Sometimes we put God in a box

I'm working on my lesson for John 6 today and in one of the commentaries I am reading, I've come across an interesting thought.

Jesus is getting ready to feed the five thousand people with a little boys 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. As he sees the people coming toward him, he turns to Philip, his first disciple and asks Philip where bread can be bought. Philip replies that it would take a lot of money just to have a bite for each of them. We are told that Jesus asked this to test Philip.

The commentator, Matthew Henry, lays out the whole scene, saying that Philip responds as though his master were an ordinary person. His response is logical. It was what he could grasp. He didn't consider the impossible that Jesus had shown he was capable of time and again.

This train of thought struck me because how often do we think of the logical response? How often do we wonder how in the world God is going to work something out that seems like it is impossible? How often do we limit God with what we think He can do?

Water

So the RGJ had a nice little article on how the democrats would like to have a question about controlled growth in regards to water resources on the upcoming ballot. http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080827/NEWS05/808270407/0/NEWS18
Here's what I don't get: apparently 31% of Republicans are in favor of this question appearing on the ballot, while 83% of Democrats are. Why such a large discrepancy? I'm not one to divide between Republican and Democrat -- we are all individuals with our own individual belief and I hate relegating people to one end or the other. But I personally think that building with the resources you have (ie water) and being able to continue to supply those resources once the structure is built is common sense. We live in a desert people. We shouldn't be stupid just becuase we want more money -- and that could lead me on to a discussion on how our economy should not rest so heavily on the housing market. But it is somewhat insane for so many Northern Nevada Counties to be selling water rights to Clark County (thank you Las Vegas) because they can't support their size with the water they have. And Washoe County is catching up. Maybe not to the point of buying other people's water, but there are some issues with outlying areas, well water usage and the new city that is being proposed.

So maybe someone on the Republican side, who isn't seeing this in the common sense way that I am, can help explain why?

Life is unpredictable. No matter how hard we try to determine how things will go, it never seems to go according to "plan." Our ideas of what the world should be never seem to follow the path we have set them on.

It's good to be reminded of this. Somedays, like today, I feel as though I should be somewhere with my life other than where I am. When I see a situation that I feel unsatisfied with, ie- reality, I don't want to deal with it. I hate feeling stuck. I hate feeling as if this is it. And so I start to make plans. I set goals of where I want to be, of how I'm going to be happier because I'll be attaining this goal, and how my life will be not only more peaceful, but I will fill more fulfilled.

How easy it is to fall into this trap: That life might not contain any suffering or hard times, that life, here on earth, might somehow fulfill me. It amazes me how often I say that this world will fail to fulfill us and then forget their meaning in my own life. And that peace can not be found in the world. This world of decay and fallen dreams and diminished hopes. So why do we keep searching?

God has set eternity in the hearts of men. We long for more, because we long for perfection. For the day that the TV isn't too loud and the blinds won't rattle against the window. When the news won't tear into hearts proclaiming death and triumph of the evil of men. We are to long for this perfection so that we remember this isn't our home. We aren't supposed to be fulfilled, complete or perfect. That will be the goal accomplished at my end and that will be the day of pure joy in attaining it. And it will be by no work of my own.

Easy Button

Taxes and insurance are two things I don't like to think about. As in, my brain begins to shut down as soon as I try to converse or read something pertaining to either item. I would like to think that with my college degree, I have the capacity to tackle both without shutting down. Being an English major, I assume that I have learned how to read and critically at that. Yet, I've given up on the idea of doing my own taxes. It helps when I can get a CPA to do it for free, but honestly, I just don't understand what they are asking for in those little boxes.
And insurance... It's been almost a year since I've been out of school now and almost a year without health insurance. Since I work for small business owners, they don't provide insurance. And since I believe that spending over a $125 a month with an insanley high deductible I won't meet is a waste of money, I've opted out of gaining health isurance. For the last couple of months though, I've come to the conclusion that I will get some sort of catastorphe insurance that basically will cover me if I end up in the hospital or need surgery etc..; Afterall, I would prefer to not end up in bankruptcy court. And so I have been looking to see if I can find a plan that is reasonably priced and will cover what I need. What I'm finding is that it's not so simple for them to tell me what will be covered for what I pay. Apparently insurance doesn't always fully cover hospital bills. They may only cover 20 or 30%, which honestly isn't very much when there's a $20,000 bill. And I'm sure there may be issues on what is considered surgery or some other loopholes that could be made. And to me, this is all overwhelming and messy with a certain amount of commitment in it. I would rather not deal with it than get into something over my head. But when I start to think about it, what I need it for is something I would rather not deal with either and having the insurance would make it much easier to handle if anything were to happen.
Where's the "easy" button when needed?

Fish of the Sea

It amazes me that though I can barely breath through my nose, I can smell everything. At the grocery store there were some wonderfully fragrant flowers, at home there is the distinct smell of cooked fish and a cat box that needs to be changed (so not my turn). And so I realized something when I came home. I don't think I'm going to start eating fish. I have been thinking about it for awhile, just because it is so good for you and it's not something I crave, so I wouldn't be in danger of eating too much of it. The main problem is that I never ate fish when I was a meat eater. I can remember 3 times distinctly in my life, 4 if you include young childhood. And I think there was a bad time with shrimp, which I realize isn't fish, but still water food. Except for Tuna Fish. I did eat that every once in awhile. But there definitley was mayo and pickle juice and dill and anything else I could think of to cover the fishy taste. Um, so I think that's it for today.