Restless

"Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee."
--St. Augustine

Some people look at the Bible and Christianity as a whole and see rules and restrictions. They see barriers to their own personal happiness. They see walls and fences blocking them in.

They want out so bad that it hurts.

And many do "get out." They break free from God. And find themselves enslaved by sin.

Many don't ever recognize their position, their enslavement. They flounder around in sin and degradation, never realizing that true freedom can only be found in Him. And with that freedom from sin, their is true joy to be found.

"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."
--A.W. Tozer

Check out the book, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

A song about me...

It's not very nice.

And it isn't true at all.

but here it is...

The Blog Song (Ode to a Math Teacher)

Check out this students other songs at Jared Zachary

A Word from the Wife

Two really cool things that will probably mean nothing to you, but were significant to me...

It is very handy to have a brother-in-law that is a computer guy. (I will make note here that I do not feel he is altogether a "computer geek" because he is highly social and that does not tend to fall into your usual geekness personality traits)...you know what I mean....but regardless, techno-whatever is his career. ANYWAY, I'm blogging right now from my bed!!!! AH! I love it! I am usually anti-computers for lots of reasons I won't bother you with but this is right up my alley! A t.v., a glass of juice, my bed and my sweetie niece....and blogger access...this is the life. Now I just have to figure out how to make it mine! It's so cool.

Number 2 cool thing...I do this silly thing every year. When I get ready to pack up my coats and jackets for the winter, I usually put a 5 dollar bill in one of the pockets so I can get a little surprise when I put it back on the next year. Sadly, I didn't do this last year because I forgot. We were headed south and due to the "almost" warmness of this area (yeah, right...it's freezing!), I packed my jean jacket. So, yesterday, I was putting it on and I felt around in the pockets to make room for my icy hands when I discovered a strange occupant of my handy pocket. A leaf. Now, some may say, "A leaf? Ew....trash in your pockets...I hope you cleaned it out", but they would be wrong. I remember when I put that leaf in my pocket. It was last fall. I'm generally not much of an observer. I'm commonly very focused on the task at hand and tend to miss what's beautiful around me, but this day was different. I recall that last fall was particularly breath-taking. This day I was taking a jaunt through a set of trees and I was compelled to stop and glance at how stunning they looked around me. It was a unique moment for me and I remember feeling very happy and very much at "home". So, I decided to pick out a pretty leaf and stick it in my pocket so I could remember it.

The last few days have felt very homeless. My hubby is awesome in those transition phases of life. You can't seem to shake that guy with "different" or "unfamiliar". Me....not so much. So, when I pulled that cracking leaf out of my pocket, I smiled. Yeah, there it is...home.

BJU!

I am blogging about a block away from the Bob Jones University Campus, in Greenville, SC.

I am staying with my sister Amanda tonight. In the morning we are going to go to an IHOP for breakfast. I am getting hungry already, just thinking about it. I am also hoping to play a little euchre tomorrow. I know my wife doesn't like it that much, but I do love a good game of euchre, and I think that she loves me enough to play a game or two.

I hope that all of my students had a good day today, even though I wasn't there to teach them! Oh well, they probably learnt more without me...

Talk to all of you later!

Sweet Tea

By the way, I failed to mention that I am blogging from the South! It is much warmer and every restaurant automatically serves sweet tea.

Hot topics

I am always intrigued by the differences in opinions among believers.

There are some things that will always be "controversial." But there are other things that should not be controversial at all. For example, I know that in some Christian circles going to movies is an automatic no-no, no matter what the movie is. To step foot in a theatre would be a grievous sin! But with the release of The Passion, this standard has been questioned. And maybe rightly so. Those in that circle usually use the "we can't support the movie industry" reason to not go to any movies. But then they go home and purchase cable, and rent movies, just showing a hypocritical belief system.

Many youth and young adults have seen right through this hypocritical belief system and gone to the other extreme. Now we have a whole generation that pours pretty much anything that they want into their brains, without a question asked.

In the case of movies, we should be challenged to question the Biblical reasons to go or to not go. Too many times people are just lazy and don't want to research what God would have them do. There is no digging into the word of God. And there is nobody on their knees asking the creator to give them wisdom in their search.

But this post is really not about that. It is spurned on by some of the "Christian websites" that I have found. There are some things that just shock me. Not in an old lady -- "oh my good heavens!" kind of way. But in a taken off guard kind of way. Things that I have never questioned before as being wrong. Now I am being forced to think! Because I don't want to be like the typical person in my generation that automatically thinks that anything from the previous generation is wrong. I also don't want to be like the typical person from the previous generation that thinks that anything new is wrong! I am searching for a balance. And I think it is the Bible.

I want to be a seeker. A seeker of truth in the Word. Not just a logical thinker -- philosopher. I don't want to stand before a Holy God and give an account, and the only reason to support my behavior is my feeble reasons that came from my own brain.

When you see something that you disagree with, ask yourself, "why?" If you don't have some verses pop into your head, get to digging.

Be prepared.

The Friday Five

The Friday Five

If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
I think that I would probably serve Mexican food. I love tacos and burritos and enchiladas, etc. Hmmm... I am getting hungry just thinking about it. The meat, the cheese, the tomatoes and salsa. All of the sour cream and chips... Ok, next question.

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
Probably a book store. I would love to run the counter, and just sit there and read. I would probably have a wide variety of books. Lots of Christian books and lots of children's books. I would also like to have a row of classic books. And there would definitely be a coffee shop. (With free coffee for me.) My guess is that my shop would be next to a Krispy Kreme! Oh, now that I think about it, I think that I might want to change restaurants...

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
My first choice would be a compilation of lessons that I have taught in my Bible classes, and in the other classes from time to time. I have noticed that a lot of books are done that way. Mostly they don't start from scratch. They take things they have been working on already and just compile the material into a readable form.

I would also be interested in writing a story of some sort. I don't think that I would actually be able to do this. But the students love it when I start telling stories. But I think that is more about my mannerisms, than it is about the story.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
Since I am a teacher already, I know the answer to this one. It would definitely be math and Bible. When I went back to school to be a teacher, it was a toss-up between math and science. I chose math because it would be easier to prepare for on a day to day basis. Not as much prep time, etc.

Now that I have been teaching math for a few years, I have grown to love the subject. I always liked math, but now I find myself "thinking math" all of the time. I see it in everything. And I love learning more about it all of the time.

I also love teaching Bible. Next to understanding the Word of God... what else matters?

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
Seriously... probably funny songs for kids. My musical talent is so bad that I can't even think seriously about myself singing. I wish I could sing better. My wife has a beautiful voice. And it would be neat to be able to sing with her. But alas, that probably won't happen. (Although my wife does think that I have a good voice, but I think that she is biased.)