Sleep Positions

I don't really know what sleep position I use, so I don't know how accurate or true this article is. Maybe you can let me know if it's true.

Tetrod

Boy, since I messed up the post yesterday, this whole day is screwed up. Anyway, here's the weekly game for you.

Here's another puzzle game. You have to match all sides to win. It's harder than it looks.

Reason 8 - Praying for amens

Oops, apparently I forgot to upload yesterday. Well here is this Thurs' column. Mea culpa.

I’m very competitive. It’s in my nature. In my world, there are always 2 people, winners and losers. There’s always 2 outcomes, winning and losing. Now, I’m not saying that I judge people and label them losers or winners. I don’t view people as born losers or born winners. But for that competition, or for that moment in time when the outcome has been decided, there is a winner and a loser. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. I accept that fact. I don’t like losing, but I know that I can’t be perfect all the time. I don’t think that I’m a sore loser, but that may be debatable. I guess it’s up to the definition. Is it being a sore loser if I leave watching a game when my team is losing very very badly? I know my team is going to lose, so why do I have to see the end? And it’s not like I’m preventing others from seeing the game, I just usually get up and walk out.
But when I personally lose a game, I’m usually one of the first to congratulate the winners on a good game. I’m honest though. If I feel that the game is lopsided, I’ll tell it like it is. If the teams are truly equal in skill and balance, and if the other team wins, I’ll tell them “Good game”. If the other team is stacked with ringers and we’re obviously overmatched, I don’t, because it was a foregone conclusion.
Since I hate losing, I put my heart and full effort into the game. It’s fun for me when I’m trying my best to win. For me, the goal is the fun, not the journey. I know others are exactly opposite of me, and let’s say, we’ll agree to disagree. Likewise, I don’t enjoy games when there isn’t a clear winner or if the game relies more on chance than skill. Because then, the winner didn’t win because they were better than everyone else, they won because they were luckier. And you can’t rely on luck, but you can rely on skill.
Everything in life is a competition. It’s how I get interested in things, it’s how I better myself. Work is a competition, with my work compared to the number of bugs. If an application I release if filled with bugs, I treat that as a loss. Driving (I probably shouldn’t say this) is a competition. Sometimes I’m competing with myself, kinda like laptimes. How fast can I get to my office today? What are the best lanes to switch to, so that I can get to work or home fastest? Or during lighter traffic days, I try to see how few times I can use the brakes. Sometimes, I’d mark a car in my head, as someone I’d like to beat before I reach my exit. It’s a way for me to gauge how well I’m driving in a particular lane.
I’ve also made prayer into a competition as well. Here’s how I judge whether a prayer is good or not. The number of Amen’s I get during my prayer. However, since I don’t usually pray as long as other people, I have to use a better, fairer yardstick. The number of Amen’s I get/minute. Now, for some of you unfamiliar with this practice, let me break it down for you.
During prayer meetings, I’m not sure why, maybe it’s a trick to get involved with the prayer, but some people like to say “Amen” while other people are praying. Usually, it means that the person really likes what the praying person is saying, so they are letting everyone know that they agree. I dunno, maybe not. At any rate, that’s how I view it. Therefore, if someone prays very well, they will be interrupted with a lot of Amen’s from various people. Sometimes, people get in a rhythm, and they can get “Amens” from every phrase they utter. It’s like a combo, racking up the big Amens. By the way, Hallelujahs count the same as Amens as well. So, I’ll pay attention to the number of Amens other people get. To be fair, I usually only count my peers, not those prayer warriors that I talked about before. I mean, it’s like comparing between NBA and HS basketball players. It’s not very fair.
So when I’m constructing my prayers, I try to maximize the number of Amens I can get. Obvious Amen getters are things talking about the Holy Spirit and the will of God. Praying for other people’s salvation also usually gets some amens. Praying about the future of church, fellowship can usually elicit some as well. This puts a lot of pressure on me as you can imagine. Plus, while I’m praying and getting those Amens, I may reach a point where no amens are heard. That’s not good, and I unconsciously think that I’m not praying well. Then, my mind races to figure out a way to get more Amens again. In effect, I’m tailoring my prayer to what other people want to hear, rather than what is in my heart. And I realize that’s not a good thing. That’s not the point of prayer. Which is another reason why I don’t like to go to prayer meetings.
This is why I don’t like to say anything during prayer meetings. When others pray, I keep silent because I don’t want them to know whether they are doing a good job praying or not. They shouldn’t be praying for our sakes, but for their own heart and for God. If I were to suddenly start saying Amens, I’m essentially reinforcing their subject matter, and if I were to stop saying Amens, I would be silently condemning what they are praying about. Feel free to disagree with me, but this is how I feel. If I could go to a prayer meeting where everyone is silent, that would be ideal. Then I wouldn’t be praying for Amens, but praying to God for help.

Crucifixions are coming back!

Britain is going to see the first crucifixion in almost 2000 years again. Granted, this occurs in a computer game. My question is, does this mean anything to you? It's interesting how we elevated this form of execution into such a holy symbol, that we forget that the Romans did this all the time.

Happy Wednesday!

Reason 7 - Long Prayers

I have something to confess to you. Lectures bore me silly. I almost always fall asleep during lectures. It’s the passive nature of a lecture that does it for me. All you do is just sit there, and listen to the professor drone on and on about a subject matter so dry and boring, I’d rather lick sandpaper. It’s a wonder how I got through college. I’ve tried all the tricks, biting my tongue, stabbing myself with a pencil, doodling. Eventually, around the thirtieth minute or so, I’m out like a light. And that’s when the lecture is kinda interesting. If the professor starts out boring, I usually start dreaming about 5-10 minutes into the lecture. Oh, and if it’s a video and the lights are out, it’s game over.

I’ve thought about it before, it’s not a problem I’m proud of, and I think I’ve figured out why I sleep. The process usually goes something like this.

Minutes 0-5: Professor talks about the important stuff, like exams, study groups, office hours.
Minutes 6-10: If I’m lucky, the professor has decided to do something different, shows a model or pictures. Maybe he interjects with a funny or personal story.
Minutes 11-15: He’s now using the board to draw some fancy diagrams that are supposedly related to what he’s talking about.
Minutes 16-20: He is now lecturing to the board rather than us. I start checking out the other students around me, seeing what they’re doing.
Minutes 21-25: I start thinking, “I can teach better than this loser!” I start thinking about how I would be better than him.
Minute 26: I’m officially day dreaming about my lecture and how cool and exciting it is.
Minute 27-40: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Minute 41: I wake up. I don’t know how it is I know it’s almost time to leave, but fortunately, I do.
Minutes 42-50: Try to figure out what I missed, and start thinking about what to after class.

It’s because I’m daydreaming, I think, that’s when it’s easy for me to just sleep. The reason I’m bringing this up now, is because, yup, you probably guessed it by now, the same process occurs during prayer. Usually, before my turn comes up, I’m listening attentively for reasons that I have explained earlier. I’m preparing my prayer mentally, and getting nervous about praying out loud in front of people. I’m also making sure that I don’t repeat what other people are praying about. I hate doing that, it sounds tacky to me. I’m nothing if not original. As I make up a list of things to pray about, I’m mentally crossing out things that other people are mentioning. If my entire list is gone, then I go into panic mode, and start bringing out the esoteric stuff, like praying for missionaries, praying for the president (People always forget about him), or just praying about my friends. Of course, during my prayer, I’m not falling asleep. That wouldn’t be good. Plus it’s an active thing, so I wouldn’t fall asleep anyway.

But after I pray, that’s when it gets boring. I’ve done my thing, I’m pretty pleased with myself, let’s check the ole watch. Huh… another half hour or so to go, and there’s only… 1,2,3,4, 5 people left. No problem. I’ll still have time to chat and not miss my show. So, the group will continue to pray, and then (s)he comes along. You know this person, the one who likes to repeat themselves a lot, who prays for everything and the kitchen sink… the Prayer Warrior. I like that word btw, prayer warrior. It invokes an image of a Christian knight, with a huge honking prayer sword and is using it to smite the evil Enemy. I like the word, but not too fond of the person because the prayer warrior is the one who loves to pray. They are rather proud of the fact that they pray every day for 2 hours, and when they pray, results happen. Now, there’s nothing wrong with prayer warriors. You want one on your side when bad things are happening to you. There’s nothing more comforting than knowing there’s someone who is devoting an hour or so to your problem. I always get the feeling that God listens to them more (even though I know that’s not true). But if they are the only thing that is preventing me from eating…grrr.

So, prayer warriors get me drowsy. They will go on and on, praying for everything under the sun. And that in itself is ok, but it’s when they start repeating themselves, that’s when I get turned off and start daydreaming about...you guessed it, how I could pray better. And it’s worse when they repeat themselves 3 times in a row. And they will always interject every sentence with a “Hallelujah” or “Praise God”. That doubles the time they’re praying. And then they like to fool you. They’ll be praying at a good clip, going louder and louder, and then once they hit their crescendo, they’ll start slowing down, and praying slower. So then I’m thinking, ok, they’re going to end soon, and I start paying attention to the prayer again. But then, they’ll be praying for another 10 minutes in the slow pace before they go back to raising their voice again. Aarrggh! They tricked me! And now I’m stuck listening to them because who knows when they’re going to end, they could do it at any time. And I need to be ready for that all important “Amen” at the end. Cause if I miss it or a step slower than everyone else, then everyone will know that I didn’t really pay attention to the prayer. Of course, I really wasn’t, but there’s no need to announce that fact, right?

Real Life FPS

Happy Monday! Hope your weekend went well. I had a relaxing time watching movies and NCAA basketball! How about George Mason, huh?
The Great Escape This sounds like an interesting game concept. However, it'll need to do more than just give puzzles.

German Cow Game

Didn't you know, today is National Cow Day? So here's another cow link!

Some weird German Game. It's a puzzle game. Even though the instructions are in German, it's pretty easy to get the hang of it. Just know that red arrows are disappear after use but blue ones are permanent. I just beat the game a couple days ago. There's about 42 levels in all. Some are ridiculously easy, some are quite hard. Anyway, enjoy.

Cow Abductions

Funny website about cow abductions. The site looks pretty professional too. Check out the video, it's hilarious!

Chris Bliss

Here's a juggling video. He's juggling the balls in rhythm with the song.

Apparently he isn't that great for some unknown "juggling" reason. Here's a parody of the first video only this guy is doing it with 5 balls.

I guess you need to know what the intent is of each performance to judge which is better. I'll leave it up to you to decide which you like more.

Props to Dan for sending me the second link.

Reason 6 - Saying Something Wrong

Last time, we talked about praying out loud. Have you tried it yet? If you do pray regularly, try doing it out loud even (especially) if no one is around. It’s more difficult than it seems. Well, at least for me. I think it’s because when you think your prayer, your mind kinda glosses over the exact words, and you just think of the meaning or intention of your prayer. So let’s say my grandmother is sick. When I pray in my head, I “think” of her being sick, what’s wrong with her, and I pray for healing in those areas. But out loud, not only do I have to think of her being sick, I have to think how to express that into words, hopefully understandable words. It’s a whole other ballgame.

As I’ve said in the previous post, you have to think quickly when you’re praying out loud. Not only do you have to think about what you have to pray about, but also how to go about saying it. In my experience, people don’t want to hear just the answer. They want to hear more about why you said it and explain more about the answer. Even though other people don’t ask you what you mean during prayer, it’s kinda implied that you should explain your prayer request while you pray. Whereas, alone, I could pray for my grandmother who is sick, has a bad hip, whatever, however, in the group, I have to say how she’s sick, what’s bothering her, and how God should heal her. I just want her healed, in any way possible, whether through miraculous healing, drugs, acupuncture, whatever. But during the group prayer, you need to reword it, to make it polite. So, instead, I would say, “Lord if it’s your will, we know that Your plan is always right, we know that you have the best in mind for each one of us, and even though we don’t know what exactly is Your plan, we know to expect Good Things from you, please heal my grandmother. (Amen!) For she is Your faithful servant, (amen!) and she has dedicated her life to you. Please have compassion on her and take away her pain. (Amen)” Those amens aren’t mine, but are usually from the other fervent people praying. I’ll talk more about those later.

As you can see, I put in a lot of conditional clauses, because I don’t want to offend anyone’s personal belief system. Also, we don’t want our prayers to seem to go unanswered or be flat wrong. It’s kinda like hedging your bets, if you know what that means. So let’s say Grandma dies. Since we went on public record as asking God for healing, it would seem like God didn’t hear our prayers. This might lead others to think, “Oh, maybe we didn’t pray hard enough” or worse, “God doesn’t hear our prayers”. So we always have to include an out as it were. “If this is your will”. We don’t know God’s will, his will is unfathomable. We know his ultimate will, which is the reunification of Man to himself, but we don’t know what his specific will or plan is for my grandmother or myself for that matter. So if God did take my grandmother away, “it was according to His will.” Which, as you may have noticed, I prayed about.

With all this extra stuff to pray about out loud, there’s a high chance that I might say something wrong. Sometimes called “Freudian slips”, if I don’t think before I speak, unfortunate things may be said. I try not to judge people (out loud), but your mind is very unfiltered. It easily thinks up nasty thoughts, it automatically classifies people and things so that your brain can store things better. This guy is my friend, John. He’s black, and buff, and drives a bike. He’s bald and got a big nose, black skin…. That’s how our brains work. We analyze every detail so that next time I see a black, bald dude riding a motorcycle, I can instantly recognize him as “John”. You can see the problem right now. If I don’t think what I say, my unfiltered mind may go directly into my speech and before I know it, I’m calling John, “the black guy” or something. And then I’d probably get punched in the face. Leading a prayer is like that. My mind is on so much overload, that things may slip out before my mind has a chance to filter it into something politically correct. Words can easily come out wrong too. Where I meant to say “Bless our deacons”, it could come out “Bless our beacons”. And that’s just a mild slip-up, it could be a lot worse.

The problem is a lot worse for me when I don’t even know what to pray about. In one prayer meeting I went, as a group, we were asked to pray about our neighborhood. I had no idea what to say. Thankfully, I blotted out most of it from my memory. I remember a lot of pauses and silences, and I’m pretty sure there was some rambling in there. I think I also talked about homosexuals and the government, but I’m not too sure. I also repeated myself… a lot, which if you don’t know, I hate doing. Needless to say, it wasn’t a very fun evening after that. I remember another time when I made fun of President Bush in a prayer. Readers, take it from me, you don’t want to interject any political satire (no matter how funny YOU may think it is) into prayer. It will not go well. How come prayer and humor don’t mix? I personally think that God has a great sense of humor… He invented it after all.

Religious Joke

Hey, found another one! Happy Hump Day!

An elderly couple was in church when the wife leaned over and whispered to her husband, "I just cut a silent fart. What should I do?" He replied, "Replace your hearing aid battery!"

Reason 5- Praying out loud

Do you remember back in high school or college (whether that was yesterday or ten years ago), getting up in front of the class to give a presentation? Thankfully, I didn’t have to give many because I’m pretty shy, and there’s probably no worse fear for someone like me than to stand in front of hundreds of eyes and entertain them. I can still see them all staring at me, looking at my ratty clothes, some already yawning before my mouth has even opened to speak. My hands are shaking, and my whole body is getting chills. Finally after what seems like an eternity in silence, I say, eloquently: “Uh… my … uh.. name… is.. uhhh-ohhh… N-n-nathan.”

I don’t know about you, but when I was writing up what I was going to say the week or night before, I never imagined I would be stuttering and mumbling my way through it. When I write, I picture in my head what I’m saying and boy, how funny that line is or how interesting this subject is. In my head, I’m Winston Churchill or Billy Graham. I’m alternating my pitch, sometimes lowering my voice to a whisper so that people would strain to hear. I’d talk fast, then slow down, I’d use my arms and wave and gesticulate with precision. I’m writing things on chalkboards with an even line, not all slanty and trailing like other people. I always liked to start with a joke, you know, ease the tension, let the peeps know, “Hey, this isn’t another boring lecture on the symbolism and foreshadowing of Macbeth’s wife’s dream.” Once again I must stress, this is what I imagined it would be. Oh reality can be such a cruel kick in the crotch.

That’s why later on, I started to practice speaking out loud in front of the mirror. What goes on in my head may sound awesome if I’m JFK may sound awful coming from my slurred, strangely-accented voice. And forget about “thinking on the fly”, I’m no good at that. I can’t use bullet points for my speech because I know I’ll forget something or worse, I’ll start going off on a tangent and then forget what I was originally speaking about (I know, I know, it’s hard to tell I do that huh? I mean, whatever gave you that idea I like to wander? There was this time back in elementary school…). So I would stand in the middle of my room, imagining all my furniture is in their underwear, and practice my speech out loud. It’s one of the worst things to do (no, I’m not talking about the furniture imagery), to hear yourself talk for 10 minutes and realize that you have nothing left to say and you still have oh another 20 minutes to kill. I don’t know if you know this, but when I get nervous, I start talking faster because I want to make sure everything is out there, in the air, so that I can forget it. It’s like draining a water cooler, all my ideas are in my head and the faster it flows out, the sooner I can sit down. So, I have to redo my speeches again and again, mentally forcing myself to speak slower and slower, until I have 20 minutes of speech. Oh, then that’s when I start adding presentations and pictures, that kills the rest of the time.

So… you’re wondering what does this have to do with prayer meetings. Well, when I pray to God, I usually pray in my head. Sometimes I would imagine I was one of those deeply spiritual African Americans, with the sing-songy prayers going up and down. Sometimes I imagine I was like my dad praying, crying out loud (in my head) and beseeching God. But praying out loud is completely different. My aunt had told me to start praying out loud, and it’s such a different skill. I have trouble forming words to say. I repeat myself, and I stutter A LOT. That dreaded word, “um”, occurs frequently as well, whereas in my head it’s non-existant. Often there’s an awkward silence as I struggle to pray about something new rather than repeat what I just said a moment ago. Now you see why I don’t go to prayer meetings? Because then I’d have to pray out loud, in the spur of the moment. I can’t think fast enough for my mouth to talk. So as I struggle for the right words to say, a silence grows, because well, everyone is listening to me. And then I’m panicking and words come out all slurred and wrong.

So do you know what I do? This is bad, because I’m not listening to others pray, but I start thinking in my head what to pray about. I make up quick bullet points, and rehearse and rehearse what I’m going to pray about when it’s my turn. Unfortunately, this results with me not really paying attention to what the other person is praying. But at least, when my time comes, I don’t sound like an idiot.

Microsoft Ipod

What if Microsoft designed the box for iPod? Hrm.... perhaps the process would have looked something like this.

History of the Cubicle

Boy, Monday already? I can't believe the weekend flew so fast.
An interesting article about the origins of the cubicle. If you hate them as much as I do, imagine just a large room with NO walls. That would suck more.

Diamond Formation

At first it looks fake, but when you see them separate... It's a pretty cool video. Pretty short, less than 2 minutes.

Alarm Clock Ratings

Once again, continuing the theme of sleep, here's a MSN reporter's rating of various alarm clocks.

Reason 4 - Personal Stuff

Previously, I have talked a little about intimacy, and the fact that while others are sharing some really serious issues, I just share about surface, material things. One reason is that those are things that I worry the most. But the second thing is, it’s very, very scary to bring up real personal things. In a workshop a LONG TIME ago, someone told us about the different levels of communication. I believe it was the first Baptist retreat I had been to, and I wasn’t used to the rigor of the activities. I figured…retreat means to get away from the business of life, and it shares the same first two letters as relax and rest. So, I wasn’t fully prepared for all the things we did. In other words, I slept through many of the workshops. But at least I usually listened to the first ten or twenty minutes before the siren call of the very comfortable and soft couch calls to me. So, I know that there are 5 or maybe 6,7? levels of communication. I know the first level is definitely shallow and it supposedly gets deeper as you go up the levels. When people talk on the first level, they ask about the weather and job and stuff like that. Safe topics. Things that aren’t likely to cause tables and chairs to be thrown. The deeper the levels you go, the more vulnerable you are and zzzzzzz…..

Yeah, that’s about all I remember. So my point is, that when I go to prayer meetings, I go in with the mindset of only talking in level 1 or 2 communication. Sure, I share a little more personal things than the weather. I share about any financial hardships or the little aches and pains that occur daily. But I don’t share my innermost thoughts. Why? It’s simple. Because I don’t know these people. The number one barrier to really opening up to someone is the reaction the other person or group would have once you tell them something. Everyone has some level of self-image, and revealing things, dirty secrets, may sully their view of you. And you, oh so want to be liked! I mean, these are fellow church-goers! You’re going to see them every Sunday and what if they tell others? You might have to move and change your identity, go into the witness protection program.

The second thing to consider about airing your personal laundry is that there is always a chance the people in the prayer group can use that information against you. Sure, it sounds despicable, but it doesn’t even have to be intentional. I’m not talking about outright blackmail, but I’m thinking about the unconscious methods people use. Once you tell people a secret, it changes your relationship with them. Always. It can even be well-meaning. Here’s an obvious example. Let’s say that I’m battling an addiction to alcohol. And I reveal this struggle during a prayer meeting. The next time they see me at a social function, they might start hiding their drinks from me, checking their breaths to make sure it doesn’t smell of alcohol. Sure, they think they’re helping me by removing temptations from me, but now our relationship has changed. They don’t see me as Nate, the weird guy, anymore. Now they see me as Nate, the weird guy who is an alcoholic. Now, they have to be careful not to make drinking jokes and to keep an eye on me to make sure I don’t “fall off the wagon”.

Relationships change. It’s an organic thing that grows and stretches. Usually the more pain it causes, the more the relationship grows… within reason, of course. Sometimes, the pain can be more than the relationship can handle, and it dies. In order for people to become close with one another, there needs to be trust. And the best way to build up trust is to share things about yourself. What others do with that information is how you decide how much to trust them. Trust is a slow process, and it needs to be in a stable environment. The fewer the people, the easier it is to form a trusting relationship. Share a little bit at a time and gauge people’s reactions to it. Let love (due to the generalization of the English language, this may sound weird. But I’m talking about friendship love (Philia) here. (Boy I wonder how many parentheses (sp?) I can nest within this parenthesis…)) grow so it can cushion the pain. And this is something that is very hard to do at prayer meetings.

Most prayer meetings are open to everyone, which means the attendees can be different each time. People pop in and out. Visitors curious about the church can show up unannounced. Sometimes the group can be huge, with 20 people, and sometimes it can be very intimate with only 2 or 3 people. Not everyone is regular. This kind of environment is not conducive for the slow, steady, regular process of building trust. It’s no wonder people just talk on the first or second level. Every week, it resets itself.

So you’re probably asking yourself, “Nate, all you do is whine and complain. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Well, my readers, I, in fact, do have some suggestions. Keep the groups small. This may seem like I’m contradicting myself here, but bear with me. When the prayer meeting group has more than 6 regulars, split the group further into 2-3 people each. Ensure that every group has 1 or 2 regulars, and never split the groups haphazardly. What this means is don’t divide the groups based on chance and luck. Every regular has a pre-assigned group to go to, which they will go to all the time. This will foster the stable environment which builds trust. Visitors can be asked or assigned to groups, or better yet have them form their own group. Obviously, be attentive and supportive when someone’s sharing. Don’t look around the room, at the pretty lights, or at everyone who passes by the door. Make sure to interject with some “uh-huh”s “is that so?”, “that ain’t right”’s as needed. And just like in the Green Mile, remember, “What happens on the mile (prayer group) stays on the mile (prayer group). Always has.”

Mad MS Paint Skills

This is absolutely crazy. This guy did the whole thing with MS Paint...that crappy graphics editor that comes free with windows.
Try using it and you'll really appreciate this guy's skill.

Billy Collins Rulez!

It's Wednesday! Today I usually post a poem or a joke. Here's a poem by Billy Collins, who is my most favorite poet. His poems are so simple and easy to understand, but still deep. Anyway, someone animated one of his poems.

Reason 3 - Weak Prayer Life

This is a very good reason, I think, not to go to prayer meetings. I actually wished I thought of this one myself, but alas, I cannot take the credit. Wouldn’t it be hypocritical of me that I don’t pray at all in my personal life (or rarely) and yet go pray in a prayer meeting? If I can’t even find the time to spend 5 minutes out of my busy life to pray to God, in the privacy of my own head, how can I justify quitting work on time, driving to Church or someone’s place, and then spend a full 2 hours praying to God? Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?

I know tons of strong Christians who don’t have healthy prayer lives. What is a healthy prayer life? I’m not the official answerer of that question. According to the Bible, Daniel prays like a million times a day (ok it’s 3). Daniel is a pretty good guy, so I figure that number of times should be a healthy prayer life. But it doesn’t say how long he prays during those times, which I would imagine is a long time. So, if you were thinking that praying before each meal (there are at least 3) means a healthy prayer life, ehh, I don’t think that counts. Especially when as a lot of people do, they pray before a meal like this: “God please bless this meal.” It’d be like saying, “I talk to my wife every day!” Saying “Good Morning” and “Good bye” with some occasional “I love you” doesn’t count as exactly a healthy communication, now does it?

Also a lot of Christians kinda fall in this prayer cycle rut. When disaster hits, then they pray like mad. They’re on their knees day and night, crying out to God. They start reading the Bible again, with an emphasis on passages dealing with that particular problem. They fast and meditate. But when the crisis is over, well, back to ignoring God. “Until next time, God! And thanks for everything!” I have to say, I was like that. When I was a kid, I didn’t really think about God. In the morning, I’m still half-asleep when mom wakes me up for school. And then during school time, I’m busy learning or playing. After school, there’s TV and oh yeah, some homework. Night there’s TV again and then it’s off to sleep. But, on those well, not-so-rare days, when I’m in bed, I suddenly remember! “I have a test tomorrow! And I didn’t study at all!” Then, since it’s too late to study, I do the next best thing. I start praying. Like mad. I mean, tears are shed, bargains are made. “I promise to be ultra good for whole next week, if you give me an A on this test!” And I mean, really pray. I would fall asleep praying as if the more I repeat it, the more God will listen to my prayer and grant it. Yeah, well, it didn’t work all the time.

Nowadays, I’m better. I guess I’m more disciplined. I would often pray in the car on the way to work. Before going to bed (if I’m not too tired), I’ll pray about the day’s sins that I committed, and ask for forgiveness. It seems so ritualized, but, well, God can judge my sincerity. And if I have no crisis to pray about, I thank him, for all the blessings, including the blessing of no crisis :)

Some other tricks I’ve learned is that in prayer you don’t have to actually “converse” with God, as if you are talking to other people. If that were the case, all my prayers would last 5 minutes long because a) it’s one-sided conversations and b) I don’t babble much anyway. However, I have learned that meditating on God also counts as part of a healthy relationship with God. By meditating I don’t mean shaving your head, crossing your feet lotus style until they become numb and saying “Ohm” over and over again. To me meditate means just to keep God in my thoughts. Maybe a verse is running through my head over and over again, with some musical accompaniment (ie a Christian song is replaying in my head ad nauseum). Sometimes I just make up little “sermons” in my head that I would run through. Now with this blog thing, I often think or dwell on what to write next. If you interject God in your daily life, your relationship with Him will grow. And then, you can finally go to a prayer meeting!

PopSci Movie Awards

Here are the winners of PopSci's Movie Awards, second to Oscars in relevance. It's a short article and some are pretty funny.

My Dream Job

Here's one of my personal dream jobs, even though I'm not very good compared to other people. But to actually get paid handsomely to coach a team of professional game players... only in Korea... that's cool. Anyway not too long an article.

Electric Football

I personally never even heard of electric football, but apparently it was really popular during the late 60's, early 70's. Anyway, apparently there is a resurgence, and this guy wrote about it. Pretty interesting article, even if you've never heard of electric football, like me. However, I can identify with the passion these guys have for a hobby. Well, something to read on a Friday, right?

Bravia Commercial

Tough week? Well this film will help you releax.
Cool commercial. You need quicktime to view it though. It's not very apparent what the commercial is advertising until the very end.

And after you watch it, here's a parody of it.

Reason 2 - What to Pray About

So another reason why I don’t go to prayer meetings is because I don’t know what to pray about. This problem is probably more of a personal nature, rather than a problem endemic to the nature of prayer meetings. In simpler terms, my life is rather boring. I have a job, which I thank God all the time, and there aren’t too many other things I need to pray about.

However, even if I did have stuff I need, I’ve been conditioned or taught, to not pray for such things. A Bible verse that has always eluded me is: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 Jn 5:14) It’s very tough to divine what is according to His will. The pithy answer of course is to say that the Bible tells us His will. But, if you haven’t noticed lately, the Bible is a kinda big book, and not every passage explicitly talks about His will. Sure, there is an overarching theme that runs through every book, every passage, which is His will. But that still isn’t too helpful for me. For example, let’s go back to that now-famous prayer, the Prayer of Jabez , “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” (1 Chr 4:10) First, let’s make sure the verse is not taken out of context. Jabez was named because his mom gave birth to him in pain…I assume in more extreme pain than the one normally accorded to childbirth. And, now this is important, but vague, he was more honorable than his brothers. Now, look at the verse closely. He prays to enlarge his territory, or in other words, “Give me more stuff”. Whether it is land or what, we know it’s good stuff, not bad stuff, because he says bless. So judging by this verse alone, it seems like it’s ok to ask God for more stuff, since the Bible did say that God granted his request. Does this mean it’s God’s will to bless us with stuff when we ask him?

If you’ve been a Christian long enough, you know that’s not always true. I’ve prayed many times for a Nissan Z, Touring Edition, but so far none has appeared in my driveway. Am I praying in accordance to Jabez? I’d like to think so. He asked for more land, all I’m asking is for one small, very small car. However, am I praying in accordance to God’s will? Huh… if I haven’t received it yet, I guess I haven’t then. So, how do I know when it’s ok to pray for stuff, and when is it not ok? I’m not talking about spiritual stuff either, like for my friend to believe in Christ, or for the missionary work in the field. I’m just talking about physical stuff. I have a friend who had also prayed for a car once. And she got it! The Lord granted her request. Hmm… perhaps He grants things based on need then. I forgot to mention, that she didn’t have a car, and she needed one. I already have a car, I just want the Z :(

But that’s not a hard and fast rule either. Take illnesses for example. There are good Christian people dying out there. They have incredible needs for healing, yet God does not always grant it. My father, for example, was diagnosed with cancer. He went to so many prayer meetings, my whole family must have spent hours and hours in total, praying for him to get better. But he knew he was dying. My family needed him, but God still did not grant our request. Surely a man’s life is according to the will of God? A psalm that I’ve been memorizing says, “Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?” (Ps 88:10)

Hmm… I kinda went off on a tangent there. Anyway to sum up, it’s hard for me to pray in a public forum because I’m not sure if the things I’m asking for is according to God’s will. And I don’t want to look shallow in front of my peers when they’re asking for God’s guidance or God’s will, while my real need is making sure my 60 year-old house doesn’t have any more plumbing leaks.

How to solve this problem. One thing I’ve learned is it’s always safe to pray about God’s guidance for my life. It gets old and maybe trite since other people also pray for that. I like to be unique, and pray about things not many people pray about. I’ve also learned another good request that seems to be in line with God is to pray for a closer relationship with Him. You can’t really go wrong with that. I also like to pray for my friends, who don’t believe in God, but I don’t pray for their conversion, because that may not be according to God’s will (Yup, that is something I learned from a friend, and it’s a controversial topic, so I’ll stay away from that one for the time being.). I mainly pray that they are given the chance to know God and His love. So now that I told you my handy-dandy secrets, I best not hear you pray for these things when I’m at a prayer meeting! Those are mine! Now go find your own!

Real Life Simpsons

Props to my sister for this awesome scoop! They're planning on doing a Live version of Simpsons. I think it's appearing in UK for now. Here's the story.
And if you don't want to read, but go straight to the video, here it is.

Deep Thoughts

It's Wednesday! I loved these when I was a kid. They were so weird and random that they become funny. Here's a whole archive of them. Enjoy!

Reason 1 - Too Few People

One reason I don’t like to go to prayer meetings, is that there are too few people in the prayer meeting to start with. I know that it’s like the chicken and the egg deal. Since there aren’t that many people going to prayer meetings, there are fewer people to go to prayer meetings. It’s a vicious cycle that I’m hesitant to break. Why don’t I like to go when there’s no one around? You’d think given my shyness I’d like it when there’s not that many people around but then you’d be wrong. Why? I’ll tell you why.
First of all, prayer meetings are all about sharing. Whether it’s your problems, your family’s problems, or you co-workers problems, you still gotta share. It’s like a requirement or something. Another requirement is that a prayer meeting has to last a minimum of two hours. It’s not like you can all rush through the meeting and then leave. No, there’s a protocol you have to follow. Anyway, look at the math. Let’s say there’s 30 people. And with two hours to fulfill, that’s like 2 minutes per person to share, and 2 minutes per person to pray. Now, let’s forget fantasy for a little bit, and talk reality. There’s five people in the prayer meeting. So now, that’s 12 minutes per person for sharing, as well as at least 12 minutes of prayer time. Now you see the problem?
I have a hard time sharing 2 minutes worth of stuff. I don’t see how I can share a whole 12 minutes! And lest you say, I can always share less, well, sure that’s certainly feasible. But when I’m following someone who has poured out their heart for a good half hour about their dad having cancer, how they lost their job, how their kid needs braces. How can I follow all that with like a minute of, “Umm… my toe has a hangnail. Please pray for that.” I can’t… it’s embarrassing, so I have to make stuff up for at least 10 minutes, so I don’t sound too pathetic. And then 12 minutes of sharing… which means I have to remember some of what the other people were sharing about. It’s tough enough to pray for others, but now I’d have others praying about my lies. Hmm… that just doesn’t sound good.
Second of all, by joining such a small prayer group, it feels like I’m intruding or something. Sure, everyone welcomes me, however, soon the regulars start talking about ongoing troubles, and it just feels like I’m an outsider. Granted, if I keep going to the prayer meeting, eventually I’ll fit in, but how many times would I have to go before that happens? To me, it’s like trying to fit into a clique that have been friends since grade school. I’m sure everyone is very nice and friendly, but there will always be inside jokes, or past experiences that they’ve all shared. Then, in order to welcome you, they’d have to explain the experience, thus totally ruining the off-the-cuff remark. It’s very awkward, and even after the explanation, it still doesn’t seem funny to me. Then they’ll see my confused look and say, “You had to be there.” I hate those. If something is funny, I shouldn't have to be there to appreciate it. But that’s another topic.
So… what’s a way to solve this problem. One is to make the prayer meeting fun. Have some social activities, or drinks (lots of them!). Combine the prayer meeting with another activity, like, I dunno, American Idol watching. So first, socialize, then pray, then afterwards, watch Idol. This has the added bonus of ending on time, another reason I don’t go to prayer meetings, which I’ll talk about later this month. And please, don’t bring up that time when you and Bill went out karaoke-ing and ha ha haha, you had to be there.

House Evaluation

Now this is another super-cool site that uses Google map technology for good use! You can now check out how much your house is worth. Of course, if you're like me, you just want to check out how much your friends' houses are worth :P

Learn to whistle

Happy Monday! Hope your weekend was good. I know, back to the grind. Well, maybe this can help you while you try to get back to work.
I always wanted to learn how to do this. Very important for concerts and other rowdy events (like graduations) Too bad I've outgrown both. Maybe I'll do it for the 500 weddings coming up this year :)

Longbow Game

Ok, last post for Friday. I have to post a game, right? Cause it's Friday! This one is kinda mindless game. I found it again while combing through my vast forest of bookmarks. There's a little bit of skill involved which is why I like it. It's an archer game.

Windows Live Local

Now this is really cool and exciting technology. Microsoft is trying to one-up Google maps, and I think it's doing a great job! Now, instead of just seeing photos overlayed on the maps, it even has side views as well! So that store you're looking for? You can actually see what it looks like. Unfortunately, they only have Seattle and San Francisco. Try it out and let them know about it.

Sleep on it

Going along with the theme of sleep, before making a big decision, take that special memory sleeping pill and then sleep on it. Apparently your subconscious can solve the problem and with the pill I mentioned last week, you'll be able to remember that decision!

Prayer meetings

It's a new month! Boy, the last one went by quickly. So new topic now. I'm sure some of you are saying, "Finally! I almost expected you to break out in some sappy Bon Jovi song". Maybe someday I'll tell you about the song I wrote for Bon Jovi.... Anyway, let's get it started!

Does your church have weekly or monthly prayer meetings? Let’s see by the number of hands how many of you, dear readers, have been told that the most important thing to do is pray. Ok, you can put your hands down, you look silly raising your hands, and plus, I can’t really count them, no matter how good this Internet thing is. Yes, even webcams won’t help much either.

Next time, walk down the Religion aisle in your nearest bookstore, and I bet you’d see hundreds of books on the subject of prayer alone. Well, you would see hundreds if your nearest Borders or Barnes and Noble had a large selection of Religion. Nowadays, you’d be lucky to even find the Christian books among the 30 or so world religions all packed in one small bookshelf labeled, “Religion and Spirituality”. One of the most popular books (in the Christian world) is a book about prayer, “Prayer of Jabez”. It’s amazing how someone could write a whole book (albeit very small) just on one line of a Bible verse stuck between the geneleogy of the Hebrew kings.

The Bible, in one of the clear and unequivocal directives, states that we should pray. It is likened as a sacrifice, a communication device to our Lord, a shield for us, a comfort, and spiritual sustenance. However, despite all this overwhelming evidence about the benefits of prayer, how come no one goes to prayer meetings? I myself am guilty of this as well. I went there once, and I was surprised at how many people regularly attend. With just a friend and me, we nearly doubled the size of the prayer group.

Obviously, I would be a total hypocrite, hypocritus maiorus, if I was writing to tell you to go to these very important prayer meetings. Therefore, I’m going to tell you the reasons I don’t go to prayer meetings, and then maybe, if I have any ideas, I’ll let you know ways to combat those well-thought out (at 11:50p on Wed) reasons for not going. So stick around for the next few weeks as I give you the “Top Ten Reasons Nate Doesn’t Go to Prayer Meetings.”* Kinda catchy, huh? Do you think Letterman would use these in one of his shows? And if someone in charge of prayer meetings, actually does listen to my suggestions and implements them, I will definitely (maybe, if I have time, no other plans) be there! You can (sorta) count on it!


* Please note, that they are in no particular order and may not actually add up to Ten.

Religious Joke

Happy Wednesday! To lighten the week, here's another joke!
This one is more PG-rated joke than G.

A distinguished young woman on a flight from Switzerland asked the priest beside her, "Father, may I ask a favor?" "Of course. What may I do for you?" "Well, I bought an expensive electronic hair remover that is well over the Customs limits and I'm afraid they'll confiscate it. Is there anyway you could carry it through Customs for me? Under your robes perhaps?" "I would love to help you, dear, but I must warn you: I will not lie." "With your honest face, Father, no one will question you." When they got to Customs, she let the priest go ahead of her. The official asked, "Father, do you have anything to declare?" "From the top of my head down to my waist, I have nothing to declare." The official thought this answer strange, so asked, "And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?" "I have a marvelous little instrument designed to be used on a woman, but which is, to date, unused." Roaring with laughter, the official said, "Go ahead, Father. Next!"