Deep in Mercy, Part II

Let's examine the story of Joseph (Jacob's/Israel's son, not the foster father of Jesus).

In Joseph's life, we see a man who is the very image of mercy, who acts on behalf of God to administer mercy. That mercy is not only to the people of God, but to a whole region of the world.

Joseph was a man who was sold into slavery because of the jealousy of his brothers. He was accused of seduction because he refused to be seduced. However, when he gained power, when he gained such power as to manage all of Egypt's resources, he never used that power for revenge. Instead, he not only saved Egypt from famine, but he also saved the family that rejected him from starvation.

God gave this Joseph the power to interpret dreams. God sent these dreams, foretelling years of plenty and years of famine. God allowed an innocent boy to be sent into slavery for the salvation of a family and a nation. This willing victim did not hold onto the sins against him, but used his life as a salvation for many.

Wise Men: Portraits of Manliness?

Well, if you think about it, yes.

Here are three men, astrologers, who are probably used to quite a bit of luxury. They have plenty of money. They're respected in their communities. Going on a long journey is not the first thing that they'd undertake for the most part.

However, they see the most interesting celestial event of their lives. A new star is rising. A new king. It had been ages since such an event had occurred. Did they send servants? Emissaries? No. These men were so moved by the star that they themselves followed it.

They left their life of luxury and honor to travel the wilderness, following a star to Israel. The star did not lead them to Jerusalem. No, it didn't lead them to a major city, but a small village, Bethlehem. It did not lead them to the grand hotel, but a stable. Could the new king really be staying in a stable? Still, they followed.

They found a peasant couple with a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. He was lying in a manger. He was lying in a feeding trough. Still, they believed. These three wise men, arrayed in fine clothes, offered presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh to this small peasant child.

They believed.

Deep In Mercy, Part 1

What you see over the course of the history of the OT going into the NT is a progressively deeper unveiling of God's identity over time, culminating in the ultimate reveal of who He is in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not any change in God Himself, but God revealed Himself slowly over the course of thousands of years to allow man to grow in his understanding progressively. It is a function of God's mercy that He unveiled Himself so slowly.

If he went *POOF* JESUS! DIE! RISE AGAIN! *POOF*, then mankind would likely reject it altogether, not having the proper cultural and emotional context to understand what is going on or appreciate what is happening.

Furthermore, He revealed Himself in the proper order. He first revealed His Justice, so that we would be able to understand His Mercy. Without an understanding of justice, mercy has no meaning. As one unfolds, the other follows.

The law came about so that man could understand his sin and his need for a savior. The law could not save, but it could instruct man in proper living. Its greatest lesson is how imperfect we all are and how weak we all are. It shows man how much he needs God. We all deserve death. We all deserve Hell. The law made this clear.

Even as God's Justice is being established, His Mercy is apparent, even from the beginning. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, they had to face death in justice. However, God also treats them with mercy. He gives them leather garments to hide their shame. Moreover, Gen 3:15 contains the Protoevangelium, God's foretelling of the triumph over death.

When Abraham pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah, God showed His Mercy when Abraham asked "If there are only 100, 80, 10, etc. righteous people... will you spare Sodom for the sake of the 100, 80, 10, etc.?" However, it was so completely corrupt that not even Lot's wife had been corrupted by their evildoing. Furthermore, God allowed those who were righteous to escape the doom. Such mercy by a god was unknown and amazing at that time.

There are countless others, and I haven't even gotten through Genesis.

I could go on and on about the countless Mercies that God showed His people and even others who were not "his people" throughout the Old Testament. To paint God in the OT as cruel and heartless is, quite simply, ignorant.

Head of the Household

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her"
~ Ephesians 5:25

I'm the head of my household. I have to lay down my life for my wife. When I have children, I'll have to lay down my life for them as well. In the past eight months, I've been learning to do that. It hasn't been easy, but my life has a new purpose and meaning that it did not have before. It is my vocation. It is my calling.

Before I met my lovely wife, I had lots of freedom. Boredom, too. I had money; I had lots of time to spend as I wished. I could pretty much go where I wanted or do what I wanted, so long as I showed up 9 to 5 for work. I was miserable. I spent many an hour simply feeling aimless and passionless. I didn't have anyone to live for.

Now, I have a wife, a house and a dog. There are honey-dos, a wife to love and comfort, and a dog to entertain and feed. There are schedules to coordinate, charts to follow, payments to make and precious little free time. But, I have purpose. I'm much happier than I was when I had "freedom."

Live for God. Live your vocation. Live.

Beard Season

As we enter into the liturgical season of Advent, we also enter into that glorious season of manliness: beard season. As the winter draws near and temperatures go down, men do not go running first for scarves. We can follow that great ancestral tradition by allowing our facial hair to grow into its natural glory.

The beard season celebrates the manliness of the life of Jesus. It begins with the season of Advent and ends with the beginning of Easter. By following the beard season, "a beard is born with Jesus and dies with Jesus." Its initial growth during Advent symbolizes the manliness of the God-Man even as he gestates within the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The sorrowful shaving of the beard symbolizes Jesus' death on the Cross. However, the man's radical new appearance shows the new life of Jesus' Resurrection. Thus, it is appropriately and intimately linked to the liturgical calendar.

Rules for Beard Season:

1. Beard Season begins with Advent and ends with Easter.
2. During beard season, the beard may be groomed, but never completely shaved off. At a minimum, the chin must be covered by beard. Full beards are encouraged.
   
3. During non-beard season, stubble can and will grow, but it shall be regularly shaved to prevent it being called beard. Mustaches may be grown during November as part of "Movember."
4. Beard season may not be torn asunder by the wiles of womenfolk, who may desire men to be less manly by shaving.
   

1998 VW Jetta Wolfsburg Edition

I'm now the proud owner of a 1998 Jetta Wolfsburg Edition. I got the title, keys, etc. this morning. I'm picking it up friday or saturday and get a little bit of practice before driving it on a daily basis.

It's my first manual transmission car. Now I just have to learn to drive it. Test driving was interesting. I stalled it my first 3 times trying to put it in gear. I finally figured out that my problem was too little gas rather than too much. After that, I happily puttered around the parking lot. It's going to require a little initial maintenance in the rear brakes, but hopefully it won't be anything I can't handle.

It'll be my "Winter Snow-Goat Beater" and daily driver. I might fix the exhaust with a cat-back, but I'll have to put that off until spring...

Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration

Don't fail us now!

Vote for "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration" as the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Detroit now!

Finding a Patron Saint for the Archdiocese of Detroit

Bearded Men of the Ages

As a teaser for beard season (details shall be forthcoming), I've assembled a top ten list of bearded men over the ages. Without further ado, here is the list:

1. Jesus - Of course he's number one. He's number one in my book, and he should be number one in yours too. He rocked the beard.
2. Paul - The man who spread Christianity and wrote a good portion of the New Testament rocked a beard.
   
3. Abraham Lincoln - He rocked the beard. Oh, yeah, and there was that whole Civil War/slavery thing.
4. Moses - Parted the Red Sea, delivered the Ten Commandments, rocked the beard.
   
5. Gandalf - Whether the white or the gray, this wizard rocked the beard.
6. Sean Connery - The original 007 rocks the beard.
7. Robert E Lee - Bearded rebel.
8. Michelangelo - The man who painted God with a beard.
9. ZZ Top - truly ROCK the beard.
   
10. Chuck Norris - There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

My wife also insisted I mention:

• Myself during beard season
• My father in law rocks the beard too.
  

Toilet Paper Hanger Done!

Box says:
Time to complete: 4 minutes

scarDeal says:
Time to complete: 20 minutes

My wife and I had gotten a nice toilet paper hanger from the Lowe's Depot. No problem, I think. Maybe it's just my inexperience, but I took a good 5 times the stated length to get the project done. I had a little trouble getting the wall anchors to stick. One of them decided it wanted to go at an awkward angle once it bit. That meant that when everything tightened up, the 5 minutes I spent trying to get it perfectly vertical was wasted. I wound up pounding the wall plate with a soft-face mallet to get it back to vertical.

It looks great, but isn't too tight to the wall. I'm not too enamored by the way the fixture (and most fixtures, for that matter) tie to the anchor plates.

When all else fails, there's hammers and duct tape.

Moved into the Master Bedroom

Yesterday, the wife and I finally moved into the Master Bedroom after two months of living in the front bedroom. The walls look great, the bed came in fairly quickly and easily, and all is well.

Next up: adventures in plumbing!

Holy Spackled Horsehair, Batman!

I love attributing completely random titles to Our Lady every now and again. This was inspired by the Blues Brothers' quote: "Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail us now!" To any naysayers, as Queen of Heaven and Earth, these titles do apply. It matters not that it's rather zany.

A few off the top of my head:

• Our Lady, Queen of Programmers and Support Personnel
  
• Mary, Patroness of Dyspeptic Evangelicals
• Our Lady of Snazzy Outfits

I think my wife might like me to pray to Mary under the latter more often.

On a related note, as the title implies, I also enjoy what I'd call "Robin exclamations." Really, all it boils down to is an outrageous exclamation with Batman as direct address thrown in..

• Jumping Jackrabbits, Batman, it's the beast!
• Motherlode monkey turnips, Batman!
• By Jove, Batman, I believe we've apprehended the thief

Think. Post. Enjoy.

Master Bedroom: Painted!

Last night, I cleaned up the final touches of my wife's and my first painting project: the master bedroom. It's a nice rich tan color under artificial light at night, but pales quite a bit under sunlight for a bright look during the day. It took 4 official colors and 1 attempt at mixing colors to get it just right, but I think it was worth it. The dark cherry trim around the ceiling now is a great contrast.

We began with a dark navy blue, thanks to our previous owner's U of M obsession. It took two coats of primer to hide it all, but it came out looking pretty good. Not a master work by any means, but definitely a noticeable improvement!

Lessons learned:

• Painter's tape works wonders.
• Double check your masking; triple check difficult spots.
• Color selection makes a huge difference in a room.
• Be extra careful around trim pieces, moldings, etc. even when you have masked well.
• The detail work takes twice as long as rolling the main parts of the walls.
• The 80/20 rule applies here: 20% of your effort gets you 80% of the effect, but it takes 80% of the effort to get the last 20% done right.

Pictures soon, hopefully!

Men, change your oil!

Men, it's time that you stopped going to the quick oil place. The Art of Manliness has a great article on changing your own oil. It's not a matter of "thinking with your dipstick", but a way to be initiated into the realm of maintaining your own car. You might just break even, but you get to have the pride of a job well done. Who knows how many corners a quick-lube place will cut? Plus, it's an excellent time to go over your major fluids and mechanicals to make sure your car is in tip-top shape.

For those who care about performance, changing your own oil is a must. Many "synthetics" these days are simply highly-refined crude oils. Grassroots Motorsports found they had a few hp bump in changing over to Red Line lubricants over OEM-type lubricants.

How to Change Your Motor Oil (ArtOfManliness.com)

First Post!

I've finally entered the blogosphere. I intend to use this soapbox to relate on a variety of different topics that are close to my heart. Things that first come to mind: Catholicism, cars and motorsport, technology, programming, manliness and the ever elusive misc.