A Bike Story.

So there I am, riding fast along the train tracks, the sun feels warm in the brisk morning air! Riding fast now, getting into a rhythm, and maintaining a cool 18-19 MPH on my sweet new bike. The shadows from the tall grass to my right look rad on the pavement, and everything is awesome. EVERYTHING is awesome. Really feeling the speed now, I'm starting to salivate from the cool air moving past my face so quickly, and I feel the need to spit... so I do. Into the tall grass, with a smile on my face...

Oh look a bunny!

Oh look I spit on the bunny!

I SPIT ON A BUNNY!!!

...and that's my story.

My Plea

Please...
In the depths of frustration, pain, and confusion, 
don't use your thoughts for doubt, malice, despair, and self-mutilation. 
Use them for worship, discernment, creativity, wonder, and love. 
When ensnared in panic, seize patient wisdom. 
Live within His grace, not beneath your own whip.
and at every failure, precipice, and dilemma... 
ALWAYS choose hope over fear.

Life - the new MMO

If life were an insanely complex sandbox MMO, in which you could only create and play as one character, how would you play it? What stats would you want to develop for your character? What skills and sub-skills would you master, and what trade would you choose? What imaginative environments would you build? What kind of quests would you be drawn to? What type of characters would you party with to do great things together? How many reliable players would you add to your friend list? How would you play and interact to where other players thought you worthy of THEIR friend list? Would you join a guild? What type of guild, and what qualities would you look for it in its leadership? Or would you start a guild yourself, and lead them all toward a common purpose inspired by your great vision? How many places would you visit, how much of the game would you explore? And WHAT would you WEAR?

So then think...
What would our world would look like if people believed anything was possible, wanted to help create and enjoy the best game imaginable, and played hard? What kind of collaborative wonders would we accomplish? How many problems could we solve? How much of what we see as mundane would suddenly seem worthwhile and enjoyable in pursuit of reaching the next level? How many challenges and stresses would we face in our adventure that would inspire the DESIRE to struggle and overcome, rather than crippling anxiety and fear, if only we could see it that way?

Gamers... Game on.

Redeeming "Beautiful"

Men... If you don't see the prospect of, or the current form of your Wife's, nay, the Mother of your child (please God let her soon be your most possibly Beloved Wife)... If you don't see her pregnant and postnatal body at LEAST as perfect, attractive, and exciting... If you don't see her new body as a mother -or otherwise- as your very STANDARD for beauty, by which none other could possibly compare... You are blind, you are a fool, and she deserves better. Your CHILD deserves better. From You. Jesus DIED for this. Get on that. That is to say, REPENT...

Right now. Please...

Women... if you are wrecked by fear over the hit to your vanity, or the possibility of rejection, or the loss of your ability to get men to stare that would be brought on by having a baby... You have been lied to about who you are, who your baby is, and what in this world is worthwhile. Worse... you have BELIEVED that lie, and gripped it in your heart, where it will later grow like a seed into poisonous barbs of resentment toward your own CHILD for existing, poisonous barbs of resentment toward the FATHER of that child for their part, and poisonous barbs of resentment toward your SELF for letting it happen. You are a fool, and you are blind. Let Jesus be a fire to that evil seed, and let Jesus be a light to see, to seize, and to sow the TRUTH of your BEAUTY into the deepest part of your heart, by which you could have the most A-MA-ZING fruit. Jesus DIED for this. Get on that. That is to say, REPENT...

Right now. Please...

The concept that a Woman who has given birth has a less attractive body now than she had before her pregnancy is a disgusting lie and should be purged from the minds and mouths of all who carry it with them. People decide what they find beautiful and attractive, and if you don't believe this you are a fool who has believed yet another lie. I choose to find my Wife as the very definition of attractive, seeing all other women as beautiful, but severely lacking when compared to my wife. I find her, as she is now, more radiantly sexy and worthy of gawking at and ogling than I ever have, and I insist that when we are 40 years down the road and still alive (God willing) she will at that time be more beautiful to me than she has ever been as well. Love is attraction, love is a choice, and my wife is HOT whether she or anyone else thinks so or not.

I'm very excited about having children, and I'm thrilled to love and adore my Wife and her body through every change physical she encounters.

I wish I was a SUPERHERO

'Nuff said, but for the sake of my presently nonexistent audience, I'll explode this title to justified proportions.

I'm a MARRIED man, with a lot on my mind..... unemployment, for instance: SUCKS.

As a superhero, unemployment would mean little, because my sense of worth would not come from a paycheck, no matter how nonexistent, tiny, or even ridiculously large the sum of money listed on said paycheck would be. I'd be saving lives and fighting crime daily, and nobody would expect otherwise... so I suppose that's what I'm truly at war with: Expectations.

As the present NON-superhero that I am, expectations are much different. I'm a young man in his prime, the world at his fingertips, his beautiful wife on his arm as he gazes into the eyes of all who would dare challenge his right to be happier than they are. Imagine this young man, with more talent, ingenuity, and social tact than most, throw in a handsome face with an athletic build, a classy wardrobe, even, and there I stand before you; READY for ANYTHING and yet capable of nothing, without a job.

Incapable of providing.
Incapable of moving out of his Mother-in-law's basement.
Incapable of standing tall amongst REAL men, the ones with the jobs.
Incapable of really nearly everything a proper society expects from a man such as myself.

I'm lucky to have a wife who sees me as the superhero I wish I was, but I can't honestly expect anyone else to see me as anything but disappointing, because that would make ME an "expector" just like THEM...

and expecting not to be expected of? That's just crazy.

It's fine... I'll get a job soon, go ahead.... EXPECT it.... but know this: even WITHOUT a job, and a means of living by your standards... I'm still happier than you. =)

Thom out.