thetinymite.com » Bible

#36 – On forgetfulness

reese — Tue, 08 May 2007 02:20:09 +0000

Oh my, I hope you didn’t think I forgot about you or sending out these silly emails. Truthfully, I have tried to write, but I it was as if I forget how to write. Please forgive the tardiness of the email… most of this email is now 5 months old.

But let’s go backwards and quickly revisit the last year. Within a week of being home from Alaska, I moved down to Houston to begin work at UPS as a co-op. It was everything I needed; very little of what I wanted (but I wore shorts 3 days a week, so no complaints).

After spending most of Christmas Break enjoying the company of my family, I took a trip to Big Bend with Travis, Kevin, and Jordan. If you like pictures, journals, or trip maps, then I think you’ll find that we covered it all. After moving back down to College Station to begin my last year at A&M, I found myself emersed in a design course, playing softball, and sharing meals with wonderful friends. Spring Break was a 2500+ mile excursion to watch the Ramsey and Nethers weddings with a 3 day Habitat build in New Orleans in between. The next week I went back to Dallas to see Griff and Kami wed from a 3rd straight. Now, I’m just trying catch my breath before beginning an internship with Andersen Windows’ in the Logistic department in Stillwater, Minnesota (~1/2 hour from St. Paul/Minneapolis – I told you this was an old email!).

Forgetfulness seems to be inheritly human. Already handicapped by time, we can’t even seem to remember the limited details from our limited lives. Or worse, we’re consumed with ourselves and we forget the obvious like don’t invade Russia in the winter. Ask Hitler and Napoleon how it worked out. The half of the Bible tells the story of an absent-minded nation, who watched the Red Sea miraculously separate, only to have the same generation turn foreign gods.

Yet as quick as I am to point to everyone else’s follies, it’s only because I can’t remember my own. Racing towards a December graduation has me slightly concerned – not so much about what to do – I love engineering (too much, perhaps). Nor is it making a bad choice… the fear is making the uncorrectable choice – whatever that is. Sure, it is a fear born out of faithlessness, but real all the same. Maybe I should remind myself of the story of the forgetters before me. For as often as Israel lost her way, the Lord stood faithfully by her side in mercy.

Thank you, dear friends, for reminding me who I am.

— published April 2008, but back dated to reflect May 2007 when it was written

#34 – A Heart 3 Sizes Too Small

reese — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:03:02 +0000

I wrote this e-mail about 3 weeks ago. Forgive me for being so slow. I know there is a lot to catch up on. Starting with the changes inside the house, we lost Nathan to Blockbuster for a semester, added Will, and Travis transferred from Blinn to A&M. A big thank you to Katrina for providing Cal with instate tuition for another semester. Oh yes, Joe is still Joe but with blonde hair, glasses, and a different job. Several weekends ago was DNow back in Dallas. Head over here for the entire Fruit War saga. This coming week Heather Moore and I will start a beginner Chinese class with the Language Learning Institute. A month from now Doug, Kevin, and I will be hiking in the Guadalupe Mountains over Spring Break. We might even slip over into New Mexico for a day or two of spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns. As for the summer, well… that’s a story that will have to wait until next time. Let’s just say I won’t be in Dallas, but in a state that’s first letter is the same as the last. It’s west of the Mississippi River, but not Arizona. Any guesses?

Nearly 8 years ago I discovered that at elevations above 8,000 feet I became susceptible to a condition called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). Now, for those of you without a medical degree, HAPE is a condition where the lungs fill with fluid because the air sacs stop working properly. If untreated, suffocation and even death can occur. So why do the air sacs stop functioning? Honestly, doctors really aren’t a 100% sure. Still, I think I remember, while in and out of consciousness in the hospital, someone saying something about the fact that my heart had shrunk. It’s probably not true, but still it’s fun to think about. What if it really does shrink? Would I qualify as a “grinch” if my heart is three sizes too small?

Ridiculous, I know, but what does cause a heart to shrink? Why are we so callous, so desensitized, so uncompassionate, and often so cruel? More to the point, how can we put on a heart of compassion to reach out to people with sincerity? I believe it can’t be done unless we are laboring to kill the evil desires of our own heart. One of the worst consequences of immorality is that it hardens a man’s heart. Stony hearts do not melt into compassionate hearts without effort. The trouble is that sin also “weakens the soul and deprives it of its strength.” By his own strength, no man can love sacrificially if he continually throws his heart to vices. Soon his vices will be his only love. Mortifying any fleshly lust takes much labor, but who does the laboring? I’d submit that unless we kill deeds of the body by the Spirit, we will never have any success (or life). So, may we not neglect to practice self-scrutiny when needed, but not go so far as to become foolishly self consumed or guilt-trip ourselves into hopelessness or depression. May He strengthen us this week to live holy lives so that those who do not believe may glorify God because of our good deeds.

Reese

***John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin influenced and inspired much of this e-mail. None of it is an original thought but a poor rewording.

How to Not Kill Sin

reese — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 06:10:36 +0000

from John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin, Chapter 3. Not the greatest passage from the book… hopefully there will be better quotes from Owen later.

“Men are galled with the sin that hath prevailed over them; they instantly promise to themselves and to God that they will do so no more; they watch over themselves and pray for a season, until this heat waxes cold, and the sense of sin is worn off; and so mortification goes also, and the sin returns to its former dominion. Duties [i.e. spiritual disciplines] are excellent for a healthy soul; they are no physic for a sick soul. He that turns his meat into medicine must expect no great operation. Spiritually sick people can not sweat our this distemper with working. But this is the way of men who deceive their own souls”

#33 – Encouragement from the Proverbs

reese — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 02:48:49 +0000

Yes, it has been a few months since the last e-mail. So let’s briefly catch up. Most of you knew I spent the summer in ‘East Asia’ aka China. In a sentence, we learned how to live out the book of Acts. As for present things, we’ve now all moved in to the house. This ‘we’ being Joe, Nathan, Cal, RA, and Travis and this ‘house’ is better known as the First Lady (none of us are quite sure why either). Triathlon training will begin shortly. Enrolling in a swim class may eventually fix my freestyle, but as of now all it has taught me is that I am unable to survival float. Finally, I have launched a new website to host all these e-mails along with all the pictures, quotes, and other writings that aren’t intended for these e-mail. The site? http://www.thetinymite.com. (credit Fitz for the nickname given to me 10 years ago during YMCA football). The Maroon Bombers will never die. There’s more going on around here, but I’ll update you on that as time goes on.

Spending the summer overseas put most of my life on hold. So once I set foot in the DFW Airport, the combination of reality mixed with a very slight taste of culture shock just didn’t sit well in my stomach. The part that I found so hard to swallow wasn’t the fast-paced American materialistic life. No, my love for our country grew stronger – Communism can do that. One of the more difficult things for me to grasp was this awful fact that each day brings me closer to life on my own. Lately, these thoughts of graduation are consuming my mind. Choosing the right career (or avoiding one altogether), being financially independent, and leaving all my good friends in College Station is of no concern compared to this verse in Proverbs 14: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but ends in destruction”. Keep reading and it doesn’t get better…

13 Even in laughter the heart may sorrow,
And the end of joy may be grief.
14 The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways,

That’s really frightening. As I seek to know which steps to take next, I can’t help but wonder if I’m already heading down the wrong path. These mind games I always lose. So what can I do? For one, be obedient to the last thing God told me. And listen — listen long — long enough to know which voice is actually speaking to me; long enough to hear the still, quiet whispers of my God who is inexhaustibly wise, true, and sovereign. Remember “the preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD” (Proverbs 16:1). What then? Dare to do live out those whispers that call to something so impossible that it would be doomed to fail if God’s hand did not see it through from conception to completion. Verse 14 ends, “But a good man will be satisfied with his [way],” lest we think this endeavor lead to unparalleled misery, unwanted celibacy, and every other unpleasant thought misapplied to full devotion to God. I leave you with this quote by CS Lewis:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

The Favorites

Music: Did you know that if you have a home network and iTunes you can share music legally? We can play songs from any one of my 5 roommates computer without downloading it on to each computer. Point being is that I have a load of new music to listen to, including Ross King.

Books: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eli Goldratt. It’s required reading for my Intro to Production Systems class, but it’s really good! I never knew a book about manufacturing could be so interesting. Also I’ve been visiting JR Vassar’s blog (http://manhattanpastor.blogspot.com/) and reading some online stuff by John Piper (http://www.desiringgod.org).

Moment: So many honorable mentions: FOCUS, particularly Sunday morning at the Fort Worth Stockyards with Brian and Brett, hiking the Great Wall (don’t believe me, check out the pictures), Tyler Tag, dropping Jennifer off at OU, seeing my family after 10 weeks apart and only two phone calls. But there can only be one winner and it has to be Ivey and Sean’s wedding; every single part of it, but the reception was one to remember forever. The rumor about me dancing is a complete lie! If you see any video that says otherwise, please destroy the phony version of the wedding. Alas, too many stories, jokes, and memories generated from 4 days that I will stop now.

Sports: Beating SMU soundly makes coming home much easier.