The Beginning of Boundaries

Recently I've been thinking about the importance of boundaries in self-identification. Someone recently pointed out that in the act of Creation, God created boundaries (separating light from darkness for example) which made everything.

Realizing that I have a poor self-identification, boundaries are a place to start. For me it is easier to define what I am not rather than what I am.  I hope that this will be a running post and that I will learn more more about who I am (and am not) through the process.

I am not:

• God
• Athletically-inclined
• A charismatic speaker
• Perfect

Ancient Bible manuscript available online

Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament

This important manuscript is now available online at www.codexsiniticus.org. There you find scanned copies of the manuscript (which you zoom in on) a transcription of the text (a great help for people not familiar reading Uncials) as well as an English translation.

It is nice to have such an important manuscript in such a usable form so widely available. While there entire manuscript is not yet available, the project is off to a wonderful start.

Very funny

I thought this was really clever... someone at the end looks familiar...

Happy is Good

Coming back from vacation, something felt strange. I thought perhaps I was missing the lazy days of the beach. Or maybe it was the wonderful food and culture of Puerto Rico that I missed. Now I realize it was the strangeness of coming home from a vacation and being really happy.

Lora and I are learning how to travel and vacation well together. To get to and from Vieques we took a total of three flights on two separate airlines. Total travel time was about 11 hours each way. This normally would be stressful, but while it wasn't fun, we got through it. I've realized that if a vacation is going to be truly relaxing, the way I relate to Lora is more important that any itinerary. We could be in an exotic locale, stay in a beautiful room, eat wonderful food, but if Lora and I are not getting along, none of it is worth it.

But coming home, I realized that Lora and I had really had a wonderful time, not only because of where we went or what we did but because of how we related to each other. And this makes me happy and happy is good.

Christmas in July

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Henry David Longfellow)

A time to re-heal

It has struck me that one of the most difficult and painful things to do in life is to re-heal.

Let me give an analogy. Say as a child, you break your arm. Instead of going to the hospital or doctor, you just strap a piece of wood to your arm to hold it stiff. Over time the bone will repair the fracture and you will heal. However your arm probably won't be straight and the bone may be very weak. How can you repair it? Only one way. You have to break the arm again and allow it to heal correctly. A doctor would set the arm and help your body heal properly.

So it is with life. Often we go through different sorts of trauma and heal in wrong ways. Maybe we ignore the problem and after awhile it seems to have gone away. Or maybe we blame ourselves for the problem. We do heal, life goes on, but we have healed wrong. Part of becoming a better/well person involves identifying times when we have been hurt and looking at the ways we have 'healed'. Looking back often has the effect of re-opening old wounds. This is painful, for we think that the way we healed worked, but it hasn't. Poorly healed old wounds quickly become new. Only a well-healed wound can endure another injury. Therefore, we must open the old wounds so that they may heal.