Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Words

There are many important words in our lives. Some words are nonsense others convey great meaning in our lives. Of all the words that we can focus on in all of history the three most important words ever uttered were “It is Finished”. Without context these words may mean little. In the context when they were voiced by a bruised and bleeding man hung on a cross they become the most important words to Human Kind ever. It was in the person of that Man that the Creator of the Universe paid for the sins of us all. It was there where my sins were redeemed. Those words echo across history calling out to the lost and dying world that Christ came to purchase with His own life.

In each of our personal lives there are words of significance. Perhaps the most important of my life were tied to the three words of Christ. They were “Jesus please come into my heart” Those words occurred in my mind one night as a young boy. That was when I accepted the gift purchased for me by the life of Christ. It took me years to realize just how significant those Words were for me. That they would be forever etched in the fabric of my life. They have set the course of all the Chapters and Sentences to follow.

A few days ago there were words given to me that will change my life once again. They may be the second most important words of my life. Strangely they are tied to the other words I’ve talked about. The Words of Jesus on the cross and the Words thought by a small boy in his bed. The Context of those words are rooted in the leading of God in two different lives of two different people from opposite sides of the world. Both share a love of God and His redemption. Both have sought the leadership of our Great Creator and Redeemer. The words were in answer to a question. Those Words were “Yes I’ll Marry You”.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Reflections on the Third Cross

Luke 23
32Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
...
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"

40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."

42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[f]"

43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."



Think about this.
Here is a man that has wasted a life, he is now near the end, he stands accused and is sentenced to die. We don't know much about him. What exactly were his crimes? We know from Mark at one time both men heaped insults on Christ. We know that one of the criminals expresses the desire for his life to be spared. But then he mocked Christ, little did he realize the power right beside him. However this other man eventually defends Christ. Admits that he himself is being punished justly getting what his deeds deserved. Then he proclaims this man (Christ) has done nothing wrong though. Only by the Holy Spirit could this man have known what to do next. It defies all logic. He looks at the man hanging beside him. Seemingly powerless, dying as well. And says to Him "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom". Jesus replies "today you will be with me in paradise". Oh the joy at those words... Did this common criminal understand the full meaning of what he had just heard. Today even you who are a sinner condemned by your sin to death. Today you will be with me the King of all Heaven today you will join me in my home...!!!!

There are a great many things we can learn from this....

It was not the righteousness of the criminal that saved him. He starts by hurling insults on Christ. He had no chance to do good works. He repents and admitted his evil deeds. All he could grasp a hold of was the grace and mercy of Christ. That was all the he could claim.. And that was more than enough.

Baptism was not required. Although our faith stresses the importance of baptism. This man entered the Kingdom of Heaven with out it.. He received assurance from the ruler of heaven that he would be with Him without undergoing any ritual. Once again the grace of Christ was all that was required. No ritual needed.

Even on his death bed so to speak the criminal found mercy in Christ. We should never give up on anyone. We should continue to tell them of Christ up until the last moment of their lives. This man wasted all of his years and in the last hours he accepted Christ.

The Love and Compassion of Christ goes beyond our understanding. Here is Christ hung on a cross in agony. Suffering the turmoil and punishment of our sins. Bearing the burden for all of us. Standing in our place so we could stand in His. But in the very midst of that he reaches out to this Criminal and draws him to Salvation. Oh the Love Christ has for the lost.. And the desire He has for them to be saved is marvelous.

The criminals are a picture of all of us. We may think of ourselves as having lofty thoughts and mighty deeds. We might see our selves as John standing there at the foot of the Cross with Christ's mother. But we are truly represented by these criminals. Sentenced to death by our sins, rightfully so. Heaping insults on the Creator of the universe. No way of denying our guilt. We are completely and totally dead in our sin.. But there just beside us reaching out to us is Christ. There are no acts of righteousness on our part. We don't have anything to bring to impress the Lord of Creation. We are nothing but Criminals. However the King of all Heaven reaches out to us and says I have a gift for you. All you have to do is receive it. One of the Criminals brazenly rejects that gift and hurls insults at the Lord and stays condemned for all eternity. However the other Criminal humbles himself repents and begs the forgiveness of the Lord and resides with Him to this day in Heaven.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Grace Mud and The Living Sacrifice

We are sinful we reject God. While we were still sinners God dwelt among us walked with us and loved us. He then gave up His life on the cross to redeem us.. God comes to us with the gift of Grace but we still want more... We ask what is it God wants for us.. I think we really are asking a lot of times why doesn't God give us what we want... What we really need to be asking is what does God want from me...??

We so often want a complicated answer something that we have to search for and work long to find. But God gives us a simple answer. Romans 12: 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (NLT). This is how I picture it... We crawl off and sit down in the Mud and go wow I'm in mud how did I get here. What is God doing in my life. I wonder what it is He wants for me.. I wonder what it is God wants to give me.. Then God appears to us and we say God look I'm in the mud.. Why did you put me here? What is it you want to give me. God holds out the hands that were pierced for our Sins and says "I have given you my Grace it is sufficient". We would reply but God I'm in the mud please what do you want for me. God would then point to the the alter and tell us "Give your life to me dear child". I think at that time most of us say well God that is not really what I had in mind. I would like to go over there and sit in the field under that tree. It looks exciting... Please God I "want" that excitement.

This made my mind turn to the statement I've heard over and over.. God has a wonderful plan for your life. I realized that God does have a wonderful plan for my life. But it is from the viewpoint of God that it will be wonderful. I think I have a hard time seeing how wonderful it is because I don't have the viewpoint of God.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Nature of Worship

What is the nature of Worship? It is a question that has been on my mind a lot lately. Really the last few years. The word Worship is used to refer to a great many things. But what does it mean to God? That is the question that concerns me.

A few years ago I heard a definition that probably put me on to this line of thinking. "Worship is a personal expression of the Love we have for our God and His son Jesus". An expression of gratitude for the reconciliation offered through the sacrifice of Jesus. The word that really struck me was personal. It is what I myself do. That has been a revelation, one of the good ones. It tells me Worship is first between God and me. Worship can take place at any time and any place! It can be expressed in many ways!

But what has Worship come to mean in the modern Christian Church? My thought is we have come to think of it as the part of a Church service where we sing or listen to someone else sing. Christians are starting to call this part of the service Praise and Worship. To a lesser degree Christians might call the part of service where a, Pastor or Preacher delivers a message, Worship as well. Christians are even calling the place this occurs a Worship center.

Why does this trend cause concern? Foremost is confuses the nature of Worship. Actually it constrains the nature of Worship. It promotes the idea that Worship occurs in a certain way, at a certain time. It even goes beyond that it changes Worship into something we watch for the most part instead of taking part in. I believe that these ideas are contrary to what God desires of us to experience in our time with Him.

Now to be clear watching a music performance that is of a Christian nature or listening to a Preacher expound on the Bible and the nature of God can certainly be parts of a Worshipful experience. There are many times I have heard a song that impacted my thoughts of God at that moment or heard a Sermon that helped me to have a profound appreciation and Love for God. I have always been a person that has filled their life with music. If I'm not listening to music I'm usually humming a tune or two. But sometimes we do need to turn that off and know God in the Silence.

So if Worship isn't these things or if these things are only a part of Worship, what is it that God desires for us? My personal thought is that God desires every activity and event in our lives to contribute to Worship of Him. God desires to be with us in everything we do. When we go in and come out, when we are in our rooms alone, when we are in a crowded school or workplace. God desires for us to express our love and adoration for Him in a personal way at all times of our life.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Macbook Pro 15 Inch Unibody


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Originally uploaded by reboot95
I recently purchased the Macbook Pro 15 Inch at the Applestore. The buying experience was very good. If you are employed by a large company or the Government make sure you inquire about a discount. Also remember that Students and Teacher get a discount as well. These discounts can range from 6 to 8 percent.

The technical specs of the laptop are impressive. The performance is extremely snappy, but it is hard to see a difference between it and my old Macbook. However the screen is noticeably brighter and richer than any laptop I've ever looked at. Now every laptop looks like I'm looking at it through a layer of dust.

I have noticed that at low screen brightness there is a very annoying flicker visible. My understanding is that due to the nature of LED back lights to get a dim light they are cycling the LED's on and off very fast. Some people can see the flicker. I'm one of them.

Carrying the Laptop is a joy compared to anything else I've every picked up in this screen size. It is sturdy and light. I really don't notice a difference in weight between it and the old white Macbook.

PROS: Light weight, beautiful screen, Sturdy construction, lighted keyboard, processing power to spare.

CONS: Expensive, screen flicker at low brightness.

Nutshell: If you can afford it, this is a great laptop.


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

DD-WRT Linksys Wrt-54gl slowdown

I have a fairly complicated wireless set up in my home. My device of choice has been a Linksys WRT-54GL loaded with dd-wrt. Recently I noticed that my transfers over wireless were running about half the speed they should be. I was actually at the point where my Charter Cable connection to the internet was faster than my wireless connection. After verifying that the problem existed for multiple laptops I started trying to track down the cause. Switching wireless channels, simplifying things a bit, going back to WPA from WPA2, switching to G only. By the way the G only broke my WRT-54GL that acts as a client for the TV computer downstairs. None of the changes fixed the problem.

I finally ran across a post on the DD-WRT forums that talked about a similar problem. Their solution was to restore to factory defaults and set the router up again. This solved the slowdown problem! It also prevented the downstairs WRT-54GL from working with the newly factory defaulted router upstairs. To solve that I had to reset it to factory defaults and set it up again. When all was said and done I'm back to transfer rates around 2 Megabytes per sec. Which is about the best I ever get out of wireless G.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

They Speak English Here Right?

I've discovered that one cultural myth about foreign countries is true, every one does speak English, however the part they don't talk about is none of them understand English... The airport in Japan had a very nice lady holding a sign that said United Bangkok and kept saying "Bangkok, Singapore" and pointing to a line. But when you asked her if this was the line we were supposed to be in she would repeat the speech say "ANA" and nod emphatically. I guess it worked I ended up in Thailand not Singapore.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Pack Rat

I'm preparing for a large long trip overseas well it will be about a week and a half which seems a long time for me having never really been out of the country. Well there was that trip to Canada but that doesn't really count does it.

I have found that for the last two weeks I have been obsessively going over the things that I should take and the things I should leave at home. Like which clothes I need to take, which chargers, will they work, which cameras, how much does this weigh, on and on. So the virtual duffel in my brain has been filled and emptied many times. Now I just need to do that in real life...

The clock is ticking.