Hosea Quote

I found an interesting quote while studying for my final. Hosea 10:3b-4, "Since they do not fear the Lord, what can the king do for them? Nothing but make promises, swear false oaths, and make alliances, while justice grows wild like wormwood in a plowed field!"

Pope Benedict on Medieval Theology

Continuing the theme of the Middle Ages is this article about the kind of theology the Pope likes.

The Age of Unreason

A friend of mine sent me a link to a post by a Mike Flynn that addresses another post that was written by an atheist, Jim Walker. Walker contends that Christianity is anti-scientific, and primarily uses examples from the "Dark Ages," which Flynn does a good job at countering. Walker's post is poorly written and has some obvious historical mistakes, but Flynn's post is hastily written, and although he correctly points out many of Walker's flaws, I would like to see a better treatment of the subject. Flynn has another post where he lists several books about the Middle Ages, so that might be a place to start.

Abp. Wuerl at UD Ministry Conference

Today I went to the University of Dallas Ministry Conference, which was cosponsored by the Dioceses of Dallas and Ft. Worth. I enjoyed all four of the sessions I attended, but the keynote by Abp. Donald Wuerl, who is the Archbishop of Washington D.C., was especially impressive. I typed up my notes and posted them for anyone who might be interested.

A Git Success

Here is a nice, short testimony from someone who switched their software version control system for a 500,000 line Java project from Subversion to Git. I am still using Git for my little projects at work on Windows XP and at home on Mac OS. I'm very happy with it, but I must confess that my needs are simple, and I know just enough Git to get me by.

One feature that I enjoy is that after I realize that I have changed several files without a checkin, it is easy for me to break up the changes into logical groups, and check them in separately. I am not forced to check in all of the changes together. Git does this using a two-step process for checkin. Each changed file must be "staged" before it can be checked in. You do not have to stage every changed file for a given checkin, giving you control over what goes into the checkin. In fact, you can even stage individual lines in a file, allowing you to split the changes in a file over multiple checkins.

School Papers Online

Last night I finished putting my school papers on my website. They are available at http://www.grahamtx.net/papers/ . I will warn you that these are academic papers and may not be the most lively reading. They are also written to fulfill the requirements of an assignment rather than the needs of a normal reader. However, someone might find them useful, and it's an additional motivation for me to write clearly if I think someone besides my professor will be reading them.

 Finally, I took this picture at St. Ann's after Mass this morning. I thought it turned out nice for a picture from a phone.

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Fighting Death

Death is evil, and the fight against death is a noble fight. The Christian, however, knows that the fight is largely over. Jesus Christ conquered death on the cross. Although we still experience physical death, the cross has taken away the sting of death for those who believe. The fight that remains for the Christian is the fight of faith.

 Of course, we naturally avoid physical death. It is good for Christians to maintain their health, seek medical treatment when needed, and do what they can to have a long and productive life. But we must keep in mind that such goals are secondary. Our destiny is the next life, and the basis of that is our ongoing relationship with God, which is rooted in faith. Before we can have a relationship with God, we must believe that He exists, that He loves us, that He has conquered sin and death through Jesus Christ, and that we can trust Him to do what is best for us, even when it is not what we think would be best. This includes the point at which we leave this life, whether it comes early or late, quickly or slowly, easily or with difficulty.

 My mother is going through cancer treatment right now. It is going well, and I'm very thankful for that. I am praying that she will have a complete recovery and stay with us for many more years. I know others who are fighting cancer and other life-threatening conditions, and I also pray for their recovery. But I have another prayer because recovery is not guaranteed, and all of us will die one day. I pray that even for those of us who do not recover, that they and their loved ones will keep trusting God. My fear is that if recovery does not come after a long, valiant, prayer-filled fight, people will think that God does not care, or that He let them down. This is the crucial point, the ultimate test that we face. It is difficult to trust God at those times because the rewards of heaven and His ultimate plan are invisible to us. We have to believe that it will ultimately turn out good, or we risk falling into bitterness.

 Jesus Christ has obtained eternal life for all who will receive it from Him. We can have an experience of eternal life in this world, but its complete fulfillment is not until later. We walk by faith, not by sight, and although God gives us many evidences and helps to our faith, He does not give us all of the answers. We may face times when it seems like we don't have any answers, but we must remain confident that God is good. In the end we will see that it was for the best.

 "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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Back to work

After two weeks of vacation, I'm back to work. It's a beautiful day, but hot. Due to construction, A/C isn't working in my office, but it's not too hot because cooling is working in other parts of the building. I'm trying this post from the iPhone, so I'll see how well this works. I'm very happy with how well Posterous worked with my post this morning. Well, there's lots to do, so I'd better get back to it.

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