It was nice and windy today. I got to go out and fly my stunt kite. So in the spirit of the day...

This blog is about my current background image also seen below. The picture is of a street in Milwaukee. Walking around Milwaukee one day a long time ago I came across this scene and thought the tree was amazingly beautiful. The scene is even more complete because of the cars parked along the street. Its just amazing to see such a gorgeous tree in the midst of all the urban sprawl, bringing beauty to the front of a brick building on an innocuous street in Milwaukee.

Recently I've been perusing the topic of Calvanism, and I've found more evidence than ever to give it legs. Which is bothersome to me, because it isn't something I support. It doesn't fit my conception of it all works. Of course, I know that God isn't bound by my conception of him, but at the same time, there are some fundamental contradictions that go against my understanding of God. I know that man is imperfect, but Calvinism suggests that man is incapable of coming to God without God's invitation. Also, according to Calvinism, God only comes to the elect, the chosen few and those people could not refuse such a choice. First, I could never understand setting up a system where people would perceive choice but not really have it. Secondly, and this is the bigger kicker, I can't understand how God's offer of salvation could be open to people God didn't choose, and they would be responsible for not accepting salvation even though they are unable to accept it. That's a fundamental contradiction that I think goes against what I understand as God's just nature.

My understanding is that God sees everything without the constraint of time, and was, is and will be is all the same, so that he can see the end and write the book of life in the beginning and there be no sense of predetermination. I look at time as a constraint that we have, and not something that God has. I think that's a better fit to scripture.

I am amazed at how evangelical Calvinists can be, however. One of my favorite preachers to listen to is Alistair Begg who is Calvinist, although I didn't know it until I purposely looked for it.

Which brings me to my final point. Whether the world works the way that Calvinists see it or the way I see it, doesn't really matter in the end. What matters is that I have a relationship with God, and the rest is out of my hands. Not to say that its not important, it has major ramifications on how everything plays out, but whether I believe in Calvinism and its true or I believe in Calvinism and its false or I don't believe in Calvinism and its true or false, has no bearing on what really is true. That truth, I don't think we will really know completely until its all over.

Wow, I haven't blogged much on here. Well at all really, but I guess I could write about a few things going on. I've been cooking a lot lately, pancakes, muffins. On friday I invited my friend Johnny over, and I made fried fish, it was flounder, and german potato pancakes. Awesome. I used to intern in Milwaukee, and one of the things I miss from up there is that every Friday there was a fish fry in pretty much any restaurant that you went to. There was one place in particular called the Gausthaus, very german, and it was usually a pricy place, but on Friday's for like $12 you would get an all you could eat fish fry of fried cod, french fries, german potato pancakes, coleslaw, and german potato salad. A fiest. The other thing I will have to make some time is pasties. I've made them before, but in Milwaukee I could get them frozen from the grocer, or the same place that made the frozen ones had a store front on the northwest side and you could buy them fresh. I'm getting hungry now. The other thing I made recently was a breaded pork tenderloin sandwhich, the hallmark of Indiana foods. In other news I've been doing a lot of bowling recently. My high now is a 173. Its always fun to go bowling, it reminds me of the Big Lebowski. Basketball season has been fun at Purdue, the Baby Boilers are contending for the Big Ten Championship. Also baseball season is around the corner, go Brewers! I heard that Prince Fielder, milwaukee's first baseman and slugger, has gone vegetarian. I don't know how you become a vegetarian in the land of bratwurst. Well that's all for now.