Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
On Towel Day...
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble‐sanded beaches of Santraginus Ⅴ, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand‐to‐hand‐combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindbogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright? At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value — you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble‐sanded beaches of Santraginus Ⅴ, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand‐to‐hand‐combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindbogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright? At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behaviour. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
On Temptation...
Say you have something wrong with your life. For the sake of this blog, let's say lust. You know its wrong, you want to stop, but you just can't seem to be able to. You're also doing your best to grow closer to Christ, but this is a major stumbling block. How do you approach it?
Well, I'd say there are two ways to approach it. The typical human way, and the spiritual way. Mankind likes to be in control. We want to do the big jobs, to be the explorers, to be perfect. We feel like we have to do something to make this happen, though. Er, do something as in physical action. With lust, man thinks, "I have to fight this horrid thing!" (Ok, we think that whenever we aren't thinking lustfully...but hey.) Sure, we pray and ask for help. We go to seminars. We get accountability pardners. But what's up with this? We're trying to be the ones causing growth. That's the problem. We think that if we can get rid of this trait, then we'll be closer to God.
I take a different view. Its nothing revolutionary, but it almost seems too simple and easy to be true. The bible says to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts. It says that if we confess our sins, then we can depend on him to wash us clean. It says we should be God's "tools", and that we should give all of ourselves to him, not just part. It says to trust in the Lord, for he will always be our strength. It says if we put God first, he will bless our path! This would be (back to the lust again) like saying, "Ok God, I'ma do my absolute best to get closer to you." Devote yourself! Ask yourself if you believe or if you're just there for the looks and benefits.
I'm guessing its obvious now which one I think. I realized that I've been trying to fix a problem of my own, but I was looking at it from the first angle. I wanted to fix my problem, and if I was able to do that, I would be closer to God! Yay! Only I can't fix it without God. That's sorta the problem here. You have to apply yourself and constantly ask God's will. Read the scriptures! God will take care of your problems if you're focused on him. Its how he rolls, and I gotta say that he rolls pretty awesomeley.
J~S
Well, I'd say there are two ways to approach it. The typical human way, and the spiritual way. Mankind likes to be in control. We want to do the big jobs, to be the explorers, to be perfect. We feel like we have to do something to make this happen, though. Er, do something as in physical action. With lust, man thinks, "I have to fight this horrid thing!" (Ok, we think that whenever we aren't thinking lustfully...but hey.) Sure, we pray and ask for help. We go to seminars. We get accountability pardners. But what's up with this? We're trying to be the ones causing growth. That's the problem. We think that if we can get rid of this trait, then we'll be closer to God.
I take a different view. Its nothing revolutionary, but it almost seems too simple and easy to be true. The bible says to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts. It says that if we confess our sins, then we can depend on him to wash us clean. It says we should be God's "tools", and that we should give all of ourselves to him, not just part. It says to trust in the Lord, for he will always be our strength. It says if we put God first, he will bless our path! This would be (back to the lust again) like saying, "Ok God, I'ma do my absolute best to get closer to you." Devote yourself! Ask yourself if you believe or if you're just there for the looks and benefits.
I'm guessing its obvious now which one I think. I realized that I've been trying to fix a problem of my own, but I was looking at it from the first angle. I wanted to fix my problem, and if I was able to do that, I would be closer to God! Yay! Only I can't fix it without God. That's sorta the problem here. You have to apply yourself and constantly ask God's will. Read the scriptures! God will take care of your problems if you're focused on him. Its how he rolls, and I gotta say that he rolls pretty awesomeley.
J~S
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