Ick.

4 kids hacking and spewing vermin all over the place and a dentist appointment... Could my week start out any better?

Could be worse I guess. I could have been hacking and spewing vermin all over the place while I was in the dentist chair.

It's been a long couple of nights... and if you think it has been long for me... then you can about imagine how long the nights have been for Sydney.

Is it just me?

Or does everybody have troubles with their blogger sign-on?

I always get about halfway through with my password and I am not sure if I did it right so I have to go back and start over...

It just didn't feel right...

This leads me into my next point... I think I have a slight case of OCD. I didn't know what OCD was until last night I was perusing the channels and I stopped on MTV and it was a special on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder... and it caught my eye because this guy was putting his deoderant on a specific way... and I thought... THAT'S ME! Well not quite... but there was an uncanny similarity. Now when I say that I have a "slight" case of OCD... I mean it only pertains to certain things... Like when I get out of the shower... before I shut the water off, I always count backwards from 10... TWO TIMES. So, maybe my bathroom behavior is only OCD... 'cause I really can't think of anything else I am Obsessive Compulsive about.... But the more I think about it... the more I come up with. Hm.

ANYWAY, I guess that information is "for your FYI."

LOST

No, I am not speaking of the TV Show Lost... I have this week's episode recorded on Tivo and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet... SO don't ruin it for me...

What I am speaking of is me on the way to work today... I am driving along and in the distance I see my turn... I am deep in thought thinking about life... my bible study this morning etc... and I make the usual turn without thinking or reading the sign... I am driving along and suddenly, I see a barn with cows along the side of the road and I am thinking, "When did they put that up??" Of course then I realize that I turned down the wrong road and my next thought was... "WHERE am I??" For a moment, I was in the Twilight Zone. Well, it just so happened that I turned 13 miles north of my normal turn... (Who does that?) 13 miles? I can understand 3 miles... but 13? Anyway, it was too late to turn around, so I went straight towards the town in front of me... and since I was there... I decided to stop by the Cenex station for some breakfast. Wouldn't you know it, they had a sausage, egg and cheese croissant sandwich all ready for me... they NEVER have one of these when I stop in to grab a quick bite and so I have to settle for the original flavored breakfast burrito that gets stuck halfway down my throat because I didn't chew my food well enough. It never fails that I have to guzzle some water to get the breakfast burrito "unlodged" from my esophagus.

ANYWAY... It was a long way to go for breakfast... but well worth the trip.

Morning Coffee and a Dilbert Calendar...

I have a Dilbert daily calendar...



It was a christmas present that my mother-in-law bought by accident... she thought she was buying a far side calendar, but she purchased a dilbert calendar instead. I must admit that I have never read Dilbert but it is extremely hilarious.

On Friday, Dilbert was in charge of hiring a contractor... he was instructed to "go with the lowest bidder." So he hired a beaver that was willing to do the job if he could "chew wood."

Monday, the beaver starts making excuses why he wasn't getting the job done...

Tuesday, Dilbert goes to his boss and says, "The project is behind schedule because our contractor is a lazy beaver."

I don't know why I find this humorous... but I laughed out loud on this one. "Lazy Beaver"... where does this guy come up with these things?

Is it sad that one of the highlights to my days is drinking coffee and reading my Dilbert calendar? (Of course this is a rhetorical question and needs no answer from all of my faithful readers.)

To the Makers of TheraFlu

I am sick; but you have made life bareable.

Thanks.

I don't know about you...

But I need to get back on the straight and narrow... "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it"; I don't know about you, but I don't want to be one of "the many." It's not as if I am living a life that is steeped in sin... but I realize that even this statement is simply just my way of justifying my current state. If I have to be transparent, I am not actively choosing to follow Him daily.

I am just living. Existing.

It's frustrating.

So how does one enter through the narrow gate? How does one NOT be consumed by life and therefore become one of the many?

I am not arguing that one’s life has to be full of works; of course, works do not save you... but in the same breath, one has to take steps toward living a life that is honoring to God. You must take actions to ensure that you are growing. Of course we are saved by grace, but if you don't make a conscious choice to follow His instructions... then are you really choosing Him? There is a certain level of obedience that must occur if we are to be true followers of Christ. In other words, while there is nothing to we can do to earn our salvation; our actions do matter. I was raised under the doctrine of "once saved, always saved." But the older I got the more I am not sure I agree with this thought process. This seems to imply that once you ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins... you can pretty much live your life however you want and there is no condemnation for any of your actions. For the first 22 years of my life, I was pretty much living a life that reflected this. Again, I don't believe that this idea of “once saved, always saved” is accurate. For example, can one choose to walk away from Christ even after you have made the commitment to live for Him? Can you fall back into a sinful lifestyle and, as a result, in the end… fall short of being eligible for God’s grace? Romans 8:1 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But what does "for those who are in Christ Jesus" really mean." I believe that it means that if you believe that Jesus, God’s Son, died for your sins and you ask him to forgive you for your sins that you will be saved… But is this all there is? Can you just say the words and that is good enough? Or does being "in Christ Jesus" also mean that as a result of your decision to follow Him that will you also be obedient? If you have a humbling moment where you say a prayer and you truly ask for forgiveness, but then later on, you choose to live a life that is contradictory to God’s word… Are you truly saved? Or will you come before the Lord on the day of judgment and as a result of the lifestyle you have chosen, will He say: “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23) If I am being completely honest, this thought scares the crap out of me.

So, what does it mean to have the Lord know you? Of course He knows everything about us… but what does it truly mean to know the Lord? I believe that it means to have a relationship with Him and follow His commands. If we seek Him, we will find Him and we will know Him. I believe that being a Christian is a daily thing… I believe that we need to choose to follow Him moment by moment… and we need to choose to be obedient. Without a doubt, we are saved by grace… but I also believe that this precious gift comes as a result of our decision to actively choose Him; furthermore, while our actions do not save us, they will be evident as a result of choosing to follow Him. As long as you are seeking His will for your life and you are daily choosing Him, then my thoughts are: it doesn’t matter if you believe that “once you are saved, you are always saved” or not; what matters is that you have a personal relationship with Him and that He knows you.

After working through this whole passage I don’t mean to imply that after making this choice to follow Him, that we are going to be perfect. Of course we will not be. We will still fail at times… we will still sin. But if we are “in Christ Jesus” then we will not be condemned.

The tough part about this is that I know that I am not choosing Him daily… and I need to make this change… I need to be in His word… I need to be in a daily relationship with Him so He knows me and I know Him. It is definitely a challenge for all of us. Our actions do matter… it is clear that we first need to ask for forgiveness, repent (or flee from our evil ways) and then we need to do the will of the Father.

13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21 Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Coming full circle... living life is more then merely existing. I need to think about how I am living my life and whether I am honoring Him in everything I do. Am I doing the will of the Father?

I don't know about you... but for me...change is coming.

MiM is temporarily closed...

At least for a day or two... Work is extremely busy at this time of year. Will be back soon.

Feel free to comment away or make your own post in my comment section.

Two words: Good and Times.

We had an amazing time with the Hula's. It's crazy how well Sydney and I got along with Hula Doula, Hula Hubby and their kids. Talk about feeling welcome. Hula met us at the airport, and picked us up... and immediately we became instant friends. There was literally not a break in conversation from the time she picked us up until the time we left. And Sydney's gut hurts from the amount of laughing that she and Hula Doula did.

The weather couldn't have been served up more perfectly if we had ordered it from a fancy restaurant. Saturday... we all jumped in their Ford Excursion and went and enjoyed the outdoors. The temperature was 70+ degrees and we walked and talked while their kids played and enjoyed the afternoon at Red Rocks Park. After that we went to The Cheesecake Factory and GORGED ourselves on mammoth size portions of food. There were a total of 5 adults and 2 kids (not including Benji) and we could have fed a small third world country with table of food that was set before us. I had some spicy chicken tacos and they were good. I was actually doing okay until I ordered the cheesecake... Of course one cannot go to the cheesecake factory and not order cheesecake... and I paid dearly for it as passed out as a result of the painful bloating that was going on in my belly; fortunately, Hula and Sydney were able to drag me out of the restaurant and tie me to the top of that same Ford Excursion. Because of their quick thinking, the fresh air calmed my aching gut and I was able to regain my composure.

After this, we went back to their house and watched the Seattle/Washington playoff game. Sydney and Hula Doula stayed upstairs and talked the whole time while Hula Hubby and I watched football (on his 52 INCH projection TV) and chatted. After the game, the Hula's lent us their van so we could go to our friend's wedding and besides me losing my cool because we were running late and I was driving in an unfamiliar city trying get from point "A" to point "B"... AND besides the fact that Sydney and I now need marriage counseling... everything went great. (No sarcasm there.) It definately didn't help that we had been up by 3:10 am that morning... and I was tired beyond words. BUT, we finally made it to the wedding and it was beautiful. We got back at about 10:30 pm and I went to bed shortly there after.

Sunday, we drove across town for brunch and got to meet the Mr. and Mrs. Genuine and the family. Hula Hubby and Genuine are brothers, so not only did we get to meet the Hula's but we were able to meet the Genuine family as well. It was a fun time... after the brunch, the Genuine's came over to the Hula's and we watched more football and just relaxed the whole afternoon. Sydney and I truly enjoyed the relaxing weekend. The hospitality that we experienced this weekend from Hula Doula and Hula Hubby was... well... I am completely at a loss for words. I knew that Sydney and I would get along with Hula Doula, but the surprise for me was getting along so well with her husband. I don't know why it was such a surprise... you would expect someone as cool as Hula being with a really cool guy as well... but I guess I expected to chat with Hula Doula all weekend with Sydney. Instead I found myself conversing with her husband for most of the the entire weekend... as we were driving home today, after the flight, I told Sydney, "I hope Hula wasn't offended that I hung out with her husband all weekend." Sydney said, "Are you kidding, she was surprised that he was so 'chatty' and that normally, he is a pretty quiet person."

ANYWAY... to sum up our experience... we were welcomed back at anytime... and of course the same welcome goes back the other direction. Without question, Sydney and I have made some new friends for life.

Thanks Hula's for making us feel so welcome. It was unbelievable how comfortable we felt in your home and how easily we were able to relate... not an awkward moment the entire weekend... (besides at the very end I went to give you (Hula Doula) a big hug and our heads kept going in the same direction and I felt like an awkward school boy trying to get his first kiss... yeah... that was awkward.) lol.

Checking in from...

COLORADO!

We are in the presence of greatness people! Yes... We are with the Hulas! Hula Doula, Hula Hubby, Hula Girl and Hula Boy! How cool is this? Good times! We will tell you all about it when we get back!

Blog friendships are the best...

I like having blog friends... Eddie was talking about trying to get rid of a real friend that...

"Whenever I am with them it is like being trapped in a coffin and every word they speak is like the dull thud of dirt being shoveled on top of me."

The nice thing about blog friends is that you don't have to make an effort to stop being their friends... you just stop visiting and commenting and then they stop visiting and commenting on your blog and then: "Viola"... the friendship has ended. And if they don't take the hint... then you can remove them from your blog roll and then they will really get the hint.

Blog friends are the best.

So, If I haven't visited in a while... well, sorry... the only thing I can say is:

"It's not you... It's me."

(Although I will say... that sometimes I don't visit because I am blogging at work and your blog has music on it and it scares the crap out of me when I go to your blog because my speakers are so loud as a result of listening to my "Walkman" too loud as a kid... Of course in this case, it's not you either... it's just me.)

Do I have an eating disorder?

Today my diet has consisted of:

3 oreo cookies for breakfast,
a cup of coffee,
8 Hersey's Almond Chololate Kisses,
a small (snack machine sized) bag of baked lays,
and a bottle of water.

Is this normal ... or even healthy?

Just curious.

Skewed Perspectives.

I was driving into work this morning and the morning sky was brilliant shades of orange and pink... few clouds in the sky... sun barely peeking out over the horizon...

Promising start to a new day.

The sky was lined with the vapor trails from airplanes that were streaking through the picture... Have you ever noticed that these exhaust trails are perfectly straight? You would think that planes would at least have some margin of error that would cause them to meander back and forth a bit... but not the case. Maybe it would look like that if we were closer, but because we are viewing it from such a great distance that this distance skews our perspective. I think that we all probably live life with a slightly skewed perspective... and that is not necessarily a bad thing. If this were not the case, we would most likely concentrate too much on the imperfections in life and miss the beauty that God has given to us for our viewing pleasure.

I have decided that I am going to conquer the world.

Hello, My name is "Ben the Conqueror"......but for those of you who consider me a friend... "Great One Who Conquers the Entire World" will be sufficient.

I bought a new game with my Christmas money. I know that the money was supposed to be spent on framing my Bachelor's and Master's degrees (which is underway as we speak), but Sydney spent her Christmas money, that was supposed to pay for her new sewing machine thing-a-ma-jigs, on doing her nails... Now let me state that for the record (before some crazy woman reader of mine... *do I have any of those?* goes off about how important doing nails are and that I need to understand this) that I really don't mind Sydney doing her nails... because if she does... then I figure that I can justify buying a really cool video game.

Yes ladies, Nails = really cool video game.

SO... I bought the best video game in the history of video games. Sid Meier's: *Dant Donna Da!*

"CIVILIZATION IV."

I had CIV II and it was a great game... so I figure "CIV IV" has to be at least 2 times better. Right? So, I will be scouting territory, building cities, making pacts, creating settlers... building more cities, declaring war and discovering technologies. In short, I will be conquering the world.

Note to Katie:

Here is advice from your honorary big brother... if you want to catch a great guy... then football skillz do help. BUT... if you want to catch a really great guy... then you need to pick up the game Civilization IV and learn how to play it. Then you would be thee ideal woman. ;)

The sun is shining this afternoon, but I am still in a blizzard.

Have you ever driven in a Blizzard? You are slowly driving along and the whether conditions are such that, all of a sudden, you can't see anything... it's a complete whiteout and so you have to stop because you can't see where you are going... you have absolutely no idea where the road is but you can't stay where you are at because you might get nailed from behind by another vehicle.

Yeah, that's my career right now. No clue where I am going... but I can't stay here.

Just been in a funk today... but I will praise Him in the storm.

My vision is crystal clear... is your's?

Bug Bug will have glasses in a matter of days... she will be able to see clearly in a short while. But something happened Monday that improved my vision completely.

2006 roared in like a lion as 2005 went out like a lamb. Without question, it has been the saddest start to a new year that I have ever had. Monday, January 2nd... 3 of our international students were killed in a car accident. My last few days have been consumed by avoiding the press like the plague... I have been talking with relatives.... insurance companies... funeral homes... trying to catch up from the 2 weeks of emails that I needed to reply to... calling the students' parents, offerring our condolences from the university. I met two of the students' parents when I was in their home country...they are so distraught right now. I was just talking with them about 2 months ago in the Hotel Del Annapurna's lobby... one set of parents was beaming about their son and the promising future he had ahead of him. Yesterday I was on the phone with them and all his father could say was, "Ben, .... I lost my son! I lost my son Ben!" He was sobbing uncontrollably and it was by far one of the saddest things I have ever had to do. Can the year start out any worse?? I think not. It is such a sad deal. None of them were wearing their seatbelts in the back seat. The two girls were thrown from the car and were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The young man was airlifted to Minneapolis and died in the air.

Talk about bringing life into clear focus. You think you have your whole life ahead of you and "bam" (pardon the phrase)... your life is gone. Not that I am ancient... but young people think they are going to live forever... or for a long time at least... as you approach the final years of life... one can't help but know that the end is near... (No, Katie... I am not approaching my "final years" but my dad has mentioned this to me on more than one occasion.) This whole accident has been a painful reminder that you need to live life with an eternal perspective. If you live life in light of eterninty, then you can't help but keep the proper perspective. In reality, we only have a season that we are here and then... in a moment we are gone. Make sure that what you do counts. Are you consumed by your own desires or is everything you do done for the glory of God? How you spend your days is how you spend your life... if you are spending your days on trival things then your life has essentially become... well.... trivial. If are you making a difference by serving God in various ministry opportunities or reaching others for Christ... then that is how you are spending your life. Challenging thought.

You are only here for a moment... make it count.

Miss me?

Hm. What do you know... I forgot to tell everyone that Sydney and I were going on vacation for a couple of weeks.

We were up at her folks and I didn't have an internet connection. Well, that isn't entirely true... I had access to a connection; however, the only people that know about this blog is Sydney and Myself as well as all of you folks. This is intentional as this gives me/us the ability to write things down and not worry about having family reading all of my/our thoughts. Kinda of "secretive"... I know... but that is how I want it. It's an on going journal of my life and I don't really want my family reading it. One of the things that allows me to write so candidly is the fact that nobody but Sydney knows that I have this blog. Somehow, I think that if my folks, inlaws, and brother and sister knew about my blog... then I wouldn't be so straight forward. I don't want my words or thoughts to be reticent or restrained. Somehow, I think I would become self-concious and not be able to put my thoughts to paper quite so easily. So... Anyway, that is why I didn't log on to MiM on my mother-in-law's computer.

BUT I am back. Miss me?

Vacation was good... I was a little bored. Normally, I go fishing up at Lake of the Woods for a few days; however, My father-in-law wasn't able to get away from his business... not that I can't go by myself... but it helps if his fish house is up there already. And it wasn't... so I was stuck. I did go snowmobiling a couple of times. Spent a lot of time with Sydney and the Kids... and while I didn't do a whole lot... I did get to play alot of playstation with Jake. And I got a lot of smooches from Micker Mackers and Bug Bug. Spent a little time with Benji... but honestly, Benji is at one of my least favorite stages. Don't get me wrong... I love the little guy... but I like the ages of 2 and older; when you begin to see their personalities.

I had to come back today because I have to work tomorrow... but Sydney and the kids needed to stay up there for a few more days because we were able to get an eye appointment for Bug Bug. She has a sloop eye...

*Side Story*

In college during my "extensive wrestling career", there was a guy on the team named Jasen Sloop. He had one eye that would look every which way and you could never tell where he was looking or who he was talking to... When we would play cards in the van on the way to a wresting match... if someone caught somebody else trying to look at their cards they would say..."SLOOP EYE... SLOOP EYE!" Funny thing was... Sloop was normally paying cards with us... we were blatant when we mocked... but he didn't get it. Needless to say, he was about as smart as he looked. Nice guy though.

ANYWAY... Bug Bug doesn't really have a sloop eye... but she is far sighted and needs glasses. So, tomorrow... we will get a perscription and then... both Mickers and Bug will have glasses.

It feels good to be back... Missed all of you!

Happy New Year!