October Sky

I just arrived back in South Carolina after a quick trip home to Indiana. It was basically a trip which enabled me to hit my "reset button." Lets be honest, a lot has changed since the last time I was home and I really just wanted the ten hour drive to be my labratory for sorting things out.

Honestly the only thing, besides family and friends, that I miss about Indiana is the fall. Its beautiful there this time of year. The trees are all burnt colors, harvest decorations are out, the smell of burning leaves, and my personal favorite; the sky. It looks so...old. The clouds seem so close and they're this sort of ancient grey color that causes me to be very reflective. The following are some things that I thought about during my adventure. I apologize in advance.

I find some of the similarities that exist between virtually all people from all over the world to be really interesting. From what I understand, civilizations formed after the separation of Pangaea, the super continent, but you find so many similarities between different ethnic groups. I'm not making any claims about the existence of God, I'm just pointing out a few things.
1. Weapons. So many cultures developed spears, knives, and swords. I know. They're not very complicated, but a lot of people had the same idea. But what about the bow and arrow? I mean who didn't come up with that idea? The American Indians, Europeans, and Asians all shot at each other with feather tipped death sticks.
2. Clapping. Whose idea was this? Oh I have a great idea. Whenever someone does something deemed excellent, lets slap our hands together really fast for a long period of time.
3. Singing. I wonder if everyone does this in the shower?
4. This one might be my favorite. Somehow everyone designated the movement of ones head up and down to mean "yes", and from side to side to mean "no." Figure that one out.
5. We all laugh at humorous things and cry at sad things. Big deal I know.
-anybody else have anymore?

I recently had someone tell me that they believe that when they meet the person they're supposed to be with for the rest of their lives they're just going to know, like God is going to tell them, "this is the one for you." I have to admit, I don't think it works that way. That doesn't sound like the God I know from the Bible. The one that seems to not want to give you more than you need to know for right now (Exodus 16, Matthew 6:34, James 4:13-15). Plus everyone that tells you they knew right away that their spouse was "the one", tells you in hindsight. They're already married, of course they can tell you that they knew from the first time they met them. I would love to travel back in time and corner the guy who says this and ask him right after he met his future wife and ask him if he is going to marry that girl. I'm sure that there is something different about the encounter that gets your attention, but I don't think they know for certain this is the one for them. God requires us to live by faith and I don't think that a relationship is any different. It takes daily submission and commitment and growth for it to work.

Thats all for now, more will follow.