I've always wanted to put lights on my house. Somehow my family never shared my desire. This year I did it. I planned ahead and bought the lights 75% off last January. With a few trim nails and some special clips it only took about 3hrs to hang them.

The lights aren't working right now. I"m not sure why, but I"m guessing it is large connection I cached in the downspout. I think there was a warm day, the snow melted and then froze into a block of ice in and around my connection. Everytime I turn the lights on, the GFI outlet trips. Hmm, next year will be better.

The Wart!

The last time I had a wart I used wart remover, a sharp knife and a pliers to remove it. Painful? Yes! but it worked

There is now new and different wart on my foot that has been really hurting. It's been nine months of painful walking and I'm ready for it to be gone. This time I took an online wart remover course through YouTube and became self certified to make my own liquid nitrogen wart removing device out of a can of air duster. Sarah talked me out of it, something about damaging nerves and the low co-pay our health insurance has.

So I tried over the counter wart remover but it didn't work.

Finally, I went to the doctor yesterday.

This was a new doctor for me, since I had recently moved to the area. He did the normal new patient routine of asking my health history, full patient exam, and entering all of the information into a networked database (very cool). Then he did what he does to all new patient: EKG, blood tests for Lymes disease, vitamin deficiencies, and about three other tests that I can't remember.

Then he looked at my wart. He told me about warts (nothing I hadn't already read on web MD) and referred me to a dermatologist.

Three hours later I was at the dermatologist. She looked at my wart and decided there might not be a wart left under all the skin I had killed with that wart remover. If there was a wart there she couldn't get the liquid nitrogen on it because of the dead skin. She told me to do nothing to it and come back in six weeks.

So, I still have a wart. It is exactly same as it was at the start of the day. It makes me walk differently, giving me shin splints when I go jogging. After a day on my feet I can feel a throbbing pulse in the base of the wart, reminding me that (contrary to what the dermatologist might think) it is very much there. Maybe I'll explore the pliers/knife/YouTube option again.

The "But" in the sermon on the mount.

I've been thinking about Old Testament Law recently. How important is it? Do we follow it or ignore it? I did not think either seemed balanced. An "Eye for an Eye" doesn't seem to reflect Christ's love. "Go and sin no more" doesn't seem to reflect God's justice.

Today I re-read part of the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. Christ says he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Then he gives six examples of the law, after each example he says "But I tell you" and gives an example of grace and love.

I think the "but" is the important line between the law and the life of one who imitates Christ. Christ is telling us to live on his side of the "but" while respecting the law on the other side.


Two observations

First, Christ's standard is higher than the law's and more difficult to meet. Under the law I wasn't allowed to kill my brother. Christ has upped that. Now I can't even express my anger at him. While Christ has upped the standard, he also upped the grace. Under the law no-one was dying for your failure. But now Christ has died because you can't make his standard.

Secondly, it is messy knowing how to live as Christ tells us to while respecting the law (which is still valid). How do we maintain justice and take an "eye for an eye" while turning the other cheek?

In the Schleitheim Confession Michael Sattler wrote "The sword is an ordering of God outside the perfection of Christ" I find this concept of ordained by God but outside the perfection of Christ to be helpful in understanding how we relate to both the law and the commands of Christ. The law is ordained of God, but outside the perfection of Christ. My goal as a follower of Christ is to live towards the perfection that Christ demonstrated and to leave the law part behind. I will not protest when others execute the law, because it is ordained of God. I simply believe that Christians should choose to live by the higher standard that Jesus taught.


What are your thoughts or comments? I'd be interested to hear them.

Using a level doesn't always help

Every time I do a small home improvement project Sarah reminds me of the importance of using a level and a square so that things don't come out looking, well, like some of my past projects.

Yesterday I used a level. I was building shelves for our laundry room. It took forever. I had to start with rough cut boards. By mid-afternoon I had things almost ready to hang. The boards had been planed and cut to size. I built braces to mount and put a coat of finish on everything.

I used a level to hang the braces. It took about an hour because I was working over top the washer and dryer. When I finally climbed down and took a look it was obvious that these shelves were far from level. I have not been that angry in a long time.

Then I checked the level against a level edge of trim in the house. It was a faulty level. The little bubble was there, but it was making things off by about 10 degrees. Then I took a hammer and smashed the level. Then I quit. Then I ate supper.

I had a fish named "beet"

Up until this week my aquarium had three fish: beet, bop, and stripe. I now have two fish. Beet passed away. He had a fin rot disorder so I gave him the flush to a better place. Bop and Strip do not seem to miss him, though I do. Condolences, cards, flowers, and cash gifts in his honor can be sent to my home. Especially the cash gifts.

I have a wart on the bottom of my foot-right on the meaty ball part. I've been using wart remover for the last 10 weeks. It slowly eats away the flesh at a rate that is comparable to the speed at which my teeth grow. Occasionally I try to speed things up a bit, you know, take matters into my own hands. I use my knife and Sarah's leather man (don't tell her, she doesn't know and might be kind of germophobic about it) to remove larger parts that I consider to be part of the wart. Inevitably I remove too much flesh and my foot hurts. I end up limping around for two or three days. Today is one of those limping days.

Shucks,! Sarah just found out about her leather man.

Sometime in September we are going to be taking a canoe voyage down the Delaware River. We plan to spend 4 days and 3 nights floating, camping, eating fresh toxin containing fish, and generally having a grand old time. I'm not sure if Nelke will be coming. She has become a bit of an old dog, which doesn't make much difference considering she has hated water as long as I've known her.

I'm off to hear the reading of "The egg and I" as read by Sarah

Ramblings of a sweatty man

I like to sit on my porch in the evenings and relax with something cold to drink and listening to the radio or the birds chirp. I like to work in the garden pulling weeds or making things grow. I'm realizing that when I was growing up, my dad sometimes did the same things. Hmm.

After years of backpacking I'm realizing I don't have any car camping gear.I'm looking for one of those old green Colman camping stoves. If someone wants to clean out their basement I'd be up for taking it.

I'm trying to decide what to do this fall. Paddle the Delaware River Trail while camping on islands along the way, spend several days camping in the Catskills, or go south and camp in Cape Henlopen State Park? One of these years we are just going to start driving west. Sarah hasn't seen the Rockies, much less camped on the tundra at 11,000 feet with views of mountains 50 miles away. Why do I keep ignoring these adventures I know I could have? The Black Forest Trail would be nice to do some weekend.

I have to go drive the tractor and wagon now. The campers seem to always love it and I don't know why.

Anyone have a garden gnome they don't want? Anyone's neighbor have a garden gnome? Sarah would like a largish one.

Iraq

This is a hard documentary to watch, but it was very helpful in clarifying my understanding of why Iraq is the way it is. I'm sure you could get it through netflix.