This morning I got off to a good start with an early rise and prayer.

After the kids got off to school I made 2 job applications and did some research on the workforce website. My daughter #1 has not started school yet so I couldn't do much more as I had to babysit her. But I am beginning to gear up for a more intensive job search as all the kids will be at school next week.

I spent some quality time with my daughter in the shade under the trees in the front yard this morning. It was a relatively cool morning for August in Texas and I was grateful for the day. We put together some stepping stones.

I saw some debate in the media about the catholic mass for Ted Kennedy and criticism on several issues. It got me thinking about some recent objections I have heard about Christianity (or Catholicism) that are all more about what Christians (or Catholics) do rather than what Christian principles are about.

I conceived a simple thought about this. Christianity should be evaluated on what Christians are supposed to do, not what they do do, because what they do do is often do-do.

I thought about the forth step today and about the difficulty of narrowing down the parts of self that are described in the Big Book. It occurred to me that perhaps the important thing is the concept of the "root cause" or "part of self" or "basic instinct" and these might be slightly different than those listed. For example, I have a description of ambitions as "plans and designs" or desires. Maybe these terms could be used. Also it is a little confusing that paragraphs on forgiveness and our mistakes are listed before fear. But fear has apparently already been addressed in the first part of the inventory.

Basic instinct
innate behaviors
motivational forces
fixed action patterns

fight
flight
mate (sex relations)
nest (security)
desire (ambition)
horde (pocket book)
pack (personal relations)
self esteem (pride, arrogance)

Basic instinct in it's proper volume leads us to respond to true needs.
When basic instinct is not constrained then it can drive us into distortion and then complete denial and delusion of the truth.

Tonight I got to go to a meeting and afterward I got to speak to some folks about the job market. I found out some information that settled my insecurity through the end of the year. I can now focus on going to school.

Thanks be to God.