lens of truth

last night we read the 2nd half of luke and one thing stuck out to me over and over again...

i think Jesus must have been really frustrated by how blind people could be. we run around with such a simple mind that's set on the world and we miss out on so much truth (both the good and the bad).

last week i was talking to a few people about screwtape letters and erin mentioned how creepy it is... because it's pretty accurate to the truth- a truth that we are ignorant of most of the time.

and on the other hand there's... the story of the woman at the well, for example. she's thirsty for the living water that Jesus talks about, but doesn't realize that it's right on front of her!

so... partly in honor of "zelda" posts 2 summers ago...
and mainly because it's a perfect metaphor...
i was very much reminded of the lens of truth.
just think about it! :)

we need to equip them more often. i do at least.

i'm too lazy/busy at the moment to explain this to non-zelda fans. so if you're confused and don't want to be then just comment here or ask on facebook.

finally, below are a few (of many) random quotes from the chapters we read that made me think about all this:

"you hypocrites! doesn't each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? then should not this woman, a daughter of abraham, whom satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the sabbath day from what bound her?" then he asked them, "if one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" and they had nothing to say.

"if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'i repent,' forgive him."
the apostles said to the Lord, "increase our faith!"
he replied, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

"The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'here it is,' or 'there it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

Jesus called the children to him and said, "let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

he saw through their duplicity and said to them, "show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"
"caesar's," they replied.
he said to them, "then give to caesar what is caesar's, and to God what is God's.

a link to the office - part 3

so
i had just gone into the restroom the other day when the lights flickered and went out.
it's a good thing i had my cell phone... it was pretty dark.
turns out it wasn't just the bathroom lights.
a few of the hallway lights and desk lamps worked.
but most lights, the computers, the AC were gone. for about 10 minutes most people were just sitting around talking because there's not terribly much engineering work to be done without computers nowadays.
then the fire alarm went off. so everyone in the 9 story office had to pour outside through the stairs, which of course didn't have emergency lights in them... (none that worked at least.)

it was hot. and we didn't know if it would even be fixed. and we only had about another hour left for the day anyways. so we left and went home.

didn't come in yesterday either. turns out they didn't get the power fixed until 1 something in the afternoon.

the day off was nice. got a bunch of random stuff done that i've been pushing off. and beat x-men legends with Jake and Reece. and read part of one of my favorite books, the Silence of Adam, which i've been rereading this week. (more on that tomorrow perhaps, when i finish it)

but back now. :)
sounds ridiculous, right?

okay okay...
i'll tell you what really happened...


so i found a new guy here on the 8th level of the dungeon who gave me a special sheet of paper and told me to give it to someone else on the 7th floor. and when i did, he told me to return to the 8th floor, where i would find a switch. stepped on it [doo daa doo doo dee dee doo!] and enemies began to pour out! of course because i was unarmed all i could do was flee...

i accidentally ended up missing the correct passageway and ended up on the 6th floor. but to my good fortune, there turned out to be some sort of armory there! there were 3 different colored weapons: black, blue, and red. i could only assume black is normal (but stronger), while the other two have ice and fire properties. so i took them all [da dee daa dee daaaaaaa!].

anyways, i returned and began to fight the monsters that had appeared. at first there were literally hundreds of them! however they were quite easy to defeat. it was simply a matter of attacking them all with my... ice rod first. this froze them and enabled me to handle them one at a time. i then would slash a few times with the sword and use my fire rod to destroy each of them.

as their numbers thinned i figured it would become easier. but i soon discovered that the last of the beasts were usually much more difficult. some of them could camouflage themselves to blend into the background until i froze them. they took more strikes with the sword than the first ones and often a little bit of magic.

the battle was moving along fine, but i decided to retreat and stock up in case a mini-boss should pop up after i eliminated the monsters. i had just stumbled into a room that appeared to be a fairy fountain... but suddenly the lights in the room died. it was fortunate i had purchased a candle recently, as i needed it to navigate out of the cave. when i emerged, i decided the only thing to do was first finish defeating the monsters from before. however, the entire dungeon was darker than before and the temperature seemed to be quickly rising as well...

but before i could continue my battle, there was a sudden loud noise. the natives of this dungeon (who seem to be cousins of the gorons, judging by the way they yawn,... though with an exceptionally higher intelligence.) were all suddenly hurrying to leave. i learned that this had happened before. from the darkening of the lights, rising heat level, and loud screaming noises i can only guess that some great evil lurks inside this place (a dragon perhaps?).
but of course there is. who's ever heard of a dungeon with no boss???

but where is he? and the key to his lair?
i need to find that compass...

after exiting, i decided to leave once again to reengerize and restock. (i was particularly low on magic) and now, after hearing from the natives that the dungeon had returned to normal, i have returned...

a link to the office - part 2

i am now back from my sidequest to florida...
(i'll say more about that in the next day or two i think)

and have once again returned to conquer this dungeon.

i was able to purchase a sword in florida,
but the evil magic of this place prevents me from equipping it here.

i spend most of my time on the 8th floor.
it's accessible, unlike the others.
however the only door that gets you anywhere of importance has a special lock.
5 switches must be pressed in the proper order to open it.
thankfully i learned the correct sequence from a man on the 7th floor of the dungeon.

i finally obtained a dungeon map.
however there's no sign of a compass. or a boss key. and the symmetry of this dungeon makes it difficult to even guess where the boss may be.

i'll have to keep exploring.

though i believe i'll have to briefly return to the overworld before long to restock on potions and the like.

i played my windows media player today and found that a number of songs seem to speed up time.
i wish one would teleport me to other floors... it gets rather tedious walking back and forth.

i did hear from an old man today, that a new room will be opened tomorrow, providing that i collect a number of "drawings."
but it's rather complicated. a number of switches on the 8th floor have to be pressed for them to appear on the 7th (and a few on the 6th i suspect), and then of course i have to find, obtain, and bring them back here.

oh
and i think i will be able to obtain a ton of rupees tomorrow!
that will be helpful

at least there is still no sign of monsters...
(though the guy who looks like he came straight out of the 70s is a little suspicious...)

:)

a link to the office

to get on some floors of our office you need a badge to unlock the door

the lock next to the door has a little red light on it, and when you hold up your badge it turns green and unlocks.
then about 10 seconds later it turns red again and makes a loud locking noise.

it reminds me very much of zelda, when you step on a switch and get through the door before it locks back. too bad there's no ticking noise.

to make it better, when i go through this particular door, i'm generally headed for the plotter room. to pick up a drawing.
which can look very much like a map.

too bad i don't have a sword
and there's no moblins.

then again... maybe that's my fault
because i haven't found it yet...
and i bet when i do, enemies will suddenly appear on all sides.

maybe i need to start kicking these filing cabinets open...