What Are You Focused On?

About thirty minutes ago I was walking back to my dorm after talking to one of my professors. As I was walking down some stairs, I was thinking about something I wanted to do. I had to step around a woman sitting in the middle of the stairs. I was really focused on what I wanted to do and--wait, a woman was sitting in the middle of the stairs. That was about how it was for me. I didn't even give her a second thought until someone going up the stairs asked her if she was okay. And then it hit me--she must have fallen while going down the stairs. Granted, she said she was okay and she didn't need any help, but still, I didn't even notice her. I was so focused on myself that I didn't notice a woman who had fallen on the stairs. I guess this made me realize that it is easy to be so focused on your own wants and desires that you miss the opportunities that God provides for you to make a difference in people's lives. Needless to say, I will be paying more attention to the people around me from now on.

Right Place, Wrong Time

Or should it be wrong place, right time? Actually, either one would work in this case. Two weeks ago I had a rather interesting experience. It was a little before 10 o'clock in the morning, which was when my first class started that day. I strolled into the lecture hall and sat down. I took out my notes and my pen and got ready for class to start. Nothing weird about that. A woman walked in and said "Good morning!" (quite a few of the professors say that at the beginning of class). Most of us said good morning in reply, but there was something wrong. The woman who had just greeted us wasn't my professor. That made me wonder if I had somehow ended up in the wrong class, but I thought it through and was sure that I was in the right place. So I figured she must be taking my professor's place for the day.

I decided to wait a few moments and see if she would teach the right subject, and sure enough, she did. That confirmed to me that I was in the right class. Everything seemed right, everything lined up--except for a comment one of the guys in the class made. He told the woman that her hair looked like she had actually washed it today, implying that this was not the first time he had seen her. That comment continued to bug me in the back of my mind as I took notes on the lecture. About 35 minutes into the class, I suddenly felt my stomach drop. It had dropped because I suddenly realized that I really wasn't in the right class. It was the correct subject, the correct lesson, the correct place--but it was the wrong time. The time I had that class was 2:30 in the afternoon. I was in the right place, but at the wrong time.

As I said at the beginning, it could also be wrong place, right time. This is true because I did have a class at 10:00, just not that class. So, I ended up standing up in the middle of class and walking out, which, believe you me, makes one feel very conspicuous. I then had to walk into my other class 40 minutes late. Overall, it was a rather stressful 40 minutes or so. And I am actually glad it happened that day and not the next day I had those two classes, because the next day was when I had tests in both of those classes. Needless to say, being late would have been really bad.

Google Does Math!

I don't remember how I found this out, but sometime last week I stumbled upon the fact that Google does math! I have not tested it thoroughly, I only fiddled with it for 5-10 minutes, but it seems that this only works if you type the math problem in the little search box in the upper-right corner of your browser (and of course you must have Google selected as the search engine). I guess this is best explained using an example. If you type in "2 + 2" (without the quotes), it will pop up with suggestions, like normal, but the first suggestion will be "= 4". You could also write it as "2 plus 2". You cannot, however, write out the numbers in word form, like "two plus two". Only numbers work. This works with subtraction, multiplication ( * ), and division ( / ) too. It even works with exponents ( ^ ) and roots (the symbol for roots would be ^ as well, except you would use fraction powers. square root of 4 would be 4^(1/2) ). All these work in word form as well. It also does sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, arcsine, etc. I have not found a way to make it do derivatives and integrals, so I don't think those work.
Anyway, this has made me wonder why Google decided to add a calculator to their search engine. What is the point? Maybe just because they could. Maybe to bug the people who figure it out, like me.
Since this post is about Google, I feel obligated to talk about googol. A googol is an actual number, 10 raised to the 100th power. That is, a one with one hundred zeros after it:

100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A googolplex is even bigger. It is a one with one googol of zeros after it. I can't even imagine trying to write that out. So, I don't know if Google got its name from the googol, but it probably did, since Google searches googols of websites to find the ones you want.

A Long Silence

Well, it's been a very long time since my last blog post. I have no good excuse for not writing, except that I got lazy and life got busy and I just forgot about it. But as you can see, I remembered my blog today, and I decided to post again. My goal is to start writing new posts fairly regularly, but we'll see what happens. Anyway, time to get to the topic of this post: people. Specifically, people at the college I attend, but I think this can apply to the general public of the United States.
About a week ago, I was walking across campus to my dorm, having just finished my last class of the day. As I walked, I observed all the students whom I passed. I began to see them differently, not just seeing their outward appearance, but seeing the emotions that were likely hidden underneath. What I saw was a lot of lonely and hurting people. I immediately thought of the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby, which talks about "all the lonely people". And I thought about how what everyone is looking for is God, even though they don't know it. They are lonely and hurting because they continue to try to find meaning in the things this world has to offer. I've tried that too, and I realized that the world will always leave you thirsting for more. Only God can quench your thirst. Though, after you get a taste for God, you end up needing more and more of Him, which is a good thing.
So, something I challenge myself, and anyone who reads this, to do, is to be brave and smile at people as you pass them in life. Make eye contact, show them that someone notices them. Also, if you see someone who seems in need, in any aspect, don't just pass them by, help them. We are so consumed with ourselves in the US, and all that does is hurt everyone in the long run. I think it's time to change what it means to be a typical American. Just a smile can go a long way.

p.s.

This whole thing has inspired a short story, which I hope to have done by the end of October, if not sooner. When it is done, I'll probably post at least part of it here.

Worship

Today at church, during worship, a precious little girl was dancing in the front. Her movements were clumsy, and the world would not call her dancing beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn't help but think about how proud of her I would feel if she were my daughter. I would think her dancing was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And that made me think of how our Father in Heaven must feel when we dance for Him, or worship Him in some other way, without worrying about what others think. Keeping that in mind, picture this: it is Sunday morning and you are at church. Everyone is in their seats, ready for worship to start. As the music starts, something weird happens. Everyone worships without any care or concern for what others may think of them. They are totally focused on God. What do you think that would look like? I imagine it would look pretty strange to the average churchgoer. I imagine there would be people dancing, singing, shouting, lying on the floor, crying, kneeling, sitting, jumping, and running. And I bet there would be other forms of worship that none of us can imagine. I think that would be amazing to see and be a part of. I know that I still don't worship without caring what others think. I've come a long long way from sitting in my chair and not even singing, but I've still got a ways to go. If I worshiped without concern, I would be dancing most of the time. I might also kneel, sit, or lie on the ground, depending on what God was doing and saying to me at the time. I was discussing this with my mom after church today, and she had a good name for what it would be like if everyone worshiped God like this: Heaven. I'm hoping I don't have to wait until Heaven to see this. Someday, you may see me dancing for my Love, for my Daddy, for my God. When you do, remember this post, remember that your Daddy wants to see how much you love Him, and try worshiping God as if no one else was around to see you.

Make A Good Choice

If you are like most people, you struggle with not sinning, and with being disciplined about doing the things you should, even when you don't feel like it. And if you are like me, then you always try to change by doing things like saying you will start reading your Bible for twenty minutes five days every week, or saying you won't cuss for the next four weeks. This usually goes good for the first few days, and maybe even the first week. But then you have a moment of weakness, and only read your Bible four days one week, and accidently let a cuss word slip out. After that you feel bad and feel like it isn't worth it and start to have more times of weakness, and before you know it you are back to the way you used to be, except now you feel like a failure. I've gone through this cycle many times with both sins and disciplines, so I know from experience that the only result is hating yourself more and more. So what can you do differently? Make a good choice. This may sound like the same thing you have been trying to do, but let me explain it first. Instead of making a schedule of when you can and/or can't do certain things, just take each moment as it comes, one at a time. For example, if you stub your toe and the pain makes you want to cuss, stop and think about what the better choice would be. Then decide not to cuss. Tada! You just cussed one less time than you would have normally. The same goes for the Bible reading example. If you are about to watch tv in the evening, stop for a moment and decide to read your Bible before you watch tv. Even if you only read it for a few minutes, you still read it more than you would have normally. So how does this help you get into good habits? As you continue to make a good choice here and a good choice there, you will slowly make good choices more often, until you make good choices more often than bad ones. Now, of course it is still a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of discipline, but this way you will be able to gradually build up your discipline instead of jumping right into it, and you won't feel horrible every time you mess up. God bless you all, and I pray that you will have new success in your struggle to lead disciplined, Godly lives.

The Urge To Organize

Have you ever had an urge to sort through all the clutter that fills your living space? I know I have. I feel that way today. And I've realized something about this urge. It's not random. It's the result of something. The result of my need to control my life. And the reason it shows up at certain times is because those are the times when I feel like my life is getting out of control and chaotic. So I guess organizing my papers and deleting useless files on my computer is just a way to feel a false sense of control, when in reality, I can't control my life. Only God has control over my life. I'm trying to rely on Him, but it's not easy, even though I know I can't really do anything. It's kind of like the zipline at River Valley Ranch. Everyone who rides it is attached to the cable with a harness and tether, so they don't have to hold on to anything in order to not fall. But almost everyone holds onto the tether anyway. I'm glad God is continuing to work in me, helping me to trust Him more and more.