{"id":1,"date":"2014-02-24T05:15:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T05:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elasson.com\/?p=1"},"modified":"2014-02-24T05:15:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T05:15:47","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/hello-world\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Hello world!&#8221; Seems fitting&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Hello world!&#8221; Seems like a fitting start, right? That&#8217;s not just how blogs start; that&#8217;s how\u00a0life starts&#8230; and nothing changes.<\/p>\n<p>I said &#8220;Hello world!&#8221; once in the late 80s as a small, slimy, squirming, screaming blob of baby. Intelligent tissue with God&#8217;s breath in me; though still not intelligent enough to make that breath into anything more than sirens. That&#8217;s how I said, &#8220;Hello world!&#8221;, and it all began.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s funny how not much has really changed.<\/p>\n<p>See, even then as the screaming baby blob I already knew my creator (albeit an obviously limited way) and he knew me as thoroughly as ever. Already I was fiercely dependent on my creator as well as the people and the environment around me. As we grow up into somewhat better functioning, older, baby blobs we tend to think those realities change, but actually, they don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pull-right\">As we grow up into somewhat better functioning, older, baby blobs we tend to think those realities change, but actually, they don&#8217;t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In fact, if we don&#8217;t realize that nothing has actually changed, maybe our perceived intelligence is worse off than the small, squirming baby blob version.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the only slight change is that we just have more sophisticated sirens. We&#8217;re more capable of both disguising and justifying our screams for satisfaction. Now we also have the greatest disguise of all, <em>familiarity<\/em>, and that means we most often don&#8217;t recognize our own sirens.<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;m just saying &#8220;Hello world!&#8221; Every day still saying, &#8220;Hello world!&#8221;, while I scream in many ways about many things&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"pull-right\">While I scream in many ways about many things&#8230; For my soul to be satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For my creator to supply me with all I need.<\/li>\n<li>For my body to function correctly in my environment.<\/li>\n<li>For those around me to love me.<\/li>\n<li>For my mind to understand more.<\/li>\n<li>For my self to feel value.<\/li>\n<li>For my soul to be satisfied.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Hello world!&#8221; That&#8217;s where it all begins for all of us. Seeking satisfaction. That&#8217;s where it all remains for all of us. Still seeking satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing changes <em>because it&#8217;s the way we&#8217;re made to function from start to finish.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re all screaming for satisfaction from start to finish. Maybe nothing really changes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-development","7":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":151,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/mindfulness-details-messages\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":0},"title":"On mindfulness of details in our messages","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"January 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We are no longer a society of biblically familiar, church friendly folks, but rather, one of intelligent skeptics. We must learn to communicate carefully and intentionally as such.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"communication","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":414,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/muscle-spiritual-discipline\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":1},"title":"The discouraging, damaging lie of &#8220;working out a muscle&#8221; of &#8220;spiritual discipline&#8221;","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not looking to pick a fight, but I will fight on this if I must. I believe the ideology,\u00a0and more aptly put, theology, of needing to \"work out a muscle\" of a so-called \"spiritual discipline\" is a very destructive thing to believe or to teach people. What do I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"communication","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"drinking water man thirsty life sustenance spiritual analogy image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/09\/man-drinking-water.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":143,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/they-didnt-pick-me-not-getting-the-job-and-moving-on-in-contentment\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":2},"title":"&#8220;They didn&#8217;t pick me&#8221; &#8211; Not getting the job and moving on in contentment","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"September 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"God is good and we don't get to understand much more than that...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;development&quot;","block_context":{"text":"development","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/development\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/better-communicate-work-ministry\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":3},"title":"I need a better way to speak of &#8220;work as ministry&#8221;","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"April 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A week ago I attended a conference for ministry-minded folks with a desire for reaching college students. At one point I found myself sitting next to a young man of African American ancestry, who was obviously very intelligent, in his last year of school, and was considering joining staff with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"communication","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":480,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/faith-works-christian-diagrams-explain\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":4},"title":"Faith And Works In The Christian Life (And My Diagrams To Explain Them)","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"October 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My speaking slides and helpful diagrams I designed to understand the interplay of faith and works in the Christian life.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"communication","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Faith and Works Message slide one from Riley Adam Voth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/10\/Faith-and-Works-Slide-Deck.001.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/10\/Faith-and-Works-Slide-Deck.001.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/10\/Faith-and-Works-Slide-Deck.001.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2016\/10\/Faith-and-Works-Slide-Deck.001.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":189,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/elasson\/connecting-stories-and-meaning\/","url_meta":{"origin":1,"position":5},"title":"On connecting meaning in our stories for our community","author":"Riley Adam Voth","date":"February 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We are part of the best story there is. 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