“Even when faith is small,
When there’s no hope at all,
I hear Him say to me,
Trust in and you’ll see,
That I’ll supply all your needs,
If only you will believe.
All anxious doubts will cease,
While trusting in Me.”

We need to “come to know that the heavens do rule”—Daniel 4:26b.

(Crystallization-Study Outlines of Daniel and Zechariah, Msg. 1)

“We are here under God’s throne. When it is settled, whatever the throne decides concerning us, we are at peace.”

“We have to see that the heavens rule, because we are always going to be in environments that include all kinds of painful things. And we pray, and we pray for ourselves and whom we love, and the God who rules is silent and hiding, and it seems as if He doesn’t care or doesn’t even exist. But this is part of His rule over us to develop our faith, to perfect our faith. So as God’s elect, we need Christ to be wrought into us as our centrality and universality through our environment.”

“But this is what we were made for. We were made to express God and represent God. And we are not here for our souls. We are not here to have a life of ease. ”

“His administration over us, all the days of our lives until now, has been with this intention that Christ would become preeminent in everything related to us…And the Lord wants us to come with a loving heart and a willing spirit to tell Him that we would like to cooperate with His operation. ‘Lord, You are causing this to happen. I can’t promise that You would be first. Lord, only by Your dispensing, only by Your central work can I be like this. Do this for the glory of God, for the shame of Your enemy.'”

“Lord, start with my personal universe.”

I now have empirical evidence to prove what I’ve always suspected — that girls have an innate superhuman aptitude for Nerts that boys do not have.

Tonight’s scores:

• Sheri: 50 (or at least that’s what it felt like)
• John: 1
• Jon: 1

…at least I won one round.

I think it’s…

This morning started out wonderfully. As I was pulling the shower door shut, my hand slipped and slammed into the metal frame. Normally that wouldn’t be too bad, but after a shower, the skin is a little bit more vulnerable, so I ended up with a cut on the knuckle of my right index finger. Doesn’t really hurt, but it’s troublesome since you can easily smear blood on everything the knuckle brushes against. Especially not helpful when packing clothes and loading a car. I resolved it with a band-aid. Mini band-aids are so useful for little things like this.

So traffic. Yes, the I-5 is terrible near the holidays. There’s a high influx of vehicles, which means a higher percentage of people who don’t know how to drive on the I-5.

A few pointers:

• The left lane is the fast lane. If you are going 60mph, I don’t mind sharing the lane, but please be aware of cars behind you and move over to the right so that faster cars can pass.
• And if you are in the left lane, please, please don’t maintain the same speed as the car to your right. Either accelerate and go faster or just slow down and merge to the right. Otherwise, top speed for everyone else behind you drops to whatever you’re driving at because nobody can get past the two of you, which then creates a ripple effect. Which, I have a feeling, contributes to the traffic all along the I-5.

It seemed as if every rest stop along the way was swarming with people. There was one I saw with a line of cars so long that they were parked backed up on the exit ramp leading to the rest stop. It was kind of ridiculous.

Really appreciated the new Google maps app. Near Los Banos, I ended up doing an extended detour on the local streets because the app indicated red for a pretty long stretch of the upcoming road. It saved me about a half hour and it was kind of fun speeding through the countryside. There were heavy rainclouds up in the sky, but the sun was still shining, so it was real pretty contrast and all the fields were green. I saw abandoned trains, run-down farmhouses, and sheep! I even went through a rough patch of road that kind of melded into the fields right next to it. Kind of exciting, but I was slightly worried I might blow a tire with how fast I was going over those muddy potholes.

The whole stretch I ran into traffic at various points, even when I made it down to Orange County. At least there were no visible car accidents that I passed. But I hate when there’s traffic for no reason.

Sometimes…I just don’t agree.

Found this definition on Wikipedia:

Conventional wisdom is the body of ideas or explanations generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined.

I guess it bugs me when I feel that conventional wisdom isn’t taking into account the particulars or the specifics of a situation. I understand that conventional wisdom generally makes sense, but people can react to/approach/handle things differently. And maybe I just don’t like being bound by “convention,” especially convention that is unexamined.

When I put on my gloves, sometimes I like to think that they give me superhuman strength. That I could stop speeding trains with my bare hands, pound craters into the street (along with the ensuing shock wave), launch myself over obstacles with an inverted pushup.

 

I R still working…at home.

Busy bee, busy bee. Had deliverables to turn in which would’ve been easier to take care of at the office but came home earlier to be with mom. Brought laptop down to work, but was too far away from my own internet connection so lag and laptop screens are way too small. After half an hour of frustration and non-productivity, gave up and came back to my dual monitor setup in my room. Operation: Spending Time with the Mother = Fail.

Tap tap tapped until dinner with the Jeons. Was anxious about getting back to work since my boss needed the analysis tonight. Dinner – always delicious and fellowship felt too short even though I stayed for an hour. Came back to room and ran through the audits, fingers flying over the keypad, eyes darting all over the screens.

Now I’m done with that, but all wound up, and I still have another deliverable I’d like to get done tonight even though the NY partners don’t need it until the late morning, but that’s East Coast late morning.

I feel like blehhhh. Tense, jittery, tired. Eyes bleary. Not at all restful.

“The God of love, my Shepherd is,
Grace He doth give, me He doth feed;
O He is mine and I am His,
What else I lack? What else I need?

He brings me home, though oft I stray,
Restores my soul, His will to take;
I yet may fall, He guides the way,
On righteous path, for His name’s sake.”

Chinese Hymnal Supplement 134, stanza 3 & chorus

“Lord, I love You, willing to follow You,
To run the race, to be well-pleasing to You;
Make me faithful, closely joined to Your Spirit,
Until the end, fully victorious, forever loving You.

   Ever living Savior, my hope of glory,
   Enliven my spirit, sanctify my feelings;
   Make home in my heart, that I may be full of strength,
   To apprehend Your love with all the saints, expressing the fullness of our God.”

Music & Lyrics Here (YouTube Video)

Attended a memorial meeting in Davis today. For some reason, the heading on the program — “Loved by the Lord / Loved the Lord & the Church” — moved me profoundly.

And…paper towels are terrible for wiping up snot dribbles. But at least better than the back of one’s hands.