Friday, July 20, 2007

busy ramblings...



I joined Curves and have gone 3-5 times a week in the last month. I'm really seeing a difference in energy and pain levels. I forgot to stretch yesterday and after doing some yard work, could really tell the difference. I'm going to keep this up, I believe. 30 minutes is not much of a sacrifice. When school starts up, I'll need to be more disciplined. Right now, in between school and mural jobs, I can go whenever I want.

This is the year of fighting for what I want: deeper spirituality, health, clean and organized house, nice back yard. This last bunch of rain was terrorizing because everyone "up" the street started diverting water out of their yards and down to the next...which is illegal, but, oh well. I'm next to the last house, and the evil neighbor is last. You can only imagine his glee at this situation. Of course it was all my fault. My grass disappeared and erosion was setting in and there were a couple of freak-out times when I thought we would flood inside. I had french drains put in (everyone thought it was nice to run over and tell me their anecdotes about how their friends' french drains don't work. . thanks) and sod put in. Looks like they WILL work. The landscapers went above and beyond. . .it's a woman-owned company and the owner brought me a bunch of free plants and flowers and extra stone. I have to say that was blessed by the tree trimmers and now this company. She even planted three of my empty pots and they cleaned out my flower bed in the back?!? Wow. After everything was done, I felt like that show, Extreme Makeover, and just wanted to cry. I just need to add some red mulch when my pocket book fills up again! I'll post a before picture once I get it to a downloadable size. Not pretty, and you'll see why I was getting a tad depressed over the whole thing.


Robert is in Korea now, we haven't heard from him yet. It was a very teary goodbye. He is going to put in for a 2 year stint so that Brandy and Michael can join him. I think it would be a good experience for them all. Robert has stepped up to the plate, and he is doing well. He finished 2nd in class in his mechanics class. Not bad for a guy who hated school. He also went through their house and cleaned, reorganized garage, did yard work. He's a freakin' organizational machine! I invited him to do the same over here! He has never been afraid of hard work.


I've been doing a lot of reading in the evenings lately. Don R and Chaplain Roy gave me some good material to look over. It's very encouraging about the salvation of everyone; not just THE FEW.


I need to catch up on everyone's blogs. You all have something to say and I must leave comments! I must!


Son is missing girlfriend, she is back in the Boston area. They had, basically, 2 weeks together. That makes 18 days total together in the year they've known each other. Online romances. Who would have figured? After meeting some blog buddies last week, I can see how you really can get to know someone over the internet and not be surprised at the real deal.


Is anyone getting as sick as I am at reality TV? It really has done wonders for my increased reading. Getting sick of hearing about Paris, Lindsay, Britney, Rosie, and so on. It's a sad commentary on our society that these people (and the throng of other celebrities and sports figures) who not only have little to claim in honorable achievements. . .but who go further and break numerous civil and moral laws. It's sad. I'm just sayin'.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your yard looks great! Your son's stint in Korea reminds me of when my Marine was in Okinawa for a year. You really miss em. Glad you're enjoying your reading. One thing I will not watch is reality TV. REALITY!! Whose? I watch TLC, Discovery, History Channel (imagine that). I think Newton Minnow was right back in 50-60's when he called TV a "vast wasteland". Looking forward to our next chat!

Helen said...

Your garden looks so lovely, what a treat bet you can't stop looking at it!

I joined 'curves' here in England but I was sooooo bored all I could think about was what I was going to eat for tea!!! and cos it was such a small group it was so intense, all everyone talked about was dieting and I can't exercise and talk it's enough to breathe!!

But you go for it!!

have a great weekend,

love Helen x.

karen said...

Thanks Don and Helen!
I don't watch reality TV...righto..no reality there. . .but it frustrates me that our society thinks this is great entertainment.
Helen, I guess I just zone out at curves...in fact, started going 'round for 3rd time yesterday!

... Paige said...

You will find that the workouts will give you engery. You miss them when you can't go. Then, well lets just say you miss 'em.
Keep on laughing
We got a good no change check up.

kc bob said...

Nice to hear what's going on Karen.

My soldier was in Korea for 5 months - didn't think you could bring families. Matt will be back in town next weekend for some brief R&R from Iraq. I think that the political pressure is making a difference in the way that our soldiers are being treated. Senator Webb (D-VA) is trying to introduce some boundaries around how our soldiers are treated. Matt did say that the Green Zone was shelled over July 4th when he was there - not as safe as some politicians would lead us to believe. :(

I generally don't like Reality TV but do DVR American Idol once the try-outs are done ... and I have been DVRing 'The Next Best Thing' - I have been a sucker for impressionists since Vaughn Meader did JFK and Rich Little did Nixon in the 60s :)

And you know what I think about Universalism :)

Blessings, Bob

Bar L. said...

Great post, lots to comment on! It must be hard not hearing from Robert - when do you expect to get a call?

Your yard is so wonderful, but I understand the desire to make it even more special.

I have thought of joining Curves but don't know ... I am so self conscious about stuff like that.

Yep, online romances can be very intense no matter what age you are. I will NEVER develop one again because in my case, it ended painfully, too much distance in our ages and locations. We should have never allowed ourselves to get so close under those circumstances.

I agree on the whole TV thing. Its really a sad statement.

kc bob said...

Just heard from Matt - he has landed in Colorado Springs ... PtL ... he will be in KC Thursday morning :)

karen said...

Paige, you're right...I was so busy Saturday that I couldn't get over there...and I'm missing it! Praising God on the check up.

Bob, it's not safe anywhere, is it? I'm glad Matt is back on U.S. soil! Wish he could stay. How you feel about Universalism? Or Universalists? :-)

Thanks, Barbara...still haven't heard from Robert. :-( I know he's getting settled. I'm self conscious about the gym thing, too...I try to ignore everyone else! HA

Joe said...

Karen,

Cozy and natural backyard. Looks inviting. Great job!

Since there is a lot of evidence in the bible that supports the Calvinist opinion that salvation has been granted only to the predestined few, what reading material do you have that convinces you otherwise? If our course is predestined then Life and Afterlife would be unrelated, Good versus evil would be moot and the crucifixion of Jesus would have been needless. I don't believe in predestination but evidence for predestination is in the bible.

karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
karen said...

Thanks, Joe...I'm going to put in red mulch, then a few more art pieces of my own design that require little care! and that will be that. The less I have to take care of, the better. It's all about the pattern, the contrast, etc.I must say that raking the rocks is a very peaceful thing to do! The Japanese really have something there!! This has been a theraputic endeavor.
About salvation. I'm keeping an open mind and reading Martin Zender right now...a huge heretic, but then Jesus was considered as such. Since I've found that the ministry of women has been fogged up by mistranslations, I'm open to the mistranslation of "hell" in the Bible, as well as Jesus' purpose here on earth...yes, He came to save us all, but His primary commission was Israel at the time, wasn't it? He told the woman that He wasn't for the Gentiles (but of course, His love took care of her), and didn't commission anyone for that til after His resurrection. I'm not intellectually equipped at this time for debate, just dabbing my toes. I've looked at the Universalist website....eehh, still thinking about that one. Zender makes some interesting cases based upon the translation of words like hell and eternity...things that I can wrap a reference book around. I'm interested in every thought. Also, there are those among you who will not agree with me...and probably don't on many occasions! I hope this doesn't become a contentious thing. . .I love you all. I just realize that there is room for study. For instance: When kids today sing "Don we now our gay apparel" in the popular Christmas carol, they are a tad confused. In just a couple of generations, the meaning of the word, "gay" has been altered. They don't even know what (or WHO LOL) Don is. We have to look at the time period where that word meant "happy" more than anything else to understand. So, it follows that many words meant something different in the time contemporary to the original writing. The word ainonios is translated always as eternally, for example in Matt 22. . but it equally means "for a set period of time" or for an eon. These are the things I'm interested in pursuing.
Proverbs 25:2 says basically that it's the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out. So, I'm searchin'.

karen said...

Matt 25 I meant. See? Not intellectually ready...but that proverbs gets me. What does that mean to you?

kc bob said...

I like universalists (even the ones who don't like me) and like the whole idea of universalism - just don't see it in the bible.

I am okay with "eternal","for a set period of time" or for "an eon" but I don't think that any of those interpretations are consistent with a universalist's view :)

karen said...

KB, actually, it is...just not the universalists we might know. The CU webpage has info about "burning off the chaff" for a period before the soul or spirit is ready to be received into heaven.

kc bob said...

I did not know that! Thanks for the education Karen. You think that it is the 'eternal' part that is at issue or is it the idea of judgment that some universalists don't agree with?

karen said...

From:
http://www.christian-universalism.com/

"Most versions of the Bible mistranslate Greek and Hebrew words for unspecified periods of time, such as aion and olam, which are used in regard to the length of divine punishment as well as other things. Some Bible scholars view this as deliberate misinterpretation of the text to promote the traditional belief that hell is neverending, a church-invented doctrine that is not taught in the original scriptures."

I think there are a lot of differing thoughts on the existence of hell among universalists, just as there are differing thoughts among protestants and catholics.

kc bob said...

I struggle with saying that it is all about mistranslation Karen becuase the same word (aiōnios) used in Matt 18:8 for 'eternal' fire is the same translated in John 3:16 for 'eternal' life.

karen said...

I see your point, Bob. I looked up in the Source, because Ann Nyland is an incredible Greek scholar. Interestingly, she translates in the body of the text verse 8 as "the fire that never goes out." Yet, in the foot notes, she says, "equally, the fire that burns for an age." Then, you'll see in v. 9, that it is translated in all texts, except hers, as "hell fire" and she translates it as "the fire of the Garbage Pit Gehenna." The word aionios means eon. Even in Matt 25, she translates the word as "eternal rehabilitation" yet in the footnote, she says, "equally, rehabilitation for a period of time." I find it interesting that she handles it that way. Let's keep searchin'!!

kc bob said...

Let's keep searchin'!!

Amen.

kc bob said...

Soon as I hit amen I thought of another searching question :)

How does Nyland translate the phrase "forever and ever" as in Revelation 1:6; 4:9-10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15;14:11; 15:7; 19:2-3; 20:10; 22:5?

These are a componded/double usage of aiōnios ... just wondering.

Thx, KB