Dan Byl

I will admit I don’t watch Lost, I think it is a total waste of time and that there is no plot at all thats why how they can keep so many people coming back for more. But what happens when the last season ends and they don’t wrap it up all nice an neat? what then?

This is a link to a music video that talks about Lost from some of my favorite online comedians.
Music video

Email this post

Do you ever feel like you really don’t like yourself? If you had the option you wouldn’t spend time with you? I feel this way much to often. I really messed up a couple weeks ago and since then I have withdrawn from many of my relationships. I have pulled away from my wife and I walk around with this dark rain cloud hanging over my head.

How do I change this? That is the question that I have been asking now for a couple weeks. I don’t want to pull away from the people that support me and what to build me up, but I am.

The solution as far as I can tell is God. “Wow that’s deep, way to go mr. Christian.” Yes that is really how I feel about that statement. But I do need to go to God, I need to see my self through his eyes, I need to allow him to fill my thoughts with his views of me. I need to stop dwelling on my limited perspective.

Email this post

I just watched Invictus a movie about South Africa and in particular president Nelson Mandela. The story starts with him getting out of jail after being placed there for 30 years for being a political activist and trying to get the white government to treat the Africans as equals.

The movie is a powerful story of forgiveness and the people that around Mandela. As Mandela gains power he invites the white workers to stay and work with him in his new government. He then goes on to keep the South African rugby team which to the Africans was a symbol of the apartheid. He does this so that the white people will not be treated as they expected to be treated. He makes a speech in which he says that “we must give them grace, allow them to keep the things important to them, and give them all the things that they did not give us.” (not an exact quote)

So often we feel more strength in anger, in getting even. We feel powerful and in control, this is the opposite feel that forgiveness often gives us in the moment. We feel like we are giving someone power over us, that we are allowing people to treat us poorly. But the truth is that forgiveness is the real power. It frees us from the hurt and the affect that the offending person may have over us. It allows us to deal with things in our own lives without coming back to the offense. We are able to see the rout of what caused the pain or hurt, to see past the fruit of the tree to see what is causing the bad fruit and fix the problem so that it does not reoccur.

Email this post

How many times a day are you asked how is it going or some variation of that phrase? My new favorite thing if the situation allows is to not stop when someone asks me how is my day is going. I just answer great and continue walking, and if I am now next to the person I continue with and you? All the while continuing to walk by. I then see how far away I can get and still continue on a conversation, slowly raising my voice to account for the distance.

Now you may find that rude and slightly obnoxious. Well yes ok maybe it is but do they really care how I am doing. Nine times out of ten it is some acquaintance that I probably can’t even remember there name, and I wonder if they can even remember mine. But in some attempt to avoid being rude feel some sense of obligation to ask me a “no meaning question”

A “no meaning question” is a question that the person really has no intention of hearing the answer to. It is a question that no one will read to far into. It’s a question that can be ignored and it is not an insult. It is a question that has no affect or weight.

So am I being rude, or am I really just giving the person the out they were hoping. They were just trying to say hi and be polite but did not care to actually hear how I am doing. The best part about this is that if the person is trying to not be rude they wont let it end on them. So as long you are able to ask a question they will try and answer.

Email this post

I hear people tell me that they can see all the angles, that they now what is going on and that no one can pull the wool over their eyes. I know that I feel this way, I don’t want to admit that I may be limited.

The analogy that I like to use is a house, imagine that you are walking down the street and you see a house on your right that is beautiful. It looks like a fully restored Victorian era home with the white rap around porch and the big French door with dark green shutters. As you walk up to the house you can look down the side of the house you can see the front of the house, the landscaping in the front yard, you stop to take it in and as you walk away you look back and you can see down the right side of the home.

The question you I have for you is how much of that house have you seen? Your initial response may be 75% you say 3 of the 4 sides. But in actuality you have seen maybe 10% of what there is to see. Lets break it down a little bit,
There are 4 sides and a roof, but then you have the interior you may have 3 bed rooms, 2 bathrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and living room. Then there are 2 stair cases a basement, and attic, the garage, and a storage area. And that’s what you see just be looking. As soon as you want to renovate or change anything there are all the inner workings of the home. The foundation the, trusses, the rafters, what is behind the paint.

We so often feel that we know and have seen all there is to see, But our perspective is very limited. The question is who are we getting to help us see The other perspectives, the other parts of the picture.

Email this post

I am sorry I did not have my facts right about Pat Robertson. post #83, He did not actually say the bit about getting Haiti and Hades mixed up. I got that link from a friend and thought that it was accurate, turns out it was not.

So again I do apologize for not getting my facts right.

Here is the statement that was made by one of his team after his controversial video
comment

Email this post