26 diciembre 2006

A year in the mirrors, a new one dead ahead...

thought one for today:
"We all know that the truth often hurts. We use this cliche as a defense for having hurt someone, and sometimes it is indeed necessary to tell this kind of truth. But there is truth which does not hurt--
truth which encourages and surprises with delight and gratitude.

What if a teacher sees that a colleague of hers has succeeded in breaking down the resistance of a pupil who has been the despair of the other teachers, the talk of the faculty lunchroom? The change in the student is noticed, a sigh of relief is heaved, but who goes to the teacher herself and says, "Thanks! You've done what the rest of us couldn't do!"

How many are free enough from themselves to recognize the worth of others and to speak of it honestly?

....I was talking with a lady who had been a missionary for forty years, and I noticed that she had exceptionally lovely hands. "Has anyone ever told you your hands are beautiful?'' I asked. The dear soul was so flustered one might have thought I had committed an indecency. She looked at her hands in amazement.

"Why . . . why no. I don't think anyone ever has!'' But she saw that I meant it, and she had the grace to hear the truth. She said thank you.

"Tell it like it is," is the watchword today. But suppose it's lovely? Suppose it's actually beautiful? C. S. Lewis said that the most fatal of all nonconductors is embarrassment. It seems
to me that life is all too short to let embarrassment deprive us and our friends of the pleasure of telling the happy truth.

Tell them.

Tell them now."

~gracias, Dona Eliot, heroine extraordinaire

thought two for yesterdays:

the worst thing about community
is that there are MORE PEOPLE
to hurt
when one walks in the flesh.

oh, for the good old days when the only ones
affected
were me and God.

i'm sorry.

thought three for the random:
Do you know who Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is, or do you just call him "the president of Iran?"

(i just call him "the president of Iran," or "Big Ma," if he's in a good mood...)

I'm still practicing... "Ah... ma...din...ee...jad"...
whew!

Horizon (schemata) expansions of the past semester (or "Fall 2006 Jeopardy"):
~What does the theory of relativity have to do with me!? And what's the probability that my mass of molecules will somehow end up in Peru without buying a plane ticket? (A: I'm waaay to massive for probability to mean anything. But I'm okay with that.)
~What's going on the southern parts of Africa, and do they speak english and know what a posse is?!
~Who is Louis Phillipe? And why was he pear-shaped? (A: he was bourgeois! what else do you expect?)
~Was Marx a Satanist, or just demonic? What do he and I have in common, and considering our similarities, how do I know I won't launch the destruction of the 22nd century?!
~How does one match one's pace to God's? How can I be sure I'm not walking too fast for providence, or driving too slow for fate? How far does serendipity go? Is there such a thing as coincidence?
~Theoretically, can you really still get your course requirement filled if you technically, hypothetically, sort of fail a class? (Not that I did or anything... we're talking theory here.)
~What lessons can you learn from Hitler? Lenin? Catherine the Great?
~What is Trinidad's most excellent export?

thought five, full of thanks:
~Thank you, professors, for every thought shared, for ever lecture prepared, for every book synthesised into note-taking form. Thank you for fairness, justice, and grace. I need to learn them all.
~Thank you Mother for prayer, for prayer, for prayer. Thank you for defining love for me every day.
~Thank you, mein Turi, for being real before God not just occasionally, not just when emotional, not just collectively, but always. For loving Him, for really seeking His Kingdom, for understanding, for being REAL. You are a soldier and my hero.
~Thank you, Ñaña mia, for the greens, for the PRAYERS, for the cheerfulness, for the yanayaku, for the company, for the sharing. Thank you for making 31 de proverbios visible.

~Thank you, my Lord for the following, and all I forget to thank You for each day:

*school & education, from wherever it comes *American citizenship *fellowship in the Gospel (people who adore You for saving them!) *the kids *the Familia... the southern Familia *people who are wise and know how to share their wisdom *beauty *those who USE their gifts *prayer- the prayers of others *Texan sunrises *dew and pine trees *forgiveness, grace, faithfulness *cohesion *transportation & communication *laughter that is pure *music *people who make one THINK *an alternative to this world... while IN this world *a future, a plan, a Kingdom that WINS *Peru *photography *the senses *memory *the Church that is persecuted, but not dissuaded *my Girls *the brotherhood *examples & heros *every God-breathed word made alive at exactly the right time...

*You.

fill this new year. I tell you that if you believe, you will SEE the GLORY of God.

25 diciembre 2006

~Feliz Christmas~

"la mies es mucha, mas los obreros son pocos"
San Francisco de Mosca, Perú

* * * *

must

find

cohesion.

wait a second...
i have cohesion.

must
enact
cohesion.

post-haste.

19 diciembre 2006

The RAIN in ESPANA is fixin' to fall MAINLY on the PAMPAS...

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

13 diciembre 2006

"Praise, Thanks, Life: you've got to give...everything to the King"

thought one:
"Emotions. Can you trust them?"

What a stupid question. Of course you can, just as you can trust your nerve endings to tell you when something is hot. Better phrased would be: "Can you trust your emotions to rule your will?" No, of course not. But they're not supposed to.

It's all about function. What is the function of emotions? Do they have one, or should we just hate the useless little expenditures of energy?

Emotions are the nerve endings (brain synapses?) of the soul. They tell you your soulish responses to life. They function as catalysts for the will to decide things unthinkable to the unaffected rational mind.

~Anger and sorrow: protest the injustices/ fallenness of life
~Happiness: appreciates the evidences of God's grace in life
~Worry/ frustration: acknowledgement of finitude, messed upped-ness of society
~Enamourment: thrill of God's ingenuity in human-creation and approval of His super-interesting plan for the propagation of the species
~Shame: demonstrates understanding of cultural norms and consciousness of failure to perform
~Fear: recognition of the very real possibilty of pain/ unpleasant events
~Nervousness: response to perceived inferiority and/or unfamiliarity of experience/ level of uncommon demands or sobriety

Are they "wrong?" Me thinks that to be a nonapplicable question as well. They indicate your heart... the state of your soul. If they are inappropriately applied, it means your HEART is inappropriately aimed. Maybe your soul needs to be fixed, but don't think that either ignoring OR obeying your emotions is the fixer.

We don't always have our will decree based on our body's responses (eg: hunger, thirst, tiredness, discomfort) but we do take note of those things, and attempt to deal with them as necessary; why would we think that just because we feel something emotionally, we need to act on it? A person may feel depressed, but how on earth does that justify treating others badly? If you would not satisfy every physical craving, why would you allow the feeling of anger or frustration to dictate to your will and action of anger or frustration?

just because we feel X, we do not have permission to do Y or treat others likeZ...

the soul emotes -> the mind processes emotions -> the will determines actions

Don't DENY emotions- good, bad, or ugly. ANALYZE them. Ask God, make cross references with Scripture. "Hmmm, this is the message my soul is sending me. These little messengers might mal-affect my will in the near future... Does my soul need realignment? What actions should I take until I have time to realign my soul?

I realize I know nothing of psychology and little on life, but I really do want to know: what ARE these little buggers? What do I do with them? Must they determine my actions? Am I immature for expressing them at all? What does it mean to be human, yet healthy?

More to come...!

06 diciembre 2006

"1) the worker is alienated from what he produces.

2) the worker is alienated from himself; only when he is not working does he feel truly himself.

3) Finally, in capitalist society people are alienated from each other; that is, in a competitive society people are set against other people. "

where does man find "the fulfilment of 'his potentialities as a human?' "

Communism is not the answer.
Drugs and good music won't work long.
A throwed car won't make it better.
A boy is not the answer.
A girl is not the answer.

mi sweet Jesus.
Emmanuel.
Reconciling within Himself God and Man....
Given [giving Himself!] for the life of the world...

Merry Christmas... what else is worth positive emotion, if not GOD. WITH. US.?

comprehension.
cohesion.
unity in diversity.
reason.
purpose.
brotherhood.
a future.
a hope.
love that hopes all things.
a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
something to sing about.
Someone to sing to.

go make somebody's Christmas merry. remind them of Jesus.