Times Are Changing

This Monday, I had my Eagle scoutmaster conference in which my scoutmaster and I discussed things I learned in scouts, my experience in working towards Eagle Scouts, and living up to the Scout Law, Oath, Motto, and Slogan (printed below).  The scoutmaster conference represented the ending of a chapter in my life.  What I mean is, all requirements for Eagle Scout, except the Board of Review, must be completed before the applicant's 18th birthday.  After turning 18, one can no longer be a "Boy Scout" but can still be involved in activities by being in adult leadership.  By finishing the scoutmaster conference, I finished the last remaining requirement I needed to complete while in Boy Scouts.

I have experienced a lot of these "endings" lately.  However, it does not make me sad, but rather makes me look forward to the new tasks ahead I must complete and allows me to see how much I have learned so far.

The Scout Oath

On my honor, 

I will do my best, 

To do my duty, 

To God and my Country,

To help other people at all times,

To keep myself physically strong,

Mentally Awake,

And morally straight.

The Scout Law

A scout it:

Trustworthy,

Loyal,

Helpful,

Friendly,

Courteous,

Kind,

Obedient,

Cheerful,

Thrifty,

Brave,

Clean,

and Reverent.

The Scout Motto

Be prepared.

The Scout Slogan

Do a good turn daily.

Work

So this week I have been running around like a crazy person.  Between school, Eagle Scout Project, and getting ready for New Student Conference at A&M, I have felt like some kind of task-accomplishing superhero.  But then I realized...I'm just not being lazy. 

It feels really good to have goals, accomplish them, and then move on to new goals.  This whole Eagle Project process has shown me the benefits of getting things done (especially because I procrastinated up to this point.  I hope I can keep this momentum in college, I'll need it.

The task of doing good work is something man has always been given.  After the fall, the work became hard.  Work isn't evil, it's just hard.  But sometimes the hardest work is also the most fulfilling.  Every year, I go to Enchanted Rock State Park.  Enchanted Rock is not SUPER TALL, but it ain't the flats of South Texas, lemme just say.  Last time I hiked E-Rock, we took a steeper rout. 

My legs were on fire.  I hiked...and hiked......and hiked.........and...hiked...until............we finally got to the top.  The view on top is amazing.  Absolutely breathtaking.  And the breeze is a swift 20-40mph.  Once I got to the top, I looked down on the trail and thought, "Yeah, I just hiked that.  It was worth it."  That is the feeling of a job well done.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

I Can't Feel My Finger...

So recently I got hooked on something that has numbed my fingers.  No, it isn't drugs (c'mon now, y'all know me better than that).  Recently I discovered that you can cut designs out of card stock, glue them on top of each other, and when they dry, use them as keychains or even necklace pendants.  Pretty cool, right? 

Well, in order to cut these small, intricate designs I employed the use of an X-ACTO knife.  I cut out 14 card stock shapes that night.  In order to cut them well I had to press down pretty hard.  This resulted in calloused, sore fingers the next day and numb, sensory deprived fingers the days after.

Here's the point:

Because I cannot really feel things with my right index finger at the moment, I have begone to discover all the things I actually do touch with it.  I find it ironic that until I couldn't feel what I was touching, I never noticed what I touched.  It shows that if we get used to something it is no longer obvious to us.  It no longer catches our attention.

Here's the application:

As believers we are constantly surprised by God both in every day life and in His Word.  Every time you dive into a passage, you will find something new.

Also, we cannot get used to the moral depravities of this world.  As Christians, we are called to be disgusted by sin and distance ourselves from it.  In order for this to happen, we cannot allow sin to become comfortably familiar with us.  If this happens, sin will seep into our lives unnoticed and we will allow our standards, and the standards of things (or people) around us to decrease dramatically.

We are called to be in the world, not of the world.  The evil should shock us and God's good should pleasantly surprise us and leave us searching after Him.  The more we focus on Him, the more obviously vile sin will be.

Meaning 1-Fighting

Fighting, a verb, means to engage in combat of some form.

I would say that fighting can be described as controlled power. 

In sword fighting, for instance, you have to strike with force in order to score a potent hit, but you must also strike with accuracy.  If you only use force you will miss your mark.  If you control the force you have a better chance of hitting the target.  The better you are at controlling yourself, the more accurate you are.

This is true of many things, not only combat.  You must control your mind in a debate while having the sharpness to outwit an opponent.  When writing, you must have the thoughts on which to build you writing but also the skill to write clearly.

New Series: Meanings

I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anymore but in case they do I will be starting a new series of posts. Every few days I will post a word and define it. Not the dictionary definition, but my personal idea of the essence of the word. Should be fun and I hope to hear from any readers as to what they think on what I say.

Here come the thought bombs!

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Descartes and Quandries

The Renaissance philosopher, Rene Descartes became famous for his quote, "Cogito ergo sum," translated as 'I think, therefore I am.' He stated that the simplest and surest way to prove existence is by the existence of thought. Is this true?

When you are talking/chatting/texting someone, occasionally one of you might ask, "what's on your mind?" Most of the time we respond "Nothing much, what about you?" Which can be loosely translated as "None of your stinking business nosey. Why don't you go take a long walk off a short peer?" Of course this is a false statement! Nothing is never on your mind, in other words, something is always on your mind. We are aware of this and therefore would tend to agree with Descartes somewhat. Yes, we think, yes we know we are real because we think. But is it the best way to prove we exist?

Blaise Pascal, a fellow Renaissance thinker, said plainly "It is odd that we cannot define these things without making them obscure; we talk about them all the time." The more we think about these things and probe them for solutions, the more difficult we are making them to understand. The answer is plain and simple, much more so than Descartes' "Cogito ergo sum."

This answer can be found in Genesis 1:28-31,
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

God created us. We exist. How do I know? God said so, plain and simple. End of story.

I'll let it speak for itself...

Life has its cycles and periods of living. Usually they are separated by big events signaling a change in pace. Some call it growing up, maturing, coming of age, etc. I call it living. Being alive is tackling challenges, facing fears, dealing with problems, regret, and general frustration that comes with having blood coursing through your veins and neurons firing in your body. Being human: feeling pain and joy all at the same time...funny how that works. Good thing God created us with a mind like His, however less awesome and omniscient we can handle multiple emotions at once.

Back to growing up, or "living." As you grow up you gain more knowledge and responsibility and at first you think "great...now what?" USE IT! Go and make something of yourself. Use your skills to glorify God because He gave them to you so you better not waste them. Use them to love your family, be good to your friends and give back to those who gave so much to you.

Boxes

One's mind is like many boxes inside one another. Every time you delve into your mind you open a box and as you think you get deeper in these boxes. When you meditate on scripture it is also like the opening of these boxes. As you think more you get closer to the gift inside: closeness with God.

Do you ever feel like a bird in a cage? Trapped in a cage so you go on looking at the world outside, unable to escape into it. Some days I feel like that, trapped in the routines of life. I feel so caught up in every day life that I don't think about anything but what's happening today, or tomorrow, or over the weekend. Sometimes when I'm in the house for too long I feel like an eagle in a canary cage. I feel like I just need to get out of the house and go outside. I think God gave us his nature to relieve the stress of the world and to turn our thoughts to Him. Something we don't do nearly enough.

Why is it that God gave us the outdoors? Yesterday I went on a walk and was absolutely taken aback by the beauty in his creation. The thought it must have taken to create it is unimaginable. It makes me yearn to see it restored to its perfect glory.

Lonely Benches

Have you ever walked alone? Perhaps you were walking for some exercise. Maybe you were walking from Grand Lake to the Administration Building. You may feel sad. You may relieved that nobody is talking to you. You may feel awestruck by the beauty of nature around you.

I had to walk a mile or so from the dining hall to Radio class a few days ago. It was nice. It was about two-fifteen (I think) when I left. I passed a few silent people on the way there, but I was also quiet. As I was walking I was able to get a first hand look at the beauty of God's Creation in Camp Strake. I had already walked the path with some other people, but this time I was alone.

Every time I go to Admen. (as the Administration Building is called by Winter Camp veterans) I glance at the George Strake memorial. This log pavilion has a massive vertical log in the center of the pavilion. On this log there is a plaque for George Strake. He dedicated most of that land so boys could learn the skills of a Boy Scout, but it also said that he gave it so the boys could enjoy God's Creation of nature. It's the people like Gearge Strake that are true Boy Scouts who put the last point of the scout law first. REVERENT.

The Boy Scout Law

A Scout is:

Trustworthy

Loyal

Helpful

Friendly

Courteous

Kind

Obedient

Cheerful

Thrifty

Brave

Clean

and

Reverent

~The Scribe

Winter Camps

XX, XXI, XXII, and XXIII

veteran

The Doctor's

I went to the doctor's office today. I needed a tetanus shot. I hadn't had a shot in seven years or so. I was thinking of that needle goring my skin and injecting a sample of tetanus into my body. I thought of the fact that I was being stabbed by a pointy needle. I thought of the pain that would result.

Then, when the time came, it was over. The nurse said that I would have a sore arm for two days or so. Pain passes quickly, but leaves a mark. The same is true of emotion. Hurtful words sting and then leave a bruise for a long time. Friendships broken are hardly stitched together, but they don't happen often. Friends are the strongest earthly bonds.

When you lay the pages of two phonebooks together the bond is almost indestructible. Aside from burning the two books , the only way I know how to separate the books is with two tanks, pulling them of coarse. Friendships should be like the phonebooks.

Time

What is time? Is it just a myth? Is time the thing that keeps us from moving forward or the thing that keeps us going? Time is the substance the brings the future closer and sends the past away. Time keeps us on schedule and get us off of it. Time is profound. Time is epic. Time means nothing God. God planned all and sees all time at once. We have our time to be born, live, and die. When we go to live with our Father time will be gone. Time surrounds us. Time engulfs us. Time escapes us. Time requires time to understand. Time is that which is indifferent. Time is time all the time until time is no more.

~The Scribe