Saturday, March 22, 2008

Sundays Coming!

This was just sent to me, and though "Friday" is passed... Sunday is still coming!
May the joy of your Salvation and the truth of Jesus Resurrection compel you to serve Him with passion!

"Sundays Coming!"


Click the "preview" under picture.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Creative Mind...

...of a home schooled teenage boy! Just a small survey... should I count this as PhysEd?





If only it wasn't Tuesday!

This could be a late "MM" post, as this one example (...of hundreds more like it!) explains why we won't be needing a container to transport any of our personal belongings to the mission field.

This could also have been a "wordless Wednesday" as there really aren't words to adequately cover his thought process/my reaction to this.

Did I mention, that couch is the only furniture we have ever purchased new? From a retail store? As in not just "new to us"? Um, yeah.

Did I also mention that every one of my kids had seen this. Weeks ago. Not a word from any of them. How did he manage such "silence guarantee" control over them? He has abilities I have yet to tap in to!

*note- he uses my camera and puts it on my computer, but figures I won't ever see it. I am not sure what I think of that.

Any ideas?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Copyrights...

Well, as many of you know, the blogging world has lost a most faithful and (nearly) daily contributor, as the author of lunch time thoughts deems institute and family life as more deserving of his few discretionary hours in the day- and wisely so, I might add- but that does not change the fact that there is now a gaping hole in the cyber world. (I, for one, am myself completely over positive that I used so many more than would ever be needed words in that well written and colorfully descriptive sentence!) (Never mind about punctuation!)

Hindsey, we will do our best to fill it, but let me be the first of many who I am sure agree with me...get them papers and reports and street ministry done young man!

Now on to the main point of this post... I quickly ascertained exclusive permission to use the
phrase that is very coveted and often used without regard to the originators feelings "just a thought..."

And I have copied and pasted it here for all to see...

" You can use "Just a thought" :) "

And you will all believe me, because there is no way that could have been forged or mistaken for anything but the direct permission from the man himself!

Now why, you might ask, was I SO CONCERNED about getting permission? Let me explain!

Due to the fact that I bored you to death telling you, all of you know our dog recently had puppies. Because we wanted to sell them, it required that they be advertised. Youtube seemed a great way to do just that, and I made a cute little video, and spammed it all over everywhere I could in order to generate interest and exposure, thereby selling the cute little buggers as quickly as I could. Very successfully, I might add.

Actually a little too successful was my marketing scheme, as you can read in the following excerpts from three, you read me correctly, THREE!!! emails to me regarding my infringement on a certain copyrighted name/logo/title that I used in my cute and innocently made video.

"Understandably, you have used a name for your videos that others have, as well, and we have informed those others...


------
deleted some junk------


Since we certainly understand why you chose to use that name for your video (since we did, ourselves, years ago) we want to address you directly, rather than getting any of those "legal folks" involved at this point.

-----more deleted stuff-----


So we are asking you, please, to remove references to "************" and "***********" in the audio, video and graphics (including the title and text) from any material you may distribute in the future
Please respond to us at ++++@++++.com as soon as you decide those references will be removed from YouTube. We, of course have nothing but encouragement for you to resubmit them with our name removed, if you choose to do so. There are many names you can use that we have not staked a claim on, and we are sure you, as creative people, can rename your video, and replace or remove any audio references to our registered marks, in a charming fashion."


Those "legal folks"??? After I laughed for a second, I realized they were probably serious!!

What made me laugh even more is they emailed me three times within 5 hours... like they were checking me minute by minute to see if I had in fact complied with their demands requests. I felt like I was caught in a "comments war" loop similar to the previously acclaimed blog! My goodness!

I even googled the "offending title", (and N.O. I will not use it here! I would be surely jailed if they found me bashing them in a post on my highly acclaimed blog!) and couldn't find them, their company, their TV show... ANYTHING related to them! I really think I should email them just a helpful little letter, or two or three, and tell them all of my marketing techniques! Maybe I could get paid as a consultant for them!!

Wow, there are a lot of people getting paid a lot of money to chase down people the likes of me. Good thing there wasn't something important going on in the world!!

Then again, maybe they are just frustrated bloggers who get no comments on their posts and have had to seek validation elsewhere...

Just a thought...

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Acting on What You Know of God


As I continue through my reading of the Scriptures, I am constantly amazed with how they truly are alive and life transforming. Lest any of you worry that my lack of posting is a result of my seeming crisis of faith from my last post, let me assure you, I am rock solid in my stand, state and security with my Saviour! He is always good and faithful, and never intends evil nor harm to all those he calls his! What a treasure we posses!

Just "some thinking" though... (I am very careful not to use other peoples words, phrases or titles these days!!! More on that tomorrow!)

I started in Daniel ... after skipping Ezekiel of course, (I was so not ready for that one again, even though it has been many months since our last visit together...!!) and I love in chapter 2 where Daniel has been told about the king needing someone to tell him the interpretation of his dream...after they told him what that dream was in the first place!!

My favorite part is in verse 16. Daniel has just heard of the decree that all the wise men would be destroyed, and "Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation. "

[Now, make note this is before chapter 3 where the "certain Chaldeans" (aka. shamed and jealous wise men) made known to the king that "certain Jews" (aka. Rack, Shack and Benny) would not fall down and worship the the image during the Adhan musical call to prayer and they were sent to the furnace, and before the whole Daniel in the lion's den in chapter 6!]

OK, back to the story...

I don't see where Daniel made any specific prayer about "should I first see if The God if Israel will give me the revelation of the dream?" or "What might happen if I go out on a limb here and my God doesn't come through...?" Nothing like that. He is told why the wise men are going to be killed, and the next verse says "Then...". He KNEW his God! He was in prayer three times a day- purposed and dedicated prayer- not the "talking to the Lord while I do the dishes" kind of prayer! In verse 17, another "Then..." he went and told his three buddies! His knowledge of God made him confident in his actions.

Am I so familiar with God that I would act like Daniel?

Do I know His character and purposes well enough that before I prayed about it I know which way God would go?

WOW! Daniel did!

And even if he really didn't know that the dream would be revealed, he knew God could if HE chose to, and that was motive enough for his action. Now true, he was in a position that if he did nothing he and all the wise men were facing death, for the Chaldeans said rightly in verse 10, "There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter:", and that king was a little baby stern man, and wanted his way.

But they didn't know the whole of it... because "the except" is... a man can if the Lord be with him!

I have heard the quote, "Stand up for what is right, even if it means you are standing alone". And one is never alone... when the Lord is with him.

I made mention of this being before chapter 3 and 6 because it struck me that God knew how Daniel and his three amigos would act in those other two stories based in part on the way they acted in this one. (Aside from the fact that He is omniscient, that is!) These men had proven themselves to be men of action based on their knowledge of who God is.

There are so many of us (me!) that are faced with something that needs doing, or a problem that needs fixing. We know the right answer and don't do it for whatever lame reason.

Why do we hesitate?

Are we faced with something possibly unpleasant as a result of our actions?

Let me ask you, what could be more unpleasant than sinning against a Holy God?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Posting is fun ...for me!

Well!!! Would you believe all of the puppies are sold?! And in one day! What a huge blessing! They are cute and all, but I cannot say I will miss them. Three little puppies are work. Period. So that is the news on the puppies!

And, I missed mission Monday. No excuses. Just missed it.

As far as on a spiritual note...

I was in a meeting and the topic of dispensational salvation came up. Exactly how was one saved in Adams day? Faith? Works? A combination of both?

How about in Simeon's case? He saw the Messiah as was promised to him. Guess he didn't stay long in Abraham's bosom.

We know in our age, the church age, it is Grace through faith and not works lest any man should boast. But some say even our act of accepting that grace is counted as a work. Confusing.

And how about in the tribulation? The Great tribulation? Survive to the end, or die a Martyr's death for the faith. There is no more Grace alone there for sure.

And then the millennium. People must earn the right to the tree of life. Definitely works there, but grace to allow the tree to be eaten from? That God would still provide a way of Salvation is gracious and merciful.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

So many questions! Just some thinking!

Whew! In interest of recapturing those of you that are here for levity...!

In an email...(you know who you are!!) I was teasing saying a post should be done on the cute little things people can do with the keys of a keyboard. At church, there is a symbol for our men's prayer group that blogger couldn't do right because it always defaults to the margin, and won't allow spaces in the beginning. Bummer because it is a great keyboard logo! But in my search, I found some really fun ones... I think I need to tag my signature with one! So in lightheartedness... and in an effort to keep them all in a place I know they will be...!

By the way... I didn't type these all out! "Cut and paste" is my friend!


:-) The standard smiley face showing happiness.

:-( The sad face. The user is unhappy

;-) The winky face shows a flirtatious or sarcastic remark.

:,( Crying


:-0 Yelling


:-@ Screaming


:-X A kiss


:-| Frowning


|-o Bored


:-I Indifferent


>>:-<<> mad


@.@ WOW! (eyes bugging out)


:-P or :-p or :-6 Sticking tongue out


:~-( Shed a tear


:-$ Put your money where your mouth is!


p:-) Baseball fan


~:o A baby


{:-{) User has a mustache and a toupee


:// A guy with duck tape over his mouth


+-<:-) The pope


=|:-)= Uncle Sam


C|:-= Charlie Chaplin


:$) Donald Trump


*<|:o)> Santa Claus


%-~ Picasso


3:*> Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer


8(:-) Mickey Mouse


:-----} Pinocchio


8:] A gorilla


:8) Pig


:>( )< Penguin




/\ /\
(>'.'<)
( UU ) Cat


ll ll
.(>'.'<)
c( UU ) Bunny



/( '.' )\
.( UU)/ dog


o( '.' )o
.(UU)/ monkey

( 'v' )
( vv ) duck

l l
( ' ' )
U horse


O O
(>'.'<) .( UU )/ Mouse


Now wasn't that fun?! Yes, I thought so, too.