Barry Land

New Address: please update your links, blogroll or feeds

2006-11-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

We have moved to a new blog location at http://barrydean.wordpress.com. Please update your links, blogroll, and feeds to the new URL above.

I just want to extend my thanks to anyone who reads this blog. I genuinely appreciate your comments. Moving to WordPress I will be able to more easily maintain and enhance the blog pages, plus have a few more bells and whistles. Cya at the new digs.

Blessings,

BarryDean

Family fun night

2006-11-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Last night was a good night. Our daughter Crysta had an idea and asked for the evening to be a night of family fun together. We agreed. We had a nice dinner and dessert (a delicious piece of homemade pecan cheesecake that Robin made) and then we played our favorite game, Apples to Apples. If you haven't played this game you should find one. It is very fun and each game only takes about 20 minutes to play. We learned last night that there are some fun variations to the game. During the game there was some of the usual sibling picking but it never got out of hand. This was a great blessing. Our son Sean is usually the dominant player but Crysta won a couple of games which made her happy.
After the game as we were getting ready to watch a movie together I received an instant message from Don an old friend (yeah I said old) of mine. It was good to hear from him, it had been a while. I met Don at my first job out of college. He and I were both computer operators. He was on the first shift and I was on the second. I thought he was pretty cool because he drove a 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette (yeah....single), and he was very helpful to me in learning my job. I am very grateful to him. We have kept in contact over the years but it had been awhile since we'd spoken. My wife was gracious and let me converse with him for awhile.
After we finished talking it had gotten pretty late so Robin, Crysta, and I went upstairs to watch "The Maltese Falcon" with Humphrey Bogart and Sean got online to play XBox 360 Live. What a blessing to me when God gave me a family. I have not been very grateful for them and have taken them for granted more times than I know. I love them all and pray there are more evenings like the one last night.
God bless.

Deep thinking, deep questions

2006-11-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to see Jason's friend answer the question. I don't know if the question is good conversation for football but it is a question that has come up in conversations I've had in recent years. Prior to coming to the knowledge of a totally sovereign God this deep thinking occurred more times than I can remember. Can free will coexist with divine (what I think Jason really meant is) predestination? First of all what is meant by free will? Usually when people think of free will they think of individuals having their own independent will to control their own lives. If we answer that question biblically what would it be? The bible teaches that God has predestined those who would be saved (Rom. 8:29, Eph. 1:5) but has He also laid out our whole lives, what schools we will go to, who we will marry, how many children we will have etc. Has God predestined all of our perceived decisions? If we look at this biblically I would have to say yes, God has predestined those things. As it says in Ephesians 1:10b, 11;

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.

If anyone knows of any other scripture to support or dispute my conclusion I would love for you to post a comment for discussion.

Martyrs of the Reformation

2006-11-03T07:23:00.000-08:00

One of the more frequent guests on the Albert Mohler Radio Show is one of my contemporary hero's, Dr. John MacArthur. MacArthur was in town (Louisville, Ky home of the radio show) to deliver the 2006 Mullins Lectures at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel this week. Mohler mentioned during the show that the messages could be heard online and that a link was created from his own web site. So I went to the site (SBTS: Fall 2006) because I am always looking for good messages to listen to. By the way if anyone reading this has not heard John MacArthur's sermon "The Tale of Two Sons" on Luke 15, it can be heard at this site as well. This is very similar to the one he delivered at the 2006 Shepherd's Conference. I love that sermon. Anyway, I listened to the first lecture this morning on the way to work. The subject MacArthur is teaching on is "Christ - The Head of the Church". He began the lecture with a history lesson about those who had been martyred for proclaiming this truth of the headship of Christ over the church. I was fascinated by some of the stories of these brave, and uncompromising men. Men such as the German preacher John Huss (or Jan Hus). Huss preceded Luther by about 100 years and it is documented that Luther referred to Huss quite often in his writings and teachings. Huss was burned alive at the stake by the Roman Catholic church for writing and preaching in opposition to papal indulgences, and clerical abuses of power. This execution of Huss, whose name sounded like goose in German, coined the phrase "your goose is cooked". I learned that in the days of Luther most of the people could not read, so many of Luther's writings were done with illustrations. In these illustrations when he referred to Huss a goose would be drawn. There's that Luther sense of humor coming out again. LOL!
You can read more about the history of The Reformation at this interesting web site: A Puritans Mind .

I know I am going to enjoy listening to these lectures if they are even half as good as this first one. There is just so much to learn and so little time this side of glory. Oh what a time it will be to have all of eternity to learn about such things, and to meet and speak with these hero's of the truth as we worship together in the presence of our Lord.

Soli Deo Gloria

And now for something really scary .......

2006-10-31T12:04:00.000-08:00

Anyone who grew up in the church will probably remember when the rock band U2 came on the scene with songs like "40". This came out in the early eighties and it was just Bono singing Psalm 40 from scripture with the band. Some of their other songs were considered to be religious as well and it created quite the excitement in Christian circles. Wow, a Christian band in the secular market maybe this will create some interest in Christ. Then Bono used the infamous expletive on the MTV music awards, and all doubt of their Christianity became the topic of conversation. We all have read about Bono's extensive charity work and some would consider him to be a saint. Personally I have not seen or heard Bono or any of the other members of U2 make any statements regarding their relationship with Christ. But regardless of his or the band's commitment to Christ some churches have still taken their ideas and song lyrics into their corporate worship. I ran across a little news article that reports just this alleged fact. You can see the article at the following link. U2-charist.

I researched the song "If God Will Send His Angels" which is the song mentioned in this smaller article. I would recommend looking at it to review the lyrics. Now please tell me if you can picture a congregation singing this song in their communion services as the article suggests. The article also suggests that this song is being used in over 150 churches in 15 states of across the US.

Ok. I kinda get the whole being relevant thing the emerging church movement is focused on. I don't like it, but I do get it. I guess this is just one more step in that progression. Maybe more of a leap. The song has no relationship at all to the sacrament or observation of communion, let alone any relevance to worshipping a holy God. Borrowing the beats from contemporary music is one thing but borrowing the lyrics from songs such as these is ridiculous, and in my mind an abomination to the Lord.

Forget about goblins and ghouls on this Halloween. Do you wanna see something really scary? Watch as the church (and I use the term loosely) focuses on relevance over substance. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke?

2006-10-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

I am one of those people who are loyal to a particular consumer product if it appeals to my tastes or desires. An example of this would be that I like the diet cola type Pepsi products. Diet Pepsi, Diet Vanilla Pepsi (my personal favorite) and the new Diet Jazz Pepsi products. Since I have been working at my new job at our client site I have not been able to find a single Pepsi product in any of their vending machines. Today I wanted a diet cola product to drink with the lunch my thoughtful wife prepared for me so I purchased a Diet Coke out of the machine. The choice turned out to be ok and for the most part it wasn't bad. The Diet Coke did not taste bad or make me sick, but it just wasn't the same as my familiar Diet Pepsi. Now it's time to stretch a little, but not so much.
Since the Lord has led me to the awesome church I now call my home church, I have found a taste for sermons and messages that are centered on God's truth. The expositional preaching is the style I long to hear and study under now. I read books and articles that are based in reformed theology, like the teachings of Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Martyn-Lloyd Jones, and contemporaries like, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, D.A. Carson, and Mark Dever. It goes without saying that I love to study under our own pastors and elders as well. Once in a while I run into Christians who tell me that I should listen to this pastor or that pastor. I will usually go and find some of their audio files on the Internet and give them a listen. When I hear those wimpy, psycho-Babel, man-centered messages it's like drinking a Diet Coke for me. It may not be heresy (although a Gospel message that is man-centered is in my opinion) and it probably won't be bad or make me sick. But it just doesn't quench my desire for the deep expositional preaching. (like Diet Pepsi Vanilla)
Now I know that deep expositional preaching of the truth is much more vital to my heart's desire and spirit than a Diet Pepsi. (my wife would tell you that I don't need that Diet Pepsi at all) Because the preaching and studying affects so much more of me than just my taste buds. My hope is that the next time you are at the vending machine making a choice between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi maybe you will consider this simple lesson. One you've tasted the truth of the Gospel and the expositional preaching everything else is just a Diet Coke, or worse yet, a flat, watered down, been sitting in the sun for hours Diet Coke. I would recommend checking out some of the sermons and messages from those I mentioned above and also checking out the audio web page of our church and listen to some of the awesome messages there, and ........... drink Diet Pepsi!! :-)

Salvation is of the Potter

2006-10-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

I am not talking Harry Potter here, but the Almighty Potter. I have been listening to a series on The Attributes of God by Pastor Mike at Bethlehem Bible Church. In the message Mike mentions some quotes from A.W. Pink and his writings on the Sovereignty of God. He says that it can be read in it's entirety online so went to look it up. Sure enough you can, and boy is it good reading. In chapter three Pink writes about the Sovereignty of God in Salvation and a particular section sticks out to me and it follows:

"We readily acknowledge that it is very humbling to the proud heart of the creature to behold all mankind in the hand of God as the clay in the potter's hand, yet this is precisely how the Scriptures of Truth represent the case. In this day of human boasting, intellectual pride, and deification of man, it needs to be insisted upon that the potter forms his vessels for himself. Let man strive with his Maker as he will, the fact remains that he is nothing more than clay in the Heavenly Potter's hands, and while we know that God will deal justly with His creatures, that the Judge of all the earth will do right, nevertheless, He shapes His vessels for His own purpose and according to His own pleasure. God claims the indisputable right to do as He wills with His own."

Pink goes on to use Acts 13:48 to confirm even more the sovereign work of God in Salvation. As it says "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed" If we have studied Scriptures even a little we understand that God is eternal and without too much digging you can understand that this passage is saying that the sovereign God, creator of the universe chose those who would believe. Why he doesn't choose everyone is totally His call. Again, we are the clay, He is the Potter, who are we to question the why? The Potter makes what he wants of His clay. If He chooses to fashion some for salvation, praise be to God for His unearnable grace. Thanks be to God that He did save some. We were all headed for destruction. Think about it....

Please check out the BBC audio series and the online A.W. Pink book at the links below.

The Sovereignty of God

BBC Audio

God created them male and female

2006-10-21T05:06:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to all kinds of messages and books lately. I did when I was traveling in order to sell insurance and even now the habit has continued while commuting back and forth to Lincoln. My Zen MP3 player is my companion. I podcast the Albert Mohler Show and yesterday the topic was about two school systems in the US who have allowed for, now get this, transgendered kindergarteners. A school system in Broward County Florida and one in Oakland, CA are the concerned systems. For Broward County schools this is quite a new thing but they are still allowing a five year old boy to enter the school system as a girl. In Oakland this is not so new. An elementary school has bathrooms for boys and girls and a unisex bathroom. Go to Albert Mohler to read more.
So last night in our Care Group's study in Genesis chapter 1 we read about the original plan for boys and girls, actually man and woman. In verse 27 we read that God created man in His own image and He created him; male and female. That's it. We should celebrate this. We should be glorifying God for this. He did not create another gender. The world is trying to create another gender. This is another example of the world's rebellion against God. The world continues to shake it's fist and say to God, "I don't care how you made us, we are going to do it our own way". I told my daughter last night that in the not too distant future you are going to see unisex or transgendered public bathrooms showing up more and more. As my wife would say concerning the world..."to hell in a handcart".
Anyone else's thoughts?

Back in the saddle again

2006-10-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

The new job is very interesting and I am very excited to be doing geek work again. I am working on projects for the back office systems for Cabela's. I know something about the retail business having worked for Walmart in one of their retail stores a few years ago. So this is going to interesting to see how things work in the business behind the scenes so to speak. I have met some nice people already. Some of them I have worked with before and some I am meeting for the first time. They have already invited me to apply for an open position as a full time employee but I am not in a hurry to jump out of the consulting game yet. I have only just begun so to speak. Being here as a consultant gives me an opportunity to be inside and see how the company treats its employees and not actually be one. The only benefit I see so far for being an employee is that employees get a merchandise discount while contractors do not.
We had our church family conference this weekend with Kris Lundgaard. It was great. Kris was very good at explaining his ideas from his book "The Enemy Within" and he expanded on it quite a bit. The enemy we are constantly fighting against is our flesh. The spirit of God within the believer is always opposed to the flesh because the flesh which is related to the human fall rebels against God and righteousness. Kris expanded on his book by talking about another weapon against the flesh (enemy). This weapon is remembering the love of God for us. Remembering that God loves us so much that God the son was willing to come in flesh, suffer, and die in order to redeem His chosen from death. What a love.
On another sidebar I have started reading Steve Camp's (yep the contemporary Christian artist) blog again. Man is he ever in the reformer camp (pun unintended). He wrote recently in his blog about contextualizing the Gospel. (I wonder if he recently attended the Desiring God conference) He argued using Charles Spurgeon as an example of someone who was not burdened to contextualize the Gospel but to proclaim it. Steve has had some very heated discussions as comments to his postings and they are definitely worth the read. I would love to have Steve come to our church and do a conference. I will be talking to the elders to see if this can be accomplished. Steve Camp's blog can be found at the link below.
CAMPONTHIS enjoy.

A relevant mission

2006-10-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ok I listened to Mark Driscoll on the Supremacy of Christ in the Postmodern World. I really like listening to him. He presents a number of challenges. If you haven't heard it yet you should go to the following link and listen to it before reading any further. The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World

Driscoll says that we should contextualize the gospel once we have the sound doctrine. We should do this in order to be relevant in the culture. Do you think he saying that if we take the gospel to the gothic culture that we should get body piercings and wear black to fit in so those in that culture might listen? I have debated for Christian groups such as P.O.D. who say that their mission is to take the Gospel to those secular bands they tour with like Korn, and Marilyn Manson and others like them. They wear the piercings and have their bodies covered in tattoos. Folks will use verses like John 15:19, and Romans 12:2 that say we should be not of this world and we should not conform to it to debate against this kind of "mission work".

Driscoll also challenges preaching relevance. When he states that we should be careful to not preach, above the head so to speak, to those unbelievers who come in off the street and want to hear something they can understand. How do you maintain this sensibility without causing your flock to get stagnant? I have seen this form of preaching go way to the other side until the preaching is fully centered on the unbelievers and the believers who desire to grow kind of get pushed to the curb. I am indeed challenged by the things Driscoll says and I do like his edginess. I don't think I have ever heard someone refer to a form of Jesus that you could beat up before. But he is right. That is the way Jesus is portrayed most of the time. He is all of the lamb and none of the lion.

I invite you to respond to my post so I can get an understanding of what folks think about these challenges.

I'm such a geek

2006-10-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

And I couldn't be happier. It has been quite some time since I last posted. Much has happened. I have finally realized that door to door sales is not a career suited to me. I do admire those who can do it.
I will admit that the attraction of career independence and the possiblity of unlimited personal income was also an attraction. But the sales were just not coming. I couldn't deal very well with the "no" after each presentation. So for the past week I have been considering going back to my original career in the Information Technology field. (Robin has been silently considering this longer.) This thinking was even more emphasized when I found her looking through the classifieds the other day in order to provide for some supplemental income.
About the middle of last week I got a phone call from a woman who works for a local consulting firm. My name was given to her from a good friend of mine and she that he had given me a raving reference, even knowing that I was no longer in the career field. She said they had some opportunities to present to me and wanted to know if I might be interested in meeting with them. I met with her and with their president. I really liked what I was hearing and seeing. Things have indeed progressed since last week. So much so that as of today I went to the office to fill out paperwork with their HR person in order to be officially hired. I will be working as a project leader at one of their client sites in Lincoln which happens to be Cabelas (very cool).
Praise the Lord!!
I am just amazed (God thing) at the way things have fallen into place (God thing) in such a short amount of time. (God thing) I have never been hired for a job so quickly, especially without doing much of the job searching work on my own. (again a God thing) When I met with everyone at the office the other day they were all amazed at how quickly this has all come together. I said that it was "defintely a God thing".
I know that God is sovereign over everything in my life and that there was a reason I went through the sales adventure. I'm thinking it was to humble me for the most part. It had become a source of pride as of late. Enough of that, I didn't mean to write an essay. I just wanted to share some of what has been going on recently. I will again try to make my posts more frequent.
Thanks be to God for His enduring patience.

Waiting for the sale

2006-07-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, first of all today was a great day to be outside. Next, I am only beginning to understand that sales is a tough but rewarding way to make a living. I am experiencing the tough part. I still haven't made a sale yet. I know it only means that the first sale keeps getting closer the more presentations I do. Yesterday I went to Syracuse, NE and talked to about 12 households and did three full presentations. No sales. Scott says it was a productive day nonetheless. I gained experience in doing my presentation. Today I went to Fremont and got really frustrated. I was told by one gentleman that I didn't know what I was talking about. He didn't believe the facts and statistics I am using to illustrate the gaps in Medicare coverage. I guess my biggest frustration was that I didn't feel spiritually prepared for the day. I need to get an earlier start, and pray with my wife before I head out for the day. I hope to remedy that Monday morning.
God is in control.

It begins tomorrow

2006-07-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

The day of my new career is here. I have been appointed and I can now begin to sell, sell, sell. I am totally relying on God to provide for me and my family in this new business. I have never really sold for a living before, let alone working for straight commissions. Praise God for this opportunity to be dependent on Him and Him alone. I thank God for my friend and mentor Scott. He has provided me with some great training so far. He will be providing feedback as I go through my sales opportunities for the remainder of this week. I would also like to thank my wife for being so patient and tolerant these past few weeks as I have been home and derailing her days. I know she has been more than ready for me to be out of the house and her hair. With God's abundant grace we haven't killed each other. God is good. I will post how my first day goes tomorrow.

Repenting from my absence

2006-07-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

My absence was in part because of my feelings of irrelevance. My concern that that no one was reading my blog site. I allowed those feelings to dissuade me from doing what I enjoyed so much with this blog, and that was to express my thoughts and experiences. To write them down so I can review them later. Kind of like a diary of sorts although I write as if others will be reading it. If anyone is consistently reading it then that is a bonus. I have returned in part because of encouragement from my wife and because of inspiration from a blog I try to visit often.
Irish Calvinist is a blog site of a good friend of mine and brother in Christ. He shares some great insight and is very committed to posting something relevant every day. His site is visited by numerous folks and creates many comments and dialog.

My wife and I are also celebrating our wedding anniversary today. We have been Married 14 years now, and as my wife likes to say "and they didn't think we would last". We would not have made it if not for God's rich and abundant grace. He gets all of the glory.

Much has happened since my last post in April. I shared that God had seen to it that my employment with HP was done and that it was time to move on. I have been led by God to pursue a totally different career than the one I have been in since 1985. I will be selling insurance. This is the kind of job where I will be totally dependent on God. It is work that is all commission. I will be going into folks homes and convincing them of their need for long term care insurance. It is a product I am only beginning to really believe in.

For the past few weeks I have been studying for the Life and Annuities / Accident and Health insurance exam. I failed it the first time and took it again a week later and passed it with flying colors. Praise be to God. I have also just finished my final college class to receive my BS degree in MIS. The class was Intermediate Algerbra. It is a required course for the MIS degree program. I tried taking CLEP tests in advanced math but failed because I have not studied any advanced math since high school. (A long time ago) I took the Algebra class at Metro Community College. It was a tough go but with God's help and my wife's encouragement I passed. Woo Hoo!!

The type of insurance I will be selling is one I can truly believe in. Nursing home or long term care insurance is a huge need for the elderly. It is a product that I am inspired to provide for the elderly. It helps to fill in the gaps of Medicare coverage. There are some rather large gaps. I am being mentored and trained by Scott, a friend of mine, who is very successful in this career and has eagerly been helping me get prepared for my new career. I will be selling under his agency. I will write about this some more at a later time. It may be boring to some, but I am learning to appreciate it.

To close out this much anticipated posting (ok, I may be fooling myself) I will use a quote I found that I think applies here.

"Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed." By the puritan Thomas Watson.

Trusting in the Lord

2006-04-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

I guess it is time to make another post to my blog. Much has happened since the last post and really the the biggest news is recent news. Glory is to the Lord, this week I was laid off from my job of six years. The news was a bit of a shock but work has been winding down as of late and the system I am very familiar with is being replaced by another system. Basically for the past several months all of us at this company have been working ourselves out of a job. My company (actually God) has provided us with a great severance package that will provide for us until the middle of July. Please be in prayer for my family as we process through this and for godly wisdom as I seek better employment. I have a few folks looking for work for me and I trust that God will provide. Everything in life is according to His timing.

Thinking about mortality

2006-03-29T10:08:00.000-08:00

Sunday I was told that a fellow church member had lost their brother during the week. The brother was only 39. The same brothers had also lost their dad at an early age. I also lost my dad when he was a fairly young man. He was only 39 when he passed. The sad news of this brother passing triggered some thinking inside me. I hope that his brother was a believer in Jesus Christ. If he was, and if my fellow church member is a believer then they will see each other again in eternity. If either is not, it is my belief the relationship will remain as it is, separated. These kinds of life encounters probe our human thoughts. Where do we go after we die? What happens to our loved ones? Is there anything for us after death?

The Holy Bible addresses this issue of death very clearly. I did a basic bible search for the word death, and how it relates to what's after death. First of all I think it is important to understand why there is death. In Romans 5:12 Paul the apostle writes "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world (that would be Adam) and death through sin , and so death is spread to all men, because all have sinned." In John 5:24 Jesus is speaking and he says "Truly, truly, I say to you he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life". So, according to Jesus there is eternal life for those who hear His words and believe in Him who sent Him, meaning God the Father. Also in Romans 6:23 Paul writes "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." This is a very powerful verse. It tells of man's condition. We all sin right? The wages of that sin is death. We deserve death. It is our just consequences according to God's justice.

Through God's son, Jesus Christ, He offers us the free gift of eternal life. You will notice that the above Romans passage says "free gift", this eternal life is not something that is earned. It is given freely. This free gift is also evident in Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by grace (God's unmerited gift) you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast." Jesus Christ paid the price for our judgment. This is evident in Romans 5:8,9 "But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, (the blood of Jesus) we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (again, Jesus). It is the blood of Christ that saves us from the judgment of God.

Once you been saved by God's undeserved, unearned grace, you can have assurance that it cannot be taken away. Not even by you. Romans 8:38, 39 the apostle Paul writes, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height not depth, nor anything in all creation , will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Isn't that reassuring? Totally!

Is there life after death? According to God's holy word, the bible, there is absolutely life after death, eternal life. Have you trusted in the saving gift of God, Jesus Christ, to save you from God's coming judgment? It is only through Jesus that you can be saved from this judgment. John 3:36 says "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will be on him."

So thinking about mortality leads me to think about eternity. Does it do that for you? I have trusted in the blood of Jesus to save me from the wrath of God. Have you? I pray so.

Going to bed mad

2006-03-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

This should be avoided if at all possible. Especially married folks. I know this wisdom, but knowing and putting it to pavement is usually not the same. Know what I mean...Vern? Last night I posed a theology question to Robin, my lovely wife, and waited for her response. Now mind you my wife is a very independent thinker. She makes up her mind on things by thinking them through, usually. Only on rare occasions does she react based on emotion. So when she didn't respond with an answer that was in line with what I had been thinking as the answer. I pressed on with some of the research I had done. Although I believed my research to be exhaustive it could still be considered subjective. After some discussion and some scripture research I still could not persuade her to my way of thinking on the subject. I must have been getting noticeably irritated because she decided the discussion was over. Now I allowed myself to get emotional and drew the "you never think my point on things is credible" martyr card that drives her crazy. Of course this was not a good direction to take the discussion. Do ya think? Well, it wasn't. I still wanted to pursue the issue but it was falling on deaf ears by this time. In my own twisted way I had good intentions of resolving this before going to bed but Robin would not comply. We ended up going to bed mad at each other. I lay in bed unable to sleep so I went downstairs to watch some TV. It took me a long time to get unwound enough to get to sleep and hence today I am very tired. I had a pretty good day up 'till that point, but it's a shame that what will probably be remembered is the argument. I need to figure out that a discussion is that, a discussion. I do not need to convince my wife of my view on things in order to change her mind. I have a feeling that what really got Robin upset is that in my attempt to convince her to think along the same lines as me, I may have come across as belittling her opinion. This is the very thing I asked her for to begin with.

So my advice to myself and anyone reading this is to learn how to discuss without making or thinking it personal. Don't make stupid martyristic (if that's a word) remarks. If you asked for their opinion, consider it, and don't demean it by acting like they don't know what they are talking about. And above all, if you are married, don't go to bed mad.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2006-03-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

Why do we celebrate a day for St. Patrick? Who is this guy? I borrowed a bit from another web site to provide something about St. Patrick.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in the ninth century in Wales. His father was a noble man and a deacon to the church. Patrick was abducted when he was 16 and brought to Ireland where he was sold as a slave. He worked as a shepherd on Slemish Mountain in County Antrim for 6 years until one night an angel came to him in a dream told him that his boat was waiting for him. With that he left and ran 200 miles to a boat.
He traveled to Britain and then to France where he spent 20 years as a monk in Marmoutier Abbey. He then received a celestial visitation in a dream telling him to return to the land that had enslaved him, although now he was to return on a mission, to enslave and to convert. Patrick and 24 of his followers arrived in Ireland. Patrick decided to talk to the High King because if he was the most powerful man in Ireland. Patrick spoke to King Laoghaire. While he was there he plucked a shamrock from the ground and tried to explain the to the druids and the King that the shamrock had three leaves but one plant just like God had three personas - The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. This was called the Trinity. King Laoghaire was very impressed and chose to accept Christianity. (I'm thinking God chose him...but anyway) He also gave Patrick the freedom to spread Christianity throughout Ireland. Patrick is thought to have died on the 17th of March sometime between 463AB and 493AD.

Very cool stuff huh? One of the things I had heard about St. Patrick is that according to legend he drove the snakes out of Ireland.
Well that is kind of an allegory. Snakes are the symbol of Paganism. St. Patrick did rid Ireland of pagans.

Unlike Valentine's Day I like this day. If it is in celebration of the man described here and not the drunken revelry most folks associate with St. Patrick's Day.

a sad day in Orange County

2006-03-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

While in California I attended a Saturday evening church service at Saddleback Church. This is the church pastored by Rick Warren of the Purpose Driven Life fame and fortune. I was there with a few of my fellow traveling companions and from the time I entered the building and received my bulletin and message outline there was a very familiar feel about it. First the outline was identical to the outlines provided now in a church I attended for nine years and have since left. The music was pretty good, but the people seemed a bit detached and passive. The message title told me they were in the middle of a series about your worldview. The message was delivered by the man himself, Rick Warren. He looked to have lost some weight from previous pictures I had seen and he was sporting a gotee. The message was going along fine if not but a bit superficial until he said that God made us because He loved us and so we could love Him. (God created us to His glory) Also in relation to God breathing the universe into existence Warren said that it didn't matter if you believed it took a week or a million years. (I believe in the literal 6 days of creation) He then used the passage in 2 Peter 3:8 out of context to affirm his vagueness with creation that with God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day. Peter is writing this to encourage his readers that God is not slow about His promise. Warren used so many more passages out of context to prove his outline points. The whole underlying theme of the message was you and me centered, it made me sad. It was definitely seeker sensitive and not Christ sensitive. He does not preach about the sovereignty of God by his statements of "God is in the business of turning crucifixions into resurrections", and that "abortion short circuits God's plan." He compared God to Macgyver the TV show because He makes something useful out of odd pieces. The whole experience lef tme feeling like I had been to therapy and not a worship service. How are his members going to learn about the God of Abraham, the God of the New Testament, about Christ and the cost of following Him with this kind of message. While there I kept praying for God to raise up men who would influence the church to a more Christ centered approach, and I will continue to pray for those there.
On a positive note the facilities were very impressive. It was all laid out like a campus with a cafe where you could get coffee (which we did, I don't think we passed many Starbucks or coffee shop last week) to buildings for training, teaching and a resource for curriculums, and bookstore. It looked like they had much more but I didn't stray to far. Please pray for Rick Warren and Saddleback Church.

In the presence of mighty men

2006-03-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

I am repenting because I have been too busy to post anything in three weeks. I will try to be more diligent in the future. I had a wonderful time of encouragement and edification at the Men's shepherd's Conference last week. It was like living a dream. I conveyed to my traveling companions my first experience with John MacArthur and I will do it here. My lovely wife had signed us up for his tape library in the early nineties and I remember listening to my first tape while mowing the grass in our home in Florida and thinking, I wonder if I will ever have the opportunity to go to MacArthur's church someday. First of all he will tell that it is the Lord's church and not his, but being there, and hearing so many mighty men of God speaking and encouraging us and each other was incredible. I will not forget it. I am already putting together a plan to save for next year's conference. We were at the conference for over eight hours each day. I have learned so much that I really should put my experiences down in text. We will be receiving the audio from all the sessions on one CD, so I will be able to commit the lessons learned to memory. I think my favorite session was the general session with Steve Lawson on "Bring The Book" about Ezra opening scripture to the remnant of Israel after captivity. It was an encouraging sermon about being diligent to preach the Word of God. To "bring the book" to the people and not be ashamed to teach and preach the truths written in the Word of God. A close second would be MacArthur's sermon on Luke 15 and the parable of the man with two sons, more popularly known as the prodigal Son. At the ending he got us to consider the elder son as an example of the way the Jews treated their heavenly Father and His Son when he showed love for the sinners and not just the priviledged Jews. John MacArthur imagined an ending to the story and painted a vivid description of the elder son taking a piece of wood (like the cross) and beating the father to death in anger. Similar to what the Jews did to Christ in having him crucified on a cross.

You can click on the picture above to see some pictures I took while in California.

Do we really need Valentine's Day?

2006-02-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

It is my humble opinion that we could do without the day we refer to as Valentine's Day. I believe it was created by the greeting card, flower, and chocolate industries. Do we really need a day to focus on our special loved one? If we are only doing it one day a year then the relationship is in a pretty pathetic state. My special lady, bride, and mother to my children has already let me know that she would prefer some pampering so she will have her feet, shoulders, and back rubbed and massaged this evening. I try to show my love for Robin every day of the year. I know that sometimes she may not feel the love but it never fails. I realize that because of past offenses it is a difficult thing for her not to doubt my love but that is a manifestation of the consequences of those past offenses. It is my prayer that one day the doubt will dissipate.

Robin, honey, I love you and I don't need a special day to cause me to say so or show you so. Besides, would a box of chocolate or a diamond necklace really prove this to you? Because of you I have learned to love and have learned how to show it. I will admit that it goes against my bend to express it but you are my helpmate. You are worth more than fine jewels, and I trust you with my heart.

If anyone wants to see my wife's picture just look up Proverbs 31:10-31 in the bible and you will find her picture there.

Thinking of Nick

2006-01-31T13:45:00.000-08:00

For what ever reason my mind has fixed on my cousin Nick. I haven't seen him in about 12 years. I miss him alot. We used to be very close. I tried to contact him a few years ago but could not get any info related to him from his sister. Maybe I should try again. I know he has diabetes which my dad had for years and it eventually took his life. I think my fathers life could have been much longer if he had taken better care of himself. I pray that Nick is taking good care of himself and eating right. I am a bit apprehensive to contact him since I was basically blamed for the breakup of his marriage. Let me explain. In March 1991 I moved to Florida ahead of my family to take a job with Citicorp. I lived with Nick and his family until my family could move down with me. After several weeks of having me live there Nick confided that their marriage strained. He said that he would not be doing as much with me as we had been. I was cool with this, because I had made friends with some of the other park residences. About two weeks before my family were to move down to Florida, I was told by Nick that the manager of the trailer park where he lived was enforcing some rule that limited the number or family members living in the residence. So I needed to find another place to live. My kind-hearted boss at Citicorp made it so I was able to stay with his son at his apartment until my family arrived and we got a place together. Praise God it all worked out. I found out later from Nick that his wife had divorced him and that the story of the trailer park rule was a lie he and his wife told to me to get me to leave their home. I do not know who in Nick's family were told that I broke up their marriage, but from their behavior toward me since, I would believe that my aunt and uncle believe this to be the case. I wish they would have told me that they were having problems because of my presence. I would have found other accommodations.
Wow that feels good to unload. Sad, but good.

On a lighter note. I have submitted for my employers educational assistance to take my CLEP and DANTES tests. These tests will conclude all the necessary credit hours I need to graduate and get my BS diploma. Robin's body is healing well and she is feeling much better. PTL!

Let the healing begin

2006-01-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord! Robin's hernia repair surgery went very well today. The surgery was at 7am and she was out and in recovery by 9am. She was put in an observation room until tomorrow. Thanks mom, for being there for her this morning and waiting with me until she was out of surgery and her room. When I left at 4:30pm she was a little more coherent and getting a bit hungry. The doctor said that she should not be lifting anything heavy for about 6 to 8 weeks. We will keep an eye on her to make sure that happens. Again, Praise God!
On a more somber note, I have not mentioned that my mom has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She is taking it pretty well, that I can tell over the phone. Please be praying for her. Also, my sister's stomach ailments have finally been diagnosed. Her doctor has prescribed some medication and she hopes to be better in a few weeks. PTL! My Ninnie is out of the hospital, she was having some dementia problems and her bladder was really acting up again. She will be staying in a nursing home for a few weeks.

One of life's best days

2006-01-23T08:05:00.000-08:00

As promised I have pictures from graduation. It was a great day. I arrived at the auditorium around 8am. I met and congratulated some of my classmates. We filed out of the basement by rows and seated ourselves for the commencement at 9am. The commencement began at promptly 9:30am. The speakers were pretty good and the whole ceremony finished in about two hours. They called each graduate by name and if they were graduating with honors. The highlight of the morning was of course walking across the stage with my mock diploma. After the ceremony we went to mom Venus' apartment clubhouse for a post-graduation party. The party was fun and we had quite a few folks turn out. Click on picture to right to see more.

Goin' to California

2006-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Today I finalized plans to attend the 2006 Shepherds' Conference in Sun Valley, California(can you say it like Ahhhnold). Woo Hoo!! The conference is a church leadership conference hosted by Grace Community Church. The church pastored by none other than John MacArthur Jr. The conference is March 1st to March 5th. I am so humbled and encouraged by the fact that I was invited to go by our senior pastor. It is such a God thing, no doubt. There are about 16 of us going as a group. I am looking forward to the training and growth I know I will get at this conference. I do not know what God has in store for me, but His promise is for my benefit and His glory. I will be following up with additional posts about the conference as the plans unfold.
Oh yeah. Today I also picked up my cap and gown for my graduation ceremony which is this Saturday. I'll post some pics of it after.

The Friday Factor

2006-01-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have been reading some blogs about the guest appearance of Bill O'Reilly on The Late Show with David Letterman. I have also been hearing some clips of it on talk radio, so I went out on the Net to see if I could find the whole segment. I found the following link takes you to the whole segment with Bill O'Reilly. January 3rd with Bill O'Reilly. When the video starts notice that Letterman stirs the guests coffee with his pencil. Later in the segment you will see O'Reilly take a drink from the cup. I hope you will also notice the way David Letterman tries to instigate O'Reilly into losing his composure. But O'Reilly doesn't. Also notice the way Letterman tries to argue with O'Reilly. He uses subjective opinion opposed to O'Reilly's objective opinion. Letterman also changes the subject on a couple of occasions. Letterman is just not even in the same class to debate O'Reilly. It is my opinion that Bill O'Reilly does a wonderful job as a guest in a hostile environment. Let me know what you think and post a comment.

I am also posting a picture on Robin's Mazda 3 after she got it back from the body shop. The dealership body shop did not complete the driver door. Whenever it is shut, it sounds like a tin can, opposed to the other 3 passenger doors. I think they forgot to put in the door insulation or something. It sure is hard to find great service anymore. I am also posting a good picture of our moose, Roscoe P. Coltrane. Please click on the picture to see the larger version.

Music to my ears

2006-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for awhile so I will talk about a rock band that I am just now getting into, Dream Theater. They have been around since the early 90's and are still recording today. Their music is characterized as progressive metal. They appeal to my sense of music like that of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I am posting a link to one of their tracks from the album Images And words. The clip is called Surrounded. Click on the album cover to the right. Enjoy!
Update 1/14/06 - I have since learned about music licenses and I have changed the link to be a clip of the same song. Sorry Mom, you should be able to play it now and maybe this album cover is not as scary as the Scenes From A Memory cover.

Way to go Buckeyes

2006-01-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

Final score: Buckeyes 34 - Notre Dame 20. That says it all.

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the beginning of a new year. Happy New Year 2006!! I pray everyone had a joyful time bringing in the new year. My wife Robin and I spent it with friends from church. It was a very joyful time. We ate chili and had some delicious deserts. We also had awesome conversation, and played dominos into the night. We brought in the new year traveling home. New Years day was fairly uneventful. We went to church, worshipped the Lord in song. Pastor Pat spoke on Matthew 18:15-20, The Four Steps For Church Purity, a very challenging part of scripture. Today I bottled my first batch of home brewed beer. I will add the link of my home brew kit to my favorite links list. Today one of my favorite college teams will be playing football in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ohio State University Buckeyes vs. Notre Dame. Go Bucks!! I will post the score later.

The day after

2005-12-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything in awhile. I have been busy. The season does that to you. It has been a good busy, not the typical life is flying by me busy. I have been thoroughly enjoying it these past few days. Christmas Eve, my wife, daughter, one my sons, and I went to the Christmas eve service at church. It was a very blessed time of worship and celebration. We had a candle light service which was very traditional. We all went over to my wife's sisters house for feasting and gift exchange. Two of our other sons met us there. We had an excellent time of enjoying each others company. It was one of the best times I've had there. My local mom gave me a home brewery kit so I can make my own beer. It was very cool. Christmas day we went to church again since this year Christmas is on a Sunday. Our pastor preached about four different perspective of the birth of Jesus. It was very thought provoking, as always. After, at home, we feasted on Mexican eggs, sausage, bacon, and non-alcoholic mimosas. We opened gifts afterwards, and everything became a blur. I am posting a photo stream to record the event. Later that evening we went over to a friends home and had more treats and some good conversation. Today we did some running around town. We dropped off my wife's car to have the body damage fixed. The details of the reason for that will be in the next post along with some before pictures.
Click on the picture above to go to the Christmas photo stream at Flickr.

Favorite Christmas movie sound clips

2005-12-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Story:
You'll shoot your eye out
Fragile
Christmas Vacation:
Theme Song
Break Wind
Twinkle lights
Griswold Family Tree
Scrooged:
Slap them in the face
Garden slugs
It's A Wonderful Life:
Lasso the moon
Mouth's bleeding
Teacher says
Wonderful Life
Miracle On 34th Street:
Nice man with a white beard
Case dismissed

Three days until Christmas

2005-12-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

Only three more shopping days until Christmas. My shopping is basically done. It is a tough job since all I really need to focus on is the shopping for my lovely wife. I will be doing the traditional last minute shopping in the next couple of days, but that will be mostly stocking stuffers.
I wanted to update the blog to let everyone know that my wife is doing fine. She went to the doctor and he told her that he is 99% sure that her condition was caused by the amount of caffeine she had for that day, plus the espresso on the way home. She is back to her normal silly self and baking up a storm for Christmas. PTL!!

Getting Wet

2005-12-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

PTL, three young saints were baptized Sunday evening at church. I was privileged to be a participant in the event. Our associate pastor asked me to help him with the baptisms and to do the closing prayer after. It is an honor to serve my church and ultimately my Lord. It is also a blessing to see folks obedient in following the Lord in baptism.
As a side note please pray for my wife as she had a weird experience Sunday night on the way home. We stopped for Starbucks and she had a red eye, which is coffee with one shot of espresso. We stopped at Walmart after that and she started to get a bit fuzzy in her vision. By the time she got home she couldn't think very clearly at all. She was muttering about not remembering a word that describes knowing something without having to be told about it. She was not seeing correctly and had some numb sensations in her right hand and in her mouth. She has an appointment to see our doctor this today.

Dinner and company

2005-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

I attended our company Christmas dinner last evening. The dinner was held at Brother Sebastians Steak House. Almost everyone from our team attended. I had a salad from the salad bar, and my choice of entre from Top Sirloin, Stuffed Shrimp, and Oskar Chicken. I had the stuffed shrimp. The shrimp were delicious and very filling. I could only eat three out of the five that were on my plate. I shared a table with three other employees that I don't regularly get to speak with at work, so it was nice to get to know them. After dinner our manager gave all of us $50 Walmart gift cards for Christmas and for a job well done for the year. Wow, the gift card and the nice company performance bonus was a great blessing from God this year. I boxed up my remaining shrimp and gave them to my wife and one of my sons when I got home.

Leaving work

2005-12-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

This is my first post and I am going to be brief. I am leaving work and traveling to church to participate in a bible study. We are studying Angels, Elect and Evil. It is also a book by C. Fred Dickason. We meet on Wednesday nights, and last week was our first week. I believe it is going to be an awesome study.