Status Update; and btw, The Starving Puppies Have Been Rescued

I have my attorney hat on again. I found work doing document review through Hire Counsel in Columbia, SC. I couldn't find legal work in Mississippi. You can do document review with admission to the bar in any state. I'm a member of the state bar of California. I lived there for 19 years. Went to law school there and practiced law there for four years. I'm working from 8 am to 8 pm  M-F. I take about 45 min to eat lunch and walk around. I can also work weekends when I want to. Tonight I got home (to my extended stay hotel) a little after 8 pm, started doing laundry which I didn't finish until after 10 pm, and then ate dinner.

I don't really feel like getting on the computer too much after staring at it for 11 hours at work. I don't know how many posts I'll make while on this schedule. Don't expect too much. However, a lot of things can pass through your mind in the quite concentration of reviewing documents. I might share them here. Being tired doesn't bother me though. It's validating.

BTW -- The starving puppies have been rescued! Everyone can breath again.

Why God Loves Us

Sam

I had one of those long conversations with my son about our days, our lives, and life. Sometimes Sam has good insights. Sometimes he reduces something to words that makes me say to myself, "Yea, that's right." He is a published poet, so, go figure. Here is one of those things.

"Most people are confused, inconsistent in their actions, selfish, and self-absorbed... Good luck finding love there."

He said it in an accepting tone. Sam has a big heart. He pointed out an unfortunate human condition that's important not to ignore. We must live with our eyes open. Only children rebel against reality. Fortunately, a broader grace is working in the world despite ourselves.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loves us before we believe in his Son. He changes us if give him the chance. God would rather love us than change us, and in loving us, he changes us.

Thinking in terms of human strength and effort, loving the world is a daunting task. Even if mankind could muster the strength and perseverance to match God's love, we would look at the broken and decrepit objects of our task, collectively sigh, and ask "Why?" With no "why" we lose the will to persevere. "Good luck finding love there." John provides the best answer for "why" God loves us and it's not based on us.

1 John 4:16 - And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Why does God love us? God is love.

Photo taken by my niece, Madeline

DeVotchKa: Exhaustible

O you and I look good together.

This day is getting a whole lot better.

Lets get inside out of this weather

And there is no one loves you better than me my dear.

O you and I were not so different

Exhaustible and inefficient

Following our intuition to get back home.

I will get back home again.

Our departure hour is getting closer

You are glowing like phosphorous

Of all the things I'll miss the most

If we ever get back home.

O you and I can conquer distance

Space and time and mass resistance

And I really must insist you come with me my dear.

O come with me my dear.

Graveyard at Chapel of the Cross, Madison, MS

More at http://danowens.smugmug.com/Other/Chapel-of-the-Cross-Madison-MS/22784000_k3qNbR

Time is a Curious Reality

It is the very texture of our experience and consciousness. An article in Popular Mechanics about optical clocks got me thinking of time. These clocks measure time in quadrillionths of a second, and are so precise, no existing technology can take advantage of them. To say it another way, they have no practical value until technology catches up.

Time fascinates me. I'm thinking about time as I walk my sister's dogs and I wonder: is our consciousness of time the root of consciousness itself? Is our consciousness of time a door to our consciousness of God?

We exist to welcome the arrival of time and commemorate its passing. We are constantly doing this simultaneously in the present. The present has always been vibrant with energy, color, consciousness, and meaning in every age regardless of how long ago. Calvin's dad had a different theory though. You can find find that on down.

Age is beautiful because it has traced time whether the lines be on mountains or the faces of old men and women.

Death is beautiful for those who lived meaningfully because their lives commemorate time.

Psalm 116:15 - Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Time is part of "the plan." Time is not necessary for our life and existence and will end when "the plan" is finished.

Revelation 10:6 - And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever...that there should be time no longer:

Clock picture by Rob Brewer from Bristol, England (Yes, but what time is it? Uploaded by Mattbuck) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Bill Watterson is the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.