Random Book Idea

While washing dishes this morning,
I was thinking in a random direction and began to wonder upon a few things. An
idea came of me of a potential book that could be written, with enough
cooperation from the right people. The question comes to many people’s minds,
particularly literal Bible believing born-again Christians (I could go on with
titles, because these days many claim the name without the traditional,
non-universalistic beliefs) who have a relative die that has not accepted Jesus
Christ’s sacrifice as their way to a right relationship with God. The question
is- what was the point of their lives? They lived, they made some good choices
as well as bad, but they died and now are paying the price for their separation
from God. So what was the point of their lives, what good will come of it now
that it has ended?

Then the story
Jesus told of the wealthy man who died and went to hell and begged Lazarus- who
was in heaven- to let him go back to his family and tell them about hell, try
to convince them to make the right choice so they would not go there. The idea
formed in my mind of this- would it not be a powerful partial-fiction book to
base something on that premise and on the lives of real people? To interview
and help create a series of stories based on the lives of Christian’s who
desire their loved ones lives- ones they know never decided on Jesus as their
way to be saved- to make a difference in bringing others to Christ, even if
they themselves never did make that choice? Then, to write the book in the form
of a first-person series of stories from the point of view of the person who
died- as though they were being given that chance the man in Jesus’ story never
got, to try to convince those who still have the opportunity to choose Jesus
Christ.

Anytime we touch
on that subject it is a sensitive area, and especially when using real people-
perhaps I could even base it on real people’s lives but changes things so as to
avoid that contact area, though I think if done correctly it could be a very
important way to reach others. To me, if a member of my family or a friend died
and I was not sure they were going to be with Jesus, I would want their life to
make a difference. I have a friend online who lives overseas, and if she died
today I know that- at this point- she would not go to heaven. It is my true
heart’s wish that she make the right decision this very day, this very hour if
God could move her heart! Yet if she died, as she is now, I think that to
honour her memory and grieve for the one right choice she never made- I would
want her story to be told to others.

It is something
to think about. Who knows- if I went the fiction route, I could even take down
the life stories of Christians who came to Christ at an older age and weave it
into a fictional character that dies before the point of making that choice.
Lots of potential options. I may not ever sit down and do this, but it is one
of the many ideas that sometimes comes to my mind.

-Patrick

Do you have a friend, sibling, room-mate, or even spouse? I'd wager if
you live with someone, or are with someone a lot, you have those always
present times of clashings that happen. I look at my relationship with
Katrina, and even with her being pregnant, I cannot help but think how
blessed we are- and how, considering that she is now nine months
pregnant, how incredible it is how she is handling it. We actually
argue less and clash less, in my estimation, than we did before she was
pregnant. Of course, and this is where I burst the bubble of secrecy,
that doesn't mean there are not times of clashes. It has happened in
the last month that I have had to "take a drive" in order to 1) give
Katrina the space to deal with her anger (which cools down slowly,
while I can cool down fairly quickly with a little quiet time), 2)
avoid making silly mistakes that are easy to make but hard to forget.
The Bible reminds us over and over again how dangerous the tongue is-
how even a single word can scar for a lifetime, and like a scar cannot
be taken back even seconds after it has been made.

There's something I tried today during a short car trip to Church that
helped me a lot. I was looking at what happened and thinking about
sharing it here- how I was confused and hurt. Yet then I took the
situation and asked myself, "How can I turn this around, and look at
what happened to see what Katrina did with the best intentions in mind?
How can I make the best of it?" Since, one, God tells us to look for
the best in other Christians- and we are also to defend and speak well
of our spouses. Really looking at it, it was amazing to see the
difference. I could see how Katrina was probably trying to protect me,
and show love- while before the same actions might have been
interpretted as hurtful. I think that should be the way I- and all
believers- try to look at the actions of those we are close to. Yes, we
could be "wrong"- we might even feel pretty sure it was done with a
wrong heart- but until they say something to confirm this, until we ask
them about the matter, we must look for the best in their hearts. Look
at the situation and try to see how they might have been trying to do
the right thing- how they might have had the right heart, or our
feelings and growth, in mind. If you can do this, really do this, you
might find it an amazing change of heart.

Now, as to other related things about conflict I've faced with Kat at times.

Well, there are two ways I've found to help us with this. First of all,
the primary way God has shown me is working on my skills in keeping the
house (www.flylady.net - it is the lifesaver for all people keeping
house!), which is often the source of many arguments. If it doesn't
cause it, then it makes the stage worse for it if the house is messy in
her estimation. Secondly, having critical pauses and also knowing that
when things get hot- even if it seems to upset Kat- I need to just take
a drive, making clear I will come back within... half an hour, a few
hours, or sometimes make it a day trip. I've had days where I knew-
just knew- that I needed to spend the day away. The result was- Kat was
glad to have me back, I felt rested and ready to return, and there were
no badly hurt feelings. Her dislike of my leaving- which was strong
when it happened- faded and was gone.

A final thing, something that is still relatively untested but I will
wait to see how its goes, is this- Kat wants to be able to feel at
times she can vent. So she wants to try "the plan"- that she can say
things to me, and unless they are said calmly or gently in a netural to
good mood, then I will let them "roll off my back" and not take them to
heart. What does this mean? If she trips over a shoe and gets really
mad, and tells me about it, I won't take it to heart- so, she learns to
calm down and later talk to me about it, and I try my best to listen.
Why is this important? Well, many times lately- perhaps related to the
pregnancy (Kat has shared that many times, and regretted harsh words)-
Kat has taken a small thing and it has turned into words that sunk in
deeply. So she feels she can't really express herself without hurting
me, and I feel hurt. So our experiment is to try this "method". So she
can trip over the shoe, get upset, and rant a little- and I'll just let
it go, knowing she doesn't mean it... and if she does, if it really is
THAT important, she will be able to remember it later when calm and
talk about it with me. That will also teach her that if she wants me to
really listen, she will approach me in such a way.

I know how that could come across- but it really was HER idea. Also,
I'm worried because I know the best way is to just give those things to
God. And even if I try to make it "roll off" and know she doesn't mean
it, all expression of anger or criticisms have some effect. Yet this is
her last month- and I'm willing to try to work with her as she wants me
to.

So, that's that for now. I can't wait to hold my baby in my arms. I
also hope that we can, with God's help, structure things so that we
aren't overwhelmed by family and visitors. We'll value visitors-
especially AFTER the first week- but during the first two days, and
then the first week in general, I'm going to really want a lot of time
to be alone with my Wife and Conor. I'm not going to want anyone
hanging around all the time- even with good intentions- and so we've
planned and prepared so that when we come home from the hospital, we
can be self sufficient. We have enough frozen meals that we will be
fine. I will keep the house ready so that when we come back, it will be
clean and prepared for us to keep it up easily. We will return, and for
the first week, we won't need to have live-in help or frequent guests.
The first week, the phone will be unplugged and the answering machine
will tell people our "visitting hours" and let them leave a message to
tell us their planned time to visit. After that, we'll probably allow
more openings for visits. But more than anything else- I want to get to
know my baby. I want my Wife and I to bond with our baby. And quite
honestly... I want to do it in a way that does not hurt others feelings
or offend, but if that has to happen and cannot be avoided, then I
won't give up that special time to avoid it.

-Patrick

This Friday, my wife will be officially nine months pregnant. Can you
believe it? We are at the end of the road now- the final stretch. One
month from Friday she should (if all goes as planned- though we all
know it rarely does) give birth.

I see it as an expected, anticipated time. Kat is scarred spitless (to
use a more polite term for it *winks*) about what will happen
afterwards, rather than glad it will be over. She probably would have
added a few more months to the second trimester if she could have, in
order to slow things down. I just want to see my son. I have played
with him, touched him (though Kat, of course), and he knows my voice.
You know, I said that just off the top of my head, but it reminds me of
the scripture passage where Jesus says "The sheep know their master's
voice" or something very similar, referring to how sincere believers
will know the true voice of God. Is it not amazing how being a parent
has already taught me a little more about our relationship with God?

I hope you enjoy my comic experiments- there will be many more of them.
It is a passion of mine- I'm an artist without the hand for it, so now
that I can use Everquest 2 to help me I am all over it.

-Patrick

Win or loose, it's how you play the game...

(Images captured from Everquest 2, copyright Sony. Comic by Pat, copyrighted, do not post elsewhere without permission)

PS- For those who are not familiar with the "private jokes" of the
guild (I know no guild members actually read my xanga site anyway),
Summer is fighting. She is our guild leader, and she has several things
she is teased about. First, Summer (the character) gets drunk on
Fayberrry Fizzlepop (not wine, but fizzlepop) even though there is NO
alchohol in it. Secondly, and this is false but still teased about, it
is said she eats kitten skulls as snacks. Thus the two jokes here make
more sense with that in mind.

Coming soon- Wood Elf fighter vs. the Tricker Half Elf

*Sneak Peek*

Kerra always land on their feet... right?

Note- this was an actual fight that occured in Everquest 2, however the
words were completely added by myself and events rather altered for
comical purposes.

I got... oh, can you believe it... I got the gift of a lifetime yesterday!

Final Fantasy- the computer animated movie- flopped. One reason it did,
I think, is because they stayed apart from the games everyone loves
(the Final Fantasy game series- where HAVE you been?). Well, the result
was, they decided to make another- but this time it is a DVD only
movie, and it is a "sequel" to Final Fantasy VII (the first Playstation
FF game). Final Fantasy: Advent Children.

Well, it came out in Japan in September. The only problem is, it won't come out here until at least November- if not NEXT year!!

Well, at Circuit City yesterday, I saw someone watching it. YES,
watching it, on one of the computer! I almost drooled. I told him I'd
pay him a dollar for the CD if he just made a copy for me- he took it
but later gave it back, and said "No problem, man." So after I finished
working- he got off about when I did- whala, he made the copy. Now I
have a good quality, fully subtitled (probably a fan-sub) version of
Final Fantasy: Advent Children!

I watched a little last night, but not even half- I will watch all of
it today with my sister! I can't WAIT! What I saw... well, it is of
course mainly an action anime, but it is BEAUTIFUL! It has the quality
that could allow it to be a movie in theatres- it makes Shrek's
computer animation look like children's scribblings. The Japanese have
CGI skills that blow me away! Wow! So many scenes look like real people
until you look closely. And the action/combat- they can do things they
never could do with real people, and they definitely take advantage of
that.

Of course, unlike Fantasy Fantasy the movie, they make the characters
look Japanese, and that is fine. That was their target audience,
obviously. I'll finish watching it and give you a heads up on it. Oh,
and Michael- if you give me your xanga site by email, I might...
MIGHT... snail mail you a copy of Advent Children *grins*

-Patrick

I thought I might share my nifty-cool weekly menu mailer with you guys,
who are interested. However, since I would prefer it not be publically
"on display" (and if you like it, you can take a look yourself and
subscribe for 9 dollars for 3 months) I am going to make it protected.
If you are particularly interested in taking a look and you don't see
it here- then you CAN request it (I don't make a lot of people
protected- so rather than make you protected I might just send it your
way. I'm sure you understand, whomever you are).

There are a bunch of different types of mailers. I'm subscribed to the
frugal menu (I did that AFTER I tried the normal one- and my budget was
broken for last week!), regular menu, and crock cooker menu.

For the last of such meals, today, I was preparing my first ever butternut squash.
I did spaghetti squash a couple of days ago- which was quite a unique
experience. Of course, Katrina hated even the sound of the word
"squash" and I kept it far from her. But did you know that squash are
very healthy- winter squash, that is- and while we do not use/hear
about it as commonly they are INCREDIBLY healthy, easy to get
(especially in Fall/winter) and lots of new things to make with them. Spaghetti squash is a "newer" trend and very neat because when done correctly
it results in a very easy veggy to make. Plus, unique to this
particular squash, one four ounce serving has only 37 calories! A
"dieter's dream" as one place said. If you can try something new, it's
worth a shot.

-Patrick

I think that, on occasion, I might share a few of the inspirational
words I get from FlyLady- the person who runs the system I am using to
try to organize myself. Part of the whole thing is the fact she sends
out inspirational and encouraging emails and I find it quite useful!
I'd like to share some with you and see if it can be of help.

Dear FlyLady,

I joined FlyLady five years ago, when I first got married and realized
I had no idea how to keep house.  I credit you for saving my marriage,
in fact, because my husband was so done with my clutter by that time.
 
I've done a decent job of keeping up with routines and zone cleaning
since then, with some backslides here and there.  I've flown through
three jobs, running two businesses and moving once.  I impress myself
sometimes. LOL  But, then, something happened that made me fall off
the FlyWagon in a big way.
 
Almost four months ago, I gave birth to the most beautiful little
girl.  Since then, my home has been spinning out of control.
 
My mother, who is the most BO person I know, comes over to watch my DD
three afternoons a week, so I can go to the office.  I've been
embarrassed to let my mother in for the past month or so.
 
In the beginning, mom would do some dishes or straighten the living
room for me while DD napped.  But, at some point, even she gave up.
 
And that was when I knew I needed to start all over again. I dug my
copy of Sink Reflections out of the pile of books that had collected
next to my bed.  I visited the website to see what zone we were in.
And then I shined my sink.
 
15 minutes at a time, I got my house not perfect, but perfectly
passable, and am well on my way to never seeing dirt again!
 
Yesterday, when Mom came over, she said, "Honey, you've really been
killing yourself this morning! Your bed is even made" and I turned
scarlet to think that someone would think me making my bed was such a
big deal.
 
Today, for the first time ever, I had NOTHING to do when I put DD down
for her nap.  The sink is clean, the bed is made, I'm dressed right
down to my shoes.  Everything is dusted, everything is vacuumed.
There's no pile of magazines on the coffee table and I even remembered
to put the recycling out today, thanks to my calendar, so there isn't
even any cardboard on the back porch to be broken up.
 
I can't believe how easy it was to get my house back in order.  And I
know it will be easy to maintain, since I'm starting to get my
routines down pat once again.
 
And this afternoon, I won't be worried about how much I have to do as
soon as DD falls asleep.  Instead, I'll get to enjoy playing with her
for as long as she likes.  And then, when she takes another nap, I'll
be able to do something fun, like work on her srapbook!
 
Thank you so much!
 
~FLYing with a new baby

Early to bed, Early to rise

As I am trying to
implement a new way of living, through consistent routines and cleanliness, I
have found something to be true. I am a morning person. I would like to define
that term, however. I think it is akin to being an extrovert or an introvert.
Some people define extrovert as someone who is good around people and likes to
be around them, and an introvert as someone who is more comfortable alone. This
can be deceptive, because there are “mock introverts” and “mock extroverts”
using this definition. Katrina, for example, is definitely a “mock extrovert”.
So all intents and purposes she appears to be an extrovert. So the
definition I prefer the most, and the most accurate by far, is this: An
extrovert is someone who gets energy, who is primarily emotionally recharged,
by being around other people. An introvert is someone who gets energy, who is
primarily emotionally recharged, by being alone. By this definition, Katrina
gets most of her energy by being alone. She is physically and emotionally
drained being around people, and can’t wait to get by herself. Too much time
around others makes her very moody and eager to get away from people. I enjoy
being on the computer and going off to do things by myself, but if I do it too
much I become very drained and down. Why? Because I am a true extrovert- my
main source of energy is other people!

How does this connect to being a morning person?
I think I discovered that this morning. Even when I get a lot of sleep, getting
up early can be difficult. I simply do not do well getting up. My body
sometimes has to wake me up with a headache if I oversleep. Yet once I am up, I
seem to be very alert and active in the morning- while in the evening I am less
fuctional. One might say that because I prefer not to get up early and so like
to do more things in the afternoon or later, I am not a morning person.
However, I realised today as I got up early that when I get up in the mornings,
get my hour-long morning routine done, and realise it is still only 9:30 AM
that I feel better, happier ,and more energetic. How wonderful it is to know
that I have the whole day ahead of me! Sunshine and daytime excite and energize
me, but night is not a time I see as an “active” time. When I finish my morning
routine and it is, say, noon, I feel depressed that half the day is already
wasted. I would like to offer my own definition of a morning person, for your
perusal. A morning person is someone who functions best during the first
part of their day. They often find themselves the happiest when they know there
is an entire daytime ahead of them. A night person is someone who takes a long
time to charge up to the point that they can work effectively, so their best
functioning time is at night. They also find themselves happiest in the evening
or at night. I am sure there are other aspects to it, but I think that is a
better definition than “A morning person likes to get up early. A night person
likes to sleep in and stay up late.” Do you agree?