Incoherent Ramblings

My Blogger blog

jaybyrd — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:42:52 +0000

incoherent-ramblings-jaybird.blogspot.com

Sweet Story

jaybyrd — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:08:00 +0000

I love that every couple is unique, that every family has its own special way of doing things, forged by the special way God knit them into the same family, or built from a family legacy that has lasted for generations, or being built from the ground up with first-generation Christ-followers. I love it when families plan little things that are sure to be special (sometimes hilarious) memories for years to come. I love that there’s no perfect way to plan a courtship, that there’s no “set in stone” way to offer a proposal, that our Lord created us with different personalities, interests, and ideas of romance (if we even care about all that “romantic stuff” )

Whether or not you like the much-debated Jane Austen , this story was a really sweet reminder of those things.

Flying away,

Jaybird

Very Interesting Commentary on a Soft Subject These days From:

jaybyrd — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:39:00 +0000

James McDonald

Mrs. McDonald

WorldNetDaily

and even Ben Stein

This is a hairy, scary situation.

Flying away,

Jaybird

Two Literary Giants

jaybyrd — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:43:00 +0000

My favorite sonnet:

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines

By chance, or nature’s changing course un-trimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall Death brag though wander’st in his sahde,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breath, or eye can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee

And Jane Austen’s Knightly quote of the day:

“Men of good sense, whatever you may say, do not want silly wives!”

Should a woman ever strike the fearsome balance between Sonnet 18 and Mr. Knightly’s standards, she would be a very fearsome thing to behold!

Though not quite as fearsome as if she mastered the arts laid forth in Proverbs 31.

Flying away,

Jaybird

Good morning

jaybyrd — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:04:00 +0000

Good morning!

I thought I’d finally post the results for the Bible Versions poll:

KJV (4 votes, 10%)

ESV -my personal fave (9 votes, 42%)

NASB -my old Bible (7 votes, 33%)

NIV (1 vote, 4%)

NKJV (3 votes, 14%)

Other (1 vote, 4%)

Should I put up a “free will” versus “reformed” vote.

Also, my daddy posted another amazing article on his blog, one I think a lot of readers will enjoy entitled: I’d Love to Help if I Could, his response to the myriad of women who have called, emailed, and walked up to him (and occasionally called me) about helping their husbands grasp that “Family Driven Faith” vision that drives our family.

Be sure you check it out!

Jaybird

a bit of silliness

jaybyrd — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:19:00 +0000

i am: privileged to be where the Lord deemed fit to place me

i think: a lot, mostly about things I can’t control

i know: that I am much too cynical

i want: to live a full and useful life

i have: a beautiful computer where I write to my heart’s content

i wish: I could communicate those deep and wordless feelings

i hate: bullies, people who prey on others

i miss: my friends who live far away

i fear: climbing trees, because I won’t go up until I know I’ll be able to get back down

i feel: very deeply

i hear: dog whistles, because I’ve got sensitive ears

i smell: Asher’s neck, because it always smells good

i crave: all the foods I shouldn’t, like apple pies and fried chicken and dinner rolls

i search: my heart and pray for God’s guidance

i wonder: where I’ll be ten –twenty –thirty years from now

i regret: taking my life for granted so many days, and wasting them

i love: the warm, fuzzy goosebumps that ripple through my arm when I hear beautiful music

i ache: in my wrists, because I’ve been having carpal tunnel flare-ups

i care: about that one tree that falls in the forest and doesn’t make a sound J

i always: dream recurring dreams, usually in black and white

i am not: used to superficial people

i believe: that the Bible is the Word of God; that my family loves me more than anyone ever will; that the Lord is sovereign over His creation

i dance: the Virginia Reel, but only when someone reminds me of the moves

i sing: slightly off-key, and only during family worship

i cry: during movies; romantic comedies, dramas… it doesn’t matter –I cry

i don’t always: speak as kindly as I should

i fight: the urge to scream when our presidential candidates are talking

 i write: because, for me, it imparts clarity, and because it’s beautiful

i never: paint my nails

i listen: to Ella Fitzgerald when I’m lonely

i need: maturity to grow in grace

i am happy about: all of the lovely prospects in my life

(swiped from Miss Cara via this blog :)

Respectable Sins -A Review

jaybyrd — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:34:00 +0000

I just finished reading the wonderful book, “Respectable Sins” by Jerry Bridges.

It felt nice to read a book for the sheer pleasure of reading, not for the purpose of researching. I took a whopping four or five days to complete the arduous, 181-page journey.

It was an enjoyable task, to be certain, but the Lord used this book to show me some of the “respectable” sins lurking in my own life. It stepped on my toes at times, but most theologically sound books do. Some of the chapter names were: Sins of the Tongue, Judgmentalism, Impatience and Irritability, Discontentment, Anxiety and Frustration, and Lack of Self-Control, just to name a few.

One quote I really enjoyed was in the chapter called The Malignancy of Sin:

Another term for cancer is malignancy. Medically, the word malignant describes a tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally into adjoining tissue by invasion and systemically by metastasizing into other areas of the body. Left alone, malignancy tends to infiltrate and metastasize throughout the entire body. No wonder cancer and malignant are such dreaded words.

Sin is a spiritual and moral malignancy. Left unchecked, it can spread throughout our entire inner being and contaminate every area of our lives. Even worse, it often will ”metastasize” from us into the lives of other believers around us. None of us lives on a spiritual or social island. Our attitudes, words, and actions, and oftentimes even our private unspoken thoughts, tend to have an effect on those around us.

Another quote I enjoyed was in the chapter about anxiety and frustration:

Anxiety is a sin for two reasons. First, as I’ve already mentioned, anxiety is a distrust in God. In the Matthew 6:25-34 passage, Jesus said t hat if our heavenly Father takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, will He not much more take care of our temporal needs? And Peter told us that the basis for our casting our anxieties on God is that He cares for us. So when I give way to anxiety, I am, in effect, believing that God does not care for me and that He will not take care of me in that particular circumstance that triggers my anxiety of the moment.

…

Anxiety is a sin also because it is a lack of acceptance of God’s providence in our lives. God’s providence may be simply defined as God’s orchestrating all circumstances and events in His universe for His glory and the good of His people.

These, and other aptly spoken words in the book, as well as practical life applications and scriptural principles, made the book a real encouragement to me. Bridges takes great care to define these sins, to show us biblically why they are sins, to give us the biblical “remedy” for these sins, and to call us to repentance in regards to these sins. This is done succinctly and graciously. The implications of the “respectable” sins in my life were made profoundly clear, and I was left with a passion to root out even the most “common, understandable” sins in my life.

Flying away,

Jaybird

Stepping into the Fray

jaybyrd — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:10:00 +0000

I’ve been so entertained with the Mac vs. PC debates going on with some of my friends.

I can’t really interject, though, because since we came back to the States in 2001, we’ve been moving towards becoming an all Mac family. I learned how to type on a Gateway when I was nine or ten, and my first laptop was a Del hand-me-down that gave me endless trouble (that might have been because it was ancient, though But outside of those two computers, every computer thing I know how to do is with a Mac.

I’ve really got nothing against PCs, but, since my daddy is a die-hard Mac guy, I thought it would be fun to post a few Mac commercials today.

Another Review of Expelled

jaybyrd — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Yes, it’s another “Expelled” post. The movie is by no means perfect, but it is so very culturally relevant that I’m going to push it one more time.

For a filmmaker’s perspective on Expelled, I encourage you to check out Isaac Botkin’s in-depth review of the film. Also, click the links in his article to see what everyone else is saying.

Don’t forget to look at Daddy‘s review as well. I’d pen a review of my own, but it would fall shamefully short of the aforementioned articles, and I have no desire to display my weaknesses in academic writing.

So I’ll stick to emotional creativity and declare, if you haven’t seen it yet, shame on you.

Flying away,
Jaybird

The Winner of the Heroine Quiz

jaybyrd — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:43:00 +0000

The winner of the heroine quiz is…

Elinor Dashwood, with nine votes out of eighteen.

Elizabeth Bennet came in at a close second, her sister Jane came in last with one vote, and Anne Elliot, Marianne Dashwood, and Emma were tied with two votes each.

I think I’m replacing it with a poll on Bible versions (if you can’t tell, I’m a poll person Feel free to leave me a comment here telling me what version you like best and why. :.)

Flying away,

Jaybird