accepted all these things as change and didn't really worry about how old it makes me to know that the science building new wing really is 3 years old and that the circle with a road blocking sign pointing out Harding that goes from in front of the caf onto race is a piece of crap in an already congested intersection. Then I go off to frisbee and I recognize about 7 other people that are playing (adam williams and I counted). It's also amusing to have a majority of them looking at me like they think that I have no clue how to play frisbee. But what really got me was when Burr was commenting on a particular persons catching style. I made the (usually) always funny joke that it reminds me of how justin baines would always jump to catch a disc regardless of whether it was 2 inches or 10 feet off the ground. Those feet just had to come off the ground. In days past, that would have had everyone laughing and joking about it. This time, I think that adam laughed. And that was it. Everyone else had this look of, "What are you talking about?" Sadly, I too have become "old", and part of a Harding from a different time and place.

There are things that are still the same. Doc still tries to act menacing while teaching his class all about the joys of organic, but the grimace and glare usually just come across as a goofy grin. Justin Bland is still at Harding University (as a student). #1 Super China Buffet is one of the best all-you-can-eat chinese places around, and construction on the road to Little Rock is (not) farther along than it was the first time I visited about 8 years ago.

I guess that change is inevitable. It makes you realize, however, that there are things that are important, and things that are not so important. In the end, will anyone really care that you spent infinity hours at harding park and behind harding academy honing your frisbee skills? Will anyone know that you did in fact own the new physics wing of the science building the first year it was in use? Maybe it was that performance/presentation/speech/club that was quite possibly the finest thing that the students at Harding University could witness in their lifetime that people will remember for a few years? Or is it the one person who will remember you for a lifetime because in their time of need you reached out and touched them?

For your viewing pleasure, with the World series quickly reaching an end (thank goodness), the return of House Tuesday nights on Fox is quickly approaching. If you've never seen the show before, watch it. And become addicted. Just like myself, paul, mandi, stoner, mandi's suite, and countless others are...

Making a mockery of...

So after the deep thoughts of yesterday, I feel the need to lighten up a little, at least to start off with. For some reason, getting this thing has made me think a lot the past few days. In addition to just being tired of school and so therefore letting my mind wander around to whatever it wishes. But at any rate, we'll start with some laughs.

One of the (few) highlights of year one in the graduate program here at UT was grading students web projects. Now, the highlight wasn't the grading part, but being on the lookout for some of the most mind-boggling discoveries about our solar system and universe that you've never heard of. Really, I think that I learned more about what really goes on outside of this little planet reading over those than I did from just exploring science myself in the 22 years before-hand.

For instance, did you know that there are, in fact, billions of stars in the solar system? I had no idea. But it's true. They had sources that cited that very fact (or so they said). Or that scientists use infra-red light to study objects because we can't see visible light? I tried changing all my light-bulbs to the infra-red variety since I have apparently been missing out on a lot of life up until now. A well known quote that was attributed to Dan Quayle from the source I was looking at said, "It's time for the human race to enter the solar system." Reading that sent me in to a panic. So where are we now then? What have I been thinking all these years? How many of my elementary school science teachers lied to me? Ok, so that really didn't happen. But the quote did. And the "factual" statements presented were also made with the intention of getting a good grade on a significant project for the student's astronomy class. Do people these days just not care what type of effort they put in to anything anymore?

Given these few examples (and believe me, there are many, many more), I have to think that people just don't care to put effort in to anything that requires time and personal sacrifice. It's easy to "commit" to doing nothing. It's easy to do things when you don't have to put your face on it. When all you have to turn in is a faceless paper with writing on it. Whoever has the misfortune to grade it will never be able to tell you from your average Joe. So why bother taking the time to make it something that's a respectable representation of who you are as an individual and student?

If we take this approach to life, however, oh man are we going to be embarassed - not because God will sit there and publicly mock us, but because we will feel bad all on our own for having nothing to offer the one that saved us. When we see God and we're giving an account of ourselves, and the best comments that we can come up with are that we know that "billions of stars are in the solar system" and that "we can't see visible light", I think we'll wish that we had put in the time to get our facts right. We need to do everything as if we were doing it for God, whether it be the note to the family that is hurting to committing years of your life in the mission field. Neither of these acts is better than the other, and they both need to be done. It's the manner with which they are done that makes them worthwhile or not.

I guess I figure that in the end my "web project" is going to be my life, and God will be my grader. Will he sit there wondering what was going through my mind to make me waste so much of my talent and ability that the best I can give him is a D-level report with incredibly impressive (wrong) discoveries and endeavors? Or will he say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." I hope it's the latter, but if I don't make the effort right now, I won't make the effort later. And by that point, it's all too late.

I don't know if that made any sense to anyone. I guess it's a bit of a stretch, equating web projects with life. It makes sense to me though. For anyone that is in to music or looking for something new to listen to in the rock area, the new album by Skillet entitled "Comatose" is an excellent choice. If you're searching for something more mellow, Mainstay's album "Well Meaning Fiction" is a good recommendation. At any rate, the weekend comes quickly...

The First Time

So there I am, sitting in my 3:40-5:00 Tuesday class, bored out of my mind. What do I do? I pull out the laptop and start reading the Murphy's blogs. Why? Because I get more out of reading them than I do listening to the professor? Maybe. Because the blogs are more fun to read? Definately. Then I go to Facebook. Running commentaries on pictures, notes and one sentence conversations that carry on for days at a time. I send a message, post on a wall, read the updates of the friends that I have. And then it's 3:50. Another hour and ten minutes to go.

I get to thinking, what is it about going on facebook and reading these blogs that's so interesting? It's not like you really are carrying on a conversation, or involved in the pictures that you see, or part of the experiences of people thousands of miles away, but it's still exciting every single time to see a new note or a new picture or a new entry. What makes this such a big thing? Is it because you feel a part of what's happening when you read those things? Yeah, I guess. Is it because it takes you away from where you are and puts you in places that you would rather be? Of course. But mostly it's because I miss seeing those friends on a daily basis and it's good to know what they're up to.

Then something we talked about at church hit me. I wonder how often God feels that way. I mean, it's not that he doesn't know what's going on with us...but how often is it all one-sided, where God knows all about us through our facebook/blog, but we know nothing of what's going on with God?

We all know what "friendships" that are all take are like: "Hey buddy, I need ____" or "Can I borrow ____" or "Would it be alright if I just take _____, I'll get you back later". And we all know how it feels to be the "buddy" in that type of situation. How does God feel? "I promise I'll read my Bible if ____", "I'll do work in the church once ____", "I'll give of my time and money as soon as ____". I know I'm guilty of being the "friend" that only takes. And it's not like God asks that much of us. I mean really, how long does it take to read a few chapters from the Bible? 15 minutes? 20 tops? To pray/talk to him (besides at a meal)? How hard would it be to say no to eating out for one night and put that money in the plate Sunday morning? Is it really that difficult to volunteer for an activity that the church is needing help with? Is it too much to ask to talk with someone about Christ that is clearly needing help?

I guess that I don't like the idea that I'm doing to God what I can't stand to have people do to me. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens. Does that make God regret being our friend? Thankfully, no. But I can guarantee that we will regret it if we don't make the effort to know Him. I know I will regret being a person that doesn't make the effort to change things for the better in my relationship with Him. And in the end, isn't changing to be more like Christ what being a Christian is all about? Or is it all about whether you should use instruments in church and how many people you can have on a committee.

You know, I have to thank Josh M. He really was right about how writing out stuff makes you kinda figure out what it is you're thinking. On a non-involved note, if you're free anytime tomorrow afternoon between 2:30 and 7 PM EST, turn on ESPN2 or ESPN Classic for some excellent european soccer in the UEFA Champions League. Quite possibly some of the best players in the world on display tomorrow for Chelsea vs. Barcelona.