Do Hard Things

I tried to read "Do Hard Things" in its entirety last night. It is not very long but long enough to take me a few hours. I started at 1 in the morning and I made it to about 3. I read about half of the book before sleep overtook me. I guess I am just not cut out to "do hard things".

 

Trendy

So I have enjoyed searching with Google's new trend search. What google did was they kept track of all of the searches that people did over the past 4 years. Now you can use that information to do statistical graphs. Some of the correlations are amazing. I started simple:

This is a simple graph of when people search for ice cream. Notice that it is mostly in the middle of the year (ie. the summer). It for the most part is consistent from year to year. The bottom graph is the news stories concerning the subject. Here it models the same pattern. People like ice cream in the summer but are not to excited about it in the winter. So what about hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate has the opposite effect. Except for in the middle of the summer of 2005. I don't remember a cold spell but it looks like something significant took place. The little flags are news stories that took place at those times. I cut those out because they are often irrelevant. But sometimes really funny.

Weight has an interesting graph. Looks like it pretty well describes human nature. Good intentions but lack of results. Notice that the news graph increases but the search graph is pretty regular.

People are strange creatures. This graph tells a lot. I dont know if people are happy during the holidays or if they are looking for happiness. There is a mirrored effect that adds to the graph. Notice the news go up for depression in 2008. The double meaning of the word changes some of the statistics.

Now for controversial topics in our society. I looks like people are still pro-life. I like how this graph fluxuates with the issues.. There is a lot of symmetry.

Next I decided to use this to answer questions, like which gaming system is the most popular? Xbox has a lot more tradition behind it perhaps I should have added the 360. Regardless the wii took over the market pretty fast. Next I asked, is love really the greatest?

Yes it appear the greatest of these is love. I know it is heresy to judge the bible by popular opinion. Finally to answer the age old question, which Bloom boy is the most popular?

Mom was right all along. Good try James. Rex and Dave have been woefully deceived.

Ping Pong with a Theologian

I played ping pong against Dr. Larry Dixon an author and seminary professor. Our match went something like this. Yet he bested me. I fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Theologian when ping pong is on the line!

 

Onomatopoeising words

One of my hobbies is to take words that are not onomatopoeias and say them as if they are. For instance imagine if the word "eat" was not only a word describing the mastication of edible substances but it was the sound you made in doing so. "mmm this is good," eat eat eat eat, "real tasty," eat eat eat. Here is a list of some that come to the top of my head:

Run
Flatter
Kiss
Bump

Some are harder to imagine than others, like befuddle.

Mixed up ads

It makes me laugh when I see ads that use sex appeal for somthing so intitutional. It is like they took an eharmony ad and mixed it with a online degree ad. Like it really matters if the girls in my online class are hot. Maybe it works. Who knows? If it does work then the cleaning industry should really take note.

Marky Driscoll

I have really grown to like Mark Driscoll. I feel that his preaching is really clear, very simple, and yet rooted in Jesus Christ. In one particular sermon he explains the contextualization of the church in a really clear way. In explaining why his church has an 8:30pm meeting he said that in this day single people don't get up until the crack of dinner, after which he said:

"Welcome all you guild leaders, Jesus love you too."

I would love to preach at a church where I could make that joke!

A light hearted post

Kip: Walks up to our recruiting booth.

Kip: Are all of your business cards blurry?

Israel: No I think that one just got double printed the others are fine.

Kip: Proceeds to look through 150 business cards looking for blurry ones while talking about business.

Johnny: Pretending to text on phone while taking pictures

Lauren: Desperately trying not to laugh

Kip: Continues to talk about something that I didn't hear because I got the perfect picture.

Job Offers

I got a job offer today that I had to turn down. It is always sad for me to say no. This was not just a job it was a ministry opportunity and one that I could do very well. I am a people pleaser and so my first reaction is to try and make it work. In this case it was a summer job and there is no way I could make it work. So I am left here just a little bit flattered that I was wanted and a little sad that I am not able to help. 

Failed

Well I failed to accomplish my 3 goals. I am reinstating them for this school year but my track record is not very good. I live in a constant state of catch-up. I feel that I never get ahead which is where I wish I was. I am always amazed at the people who have done something consistantly everyday. Especially if they have been doing it for years. I dont have habits like that. 

I was reading in 2 Timothy and was amazed when Paul said "I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience..." One of my biggest sources of guilt is my failure to give God the time he deserves. We are told to read our Bible pray everyday and we will grow, grow, grow. Yet this is difficult for me. I have never had a long extended period of time where I read the bible as a habitual daily task. This is a source of shame amoung Christian circles and I really cant say that I serve God will a clear concious. This is not because of sin but because of my own expectations that I hold myself to and expectations that people say I should have for myself.