Born: July 29, 2008 @ 10:24 a.m.  7 lb. 5 oz.  19 1/2 inches

WARNING: The following is a short treatise on evil, not the standard fare of photos and journalistic ramblings...

So what happens if I get overwhelmed by all the evil in the world?  What if that evil seems to hold sway and to corrupt even good people?  What if that evil seems even to be part of myself, part of who I am?  Does that mean that God - the One Good - ironically has cursed this blighted planet with evil and that He has set up an evil destiny for me? 

But wait, how can I blame the presence of evil on God - the One Good (to continue with my Augustinian terminology)?  Did He really make me evil?  Perhaps not.

Is not evil here because mankind originally chose evil rather than God?  He created us as autonomous beings who can make our own choices and determine our own purposes - like Himself.  Although our lives are dependent on the one who created us, the direction we choose is our own.  Since mankind (in the form of Adam and Eve) chose evil, though, the presence of evil is something that we cannot decide - it's already been decided. (And instead of blaming Adam and Eve, I realize that I've made plenty of choices for evil myself.) 

Unfortunately, the presence of evil in this world means that some sins/evils come to me without my choice - by the messing-up of creation, the disordering of our desires, the selfish nature of humankind apart from the One Good.

If I can remember that "God is for me, not against me," I will remember also that the evil in me comes from the enemies of God (perhaps the traditional triumverate of God's enemies: the world, the flesh, the devil).  It must be NOT God, but the enemies of God who try to kill me for sport like a fly on the wall (yes, I've been reading Shakespeare).

"Let us love one another, because love is of God. He that does not love is not of God for God is love." (That's my lame attempt at paraphrasing something from one of the three letters of John the apostle.)  Working together against the enemies of God - even those within ourselves - is perhaps the strongest way of responding to evil.

And so I cry: "Out, damned spot, out!" Such is the result when mixing Shakespeare and St. Augustine... And I remember that my battle is not against God, but against the enemies of God. They plot an evil destiny for me, but God plots only for my good...

I realized I had a few other photos I could share...

We visited the Riverwalk in San Antonio at Thanksgiving:

We got ready for Christmas:

We live across the river from Baylor's Law School:

[deleted this picture - I looked constipated...] 

The days are beautiful, sunny, gorgeous, with temperatures in the 70s.  We went disc golfing with some friends today and some of us guys went into the water to rescue a disc golf or two - that would be Jeff and Tony...

Cheers Again,
Steve