Dermatitis and God

I suffer from a skin condition called dermatitis.  I don't know what it is, or why the doctors diagnose me with it.  Frankly, I don't think they know what it is either.  They figure just chronic itchiness of the skin is dermatitis.

Here's a little description of my condition.  I get itchy a lot, which is focused on my hands and feet.  I have a rough tendency to scratch it.  But it turns out this condition was going on for so long that I was starting to see cancerous symptoms.  [Thank you webMD for freaking me out ] The last straw I figured was when I started actually liking the pain of pouring scalding hot water on itching fingers and then wrapping it in a sheet of tissue and pressing in on it.  Because of this, my fingers began to ooze puss,so I went to see a doctor.

Doctor just said its dermatitis, and gave me a steroid based ointment to help my skin grow.  I guess the itchiness is the perpetual tendency for the body to recover  When it grows new skin, the bonding of the skin causes it to itch, when I itch it I tear the skin apart and guess what?  You got it, the whole thing happens again.  I found out my allergies also irritate it as well.  The ointment is meant to accelerate my skin growth and in the meantime.

So a year or so later from then, my dermatitis has not gone away.  The ointment doesn't cure dermatitis  it just makes sure my skin doesn't turn a bloody unappealing monstrosity.   I do get the urge to itch every so often and sometimes, I actually succumb to them.

Why is this important?  I was pondering this today coming out of a recent itching phase which left scars on my finger.  I was thinking how paralleled this is to my walk with God.  Let me elaborate.  We will simply put things together as I see fit:

Itching = temptation
Scratching = sinning
Pain and scars = result of sinning
Ointment = Jesus Christ.

So you have it this way.  We are all perpetually tempted in this befuddling world.  Everyone itches.  sometimes scratching will make it go away, but how many times have you said "my arm itches" and your mother tells you "Don't scratch it".  It's easy to say "Don't scratch",  It's an entirely different matter to resist itching it.  Likewise, we can tell each other do not sin, to resist it is an entirely different matter altogether.

Jesus Christ provides us the strength to resist the urge to itch.  Will the itch does not go away, Jesus gives us the growth we need to stay strong and resist temptation.  We also know that Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins.  Washing away the pain and the scars of our past mistakes and shortcomings.  Putting on the ointment of Jesus does not make temptation go away, but it makes fighting temptation a little more meaningful.

Do you have anything in your life that you see as a hindrance or frustration?  Finding God in the little things in life help bring peace in a frustrating situation.  Mind sharing?  Comment please.

uokbro?

I'm not the most brilliant person when it comes to social interaction.  In fact, I would consider myself as graceful as a bat when it comes to these things.  However; something that really does bother me is a person who thinks they are the big cheese when it comes to this.  You know, like "mmm delicious cheese."

My job in life is a whole lot of things: Sales person, Manager, College group leader, entertainer, thinker, husband [ha].  It's difficult for me to put up the right face at the right time.  But in the last few weeks, I've been getting more than one person asking me if I'm okay.  I suppose it's an omen telling me to straighten up because people are starting to get annoyed at the rain cloud above my head, if there even is a rain cloud there at all.

After reconsidering my mood several times, and reflecting on my attitude...I'm still wondering if I'm okay.  Let me put into perspective what you subject to someone when you ask them if they are okay.

Asking someone if they are okay is a heavy question in it of its own.  When you ask someone if they are okay.  It is clear that you don't think they are okay. Otherwise, you wouldn't question their  okay-ness. 

This means the other person now has to question him/herself - "Am I okay?"   If the subject in question is NOT okay.  You've struck a cord, now they are forced to reveal what is hiding underneath that rain cloud to you.  I cannot explain this better than the example of chess.  When you find yourself exposed with a "check".  That feeling you get when you feel like you can die, but you're forced to move somewhere that your aggressor probably wants you to move.  You're limited in your movement, but you have to do it anyway.

Now likewise, if you call "check" or even "checkmate" and it's a false call.  You leave the other person with a "what the heck. no it's not."  But first they have to look closely at the board just to find out you made a dumb call.   This is what it's like to ask someone if they're okay when they're actually...okay.  It also indicates to me that there is something I am doing to make them feel uneasy or uncomfortable...which in a sense makes me feel uncomfortable.  Now great...I might have had a sleep spell, a think spell, or a daze spell.  But all of a sudden I'm subjected to the question of "being okay"

Expect responses like:

Yes.

No.

Sure?

Fact:

It's not wrong to be concerned for someone.  But to give a half hearten invitation to open up what may cause the other to expose themselves is just irrational.   

Solution:

If you are genuinely concerned about someone.  Why not approach them by exposing yourself first.  Observe the following dialog.

"Hey, I feel like you've been a little quiet tonight.  Is something bothering you?"  Observe the tact and ingenious structure of this question.  You are putting yourself out there first.  You are exposing yourself by expressing your own feelings AND you are justifying your concern with evidence.  Now the subject knows why you are concerned, why you are questioning him/her, and that their demeanor worries you.  

BOOM - Think about how they'll respond now.  

successful response:

"Oh really?  I didn't notice.  Sorry, I'm just a little tired."

"Oh.  Sorry, just kinda spacing out."

"Yeah....my dog ate my homework last night."

"Well, my loot didn't drop last night when we killed the lich king. So I'm kinda pissed about that."

Do you see? A full heartened question will get a full heartened answer.  That's what you want right?  Look, I know what it's like to be a guy.  Guys aren't rocket scientists of heart and soul [to women or fellow guys].  But consider how much more it will mean to them [both women and fellow guys].  Ladies?  Can I get an approving comment?  I feel like this is something that some, if not most, women have such a better grasp at sympathetic vibrations than their grunting, awesome, perfect counterpart. 

What's all this?

Some time ago, I decided to create a blog.  Now I'm almost a year older and I've only made 1 measly post.  Aha! When you sit in the computer, many times you don't know what to write.  Maybe I just need to make it a habit to just sit down and start typing.  For now, I suppose if I were to truly believe that my life was awesome, I should start sharing what I've been doing in my life yeah?


The last weekend was absolutely fantastic:

Friday:
Met up with a few friends for Korean BBQ.  Had lots of fun and I don't think I ate too much in the process. It's interesting how friends end up in your life.  When you really think about it.  People enter your lives in different but very significant ways.  Some people charge in, some people ease their way in, and then some people you beckon in.  Funny...right?  Dinner was fantastic.  I can remember the first time we had dinner, conversations were hard to strike up and even then it was fairly uneasy.  This time, we were so comfortable with each other.  I've moved them into my friend's circle on google+


Saturday:
Six Flags Magic Mtn, I must say makes me appreciate Disneyland a lot more.  In terms of service, I cannot even begin to explain how much they fall short.  Every year, I must complain about the darn lockers that they FORCE you to use, otherwise you can't ride.  Disneyland gives you little pouches to put your stuff in, and Knotts gives you little cabinets to put your stuff in.  Six flags makes you pay pretty much a dollar for every ride you ride on, especially if you have women who need to carry around essentials at all times.  Pretty stupid stuff. Last year, they decided to charge a dollar every time they had a souvenir cup refill, but looks like they changed that.  As bad as that sounds, I think everyone had a really good time on Saturday.  There were some kinks in between, but all-in-all it was very fun. 

The Guys [minus me]

The Gals [minus Cheryl]

It was pretty hot, but I suppose it could have been worse

When Goliath broke down

Goliath broke down a bit, but with some fervent praying, God jump started it back up.  Wahoos!  X-2 was our grand finale, and it seemed to have been an excellent choice.  The night time thrill of well...almost dying was absolutely amazing, and I'm sure some of us will be talking about that for a while.  It was fun everyone.  Thank you for them memories. 

Sunday:

Les Misérables at the Ahmanson's theatre was a brilliant production.  The story line as we might have expected is....quite grim but provides such a heartfelt inspiration and probably the first theatrical [professional] play that explores a dark but connectable reality that many of us can understand.  And while I'm not a classical theater buff, or an avid reader in classics that these derive out of,  I feel like this wasn't my favorite but was definitely one I enjoyed.  Above the phantom of the opera, but below Wicked.  

It was nice having everyone there.  We had so much fun! 

Group picture :D