to the perishing

my alarm was set for 5 a.m. with every intention of going into work for an hour before heading further north for an all-day training workshop. i woke up at 6:30.

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the workshop was nice today except i'm extremely busy with 'big boy' work and couldn't really afford a whole day out of the office. my buddy tony and i butted heads over music preference and debated briefly on a constant 75 degree temperature versus heaven. he's not a believer, so i'll excuse him. and the workshop instructor seemed a bit anti-faith, so the combo bummed me out a bit.

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so i got to thinking about paul's first letter to the church in corinth. in it, he states that 'the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of god.' then blinking back to romans, he says 'god has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.' so i posed the question in my own head: 'what if god has hardened, say, tony? and the message of the cross is foolishness to him, so where does my role fit into this equation?' i heard it said on the radio the other day... and i'm paraphrasing here... that being a christian doesn't mean we're a better arguer than others and can pursuade anyone to christ. it is, rather, a higher calling, a higher faith, and a higher hope that people should recognize by the way we live. granted, we should be ready to give an answer to those who ask for the hope that is in us, so this is by no means a cop out to spread the gospel. but again, i think of my role in the stubborn hearts of a couple of my friends. if you get into an argument with a stubborn heart, you know you'll never win... or lose really... so why argue? further argument may only push the person further from wanting what you have.

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i felt productive this evening in terms of housework, though i fell slightly short of my overall goal. i vacuumed the entire house, basement to second floor. then i took the trash out (including those blasted shingles i touched on yesterday). then i got in an hour of work on the second job. i shot out one slightly overdue email and checked my work email after being out all day. my intention when i'm done here is to balance the checkbook. the only thing i didn't get to was to fix the cabinet doors under the sink... that's an on-going 10-month project so far, which should only take about 15-20 minutes.

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as for the family, i once again failed in the patience factor. it's no easy task being a parent. i'm trying... and praying for forgiveness, love, and guidance daily.

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since i've been off of the blog scene for a bit now, i've missed posting a lot of pictures mainly sarah has taken in that time. so here's one: