A Matter of Will

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Will — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:48:36 +0000

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Reduce Injuries and Increase Mobility All From Your Desk

Will — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:17:14 +0000

Like a lot of people in the business world I sit at a desk a lot of the day. Most of us desk sitters have heard at one point or another that sitting all day has been linked to everything from back pain to heart disease. GET SCARED! Being a pretty active person I try to combat these adverse health risks by putting into action any helpful knowledge that I can attain on the subject. I am an avid “CrossFitter” and thus try to workout using a full range of motion for most exercises. Because my right foot is 2 sizes smaller than my left foot and has a very tight heel cord among other things this poses some pretty big problems with my biomechanics. In an effort to combat this I have been following Kelly Starett’s MobilityWOD in an effort to fix some of my problems. When you combine my natural mobility problems with the fact that I sit at a desk most of the day you can end up pretty tight and thus injury prone. Here is a video that I thought would be helpful for anyone in my situation or just someone who wants to have good biomechanics while sitting at a desk all day.

Culture Making

Will — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 23:58:36 +0000

Culture Making by Andy crouch has been unlike any book that I have read in a while. Although it can at times be a little abstract it is definitely thought provoking and for the most part pretty practical. I started reading this book for a reading group that I am a part of and I was turned on to it by reading Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian. This book is very relevant while also providing a decent amount of historical analysis on how our culture got to where it is today and what things have been “big changers” of cultures over time. If you enjoyed “The Tipping Point” by Malcom Gladwell then I think you will enjoy this book as there is just enough overlap for one book to make you think of the other but also a world of differences as both of these authors have different perspectives and different goals.

Crouch says that culture is what you make of the world so the way we change culture is make it, namely by changing the horizons of possible and impossible. Now the preceding statements aren’t as abstract as they look at first glance and the book does a great job explaining what this means as well as what our responsibility as Christians is in culture. The Christian Church Crouch says “has paid the culture around us the ultimate compliment: careful study and, often, imitation.” This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself but as Crouch notes the Church has failed to realize that we are usually influenced a lot more than we influence and that there is an important asymmetry between good and bad cultural change going all the way down to the laws of physics: It is possible to change things quickly for the worse…The only thing you can do with Rome in a day is burn it”. Good and lasting cultural change is very slow and takes time. “Even the resurrection of Jesus, the most extraordinary intervention of God in history, took hundreds of years to have widespread cultural effects and it still hasn’t changed culture everywhere for everyone.” The book also speaks out about the uselessness of “condemning culture” as so many churches and christians are known for doing. Every society is always full of culture says Crouch and “It is the very rare human being who will give up some set of cultural goods just because someone condemns them. They need something better, or their current set of cultural good will have to do, as deficient as they may be. Although this book has a certain intellectual and philosophical appeal Crouch doesn’t mince words when he says “The academic fallacy is that on once you have understood something–analyzed and critiqued it–you have changed it. But academic libraries are full of brilliant analyses of every facet of human culture that have made no difference at all in the world beyond the stacks…analysis has lasting influence only when someone creates something new in the public realm.” This is just a small preview of what is in the book, but one thing is clear about changing the culture; It is going to require a lot of thinking, a lot of action and the grace of God.

You can pick up the book here at Wtsbooks or here at Amazon. Happy reading!

Rescuing Ambition

Will — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:49:17 +0000

Rescuing Ambition is the most recent book by Dave Harvey, the author of “When Sinners Say I Do” and head of church planting, church care and international expansion for Sovereign Grace Ministries. Just like his previous book Harvey writes with a warm inviting personableness that seems to be second nature. After reading a book by Harvey you feel like he has not only conveyed helpful information and biblical truth to you but that he has befriended you. I can only echo Jerry Bridges when he said “You will find this book not only profitable but also hard to put down.” Dave invites you into his life to share his experience and mistakes in hopes that you can be taught by the same grace that God has taught him with. This book in particular centers on ambition, which is easily gleaned from the title, but you might be surprised all the places that ambition leads you throughout the book. I consider myself a pretty ambitious and entrepreneurial minded person but after reading the book I realized that in my heart I was wanting some kind of Godly justification for pursuing the things that I wanted rather than God himself. Harvey will be the first to tell you that ambition isn’t a bad thing, but that this is “ambition gone wrong” or selfish ambition which needs to be redeemed and transformed into Godly ambition. Harvey says that “a good ambition become a selfish ambition when it’s our only ambition. It’s called idolatry.” On the other hand “when we empty ourselves of personal glory, we won’t be empty; we’ll learn the fullness of Christ and our ambitions are rescued in the process.” As you make your way through the book you will definitely laugh but you will also be challenged to look to the root of your own ambitions or lack of when you face statements like “our willingness to make others a success is a great measure of the purity of our ambitions.”, “When we become too humble to aspire, we’ve stopped being humble. Our humility should harness our ambition, not hinder it.” and “Discontentment rears its head when our ambitions are frustrated. Discontentment is a herald announcing that there as more to our ambitions than noble aspirations.” Harvey covers a lot of topics and gives good scriptural evidence for everything he says. I have been able to get a lot out of this book and I hope you will too.

You can see more info about the book and a brief video here

Think Hard and Stay Humble

Will — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:03:27 +0000

This is one of the best sermons I have heard in a while from the 2010 Desiring God National Conference. Francis chan visits the question of “How much do we love others?” because how much we are focused on and love others IS how humble we are. Chan goes on to say “Some of you in this room think really hard through the Scriptures. My challenge to you is, How hard do you think about people? About the lost? When was the last time you wept for the lost?” I am definitely guilty of thinking more about doctrine and the scripture than applying that doctrine to the end of loving people more. It would do me good to hear this sermon every day and I think you will really enjoy it.

Knowledge is essential, but it’s not sufficient -John MacArthur

05 Subaru WRX Wagon Paint Correction

Will — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:23:27 +0000

Here are some pictures of the severe swirling. Keep in mind that these pictures were taken after the car had been thoroughly washed using the two bucket method with a grit guard and clayed (this car had some serious contamination), so you are not seeing anything that can be washed off. This is pure damaged clear coat probably caused by years of automatic car washes and I wouldn’t be surprised if they used steel wool at some point (ok, maybe a little bit of exaggeration). In defense of the previous owners, Subaru paint is known for being super soft and scratching if you look at it wrong. Not to mention that black cars are usually the least forgiving to improper care, but that’s enough talk for now… you need to see for yourselves.

This small sample of pictures gives a pretty accurate representation of the eyesore that this paint job was when the sun hit it right. When I bought the car I knew that it had some pretty good swirls in the paint as I was viewing it under the lights of a gas station at 8 PM (maybe not my best idea) but I didn’t know the extent until I got to view the car in direct sunlight and under halogens. Needless to say this car was going to need some serious correction. So lets get on with it
Here is the list of supplies:

Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss
Detailed image fine grade claybar
Griots random orbital polisher
Lake County 5.5 pads with a Lake County 5 inch back plate
Menzerna Power finish with LC orange pad
Meguiers 105 with LC orange pad
Meguiers 205 with LC white polishing pad
Blackfire Wet Diamond Sealant with Polycharger
Poorboys World Natty’s blue paste wax
Lots of microfiber towels

Once I pulled the car into my carport as it was getting dark and the temperature was probably about 30 degrees or below I taped up one side and got everything ready to start polishing. This is what the halogens revealed:

Notice the large door mark to the left of the halogen from someone hitting me with their door in a parking lot a few days after I got the car. I’m just glad this was before all of the work I was about to do.

I started out with Menzerna Power finish with a Lake County Orange cutting pad. I was able to get rid of all the swirl marks and clear coat blemishes minus some deeper scratches that I wasn’t planning on trying to get out due to the fact that I didn’t know the history of this car and I didn’t have a paint thickness gauge to know how much clear coat I was working with. The Power Finish did leave some holograms of its own though, which is to be expected with the soft Subaru paint. I then tried to finish down using Menzerna Super Finish with a LC white polishing pad. Despite how well the Power Finish performed I couldn’t say the same for the Super Finish in these circumstances on this paint. When I say circumstances I mean the below 30 degree weather that I assume was messing with the Polish because no matter how long or short I worked the polish I couldn’t get it to finish down hologram free or remove easily. After doing one side of the car using the Menz Power Finish I decided to call it a night since I was FREEZING.

I had to wait a week or so before I could pick back up, but when I did I utilized a friends enclosed garage and brought the Meguiers twins (105 and 205) along for the ride. Megs 105 and 205 use non-dimishing abrasives so that the work time is shorter and you get more results faster, where as Menzerna polishes use diminishing abrasives that continually get finer and finer. Menzerna products are some of the best on the market but for whatever reason, they weren’t what this job called for. Here are a few shots of the Meguiers twins in action:

You can definitely see the line where the uncorrected panel meets the corrected panel and you can see the metal flake in the paint, which was previously hidden by scratches start to shine through.

Before:

After:

After finishing all of my correction work I moved on to a coat of Blackfire wet diamond sealant applied with my griots polisher and a LC crimson pad. I let the sealant cure overnight and buffed it off in the morning. Due to time constraints I didn’t have time to snap any pictures until a week later when I was able to give the car a wash followed by a coat of Poorboys Natty’s blue paste wax by hand. Here is how it turned out:

From this:

To This:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Remember where someone hit me with their door right after getting the car?:

Now This:

Here are a few more:

You can see one of the deeper scratches on the top of the back door that I wasn’t able to fix because it is through the base coat. although I was able to make it look better it would take some touch up paint to fix this.

Now you can really see the Flake in the Obsidian Black Pearl Paint

The sealant should provide protection for up to six months and with proper care this car should be looking good for years to come. I would suggest using a sheepskin wash mitt or comparable soft wash medium to greatly reduce the chances of re-inducing marring to the paint.

If you have any questions, comments or if you are interested in me detailing your car feel free to contact me via the contact page at the top or post in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

My Dive into Car detailing

Will — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:43:04 +0000

To keep with the tagline of my blog (“a jumble of insight” if you’re not familiar) I figured I would give a glimpse of what I have been doing lately. I like learning and trying new things thus it is hard for me to stick with a hobby for very long before I have to change it up. My newest hobby is car detailing and paint correction. I am not talking about going to walmart and getting a bottle of armor all and some turtle wax,although there is nothing wrong with that if that does what you want it to do. I am talking about professional grade polishes used for paint correction and detailing using high quality products. I have always loved cars and tried to take good care of my car which up until a month ago has always been a black 94 civic coupe. With getting married and a family to come sometime in the future I decided that it was time to look for a four door car. After looking for a car for just a week or so (on craigslist of course) my car was hit in a parking lot outside the CrossFit gym I go to. As you can see from the picture it isn’t too bad but still messed up.

It was a hit and run but to save you a long story I eventually figured out who it was and got everything taken care of. This minor damage to the car I was going to be selling soon coupled with my new 05 Subaru WRX wagon that had some seriously swirled paint led to the birth of my new hobby or as my wife would tell me, these circumstances led to the justification of my new hobby (She is probably right). Here are some pictures of the minor swirls that were on the civic. More than making the civic look perfect I just wanted to get it ready to sell, get some of the scratches out (namely those caused by the fender bender) and gain some experience with the polisher. For the most part the swirls weren’t visible unless under direct sunlight or halogens.

Here is the list of supplies:

Griots random orbital polisher
Lake County 5.5 pads with a Lake County 5 inch back plate
Chemical Guys Citrus Wash and Gloss
Detailed image fine grade claybar
Menzerna Power finish with LC orange pad
Poorboys World EX-P Sealant applied with a LC white polishing pad

Here are just a couple of pictures of the exterior once it was finished. I was able to get all of the swirls out and finish down LSP (last step protection) ready with just the Menzerna Power Finish and an LC orange pad. I was glad that it finished down well with only one step but I didn’t know how rare this was until I started correcting the paint on my Subaru. This isn’t the oem paint job on the civic so this is a unique case.

Here is the damage from the wreck before:

And After (I picked up a new tail light at the junk yard for $30 and popped the dents out from inside the truck:

Overall I thought that it turned out pretty good for my first time using a DA (dual action) polisher. I sold the car and had cash in my hand in less than 10 hours and I gained some valuable experience that I would need as I got ready for my WRX’s super soft paint.

Yoga in the Name of Jesus

Will — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:17:31 +0000

Yesterday Yahoo put the Associated Press article about Al Mohler’s story on yoga on the front page. Needless to say this has generated lots of hate mail for the President of SBTS. Most of the original article is based on his thoughts on a new book by Stefanie Syman named The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America which Mohler says “is
a masterpiece of cultural history”

Here are some excepts from the original article to give you a summary of Mohler’s position :

Yoga begins and ends with an understanding of the body that is, to say the very least, at odds with the Christian understanding. Christians are not called to empty the mind or to see the human body as a means of connecting to and coming to know the divine. Believers are called to meditate upon the Word of God — an external Word that comes to us by divine revelation — not to meditate by means of incomprehensible syllables.

Nevertheless, a significant number of American Christians either experiment with yoga or become adherents of some yoga discipline. Most seem unaware that yoga cannot be neatly separated into physical and spiritual dimensions. The physical is the spiritual in yoga, and the exercises and disciplines of yoga are meant to connect with the divine.

When Christians practice yoga, they must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga. The contradictions are not few, nor are they peripheral. The bare fact is that yoga is a spiritual discipline by which the adherent is trained to use the body as a vehicle for achieving consciousness of the divine. Christians are called to look to Christ for all that we need and to obey Christ through obeying his Word. We are not called to escape the consciousness of this world by achieving an elevated state of consciousness, but to follow Christ in the way of faithfulness.

There is nothing wrong with physical exercise, and yoga positions in themselves are not the main issue. But these positions are teaching postures with a spiritual purpose. Consider this — if you have to meditate intensely in order to achieve or to maintain a physical posture, it is no longer merely a physical posture.

The embrace of yoga is a symptom of our postmodern spiritual confusion, and, to our shame, this confusion reaches into the church. Stefanie Syman is telling us something important when she writes that yoga “has augured a truly post-Christian, spiritually polyglot country.” Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a “post-Christian, spiritually polyglot” reality. Should any Christian willingly risk that?

Mohler ends with saying

Christians who practice yoga are embracing, or at minimum flirting with, a spiritual practice that threatens to transform their own spiritual lives into a “post-Christian, spiritually polyglot” reality. Should any Christian willingly risk that?

I came away from these articles thinking of how this is just another example of how as Americans in general think of life and spirituality as a buffet of sorts. You can just pick the things that you like and leave the things your don’t. I’ll take Heaven without Jesus, I’ll take yoga without Hinduism, I’ll take sex without marriage, I’ll take abortion without murder. Everyone just lives by the mantra “If it feels right, it must be right” without every asking questions like “Why does this feel right?”, “Should this feel right?” and most importantly “Is this right?” We have all done a bad job at thinking about the logical conclusion of our actions and beliefs before we act or believe. Fortunately if you are reading this you are still alive and there has never been a better day to change. I think this just serves as a reminder and an example of a bigger problem that exists in our own hearts.

All respectful opinions and thoughts are welcome in the comments!

A Praying Life

Will — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:21:14 +0000

A Praying Life by Paul Miller has been really refreshing for me at this point in my life. It has not only encouraged me to pray more, but has really gotten to some of the heart issues and underlying reasons I never prayed that much to begin with.This book not only gives practical advice about how to improve your prayer life, but it is generously seasoned with deep reflections on the scriptures in the original context as well as how that should effect us today. Miller does the thing that any good friend or pastor wants to do and that is get to the root our problem while exalting Christ as not only our example, but solution. This book as both reminded and taught me more about God and how he wants to communicate with us through prayer. Miller reminds us that prayer is not about contorted, syntax, formulaic phrases, meaningless repetition and pious tones of voice, but about being real and communicating with God. One small excerpt says ” Asking in Jesus’ name isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are prefect. It is one more gift of God because m prayers are so imperfect.” It’s cheaper here than amazon if you want to pick up a copy.

The Slippery Slope of “It’s not a big deal”

Will — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:18:27 +0000

As I was driving to work today I heard a song on the radio by This Beautiful Republic named Beautifully Broken. If you have listened to any Christian radio station you have probably heard it before. I have heard it countless times before without really paying any attention to the lyrics of the song. This morning, however, I noticed a phrase in the chorus that caught my attention. The chorus goes as follows:

Beautifully broken in Your eyes
You see the man my sins disguise
You took my place
You saved my life
Miraculous love, sweet sacrifice
Beautifully broken
You were beautifully broken

The specific phrase that I want to hone in on is “you see the man my sins disguise.” You might say this isn’t a big deal and maybe you are right but the more I thought about the implications of actually believing this was true the more I realized that at worst it undermined the entire Gospel message and at best it greatly diminishes the work of Jesus on the cross and the miracle that is our salvation. Here is how it works:

The Cross of Christ Minimized

If my sins are the disguise, then what is under the disguise must be something other than sin.
Since all sin is bad/evil/against God, the “real me”, that which is under the disguise must be by nature good or in favor of God.
If by nature I desire God/good and sin is just some sickness that I can’t shake by myself then yes I still need Jesus to save me from my sins, but my sins are a sort of add-on to the “real me” and are to be likened to some heavy burden or some external ailment that I don’t want any more than God does but I just need Jesus’ help ridding myself of it.
Jesus’ sacrifice and work on the cross has now been reduced to a kind of cosmic physician that helps heal me from my “sick” state to my normal good and caring self

Not only does this view minimize the cross, but it starts creeping toward semi-pelagianism and pelagianism by leaning toward a denial of original sin, which was condemned as heresy at the2nd Council of Orange in 529AD. I do want to make clear that I am not calling “This Beautiful Republic” heretics or even condemning them at all. I am just showing how potentially dangerous a poorly worded statement taken to its logical conclusion is and also how important it is for every person to contemplate the deep truths of God as revealed in scripture.

The Cross of Christ Magnified

We are sinful from birth (verse) slave to sin and sin has left no part of our being or consciousness untouched
As a result of our sinful lives and our open rebellion against God we are storing up God’s perfect and righteous judgment against our sin
Jesus, born of a virgin, did not inherit the sinful nature of our father Adam and went on the live a sinless life to God and fulfill the law of God perfectly
Jesus ended his perfect life by giving himself up to be Crucified on a Roman cross in our place and as our substitute, bearing the wrath of God that we deserved and canceling the sin debt of those who would believe in this “Good News” and put their faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection through faith in his sacrifice.
Through God’s gift of grace and faith, those who confess (believe) and follow Jesus have been rescued from the control of sin, death, guilt and shame and transferred to God’s Kingdom where we have peace and fellowship with God through His Spirit in this life and forevermore in Heaven.

I have attempted here to give a concise but biblically true summary of the Gospel, that magnifies our sinful condition, God’s hatred and wrath towards our sin and also God the father’s love and Jesus’ willingness in providing a wrath bearing Saviour. The clearer we see the separation between us and God that our sin has created the bigger we see the cross in bridging a gap so wide that none other than the death of God’s own son was sufficient.

Amber Stamps, a good friend that goes to CHBC (Capitol Hill Baptist Church), recently gave me a new book by Greg Gilbert who is the assistant pastor at CHBC in Washington DC. He says this in his first book titled “What is the Gospel?”

Scripture makes it clear that the cross must remain at the center of the gospel. we cannot move it to the side, and we cannot replace it with any other truth as the heart, center, and fountainhead of the good news. To do so is to present the world with something that is not saving, and there is therefore not good news at all.

In Closing, my goal is not to judge all song lyrics by their theological content, as important as that is, but rather to use this song as an example to help people (myself included) realize the importance of sound doctrine and theology in every thing we do and the dangers of thinking “It’s not a big deal”; for the way we view God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will determine our response to each member of the Godhead. My Prayer is that our response would be a God honoring one taken from the Holy Scriptures that God has graciously given us.

If you have an opinion, whether in favor or in opposition to mine, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.