I switched my website to a new hosting plan over the weekend and had trouble getting it working. Finally, it’s back going again. I’ve got a couple articles I’m working on, and one that’s ready to go because I’m waiting for it to be published. Yes, I’ve actually got an article which will be published in a local magazine. More info when it comes out in July.
Archive for the “Uncategorized” CategoryI’ve always been someone who does many different things. I heard someone on the radio this morning call themselves a generalist, and I guess that’s what I am. In high school I played football and basketball, but I was also in scholar’s bowl, math relays, speech, editor of the school paper. On top of that, I was involved in two different youth groups and worked with my Dad on the farm. I wasn’t the best at many things, but I could usually hold my own. As I grew older my interests never really ceased. In fact, they may have become more varied. At times I’ve been obsessed with history, theology, politics, music, meteorology, computers, flying, languages, sports, writing, etc. You name it, I can probably give you some unimportant fact about it that I’ve picked up somewhere. My frustration stems from not having much depth in any subject (save one), but having such a breadth of things I’m interested in. Before I am able to have more than a passing understanding about a topic, I get distracted by something else (ooo, shiny things!) and off I go on another hunt for information. I can’t explain why, it’s just the way that I’m wired. Link diving on Wikipedia could consume gratuitous amounts of time if I allow it to. I’m fairly well versed in the use of technology in business, mainly because that’s what my two degrees are in. I’m more than conversant in programming and web stuff because that’s what I do every day. I don’t know if this satisfies most people, but it doesn’t me. For some reason I have this primal desire to know everything about everything. What prompted this was a couple of things. First, I love (certain types of) music, and I love playing the guitar and singing. I’m blessed right now to be at a church where I’m able to lead worship and do both of these things. However, I know that I’m not the best guitarist or vocalist on the planet, maybe not even in the church. Not that I want to be better than someone else, but I wish I was more skilled in those areas. I see others lead worship in such an effortless and happy way and feel envious. I want to do the same thing, but if I do I know it will look and feel forced. I want to be better than I am, but can’t find the path to get there. I want to know more, to have such a depth of musical ability as to be the best I can be, but it just doesn’t happen. Second, I was reading some of the sites that I have set up in Google Reader and marveling over how well many of them were written. At times I really wish I would write more, but I feel that most of my thoughts are either pointless, or better worded by someone else. Again, I’m better than some, but worse than many as well. As an aside, don’t think I’m fishing for compliments here either. My wife and I were watching a reality show last week (I’m not going to say what it was, but Collette can rat me out if she wants) and there was a contestent on there who constantly said “I did horrible” or “that was the worst I’ve ever done” in order to get compliments. She was called on it by the host of the show, and it kind of convicted me on the same thing. Am I insecure about these things? Probably. In fact, most likely. Regardless of the face I put on, most of the time I’m not the most confident person you’ll ever meet, especially when I’m face to face with you. That’s one of the most frustrating things to me though. I know that I can hold my own in most situations, but so many times I feel like the scared 18 year old kid off to college for the first time, unsure of his place in the world. On the other hand, there are two things that I am continuing to get better at. I’m a much better husband and father than I was even a year ago. Every day I’m more in love with my small tribe. I tell my wife I love her twice as much as I did yesterday and half as much as I will tomorrow. What I pray is that I learn to be content with the way God made me, and not be envious of those who were gifted with skills that I admire. It’s hard. I would love to be a respected theologian who can also make a guitar sound as enticing as the Greek Sirens, an uncanny predictor of the weather who also speaks five languages. However, I’ll be happy with being a father that four(?) children admire, respect, learn from, love, and count as someone who strived to raise them Biblically. I’ll be happy being a husband such that my wife knows from experience what it is to be loved as Christ loves His church. I’ll do my best at everything else. Driving home the other night, I was listening to one of the talk radio stations in the area while they were discussing the pros and cons of the morning after pill. I disagree with the idea of it, but that’s another post entirely. The conversation drifted to whether abortion should even be legal or not. A man called in to the show and stated that he wasn’t really sure whether he was for or against it. He said that he is a Christian, but considered himself to be pro-choice. When pressed on this, the man remarked that his father and brother are physicians, and that many years ago his father saw countless numbers of young women who had been injured seeking then-illegal abortions. The comment that struck me came next. He said that he would rather see these young women be able to get their abortions legally than see more of them injured through illegal means. I made a post last year on my old site (which you could find here if you want to look) where I laid out my case for why even though I believe abortion is wrong, it’s not in my power to stop someone from doing it. Looking back on that view, I would like to correct it. Abortion is wrong. Deathly wrong. Abortion is an easy way out of taking responsibility for an issue that we created for ourselves. If you are not ready for the responsibility of taking care of a child, don’t engage in a practice which can produce the child. Those young women who were injured getting illegal abortions refused to accept responsibility for the act they engaged in. If I commit murder, should I not face the consequences? If I steal a car, should I not go to jail? If I have sex, should I not be expected to raise the child that might be produced? Holding to my previous view allowed me to remove myself from the problem, as if by giving over the choice to someone else it absolved me of responsibility. What goes on around us, in our community, in our families, in our nation, is our responsibility. Don’t agree with me?
One day we will all be held accountable for how we treated those around us. Who deserves more protection than a child? My wife and I have a seven year old, six year old, 11 month old, and will have another child in less than two months. As their father, it is my responsibility to take care of them, to provide them shelter, food, clothing. I also must teach them they are responsible to those around them, a task given us by no less authority than Jesus Himself! So, no more nuanced, mealy-mouth positions on issues. In my early 20s, I was very black and white in my thinking. In my late 20s and early 30s, I allowed a lot of grey to be introduced into it. No more. We must be fully aware of what the Bible says and be willing to be laughed at by those around us for our views. I read a book not long ago that I’ll post about later that really challenged me on these points. Thoughts?
Feb
17
2009
Thoughts about Twitter and FacebookPosted by clay in Community, Friends, Internet, Uncategorized, tags: Community, facebook, twitterI’ve been fairly agnostic about Twitter. I didn’t really see a good use for it. I’ve been roughly of the same opinion on Facebook status updates as well. However, in the last few days, I’ve gotten more of an idea of the usefulness of said tools. I’ve found that he Facebook status update provides a sense of community with others that you are friends with. It doesn’t replace face to face interaction, but it can help keep people closer who are separated by great physical distances. If the status updates are honest, you can get a feel for the highs and lows, the ebb and flow of a person’s life. You can encourage them when they are down, congratulate them when they report something good, and just generally keep in touch. Twitter is a little more difficult to nail down. The best example of something useful I’ve found is a weather update that I get from the chief meteorologist at WFAA in Dallas, Pete Delkus. Mr. Delkus uses Twitter to send forecast information and severe weather updates. I found it fairly handy last weekend when we had storms rolling through, and Mr. Delkus would update with when the storms would generally arrive in Dallas or Fort Worth. That is useful, timely information that I like to have. I don’t really get into the minutiae of daily life from others on Twitter. It doesn’t really hold my interest all that much. Are there other things that you find useful about Twitter and Facebook?
Feb
16
2009
Hosting issuesPosted by clay in Uncategorized, mezzamorphis.com, tags: mezzamorphis.comMy webhost transferred to a new server this weekend. As a result, I lost the last couple of posts. Really no big deal as I can recreate them. However, I did lose a couple of comments also, so Chris and Kimberly, comment again if you want to.
Jan
16
2009
This weekendPosted by clay in Uncategorized, Worship Exodus, Writing Series, tags: Worship Exodus, Writing SeriesStarting tomorrow morning, you will start seeing posts from an old series of mine called Worship Exodus. One of the old posts will go up Saturday through Tuesday. On Wednesday, the first new post in several months will be added to the series. Let me know your thoughts!
Sep
27
2008
A sensible take on the current economic crisisPosted by clay in Uncategorized, tags: bailout, banking, economy, healthy, mortgage crisisI’m not an economist, so I really can’t speak in detail about ways to get our nation out of the current crisis. However, the CEO of a bank is qualified to speak to it. This is part of a letter reportedly sent by John Allison, CEO of BB&T, to all members of congress.
Good stuff.
Sep
25
2008
The government-sponsored economic crisis has happened before…Posted by clay in Uncategorized, tags: bailout, economyWas doing some link chasing on Wikipedia and came across this:
I’m not saying it’s a perfect comparison, but there are enough similarities to be worth the read. So, because my web host can’t really figure out that my old database is not usable, I’ve decided to create a new WordPress database so that my site at least shows up again. Until they get the old database fixed, I’m going to leave this post up. ReliableSite.net, my current web host, has been really good the last few months. However, all of the sudden they have decided that customer service is not important, actually replying to customer concerns is inconsequential, and they have little to no desire to help me with my issue. I’m not happy about it, but I’m also not in a big rush to change web hosts. I hope they get my database fixed by this weekend, but I’m not going to hold out much hope on it. I shut down my old site, thinking that I would rather post anonymously. However, I haven’t posted at all. I’m really not as concerned about privacy as much as I thought I was. I am who I am. If someone doesn’t like it, that’s pretty much tough. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more now that school is done, Katie is here, and I’m trying to fill up free time. To that effect, I’ve brought all my old site content over here. I like my new website name better, and I’m using WordPress, which seems to function a bit nicer than Community Server did. I’ll see if I can finish up a couple of my old series, and continue writing. Thanks for sticking with me! And come on over to Mezzamorphis! |
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