While driving up to LA late last Sunday night, stuck in and endless sea of traffic that was moving about as fast as a petrified tree grows, I was feeling less than content. You might even say frustrated and I don’t think you’d be exaggerating…too much. And, of course, when one thing isn’t going my way I suddenly want to unleash the floodgates and trot out every little thing I’m not happy about, which certainly doesn’t make for a good driving experience. Fortunately, in such instances my reason usually kicks in and stops me before things get out of hand. “Are you really going to let a little thing like this bother you, something you won’t even remember tomorrow?” No, I finally decided, it probably isn’t worth it to get all stressed out about nothing, though I’ll probably still remember it tomorrow, if only to prove myself wrong, which still leaves me tied with myself 0 to 0. However, it’s not always that easy to deal with frustrations.Lately I’ve been in a sort of funk. Things have been going great, wonderful, swimmingly,ducky even. I have a better quality of life than the vast majority of people on the world. But at the same time, I feel like I’m not really going anywhere, not making progress, in the doldrums. It’s not really a satisfying feeling and I’m at a loss of what to do about it. I begin to second guess myself: am I becoming complacent and lazy? (well, probably) Am I going about this the wrong way? Am I even heading in the right direction? Does anything I do matter at all?!?! The last one is shouted at an unwary wall, who, in an act of shock and annoyance, doesn’t respond. (He’s probably still upset about that pillow I threw at him a while back. Man do walls know how to hold a grudge or what? I mean come on, it was just a pillow for crying out loud!) Well thanks wall, you’re no help. Thankfully, there is someone who can help, and that’s Paul. No, not that waiter at your local Denny’s (insightful as he may be), I’m talking about that guy from the Bible. More specifically, the guy who wrote a good chunk of the Bible and probably knows what he’s talking about. “What?” you say, “The Bible?” Yes, the Bible.Check this:

Philippians 4:11-13 (NASB)I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Did you notice how he said secret? I’m sure you did, that’s why I underlined it after all, (not that I think you’re unobservant or anything). He learned the secret, not just of how to eat right (useful as that is nowadays), but the secret how to live right. That’s some serious stuff! We’re talking about a guy who lived through some crazy things like beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, snakebites, full-scale riots, lashings, being left for dead (just to name a few). I haven’t even gone through one of those yet. I feel like if someone were to go up to him and say, “Hey Paul, you’ve gone through some pretty bad things, yet you still seem alright. How do you do it?” He would beckon them really close and cup his hand over his mouth, like he was going going to tell them The Colonel’s secret recipe for extra crispy chicken, but instead he’d say “be content in all things.” That’s it? No two drops of soy sauce, a pinch of paprika, baste it in a vat of honey mustard and let it sit under a full moon on the fourth day of the month while dancing a jig around it, singing the Canadian National Anthem (Eh?) and tossing cashews in the air? Just be content? Yes, be content.Sometimes the biggest and most important answers are also the simplest. It’s like in 2 Kings chapter 5 when Elisha tells Naaman how to cure his leprosy; dip in a river seven times. It sounds so simple that Naaman doesn’t even want to do it, in fact he’s a little TO’d about it. But once he finally hears some wisdom and gives it a try, he is immediately healed and is incredibly grateful.In a world that has so many solutions for how to live well, so many complex, convoluted, contradicting conclusions (+12 alliteration points), so many dead ends that lead us nowhere (as dead ends are known to do), there’s this one very simple answer: be content. We can believe it or not, but if we choose to live with a contentment in the context of the gospel, one that continues on despite circumstances, we will have lived fulfilled lives. I’m not saying we’ll achieve it perfectly, but we must have goals if we want to get anywhere, and it is a great thing to know that we can have such a satisfaction through Christ, who enables us to do all things according to His will, and I’d say that being content is definitely one of those things.Here’s a couple more useful verses I found that speak about being content:

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (NKJV)Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

I don’t usually write about this sort of stuff, but I just wanted to say that if you have a Mac, you should definitely check out Things. It’s basically an awesome to-do list with some other useful features. And if you don’t have a Mac, get one! (How’s that for superliminal messaging?)

Seriously though, I’m no Mac-vangelist, but I will say this: I’ve had my MacBook Pro for about a year now and I’m very happy with it. It has served me well and in no way do I regret buying it.

Oh, and I also found this nifty application called the LEGO Digital Designer. It lets you create Lego structures on your computer. Admittedly, it’s mostly useless, but still a fun little diversion nonetheless. Heck, they even have it for Windows.

Well, that’s enough of that. I’ll (hopefully) write more later this week.

I’ve picked up some pretty amusing things from work in my day (and I’m not just talking about the usual diseases and bad habits that make their way around the office). Here’s what I learned today:

According to my coworker, wraps are basically just burritos, but healthier.

You know, I think he’s on to something there. Of course, I should take into account that this is coming from the person who stated, “Nipples on guys are pointless, they only prove that we all used to be girls.” Quite the shocking conclusion if you ask me.

I’veкомпютри heard a lot of people say that the world is getting smaller, usually in reference to increasing technological advances in communication. Heck, even that notorious Disney ride has the repetitive mantra “it’s a small world after all,” which serves as a reminder (albeit a very annoying one) of an important change; everyone everywhere is being drawn closer to one another through the global community. While some may speculate (and in many cases correctly so) that serious dangers can arise from the effects of globalization, I think it is a positive thing for the most part.

Rather than saying the world has become perceptually smaller, I think it’s actually becoming bigger. Our understanding of our surroundings is not shrinking, it’s growing. The more I understand it, the larger the world seems to me. And it is not only good but necessary that we open our eyes and become aware of what is happening in the world at large. We can no longer let our own lives be the center of our universe.

When the idea first surfaced that perhaps the earth wasn’t the center of the solar system, it was met with much resistance. Perhaps this was because it challenged the idea that we ourselves are the center of all purpose, life, and meaning. When you’ve gotten used to believing it for so long, it’s a rather abrupt and shocking thing to be told otherwise. But it’s true, there’s so much more out there than just us, what we’ve seen, and what we know. It can be a bewildering thing to come to terms with the expansively large world that surrounds us, to realize there is so much we don’t know. But I think it’s good to have our minds stretched, our ideas challenged, and our incorrect preconceived notions tossed to the wind.

The more we come into contact with things outside ourselves, the more we are able to realize that you and I are not the only things that matters. That isn’t to say that we don’t matter, far from it. In fact, it is because we matter that everyone else also matters. We are to love the wold. (Did I just really say that?) Of course, it’s not the sinful and evil parts of it that we should love but the people in it. And the more we learn about others with their situations and experiences, the more we can learn how to love and help them. It is a great responsibility, and certainly one we can’t hope to accomplish on our own, but it is one that we should not neglect.

Perhaps one of the greatest blessings I’ve received is other people. I believe when God said that it is not good for man to be alone, (notice that it is the first “not good” thing God mentions, following a long string of “goods”) He didn’t just mean that it wasn’t good for a male to be without a female, but that it’s not good for any one person (man or woman) to be without anyone else. It is each other’s company that makes us human and whole. If I were to have lived here on this earth for this long without any other human contact, I would not be who I am now, but something else. Something deprived, lacking, malnourished, incomplete. That’s not to say we can’t find our completeness in God, but we’ve been made in such a way that without the company of others, we don’t function quite right. And I don’t just mean our close friends and loved ones. Even the way we interact with people we don’t necessarily enjoy can result in a positive change on our part, like stones bumping up against other stones in a river. So thank you, each one of you, for molding me, for shaping me, for helping meTout ce que le joueur doit faire, c’est de choisir un des nombreux sites de poker online et de commencer à jouer. to grow. You were all necessary and I still need you. I hope that I can be the same thing for you.

On another note (E sharp?), why does every spell check I use want to make the words “each other” two separate words? I think they should be together. When I speak the word I always think of it as one. Eachother. Yes, I like that much better. Two words with their own meaning, but when joined together, they form a new meaning.