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The Reformation: Trick or Treat?

Slow day at work today, which allowed me some time to focus on God. I have been trying to establish devo or quiet times again in my daily routine. I usually find time to pray and communicate with God what's on my mind, and praising Him for skills that He has allowed me to have and to help me use them in service to Him.

In trying to establish a devo time and hopefully more time in the Word, I went back to one of my old books "Desiring God" by John Piper, and today I looked up the blog and read this article. I grew up in a Lutheran school, so reading about and knowing what Martin Luther did was something that was taught to me at an early age. Reading this article refreshed my memory on the perspective and significance of October 31st and the following all All Hollows day.

Sometimes I reflect on the "accidents" in my life or the course my life has taken, and definitely there have been times where I questioned why God led me to certain places or allowed certain obstacles to deter me in life. The saying that hindsight is 20/20 is true, but the timing and realization of that is not always immediate. Despite how often I reflect, I am left with no answers sometimes. I can guess at potential positives or reasons for certain life events, but I am not confident that that was God's intention for me.

So even with the gift of hindsight, comes the understanding of faith and obedience that God knows what's best for me and that He has a plan far greater than I can concoct for my life. I remind myself of Proverbs 3:5-6:

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

in hopes of reminding myself that as much as I can dictate my life with my decisions, I need to lean on God for direction and hopefully my decisions line up for what He wants as well.

I don't always understand what is presented to me in life, but I have faith that God will take care of me and despite the lowest of lows in this temporary existence, there are others who have a graver struggle, and the there is light at the end of the tunnel: God's grace already given through the death of Jesus.

#faith #God #John Piper

Basketball is back!

THE NBA SEASON BEGINS!!!!

My favorite professional sport must be basketball. I think it's a culmination of the game, it's ties to hiphop culture, and stardom of athletes. First off, I enjoy playing basketball myself, though no where near any professional level. But being able to watch athletes play at an elite level, run plays and manipulate the basketball as if it were a yo-yo or drain 3 pointers with a flick of the wrist just brings me a certain amount of excitement.

The culture of basketball may have started with Naismith, but when the Fab 5 brought hiphop "swag" to the court wearing the long shorts and black socks. It made basketball cool. The ties to basketball and street culture were solidified and permeated through to rap, basketball players, and ultimately fashion. I have a certain affinity for hiphop, and I cannot deny that there is a certain appeal to the swag or confidence that is laced in some of hiphop's most prolific MCs, which are then emulated through the style of play on the court.

The media also has a field day of generating buzz and hype around new up-and-comers, or aging veterans. That's the nature of media and whatever's trending; pop culture is about what's is capturing or what should capture the general public's attention at the moment. LeBron James of course has reached an all time high with publicity, but maybe it's the underdog or just the American mentality of rooting for those with adversity. As much as LeBron was celebrated for his achievements and his 2nd championship tonight. All eyes were also on seeing how Derrick Rose could perform after sitting out for one season on the mend from an ACL injury. Of course I'm more interested in my hometown Warriors, whom play tomorrow against the Lakers, and their debut. The Lakers had a surprising opening night win against their same city rivals, the Clippers.

I hope the Warriors don't let the Lakers (who should be bad this season) go up 2-0.

#basketball #nba #rose #lebron #golden state warriors #Warriors

Transition

This week and next week are the start of a new work schedule for me. Gone are working 3-4 days a week and the start of a potential full work schedule.

This week I have my health eval and paperwork meeting with Kaiser Permanente and my orientation with Eyexam of California (LensCrafters). Physically and mentally it will be tough to switch to work mode all the time, but I’m definitely grateful that God had presented me with this opportunity and I always remind myself that I wouldn’t have made it this far on my own.

I just hope to be able to continue to improve the balance in my life without compromising priorities.

God above all else because that’s all that should matter. Serving others through Him with the skills that He has given me.

#grindingforGod