Monday, March 23, 2009

Thoughts on Romans 14

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him."

I like this scripture. I understand that it is referring to God's New Testament blessing of eating animals that were once thought unclean, but I think the lesson from these verses has a broader range of application. It makes me think of people who identify themselves as Christians yet also smoke, cuss, drink, etc. In my opinion, those are also "disputable matters" that should not be judged. And on the flip side, those whose faith allows them to do such things should not "look down on" those with weaker (more traditional?) faith who might be wrongly judgmental about the issues. Christians need to understand that there are varying degrees of faith, but they are ALL faith. Let's not get trapped into thinking that the church has to agree on all disputable matters. Your opinion and/or participation in these matters should be based solely on your own measure of faith:

"But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

pathetic athletic

I've often wondered why the UPS man has to come to my house at the END of the day. I feel like the poor kid who gets home an hour later than everyone else just because his house is at the end of the bus route. I'm expecting a package today and I've already opened the front door four times "just to check" in case my doorbell stopped working or my ears went temporarily deaf when it rang. My childlike anticipation is for none other than a new pair of running shoes I recently ordered. Ah... there is little more satisfying and nothing more motivating than a fresh pair of running shoes. They're still white, their shoelaces have never been crossed, and they don't even smell like the road yet! And I get the pleasure of introducing these shoes to their destiny. Shoes, this is the sidewalk. Sidewalk, Shoes. I can't wait!!


But unfortunately I don't have a choice. I must wait. (and pray that my UPS driver has a heavy right foot)

In the meantime though, I do have a question for you. Yes, you. The person reading my blog who also jogs, runs, walks, or does any mindless monotonous task. What do you think about when you're doing it? I asked a couple people this question and found the answers interesting. One girl said she does math problems in her head while she's jogging. Another person said he pretended he was a superhero running to save the day. I could use some more suggestions b/c all I end up thinking about are my many friends who can run so much faster and farther than me!

Ok, time to check the front door again...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Finish Another Blog Post About Finishing Things: Check!

Continuing my theme of completing things I set out to do, I've decided to make a list of some short-term goals. This is mainly for my own benefit, but if I get one or two comments on this post then it's worth sharing. :)

Finish the baby doll quilt. I bought the fabric, cut the pieces, even sewed it together, but after sewing the completed top together with the batting and back fabric I realized my immediate need for a fairy godmother to undo my mistakes and give me a clean slate. My fairy godmother came in the form of a $2 seam ripper from Michael's. Now I just need to actually use it and start another round of sewing. Have I mentioned that I have no instructions on how to make a quilt? I have an idea of how it should work, and that seemed good enough to start the project.

Finish out the golfer illustration and get it selling on iStock. I owe it to Tru (the model) to get this done before he leaves Cherry Point next month!

Finish Don Quixote. I've spent about 9 months trying to get through de Cervantes' masterpiece. It is a very very very long book and the last quarter of it is proving to be my most difficult hurdle. I've been slacking off lately and haven't read a chapter in a few months, but yesterday I had a brilliant idea of something that will motivate me to finish the last bit of that book. The beach! Yes, I've decided that this summer I will take regular trips to the beach for reading time to finish Don Quixote. (But don't expect this to mean that I will come home this fall with a tan—it is physically impossible to alter my fair complexion.)

Finish the canvas paintings. Well I have this big empty space on the wall above the landing in our staircase and Michael's had their blank canvases 40% off last week, so I put two and two together and knew it was a sign from God calling me to create some original art for the empty space in my home. So now I have three canvases, two paint colors, and a few pencil-drawn thumbnails. I'm thinking something along the lines of a series of organic silhouette images in neutral colors. But I do tend to think a lot and do very little. :\

Hopefully this public admission of my intentions will keep me accountable to actually getting these things done!