Daniel Cox

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Foaming Soap Dispensers

(10:27:42 AM) Daniel: ya know what's cool?
(10:27:48 AM) Jack: clouds?
(10:27:50 AM) Jack: er wait
(10:27:51 AM) Jack: ice
(10:27:54 AM) Jack: ice is cool.
(10:28:05 AM) Daniel: nope! none of those things are cool! foaming soap dispensers. foaming soap dispensers are cool
(10:28:24 AM) Daniel: 'cause they multiply your liquid soap by three
(10:28:33 AM) Jack: ...
(10:28:42 AM) Daniel: soap up to here, water up to here
(10:28:48 AM) Jack: that's physically impossible
(10:28:55 AM) Jack: I thought you went to college man
(10:28:58 AM) Daniel: oh you of little faith
(10:29:05 AM) Jack: I HAVE FAAITH IN SCIENCE
(10:29:43 AM) Jack: /awkward pause
(10:29:56 AM) Daniel: http://esv.to/mt14:17-21
(10:30:06 AM) Jack: <.<
(10:30:06 AM) Daniel: see
(10:30:08 AM) Jack: >.>
(10:30:12 AM) Daniel: foaming soap dispensers
(10:30:15 AM) Jack: HAhahha
- 27 September 2011
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In life, we’re not made happy by what we acquire, but by what we appreciate.

I first heard that quote while listening to a very good talk by Michael Ramsden on Conversational Apologetics. We've been given a lot by God that doesn't make us happy. This is not because the gifts are not good, or because they are not plentiful, but rather because we fail to appreciate them. I was reminded of this just now by a conversation I had with a good friend of mine, which I thought I'd share (with his permission):

...

(06:47:45 PM) Jack: man…. my life is really easy
(07:30:24 PM) Daniel: :)
(07:30:33 PM) Daniel: how do you mean?
(07:30:41 PM) Jack: hmm what did I say?
(07:31:13 PM) Daniel: right now i'm thinking, my life is really easy because hobo is powerful and helpful, rails is genius, ruby is an ideal programming language, and small heroku accounts are free forever
(07:31:20 PM) Daniel: "man... my life is really easy"
(07:31:24 PM) Jack: oh yeah
(07:31:50 PM) Jack: I wake up in a warm, clean bed, breathing easy, free of disease or imminent fear
(07:32:01 PM) Jack: that ^ is enough
(07:32:09 PM) Daniel: i can spin up a cool app as fast as i can code it, which is pretty fast given that hobo and rails do all the boilerplate and ruby is so programmer friendly
(07:32:18 PM) Daniel: indeed
(07:33:57 PM) Jack: after I wake up… I eat food that not only is overnutritious, but also tastes sweet. I take a shower in clean, hot water using soap and shampoo that keeps me presentable among the highest of social classes in the highest standards of cleanliness in history
(07:34:14 PM) Daniel: hahaha
(07:34:15 PM) Jack: I have a toothbrush.
(07:34:35 PM) Jack: my roommates don't kill me in my sleep or steal my stuff
(07:34:52 PM) Daniel: so far
(07:35:45 PM) Jack: I go to work every day in an amazing machine, that not only gets me to and from work with relative reliability, but also gets me there in style and comfort. I had my choice among many such machines, and I chose the one I liked best
(07:36:19 PM) Jack: not because it's most efficient, because my lifestyle can afford inefficiency
(07:37:36 PM) Jack: I daily use some of the most advanced technology ever concieved, and I use it casually, as if it's something available to anyone
(07:38:15 PM) Jack: I have free and unfiltered access to the greatest database of human knowledge and communication ever.
(07:38:55 PM) Jack: there's a roof over my head right now. It could snow or hail and I wouldn't have to move an inch to remain safe
(07:39:13 PM) Daniel: well... you just blew my reasons out of the water
(07:39:21 PM) Jack: sssploooosh!!
(07:39:30 PM) Daniel: and made me want to write a blog post
- 15 September 2011
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Learning In War-time

"There are always plenty of rivals to our work. We are always falling in love or quarrelling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come." -- C.S. Lewis, Learning In War-time

I am struck by this quote not so much as the original audience was, but rather as regards the daily tedium of life versus the little things we would like to do if there weren't a "war" going on around us. There are always dishes, boxes to unpack, errands to be run, forms to be filled out and mailed, and there is always something like Comcast threatening to cut off our service if they can't get our SSN to verify our identity. If these things are allowed to affect our Bible study, prayer, or time spent with our spouse, then the important will always take a back-seat to the urgent (and perhaps important too).

There are some things that, while seemingly unimportant in a single instance, are in aggregate essential. So a missed Bible-study is not, in isolation, a catastrophe, but a cessation of Bible study altogether is another matter. Because the single instance seems of a lower priority than some sudden new development, we are tempted to abandon our daily discipline in favor of the "emergency". Frequently, it would be better to evaluate the relative weight of the daily activity in aggregate against that of the new development, subject of course to one's recent history of adherence to the daily.
- 14 September 2011
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About Daniel Cox

I'm a Christian, a husband, a puzzle enthusiast, and a Software Engineer with Six3 Systems.

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Foaming Soap Dispensers

In life, we’re not made happy by what we acquire, but by what we appreciate.

Learning In War-time

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