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[ Sunday, February 20, 2000 12:12 a.m. ]
web: iBelieve.com
what I'm realizing is that regardless of how painful or difficult or challenging my life circumstances become, it is no excuse to sin.. this takes tremendous emotional and spiritual fortitude, stamina, perseverance, and faith.. clinging on even if by just a thread.. some use the term 'dying to self' or 'mortifying the flesh' or 'trust and obey'.. it's just plain difficult and hard, but the glimpse of hope is that the path of righteousness is far more rewarding and guilt-free(!) than the short-lived pleasure of sin. God, please give me strength..

[ Tuesday, February 15, 2000 10:33 p.m. ]
web: eTour
what is amazing is the battle between flesh and spirit.. the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.. here in Christian circles, we talk about how much love we have for God, or desire to have for God, and at moments in time, we too have needs or desires, some of which are legitimate, pull strongly at us, that we are tempted and pulled to give in contrary to our desire and commitment to live a life that is pleasing to God.. the philosophical question is: how long can one go without sinning? a week? a day? an hour? a minute? 15 seconds? is there a such a thing as eradication of sin from one's life? complete victory over sin? in some circles, a victorious Christian life is spoken of as an ongoing reality, as if there is some sort of sinless perfection (there's even a hymn with that phrase), but from my understanding of reality, this is such a set-up-for-failure and delusion - the evidence is that we are simultaneous sinner and saint, that we are (more accurately) saints who occasionally sin.. saying this I don't mean to say that there is no victory from sin, because Jesus came to save us from sin, and it is clear from Scripture that God gives us the strength in the Spirit to overcome the bondage of sin, that we can be freed from sin, that we can rely on God and to not have to give in to bad habits and sinfulness. That's the victory, and after the wins and losses are added up, we'll see a winning record by the grace of God.

[ Tuesday, February 8, 2000 04:36 p.m. ]
web: eWebCity
today has been an incredible day, quite an intense emotional journey.. in the morning, i was lamenting the adjustments i [feel like] i have to make in terms of relationships, that i don't have the depth of relationship that i desire to have, especially as a power relator, and i was feeling resigned to the fact that this may be a need that i have that may go unfulfilled.. and for my relational side, which is a big part of me, it was very sad..

but this morning, I did finish updating my personal web site, at least on the first level of web pages, so it's looking consistent and nicely navigatable.. then this day has been filled with meetings, almost one after the other, as many things are happening at my church, and they're needing much prayer and discernment and wisdom each step of the way.. and then the Lord confirmed His hand upon us this afternoon as we opened a letter of tremendous encouragement.. God is at work in this adventure called life..

[ Sunday, January 30, 2000 03:01 p.m. ]
web: webhelp.com
personal struggles are a part of life, and I'm honest enough to admit them.. those that don't have any are only pretending. this is not to say that "all of life is suffering", but that we can be honest with the tough times and the good times, and that the the goal of life is not to pretend we have no desires nor to avoid suffering. The Word in Romans 5 came to mind, that suffering produces perseverance. And character. And hope. My own tendency, and perhaps yours, is to find relief when faced with tough times, rather than allow the opportunity to be a place for learning perseverance and producing character. In the tough time, I want to relieve myself, find something that brings short-term temporary pleasure, which in effect only creates guilt and more dissatisfaction. Resist temptation, God help us all.

[ Friday, January 21, 2000 09:54 a.m. ]
web: ExpertCentral
People have been taught and heard that prayer is the most important thing and essential for the life of the Christian, as it expresses dependence upon God, and is sometimes overstated as being as important as breathing.. so we need to pray, we must pray, we need to pray often, we have to pray about everything.. but is it fair to say that all of life is about prayer? There are other obviously essential elements of life such as eating, sleeping, and working. The spiritual life is not isolated and separate from the whole of life, but in fact should and must permeate every aspect of life. All of life is spiritual. So how much prayer is enough? Prayer measured in time is probably never enough. But prayer as a lifestyle, I'd like to suggest, is being mindful and heartful of God's presence whereever and whenever we are, and thinking and feeling as God would think and feel in whatever scenario or situation we are in life.

[ Friday, January 14, 2000 05:44 p.m. ]
web: OnWashington
finally a web site for the most wired city in the country (and probably by default, the world)-- Washington DC.. you'd figure there would be some great Washington DC portal with 60% of the city wired, but nooooo.. it's taken months to get something hopping going on, and this one is sponsored by the big newspaper Washington Post..

we finally got our kitchen counter and sink in place last Saturday, so we celebrated with steaks on the indoor grill; will have pictures on the web soon.. it was delicious! and this week we're having some open house time with people, just time to hang out and enjoy people at our home.

I've been feeling a bit 'out of it' recently, haven't had a good engaging dialogue in a while, it might be the holiday banter lagging on, but i sure do enjoy good conversations. maybe i'll stick to finishing my web redesign until i get the whole site overhauled

[ Monday, January 3, 2000 01:43 p.m. ]
web: Christian Coaches Network
Happy New Year! It was a nice entry to a new year, a new decade, a new century, a new millenium! It was especially nice that there wasn't catastrophic failures of utilities and mass hysteria and chaos. We stayed up late watching The Matrix, getting home by about 4am.

Had my first Y2K incident, nevertheless- turns out that my new digital camera (Olympus D340R) wasn't able to make it into the new year, and its date/clock was messed up. You'd figure that a new camera made in 1999 would be Y2K compliant, but apparently not...

how you can pray for me in the new year: I am on the brink of making a decision that will affect my career and family- tho' I don't really care what I do in my professional (paid) life, there are some things that I would enjoy a bit more and be a bit more effective and efficient, and so I'm praying about God's leading in this arena. The idea of coaching that has been popularized in corporate culture and personal achievement arenas sounds intriguing- it seems that people are not disinterested in spiritual and personal guidance, but that the church is not addressing the relevant felt needs that people are seeking answered; that is, the church is answering questions that people are not asking. That's tragic.

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