San Juan Loop Trail with the kids and the dog...

Ever since going on the three day trip to San Gorgonio with Garrett (which I have yet to post about - so this is a little out of order I know), I have wanted to go on another hike with the family.  And I really wanted to take the awesome pooch, Umi.  After seeing a couple dogs on the trails a couple weeks ago,  I thought she would really love it.  So today I took the kids and the dog out to our local trails off the Ortega Highway.  That's one really great thing about living in Lake Elsinore - we have easy access to the hills/mountains.  I don't know if there is an official name.  Google maps seems to say Elsinore Mountains.  Gina had a project she had to work on so sadly our family was incomplete and we missed her, but the kids and I had a great time.  And Gina enjoyed the chance to work with the sewing machine without Jeremiah stepping on the pedal in the middle of her work.
Jer fell asleep shortly into the hike and napped while riding on my back for about an hour or and hour and half.  A little while after he woke up we were a quarter to half mile away from the car so he walked that last bit.  It was really fun and nice just to get out with and take a walk.  The whole thing took about 2 hours and 20 minutes at our very leisurely pace (which became even more leisurely when the Jer man started walking) and several breaks.  I hope to return and do this hike in the winter or early spring when the streams will be flowing.  This time there was only one spot that had a little still water from the rains a couple weeks ago. 

The one downside was that since the hike is relatively short, and a lot of it parallels the road, you can hear road noise for a good portion of the hike (maybe one third or so).  However, for a hike about a ten mile drive from home, with the kids and the dog, it was great - got some fun pictures and video.  Enjoy!!

Plumbing Fun

So there's been a slow leak under my kitchen sink for a long time. I was pretty sure that it was the drain pipe at the connection to the p-trap. For a long time, I was happy to put it off and leave a bucket under the sink. As long as I checked on the bucket every so often to make sure it wasn't overflowing, everything was good. Every once in a while the wetness would seem to come from somewhere else and the towel under the bucket would end up wet. But this was sporadic. So on the one hand it was not a huge problem, but on the other hand it made determining the source of the problem more difficult.

Well last week - the procrastination had to stop as there was a new source of drippage under my sink. The faucet just began dripping from the bottom at a pretty good rate. It no longer took my bucket a few weeks to get full, but about half a day.

So Sunday afternoon I undertook to replace my faucet.

We went online and found a relatively inexpensive one at Lowe's and went down to pick it up. I thought I was in for a few hours of work. The instructions said 45 minutes, but I knew there was no way and that it would end up being at least 2 hours....heh....I was in for more fun that I imagined.

It's funny how a half an hours work can be reduced to one line "Remove the old faucet". Rather it should say "strap on your headlamp for a half an hour on your back with your arms straight up in the air holding a wrench and a pair of pliers and trying to undo about ten years worth of corrosion".

Of course when I got the old faucet out and the new one in, it turned out the rubber seal on the fittings were completely destroyed and leaking all over the place. Well, a trip to Home Depot to replace these taught me that "that's the old way of doing things" and I would have to buy completely new hoses, and of course new valves. So I went home to get the old pieces to ensure I bought the right size new parts. This of course required shutting off the water to the house. No problem though as I was going to run back out to the Home Dee-Pot and get the required replacement valves and work late into the night to get the problem fixed. The only problem was that both Home Depot and Lowe's were closed early due to it being Sunday. So our water was off and the valves removed and we were out of water for the night. I stopped at Albertson's to get some bottled water for drinking and teeth brushing and the like. This is fun! It's like camping at home!

So at this point I was 7 hours into my 45 minute project, and I knew I would have to take at least the first part of Monday off work because I couldn't leave the family with no toilet and no dishwashing water all day.

Despite the fact that the main valve was shut off, water continued to drip from the pipes all night long and by morning the bucket was overflowing. yay!

Well - thanks to my Grandpa coming over and lending his expertise, I was able to go to both Lowe's and Home Depot and come home with most of what I would need to finish the project, and by about 10:30 the old fitting were cut off the pipes and the new valves were on and the water to the house was back on.

Well to shorten up this long story, I'll just say I had another trip out to both Lowe's and Home Depot in store. I also had about two or three more times of thinking "ahh, finally done" just to find out I wasn't.

What was supposed to be a new faucet with a cool little sprayer turned out to be: a new tee at the drain pipe, buying a new air gap for the dishwasher drain then throwing it away, buying a new 7/8" hose for the dishwasher drain and not using it, buying a new direct attachment from the dishwasher to the garbage disposal, two new valves, two new supply hoses, a new cap for the random hole drilled in the top of the sink by a previous owner, AND a new faucet with sprayer.

It was a long, tiresome, painful, expensive process, but I feel so happy now that we have a new faucet and everything underneath the sink seems to be in good working order. The cold water valve still has a really really slow drip. Maybe it will calcify shut in a couple days, or maybe there's going to be more adventure in store as I try to fix that.

I'm sure this story bring back fond memories of similar experiences for most other home owners, especially owners of older homes. No project is what it appears to be. Whatever you see is only the first domino to fall, or the tip of the iceberg - whichever analogy you prefer.

Sadly - this experience makes me more prone to procrastinate on other projects. I'm never sure if this one hour project will turn out to be the one that ends up lasting 30 hours instead!

$1.50 Latte!

So Starbucks (and pretty much any cafe) can get pretty expensive right? Well here's a nice trick for a $1.50 caramel latte.

With your registered Starbucks card, order a tall coffee for a buck fifty. Ask for added caramel syrup (or flavor of your preference) with room for cream. Add your half and half, stir, and voila! a not bad imitation of a latte! When you like to visit Starbucks often (as I do), but don't like spending a grip of money there, this is a nice cheap way to spruce up the visit, rather than having a plain cup of coffee.

If you do like to visit even once a month, then you really ought to have a registered card. You get a free drink on your b-day, and after 5 purchases you'll get to "green level" and the caramel syrup I mentioned will be a free add to your drink. AND if you're planning to enjoy the cafe ambiance for a while, you can get a free refill of your imitation latte! Can't beat that that with a stick!

What was that you said...in your heart....with your actions?

I always find it interesting when I hear statistics about the religiosity or theistic belief of the people of the U.S. It's always something like, "95% of Americans believe in God, so stop trying to take 'in God we trust' off of our national monuments" or something to that effect.

Here's an example from an article written in June 2008:

(it was the first link to pop up to a google search "what percentage of Americans believe in God"):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/23/ST2008062300818.html

In case you didn't take the time to click and spend the two minutes required to read that article (and I don't blame you, but if you have the time I encourage you to read it because it's interesting), it basically says that 92% of Americans believe in some sort of "higher power", even 20% of atheists claim to believe in some sort of (personal or impersonal) supernatural entity. Incredible... - and often this type of information is cited as some sort of good news in a political context. Yet, the belief noted is a completely worthless form of belief. It is far from faith and in fact is even less than the acknowledgement given God by the demons (James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!") Because at least the demons acknowledge that there is only One and that He is a personal God.

What initially got me thinking on this was passing through Psalm 14 on my evening reading. The first part of the first verse is often quoted, many times in jest, and I think I probably saw it 5 times last year in email forwards saying we should give atheists the holiday 4/1 to celebrate. "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'". And something struck me when I read it this time. The psalmist (David) isn't talking about those who say with their lips or their mind, "there is no God." Rather those who say it in their heart. I wonder how many people of that day would have said such a thing with their lips. I think everyone in the Israeli community at the time was a theist, and all the surrounding peoples were most likely poly-theistic pagans. Who would be saying "There is no God" as the "intellectual atheist" does today? I think no one. Consider the rest of the verse:

v.1

The fool has said in his heart,

'There is no God.'

They are corrupt,

They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good.

v.3

They have all turned aside,

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

v.4

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge...

And do not call on the Lord?.....

So of course, this is a great passage to address what the Bible says about the atheist. Look around, see the creation. Look inward, observe the moral compass. OF COURSE THERE'S a GOD!

But even more than that - this is talking about those who live like there is no God. It's about those who say it with their heart, with their actions. Those who have "become corrupt" and "done abominable works". And verse 2 gives a perspective on how and why this seems so foolish:

v. 2

The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

It's so absurd to imagine a creation denying the existence of it's creator. It's like a child telling his/her mother, "you're not my mother". And mom is thinking, "uh...I was there when, after nine miserable months of carrying you around in my belly, I very laboriously pushed you out." It's the kind of statement to which one almost wants to add the tag ["you idiot"] (i'm not trying to be rude here, I'm just saying - I think a mom would know.... of course hopefully one would never call their child an idiot, and I'm definitely not recommending it. Especially since in this illustration one most likely envisions a very young child. It's just that, being told by your own offspring that you aren't their parent, or for God to be told by His own creation that he doesn't exist - such a statement leaves one incredulous).....but getting back on point - for a person to claim that there is no God is like that situation, to the power of 10 to the power of 100 to the power of 1000.

So verse 2 says that God is looking down upon us, His creation, to see if anyone will seek Him. And I even sometimes think, when studying apologetics or watching a debate between a Christian and an atheist, how funny it must be from God's perspective that people are spending time debating about His existence. Of course I love apologetics and support a full defense of the theism and the Christian faith, but it's just a funny thought when considered from His perspective. He is in heaven, watching, waiting.... "Will you stop debating, and just acknowledge, turn toward, worship, and seek me?"

The sad thing to consider is this: how many of those 92% of Americans that say with their mouth when polled that they believe in God, are saying in their heart that "there is no God"? And how many Christians are living verse 1 "corrupt, they have done abominable works..." and thereby saying with their heart that there is no God.

It's convicting - when God "looks down from heaven upon" me, I want Him to see that I "understand" and "seek God."

GOD, as the One who deserves and demands our attention, love, adoration, respect, fear, and WORSHIP, does not need to justify His existence to us. He doesn't need to explain why he should be our priority. As GOD, He is entitled. He depends upon nothing, we depend upon Him.

I'll end with a quote from Dr. William Lane Craig in his Defenders series of podcasts. I think this is well put, true, and convicting of the heart:

God ought to be our ultimate concern...and since God is the ultimate being, He ought to be our proper ultimate concern; to substitute anything else in God's place is therefore, literally, idolatry. And it's interesting that many of the passages in the scriptures on the notion of God as self existent come in the context of a condemnation of idolatry...because to put anything in God's place as one's ultimate concern is idol worship. Now if I were to ask "how many idolaters are here in the class this morning?" we probably wouldn't see too many hands raised. But suppose I were to ask you "What is your ultimate concern in life?" What would you have said? If it's anything other than knowing and serving God, I think you're worshiping a lesser God. You're putting something in the rightful place of God, the self existent one, our ultimate concern....

In the most absolute sense, He is Lord. Everything else depends upon Him, He depends upon nothing. He is Lord. And therefore in our lives, we need to depend upon the One who depends upon no one.

Alvin Plantinga

You must read about this man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Plantinga

haven't been too forthcoming with my thoughts as of late....

Materialism and lethargy and complacency

Isaiah 2:7-8 "Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands. That which their own fingers have made."

I signed up for a philosophy class. There was only one session so far, but during the random chit chat and rabbit trails of the first session. The professor mentioned a historical/social/philosophical theory from some guy whose name I can't remember. And unfortunately, I'm barely not too lazy to type this at all, let alone to get up and go get my class notes. But in any case, this guy, whoever he was, had the idea that in history there are only two types of periods. Golden Eras and Historical Crises. He said that at any point in history a society was either at one of the two or in transition from one to the other. In other words, societies never just kinda plateaued at a sort of average, mediocre level, but were either doing really great or really horrible or were on the way from one to the other. Part of the problem, is human nature. (part??? I don't know, it might be the whole problem)...It's kinda awful. As my professor asked, (loose paraphrase here), "once things start going well and there are no more major problems that need to be solved, what do people start diverting all of their attention to?" I instantly thought - "themselves", but being too timid at that moment, I said nothing. Someone suggested love, someone suggested community.... the professor said yes to the guy who's answer was love... but clarified.... it's love a particular sort.....love of ME - love of self. And I tend to think that she is right. And thus a society would begin its downward trend toward the crisis as people began to focus on themselves and what is in their own selfish best interest.
It's interesting thinking about this stuff at the same time as taking a political science class and learning all about the founding of the nation. People at that time obviously felt that the preservation of their society was something worth fighting and dying for. And of course there have been other points in history where Americans have risen to fight extreme challenges and face big fights. (thus we still speak English and not German or Japanese) And of course there are still so many today who have committed themselves to protecting this country - I admire them greatly.

But so many many many people walk around clueless and don't even care. They don't notice, know, or care about the goings on of the governing class. And then, there are so many of us who care, but don't quite know what to do. So we are relatively informed, but all it empowers us to do is talk about it. Which helps, but doesn't effect immediate change (that is to say - there are benefits of talking to people, but that will only help at the next election rather than helping to steer the current course and affect the thinking of those with the power at the moment). For most of us, the law of intertia is more than just a physical law, but it is a law governing habits and lifestyle. Therefore - we won't make a stir until it's too late, we've already been affected. We've already been taken over.....materialism has done its damaging deed. It causes a stupor - an inability to see what really matters. A self absorption the hampers any action for something greater than oneself.

but this is not the point I really wanted to make.

Looking back at the verse in Isaiah - it starts off sounding like what one might think seems to be a decent state of affairs for a country. "full of silver and gold...no end to their treasures...full of horses....no end to their chariots" Sounds great - their is wealth and mobility. Compared to other nations and compared to history, one could say it seems as if there is no end to the wealth and mobility of the people of the US. (though we better realize there is an end to the wealth before our creditors cut us off - but that's another topic). Yet we see that just as Israel had, so has the U.S. followed the wealth with improper worship: "their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made." In a sense Israel followed the pattern I was talking about earlier. They hit a high point and became so infatuated with the wealth that they turned their eyes and hearts toward things of the earth. When they hit their ultimate low, they were burning their babies in the fires of sacrifice to these false gods. How sad it is to see that here in the US, we have come to the same place where our culture sacrifices babies to the gods of wealth and pleasure. People can't afford it, don't want the responsibility, or the cramp on their lifestyle - so they murder their baby. In the ancient times, they made religious excuses - justifying it by saying it was for worship. Today, people claim it's better than raising a child in poor circumstances, and then coat it with the absurd notion that the baby isn't fully human to try to help themselves swallow the painful reality. What is everyone's main focus and main love? ME. SELF. I'm not trying to point the finger and say how awful everyone else is - this is just the sad state of humanity. This is what we come to when our nature goes unchecked and is given free reign.

Look what's written next in Isaiah 2:11-18, 20-21 "the lofty looks of a man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up - and it shall be brought low - upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up. and upon all the oaks of Bashan; Upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, But the idols He shall utterly abolish...In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily."

I'm not a scholar on Biblical prophecy, but I believe this to not only be a word for what was coming upon Israel, but also about what is coming upon mankind in general in "the day of the LORD" (v. 12)

It is sad that as human beings we get to the point where we would need to be awakened in such a violent fashion. But eventually God has enough and decides to wipe out and wipe away those things that people make so important that actually aren't. I think this is the sad state and description of so many people in the world today. They have so many riches to distract them, they have (in their mind) no need of God, and they can keep busy enough to not really think about it. Christians ought to never come to this point - we must keep our eyes on the goal, we must keep our mind on heaven, we must lay up treasures there, where "moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal" (Mt. 6:19-21)

It's beautiful the prophetic imagery here in Isaiah 2:10, it says, "Enter into the rock" and who is the rock, the stable foundation upon which a life can be built and be able to weather the storms of life, the rock of our salvation, the one upon whom the church is built - it is Jesus Christ.

I don't know how really to solve the political dilemma in my own life - how to get past just talking. How I can actually DO something and keep my day job. But I do know that, as a Christian, step one in facing any problem is ALWAYS to "Enter into the ROCK"

I'm not sure if there was a singular larger point I have been trying to make or if this has seemed to be coherent at all. But I guess if anything - the point I'm getting at is that we ought to fight against complacency, don't give in to materialism, and enter in to the Rock daily, remain solidly grounded upon Jesus at all times rather than waiting for the time that "He arises to shake the earth mightily" (maybe that's three or four points - but that's ok, you catch my drift, right? you get the point(s))

in Christ