Evolution vs. Creationism

We're on the 5th video for The Truth Project (www.thetruthproject.org) and this one discusses in great detail "What is Science?"

So what do you think? Did we evolve as a species or were we created by some intelligent design?

Honestly, before this, I haven't given it too much thought - because it isn't a show-stopper for me in my walk with God. Whether God designed us as we see ourselves now or that we "evolved" into what we are - I still attributed this creation (us, life, everything) to Christ.

The Truth Project makes some incredibly valid arguments though for the idea of "intelligent design" and I'm inclined to think that's how God created us. There really is no example of evolution that can be shown today. Since we've been discussing this 'theory' for the last 200 years, nothing has evolved even a little bit... we're such complex organisms that the idea of evolution and natural selection doesn't seem as plausible. Example: the eyeball. I'm definitely NOT doing the argument justice with the above statement - just using one example.

What does perplex me though, is those (some people anyway) that do believe in evolution won't even entertain the idea of intelligent design - even when they can't answer all their own questions. Personally, I think it's more of a pride issue than anything... because even if I don't believe in evolution - I will still entertain the topic and be willing to "have" my mind changed if I'm wrong about something. Whatever I believe should stand up to criticism - if it doesn't, then I need to really re-evaluate my beliefs.

PUERTOS!!!

It's weird, I was walking out of my room tonight and suddenly a smell hit me (not bad, just random) that took me all the way back to Bowling Green, KY 2003.

I instantly remembered going to Puerto Vallarta's next to Western Kentucky University with Nicole when we first got married... I would get the "IS Special" & she would get a taco salad and a GI-normous margarita.

Those were some awesome (simpler) times... We're still living in awesome times (: but I enjoyed those a lot as well.

Brother pointed me to this band

take up your Cross...

-Nicole has to memorize a bible verse as part of her new adventure at Quest - she got accepted into the program, "Accelerate" This is one of her first assignments. It's a simple task really, but I can tell she's excited about the program, because she's nervous about it.

Luke 9:23 (New International Version)

²³Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 (New Living Translation)

²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 (The Message)

^23-27Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat—I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I'm leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn't, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God."

Luke 9:23 (King James Version)

²³And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Ironman Quest

Why did I decide I want to do an Ironman Triathlon? What in me desires that... and really why did I sign up for one knowing that my preparation for such an arduous event would lack any swimming or actual bicycling for 90% of the training -

Questions that perplex the mind (my mind anyway).

My rationale for deciding to attempt, rather accomplish this race immediately following my post-deployment from Kosovo is two-fold (I insist on using the word accomplish here - because I'm crossing that finish line no-matter-what).

1. I figure to pull off a race of this magnitude, I'm going to have to train anywhere from 10-15 hours a week at a minimum. That's averaging over 2 hours a day training on some weeks. I definitely don't feel that I have this time available to me while I'm in the states and NOT take time away from my family. Work has x number of hours requirement - I can't go very long when I subtract sleep from my schedule, so the only flexible number in that equation is time with family. While I'm here - any time I'm NOT working, I can devote to training (if I so choose).

2. This gives me a goal & something to focus on while I'm here... if I start getting down on myself due to being away from family, I can redirect that focus/energy towards this race. In addition, with the amount of time I have to train, I'm usually too tired to be upset at anything when I do have time to sit down and think.

Big picture for me though. I've ALWAYS wanted to complete an Ironman Triathlon. Ever since I was old enough to understand what it was - 11 or 12 years old. Something in me, in each of us, desires to be challenged... to see what we're made of - to see if we stand up to the test.

...I definitely learned this lesson in the military. I grew SO much in such a short amount of time and it was because I WAS challenged. I think that a lot of young people today don't have that. They expect things to be easy and if they're not... then "obviously" they're not worth doing.

-back to Ironman. I want to push myself to the limit and I think, physically, the Ironman provides that.

www.ironmanlouisville.com

Skype & Family

Can't wait to skype with my beautiful wife & my little monsters Elijah and Kylie today.

"Sweep the leg Johnny"

This is a good band - (No More Kings) and the video makes me laugh - makes me think of CJ, Matt & Jeremy... from their sense of humor.

What is the purpose of Christianity

I wanted to share one of my personal journal entries from a month ago... I was questioning the purpose of Christianity (which isn't a bad thing). I wasn't questioning my faith - but rather searching for somewhat of a logical explanation for such an abstract thing.

First, I have a solid foundation in my faith - I believe that God exists & sent Jesus to die for our sins, MY sins. I know that the only way to heaven... to life AFTER this life is thru Jesus - that he's the bridge to knowing and being forgiven - I recognize that I was one person before accepting Jesus and I'm a completely different person now after the fact and finally I can see a marked change in who I am... so again, not questioning the fact that I believe in all this -

OK. On to the entry:

January 10, 2010

"God sent Jesus to get our attention. He could do any number of things, to include doing nothing - but he chooses not to because he desires a relationship with his creation, us. He's showing us that without him, we live a life of sin & a downward spiraling one, with lust, greed, gluttony, gossip, jealousy, pride... all these things make life hard - hard on ourselves and hard on each other.

God's desperately trying to say - 'LOOK AT ME!' Look TO me... I can fix all this! I WANT to fix all this. Your SIN is keeping you from me.

...living in sin, is living apart from God. you can't do these things and have a relationship with him. - not because He won't let you, but because WE can't. The idea and act of sin is worldly, not Godly. God gave us free will - so He could have a relationship. It's not a 'relationship' if the other part is a robot or forced slave. A decision has to be made on both parts... willingly.

Why does sin keep you from God?

'Faith eliminates the pride of human effort'
'Faith exalts what God has done, not what we do'
'Faith admits that we can't keep the law'
'Faith is based on relationship... not performance'

God designed us... part of that design is 'you can't get something for nothing' God can't just say 'I forgive you for whatever you've done - come back to Me' We're not wired for that. We inherently know, understand & grasp that sin is wrong. We - as entire population - know this, regardless of our regardless of our religious or political affiliation. 'Sin' is what goes against our morals which is where our modern day laws come from.

We understand that sin hurts us personally and those around us - in so many ways. Justifiably, a price has to be paid to wipe those sins clean. It's like that in our legal system today. That's why Jesus was sent - to pay that price. For God to say 'Look, I'm paying that price... the punishment is delivered. Please come back to me.'
'...for the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it' Romans 3:20b"

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it."
John 3:16-17

Flight Time

I should be studying right now and in fact have my UH-60 Operator's Manual (a -10) open in my lap as I type this... I've got around 490 hours of flight time now (since starting this little journey called Aviation back in 2006) and "may" be considered for Pilot-in-Command (PC) in the not so far future - which means I'll be the primary person responsible for the aircraft when we fly.

I'm flying with the Battalion Standardization Pilot (SP) tomorrow and after our mission, we're going to go out and perform some emergency procedures, instrument approaches, and tactical terrain flight among other things.

John's a good guy, former Vietnam Huey Pilot with more flight time than he knows what to do with. Should prove to be a good flight.

More to come on the "PC-in-training"...


Continuation of Blog Post flight -

Had a great time, shot the ILS/DME approach into Pristina, did some Emergency Procedures (simulated), the GCA back into Bondsteel and the TFTA (Terrain Flight Training Area).

Cool Music

"Justice" D.A.N.C.E.
...for some reason I'm digging this song right now.

Christian Walk.

Geez. a lot of posts today. I'm actually waiting on my platoon sergeant to come bang on my door so that we can go conduct remedial PT for some of my not-so-hot PT gurus who can't quite seem to pass the APFT. We're playing B-ball today. hopefully they don't break my ankle or break my pinkie as has happened to two of our other officers/pilots who were playing sports.

I digress. I'm hoping to make this blog an opportunity for me to discuss my Christian walk - my relationship with Christ... who I am in Him and how it affects my everyday life and how it should affect those around me.

Do my peers, subordinates and superiors (and acquaintances) KNOW that I'm a Christian - rather a Christ-follower? Do I reflect that, do I live and act as if I'm not of this world and that my hope is in Him, not of everyday life... I hope so and I pray that I do.

I'm currently playing drums for the Sunday evening contemporary worship service... and we can definitely be described as making a joyful noise. Sometimes not much more than that - (: but it's good because everyone's heart is in it and we're there for the right reason. That is... to give glory to God and to worship him and help those who attend the service worship Him. We typically practice on Thursday evenings when we can get everyone together.

I'm also helping to facilitate a weekly biblestudy on Friday nights... right now we're going thru The Truth Project www.thetruthproject.org. It's going great. We're getting more participation as well as particiPANTS with this study than we did with the previous study we did (5-7 for the first study vs. 18-25 people for truth project). The study itself is very abstract and is definitely NOT "milk." We're really trying to challenge each other on this.

One of my goals is ALSO to get thru the New Testament before coming off deployment. I'm making pretty good headway... but won't be disappointed if I don't make it as long as I'm consistent in my reading of the Word. Originally, I wanted to try to get thru the entire Bible - but the task was a little too daunting and I was getting down on myself even before I had started and kept putting it off BECAUSE I was failing in it. I had to go BACK to the original intent of the goal... get myself into the Word - so, I adjusted my sight picture and now have a more reasonable target.

Ironman Journey

I signed up for the Louisville Ironman (August 28th, 2010 - the day after my sweet Mother's 60th birthday) in August of 2009 and have been ... pondering on it.

How in the WORLD am I going to train for this thing, seeing as how I am limited in my "training" opportunities
At my disposal I have:
-a stationary bike straight out of the 1980's
-a running loop that is no greater than 5 miles long OR the endless hamster race on the treadmill - -to top it off, no access to a swimming pool. period.
NOTE: I will have approximately 3 weeks post-deployment to both get into a 25yard pool as well as start pedal cranking on my ACTUAL bike - though 3 weeks doesn't sound like a very long time to prep for an ironman distance event. 2.4 mile swim/112 mile bike/26.2 mile run. yay.

Thankfully I HAVE completed a triathlon before, but probably makes it all the more laughable seeing as how it was a sprint Tri back in 2005.

Anyway, I'm prepping my plan as I type... trying to get motivated and coming up with creative ways to get ready for this beast.

So far, I've got blank monthly calendars printed for March thru August to fill in what I HOPE to accomplish 6 days a week. I would like to backwards plan this thing to ensure I meet my goal... but am still researching that.

I've also printed out a little picture of the Ironman logo to hang up on my door to remind me of my stupidity... I mean my goal of accomplishing this thing at the conclusion of my year-long deployment to wonderful, sunny Kosovo.

Several of the guys in my unit know I've started this endeavor and are being supportive - ie. making fun of me and ridiculing me for how little I'm actually training. it's great.

more to follow.

Books I've read while on deployment

Here's a list of books I've read (in no particular order) since we've started this little adventure in August of 2009 - I intend to update this list as it grows... perhaps the purpose is more for me to track what I've read rather than share it... but that's neither here-nor-there.

Acts - Bible
Romans - Bible
1 Corinthians - Bible
2 Corinthians - Bible
Galatians - Bible
Ephesians - Bible
Philippians - Bible
Colossians - Bible

Better Dads, Stronger Sons - Rick Johnson

Fathered by God - John Eldredge (the stages of man...)

Messy Spirituality - Mike Yaconelli (courtesy of Charlie... one of my guys in lifegroup at Quest)

To the Limit - Tom Johnson (about a Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam)

Showdown - Ted Dekker (book about good and evil within a person) - courtesy of CPT Andi Hahn, co-worker from Public Affairs

For One More Day - Mitch Albom (about a man's relationship with his mother) - courtesy of one of my Life group brothers, Charlie, from Quest.

The Prodigal God - Tim Keller (about the story of the prodigal son with the focus being on the elder brother and how HE was actually the focus... GREAT book)

Chickenhawk - Robert Mason (about a helicopter pilot in Vietnam - a must-read classic for all aspiring helichopper pilots)

George Washington (bibliography) - James MacGregor Burns & Susan Dunn

Epic - John Eldridge - courtesy of one of my Life group brothers, Charlie, from Quest.

The Barbarian Way - Erwin McManus - courtesy of Charlie

Inside Delta Force - Eric L. Haney (inspired the show "The Unit" on CBS)

(most of...) Instrument Flight for Army Aviators FM 3-04.240

First Post.

I have a desire to blog I think... It would definitely help to document this experience in Kosovo - as well as my growing relationship with the Lord.


In highschool (way back when), I played in a garage band - - "Common Anomoly" - - with Matt, Brett & Brandon and *CJ on the triangle*. We not only rocked out in that garage, we hung out there, and ultimately, grew up there... guess it inspired the title of the blog.