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After reading Galatians for a month, I'm started reading James and I'm trying to get my hands around the contrast between the two. James seems like it contradicts Paul, like in James 2:24. My tendency is to move on, but I think I'll stay in James and try and get a better hand on the balance between faith and works.

I've been thinking a lot about different patterns and insecurities in my friendships. I've really figured out some major things in terms of how I deal with relationships, going back all the way to when I was a kid. In hindsight, it's pretty clear. I don't know how to fix this, but Cath and I talked about it the other night as I'm trying to figure this out, and I got together with Brad and Will last night to talk about our freindships. Aside from my wife, Will and Brad are my two closest freiends in the world. I think of the different levels of relationships as concentric circles with my wife at the core, Brad and Will on the next ring, and then other freinds that I am very close to, that I just don't get to spend the same quantity of time with, but can still talk very openly about a lot of things. Will and I have known each other for almost 13 years, back when he was in High School, and we've stayed friends through a lot, to the point that he's pretty much a part of my family - even my brothers introduce him as they're "adopted brother". Brad is a "little" older than Will and I (okay, he's got a sons the same age as Will and I), and grandchildren. The amazing thing is, that doesn't really make a difference in our relationship. Brad has the same passion for fun and relationships that I do, and not only does he have some amazing stories to tell, but he has some amazing wisdom and a way of delivernig it that makes it easy to process. Between the three of us, it's a rare day where we don't talk to each other, just to say "hi" and find out what's going on in each other's lives. I've experienced major spiritual milestones in my life in the context of my relationships with these guys. It's safe to say that we'd do anything for each other (unless one of them was bit by a rattlesnake in the "nether" region - then they'd die).

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I've finished my study of Galatians, and I'm moving on to James. Galatians hits the idea that we are saved by our faith, not by what we do. The book of James seems to almost take the opposite approach. I'm trying to understand how the two books complement each other.

Our power went out Thursday afternoon at 4:15 PM. I'd taken the kids to see Spy Kids 3-D when the power-dimmed, and then came back on. What a mess. At about 10:00 that night, after we'd put the kids down, we woke them up telling them we needed their help - eating all of our ice cream before it melted. We ate ice cream and played uno (Nathan and I won the Kurt Family world championship Uno trophy) until late. On Friday, the power was still out, so we went to Cathie's folks friday and spent the day swimming in the pool, enjoying their air-conditioning. They have wireless internet access, so I was able to get some work done once I got there. The power came back on Friday evening and we headed home. Saturday afternoon it died again during the lighting storm, and it went back on about 5:45. Cathie and I went out with Justin and Lori to a Japaneese-French resturant in Novi called Shiro. Not bad, not the best Sushi I've ever had.

Technology need go no further. Pacman on the web.

I'm in Kansas City again this week. Had a big kick-off meeting for our next project with all of the top brass at Park University, including the VP from my group. I didn't think it went all that well, but I received rave reviews from he customer and the University's President.

I'm still reading Galatians every day. I'm stuck on Galatians 5:16-24:

18 Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; 20 trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; 21 the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

"Living by the Spirit of God" sounds like a great thing to do, but I'm stuck on how. Just like the verse says, I wrestle back and forth between what I know is right and what's wrong. I know the consequences that Paul lists out here are spot-on.

Paul continues on in verses 22-23 saying:

22 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23 not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

It's a no-brainer, why would I so easily trade the former for the latter? I want to live by the Spirit of God, and I'm not sure right now what that means for me. There's in the back of my mind that says I just need to work harder at living in the Spirit, which smacks in the face of what I've been reading this month in Galatians, just in this chapter, this verse. That it's for "Freedom that Christ has set us free" - and I'm free. I'm just not sure where to go from here.

I just read an article on the value of fun in general, called Fun for Fun's Sake. " I think this is a concept that a lot of the world outside the church has right, and that we're very good at taking ourselves too seriously, or making sure that our fun has a liturgical point to it.

I'm back from up North. We did a lot of Wake-boarding, some mountain biking and just hanging out. I brought home a lot of Salmon (~30 lbs each). My body-aches after three days of wakeboarding - I used lots of new muscles, plus took a lot of falls, a couple very hard falls. My neck and legs are the worst.

I've been spending a lot of time with one of my customers, Park University in Kansas City, MO. We've got the CEO of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy coming out on site to meet with our project sponsor. It's a big deal for me. Anne is very well respected on Wall Street and within Xerox. I've met her once before in January, but this'll be a very cool deal, with great visibility for the whole project team.

On Sunday, Freier's message was on Community. Any other time I'd of heard this message, and smugly sat there thinking about how good I am at Community, and frankly they should probably have interviewed me to discuss community. Today was a different story, because I'm in conflict, and trying to run away from it, or at least write the relationship off. Out of this message, I committed to dealing with it - and sticking it out.

I'm up in Gaylord for a few days with Brad, Will, and Bill. We're spending a few days on our second annual Wild-At-Heart get-together. The four of us, plus Noel, went on a very meaningful retreat in Colorado a few years back, and this is how we reconnect each year. Noel can't be here this year, because his wife is pregnant and due any day.

We went Salmon fishing today in Frankfort. We got up at 2:55 A.M. in order to get there by 5 A.M. It was pretty overcast, with waves between one and three feet high - which translated into me ralphing over the side (Thanks for the pictures Will). We caught 10 King Salmon, the largest was 22lbs. The King Salmon were amazing to catch - it would take up to 15 minutes to land one - and they would fight like crazy. It was a great battle. We came back to Bill's, worked for a while (gotta love wireless connections - even up North), napped, and cooked up some Salmon.