Bits N Pieces

So I don't have much to say about my absence from the blog-o-sphere, other than, well, that's life. I've had a number of deeply encouraging interactions with friends over the last couple weeks, which is perhaps a bit scary given that my girlfriend is out of town for half of that time.

It's weird - I don't exactly have more time with her gone. In some sense I do, and yet I to have an elastic schedule which expands to fill whatever time I have. I heard a teaching once about time management like filling a jar: If one first puts in the big rocks, then the small rocks, then the sand, and then the water, then it's easy to pack the jar full. But if one starts with sand, it's hard to get the bigger rocks (e.g priorities) into one's schedule. Maybe this elastic experience means I'm doing a good job of time management.

I'm also trying a new experiment with an MP3 bible and iPod shuffle that I own to try and get through the minor prophets. I've always had a hard time reading through the prophets, mostly because the action seems very slow. I've also never been a strong poetic reader - as much as I dabble at writing it - and that may not help. So I'm trying to listen to them several times and seeing if that helps my comprehension. The jury is still out on that, but I can now summarize Nahum. I don't exactly get why a three chapter explanation of God shaming and annihilating Nineveh makes the Bible while other oracles don't, but I can at least summarize Nahum. I've also made a mental note that God's anger is very, very scary.

(I've also been contemplating how impervious Nineveh seemed, and how easy it is for me to think America is untouchable. There's been a handful of recent occurrences - such as Katrina and the TV show Jericho - that have reminded me that God wouldn't have any trouble wiping out America if he set his mind to it. Nahum is another such reminded. It's sobering that all of our technology, wealth, and civilization is meaningless against the intentions of God.)

One of these days I'll get back to blogging about my reading, but for now, here's an interesting survey on modesty. It looks at how guys answered lots of different questions about how women's attire and posture communicated to them. The Al-scientist likes data, and it's interesting how guys answered the questions. As modesty tends to be a hot topic, I should probably put lots of theological disclaimers on the survey like "Popular opinion doesn't make right" and "Just because some guys are offended doesn't mean don't wear it", but maybe I'll just stick with this disclaimer: "Caution: Hot topic. Use common sense, wisdom, and godly counsel."