Back Home Again

Man I had a great weekend. The NYC was great. I did enjoy spending time with my family. It has been a long time since I spent some quality time with my mother and grandmother. On the way up to Jersey we stopped at my sisters school and had dinner at a Italian restaurant with some good home style cookin’. We went to Chinatown a did like most tourist do and by knockoff merchandise. It was fun bar-daring with locals for prices. What I love the most about being in New York is all of the diversity. The cultures, the food, the smells and the people. Everywhere you turn there is someone that looks different from the next person. Asian, Hispanic, Eastern European, to me. Everyone is different. For lunch we went to the restaurant called Havana Central in Time Square. It was the first time that I have tried Cuban food and man was it great. I had an Oxtail stew with yellow rice in black beans. I decided that I was going to try something that would never order. I was very satisfied with my food and so was everyone else. I would recommend this place to anyone. After having lunch we walked to Central Park and took pictures and enjoyed the scenery. By the end of the day we went back down to Chinatown to get anything that we did not pickup earlier and then headed home. Sometimes I think about moving back. Just joking. There are some things that I miss but, for the most part I will stay wherever the Lord calls me. My goal is the to get back there every two years Emily will need some new purses by then. All jokes aside I had fun and enjoyed myself.

Trip to Jersey

Friday we planned to take my mother back home to Jersey after a two week stay in Ohio. After taking the same trek to Stamford, Connecticut last week for work I thought that the same drive would stink, but it turned out that it wasn't so bad. I had a chance to see my sister's college on the way to Jersey. We enjoyed a delicious family style Italian dinner before heading to Jersey.

Mad in Connecticut

I recently went out of town for my job to Connecticut. Some times I am worried about the placed that we lodge at. What worries me is that I never know where we are going to stay when we go out of town. The last place I stayed had the shower heads shot me in my chest. If I was one of the people from the lollypop gilled it would have been perfect. So, I had my suspicions where I would be staying. When I found out that we where staying at the Hyatt Regency I thought that this would be great. Comfy beds, nice pool, and cable TV. What I really was looking forward to is getting the Internet to check my E-mails and keep in touch with all of my friends and family. What I did not expect was to pay for the Internet. I was geared up to get online after a twelve hour drive in a van and get some stuff done. I went in the room opened up my laptop and sat down at this lovely marble desk and went to go online. I checked for a connection it goes straight to T-Moblie’s Hotspot. I said “ That’s okay.” I noticed a ethernet cable on the top of the desk and so I preceded to plug it in to my computer. Nothing. That is when I started to become a little irritated. I did some looking around and noticed that the modem was unplugged and so I plugged it in. Still nothing. I saw a book that had all of the services for the hotel. I seen a number to call about any issues that I would be having with receiving internet service. So, I called the number and spoke on the phone with this the gentleman for fifty minutes. He said that there was something wrong with my computer because I could not receive any service. I called down to the front desk to find out if they could help find a solution to this problem that I was having. Then he told me to receive any internet service that you would have to pay $9.95 for 24 hours of service. When I heard that I was extremely disappointed. I am at the highest end of the Hyatt chain and I can not get free internet service. I would think that a hotel with there status you would be able to receive such benefits as this. I just recently stayed at the Hyatt Place in Cincinnati and all I had to do you type in the code off of my room key and I was hooked in. This is just an example of how stingy company’s have become with there resources to provide the benefits that there customers expect for an enjoyable experience. It was not so much that I had to pay for WiFi, but it was the fact that I would have had to pay for wired service. I could only get service to 24 hours I was there for two days. What if I was there for a week? I would be paying 9.95 each day. What a load of junk. Maybe, we or I have become spoiled. I don’t think so. I can go to Burger King and get a happy meal and get free WiFi, but I can’t in my hotel. Something sounds a little sketchy.

Who are you?

What makes a christian? I have thought about this before. When I thought about this in a different way was when I was listening to a church history class. The instructor was talking about Justin Martyr and how in the 2nd Century the early church did not have the whole canon that we have. So, that makes me ask what did they believe? What we know as the Bible was not the order in the books we have today.
Did they understand penal substitutionary atonement? What was their understanding of the Trinity. They had to know the key truths. That Christ was and is God. That he was born of a virgin and die for our sins on the cross. That he rose on the third day and sits in heaven with God.
In a day where there is so many different versions of the gospel how do you come to grips with what is true and what isn’t? We have different views on Elders, Baptism, Spiritual Gifts, Election and a host of other things. How can we as christians say that we truly understand what we believe? I encourage anyone who is reading this to search out what God’s Word says and what does that mean to you. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Does the Scriptures transform the person that once were before meeting Christ. In other word is you life different. Is the the holy spirit working in your life and changing you? Search deep into your soul and find out what God is doing in your life. Look for, search for, yearn for the moments in your life that God is working in and you have not seen previously. God is everywhere just because you don’t feel him does not mean that he is not there.