Deeds vs Doctrine

It's my theological struggle. I'm rushing headlong into Lent with a lack of spiritual direction. Do I give up something (meat, bread, cheese, wine?) or perhaps this year I "do" something instead. We're saved by grace but I feel closer to God when I give....Can I have a give and take relationship with the Lord?

Deeds vs Doctrine...maybe I'll just diet.

Wrestling demons....in my stomach.
Spent last night crippled over after getting some type of stomach bug, incurable by all known medications or at least those within my reach. Still feeling lingering effects this morning. The personal drama did land me briefly in a weird zone where I alternately felt like one of those adopt-me-for-only-pennies-a-day kids you see on TV with the distended stomachs and a heroin-waif model hunched over the toilet with my finger down my throat. Not many people have both those experiences in one night. Today a Colorado man is being charged with murder for giving his 4 and 5 year old kids cough syrup because it warned that it was for use only on people over 12...and the Joe Millionaire guy has announced a "World Tour" where he expects to make 15 thousand bucks per appearance, greeting his many fans.

Pass the cough syrup...and the maalox.

Life is just a fragile dance...
Nine people have died in the ice storm in Texas, including three illegals who froze to death in the valley....but the weeds in my back yard are thriving. Shouldn't we take more notice of that?
Seems like a pretty obvious message to me. Nature has a way of humbling us.

What I need is a job where you can be wrong 50 percent of the time and they still pay you....I should be a weatherman.
Ice storm in San Antonio today. I had to pry my car door open with a screwdriver and then improvise an ice scraper out of a cassette holder. Who needs this? Just fielded a call from a woman who wanted me to tell her the temperature...I said it was 80 degrees, everything else was just in her head. Do I look like I'm the "time and temperature" number?
No sleep...so I'm grouchy. Can't wait for every school kid within 200 miles to start calling asking if classes are cancelled.

Sunday, February 23, 2003
Winter Guard is goofy. My youngest stepdaughter is taking part in Winter Guard competitions again. I love watching her, but I have to admit most of the time I spend watching the other kids I'm thinking, "Just don't laugh...at least not out loud". There must be a requirement that the kids have to be dressed in costumes that are at a minimum unflattering, and preferably just plain horrifying. During one segment there were perhaps 5 heavy girls dressed in two piece velvet-like costumes with hip hugger pants....It was like watching a show the FOX network rejected.

posted by Michael | 6:30 AM
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Received word this morning that Sylvie Harris had died. Sylvie was my Aunt's mother. I spent several years living with her following the death of my parents. Although I didn't always get along with my Aunt and Uncle, Sylvie was a constant. She never changed, never challenged. Hers was a steadfast love. I needed her more back then than I realized at the time. I appreciate her so much now. I will miss her but I am thankful that I shared a small number of her 93 years.

God Bless you Sylvie.

I Think...Therefore I Write

I think I should write something here everyday,and since no one reads this but me I don't feel I have to be especially inspired. Today a 17 year old girl who got the wrong blood type heart and lungs in a botched transplant is about to go under the knife again in North Carolina. The "experts" say her chances are 50-50, better odds than the person whose organs she's getting I suppose.
How do you get the blood type wrong in something like this? Isn't that the first thing on your checklist?

It should be.

Sometimes I like to see what erupts when I simply type whatever comes to mind. No fanciful preplanning. No direction. No sense mostly.

Alas, the lack of a muse.

Life is uncertain...that much we know.
A close friend's mom suddenly became disoriented this week and had to be hospitalized as doctors try to determine why she lost touch with reality. It reminds me how fragile our lives our, how quickly our world can change, and how we should appreciate what we have each day.

As I write this San Antonio police are investigating a murder. Typical crime stuff...two guys shot at a bar... one of them is dead.

Guess it's not typical to him.

Sad that it's become typical to me.

And So It Begins

This is my first post to my "blog" and admittedly it's simply to see if it works. Since I suspect it won't, I don't think I'll say much more.