One of the hardest things in life is finding time to stop and have a few moments of quiet time. It seems like there is always something to do, something to read, something to look at, always something. I find that when I don’t have a few minutes of quiet or pause in my day, things just aren’t right. I feel discombobulated, anxious, and just plain yicky!

Like if Cousin Eddie parts his hair on the wrong side, things just aren’t gonna look right. ¹

Point being, this week I’ve made a conscious effort to chisel time out of my day for a few moments of quiet reflection on God’s word. It’s hard. It’s a struggle, daily. I’m going through Proverbs, a deep rich and wonderful book. Yes, that could be said about any of the 66 biblical books in the cannon, but let me have a moment here.

I’ve found that having a quiet time is so necessary and rejuvenating. It’s different than a time of study, or listening to a teaching on the radio or podcast. It’s more focused. I can multitask pretty well; listen to a teaching, drive the car, work, you name it I can usually bundle it together.

Guess that’s why a time of quiet meditation and thought seems so simple, it is. It’s just me, the words on the page and God. Sometimes it almost seems too simple. The idea that to seek knowledge and wisdom, all you have to do is meditate on God’s Word and allow Him to speak to you. There is no ceremony, chanting, disco gyrations in incense sticks, none of that. Just me and God, crazy simple, yet so hard to do.

One of the things that I’ve found helpful is a piece of software called Pzizz. I’ve had the application for a couple years, it’s great for napping or sleeping. But I’ve also found it helpful for having a quiet time. It provides a nice bed of drones and atmospheres that I don’t find distracting. It’s easier to find focus, for me anyway.

So I guess this week I’m starting two things, a daily quiet time and a daily blog post. They are mutually exclusive, we’ll just see how long I can keep them up for.

Currently Listening: A four part message series by J.P. Moreland, Evangelism and the Case for Christianity 

1. ref. Christmas Vacation one of the best movies of all time [↩]

When I was probably in jr. high or so I heard L.E. Romaine known to most as Romaine, the Assistant Pastor to Chuck Smith at Calvary Costa Mesa, speak at another Calvary. He opened his message with an audio clip from Pastor S.M. Lockeridge. Lockeridge was a Pastor at a Baptist church down in San Diego is perhaps most known for his sermon entitled “My King.” All these years later I came across several videos on YouTube featuring Lockeridge’s famed sermon. The one below is set to a dance remix and some nice visuals.

The weekend once again proved to be too short for my personal taste.

Near our house, where we’ve lived for almost 3 years, is a Mexican restaurant, nothing revolutionary there. However, this restaurant—Cancun’s, never seems to be open. Leslie and I once tried to go there at a time when most restaurants would normally be open, they weren’t. We’ve often driven by at night and seen crowds of people outside, doing what crowds of people do outside of a Mexican restaurant in the early hours of the night.

We remained puzzled as to how this restaurant stayed in business, and what it was a front for. We figured since we aren’t Mexican, just a Scottish-Hawaiian-mutt and a German-Irish-mutt, we would never be privy to the real world of Cancun, the Mexican restaurant around the corner.

The other day we were chatting with our next-door neighbors, who we’ve become quite fond of. We asked if they had ever been to Cancun’s, the local Mexican restaurant, not the coastal city in Mexico’s easternmost state. They had not.

So deciding that there is strength in numbers, we decided to check out Cancun’s on Friday night with Mike, Kirsten and their daughter Bailey, the neighbors. We discovered that we weren’t the only white people in the place. We also discovered that the food is pretty darn awesome. Oh, and it’s just a Mexican restaurant, not a front of anything, as far as we know. And if it is a front, I don’t want to know about it. I just want to be ignorant and enjoy the grubby Mexican grinds.

So we have another place to add to the small list of restaurants we like in the area. And…they have dancing starting at 8:00pm Friday through Sunday, need a little more prodding to tackle that one though. I’m content to just enjoy the bottomless Coke and Chimichangas.

On a not-so-fun note, our downstairs bathroom is still in process. A week ago last Thursday we discovered a leak in the wall that flooded the bathroom and laundry area. We’ve been letting it dry out, as there was mold in the wall. Yesterday, after over a week of “drying out,” I sprayed the open wall down with bleach and water.

We’re hoping that on Saturday we’ll be able to get the new drywall in place. Mike is going to help us out, we’re very grateful. Especially me, I don’t know much about construction and “DIY” stuff. I’m good with computers and virtual things. But I feel this new found DIY attitude is going to get the better of me and I’m going to want to do more.

Speaking of virtual things, I got my Airport Express back up and running. This time though, I was able to hardwire it into my network with a cat5 cable. This allows me to now stream music from my iMac, upstairs, to the Airport, downstairs. Before it ran just over WiFi, so I was only able to stream to it from my Macbook when I was downstairs, which was cool. But using the hardwire is so much nicer. Now I can have some tunes playing when guests come over without having to have my Macbook out and open for all to see.

Currently Listening: Hillsong United, The I Heart Revolution

Currently Reading: Dean Koontz, By the Light of the Moon