When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

—Leonardo da Vinci

Apparently this still exists.

So do I.

Yet

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Casimir Pulaski Day

Today I discovered this song. Today, coincidentally, to the extent that there are coincidences, is the first Monday in December, three months before the first Monday in March.

I keep listening to this over and over. Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day.

Sweet Irony

This article informs us of the following:

Snow fell as the House of Commons debated Global Warming yesterday - the first October fall in the metropolis since 1922.

The article continues:

Recently the American media has begun to notice the odd incongruity odd incongruity of saturation media coverage here which insists that global warming is both man-made and urgent, and a British public which increasingly doubts either to be true. 60 per cent of the British population now doubt the influence of humans on climate change...

Unfortunately God's gift of snow did not seem to sway the debate taking place indoors.

Conservative Dreams

There are certain movements within American conservative Christianity. The philosophies of family, relationships, education, government, and business are re-thought. Families homeschool. Daughters perhaps stay home and serve the family. College is questioned. Entrepreneurial attitudes are encouraged and small businesses are started. The family works together. Excellence in all things is encouraged.

But sometimes when reading or viewing material from various groups related to such movements, I am left with an undefined uneasiness. I think I have perhaps finally determined the reason for some of this. There seems to sometimes be a promotion of a sort of modified version of the American Dream in all this. One could perhaps call this the "sanctified" American Dream. I imagine this is mostly unintentional. However, I still see it as being there. There seems to often be undue emphasis on superficial pursuits.

Certainly, something of the American Dream does not necessarily proceed from the ideas and values of these movements -- which movements I generally find to be good, wholesome, and praiseworthy, and which, for the most part, I myself adhere to. Nonetheless, it would seem that the ever prevalent American Dream has crept in, or remained where it was all along.

The Instrument Flight

So the crew fly on with no thought that they are in motion. Like night over the sea, they are very far from the earth, from towns, from trees. The clock ticks on. The dials, the radio lamps, the various hands and needles go though their invisible alchemy. . . . and when the hour is at hand the pilot may glue his forehead to the window with perfect assurance. Out of oblivion the gold has been smelted: there it gleams in the lights of the airport.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 'Wind, Sand, and Stars,' 1939

110 Pseudo-Arbitrary Facts

Having been nominated by the One Who Thinks About Issues, I have compiled the list below. For those who know the background behind this list, you have no need for further explanation, therefore I will not make the effort to offer you one. For those who do not know the background of the list, I shall leave you to whatever wild theories you may come up with.

• I enjoy raising chickens
• I get motion sickness easily; I am afraid of heights; I am an aircraft pilot
• I love road trips
• I use two computer screens with my computer
• I love digging holes
• There are very very few things that gross me out

The Government Spiral

For anyone with an interest in aviation, or government regulation, or economics, take a look at this article. Heres an excerpt:

Government regulation is like a graveyard spiral: you know something is dreadfully wrong, but unless you understand the signals, there is no way out. Regulation blinds an economy to signals comparable to an airplane's pitch and bank, signals that would let producers and consumers adjust their activities in response to their desires and available resources.

The Government Spiral

encore

without a doubt the funniest thing Ive seen in a long time



also, I love I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash

Pilotage

extreme busyness has ensued. but 3.5+ months of flight training have culminated in my receipt of my Private Pilots license. God has been very good in providing and His continued blessings and small providences that are often taken for granted. I am thankful for those situations which stretch and sharpen and magnify His perfection and daily provision.

Cessna 206 training has already commenced and continues with the goal of high performance endorsement

Flight Training Starts

flight training starts tomorrow (July 9th). extreme busyness shall ensue.

however, Josiah and I are almost completely moved in to our new apartment, which I am very thankful for that God allowed that.

Brilliant

what a combination of tech and political humour

from xkcd.com

I watch the RSS feed of this comic and like a lot of the stuff this guy comes out with. here, here, here, here, here, here, and here are some more good ones. not all of the the ones in the archives are praiseworthy, but these are good, though not all will find them appreciable perhaps.

Irony

I find it ironic. On Monday, 33 people were murdered in one location by one man in cold blood. The expected outrage and tears and questions followed. On Wednesday the US Supreme court upheld a ban on certain types of other murders. And the same people who were outraged and cried and asked the inevitable questions, on this day were again outraged and asked questions, but this time I doubt many cried.

"they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven."

God's Grace

Few things make me weep with joy and gratitude and amazement giving glory to God as does witnessing God's grace to one of His saints when He calls them home.

to
live
Christ
to
die
gain
Hallelujah

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Yes

All My Tears

When I go, don't cry for me
In my Father's arms I'll be
The wounds this world left on my soul
Will all be healed and I'll be whole.
Sun and moon will be replaced
With the light of Jesus' face
And I will not be ashamed
For my Savior knows my name.

It don't matter where you bury me,
I'll be home and I'll be free.
It don't matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away.

Gold and silver blind the eye
Temporary riches lie
Come and eat from heaven's store,
Come and drink, and thirst no more

It don't matter where you bury me
I'll be home and I'll be free
It don't matter where I lay
All my tears be washed away

So, weep not for me my friends,
When my time below does end
For my life belongs to Him
Who will raise the dead again.

It don't matter where you bury me,
I'll be home and I'll be free.
It don't matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away.

this is off of the new Jars of Clay album Good Monsters. the song speaks for itself. no more need be said

you know what blows my mind?

you know what blows my mind? God. I mean, He is the only thing out there aside from a few things He created. that just completely amazes me. I cannot comprehend this. He is, outside time, completely independent from anything at all. my mind simply cannot put that in any sort of framework. it demands a yet higher authority, laws of physics to govern God, dimensions in which to place God and from which to view the location of the universe in the world that only He knows. But it isnt like that. He is. our language doesnt even really have a word to properly express the way He exists independent from the time He created. we come up with terms that can only define this attribute as existing outside of a dimension, a dimension being a restriction. in other words, we define God's eternal infinity reletive to finite terminal things.

such are the thoughts that are triggered by listening to Chris Rice's Questions of Heaven

M C Escher could draw