Thoughts while reading my Bible

1. Why is it that Christians will tend to overlook the Old Testament?

2. Who understands grace more...the Gentiles or the Jews?

3. Would I be someone who Paul/Peter would mention in his letters to say hi to?

4. Is it prideful of me to wonder the above statement?

5. Does God speak, if so...what does he say? (Jim Brinkerhoff, campus minister quote)

Thoughts from the shower

1. What did people back in "Little House on the Praire" time period do for shampoo...did they just use soap? If so then why did we change?

2. Does the 360 degree scrubbing bubble thingy really work? If so...I need to invest...cleaning the shower is not my idea of a good time.

3. Why do random songs come into my head...is it God or just the evil gremlins?

4. If I take my shower first, does that make the hot water more accessible to my roommate's shower or vice versa?

5. What in the world did I do when I used to take 30 minute showers...take a nap? No wonder my mom would want me to get out.

Being A Man

The poem below is something I remember my father quoting me at a early age. He is a Kipling fan. Recently I have been challenged in many different ways. Some were as easy as swatting a fly while others it was going against a dragon with the same rolled up magazine. I am not sure if I am living up to Kipling's ideals of a man, but I hope that I have the fortitude to keep going during this season of trials.

IF
Rudyard Kipling's Verse
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!