Difference
Welcome back to the first Sunday Post in a long while. It seems that when I go to church at home I never write one of these. But today, since I stayed in ATL, I did my own Bible study and therefore will write about it.
What is being different all about? I am doing a painful read through of the Old Testament (see this post) and right now I'm about midway through Numbers. There are a ton of things (around 900 of them) that God tells Moses to relay to his people in the form of laws. Each of these laws are designed to make his people look different from the rest of the world. Take this one for instance:
2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD,
3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.
4 'All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.
Numbers 6:2-4
In this passage the Nazirites are commanded to be different. They cannot drink wine nor can they eat grapes. Hence they are set apart from the rest of the world. In the same way, we Christians of the new day should be set apart. If we look like the world then how will we be able to witness to anyone?
But all of this should be obvious right? I think it should. But the problem comes with execution. We need to apply this creed to all aspects of life; one at a time. Our relationships, friendship or romantic, should be based on this idea. I have a friend who has been going through a struggle with sexual sin. This person was confused and concerned about why they fell in certain situations. The biggest problem was that this person was in those situations in the first place!
We should never put ourselves in compromising situations no matter how innocent we think those situations may be. I know that in romantic relationships once you start the ball rolling, and it can be set off with something as innocent as a kiss, it will cascade into things you did not want to happen. I have seen the strongest and most faithful Christians I know fall to sin in this way. I myself have fallen in this way.
So we have to keep ourselves out of situations that would make us look exactly like the world. I know I'm convicted of this alot. That's why it's crucial to have friends who will hold us accountable to these goals. But who likes to be held accountable right?
See Jduv Run
This post is basically the evolution of my mile times, so if you don't like fitness, or don't care then go listen to this.
I started running a long while back. In high school I was always the pudgy kid, but then I got a girlfriend. With this new experience came the drive to become fit (not exactly perfect motivation I know, but hey it worked). She was a runner so I decided to give it a try. The first couple of times I went I couldn't finish the 1.5 mile hill-infested track at the local park, but after a long summer of working hard and eating right I managed to lose alot of weight--36 lbs to be exact, and finish the track consistently.
Most of my mile times hovered around the 8 minute mark for the first year of training. I was worried more about distance than speed, and I was running around 4 miles every other day. Then last year I started training more towards speed. My first big breakthrough came the summer of 05. I was working for a law firm and living in the boss's attic (freakin sweet) and I would go running every evening in the neighborhood. My best time at the end of the summer was 7:15, a dramatic decrease from my normal mile times.
Then two months back, I broke my record. I managed a 6:59, and for those of you who aren't runners, a 16 second decrease is pretty significant. I really hadn't picked running back up but for around a month beforehand; after a 4 month hietus. Not bad.
But now, I have broken that record. Today I ran a 6:29:50. Forgive me for being excited, but a 30 second decrease over two months of training is absolutely phenominal. Also note that I am 6'1 and weigh 218lbs, so I'm not one of those 5'4 skinny runner doods.
I feel good.
Tidal Wave Ho!
So I think I shouldn't have taken three CS courses at the same time this semester. The first homework in 4470 took me 5 hours to complete, spanned over three days. The next one looks pretty tough, so I guesstimate another 6 hours to do that one. On top of that, I have Research coding--five plus hours worth, a quiz in 4400 (15% of my grade), a 3750 project to design, and 10+ Kanji and Japanese grammar points to learn.
Amazingly throughout all this madness, I have only missed two quiet times this week. I'm trying to keep that to zero, but sometimes sleep simply overtakes my body. I have gotten around 5 hours sleep a night every day this week, and man is it hard getting up at 6:00am after that.
My Dad called me today to tell me that my financial aid check came to my house in Blairsville instead of being deposited directly into my account like it was supposed to be. Whee. So on top of losing my wallet, I don't have any money 
. I guess that means I will be going home this weekend. I need to pay Lorenzo what I owe him for rent ^^.
Crap.
My forgetfulness / lack of attention strikes again. I was at Guitar Center yesterday picking up some much needed Acoustic and Classical guitar strings when I lost the single most important thing in my possession: my wallet. Usually when I lose this item I find it tucked away in some obscure corner of my car, or in the refridgerator--yes, the refridgerator, but this time the little guy is no where to be found. Not even in Guitar Center. Meh.
Yesterday I was pretty stressed about it. Today I'm slightly hopeful, but anticipating all the crap I'm going to have to go through if I don't find it by Friday. I hope that some kind soul might find it and turn it in to the GC staff or make an attempt to contact me. If not, then I have to assume the worst: It has been stolen. In that case I am not going to enjoy all the steps involved in canceling my credit cards, changing the pin numbers on all my bank accounts, and getting a new buzz card ($25). I even had my Movie Gallery card in there, so I would have to cancel that too.
I'm hopeful, but I have already set a deadline and I am watching my credit card accounts like a hawk. Pray that I find it.
[Update 9/6/2006 12:49pm] Holds are in place on all the affected accounts. As of now I am waiting for a rogue charge, or for my wallet to show up. I really hope I find it because I do not want to go to the DMV and get my license remade. This would also be my third buzz card.
[Update 9/11/2006 1:38pm] It is officially lost. I have already started the process of getting all my credit cards and debit cards cancelled and new ones sent to my house. On top of that I have a date with the DMV. Woo-hoo.
GT v Notre Dame: 10-14
We played Notre Dame tonight, and I am crazy angry to say the least. Our boys played their hearts out, and they were rewarded with two pivotal calls against them.
I hate the sportscasters. Apparently there is a parallel between team biased sports anchors and politically biased news networks. All night I had to put up with the annoucers from ABC sports making excuses as to why our offense was stomping a hole in the Notre Dame defensive line, and why the apparently god-like Brady Quinn was throwing passes in the dirt to prevent sacks. I'm glad the officials at least called Intentional Grounding.
Something should be said about Ivy league football and their precious conferences. If an unranked ACC team can hold the number 2 nationally ranked team to a 4 point lead then I believe that tells an obvious story. I guarentee if you put Notre Dame up against some of the tougher SEC or ACC teams--like U(sic)GA, Auburn, or FSU, they would easily have 4 or more losses each season. But that doesn't look good for the school now does it? So instead they have to start their own special conference and prey on the weak of each of the harder conferences.
After tonight I believe Tech is going to have a good season. We held our own against a pretty tough team, but we did make some mistakes. But I think it suffices to say that the largest factor towards our defeat was the revocation of a beautiful catch by Calvin Johnson early fourth quarter. We had momentum, but that call singlehandedly killed the rest of the game for us.
Overall I think it was a disappointing loss, but hopefully our team will grow from this game. And If 14-10 is all Notre Dame can bring, then I have some parting words for them:
Welcome to the south punks, go back to the fairy land of your independant schedule and tell your friends what you have seen here. And if you happen to make it to the championship and we don't, I'm sure one of our SEC or ACC buddies might. And they don't play as nice as we do.