Tulsa

I've been back in the house that I grew up in since Friday night and it's been a wonderful blessing to me, even though I'm staying in the guest bedroom. My (old) room, currently, has all the furniture pushed to the middle of the room, no bed and wreaks of fresh paint. If I was able to stay in there, I would sure sleep well.

My best friend from high school, Michael, moved back to town a few months ago and we've been hanging out. We used to do anything that could be designated "Xtreme" without the first "e." So we've gone mountain biking a couple times and I got some shots of him the last time we were out. I visited his work and saw the plant he oversees. We played ping pong best 2 out of 3 and I won all three.

My dad and I were able to get out to the Golf Club on Saturday and play 9 holes. I played the first 7 great--for me-- but lost my concentration on the last two. I got hungry and from then on that's all I could think about.

I need to get a paper written and I think I'm to the point that I can actually write. (I tried yesterday, but I needed more time to think-- but once I get that introduction...)

Friday Photo

This week's been crazy busy and I don't have any new photos yet. But I'm going home today and I'll be able to shoot like crazy and hopefully get some good mountain biking shots while I'm there. I am excited about playing with this girl and hanging out with my family for the week. Be praying for safe travel as I'm driving somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 hours and 700 miles.

Catching Up

I've been extremely busy with school the last week and a half. Papers are beginning to be thought of-- some close to being written. All the work that I had been working through slowly is needing a few extra efforts to get back on track. Books need to be read. Passages need to be translated.

Right now, I'm working mainly in Ephesians, doing the worksheet and eventually translating. It's the only real class that I have to attend each week. I'd never spent much time in Ephesians-- enough for it to really affect my life, at least, but it's beginning to sneak in-- in my prayers especially. It's giving me language to express my heart, my emotions. It teaches me what God has done for me, even though I deserve none of it. It's really quite amazing. Reading about how we were once dead in our sins, focused on the physical world around us and being oppressed by the spirit of the age, you feel the weight with which we need to be redeemed. And then Paul puts for three little words, transliterated ha de theos. In English, it comes across in two: But God. Think about that for a moment. But. God. With stark contrast to the preceding three verses, Paul lets us know that despite our situation, God has broken in and done something amazing, that while we were dead in our sins, he has made us alive in Christ.

Klyne made the point simply: "Never forget that the Gospel is theocentric." In other words, God is at the center of the Gospel, not us.

Friday Photo

Prank Originally uploaded by notashamed

A busy week this week meant that not too much time was had for photos. But since one of my roommates left for a few days, we had to do something to his room. I went out and got 150 balloons and we blew them up to about 18" round. After 5 popping as we herded them through the hallway and into his bedroom, 145 balloons only filled 1/3 of the room. Turns out it made the point.

Also, this photo got picked up for Gaper's Block Rearview-- a Chicago web-publication.

My Photography || Flickr Friday Photo

New Gmail

I must say I was very excited to hear about Google's Gmail being updated. I knew they could only make it better.

Well, I was completely wrong. The new version runs slower and way more clunkier. They obviously have many bugs to still work out, but they should have gotten those done before they went live with it.

There's still the option to use the old version, but you have to click on it every time you open it.

Or this is all due to North Park's slower than 1983 internet. Seriously.