The learning curve has no guardrail!
Simply A Night Owl will be closed indefinitely. I have had a realization as to exactly what is important and what is not and blogging does not fit into the realm of what I consider to be important right now. I am going to be journaling my experiences over the next several months and hopefully I will gain something out of it that will be worthwhile to share. This will also give me time to devote to my book; which has been sadly neglected.
I will be continuing to read my favorite blogs via my feeds and will comment when I actually have something to say.
See ya when I see ya!
So here’s my dilemna. I’m not quite ready to come out and talk about how the last five months have been, where I have gone and where I feel like I’m heading….at least not here. I don’t feel qualified to talk about the things of God anymore and I quite honestly have completely lost interest.
So do I throw in the towel??
Well I finally got around to being able to actually sit down and write a little bit again and wanted to wrap up a few thoughts that occurred to me while I was writing this post and this post.
Matthew 5:32 says this:
But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress…
I found this to be interesting because on the surface, one might assume that “marital unfaithfulness” and “adultery” mean the same thing and in the context of today’s society, they would be correct. However there are two different words used in this verse to define those. Porneia is used to describe marital unfaithfulness while Moixaw is used to describe adultery. I want to see if I can sit here and work this out to a logical conclusion. The problem with language though is that it’s a rabbit hole; especially when translations are thrown into the mix. Translations tend to mirror the thoughts, emotions and beliefs of the translator. I’m fairly certain that is why there are so many different translations of The Bible and they are all different. I’ll come back to that though.
I recently had a discussion with a good friend of mine who was telling me about something that was relayed to a friend of his through a pastor. While I agree that third hand information is always tentative at best, I tend to have not doubt as to the veracity of what I was told by this friend because of the relationship that I have with him. He told me that a friend of his, who just went through a divorce questioned a pastor about what was actually considered as adultery. This person was told by this pastor that anything that was more important than the marital relationship could be considered adultery. I just got to say that I laughed a little hard at this. I thought to myself, “Like what? Fishing? Hunting? Writing? Surfing the web? Then, whose perception of the importance of these activities counts in establishing whether or not they should be classified as adultery?“
Moixaw is the word for “commit adultery” which doesn’t leave any room for exploration as it is is simple, concise and clear. On the other hand, Porneia is defined as “fornication”; of which the literal definition is prostitution, adultery and incest. My questions start at the discovery of defintions of adultery and fornication. According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, an adulterer is a man who has had illicit sexual intercourse with a married or betrothed woman and that such a woman was an adulteress. Based on that definition, there are some who might argue that the Holy Spirit himself is an adulterer but I’m not going to open that can of worms here. The definition of fornication according to Easton’s is intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman.
So based on what I have discovered, a single man and a married woman can fornicate without fornicating and if nobody’s married, you can pretty much do whatever you want. You know, things like…
- Pre-marital sex
- Orgies
- Oral Sex
- Fetishes
- Improper Thoughts
- Pretty much anything you can think of
So here’s a question since I’ve gone down this branch of the hold; who was it then that added all of these “sins” onto the list and more importantly, why do they all of the sudden become okay when we’re married?
So I’m sitting here now and getting dizzy. My eyes are crossed and I’m seeing double. I’ve got a headache that’s measuring about 6.2 on the Richter scale the the epicenter seems to be located in the vicinity of the frontal lobe. I don’t think that I will ever be able to fully wrap my brain around this subject.
It’s a good thing for grace!
I remember hearing once (maybe more than that) that a person should not engage in more than one large change in their life at any one time. Unfortunately for me, it’s been my purpose in life to latch on to these things that I hear and take them out for a test drive. I must see and experience them for myself and to that end, prove the theories either correct or incorrect. It may not be as almighty important as being a purpose though. It’s more probable that I’m a stubborn bastard and when my dad used to tell to believe “none of what you hear and only half of what you see”, I took that to heart – and still do. Whatever the reason; throughout my life, this has been my Modus Operandi. Whether that has been a good thing for me or not is not important. It simply is what it is. For those of you who know me though and have followed me throughout the years, you know that in the beginning of this year I took on two major changes in my life at the same time. I started a new job and I started a new life.
This post is not meant as an update per se. I will tell you that the job is going great. In two months time, I have been been made a trainer and also a dog handler. The changes took a little to get use to but now I’m pretty much on auto-pilot and I have not been this relaxed in several years. On the flip side though, the new life part has been a trial for me and many times in the last month and a half, I have had meltdowns where I could do nothing but stare out the window, sob uncontrollably and for no apparent reason; wondering the whole time what the hell I’ve done with my life. I know from past experience that the feeling lessens over time so don’t worry. If I am nothing else, I am a fighter.
Throughout the last several months though, I have had some well meaning friends invite me to church with them. Sadly, these have not been the same people that I have been going to church with for years; but that’s another subject altogether. I guess that these well meaning folks somehow think that church presence will somehow do me some good. My story is too long to tell from the beginning though. The truth that is in a church right now it would simply feel like I was having an out of body experience; simply hovering overhead watching myself go through the motions. The only people that would benefit from my presence in church would be the well meaning friends that I am now shining on. It actually started prior to the new year but in the last few months, more than at any other time, I have pulled so far away from God that it’s as if I was sinking to the level of another conversion experience. I don’t remember a time when I was ever this low and the sad part is that I don’t believe that I have hit bottom yet. Even where I’m at now, God still loves me and speaks to me. This morning when I was in that realm that exists between asleep and aware, God spoke to me and he told me not to worry, that I was like Peter. This didn’t make sense at all until several hours later while I was taking a walk with my son.
…Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down… ~ Matthew 14:29-32
For the last seven years, I have been so focused on Jesus that I was quite literally “walking on water”. In the last few months though, I have been exactly like Peter. My concentration has turned to the tempest that surrounds me instead of staying focused on Jesus and now I am sinking; sometimes barely keeping my head above the water.
I think that it’s quite possible that in this case, the writer of Matthew may have used incorrect verbiage when attempting to communicate what Jesus was trying to say. I don’t think that there was a time when Jesus ever questioned Peter’s faith. I think that it might be more correct to think that Jesus was saying, “Dude, how many times do I have to play show and tell with you before you get this?” I have not lost my faith in Jesus, although there are some who might disagree with this assessment. What has happened is that in all of the bullshit, I have lost my focus on him and the result is that instead of cruising right through this storm as if it wasn’t there, I have succumbed to it and am now being swallowed up by it. Just like Peter though, I know that Jesus does not question my faith and when I have reached the point where I can’t keep my head above the water and I scream out to him to save me, he will be there with is loving hands to pull me from the brink; just as he has done many times before. Now the choice for me is to sink or swim and sinking is just not in my nature.
One thing seems rather clear though. In order to quell the storm, you have to be on the boat.
Some people believe that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Hey, why not? ~ Tim Fry
I intially was taking second guesses about whether or not to post this quote but in the end, I decided that it was a great example to use ; especially if I get the type of response that I expect. So if you’re offended by what you have read, take a deep breath, look again and think about what is really being said here and whether or not you fit into that mold. The reality is that what is posted above in quotes is absolutely true.
It’s merely all about the translation.
Sorry for the delay, my clock is a little off.
Yesterday was uneventful. We trained a little bit in the morning and then later in the afternoon and evening, we went out with Probation and Parole and did some sniffs at the homes of some folks on parole for drug violations. Although Melvin did not detect anything during the sniffs, it was a very good experience for him. During training, most everytime he conducts a sniff, there is something for him to find. Yesterday, he began to learn that there is not always going to be something there for him to find; and that is equally as important as finding something.
Today, we’ll be out on the highway doing traffic stops and sniffin’ cars.
I go this in an email the other day and this is one that has been floating around the internet for some time. I’ve always thought that it was mildly entertaining but at the same time, I always wanted to get in my arguments. So I’ll give it a go.
NINE PHRASES WOMEN USE
(1) Fine ~ This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
This is actually the word that women need to use to end an argument when they think they are right but have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re talking about. If the argument has to end with the usage of “fine”, then it really wasn’t much of one to start with. Women, you can go off to your corner and pout now.
(2) Five Minutes ~ If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
Let’s set the record straight here; “Five Minutes” is not in the female vocabulary so realistically, men should never hear that. However, if you do hear this, it will normally be when you’re going out somewhere and you have to be there at a certain time. It will most likely sound like this: “I’ll be ready in five minutes”. This of course, translates into an hour.
(3) Nothing ~ This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
This is another misconception. Women are incapable of saying, thinking or doing “nothing”. Arguments about nothing begin because women cannot stand to see a man doing nothing. Here’s a little something on that. However, should a woman choose to answer a question with “nothing”, say okay and go on about your business.
(4) Go Ahead ~ This is a dare, not permission. Don’t Do It!
On the contrary, this is the perfect time for you to go ahead and do it. With enough practical experience, she won’t say “go ahead” anymore.
(5) Loud Sigh ~ This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
Yep and she might as well roll her fucking eyes too while she’s at it; it pisses men off just the same. Since I have already discussed that women are not capable of #3, we can jump straight into #4 from here and just go ahead and do what it is we want to do.
(6) That’s Okay ~ This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
It’s not dangerous! This only means that the woman has absolutely no credible argument to support their viewpoint. Therefore, as long as we have to wait forever to pay for whatever the hell infraction she believes that we’ve committed but can’t tell us, might as well leave the chores, go fishing and drink beer. Again….see #4.
(7) Thanks ~ A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome. (I want to add in a clause here – This is true, unless she says ‘Thanks a lot’ – that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say ‘you’re welcome’ . that will bring on a ‘whatever’).
Do say you’re welcome. I agree with this wholeheartedly. Where I differ though is that if the woman is going to be a smart ass enough to say “thanks a lot”, she deserves to hear “your very welcome”.
(8) Whatever ~ Is a woman’s way of saying F– YOU!
“Fuck you” is a man’s way of saying Fuck you. It’s much easier and there is absolutely no doubt about what is meant.
(9) Don’t worry about it, I got it ~ Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking ‘What’s wrong?’ For the woman’s response refer to # 3.
The appropriate response to this is, “Okay”. The idea that I am “told” to do anything automatically generates a rebellion response. Now perhaps if I was asked, then it might already be done. This depends entirely on where the request fits into the priority scheme. Should a man hear this, the easiest way out is to (1) say okay as discussed and then (2) don’t ask “what’s wrong”. Then you don’t get to hear about how nothing’s wrong.
The most important thing to remember is that all roads lead back to #4.
The second most important thing is that if you are actually in a relationship with this woman, get the hell out!!
Certification Day
Melvin did awesome today. He certified with absolutely no problems so now we are certified in the State of Idaho as a team. Look out Sandpoint!!
Now he is all smiles.
Not much to report on today. It was a relatively easy day on both of us with not a whole lot of effort. The reasoning is that Mel needs the rest because tomorrow is our certification and he needs to be rested and on top of his game.
I’ll let you know how it went!!
