Buried Treasure

I've found that only reading my Greek New Testament every day isn't getting it done for my daily drink of the Living Water. I do more or less understand what I'm reading, but it's very slow going. I'm more concerned with translation than feasting. I decided to take a leisurely stroll through Proverbs. I find that when I read Proverbs as part of a reading plan I go way too fast. There are so many great nuggets in there that deserve some meditation time. For example,

Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV
(1) My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
(2) making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
(3) yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
(4) if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
(5) then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Lately I've prayed that I would have more conviction as I read Scripture. Well, I certainly get it from this verse. I've read through the Bible several times. I know more or less what is in there. If someone mentions a story I rarely feel like it's something I've never heard. I've taken two semesters of Systematic Theology. I've done small group studies in several books.

However, I don't think I've spent much time going through the Bible seeking wisdom like seeking for hidden treasures. Just using the center-column reference in my study Bible would be a good start for this. I realize just how lazy I am despite all the time I spend in Scripture.

The problem now is deciding what to do about it. Conviction is only the first step...

Restless in Raleigh

I haven't been sleeping much lately. I was up until 11:30 Sunday night because of watching the Cavs and Indians games, but I woke up at 5:30 anyway. I went to be around my normal time on Monday night, but woke up a few times during the night. I stayed up kind of late last night because I wanted to see if the Indians would come back (they didn't) and still woke up a couple of times during the night. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's not good.

The "good" news is that we are having a general Blackberry outage in our building because the repeater we have appears not to be working. I got to go on the roof in search of the repeater, which was a fun adventure. We didn't find it, but our facilities guy remembered where it was. Now I'm fighting with Verizon support in an attempt to get this problem resolved.

BTW, note the new link in the sidebar. I learned about that here. I've got to get some Greeky momentum going...

Finding the Balance

Yesterday ended up being an outstanding day for a variety of reasons. We finished up a good visit with my mom. The weather was nice, though warm. I finished my morning run in under 8 minutes/mile. I made my first batch of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We had a nice dinner, though Lily put up quite a fuss (more on that here). I ended the evening with some video gaming time.

The problem is that I feel like my gumption got sucked away. I realize the need for recreation (thanks Nath!). I just worry about falling too far off the other side. One of the reasons for my persistence in discipline is so that I don't get out of my groove. There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but I find that it's very easy for me to get out of it and not get back in.

I'm really struggling with making time for my Greek like I intended to do. Hopefully putting it on my daily task list will help. Time will tell.

Now I Know

I had wondered what Barry Zito was doing with all his millions. Now I see that he is doing this. Pretty cool stuff.

Being a Clevelander

Last night was a good night for Cleveland sports fans. My mom and I went to a local family-friendly restaurant/sports bar to see Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals as well as Game 3 of the Indians series at Detroit. The Indians managed to pull off a 3 game sweep of the Tigers and the Cavs restored a bit of hope by winning to make the series 2-1 in favor of Detroit. If they had lost things would have looked really bleak.

What's funny is to see the effects of Cleveland on both my mom and me. My mom doesn't really have the mentality to handle watching NBA Basketball. The lead changes kill her. Missed shots late in the fourth quarter send her blood pressure skyrocketing. I have the same problem with the Indians. They won 5-3, but they also managed to let the Tigers get men on the corners in the 8th before getting out of the inning. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but fun overall.

The point is that Clevelanders are self-defeating. The city hasn't seen a major sports championship since 1964 (otherwise known as 9 years pre-me). The Browns got close to the Super Bowl in 1986 and 1987, but didn't quite make it. I'm pretty sure the Cavs have never been to the Eastern Conference Finals before. The Indians were one out away from winning the World Series in 1997, but ended up losing. This is what we've grown to expect.

In other words, even if the Indians do keep playing well enough to get into the playoffs I'll be a bit incredulous. I'll be incredulous until they squeeze the last out of winning the World Series. Even then I might have dreams that the ball was dropped and that the game kept going. The city so badly wants a major sports championship, but it hasn't happened in my generation. This could be the year.