yg2bk

This Article came as a bit of a surprise. Last couple weeks we have talked about cultural trends related to technology and what discernment is required by Christian parents in light of them. One trend was related to things that people will say/write in an impersonal medium such as chat/IM, texting, or online forums. Something they would never say to someone's face for a variety of reasons (mostly related to proper social graces) they will send via an impersonal electronic means. Including the closing of texts (man to man) with a electronic kiss. Proof positive that years of feminazation have taken hold and John Wayne is rolling over in his unmarked grave somewhere in the American Southwest.

x


P.S. For those who have been waiting with baited breath for me to return from my long blogging hiatus, you can exhale now. I enjoyed wondering if I still had a blog

Indocrination? I hope so!

My 4th grader has quite the Reagan conservative perspective on the World. Her common sense approach to issues and straight thinking/talking manner will make her just as unelectable as her father, I mean, nobody wants to hear the truth or common sense when it comes to politics. Just tell me what you are going to do for me, and I will blindly vote for you with all the careful consideration of the rest of our consumer driven instant gratification society without regard for future consequences.

Her 4th grade class has been studying various government types as well as business and economics concepts such as monopolies, socialism, wealth, and supply and demand. Recently she brought home a test with the following hilarious essay question & answer.

Q: How is competition between manufacturers good for the people who buy their products?

A: Take the car companies for instance, if Chrysler, General Motors, and Ford all make similar "09 Coca Cola Minivans" Mrs. B (her teacher) will want one. But Ford has a built in Coca-Cola machine that looks bad, and General Motors is overpriced. But Chryslers Coca-Cola mini van is perfect and at the lowest price. It is good because if only Ford was allowed to make them, Mrs. B would have no choice! Now she can go and find the best one at the price she can afford

Right as rain puddin' A little competition should improve the consumer's price and performance, this also occasioned a discussion (more like a lecture) from dad about unfunded multi billion dollar CAFE mandates, uncontrolled wasteful government spending while lecturing businesses that actually produce goods and services about their corporate jet usage, and unamerican trade practices, all used to force auto companies to make cars Americans won't buy cause they are massively overpriced and can't actually replace a internal combustion driven vehicle... but I digress, she is used to my occasional Mark Levin style tirades against the stupid hypocrisy of our elected "leaders"

A Singular Moment

"Fire, for God's sake, fellow soldiers, fire!"

With those words, the colonists, a group of Concord farmers, the original "citizen soldiers" if you have seen the latest movie advertisement for the National Guard, initiated organized resistance against the British army and set in motion a revolution of change that ended up creating our republic. I sometimes wonder what some of these men would think about the state of our country. Not the political state, but the state of mind of the people. Do we have the courage they did? To stand up against tyranny and the disregard for human rights, to come together to deal with harsh realities we face, to put our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor on the line?
Standing at this bend in the river and thinking about what happened as a result of the courage of these farmers against the worlds most professional standing army is a sobering and thought provoking experience.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Standing Ready

We have seen a historic event this week in our nation. All the redundant spewing of Hope and Change from both parties in an effort to distance themselves from the troubled legacy of the Bush presidency has produced an atmosphere of hatred for what America has become that nearly rivals Ronald Reagan's passionate declaration of American exceptionalism. It seems like the political elites, the ruling class of America if you will, desire to remake our nation in the image of the failed policies of Europe or in the unrealistic and imaginary viewpoint of the institutions of "higher learning" that have abandoned education and taken to indoctrination of political theory onto every area of life.

Did I care who won the election? Well, yes, a few months ago I cared passionately. When the Republican party nominated a moderate maverick instead of a solid conservative, I began to care less. Looks like a few million of my fellow countrymen perhaps did the same...

Last night I drove by the Battle Green in Lexington, Mass. The statue representing the leader of the Lexington Minutemen who stood up against the tyranny of the King and set in motion events that would lead to the creation of the most exceptional form of government that the World has seen. I don't believe some of our leaders even know what happened back then, and they certainly don't seem to understand the principles and ideals the governed the actions. I don't believe we need "new" hope and change in America, we need some old fashioned ways of thinking. If anything is good about the state of politics in America today, it may be that an opportunity has afforded itself for the remaking of one of the two great political parties. If the Republican "leaders" can't see it, the people can. Putting forth a middle ground compromising candidate to defeat something similar on the left doesn't make you victorious, it makes you indistinct. Maybe its time we looked at the principles that founded this nation instead of looking for ways to abandon them. It doesn't take much courage to be non-partisan it takes courage to be partisan when the stakes are high and there is a need for leaders who stand for what they claim to believe.

Crisis of Faith

Bob Bixby has a great article that ties the current election to the culture of the church in America. "The national crisis is a soul crisis"

Perhaps the large contingency of “Evangelicals for Obama” illustrates this better than any other segment of society that is caught up in the wave of Obama-mania. Evangelicals pay lips service to unchanging truth, but are embracing an ideology that depends on the notion that truth is relative. This is because most Evangelicals in America are actually not Evangelical in the biblical sense. They don’t think that what Barack Obama believes will affect how he governs (assuming they have actually thought long enough to question what he believes) because what they say they believe doesn’t affect how they live. As the left-leaning sociologist, Douglas Porpora observed, “I have come to think of it as one of the mysteries at the turn of the millennium that many people not only go on believing in God but go on attaching importance to that belief without its having moral relevance to their lives or giving their lives moral direction” (Landscapes of the Soul, p. 16).

In other words, they say they believe; it is just that what they say they believe doesn’t affect them. And they cannot even begin to comprehend the notion that what a man believes actually steers him. They don’t believe in belief. But belief does affect a man; that is, what a man really believes affects him.

He uses the term "Evangelical" which is about as meaningless as "Christian" these days. But the underlying crisis of faith is present in every church I have ever had the pleasure of being affiliated with...Many people "believe", few people "do"

The Prosperous Wicked

You really need to educate yourself on our current financial "crisis," since it has actually been around for a while, just many of our government officials and the media largely ignored it. A few minutes of careful research will demonstrate the foolishness of our monetary policy and the transparent nature of the graft that has occurred on Wall street, and in the halls of congress.

Senator Bunning thought he woke up in France - It reveals a huge credibility gap with those who are in charge of this mess, and these guys will be gone in January, which is why they want to use their power to bail out these companies so they have somewhere to go make more money when they are done playing with the economy.



The president, members of congress, and the pundits mostly say we have to spend all this money on a bailout to reinflate the bubble. As for me, I think this guy makes a lot of sense. Transparency is always a good antiseptic.



In case you think I am too worked up about this. I will give you more info on my state of mind. Does it anger me? Yes! but I am not relying on the economy or the government of the U.S. to provide for my needs. Psalm 73:12 says "Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer...Surely in vain I have kept my motives pure and maintained a pure lifestyle." The Psalm speaks about the destiny of the wicked, and the reality of God's protection. Verse 28 declares, "But as for me, God's presence is all I need. I have made the sovereign LORD my shelter, as I declare all the things you have done." So, while I am desiring to see a solution to the mess, I am encouraging my lawmakers as to my principles and my desire to see our constitution upheld so that we don't become more socialist than North Korea as one pundit put it, I am not putting my trust in either the so called economic prosperity of America, or the government that has done their best to destroy it. The fox is watching the henhouse, and that never makes me feel good, but I could see it all go away and still remain confident. Are we a generation away from the U.S. being a third world country? Maybe, but a better scenario could not be crafted if your goal is the deflating of the pride bubble, more dangerous than the dollar bubble, the dot com bubble, or the housing bubble. The idea that we are invincible and in control of our destiny has led to a dangerous arrogance that has set us up for a situation like the one we face now.

Virtualization Technology

The last couple weeks I have spent some time working on several virtualization technologies, specifically regarding desktop virtualization, although some of these products and techniques can be used effectively in certain server virtualization scenarios. To begin with, we have a Sun Ray 2 thin client set up to tunnel through the internet using built in VPN capable firmware so that Sun team members who visit our customer can get into their Sun Desktop from our office at the customer site. It works very smoothly with a good broadband internet connection, and the desktop session is portable meaning that you could log off your sun ray in the southfield office (or pretty much any sun office anywhere in the world within the Sun wide area network) and as long as you used your id card with a smart chip on it as a token, you could plug it in at our customer site sun ray, enter your username and password, and your session would appear just as you had left it. Sun saves millions of dollars a year in admin costs, utilities (power and cooling), and wasted cpu time and storage by the use of sun ray desktops.

Another interesting idea is to use a browser based desktop environment, something that Google is clearly moving toward with their introduction of Chrome. Sapotec has an interesting implementation of an online desktop at desktoptwo.com It is in beta, and I haven't been able to get all the features to work yet, but it is an interesting idea.

The most powerful tool I have been playing with is Sun's XVM Virtual Box software. Similar in concept to VMWare and other virtual machine implementations, it allows you to run multiple operating systems in virtual containers inside an existing OS. The combination of host and guest OSes are numerous. In my case, I have Windows XP running as the host with Solaris 10 Update 4, and Ubuntu 8.04.1 running in Virtual machines. The Guest OSes get their network access via a NAT interface with the host, so they don't need to be set up to natively run the wireless card or the network, they just automagically find their way out to the internet as long as the XP host has a connection. Still testing some things like serial port connection for tip access to a sun server, etc, but so far, it was a simple process to build and install the guests and get them running. The huge plus for Virtual Box over many of these products is that it is distributed as a free to use, open source product from Sun. If you wanted to play around with Linux and didn't feel like the hassle and risk of partitioning and dual booting and all that, this is a great easy way to try out a variety of Linux distros or even Solaris 10, the most powerful server operating system in the world! While your mileage may vary, for pure geek enjoyment, these products allow for some amazing possibilities and applications.

Moral Equivilance? More like Immoral Inequality

The recent events in both local and world politics have created some long smoldering ire in my this week. Russia's well planned and prepared invasion of a sovereign neighbor has been met with rather inept and spineless response on the part of Western Europe, NATO, and the UN security Council, which is pretty much in the bag with Russia anyway on most issues. That is not surprising, we expect no less. But the response of the Bush administration, and others in the U.S. has been no less wobbly. When the only one who demands a strong response until days after the invasion is one of the presidential candidates who is well known for his strong policy feelings on National Security and Foreign Policy issues, its a rather sad statement of where we are. For what its worth, John Bolton, who used to represent us to the U.N. has one of the best analysis of this I have seen.

All that is well and good, but on the ground, I have heard from several people the argument that somehow Georgia provoked this war, or that the U.S. having troops/contractors in the country pushed Russia to respond, or even going as far as blaming Blackwater security for helping expand their market opportunity (as if that's necessary) And of course that we are just as guilty (ie. Iraq) or that we tacitly approved of Georgia's attempts to secure their ethnic population in South Ossetia. None of those arguments align with any reasonable analysis of the facts. Besides that, they reveal a major festering sore in the American cultural psyche. Moral Equivilance has been used as the most prominent argument against the mission to free Iraq from a Dictator and subsequent efforts by Islamic extremists to take over the government, and a desire to help us rebuild our "damaged" image in the World at large. Of course all our warts and failings in the past are used as arguments for why we should not get involved and why those who stand up to socialist totalitarianism are derided as those who "provoke" countries like Russia as if they would have never gone into Georgia had we not meddled in the affair. The problem is that overwhelmingly, these leaders and pontificators in the states tend to be on the leftist socialist side of the political scale, so to me their arguments ring hollow. Evolutionary Socialism (read Democrat) ideals are just as abhorrent as Revolutionary (Read Soviet/Cuban/Chinese) ones. Same smell when I encounter it. Just different methods.

The failings of America in the past, distant and recent have little to do with what is the proper moral response to the aggression by evil regimes today.

To help you understand the logical disconnect of Moral Equivilance here is a local politics example. The Mayor of the city of Detroit is on trial for several things, somewhere upwards of 10 felony charges. In one case it is for assault on an officer of the court who was attempting to serve a subpoena. The Mayor (who is a black man) verbally assaulted one of the investigators who was a black woman, and told her she should be ashamed of herself for participating in his investigation (read doing her job) and that she was to be ashamed to even ride in the same vehicle as a white officer whose last name happened to also be White!

To use the moral equivilence argument, I could now become a racist, begin to berate any white person I see who is not a racist, and tell them they should be ashamed they are not a racist like me, and use Kwame's example as the justification for my racism. I have not heard one media outlet, one public figure, either identify him as a racist, or even highlight the inherent racist nature of his comments on this and a couple other occasions, yet my behavior would be viewed as racist, decried in the press, and possibly even lead to charges! Do I think that is an appropriate response? No. But the fact that at one time or place one person or government makes errors, or even takes immoral action, does not excuse it on the part of anyone else, nor does it mean that they can not respond correctly to a future circumstance.

Godspeed - Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez

For More than a year now I have driven past that tree on Drahner. The one with the picture of Byron W. Fouty on it and the yellow signs that say "missing in Iraq" and "pray for our troops" I have driven past my neighbor's home with the fence festooned with ribbons and flags and a banner with Byron's picture and another admonition to pray for our troops. Byron's stepfather lives there, and has been tirelessly organizing events in recognition of the POW/MIA soldiers like his son, as well as those still serving. Since May of 2007, the families of Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez have wondered where they were, and if they were still alive.

Thursday, the long wait ended, but not happily. The worst fears of Byron's family were confirmed as a military notification team brought the news that the remains of Byron and Alex had been found in Iraq.

At an impromptu memorial service at Vetran's Park in Lake Orion Friday, friends and family gathered to share tears and comfort. Pastor Roger Carlson, of Rock Falls, IL, and also a member of the family prayed for comfort for the families, and for the safety of the troops still engaged in the fight for which Byron gave his life.

Byron's stepfather referred to the news as "a very sad relief" In a way these families can now move forward with memorial services and begin to process the grief that was felt, but held close during the long wait for news. Our prayers are with the families of Byron and Alex, and for all the families that have made these sacrifices.

"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom."

-Abraham Lincoln

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

In the Shadow of Your [Red] Wings

Lord Stanley's Chalice is back where it belongs, in Hockeytown! You can check out the Detroit News site for some great pictures. Wednesday night at Mellon Arena in Pittsburg, the Red Wings completed a dominating run in the playoffs by eliminating the Penguins and winning their 4th Stanley Cup Championship in 11 years.


The Amazing thing this year was the many new faces due to changes in the salary cap rules for the NHL, the Wings had to grow much of their talent in house instead of going out and purchasing free agent contracts. Of course there were some familiar faces, the new Captain, Nick Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby, Chris Osgood, Kris Draper.

These veteran Wings along with the new young core of this team, and a few strategic additions like Drake and Hometown Boy Brian Rafalski made for an amazingly talented team able to overpower many of their opponents with superior puck handling, and a disciplined and ferocious physicality that made for some great checks and grinding in the corners, but few penalties.

The Action line in the national media of course was for the new face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby. The NHL made no secret that Wings-Penguins was their Dream Matchup, but in the end it just didn't work out like that because the young Penguins were not above the conspiracy theories, whining about the officials, and getting frustrated by the Wings overwhelming two way play. Zetterberg winning the Conn-Smythe trophy was much more about his efforts in two critical 5 on 3 situations than about his scoring, which was actually down in the series from his average. Crosby may be a talented player, and obviously has a good future in front of him, but in the end he was unable to produce because of the close companionship of Lindstrom or Zetterberg whenever he took to the ice. ESPN.com the day after was much more about how the Penguins had lost than the Red Wings had won! From the so called experts like Barry Melrose and Coach Don Cherry (of Coach's Corner on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada) we got nothing but North America-Centric drivel about European weakness and the up and coming greatness of an untested and inexperienced Pengins roster. And that was after the series was over! Only one player needs to be studied to debunk that myth. Pavel Datsyuk had more hits in the playoffs than most defensemen, and Nick Kronwall is beginning to look a lot like the reincarnation of Vladimir Konstaninov, who has been the missing player in every Red Wings roster since his accident. When Nick is on the ice, forwards fear skating across the neutral zone with the puck, just like they did when Vlady was on the ice. I am pretty sure that Russia and Sweden are in Europe?!

So congrats to the Wings! Your 2008 Stanley Cup Champions.


The only thing that would have made it more perfect would have been to reassemble the grind line for an encore performance!

And Don't forget! Thanks to Father Joseph Marquis of Livonia who even gave us a scriptural basis for celebrating the victory! Psalm 63:7 "for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your Wings I will sing for joy." [emphasis mine]

June 6th, 1944

"You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41.

The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeat in open battle man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned.

The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

-Dwight Eisenhower

Hail the Victorious Dead

The American Flag hanging high over Burdick Street in Downtown Oxford; the poems, prayers, and crosses in the park; the sound of F-15 Fighter Jets roaring low over the parade on M-24, and probably hundreds of other locations across Michigan. All these serve as tiny efforts to remind us today of the victorious dead. America's last great president spoke these words over a decade ago on Memorial Day, and they seem as applicable now as they did then.

Memorial Day is a time to take stock of the present, reflect on the past, and renew our commitment to the future of America.

Today, as in the past, there are problems that must be solved and challenges that must be met. We can tackle them with our full strength and creativity only because we are free to work them out in our own way. We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.

I don't have to tell you how fragile this precious gift of freedom is. Every time we hear, watch, or read the news, we are reminded that liberty is a rare commodity in this world.

This Memorial Day of 1983, we honor those brave Americans who died in the service of their country. I think an ancient scholar put it well when he wrote: ``Let us now praise famous men . . . All these were honored in their generation, and were the glory of their times. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.'' As a tribute to their sacrifice, let us renew our resolve to remain strong enough to deter aggression, wise enough to preserve and protect our freedom, and thoughtful enough to promote lasting peace throughout the world.

Ronald Reagan - May 26, 1983

Solaris 10 Network Throughput

Sun's focus on "Throughput Computing" rather than oversimplified arms races based on CPU clock speed has resulted in a holistic approach to operating system design. When the normal network overhead in Solaris was measured, the Solaris design team treated it like a bug rather than just "how it works"

The resulting updates in Solaris 10 for getting out of the way of network traffic by streamlining the TCP/IP stack result in improved application performance.

Having just had my ISP upgrade me to 10Mbit cable modem service, I thought I would try out the difference, with a Solaris speed test and a Windows Speed test just for fun. Here are the results. BTW, I only ran the Solaris test once, the Windows result is from a best of 5 series.

Windows Result:


Solaris Result:


Might be worth checking out if you have any reason to want more throughput over your existing network. (Of course, Your Mileage May Vary)

The Ewok Gospel?

Had an interesting discussion with some friends about the various levels of nerdhood last week. From having any command or directory name from any Unix operating system as a license plate being by far the most sought after, unfortunately it was already taken when I checked...), to decorating with Dos, to knowing totally too much about some phenomenon like Star Wars, Star Trek, or the X-files. Recent online video browsing has led me to a couple prime examples, check these out...

This interpretation of the Star Wars Episode IV plot by a three year old was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while...As far as nerd parents goes, this child has made someone very proud.



And if this next video was taken in the worship service at your church, well, I can't decide if its scary or cool, maybe a little of both. Although having Billy Dee Williams (Lando) as the pastor strikes me as a bit funny. The planet hopping gambler turned minister? I just can't see it, but either way, why you be hatin' on the Ewoks?



Nerds of the World, enjoy...for the rest, well, you just wish you thought this stuff was funny (or that you got the joke!)

The Chosen One

Well, as if baby Sophia wasn't enough, we have celebrated the arrival of yet another niece in the clan, this time on the Vawter side of the universe. She has once again swung The Force back into balance. It has been 7 years since a girl has been born in our family. Mom, Dad, Baby Grace, Big Brother Michael, and Ruby of course are all doing well, and Grandma Vawter is in her element, having arrived quite literally at the start of labor. Paul got a phone call about Pauletta's water breaking while he was on his way to the airport to pick her up! Talk about good timing. Finding her was the will of the Force, I have no doubt of that.

Sophia

We have been enjoying our first niece over the past couple weeks. I mean, who can argue with how awesome Nick, Logan, and Michael are, but this little one is pretty cute. She was born a week or two early and is just a little thing, about 18 inches and 5 pounds. Kept having to check the blanket to make sure she was in there. Melissa is loving every minute she gets with her, and obviously this being the only one of our nieces and nephews that live here makes it even more fun.

Mark 4 Weather Report

This story is found in Mark Chapter 4...

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Click Here for Hallie's version of what the Weather Report on the Local Galilee TV News would have sounded like. She did this as a project for her Wednesday Awana Children's program. The only thing she forgot was the obligatory interview with a scientist on climate change.

New Blogs!

Abbie's Got a new blog.

And so do the PA Vawters. The Vawter Variety Hour...

So if you like what you see here, well, these are completely different. Something for everyone and all that.

I will praise you in this storm

To keep a sort of theme going, I will post another video. The last one I thought was really a neat presentation, and is a great song, but this one will have more profound personal significance. Over the past weeks, several major and widely differing events have happened around me, to people close enough that my emotions have been characterized by grief, anger, profound sadness, disappointment, betrayal, fear, and a combination of indescribable emotions that I can only find one description for...nausea. My 8 year old daughter said last night "I wish we could just turn back the clock to before all these things happened." A feeling shared by many people around me right now.

I was blessed this morning by another song by Casting Crowns. Here is a link to the video, followed by the lyrics. In the intro to the video, a very applicable quote that is the cry of my heart this week..."what God is showing me is sometimes He calms the storms in our lives, and sometimes He just rides them with us, but either way, blessed be the name of the Lord."



I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry
You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

The Happy Hands Club

Jenettia found this video, its pretty cool.
While it does remind one of Summer's Happy Hands Club from Napoleon Dynamite
Its pretty cool, and is set to one of my favorite Songs by Casting Crowns.

Top 25 All Time Technology Flops

This InfoWorld Article highlights the flops of the Tech industry, an interesting collection of the "great" ideas that turned out to be some of the least practical or popular solutions actually purchased by customers. Several more reminders that it doesn't matter how clever your R&D is, or how much advertising money you spend on a product, if people don't want to buy it, they don't buy it. You might get media crazed purchases for a while, but long term business strategies have to be based on making things people actually want, and making them well. Just a taste of the delights that are on this list, heres the top 5.

1. Security - Always overrated anyway, just remember Scott McNealy's quote from a few years back. "You don't have any privacy anyway, get over it"

2. Windows Vista - an obvious follow on to the first, Microsoft bears a large portion of the blame for the underlying insecurity of our technology infrastructure. Monopolies always have negative consequences for consumers.

3. i-Pod imitators - having never understood the craze, I don't understand the bandwagon jumpers onto the craze. Using an i-Pod as an external hard drive maybe, but I just don't need to carry around thousands of songs...

4. The Paperless office - turns out its very expensive to keep digital records, and also not all that good for the environment. Keeping all that DASD spinning just means Burning tons of coal instead of cutting down acres of trees, six in one, half dozen in the other. Especially since everyone seems to think tape storage is dead

5. Digital Rights Management - If you purchase content, you should be able to move/convert/adapt it to whatever medium you need to display or access it. Tying your customers into a complicated scheme designed for nothing more than allowing you to charge for its use again at every turn just creates an environment ripe for abuse. Plus DRM has inherent security/privacy issues and no scheme has made it to market less than 2 weeks before its hacked.

There are plenty more good ones, including IPv6, called in the article "IT's equivalent to global warming" Who wants to solve a problem no one has yet? Well its obvious, no one. IP credits anyone? Maybe a startup idea if I could get some venture capital. After all, IP space is a precious resource that we are squandering. I am sure I could bribe some scientists into creating a scenario where this would destroy the planet...

Year In Review Questionaire

Jennettia posted this on her blog, thought I would answer them for mine.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Visited the Poconos
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Never done resolutions, I figure if something is worth doing, do it!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Some friends, the family babies are all due in the spring
4. Did anyone close to you die? No
5. What countries did you visit? I think I took the windsor tunnel to Canada once...does Ohio count?
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? A round tuit
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? nothings coming to mind, I am bad with dates...but December 15th was memorable...my sisters wedding.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I still have a job...this is michigan after all
9. What was your biggest failure? hmmm..I made a mistake once. 1983 I think...
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I lost my voice 10 days before singing in a wedding.
11. What was the best thing you bought? The indian pony American Girl horse. Emma's face almost cracked she smiled so big...
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? my children and my wife have me in awe regularly. I am regularly humbled by their approach to life.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? my children and my...just kidding...I'll take 20 something pop stars for 300 Alex
14. Where did most of your money go? I have no idea, if you see any of it wandering around let me know!!!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Our trip to Pennsylvania, Abbie & Chris's wedding,
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Indescribable - Chris Tomlin
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:happier or sadder? Hard to define this is...a little of both.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Pray
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Drive
21. What was your favorite TV program? Dirty Jobs, with Mike Rowe
22. What was the best book you read? The Grid
24. What was your favorite film of this year? Toss up, Bourne Ultimatum & National Treasure. (I agree with Jen. on this one.)
25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? I stopped wearing black socks with my jeans. I started buying clothes with holster room.
26. What kept you sane? My family
27. What political issue stirred you the most? the Michigan legislature making token efforts to placate the masses with meaningless spending "cuts" refusing true reform, while raising taxes and the governor threatening to shut down the government to strong arm her "compromise" through. (By compromise I mean "My way or the highway") It sure didn't take me 5 years to be blown away like she said...

Happy New Year - Michigan Style

We got a little bit of snow last night.

2 hours and 600 mg of Motrin later, we can get out of the driveway.









from the pile on the birdhouse and the kids castle in the backyard, I am thinking somewhere north of 12 inches.









Emma was in snow up to mid-thigh and could barely walk across the backyard.

Pray for peace in Kenya

Click Here for an account of a Church fire in Western Kenya related to the unrest following that countries elections. It was near Eldoret, a city where one of our Church's missionaries is located.

This Video from the BBC shows some of the violent clashes between police and rioting crowds. Several European groups have reported "irregularities" in the voting process and reporting. This could escalate quickly if the government does not get things under control. While many people can choose to avoid Kenya for the time being, our missionaries cannot, as they live and work there. Please pray for their safety and the stability of the regions aroung them. For an on scene look at the situation at least in the outlying Nairobi area, check out Paul's Blog, he is a missionary in Athi River about 15 km outside Nairobi.

With kind regards at this special time of the year (but only if you hold it to be special and appreciate kind regards)

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive,
gender-neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all; plus... A fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose
contributions have helped make our society great, without regard to the race, creed color, religious, or sexual preferences of the wishes.

Disclaimer: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and no responsibility for any unintended emotional stress these greetings may bring to those not caught up in the holiday spirit.


Thanks to the people's cube for a great source for the materials to combat the political correctization of Christmas. T-shirts like the above image are available, as well as some great social/political satire. This Drive by media version of the Christmas story is one of the funniest bits I have seen in a while.

We Have this Moment

My baby sister got married this past weekend. It was a whirlwind trip involving a very wintery 11 hour drive home, and a crazy schedule of events, but it was worth it to see the event go off without a hitch (well, except the one!) I am always very appreciative of wedding ceremonies that are not only reasonably short, but that seek to honor God instead of the couple. The music at Abbie's wedding all had a very clear message of the preeminence of Christ. The only sentimentality was the song that has been sung at many of our family weddings, "We Have this Moment" written by Bill Gaither. It is a song that urges parents to enjoy the moments they have with their children while they are together. My parents used to sing it along with a slideshow of pictures of us kids at various events (back when they really were on slides!) I always enjoy singing with my brothers, there is a blend there that you cannot teach or practice enough to get in another group.

It was really great to see my grandma, a couple of my aunts, and all my siblings. Mom was excited to have all 5 of her grandchildren together with her, I think for the first time since Michael and Logan were born. We got all the cousins to swim in the hotel pool together, they really had a blast. It was also great to see many people from Lake Mills, Watertown, Portage, and all over that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I thought my daughters did an amazing job with all their responsibilities at the wedding, Emma was the "snow princess" flower girl, they both sang a duet in the ceremony and played their violins during the reception. Hallie was a junior bridesmaid, and looked way too old!!! To put it in perspective, at our wedding, Abbie was 6 months older than Hallie is now! Pretty scary when you think about how fast the years have flown by.

Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling,
for Daddy to hear just what she has to say.
My little son, running there on the hillside,
will never be quite like today.

We have this moment, to hold in our hands,
and to touch, as it slips through our fingers like sand.
Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come,
but we have this moment today.

Through the Flames

As a Freshman in College, I remember vividly one of the first situations where I was forced to consider the immediacy and unpredictability of death. Sure I had experienced the death of loved ones, mostly older folk who died of natural causes. But on November 8th, 1994, word quickly spread across our small campus that the family of one of the grad students at our school had been involved in a fiery crash on I-94 in Milwaukee. Scott Willis, a pastor from the Chicago area, his wife Janet, and their 6 youngest children ran over a metal bracket that had fallen off a semi truck. The bracket pierced the gas tank of their minivan and before Scott could even stop the vehicle it was completely engulfed. Scott, Janet, and their son Benny were able to escape the vehicle, while the 5 youngest, sleeping in the back died instantly. In spite of the efforts of fellow motorists, emergency personnel, and the hospital, Benny died later that night from his burns.

You can click here and read some excerpts from a press conference with Scott. Obviously this story grabbed headlines and the media wanted to talk to the parents, but I don't think they knew what they were in for. The statements of Scott Willis would be memorable to me as an example of how different the response of a Christian to life's circumstances should be. I don't know what the media expected, but to have a man who had just lost his 6 youngest children open a press conference with the words of Psalm 34 was not it. "Psalm 34 says, 'I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. O, taste and see that the Lord is good.' Janet and I want to praise and thank God. There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise Him in all things. God is a great God."

The battles in court over the revelation that the truck driver had paid bribes to avoid inspections, ultimately resulting in the conviction of the former governor of Illinois have gone on since that time, with this story being published just today, but through all of it, the Willis family has continued to amaze those who speak with them, for where many would become bitter, they have clung to the hope they have in Christ. Instead of a fickle, uncertain desire for some greater good, they have embraced the hope of the scriptures, a confident expectation that "we sorrow not as those who have no hope."

The road we walk is our own, we have different trials we all face, but we do have the same hope, we share the same confident expectation in the goodness and greatness of God. Many times I have asked as I saw friends go through the valley of Death if I would respond in the way they did. I don't know if that is a question that can be answered, but I do know that normal human responses are not adequate for these types of trials, and so I can rest in the knowledge that the same God who brought them through such bitter trials, is guiding me through my comparatively mundane circumstances as well. The words of a hymn describe this common hope even in vastly different circumstances, God Leads Us Along

Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.

Abrupt Climate Change

October 15th was Blog Action Day on Blogger, with many blogs being included in an effort to inform and educate us about global warming and what we can do to save the planet. Of course in the 70's it was taught to our children that the coming ice age, or perhaps the spectre of nuclear holocaust was the future that we needed to fear, and fear is the key to this issue as well. Our society has become obsessed with the politics of fear, and in the name of "the public good" personal freedoms and common sense have been abandoned in favor of coercion and the use of taxpayers hard earned dollars to shape behavior and thought. The use of guilt and the building of many a straw man which of course no one wants to be accused of attacking has become a standard tactic on every level of politics and education. On the issue of global warming, no matter what you believe about the causes or contributing factors, some healthy skepticism, and commitment to the founding principles of our country ought to be first and foremost the priority, no matter what the science is, circumspect and thoughtful progress is more desirable than Chicken Little hysteria, like that highlighted in my previous post. Michael Crichton in his book State of Fear includes the following author's note.

* In every debate, all sides overstate the extent of existing knowledge and its degree of certainty

* Nobody knows how much of the present warming trend might be a natural phenomenon

* Nobody knows how much warming will occur in the next century. The computer models vary by 400%, de facto proof that nobody knows. But if I had to guess - the only thing anyone is doing, really - ... the increase will be 0.812436 degrees C

* For anyone to believe in impending resource scarcity, after 200 years of such false alarms, is kind of weird. I don't know whether such a belief today is best ascribed to ignorance of history, sclerotic dogmatism, unhealthy love of Malthus, or simple pigheadedness

* Most environmental "principles" (such as sustainable development or the precautionary principle) have the effect of preserving the economic advantages of the west and thus constitute modern imperialism toward the developing world. It is a nice way of saying: "We got ours and we don't want you to get yours, because you'll cause too much pollution"

* We desperately need a nonpartisan, blinded funding mechanism to conduct research ... Scientists are only too aware of whom they are working for

Political, Scientific, or Sociological arguments aside, how should our behavior and our understanding of what the future holds be shaped? In reality Second Peter 3:10b says "...the heavens will vanish with a thunderous crash, and the material elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. (amplified) Sounds an awful lot like abrupt climate change to me. I am not advocating a fatalistic position that our attempts to effect change in our stewardship of the environment are pointless, and on a local level certainly environmental responsibility can make a difference. But I am not one to be caught up in the hysteria, or the "save the planet" hype when I am perfectly content to recognize man's limited ability to impact the direction of our planet's future. Fortunately, we can know the one who has that ability. Colossians 3:17 says of Jesus Christ, "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Just as God asked Job if he was present when the foundation of the worlds was built, we have such little knowledge of how the climate actually functions, and correspondingly we have so little ability to change it that the time has not come for doom and gloom, but for reasonable and measured response to the potential for new green technologies with a focus on the truth that our impact on this planet has been overstated, there is poor quality science on both sides, and that "Green" initiatives in most cases would be more accurately described as "Greenbacks" initiatives. Both in the case of those making money of the technology, and the policy makers seeking profit for themselves and the companies that support their campaigns. Is it real? there is little doubt that some warming has occurred (at least if you limit your scope to the time since 1930...) but the ability of man to change it is most certainly not a definitive matter.

Some Convenient Distortions

This article explains a recent ruling in British Courts that should be pursued in the States as well. Basically they found that any teacher showing Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" film (which the education ministry sent to all the schools) without explaining several things involving the partisan nature of its presentation, making it clear it was a political and not simply scientific film, and the clear explanation of how several "facts" used in it were either misleading, overstated, or untrue, could be charged with indoctrination under their education laws. Several sources have declared that Al Gore's movie represented a compendium of Scientific facts that could not be disputed, however, the courts were not only unable to substantiate certain tenets of the movie, but determined some of them were outright fabrications or misrepresentations. Go figure. Mr. Gore has for some time been clearly guilty of a David Farragut like dedication to his global warming dogma to the point that he probably actually believes it! This "don't confuse me with the facts" attitude will eventually cause the collapse of the environmental popular movement, which is a bad thing. Since some of the overall goals of the movement are valid, the use of bad science and in some cases total disregard for the science that has been validated undermines the validity of the movement as a whole. This site has several comprehensive guides to the lack of veracity of many of the claims of this convenient distortion of truth.

*Assault on Reason book cover courtesy of The People's Cube

Tin Whiskers - A cautionary Tale?

Those of you not involved in the computer hardware business may have no clue what ROHS is, or why you would have to worry about ROHS compliance. The Reduction Of Hazardous Substances initiative is a regulatory standard placed on companies that do business inside the EU. It limits the use of potentially hazardous substances in computer equipment, the most common and relevant one being lead. Since the 1940's the use of lead in solder for wiring circuits has been used to eliminate the oxidation and formation of something called "tin whiskers" that cause short circuits when they grow on metal inside circuitry and on metal components. They also can break off and short out other components. Lead has been the most effective (so far the only effective) way to limit the growth of Tin Whiskers. Sounds like a relatively benign problem, but over the years many highly complex and specialized systems including military and space technology have been damaged or made ineffective by tin whiskers. Even some very mission critical technology on the space shuttle has fell victim to the problem. Now, why would something the politicians of the EU matter? Well, most technology companies are global, and so to eliminate the need for two separate parts inventories, they have complied with the regulations on all their products. Even on products such as medical and military equipment that has been granted an exemption there is an effect since the regulation has made it difficult to obtain components that do not comply with the standard. The reduction of lead in solder over time could create a massive problem with hardware reliability at the risk of making mission critical systems vulnerable to serious failures. This is just another example of how solving one "problem" without carefully considering the consequences produces the potential for much more devastating secondary problems in the future. "'The EU's decision was irresponsible and not based on sound science,' said Joe Smetana, a principal engineer and tin whisker expert with French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA. 'We're solving a problem that isn't and creating a bunch of new ones.'" In this article, the problem is viewed from both angles, and the result is that the proposed solution to a problem has created the potential for serious problems in the future. You can also watch a video report here. Without the cooperation between the technical engineers who design such technology and the politicians who desire to see environmental and health circumstances improved, unintended conseqences and undocumented features may well prove more costly and potentially more dangerous than the original problem. Maybe a good indicator of the high cost of regulatory legislation when not properly studied, and the short sighted nature of politically expedient decision making.

Louie Louie

Emma is quite a dog lover, so this clip makes her laugh and laugh. My brother played it for his pug, and she jumped up to see who was singing.

I know a Guy

Promise Village home for children holds comedy events periodically to raise support, and we attended one of them this past Friday. Phil DiTommaso was one of the comedians, who did a hilarious act filled with humor about his stereotypically Italian family. His Uncle Tony was prominently featured especially with his "I know a Guy" solution to every problem from needing a tooth pulled, to how to get into Heaven. From "Family Discounts" to the sofa and the TV that "fell off a truck" the laughs were great. He did an especially good impression of Robert DeNiro as Moses. "Hey, Yo, Pharaoh. Let my people go ok, and ah, nobody gets hurt alright."

Speaking of Family Discounts... This one highlights the overwhelming efforts taken by the modern media cartels in promoting the action line, regardless of the facts. And my question is this. Does anybody still care what a newspaper says about something? No one in my generation reads the paper, nor do we watch the TV news for anything other than what search words to use to find all sides of an issue with Google or Yahoo...

We will never forget 9-11-01

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." -Abraham Lincoln

"I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

Fear of Deputation

Spoken to a few missionaries, and a few missionary candidates, and many of them are more afraid of the process in the states it takes to get to the field than they fear going to the mission field. I have seen God provide in amazing ways for several folks who didn't fit what has become the typical mold for a mission candidate. Unfortunately in many countries, the visa restrictions mean deputation in the U.S. an increasingly troubling process for many mission candidates.

Paul is one guy who has been uniquely prepared for missions, growing up in Kenya. A third generation missionary in the Nairobi area, working with churches started by his grandfather and father. His desire, to see a Bible camp ministry there, formatted much like the program at the Wilds, depends on him getting back to the field fully supported. This blog post explains the process he is enduring, along with the recommendations to become who he is not to gain support. (Get married, tell people you are going to do church planting, take seminary, etc.) Having seen the field he is on, the maturity of many of the indigenous churches is such that they will be helped much more by the camp and college ministry that the Weavers are endeavoring to start there than by just another individual church planter. Strategic thinking for the future of a country that is on the verge of technology and economic development. Huge spiritual opportunities abound there as well with the increasingly rapid urbanization leading to the ability to reach remote areas of Kenya through visitors and workers who have migrated to the cities. If you want to get involved with this ministry, check out Paul's blogs, and give him a call. One visit to Emmanuel Baptist in Nairobi, and a look at the ministry of Camp Lukenya and you might feel the excitement we felt when we visited Kenya last year.

The Concourse of Hypocrisy

1997 Mazda MPV, photographed in Berkeley, California

MPG: 18

Annual Greenhouse Gas emmissions: 10.1 tons

Demonstration of the hypocrisy embraced by the wacko fringe global warming luddites who demand independence from fossil fuels while driving gas guzzling vehicles and flying around the country on their private jets: Priceless

Brazen Commerciality?

Had an interesting discussion today with a fellow church member about maybe raising money by selling the naming rights to our church facility. Maybe we could build a new auditorium and have it renamed to The Rock Financial Worship Center...

Ok, maybe not such a good idea, but for those who wondered why Ford Field has such a high roofline, it appears to be so it can be in most shots of one of the most photogenic scoreboards in all of baseball. Hows that for product placement. Too bad that after further review, the Lions are still so bad. Even though the Tigers were not victorious, we had a great time at the game yesterday. The Twins spanked the rookie a bit in his later innings. A couple Monster home runs and even a stand up triple made the game enjoyable.

Breezy, 80 degrees, low humidity, and Baseball, a winning combination.

Camp Lukenya

We had lunch today with Paul Weaver, who we met on our Mission Trip to Kenya last year. He is at our church to present his ministry, and I am pretty sure our church will be supporting him soon. Paul is a third generation missionary in the Nairobi area, and several of the churches there were started by his grandfather and father. Paul works with his parents, Joel and MaryAnn Weaver there in Athi River, just outside Nairobi. They are involved currently in the planting of Emmanuel Baptist church in the city, with plans for another church in Athi River soon. Also, Paul is the camp director at Camp Lukenya. Hundreds of children from churches all around the Nairobi area bring groups there, along with kids who are sponsored from the numerous slum areas of Nairobi come to Lukenya each year and have many opportunities to hear the Gospel. Also many conferences for adults, including ladies retreats, men's retreats, and an annual Pastors/Church leaders conference which we participated in while we were there bring vital support to the mission churches and the established churches there in Nairobi. Camp ministry is something we take for granted here in the states, since we have many choices. After visiting some churches in Kenya we were surprised at how mature many of the ministries are, with the ministry of Camp Lukenya able to provide some facilities and opportunities that one church alone would not be able to provide. Paul is very experienced having worked at several camps during college, and having been on staff at the Wilds in North Carolina. If you are looking for opportunities to be involved in the ministry of some quality missionaries, I would encourage you to check out Paul's website and see if the church planting efforts in Nairobi and Camp Lukenya might be a great place for your church to get involved in the incredible opportunites that we experienced while in Nairobi.

Operation Overlord

On June 6th, 1944, a young man named Melvin (but everyone called him Glen) was in Naples, Italy, having participated in the invasion of North Africa in 1942, and in the invasion of Sicily, having left his new bride at home in the states. Like millions of his fellow Americans, he boarded a ship and crossed the ocean not knowing where he would end up, or if he would ever come home. On D-day, 10,000 men were wounded in the fighting, and nearly 3,000 were killed in one day, a casualty figure that had not been seen in the U.S. military since nearly 100 years earlier during the Civil War. The cost of that war eventually became nearly 400,000 lives, nearly half a million lives given in the defense of our country, our freedom and the freedom of western Europe, and our way of life. America has always been ready to stand for our values, and yet currently I think many Americans have forgotten the resolve with which our recent forefathers just two generations removed from my own stood in defiance of the evil which spread across Europe and the Pacific. They didn't make excuses for the enemy, blame our own foreign policies, or pander to the regimes that had attacked their neighbors in an effort to consolidate their power, but they got on ships and took the fight to our enemies. Once again we face evil, in the form of islamo-facism, and our young men and women have again placed themselves on the front lines of the fight in our place. On this day, let us remember their willingness to sacrifice even their very lives for our sakes. Let us remember the lives of those who in 1944 led the way in defense of our freedoms. Let us once again renew our commitment to pray for our nation, our soliders, and our leaders. From this page you can listen to the prayer that President F.D. Roosevelt prayed on this night in 1944 asking the American people to commit to the long road ahead, and to give themselves to prayer for our nation.

Oh, and Glen? Well, I am here because he did come home to his bride, May, and had several children after the war, his son Wayne is my dad.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

High Availability Parenting

People unfamiliar with technology sometimes smile at the anthropomorphic language used to describe the behavior of inanimate technological devices. Those who work with technology are not only comfortable with the jargon, but apply the comparisons in the other direction as well. The analogy of a two node Sun cluster to the operations involved in parenting is an apt one, and is found in this blog. Maybe we need to add the following decals to our foreheads for some cross promotion of this particular implementation of highly available services.

And Now for Something Completely Different

A very helpful how to, the perfect "man hug"
And before you ask, no, I won't practice this with you...let's keep it real!

I found this in a post from Joe @ Emeth Alethia

To Be a Missionary - Part 3

Mike has posted part 3 of the series Here

To Be a Missionary - Part 2

Act 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them…

I read these words and they seem to create a colossal barricade to my becoming a missionary. My thinking goes, "God calls people like Paul and Barnabas, not normal people like me."

I was at a supporting church last year with a friend of mine and I was the guest speaker that night. My friend and I had recently completed a short mission trip to Brazil to paint our church in Sorocaba. He was excited about what the Lord had allowed us to accomplish and was testifying to that fact. I will never forget his final words, spoken just before I began the message. He said, "On this trip I learned that if God can use Mike Jewell, He can use anybody."

Naturally that got at great laugh from those in the audience. It was a very funny statement but it was a very true statement. If God can use ME He can use anyone. Of course I followed his remark with, "You know you're right John, God used Balaam's mule He CAN use anyone!" It's just that He won't use the person that is not busy for Him nor willing to be used. God wants servants who are serving and willing to serve more!

Notice again the word order of the verse mentioned above. "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul…." Paul and Barnabas were already heavily involved in the ministry at Antioch. They were part of the leadership of that local and growing church. They had put God's desires before their own. Paul and Barnabas were so caught up in God's business that it was natural for God to use them. It wasn't the boat trip that made them missionaries. They were already missionaries!

You have probably heard a missionary warn you about praying the Matthew 9:38 prayer, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Why the warning? Because if you are really busy for Christ He just might choose to send you!

That is exactly what happened with Dawn and I. We were always busy at church. I remember on more than one occasion both of our sets of parents saying, "You guys need to slow down! You're doing too much!" We weren't, but it seemed that way to them. But during those years of service at First Baptist Church in Lake Orion we were gaining valuable instruction from the Word and putting what we were learning into practice. It was undeniably just what we needed for the task that God had before us.

You might be saying, "I don't have a Bible college degree, so I can't go to the field." Is that right…. I'll talk a bit more about this aspect next time.

--
Mike

To Be a Missionary - Part 1

This is the first in a series of articles written by a Missionary Friend that I got to know during his last furlough. I will post the rest of them as they come out. They are really an encouragement to those considering missions mixed with Mike's own journey from working on a production line at General Motors to church planting in Brazil. Mike Jewell is a missionary with Baptist Mid-Missions who was sent by our church. You can read his blog here.

Have you ever give thought to becoming a missionary? In my experience over the years I have heard a number of people say to me, "… I was called to be a missionary but never went."

Those are sad words. To feel God's call and reject it is one thing, but what all is involved in "The Call"? There are differing opinions. Some believe that you have to have a near Pauline experience to really know beyond doubt that you have been called. Others realize that it is not that mysterious or stupendous.

For me it happened as I listened to a missionary message and realize, during his invitation, that God wanted me to dedicate my life totally to Him. As I slipped down the isle that morning it was as if I were taking that last walk to the gas chamber.

I felt stupid at the alter with a bunch of kids. But, at the same time, I realized that I was taking a step that would change my life. And it has.

We have been on the field for ten years now and I can say that there are days in which I would just as soon be painting trucks at Truck and Bus. It is during those days that I remember the words of George Stiekes (then our home pastor) as I asked him advice about becoming a missionary, "Mike, I am not going to tell you what to do because when you are on the field and wanting to come home, I want you to realize that it was God who told you what to do and not me."

That was great advice! It is God who has brought us here and He will be the one who tells us when to leave.

And now back to my original question, "Have you ever give thought to becoming a missionary?" I've told hundreds of people over the years, if you think that God might be calling you do what Steve Anderson once told a group of men in our church, "Tell God I'm going to be a missionary unless You stop me Father!" We often get that backwards don't we. "I'll go if God opens the door!" People, He has ALREADY opened the door. You just need to trust Him and obey.

I just received an excellent brochure from Baptist Mid-Missions about how to become a missionary. You need to take a look at it. Follow this link (it is a PDF) and give it a look.

More about this subject in my next update.

--
Mike

Finding a Healthy Church

Had some time this week to listen to Joe Z's mp3 about why he has hopped over the fence and joined a ministry he was critical of for so long, and had very mixed feelings about it. While I have seen and recognized much of the issues and characteristics that were not overtly stated in his piece, but obviously lurking under the surface, I wonder at the thoroughness of his decision making at what to do about it. The dark and many times painful side of some fundamental ministries is home to some of the most unbibilical and unchristian behavior for sure, but I am concerned about the seemingly large numbers of those affected by such abuse who abandon fundamental churches altogether in favor of a place where in Joe's words, they can "hide and heal" The discussion on SI highlighted the truth of much of what he said regarding certain shades of fundamentalism, given the vitriol and not so subtle condemnation without any substance in some of the replies. It also presented a great opportunity for some to address the issue reasonably, an opportunity that was grasped by only a minority. In other words, everyone reverted to type.

Aaron Blumer posted a great article on SI talking about this response to abuse, and the "Two Fundamentalisms" that exist in America. It highlights exactly what was my response and that of my wife, both of whom grew up in very obviously fundamental Baptist ministries. Not that we don't see the same problems in fundamentalism broadly considered, and not that we haven't experienced some forms of spiritual abuse he speaks of, but that our response was to "hold to that which is good" and find a fundamental church that at least attempts to avoid many of the pitfalls of the "sick fundamentalism" labeled by Aaron. We praise the Lord for the church he has led us to, and we also will fight to remove or resist the problems that plague many churches if we see them in our own. While I want to be understanding regarding the situation and the events that led to the Zichterman's paradigm shift, I find it to be overall a rash and rather ill considered reaction to something I find equally reprehensible. There are times where I could easily have led my family in a similar direction, but I dont' think the time has yet come where the ranks of churches still holding to fundamental doctrine and conservative practice need to be abandoned, especially to the Church Growth movement which still has many of its own problems and issues that I am not fully convinced are scripturally supportable or wise. There are elements of truth that should be considered by IFB leaders, and there are also cautions for those who would abandon the movement for another with its own set of challenges.

thoughts from a newly singled mom: God is good- all the time!!

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” - I Peter 1:6-7


If you want a good example of how to respond to a tough situation, the link below is a good place to start. The second time this year a friend of ours has lost a husband, although in a far different and in some ways more heart wrenching way. Many times we complain about minor everyday life issues, and I praise God that he gives grace to those who need it. We don't always understand the purposes and plans God has for us, and we can't always understand how our circumstances could possibly be good for us. Our pastor always likes to say when your theology and your experience collide, cling to the theological truth. God is good, even when bad things happen. It might not make sense to a finite and self-centered human, but its the Word of God. It is also the only reason a human being can respond by praising God for his goodness when life goes horribly wrong.

thoughts from a newly singled mom: God is good- all the time!!

Happy Christmas, er I mean Easter

The high today is 35 (thats 2 for you Celsius folks, and btw it was -5 last night) and this was the view out the window this morning. A winter wonderland in April. We had no snow for Christmas, Hallie decided that Christmas and Easter must have had some kind of deal going to trade the snow. It was of course in the 70s less than a week ago, Springtime in Michigan is great. Clearly the effects of my greenhouse gas emissions.