divine intervention?

A few days ago my wife slept in. Nothing unusual there. At about 9:30 the dog went outside our bedroom door while I was on the computer and started whining, waking Stephanie up earlier than she would have got up without the canine nudge. "That's not like Lola", I thought at the time. In the next twenty minutes as my wife made her way downstairs, she looked at the calendar and noticed, "oops, I'm supposed to be at work!" *Commence crazy stressful half hour of my life!* On the way to work Stephanie and I both commented on how nice it was for the dog to wake her up that morning. We mused about whether or not it could have been God getting her out of bed and eventually to work. To be honest, at the time I was bothered by my naiveté in believing that this could have been "a God thing". Later that day I was bothered by the fact that I had been bothered. I began thinking- of course it could have been God, in fact six years ago I probably would have insisted it was God.
Lately I've found myself wondering a lot about these things. About what in my life to thank God for, and what in my life to dismiss as coincidence. I do believe strongly that nothing happens that is outside God's control, but an example that often disturbs me is the example of wealth. I, being a middle class American, am extremely wealthy compared to most of the world. When I pray I often thank God that I have enough of everything, and I often even thank him that I have enough money to enjoy things like video games, ice cream, or nice-looking and comfortable furniture - things that I am far from truly needing. While I believe in a God that wants us to find enjoyment and pleasure in our lives, and I don't feel guilty about these pleasures, I am very wary of saying that God has blessed me with these things -- prosperity gospel yadayadayada. . . Is it God or is it coincidence? Is it God, or is it the wealth that my society has built on the backs of others? Right about now, I can see this is taking me on a never ending path of wondering so I'll try to bring it to a hasty close.
Answer - I'll keep thanking God for every good thing I receive; for every convenient coincidence and every small pleasure I enjoy that doesn't take me from Him. But I'll probably also keep asking "was that you Lord?" whether it matters or not.

Back home and thankful

Stephanie and I had a good week in Seattle, hanging out with family and friends, but it is great to be home. I'm glad Stephanie got home first, to turn the heat on. It is currently 7 degrees outside, and last night was probably colder. We kept the heat at 45 while we were gone and I'm sure our furnace had to work pretty hard just to keep it there. I heard it'll be about -10 degrees in Green Bay today for the Packers Giants game. I don't know how these psychopaths can sit in an outdoor stadium like that, but I guess some things are worth freezing your balls off. No thanks!

So, here's a good story. I'll try not to make it too graphic. The following are the contents of my stomach yesterday.


a small bowl of multi grain Cheerios








three or four pretzel bites, mmm.






and for desert . . . a few bites of fruit & nut delight








The crazy thing was I wasn't even hungry. More importantly, I wasn't confident I could hold down anything more. 8 hours in airports and airplanes has never felt so miserable. It's days like yesterday that make me so thankful that I am generally healthy, and that not every day is like that.

the first update

Stephanie and I have now been in Grand Rapids for about five months and I have to say we're enjoying life here. We live in the East Hills neighborhood and have just about everything we need within walking distance, which is a dream come true. Stephanie is enjoying her job as a nurse at Spectrum's Meijer Heart Center, and I'm enjoying sitting around a lot and playing video games and reading (and subbing a couple days a week). This will all come to an abrupt end for me as I start my new job teaching Spanish at a small Christian High School on January 28. It's only part time so I'm praying about other options to fill in the cracks. It would be nice to find some work painting, but I'm really looking for opportunities in the non-profit realm, or maybe I'll finally try my hand as a barista. We hope to buy a house this summer, although my semi-employment hasn't helped that cause much. We also got a puppy in September, and that has been a lot of fun, as well as a lot of work. Her name is Lola. That's it for now. More news, preachy rants, and curiosities to come!

Dear Internet, I'm back!

It's been years since I last blogged (except for teaching related stuff), and maybe it'll be another year after this post. I am, however, going to give it another shot. I deleted my last blog because I was sick of knowing that anyone (my students for example) could read what I was thinking about, and even non-personal stuff seemed like something I'd rather have just my friends read. A little break from the teaching world may have something to do with my return to this blog, but I'll resume teaching again in just a couple weeks and I hope it won't scare me away from blogging again. I think I've overcome my fears. Another reason I'm back is that I checked my bloglines page yesterday for the first time in months and realized what a wonderful world I've been missing out on: Updates from friends, musings from pastors, alternative news, etc. My blog will most likely fall into the update category. In fact, I have a lovely update planned for . . . tomorrow!
Still, some things will be different this time around:
-I'm committed to making a better blog, with more doodads and knickknacks. We'll see if I can learn how.
-I'll probably be a little less personal than I was before, knowing that past and present students are always lurking around the corner in this series of tubes known as "the internet". This will be hard for me, as my friends probably know. I'm a very open person and tend to unload when given the chance. Maybe I'll hire a censor, or more likely I'll just use my wife.

But anyway, I'm back.