Writer's Block Again

Umm, yeah…nothing.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 5 May 2008, 10:19 | Comment [3]

Why Were You Searching For Me?

I’m getting ready to go “get my swole on!” I’m trying to lose a little weight and build some muscles at the same time, so two-a-day workouts take up a lot of time. Anyways, before I run out of April, I wanted to share this thought that popped into my head.

“Why were you searching for me?” ^[1]

I hear a lot about people looking for Jesus, looking for proof, looking for fruit. Honestly, I think many of us are just looking for validation of our beliefs. Why are we looking for him? Don’t we know where he is? And if we don’t, can telling us help us to find him any easier?

I know, it probably isn’t a satisfactory thought for many, but this is what strikes my fancy. Jesus questions his parents, the two mortals who have reportedly witnessed more than anyone on earth about the miraculous call on his life, on why they had to search for him and why they wouldn’t know where to find him.

So, the question is, are you searching? And if you are, why?

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 29 April 2008, 20:26 | Comment

There Is No Formula

Once we’ve found ourselves alive in Christ, there is no formula. There is no formula that can keep us here (there wasn’t one to get us here), there is no formula to enact it, to make it more real, to release the power. We simply don’t control it, and I think that is what really drives people nuts and drives them to and from different beliefs; the desire to control what happens to them.

But control is an illusion.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 14 April 2008, 04:49 | Comment [9]

As Promised

I told you that I would post a pic of the tattoo when I got a chance. Well, I just got a new digital camera, so here’s my chance.

If you can’t tell what it is, it is a representation of a phoenix. It isn’t true to the mythology of the phoenix, as in the phoenix bursts into flame and the bird is reborn out of the ashes. This bird is flying while on fire.

Still, it’s a phoenix, an image of rebirth. Which is why it came to mind to have a phoenix, but I don’t like all of the oriental phoenix birds that look like peacocks or turkeys on fire. I made sure that this one would resemble a bird of prey.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 31 March 2008, 06:28 | Comment [9]

Why Were You Worried?

The story of Jesus at 12 years old going to Passover with Joseph and Mary popped into my head the other day walking back from the gym.

“Why were you worried? Surely you realized I must be about my father’s business?”

I remember being taught things that made it seem as if God was just sitting around waiting on me to make the right decision so he could be released to work in my life or the lives of those around me. I don’t know why the story brings me to that point, because I don’t think they relate that closely. Perhaps its in the thought that Jesus didn’t ask their permission.

Salvation always seems to be sold that way, us giving permission to God to do what he wants to do for us, in our lives. I’m of the opinion now that God does things his way. You do what you want, go back to Galilee for all I care, God is already busy doing his thing. He doesn’t need yours or my permission, and I’m not altogether convinced we’d approve of how he gets it done anyways.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 21 March 2008, 20:56 | Comment [3]

Flesh vs. Spirit, Not the Other Way Around

Some recent discussions about things Paul and Peter said popped in my head, triggered by another discussion. See, there’s this thought in our heads that the spirit is concerned about the things of the flesh. Really, the only thing concerned with “the flesh” is flesh trying to portray itself as spiritual. Paul talks about their ends being contrary to each other, and truly, they are.

Now, I say flesh, and by flesh I mean something similar to ego, because the ego seeks for its own benefit. The ego looks inward, “How do I look? How do I appear to others?” And it is motivated to act and behave in order to justify its own responses.

The spirit can be said to have an origin apart from us. That is, it isn’t generated by us, and so it does nothing to feed the ego. The spirit does not seek to be its own source, but the flesh seeks to be the source in order to reap the recognition.

In some ways, the flesh and the spirit can seem to be working in the same direction, but this is the game of the flesh, to appear as if the spirit is at work. Its aim is instead to feed the inward looking, “Don’t I look spiritual?” The ultimate expression of the spiritual ego-trip is the assumption that if we all worked to look spiritual in the same way (even extant of the concept of God), we could really achieve some good.

Really, the thought behind the curtain is the flesh saying, “If everyone thought/acted the way I do, everything would be much better.”

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain…I am the Great and Wonderful Wizard of Oz…err, aren’t I spiritual…oh, damn!

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 17 March 2008, 22:07 | Comment [5]

Vocabulary

I bought my wife an MP3 player for Christmas. She’d been wanting one, but couldn’t ever get around to figuring which one would be a good one to own and use. I searched around and found one for a good price and sent it to her in time for Christmas.

Shortly after Christmas, she complained that the manual didn’t tell her what the controls were and how it worked. I told her that since iPod had come on the scene, all MP3 player manufacturers have tried to make the controls on their MP3 players "intuitive".

“What does intuitive mean?” she asked me on IM, “Does that mean ‘user-friendly’?”

“Yes,” I typed.

“Then why didn’t you just use ‘user-friendly’?” she asked, “I’m going to look up a fancy word for ‘jackass’ and start using that when I talk about you!”

Vocabulary doesn’t always accomplish what it was intended. Sometimes words just get in the way of trying to express what we mean. My wife isn’t uneducated, and she isn’t slow. In fact, her tongue is nearly as sharp as her wit. She just doesn’t have the exposure to all the words that I have, and in my attempt to be concise by using a “two-dollar word” to say what I mean, I actually made it harder for communication to happen.

Sometimes, we’re our own worst enemies when it comes to communication. The way we say things and how we say them can make the communicating process messy.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 2 March 2008, 19:47 | Comment

Apology

I just want to apologize to those who stop in every now and then to read here on the dearth of material lately. I guess if I were to point to any one thing in particular, it is hard to be able to place thoughts into that order that meets my criteria for sharing here. Trust me, I have lots of thoughts, but it seems that I don’t have any time, and time is what it takes for me to extract those thoughts into written words.

That’s probably because I think about a million miles a minute, but a properly composed thought-into-words can take, on average, a half hour or more depending on the complexity and depth of the attention I put into it (this bit has only cost me 15 minutes though). I do not know when or if this will change, so I apologize and thank you for whatever patience you continue to show towards me.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 2 March 2008, 07:59 | Comment [5]

Bad News

My mother-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage. Started out with gall stones and when they went to remove the gall stones, they found the cancer. What’s worse, that wasn’t the only place that they found it.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 22 February 2008, 19:18 | Comment [6]

Leave, Cars, and Tattoos

I went home on leave and now I have a new car and a tattoo. The car is the new Saturn Outlook and the tattoo is a custom drawing of a phoenix on my right shoulder.

I’m getting back into the swing of things here, so I’ll write more as I have more time. And pictures to follow eventually.

Posted by: HarryTick™ on 12 February 2008, 20:00 | Comment [1]