Job 10:2

I say to God,

   Do not condemn me,

Let me know,

   Why you contend against me.

 

I have been watching the Twitter saga from afar as Elon Muck plays out his drama before the world. I see similarities between the coverage and that that Trump got while he was using Twitter for attention. I used Twitter for a bit to get some baseball cards, but the foulness of the Twitter culture pushed me away. I did use it to find out more about the Jose Abreu signing, but I have not yet made the leap to using it to share my desires for the culture around me on a consistent basis.

The biggest difference in the first phrase was future or present tense. The second phrase had two choices to be made: 1) use condemn or convict and 2) to make a statement or to ask a question. I did not like the convict option for its prison aspects, and I believe Job was asking at the time not waiting to ask in the future.

In the second stitch, my sources had several variations for the first phrase. I used the simplest. For the final phrase, I ended up using the common approach, but there was wrangling over whether contend really carried the ideas of accuse, charge, and (the unspoken) punish. I could not find a simple word that was obviously all that and concluded my English vocabulary was still limited.

Part of my vacation was used to catch up on a few blogging ideas, but more importantly to review how my efforts over the last year had improved my spiritual journey. (i.e had I matured?) Turns out I often agree with my younger self. So, it’s not that I need to learn more material, its that I need to better implement the things I know. I feel that I am making progress on that.

One of the happy aspects of vacation was me getting more comfortable while snorkeling. I have participated in snorkeling (and a little diving) over years since I started on our honeymoon, but I have always been scared and always fighting the strong bodily reactions when seawater gets into my sinus cavity. I finally am not scared, and my new mask keeps the water out of my sinuses. So, my first reaction was to float and take time to watch for stuff that was not obvious. I was rewarded with sightings of a crab, an eel, a lobster, a lionfish, an octopus, and some tiny fish. I watched the octopus for probably ten minutes before he stopped moving. It was awesome.

I thank God for allowing me this at the young age of 54. I have been fighting my whole life to do me and it turns out doing me is not the goal. God was not contending with Job. God was not fighting against me. God was using Job for a bigger purpose than himself, and God is using me for a bigger purpose than myself. As I mature I find this easier to understand and hopefully easier to implement going forward.

 

(Written 11/29, Posted 11/30, Job 210)