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.