requirement

everyone stop what you're doing (which, at this moment, would be reading my blog, and if you did that you wouldn't know what I'm going to tell you to do...but that's beside the point) and go buy/order/borrow and read 'One Thing' by Sam Storms. It's...really really really good. You'll thank me. Click here

more change

now this is what they're saying:

She relied on the tube for 15 years after suffering catastrophic brain damage when her heart stopped beating and oxygen was cut off to her brain.

source

pen caps

did you know that pen caps (like on your BIC pen) are not to keep the ink from drying out? I always used to think that until I realized that they have holes in the caps! That's your thought of the day from Elias.

one thing again

and another quote from one thing. Here is an illustration of how small the nucleus of an atom is:

Think of an atom as if it were a typical football stadium...If such were an atom, the nucleus would be the size of a single grain of sand on the fifty-yard line. If it helps to put a number on it...the nucleus of an atom comprises only one part in 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion)!

God's creation is pretty cool.

"In the span of one inch you can line up, side by side, approximately 100,000,000 atoms."

persistent vegetative state

A quote from Yahoo News

Schiavo, 41, suffered brain damage after cardiac arrest in 1990 and was left in a "persistent vegetative state." State courts have sided with her husband Michael Schiavo's view that she would not want to be kept alive in that condition.

I noticed something when reading this paragraph, and it is good news. The viewpoint has changed. A few days ago when this whole story was first coming out in the news I never saw the words "persistent vegetative state" in quotes. The reporters simply stated and asserted that she was in a persistent vegetative state, and they didn't question it. But now...they put it in quotes. They still write it, so they have not come up with another way to define the state she is in, but they do put it in quotes because people just say she is in a persistent vegetative state, but they are starting to believe otherwise. Recently there have been reports of people who say she can be rehabilitated, and that she does respond to people and that she is conscious. Earlier today on the radio I heard that a nurse has said that Terri has a vocabulary of 5 words or so, and that she can communicate whether she would prefer pudding or another snack. I also heard that Gov. Bush has found a doctor that believes she can be rehabilitated. I also read quite a while ago on the Terri's fight website about a doctor who believed she could be rehabilitated. Just now I was going to look for it to put a link here to it and I found this write-up. I really encourage you to read that one. The article I was originally looking for can be found here. Specifically:

MYTH: Many doctors have said that there is no hope for her.
FACT: Dr. Victor Gambone testified that he visits Terri 3 times a year. His visits last for approximately 10 minutes. He also testified, after viewing the court videotapes at Terri’s recent trial, that he was surprised to see Terri’s level of awareness. This doctor is part of a team hand-picked by her husband, Michael Schiavo, shortly before he filed to have Terri’s feeding removed. Contrary to Schiavo’s team, 14 independent medical professionals (6 of them neurologists) have given either statements or testimony that Terri is NOT in a Persistent Vegetative State. Additionally, there has never been any medical dispute of Terri’s ability to swallow. Even with this compelling evidence, Terri’s husband, Michael Schiavo, has denied any form of therapy for her for over 10 years.

What is also good to see is the news saying "State courts have sided with her husband Michael Schiavo's view that she would not want to be kept alive in that condition." It is good to see them say that this is only Michael Shiavo's view and not necessarily the truth.

Though I am glad to see these changes, I am saddened by the apparent lack of value for life I observe as so many people comment on the Yahoo message boards that Terri's 'plug should be pulled.' Obviously they are misinformed and have horrible value systems.

another quote

Ok, here's a good one :) :

God never gets pooped!
(p. 101, one thing, Sam Storms)

heart goes out

my heart goes out to Terri Shiavo and her loving family.

• Terri's Fight webpage
• Yahoo News Story
• Google News Links

best friends

tonight i spoke at AWANA it was so cool when two girls exemplified something i had just taught...

i had been talking about how we can only get to know God by spending time with Him. we cannot expect to get to know who He is and what He would want us to do and how He would have us act and what He would think about something if we do not spend time with Him. i drew a parallel to our relationships with other people. i said that i have "Ralphliness"...what that means is that i am a lot like my dad, Ralph, because i have lived with him almost all my life and i have spent much time with him. I know what he thinks about certain things, I know how he would act in certain situations. I often find myself saying exactly the same thing he would say in exactly the same tone in which he would say it. Why? Because I have spent much time with him. The same is true with godliness.

after explaining that i asked some questions. after one of the questions two girls (who were sitting next to one another) shot up their hands. i could only call on one of them so i called on the one sitting on the right. she answered the question well. i gave the second girl a chance and she said, "Oh, she said what I was going to say."

"Aha!" I thought, and then I asked, "Do you two know each other very well?"

"Yes, we are best friends. We hang out all the time." They both replied.

There it was! Just what I had been saying. These two girls, who are best friends and spend a lot of time together, thought the same thing and even replied to my second question almost in unison.

When we are best friends with God then we will know what He's thinking in certain situations and respond as He would to events that happen. The way we do this is by spending lots of time with Him.

a tainted pearl

i have a pearl. i've given it up twice already. it used to be more pure, now, i hope to give it up a third time, it won't be as special as it would have been if i would not have given it up before and had to take it back again.

but it makes me think about sexual purity. how much worse would it have been if i gave away my sexual purity? a pearl on the end of a gold necklace is precious especially when you understand my story and desire behind it. now it has been tainted since i've given it away twice to the wrong person(s) and have been given it back. but i can't imagine how terrible it would be if it was my purity that i gave up.

education

i love this book "one thing" by Sam Storms. Here's a quote from page 81-2:

I earlier spoke of the relationship between celebration and elevation or between exultation and exaltation and argued that the former in each case is both a prelude to and grounds for the latter. There is, however, one additional stage in our experience that is antecedent to both exultation and exaltation, namely, education.

If we don't know who God is and how He thinks and what He feels and why He does what He does, we have no grounds for joy, no reason to celebrate, no basis for finding satisfaction in Him...Delight in God cannot occur in an intellecutal vacuum. Our joy is the fruit of what we know and believe to be true of God.

What this tells us is that the ultimate goal of theology [the study of God] isn't knowledge, but worship. If our learning and knowledge of God do not lead to the joyful praise of God, we have failed. We learn only that we might laud, which is to say that theology without doxology is idolatry.

...What beauty! What transcendent glory! As for its depth, unfathomable. As for its duration, unending. As for its degree, immeasurable. As for its description, ineffable. This is a perpetual spiritual high from which you need never come down.

on blessing and being blesseda picture of giving to God

today i went to my uncle paul's and aunt julie's. my mom and i have been in sacramento since last thursday, i've been fixing people's computers (my grandmother's and my aunt sarah's). my aunt julie had let my dad know that she needed some help with her computer. she had to do a report for her school (she's a teacher) and have it in by Monday the 14th (that's tomorrow). it required a somewhat complicated process of downloading a program from a poorly designed website (the california public school system's website, it was poorly made. if you're on that webteam and you're reading this, re-design it! keep in mind, teachers are not all so computer savvy--viz. spell it out clearly), installing the program (a poorly built program, i might add, looks like some amateur wrote it in visual basic), and then filling it out.

Well, this was way over my aunt's head...I couldn't even find where to download the program from the URL they gave us! The document she had said "The program can be obtained from the following address", then they gave us a web address...Well we went there but I couldn't find it. I ended up going to the home page of the site and typing in the name of the program in the search box. Well after we finally found it I downloaded it, installed it and she filled it out, it was rather simple after that. But it was a BIG burden off her shoulders...it had to be done by the next day and she had tried to do it and also tried to get help from another teacher but all her efforts had been in vain. But I helped her complete it and get it done. She was so relieved. I also helped her by cleaning up her computer and getting rid of spyware and viruses etc that collect on every computer running Windows that isn't constantly looked after.

They fed me dinner and wanted to hear of my recent trip to Indonesia. I enjoyed telling them and getting caught up. Well before dinner my uncle handed me an envelope with some money in it to express their gratitude. They insisted I keep it though I didn't think it necessary. When I got home I opened it up...one $10, one $5, and four $1s. That's $19. Now, they are doing fine financially and could have easily spared $20. Or they could have easily just given me $10 or $15 and made it an even amount. What I gather from this is that they gave me all they had--all the cash they had on hand. I never keep much cash on hand, they must be like me. But see, if they had one more $10, or one more $5 or one more $1, they most likely would have given it to me and made an even amount...but they didn't have it on hand. They gave me all they had to show the extent of their gratitude to me for helping my aunt out of this bind and taking this huge weight off her shoulders.

It reminds me of the widow giving her two mites. She gave all she had because of how grateful she was to God.

Or, a better fit example: It's like when a missionary comes to speak at your church and you didn't know he was going to be there. He talks about the ministry he is involved in and it tugs at your heart strings. Your pastor comes up and announces that an offering will be taken for the missionary and his ministry. You want to give a lot but you look in your wallet and you find four $1s...hmmm, not much. But you put it all in the basket as it is passed around, you gave all you could. Of course, if you knew the missionary was coming before you got to church and you knew of the powerful ministry he was involved in you could have stopped by the bank and taken money out to offer up, but you didn't, you could only give that which you had on you. You gave it out of thankfulness to the Father of what He was doing in this ministry through this missionary.

My aunt and uncle's expression of gratitude to me reminds me of how we should express our gratitude to the Father--we should give Him all we have. How thankful are you that He rescued you from the grasp of Hell, forgave even your filthiest sin, gave you eternal life, and made you a citizen of Heaven? Give back to Him relative to how thankful you are.

rabbinical ramblings

(i thought that title had a fun sound to it)

Christian Zionists are not interested precisely in helping Jews as a religion, we (yes, i am one) are interested in helping Jews as a nation. We want them to come to know Jesus Christ (Yeshuah Meshiach) as their Lord and Savior, because He is the Messiah and the only way. The reason we are seeking to help Jews (by religion) to establish a strong (and peaceful) nation of Israel is because we know this must first take place before Christ returns the second time.

i sat down and chatted with a rabbi today. my mother and i traveled up to my grandmother's house this Thursday. This is the place she grew up since 6th grade. We were walking around the block and she saw Dr. Zeff and said "Hello, Dr. Zeff" and we continued to walk by. Dr. Zeff was the father of one of her childhood friends, Joel. They were Jews (by religion and blood). Presently Joel, her childhood friend, takes up residence in Israel just south of Bethlehem. She had mentioned him to me in 2001 when I went to Israel (Joel has been in Israel since 1995) in hopes that I might be able to meet him.

We got a little ways down the road and heard Dr. Zeff say "It was a beautiful day today, wasn't it?" Now Dr. Zeff is going blind and cannot see very well, so he did not see us (especially since it was dark) and did not know who we were. But he was being friendly and (as most people do when they don't have anything else in common to say) he spoke about the weather. My mom stopped and turned around to talk with him a little more.

"Yes, it was a beautiful day, it is just gorgeous now!" She said, looking up at the beautiful stars in the clear sky. "I'm Martha, Helen Romig's daughter."

"Oh, yes, Martha, how are you doing?" He replied. Now he knew who he had commented about the weather to and he could relate more personally to her. "What are you doing here, just visiting."

"Yes, we're visiting my mother and sisters. This is my son, Elias, we came up here and he is fixing their computers for them. Elias went to Israel a few years back and I was hoping he could meet up with Joel, but it didn't work out." She was always excited about Israel.

"Oh, well funny you mention Joel, he is here now."

"Here? In the states?" You could sense the excitement in her voice.

"Here, in this house." He said, jerking his head in the direction of the house.

My mom was so excited. We talked a bit more and arranged to meet with him the next day.

The next morning my mom called Dr. Zeff's house to inquire about Joel. Dr. Zeff responded kindly, "Oh, yes, Martha! Joel would be glad to see you, come on over in two hours."

Joel came over two hours later, well dressed, kippah, facial hair, and all (even the common long nose and bald head ;) ). He brought pictures of his family (9 children), mostly from his daughter's recent wedding...Traditional Jewish style! It was great seeing pictures of it all. My two favorites were a picture of Joel blessing his daughter with his hands on her head covered by her veil with others in the background, all in their suits, kippas and facial hair...very Jewish looking. The other favorite picture was of the bride and groom dancing on top of a table that was being carried by the young men...that must have been fun! They were up above everyone else's shoulders!

Joel was a Rabbi at a Synagogue here in the states until he moved to Israel in 1995 to become a teacher at a Yeshiva (College/Seminary). It was neat to look at his pictures and hear his views and stories about his family. I was able to share with him some of my pictures from my month in Israel and to tell him about the program The Master's College has (IBEX). He enjoyed hearing about that and was interested in my (and IBEX's) interest in the Promised Land.

We got to speaking about Zionism and how many Christian Evangelicals are helping and desiring to help establish a strong and peaceful Israel. He is very interesting in doing what he can to be involved and play a part. He said they even had a group of Evangelical Christian students come and spend a week with them and in their Synagogue, to learn about the Jewish ways and customs and lifestyle.

I really hope he is one of the 144,000 Jews that believe in Christ during the tribulation. Actually I really hope that he is born again before that time. My mom has been reading a book lately on the Tabernacle and how all the different pieces and all the observences etc. all pointed to Christ. She brought some of that up as we had talked about the Tabernacle. Joel was impressed with her knowledge (as he well should be, my mom rocks) and jokingly offered her a job at his Yeshiva. He noticed a devotion in us and an understanding. I hope it came across as more than that. He mentioned how the Christians were seeking to help the Jews build Israel. Well, yes, we do want to help build Israel, but we do not want to support and encourage a religion who's promised and foretold redeemer has come 2000 years ago and they still continue in the state of waiting for Him.

Christ has come! The promised Messiah came to earth! The prophecies have been fulfilled! He is of the line of David. He is from the tribe of Judah. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. "Out of Egypt I have called my son" was fulfilled when Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod killing their son out of jealousy. So many more prophecies were fulfilled, so many signs were performed, but they are blind to it. Their hearts are hardened. Oh descendents of Israel! Chosen people of the LORD, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob! Your redeemer has come! Your savior already paid the price of your sins! Turn to Him for Salvation and Eternal Life. Worship Him and serve Him alone.

pleasures

my parents just got back from down south. they were at the Shepherd's Conference that my dad attended. They saw a book there and figured I'd like it. It's called "One Thing" by Sam Storms. It's one of those books that you say "Oh, I'll just read the introduction for tonight" and then you end up reading and reading and forget that you hadn't eaten dinner. (Don't worry, I got up and had a banana and a cookie...i'm all set.)

Well then I took a break to write this down 'cause I just read the coolest quote ever. Ok, here it is:

Christianity forbids us no pleasures, save those that lead to temporal misery and eternal woe.

So true

Cool. You'll probably hear more about this book in the future. I'm gonna get back to reading it. bfn.

skewed perspective

see this ridiculous story

"what makes us human is walking upright," Latimer said

I should go to bed, so I won't write a lot about this now. But...well I guess we now have the definitive feature of what makes humans human...it's walking upright! Boy, I thought it was because we were the only ones who have self-awareness. Or maybe it was that we have a soul! Or maybe it was that we have the most advanced brain. No, no, it is that we walk upright. So now you know, folks.

And...there you have it.

Firefox Used to Help Tsunami Victims

I also have another blog at www.SpreadFirefox.com, but I rarely post to it. Here is a link to an entry I posted there a few days ago:

My Blog at SpreadFirefox.com