So I gave up on this blog a while back. Lots of things have been changing, most significantly is my up coming wedding (only 3 weeks from this post). I was planning on just letting this thing die, but apparently there are blogging protocols and I am supposed to tell everyone what they already know.
You can find information about me at the new blog my fiance and I have.
blissandthebattlefield.com
Thanks for reading.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
It has been awhile
I stayed home sick today. I left work early yesterday, shouldn't have even gone in in the first place, but I felt like they needed me. Yesterday after coming home, I bought some NyQuil, generic brand, and proceeded to sleep for something like 8 hours. I then got up, watched Heroes, and went to bed where I slept for another 10 hours.
Yesterday was no fun. Being home doesn't make up for feeling awful. Today, I probably could have gone to work, but the office is pretty good about not wanting sick people coming in and getting others sick. What that meant is I was home with my books, Bible, sermons, and naps. I hadn't taken a sabbath in a long time and today was one, all be it not by choice. I could go into all my thoughts on how we humans don't always know or do what is best for ourselves, but I am still a bit tired.
That is all I have to say.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Yesterday was no fun. Being home doesn't make up for feeling awful. Today, I probably could have gone to work, but the office is pretty good about not wanting sick people coming in and getting others sick. What that meant is I was home with my books, Bible, sermons, and naps. I hadn't taken a sabbath in a long time and today was one, all be it not by choice. I could go into all my thoughts on how we humans don't always know or do what is best for ourselves, but I am still a bit tired.
That is all I have to say.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Monday, November 6, 2006
Why is gossip so destructive?
Because it breeds distrust among all involved!
Johnny, Sally, and Freddy are talking about the recent football game. The home team is struggling as of late and no one in the city is happy. Freddy gets a call and then says his goodbyes. Immediately after he is out of ear shot, Johnny turns to Sally and gives her that look. She nods understandingly as they start talking about how Johnny’s life is just going down the toilet. He is so stupid to not recognize what he is doing and how nobody likes him any more.
Johnny, Sally, and Freddy are talking about the recent football game. The home team is struggling as of late and no one in the city is happy. Sally gets a call and then says her goodbyes. Immediately after she is out of ear shot, Freddy turns to Johnny and gives him that look. He nods understandingly as they start talking about how Sally’s life is just going down the toilet. She is so stupid to not recognize what she is doing and how nobody likes her any more.
Change the names, change the subject, you have all heard something similar, made eye contact in the same way portraying your disgust. It is gossip, no big deal. What Freddy/Sally doesn’t know doesn’t hurt them, right? Well consider this. As Johnny and Sally are talking about Freddy, both are wondering what the other says about them behind their backs. Sure, in the moment Freddy is the butt of the jokes, but would if Sally had left first, clearly Johnny and Freddy had no problems sink the knife deeply into her back, and if Johnny left, same result. In the end, all three of them trust no one. They doubt the sincerity of any compliment, they wonder everyday what others are saying behind their back. They are isolated, miserable.
Gossip isn’t about telling lies or spreading rumors, it is about trust, or lack there of. Without trust you don’t have relationship, you have pseudo relationship. You don’t have intimacy, you have masks and ruses.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Johnny, Sally, and Freddy are talking about the recent football game. The home team is struggling as of late and no one in the city is happy. Freddy gets a call and then says his goodbyes. Immediately after he is out of ear shot, Johnny turns to Sally and gives her that look. She nods understandingly as they start talking about how Johnny’s life is just going down the toilet. He is so stupid to not recognize what he is doing and how nobody likes him any more.
Johnny, Sally, and Freddy are talking about the recent football game. The home team is struggling as of late and no one in the city is happy. Sally gets a call and then says her goodbyes. Immediately after she is out of ear shot, Freddy turns to Johnny and gives him that look. He nods understandingly as they start talking about how Sally’s life is just going down the toilet. She is so stupid to not recognize what she is doing and how nobody likes her any more.
Change the names, change the subject, you have all heard something similar, made eye contact in the same way portraying your disgust. It is gossip, no big deal. What Freddy/Sally doesn’t know doesn’t hurt them, right? Well consider this. As Johnny and Sally are talking about Freddy, both are wondering what the other says about them behind their backs. Sure, in the moment Freddy is the butt of the jokes, but would if Sally had left first, clearly Johnny and Freddy had no problems sink the knife deeply into her back, and if Johnny left, same result. In the end, all three of them trust no one. They doubt the sincerity of any compliment, they wonder everyday what others are saying behind their back. They are isolated, miserable.
Gossip isn’t about telling lies or spreading rumors, it is about trust, or lack there of. Without trust you don’t have relationship, you have pseudo relationship. You don’t have intimacy, you have masks and ruses.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Sincerity
The University Christian Union, UCU, has a meeting each Monday night of the school year. Maybe I should back up and tell you what the UCU is, but that is irrelevant, so in the name of brevity, I will simply say it is a bunch of college students, guys and girls, living in separate, adjacent houses. Last Monday during the meeting, we were talking about “Thoughts for Young Men” – JC Ryle. One of the guys, Michael, mentioned a cultural difference between Americans and Chinese. He said that if you ask someone from China how they are doing, the likely response will be a pause while they truly consider it, then a thoughtful answer.
In America, you ask someone how they are doing as a matter of courtesy, a salutation as it were, and hope they don’t respond with the truth. That is harsh; I do not mean to denigrate my culture, but there are some curious aspects to this. But I wonder, what are the greetings of other cultures? I mean, what do they mean? Bok is common in Croatia. Tcush is used in Bavaria, Southern Germany, Ciao in Italy, Cheers in England, Bonjour in France, Ahnyoung in Korea, Conichiwa in Japan, Oi in Portugal to name a few. And after looking at this list I realize that they aren’t exactly the phrases I am meaning to reference, but you get the point. Do the greetings of other cultures mimic ours in that they are questions of the person’s state of being or presence? Just curious.
“What’s uuuuuuuuup?”, as popularized by beer, “What’s going down?” “How you doin? (said deeply with an Italian accent)” “What’s new?” “How’s it hanging?” “What’s going on?” You have heard these today, probably more than once. What I am curious about is if our language has morphed into this form of greeting and if so why? What are the roots of it? Did we at one time find it necessary to ask these type of questions out of sincere interest in the other person and from then until now it has digressed into what it is today? I say digressed not to state my opinion, but for lack of vocabulary, I could very easily have said progressed. Let’s talk about progress... Next time.
Where has this train of thought come from? My own reflection on my own sincerity. I am trying to be more sincere. I feel like I water down or denigrate my own desires when I say things like those above. I can not possibly want to know how everyone I meet, the stranger in the elevator, is doing. I shouldn’t. So why do I ask them? In some way I see this as “crying wolf,” so if I can delineate my greetings and really say what I mean, then maybe I will mean what I say.
At times I know I fit right into the culture of insincerity and selfishness, a sad truth of who I am, but not who I want to be. If I ask you how you are doing, 1) you have my permission to answer honestly, 2) you have my permission to ask me if I really want to know and put me on the spot, 3) you can just say fine and I probably won’t know the difference.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
In America, you ask someone how they are doing as a matter of courtesy, a salutation as it were, and hope they don’t respond with the truth. That is harsh; I do not mean to denigrate my culture, but there are some curious aspects to this. But I wonder, what are the greetings of other cultures? I mean, what do they mean? Bok is common in Croatia. Tcush is used in Bavaria, Southern Germany, Ciao in Italy, Cheers in England, Bonjour in France, Ahnyoung in Korea, Conichiwa in Japan, Oi in Portugal to name a few. And after looking at this list I realize that they aren’t exactly the phrases I am meaning to reference, but you get the point. Do the greetings of other cultures mimic ours in that they are questions of the person’s state of being or presence? Just curious.
“What’s uuuuuuuuup?”, as popularized by beer, “What’s going down?” “How you doin? (said deeply with an Italian accent)” “What’s new?” “How’s it hanging?” “What’s going on?” You have heard these today, probably more than once. What I am curious about is if our language has morphed into this form of greeting and if so why? What are the roots of it? Did we at one time find it necessary to ask these type of questions out of sincere interest in the other person and from then until now it has digressed into what it is today? I say digressed not to state my opinion, but for lack of vocabulary, I could very easily have said progressed. Let’s talk about progress... Next time.
Where has this train of thought come from? My own reflection on my own sincerity. I am trying to be more sincere. I feel like I water down or denigrate my own desires when I say things like those above. I can not possibly want to know how everyone I meet, the stranger in the elevator, is doing. I shouldn’t. So why do I ask them? In some way I see this as “crying wolf,” so if I can delineate my greetings and really say what I mean, then maybe I will mean what I say.
At times I know I fit right into the culture of insincerity and selfishness, a sad truth of who I am, but not who I want to be. If I ask you how you are doing, 1) you have my permission to answer honestly, 2) you have my permission to ask me if I really want to know and put me on the spot, 3) you can just say fine and I probably won’t know the difference.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Monday, October 9, 2006
Thanks Erika
Erika told me how to change the dates of a blog so now you will have to go back in blog time and find the two posts.
It is tomorrow.
Jason
It is tomorrow.
Jason
Saturday, October 7, 2006
That is all
There wasn't nearly as many posts as I thought and as you can tell, I couldn't figure out how to change the dates.
Warning
I mentioned that I am going to post some old blogs. Here is the deal though, they are not finished, and never will be. Most of these I wrote late those nights, was tired, bored, depressed, what not and told myself that I would get back to them, but never did. I figure now I will put out there what I have, finished or not.
Enjoy, or be frustrated, either way.
Enjoy, or be frustrated, either way.
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