Long time no post - just a reminder that most of my goodies can now be found over on Facebook. Two new albums are up: Overall Run Falls and a trip to Philadelphia!

Well, long time & nothing much new to say. I forgot to take pictures from last week's cycling trip between Georgetown and Great Falls on the C&O Canal - sorry 'bout that. For the last several weeks now I've had this kind of low-grade grumpiness, which isn't helping my loneliness any. I've started up a new study over the past few weeks: "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby. It's great stuff, and fits perfectly into my ever-present struggle to trust God more, but I haven't been able to get past the first few chapters.

...Hmm. I'm having a tough time writing this struggle out, so I'll let it be for now. Hopefully, it'll come to me later.

Duncan Knob

New photos are up on Facebook from my hiking trip yesterday. Enjoy!

Check-In

Well, the good news is that I'm looking forward to taking a few days off next week for vacation. The bad news is... my plans changed this week. I was booted from the Microstation class that I was going to attend in Richmond. Apparently, preference is given to VDOT employees to attend the class, and they were able to fill up the roster, so there you have it. The original plan was to take several days after the class and run around the Virginia countryside on the way home. Now, however... I'll have to take some time this weekend and figure it out. One way or another, more pictures will be forthcoming by the end of next weekend.

I'm trying to fix up Dan's old mountain bike. He mentioned taking the C&O Canal Trail in sections with me, and I'd love to have the excuse to see him a bit more often.

I've been frustrated lately with waiting on God's timing for my life. My job is getting a little shaky with the housing decline, and I don't have the first idea where/who/whom to begin a relationship. I know it'll happen in His timing, but I'm still unconfident and impatient too often.

Briefly

I've gotta go to bed, but I posted a few pictures from the church activities on Facebook this afternoon. Check it out.

Summer Scheduling

Wow - things have really come together in the past week regarding my now rapidly filling summer.

1) I've a few friends meeting me at Douthat in early April, now that my schedule for that short trip is pretty set. I'm going to try swinging through Appomattox and Natural Bridge along the way, too.

2) I'm trying to convince Dan to take one last weekend in May off for a bachelors-only trip with Nate and myself before he gets married in late June. My little brother is getting married... wow boy. Quit making me feel old.

3) I got in touch with Dale to ask about another possible big trip this summer to follow up the Montana expedition. The current plan: to bike up the C&O Canal towpath. 185 miles, from DC to Cumberland. I guess I need to fix up my bike. Anybody else interested? I could always fix up Dan's old bike too...

Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty amazed right now. Now, if you'll pardon me, I have a rainy, 40-degree weekend to slog through. I mean, Longview gets snow, but I get rain? What is that all about?

Checkup

I've finally set a few days aside for vacation in early April, right after another drafting seminar down in Richmond. I don't know what to do with my time off just yet - a lot will depend on the weather and if anyone else comes with me. I'd like to spend a day down near Grayson Highlands in the southern part of the state. Maybe I'll head the opposite direction and lookup old friends in Newport News. Maybe I'll just spend 4 days sleeping - who knows!

The last time I tried vacationing by myself didn't work out too well - loneliness set in after about 2 days, and I spent the rest of the week taking day trips close to home. We'll see about it this time.

I spent Saturday afternoon hiking near Signal Knob, just outside Strasburg. There weren't too many spots for pictures, but I'll post what I took later on tonight.

Good news - I'm meeting my both parents for dinner here in town in less than an hour. My mom has spent the last week in Honolulu (lucky bugger...) with Dad, who has been working in Pearl Harbor for the past few weeks. Dad worked all week, and Mom's not too adventurous, so she spent most of her time in Waikiki. They flew back together, and I'm interested to see how it went! (Looking back at the past few paragraphs, you can tell that I've got a bad case of cabin fever...)

Despite all the stuff I did this past week, loneliness and boredom are still my greatest struggles. I wish I knew what God has in store for me in the future. Keep me in prayer.

The Law of Liberty

Obedient hearing springs from the moral and spiritual beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ deeply impacting us. A Christian can rejoice at the realization that such inward beauty is his by new birth. He can be inspired to express this beauty through obedience. But, of course, this "captivation" of the heart by the "beauty of Jesus" is the work of God's Holy Spirit through God's Word.
However, a moment's reflection will show that obedient hearing cannot be the result of guilt or an intolerable load of obligation. If such responsiveness does not arise from our innermost self as a deeply felt desire, it remains a work of the flesh. The spirit of the legalist is far removed from what we are talking about here. That is why James goes on to say this:

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25)

It is striking that in this statement James now refers to God's Word at "the perfect law of liberty." So far from being a burden, the law of liberty frees us from above (see 1:18). When Christian living becomes a burden which we must "grind out," we have forgotten what we truly are. Life in Christ is true liberty.

~Zane Hodges, "Six Secrets of the Christian Life", pg. 36-37.

I think I'm starting to get it...

Letting go of the extremes

Thanks you both for the comments from a few weeks ago. While I can't say that I've gotten to be a better Christian in the past few weeks, I feel like I'm a little closer to finally "getting it". What I mean is, finding that balance between (1) always relying on my own willpower to obey God's will, and (2) using zero will power and just hoping that God will nudge slap me with instant, miraculous sanctification. I know that both extremes are wrong - I've tried them both within the past few months and failed horribly. However, I also know that I do need a certain measure of both willpower and faith, working together, to become a better Christian. I guess all that's left is for me to keep trying.

Non Sequitur: I had Indian food for dinner today. That green chicken was awesome. Seriously - green chicken kabobs. Yum.

Also Non Sequitur: I am getting REALLY stir-crazy. Anybody out there going camping sometime in the next month or two?

Nuthin' to Report

It's been a quiet week up here. I've spoken with several people about what I posted here last weekend, but I haven't gotten any questions answered, either - except from a book I've been reading for the sunday school class I'm taking this winter.

"The Christian life is lived by the supernatural power of God. According to Romans 8:10-13, as we have just seen, living this life required the resurrection of a spiritually dead body. God's Spirit alone can perform this miracle."
"Six Secrets of the Christian Life" by Zane Hodges

This is where I misunderstood. I took "God's Spirit alone can perform" to an extreme. I thought that God didn't need, or want, my efforts to change. God didn't even want me to try to be a good Christian. I thought that God would simply change me from sinful to sanctified whenever He felt like it. I was in some kind of "Christian holding pattern" until God called me for some work, at which time he would call me out and start making me holy and a good Christian.
In brief, I thought that since I was saved, it doesn't matter what I did anymore - I could not make myself into a good Christian. NOTHING I did was helping; It was ALL God's doing, and I could just sit around and twiddle my thumbs until He called for me personally.

"But how does the Spirit of God do this? Naturally, one answer is "by His power." But how does He bring this power to bear upon a Christian individual?"

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
2 Cor. 3:18

Misunderstandings

Last week, I asked so much about the will to follow God because, in all honesty, I did not want to be the one to choose to follow God; I wanted God to make that choice for me.

A few months ago, I decided that since I was incapable of following God in my own power, I would instead completely quit trying to do so. That's been a big reason why I haven't had a deep, thoughtful blog post since October.

In part, I was afraid of screwing up again, and I was tired of following God "in my own power."
In part, I misunderstood what it meant to follow God.
In part, I was just being lazy.

I did not want to have to struggle with my own shortcomings and battle back every temptation, and since since God said that we must rely on His own power, that's exactly what I thought I was doing until today. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I figured that all I needed to do was pray "God, I want to follow you, so... do your thing!" and then wait around for some kind of holy beam of light to descend from heaven and blast me with instant sanctification. I wanted to be Saul on the road to Damascus - I wanted direct intervention from God. Lately, I've been so frustrated with my lack of progress that I've begun asking God to give me pain - a "thorn in the flash", so to speak - as a trade off for my sanctification. I've been trying to bargain with God, and it's obviously not working.

With this as background, I'll ask my question a bit differently: How does God soften a resisting Christian's heart?

Griffon Pic

I finally remembered to scan in this one from my trip last summer to Busch Gardens! I love how we all have a different look on our faces. From left to right: Dan, Nathan, myself, and our Dad.

Football

A few weeks ago, I won 2 tickets from work to go see the Redskins/Cowboys game this weekend! I took Steve - a rabid Skins fan - and headed out for FedEx Stadium on the far side of DC. It took me nearly 3 hours to get there: over an hour driving down I-66 almost into DC, another hour on the Metro blazing underground, and another half hour to walk from the subway to the stadium. I met Steve there, and we headed in for our seats (only about 15 rows back!) The weather was pretty miserable: lower 40's and drizzling rain for the first half. Thankfully, we were ready and all bundled up for the wet stuff and cold. The game itself was pretty good - the Skins won and are now in the playoffs! The crowd was massive - nearly 91,000 in attendance. Normally, I'm not a big football fan, but despite the fact I got home at 11PM and have been tired all day, it was fun. I wouldn't want to do that on a regular basis, though. Photos are in Fotki.

I had to work today. Given that is was clear skies and 50 degrees, this was a problem. I did try out my Fivefingers outside after work - they work great!

Barefoot heresy?

My company had given me a little bit of extra spending cash at the annual Christmas Party, which I normally use to help pay for some nifty new gadget over the holidays. This year, I went to splurge down at the local backpacking store, and my choice was a bit... eccentric this year, or so I'm told. I found a new pair of shoes, but this particular style, as you can see below, is pretty interesting:

The brand name is called "Fivefingers". It's like going barefoot, only with a hard sole. I thought they looked awesome, they're small enough to easily pack with my hiking gear, and it's a good cross between going barefoot and protecting my feet.

Although I can hear the old-school barefoot MK's calling blasphemy from all the way out here...

In other news, I'll have more pictures tomorrow night when Steve & I get back from a rather...large sporting event. Steve's going nuts about it.

Richmond

I was out this past week at a 4-day training course in Richmond, VA. The course was on how to use the MicroStation CAD program, and it went very well, although I feel that I still need more training on the specific survey aspects of the program before I am truly competent with drafting in the program. Funny but true: our instructor's name was Robert Lee.

While I was in Richmond, I managed to get most of my Christmas shopping done in spite of the uncanny ability of the local arcade to siphon off my money (and I'm supposed to be 26... I am such a geek.) We were let out of class early yesterday, so I was also able to spend a little time down at the site of the old Tredegar Iron Works downtown by the James River. During the Civil War, Tredegar was one of the largest ironworks in the nation, and was the primary producer of artillery pieces for the Confederacy. Nowadays, the site is now home to the visitor's center of the Richmond Nat'l Battlefield. I took a few pictures before heading home.

Well, I've got a lot to try and get done before the lousy weather comes in tonight, so I'll end there for now.

Out of Town

I'll be away for the next week - I'll try to have something up on Saturday and catch up.

Check-in

I've been a little in the dumps this week. Fall is nearly over, and the temperatures are headed lower in a hurry here in VA. It's not that I don't have stuff to do - my schedule has been packed with cool stuff:

• I took some friends to an early Thanksgiving dinner this evening, put on by my parent's small church group. Great food. We watched the Redskins lose, too.
• I've got 'Flat Stanley' back from my cousins in Minnesota! I try to have a little fun with the geography dude - I took pictures of him at Harper's Ferry last week, and one at the hospital with Nathan (An explanation is in order. The younger of my 2 little brothers, Nate, is in training to be a radiology tech at the local hospital. They had an open house yesterday, so he showed me around the place. We took pictures of 'Flat Stanley' getting an X-ray taken by Nate.
• Sherando! My old high school won their District semifinal football playoff match against our cross-county rivals, James Wood, by 21-14. It was pretty cold (upper 30's,) but fun anyhow. You know, as much football as I've seen this weekend, I'm really not an excitable fan. My friends were hooting and hollering, and wanted me to 'get more into the game'; I just went 'wow' and raised my eyebrows.
  
• Speaking of working out, I'm now into my 4th week of exercise at the local gym. My arms aren't doing too well, but all that running and hiking I've done over the past few years has really helped on the cardio. I've lost a few pounds (I'm down to about 162,) but that's nothing special - I've always hovered around 165 since I left college.
• Corn maze-bring a flashlight! A dozen of us got lost after dark in a HUGE 8-acre corn maze a few weeks back. It was definitely...different. Josh and I wound up leading one group around-it took us 2 hours to finish! Steve-we still think you cheated :)
  

Color Codes

~Courtesy of http://xkcd.com/

Facebook is BIG

Oy. I didn't realize how many old friends are on that thing. Pretty cool.
~Gonna go get lost in a cornfield tonight.

Exercise & Vegetables

I went and joined a local fitness center yesterday. My arms are sore today. Actually, so are my legs. And my shoulders. As a result, I am pleased with myself.

Also, I need some advice. As a 26-year old, am I even allowed to still be interested in movies like this? Sometimes, I think that I never left college... but maybe that's a good thing!