addendum

I'm also grateful that one of my favorite pastors, Mac Hammond, is cancer-free (looked like prostate cancer, but, glory to God, it's gone).

I'm also grateful for good dental care; God's guided me to a good dentist who's helped fix some things, and for a good job with good dental insurance so that that care doesn't cost too much and there's provision to pay the cost that insurance doesn't cover. For all of these, I thank God. As usual, thanks, God!

-Sean

more gratitude

Today, I thank God for my being able to pay off another credit card and still have some money left over. Depending on what I get from my second job this week, I might be able to knock out an additional card as well. Glory to God for my impending freedom from credit card debt. Now, where are my scissors...?

right now

Right now, I'm grateful to God for a few things: that a person I had a crush on is not somebody I feel that way about anymore, and that I'm very okay with that. That a dinner engagement I had last night didn't cost very much money. That God kept his hand on the car from where I am to where the dinner was (in another town). That I've reached a certain age where I'm comfortable not being part of the party crowd, where I'd honestly rather stay home and watch wrestling and Star Trek and be a geek than go out and drink. This is all last night, and I'm happy to say it was kind of an eye-opening experience. I look at the idea of a good time that some folks have, and I'm just over it. :) Thank God for that.

I'm also grateful that a couple of drawings I did for somebody were received well. I might need to do some more, but since I'm a fast drawer, it won't take long. I might even do them ahead of time just for fun. ;) It's gratifying to know that your efforts are appreciated and rewarded with, well, gratitude, especially from somebody whom you love and respect, and mine were. :)

:)

Just thought I'd add another happy face.

I'm also grateful that this faithful old computer is still going--it'll make good seed when I sow it into my niece's life.

I don't get it

So here's something I don't get: I was watching an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise and I was reminded of a scientist's recent blog wherein he asserted that we would not any time soon be exploring very much of space in person and that it would be better to "virtually" do it--send a ship that's unmanned, get readings, get those readings sent back to us and when we have enough data be able to experience another place virtually, through computerized environments. Okay, so I get why he said that, but this was based on our knowledge growing at the rate that it currently is; in other words, not necessarily accounting for those occasional, accidental, future-altering discoveries. Like penicillin. That sort of thing. He seemed to assume that we already know about as much as we're going to know and that if he can't imagine a way for us to get an engine that could transport us to the stars in an equitable amount of time, then we'll just never get there, as least not soon.

I disagree. Just because one person, or a million or a billion people can't imagine how to do something doesn't mean it can't be done. How many people a thousand years ago imagined the internet. Would they have deemed our cell phones the devil's devices and that we were communicating by magic?

Anyway, here's my point: science and religion are often at loggerheads. This won't change anytime soon, but what about science and faith. I see no disjoint between the two but am convinced that science can only take us so far and we have to use faith to keep going, to keep exploring, to keep hooked into an intelligence beyond our own who can show us a way. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think that, relying solely on science we'll get much farther than we are and I don't think faith alone will do it. One must aid the other. They have to work together, not fight each other.

Some people say if God wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings. I say if God wanted us to fly, he would have given us the intelligence to figure out a way to do it without wings of our own. And guess what? That's exactly what he did.

There's a vast universe out there, and I believe an intelligent being, God, created it. Maybe it's time to ask him for help exploring it.

What am I grateful for? A God with a big imagination who loves to share.

ch-chinggg

Today, I'm grateful for 1) God showing me where the pen I dropped was. Important pen, this, as it was made by my late father. It fell out of my pocket in the car. I had thought for a moment that it was at one of my workplaces or at Gold's, but it wasn't.

2) lots of hours at work. To me, this is just found money, and I'm glad to pick it up.

3) a free evening to watch Smackdown! and then entirely too much Stargate: SG-1.

Oh, and He just reminded me to give as I was thinking that I have plenty of money right now and how grateful I am for that. One mustn't just let it sit but invest it as the Lord leads--that way, you get a great return.

and 4) the fixing of an error in my bill on a car maintenance issue. I was quoted a price, the mechanics did more than I authorized and I wound up not having to pay the labor (they replaced my wiper blades as opposed to the inserts when all I had authorized were inserts).

Thanks again, God. :)

-Sean

several things

Several things to be grateful this time out:

First of all, I was listening to the podcast put out by New Spring Church, and the pastor, Perry Noble, described what Jesus did for us in a way that I, for the first time, really GOT it. I'm so grateful for added understanding. I've known for a long time that Jesus died for us and so on, but I feel like I really understand what God did, sending his son Jesus to die for us. It's just, well, there aren't words for what God did and my feelings about it. All I can say is "thank You".

The healing of an eye--I think it was just tired, as I'd been up for a long time, though what puzzled me was that one eye was kinda red whilst the other was normal. Nice to have them back normal.

Also, some very cool advice that I've gotten through the regular podcasts I listen to, like Kenneth Copeland and so on:
1) that God's man trusts in Him (God)--this is a good, firm foundation lest one be swayed by the media, one's friends. It's nice to have that anchor.
2) That the burning bush is where I am. I need to be still and quiet and build a connection to access "it". It took something to draw Moses' attention, he was fascinated and he went to check it out. Now that God had his attention, undivided, he was able to speak to Moses and let him know some things.
3) I'd heard the term "unsearchable" in Christian teaching and glossed over it, not understanding it. I feel like I understand it more when it's put in this way: unsearchable means that you can't even look for thing XYZ without God--it's that far beyond human understanding. Yet with God's help, we can understand thing XYZ.

You know, what I find amazing is how much we don't know, and yet how much we can know with God's help--understanding of things (situations in life, processes, why this is this way and that is that way) and how simple many things are that we struggle to understand, to get, things that could threaten to shake our faith or stop us from even starting to have faith. I'm finding that our lives here, our existence and the way of things and the reasons for things are so much simpler if we'll just listen to God explain them to us. I'm also finding that things are much richer, that there's more to them, than I ever expected. By this I mean verses in the Bible, situations in life, reasons for people's behavior. As Copeland once said, "The Bible's so simple you have to have help to misunderstand it." I think this misunderstanding comes when we aren't comfortable when the Bible says things are a certain way, so we change the words around and try to tailor the Bible to fit our beliefs instead of letting God tailor us and our beliefs to the way he wants them.

Anyway, this time out, again, I thank God mostly for understanding (his understanding and his helping me understand some things I hadn't before) and forgiveness. :)

Easter

Happy Easter, all. Today, I'm thankful that Jesus died for us. When you think about it, that's kind of a lot. I also thank God for sacrificing his Son for us. That's also a lot. Thank you, God. Wow. There's so much there...this is big.

taxes

Well, glory to God, it looks like I'll get a larger than anticipated check, which means that I should be able to pay my taxes without having to get an extension. To say I'm grateful to God for that would be an understatement. Thank you, God! Also, it's interesting that I found out about this not long after I resumed giving in a certain area... ;)

-Sean

film--decision

Every so often, I make a decision that results in a great feeling of peace. Today is one of those days, where I made a decision regarding a film project that has left me with such a feeling. It was a difficult one, partially because I was afraid I wouldn't get a quality project if I went in a certain direction, but I have a feeling everything's going to be okay, and now there's not so much pressure on the parties involved. I'm grateful to God for that reassuring feeling of peace in this. As ever, thanks God. :)

addendum

A friend of mine just called me in part to share how he'd been rejoicing in God, saying "thank you", "thank you", "thank you" again and again (to God, not to me). That was a great manifestation of the blessing to me. Thanks, God, for that. :)

I also thank him (God) because of a bill having already been paid when I'd wondered whether it had or not.

Obama story and religion

So a friend of mine posted this link to a story about Obama and his saying the U.S. is not at and will never be at war with Islam. I'm a little dismayed because I would think this would go without saying. Nevertheless, I have heard people talk about "Muslim terrorists" in such a way that one would think they equate one with the other. I don't think there could be much farther from the truth. There are people who follow an extreme version of Islam who are terrorists, but this does not make all people who are Muslims terrorists. The same can be said of people who follow certain forms of Christianism (not Christianity, mind) or any other belief: sometimes, people take a belief system, twist it beyond its intent and still call it "Islam" or "Christianity" or "Buddhism" or whatever.

Bottom line is this, and say it out loud with me: just because somebody is a Muslim does not mean they are a terrorist.

I thank God for a little discernment on this.

unexpected stuff

There seems to be a lot of unexpected stuff that happens. I think a lot of this life should be filed under "expect the unexpected". This time, I was thinking of buying the pay-per-view of Wrestlemania XXV, but a friend of mine has already bought it and invited some of us over so long as we bring our own snacks and drinks. Ohhhh, yeah. And I don't even work that day. I thank God for this unexpected blessing. :) Go Undertaker!