Effective Dialogue

“But, as you know, it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that the participants are clear about their own identity. That is, dialogue cannot be an occasion to accommodate or soften what you actually understand yourself to be.”

Well, I can't say I agree with Pope Benedict XVI on alot of things, but this is one point we share. I can't dialogue with you unless I know where I stand. There was a sermon I preached from the Gospel of Mark. I don't remember which chapter, or verse, or passage. But I remember the fact that Jesus was able to stand up to his detractors because he knew who he was.

We need to have that same assurance. This is one of the reasons regular church attendance, Bible reading, and Bible study are so important. As we continually ground ourselves in who we are, and what we believe, we know how to answer those who question us.

It also gives us courage to face life. I see people in my line of work who have undergone terrible things, and I wonder how I would do if faced with the same problems. Its the same thing again. I need to know who I am, and where I stand, to face these things.

In my daily dialogue with those around me, or even the chance encounters, knowing where I stand allows me to evaluate where they are at also. Do they stand with me? Against me? Or are they just spinning in circles wasting time?

One more thing here. I need to know these things in order to know if I am giving ground. What can I sacrifice? What is holy ground? What do I need to protect at all costs? I grew up believing that a person must speak in tongues in order to get into heaven, must attend the Assemblies of God, and several other things along these lines. A christian cannot drink. A christian cannot smoke. A christian cannot swear. Well, Jesus came to save sinners. Saved from hell. Saved from their sins. If they don't change, they can still be saved. But they must believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh. They must trust him for their salvation, and none else.

These things hold firm.

"Reform Math" Leaves Some Perplexed, New Curriculum Has Some Parents So Concerned, They're Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands - CBS News

Well, what do you know? All of our fuzzy lines are bleeding over into our math now.

No boundaries. No rules. No right and wrong. Whose to say that I can't do this or that. Who are you to make rules for my life.

And guess what?

It's bringing down scores on tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind act.

Test scores? Down? No wonder. When we can make up our own rules, we can't meet the standards set by others. Guess what? My standards aren't as high as those the experts set.

There is a story of a kindergartener who came home and said he was 7 feet tall. Then he pulled up his measuring stick he made at school, and, sure enough, he was seven feet tall. By his own ruler. But he isn't really seven feet tall. More like three.

Today, we have so many people who measure themselves by others standards. Or by their own standards. But, when we get to heaven, God is going to ask "Why should I allow you into My Heaven?" Its His place. His abode. His rules.

Well, I was good by my standards, but its not good enough by His standards.

Fuzzy math is going to do to our scientists, engineers, etc, the same thing relaxed morals has done. We won't be able to compete. Internationally, or morally.

Playing Around

Well.

Um.

I was planning on going to church this morning, but it didn't work out.

I got up and took a shower. Not so quick, because I brush my teeth and shave in the shower. Ryan needs about 5 minutes to take his shower. Hope wanted a bath. "Make it quick, so we can go to church." Yeah, right.

First, she had to drain the water because something was floating in the water. Then, she had to fill it. She made lots of bubbles, which needed to be rinsed off. So, she had to drain the water, and I had to start the shower going to get the bubbles off of her. Now, she's crying because I didn't give her the shower head to rinse the tub out. I don't care about the tub. I wanted her rinsed off. She sat and cried and refused to get clean.

So, church started 20 minutes ago. By the time she's dried off, dressed, and her hair brushed, they'll be saying the closing prayer.

Faith's last day of school was this last week. She told me to ask for a week off, while the kids are still in school, so we had time to work on the house together. Unfortunately, she didn't know I got the time off, so she didn't ask for any. I have most of next week off, and she works. Guess what ...... I've got a honey-dew list now for my mini-vacation.

I've slowed on playing Medievia, mostly because I've just about reached Hero-dom, and the remainder of what I have to do is time consuming. I don't have a lot of time. Well, not in large chunks like I need for the game. I got frustrated and downloaded World of Warcraft, not because I wanted to play WoW, I just wanted to play something less frustrating. Faith said if I wanted to keep playing it, we'd have to cancel NetFlix, because of the monthly fees. blah. I'm not that interested in WoW. You buy the game, then still have to pay a $15/month subscription fee.

Guild Wars, on the other hand, has no monthly fees. You buy the game, and you play online. Simple. They've released 2 or 3 more modules, and they're going back to the drawing board for a huge upgrade, due out in a few years. The basic set is $35, whereas WoW starts at $50, I think. Maybe if I scrimp and save, and come up with the money on my own, she'll let me buy it. Fathers Day and our anniversary are coming up, so I may end up with a little more cash.

Of course, if I all of a sudden say I have the $40 to buy the game, she may just tell me to buy gas for the car with it too.

Another Day, Another 15 minutes

Wow. What a day its been.

I got up at 4:45, and was at work by 6:15, or so. I grabbed a vanilla bean frappucino with caramel drizzle on the way in, and enjoyed that for a while.

My co-worker called in saying she was going to be late. Thats okay, I thought. Saturday mornings aren't usually that bad. Boy oh boy. I went to bed around 11, my normal time, but I was so tired this morning. The only thing keeping me going is adrenaline and momentum. I stopped to eat lunch, and was afraid it was going to do me in.

I've registered probably 8 patients this morning, which isn't terribly bad. A little above normal, maybe. But two or three are brand new, plus a couple accidents. Makes for a busy morning. I had two ambulances at once, and when I was done there were 4 charts in the basket waiting to be registered.

I went to lunch instead. Ashley did them all. She's still doing them. Ruth is on lunch, so I'm on the internet. I needed a break, since I'm here till 7 tonight. Ugh.

And it just keeps going.

Has it really been that long?

Wow. I came here to write for a bit, and my Dashboard said my last post was Jan 20th. Thats a lot longer than I ever anticipated.

What have I been up to? A little of this. A little of that. Not much of anything in particular.

I put in a new fish pond earlier this year. Probably in March sometime, just before my parents came out for a visit. Its doing okay. There's been a bloom of somekind: algae, moss, something. It's thick, and all over one of the ponds. The two others have some algae, but not as much as the middle one. Thick and nasty. But the fish are doing good. I put our turtle out there, and he took off. I'd like to think he packed his bags and decided to go exploring. But, honestly, we've got a few rogue cats, and some big crows. Or ravens. I can't tell the difference.

Its been getting hot again. It was hot a few weeks ago, then cooled back to the 70's and 80's. Now, its closing in on that century mark again. Its hit the high 90's several days in a row now. And getting hotter. My parents were telling me about the rain in Gillette, the flooding in Aberdeen, and the mud slides in Sioux City, or maybe it was Sioux Falls. Bad stuff, but out here, its dry and hot. It rained once, now its down for about six more months.

I've started playing a game online, Medievia. Its a fantasy MMORPG. Amazingly enough, its been around since 1993, I think, and its all text based. Its phenomenally huge. Not player wise. It doesn't have 8 million subscribers like WoW does. But the complexity of the game is astounding. Once you max out your character, you can start a bloodline, and have two children. Those two can each have two more once they hero. And on and on. I've played for around 15 months, and still haven't heroed, although I'm pretty close right now. There's one bloodline that, the last time I checked, was 17 generations deep. Incredible. There are clans, and towns. Trading, shipping, dragons, swarms of crabs, pirates, storms, islands rising and sinking into the seas, with dinosaurs. Werewolves, vampires, demons, elves, dwarves, gnomes. And the list goes on. And, ofo course, the Catacombs. The Terror Below. The location changes randomly, and the monsters that live down there are so unique. There's a slug that rips the thoughts from your mind if you try to do anything in his room. Mephits that back-stab you if you use magic to move to another area in the catacombs. Hermits, girls, blood-weeds. Giant eels, and black serpents. Those are on the first level. There are six or seven levels. At the bottom is a special shop. If you help drive a dragon from his lair, you can get dragonhides. You use them in this shop to radically enhance any of your equipment. Different colors do different things to different equipment. It usually takes a minimum of 15-20 people to chase a dragon from his lair. However, the seaslugs are bigger. They set fire to the countryside. You need a minimum of 27 people to engage a slug, but 36 or more is preferred. Still, you do a lot of dying.

This is where most of my time has gone recently. However, I've been getting emails from "Grist from the Muse." He practices writing, twice a day, for at least 15 minutes each time. And thats just practice. He also has his projects he's working on. Thats his normal writing time. The other two are for practice. You want to be good, you've got to practice. Thats what I'm doing now. Just practicing.

Well, I've got to put Hope to bed now. Its already past her bedtime, but, between her stubborn-ness, and my laziness, she usually does get to bed late.

TTFN

Harassment Class

Last Saturday I was required to take a class on sexual harassment. We make all the usual jokes about it being "how-to" class. Mostly out of frustration. We have so much to do at work, and then they add in mandatory training for something that so rarely occurs. *sigh* At least, not here, it doesn't. Not much.

At least, I don't feel sexually harassed. And I don't know any one in my department who does. I know of two people who have been fired for sexual harassment. One was a time bomb waiting to happen, and the other caught us completely by surprise.

The class was about more than sexual harassment, though. It was about all types of harrassment: sexual, gender, age, race, etc. All in all, it was an okay class. The poor lady taught all 300 of us, in installments, over 4 days. Ours was the last class on the last day: Saturday, from 153-1730. *sigh* There were only 5 of us, so I couldn't sit in the back and snooze either. But, this way, she kept in constant contact with each of us, kept us involved, and the time went by quickly.

There are three qualifications to define something, legally, as harassment. Unfortunately, I only remember the first and the last: Is it unwanted, and does it change/affect the job environment, or something like that. I guess I only remember one and a half, then. Jokes I tell may be funny to my audience, but what about the person standing just outside my door? Do they feel pressured to conform? Does it make the security of their job dependent upon accepting my words/actions?

I consider myself a peon at my job, but I've been there 3 years today. I run errands for my manager, and most of the day crew comes to me for advice on ER registrations. I've become, sort of, a specialist in this area. It feels good, but with this extra ... honor, I guess ... comes extra responsibility. I have to hold myself up above reproach. I should anyway, but, this adds extra weight to my actions, giving them added validity. What I do must be okay, because I'm the one doing it. Right?

I may be joking and playing, but if those around me don't know me, they may take me seriously. Oops.

Thats where one particular phrase from the class sticks out: Content, not intent. I may intend to be funny, but its not my intent that is judged, it is the content of my words and actions. This extends far beyond the boundaries of the workplace, too.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but it is still a road to hell. It is not the good intentions of our lives that God will judge. It is the content. Here's a good illustration. Suppose you have some friends over, and were going to make an omelet for everyone. Nice and easy. You have almost enough eggs, but not quite. Then, way in the back, you see a few more that, you suspect, have been there well past their "sell by" date. Are you going to use them? Just so you have enough for everyone, of course. Are you going to approach God and say, most of my life was good. There's just a few things that I did wrong. Its not going to work.

Many people are expecting to go to heaven because they are trying to be good. Because they go to church. This is sort of wierd. At the hospital, I have ask people if they have a religious preference, just in case we ever need to call a chaplain on their behalf. I'm suprised at the ones who say, "I don't know. I guess I'm a christian." You guess? You don't know.

Its a conscious decision you have to make. You have to choose to put your trust in God, and in his son, Jesus. It will be the content, particularly, this content, that affects your eternal life. Not just your intents.

This Do in .... why?

Last month, I went to church. Surprise, surprise. It was the first Sunday of the month, which meant, we had Communion. I suppose we'll do it again tomorrow.

That sounds really .... tedious. Its supposed to be a celebration. A time to remember. "This do in rememberance of Me," thus saith the Lord. Amen and amen.

Instead, quite often, we are told that we need to examine ourselves. Look inside. Confess our sins. Repent. Be clean. Don't partake in an unworthy manner. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.

At a time when we're called together, to remember Him, we're pointed to ourselves. Time wise, I believe we spent more time on the "us" part of it, than on the "Jesus" part.

I'd like to see more focus on Jesus, the real reason for communion, and less on me.