Friday, December 23, 2011

God Bless America

Just thinking back to a recent discussion with friends about our country, who founded it, why it was founded, etc.

Who were the first people to arrive on these shores from Europe? I would say mostly (if not all) Christians. Some came here to escape religious intolerance, some just looking for gold or a new life. But the vast majority of our early citizens, including the men who formed our government and led the rebellion WERE either Christian, or at the very least believed in a higher power. If you are crafting something, as a Christian, God is involved - even if he is not explicitly mentioned or drawn or whatever.

HOWEVER...

One of the very big considerations while forming our constitution was the idea that they never wanted our government stepping on religion (ie. they wanted no state religion). [Not the other way around, by the way, because everyone brings their ideals to the table in government]. They came up with the idea that the two should be "separate". This is separation of church and state. No formal country-wide religion. That's it. A lot more is made of it these days... too much I think.

I guess this post doesn't have much of a point except to say that this country really WAS founded by Christians (or at least God-fearing men and women) - really, it was unavoidable as Christianity was far more prevalent in that period than it is today.

All that being said I don't want non-Christians to think I am trying to take anything away from them. Not at all. The original idea and principals of this nation are good, solid... while many of us have forgotten who formed them and why we formed a nation around them, they can still work.

God bless you and have a heart-warming Christmas!

Friday, December 2, 2011

The Lord's words are always relevant...

I love reading the gospels, the 4 books: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I love them above all others because it's all about the life and death of our Lord, how he interacted with his people.

One thing I love is even how, as he was breathing his last, he was able to give us a parting fulfillment of scripture that mirrored his entire life with the words "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?":

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from my deliverance
and from my words of groaning?
2 My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
by night, yet I have no rest.

3 But You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You rescued them.

5 They cried to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disgraced.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by people.

7 Everyone who sees me mocks me;
they sneer and shake their heads:

8 "He relies on the LORD;
let Him rescue him;
let the LORD deliver him,
since He takes pleasure in him."

9 You took me from the womb,
making me secure while at my mother's breast.

10 I was given over to You at birth;
You have been my God from my mother's womb.

11 Do not be far from me, because distress is near
and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong ones of Bashan encircle me.

13 They open their mouths against me—
lions, mauling and roaring.

14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are disjointed;
my heart is like wax,
melting within me.

15 My strength is dried up like baked clay;
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You put me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me;
a gang of evildoers has closed in on me;
they pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I can count all my bones;
people look and stare at me.

18 They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.

19 But You, LORD, don't be far away.
My strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my very life from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me
from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the congregation.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!

24 For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He did not hide His face from him,
but listened when he cried to Him for help.

25 I will give praise in the great congregation
because of You;
I will fulfill my vows
before those who fear You.

26 The humble will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise Him.
May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth will remember
and turn to the LORD.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before You,

28 for kingship belongs to the LORD;
He rules over the nations.

29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before Him—
even the one who cannot preserve his life.

30 Descendants will serve Him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord.

31 They will come and tell a people yet to be born
about His righteousness—
what He has done.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Holiday Blurbs

You'd think I would have tons to write about but I don't really. I will say I am thankful for my wife's (and my kids') health and for my job and for all the blessings in our life together.

During the extended Holiday season I am more acutely aware of the love and friendship exhibited by family, church family and friends. It's a "warm, cozy" feeling. I am constantly reminded, like a daily communion, of our Lord's sacrifice, and it moves me to pray more frequently: prayers of thanks and prayers of hope for those who don't already know God.

Some specific things to be thankful for:

- The time my wife puts into our childrens' education.
- My job, the ability to feed and shelter us.
- My wife's health (the tumor and safe removal thereof).
- My own health which, despite myself, is not bad.
- Great role models in our extended family.

Some things I personally need to work on:

- Anger. Yeah, I get worked up over anything and everything.
- Exercise. I need to get out and MOVE. The first item may be related to this.
- Patience. I need more of it. James 1:19. This too affects my anger.

Thanks for tuning in!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Can marriage be marriage without God?

I don't think so. I am not saying that people who do not believe in God cannot be married, and that their marriage does not have meaning to them but...

Our pattern for marriage comes from God. I don't believe you can fully understand marriage unless you know God. The Bible likens our faith in Jesus Christ as a marriage where He is the bride groom and we (those who believe, the church) are the bride. And just as we are to become people of God and leave this world behind (I am speaking of worldly desires) a woman leaves her family and becomes part of her husband.

Looking at it in other ways... God created the universe, but why? He created man, saw that man needed a companion and created woman. But He desired a more intimate relationship with us, coming into the world as a man. I ramble, I know, but the point is that God himself desires a companion: us. And all things good flow down from God, as does marriage. It's a sacred bond, but one that is freely chosen by both parties, to commit to one another, to care for one another, to be friends and more.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Off they go...

The teens are off to college!

I've heard now a number of times that this is a difficult time in their spiritual lives... that a lot of them (at least according to statistics) will lose their way and drift into non-belief.

Recently a friend of mine on a forum I frequent suddently announced that he was abandoning his faith and becoming agnostic. I was upset. Upon noting him (very briefly, and also offering myself as a shoulder to cry on, so to speak) and discussing his decision I came to realize that I am not worried about the teens in our church.

This young man lives in England, he is starting his second year in college. When he gave his reasons for losing his faith I realized that he was losing his faith because his Church failed him. We failed him; and to some extent he has failed himself. He lacked an education to back his faith. Don't get me wrong, he is intelligent, artistic and writes some of the best poetry I've ever read, but... when it came to God, Jesus, the Bible, and the baseless junk many atheists throw at us these days, he had no answers, no knowledge to defend his own faith.

It is sad. I am hoping he takes me up on my offer to discuss his decision, or at least some of the issues he felt caused him to abandon God. I may not have all the answers he needs or wants to hear, but I can point him in the right directions. Anyway, all this comes back to OUR teens: they are some of the most intelligent, centered and bible-knowledgeable young adults I've ever met. Their faith is based not just in emotion, it is based in their knowledge of our Lord, his creation, and his works.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Another day in July

I think it is difficult to talk about God sometimes.

Amongst other Christians it is no problem. We can converse at various levels on faith, dogma, history, politics, etc. The problem is speaking with other people. Non-Christians, especially friends who are not Christian.

Why is this so difficult to bring up with an unbelieving friend?

It could be argued that I don't love enough. Or at the very least I am extremely selfish. If I really loved my friends enough, why would I fear losing them because I want to share my faith with them? Why would I fear showing them an ultimate act of love?

Here it is, the not-so-concise version of the Gospel:

Jesus was [God] born human. He lived a sinless life among us. He was falsely accused of a crime, and executed. This was the ultimate sacrifice for all the sins of Humanity. He rose from the dead a couple of days later as he said he would, assuring us a resurrection as well.

Fleshing it all out is the fun part... just getting people to be curious in it is the hard part. The things he taught while he were wonderful!

Here are some basics:
1. He brought us a new convenant.
2. We will ALL be resurrected and given a new, physical body.
3. He gave us new commandments including:
a) Love God with all your heart and mind and soul.
b) Love others as you love yourself.
c) Love others as he loved us.
4. Share this with everyone.

How does one become a part of all this awesomeness?
1. Confess belief in Jesus, the Gospel.
2. Be baptised.

That's the bare minimum. There is something I left out of that because it is an ongoing thing, really... that is confess your sins and repent.

Repent means stop doing bad things, basically. Repenting and confessing are ongoing because let's face it, no matter how hard we try, we still always screw up.

If you are the sciency type who rejects that God created the universe or that God created us... there are answers to those issues as well, good, reasonable, logical answers if you really want to know them... Seriously. Not answers like "because the Bible says so". The thing is, you have to be willing to read, to study, to WANT to know them.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

This entry has nothing to do with the great book and now somewhat famous movie "Bladerunner" which Sandi and I recently watched (I've seen it a few times of the past few decades).

I don't know if all software engineers are too, or even care, but I am an operating system enthusiast. By that, I enjoy all operating systems, despite their limitations, age, bugs or what-have-you. I think they are all great achievements.

Most of my recent musings have been about Windows 7 since that is the operating system I am currently using as my primary. Some have been about Haiku, Linux and OS X.

When I started using computers, the paradigm was a command line interface via multiple hardware terminals tied into a single mainframe (time share) system. (That and the punch card option was still available.) I still remember the glorious day I received my first uVAX (MicroVAX) workstation, running X Windows on top of VMS. Right around the same time I also had a VAXMate (running Windows 1.0 I believe) and an early Macintosh. The VAXMate and Macintosh were for Pagemaker - I designed and edited educational workbooks for a quality control group at DEC. Later I became a system/cluster manager, network manager and then a programmer.

X Windows, Windows and Mac OS were all the hot (along with AmigaOS, but that wasn't used in my line of business), windowed operating UIs. At the time, AmigaOS and MacOS were purer, as Windows and X Windows more or less ran on top of the underlying, command-line-based operating system, while the aforementioned booted directly into the UI. Before long, linux, OS/2 and BeOS joined the fray each bringing their own flavor into the fray - but all were essentially a spin on the existing windowed (mouse-driven) UI paradigm.

Lately it seems as tho' UI designers are trying to lead the paradigm in new directions. OS X and Gnome (a linux/BSD UI) have gone the route of a minimal desktop with quick, overlay access to the things you need (apps, certain documents, etc.) at the whack of a key or the movement of the mouse cursor. I believe Windows 8 is moving in this direction as well. Still, underlying it all are still the typical windowed apps, file browsers, etc. People (engineers) talk about getting away from this windowed/desktop paradigm to one that is more natural to use, but I don't think this is going to happen any time soon. I see small, gradual changes for the next decade (at least until we all receive our networked implants and start mentally surfing... even then I bet we image the data in a windowed format) that don't move very far away from what we have now.

And that's it... that's all this post was about. Sorry if the title dragged you in only to disappoint.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Growth

Our beloved minister and his wife are leaving our congregation. They are moving "home" to Tennessee. While I could wallow in self-pity and a deep sense of loss I know this will bring blessings all around:

The people getting Tom and Anne are being blessed.
We are being blessed because this brings us closer together as a church family.
Tom stayed long enough to get us a church building.
We will give another minister the opportunity to bring us God's word.
We will learn to love a new family and hopefully we will be a blessing to one another.

While I generally don't like change, when the change involves my growth (spiritual and emotional) I have to accept that it is a good thing.

It reminds me of the life and death of Jesus himself... both the most terrible and glorious thing to ever happen was a single event: The sacrifice of our Lord for our sins. How could such joy and sorrow ever meet?

Saturday, April 23, 2011

He is risen

Tomorrow we celebrate the completion of our salvation.

Think about this... God somehow translated his "dna" into human form, was born and raised and lived as a human. He WAS human. A baby dependent on a mother and father, then a boy, then a man, then a sacrifice for all our sins. The ONLY sacrifice that could cover our sins, the sacrifice of God Himself.

The days in the crypt confirmed his death. The fact that he rose confirmed his power over death, and his promise to us to be raised again in a new body. Physical but of the spirit. (Spirit does not mean immaterial).

Life here and now, in the "flesh" may not always be good, but if we keep our eyes on God, we are promised something we cannot even begin to grasp...

Happy Easter!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fires nicely, sight is off.

Got to go out and fire my new SD40 today. I think we (went with a friend) put about 50 rounds through it, maybe more, without a hitch. I noticed that the site is shifted to the left accounting for a good deal of my shots being off to the right. Trigger pull was firm but not gritty as I have heard, and not as heavy as I have also heard.

Received and installed my new Corsair water block for my CPU... what a dream! Quiet, and cools much better than the stock cooler did (and the AMD stock cooler is no slouch). I will never build another computer without one of these.

I try to avoid the news... but I clicked on My Yahoo today and the lead article was about how the President wants to raise the debt limit. Holy cow. I can feel the stress seeping throughout my body. I immediately fired off messages to our Senators begging them to do something about it. :)

Windows 8 is coming along at a steady pace, based on all the leaked screenshots. The beta is expected out next Autumn. Lion should be out soon as well and I will be buying the family pack again. I still hold hope that Apple will put out a headless mid-range computer again, some day.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

WP7 Update and New Weapon

Microsoft and carriers have been a little slow getting the WP7 updates out. But I finally got the "nodo" update with cut and paste. Works very nicely.

Scooter, our puppy, is growing. He's blending in well with the rest of the zoo.

The kids are plowing through their classes and getting their work done.

My HHKB Pro arrived and I am loving it.

I got a new logitech Anywhere MX mouse which is great.

My S&W SD40 arrived today and I am looking forward to some plinking.

I'll write a more verbose post soon. :)