Insidious Adaptation

It was the night after a long run, one where I went out too far, gone too long, didn't eat enough either. It was a time when I thought I could push it a little more, a little farther, and maybe I could finally obtain a coveted self-accomplishment to allow myself a little peace. "When I hit 15 miles, then I will buy those new shoes."  I will never buy the shoes, I just need something to look forward to, even if that, "thing" will never be allowed to happen.  It was at the end of one of those days, where the push of an accomplishment consumes any other idea that is life and the payment for such an accomplishment, isn't just the fatigue, for that is masterable, but it is the mental craving for something.  I have a theory based loosely in logic, one of chemicals and exercise; the longer the exercise, the more the chemicals used, so then the less brain chemicals there are later. Either way, I was burned, a longer, deeper burn that muscles provid...

According to science, everything is 99.9999999% nothing. Article here.   With that in mind, the scientific explanation that anything material is mostly electron clouds and magnetic force is what we feel, could we ever question miracles again? If science, which is typically the anti-religion take of the world's origin, existence, and meaning, is so convinced in the presentation, which is empty space, why would we struggle is accepting "non-natural" events from affecting our lives, when the "natural" isn't as concrete as we thought? Science! Jesus was a man, a Son, physically, birthed from a virgin. Science says this is impossible. The Old Testament prophesied of Jesus coming, as a savior, the messiah. Science says he was just a man. The New Testament says that Jesus did come, He was alive, He did talk and interact and die and rose again from the grave. Science claims this man did live, but that he must have been a crazy man claiming what he did. S...

One must realize that we invest in the worst investment ever when we toil away to make money. Yes, money is the worst investment out there, and that is not because I do not have any, but because what I do have can only buy things of this world. Like fun money at an amusement park, I don't really need a lot because I won't be here long. I figure maybe a few bucks here and there, get something to eat, something drink, sustain myself. Overall, the park will close, and I will go home, why be left with a bunch of worthless pieces of garbage along the way for someone else to pick up. The turmoil over money is one I am very familiar with and thought would save me one day. Yes, one day a yacht was going to show up at my house and take my family and I away to a different world. One where I would then be content and I would then be generous and then I could be the peaceful father depicted on the TV commercials and sit com shows. A lie I was sold on as the greed for more money leads...

Thou shalt not... Christians are commanded to, and commanded not to. Yet, this freedom Christ gave when he died on that cross has gotten distorted. A sense of entitlement has come about. It is not your church or church attendance that matters, the list of actions, charities you contribute to, or reciting of verses that are lingering words in your mind to sound haughty, that matters, but our love. We are commanded to love the Lord our God and love a neighbor like ourselves. These are non-negotibles. Due to needing to categorize and condemn a man for their actions, keep them away from us, we Christ followers sure think a lot and do a lot for ourselves. We justify a sin when we know better. It turns out we are good at one thing aren't we, reviving an old forgiven nature, going back to our own vomit, awaiting a time to be spewed out of the mouth of the one who gave us life. A nature that a conversion of the Holy Spirit should no longer be in love with, no longer stand. A Christian ...

It isn't that we have such great lives, and that man as a whole is not living in his own squalor, but it's the fact that there is a reprieve offered. There is a way out of suffering, out of heartache, there is a peace that can be found here on earth that few really allow themselves to see. One could argue that man has a desire to suffer, living in destruction, to harm one another to then receive harm. We know that if people are suffering in the world that even as calloused as we have become, saturated with news of horrors unheard of in our own life, that we still hurt because others hurt. We can continue to distance in our minds of the suffering of other people, but we hurt, or we distance ourselves from the reality of it. When we start, in one way or another, to distance from the reality of human suffering, we all suffer. Think about when you read a memoir about some horrors a man or woman has lived through. We read these things as stories, yet there is a thin strand of re...

Opposition at times seems to be the best method to describe something. When one cannot think of what it is, one can only know what it isn't. With that, what if Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins as the Holy and perfect Son of God in flesh to account for the terrible deviation against all that is true. Furthermore, what if He didn't exist. A world without Jesus, a world then without the Bible, for the Bible refers to His coming and God's sending His son for Redemption. So, no Holy Inspired Word from God. Therefore our sins, they still exist. They are still ours to account for. Life would not be full of rebellion, there would be nothing to rebel against. There would be no hope. All that is good would be lost to the evil of man in this world, and those that oppose Jesus now, or oppose God don't even realize the structure provided for them to defile God's nature by the ones who believe in Him. "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will...

"All our steps are ordered by the Lord; how then can we understand our own ways?" - Proverbs 20:24 What are we called to do with the short amount of time we have here on earth? Honestly, are we to live in this perpetual cycle of ups and downs, building some self-fulfilling legacy that in 1 year, 10 years, 100 years is dead anyway? The man who invented some of our most-common household items, what was his name again? We look and glorify the people of the present as though they are what we would like, yet, we fail to see that the focus and adherence to the present makes us die in the moment. " Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding"- Proverbs 3:13   Looking to the future is deemed "unhealthy" in the world of psychology. We are called to be "mindful" of the here and now, yet, we fail to see what mindfulness is anyway. We fail to see that when we are being "present" what we are doing oftentimes is succumbing to...

What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?   By no means! We are those who have died to sin;  how can we live in it any longer?- Romans 6: 1-2 Certainly not.  More casual than bold. A "dog returning to its vomit."(Proverbs 26:11) Casual Christianity seems to be the norm, unless of course you are so bold to deny Christ altogether. In that case, the critical perspective of your life, I have witnessed, seems to bring you closer to truth than those who know it and still turn away.  Christianity, what I have come to understand in the church, is a belief in God the Father, sending His Son that died on the Cross for the wretched sins of mankind. Christians are "born again" living life dead to sin. Christ the son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit now reside in us. Our sins are forgiven. Christians recognize this. This recognition and "new life" is now the part where casual Christianity diverts. Rarel...

When it all comes down, and all the things of this life, the accolades, the accomplishments, the desire for more, more money, more retirement, more wealth, no longer mattering, no longer allowing to define a man on a sinking ship, I think it will only be then that we can see what really mattered the entire time. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for  his steadfast love endures forever . -   Psalm 136:26   When a day comes, there are no accomplishments, there is no great writing for the day, no awesome gym workout, the clothes don't fit like they used to, old photos are nothing more than reminder of previous youthful looks, negating the happy times they were indicated for, we are still loved. No matter what the social group, the status quo is, if we fail to meet it, we can relax because we are loved. We are loved no matter what we do. We are loved when we screw up. We are loved when our hair is a mess, or we wear the improper clothing items to the work event. We...

If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note. - C.S. Lewis, The problem of Pain The Old Testament, full of grotesque stories, wretched, horrible incidents, sacrifice, killing, animal sacrifice and many, many verses dedicated to the specific way and how and where to atone for wrong against the Law set forth by God himself. The Old Testament, as I see it now, was in fact, about sacrifice. I will venture a bit further and state that the entire Bible, human existence actually, is about human sacrifice. A preacher ordained in theology can break down certain sections of the historically accurate text known as the Bible. There are many intricacies and contextual components about the time and history of the timeline laid out. There are pieces that are read and read again, only to have them make sense at one time more...

The connection here should be fairly obvious, the message rather clear, however the end game, the product developed in each mind that reads it, may require some adaptation. The innate ability for each person to first, see something that intrigues, click on the link, read the material, and internalize a message says more about what a person was looking for than the answer they found. If I am looking for something to reinforce a bad day, anything can provide the ammo. If I am looking for something to bring me joy, then I can choose to find joy in even the most mundane. If I want to eat something sweet, then, I can determine it to be sweet or not. Try out, "the baby diet," where we eat only what th body knows it needs. Nothing more, nothing less, just enough, and the right stuff. Disclosure: I made that "baby diet" up. Yes, "determine something to be sweet or not," probably something starting to sound a bit heady, but one must consider what sweetness i...