Burning Ones

So I asked Timmy what I should read next and he plopped this book down on the coffee table. Its one of his favorites so I figured it couldn’t be all that bad :-).

And, of course, I loved it. It was extremely fast paced- I finished it in two days just because of how much action there was. I think I’d give it 4.5 stars out of 5 because it was very depressing at times, which I think added to the author’s goal, but depressing nevertheless. It also had some really realistic suggestions for what the future might be like. One of them was a population limit law, which prohibits you from having a third child (which is what Ender is).

As far as a brief synopsis goes, all I want to say is that Ender is a really, really smart six year old who is burdened with something that he should have never been burdened with. So its the story of him and how he carries it.

My Rating: * * * * 1/2

So, I have recently come up against the brutal realization that I do not have any natural focussing ability. I am naturally a scatter-brained and dilluted individual. This really hampers my ability to get anything done. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that as I go about doing anything my brain is constantly flitting around to other things. I don’t think this is necessarily all bad. I appreciate the way God has made me and I believe that it does have some purpose. But when I need to get something done, I have to have a strategy. Over a few articles I’m going to attempt to document the strategy that I have taken up in the name of accomplishing the tasks I have set before me. You’re reading part 1: Haiku Productivity.

Haiku Productivity

What is Haiku Productivity? It’s first and foremost a fantastic little idea that I read about over on Zen Habits (via Life Hacker). A Haiku, of course, is a poem that forces extreme brevity upon the author and can produce some of the most charged words possible because, quite literally, every syllable counts. The basic idea, applied to productivity, is to “intentionally bind ourselves” to doing only a small number of things.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we can only focus on a small number of things at a time before our activity degrades to mindlessness. It’s probably less than you think it is, too. The strategy, then, is to deliberately reduce the number of things that we are doing at any given time in order to do the things we are doing better and with greater effect. I’m taking this idea and running with it in the following ways.

Divide My Life Into Areas

First, I have divided my life into rough areas. It’s kind of funny because when I was a bit younger and even now I fiercely opposed compartmentalization. Here I am doing just that. However, I’m not compartmentalizing the important things so much as I am attempting to figure out what exactly it is that is important to me.

I have divided my life into areas such as God, Friends, Family, Games, Computers, Reading, etc. Within each area I have listed subjects that I want to be focussing on. For instance, in Family I have maintaining relationships as one of my goals. In God I have being discipled and personal prayer. In games I have lists of all of the games I would like to play on each system I have access to that I already have (coincidentally, this has stopped my impulse to buy new games because I have about 100 games that I want to play that I already own!).

2 Focus Subjects per Area

Second, I have structured things so that I cannot divide my focus amongst too many subjects within a given area of my life. The rule is: Focus on no more than 2 subjects in any one area at a time. This is because I don’t believe I can adequately address anything if I’m focusing on any more than one other subject within that particular area. What that translates into in the Computer area is that I am only focussing on Web Application Architecture and Design Patterns. Other areas are the same.

2 Areas a Day

Third, I allow myself to focus on no more than 2 areas a day. For instance, on Wednesday my focus is Computers and Reading. I attempt to focus my free time for that whole day on just those subjects. The rule from above still applies to this; what that means is that in any given day I am at most focussed on 4 total subjects, with the most at a single time of 2.

See Subjects through to completion

And last, for each area of focus I must complete the subject before I am allowed to move on to the next. In other words, unless something drastic has come up that forces me to change one of my subjects, I see that subject through to it’s completion. This forces me to allow a given subject to take as long as it’s going to take. In the past, I have been plagued with the feeling that I can’t ever complete something because I believe that I should be able to get it done faster than I am. It always perplexed me when people talked in terms of months and years. For me, I always expect myself to finish something in a week or two. No more! I will let each subject draw out as long as is needed for me to complete it.

Well, there it is… That’s how Haiku Productivity looks for me. It might seem a little complicated, but when you want to do as much as I want to do, I don’t know how else to structure it.

Have any suggestions? Leave ‘em in the comments.

I’ve recently just finished The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Timmy thought it’d be cool to write a review.

To be honest it was a chore to read (for the first couple hundred pages) because Dumas likes to jump scenes, which introduces you to many new characters in a short amount of time. It actually attributes to his genius, but for an impatient reader like myself I had to press on for a bit.

Thank God I did! Once I was past the first little hill, the book flew! I’ve never had 1200 pages go so fast in my life! Then again, I’ve never read 1200 pages :-). It’s orginially written in French but the translator did a wonderful job putting it into “eloquent” English. So although it was hard to get into a rythym of reading, it was one of the most “beautiful” books I’ve ever read. I would kill to be able to talk like le Comté de Monte Cristo :-) The story-line was just amazing. The movie didn’t do it an ounce of justice. You could make several exciting movies from that book alone- I can’t believe they actually attempted at consolidating it!

As odd as it sounds sometimes when I picture God I picture the Count. Not in some idolistic way, but all the characteristics that I would picture God having I saw in the Count (even the whole revenge-thing). The Count at one point purchases a Greek child named Haydee who later grows into this beatiful woman and says herself that she loves him like a husband, brother, lover, etc. I thought that the relationship amazingly reminded me of what I’d like to feel for God.

So God definetely helped me find Him in it, which I am extremely happy and blessed with, and thus made the book a total success for me and I would recommend it to anyone.

My rating: * * * * * (that means 5/5)

Craziness!

You’ve just gotta love the whole video. :)

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—
let Israel now say—
if it had not been the LORD who was on our side
when people rose up against us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth!
We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped!
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 124

The nation of Israel was not weak. Just read a passage like Exodus 1:7-10 or 2nd Chronicles 1:9 and you’ll get the picture. They were a powerful, numerous people that more than likely could have relied on their own strength to defend their borders and conquer their enemies. This is one of the most shocking things that I’ve learned as I’ve read through the histories of the Old Testament. And yet David gives all of the glory to God over and over again throughout the Psalms, including Psalms 124.

Like Paul, David could have trusted in himself and the power of his nation easily.
I think David shows himself to be a lot like Paul in Phillipians 3:3-7; he had every reason in the flesh to boast. It actually made sense for him to boast! Not many people can say that, but he could. David was the king of one of the most powerful nations in the earth, and yet God gave him the eyes to see that apart from God, the nation would have been swallowed alive. This is not because they were weak. It is because in the end the one who decides these things is God.

So David gives glory where glory is due. No matter how powerful a nation is, they all fall to the hand of God. Just look at the Assyrians. Their empire is ruined when God visits judgement upon them for their sins, and they had almost defeated the whole known world by that point. All man stands at one level before God, and that level is very low. So, in the end David was also a man who reveals himself to be poor in spirit.

This is something that I so badly want for myself. I want to understand that no matter what I do in the flesh (some of it good even!), ultimately any good that comes of my life is because of God’s grace towards me. I mean that literally. I have no good apart from him! That’s what I want to believe and experience. So pray for me, because I need major help if I’m going to get there.

Love you guys!

BBC NEWS | Europe | UN seeks human trafficking action

Wow, this is awesome news.  Any sort of global discussion we can get going on this major issue is a good thing.  As I hear more about this I’ll try to keep everyone updated.

In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O LORD God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.
—2Chr. 1:7-9

Because Solomon’s greatest desire was wisdom, the Lord blessed him in all things.

I think what amazes me most about this story is that the God of Genesis 1, Revelation, and Exodus pops in to see Solomon and speaks like a Genie! This is the “Let there be light!” God; the “Where were you when –, Job?” God. And yet here he is, asking a man essentially, “What do you wish of me?”. Wow. I never thought that through, but it really is incredible.

I think almost as amazing as the situation itself, though, is Solomon’s response. Keep in mind that there is very little coercion, if any, going on here. Solomon=Aladdin and God (at least for the moment) has made himself =Genie in the Lamp. Solomon really could ask for anything in the world. Yet he asks for wisdom.

It’s also wonderful how he connects this with the prophetic history of his family. I get the picture of a very young Solomon in David’s house listening to his Dad pray and sing about the faithfulness of God, being there when David was writing some of the Psalms, just talking with his Dad, and marveling at what God had chosen to do with David. From that place, Solomon looks out at the huge nation that God had made him king over and says, “If I’m going to be part of that promise, I know one thing that I’m going to need a lot of…”.

What I love about this: It shows that Solomon knew that he was unwise.

Solomon got it. We’ve been going through the Beatitudes at Church recently and of course the very first one is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I’ve been reading some lately and Robb has said a bit about what it means to be poor in spirit. It’s such a tricky little phrase it seems. Could’ve said it clearer Jesus? :) I’ve come to the conclusion, for now, that to be poor in spirit is to realize and possess the knowledge and attitude that in and of yourself, you are completely and utterly incapable of any good.

I think that is what Solomon did here, and I believe that is why God rewarded him so extravagantly. He saw a man that truly was poor in spirit, who looked at the task God had so clearly given him, and felt dwarfed and subdued in the face of it. His one request, when he had every option open, showed where his heart truly was.

Any thoughts about Solomon or being poor in spirit? Leave them in the comments