What Do You Delight In?

What do you delight in? In Sports, learning, family, friends, God? I did a quick search on the word 'delight' and turned up quite a few results.

Psalms 1:2: But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Psalms 37:4: Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Romans 7:22: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Psalms 119:174: I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

Psalms 40:8: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

I feel convicted reading these, because I know that my delight isn't always on the things of the Lord, and that's something towards which I will strive!

Focal Point

As I was going through my Aperture Library, I noticed that I have quite a few photos where the focal point isn't quite where you would expect it. So here's a few of those.

Oh, and I'm trying to figure out a way to have the EXIF data from each photo show up in the tooltip, but I'm having a hard time finding anyway to do that automatically, and manually inputting all of that data would take a while.

Can you guess what this is?

Overpopulation

Well, I guess that settles it! There's just too many people on this planet! How do I know this? Why, because Jacques Causteau said so! And Al Gore! And we all know that the poler ice caps are melting right? I mean, wasn't florida supposed to be like a third underwater by now?

If you recall from my China post, I am of the opinion that overpopulation is a fictional creation of those with power who would like to gain more power (or money). Nothing will get people to act irrationally than pending disaster.
Overpopulation is also directly related to global 'climate change.' Most of the videos, articles, and books you will find on either subject will inevitably touch on the other.
Here's the video that I found which sparked this post.

On it's face, this video seems to make sense, but there are several fundamental flaws with it's logic (or lack thereof). What do you think that they are?
In the coming days, I'll probably post some more videos on both sides of the argument.
And the list just goes on and on!

The Wet World Beneath Us

Here's some underwater photos I took last February down in Mexico.

Unspoken Benefit of hospitality

One of the Vision Forum folks has been blogging during the Food Conference, and this quote came up:

One of the Phillips children said, “Mom, we need to have someone come over right away.”“Why?” asked Beall.“Because we’ll get this house cleaned up in no time flat.”

Yep, serious piece of truth there. It's nice to know that we're not the only family that has a house that's cleanest when people are coming over!
~Paul

Just a Couple

I was reading a post that someone wrote about how the size of your family growing up can effect the size your own family. This is an excerpt of what one of the commenters said.

I have a sister, and the two of us were super close growing up. Now I have two boys, and they are practically inseparable despite the 3.5 yr age difference. I am thrilled. And I feel like I should *want* to be done having children now -- the little one is going to be 5 in three weeks and starting [kindergarden] in the fall, and I am 35.

My first reaction when reading this was "3.5 years? That's isn't very much. I'm that far from my little brother." (who is #4 out of 6)
I don't often read blogs (or comments) on secular blogs, but this one caught my eye for some reason (perhaps because the reason that I found her blog was because she had a blogger how-to), but it was interesting to see that almost all of the commenters (114 at time of writing, note, I didn't read ever single one, but quite a few, ) were voicing an opinion more or less similar to the one quoted above. It was kind of sad to read really. They all had been so influenced by the worlds self-centered view of children, and didn't really view them as blessings. Here's a really good article by one of the moms in our church about children as blessings.
Fortunately, the commenter above did say after this:

But I still want one more baby.

Just keep saying that after each one ok? Your kids will thank you for it! Trust me! :)
I know that most of my readers are probably of a similar mindset as I am on this topic, but do you have any thoughts that you'd like to add?

 

And With That, Another Year Passes + Graduation Photos

I am, as it would be said in biblical phraseology, The Son of Nineteen Years. (I just learned about that type of phraseology last week.)

Yep, I turned Nineteen last Sunday. I still can't believe that a whole 365 days have passed since July 8 last year. So much has happened in that short time, and so many things have changed, from my theology, to simply how I schedule my day. I got an internship here in Michigan which started in September, went to my first conference (at least, in the last 8 years or so), went to The Achademy, (yes, that's spelled correctly, I'll talk more about that at a later date), deepened my relationship with the Lord and with my family members, made a couple new friends, and discovered that I know almost nothing about theology. ;)

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Psalm 39:4-5

I'm somewhat of a nostalgist (I know that's not a word, but saying "given to nostalgia" just didn't sound as good), so I enjoy looking at the past and seeing how things have changed from time to time, and birthdays are good mile markers to look back on. In the last year I have:

• Gotten my first outside-the-home, non-construction (biomedical engineering) job
• Taken (only counting the one's I didn't delete) nearly 8K of Photos
• Read more in the Bible than I think I did in the previous 18 years put together
• Learned how to machine plastic and metal using various large (and expensive) machines
• Learned what Hermeneutics means ;)
• Talked with Doug Phillips
• Paid my own taxes
• Bought and sold my first car (snazzy 1993 Honda Civic)
• Switched over to Aperture for photo editing
• Flown across the country 5 times
• Learned what Eschatology means
• Had my last Piano Recital (for now)

And I could just go on an on. I've heard some folks say that young people think that times moves slowly, and that 25 is like eons away. Well, they must not be talking about me. Since I've been here in MI, time has been flying! I remember when 5 months seemed like an eternity away, but now it seems like just a blink!

With that, here are a couple of graduation pictures that my beautiful mother took of me after my piano recital.

My awesome family (well, most of them Son's 1 and 2 are missing)

Yeah, This is what I usually do when I get dressed up!

 I look forward to what the Lord has for me in the coming year! So much has changed in the last one, I can only imagine what will change in the next!
~Paul

Tipping the scales

Have you ever heard the phrase "Don't rock the boat?"
I was reading a book called The Second Mayflower by kevin Swanson , and one of the analogies that he used when talking about politics was that of a balancing scale.

It only takes a couple of people on one of the far ends of the scales to make all the people in the middle of no effect! You don't have to have half the world behind you to make a difference, God almost always works through minorities, but not just any minorities, dedicated minorities. Minorities who know where they're going, and why they're going there

(Quick note, I don't think that the worlds problems will be solved through politics, that can only happen when fathers take their position as servant leader at the head of the family, when the church and  the family get back into their God given positions. But I also don't think that we can simply wash our hands politics and government and think that we'll be able to come back to them later. We've got to fight on all fronts, though we will all have areas of focus.)


Far to often, people on the right (but more likely just a little right of center), are concerned about picking someone who's 'electable,' rather then someone who will upset the status quo, which is why said 'Republicans' seldom get anything done! The liberals on the other hand tend to push candidates, bills, and legislation that most would consider 'extreme,' because know where they're going, and they have a plan to get there, but it's not a place where I would like to be.

If we want to win the battle in the political sphere, we need to have a goal in mind, and path in sight, and determination to do what it takes to stick to that path! Get on the end of the seesaw!!!

Semper Reformanda!
Paul

The Young Folk

Call me weird, but I just love little kids! One thing I really enjoy is when they will carry on a long conversation, and tell you everything about the world as they see it, from two feet off the ground. And sometimes they have real nuggets of wisdom, or just tell it like it is, without the worry of offending anyone!

Caleb

Caleb again, He's very Photogenic.

Elijah and Caleb

Josh and Faith.

And of course Gabe Cornelius, styling his daddy's studly sunglasses.

Furthering the Journey

Today I just started reading Always Ready by Greg L. Bahsen, thank Pinecone for the recommendation!
I read the first three chapters today, and so far, it's really good! He's very thorough and gets his point across in a clear way that even I can understand!
Along with afore mentioned book, I've also been listening to a couple different MP3 series on Dispensationalism and amillennialism.
The Series on Dispensationalism can be found HERE, and the millennialism ones HERE (the third series). They're quite interesting, and both sides make some good points. I need to find a good audio series on Post-millennialism. Could anyone recommend one?

Semper Reformanda!
~Paul