Today I ventured out into the nuclear furnace without radioactive protection.  I think I survived fairly well, but while I was out I saw a very unusual site.  A man was on a riding lawnmower bundled up in what looked like a fleece sweater or coat.  The hood of it was covering his capped head, plus he had a pair of thick gloves on his hands.  I don’t see how anyone could survive for more than a couple minutes in that getup.  Perhaps he had some kind of space-age cooling system underneath all that insulation.

Just a quick update on future plans.  In the next few weeks I hope to post podcasts of some of my latest sermons.  Also, I will be moving to bionicpreacher.com soon.  I’ve been trying to do that for a long time and I have no reason to put it off any longer.  Finally, I have a major project that will hopefully be appearing on this blog sometime next year.  Kind of a surprise.  If things work out then you’ll be hearing more about it.

Recently I have really been trying to work on my autobiography.  So far I have worked on it about seven or eight days in a row which is a first.  I am finally getting serious about finishing it.  However it’s a challenge because I feel like my thoughts are going in all sorts of directions.  Also, I start working on one chapter and soon get bored with it, so I start writing on a completely new section.  But I’m sticking with it and it will get done eventually.  Starting to work again on my book as started me thinking that I should just post every day on this blog.  If I have 10 minutes to work on my book, then I have five minutes to just say something on here.  It doesn’t have to be very orderly or make a lot of sense.  Just whatever is on my mind.  Who knows, maybe we share here may end up in my book.

Once again I am trying to end my lengthy blogging hiatus.  Recently it has become clear to me that I need to continue working on this blog.  I have many important things to share, including some new sermons I need to post.  I also have some future projects in mind that require the use of this blog.  So expect to see more things going on.

Like many this week, I have watched with concern the humanitarian disaster occurring in Myanmar (formerly called Burma) after a terrible cyclone.  The dictatorial government has been very stubborn and unwilling to allow any foreign nations or organizations to help with disaster relief.  They are finally beginning to consider receiving aid, but have made it clear that they will get the supplies to the people, even though they are hopelessly incapable of doing that.  It is hard to understand why they are so against getting help.  What benefit do they gain in their refusal, which will certainly claim the lives of thousands of people who survived the actual storm?  Perhaps the leaders believe foreign involvement could have the potential of depriving them of their power.  Whatever the case, this is certainly an example of how pride or the desire for power can cause people to do really ridiculous things.  But before we condemn the despots in Myanmar for being so hardheaded and stupid, we should look at ourselves and consider how many dumb things we do because of pride or selfishness.  I can certainly see many examples in my life of acting like that.

Well, today is the first anniversary of my graduation from college.  I cannot believe an entire year has elapsed since that great day.  It was such an exciting experience, but now life seems rather dull in comparison.  This year’s graduation took place this last weekend, and I was able to attend part of the ceremonies.  It was a very strange feeling witnessing all the excitement of that great event, but only being a spectator this time.  I’m not sure why, but I guess maybe it’s the fact that I won’t experience something like that again.  Somehow you feel like the completion of something as significant as college is the greatest thing you can imagine, but then it quickly comes to an end and then life must go on.  But I must remind myself that something far greater than a graduation will take place, and afterwards life will not go on as usual.  Everything will be radically altered for the better.  That is something to truly be excited about.  And I believe it will happen very soon.

Last week I had the opportunity to preach my first sermon since recovering from my illness in February.  I have still not recovered the strength I had before and I had to use my ventilator during the sermon.  A couple of days before the sermon I was not sure if I should continue preaching.  I was worried about not having enough energy and I felt like my sermon was not very interesting.  But I went ahead and things went much better than I was expecting.  I was able to speak very clearly and was actually louder because I could breathe easier.  My ventilator was in no way an obstacle to my sermon.  I got a lot of encouragement from several people afterwards, so now I know that I cannot quit.  God can still use me to serve him through preaching, and this gives me a lot of motivation.

Last night I saw an interesting TV movie about two parents in conflict about treating their son’s deafness with a cochlear implant.  The conflict arose because the father could hear but his wife was deaf.  She along with her two deaf parents were totally opposed to the thought of putting an implant into her son’s brain so he could hear again.  They were opposed to it like many deaf people are today because they have adopted a mindset that their deafness is not a disability but something that makes them unique.  They have developed their own culture because of the challenges they face with interacting normally with hearing people.  They have their own language for communicating with each other and they do not want to regain their hearing.  Using devices like hearing aids or implants would disconnect them from their culture.  They believe they were made this way and they should not want to change that aspect of their life.  This is something very hard for me to understand because as a disabled person I would never want to continue life the way it is now if if there was a cure or some kind of treatment that would allow me to be more like “normal people”.  I have no problem admitting I have a disability.  My body doesn’t function correctly and I would never say that this makes me who I am.  I know that when Christ returns and our mortal and decaying bodies are changed I will not be missing my old way of life.  I just wonder what a deaf person would think when God restores their hearing.  Surely they wouldn’t say something like “God, I appreciate your desire to restore my hearing but I would prefer to remain deaf”?

Lately I have been exposed to a lot of information about interplanetary and interstellar space exploration.  These have included television programs about exploring the rings and moons of Saturn, plans for manned missions to the Moon and Mars, and also a very interesting book on plans for sending probes to other stars like Alpha Centauri.  In learning about all of these missions and research projects, I have wondered if there is really any practical benefit.  I have repeatedly heard the scientists and engineers responsible for such plans basically say that what they are really after is evidence for extraterrestrial life.  I really don’t have a big problem with space exploration.  I have always been fascinated by the subject.  But much of what NASA and other agencies are doing is funded by our tax dollars.  So I’m wondering if it is the responsibility for a democratically elected government to fund research that quite often sounds like science fiction.  I’m all for it if it has a practical benefit for life on this planet.  But, I haven’t seen any evidence for that.

Last week I was very excited to get my new laptop, a Lenovo T61.  It was certainly time for an upgrade to replace my six year old desktop.  I am very pleased with my choice and it has certainly left its predecessor in the dust.  One of my main reasons for getting us the new computer was to increase the performance of my voice recognition software.  It is now much faster and more accurate, which means I will be able to write more efficiently in the future.  Hopefully this might mean more blogging as well.  Another good reason to get the laptop was for mobility.  In the near future we are planning on mounting it on my wheelchair so I can work on my computer no matter where I am.  Hopefully this will make me more productive as well.