Update XIX: Melancholy and the Infinite Napping

[Joe Biden 2020]

I made it to work.  The fog is quite dense, although I could still see safely.  I'm looking forward to another day.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Eraser, no VHS have long been kicked to the curb.  We still have a lot of DVD's and Blu-Ray's.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Lunch time of a very good and productive day.  I'm making a lot of progress and improving today.  I'm going to have another turkey wrap for lunch along with carrots, a banana, and 5 fig newtons.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I just like to have a little treat in the lunch pail.  It only adds 275 calories.  More than the chocolate chip cookies I had the day before last, but it's not an exorbitant amount.  I packed about 10 or 11 baby carrots to make up for it.

[Joe Biden 2020]

2 would barely give me a taste.  I want to enjoy it just a bit before they're all gone.  I'm going to stick with 5.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Breaking news:  Corporate has given us Dec 24 & 26 off!!  I will have a 5-day weekend for Christmas!!

[Joe Biden 2020]

Grumps, a grand total of zero.

[Joe Biden 2020]

That includes supper.  Last night for instance I had a bowl of turkey noodle soup and a few club crackers.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Good Thursday Evening!  I had another very productive day.  Probably my most productive day in a couple weeks.  I am currently working on a project consisting of 16 drawings.  At the end of the day yesterday, I had gotten about 4 or 5 of them done.  Going into a Friday, I have 5 left.  This means I got 6 or 7 done today.  I'm really starting to pick it up quite nicely, too.

Tomorrow will also mark the completion of a 40 hour week.  It's the first such week since Week 1.  After work tomorrow, I will be making the 2 hour drive back up to Tulsa and check on my apartment.  Right now, I'm planning to move back to Tulsa once this employment contract finishes, which looks like may be around April 1.  If that happens, I will extend my apartment lease for another six months which would take me to November 30.  Now, if I get put on another contract at work, which is very possible, then I will get out of my lease in Tulsa and move into an apartment in Oklahoma City.

I checked on how to terminate the lease early and it's not easy to do.  I would still have to give 60-day's notice and be responsible for rent until someone moves in plus an extra month.  I've already paid December rent which only leaves me 5 payments left in this lease.  Even if I put in the notice this month, I would still be responsible for at least 3 payments, maybe 4.  That would still save money, but then you have to factor in hiring movers to bring all the stuff down to a storage barn in OKC which could be $1000-$1500, so it might actually cost us more to move than to extend the contract.  If I don't give a 60-day's notice by March 31, then I would automatically be responsible for at least a pro-rated rent for June.  If I extend the lease for six more months, my rent would go up $25 per month, or I could sign up for another year and keep my rent the same as what I'm paying now.

Needless to say, I've got a lot of decisions to make over the next 3 1/2 months.

[Joe Biden 2020]

2 would barely give me a taste.  I want to enjoy it just a bit before they're all gone.  I'm going to stick with 5.

With this being said, we can all stop giving any advise. Bushie doesn't want to diet it lose weight, and is content with dying in the next 2 years.

How can you say that when he's actually taken some steps in the right direction this week? He's eating fruits and vegetables at lunch, his main dish is healthier than Pop Tarts or fast food, and he seems to be open to substantive advice.

When we all pitch him a diet of mango rinds and kale mist, he rejects it. Given small but tangible direction, he seems to have done OK.

Not sure what Andrew will say but his lunch is too many calories with the cookie buffet.

Perhaps I could knock it back to 3 or 4 cookies.  I don't think 2 is enough, but 5 may be overdoing it.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Andrew, congrats on the 80 lbs.  you're acting like 5 tiny cookies cancels out my entire meal.  You're focusing on a small treat instead of the rest of the lunch.  By your logic, I should never have any kind of cookies.  Period.  Ignore any kind of cravings forever.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I think Bushie is assuming he'll be fired in the near future and that he may want to go back there.

No, I'm just doing a what-if scenario where this contract ends and is not renewed.  That's a plausible scenario.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I will be enjoying the cable, watching the PAC 12 Championship tonight.  I will be coming back down tomorrow morning to spend time with my cousin before she leaves for Cameroon for a year on mission on Dec 26.  I haven't decided on dinner tonight, yet.  Braum's sounds good tonight as does pizza.  I'll have to repent at the altar of the scales, but like you said there's no food in the apartment.  Tomorrow evening, my parents and I will go to Cracker Barrel for supper.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Is this cousin the person who'll be doing some sort of secretarial work for a Bible translator, or do you know multiple people who are going on missions to Cameroon? If it's the latter, what will your cousin be doing?

She's the one managing a guest house for Bible translators.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Is this cousin the person who'll be doing some sort of secretarial work for a Bible translator, or do you know multiple people who are going on missions to Cameroon? If it's the latter, what will your cousin be doing?

She's the one managing a guest house for Bible translators.

What language or languages are they translating the Bible into?

Many different languages.  I don't know which ones, but believe it or not there are still thousands of people groups who have not heard the name of Jesus, have no churches, and have no access to the written Word of God.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the written Word of God, known as the Bible, are advancing rapidly, but it still has a long way to go.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Is the seventy per cent of the native Cameroonian population that is already Christian somehow not good enough at evangelizing the thirty per cent that isn't, or not good enough at translating into their own native languages? It's generally considered a better idea to focus on translating into one's mother tongue than out of it (or, in the case of the Bible, between two languages neither of which is one's mother tongue).

Also, 'Word of God' properly refers to Jesus Himself, Bushie, not the text of the Bible (John 1).

All Scripture is God-breathed, so the Bible is 100% inerrant and infallible.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Don't these busybody white people have anything better to do than spread their nonsense beliefs to a part of the world with far more pressing concerns?

People's eternal future is far more important than any other temporary problem.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Anyway, we are not going to have a theology discussion.  No one has the right to condemn my cousins for doing what God is telling them to do.

[Joe Biden 2020]

What if God told them to kill a guy though? Then we'd have the right to condemn though, right?

He never contradicts the Bible.  Exodus 20 "Thou shall not kill."  He would never tell anyone to kill another human being.  The only case in which this does not apply is the death penalty.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Don't these busybody white people have anything better to do than spread their nonsense beliefs to a part of the world with far more pressing concerns?

People's eternal future is far more important than any other temporary problem.

You know, starvation, dehydration, those are all bad things, but teaching them about Jesus is more important than them dying.

You'll never be faced with something as terrible as that, Bushie, and the fact that you would think that you need to spread your religion before you help others is pretty sickening.

What you mentioned is very important and they do need to be taken care of and is sometimes a gateway into sharing the Gospel with them, but people's eternal souls that last forever are of more importance.  That's not being sick, that's being loving.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Don't these busybody white people have anything better to do than spread their nonsense beliefs to a part of the world with far more pressing concerns?

People's eternal future is far more important than any other temporary problem.

You know, starvation, dehydration, those are all bad things, but teaching them about Jesus is more important than them dying.

You'll never be faced with something as terrible as that, Bushie, and the fact that you would think that you need to spread your religion before you help others is pretty sickening.

What you mentioned is very important and they do need to be taken care of and is sometimes a gateway into sharing the Gospel with them, but people's eternal souls that last forever are of more importance.  That's not being sick, that's being loving.

No, being loving is saving lives, not spreading word of the gospel.

Leading others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that will guarantee they will spend eternity in heaven is the most loving thing you can do for someone.

Again, though, we are NOT going to have a theological discussion tonight, so drop the subject now.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Guys, what part of "we are not having this discussion tonight" do you refuse to understand?

[Joe Biden 2020]

Guys, what part of "we are not having this discussion tonight" do you refuse to understand?

Mine isn't really a theology question.

The Bible must and will be translated into EVERY language or dialect.  No people group is unimportant to God.  My cousins are not translating the Bible themselves, they are managing a guest house (hotel) for those who are, both native Cameroonians and outside volunteers.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Guys, what part of "we are not having this discussion tonight" do you refuse to understand?

Mine isn't really a theology question.

The Bible must and will be translated into EVERY language or dialect.  No people group is unimportant to God.

...yes but these 'people groups' also speak common European languages.

So?  Maybe they understand better in their native language??  Also, not everyone speaks a common European language.  For instance, in western Kenya, many do speak English, but many more speak Luo or Swahili and cannot understand or speak English.  God doesn't limit himself to speaking in common languages, rather He likes to speak in every single language.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'll just say one thing - I care about the whole person - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.  I never said I didn't care about physical needs.  They are extremely vital.  I'm just saying physical needs shouldn't be where a mission group stops.  People who really love and care for someone will attend to not only their physical needs, but their spiritual needs, as well.  You cannot separate the two.  How can one focus on the Bible and listening to a message or serving when they are hungry and have no idea when or where their next meal is coming from and don't know how to get anything to protect them from the elements.  There is an old saying in Christianity when doing mission work that is so true "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  That's what Maisha (the Kenyan orphanage I'm involved with) does, they feed the children and the widows, educate them, clothe them, and teach them Jesus.  James 1:27 says, and I paraphrase, true religion is taking care of the widows and orphans and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.  Also, different mission groups have different purposes.  There are many needs in this world, much more than one group can do.  That's why the International Mission Board which is operated by the Southern Baptist Convention has just around 5,000 missionaries world wide.  Different denominations and organizations greatly increase that number.  My cousins are going through the Wycliffe organization which has hundreds, if not thousands, of missionaries of their own and are not affiliated with any Christian denomination.