You May Not Ignore It

"You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them.
You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and
you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall
stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And
you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost
thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You
shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore
them. You shall help him to lift them up again." -Deu 22:1-4

This passage speaks quite straightforwardly to one aspect of loving a neighbor. It specifically addresses a common (at least in my life) sin of omission. I think this is quite common in our individualistic culture. I worry about my stuff, and let others worry about theirs. I was planning on relating this to how we're supposed to not just let our neighbors walk blindly into Hell...but we know that. And I have a much more directly applicable story.

I recall the time I was driving down the street, and off in the yards to my left was this dog just running crazy--like he had just escaped. Then about 2 houses down on the right, I saw a man, holding an empty leash, clearly looking for his dog. It wouldn't have been hard to roll down my window when I stopped at the stop sign right where he was standing...I even have power windows! But of course, being the lazy, selfish, sinful, "I can't spare 10 seconds" man that I am, I proceeded to roll through the stop sign and go on my merry way. When my dog runs away, wouldn't I like to have somebody at least point me in the right direction? Wasn't I incredibly thankful when my dog did run away, that some nice neighbors picked her up, looked at her tag, and drove her to my house?

Malicious Witness

If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both
parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the
judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and
if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you
shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the
evil from your midst. -Deu 19:16-19

I think we would have a lot fewer frivolous law suits if we put this into practice. If I spill coffee in my lap and try to sue McDonald's for 30 million dollars...and if I know there's a possibility that I'll have to pay them the $30 million. Well, I can guarantee that I'm more likely to say either "I shouldn't have put the coffee in my lap" or "$10,000 would cover the medical expenses, so that's a better amount to go for."

Quote of the Day

John Grimberg commenting on the 35W bridge collapse:

Jesus is not weak or distant before, during, or after such an event.
There are certainly many unanswered questions, but I'll take the strength of God
any day over fluffy notions of chance or fate.

Nothing to Say

Do you ever run out of things to say, or is it just me?

First Century

This weekend I officially joined the ranks of crazy cyclists. As though years of spandex clad riding wasn't enough to give me that title, or even 50, 60, 70 mile rides on weekends, or starting said rides at 6:00 AM on Saturdays. But now, it's 100% official as I completed my first century (100 mile) ride this weekend. And of course, the overachiever that I am, I added an extra 10 on for fun. Well, truthfully, I only added those last 10 on because my house was 10 miles away and I didn't want to sleep on the bike path.

I participated in the Tour de Tonka ride. 1202 riders chose between 15, 33, and 65 mile options. My buddies and I of course chose the 65. I realized the start and finish lines were conveniently just over 20 miles from home, making it a little over 100 miles round trip. And seeing that riding a century was a goal for the year, I had to do it! Well, the little over 20 miles turned out to be a little over 22...and the 65 registered closer to 66. So after riding about 7 hours (4 of which were in the rain), I pulled into my drive a sweaty, muddy, absolutely exhausted mess.

What did I learn from this?

1. I love cycling. I'm already thinking about my next century (sorry Steph). It probably won't be this summer since we're going to be pretty busy until winter rolls in, but if my knees can handle it, I plan to do more of these.
2. I am a proud proud man. It just killed me that my three buddies were able to keep going strong at a pace that I just could not maintain. My proud mind can't register that I had already done 22 miles more than 2 of them and knew I had 22 to go when they were done. I couldn't take into account that we passed over half the riders in the first 3 miles. And I couldn't acknowledge how many people would never even consider riding the 15 mile ride...let alone think of crazy things like 100. And I didn't remember that all 3 of my buddies have ridden centuries before, and all 3 rode longer rides preparing for this one. Oh, even in the face of a great accomplishment, it's so good to be humbled. Now, if I can only learn how to "boast in my weakness."
3. I think about cycling too much and need to get to work
   

Bridge Collapse

So the big news of the day in Minneapolis is the collapsing 35W Mississippi River Bridge. Thankfully nobody I know was on the bridge at the time, so we're all OK. I don't have a whole lot to say about it. I just wonder if they would have spent a little money on inspecting and fixing the bridge instead of building light rail or a new retarded baseball stadium...

I wonder how this will affect the housing market. Will people in northern suburbs who have finally had it with their long commute decide to buy my house? They know their commute is going to be worse in the months to come. The bridge will certainly not be replaced before the snow starts flying...

Ironically, the Stone Arch Bridge has withstood the test of time, being like 100 years old. Of course, cars aren't allowed on it.

A couple years ago, the State of Minnesota started experimental de-icing procedures on the 35W bridge. I wonder what effect those experimental chemicals had on the structure of the bridge?