Random Meanderings

Coming back

2011-02-25T21:01:00.001-06:00

After a long time away, this blog might be making a comeback...

2009-11-30T23:33:00.002-06:00

Christmas is right around the corner and it is exciting to just think that my little daughter is nearing her first Christmas. It is amazing to see how the time flies.

2009-11-30T22:56:00.002-06:00

It has been a while since I last wrote on this blog. Does anyone still visit this old place other than myself? Please leave me a note and tell me about Your journey. Thanks!

2008-06-13T09:46:00.003-06:00

Man...
It has been a long time since I last was on this website. So much has happened since then. The opportunity to run a marathon (and I actually finished!) was a huge challenge that I was able to run with my friend Casey. And I actually got married to Jolene Bohn on July 29, 2006. It was wonderful and I continue to be amazed at what an incredible wife I have.
In the last 6 months I stopped working at Starbucks after 4 years of service. My new job is doing sales for dental plans. It is amazing how helpful this service is. There is such satisfaction at helping people who are in pain or who just need some care. You should check out my webpage at: www.1-dental.com and let me know what you think.
In the future I will try to update my blog more often. Keep me posted.

Jeff

2005-08-02T16:05:00.000-06:00

Craziness... 2 posts in 10 minutes... For those people who I have known over the years who one day were as bored as I sometimes get and found themselves hitting the "next blog" button on the upper right corner of the screen until you say, "Hey, I know him!"...and for those people who check this blog periodically who I will probably never meet here we go.
If you read the last post there were those words "my girlfriend". Yes... God is kind to me. Her name is Jolene and no she does not have red hair like the one in the Dolly Parton song. She has been a gift of God to my life for the last.... wow... almost 4 months... so I haven't bloged in a while! She is a continual encouragement to me as someone who really loves Jesus and lives a daily life with Him. Tonight I am sitting in Nashville researching my thesis before returning home to Fort Worth (never did I think I would call Texas home). Everyone, don't worry I will put a picture up soon so you can see her eyes...wow.

2005-08-02T15:53:00.000-06:00

Been a while hasn't it? Recently I have learned that I am a Kinetic learner (not sure of that spelling so don't shoot me psychology majors) which has become my newest excuse for everything. For instance this week while driving from Texas to Tennessee and all over the planet around Nashville, my excuse to my girlfriend who gives me directions while I am focused on something say... Driving...I do not pay attention to the details. Yes, sometimes the details are turn here or there but still... my wonderful excuse has become "Hey, I'm a Kinetic learner."
First, over 95% of you are wondering "What is a Kinetic learner?" The other 5 % of you either know or don't care. For 100% of you I will explain. Basically people learn 3 different ways. Either people are visual learners, auditory learner or kinetic learners (I am totally gonna spell check this post!!). I know this is crazy but visual learners learn by sight (didn't see that one coming, huh?) and auditory learners learn by... yes sight as well. If you are not sure how auditory learners receive information I have a friend with a tack hammer who can smack you. A kinetic learner would probably have to be hit by the tack hammer to learn. (Are we getting the picture here?) Kinetic learners learn by doing something or in my case doing the wrong thing several times before figuring out that I should have paid more visual attention or listened better in the first case. If you never knew this then consider yourself enlightened. If you didn't care... you still now know.

2005-05-20T15:19:00.000-06:00

Does life ever slow down? I guess when you die. Responsibility can be a very difficult thing. Do I actually want to be responsible for anything at all? Life is so much easier without responsibility. Then again I expect others to be responsible when they tell me that they will meet me in a certain place to hang out. Man, I am really bad at setting a double standard here, huh? Responsibility can be a very good thing when it is spent upon being responsible for something worthwhile.
For instance, a friend and I worked on a project for months this semester spending hours pounding out words on this keyboard in an attempt to finish it. Now the semester is over and the grade has been in... It would be so easy to just dump the project in its raw unfinished form and be done. Is that responsible? No, but I am tempted nonetheless! Man, I am so glad that God is more perseverant than myself. Glad he didn't begin to create the earth and then was distracted to something else and leave it unfinished. Actually in the Bible, God promises that when He works in the heart of a person He won't give up until it is finished. (Paul, a follower of Jesus wrote in the Bible-Philippians Chapter 1, verse 6) Glad God and I aren't made from the same stuff! Man...is He a patient God.

2005-04-28T15:45:00.000-06:00

"If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner."

-Martin Luther, On the day of the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle, 1521

2005-04-27T18:23:00.000-06:00

"Everything you deal with from tests, papers, frustrations, joys, relationships, work... everything happens in the background of a daily walk with God."

2005-04-22T00:48:00.000-06:00

Man of Steel? Humm.....

2005-04-22T00:21:00.000-06:00

Fear just plain stinks! Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith to some is an ambiguous concept of belief that there is something more than I know. Although this is a good start just believing there is something or someone bigger it is just plain foolishness, arrogance and laziness to find out what else is out there. Why am I a Christian? Some would probably say that I grew up in a home of people who go and meet at a building once a week. Others might point to the paper I have that says I studied Christian-like stuff at a university in the Christian category. What makes a Christian? Hard question isn't it?
Some people I have met in recent years believe that you can be a Christian and believe whatever you want. If this is true then anything and everything is a Christian? Sounds more like the Matrix than a belief system. Actually, it is a belief system but people call that Hinduism. It isn't that Hinduism is only evil it just is wrong. (ONE MUST ASK THEMSELF WHAT IS EVIL? Answer:Anything that sets itself against the true God.) Sure, right now you are reading this and saying, "What a narrow minded bigot?" It continues to puzzle me how if someone believes that all types of belief are valid how they can be so narrow minded not to fit in the narrow minded like myself. Is that a flaw in the belief that all roads lead to the same place (spiritually speaking)? It is almost comical how people will create new words to tack onto "Christian" to make themselves feel more comfortable. One friend over the years refers to herself as a "Christian Pluralist". Although that sounds convenient is it really Christian? The question must be asked "What is Christian?"
So... What is Christian? Christian... Sounds like those things having to deal with Christ. In this case the word comes from the Bible in the Book of Acts. In the 11th Chapter of the Book of Acts (yeah, the Bible is actually a book of other books...pretty cool, huh?) in the city of Antioch the people were first called Christians. These people were the followers of Jesus who were given the name Christian.
Following someone can be such a cavalier thing in this day and age. You can follow a band, a college basketball team (GO UCONN!!!) or just about anything. When the Bible talks about following it talks more about a surrendering of your life to God. Sounds like it costs a lot, huh? It does. There is nothing better though. Why? Well, God is just hard to understand. He is hard to understand because we were made for fellowship with Him. Yeah, God wants to hang out with you! The God who created the Pacific Ocean, pumpkins, snowflakes, gravity, pi and the Pythagorean theorem wants us to live in relationship with Him. Hard to believe. In all this, He not only wants us to hang out with Him but to experience the greatest joy in the universe, becoming like Him. The daily walk that begins with surrendering your life to God's great love and just living in a trusting relationship with Him daily...That's what being a Christian is.
Yeah, there might be bands, bumper stickers, voting guides or whatever else with the Christian label on it (these might be cool or helpful) but a Christian is one who is a ton more interested in what God's got to say than what any other book, professor or so called guru. Check out God's story in the Bible. It changed my life and keep changing me more and more every time I open it and see what God's about.

2005-04-15T13:00:00.000-06:00

The last few months have sent me on a journey. Presently I am a student at a Christian seminary. Despite having the opportunity to learn under some incredible men and women of God, my brain gets tired. Within the realm of attempting to understand God, we can get lost on the road. Pilate, the Roman leader who commanded that Jesus be killed asked Jesus one several questions, but one in particular that I continue to hear people ask today "What is truth?" The problem is not the question but the where one might search for truth. If I were a Muslim I might seek truth in the Qu'ran in an attempt to hear what Muhammad heard from God. My frustration might be when I realize that there is no relationship with God as specified by the Qu'ran. To be a Muslim, it is only the decisiveness of God who would all me to enter with him into paradise. A genuine fear of God. If I were Hindu, my search might take me anywhere in search of something. Possibly reading the Vedas and worshipping of those Indian gods throughout history. Explaining what being Hindu is can sometimes be like trying to explain the Matrix. I mean this in no mean way since I have a dear love for the people of India after visiting the land personally. If you accept Hinduism then often it means living in the fatalism that Islam also offers that there is no hope to crawl out of the hole you are in. If I were Buddhist my search for truth might have me to follow the 8 fold path in an attempt to be enlightened. Buddhism confuses me in itself since it is to desire nothing. Doesn't that mean that you are desiring something?
My desire in this conversation is for someone to answer these questions. No one has yet. Some people comment that I am closeminded because I believe that Jesus is the only way to God. Honestly, it is the only thing that makes any sense at all. Granted, if one is to take the evidence surrounding Jesus it is really amazing. Cut away all the religiousness that surrounds him and just take a look at him anew. Here is this guy who was born in a small redneck village of a small nation in the middle east. His mom was a young woman and father was a blue collar hammer swinging carpenter. His only time to leave a 50 mile radius on his hometown was when he was a baby. This guy only knew the area he grew up in with no internet, no Concorde and no cell phone. He lives for 30 years just living. No one is really sure what he did in this time since there is only a single account of when he went to the big town of Jerusalem with his family at 12. Aside from that he was 30 years old before he ever said anything that people decided to write down and think was special. In three years he gets a following of 12 guys who eat, sleep and live with him. Jesus was a homeless man who walked to streets and got along with the rowdy crowd. He did not snub the upper class but he ate with them too, although he really had a love for those who seem to think less seriously of themselves. Actually, Jesus spent so much time with the rough crowd that he was accused of hanging out with drunks and hookers way too much.
Not sure what you think about this guy but sounds like one who I would like to grab a cup of coffee with. People like the reality of such a personal Jesus who loved people who have troubles. Maybe they have the same reaction as me that if Jesus would be so bold as to love them then maybe me with my inabilities God might just love me. Jesus did say other things that aren't really all that popular nowadays. He said that he was God and was the only way to God. (That seems kinda narrow if you ask me. But he didn't. It must be a cool thing about being God that you just be you and no one really can say much about it. So I digress...) To accept the life of Jesus and his teachings about loving one another and such is cool but it is pretty strange that people would take teaching like these (as every major world religion does) and adore Jesus, yet deny that he is God. Seems kinda strange to me. Either he was God or all the stuff that happened was pretty much crap. If I claimed to be God, first those who knew me would laugh because they know that isn't true. Funny thing about Jesus... Not only did his 11 of his twelve best friends end up suffering horrible tortures and sufferings as they died but they knew him. People might preach about a lie here and there but no one will die for something they know isn't true. Jesus' mom believed he was God. My mom thinks I am a pretty good kid but God... Not thinking that is ever going to happen. His brother James believed Jesus was God. I have one sister and she knows enough about me to know how frustrating I can be. If anyone can ever convince their brother they are God... It is a pretty sure bet.
What are the words of this blog saying? Simply this... check out Jesus. Read about him. Either Jesus was who he said he was in being God or he is some crackpot who should never be mentioned in another religion or anything. Check it out. Here is a link to the beginning of the book of John. I like reading John when reading about Jesus because John was the youngest of all Jesus' followers. He always refers to himself as "the disciple who Jesus loved" and that is cool. Check out what John, Jesus' best friend wrote about him.
http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?Search=John%201%20;&version=46;

2005-04-08T15:28:00.000-06:00

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper, who did his job well" -Dr. Martin Luther King

2005-04-06T16:47:00.000-06:00

You know my roommate who I said doesn't do the dishes enough? Well, this past week I was an A+ slacker so he did a ton more. Anyway, this is shannon. (He is on the left)

2005-04-06T16:40:00.000-06:00

Adventures with the Soggy Bottom Boys...what adventures they were.

2005-03-24T10:42:00.000-06:00

A simple life, is that possible? In the midst of 12,000 projects, papers and every other as sundry I believe that life is going on somewhere. If life were going on here then I think that I am missing it. Is life to be lived in the pockets of time between project and paper or is life to be lived in the project and paper? God grants us in humanity but one life. One life alone before each man and woman stands in the presence of God. The life that is most fulfilled will be the life that is lived with God and for God. I read stories of men and women who would live on less than a handful of hours of sleep since they so needed the Word of God. How is it that I can almost go a day without His word and my life is still manageable? Is my hope not in Him as it should be? God is good and full of loving kindness. Of course I know this that is why Jesus came. He did not come to found some movement or save the planet from deforestation. Jesus did not come to make people better. How can one know this? Not because I studies books about Jesus here or there or I met a guy on a street somewhere who told me but because Jesus talks about his own purpose Himself.
Nowadays everyone talks about truth but no one sees to know where to find it. Everyone proclaims they know God and everyone has an opinion as to who He is but how can we know for sure? Jesus came to testify to who God is because He was and is God. It does seem a little strange that God became a person. Honestly, I have been a Christian for a long time and it still doesn’t make sense to me that God kicked on a pair of sandals and walked planet earth but I know it is true. So in a day and age where people you meet everywhere all believe in a higher power but everyone’s idea seems to be different, how do you disguish all the touchy feelie crap from reality? If truth is to be truth then it has to find a resting place right? Everyone claims their own truth which is sounds great and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy but what about reality?
Reality is that God is real. Every time someone tries to take Him out of the lives of people, they rebel. Check out communism. It sounds all warm and fuzzy that everyone would work for the betterment of the other person but I can look at myself and understand this won’t work. I get frustrated when my roommate leaves his dishes in the sink and doesn’t clean them as fast as he should (or should in my mind). Man isn’t good. I kinda wish he were… then we probably wouldn’t need stuff like prisons and stuff. Man isn’t good because he is fighting against God. God desires a relationship with men but we are so stuck on ourselves that we think we can find our own way out of anything. I am so stubborn I know this is true. So many times in my life I have tried to find answers away from God and every time I run into walls upon walls of problems finding that God loves me and is drawing me to Himself. The Bible says that it is the kindness of god that leads men to repentance. Sometimes that seems nuts to me because I would think that the power of God such as the flooding of the earth or something like that. God knows differently.
God loves people and wants all persons of the earth to know Him but Jesus is the only way. Yeah, it does seem narrow but I’m not God and I don’t invent the rules, He does. If I can share with you about Jesus and His incredible love for you, please email me. I am pretty crappy at checking email since I am still trying to live a simple life, one day but I would really like to share with you my only sustaining hope over my years of life. God is good and He loves you. I don’t understand why since I know myself and all my failures… I guess He is just good like that.

2004-03-23T22:38:00.000-06:00

Hi,
i have no clue what to type here, but I would like to welcome you to my blog site. Not sure what a blog is. In all my travels and years I have never met a blog nor seen one even from a distance. Please join me in the quest to find the great blog.

jeff