The head nurse at our clinic posted this on my "wall" (where my name and picture is, plus a fish that gets little fish stickers on it when i do an extraordinary job) other than one of my FAVORITE nicknames as a child *ahem ben* it's a very useful doll. make sure you don't leave the store without one!

I interpret this as: ”If your eyeball flies out of your head through the window and bursts into flames, DO NOT use your IPOD”

I found this on some random blog trying to find an airplane sign for Junior High camp before Sunday! (yikes!) Made me laugh.

Currently Reading: The Reason For God by Timothy Keller

Though I'm in a state of "meh." this book is still pretty incredible. Some of my favorite quotes/lines from it thus far...

Christians, then, should expect to find nonbelievers who are much nicer, kinder, wiser, and better than they are. Why? Christian believers are not accepted by God because of their moral performance, wisdom, or virtue, but because of Christ's work on their behalf. Most religions and philosophies of life assume that one's spiritual status depends on your religious attainments. This naturally leads adherents to feel superior to those who don't believe and behave as they do. The Christian gospel, in any case, should not have that effect.

as C.S. Lewis puts it eloquently:

Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; locki it up save in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.

Christian theology also speaks of the seriously flawed character of real Christians. A central message of the Bible is that we can only have a relationship with God by sheer grace. Our moral efforts are too feeble and falsely motivated to ever merit salvation. Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has provided salvation for us, which we receive as a gift. All churches believe this in one form or another. Growth in character and changes in behavior occur in a gradual process after a person becomes a Christian. The mistaken belief that a person must "clean up" his or her own life in order to merit God's prescence is not Christianity. This means, though, that the church will be filled with immature and borken people who still have a long way to go emotionally, morally, and spiritually. As the saying has it: "The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints."

Jesus conducts a major critique of religion. His famous Srmon on the Mount (Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7) does not criticize irreligious people, but rather religious ones. In his famous discourse the people he criticizes pray, give to teh poor, and seek to live according to the Bible, but they do so in order to get acclaim and power for themselves... ...This makes them judgemental and condemning, quick to give criticism, and unwilling to take it. They are fanatics. ... The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral perfomrance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servents of God and of everyone around us.

convicting for me, mr. super pharisee... and a good reminder.

i must stuff charts for tomorrow's appointments now. goodnight.

sleep at last!

Though I missed out on swing dancing with some of my favorite people, I needed to sleep. When I woke up at 10 from first my alarm, then repeated "are you going dancing" calls, I don't think any girl being there would have changed my mind at that point. Had I known who was going before I had gone to sleep, I would have gone, and that would have been unwise. I had gotten less than 2 hours of sleep total each day for the last 3. Free coffee at work probably contributed to that quite a bit.

And I loved Gabby's mixes post. So I'll put the last few mixes I've listened to repeatedly whilst working out.

When I rowed on an erg (rowing machine) in Texas during tech school for the Air Force, I would listen to the Wicked soundtrack. Sometimes I have an urge to again, and sometimes when I give into that urge, I have no idea how I listened to it like 70 times straight through.

Skillet's Comatose is an excellent cd to work out to, there are maybe 2 tracks that don't work as well as the rest, but I just listen to that straight through too. It's better for intense lifting, or like sprinting, because it's incredibly intense. (usually when I run to it I'll be very inconsistent, because i burn myself out running to the beat.)

Incredible instrumental tracks:
Remember the Titan's Theme - My all time favorite song to run to.
Jim's Ride from A Man from Snowy River - always makes me sprint, I listen to that one up or downhill.
Ben from National Treasure - Probably another sprinting song, I use it for lifting.

But as much as I love running to music, people are way more better to run with. With NO music. Even if it's silent. Music takes away from running with somebody, i guess unLESS you're listening to the exact same mix.

okay. off to school. peace!

tattoo drawing.

it's a more different kind of drawing. it has to be more precise. but i guess i'm just doing sketches right now, so it doesn't matter. i think tattooos are dumb unless they A. Look INCREDIBLY sweet B. have INCREDIBLE meaning.

"There is no option C." -The Rock in The Rundown

anyhow. the one i'm trying to draw i personally think looks dumb, but it probably has some meaning. so it fails "A", and probably barely passes "B". my current task is to make it as close to passing "A" as possible. the reason i'm writing this post is because the heart on her upper chest above heart with her only daughter's name on it passed the second test, but failed the first.

The absolutely coolest tattoo I've ever seen in my entire life is on Staff Sergeant Volimas, a plumber in the Air Force Reserves with me. He reminds me of Mark Driscoll in the way that he loves his daughter. He's an awesome dad, he should have had more kids, but I don't think he will. Any how. He had the absoluetly best Tattoo ever.

He had his daughter (Maddie) make a hand print when she was in pre-school, and then he had a tattoo artist put it right over his heart (well, the left side of his chest, right where you THINK it should go.) It's a little green hand, the color of a standard tattoo. Now she'll come up to him when they're at the pool and be like "hey dad, look! my hand's bigger." she's a really cute very loved kid. And he's an awesome guy and dad. that's all!