Words, words, words!
1.
i. Abecedarian
ii. Noun
iii. One learning the rudiments of something (as the alphabet)
iv. Abecedarian (adj)
v. Origin: Mid. Eng. from Medieval Latin from late Latin neuter of abecedarius of the alphabet, from the letters a+b+c+d
2.
i. Augment
ii. Verb
iii. To make greater, more numerous, larger, or more intense
iv. Augment (noun)
v. Origin: Mid. Eng. from Anglo-French augmenter, from late Latin , from Latin augmentum increase, from augēre to increase
3.
i. Authenticate
ii. Transitive verb
iii. To prove or to serve to prove the authenticity of

iv. Authentication (noun); Authenticator (noun)
v. Unknown
4.
i. Burgeoning
ii. Intransitive verb
iii. To send forth new growth; to grow and expand rapidly
iv. Bourgeon
v. Middle English burjonen, from Anglo-French burjuner, from burjun bud, from Vulgar Latin *burrion-, burrio, from Late Latin burra fluff, shaggy cloth
5.
i. Cessation
ii. Noun
iii. A ceasing of action
iv. N/A
v. Middle English cessacioun, from Middle French cessation, from Latin cessation-, cessatio delay, idleness, from cessare to delay, be idle — more at cease

6.
i. Fallacy
ii. Noun
iii. A false or mistaken idea
iv. Fallacies (pl.)
v. Latin fallacia, from fallac-, fallax deceitful, from fallere to deceive
7.
i. Foreboding
ii. Noun
iii. The act of one who forebodes; an omen, prediction, or presentiment
especially of coming evil
iv. Foreboding (adj); Forebode
v. 14th century
8.
i. Mandate
ii. Noun
iii. An authoritative command
iv. Mandate (transitive verb)
v. Middle French & Latin; Middle French mandat, from Latin mandatum,
from neuter of mandatus, past participle of mandare to entrust, enjoin,
probably irregular from manus hand + -dere to put — more at manual,
do
9.
i. Perturbation
ii. Noun
iii. A disturbance of motion, course, arrangement, or state of equilibrium
iv. Perturbing; Perturbed; Perturbational (adj)
v. 14th century
10.
i. Quell
ii. Verb
iii. To put a stop to (something) by use of force
iv. Queller (n)
v. Middle English, to kill, quell, from Old English cwellan to kill; akin to Old High German quellen to torture, kill, quāla torment, Lithuanian gelti to hurt
11.
i. Sovereignty
ii. Noun
iii. Supreme power or excellency
iv. Sovereignties (pl)
v. Middle English soverainte, from Anglo-French sovereinté, from soverein
12.
i. Substantiate
ii. Transitive verb
iii. To give substance or form to; to establish by proof or competent evidence
iv. Substantiation (n); Substantiative (adj)
v. 1657
13.
i. Vernacular
ii. Noun
iii. A language or dialect native to a person
iv. Vernacular (adj); Vernacularly (adv)
v. Latin vernaculus native, from verna slave born in the master's house, native
14.
i. Vestige
ii. Noun
iii. A trace or visible sign of something that no longer exists
iv. Vestigial (adj); Vestigially (adj)
v. Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin vestigium footstep,
footprint, track, vestige
15.
i. Virago
ii. Noun
iii. A woman of great stature, strength and courage
iv. Viraginous (adj)
v. Middle English, from Latin viragin-, virago, from vir man — more at virile

*Definitions obtained from merriam-webster.com/dictionary


I come to class one day and like the meticulous student that I am, I ask the teacher to explain the homework. (It is always better to ask than to be left in the dark, afterall.) Anyway, the problem was in the fact that I did not understand the vocabulary in the question. My teacher then proceeded to tell me, “You need to expand your vocabulary,” in a derogatory tone. (That’s right, I said derogatory. How’s that for a big word!) I won’t go into any details as to whom exactly this mean, pride perturbing professor was. Let’s just say that she has a Russian accent. (Wink-wink). All I could think was “Well, I’d never!” These be fightin’ words for an English major like myself, my self-respect nearly becoming a vestige.

A year and a half goes by and I write a novella for another class. This time I make sure to demonstrate my burgeoning vocabulary. I didn’t simply use the Word thesaurus like crazy. (Of course I wouldn’t do that!) Rather, I used words that I honest-to-goodness already knew and wanted to use to express my story. These words were validated, don’t ya know! I would let this professor know that I was no abecedarian to the English language. As it turns out, she responded on my paper in that foreboding red ink that just screams rejection that my language did not sound natural. Who is she to tell me what my own personal vernacular should be?

Here I stand at crossroads: being instructed to augment my vocabulary on one side and on the other told to do the exact opposite. Talk about a “lose-lose” situation. Okay… whatever! I must authenticate myself for who I am not for who others want me to be. I write for no professor. I speak for no professor. Assuming that I do would be nothing more than a mere fallacy. I cannot be quelled. There is one and only one being that has sovereignty over me. I write for God. I speak for God. He alone mandates me. Take it or leave it. Virago!
…Cessation/Beginning…

Shhhhh!—Not while I’m still-ing

Recently, I did a goggle search on the word “still” and got various and very odd results. Those results were: “stihl,” “how to build a still,” “still chain saw,” “homemade still,” “still’s disease,” “still standing,” “still hillsong” and “moonshine.” These results led to links about still’s disease, a form of arthritis that attacks children and adults and is indicated by high spiking fevers and a temporary salmon colored rash. It talks about “still standing” which is a funny show…that Bill just kills me! It talks about “still” a song by a Christian group that I had never heard of before, but another goggle search proved that it is a pretty good song. Others of these results I still have no clue what they were talking about. Generally, these results simply say to me that I should never have even thought about googling the word still. Most of them do not seem to reflect what the theme “Still” means to me at all.
The exception would have to be the song “Still” by Hillsong. I get it. It speaks to
me! The lyrics are as follows:
Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover mewithin your mighty hand
When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God
Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know his powerI
n quietness and trust
This song simply and beautifully reveals the concept of having peace despite all of the pressures of a hectic, frantic world. Being calm. Being still. This kind of peace cannot be found in things of the world. You cannot find this peace in a bottle. No. You cannot find this peace in pills. Uh-un. You cannot find this peace in drugs. Claro que no! This kind of peace is not purchased. It is not tangible. You cannot hold it in your hands. You cannot touch. But, you can feel it. You can feel it in your soul and gently become at ease.
This kind of peace is only imparted by God to those whom he has chosen. It is given to those who trust in Him and submit their all to Him. Without God we are powerless anyway. Who am I? No one. Who is He? Everything. What I am without Him? Nothing. What is He? Everlasting life! What can we do but turn to him, pray to Him and let him have His way? Now that is pure…pleasant…peace. It is the ultimate S-T-I-L-L!
Still is about being still; knowing the concept of still; living still; breathing still. And yes, I did just use the word still just about a million times to define the word still. The importance lies in trusting God through anything. It’s about knowing that God has got your back 100 percent. It’s about letting go of self—self-will, self-desires, self-dreams—and saying once and for all, “Okay, Lord, your will be done.”
Shhhhhhh! Be silent. Be still.

Keep Your Life, I’ve Got My Own

In an article featured on CNN.com entitled “For Sale: One Life in China” is the story of a woman named Chen Xiao who has handed her life over to the internet. In an effort to find happiness, she has completely forfeited any life plans she had and does the bidding of China’s internet users, known as “netizines.” Some of the duties she has performed are: delivering pet food, taking pictures of a birth, and delivering hot food to the homeless. She doesn’t do anything “immoral.”

Xiao, 26, gets paid about three dollars per hour in exchange for her task work. Her logic behind giving up control of her life is that she was unhappy and disappointed with the life that she had led thus far. She figures that she will give someone else a shot at directing her life, and see what happens. I guess the question remains, so what? Why would anyone write a blog about such a topic?

Upon reading the article, I am reminded of a little book called Fahrenheit 451. Perhaps you have heard of this little masterpiece which was written by Ray Bradbury. If you haven’t heard of it, then you’re not even allowed to read this blog; you’re not worthy! The basic plot summary is that firemen burn books as a form of censorship, but technology is strong in the people’s lives. People interact with the television and consider the characters “family.” The main character’s wife is so completely immersed in the life of these stories that she doesn’t even have a real life of her own. Technology controls her.

Technology is such a dominant factor in people’s lives today. Even to the extent that people are relying on technology as opposed to letting God direct their path or making their own decisions. There’s even a woman from Nevada who has decided to auction her virginity off over the internet. Where I come from, there’s this little thing named decorum. In decorum there are set standards and propriety which explicitly excludes, to borrow a term from Shakespeare, “fishmonger-”ing. She plans on using the money that she raises to pay for graduate school for herself and her sister. Once again, want of money plus the internet equals an individual’s loss of self-control.

What it comes down to is the fact that technology does get a little out-of-hand. I hear people talk about widgets and I’m like…“Wait, what’d you call me?!” But, yes, they said widget not midget. I don’t even know what that means. I’m not even sure that I want to know what it means. Gadgets and gidgets and widgets, oh my! The fact that I can even post a blog is almost a miracle in and of itself. I may be the only one who chants it, but at least someone will chant it, “Long live the day of the paper and pen!” Call me a simpleton if you must.

The Subject of Ethics Subjectively

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “ethical” as “of or relating to ethics; conforming to accepted and especially professional standards of conduct.” Further, the M-W Dictionary notes the words virtuous, moral, and principled as synonyms for the term under examination. Though this type of definition can be useful under certain conditions, it is overtly conventional. The problem with conventional is that it makes ethics seem clear-cut, as purely black or white. While black and white are colors that are straight forward and undiluted, gray is a shade that is murky and undecipherable. My definition of ethical will probably be gray, but ethics is a gray-ish sort of issue.
First, ethics are subjective. What is ethical in your neighborhood may be considered unethical in other atmospheres. For example, if you have ever seen the movie Wrong Turn, Cannibalism was an accepted practice in the town that the poor, misguided group of young people to stumbled upon. But, hopefully, to you and I eating people is not only considered gross, but also highly frowned upon. Another example is that in certain cultures slurping and belching during a meal shows enjoyment while the typical U.S. home depicts such actions as ill-mannered. Hence, there is not one commonly accepted set of standards that the whole world follows.
Similarly, while there are certain guidelines that all Christians must follow (i.e. thou shalt not have any gods before the God, thou shalt not make graven images…Ex.20), all Christians are given individual, internal convictions. Romans 14:14 states it best:
I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of
itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
This means that God will place into a person’s heart his or her own standards of right and wrong which may or may not be cohesive to another person’s views. For example, the Amish way of life rejects all electricity, but other Christian branches openly embrace technology. Also, some may feel that they are going against God when they do not keep the kosher laws of the Old Testament, yet others are not ethically convicted when they eat pork. Lastly, some women may feel guilty of wrong doing when they wear pants to church and others may not. It all depends upon the person.
Thus, ethics are not objective, not even in Christendom. A standard of conduct that is accepted without debate or opposition will never be reached here on earth. As Japanese poet Kaneko Mitsuharu (1895-1975) phrased it in “Opposition:”
This I believe: to oppose Is the only fine thing in life. To oppose is to live (…)
My final word on the issue is that the will of God must be performed. Obeying the Spirit, that is ethical.