Ramblings of an Exwindchaser

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

[mgx0]

It was supposed to be four simple images in a week …….FUCK MY OCD

[exwindchaser]

Later

Student 1: Mr. Esparza is a weird guy

Me: Ms. Keith is a procrastinator

Student 2: What's procrastinator mean?

Me: I'll tell you later.

Student 2: Aw man.

[exwindchaser]

Maybe this'll teach you to wear underwear!

Things I hear as a private tutor

[exwindchaser]

Just once I want…

[nevelbeats]

He bit my finger! #mayweather #crying #noflexzone

[exwindchaser]

I knew the Internet wouldn't fail me!

[exwindchaser]

Muntzel

I posted my ad again early this afternoon. I figure maybe I'll get a hit and grab some extra cash for the week. Muntzel emailed me less than an hour after I clicked publish stating that he had a computer that was getting popups when he would browse the Internet, and that he needed some help connecting a new Bluetooth adapter to his stereo system. 

Perfect. 

I looked up the adapter that he had so I could be a little prepared when I arrived at his house and could get in and out quickly. After sending a message to a friend alerting him of my destination in case Muntzel was a little bit of a shady character, I headed out the door to his 80+ year old home in a very nice part of Dallas.

Based on the language and rhetoric of his email, and his voice when he called me, I suspected Muntzel was a bit older than me. I didn't expect an 86-year old man who had been retired for around 20 years. 

Muntzel is exactly what you would expect in terms of his looks: an older Caucasian gentleman who resembles your grandfather, no matter what your race. He was dressed exactly as you would expect him to be dressed, with khaki pants above his belly button and a white t-shirt tucked in. Obviously he was sporting a pair of dapper wire-rimmed glasses and a hearing aid that whistled and hummed when he adjusted it. I'm telling you, he fit the profile. 

Well at least in his appearance he did. 

While working on two of his three computers, I learned quite a bit about him. As I stated, he's been retired for around 20 years. His profession was that of selling hi-fidelity audio equipment, some of which adorned his bedroom. Hipsters all over the city would have loved to get their hands on the retro equipment he had lying around. 

His three computers were set up in his bedroom in a corner next to his bed. My inner [fake] OCD was bothered by the tangle of wires he had. Of course my immediate assumption was that this little old man had way more cords and wires than he needed. I was wrong because his two desktops were wired to connect to one monitor, mouse, and keyboard. A couple keystrokes switched between CPUs. Impressive. 

I got to work on his laptop, an older Toshiba running Windows 7 but without integrated Bluetooth. He had a USB BT receiver, which I promptly installed. Connecting the audio adapter was even more simple, as all I had to do was pair and connect the two. 

I then moved on to his desktop. His gaming desktop. Yes, Muntzel is an avid gamer. He informed me that he spends much of his free time playing Skyrim. 

This desktop had a 3TB hard drive, of which he was amply using 70 whole gigabytes. 

Repairing it was a breeze and much easier than the computer I worked on last week. While I was waiting for different programs to clean and scan, I began to look around his wall at all the frames and pictures decorating it. 

Apparently being a successful hi-fidelity audio salesman who is now retired leads to very extensive traveling. 

Muntzel had numerous frames of different keepsakes from different trips all over the globe. One such frame was a certificate proclaiming that he successfully crossed the Strait of Magellan. 

He informed me that he went on a 142-day cruise that circumnavigated the entire globe. Other pictures had ticket stubs, receipts, and pictures from literally dozens of different countries. I felt sheepish for mentioning that I went to Canada the year before on a 7-day cruise. 

I walked out of his house an hour after arriving and came to the realization that Muntzel is one of the most interesting people I've met in my life. This is a man who I'm sure has enough great stories to fill a few pages. Thankfully, he told me he would contact me again soon when he was ready for me to work on his other desktop, and if he should need any other technological assistance. 

Muntzel, I know I just met you today, but you are truly a gem. Thank you for a most interesting afternoon, and I'll see you soon. 

[andymineo]

Grow not weary. Galatians 6:7-10 holdin me down right now.

[exwindchaser]

How much does your worship cost?

1 Chronicles 21:22-24

22 David said to Araunah, “Let me buy this threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I will build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.”

23 “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, and the threshing boards for wood to build a fire on the altar, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all to you.”

24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not take what is yours and give it to the Lord. I will not present burnt offerings that have cost me nothing!”

This is a story all about how Israel got flipped and turned upside down. David holds a census and counts all the people in the country. This angers the Lord and He gives the king a choice between three judgments. David makes a good(ish) choice and chooses for the Lord to do what He will. 

This means three days of a plague that ends up killing 70,000 people. 

Yikes. That's intense. 

After the three days, God sends a death angel to completely destroy Israel, but thankfully He changes His mind at the last minute. So you've got this massive death angel at a random threshing floor ready to wipe out an entire nation with his sword and God says, "Nah son chill out." 

King David then sees the angel and his sword and he's all, "Yeah let's build an altar and make some sacrificies to make atonement for my sins." 

He offers to buy the threshing floor from the owner, Araunah, at "full market price" (The Msg). Araunah tries to just give it to him, as well as all the materials and animals needed to make the sacrifice. The King is all, "Nah son. I gotta pay the price yo." 

Then he says a sentence that is quickly becoming one of my favorite sayings in the bible. 

"I will not present burnt offerings that have cost me nothing!"

That's intense. That's a good heart. That's a Godly man. David knew he needed to make a sacrifice. He knew he messed up and he saw experienced the consequences of his screw up. 

Knowing me as well as I do, I don't think I would have been able to pass up the free land, oxen, wood, and all the other stuff that Aranuah offered. I like free. Free trumps all. Everything is better when it's free. In my mind, I would have thought, "Wow God really knows my heart and He wants to bless me by giving me all this stuff for free so I can sacrifice it to Him." Even as I type that, it seems totally legit. 

But that simply wasn't the case. 

David had an understanding of the heart of God unlike any other, and he knew that he had to pay a price so God would honor is sacrifice and his worship. The King didn't try to skim off the top of that price either; there were no cutting corners or finding secret discounts. 

I have a friend who's really good at the Craigslist bartering/buying/selling thing. He's sold a few cars, bikes, and various other largely priced items on the website, and he always seems to come out on top of the deal. One way is he will find a defect in the product if he's buying it and expertly exploit that defect so he can shave off a few bucks. It's maniacally genius and I really admire him for being able to find a way to save those few bucks. 

David, however, asked for the appraisers to come out. He found out the full value of the land and willingly paid it all. I find it interesting that there's no price given in this passage. We don't know how much it cost David to buy this land. Maybe it wasn't much. I mean the guy was a king after all. Maybe it was chump change, money found in the couch cushions. 

The point is, he paid the price. He made the sacrifice. He knew there would be a cost and he didn't try to weasel his way out of it. 

What can we learn from this? How much does your worship cost you? Are you truly making a sacrifice when you worship God? Or do you just do cut corners on your giving, living, worshiping, sacrificing, etc? 

I challenge you to take a moment today and truly examine how much your worship costs. I can guarantee that if you pay the full market price, you will experience God in a whole new way. 

[exwindchaser]

I'm watching 2014 World Cup USA vs Germany

822 others are also watching. 2014 World Cup USA vs Germany on tvtag

[exwindchaser]

I woke her up from a nap so now she's annoyed with me. #DogPicADay

[exwindchaser]

Some might say I'm epic. #ThisIsMyDallas #IgnoreTheKids #MHHBridge #MargaretHuntHillBridge #Texas

[exwindchaser]

Have I mentioned how much I love this bridge? #Instadfw #ThisIsMyDallas #MargaretHuntHillBridge #MHHBridge

[exwindchaser]

First time at @thewilddetectives and I instantly love it. Hire me!! (at The Wild Detectives)

[exwindchaser]

My current view. #HDR #Instadfw #BlackBerryPhotos #TeamBlackBerry

[humansofnewyork]

"Going through life without God is like being an astronaut tumbling out of control in outer space. You grab on to this, but it breaks, and you tumble some more. Every time you lose something that you tried to hold on to— your marriage, your job, your mom— you start tumbling even faster. So you’ve got to stay close. You can’t cut your umbilical cord. But you don’t have to go to church. God is everywhere. God is that blade of grass trying to come up through the concrete. So many people go to church, and leave church, not even realizing that they are the church. You just need to make a determination in your mind that you want to find and believe in the truth."

[mikeclevenger-deactivated201608]

Those rare Christians whose very presence incites others to be better Christians. I want to be that rare Christian.

A.W. Tozer  (via jasminecrystal)

[delta-breezes]