Friday, July 27, 2007

Rollernuts

Well, biking to work was fun while it lasted, but it was hard getting motivated to bike 12.5 miles round-trip each day. I could just bike for fun and not just to work, but Jen doesn't have a bike and the hills in Seattle wouldn't be so fun while biking together anyway. So we've decided to try something else fun to do together on wheels: Roller blading!

Earlier in our relationship, I had a tough time accepting the fact that I was not going to be able to share some of my favorite sports with Jen. Two of my favorite things in the world are baseball and ultimate. She would rather go watch a baseball game than play it, and ultimate is just not her thing. So, what am I going to do? Be upset? Sad? Hold it against her? Will I love her any less? No way.

I learned that the reason I love her is not because she does or doesn't like to play sports with me. I knew that I needed to remember that daily.

I can't get upset with her over things that aren't important to me in comparison to my relationship with her. I am in love with her because of who she is on the inside. I can open up to her like nobody else, share my thoughts and my life with her knowing that she will understand and appreciate me. Sports should not get in the way of that!

However, we both know that it is important that we spend time together doing things that we both enjoy. We found that roller blading would compromise both of our interests: she really desires to talk and be in conversation, and I really want to release my energy and be active. By roller blading, we can do both at the same time!

Yay for compromising and sharing new activities together!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Ten Ways Umpires Are Like God

Last week, I was asked to umpire my first softball game. It was just a co-ed softball league, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

At first I was excited and thought it would be a breeze, but when I stood behind home plate, the batter, and the catcher, I stepped into a crucial role in the middle of the ballgame. I experienced several things on the field that I never had before. I felt very powerful, respected, and very responsible for what went on during the game.

Even though not all of the items below happened to me that day, I still got a good perspective of how God might feel in regards to His relationship with us.

In the "baseball game of life," here are Ten Ways Umpires Are Like God:
  1. Umpires have control over the whole game. God is sovereign over the whole world.
  2. Players get furious at umpires who make calls that they don't like. People get upset when God doesn't make the call they wanted Him to make.
  3. Players yell and scream at umpires. People yell and scream at God.
  4. Umpires can throw anybody out of the game based on their behavior. God has the power to destroy anyone He wants.
  5. With their protective padding on, umpires look ripped. You don't want to mess with them. You don't want to mess with God.
  6. Players don't always appreciate what umpires do by keeping the game in order. People don't often appreciate what God does in our lives.
  7. Umpires often must break up fights between players. God is displeased when His children fight with each other.
  8. Players look to the umpire when they have questions. People go to God with questions.
  9. Being right behind home plate, umpires have the best positional perspective of the field. God always has the best perspective over our lives.
  10. Umpires really love the game. God really loves the world.


Photo from almadentimes.com

Friday, July 20, 2007

Videoblog: Flame Blows Itself Out

No, I'm not a pyro... I just enjoy playing with fire.

I did this back in college, probably procrastinating on a paper or something. I know that it is long and boring, but the really cool flame stuff happens if you skip to 2:30 min left in the video.

What is it? I took a glass container candle and stuck about 2 dozen matches straight up inside. I wanted to create a big flame, so this worked well. As the flame burns, it begins running out of oxygen inside the glass container. It gasps its last breaths until the flame finally goes out.

Science rules.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Movie Review - Mission: Impossible 3

Mission: Impossible 3
Directed by J.J. Abrams

Why am I not surprised that I loved a movie directed by one of the co-creators of Lost?

The reason this movie is so fascinating is not only because of the sweet action, suspense, and plot twists, but because it mixed real life with the Impossible Mission Force.

Most people at the end of this film think about how much Ethan Hunt must love his wife Julie, and how wonderful their relationship must be for him to risk his life for her over and over again. However, this romance myth is something that we get wrong all too often.

The one big flaw that I found at the beginning of this movie was not surprising... sin. Ethan and Julie get married before he tells her his biggest secret: he's a secret agent. He loves her because she is innocent to all of the nasty secret agent, risk-taking, life-gambling work that he has known for so long, but he doesn't love her enough to tell her everything about himself.

Then she becomes a hostage. He ends up having to use his IMF team in impossible situations that were miraculously presented with amazing cinematic beauty. But what Ethan hadn't realized is that he could have avoided this whole problem in the first place.

He should have been honest with her.

This happens all the time in marriage. The husband and wife don't fully open up to one another, causing impossible problems later in their relationship. Jesus instructs us as Christians to love each other in a sacrificial, selfless way. And that begins with not hiding anything from the other person.

I'm working hard at trying to be completely honest with my future wife in the most loving and sacrificial way, even though it may seem impossible at times. In the mean time, I'll enjoy watching Tom Cruise stumble from one mission to the next, knowing full well that I'm avoiding many troubles that he could have steered clear of.

5 out of 5 stars.

Image from rottentomatoes.com

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Husbands Love, Wives Respect

Jesus wants Christians to be people living counter-culturally. There are numerous examples of this in Scripture (Matthew 5:1-12, 38-42, 43-48, Philippians 1:21, etc.). Christians today always try to abstain from alcohol, drugs, and sex because they are all "of the world," but often forget about what is really counter-cultural: A holy, joyful marriage.

Culture is always unbalanced. During Jesus' time, equal rights was the issue. Nobody treated the women, the children, the poor, or the sick as equals. Jesus came and spent time with all those people... which shocked everyone. He was counter-cultural.

Today, culture is still unbalanced, but flipped the other way around. Our culture in America has been working hard to focus on the women, the children, the poor, and the sick. Because of the equal rights movements, we have been more conscious about those who have been neglected or at a disadvantage. However, now we must deal with the issue of biblical headship. Because our culture now tells us that everyone is equal (which is a good thing in most cases), we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the idea of biblical headship within a marriage.

We must realize that now, this is what is counter-cultural.

The books that I am reading for my biblical pre-marriage class, specifically Reforming Marriage (by Douglas Wilson), describe how biblical headship works itself out in a marriage covenant. If the husband fulfills his role to be the spiritual leader in the home, imitating Jesus in his relationship with his wife (Ephesians 5:22-33), then what godly wife wouldn't want to submit to this leadership? It has been God's clear design since the creation of Adam and Eve, which was the first marriage to be torn apart by sin. And still, thousands of years later, every single marriage battles with sin.

It is sin that allows us to doubt God's words in Scripture that the husband should lovingly lead his wife, and that she should respectfully submit to him. The Bible is our instruction manual on life, and yet we disregard it and wonder why our relationships fail.

I believe whole-heartedly that whenever I seek God through His Word and devote myself to Him first and foremost, then my relationship with my soon-to-be wife is more harmonious. She respects me and I treat her more lovely. This allows us to be much better examples of Christ's love for His church. It starts with me being responsible with the task that was given to me (Genesis 2:15), and it ends with my beautiful fiancee helping me (Genesis 2:18) as we work together to better the world in Jesus' name.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB)

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Do You Trust Your President?

This morning I was thinking about the fact that so few Americans don't trust their president. How sad is this? We elect this guy to be the leader of our country, and now most people are embarrassed to bring him up in conversation.

Shouldn't we trust our leader? I don't want to get into all the bad decisions that people accuse him of, because shouldn't we depend on our president through thick and thin? I'm not talking about a blind faith. I'm talking about trusting that he'll do the job to the best of his ability... even though we may disagree with him on certain issues.

I don't know.

What if Jesus was our president? Wouldn't he be the best leader of our country? I mean, being perfect and all, it'd be difficult to make a wrong decision. And yet, when Jesus was living life 2000 years ago, the majority of people wanted to crucify him.

Seriously! How could this happen? He was the nicest guy on the planet, you know... healing the sick and feeding thousands and all. He wasn't hurting anyone by claiming that he was God even if he wasn't. Shouldn't they kill somebody else?

Even if Jesus was our president, people would still bitch and moan about what a crappy job he's doing. Everyone always thinks that they could do better than the guy that's up there. Even if the president was perfect, like Jesus, there are always critics who want to be a disruption.

Jesus is about as non-partisan as they come. And yet, I'm sure that most people wouldn't trust him. Why is that? Why can't we trust our president? Why can't we trust God?

Photo from theocracywatch.org

Monday, July 2, 2007

By-product: Just Water? (Part 2)

This is the 2nd part in a series titled "By-product" continued from here.

Awhile back, I got very excited about news of a new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle by Honda being test-driven. I was learning more about how to use hydrogen as a beneficial resource, and was learning more about how to create the hydrogen. In one article I read that we would have to burn fossil fuels to do it (which seems to defeat the purpose of hydrogen energy). I've finally got around to spending time on this post, so let me briefly explain what I've learned...

There are two possible sources for hydrogen:
  1. Electrolysis of water (splitting the water molecule to create pure hydrogen and oxygen)
  2. Reforming fossil fuels (using a reformer to split the hydrogen off the carbon in hydrocarbon molecules, which are contained in fossil fuels)
The second option does reduce pollution, but it doesn't solve the problem with being dependent on fossil fuels. It doesn't help the pollution problem, either. The carbon split off from the hydrocarbon still goes into the atmosphere.

The great thing about the first option is that it's the ideal for a pure hydrogen economy. The hydrogen is derived from renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, such as oil or natural gas. However, the biggest stumbling block with this option is generating enough electricity to split the hydrogen and oxygen in the electrolysis. And generating that electricity without using fossil fuels. Once this problem is solved, hydrogen fuel-cells will become one of the best clean, renewable sources of energy.

For more information, click here for my source.

Image from Green Car Congress

By-product: Water (Part 1)