The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera Web browser

Y'all might have noticed that I changed a couple of minor things. That's instead of getting something new up, design-wise. I have a beta version of the new design put together, but I haven't worked on it in a long time. My research project ends on Tuesday, so I'll have a bunch of time where I can hopefully work on it. We'll see.

Oh, just in case anyone was wondering--I'm perfectly aware that in many ways I'm a hypocrite. It's inadvertent, but it's a reality. I talk about a lot of things here, admonishing the reader to do a certain thing, when I don't always do that myself. That probably means that whatever I'm talking about is something that I'm struggling with. I struggle with a lot of things. Sometimes, it's almost overwhelming how many things I seem to be struggling with / worrying about. Then, I remember that I'm not supposed to be working at this stuff alone and everything gets better from there. It's all sense of balance, I guess. These admonishing posts often come after a period of darkness at a time when I'm clear on some issue. I try to share that clarity. Clarity is our friend. I'm just trying to make Clarity a mutual friend. I hope that's understandable.

As usual, my mind's been busy thinking and remembering and regretting. Forgiveness is a funny thing. Through God's mercy, we don't get what we deserve (death for sins) and through his grace we receive what we don't deserve (forgiveness and eternal life). Now, I can understand all this perfectly well. I know that I'm forgiven for the sins that I've repented of. However, some of these sins still come back to haunt me. Most of my thoughts this weekend involved such haunting.

Some people think that Christians are people that constantly beat themselves up and think of themselves as horrible people; you might even get that impression from me. Well, while I might have guilt issues, that's an unfair assessment of Christians in general. A lot of the recent sin in my life was committed in the name of love and destroyed the most wonderful relationship I've ever had. While guilt is understandable, it's not healthy and I know this. It's something that God's going to help me work out. It's something that I and the person that I sinned against are working out. It's a process and God is with us the entire way.

Christians are better characterized as people that have hope in the face of overwhelming opposition. We trust and we love and we hope and we pray. We care about others and work to free everyone from the bonds of sin. Is that really such a bad thing?

God has wonderful things planned for my life. God has wonderful things planned for your life. Are you going to let him guide you to achieve them? I am.

Wherever your journey takes you, God bless you.

I'm safely home from Syracuse. We left at about 5:30 this morning and I made it back in time for the Bible study I attend when I'm at home. A couple of folks that hadn't been around yet this summer were there, so I had a little catching up to do.