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Advent and the Sign of Compassionate Grace

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.”

— Isaiah 7:10–16, NIV

Sometimes these readings are strange. Sometimes readings from the Revised Common Lectionary are interesting precisely because they force us to read the broader context of famous lines we often take out of context.

This is one of those readings.

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It turns out if you forget your phone at home that you:

  1. Can still exercise
  2. Won’t die

I must have looked like a complete psychopath on the treadmill with no earbuds, just staring into the chasm of nothingness for an hour.

My #whamageddon2025 run ended in the most epic way possible last night. My guy, the Beard had the bartender play the song. Before I realized what was happening I couldn’t escape it.

If you use micro.blog to write long form posts, may I commend to you @obsidian.md. The ability to preview your posts in markdown and also to publish directly from the app or even schedule a post, is remarkable!

"Reflection requires stillness.

One cost of rushing from thing to thing is that you lose the space to think. Hard work matters, but nonstop motion often hides a quiet truth: you could have used your time better.

If you never pause, you confuse activity with effectiveness. Make time to think. Walk outside. Sit quietly. Create space. Then move again, but this time on purpose."

- James Clear

Multiple times today I have found myself absolutely stopped in my tracks with gratitude for the friends in my life.

Today was a breakthrough on the treadmill. I ran a full 5K at 5.6 (10:42/mi) pace. Next up, 5.7!

I just turned off notifications for my social apps. I am going to try and get control of my app usage. My phone buzzes non-stop.

It’s time.

Personal fitness is more than just eating right and exercising.

The ride is in the shop for some maintenance. Excuse to skip the workout? Nope.

Body weight workout it is! Grateful that FitBod is flexible enough to accommodate this with a couple taps. #195by50

Weigh in Wednesday!

9/22/2025 - 259.9 12/10/205 - 243.8 12/17/2025 - 246.7

Total loss - 13.2 lbs

Need to lose to reach 195: 51.7

A disappointing weigh in. I have not made the best choices at various holiday events. The clothes are fitting looser though, so the time in the gym is paying off #195by50

Tuesday nights a group of misfits gather to talk about things that matter. Each year we have a gift exchange and collect things to donate somewhere. This year we collected items for the food pantry and clothing closet run by Lincoln Consolidated Schools.

Ongoing Need List