JohnnyBGamer

Surf Report – College Group, Audible, and Zelda

.: God :.

Ready. Set. Go! Today marked the first day that Tabitha and I served in our church’s college group. This week, we divided up (guys and girls) and dove into a panel discussion around the topics of:

How will I know that I have found the one?

How do I choose a career?

To just name a few. The guys on the panel, fellow small group leaders, gave their answers to the questions. It. Was. Good. Felt like I got to know who I am serving with.

Key Things I heard:

That God ordains our steps. You may feel like you are not where you should be on the boardgame of life, but you are exactly where you need to be– I needed to hear this–. God will show you the job to pursue, bring the right girl into your life (if you aren’t married), you just have to keep moving forward in prayer. Keep moving forward. Read the Bible. Pray. And find others to travel with along the way.

Be the person who you want your spouse to be. Don’t worry about the rest.

Overall, it was a really good time of men sharing wisdom. Tab talked about the women’s discussion and it sounds like the panel discussions were good.

Something I heard in church:

Is prayer a time you can be honest with God about yourself or are you presenting yourself as someone else?

I am super honest in my prayer life, but I have to admit, I haven’t always been so. Reading Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly repeatedly demonstrated to me that God is a safe place to be yourself. You can pray without fluffing your prayer up. God is big. He can handle it.

.: Life :.

I’ve been doing the commute/work/commute home thing during the week. Sometimes the commute isn’t bad as it gives me time to decompress on the way home; Other times the commute drives me nuts. What’s made the commute better though has been Audible. I’ve listened to almost all the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, The Hobbit (for the first time), and am currently listening to Lord of the Rings. Andy Serkis narrates Lord of the Rings (the actor who played Gollum in the movies) and his reading is just superb.

I am also trying to call people while commuting. That equals about an hour to talk and find out what is going on in various family members lives.

.: Video Games :.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2) was my jam this week. As I told Tab, the game feels like staring through a glass that is fogged up. I remember towns, places, and people but do not remember exact solutions to puzzles. I have really enjoyed what I have played so far.

That’s me in a nutshell.

< – – – – >

What about you, what are you playing, reading, watching or learning in your spiritual walk?

Beginning to Put My Diabetes to Death

Started a program for diabetes last week. For those who don’t know, I am a type 2 diabetic. Having diabetes has meant that I’ve been sorta careful with what I have been eating, which hasn’t been a problem up until a few weeks ago when I suddenly ran high with my blood sugar (high being 200 to 250).

For the past few months, I have kept getting emails from insurance about a specific plan they offer to help diabetics manage their health. Totally free. The plan uses an app as a home base. Then you’ve got different devices that plug into it through Bluetooth. Devices such as a scale, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), blood pressure cuff, and ketone meter.

I’ve had it going for about a week now. I have daily tasks that I need to complete. The app wants me to complete walking 5000 steps, to take a daily vitamin, and record what I am eating. It even tells you what impact the food is going to have on your system based on whether it is labeled with a color: green (go), orange (caution), or red (avoid).

I took labs to get a baseline of where I was at when I started.

Then I had a box of stuff sent to me (monitors, CGM, etc.).

And this Tuesday (tomorrow), I have a scheduled appointment with a doctor so that we can go over my test results virtually.

I had kind of had it with my diabetes going so high that I was reduced to being a drunkard on the couch. That isn’t fun for anyone to deal with let alone me having to live it.

I am looking forward to this program as I continue. So far, I have gone for a baseline of 181 down to 87 for my average sugars. I can’t wait until my blood sugar stabilizes to the point to where I do not feel a 30 point swing.

We will see where this goes.

Note: I think that my title is a little too optimistic. I don’t know if my diabetes will ever be gone. But I can eat well and exercise in the mean time.

Take the Next Step

Listening to a podcast at work, one of podcast hosts asked, “What is something that Christians need to start doing?”

The guest responded, “Take your next step of obedience no matter how scary.”

Made me wonder, what does the next step of obedience look like? What is God calling me to do?

Regarding Church: Ever since I came to Mobberly, I have been resting quietly in the Lord’s presence. Each week, I find myself thankful and grateful that we can be apart of what the Lord is doing.

But I am restless. I’m ready to not just sit but serve once again.

I am ready to take the next step.

But the problem is, what is that next step?

Fear. Analysis Paralysis. All threaten to hold me still.

I don’t want to be still though.

I also don’t want to be hurt again…

Self preservation can suck.

Photo by Eight Creative Media on Unsplash

A Traffic Jam, a Reading Rut, and a Way Out

Suddenly, I slowed my car to a stop. Up ahead, all I could see were brake lights along with the sharp strobe of emergency vehicle lights. My morning commute had come to a standstill. As the cars in front of me started turning around, I knew that I needed to find an alternate route, a detour.

I have been stuck in a rut lately and didn’t even know it. Since January, I have been listening to the Dungeon Crawler Carl books on Audible. For anyone unfamiliar, Dungeon Crawler Carl follows Carl and Princess Donut as they battle their way through the dungeon one floor at a time. I just finished The Gate of the Feral Gods. Book was bonkers! But what impresses me is how author Matt Dinniman keeps everything moving forward by keeping all of the details at hand. He seriously has to have a bible that contains plot points yet to come and plot points set into motion. What I don’t like are the occasional sexual jokes that seem baked in for fun but veer into the uncomfortable (at least for me). But I committed to finishing the series. I want to know what happens.

But speaking of ruts in life, listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl became a big rut for me. Listening to the books, day after day, became boring. And the books aren’t boring at all. I had just listened to one too many for months on end.

I decided to climb out of my rut. I finished The Gate of the Feral Gods and then put the series on pause. I picked up two books:

The Orb and the Airship by Jenelle Schmidt

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Both books stray away from the science-fantasy and literary role-playing game elements, leaning instead into steampunk and traditional fantasy.

I have been reading The Orb and the Airship on my Kindle. This book is about two friends who are going to school, Gandalf, and sky pirates. The book has been sweet (not sickly so). Reminds me of Brian Jacques Redwall series… and my friend Scott.

The Blacktongue Thief is about a thief paying off his debts to the guild. The author narrates this for Audible. Not bad so far… except for the songs.

I ended up detouring through back roads. Only to arrive at work a few minutes late.

Sometimes you gotta mix things up.

Take a detour. Don’t get in an accident. Accidents are bad.

Writing Prompt: We should have been more careful…

(Joe had sent me a bunch of writing prompts in order to get me writing. This is one of them.)

Nuclear bombs launched in a rush of words, actions, and unclear motives. The American President had given the word to fire, and his command was obeyed. No questions… those were to be asked by historians later.

Within moments Russia and China unleashed holy hell. Major cities, across the globe, simply ceased to exist. Millions of lives vaporized from existence with a flash of light and a thunderous roar.

Stationed in orbit, as the chaos rained down below, the Freedom stood vigil. Built under the guise of science, the Freedom was a high tech battleship. Sleek, hi-tech, and packing enough fire power to level the moon, the Freedom‘s crew watched as the bombs fell in stunned silence.

There was no home to go back to.

“Commander?”

Commander Rift Cutter didn’t immediately answer. The light show of hundreds of detonations across the globe proved too distracting. A single choice built upon a mountain of other singular choices had led to the destruction that Rift was seeing on the monitors. Humanity should have been more careful, Rift thought.

“Commander, multiple hostiles incoming!” yelled Petty Officer Carl.

Rift snapped back to reality.

“Can we see what we are dealing with?” Rift said, while settling into his captain’s chair. “And can someone get me some coffee?”

The view screen lit up suddenly with what appeared to be a squadron of starfighters.

“Twelve starfighters are inbound with weapons locked and loaded.” Petty Officer Carl said.

“Unleash Everest,” Rift ordered.

“Firing Everest now.” Petter Officer Carl stated.

A blinding light pierced the blackness of space, as Everest was fired into the oncoming squadron of starfighters. On the view screen, one moment the starfighters were there, then they were not.

“We got them, sir… wait a minute, more incoming hostiles!”

“Scramble all starfighters!” Rift stood up from his chair. “If there is a war they want, we have nothing to lose.”