Sunday, 10. February 2008, 17:53:57
Attention, all faithful and unfaithful blog readers!
I have a new blog, and will no longer be using this one. My new blog address? OK, fine, I'll give it to you. But you really must read it often, and comment if you want blogs more often.
http://timocrat.wordpress.com/
There you have it.
Tim 
Monday, 4. February 2008, 15:10:51
Well, I made it back alive, but barely. My shoulders and legs are still very stiff and sore from my four and a half hour ski on Saturday. I literally went up hill and down dale, as the saying goes.
The road out to Sirdal was blocked, so our small expedition had to take the long way, which ended up being an hour longer. When we finally got going around 11:30 (after trying to put on extra layers, wax skis, and get moving without looking like foreigners to the Norwegians around us), it was snowy and grey, and very cold. On the first kilometer or so, I felt as if I was going to cough up my lungs, since it was almost all uphill, and I pushed myself too hard. But after that, I relaxed a bit and it was easier, though once I realized my water was frozen, my morale sunk a bit. I managed to survive on snow and Craisins until my water thawed.
We continued on for quite a while until the track grew downright shoddy. We turned around and headed back, going a different route. As we traveled, the snow let up and the sun came out, and then the snow came back and then the sun came out again. The weather changed very quickly.
We did make it back to the car at about 2:50, and sat back for a few minutes, catching our breath and eating a bit. After we got the nerve up again, we headed out for another go at the trail, this time for a shorter time. Mr. Churchfield practiced going down the first slope while Mr. Paukert and I trudged along at our own pace, stopped at 3:30, and turned around. We met Mr. Churchfield on the way back, and once we made it to the car, we headed out.
The road was still closed, so we had to take the longer way yet again, adding hours to our travel time. When I was finally delivered in a shivering mass at my doorstep, it was 7:30, and I was very tired. But I had a fun time, and finally got some real snow. I may be going again next week now that I've refreshed my skiing skills.
In other news, I had a great relaxing day yesterday, and am ready for another school week. Sort of.
P.S. I'm thinking of switching to a Wordpress format on my father's website, rather like my venerable uncle's set-up. It just seems to have more options and I like the format. Just a warning that you may have to replace my wonderful blog address in your favorites.
P.P.S. Convert to Opera, friends! It is the browser of the future.
Thursday, 31. January 2008, 16:08:37
Well, today seemed as if it would be quite a restful day, but as the activities wore on, I had very little free time. This evening I have AWANA and youth group right after class and dinner, so for about 5 hours I am completely booked. I enjoy a fast pace, but I must admit I enjoyed the break last week when we had a cut-off Latin class.
Since yesterday, we haven't done anything new.
In other news, I have discovered a rather entertaining author. P.G. Wodehouse has written several books in a pseudo-series: "Jeeves and Wooster". I quite enjoy them. They're about a British young man in New York named Wooster and his manservant Jeeves, who is quite a bit smarter than Wooster. It makes fun of British high society in the early 20th century, and is quite amusing. I recommend trying them out.
Pip pip, all.
Wednesday, 30. January 2008, 20:52:11
Well, I haven't blogged in quite a while, but I hope to change that. I'm going to try and blog about once every couple days at least, even if it's just a short little thingy.
I'm just finishing up The Second American Revolution by John Whitehead for World Views, which is a truly amazing book. I loved it, and it's very eye-opening politically. I highly recommend it to everyone, except possibly by those under the age of 13, as I imagine it would get quite boring within the first two words to youngsters.
Still no snow, much to my chagrin. But I'm planning on going skiing with some men from my church this weekend, and if it's good skiing weather, we'll have snow at the place, so I am looking forward to that.
If any of you have any recommendations for good jazz music (preferably stuff with piano and saxophone), please do pipe up. I'm looking around for some good jazz, but it is really hard to guage music by its cover.
And... My life is pretty routine. Not a whole lot going on apart from school.
Tuesday, 15. January 2008, 14:05:02
I know many Christians in America today are in favor of differing candidates for president. I myself have come to the conclusion that Ron Paul is the best of the bunch, but that's not what I'm writing this blog for. I think that many have forgotten something very important in choosing representatives and rulers.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." - Proverbs 8:10
"And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.'" - Job 28:28
This tells me that we must choose Christian leaders for our country. We want wise men leading us, yes? Then they must fear the Lord, for if they do not, they are foolish. A Christian is a must for any position of authority. So I encourage all my brothers and sisters in Christ to vote for the candidate who acts on his Christian beliefs. In my opinion, that candidate is Ron Paul, not Mike Huckabee as so many think. Huckabee is not ideal for a number of reasons (not least of which are the ethical violations he committed during his governorship).
Besides simply sharing a Christian faith, which is often hard to gauge, we must choose based on works. Faith is proven by works, so if we see someone professing to be Christian holding anti-Christian policies, we can be pretty sure he is not a Christian. We need to choose a candidate who acts upon his faith, not only by keeping the government in check as he should, but also in his personal life, by helping the poor, by visiting the widows, by being in constant prayer, etc.
I also think the qualifications for choosing elders and deacons found in 1 Timothy hold true for presidents.
Just some thoughts.
Lately I've been working and working on school. We're in the Civil War and reading John Whitehead's wonderful book The Second American Revolution. I took my first practice SAT at home last Saturday, and I got a fairly good score. This will be my control test, so I can measure my progress as I take more practice SATs later this spring, leading up to the real one in May.
Other studies continue as well. I am assured by my father that the SG-1 season which he ordered is coming, but I suspect some kind of evil plot, from some obscure references to "spilling beans" made by Mother. We have this deal set up in which Dad buys a season of Stargate SG-1 for every practice and real SAT I complete. One so far, with a few more later this spring. I rub my proverbial hands together in proverbial glee.
The weather, as you might suppose, has been cold and wet, but not cold enough to make the "wet" bit become "snowy".
I must admit I did get the Duck of Stupidity for an accident involving broken glass. This is only my second acquisition of said Duck, and I still remain far ahead of my family. I must try and help speed up the process for someone else, or burn the Duck when no one is looking. We'll see what happens...
Tuesday, 8. January 2008, 23:07:01
Two things which are very important to me. If I didn't have them, I would certainly be not as good a person as God has made me. But I find I don't talk about either much. I suppose that's really my nature: I don't actually talk about what is important to me. When I have any sort of deep conversations, they're usually deep in a different regard. What makes me who I am doesn't generally come up, and I don't like to talk about it. But it is rather freeing, I think. So here goes.
I have been blessed by many truly meaningful friendships in my life. My best friend ever, even though I'm separated from him by an ocean, still holds a very special place for me. Even though we didn't have too many deep conversations about ourselves and our spiritual walk, he's really been kind of a constant in my life. I could always depend on him to be the same. No matter what happened to me, or how I felt, I knew that he would always act the same way, and I knew that we would always be friends. We still are. I hope some day soon we'll be able to live close again, but until then, I cherish every time we talk.
I have several other good friends in Leavenworth. It's rather comparable to the Duckabush valley. My uncle not too long ago posted his belated Thanksgiving blog, and his thoughts really reflected mine. I almost wish I could have used his ideas first, but I'm glad someone more eloquent than myself said it. Leavenworth has been to me a sort of valley of protection and safety. I felt that nothing bad could really happen to me there. God was clearly present in our church, and we had our circle of friends, and we were under God's goodness. It was the idyllic place to be, with the most idyllic people. It came as quite a shock to me when I found we were leaving, for an extended period of time. Now it's been two and a half years since we've lived there, and I've only recently come to terms with it.
God has given me three such experiences: Leavenworth first, with my friends. During that time we went to Spring Canyon, Colorado, which was the second "valley of heavenly delights", so to speak. There I had all my friends from Leavenworth in one of the most beautiful spots on earth, spending nothing but what I will call near-perfect time with each other. Then, the Duckabush valley, with my fellow CITs at WNW summer camp and my grandparents and uncle's family. Such a godly group of people I would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in all God's creation.
In all these places, I have felt true joy. I was closest to God in those places. But I feel that God has removed His hand of protection from me, and I am out in "the world". Norway seems so far away from anything I've known, it feels like my relationship with God has changed because of geography. It has, but not in that way. God has shown me that life isn't all a walk in the park. He has shown me that I can't always enjoy an ideal situation. It is painful. But it is good. All I can do now is rejoice that God knows what He's doing, since I certainly don't. I know this must be good, even if it hurts. And it does, it hurts greatly. But the pain of separation is nothing compared to how close I have grown to God. I feel His presence, I am gaining purpose in my life, and I have developed spiritually and intellectually.
Not least of my friends, although it is rather unorthodox, are the ones I've met through TPS. About four or five people stand out to me as really good friends. They encourage me, and they give me relief from hardship. They support me theologically, too; I hope some day I can meet them in person, as it were. I feel I know them very well, even though I've only conversed with them over the internet. But they are special to me.
Music. I love music, though you might not be able to tell at first. I don't listen to it constantly. I don't buy it a lot. I don't play it very well, either. But I love it. Lately music by MercyMe and Tree63 has made the most impression on me. Those are two of the best Christian contemporary bands in existence. I am constantly uplifted (physically, I feel tension go away, and spiritually, I worship God) by their songs. Most recently I got MercyMe's album All That is Within Me. Such a God-centered worship experience is evident in their music, I cannot help singing along. It gives me peace to listen to music, not just Christian, but any music I like. God has used music in my life to grant me joy and peace in lieu of my best friends.
So, Timothy's musings for the day/week/month/whatever it turns out to be. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. But vacation, you know, a whole lot of nothing to be done. No time for telling you about all the nothing I've done.
Give me feedback. I live on the stuff, I tell you. That last unfortunate blog (with no comments) rather left me starving.
May God grant you joy.
Friday, 28. December 2007, 21:03:34
A list of my gifts would, frankly, be rather too much. I got a lot more than last year.
I did get new gloves, nice ones too. I also got some seasons of Stargate SG-1, which Mother and I have been watching a lot. Any of you familiar with the series will know who O'Neill is, and how funny he is in the show. I received some various books, a CD of audio books (including some Sherlock Holmse cases, which I have enjoyed immensely), and a really cool shirt depicting the Dome Church here in Stavanger composed (ahaha) entirely of musical notation.
And, as you may have deduced, we had no snow. Just rain at the end of the day. We did go on an enjoyable walk with Angel on the beach before the rain, though. I don't really like the sea, I never have. But I can see how some would consider it peaceful. I don't, but I'll concede the point. I prefer mountains.
Aside from engaging in a total lack of anything worthwhile these last few days, I have done nothing worthwhile. So there you have it. I had a very good Christmas, all things considered. Here's to you all!
Monday, 24. December 2007, 21:20:23
As I type, my father is sitting behind me and forcefully keeping me from other pursuits, so I figure I'll blog. He has forbidden me to leave, and who knows how long this family banter could go on (currently they are discussing the lyrics of We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything), so you may be in for a lengthy post.
Today is Christmas Eve, as you probably know, and we had a nice dinner of roast beef and green beans, since tomorrow Mother doesn't want to cook dinner. And yet, she's expending a fair amount of energy making monkey bread. Dad has assured us that this year will be a fairly light year present-wise, but I think if I get money it'll make up for a lack of other presents.
On the forums we have lately been discussing the proper role of modesty and women's places in the church. It's been quite interesting. While my own views remain Reformed, others have demonstrated interesting points of view, especially in the latter debate. I was rather surprised, actually, at how many people disregarded what the Bible says versus what culture has taught them to believe. So many Christians nowadays have been tainted by the world they live in, which is very bad indeed. We are supposed to remain autonomous from the world, and choose our beliefs and actions based on Scripture.
These next two weeks will be very peaceful, as I hardly have any responsibilities. A lot of relaxing, lollygagging days ahead.
Enjoy your Christmases. I will. God Jul, as Norwegians say.
Monday, 17. December 2007, 14:39:09
I have no real good excuse for not blogging. Except infirmity. But I'm still infirm, so that's not a good one either.
On Saturday we got our Christmas tree. It turned out really nice. It's bigger than last year's, and cheaper. And we put all our ornaments and lights on it Sunday night. It's rather comforting to have it adorning (Latin, ornat) our family room.
It's been very cold and rainy here the last week or so. Although today we hardly had a single cloud. The sun rose at about 9:45, and will soon set (I'm writing this at about 3:30).
Among the recent events that have evented in my life, Sam, a very good friend, left our church Thursday to travel back to his home in Perth. Now he enjoys a couple weeks of holiday vacation before going back to work. He hopes to start working at UWA (University of Western Australia) with a college ministry there starting in February, so please pray he gets all his funding.
Also, I have just finished up the music and art section in World Views, and am beginning the American Civil War. We get Friday off of World Views, so there is much celebration in the air. This morning I composed a piece of work I shall call "Air on a Random String". I used two dice and a handy sister in making it, and hopefully the margin of order wasn't too large. It sounded cacophonous, just as I thought it would. All in all, a good philosophic exercise.
My mother just received a new computer (Vista...urg), so I get to look at her old one and pirate what parts I require for use in Project Update Gadgetry for Tim. I'm looking forward to it.
Today we received a beautiful box (well, the box wasn't all that beautiful, actually) from our dear friends at COTOD, and I would like to say thank you greatly to all involved. I will just love the yarn, and my sister, as you all know, loves Altoids (or was it the other way around?). It was perfect.
I am working on our family's website, slowly but surely, and getting a bit of help from my JavaScript teacher as needed. Hopefully by the end of the school year I'll really have something to show for it.
Well, that's pretty much it, aside from the usual: I miss all of you, I wish we could be together this Christmas, etc.
Monday, 3. December 2007, 19:33:51
I am even more convinced now that an Orc stole my glove. It was a good glove. I miss it terribly. It did its duty with panache. But now an evil Orc holds it aloft as a symbol of his triumph over men.
And all I was doing was watching a play. Too bad Aragorn didn't kill him, then he might have found the glove and given it to me. But apparently this Orc escaped death.
Or perhaps Gollum stole it and then fell into the Cracks of Doom with it, and the ring wasn't destroyed after all. All the while they thought he was referring to the ring, but he was actually talking about his new glove. Then the ring rolled out of the way as Frodo and Gollum struggled, and Gollum fell into the fire with his precious, and the ring was forgotten. Sauron pretended to be destroyed, when he actually went and got the ring back and moved into the deep south to grow in power again. He waited until all the Elves were gone and he attacked and conquered Middle Earth. Just goes to show, keep tight hold of your gloves at all times when in the vicinity of little thieving creatures who make noises in their throats.
This reminds me of the time when we were in London and Stromtroopers invaded the city hall. I have photographic evidence, too.
Luckily, they weren't interested in humble tourists like us, but only went after the public officials and the occasional paper man. After they had accomplished whatever purpose they were sent for, they left quickly, and all was back to normal, since the gap was soon filled by the multitude of remaining paper men. Who cares about politicians, anyway?
By paper men I mean the men, usually short and Indian or Middle-eastern, who wear brightly colored jackets, push a cart along the streets, and shove papers in people's faces. Generally these papers are free and advertise something or other. When ignored or yelled at or attacked by one passerby, a paper man will unabashedly shove his papers in someone else's face, ad infinitum. Occasionally they will move from one spot to another, presumably to remind themselves that they are in fact human beings and have free will.
Well, school has commenced again, much to my chagrin. I was really busy today, but I have a brief respite tonight. It was Sammy Spaghetti Night tonight, and he did it once again with flying colors. But somehow garlic bread was left out of the proceedings, so his polls went down a bit for that.
I'm starting a paper for World Views on Hume, Hegel, and Nietzsche and the effects of their philosophies on 20th century culture. We'll see how that goes. They had some seriously messed up views, especially Nietzsche, who said God is dead, and is the antithesis of life. He also said creativity is the highest good, and so those who can create more are more valuable than those who create less. Logical basis for genocide and euthanasia.
Isn't it amazing how the Enemy twists reality? Instead of the Creator being the center and the highest good, Nietzsche thought that creativity itself is the highest good. He also was deluded enough to say God is the opposite of life, when really the Enemy is. It brings to my mind something C. S. Lewis often stressed: when we sin and give in to temptation, sin possesses us and uses us. The Enemy uses our pride to elevate himself in our minds to the central place. He not only wishes God to be forgotten or put down, he wishes himself to be the center of our existences. Hence the twist in Nietzsche's philosophy, where God takes Satan's place and Satan becomes himself the guiding principle and highest good: power.
I'm glad I know what really "goes down" around here.
1 2 3 4 Next »
Showing posts 1 -
10 of
32.
(100%)
