a memorable quarter

Have you ever had a nasty quarter? Have you ever tried to give it to someone you cared about? How about pawning it off as a present to your boyfriend/girlfriend? If you were my girlfriend you've done it twice. She first tried to give it to me when were sitting on her couch in Portland when I was visiting her. Then after I failed to take it with me (on purpose) she gave it to one of her close friends who gave it to another friend who gave it to another friend who gave it back to my girlfriend. What did she then do? She packed it in an envelope and mailed it to me. On the way from my mailbox to my room, it worked a hole into the side of the envelope and fell out of it, which I hadn't opened yet (this is why you tape money to the envelope). It was lost, that's about the time she started to refer to it as "our relationship quarter". What a punk! I knew it wouldn't be lost forever, I mean I don't know if you can even spend it, and it has been around the block a few times as you can see from the picture. Today, while walking back from doing my laundry, I saw it laying out on a table in the lounge, someone was kind enough to leave it for whoever lost it (that would be me of course). I picked it up, brought it back, procrastinated from doing my homework and wrote a post about part of the life of a nasty quarter. With such a special girlfriend, I don't doubt I'll have received a "wet Willie" (that's where you stick your finger in your mouth and then proceed to place it in someone else's ear) before Christmas. Then again, with such a special boyfriend as I am, I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up smashing shrubs or being put in shopping carts. I promise our relationship isn't too dysfunctional.

screendoor on a submarine

Yeah, it's official, this blog is as useful as a screendoor on a submarine. That was a good song when I was growing up. Good job, Rich Mullins! This is exam week, so I'm trying to study for the looming exam of Basic Christian Doctrine. Have you ever wondered why you aren't allowed to take your notes into an exam? I mean, when I'm in ministry, you better believe that I'll be looking things up that I'm saying. However, I do see the need to commit these things to memory. In other news, I lost the nasty quarter Andi decided to mail to me. She's so precious! Spring break is almost upon me, which you might think would be a great time to take a break, but looks can be deceiving. Instead, I'm going to be trying my best to catch up on my school work and maybe, just possibly get ahead! If that should happen watch out! I could be making a visit to the birthplace of aviation, no it's not North Carolina! I'll try to post something worth reading next week. And till then, remember, faith without works is like a song you can't sing, it's about as useless as a screendoor on a submarine.

The Heavenly Man

No one sells a product like someone who isn’t the salesman. And when the non-salesman is excited about it, man, everybody and their brother is interested. Especially if the person excited about it is someone who never gets excited about anything. That’s my intro to my friend Dj, who started reading the book, The Heavenly Man. This guy is pretty much apathetic to everything thrown at him here at seminary, but now he’s like a little fireball hopped up on this book. Of course this means I ‘m going to have to read it, I just have no idea when I’m going to make time. I’m suspecting it will be spring break, which is coming up in a few weeks. If you’ve got time laying around, maybe you should look at it too.

Changin' tires! Boo yah!

Many times when I post, I think my only motivation is to not be a quitter. I don’t know if that resonates with anyone else, but I hate to quit on things, and I would hate to quit on a blog out of laziness. Today I attempted to change a tire on Andi’s old car, which now has been passed on to her sister. In all honesty, I was feelin’ pretty stinkin’ manly. I thought to myself, “Yep, I’m going to be doin’ man-work. Changin’ tires.” I jacked up the car detorched the bolts (Andi finished taking them off while I was jacking the car up). Then I pulled the wheel off. And then I pulled the wheel off. And then… the stupid wheel wouldn’t come off!?!?! What the heck!?!?!? I pulled, I leaned against the car and pulled. I lifted the tire up and pulled. I pulled and my back started crying. All to no avail. The stupid wheel wouldn’t come off! Andi got some WD-40, I sprayed it in the screw wells and then pulled again. Then Andi’s sister got out the rubber hammer and I tried tapping the wheel off. It still didn’t budge. The car was moving, but the tire was firmly affixed to it. I even tried praying. Nothing. Trust me, many a times I couldn’t get something to work, we prayed and it just started working. God has a sense of humor like that. After a while of pulling and twisting, we gave up, put the stuff away and left the car jacked up just a bit. Maybe I should have offered the tire a bribe. Maybe it knew it was going to the big tire pile in the sky... or Xenia.

The landscape of Christianity – Part I

As I look back and look towards the future of my journey, I doubt the road behind will not be traveled again. The bridge of “once saved, always saved” has long been engulfed in flames and mere charred wood pieces remain. Take a walk through the history of the church and you’ll soon find this theology is a modern invention, not any of the early church nor did the reformers believed this, all affirmed that a believer can indeed fall away, either by God’s sovereign choice or by the choice of the person. The Scriptures testify to this as well. I know this ostracizes me from modern Evangelical America, but who can submit when their convictions are that Scripture teaches otherwise. None of us are above it, nor should pass judgment on what it says. If we find our experience differing, then we should examine it to make sure we understand it as it was originally intended to be understood.

the burbs.

"There has been considerable crying in these latter days that the church is moving to the suburbs and isn't that too bad? It is too bad if the inner city is left without a ministry of Christ. Yet the suburban church need not be a feeble reflection of modern suburbia. It should and can be a powerful force; for suburbia is where the people are going and those of us who are working in this area ought to see it as a fresh new challenege in American Prostestantism."

Charlie W. Shedd

Absolute Knowledge & Ed

The past two weeks have flown by and yet no new posts have gone up on the blog. If there are any people out there that really wish they had a new post to read should just call me. I’m terrible at posting. I just got through a class where we talked about the use of “absolute” in philosophy and in general talk. I have to admit that the thoughts my dear friend Ed tried to express last year were somewhat skewed and unclear from what the professor tried to explain. Basically while the professor believes there are unchanging truths, he would not refer to them as absolute truths because of how the term absolute is used in philosophy. Further, because of the relatively finite things we know that do not change, that are unchanging, with complete certainty, these being laid out in the Bible as characteristic of God (as my opinion goes) by God’s divine revelation (how else would we know any truth as certain, just look at the history of science and human thought), it is best to shy away from the modern use of knowing things absolutely. The professor went on to say that we do not need to prove the Bible because to know something as truth does not require proof and proof of the Bible is completely true in all that it affirms is impossible from a scientific standpoint as history has shown, much as the bagel I ate last Friday cannot be proved, only evidenced to at best, yet I can still know that I ate a bagel last Friday through faith in my memory of eating the bagel based on its track record (as I remember it) of remembering what I ate accurately. Again, as I pointed out in the fall, knowing something is true is possible and honest, given the correct conditions, even when we can’t prove it. Enlightenment thought has come and been shown to be flawed, as all human systems have historically been seen and probably will continue to be, although probably not in their own era. Being freed from the modern mindset that we must prove everything for it to be true should be a freeing thing and also introduces instability (that always existed although not always seen) to truth and knowledge. Thankfully, we have divine revelation, even if the secular world does not recognize it.

I hate Squirrels

One more reason why the rat with a puffy tail must die:
http://www.vtwinmama.com/demonic_squirrel_riding_story.htm

a tale of three cuts

It all started on when I went to the barber shop with my dad about a week ago. He was paying for cuts so I thought, “Man! I’m going to save 10 bucks!” I hopped in the chair and the barber was off, clipping and chopping and going to town. I went from having a very shaggy head to having a mop piled on the top of my head and the sides removed. At first I figured that maybe it was my imagination and really there was more off the top than I thought. After a while it became apparent that actually they didn’t cut that much off the top after all.

I decided to go with my old standby over the weekend and get a cut from Shrilly. She’s always done a decent job so I went in and got it cut this past Saturday. Sure enough she took some off the top and it was looking more realistic, the sides and top were matching more…. except for the bangs. I realized that she didn’t cut them very much at all. I thought maybe I was imagining things again, so I went to hang out with my buddies on Saturday night, I mentioned I thought the barber might have left my bangs a bit long and my friends agreed, so now I needed a third haircut.

I talked to my girlfriend who suggested I cut it myself. She tells me now that she wasn’t serious, but I stood in front of the mirror that night with a pair of scissors trying to figure out where I should cut. It was similar to when you’re trying to center an overhead on a projector and you keep moving the wrong direction. After hacking some of my hair up, I realized, “Boy, this is really stupid, I’m going to cut my hair to pieces. I’ll see if I can’t get Andi to fit it tomorrow.” I went to church the following morning and some little kids and a couple of adults commented on my haircut saying it was “straight out of a Japanese cartoon” and “cool-looking”. Eventually church ended and I arrived at Andi’s place.

She called in a professional, her mom. There we were, in the bathroom, my head hanging over a sink, Andi heckling me, poking me and her family watching as her mom cut my hair. She also noticed a tuff in the back they have consistently failed to cut the whole year. I thought it was just a cow-lick, so did Andi, until now…

The moral of this story is:

a) Never get your haircut by some guy at the barber shop who hasn’t warmed up yet, and maybe not by guys who are older than 60.

b) If you find that your hair has a continual cow-lick, try another barber

c) Listening to your girlfriend can make your hair look “Cool” and “straight out of a Japanese cartoon”

d) It pays to have a girlfriend whose mom cuts hair on the side

e) I just don’t think there is a moral to this story


The Evolution of a Haircut

tire pressure

I had just gotten my tire replaced at Sears, down in Lexington, Kentucky. I checked the pressure of the tires upon the observation made by my girlfriend who noticed that they seemed a little low. Indeed they were low, except for the new replacement tire which was inflated 10 lbs. over, which is 30% over inflated! It was rainy and wet, I was tired as could be, as was Andi. The weekend was eventful, and we were ready to come home on this Sunday night. I decided not to make a big deal about it at the tire place, who in their right mind replaces a tire and doesn’t make sure all the tires have the correct tire pressure?!?!? We drove to a gas station, and low and behold a guy was filling his tires, so a little bit irritated, I’m tired at this point, we drive to another gas station. Andi observes that this gas station also requires that you pay 50 cents to use their air. Not ideal, but no big deal, I grab 50 cents out of my wallet and proceed with pressure gage in hand.

The rain is coming down now, and it’s down right cold. I unscrew all the tire caps and measure the pressures to get a feel for how much air I will need, since it’s going to be timed and I’ll have to move quickly to fill up all my tires. The first two tires are filled without too much trouble, there is some trouble because this stupid air station has an automatic winder, so I have to fight it and stand on the cord so it doesn’t pull at the wrong direction when filling the tire. I move around to the third tire, the new one and release air to lower the pressure. I let out just a little too much so I begin trying to put the air pump on the tire nozzle. Unfortantley, I can’t get the pump on right and it keeps letting air out but won’t fill up the tire. Lower and lower the tire pressure goes. All the time, the cord is pulling and my hands are slipping in the wet, cold conditions. Then I hear the pump shut off and I know that I have to put another 50 cents in. I lose the grip on the cord, and it flies back, no joke, to it’s home, along with the air pump, I’ve lost my patience. I’m tired and just want to get home. Andi sees it on my face, I can tell. I move the car around to face the other direction, get two quarters and hop back out in the rain.

The air pump connects with the tire nozzle this time and I am able to fill it without any trouble. I know at this point that Andi prayed for me and the situation. How do I know, I think God told me he made it work this time and that I had Andi and him to thank for it. I move to the other tire and fill it up. I go get the caps and start to put them on the tires. As I’m putting the caps back on, a man inside an old car with tinted windows starts yelling at me and telling me to come to him, I think to myself that he’s an idiot, of course I’m going to ignore him and act like I can’t hear him. I finish, get back in the car and thank Andi for praying. She says, “You’re welcome”. Yeah, sometimes you just know God did something nice for you. We drive away and I check my mirrors for the punk who was yelling at me but I didn’t see him follow. I’m thankful that God loves and blesses me at times like this.

A Must Read

If you haven't read this, and I'm guessing you haven't, you need to.

http://www.fallennotforsaken.com/andy/2005/11/special-music-science-behind-art.php

Thanks Andy for shedding some light on a dark subject.

a weird experience

It was a few days ago, sometime in the afternoon. The dog started barking, which is usually an indication that the mailman or the UPS truck has arrived. This time it was different. The dog was going crazy, barking loud and often. He even ran down the stairs to stand against the door and try and spook whoever was on the other side. I went to the door, and walked outside, because it’s the only way to keep the dog from slipping through the crack and trying to get whoever is there.

As I walked through the doorway I noticed the old maroon minivan parked on the street in front of our house. An older gentleman of Indian origin was standing there, a step away from me. He spoke.

“I’m here to pick up Ate-E”

Puzzled, my response was, “I’m sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong house.”

Confusion came over his face as well, as he replied, “No. Right house. Ate-E”

At this the confusion on my face must have indicated he was not getting through to me, he then pointed to a scrap piece of paper the size of a post-it note, which had the name Katie scribbled at the top in pencil. It clicked in my mind, this guy was looking for Katie, not Ate-E.

“Oh! Katie. You’re looking for Katie!”

“Yes, Katie. I’m here to pick up Katie.”

“Yeah, there’s no Katie at this house. I think you have the wrong address, this is 5511. Which address are you looking for?”

He looked down and found the number, then replied, “No. This is house, grey shudders, grey house, 5551. I drop her off here.”

Just for a minute put yourself in his shoes. Here you are in another country, where the natives don’t understand you clearly. You’ve dropped off your daughter or granddaughter at someone’s house. You come back to pick her up and one of the natives, a man, in his 20s tells you that you have the wrong house. He acts like he doesn’t understand you, has no recollection of your special little one. There is a dog barking in the background. You’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do. Is this guy going to give her back? Is this the day she’ll be lost forever?

I know he’s confused, and he shows me the paper to prove he has the right house. I’m trying to keep conversation with him while I read. It appears he is on the right street, just not the right house. He’s looking for 5551 not 5511. Now I don’t know which way 5551 will be on the street, because honestly I never look at the numbers to know. I say to the man, “Ah…. well… let’s ask the neighbor, Paul. He might be able to help us.” I walk with the man, towards my neighbor. “Paul. Do you know who lives at 5551 or where their house is?” He seems less than interested and mumbles that the houses next to his are out of order. This only adds to my confusion as I head up the street with the old man following me, close. I have to commend him on his patience.

As I walk up the hill, I realize that we are indeed increasing in number, soon we should find 5551. I talk to him explaining what we are doing. “We’re looking for 5551, it should be up here somewhere….”

Then it happens. “This is the house! This is the house I dropped her off at! Grey shudders, grey house!” I looked, sure enough, 5551. I could see the tension lift from his face. “Thank you, thank you!” I handed him his scrap of paper, and then headed down the hill towards my house. I turned to see him following me. He spoke again, “I am going to go get my car, and drive it back up the hill.”

I nod and reply, “My name is Ben.”

“My name is Rev. What is your name again?”

“I’m Ben.” We then commence into small talk briefly. He thanks me again, hops into his maroon minivan and drives away.

It was a weird experience.

the other ME(s)

I recently thought I would see if I could find Dawn's blog since she hasn't told me what it is... alas, there are billions of other Dawn Douglass' in the world. Who knew?

Then I got curious and thought I would see how many other me(s) there are.

I found I'm a Catholic Apologist, Vice President of it actually (I rock)
http://www.catholicintl.com/catholicissues/lsst.htm

I found that I work at a Church of Christ leading worship, ushering and serving communion
http://www.plazachurchofchrist.org/Jan2006.htm

I also found I'm a swimming coach in CINCINNATI (that's where I live). Werid huh?
http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/punahouaquatics/TEAMINFO/coaches_bios.html

Lastly, it appears that I live in Oregan somewhere around Portland and really really don't like Christians. Sorry I'm not going to give this guy any help via a link...

With all this in mind, I think I've just wasted your time and mine. Have a great day!

The Ben Douglass

O-H-I-O

What great weather we’re having here in Ohio! Maybe it’s global warming. I sure am not a scientist, but it is 20 degrees above average consistently. What’s up with all the frog extinction talk? All I can say for sure is praise God for blessing us with nice weather here! I love skiing as much as the next guy and sure I’d love to build a snowman, but while the weather is nice, I’m thankful for it. The dog and I have been out every day minus one this break and it’s been great to walk every day. If you’ve received a call from me, don’t think I’m hitting you up for money, I’m just calling my old friends to catch up. It’s one of the luxuries I’m able to afford with this break from school and work. If you haven’t gotten a call, please do call me sometime and let’s catch up.

Now with all the time off, you would expect a good story or something. I don’t really have one. The most interesting things in my life involve the daily activities of the dog. Unless you want to talk Bible stuff, then I’m studying authority and inspiration as they relate to the Scriptures. Don’t throw stones at me yet, I’m not leaving my roots, I’m just trying to understand what’s out there and why they hold what they do. I’ve also been doing a lot of reading on the C&MA denomination. They are kind of like a Presbyterian Methodist Baptist Pentecostal mutt that has a large emphasis on missions. Now if you’re really amped about another denomination and you’ve researched it, I’m open for suggestions. I’m ok with the cross-pollinated denominations as long as they are defined in what they believe and it is a genuine Christian denomination with accountability and some structure to ensure dangerous teachings are kept out.

Ironies

Peanut Butter has more fat and saturated fat per serving than bacon, over double the fat.

It cost me $10 to buy my brother his Christmas present and $5 to ship it to him here in Ohio, but it arrived much later than expected, so I had to ship it again, this time it cost me $10+ to ship, making it cost more to ship him his present than the present itself!

Because school requires a lot of reading, and hoping to get a jump on classes, I checked out of the library the books used for last semester, only to discover after starting my reading that the books had all been changed this semester, thus putting me back to where I started minus the time invested!

A Dog with Two Heads

Now you've seen everything, even a dog with two heads. So consider your life fulfilled... Unless you want more than this world wants to offer you, then I suggest you try Christianity. It's worked for many that have gone before you. I'm not just a salesman, I'm a Christian too.

Things are pretty slow around the house, I think when you don't have anything you can really do, you start to get even more tired than you were before when you had lots of things to do. So in honor of my inability to get motivated to read for school or do my work for church here's a list of things I've realized this week.

1. No matter how much you feed my dog he always wants more. No, seriously!

2. My dad and the dog have a telepathic connection. The dog only appears to come back in (after I've let him out) when I'm sitting down to do something and my dad walks by the door. In this way, I look like I'm being negligent to the dog and he gets more treats from my dad!

3. If there is a puddle of mud or dirty water, my dog will find it. He's like a magnet.

4. The dishes get dirty all at once, I don't know how, but somehow they do. For instance I left to go to a dentist appointment today and when I returned, there was an entire sink of dishes, mind you there is only my dad at home and he only ate a bowl of soup. Or so the story goes....

5. Most people make too many generalizations. It sounds good when they say it, but later you realize they were making too broad of a statement. (do you see the humor in this?)

6. Green bananas go directly from green to brown, with no yellow days. I've been watching this new batch and it's not any different.

7. I've never been to the dentist when they said, "Man! Your teeth are so clean! Just leave! No need to be here!" It doesn't matter how long or often I brush them!

8. Family always calls you when you're asleep. It doesn't matter if it's 2:30 in the afternoon, somehow you'll be asleep!

9. Recommendations always come from people who hardly know you. They never ask for recommendations from people who actually know you, because they might be bias!

10. People are never happy with what they have. If they were, they wouldn't be people.

For Andy Brown…

Apparently my good buddy (GB) Andy Brown (AB) checks my blog everyday. Sure, I thought my girlfriend was the only one stalking me, but apparently I have stalkers of the same gender too. This story goes out to AB.

It was the night before my good buddy Aaron Shaf. was getting married and a bunch of us guys were hanging out at AB’s uncle’s house. In attendance were the two now famous stars, Nick Nye (the Nick Nye that’s recording in Louisville) and Lenny Tavernelli (who stars as the native in his new movie: End of the Spear). Anyway, we’re eating Sloppy Joes and lots of chips, drinkin’ root beer, rippin’ some bad gas, and playing video games. Someone, I can’t tell you who, but if I had to pick someone I would say Nye, decides we should wrestle. We pair off and people take turns. First up, Nye verses Brown. AB pretty much doesn’t touch Nye, while Nick decides to go animal on AB. Then AB turns up the heat and Nye blows out his knee. We grab ice from the kitchen and he’s done.

Now most of you would think that would stop the wrestling for the night, I mean, we’ve already had an injury. Here’s the thing, Nye is a faker. You can’t tell when he’s really hurt and when he’s faking it or when he’s just milking it for attention. We figured it was bad, but no one really knew how bad it was till much later when he had to have surgery on it.

Next up, Lenny verses myself. Now I’m quite a bit taller than Lenny which should give me some advantage, but Lenny is built like a tank. The result, we were standing up for like ever, no one could really get the other to go down. Besides I think we were both taking it easy, we didn’t want to end up icing something next to Nye. Anyway, in a bold move, I did something and Lenny starts to go down, but he’s not going down forward, he’s flying backwards. He used an atomic kick on me, somewhere between my legs. I yelled, “Solider Down!” as I collapsed to the ground in agonizing pain. I crawled over to the couch and sat next to Nye.

At this point you would surly think the other two wouldn’t be wrestling, but sure enough they decided to go at it. It was Matt Martin verses Mike Halpin. Mike is about half the man Martin is, weight wise. They get to actually wrestling, making sure neither of them ends up like me. Then Martin uses a “Gator” roll on Halpin. It was quick and looked painful. Halpin also was injured like myself. He crawled to the couch and sat next to myself and Nye. We shared the package of ice between us, passing it back and forth. Believe it or not, it actually helps a lot.

What I learned from all this is skinny guys shouldn’t pair off with ape shaped men in wrestling matches, sure chess wouldn’t be bad, nor video games, but when we’re talking wrestling, a couple shots placed carefully can take a solider down. And knowing is half the battle. Go Joe!

Mom Awards

Everyone should be thanked for what they do, no doubt. This past week has been trying to my patience. You see, I’m at home helping my dad do things, since he’s recovering from his neck surgery. It means I can’t really leave the house, I have to always do things at the drop of a hat, and do annoying things at that, like help my dad put on his socks, clean up dog puke, shake the shaving cream, let the dog out, do the dishes, do the laundry, run errands for him, etc. It seems to be illusory to think I’ll be able to get my homework done while I’m here over break. When things slow down, it’s after dinner, way after dinner usually. Who wants to do homework then? I want a break for crying out loud.

It’s got me thinking about moms. Now don’t get me wrong, dads work their tail off at the office and are pooped when they get home, but I think moms aren’t getting off easy themselves. It’s a practice of humility every day, making themselves a servant for others who aren’t able to do simple things for themselves. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to take care of teenagers! My dad tells me how to do everything from proper steps of cleaning up puke to how to make his sandwich for him. I think I would go crazy if some little pipsqueak decided at the age of 14 that they knew how to do my job better and whined about everything as it was. I’m already praying for patience almost constantly as each new chore around the house comes up just as I was ready to take a break.

I think we should consider mom awards. You know, give your mom some kind of award for the hard work she does. I think they should come in multiple levels. The first and most basic would be thanking your mom randomly as she does the daily tasks. The second level would be random days where she gets some relief from doing her tasks, maybe more systemized. The last level should be mom vacations, hey, they give them in the work world, but even on vacations moms are usually kid managing. This might look like a family vacation where dad is responsible for keeping track of the little/teenagers. And last but not least, every mom should be given a car and given some time away from the house, I’m going stir crazy and I get to walk the dog every day.

I would also blow up television. Even when I’m tempted to watch it during the day nothing is on. Nothing. The internet is really mostly like a news/shopping mall. I’m sure that there are social groups where moms get together and hang out with other moms, let us be careful to not give them a hard time about it calling their jobs easy, everyone knows in the workforce that we sit around the water cooler every once in a while and gab it up, it’s only necessary for sustaining sanity during the daily routine. I wouldn’t doubt I’ll get hate mail from moms over this one. All I can say is, it’s only my first week!

Send me back to school!

A Dog Gone Dilemma

I’m home for the holidays in Cincinnati, taking care of my dad and his dog. Now we all know dogs have three goals in life: eating, sleeping, and playing. Champ, my dad’s dog, loves to eat, loves it more than life itself. If there’s one thing he loves more than food though, it’s walks. He loves going on walks. At first I think I was foolish enough to believe he really liked exercise, but as time has continued it has become apparent that he really wants to do his job, peeing on things. We (Champ and I) have to stop near every good bush or tree, at least to smell it and maybe to pee on it. When he finds a place he really likes, he pulls out all the stops, like Columbus when he reached the new world, like Astronauts when they reached the moon, he stops and plants his flag in the dirt, well it’s more like he leaves a happy present for someone else to find. Now here’s the question, should I bring a bag or a few to pick up his ‘presents’ or should I leave them in hopes that the winter will destroy them into oblivion?

a virus in the system

American Christianity is plagued by a virus, a virus of thought. The virus tells us that it’s ok to accept Christianity on the grounds of a philosophical system. It helps us determine what is morally acceptable. We go to church, we pray over our meals, and we spout out theological terms like it was a description of the most wonderful vacation we’d ever taken. Yet, somewhere deep in the recesses of our hearts, the virus has done its work. There is not daily, living relationship with God. It has been replaced with short prayers early in the morning and late in the evening. Our lives have been turned into a routine. We understand routines, they make sense, they keep us feeling safe. Over and over we trace the lines of our philosophical system, all the while neglecting the relationship the system was designed to function in. And we give up. Signs of life vanish in the hustle and business of life. Reflect with me, how does the relationship God is desiring in us fit with the life we’re living?