Movin' on Up!

My blog has moved to:

bendotyoder.wordpress.com


Catch you in the blogosphere.

Single golden retriever, seeking...

Stella, our golden, who has more personality than Robin Williams on speed, but simply hates when I sit around my desk doing homework for hours on end, has had enough. She'll pace, watch tv (yes, watch tv-she loves The Dog Whisperer), whine, put her nose where she shouldn't, and most incessantly, try to crawl up into your lap. She's 55lbs, and anything that weighs that much should not be squirming around on your member. Or, and this is my favorite, she'll lay on the couch next to my desk, sprawl out as far as she can, put her head up on the armrest, and, "Sigh.....". And if I don't notice her, she'll do it again, but this time, louder. She'll do this in increasing loudness until I finally glare at her...as if she was a 17 year-old girl saying, "This place is soooo boring." So, in defiance of me, she logged onto "datemypet.com" and created an ad for herself, looking for a canine playmate. It went something like this:

My name is Stella, and I'm a single golden retriever, seeking fun-loving and energy-teemed male doggie. I'm a 55lb beautiful broad, who loves to run leashless, sniff dumpsters, and eat anything that isn't lettuce (including the occasional permanent marker on white carpet).

• Looking for a lovely, strong, sleek adolescent neutered male who loves sniffing hinnies.
• I'm an equal opportunity hound: brown, auburn, black or white-doesn't matter.
• Must be bigger than a Miniature Poodle (but cannot be a poodle) and smaller than a Newfoundland.

• Must like secret, romantic rendezvouses at the local dog park as well as midnight swims in the nearby pond.
• Must not love profusely licking himself, in addition to never mounting without asking.

If these fit your canine description, give me a howl.

Pretty incredible, isn't it? Kids these days...

BTW, datemypet.com actually exists. I know, I know.

Suicide: The Nature of the Beast

I just attended a suicide seminar at my graduate school, which highlighted the dramatic need for suicide education among helping professionals. If you, for instance, have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, you have most likely only had approximately two hours of formal training in suicidality. Considering that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for 15-34 year olds, this is pretty commiserable.
As helping professionals in the mental health field, suicide needs to be considered outside the realm of a mental disorder. Depression, schizophrenia, mood disorders, etc. do not always cause suicide attempts. Up to 20% of suicide victims had no diagnosable disorder. Anyone should update themselves with the latest suicide information, risk factors, warning signs, and even treatment protocols. If more persons are clued into the nature of suicide, more lives can be saved. In a case with a suicide survivor, she said, "I couldn't take it any longer. I felt as if no one loved me or even noticed me. I decided to walk to work, and if one person smiled at me, I would not kill myself. No one smiled, and I swallowed 200 Percocet and a pint of gin." Take time to read the warning signs below. Taking five minutes to review warning signs/flags can save a life.

http://www.suicidology.org/web/guest/stats-and-tools/warning-signs

Warning Signs of Acute Risk:

• Threatening to hurt or kill him or herself, or talking of wanting to hurt or kill him/herself; and/or,
• Looking for ways to kill him/herself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means; and/or,
• Talking or writing about death, dying or suicide, when these actions are out of the ordinary.

These might be remembered as expressed or communicated ideation. If observed, seek help as soon as possible by contacting a mental health professional or calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for a referral.

If you're a helping professional, you might be interested in this research proposal for the next edition of the DSM, the DSM-V: Article Link

*Thanks to suicidology.org & artgazine.com

Yipiyuk

In the swamplands long ago,
Where the weeds and mudglumps grow,
A Yipiyuk bit on my toe…
Exactly why I do not know.
I kicked and cried and hollered "Oh!"
The Yipiyuk would not let go.
I whispered to him soft and low.
The Yipiyuk would not let go.
Yes, that was sixteen years ago,
And the Yipiyuk still won't let go.
The snow may fall, the winds may blow.
The Yipiyuk will not let go.
I drag him 'round each place I go,
And now my child at last you know
exactly why I walk so slow.*

Romans 7:24

*Thanks to Shel Silverstein

Pur-ness

I bought a Pur water filtration system today at Target. I've been wanting one for a bit now, since the water out of my apartment faucet tastes a little better than sewage. The model I bought includes an option for flavor (I know, cool, right?). With the push of a button, I can inject flavor shots directly into my cup. Right now, I'm drinking 99.99% containment free, raspberry flavored water. As I drank my first glass, I thought to myself, "Wow...this tastes identical to Fiji water that I buy for $4.00 at the store!"

Which made me wonder, "Does Fiji water really come from Fiji?" I mean, really? It's a so far away from America. Truman Burbank told me so-"You can't get any further away before you start coming back" (Truman Show).

So, as anyone in my generation would do in order to research an question, I googled it. To my surprise, it actually does originate from the South Pacific Islands of Fiji. I could not believe that they actually ship that water 7,325 miles to my city of Lexington, Kentucky (I google "mapped" it). Which made me wonder, "Is it worth it?"

So, I did some more research, and it seems I was not the first to ask this question of the Fijian water company. First off, is this hurting the environment? Now, I'm not "green" in mostly any way. I don't recycle (I know, I know...), don't have solar panels on my apartment patio, and don't buy fully recycled grocery canvas bags. But, I do respect God's earth, and I hope to be a good steward of it. Anyways, one Fiji bottle is one liter, or 25g of plastic and and is made from PET (Polyethylene terephthalate)...thank-you, Dr. Brinkman (which, by the way, terephthalate is the single hardest word in the English language for me to pronounce).

Plastics of this type use around 6.45kg of oil per kg, 294.2kg of water per kg, and result in 3.723kg of greenhouse gas emissions per kg (http://www.petmachine.in/use_of_pet.htm). So, with a quick stoichiometry-like calculation on my Ti-83 (200kg/kg x 0.025kg[fossil fuels] = 5kg of water), 1 liter requires 5 liters of water in its manufacturing process. In other words, it requires 5x the amount of water to produce the one liter of it.

But, I also wanted to know how much it costs to ship Fiji H20 from Fiji. Let’s assume that the bottle producing company (which I also assume is not the Fiji company) and the shipping company charges 2x what it costs for them to produce it. I am not sure if these are valid assumptions, but who cares, it's just a blog, right? So, according to a groundbreaking research article in the Journal of Consumer Culture ("Bottled Water: The Pure Commodity") 160g of fossil fuels are used to make the bottle, 2g to deliver it to Fiji, (from China-our plastic maker) and 81g to deliver the full bottle to the me, in Kentucky.

So, going back to my macroeconomic class in college, the variable (opposite of fixed) cost is the fossil fuel (since we all know that the water that springs from the ground is free), which amounts to 0.25kg. A standard oil barrel holds 159 liters and one liter of oil weighs 850g/liter, therefore one barrel holds 135.15kg of oil (opec.com). One barrel costs between $50 and $70 (let’s say $60, unless OPEC decides to throw a tantrum), so 0.25kg would cost $0.11 (1 barrel/135.15kg x $60/barrel x 0.243kg). Then, since we assumed that the company charges 2x what it costs to produce, we'll say $.22. That's right - not even a fourth of a dollar for a liter of Fiji water. This leaves $3.78 for the manufacturer, retail store, etc.

Bottom line: drinking Fiji water is a colossal waste of money and an environmental absurdity. In fact, the Republic of Fiji is controlled by a military junta - a strict dictatorship. How does water bottled in a junta-controlled dictatorship get into the hands of Paris Hilton, Barack Obama, and Mary J. Blige (all of whom swear by it)? Morever, how does it become the epitome of chic?

To end this discussion, I leave you with a must-read article by Mother Jones Journalism called, "Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle." It outlines the ins-and-outs of how this dictatorship controls the P.R. of Fiji water.

On Fiji's website, one of their slogans reads, "And remember this—we saved you a trip to Fiji." I think I'll forget the Fijian trip and instead, reach into my fridge.

*Photo #1: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/purwater/37083/
*Photo #2: http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/08/does-drinking-fiji-water-prop-up-a-dictatorship/

Shaker Village

Stacey, my grandparents and I went to Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, which is about 45 minutes from my apartment. We spent the afternoon there, being sent backwards in time nearly 200 years. It's an amazing part of history, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are some pictures.

It was started as an offset of the Quaker movement, led by a woman name Mother Ann Lee. She started the religion, called the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing...but they shortened it to "Shakers."

They rejected procreation.
They rejected earthly pleasure.
They rejected outside influences.

Mother Ann was "turned off" from sexuality from an early age. This manifested itself in never wanting to marry, until her father forced her to do so. Upon marrying, she got pregnant eight times--she lost four to stillbirths and another four before the age of six.

She was turned off from sexuality.

From there on out, she pursued perfection, but left out marriage and sex.

She became a radical.

She taught others that God had given her a vision-a vision that told of the attainment of perfection through the abolition of sexuality and marriage. They believed her. And the Shaker revolution began.

She believed that the convulsions experienced during worship was the Holy Spirit purging oneself of sin. And the name stuck-Shakers.

Obviously this was not popular and even shunned upon by her United Kingdom neighbors, so she decided to leave (after multiple arrests from the State) and head to America. And the rest is history--she told everyone she saw that she was the female embodiment of God on earth.

She claimed that she was perfectly sanctified.

And they believed every word she said, as if it were liquid gold, streaming from her lips. They would have served her, worshiped her, and even died for her. I sometimes wonder if she did it simply for the purpose of revolution. She said,

We [the Shakers] are the people who turned the world upside down.

As her fame grew, so did her spiritual power. She once claimed to speak to four clergymen for four straight hours in over seventy languages. She advocated that the only way to Heaven was through celibacy-that we can attain the road to the Pearly Gates if we could just keep our V-card in our pockets.

After several other miracles, around 1770, the society gave her titles like, "Mother in Spiritual Things," and my personal favorite, "Ann, the Word."

There were 6,000 Shakers at the height of the movement. Today, there are none.

Lasting, real Truth comes only from Above. Who are you believing in?



"Everybody is following somebody. Everybody has faith in something and somebody. We are all believers."

-Rob Bell

Meticulous Providence

I hate to write about it. Almost hate to even think about it. But, nevertheless, home is where I am--not Zambia. I was supposed to be arriving in Zambia on the 31st of June and arriving back home on July 17th, but God had other plans in mind. "Never underestimate the meticulous Providence of God," says my pastor. I'm starting to understand that in a new light. As soon as we landed in the busiest and most tumultuous airport in Africa, my ear rang louder than I thought it ever could. I've heard of people's ears ringing and hurting after an airplane ride, but I've never suffered from it.

However, later that night in Johannesburg, I couldn't sleep because of the pain. I later got sick (very sick) and awoke to a bloody pillow. It was at this point that I rounded the other leader up, along with the Ph.D. that accompanied us, and drew out a game plan. I explained, "If anyone of my students were sick like this, and potentially required inner ear surgery, I'd fly them home in a heart beat." With this sickening decision, we all went back to Johannesburg International airport at 8:00am for our flight out. However, my team would be heading to Zambia as planned; I would be heading home. Or at least I thought.

Purchasing a one-way Delta ticket to the United States in an African airport is not as easy as it sounds. There was one-and only one-flight leaving South Africa towards the U.S. each day, and it was at 8:45pm. I had twelve hours--enough time, right? Well, long story short, I ended up having the wrong name on the ticket, ran out of international talk time, and was questioned up and down by a security agent as to why I had a bloody tissue hanging out of my ear--"I...uh...had an accident." I managed to slip by the pompous security agent, only to find myself running to the other end of the airport, narrowly boarding the plane home (after I bought Stacey an African gift--promised her I would).

So, I boarded the 19-hour flight back to the States, leaving the team I poured and prayed over for months, 9,000 miles behind me.

"God's meticulous Providence." It's not always a comforting phrase. In fact, when it's used, it's hardly ever after something satisfying happens. Meticulous Providence characterizes God as ordering and directing everything—every detail in the universe. According to this concept, every event in nature and every human action and decision is carried out according to God's decree and purpose.

There are a number of Biblical quotations which affirm this view. For example, in Ephesians 1:11 we are told that God, "Set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth" (The Message).

I've always said, "God is in control...God is sovereign." But what does that mean? In my life...?

Seems like we prefer to think that when adverse things happen, when people sin or when tragic events occur, God has nothing to do with the planning part of the event. In our view He merely responds like a superhero, miraculously causing all things to work together for good. But does this understanding represent God's providence in accordance with Scripture?

William Hasker, in his book, "Providence, evil, and the openness of God," speaks to meticulous Providence. "...every single instance of evil that occurs is such that God's permitting either that specific evil or other greater evil is necessary for some greater good which is better than anything God could have brought about without permitting the evil in question" (pg. 115).

That this is logically plausible cannot be denied-but does that make sense in accordance with our personal reasoning? Personal experience? Most would say that only the good elements in God's master plan are constructed by God; the evil ones, conversely, are only permitted. But, this doesn't really solve the problem. If the evils which occur are specifically decreed by God in order to achieve the best possible result, this comes as near to making no difference as saying that they are accepted by God as means towards his desired end. And to intend the end is to intend the means.

Is this what we mean when we say, "God brings good out of evil"? This is more...how do I say, lax? God, if He is the meticulous Orchestrator, specifically arranges things so that some good results from the evil in question, but without the claim that the resulting good is better than the result God could have obtained without permitting the evil to occur in the first place. But this doesn't answer my question...the question of why?

Why does God chose to permit the evil in question, when He could have brought about an even better situation by preventing it altogether?

So, here's where I'm at. I'm not an adherer to the meticulous Providence perspective. If God maintains a strong doctrine of meticulous Providence and the "non-gratuitousness" of evil, it must be accepted that God intends the evil along with the good, whereas without this strong claim I have nothing helpful to say about God's reasons for permitting evil.

God does not orchestrate evil. It is against His very nature to work hand-in-hand with evil. Evil cannot and will never be touched by God. Evil happens. Adverse events transpire in our lives--nothing we can do about it. But, God allows it. He allows us to endure evil and tough times to be molded--to be molded into his tools for the Kingdom of God.

Evil happens, but God is victorious. Amen?