3/21/2006
mr brightside
I like naming my posts with the name of the song that is currently playing on my iTunes. For some reason, if I can't find something to write about, if I'm deciding to either write something about my life that's happening right now or some inquisitive look on life and it's going-ons, I can always look at my iTunes and find a title that sparks something in my mind.
So, for this post, "Mr. Brightside" takes the title.
"Man, it's like a sauna in here."
-Kramer (while sitting in a sauna with George and Jerry, Seinfeld)
Have you ever been in a sauna? I haven't. And although I did visit our local health club last night with Vivian to begin our workout, which did have 2 working sauna's, I didn't go in.
It scared me. The heat that escaped as soon as I opened the door was sufficating. "How can any person sit in here and not want to kill themselves" was what I thought as I tip-toed my way in. It's like, Hell itself has been brought up and confined in this little room that has one door and some rocks in the corner. (which I'm still confused as to what they are or what they do) Does anyone know?
We left the Health Club and to this day, I still don't know if I can go in there. I know they are supposed to be good for you, sweating and all with other naked, but toweled men, but as a human being who absolutely HATES being hot, I can't see myself walking in one and enjoying it.
Unless they had an ice-cold lemonade stand right outside of the sauna. If that happened, I'd be all over a sauna.
Well, this post didn't really have any sort of deep spiritual meaning or some inquisitive and witty look on life that you've come to expect from the DeHart's, but in the end, it's all about the title...Mr. Brightside.
So, for this post, "Mr. Brightside" takes the title.
"Man, it's like a sauna in here."
-Kramer (while sitting in a sauna with George and Jerry, Seinfeld)
Have you ever been in a sauna? I haven't. And although I did visit our local health club last night with Vivian to begin our workout, which did have 2 working sauna's, I didn't go in.
It scared me. The heat that escaped as soon as I opened the door was sufficating. "How can any person sit in here and not want to kill themselves" was what I thought as I tip-toed my way in. It's like, Hell itself has been brought up and confined in this little room that has one door and some rocks in the corner. (which I'm still confused as to what they are or what they do) Does anyone know?
We left the Health Club and to this day, I still don't know if I can go in there. I know they are supposed to be good for you, sweating and all with other naked, but toweled men, but as a human being who absolutely HATES being hot, I can't see myself walking in one and enjoying it.
Unless they had an ice-cold lemonade stand right outside of the sauna. If that happened, I'd be all over a sauna.
Well, this post didn't really have any sort of deep spiritual meaning or some inquisitive and witty look on life that you've come to expect from the DeHart's, but in the end, it's all about the title...Mr. Brightside.
3/10/2006
showers are falling
As Friday winds down to a close here at work, I have begun to
reflect on the weekend up ahead:
reflect on the weekend up ahead:
(-) Vivian and I, I think, will be enjoying a Friday night together, wining and dining it out...but without the actual wining, probably ice-tea-ing and dining.
--I have really enjoyed these past few weeks, coming home with nothing to run off to, just coming home to my wife who is genuinely happy to see me and who has missed me all day. We just lavish in each other's company and cherish every moment together, whether it's watching a movie together, eating dinner out on our patio, taking a walk around our apartment neighborhood, dusting off our bikes and going for a bike ride, or just sitting across from each other...smiling like we're silly little school kids.
(-) Saturday will be an action-packed day as Vivian and I will be spending some time with our youth from our old church. They will be attending prom tomorrow night and have asked Vivian to work her hair and makeup magic on them. I will just be hanging out with the guys, doing guy things...until we leave there to head over to my brother-in-law's birthday party. I'm sure I will be engrossed in several key games of washers in my backyard, as well as competing against others in many more games.
--My family plays a lot of games. Before I met Vivian, I was a real mean competitor, in the fact that I would just ruin the night for many if I lost or came close to losing. I am so blessed and glad that Vivian helped me see the monster I became and how I made it "not fun" to have fun.
(-) Sunday we will be visiting Irving Bible Church as we continue in our journey to find the church home the Lord wants us to be at. After church, though, Vivian will be off to a baby shower for my little sister. She is helping plan it and decorate it and all that jazz. I don't know what's all involved, but I'm sure she is handling it wonderfully. In all actuality, I don't know how she does it, because along with planning a baby shower, she's also deep in her mid-terms for this week, getting ready for the spring break "load" that all teachers seem to put on you the week before the above said spring break.
--You know, I like not being a girl and I like not being girly and decorative and good at colors and a person who likes frilly things....it's the equivalent of being the guy that has a truck who is always expected to be the one who moves everyone. He's the guy that everyone asks to help them move, I mean, it's expected, because hey, he is the one with the truck. And those that are good at decorating, those that are good at matching colors together in a frilly, cutesy way that evokes such responses as "ohhh, how cute" or "oh my gosh, that is the most adorable thing I've ever seen," those are the people that are expected to be "in" on any party or celebration...because, hey, let's face it, without their help, it's going to be a boring and non-pretty party.
So, what a weekend huh?
3/07/2006
The first step is admittance
With sin that entangles us into a web of shame and guilt, paralyzing us into remaining stagnant about repentance and looking to the Lord for deliverance, the first step is always admitting that you indeed have a problem. Almost like the 12-step programs that many people cling to, the first thing you have to do in order to escape and rid yourself if this "disease" is to verbally and actively admit to yourself, your God, and someone else that you have a problem.
It's almost like when you were younger and your friends told you secrets that you "pinky-promised" to them you wouldn't share with anyone else, in the same way, our sins that we "keep secret from God and everyone around us" that fester and breed in the dark places of our own mind can begin to take hold of us.
We generally think that God does and can see our deep sins, but in our own minds, we don't live that reality out. It's the "He's up there, I'm down here" mentality. Sure, He can see all and He knows all, but when we are in the middle of the muck of sin, purposely choosing to disobey God, He's a stranger to us. We don't know Him in that moment, we have decided that our sin is more important and more fulfilling than obeying the Lord.
In the past 7 months or so, every Monday morning, I meet with my accountability partner at Denny's to talk about God and what He's doing in our lives. One element of our weekly AM-meetings is that we both talk about purity and the week prior and "how we did." We talk about our weaknesses and the times when we let our flesh be satisfied. We talk about our eyes, our intentions, the thoughts that we entertained, and we really get into our past sins and how the devil uses them to haunt our present and degrade our future.
What started out as a very scary premise, of talking about and getting into the light the sins that I have kept so secret from everyone around me for so long, has turned into a tool that the God of our Creation has used to deliver me from sexual sin. He has brought into the light the ugliness that I have walked around with for so long. The ugliness that almost virtually ruined how I view my wife and our intimacy together, is now naked and out in the open for all to see and ridicule. That doesn't necessarily mean that I am "free of sin," by no means does it mean that, but what it does mean, is like what it says in 1 John 3:9...
"No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Because of the Lord's power and my admittance that I can not beat this by myself and on my own power, I am now on the road to righteousness and in the continued pursance of holiness...
What's the second step?
It's almost like when you were younger and your friends told you secrets that you "pinky-promised" to them you wouldn't share with anyone else, in the same way, our sins that we "keep secret from God and everyone around us" that fester and breed in the dark places of our own mind can begin to take hold of us.
We generally think that God does and can see our deep sins, but in our own minds, we don't live that reality out. It's the "He's up there, I'm down here" mentality. Sure, He can see all and He knows all, but when we are in the middle of the muck of sin, purposely choosing to disobey God, He's a stranger to us. We don't know Him in that moment, we have decided that our sin is more important and more fulfilling than obeying the Lord.
In the past 7 months or so, every Monday morning, I meet with my accountability partner at Denny's to talk about God and what He's doing in our lives. One element of our weekly AM-meetings is that we both talk about purity and the week prior and "how we did." We talk about our weaknesses and the times when we let our flesh be satisfied. We talk about our eyes, our intentions, the thoughts that we entertained, and we really get into our past sins and how the devil uses them to haunt our present and degrade our future.
What started out as a very scary premise, of talking about and getting into the light the sins that I have kept so secret from everyone around me for so long, has turned into a tool that the God of our Creation has used to deliver me from sexual sin. He has brought into the light the ugliness that I have walked around with for so long. The ugliness that almost virtually ruined how I view my wife and our intimacy together, is now naked and out in the open for all to see and ridicule. That doesn't necessarily mean that I am "free of sin," by no means does it mean that, but what it does mean, is like what it says in 1 John 3:9...
"No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Because of the Lord's power and my admittance that I can not beat this by myself and on my own power, I am now on the road to righteousness and in the continued pursance of holiness...
What's the second step?
3/03/2006
astericks and thoughts
*You know that thing people do when they "give someone a massage" where they karate chop all over someone's back....when did that become the universal massage technique?
*Why is it at Starbucks you can always find someone with way too tight pants on (usually a guy wearing girls jeans) and messy hair (usually sporting the HAIR METAL haircut of the 80's) hunched over a cup of waytoocomplexofadescription-ccino (non-fat of course) with white ear plugs jammed into their ears, slowly moving to the rhythmns of that indie-hip band that "no one" knows about?
*Why are most guys with soul patches (that little hair clump that resides in the valley in between your chin and your bottom lip) bald?
*You know men's briefs? You know, that really tight underwear we so boyishly refer to as "whitey-tightey's...." why are they called briefs? Does it have to do with the amount of time it's left on a person? (I can understand, I mean, gosh, how tight do they have to make those things)
*You know when you're lost and trying to find a place, why do you turn down your radio when looking for an address or intersection? Is it something to do with sound waves and brain waves....
I'm off to a wedding, where I'm sure I will have more astericks.
*Why is it at Starbucks you can always find someone with way too tight pants on (usually a guy wearing girls jeans) and messy hair (usually sporting the HAIR METAL haircut of the 80's) hunched over a cup of waytoocomplexofadescription-ccino (non-fat of course) with white ear plugs jammed into their ears, slowly moving to the rhythmns of that indie-hip band that "no one" knows about?
*Why are most guys with soul patches (that little hair clump that resides in the valley in between your chin and your bottom lip) bald?
*You know men's briefs? You know, that really tight underwear we so boyishly refer to as "whitey-tightey's...." why are they called briefs? Does it have to do with the amount of time it's left on a person? (I can understand, I mean, gosh, how tight do they have to make those things)
*You know when you're lost and trying to find a place, why do you turn down your radio when looking for an address or intersection? Is it something to do with sound waves and brain waves....
I'm off to a wedding, where I'm sure I will have more astericks.
3/02/2006
for prying eyes only
Vivian and I have almost finished arranging our apartment. Last night we spent the majority of the night digging out our wall decorations and other miscellaneous decor so we can begin hiding our very pasty white walls with crosses and paintings that Vivian has done.
Decorating an apartment is always fun because it's like turning a temporary living unit into a home. Once you put up your first wall-hanging fixture, then it's officially a "home." Before that, it was just an exaggerated cardboard box with ceiling fans that temporarily provides us with cover when it rains and an occasional hot meal.
Nevertheless, we have almost unpacked every cardboard box that, for the time being, has only served us by being a place to stack things on.
In a short while, once everything has been hung and nailed and stuck-to and positioned and re-positioned and centered and stapled and taped and stored away and shimmied-to-the-right- a-little'd....then I will have pictures of our new home in Bedford.
Until then, I leave you with this:
"We need to stop asking God to bless what we're doing and get involved with what God is doing, which will already be blessed.*"
-Bono at 2/2/06 National Prayer Breakfast
Decorating an apartment is always fun because it's like turning a temporary living unit into a home. Once you put up your first wall-hanging fixture, then it's officially a "home." Before that, it was just an exaggerated cardboard box with ceiling fans that temporarily provides us with cover when it rains and an occasional hot meal.
Nevertheless, we have almost unpacked every cardboard box that, for the time being, has only served us by being a place to stack things on.
In a short while, once everything has been hung and nailed and stuck-to and positioned and re-positioned and centered and stapled and taped and stored away and shimmied-to-the-right- a-little'd....then I will have pictures of our new home in Bedford.
Until then, I leave you with this:
"We need to stop asking God to bless what we're doing and get involved with what God is doing, which will already be blessed.*"
-Bono at 2/2/06 National Prayer Breakfast
*I'm not exactly sure that's word-for-word quoted, but it's pretty close.
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