A book that caught my eye

So at the Borders where I work, we have a "Religion" display table right now. Most of the books featured on this display are "Christian" books due to that being the most common religion claimed by Americans. I was walking by that table today when I saw a book that just made me stop and think. Of course, I didn't actually stop, I kept on about my business, but I did think, and thus, I write.

In the above paragraph, I put the word Christian in quotation marks, because many of the books displayed on this display certainly claim to be Christian, but seem to draw the reader's attention to something other than God. For instance, there is The Green Bible. Let me say that again, The GREEN Bible! This is basically a study Bible that includes essays by "Christian" environmentalists and prints all the verses that speak about the environment in green. I like what Richard Land said on the issue:

"Sure it's important, but when they asked Jesus what was most important, he said, 'Love your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.' He didn't say anything about creation."

I would go so far as to call this corruption of the Word of God, sacrilege. At any rate, that book is not the one that caught my eye today, though it has in the past, it is just an example of the kind of literature that is on the table. Although there may be one or two decent books, the majority are not things that would be helpful for "the edification of the saints".

The book that caught my eye was the Busy Dad's Bible, which advertised itself as having "Daily Inspiration Even If You Only Have One Minute". I've been thinking about this off and on throughout the day, and wondering what my life would be like if I only gave the Lord one minute each day to read his word. Now I know that I'm not the busiest man alive, far from it, it may be easier for me to find time to give God than it is for some others, but I know some super busy Dad's who still give time to the Lord and encourage their families to do so as well and are much better for it.

The first example to come to my mind, is my Dad. There have been times when he has been slammed with stuff to do, whether it be meetings with various committees every day (minus Sunday) for two weeks, often stretching from early to quite late; or all the numerous responsibilities of a Regional Chairman with NTM PNG, so much so that some days I barely saw him; or now as he has been even busier than ever over the passed few months, he has made a point of taking time to be alone with the Lord each morning for approximately half an hour and encouraging us (sometimes 'strongly encouraging') to do so as well. Also, each weekday morning, we would have family devotions whenever it was possible (missing it even one time in a month was rare). This is one of the reasons I respect my Dad and one of the ways that he has been such a great example to me.

Back to the question I have been thinking about all day, "What would my life be like if I only gave God one minute each day?" This is a quote from the back of the book:

"It fits right into my schedule."

And that's what it would be, that's what I would be doing, fitting God into my schedule. Yet this gets me thinking, how often do I end up doing just that? Fitting God into my preconceived plans. Fitting time with him into a day that should be centered on him. Far more than I should.

This probably wasn't as coherent as it is in my mind, when I write or speak, it seldom is, but hopefully you get the point.

Don't mind me, I'm just being happy

Are you happy today? I'm happy. Among other things, I have as next to no money as it's possible to have, I had to postpone college until the fall, and I'm starting to hope that I can go then rather than being sure as I was before. I need to work on my "study ethic", because basically I don't have to study so for the most part it ends up that I don't, even though I should because I want to get my A+ Certification renewed and learn Perl before I start college in the fall. But I'm happy.

I wasn't happy earlier today, I was getting all anxious and stuff, something which has been trying to creep in for a fair while; not anymore. It could be that two great friends were just over for dinner and we had a really nice barbecue and a fun evening. It could be that I'm just that cool. It could be that Flogging Molly just has a great sound and you can't help being happy when you listen to them. However, I'm inclined to think that it's because I believe that God works all things together for good for those that love the Lord; and I do love the Lord. He's already started to work things out for me through the last couple weeks.

First, I was given a car by my friend David Hanson who lives in Wisconsin after my last one died horribly. Second, even though my last two checks from my former employer (The Melting Pot) have bounced, I have gotten in contact with the office of Senator Mike Johanns and a woman from there has told me that they will be able to help me recover the funds owed me. I didn't even know that my Senator (or anyone at his office) would be able to do anything like this until a friend mentioned it to me a week ago. Coincidence? I don't think so. Thirdly, I have been given another part time job to go along with my job at Borders and replace the one at the Melting Pot (which closed). Fourthly, well..no, this isn't everything, but it's everything I feel like sharing right now, and I think it's plenty to prove that God is good (as if that needed proving). Ok, there actually willy be a fourth thing that the Lord has done for me recently, he has given me chances to trust him!

Oh, also, if you want to pray for my "study ethic" as I termed it earlier..well, I would appreciate it, because I really do need to be working more on those things that I claim to be studying.

I came, I saw, I...?

So I was reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett the other day - well ok, to be quite honest, I was listening to it on the way to and from Wisconsin this last weekend - and I came across a little observation of Caesar's famous words "Veni, vidi, vici". I thought that it was too good not to share.

"It [Veni, vidi, vici] wasn't the sort of thing you came up with on the spur of the moment, was it? It sounded as if he had worked it out. He'd probably spent long evenings in his tent, looking up in the dictionary short words beginning with V and trying them out... Veni, vermini, vomui, I came, I got ratted, I threw up? Visi, veneri, vamoosi, I visited, I caught an embarrassing disease, I ran away? It must have been a big relief to come up with three short acceptable words. He probably made them up first, and then went off to see somewhere and conquer it."

And later on in the book, engraved on the plinth of an old statue:

"Ab hoc possum videre Domum Tuum"

Well... 'domum tuum' was 'your house,' wasn't it?...and 'videre' was 'I see'...

"What?" he said aloud. "'I can see your house from up here?' What kind of a noble sentiment is that?"