pumpkin spice, sushi, and repentance

At work I experimented with making some espresso cocktails, and I really found a winner: short pumpkin spice latte with one pack raw sugar, whipped cream with caramel drizzle and topped with cinnamon dolce and pumpkin spice sprinkles. It's pretty amazing. I'll probably be drinking one every day after work. In other news, I've decided to stop trying to "lose weight." Instead I'm just going to try and "bulk up." Yesterday I did 50 extended push-ups and my chest is killing me today. Today's workout involves 100 arm curls. I'm most concerned about my abs, chest, and arms; though because of the pudge that will never go away (even underweight I had pudge on my tummy), my abs aren't a big concern--you'd never be able to see them. Amanda was in town last night and she came by work this morning and she smoked a cigarette with me on my last ten-minute break, and she said she's going to the Cincinnati Halloween party dressed up like me, and I'm going to go as a turtle--as long as I don't work that evening. We'll see if I can work it out.

Dewenter will be here in a little bit. We're going to grill some chicken and I'm going to bake some potatoes. It'll be amazing. Tomorrow I am joining Carly and Jessica C. from work and we're going to grab some sushi from some sushi restaurant in Kettering(?). I love sushi and can't wait, and Carly and Jessica are really cool, so that's a plus, too.

I finished Chapter IX of "Re:framing Repentance." It's all about faith and how to understand (a) what it is and (b) why it's what God desires/demands of us. It's one of the longest chapters in the second third of the book--it's about twenty pages--but it's well-worth the space. I've defined faith in Jesus Christ as loyalty to Jesus Christ. This fits in with what "loving God" is all about--devotion/commitment/loyalty to him--and it also flows perfectly with repentance, which--as I define it--is the decision to turn from self-loyalty to loyalty to God/Jesus. Most other readings regarding the relationship between Faith and Repentance are pretty jagged; that is, it becomes a technical rock concert where it's hard to ascertain how the two fit together. This understanding of repentance and faith--and how they interconnect--is, I think, true to the biblical writings and the major themes of the New Testament. So much regarding Christianity, the Christian life, and the eschatological future and how it is tied in with faith & repentance is freed from the ambiguity inherent in understandings of faith/repentance which harp upon certain aspects, superimposing these aspects above all the rest, without seeking to synthesize the aspects within a broader paradigm. Bah I'm getting tired of writing about it all. I'm excited about the next chapter, though: "The Consequences of Repentance." Here's a picture I took while suffering the aftershocks of Chipotle after work: