This Infinite Love

When I was younger, I was an idealist. My ideals were casual postulates begging to be tested by the equation of life. Inside the subsets, behind the decimals, and by exponential force of experience I came to the sum of reality. Many of my ideas were false and some needed to be adjusted slightly.

In high school we had to make a portfolio of what we viewed as an ideal life. I went through and chose a castle for a home, a luxury car, and fictitious neighbors and pets. Those were secondary categories to what was on the first page: my wife.

For me, the equation was simple: high school girlfriend, college fiancé, graduate wife. It was a leisurely romp through the low plains. Instead I find that it is a a complex formula with irrational numbers and infinite variables not a graduated cylinder of exact science.

I do not know why my naivety was so vast, but its hold was euphoric; the feeling that the world would work out for me. I was the Catholic Church pre-Galileo and I was the earth of my dark universe. Perhaps it was the wonderment of adolescence or the rush of hormonal tide that gathered a library of fiction regarding love. More than likely, it was simply my inexperience.

Through my life, the idea of being in love has been at least a peripheral focus. The problem is, I didn't realize that in order to be in love, you first have to love. What I mean is that being in love is a state of being that is predicated by love itself...

Losing the Will

I haven't completely lost the will to blog, but it is waning.

Our Depth of Perception is Reality

I park cars on the weekends. Usually imports like Porsche or Lexus, but occasionally the Tijuana bred Ford Escort wagon. Our policy is to back into parking spaces. I am horrible at this. I guess a lot on the distance between the rear bumper and stationary objects. Why do I guess? Because I have a problem with depth perception.

I found out about the problem when I was in high school. It was during baseball season and my batting skills seemed highly diminished from previous seasons. It was not that I could not see the ball, it was that I could not judge its the spin on the ball, or the stitches, or its position in relation to myself.

Once I recieved glasses to help correct this issue, it was much easier to see the ball's spin, stitches, and position. At first, it was difficult to get my physiological responses to sync. I went so long without good eye sight that my coordination was off. As the season progressed, my coordination began to come together and I ended up hitting about sixty points higher with glasses than without them.

What was the difference before and after glasses? It was not sight, I could see without them. It was my perception or depth of perception. We can make all kinds of general assumptions based on basic perception, but if we are not viewing things through the correct lens, we will strikeout every time.

That is why sometimes we need to take a second look. Our initial impression of life is not always the most accurate. Next time you find yourself in a difficult situation, slow down and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Things may not be what they seem. The reason why many of us fail to overcome small circumstances is that we fail to see the real reason behind opposition.

Opposition can be practical or spiritual. That is why we need the Holy Spirit to guide us. If we decide to go to war against assumed spiritual forces and the issue is actually practical we are beating the air and accomplishing nothing. Conversely, if we simply view life naturally we ignore the admonitions of the Bible that we war not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers.

So how do we determine what's what? We must ask questions. Ask the person who seems to be opposing you, ask yourself if you have addressed all the practical reasons, ask mature Christians, ask mature non-believers, and ask how you got into the confrontation. Once you ask the questions, the answers will fall into place and your response will be better suited for the situation.

Key Verses

I Samuel 16:7, Ephesians 6:12, John 14:26

So, Jesus Talked About Money Part 1

I've heard it said so many times that Jesus talked about money more than any other subject. Why did He talk about money so much? Most people assume that money is an important issue. This is a simplistic answer that does not even begin to placate my inquisitional palate.


I don't think Jesus was really interested in money for money's sake. He was interested in it because, just like today, people are engrossed in it as a an end instead of a means to an end. What I mean is that people look at money not as a flowing resource, but as an answer to life's problems. This is the thinking Christ was addressing in His ministry. It was not so 2000 years later someone could talk about the prosperity gospel.

Let's get a couple of things straight. Even though Jesus referred to money several times, most of His miracles concerned physical healing. After many of these healing miracles He would address their spiritual state by saying things like "your sins are forgiven" and "go and sin no more."

Very rarely do you see the point of Jesus miracle directly impose on the territory of finance. In fact, only one time does Jesus do a financial miracle. If finances are so important to God, then why only one financial miracle?