Video Update

I finally managed to clip the video files together on another computer, but the trial version video editor I was working with left a nice advertisement for itself across the top of the completed file. Should I buy the editor, or not worry about it...

Old Rag

I didn't have any major plans for this weekend, so I took off Saturday morning for Shenandoah NP once again. I soloed Old Rag Mountain - one of the best day hikes, if not THE best, in the entire national park. The trail was crowded, but the weather was great. The final 1.5 miles to the summit is a classic, involving a rock scramble along most of the ridge line. I took several short videos on the ascent, but I haven't been able to edit them together on account of my computer having a conniption fit. It doesn't get along with video editors well. Anyhow, the pics are up at Fotki, and I'll get the video done in a few days, hopefully.

Axel-deep in the spiritual swamps

...Heh, it's been nearly 2 years on this blog now, and I'm still griping about the same old stuff. Figures.

I'm still struggling with putting more trust in God. For certain, I do not doubt His existence. What I do doubt is His active participation in my life. He is God, to be sure, but I often doubt that he is a personal God. I want evidence before faith, while it seems like God wants my faith before He gives me any evidence. It's as if God has left me to struggle with my sins and shortcomings by myself.

I have thought a lot about my faith lately. It has been a very difficult thing for me to do - trusting more in God, I mean. Every fiber of my geeky self screams out that I must have evidence first. Not just evidence from a 2000-year old Bible, but evidence that I can see, and measure, and use to confirm that God is there and is helping me.

My hope is still in God, but I have few expectations that God will help me anymore. What am I missing?

I am such a Geek, or Star Trek/Catan

I was browsing through loltrek tonight. It was funny, but nothing outstanding... until I nearly died laughing when I saw this:

My Parents are mean to me

Yes, I know I brought this one upon myself. I even told my parents to go visit Great Smoky National Park. Still, the fact that I wasn't there... *sniff* I mean, it was only 4 MILES to Charlie's Bunion! So close, yet so far...

Of airshows and old Friends

I met Aaron at the World War II weekend in Reading, PA this past weekend. Despite it being hotter than sin on the tarmac that day (my sun-burnt neck is still painful, by the way,) we had a lot of fun! Both Aaron's and my own pictures are now up on my Fotki site!

The nature of salvation

Romans 6 is really starting to unnerve me. "Died to sin," "Baptized into Christ," "no longer slaves to sin,"... I do not understand these metaphors. All of these things, at first glance, make it sound like a Christian ought to be free of sin - a notion that any honest Christian quickly dismisses. Of course we all still struggle with our sinful shortcomings, even well after salvation!

Romans 7:15-25 details my own struggle to a tee. I know what is right, yet I struggle to accomplish it. What did Paul mean when he said that we are "dead to sin" in Rom.6? Did he mean dead to the consequences of sin only? Or did salvation somehow deaden sin's influence over us as well?

You know your blog has jumped the shark when you start posting other people's stuff.

...I couldn't help it, though. Really. I'm still such a geek.

Parades and Graduations

Photo update: Apple Blossom Festival and Hersheypark photos are now up at my Fotki site!

Update: I've also been uploading older photos from last summer now. Several more hikes, and a number of family events too!

of Weddings and Baseball

Benjamin & Elizabeth Lloyd's wedding pictures from Saturday -and- my brothers and I at the Washington Nationals/New York Mets game on Sunday are up at http://rjedwards.fotki.com/

...3 busy weekends in a row, and the Apple Blossom festival is this coming weekend to boot!