Songs

One characteristic that I think should be found in church worship songs is truth recall-ability. What I mean by this is truth in song form can be recalled easily. Worship songs that contain biblical truths, stated clearly can be really encouraging in one’s day to day life. I know someone who told of being in a lightening storm at heigh altitudes. He told of how he recalled a song with the lyrics, “When I can’t see you I know you’re here.” This song bolstered him with belief. I like that.

I enjoyed a church that I attended in NYC. Their music was varied. There were some hip songs and some truth filled songs.

react vs. respond.

Though technically these words are synonyms, I am going to use them to designate between two general modes of human operation. I am going to set up a spectrum. On one end is the term react on the other end is the term respond. Although these ideas seem applicable to any action, what I am talking about more specifically is what goes into the way a person acts according to an event.

In the mode that I am calling react the way an event impacts the person's impulses and reflexes almost completely controls the person's actions. A good example of this is when on child hits another child and this second child cries out and hits back.

What I am calling respond is when an event merely informs a person's actions. Here the person has beliefs, philosophies, and purposes that also strongly inform the person's chosen actions. Two quintessential examples of this are when Jesus over turned the money changer's table and when he was silent before his accusers. The actions of people in the temple, the scripture he quotes at the time, his being God among other things informed his response. And in regards to the later example, though human experience would make one think that the tendency to shout at one's accusers would be great, Jesus fulfills prophesy by remaining silent. (I wrote another blog about this check it out it is titled: A serious post posted on: September 10, 2008)

The reason that I describe this as a spectrum is that I find it rare when adults act with extremes. It is usually in subtle and culturally accepted ways that people act more on the react end of the spectrum. One example of tending toward the react side is a proclivity toward doing what is easiest. Another example that I find my self drawn to is the pull and lies of consumerism, or the impulse buy. Consumerism tells me to be dissatisfied with what I have and to desire and seek other things. (It also encourages me to become addicted to, I think it is, the dopamine rush that occurs when I get something new.)

It seems to me that as a person matures their actions are more and more governed by responses. When a person's actions tend toward the react side of the spectrum, this might be a sign of subtle immaturity in the area of those actions.

I think this

I am not going to prove these thoughts but I think that it is fair to say and ponder these things.

It is interesting because with any person that I encounter I always need the sun for warmth and light and food for energy. The unfathomable greatness of the Lord is that with him, in his presence. I don’t need the sun for warmth or light. Within him is all of the warmth and light that I could ever want. He is a person who can supply me with my need and desire for warmth and light. His power and existence makes it so that when I engage with him I am coming upon a person that can fulfill all of the non person related needs and desires. For example when I want to fulfill my physical thirst I don’t go to a person I go to a fountain. But God is a being that I can go to for it all. I don’t know if that means now but maybe when we get restored bodies.

The How

How beautiful it was to see the man stitch the boat. I watched a man
stitch a boat. There is a fascinating method of making boats where the
boat is made out of a frame that is covered with cloth. I watched a
person (on video) sew the skin or cloth onto the frame. It seemed so

beautiful to me. The guy had a methodical confidence. He explained what

he was doing clearly in a calm and pleasant voice. He seemed to care
about and enjoy what he was doing. It was exciting, because this step
in the construction is near the end. The boat is almost ready to use.
I like that.

On a trip to Chicago my dad wanted to by me some paint to seal the
fabric of a boat like the one mentioned above. The paint store was
open at seven a.m. We walked through the door, maybe at seven fifteen.
An employee asked us if he could help. My dad explained what we were
looking for. The employee pointed to a can three feet from us. The
final cost was about sixteen dollars.

The "what" is a boat, cloth or paint and not so remarkable. The "how"
is lathered with beauty, kindness, sincerity, ease, accomplishment,
and satisfaction; aiding the former in becoming unforgettable.

cretin

noun

a stupid person (used as a general term of abuse).

• dated Medicine a person who is deformed and mentally handicapped because of congenital thyroid deficiency.

DERIVATIVES

cretinism |-ˌizəm| |ˈkritnˈɪzəm| noun

cretinous |-əs| |ˈkritn=əs| adjective

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French crétin, from Swiss French crestin ‘Christian’(from Latin Christianus), here used to mean [human being,] apparently as a reminder that, though deformed, cretins were human and not beasts.

I found this definition of the word cretin in the dictionary on my computer. I had remembered hearing it used in the Batman The Animated Series. I think it is a fascinating word. Like many contemporary put-down words, i.e. moron, retarded, etc, it finds its original use as a medical term.

If you look at the origin it came from a term meaning human being. As the dictionary states it was likely a reminder that these people were humans, not beasts.

How strange that this word started out with uplifting characteristics and intentions and moved to a term of abuse.

Words

It is interesting how important words are. I was reading. The content I was receiving was about the important of using words to distinguish between God’s way of doing a certain action and the world’s way of doing the same action. In particular the book was talking about love. It argued that the most appropriate word for passionate love when talking about righteous love is charity. He quoted the phrase “God is love” by saying “God is Charity”.

I am not entirely sure about his full argument but I find this example to be intriguing. It seems to me that there are so many experiences assigned to the word love that it can often be misunderstood and deluded. I don’t feel it necessary to provide examples of this, it seems very evident. Perhaps a different word would help people see the difference between love that is not distorted and soiled and love that is, or love that is shallow and love that is deep.

On the other hand it would require a consensus on the meaning of the word for example, charity. This would have to exist before substituting the word charity for love would be successful at making clear what kind of love is meant when it is stated that God is love.

The stories of my scars.

Do, do, do, la, la, la, la, do, do. As the world has spun on its slant axis, many odd objects have found themselves in violent encounter with my largest organ, these are The Stories of My Scars.

I remember a kid who had a shirt that said "scars are the tattoos of the brave." I always thought that this was strange and corny. Maybe it made its way into my unconscious and that is why I am writing about tattoos in my scar stories.

I have one last “tattoo.” At some point I learned that the process of getting a tattoo was to make a hole in the skin and deposit ink. This so very simply concept awakened the do-it-yourselfer in me. I proceeded to take a knife to my arm. Naturally it was my left arm. I am right handed. I deposited ink. It left a small mark.