golf

Golf is a brutal sport. Brutal in the fact that I cannot defeat it. :) I do love to get out there on the course and play a round when I can though. David and I played Thursday...a guy named Scott joined us and played the course with us. We were at White Hawk in Bixby. Good time had by all, but man do I stink at golf! Except for the 16th hole...I actually made par on that hole. The rest of them though...not so good. Bogey, double bogey...triple bogey. Just call me Humphrey. Scott did give me a couple of pointers in my grip of the club...corrected my hitting the ball to the right, especially my PW. Now I have to work on my aim...after playing a while and standing to correct your errors, when you actually correct them in the proper manner, you have to modify your game.
I wish I could play more...I would probably get better. Practice makes perfect, right? Maybe I can head out to the driving range more often this season. I need to do something.

Rain...can you say, rain? Lots of it. You see, here in Oklahoma, we have been in a drought lately. Serious drought. We have been in a Fire Alert/Burn Ban for the past couple of months it has been so dry. Well...I think all of that is changing. Yesterday we received about 1.2 inches of rain...today, I would say about the same of not more. Ponca City has been worse...yesterday they got 3.2 I believe and still getting more today. We did need it, that's for sure. The ground has been so dry though, that the rain is not soaking into the ground as fast as it is falling. Which causes some flooding in the streets and creeks. But, I think it is getting in the ground fairly well right now though...we still have standing water, but the ground is lapping it up as quick as it can...you can already see things turning green again...pretty cool.

Kids. What can you say about the kids, I say to myself. I just got out of their room telling them to take a nap. Don't know if they are going to though. They are so wound up. We bought them new baseball hats today...Evan got a Sooners one and Ethan got a Pokes one. Uncle D will be so proud. Of Ethan's hat that is. So, of course, they wanted to wear them to bed for their nap. Nothing doing we said...you can have them back when you get up. Now I think they are thinking...hmmm...get them back after nap, huh? Let's just not take one...yeah. We get the hats back, everyone's happy. They are getting crazier everyday I think.
It is pretty cool though, how they are growing up. New challenges daily though...with discipline and how to handle things. We have to start thinking about getting that thumb out of Ethan's mouth. He doesn't have it in there constantly, but too much I think. If I say something to him about his thumb being in his mouth, he will take it out for a second, but then Evan will stick his thumb in his mouth and then I look back at Ethan and his is back in too. See what I mean...crazier. But, it is getting more fun to interact with them though. The other say we let them try something called 'Veggy Booty'. Some kind of weird rice cake type chips with seaweed and other nasty stuff...but healthier than Cheetos. :) They liked them. They thought since I picked them up for them that they were daddy's chips. So when Ethan wanted more...he said he wanted more Daddy's booty. Great. Tell that one to the neighbors. I want Daddy's booty...that will go over real well. The life and times of 2 year old twins. Interesting. Never boring.

I gave in the other day at the store. Couldn't help it. There they were. On sale. Taunting me. Winking at me in their blue packaging. I couldn't resist...2 for $4. That's a deal brother. So I grabbed a package...I thought that it was better to get just one at $2 than to get two at 50lbs, if you know what I am singing. But, I did it. I bought the bag of Oreos. I had the intention of taking them to work because I wouldn't eat them all at once there. Just a few here and there when I was in the office. I even put them in my car to keep them out of my house. That didn't work. Last night, I heard them. The sirens' song of the Oreo's. Circe warned Homer, but no one warned me. I went to the car and there they were again in all of their chocolatey beauty. Of course, my wife had to have a few since I brought them in. I didn't think she was happy with me at that moment...dangling that chocolatey goodness in front of her. But, it happened. I opened the bag. We ate half of the bag of Oreo's. In one sitting. Me more so than her. They were good. Very good. But now I remember why we don't buy them at the store. I will eat them if they are in the house. Quickly. As if they will never make more. I need to join OA. "Hi. My name is Ray. I am an Oreoholic."

-R

religion/faith

Two posts in one day. Of course, it is the first day.

There are many thoughts that go through my head regarding the title of this blog. Religion...faith...not the same thing though. Muddy waters. Purify. Clarification. That is what it needs I believe.

Religion is just that...religion. Man's attempt at faith maybe? Mucking up what Christ had in store for us? Let's look at the Merriam Webster definition, shall we:
1 a : the state of a religious b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS 4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Hmmm...doesn't seem that bad, does it? But, I think man in his ardorous search for God, spiritual wisdom, meaning or what have you...is missing the point. I think the only place to look is the scriptures, the Word of God. Of course, that assumes you believe that the Bible is the Word of God...the 'God-breathed' scriptures, good for correction, for teaching. And, yes, I believe that it is God-breathed, God-inspired, whatever term you want to use. No other book like it. 40 authors, yet still the same theme in the entire book. God's redemption for mankind. Even with all of the translations, passing down of the scriptures throughout time, it is still reliable. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, after examination/scrutinization and comparing to known original Hebrew Masoretic texts...they found only 17 'letters' that were different. Most were spellings, a few were a matter of usage or style, and only one word was completely different...and the meaning of the text was not changed. The Bible itself testifies to its reliability. OK...how did I get off on that...this was supposed to be about faith and religion.

Anyway...religion is an (according to the above definition) institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Practices the word I focus on here. The whole point about God's grace to us, is just that. Grace. Nothing we can do can ensure our redemption. That is based on works, not faith. Only belief in Christ as the Messiah and the acceptance of His death on a cross and His resurrection, can we 'attain' God's grace and redemption. Here is a couple of verses on this subject from the Apostle Paul:

Galatians 2:21 (NLT)
I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Galatians 5:4 (NLT)
For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.

But, does that mean, we don't need to worry about our actions? Nope...some more references:

Romans 6:14-15 (NLT)
Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God's grace. So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

James 2:17-18 (NLT) So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." I say, "I can't see your faith if you don't have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds."

Faith will cause good deeds...not the other way around. It's a topic that will forever be discussed until the end of this world, I am sure. I just have these thoughts going through my head...therefore, the blog. So...of course, I think faith is the key here. Not religion or works. The 'works' come through faith. Blog, blog, blog...reading back through this, not sure I made my point...but just working through some thoughts.

Time for eats.

-R

genesis

This is the first post to my blog, therefore genesis. Creative huh?

I had a day off entirely to myself today...no cell phone, no obligations (except those that are in my head), no precise plans. What to do, what to do? Start a blog, I says...get some thoughts off the ol' noggin. Always been wanting to do it, never have...perfect day for it.

So, I am sitting at my favorite coffee place, Doubleshot Coffee Company, blogging. Nice. Music playing in the background, listening to Jason (the guy behind the counter) talking about a coffee press for your home with a customer. I think my next coffee purchase is a French Press. Nothing like a great cup of coffee in my book. Especially if you can actually sit down and enjoy it and not be on the run. So, speaking of Doubleshot Coffee Company...let me put my voice out there in the growing controversy/situation surrounding this outstanding coffee shop. Seems Starbucks feels a little offended about Brian's (the owner) choice of a company name. They say it is a copyright infringement on their crappy Double Shot beverage. Now, don't get me wrong...I can swallow one of those in a pinch, but to honestly look at themselves in the mirror and convince themselves that Doubleshot Coffee is infringing on their Double Shot drink is a stretch. As Brian has said (and I agree) doubleshot is an industry term for two shots of espresso, not a refrigerated beverage from Starbucks. You can read about the whole ordeal at the website, I won't reiterate it here. The short end is that Starbucks is trying to throw their weight around and trying to get him to cease and desist. Unbelievable. When I first tried Starbucks, not bad I thought. Then I tried Seattle's Best while in Seattle. Blew them away. Didn't taste like burnt beans like most Starbucks coffee. Then Starbucks bought them out...guess they felt threatened there too. At least they let them still package their coffee and roast it the way they always had I assume. But, then one day whilst reading the paper I saw where this guy had opened a coffee shop in Tulsa...and roasts the beans right there in the store. Hold me back Betty...got a try this place. And finally got to. Man...no coffee had I ever put to my lips ever tasted so good. Amazing. Hooked. Need fabulous coffee? Come to Doubleshot Coffee. Order it off their website, whatever. Stinkin' great coffee.
Again...don't get me wrong...big business has their place in the world. But, come on. He isn't even looking to expand necessarily. Just wants to make great coffee for Tulsa. I am behind him...shaking from my caffeine buzz. :)

OK...enough about that.

This blog is to get things off me noggin, right? Little thoughts that cross my mind that I think I need to write down somewhere to keep track of the things I think about from time to time. So, therefore, I will. In a minute. Off to get a refill of the quite tasty Brazil Santos Mariah. Mmmmm...coffee. Good coffee. I will be back with another post shortly.