Modesty again

(blogging by e-mail again; I apologize if it looks funny)

As promised, I'm bringing up the issue of modesty again. I'm honestly still confused by a few of the comments from last time; it seemed that some were saying that my reasoning was totally valid, but my suggestion for change was going too far. Huh?

Anywho, I'm not going to carry on any more tonight. I just want to keep the discussion alive and share the opinions of a couple of women on the topic. link1link2 I thought this one was pretty good too (once you scroll past the ads).

Singles' Awareness Day

For the first time in three years, I find myself encountering February 14th as a single man. I don't want to be just another whiny, lonely blogger, because I know this is how it should be for a while. I'm convinced that God wants me to explore and expand the man-heart he gave me. (Shortly after I started reconnecting with Him and asking for post-Alicia direction, I was invited to a Bible study going through Wild at Heart [a book I'd strongly recommend].) A good friend also told me that Dr. Laura recommends at least 6 months recovery time before getting into another relationship. I'll try and give it more.

Even so... it's hard not to think about.. I've got several good friends who happen to be female... Some of whom (I'm sure I've imagined it) seemed to be sending me signals... Then I wonder if I've been sending signals that I shouldn't have in my efforts to strengthen friendship connections.. A tad ironic after my talk about giving up on the dating system. I know that it can work if used properly, but so much more often I see it abused... I don't know a good example to go by, but I've got plenty of time to figure that out.

So remember, singles: I'm pullin'/prayin' for ya. We're all in this together.

Blog by Email?

I stumbled upon an interesting feature here.  Seems that I can submit posts via my own private address.  I don't have anything terribly interesting to say as spending 3 hours playing with Photoshop and iMovie has melted my eyes and fried my brain.  I love doing this stuff, but sometimes it strikes me as unhealthy..

so...  if you're reading this, then my first attempt at blogging by email was a sucess!  If not, well...  that hardly matters.

No Regrets

I've gotten mixed reviews on my last post. Both heartfelt encouragement and suggestions to lighten up. And I can't say that either really surprized me. I was pretty worked up when I wrote it, but I can't say that I want to take any of it back. As my friendship with Jesus continues to grow and the more familiar I get with what's important to him... I don't want to say that these things have become more important to me... because it seems like it always has been.. and yet I have hardly acted like it was important before, just letting things slide so as not to upset my other friends.. so I really do have to say that it's become more important to me, because it's gotten harder not to act on. (we're not talking about following a bunch or rules to stay out of trouble but the advice of a friend that wants to help) I'm sure I could have done better in my delivery of the message last time.. but I won't betray my new best friend by letting my fear of bad delivery keep me quiet. Not anymore. (and of course, I will work on my delivery)

WWJD... What Would Jesus Do. That used to be a pretty big thing that's almost cliche now. I was remined in church this morning that his delivery wasn't always plesent either. So many times he's recorded just tearing into the religious 'teachers' of the time for distorting or misrepresenting what the Word said. And lets not forget the time he made a mess of the money changers just outside the temple that were taking the focus of things off of God. That in mind, I can't help thinking that Jesus would have actually made a scene that night.. He certianly wouldn't have kept quiet.
And if He's the standard to live by... So often we only see the gentle, loving side of Him.. How many pictures have you seen of the scenes I just described? I don't mean to belittle the softer side; both aspects deserve equal attention.

======

Anyway, I suppose I should say something about my classes too. No longer the very top of my priority list, but still pretty close.

Web Publishing 2 will be providing a new look here; upcoming assignment will be having us manipulate the template in someway. I'm also continueing to modify the Square Root of Cheese with various coding techniques I'm picking up. I don't like most coding.. but CSS is different somehow.

Graphic effects 2 started with a bang... great big movie-like project. Still not due for a while yet, but still a daunting way to start out.

Digital Photography (2) has at last gone digital, and so far has been just a good Photoshop review. More interestnig things to come, I'm sure.

Digital Editing ... it's a whole new program to me.. 2D animation.. time consuming, but interesting.

Technical publishing is great so far. I've been able to keep up just by going to class. In fact most of the class is about a week ahead of schedule on the Adobe Acrobat assignments. I'm hoping this stays true when we switch to Framemaker, so's I can put more time into the other classes, lest I become overwhelmed again...
===

Personal life?
I'm working on improving the connection with all my other friends and starting a few new ones. Never had much confidence there, but it's been building (has also moved above school work on the priority list... most of the time). I was going to sift through FaceBook and see how many of my friends there had listed their messanger ID... but I only found two.. but no matter. there are other ways.

that's enough for tonight. It's past my bedtime.

Crashing the 'Wedding Crashers'

This is gonna be pretty short due to the onset of a cold that has sapped a large portion of my energy, but I feel this needs to be writen before I have the chance to forget..

So every Wednesday night up here on the 4th floor of my dorm is movie night. One of the guys down the hall has an online poll where we can vote on which movie to watch. I know there is a fairly hight concentration of my fellow Christians who attend, so I was pretty surprized to see that Wedding Crashers had won the vote. But that's not really what bothered me. I don't expect my non-Christian friends to follow the same standards.

What really got me was how many of of these Christian friends still came, knowing full well what they were about to see. I consider several of them to be fairly prominant members of our local InterVarsity Christian Felowship group...

Something inside me just snapped when they started to arrive. I went through a rapid shift from grogy cold symptoms to full blown furry. How could anyone who believes/follows the God who wants us to stay pure and to treat His gift of sex with honor and respect.... How could you have that belief and allow yourself to sit through a movie that goes so far away from His standard?! Why should you even show tolerance for it?! That is NOT the standard God set for us. Eph. 5:3

I overheard someone on her cellphone telling someone that she didn't really want to watch the movie. I wanted to get in her face and ask her why she even came! ....but I've never been good at that kind of thing.. plus she was on the phone.. and I lost my nerve when she hung up and darted around the corner before I could follow...

I think that's when I really started to boil over... I mean, with so many known Christians in that audience, what were they telling the rest of the room about their God? Doesn't that sugest that He doesn't mind?

I really believe that God was wronged last night. So many of His people sitting through and tollerating that movie is a silent message that He's a lax God that doesn't really care. Or that He's not important or reliable enough to listen to. And if this is the image we project, why should we expect anyone else to care?

(sounds like I'm ranting, doesn't it? not really no. In the words of John Ruben, "I'm not trying to be a nusance, I just think we can do better than this.")

So my non-confrontational self stepped outside of my comfort zone and scribbled a quick note and dropped in the lap of a good friend who I knew was comprimising her beliefs. ...That is after stopping to talk to someone else who was staying away from the movie to get a little encouragement.. I was hoping to give one to the girl I'd overheard earlier, but I chickened out because she was pretty deep in the crowd..

But still, it was a rush for me. An incredible feeling doing what I believed was right, and reminding a friend to do the same. (remember my earllier posts on being true to who I am? ;) ) And I know it was also a response to God's prodding me.

Last night was a big step for me, and I'm looking forward to making a lot more like it and streatching myself ever further!

I guess that wasn't very short.... oh well. It feels good to put it out there.