τετελεσται

How interesting it is to learn Greek as a reader of the New Testament.

τετελεσται:

• τε - reduplication prefix, done in the Greek perfect tense
• τελεσ - Greek perfect tense stem of τελεω (which means "I finish, fulfill"; the noun version is τελος, which means "end, goal"); perfect tense is translated in English using "has been (done)"
• ται - 3rd person singular ending, or "he/she/it", depending on context

So a literal translation of this word would be "he/she/it has been finished/fulfilled"; or in Jesus' case in John 19:30, "it has been finished" or "it is finished".

My Life Matters

I heard the news the other day that a friend I knew from college had recently passed away. He died from a heart attack; he was 31. I didn't know him all that well and hadn't talked to him since college, but I knew he was a good man. A man of God who truly passionately loved the Lord and longed to bring His kingdom to this world.

The thing is I always imagined him to be the type of guy to die in a "blaze of glory"; like he would be martyred by some military soldiers while helping the poor and oppressed in some faraway country. Dying of a heart attack just seems more senseless compared to that. I guess I think that way because I have this pride-humility tension inside of me. I do not want to boast in myself but sometimes I can't help but want my life to matter. There's nothing wrong with that, but sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the idea that the best way for your life to matter is to become recognized, to become famous, to become revered and honored by people. This is nothing new, but I think the way my desire for this is expressed is through a more spiritual (for lack of a better term) form; by becoming a recognized "defender of the faith". My thinking goes, "if I become a great pastor, or a great missionary, then people will know about me and historians will write about me, like they did with Jim Elliot." With this kind of thinking, it's easy to feel like a life didn't matter if that life ended because of a heart attack at the age of 31. Obviously this is not true, because this kind of thinking is based on pride. What I long for my thinking to be, is that because I know I am loved by God, my life matters. I live a life of obedience and God chooses when I go to be with him. And I know that's how my friend lived his life. I know his life mattered.

To go along the lines of my Spiritual Discernment professor's phrasing: O God of all grace, grant me this grace I pray, that I would know my life matters because I am known and loved by God, and that would drive me to live obediently all the days of my life, however many they would be.

MLK's Giant Triplets

This post would probably be more appropriate during MLK day, but I overheard this today, so I decided it was worth mentioning. It's interesting how we associate MLK only with combating racism, when he was about much more than that. Case in point: he refers to racism, militarism and materialism as the "Giant Triplets". Americans certainly don't believe that the last two are as bad as the first one.

Ten years

Over the weekend, I saw someone I knew from high school. I probably hadn't seen her in over 10 years. I didn't recognize her initially because she looked quite different than back in high school, but she seemed to recognize me. We talked a little bit about people we mutually knew and also about the upcoming 10-year reunion. I'm actually planning on attending my 10-year reunion, which is unusual because my high school experience was pretty forgettable. I feel like I want to go back and show people how much I've changed in order to testify to the work God has done in my life in the last 10 years. Let's just say that back in high school I was painfully shy, so shy that many weren't sure that I knew how to speak English. Perhaps I'm being too optimistic; maybe it won't be that great, but at least it will be interesting to see where everyone has gone in the last 10 years.

OS X vs. XP

So I'm planning on buying a Mac for my next laptop because I've heard it makes me more productive. I heard it's easier to learn and there aren't as many annoying things about it compared to Windows, but my housemate doesn't think so. So I decided to find a website that compares the two operating systems. Some interesting UI (user interface) issues:

• It's interesting how dialog boxes in OS X have verbs as buttons, while the ones in XP have the generic "Yes-No-Cancel" type. As a result, you have to read the entire dialog box to find out what exactly you are doing when you click a button, while with OS X, you can just read the buttons.
• The menu bar design for OS X is somewhat better. There's an idea in UI design to utilize the edges and corners of a screen as much as possible because those are the areas that are easiest to get to. It is impossible to overshoot an edge or a corner with your mouse. Macs follow this idea by putting their menu bars and other widgets in those places. Each application's menu bar on a Mac is always at the top, which makes it easy to get to; you just have to flick the mouse up to the top. Windows also does this, but not quite to the same degree. It's easy to get to the Start Menu in Windows (drag all the way to the bottom left corner), but if you wanted to get to the File menu in an application, you have to drag to the top left corner and then move a little down (two mouse movements). Or if the window is not maximized, then you can't do this; you have to find the File menu.
• I still can't get over the fact that Mac mice lack a right-click button.

It's good to know that designers think this deeply about UI in order to make computers easier to use.

The Last Man

Part of my reading for my CTC (Christian Thought & Culture) class is on philosophy, particularly modern philosophy. So I've read a little about Nietzsche and it seems that he thought humanity would either turn into the Over-man (one who is able to will to power/overpower others and himself), or something called the "Last Man". The Last Man seems to be described as such (particularly by anti-Marxists): well fed, well clothed, well housed, well medicated, but a herd man w/o any ideals or aspirations. One of my professors says they will lose themselves in "mindless entertainment". Ring a bell? Does for me.

On Pastors' Resumes

A good quote I heard attributed to Jim Houston:

The best resume a pastor can have is the look on his wife's face.

That's what I'm aiming for.

The Bible For Today

Was just reading Exodus 23:28-30 today and I come across this:

I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

I guess the thought I take away from this is that when God doesn't do it our way, he certainly has a reason, and that reason is definitely in our best interest. Something to think about for today.

Wrong 12th Disciple?

On Monday at my Spiritual Discernment class, my professor gave an interesting theory about perhaps an example of bad spiritual discernment in the Bible. He talked about Acts 1:12-26, where Matthias is chosen to replace Judas as the new 12th disciple. And how do they choose him? By casting lots. He also mentioned that after Matthias was chosen, we never hear from him again. But we do hear about another apostle extensively in the rest of the book of Acts. My professor pointed out how this apostle spoke of himself as one "untimely born" (in 1 Corinthians 15:8 in the NASB; the NIV says "abnormally born"). And the apostles were people that Jesus himself had called, while Matthias had not been called by Jesus. With all these arguments, it's obvious that my professor was throwing out the possibility that perhaps Paul should have been the 12th disciple, to replace Judas. Something to this theory?