The dissemination of wisdom

In our short time here on Earth, we spend our lifetimes struggling and squirming out of the darkness towards the Light. Then we die, and anything we've learned, any progress we've made, is gone. Maybe what got me thinking about this is Thomas Merton's "No Man Is an Island" In his introduction he states:

The meaning of of my life is not to be looked on merely in the sum total of my own achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievements and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time. It is seen, above all, in my integration in the mystery of Christ... Every other man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind... What I do is also done for them and with them and by them. What they do is done in me and by me and for me. But each one of us remains responsible for his own share in the life of the whole body.

So, I believe strongly that in order to truly believe something you must make it your own. That is why most people go through a dark period of doubt and sorrow, and somehow come out stronger. But during and after these struggles, if I don't do something to remember it, how quickly do I forget all that the Lord has done for me? The nation of Israel had the same constant struggle, and because of this, the Lord commanded Joshua (their leader) to place monuments to his glory (usually as alters or piles of large stones) so they would not forget what he had done for them.
I mentioned before that I'd like for my blog to have a purpose and this is going to be somewhat it. I plan on every 2 or so weeks to post something about something, so that by the end of a year I have 25 posts about 25 topics. Do consider myself wise and all knowing at 24? No, but its ok because I can edit past blogs when i learn new things. I hope you enjoy, and I hope that you comment and give me suggestions and disseminate wisdom back towards me. Until that time...
peace, and love,
mike

cabin hike

YoYo!
So I'm sorry i haven't posted in a while. Grad school has been REALLY busy. Anyhow, I've been reading blogs and I'd like for mine to have a little more purpose than it has right now (just telling about my boring life). So, I'll be thinking about that and look forward to it in future posts! In this post, this weekend I went hiking to this cool cabin. I've also decided to attend this church called All Souls. I could put a link here but I'm too lazy, so just Google "All Souls Boulder." I really like it and I'm excited about whats in store.

I've been reading 2 books lately (when i have time.) One is called east of eden, by John Steinbeck, I really enjoy his writing style. The other is called "No Man Is an Island" by Thomas Merton. The latter of the two will rock your world if you read it. He knew things about community before community was the cool thing to talk about.

Hmm... Oh yeah, if you like reading blogs and you have a Google account you should check out Google reader. It loads everything you read into a single page so you don't have to check individual blogs.

anyhow, I don't have much more to talk about. I hope everybody that reads this, and even those who don't are doing well!
Peace, Hope and Love,
Mike

another weekend another 14er

Hey guys,
Just wanted to throw a few pics of you of Grays peak. I didn't Climb the one next to it, torries, but Next time I'll climb both. These are compliments of william, and you can view all his great pics at his photo site

Labor Day Weekend!

Yo Hommies!
1 week of school down, 1 three day weekend, and 1 14er climbed.

We'll start with school. It's going to be fun but rough, I feel smarter already. In addition to reading about fluid mechanics, oceanography, and numerical methods, I've been reading a book "no man is an island" by Thomas Merton. I'd highly recommend it!

Labor day weekend I played ultimate with some freshmen, which was fun, and then Monday i climbed mt bierstat (elev. 14060 ft) with a group called "the annex". It was loads of fun. I'll give you some pictures complements of William surles.






(bierstat is the one on the right)

Boulder, CO

YOYO!

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but it's been kind of crazy trying to move into my new place. I'm doing it though, I've got a bed and a dresser and a desk now, so i'm almost all set.

Right now there are a tonne of people staying in our house! Bill drove up to look for a job, but right now i think he's falling in love with the idea of graduate school. Chas and amy are living with us until they get their new place on the 1st of September. Kerry, Mary Jane, and Andrew are all staying with us till the end of the week on their road trip.

Boulder is awesome. I love riding my bike all over the bike lanes and green ways, there is a tonne of local brewery's so there's a huge selection of really good beer. The mountains are amazing! The main downside is everything here is more expensive.

Anyhow, I'm sorry this is short, i just wanted to touch base with the world! I'll put pictures of our apt up once we get settled down and there's not mattresses covering every inch of floor.
love you all,
mike

Goodbye old friend

Driving through the Appalachians on my way towards Colorado was kind of a sad experience. It was kind of like saying goodbye to an old friend, and not knowing when I'll see them again. I'll miss the Mountains of the east coast and their rustic beauty. The mountains in Colorado might have grandeur, but these mountains have a quieter beauty, less startling and surer.


I listened to a sermon on the drive back about repetition by Nathan and Winn at DCF. Downloading podcasts is really a great way to pass the time during a drive: they help focus your thoughts from useless and self glorifying daydreams to practical musings. I was thinking about the Church and how when it formed it was Christians gathering together, encouraging and strengthening each other and praising God with whatever means they had necessary. Now many church gatherings are no more than a “seeker friendly” rock concert with an alter call. People go once a week for their good music and hopefully entertaining 45 minute message and go on their way. I hope in our effort for Sunday services to be applicable to the Christian and the Non Christian we aren’t preparing wimpy Christians because seriously, who wants to give their life to Christ if all they see is wimpy Christians?


On another note, I’ve been thinking a lot about alternative energy after hanging out with my roommate Bill for a bit. While alternative energy sources are a GREAT idea, I think they’re a bit of a radical first step. Instead of jumping straight to installing solar panels on our houses I think we need distance ourselves from our addiction and dependence to electricity. I’ll start with the why, and then the how:

In order to live sustainable you are going to have to make sacrifices. A current solar panel will max out at 175 watts during peak sun. Assuming 12 hours of daylight and that you put 5 of these panels on your roof, that’s 10,500 watt hours/day or 10.5 kilowatt hours/day. Compare that to the average American household usage of 600 kilowatt hours/day and you’ll see that it looks nearly impossible to go completely solar without making life changes.

So what kind of changes am I talking about? There are easy ones and harder ones! First! Turn of the lights! Check your weather stripping on your doors, windows and outlets! Use energy efficient light bulbs! Use a clothes line instead of a dryer! Use a fan instead of the AC! Keep the door closed on your refrigerator! Manually open and close your garage door! I think before anybody drops $20k on a solar system for their house, they should try to see if they can drop their electric bill to at least 300 kilowatt hours/day.

I think that’s enough rambling for one blog post. Sorry!
-mike

The Buffalo Wilderness and Mr Ghadi

I'm sorry for being slack at updating. I guess I'm still on Ghana time. Anyhow, upon my return from Africa My dad and me set out on a 3 day canoe trip through the buffalo wilderness in norther Arkansas. It was really beautiful, and we saw all sorts of wildlife including a bald eagle, otters, mink, deer, and raccoons. Unfortunately, my camera is broken after a spill it took, but you can check out some of the pictures from my dad's camera here!

Since then, I've been at home for the past 2 weeks. It's been great hanging out with my family and just relaxing. I also got to meet our neighbor, Mr Ghadi. He's Hindu, and a little hard to understand. But, he has a temple in his house, and he allowed me to see it. I had to wash my feet before going in to look at all his Gods. He tried explaining it all to me but like I said, He's a little hard to understand. The real amazing thing to me is that he prays 3 hours every day. It makes me feel like a real slacker when I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but have trouble staying focused more than 5 minutes and other people around the world dedicate 3 hours to a statue of a lady with 9 arms and an elephant head.

Whats next? Well, Be praying that Rob finds a place to live for us in Colorado. He's been working hard and I know he's busy. I wish i could have gone and helped him. I'm headed to SC next for a couple of weddings, I'm really excited about seeing a lot of my friends. After that, i think its time for me to head west!

Peace and Love
mike

Oh, p.s., check out this website called GasBuddy.com You can use the map to go to your city, and find gas prices all around you! amazing!