Josh is getting married in 9 days. You may send your condolences to him via the new blog: joshuaandchristy.blogspot.com

Hi

Hello everyone,

So, yeah I know its been awhile since I've left a post. I have been back in the states for about two weeks now and have started up work again. I'm in a different place so that is new and exciting. I went to Nepal for a couple of weeks and saw the sights there and now I'm back at the flat.

Say hello and I can tell you stories about the trip and all. Hope you all are well. Sorry for the infrequent updates. =)

It's Inevitability That Lends The Excitement

5 MORE DAYS!

Life..

Life is short, eat pinapple. =)

So I took this little quiz that I found on Jolly Blogger and this is what I came up with... hehe

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

...Just a bulb?

To the casual observer this may appear as nothing more than Georgette holding a head of garlic... but indeed it is more. This special bulb contains properties (no not the kind you get from 'right clicking') that smash, stomp, and otherwise obliterate fungi, harmful bacterium and nasty virus'. Yes its true, but please, before you throw McAffee and other such softwares into the dustbin please know that it doesn't defeat all viruses. Thus concludes your handy informational post of the day. Carry on.

Mushroom or...?

Here is a controversial picture for display in response to a post over at Thought of the ?. It could be a mushroom, but who knows.. hehe

I lift my eyes up

I lift my eyes up to the mountains
Where does my help come from
My help comes from You
Maker of heaven, creator of the earth
I lift my eyes up to the mountains
Where does my help come from
My help comes from You
Maker of heaven, creator of the earth


Oh how I need You Lord
You are my only hope
You’re my only prayer
So I will wait for You
To come and rescue me
Come and give me life

Brian Doerksen
http://www.worship.co.za/wsv/wsv-0909.asp 2/21/07

A few Pictures

Here are two of my favorite dishes, the first is Chicken fry and Parotha and the second is Koni/Kongi a type of rice soup!!

Seems like everytime I switch on the light in the morning or night at least one or two of these buggers fly in my room! It can be quite annoying. Sometimes they just buzz around the lamp so I will just ignore them. Other times they will fly everywhere landing on me and buzzing around me head. Thats when they die. I give them a taste of some scholoarly writings and thats just too much for them.Ok, so here are the other annoying factors. You see all these bugs? Well they are attracted to light. They love it. Not only that, but when I am trying to read they fly around and create michef with at least one diving kamakazi straight into my eye. Ok so thats not so bad, but when you switch off the light, they flock to my laptop screen. Bleh. You can't keep em away.
That settles your fun post for the past while. Cheerio.

Praise God for His love

Remembering Keith...
Good Stuff. Gotta Love Keith Green. He was very influential in my life.

P.S. For something funny (plus some classic music;) visit: silly guys

Food for thought from one of my favorite bands! Excellent song.


Escape From Reason
Down Down Down
That's the way we're traveling
Our social fabric unravels
But who pulled the string
Philosophers politicians or the school teachers
Game of life and death and we're sitting on the bleachers
What happened to our voice
What happened to our influence
Tell me who will listen when all we have to say is
Bumper sticker doctrine and cute catch phrases
Does this amaze us that no one will take us seriously
We talk big but then we sit in atrophy
Apathy they make comedy of our hypocrisy
Unaware of true biblical philosophy
So we gotta watch what we do and what they see
Cause we represent Christ plus Christianity

{Chorus}:
The underground sound here to take your mind higher
I pound the ground Burn it down like fire
We walk the long path, Still on the first half
You escape reason, we escape wrath.

God is not concerned with Gallup Poll opinion
Or if the whole human race were to disagree with Him
Truth is what I spit
But you ain't hearing it
Or you ain't having it
But it don't matter which
'Cause God is still Himself
and He could strike us dead
Even in the pink of health
You don't think I should say that
You say you don't believe that
Our opinion counts for zero,
And that is simply that,
Like I'm Mojo that's how it goes that's just the
way of things,
God is not impressed disagreeing won't change anything,
We all must beg for mercy and surely God will show it
There's a reason for our hope you ask me how I know it
God said it and that without a doubt
"He who comes to me I will in no way cast out"

{Bridge}:
A city under siege who will you believe
champions of truth or of apostasy
you wanna take on me
you take on Elohim
He controls all the that was is and what will be

Taken from: http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/lyrics/EscapeFromReason.asp [as shown 2/19/07]

Quote

I came across this quote and I think its quite grand!
John Piper while talking about common interpretations of some scripture passages:

"I'm no scholar, but ... I don't think so." --John Piper

The right word spoken at the right time is quite a beautiful thing.

Con Agra

Boy, I feel sorry for Con Agra and their track record... Seems like most of the major recalls of food have been associated with Con Agra. For example in 2002, they recalled over 19 million pounds of ground beef due to e coli concerns. If you are familiar with e coli, it is very strange that ground beef would be contaminated with it since it is a bacterium associated with the intestinal track. That aside, just today the fda warned of salmonella contamination in Peter Pan peanut butter. Guess who owns Peter Pan Peanut butter? Yep, Con Agra... hehe

Reuters and Salmonella

Not only are there health concerns, they have also been slapped with Ethical concerns being labeled as "one of the 'Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s' for fraud, with fines of $4.4 million."* So keep these things in mind when you are shopping for one of the 50+ Con Agra brands. This ends your food watch for the day. :)

*Coop America (as shown on 2/15/2007)

Aversion to Truth

I was encouraged to keep "studying to find myself approved" by this statement:

"Take this question from the PEERS test as an example: Moral values are subjective and personal. They are the right of each individual. Individuals should be allowed to conduct life as they choose as long as it does not interfere with the lives of others. The Nehemiah Institute found that seventy-five percent of youth agreed with this statement." -- Kerby Anderson, Probe Ministries
http://www.probe.org/worldview--philosophy/truth-decay.html

Reminds me that when a country's sole source for truth is human rationality then it is bound for trouble...

Interesting... and cunfuzzled

So today, I saw an article on World Net Daily about a new study in creation. Apparently this student made a thesis about sound waves entering into water to create light and other such findings that he says give weight to speaking things into existence. I thought the was quite intriguing and worth a little reading, but when I clicked on the site I found some things that baffled me. There is a brief information about his findings, but only enough to whet your appetite to buy the book. The ironic thing is that two free books are included... "As a Man Thinkith" by James Allen AND "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles. The second title was the one that caught my eye and made me a little antsy. From my thoughts: "Not only do we have the key to creation, but we also accept visa!"

World Net Daily:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54131

Website:
http://www.scienceprovescreation.com/

Book:
http://www.scienceprovescreation.com/purchase.aspx

Atta Boy

I knew I liked Oklahoma. :)

http://okinsider.com/topic_01RI143LMO/viewtext.oki?SB0047

New senate bill to prohibit forced implantation of electronic chip. :)
*whispers* Oklahoma is the best... /whisper* hehe j/k

Grape Seed Extract

It's a beautiful thing.

I was reading the book Leadership 101 by John Maxwell, and though some thoughts I had are not directly mentioned in the book, I thought I'd share them with you.

John Maxwell in one part of the book talks about planned neglect. The basic idea is that one has a limited amount of time so if he spends all his time cleaning his store but forgets to open the door, he misses the point of why he is there, which is to bring customers into his store. I was thinking about priorities and how do we know what is important. I realized something I think we should keep in mind and that is that we should evaluate our time not on the worldly definition of spending our time, but rather evaluate our time on what God calls us to do and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Further, we should not evaluate things on the basis of how they affect us visibly but rather on how we are being led. For example, if someone I barely knows asks me for some advice, it seems like a fruitless thing to spend time talking to that person. I cannot see the results of my talking to that person and the only way it affects me is that I use up some time.

Yet look at the example of the small white haired man on George Street, he did not see the results of his labor until just a short time before his death. For those that don't know, he handed out 10 tracts every day and never saw any result from this until a baptist pastor visited him and explained how many testimonies of very influential leaders that had changed their life for good and the tract the white haired man had handed out was an instrument in that process. This little man was used to be a huge influence but he didn't see it first hand.

Or another example, Jesus did only the will of His Father in Heaven. In the same way, we follow Him in that regard and do what we saw Him doing. I don't know if I was able to communicate the thought that I have in my mind. In any case, I hope it sparks something valuable in your mind. God bless,

Surfing the heat wave?

Well, things have changed from when I first started this blog... I am no longer surfing any raindrops, in fact water is quite scarce. It hasn't rained in over a month. Thankfully there is still water to drink, "take bath", and to cook with. :) Sorry.. no funny stories about running outside with my plate over my head, though sometimes I do that to block the bright sun from my eyes. :)

Milk

Have you ever had suger in your milk (no I'm not referring to cocoa puffs) and then as if that wasn't enough have it really hot like tea? Its quite interesting, apparently its the preferred way here. Like the Chai without the tea.. haha :)

Sepak Takraw

Here is an asian sport I got to take part in recently.. and no, I can't jump like that...

Sweet tile

Well friends, I have to say, I'm quite happy with my clean bathroom floor. Its so nice on your feet when you walk in there and it feels all nice and clean and shimmery. So I thought I would let you share in the joy, though I have to admit there is nothing quite like setting foot...hehe there yourself. =D Can you see the halo reflecting off of the floor? Oh wait maybe thats just the flash.. hehe

Lyrics

Often modern Christian lyrics are lacking in what they say having much relevant meaning, or at least so I'm told. But for some reason, this one really struck a chord.. ;) I especially like the first part. With many issues that float around there is a conclusion of the matter. I'll let you figure it out.

--
Aaron Shust - My Savior My God
From the album Anything Worth Saying:

"I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands one who is my Savior

I take Him at His word and deed
Christ died to save me; this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

Chorus (2xs)
My Savior loves, My Savior lives
My Saviors always there for me
My God: He was, my God; He is
My God is always gonna be

Yes, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring;
That He who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior"

--

The Reason to Wear a Tie

Ponder this...

"Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. " NKJ, Emph. mine.

This one verse says a lot. This is the conclusion to Ecclesiatstes, nothing new under the son, all is vanity, etc. In the end, fear God and obey his commandments. This was the advice of Solomon. I think we should take ear and listen. ;)

picture found at open pictures.

Mary Slessor

Mary Slessor was a missionary in the 1800's who grew up in adverse situations such as living in a poor home with a drunken father and having to work at the young age of 12. She lacked a very good education but was able to study a few books while working at a loom. The thing that struck me abour her life is that at first glance one would have pitty on the situation in which she grew up. Yet, it possibly through these things that shaped her for her future ministry. Its interesting that every person has a part to play whether it is small or great, and the Lord uses them for that thing. Another example would be Moses, or the Dr. Paul Brand whoose diverse skills finally led to his pioneering work in the treatment and understanding of leporsy patients.

The image is the book cover of a title about Mary Slessor, it can be found at :http://www.christianfocus.com/item/show/560/-

Scholarship...

How come the fad now adays is to attack Christianity that the Bible is borrowed from other stuff, etc? Its a fad too, not scholarship, because it seems they start with the premise that these things were borrowed, and then they try to draw parallals suposedly backing their claims or strengtheing the premise... when in fact it seems to be only a premise. *yawn*...

More Evidence the end is near...

"FORT WORTH - A Euless man who admitted placing a stray dog inside a washing machine was sentenced Tuesday to one year in jail.
Chad Edward Ellis, 32, pleaded guilty last year to one count of animal cruelty.
Grapevine police said Mr. Ellis placed the dog inside a washer last January and turned on the hot water cycle.
The dog, a black Labrador mix, was later euthanized.
Mr. Ellis also was placed on probation for five years for four counts of burglary and two counts of theft, said Dixie Bersano, an assistant Tarrant County district attorney. "

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/011707dnmetdog.47d98c01.html

You'd think animals have more protection than humans... We put young babies that aren't born yet "through the washer" and there isn't a second thought.. but hey there is money in that... bleh

Thoughts on leadership

Sometimes our greatest strengths can be our greatest weakness --the means of our undoing -- if we become dependent upon our strength or perhaps take course to overemphasize and misuse them.

Food for though

"Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance. "*




* -- Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus (New York: Crossroad Publishers, 1991)., 31

Random thoughts

Well I'm back again. Had a nice Christmas vacation to see friends and family. It was nice to have a little break. The ants were here to welcome me back they were cruising all over the floor like I was bringing them presents. hmph!

So here is a random thought. Have you ever considered marriage to be like climbing a mountain? Theres nothing quite like standing on the top of a mountain and surveying the beautiful landscape around but in order to reach the top you have to go through a long climb. It seems like marriage would be much the same way. There are blessings that come with it, yet along the way there are difficulties and trials. These can be used to shape and mold us or we can allow them to separate and break us apart. It seems that one wants to take a nice easy plane ride to the top and enjoy the view without any of the sacrifice each living ones own life of selfishness and still enjoy the view. This however cannot be done (ok so the analogy breaks down with Pikes Peak, but humor me for a moment), one cannot drive to the top or fly to the top without the climb. This is the very thing that strengthens us and causes us to grow we should not expect to or try to avoid that.

Thats the random thought for the day.
Ever seen a bomb squad in action? Its quite interesting.

=)