Who am I, and where am I going, and am I being redundant?

I saw a doctor in my late high school and early college days; I guess he was all right medically, but in general he was a bit pessimistic. When I told him I was majoring in history he said, "Ah, looking for a career at Baskin-Robbins scooping ice cream!" We laughed at the time, but it was true--with all the time I spent analyzing the past, I hadn't the foggiest idea of what direction I'd take in the future. Even today, my life is peppered with unanswered what-are-you-going-to-do queries. But lately, I don't think I care. At least, I've been learning that who you're becoming trumps what you're going to do. The reminders just keep popping up. I particularly like the old motto that Richard J. Foster cites (in Latin no less): actio sequitur esse, "action follows essence." In other words, take care of who you are, and that will flow from there. I see it in the Word, too. Psalm 25:12 is awkwardly phrased, yet to the point when it says, "Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose." Additional verses, sermons, conversations, and experiences, they all corroborate the same idea, and I suspect that it really is this "simple." I'm not saying that it's quick or easy--in fact, it hopelessly complicates matters for task-oriented individuals such as myself--but I'm convinced that the key to my future endeavors, and even to "finding God's will for my life" (as if it were lost), lies not in external factors as much as in my own identity, an identity that must begin and end in Christ.

Hey team,
I was fortunate enough to be chosen to read the call to worship at church on Sunday. The text is below. Thanks to those whose ideas influenced mine --

I’m worn down by words sometimes. I think this is one of the devil’s better tricks. I talk so much, I read so much, I hear so much that words lose their meanings.

So I’ll read a psalm where David thirsts for the Lord, and his thirst seems like no big deal.

Yeah yeah, he’s thirsty, I’m thirsty, we’re all thirsty. I get it.

Then I’ll read about how God is the mighty rock and that won’t matter either.

I’ll read about the river of God being full of water and no, that meaning won’t connect with me either.

Then a day will come where the meaning does hit me. One day I’m spiritually in the desert, this hopeless middle-of-nowhere place where I’m starving and dying and a million other intense adjectives and there’s nothing I can do about it…Nothing that is, except long for God.

And those are the moments when my mind and heart rediscover their ability to feel, taste, and live in truth. Suddenly I understand that when David says his legs are in clay without God it’s because he literally cannot move without God. That when Jesus says He is the light of the world, it’s because He is the only thing that can be seen in an eternity of pitch black. Suddenly the idea of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, of hungering and thirsting for God…suddenly I realize that the desert is teaching me a thirst far better than any earthly quenching; the desert is teaching me that, in my deepest parts, I was made to crave--and to know--the Living God.

I’m not talking about yearning for God only when the chips are down. I’m talking about voluntarily entering the desert, being on my knees, sprawled out and asking to drown in His love every single day. It's about learning to live in longing for Him, and knowing that whether my day is good or bad, He saves me. Everyday He saves my life.

Pretty much the best thing I've ever read

From Brian "Head" Welch's Save Me From Myself, page 218:

"While I was in Korn, I had people waiting on me left and right. Anything I wanted, I got. Anywhere I wanted to go, I went. All I had to do was give the word and it happened. I had the world in the palm of my hand, people, and I have to tell you one last time: there's nothing there. I promise you.

Jesus Christ is the only one that can make you complete."

Question: How Can Guys and Girls Be Friends?

I have always had loads of guy friends. My best friend growing up was Gabe, my best friend in college was Matt, and one of my best friends immediately after college was Ben. Right now my closest friends are mostly guys, with a few notable, BFF-type exceptions.

A female friend recently marveled at the series of close, platonic relationships I have with guys. I can't explain why it is so easy for me to relate to guys, but those male friendships have been the most loyal and consistent in my life.

At the women's sexuality forum they mentioned how sexuality is the longing for togetherness, and that sexual intercourse is only one aspect of sexuality. Non-genital sexuality, or social sexuality, is how male and female relationships are important outside of sexual intimacy. I know that those relationships with men have made me a more well-rounded person with a better understanding of myself and my God.

On the flip-side, in college I had friends who believed, in the tradition of Harry Burns, that guys and girls could never be friends.

Here are my questions for you all:
- Can men and women just be friends? If so, what are the benefits to those relationships?
- What factors are required for men and women to be friends?

Solomon was a graduate student

"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body."
-Ecclesiastes 12:12

Preach it, Sol.

Times in life where I feel special

1. Making a left on red (Note: in Oregon, we're for some reason permitted to do this from a two way onto a one way)
2. Ordering an off-the-menu item (i.e. an In n' Out burger made "animal style")
3. When I remember God loves me and for some reason chose me to be saved

Give thanks in all things

If the Cardinals somehow beat the Steelers tomorrow, I'll be thrilled. Beyond thrilled. I pretty much always love when an underdog wins; what would make this even better is that it's the Arizona Cardinals (a team I bet my friend Todd wouldn't win the Super Bowl in the next 40 years).

Arizona is quarterbacked by Kurt Warner, whose story is pretty ridiculous and who the Lord has clearly used to show that, indeed, all things are possible through Christ. After wins, Kurt always begins by thanking Jesus. People are tired of hearing it. He knows they're tired of hearing it. He thanks Jesus anyway.

Tomorrow the Cardinals play for the Super Bowl. I don't particularly like their chances, though much stranger things have happened. I'll be rooting for them. But if it doesn't happen, I hope he thanks Jesus anyway.

"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18