HARMLESS THOUGHTS

It is just me and the boys this weekend. My beautiful wife is off at some creative scrap-booking memory-making thing-a-ma-something. She is going to be with her mom and her sister for the entire weekend. But she knows how to take care of us though. Before she left she bought me an assortment of "snacks" and "meals" for the weekend. frozen pizzas, cinammon rolls (in the tube), frozen fries, chicken nuggets, mac-n-cheese, ravioli in a can, frozen egg rolls, and a few other odds and ends. Talk about a bachelor's diet... Me and the boys will be eating like kings!

We were on the shores once again. The fire was going, the fish were cooking, it was almost like it had never happened, but we all knew that it had happened. They had killed him, we had seen it. But there he was, just sitting there in front of the fire, conversing with us about our families, the weather, and our futures. And on top of everything else, he had cooked us breakfast! After the meal, I hung around the fire just to be close to him. I just wanted to hear his voice. It was a voice that was filled with confidence, and could fill with confidence. It was a voice that made me think that I could go to the ends of the earth for him. It was a voice that could make me tremble when my heart was filled with pride. And it was a voice that could soothe my shaking heart when it was loaded with doubt. I wanted to dwell in that voice and have its sole attention. But right now his eye was on someone else. And I knew that before long that voice would be directed toward Simon. I liste...

fallen. face in the mud. the smell, the stench of an old puddle. soaked through the clothes, some in the mouth. runners passing, not noticing, dodging. the race continues. fallen. a scraped knee, a scuffed elbow. missed the mark, hit hard. fallen. not the first time, not the last. efforts to rise; to no avail. the strain of muscles tired and worn from this days race. fallen. more effort. every ounce, every drop. tightening, teeth clenching. knuckles white with the exertion of energy already used. one foot up. mud still caked on, clings as if for life. renewed heart energy is expended to its last little drop. fallen. injuries compounded, stacked like layers. some from terrain. some from error. its part of the race, the cost, the price. rising. eyes gaze. as if reaching for the sky. for something to cling to. to grasp and hold. the race goes on.

If you look on the sidebar, you will see that I am currently reading more than one book. Now, I don't know what works best for you, but for me it works great to just read a little bit of a book every week. That way I don't get bogged down with the book, and I can also plow through several books at once. One of the books that I am reading is called The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. It is a relatively small book, but I have been so impressed with it. I just finished the chapter titled Removing the Veil , and I would like to share a couple of the quotes with you. "God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can, in divine communion, enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile. But we... " Isn't that always how it goes. God has created us and made it possible through the death of His son to have a perfect communion with Him...

Spirituality. This is an interesting topic. spir-i-tu-al-i-ty The state, quality, manner, or fact of being spiritual . (by dictionary.com ) Umm, OK. But what does that mean? What does it mean to "be" spiritual? I am sure that in reading other people's entries for this week, you could find all manner of opinions on this topic. Everybody having their own definitions and examples. But is this how we can know about spirituality? Is the "state ... of being spiritual" up for debate? Is spirituality a contextual issue? I don't think it is. There are several places in the Bible that talk about spirituality. I know that in one place, Paul the Apostle writes about this topic. Let's take a look at his "blog" on spirituality: 1 Cor. 2:12 - 16 "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not...

I have been looking at my calendar, and I have noticed that the end is near. The end of school, that is. And it is sad. I know that God is moving me on (that is a long story that will have to be saved for another day... another blog), but man, is it hard. They don't teach you about this in college. Some of you teachers know what I am talking about. The Love! I mean, I really love these kids! I just think through my day, and there are about 200 people that I genuinely care about, that I might not see again. I could go down the list of names, but it would take too long. Normally when I move, I am leaving about 5 people behind, this time it is a little different. They just don't train you for this. I am sure that I had plenty of warnings, and even if I didn't, its almost like, "duh!" I mean, if you spend every day of your life pouring your time and effort into a group of people, love is gonna arrive. And I don't even think I knew how much ...

I have been allowing my mind to wander all day trying to think of some blog tips. I don't know if I have any tips that could make someone's blog any better, but I think that I might have a tip or two that relate to blogging. Tip #1 -- Blog! (Written in the form of a command.) Just do it. Blog away! "But I'm not a writer..." So what, neither are 95% of the other people out there blogging. Don't let something like that stop you. Just click this link and start your own free blog. It is fun and easy to do. If you have any questions about how to get started, just e-mail me personally at mattharmless@hotmail.com and I will hook you up! Once I got started about half of the highschool that I teach at got started. The english teacher even promoted it with her students! I'm serious, just get started and let me know how you do! Tip #2 -- Don't let it run your life! It seems like a lot of people who blog, it tends to become a major part ...

For our anniversary my wife bought me a book. It was a book that she had seen me looking at while we were strolling around Barnes & Noble . The Title of the book is THREE TO SEE THE KING by Magnus Mills. It is a small novel about this guy that leaves everything to live in a house made out of tin. He is thoroughly content with his simple life until neighbors start showing up. It is a very intriguing little book that you are sure the whole time you are reading it, that it is about someting more. The cover has a testimonial from some journalist that says it is about "... leadership..." and "...relationships..." and since he is some journalist and I am Matt Harmless... well, he's probably right. All I know is that I felt like I really related to the main character. I appreciated his approach to the circumstances that came his way. I think that living in a tin house in the middle of the wilderness wouldn't be all that bad. It was a good little read,...

I had a very interesting Easter Weekend, but in order to really get a feel for what happened, I am going to have to ask my beautiful counterpart to tell the story from her view-point. I might have some extra little details to add later, but for now, she will have to fill you in... ...It had the makings of an excellent Easter weekend. "Extended", actually, because I had these long-term plans with three of my high school best friends to go to Chicago and spend the night Tuesday and Wednesday. My sister called from Michigan earlier in the week to ask us if we would be able to all assemble at my parents house on Friday for one last gathering before our big move. (A collective *sigh* is heard by several Faith students...) We agreed and headed out Friday with pies and snacks and enjoyed a day with my five other siblings minus Travis my baby brother who floated in for about 30 minutes to say "hi" and leave to go to a sale barn to buy chickens. Yep, chickens. I w...

All of these questions come from the Friday Five 1. What do you do for a living? I am a math teacher at Faith Christian School. I am also a mover in the summer time. I work at Herren's Twin City Moving and Storage. 2. What do you like most about your job? I love working with the kids. I love teaching. I mean really teaching something. It is great to present something to somebody, and they "get-it." I mostly love teaching my Bible class. It is composed of sophmores and juniors. I love presenting the Word of God to them. His word is awesome, it applies so much to everyday life. 3. What do you like least about your job? I have to be honest, all of the responsibility. It presses me daily. 4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____... ... of me. When I am not looking at things the right way. 5. What other career(s) are you interested in? I have always been interested in being a pastor, a youth pastor, or a mission...

Birds of a Feather Flock Together Why? I mean, I am sure that most birds do this because of instinct or something, but why people? Some might say that it is just something that naturally happens. People end up flocking with other people who have similar interests. Similar likes and dislikes. Similar passions. But as with all things, I want to question that. Is it possible that amoung other reasons, one of the main reasons that birds of a feather flock together could be because they don't want to be stretched. People like it when they find someone who will just accept them as they are, and not push them in the areas that they need to change. I hear that all of the time from different characters on TV. "Why can't you just accept me the way I am?" "I have just gotta be me!" Why can't we just all get along?!?" If there is one thing that I have learned, (and I have learned many things, and I usually learn them the hard way), i...

I loved you when Our journey began. I love you now and I'll love you then. And when this journey comes to its end, I'll listen to the story told Of love... ... and love again

2:00 pm-- Friday afternoon -- Charity calls. The boys are going to stay with my mother-in-law. They are going to spend the night there. No kids. No kids after school, no kids during supper, no kids in the evening, and no kids to put to bed. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Anybody that knows me, knows that I love my kids. You try to take my kids away from me, you're gonna see wrath. But if they want to go stay with one of their grandmas... "luv ya kids, have a nice trip!" Well, the kids were gonna be gone, and our anniversary is April the 5th, so we decided to go out! 5:00 pm-- At the school. -- Finally telling Paul Rolley to go to work, Charity and I left the building, and made a quick trip home so I could put on something a little more casual. Stop #1 -- 6:00 pm-- Buon Appetito. The only wood-fired oven in the state of Indiana & Charity's current favorite restaurant. And her fav dish... The Chicken Saltimbocca (sp?). My current fav...

"...those who have a natural talent for calculation are generally quick-witted at every other kind of knowledge; and even the dull, if they have had an arithmetical training, although they may derive no other advantage from it, always become much quicker than they would have been." --Plato See, there is some good in taking math in highschool.