The lesson of the blueberry

 So, it hit me as I made my daily garden raid, there's something to be learned from from these blueberries.
     A few days I was feeling just completely emotionally depleted. I was exhausted, and just felt like I had gotten to the point of flailing. The point where you're just so tired that you can't lift your arm, all it does is kinda move. In order to get it on a table or counter you have to twist your body and flail it to get enough momentum to just swing it over. Then you just slump it down and do everything you can to keep from moving again. That's the level of emotional tiredness I was feeling.
      But, God was teaching me something, I realized that when I step out from under him and try to make myself grow, my shallow reserves and limited power run out in in incredibly short time. I'm trying to make myself get to Japan, make myself raise $6000 dollars, and make my relationship with Loren improve. Trying to make myself do all of that not only is exhausting, but had completely exhausted me. I, actually no, God pointed out to me that:

Ecl 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 
Col 2:18-19  Let no one disqualify you ... puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

Basically what I got is that God provides the growth, he provides it in his time, at the rate that we need. And if we humble ourselves under him (and his timing), he'll at the proper time exalt us!

So how do the blueberries fit in? Blueberries actually have fruit on them for over a month before they start ripening. It's a slow process that takes time as the bush feeds each berry and gives it the proper materials and time needed for it to mature. However there are some berries that try to rush ahead on their own steam. Oh they'll turn blue, but they're small, shriveled up and worthless. No, they're not a berry that's been turned into a raisin by staying in the sun too long. They turn blue when they're only small and barely past being a flower.
     When I try to "grow" faster than God provides, my energy will fade, and sin will begin to cannibalize what little I already have. If I don't live in the present that he's given me and allow God's work to have it's place and time in me I will fade and waste the potential I would have had! Not only will "slowing" down to God's timing allow me to grow better, but I'll grow faster!

He really does use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise doesn't He?

Survival of the Fittest

I've been drinking out of a fire hose spiritually lately and although amazing, trying to digest it all is simply impossible! But, God always manages to make sure I keep what he needs to work in me.


But here's one of the things that's been slamming into me recently: Gideon. (read Judges 6)

In Gideon's time the Israelis weren't following God again, and as a result the Mideonites were raiding and plundering every time anyone had just a little more than enough. Eventually the Israelis decided to call out to God, and so God approaches Gideon.

"Hey mighty man of Valor"

And then we see Gideon, a man who is hiding in an over sized bucket trying to thresh his grain in secret so that the Mideonites won't take it from him.

But look at what God calls Gideon, he's not lying, he's telling Gideon what he made him to be. God both made and was calling Gideon to be this mighty man and rescue Israel. On the road to Damascus Paul was called to follow Christ, although during that incident you don't hear what God Calls Saul to be, Jesus repeats some of it to Ananaias:

"Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name."

Later Paul explains a bit more:
"He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles"

If we look at Paul before his conversion, you see a man doing his very best to kill the church and the Christians. Once he knew his name (and Jesus!) everything changed. He now followed Christ, but not only that, but had a purpose, a clear calling.

But look back at Gideon he's hiding in a winepress threshing grain, and his countrymen are living in caves, everyone hiding. It's not just fear, they're doing their very best to survive. There's no food, no livestock, their houses are being torn down, in short, they're being ravaged by the Mideonites.

The Israelites were called the people of God, they were the chosen ones of God to be blessed and exemplify what happens when you follow God. Yet here they are trodden down as low as they could go. But why? If you read, it was because they had turned away from God and were following idols. They had turned to the world to lead and support them and here they had been led.

God had a name for them, the Chosen people, but didn't the world have a name for them as well? The world called them the kinda religious people, the 'down on their luck' and somewhat forgotten people. They were the ones for who nothing went well. When they got out of Egypt, they barely made it almost slaughtered beside the red sea. After getting out by the skin of their teeth they were almost starved and baked to death in the desert. Oh, and then there was that time they nearly all were bitten to death by snakes. After wandering in a desert 40 years they made it to the "land of milk and honey" only to fight, gain some land, and now it was being taken from them again. Survival.

But what did God call them? They were the people whom God called out of bondage. He had blessed them and made them a nation even while in Egypt. When Pharaoh said no, God liberated the people. When they were stuck with the army at their back, and a sea to their front, God parted the sea and wiped out the army behind them. When they traveled in the desert he provided them with food that fell from the sky. When they disobeyed and God sent the snakes, he provided a way out and saved them, foreshadowing how he would use them to save the world. They had ended up in a land of plenty after God led the small band of freed slaves to defeat even the invincible enemies like Jericho without even attacking. Abundance and Grace

When Gideon followed God's name for him, he not only became it, but lived life abundantly, blowing everyone's expectations out of the water. But when he followed the World's names for him, he cowered in a bucket and struggled to survive.


What I'm trying to get at here is that in Christ we're called to live, and live abundantly! That God has a name and purpose for us that when we listen and follow his purpose and design life no longer is meager, but amazing, deep, and exciting.

But when we listen to the world, and the name it has for us we end up trying to survive. If I listen, I should pursue a girl, struggle through my education, get a degree, get married, settle down, work an ok job, have some decent kids, eventually pay off my mortgage and loans, maybe at some point have enough money to quiet down and retire. I'll spend my entire life living bill to bill, barely having enough to pay for the kids and everything else, and just when I've got a little something that I've finally made for myself, it'll be taken away from me. My life won't be terrible, it'll be ok, probably. I'll get some enjoyment out of it, maybe if I'm lucky make a little splash, and then it'll be over. Life will always be "average" and it will always be tomorrow that I'll be caught up, next week I'll have enough to get that, a little longer until I'm ready.

Then, the day will come when I'm on my deathbed that day, and that time will never have come.


I'm slowly learning what it actually means to follow Christ, and to be honest, I'm no where close to doing well at relying on him. But when I have my life has changed in ways that are incredible. I know God is telling me right now, "hey, listen to me, I want to tell you your purpose, I want to show you your name, I want to give you life in abundance." To be honest, I think he's telling you that too. Why else do you feel that there's always something... missing to life?

I don't have the answer to what it is to listen, or what my name really is, but I do know who does. And I know that if I ask him, and actually believe in Jesus, he will give me life in abundance, and a life that satisfies. I've already experienced some of it, and I know that it's real.

God has a name that's not something average or weak, but a strong and fit name for me and you. We just need to ask him to show us the way. He made me the the fittest for a specific task, not to be a mediocre guy who's just surviving. The way of the world truly is survival of the fittest by reducing the fittest to surviving, and to be perfectly honest, I'm sick of it.


Edit:

I didn't realize I had come across so derogatory about family, I really do want a family, job, etc at some point, but I don't want a family life that's "ok" but not great, I don't want a job where I collect pay and leave, I want to make a difference! I don't want to go to church and do the motions and be a "good christian" I want to be fully reliant on Christ and letting him move in me. Basically, I don't want to live life in mediocrity when Christ has provided a way for something so much greater! It's this whole notion of listening to the world that reduces people to surviving when they could be so much more!

Why picking a milkshake flavor is the most difficult decision of my life

When I go to steak and shake (as I did recently) often times I'll just completely lock up when trying to pick a milkshake flavor. My friends just look at me and say "JUST PICK ONE ALREADY!!!". I usually respond with a, "I just can't figure out what looks good right now..."

"Which ones are you deciding between?"

"Haven't decided..."

"Well just pick three you like the most"

"I guess the cookies and cream, butterfinger, and mint chocholate chip"

"Which one do you want?"

"I don't know... hmm..."

Eventually it ends up like this:

"Ok pick a number between 1 and 50"

"49"

"Ok you're going with the butterfinger."

"Ok, awesome, (to the patient waiter) I'll take the butterfinger"


So here I am and I feel like this needs explaining.

It goes like this, I look at a menu and have a hierarchy of values with different weightings:

1-Moral issues: absolute ranking, immoral = no go
2-Cost: Exponential ranking: 100*((normal cost of item)^2-(current cost of item)^2) + 100 (if someone else is buying)
3-Preference: Range, from absolutely hate to absolutely love: (-100 to 100)
4- Deviation of sugar level and caloric content from desired level: -60 to 60
5- Level of fullness: from starving to stuffed: (-50 to 50)
6- Similarity to previous milkshake: Same to different: (-25 to 25)
7- Amount of chocolate: (-100 to 20) depending on mood and excessive amounts of chocolate
8- Deviation from normal 16oz serving: (-20 to 20)
9- Probability of a straw being effective (-10 to 10)
10- How cold I am: (-30 to 10)

Note that an overall negative in all categories results in no purchase


So, when I look at the menu the first thing that hits me is how much does it cost, usually that's a pretty hefty determining factor. But alas, all the shakes I was looking at were the same price, so that factor is useless.
-Preference. it's pretty iffy, but I really had maybe +80 for the butterfinger, and +60 for the mint and cookies and cream. This is a pretty intensive process though, I've got to run the flavors through my mouth and see if I get any response back such as my tongue saying: "I want to taste that" Also, previous experience or preferences with that flavor is also a factor.
-Deviation of sugar and caloric content from desired level. All the shakes are too sweet, so -20 for butterfinger, -40 for cookies and cream, and -30 for mint chocolate chip.
     The considering factors are this, mint chocolate chip is a vanilla/mint base, the chocolate adds some sugar. Because it's probably not semisweet (dark) it will be adding unwanted sugar, while dark would be tempering towards the standard. The cookies and cream is the highest calorie of the menu (maybe besides the triple chocolate with fudge) meaning a very high sugar content from the cookies and cream in the standard vanilla base. The butter finger is also a standard vanilla base, but while the butterfinger is a bit sweet, it's not as much a sugary taste as a different flavor.
-Level of fullness. Because I was hungry, and hadn't eaten in a while, a milkshake was pretty appealing... so no useful change in score here
-Similarity to previous milkshake. Most of the time I get milkshakes I usually get butterfinger if I can. Because I was feeling something different butterfinger gets a -10, and the other two get +10
-Amount of chocolate. Lots of chocolate makes me sick, hence the -100... because I really wasn't feeling chocolate, the mint gets a null 0 and the others get +10. The triple chocolate gets -70
-Deviation from normal serving. Steak and shake is a baseline for the average amount... no effect on score
-Probability of straw being effective. the cookies and cream is usually pretty bad for straws, -10, and the others get +10
-Being cold wasn't a factor.


Ok, so I've got to work through all that, and a lot of times I'll double check by running the opinionated ones again and see if anything changes. Yes, really.


So there you have it, it's not being indecisive, its a lot of math and heavy thinking!

How urinating led me to solve costal energy problems

One day I stepped into my bathroom in my apartment, and started to do my business. There was a square pad of toilet paper floating in the loo, and as per the rules of the universe, it became a target.

Now, when I noticed that a stream of fluid hits a porous membrane with such small holes, the air trapped in the stream is forced through the paper, but, the water tension doesn't allow it back through. That is to say, it forms a bubble underneath.

Now if bubbles form underneath, that means the air is supporting the weight of  the paper, so there is a pressure differential that has formed. Now, if a pressure differential has formed, is there some way to harness the potential energy that's formed? Could rain preform the same function? Could you use this somehow to charge air tanks? Would it be possible to have a pneumatic powered vehicle charged by the energy of rain?

Well, a week later while in the shower (note that all good thinking happens in the shower!) it came to me that maybe instead of a porous membrane, a closed cylinder (one end opened) floating in water would serve the same function. IE if the water level rose, or the cylinder was pulled lower in the water, pressure would form, and you could use this to power a generator.

Where does water rise and fall normally? The sea. You just tether this cylinder to the ground, stick an air line at the top, and you've got a near free, constantly changing air pressure! And thus I solved the world's costal energy needs.


Oh, and sorry about the lack of pictures... I'm a poor artist, and I've never had luck drawing on a computer. Maybe I'll try sketching ideas and scanning the pictures in...
*edit, well I got pictures up... if you have comments on how I can improve... I'd much appreciate it! Now I really want a drawing pad for my computer...