Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Though the chill in the night still hangs in the air
I can feel the warmth of morning on my face
Though the storm had tossed me
'Til I thought I'd nearly lost my way

And now the night is fading and the storm is past
And everything that could be shaken was shaken
And all that remains is all I ever really had

What I'd have settled for
You've blown so far away
What You brought me to
I thought I could not reach
And I came so close to giving up
But You never did give up on me
I see the morning moving over the hills
I feel the rush of life here where the darkness broke
And I am in You and You're in me
Here where the winds of Heaven blow

Rich Mullins - Home

Psalm 126


A song of ascents.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD ,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.

If I Stand
Rich Mullins and Steve Cudworth

There's more that rises in the morning
Than the sun
And more that shines in the night
Than just the moon
It's more than just this fire here
That keeps me warm
In a shelter that is larger
Than this room

And there's a loyalty that's deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegiance
I owe only to the Giver
Of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

There's more that dances on the prairies
Than the wind
More that pulses in the ocean
Than the tide
There's a love that is fiercer
Than the love between friends
More gentle than a mother's
When her baby's at her side

And there's a loyalty that's deeper
Than mere sentiments
And a music higher than the songs
That I can sing
The stuff of Earth competes
For the allegence
I owe only to the Giver
Of all good things

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home "

Gone
by Switchfoot

She told him she'd rather fix her make-up
Than try to fix what's going on
But the problem keeps on calling
Even with the cell-phone gone

She told him that she believes in living,
Bigger than she's living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards and upside-down

Don't say so-long, you're not that far gone
Don't spend today away, 'cause today will soon be

Gone, like yesterday is gone,
Like history is gone,
Just try and prove me wrong, and pretend like you're immortal.

She said, He said, live like no tomorrow;
Every day we borrow brings us
One step closer to the edge. Infinity.
Where's your treasure, where's your hope,
If you get the world, and lose your soul?
She pretends like she pretends like she's immortal,

Don't say so-long, and throw yourself wrong
This could be your big chance to make-up
Today will soon be

Gone, like yesterday is gone
Like history is gone,
The world keeps spinning on
You're going, going, gone,
Like summer break is gone,
Like Saturday is gone,
Just try and prove me wrong and pretend like you're immortal

We are not infinite
We are not permanent
Nothing is immediate
And we pretend like we're immortal
We are so confident in our accomplishments
Look at our decadence

Gone, like Frank Sinatra,
Like Elvis and his mom
Like Al Pacino's cash,
Nothing lasts in this life
My high school dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesn't last for long

Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash
Life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred-dollar bills and roto-tom fills
Life is more than fame and rock and roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings end up in wills
We've got information in the information age,
But do we know what life is
Outside of our convenient Lexus cages?

She said, He said live like no tomorrow,
Every moment that we borrow brings us closer
To a God who's never been short of cash
Hey Bono, I'm glad you asked,
Life is still worth living, Life is more that we are

7 hours and 21 minutes. But who's counting?

21 hours, but who's counting?

38 hours but who's counting? I need God's strength now more than ever!

Who all reads this anyways?

Here's something interesting: The man who had the most faith in Jesus never met Him. Jesus was amazed by the centurion faith and he never even met Jesus. I guess I have to qualify that as during Jesus' ministry period and pre-resurrection. The story takes place in Luke 7:1-10. I find the centurion to be an interesting character, very different from anyone else in the Gospels. First, he AMAZED JESUS with his faith! What kind of a man would it take to amaze the Son of God? Jesus said that he hadn't found anyone with greater faith. But it gets better. Everything that the centurion knew about Jesus, and everything that Jesus knew about the centurion was through messengers. They never met face to face (at least not that is recorded). The next interesting thing is who the messengers were. The Jewish elders were willing to go to Jesus on behalf of a Roman (think occupying invader). The next amazing thing was that they said that he deserved to have his request fulfilled. They thought he was a good enough man that something good ought to be done for him. Then it turns out that the reason why he was so deserving was that he loved Israel and built a synagogue for the people. How often do Roman soldiers love their occupied (and rebellious) lands? But this man loved them and gave his own money to build a place for them to worship. Then his request was not for himself, but for a servant. He was a centurion and he had lots of servants, but he cherished this one and valued him enough to seek Jesus' help. My guess is that he stayed at his servant's side and had already spent a great deal of money on doctors. He humbled himself to save the life of his friend, his servant. He trusts so much in Jesus' power that he believes Jesus can heal from a distance. He is humble enough that he knows he does not deserve to be in Jesus' presence. He respects Jesus (and the Jewish customs) enough that he does not ask Jesus to come into his house and so make himself ceremonially unclean. He definitely sounds like an amazing man.

Elephant Distraction

Come see the painting that Will and I painted for the Control Tower 401 art show in Sewell Hall. It's entitled Elephant Distraction. Thursday (today) 4-7:30pm.

Ok, so I wanted to take a little bit of time to blog and catch up on what's been going on. Let's see. Last Thursday, went to InterVarsity Large Group and heard Ben speak. Cool! Friday was Activities Fair and Lexi's Birthday. Interesting! Saturday evening was Katherine's dance recital. Best one yet! Sunday was Ning's senior recital, climbing 90, and putting posters up windows 30 ft in the air. Awesome! This week is the last week of classes. Not so fun! Tonight? Sleep! Hopefully I'll come back and tell you all about these exciting days, but I think I'm going to go read my Bible and then flop into bed.

More - Matthew West


"Take a look at the mountain
Stretching a mile high
Take a look at the ocean
Far as your eye can see
And think of Me

Take a look at the desert
Do you feel like a grain of sand?
I am with you wherever
Where you go is where I am

And I'm always thinking of you
Take a look around you
I'm spelling it out one by one

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to Me

And I want you to know
That I'm not letting to
Even when you come undone

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Shine for Me
Shine for Me
Shine on, shine on
Shine for Me

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more"

Can there be mercy without pity?

"Last Elves Fired from Santa's HQ:

Wow. It never seemed like he had a sound buisness plan to begin with.

I feel like I've been zapped with the MIB re zapper light.

Why I Do Not Support Homosexual Marriage

This is part of an email that I sent to a non-Christian friend explaining why I do not support same-sex marriage. Most of the ideas are taken from the webpages that I've linked to below. Please send me any comments or questions. -Caleb

I'm a Christian and you're not so we're probably not going to agree on a lot of things. But what you don't know is that I don't just think that homosexual marriage is wrong because of my religious convictions but also because of what homosexual marriage has done sociologically.

You probably know that same-sex marriage has been legal in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden for the last ten years. But instead of encouraging more people to get married, their laws have driven home the point that marriage itself is outdated. Heterosexual marriage actually decreased and out of wedlock pregnancies dramatically increased. In Scandinavia, most couples married before the birth of their second child (the first child shocked most couples in the realization that it would be better for their family if they got married). But since same-sex marriage was legalized, 80% of first born children are born out of wedlock and 60% of all subsequent children are born to unwed parents. Acceptance of homosexual marriages does hurt heterosexual marriage.

The fact is that homosexual relationships are not the same as heterosexual relationships. First of all, homosexuals are much, much more promiscuous than heterosexuals. Everyone who has researched that agrees. What makes you think that gay men will all of a sudden will choose one guy to settle down with for the rest of his life if he chooses to be promiscuous when he could have always have chosen to be monogamous? In a study by the Journal of Sex Research of 2,583 homosexuals, only 2.7% claimed to have had sex with only one partner.1 Other studies have shown that homosexual relationships rarely last more than two years2 while others have shown that homosexual men literally have hundreds of partners. According to AP Bell and MS Weinberg, 24% of gay men had over 100 partners, 43% of gay men had over 500 partners, and 28% had over 1000 partners. In fact a few openly gay researchers have concluded that sexual relationships between men rarely survive if they are not open to outside sexual contacts.4 Now what would make all of these men suddenly give up their freedom for monogamy? Tax breaks and health care coverage certainly wouldn't do it. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't understand men and their desire to be free and independent. If anything most would have an 'open marriage' where they get legal benefits but can sleep around if they want. But that isn't really a marriage and I don't see why we should call it a marriage.

We can't define marriage as anything other than what it has always been. If you want to legalize homosexual marriage because two people love each other, why should we stop there? I've never asked you before, are you in favor of bigamy? There are already lawsuits promoting bigamy, which use the same equal rights laws that are being used to challenge the traditional definition of marriage. If same-sex marriage is legalized, then there is absolutely no reason why bigamy shouldn't be legalized either. Why couldn't a child have two mommies and a daddy instead of one mommy and one daddy? What about two daddies and two mommies? Or one mommy and three daddies? If one wanted to get divorced, could the other two stay married? A family could be any number and combination of people who could get married or divorced at will. It would make a mockery of marriage. It would be more like a club (or very similar to what we see on television right now just with a new label). Ironically, the health insurance companies would have to make new rules about coverage completely separate from marriage. And why stop at number, couldn't a man who enjoyed bestiality marry his pet dog if they 'truly loved each other'? Who is high enough above them that they can be an impartial judge? Age restrictions too may be just another archaic rule from a bygone era when people didn't know how to have fun. Why do we have age restrictions? It is because we know that some things are harmful, like getting married when you're eleven (or four). Homosexual marriage would start us down a very slippery slope.

Let me ask you a question: Why does the government control marriage in the first place? Or in other words, what is the purpose of marriage? It's certainly not to keep people faithful to each other. No one who has looked at recent divorce statistics could honestly claim that marriage keeps people faithful (especially if they are promiscuous before marriage). Is it because they love each other and want to have sex? No, otherwise we'd have laws about adultery and pre-marital sex. Here's a hint: the government exists for the betterment of its people. The real reason is that the government controls marriage is that marriage is good for children and consequently for the people as a whole. Recently, the American College of Pediatricians published a position entitled, "Homosexual Parenting: Is It Time For a Change?" which says, "...the environment in which children are reared is absolutely critical to their development. Given the current body of research, the American College of Pediatricians believes it is inappropriate, potentially hazardous to children, and dangerously irresponsible to change the age-old prohibition on homosexual parenting..." Their entire article is online at http://www.acpeds.org/?CONTEXT=art&cat=22&art=50&BISKIT=4233170734 and it talks about how violence is two to three times more common among homosexual relationships than heterosexual relationships and that homosexuals are more likely than heterosexuals to experience mental illness, substance abuse, suicidal tendencies, and shortened life spans- none of which are prime environments for raising a child. Another study shows that this isn't restricted only to the United States but is also a common problem in cultures where homosexuality is socially acceptable. Homosexual marriages would not be a good environment for children.

So without even breaching the subject of religion, I can give you four good reasons why homosexual marriage should not be legalized: acceptance of homosexual marriage does hurt heterosexual marriage; homosexual relationships are very different than heterosexual relationships; homosexual marriage will lead to many other definitions of 'marriage'; and homosexual marriage is not good for children.

Finally, I believe that homosexual relationships are wrong because the Bible says they are wrong. When people say that there are no moral truths, they first assume that God doesn't exist. But if He does exist, then it only makes sense that moral absolutes exist and that He would understand them better than we do. Have you ever stopped to consider why we have rules at all? I finally figured out that we have rules for our own good. It's not just for the good of society, but for our own individual good. So if God loves us, then He would give us rules so that we would know what not to do so we wouldn't hurt ourselves. Homosexual lifestyles are one of the things that God says are wrong because they hurt us. God created us to be in one male to one female relationships. Whenever we change God's design, we are perverting the good thing that He has made and rebelling by saying, "We know better than you." Practicing homosexuality on an individual level has bad enough consequences, but institutionalizing it is just asking for trouble. The way that God brings people back to Himself is by letting them experience the natural consequences of their rebellion. Since God's ultimate goal on earth is to be glorified by reconciling us to Himself, He will allow us a lot of suffering if that's what it takes to get it through our thick heads to return to Him. I'd rather not have everyone suffer, which is ultimately why I do not support homosexual marriage. Less rebellion now means less suffering later.


1. Paul Van de Ven et al., “A Comparative Demographic and Sexual Profile of Older Homosexually Active Men,” Journal of Sex Research 34 (1997): p. 354. Dr. Paul Van de Ven reiterated these results in a private conversation with Dr. Robert Gagnon on September 7, 2000
2. M. Pollak, “Male Homosexuality, Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times”, ed. P. Aries and A. Bejin, translated by Anthony Forster, New York, NY: B. Blackwell, 1985, pp. 40–61.

3. Survey Finds 40 percent of Gay Men Have Had More Than 40 Sex Partners," Lambda Report, January/February 1998, p. 20. A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), pp. 308, 9; see also Bell, Weinberg and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981).
4. McWhirter, D. and Mattison, A., The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop, Prentice-Hall, 1984

http://www.family.org/cforum/fosi/homosexuality/maf/a0028248.cfm
http://www.formarriage.org/faq.html
http://www.allianceformarriage.org/
http://www.boundless.org

This might be worth the investment.

"Wal-Mart sells anti-smut DVD player":

I was reading 2 Chronicles 6; and it just struck me how over and over Solomon says that there's a causal relationship between our sins and suffering and our repentence and deliverance.

I wonder what percentage of people in hospitals are Christians (compared to the national average) and what their average stay is compared to non-Christians.

The Purpose of Prayer

Why do we pray? Think about it for a few seconds befoer answering. I have to confess that too many of my prayers aer centered around getting something. It may be philanthropic in nature (for someone's health or for them to come to know Christ), but it is ultimately to get something. I think that completely misses the point. God knows all of our needs before we ask. If the sole purpose of prayer were to get things from God, why wouldn't He just give them to us before we ask? Because of His love, God wants to bless us beyond anything we could imagine, so its not that God doesn't want to give us His blessings. Also, why wouldn't God give them to us the first time we asked?

The reason that we pray is to commune with God and in doing so become more like Him. In asking for something, we recognize that God is the Provider and we need Him. When we pray something repeatedly it isn't that we need more numbers to convince God that we are really honest in our desires. He can see our heart. Nor can we impress God when we get other people to pray with us. Its like leadership, God doesn't put us in leadership because of good things that we can do for Him. Surely He could do them without us if He wanted to, and then there would be no chance of someone messing things up. He selects us because there are things He wants to do through us and in us. Its the same with prayer. God doesn't answer our prayers because we've impressed Him, but because He wants to see us changed.

When Moses prayed to God to not destroy Israel, did God change his mind? No. God does not change. If He did, He would be different from one instant to the next and would be bound by time. But since we know God created time and is not bound by it, He cannot change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if God didn't change because of Moses' prayer, what did change? It was Moses who changed relative to God and so he saw a different facet of God (him and all the Israelites who were within earshot).

So when we ask people to pray for us, it is not because God will not answer our prayers or give us what we need unless we have a certain number of people to back us up (or that the more people you have praying, the more powerful it is in convincing God to give us what we want). God will run to the aid of one single person who crys out to Him and will meet every one of his needs. The reason that we should ask people to pray for us is so that they can join us in being shaped into God's image. The purpose of prayer is not getting but for becoming.

Fully God and Fully Man

I was reading my friend Renea's Blog and an interesting thought occurred to me. If Jesus could see all of our hearts while He was here on earth, and knew that people would reject Him, wouldn't that make it all the harder? In a sense, Jesus' divinity must have actually made it harder to die for everyone. As He was suffering on the cross, He could see that these people would just reject Him and then persecute the people anyone who wanted to believe. Think about the kind of self-restraint that He must have had to be able to destroy the world and relieve His anguish. Or even to resist the temptation to look through time, see those who would ultimately believe, and rescue them all and get rid of everyone else. I don't believe there was a 'divine discipline' that allowed Him to make those decisions easily or to not give Him any choice but to do what He did. If there was, then why did He sweat blood in the garden and why would we honor Him? No, Jesus battled temptation more than we ever could and He is more than worthy of all of our praise.

Well, I had my job interview today at MasterWord Services. They didn't immediately make me an offer :-( Oh my world is crumbling. But they'll call me back sometime. I went through three interviews so I guess I don't have anything that immediately disqualifies me. We'll just have to pray and see what God brings. Big thanks to Laura for driving me all the way out to Katy and waiting while I talked with them.

In other news, I saw my roommate today. Nobody had seen him since last Friday but that's not unusual. It was at a 'regular' location so I only get 1 point.

BTW, does anyone know how to get bucolic acid out of carpet? Baking soda definitely helps but it will take a while to completely get rid of it.

He is Risen!

You've tried everything that has been in your reach
But none of it seems to satisfy
So like a man lost at sea your thrist leads you to drink the water
The more you drink the more your throat runs dry and you wonder why

And you wonder why you feel this way
And you wonder how long it will take to heal
And you wonder what you did to get here
And you wonder who will save you from you
And you wonder why
And you wonder why

-PFR

Where is Hebron?

Do you ever get the desire to go home but then realize you don't know where home is? I guess I'll never have that desire completely filled until we get to Heaven.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God ... 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:8-10, 15,16

Canada wants to legalize marijuana and ban baby walkers? Do you see something wrong here?

Canada bans sale of baby walkers

Does anyone know how I could get this to pop up at a random time during class?

Press the Play button

Talk about me behind my back.

Someone is looking for information about me and would like people to post their experiences with me. Anyone who reads my blog (all three of you ;-) probably knows me well enough to answer any questions the mystery man may have. I guess I should send this link to some of my profs and bosses, too. I'll just make sure to send it to the right ones ;-)

Share Your Experiences

I was offered two jobs today. Sorta. I wasn't offered a job, but I talked with representatives from two companies that both said I should definitely come in and talk with them seemed very interested in me. Honestly, after four years at Rice, most peoples' self-esteem take some hard hits. It was just nice for someone to seem impressed and make me feel like I wasn't just status quo.

This morning I was doing an Owlchemy demonstration for about 100 Jr. High students. For those of you who don't know, I've somehow managed to become the president of Rice's chemistry club, which specializes in performing informative and (very) entertaining demonstations for kids. We often go to Houston schools and have a permanent home at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There, I had to get my plug in. Anyways, a group came in and a friend asked me to do a demonstration for them. That was fine, I do them all the time. It was a good demo and everyone seemed to enjoy it and afterwards, as I came down off the stage, one of the leaders said, "We want you to work for us." Maybe she was kidding, I don't know, but I half-jokingly said, "Well I am looking for a job." A few minutes later, as I was gathering my supplies to leave, one of the techers came to me and gave me her card. She was the Student Opportunities Coordinator for Yes College Preparatory School, which works with underprivilaged kids in Houston to prepare them for college. According to their webpage, 90% of their students are the first one in their family to attend college. I'll definitely give them a call.

Then later tonight, I was at a professor's house because she was throwing an end of year party (sure its early, but it makes a great excuse). Veronica Albin, my professor, teaches medical and advanced translation at Rice, where I go to school. I should mention that she is also a translator and has a lot of connections. So she always invites her students and colleagues so that they can mingle (and so she doesn't have to throw two end of year parties ;-). She got us all together and introduced the professional translators to the rest of the group (she was planning on 90 people showing up, I don't know how many actually did). As she was going around the room she came to one person and called me by name to make sure that I talked with him later. It turns out he is the Vice President for MasterWord Services, a Houston based translation company. He also gave me his card and suggested that I get in contact with him. Hmmm.

So overall, today was a rather unusual (but good) day. You can never tell what new things God is going to send your way or what constants He may remove from your life. Its best to just pray for His wisdom and humility.