"101 in 1001" Update (6-1-2009)

This is an update on the "101 goals in 1001 days." So far it is going great. Six of them are fully completed (0.6%).You will have to look at each one to see the progress. However, I see one that needs some explaining.

Number 95 is not really a goal that one should be, publicly, trying to accomplish. But let me explain. I am a career firefighter, which means that one out of every three days I go to work at a station that is truly no different than a high school boys locker room (only with 25-50 year old men). So needless to say if one firefighter gets athlete's foot or something of that nature, we all get it. Also keep in mind that our bunker traps in more moisture than you would believe. Thus I am not ashamed of number 95. It is something that comes with the territory and IT WILL BE BEATEN.

SPIRITUAL
1. Read through the Bible.
2. Complete the Truth Project
3. Take a Lay Bible Institute class
4. Memorize 40 verses
5. Rewrite 3 Bible books
6. Fast 5 times
7. Pray like Daniel for 1month

PHYSICAL
8. Weight under 205 pounds
9. Triglycerides under 200
10. Run a sub- 7:00 mile
11. No lethal foods for 1 month
12. Deadlift 400 pounds
13. Drink a gallon of water for 1 month
14. Canoe
15. 100 consecutive Kettlebell Clean & Jerks
16. Keep a food journal for 1 month

MENTAL
17. Write 200 blog entries (4/200)
18. Read 80 books (5/80)
19. Complete the library reading program
20. Play one game per week for 3 months
21. Complete a Soduku book
22. Complete a Rubic Cube
23. Finish all half-read books (2/5)
24. Subscribe/listen to two podcasts for 3 months

FINANCIAL
25. Pay off Matlock rental mortgage
26. Fix Matlock rental's drainage and gutters
27. Increase savings to 10,000
28. Transfer Becca's KAPERS account
29. Increase Deffered Compensation to 100/paycheck
30. Close Capital One account
31. Add myself to Waddell & Reed account

CULTURE
32. Play "The Entertainer"
33. Take 500 quality photographs
34. Go to a symphony
35. Eat lobster
36. Go to a Christmas concert
37. Go to a musical/play/ or opera
38. See Tim & Karen perform

TECHNOLOGY
39. Get a new phone
40. Hook up AM antenna
41. Own 10 quality movies
42. Scan all old documents into Paperport
43. Assemble a Fire Engineering library (COMPLETED)
44. Collect 500 pieces of classical/instrumental music

FAMILY
45. Take Becca on a date every month
46. Have another baby
47. Complete and print out a will
48. Take Eli camping
49. Take a family picture
50. Decorate for Christmas
51. Cook 3 dinners for Becca
52. Take Eli swimming

SOCIAL
53. Write 15 letters
54. Go to a Men's Retreat
55. Contact Jeff Syrios (COMPLETED)
56. Write 4 cousin emails for 1 year
57. One houseguest per month for 1 year
58. Wear slacks to church for 3 months (2 IN A ROW)
59. 3 volunteer experiences

CAREER
60. Complete all promotional classes
61. Get Helmet Cam working
62. 101 Firefighting Tips (8/101)
63. Cook 4 different meals at the station
64. Spend 2000 on deductible station expenses
65. 10 Firefighter class certificates
66. Open money market account for station finances (COMPLETED)

HOUSE
67. Remortar chimney (COMPLETED)
68. Get rid of yard pond
69. Duct work
70. New gutters
71. Create garage storage
72. Remove all furniture from the garage
73. Fix basement stair
74. Upgrage dryer outlet
75. Get new bed

GIVING
76. Tithe 12% for 6 months
77. Perform 1 random act of kindness
78. Get someone to come to church with me
79. Take Amaya to Bushton
80. Make 10 homemade gifts
81. Support a ministry for 6 months

TRAVEL
82. Kansas City Royals
83. Arcadian Inn
84. Fishing w/ Grandpa Maurice (WEEKEND OF AUGUST 8TH)
85. Change oil before 4000 miles
86. Two family vacations outside Kansas
87. Create/follow a car maintenance schedule for 1 year

WICHITA 88. Zoo
89. Beacon for Breakfast
90. River Run
91. Gun Show
92. Movie in Warren balcony
93. Wingnuts game

PERSONAL
94. Go to the dentist twice with no cavities
95. Get rid of jock itch
96. Kill a deer
97. Buy a gun (COMPLETED)
98. Media fast for 1 month
99. Resole Doc Martins
100. New Pair of Jeans (COMPLETED)
101. Create next "101 goals in 1001 days"

Do We Worship Other Gods?

I've had a question pop into my head within the last couple weeks. I'm reading through the Bible in our Sunday school class and we just finished up Judges. One of the fascinating things that I saw was how many times the Israelites bowed down and worshipped other gods. Ashteroths and Baals were mentioned several times as well as the gods of the Moabites and Ammonites. This strikes me as a huge departure from the LORD God. I would never bow down to another god. That would be no difference than me praying to Allah or bowing to Buddha. Or would it?

Is there a difference between the foreign gods of Israel and the idols of America (money, sex, success, power)?

I don't know. I can't help feel that those gods are far worse than these gods. I know sometimes I trust my checking account more than god, but does that mean that I'm "bowing" down and worhsipping another. As a Christian, I'm pretty sure that they are and maybe it's just my view that I'm better than them, or at least not as bad. By the way, working on humbleness is a top priority of mine.

My wife did give me some interesting insight, though. We live in a different time than the Israelites. We live in a time after the coming of Jesus the Christ. He taught us to view things differently. He says that not committing adultry is simply not enough. If you even look at another woman sexually, you are guilty of this sin. He says that you should not commit murder; but Christ says that even more than this you should not have anger towards your brother. And the list goes on and on.

Maybe we are held to a higher standard. It sure does make me think that God might be implying something like the following: You have heard it said that you should not have any gods other than the LORD you God. But even more, do not let anything today come between you and your God. I'm not trying to try and put words into God's mouth, but this thought has been plaguing me this week.

101 Goals in 1001 Days

http://www.dayzeroproject.com/
Day 1: May 11, 2009
Day 1001:


SPIRITUAL
1. Read through the Bible.
2. Complete the Truth Project
3. Take a Lay Bible Institute class
4. Memorize 40 verses
5. Rewrite 3 Bible books
6. Fast 5 times
7. Pray like Daniel for 1month

PHYSICAL

8. Weight under 205 pounds
9. Triglycerides under 200
10. Run a sub- 7:00 mile
11. No lethal foods for 1 month
12. Deadlift 400 pounds
13. Drink a gallon of water for 1 month
14. Canoe
15. 100 consecutive Kettlebell Clean & Jerks
16. Keep a food journal for 1 month

MENTAL
17. Write 200 blog entries (3/200)
18. Read 80 books (3/80)
19. Complete the library reading program
20. Play one game per week for 3 months
21. Complete a Soduku book
22. Complete a Rubic Cube
23. Finish all half-read books (2/5)
24. Subscribe/listen to two podcasts for 3 months


FINANCIAL
25. Pay off Matlock rental mortgage
26. Fix Matlock rental's drainage and gutters
27. Increase savings to 10,000
28. Transfer Becca's KAPERS account
29. Increase Deffered Compensation to 100/paycheck
30. Close Capital One account
31. Add myself to Waddell & Reed account

CULTURE
32. Play "The Entertainer"
33. Take 500 quality photographs
34. Go to a symphony
35. Eat lobster
36. Go to a Christmas concert
37. Go to a musical/play/ or opera
38. See Tim & Karen perform


TECHNOLOGY
39. Get a new phone
40. Hook up AM antenna
41. Own 10 quality movies
42. Scan all old documents into Paperport
43. Assemble a Fire Engineering library
44. Collect 500 pieces of classical/instrumental music


FAMILY
45. Take Becca on a date every month
46. Have another baby
47. Complete and print out a will
48. Take Eli camping
49. Take a family picture
50. Decorate for Christmas
51. Cook 3 dinners for Becca
52. Take Eli swimming

SOCIAL
53. Write 15 letters
54. Go to a Men's Retreat
55. Contact Jeff Syrios
56. Write 4 cousin emails for 1 year
57. One houseguest per month for 1 year
58. Wear slacks to church for 3 months
59. 3 volunteer experiences


CAREER
60. Complete all promotional classes
61. Get Helmet Cam working
62. 101 Firefighting Tips
63. Cook 4 different meals at the station
64. Spend 2000 on deductible station expenses
65. 10 Firefighter class certificates
66. Open money market account for station finances


HOUSE
67. Remortar chimney
68. Get rid of yard pond
69. Duct work
70. New gutters
71. Create garage storage
72. Remove all furniture from the garage
73. Fix basement stair
74. Upgrage dryer outlet
75. Get new bed


GIVING
76. Tithe 12% for 6 months
77. Perform 1 random act of kindness
78. Get someone to come to church with me
79. Take Amaya to Bushton
80. Make 10 homemade gifts
81. Support a ministry for 6 months


TRAVEL
82. Kansas City Royals
83. Arcadian Inn
84. Fishing w/ Grandpa Maurice
85. Change oil before 4000 miles
86. Two family vacations outside Kansas
87. Create/follow a car maintenance schedule for 1 year


WICHITA
88. Zoo
89. Beacon for Breakfast
90. River Run
91. Gun Show
92. Movie in Warren balcony
93. Wingnuts game


PERSONAL
94. Go to the dentist twice with no cavities
95. Get rid of jock itch
96. Kill a deer
97. Buy a gun (COMPLETED)
98. Media fast for 1 month
99. Resole Doc Martins
100. New Pair of Jeans
101. Create next "101 goals in 1001 days"

Childhood Memories

It had been a while. You know those feelings we all had when we were a little kids. It's the feeling we got when we were at the peak of excitement doing the very thing we loved the most. For each of us, it was different. For some it was the wooden gun that had the like-real bolt action. For others it was teaching themselves to hit a volleyball against the side of their dad's garage. Well, this past month, I've been blessed to be reintroduced to two of my childhood loves.

As some of you know, my second job is working as a substitute teacher. This job allows me the opportunity to get caught up on fire department literature, practice my instructor capacities, and be home with my family at the very best hours of the day. Another thing that I get to witness is what the youth of today enjoy. Usually this depresses me--rap music, self-depressing poetry, cars to get away from cops, and drugs. Two incidents during the month of April gave me a little hope.

The first occurred at Bostic Elementary. I was subbing for a gifted class and it was time for them to begin silent sustained reading. Without hesitation, a little brown-haired girl pulled out a book that made my heart jump. Hank the Cowdog. For an instant I was taken back. Back to the days when our library first got this series and I spent hours reading about Hank and his sidekick Drover and the lame-brained escapades that occured on their Texas farm. Various parts of Dickerson's stories flooded my mind; taking a bath in the sewage lagoon, being convinced that he could capture the giant flying bird (air force bomber), and getting the crap beat out of him by many other dogs (I remember a boxer did him in quite well). Oh, the realities of growing up on my dad's farm began to come through and for a second I was back there out in the south pasture.

Once the brown-haired girl could get her book back from me, I realized I needed to return back to that time of innocence and adventure. I bought a lot of 10 Hank the Cowdog books that night on eBay!!!

The second memory-jumping experience occured this past Wednesday. I was subbing for a interrelated class for special needs students (elementary level). After looking through the lesson plans, the teacher wrote, 'If these don't work, just give them some crossword puzzles to do.' I laughed to myself and thought how this was a complete waste. But then I saw their subject. The very first puzzle made my heart jump even higher than seeing a Hank the Cowdog book. The crossword was entirely devoted to ... DINOSAURS.

Many of you will not understand the fascination, but as a kid I was infatuated with them. I even expected my kindgarden teacher to look up how to spell "paleontologist," because at age six all I wanted to do was dig up dinosaur bones. I had dinosaur books, posters, action figures, drawings, videos, computer games, and an imagination that convinced me every day that there was a Dienonychus constantly stalking me on the farm. It was one of the greatest periods of my life. I'm sad that it is not still a part of me.



But that sadness was soon removed. I grabbed an orange highlighter and within five minutes I had completed the crossword finding monsters such as Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Allosaurus. I kept that crossword. It is in the book I'm currently reading. I plan on keeping it as a reminder of the fun and dreams I had as a kid. Everytime I've seen it, I just get a big smile on my face and think to myself, 'Where is that Dienonychus now?'

I hope you, too, some day will run across the things that made your childhood come alive. There are few better feelings in this world.

Recommendation: Expelled

Last night, my wife, some friends, and I went to see the movie by Ben Stein, "Expelled." It was a fascinating movie that opens your eyes and would be well worth your money to see. It is even better if you have a couple VIP passes to get in the theatre, as we did. You just have to love seeing a movie for free!

The movie was a documentary in the same class as "Supersize Me" in that it takes on a large issue central to our society and tries to show the corruption and, in my opinion, cluelessness of that establishment. In SM, Morgan Spurlock takes on the fast food establishments. In "Expelled," Ben Stein takes on science, and more specifically evolutionary biology.

This movie had an amazing draw to myself because of my past as a geneticist at one of the premiere universities in the midwest. I was emmersed in the phylogeny charts that showed how one species came from another and how they diverged exactly at 6.4 millions years ago (not 7.2 million I guess). I had also seen the hostile separation between scientific thinking and religious thought. One instructor I begrudgingly worked under had actually told me that if we lined up all of the religious people in a row, he would personally 'shoot every one of them.' Needless to say, I didn't work there long. Although I didn't quit for these reasons, it didn't help. I soon realized that science wasn't going to bring me the answers that I needed for the questions I had.

Apparently Ben Stein thought the same thing. "Expelled" asks all of the scientific questions that I as a Christian have about evolutionary biology (EB). How did life begin? Where did the first cell come from if that is how life started? And it's amazing how the leading thinkers of EB answer--I remember three. One said that he didn't know, but he was sure that God was not part of the equation. That's a given for most scientists. Another said that we started as little proteins on the back of crystals. His theory had something to do with how crystals are imperfect so the piggy-backing protein would have an opportunity for mutation (and he said this as matter-of-factly as if I said 'I have brown hair.') The third one was from Richard Dawkins, author of the God delusion. He did give the idea of intelligent design a greater than 0% chance of occuring in the world. But he said--and I paraphrase--that if it did, it would likely take the form of a higher intelligence who gave our planet a seed to start the EB cycle. It was amazing to see him say this. One of the most intelligent scientists in the world and he's convinced that it is more likely for aliens to throw a seed out the window as they pass by in space than to say that there is a chance of something creating this for a purpose. Of course, this view isn't exclusive. Dr. Francis Crick, the discoverer of the DNA double helix, believes this occured and may be the founder of this movement.

In the movie, Stein also deals with the social implication of EB. He visits a Nazi concentration camp where those deemed "without purpose" were exterminated for the greater good. He speaks to those who agree that EB 1.) gets rid of God, 2.) gets rid of life after death, 3.) destroys free will, and 4.) destroys ethics. Now take all of this into account and you have what is happily going on in America today. Abortion, genocide (not here yet but closing in on us fast), removal of God from all institutions, relativism, freedom to perform any act of immorality that appeals to you, viewing criminals as victims rather than those who the crime was committed on, and the destruction of objective thought. Of course, those who would agree with me cooly refer to these things as natural selection and the advancement of the human race.

Anyways, I could write for hours about this. It was a great movie and my hat is off to Ben Stein.