Yesterday Kerri had to take one of the kids to the doctor. On the way home she ran out of time and decided to do "Donald's" as Emma calls McD's. In the window of the store they had Shrek signs. Page said told Kerri the toys they were giving with Happy Meals were Strawberry Shortcake. Kerri said, "We'll see," having seen the ogre in the window. Lo and behold, Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Page quickly chimed in, "See, I was right." Immediately after that, Page started asking when uncle Chris was going to get a girl. I guess I better start saving for the wedding now. : )

Kerri's brother, Kevin, got us a one year subscription to Blockbuster's online rentals. This week we received the Last Mimsy. I had seen the preview and thought it looked interesting. It should have been obvious, from the previews alone, the movie was much more than it appeared to be. Within moments of turning it on Kerri said, "Should we be watching this?" I dismissed it because I wanted to see the movie and didn't really feel like listening. Within a few minutes it became crystal clear the movie was a ploy to push the Buddhist-New Physics movement. Now, it's not a long forgotten part of my past where I got lost in physics. But, the edge of physics I was interested in bordered more religion than it does on practical application. This movie had so much blatant propaganda it was sad. What truly concerned me, however, was the fact they are wrapping these ideas up in sheepskin. Kids could easily get roped in because of the gee-whiz factor brought up by the FX gurus. Nonetheless, the darker themes, levitation, thought control, telekinesis...these all appeal to kids who are alienated and open to wonders. Sounds like most of this gifted generation. Turn around and look at the indigo kids and we see the same movement, only for artistically inclined cultures.

These types of movements are nothing new. What really piqued my interest was an article I read the other day on one of my athlete's sites. This isn't the first time I had heard about Garrett Lisi, but, after reading his paper, it did become clear something larger might be worth keeping an eye on. Of course physicists heap praise quickly whenever something seems like it might be groundbreaking because it represents the possibility of a new era in the field and everyone starts getting excited. Nonetheless, much of the work that comes from this field these days seems a lot less like science and more like applied mysticism. My deepest concern is that the theories being proposed today are merely the science of tomorrow as it takes years to test and prove theories. In other words, I believe that the field of science has become a hotbed for closet metaphysicians and undercover spiritualist and occult practicioners. With our kids being exposed to these ideas through movies like this and the theorists coming up with the next 15-50 years of prisms through which to examine reality, I see a coup in the making and feel compelled to note it.

We went to community group tonight. During the course of the discussion I was reminded of a theme that has cropped up during a few conversations I have had with my mentor. The fruit of the Spirit are prayed for all the time. For years I have prayed, hoped and wished the Lord would give me peace, joy, patience, etc. Only in the last few months I have I realized that my role in pursuing these fruit has been one of a passive person. In essence, I have wanted God to just give me peace, joy, patience, etc. I wanted to receive them no questions asked, no strings attached, nothing sacrificed.

God has really helped me to come to a new understanding of the fruit. Like anything we truly value, the fruit are to be actively sought. Paul writes in several verses throughout the Epistles that we are to be at peace with others. In the context of those verses the people to whom Paul writes are being instructed to actively create peace. Whether by exercising self-control, choosing (or willing) to be joyful in the face of otherwise unappreciable odds or loving those who do not deserve love, Paul points to an example of the Christian life as one where we make God's invisible love known through our very visible lives.

Without some investment in our cultivation of the fruit of the Spirit, a true appreciation of how God's Spirit confirms the value of a person's walk is really just a matter of chance. And, I'm not a believer in chance...at all. It really helped me take a different perspective on "receiving" the fruit when I came to see that we must engage, participate, actively put ourselves into the labor of creating lives worthy of being blessed with God's presence.

Hannah Arendt wrote in The Human Conditon of how essential labor is for a true sense of meaning and purpose. Our spiritual walk is certainly no different. Only today, as Arendt noted, we are losing an appreciation for the value of labor and this larger erosion of character and value is manifesting in our spiritual walk as well. It might be good to note the concept of the anima/animus as a good model for outlining the active/masculine I sense many Christians lack in this arena since we demonstrate, in this respect, more of a passivity, a trait akin to the soul's feminine manifestation, the animus. It was Adam, after all, who was charged with the curse of toiling in order to survive. Christianity is a work of love, but, we must remember, not all work is bad. Indeed, working with God to create a life where He will be honored enough to reveal himself is worth more than anything I can think of.

An interesting site I stumbled across while researching Windows relics--DOS--showed me another trick that I has heard of but never delved into: alternate data streams on NTFS. Alternate Data Streams are a lesser known feature of NTFS that has been taken advantage of by occasionally less than ethical folks. Shortly after exploring ADS I began exploring the use of this and found that ADS software is hard to program. It is also being outmoded by Vista. Nonetheless, it was a cool read.