These past few days have been wonderful. Imagine thunderstorms in July... in Texas! Well, I haven't had to imagine, because it has happened. Well, it didn't rain hard yesterday, but it did the day before that, and today.
We even had the windows open all day the day before yesterday... it was beautiful. Well, we shut them in the afternoon yesterday since the sun came out, but this morning I woke up actually cool which was so lovely. And I ran to the wifi barefoot this afternoon just ahead of some pouring rain. I would have stayed out on the porch of the clubhouse for it, but my computer needed to be charged so that I could sit on the porch right now after 6 when it's closed. Ah well.
A lovely thing that happened to me today was that I met one of the repairmen riding around on his golf cart when I was walking home from work, and he told me about a shortcut that will literally cut my commute by about 2/3. (as in, it will take me 2 1/2 minutes to walk to work instead of 7 ( maybe 4 on good days when someone's taking their car out the exit) or something; I haven't measured specifics)
Anyway, life is pretty good right now~~~
I like knee socks. This blog has nothing to do with knee socks, except when it does. This was mangapasta from 2009-2013. It's been archived now... sorta?
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Spiritual Paralells
POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
Also if you're one of those kids not allowed to read Harry Potter (looking at you, siblings), please follow your parents' guidance and be patient. It is possible, I'm living proof. I'd recommend not reading this now as if you read it in the future it will have spoilers.
So, for some background information: in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the stakes are getting higher and higher. Hogwarts School is being twisted by the grip of power hungry authorities from the Ministry of Magic who should be on the same side as Dumbledore and the other teachers, however, the truth is so unbelievable that the Ministry refuses to see the light, or the dark, as it were.
Despite this book being the most chaotic, this is the one where I really started seeing parallels to spiritual warfare.
Harry Potter was the sole witness to Voldemort's horrible and really nasty return, yet those who trusted him were willing to act on this testimony and take it seriously.
Problem is, the media had been portraying Harry as an attention seeking hero wannabe, and the other good guys didn't even want to consider that the security they had felt for so many years might be a false one.
Strife was sown between two sides that should have been one, to the point where one side persecuted the other and shut down any of Harry and co.'s attempts to prepare and be ready.
HMMMMM. Kind of reminds me of the blindness of much of the world to spiritual matters. We, as Christians, are likely to be written off as crazies, as weirdos, because people don't want to believe that there really is a danger to their souls. Persecution does happen.
However, the truth does not change, and since Harry knew the truth, he knew they had to do something. Even though the Ministry sent a terrible, awful woman to "reform" the school and fill the children's' heads only with theories instead of concrete lessons, he and a small band of others subverted the authority to have secret meetings and learn REAL Defense Against the Dark Arts.
This reminded me of faith-into-action. As James (the author from the Bible, not Harry Potter's father) says, faith without works is dead. We can stuff our heads full of knowledge, but practical practice is essential. Harry and Hermione and Ron realized this: that there IS a real threat, and acting like it doesn't exist will only get you killed when you're not prepared for it.
Their threat was Voldemort.
Our threat is the devil.
Because there IS spiritual warfare going on all around us. (And it's much more real and powerful than fictional wizards.)
Are you gonna be ready for it? Are you practicing your Defense Against the Dark Arts (aka prayer)?
Also if you're one of those kids not allowed to read Harry Potter (looking at you, siblings), please follow your parents' guidance and be patient. It is possible, I'm living proof. I'd recommend not reading this now as if you read it in the future it will have spoilers.
So, for some background information: in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the stakes are getting higher and higher. Hogwarts School is being twisted by the grip of power hungry authorities from the Ministry of Magic who should be on the same side as Dumbledore and the other teachers, however, the truth is so unbelievable that the Ministry refuses to see the light, or the dark, as it were.
Despite this book being the most chaotic, this is the one where I really started seeing parallels to spiritual warfare.
Harry Potter was the sole witness to Voldemort's horrible and really nasty return, yet those who trusted him were willing to act on this testimony and take it seriously.
Problem is, the media had been portraying Harry as an attention seeking hero wannabe, and the other good guys didn't even want to consider that the security they had felt for so many years might be a false one.
Strife was sown between two sides that should have been one, to the point where one side persecuted the other and shut down any of Harry and co.'s attempts to prepare and be ready.
HMMMMM. Kind of reminds me of the blindness of much of the world to spiritual matters. We, as Christians, are likely to be written off as crazies, as weirdos, because people don't want to believe that there really is a danger to their souls. Persecution does happen.
However, the truth does not change, and since Harry knew the truth, he knew they had to do something. Even though the Ministry sent a terrible, awful woman to "reform" the school and fill the children's' heads only with theories instead of concrete lessons, he and a small band of others subverted the authority to have secret meetings and learn REAL Defense Against the Dark Arts.
This reminded me of faith-into-action. As James (the author from the Bible, not Harry Potter's father) says, faith without works is dead. We can stuff our heads full of knowledge, but practical practice is essential. Harry and Hermione and Ron realized this: that there IS a real threat, and acting like it doesn't exist will only get you killed when you're not prepared for it.
Their threat was Voldemort.
Our threat is the devil.
Because there IS spiritual warfare going on all around us. (And it's much more real and powerful than fictional wizards.)
Are you gonna be ready for it? Are you practicing your Defense Against the Dark Arts (aka prayer)?
Doornknob troubles
Here is an event that occurred on Sunday night. I didn't post it until now, however, for the simple reason that I did not take my computer to the wifi before this. (actually, as I type this, I still haven't, but this introduction is practically timeless--within the week anyway.)
So our doorknob broke and we were stuck inside. We unscrewed the doorknob and tried to pry out the latch to no avail. Finally, there was something that happened with a hammer and it came unstuck. We put the doorknob back on, it seemed to be turning, so we shut the door… and it did the same thing. In the end it was just super irritating and Peggy's boyfriend came over and helped us fix it and it was still doing the thing (meanwhile Bethany and I were climbing out the window to rid ourselves of the claustrophobic/trapped feeling and generally just freaking out). We ended up taping the latch open and deadbolting the door shut and planned to contact maintenance about it. (They came and we have a new doorknob now.)
After that, we planned to watch some Ouran, but ended up discussing the points of Catholicism that Peggy's boyfriend and I didn't understand. It was pretty good. I understand a tiny bit more some of the things I didn't, but I still am not sure I agree with some of the stuff.
Why did I tell you the doorknob story with no musing attached about the nature of life or something? Well, because it's MY blog and I DO WHAT I WANT, THOR!
Also it gives you a peek into my life and is a thing to blog about even if I don't get all philosophical about it. So bye~
So our doorknob broke and we were stuck inside. We unscrewed the doorknob and tried to pry out the latch to no avail. Finally, there was something that happened with a hammer and it came unstuck. We put the doorknob back on, it seemed to be turning, so we shut the door… and it did the same thing. In the end it was just super irritating and Peggy's boyfriend came over and helped us fix it and it was still doing the thing (meanwhile Bethany and I were climbing out the window to rid ourselves of the claustrophobic/trapped feeling and generally just freaking out). We ended up taping the latch open and deadbolting the door shut and planned to contact maintenance about it. (They came and we have a new doorknob now.)
After that, we planned to watch some Ouran, but ended up discussing the points of Catholicism that Peggy's boyfriend and I didn't understand. It was pretty good. I understand a tiny bit more some of the things I didn't, but I still am not sure I agree with some of the stuff.
Why did I tell you the doorknob story with no musing attached about the nature of life or something? Well, because it's MY blog and I DO WHAT I WANT, THOR!
Also it gives you a peek into my life and is a thing to blog about even if I don't get all philosophical about it. So bye~
Friday, July 5, 2013
AND THE COMIC IS A GO
So hey guys, I'm super excited. I FINALLY posted more panels to my webcomic, and I'm starting to give out the link!
Please visit fledgefighters.blogspot.com when you have a moment and read what I've got so far. (Here's a quick jump to page one: CLICKY
I know it's only a blog for now, but it's the best format I could find for posting... anyway, I procrastinate too much...
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
THE EVILS OF THE MICROWAVE
We have a microwave now.
My friends and family think I'm nuts, but there's something offputting about microwaves to me. They're so convenient, with no drawbacks? Something's got to be up. Some hidden side effects. Maybe science just hasn't discovered the catch. (I'm such an old man. "back in my day, we didn't have no fancy _______...")
Anyway, I was easily coping with using the stove to reheat stuff, but there was a microwave on the ~FREE TABLE~ and Bethany really wanted one for oatmeal so I had to find a place on the counter for it.
There was no place where it looked good, but I eventually made it fit where it didn't look quite so good. I'm determined to never use it. Except possibly for popcorn. But if we can get stove popcorn, that's even better. >D
Well, that's all I really had to say.
Oh, also, we are fighting off a fruit fly invasion. bluh
My friends and family think I'm nuts, but there's something offputting about microwaves to me. They're so convenient, with no drawbacks? Something's got to be up. Some hidden side effects. Maybe science just hasn't discovered the catch. (I'm such an old man. "back in my day, we didn't have no fancy _______...")
Anyway, I was easily coping with using the stove to reheat stuff, but there was a microwave on the ~FREE TABLE~ and Bethany really wanted one for oatmeal so I had to find a place on the counter for it.
There was no place where it looked good, but I eventually made it fit where it didn't look quite so good. I'm determined to never use it. Except possibly for popcorn. But if we can get stove popcorn, that's even better. >D
Well, that's all I really had to say.
Oh, also, we are fighting off a fruit fly invasion. bluh
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