Since I got (in other words had no option of whether or not I would take) a day off, I made a few changes to this blog. The biggest being a new banner image. Because of that, I decided it should no longer be in beta stage, thus entering a more semi-permanent, non-beta, alpha-like stage, woohoo!

The previous image was nice and all, but it was someone else’s and I neither live nor have misplaced my heart in San Francisco (though I hear it’s lovely there). I took this image myself and spent waaay too much time adjusting it in Photoshop, so I hope you like it.

While I was messing around, I also made this little beauty.

It’s a fascinating time we find ourselves in.  I know people have been saying this for a while, but it really seems like, in the grand scheme of things, we’re building up (and not winding down) toward the end. The end, I believe, will be quite the happening; a very grand, miraculous, awesome and terrible climax of a thing. It’s something a lot of people are waiting for, some people are dreading, and some people either have no idea or couldn’t care less about. Now when I say the end, I don’t mean the end of everything. While some people may believe such a time will come, I think it’s possible for every-single-thing to come to termination. When I say the end, I mean the end of life as it now exists, where an entirely different and new system of existence will take place. But let’s take a quick step back first, well, more like a huge leap really.

While I’m eager to see what’s next, I’ve learned a lot from looking back upon the tragic history of how we got to where we are now. It seems to be a culmination of some very poor decisions on our part followed by God having to hit the reset button, so to speak, and make some serious changes to the rules so that we don’t completely blow it for ourselves and enter into game-over mode. All the while, as humans, we become more experienced, more knowledgeable, and more capable of bringing ourselves to utter ruin. Look at the garden of Eden. Things were as perfect earth-wise as they could possibly be. And that’s how God had intended it to be, but, like many good things, it didn’t last. And after a while things got so horrifically bad that it took a world-wide flood to set it right again. And then there’s the whole Babel incident where a cooperative display of human power ends in chaos and confusion. Some time later, God brings together the nation of Israel and sets them apart with a new set of laws and a strikingly different system of government from the rest of the world. And if only they’d follow these laws, things would be good. No, better than good, they’d be great. Excellent even. Of course, God knew they’d rebel and that they couldn’t, no matter how hard they tried, keep every law perfectly. He knew  they’d misunderstand the entire purpose of the laws in the first place so that even when they obeyed the letter of the law, they often missed it’s spirit by a long shot. He knew it was only a matter of time before they’d not only reject the laws completely and turn to the practices of their neighbors, but they’d also reject Him as their ruler. Nevertheless God still gave them the chance; the chance to do right, the chance to obey.

So, finally, after a difficult cycle of captivity and liberation for the Jews, of faithfulness and falling away, God goes and does the unthinkable: He comes down as a human, sets the record straight, in one moment takes on the wrath and punishment of we’ve built up over all of time, raises Himself from death and ascends back to heaven, leaving His Spirit to guide us. Whoa! It may seem commonplace to us now, but back then that kind of thing must have sounded like crazy talk. While in many ways the results may have seemed subtle at the time (no big floods, no massacres, no pillars of fire, though there was something of a curtain-tearing corpse-reviving earthquake to commemorate the event), a major change had taken place. God’s relationship with man and man’s relationship with God was drastically altered, not only on a global scale but also on an eternal one, with a significant emphasis on the spiritual side of things. It was the last and only way left to save the world.
In the years following Christ’s arrival on Earth, not only did a lot of things change, but a history of the past and a prophesy of the future came together in one encompassing work. It was (and is) the final set of directions given from God to man.

So here we are now. We have a basic idea of how things are going to play out (though the when’s and the how’s are still up in the air, figuratively). While things are getting worse and worse here and we throw ourselves into a chaotic whirl, events are building up, causing more and more tension like a spring being pulled farther apart. There is a greater divide forming between what is good and what is evil, between the right and the wrong; a divide that will one day become a complete and irreparable tear, from one side of the curtain to the other. Now I realize there’s a lot of people out there (probably most people in fact) who don’t believe that’s the actual way history was unveiled and it’s not how things are going to go down. But the more I look at the world around me, the more I am sure of it. Either way, it’s an intriguing time to be alive. It is a a perilous and wondrous age we live in.

I’ll admit it, I complain a lot. Too much really. It’s one of the many things I need to work on. I know it’s completely annoying to be around someone who complains all the time and I realize that I’m no exception. However, while I think that complaining is wrong probably nine times out of ten (or perhaps it’s more accurately ninety nine times out of one hundred), I think there are some legitimate reasons for complaint.

Let me ‘splain why one might complain. There are many cases where complaint is effectively used for comedic purposes. It can add humor to otherwise somber situations. It’s a way for people to relate through common difficulties and struggles. It’s a way to point out injustices in society or inadequate circumstances. Didn’t the Israelites have reasonable complaints during their time of enslavement under the Egyptians? (That’s not to say their complaints later on in the wilderness were acceptable.) Complaints can point out a problem that might otherwise have gone unnoticed and unattended. It can be a way to harmlessly release negative emotions. I’d much rather let a person complain every now and then that he’s got an unfavorable work environment than have him hold it all in and then explode one day in violent anger. When we complain we’re telling people how we honestly feel about something. Granted, there’s a time and a place for it and that certainly isn’t all the time and wherever (as some might suppose), but sometimes it’s alright.

Obviously, we should be more focused on giving thanks since we’ve got an innumerable amount of things to be thankful for, but this world isn’t perfect and we don’t need to pretend that it is. I’m not trying to legitimize incessant whining, and I’m not saying that we should start complaining more. Heaven knows we have enough complainers already. I just don’t think every complaint must be automatically ruled out as inappropriate. As is pretty much always the case, we need to use discernment in deciding whether or not something is worth complaining about and in may cases (for me especially) lest time should be spent in complaint and more time should be spent actually working on a solution for the problem rather than just constantly pointing out a problem that’s already obvious to everyone.

And while I’m at it, do two hour commutes on a Sunday night stink or what? Ok, I’m done. Now I won’t need to explode in a fit of unbridled rage. Hey, what’s so funny?