Debt: The Ruin of us all?

There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don’t respond with encores. – Unknown

It would appear that we are starting to reach the end of our financial ropes in The West. Greece has been in trouble for a quite a while along with several other European countries, while the rest of them are desperately trying to put out the financial fires.  The USA has just gone through a massive debate about their 'debt ceiling' and the American government's credit rating has been cut for the first time in modern history.  It seems that we have us a full blown debt crisis.

This Site's Calculation of the US debt situation does not paint a pretty picture.  If you add together all the debt held by all levels of government and then combine that with personal and corporate debt you end up with close to 55 trillion dollars in debt.  That's quite a bit of debt.  At least I think so.  Now, I'm not going to talk about what I think the solution is to this problem other than to say the obvious 'you need to spend less than you make,' and I'm not going to say that there should be no debt (I have a mortgage myself).  Instead, I want to talk about the cultural implications of this.

This kind of debt load shows us something about the culture we live in. It show us that we live in a culture of immediacy. After all what is debt besides getting something now that you (or maybe your grandkids) pay for later?  I want a new couch?  NO PAYMENTS FOR 18 MONTHS!!  well I better get one.  I want a new car?  0% down!!  Well I better get one.  We want a new road?  Hey look, this banker has money!!  We better build one.  Patience and contentment seem to be a long forgotten virtues. 

It can be hard to be content with what we have.  Others have so much more.  We keep getting bombarded with messages about all the things we 'need.' The bigger house, the nicer car, a newest electronic device, these things keep tempting us to buy, buy, buy. It makes one wonder if there is a way to find contentment and patience in this discontent and hectic world that we live in?  Well, the Apostle Paul claimed to have found it.  He said  that he had learned in whatever situation he was to be content.  I wonder what his secret was?

'I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.' (Phil 4)  So that's the secret.  A friend who strengthens us.  A friend who keeps us.  a friend who fulfills us.  I wonder what friend that might be?   Well let's keep reading and see what he says.

'And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.'

So that's where our needs are met!  That's where we find fulfillment and contentment and patience.  In God working through his Son, Jesus Christ.

I suppose that in the end I have proposed a solution to the debt crisis.  Find your satisfaction in Christ and not in the things that you have, and certainly not in the material things that you want!  Look to him and he will provide for your needs in a way that will make those wants and desires fall into their right place. Why overextend yourself to get what will not make you happy when you can get that which will make you happy as a free gift of God?

Books I've Read - The Millennials

The Millennials
By Thom Rainer and Jess Rainer

This was an interesting book.  It was full of statistics and information about the current generation of young people and was very informative.  I found I tended to skim it a bit as the authors sometimes spent a bit too much time in detailing things I didn't care about, but it was certainly interesting to see the main points of the book and see the overall trends of this generation pointed it.  I can see much of it in looking at myself and my contemporaries, but it is always nice to have it reviewed in a nice summary like this.

One of the main points brought out by the authors is that we are a connected generation.  We tend to be very connected to our families and parents and we tend to use technology to enhance this.  Another observation is that our generation has seen what divorce and separation have done to our friends or ourselves and have vowed not to do the same thing to our kids.  The authors found that most Millennials who were planning to have kids intended to never put their kids through the pain of divorce.  One other defining characteristic of our generation seems to be a lack of interest in religion.  There isn't usually animosity towards religion, but rather disinterest or little to no knowledge about it. We are a massive generation; as big or bigger than the baby boomers, so it will be interesting to see how our culture changes as we continue to grow up.

Books I've Read: Intentional Parenting: Family Discipleship by Design

Intentional Parenting
by Tad Thomson

A small practical book that is easily read in a couple hours, this book is still full of good advice and theology.  This book comes from Cruciform press, which is a new kid on the publishing block.  The publish one book a month and focus on short, easy reading books that still pack a powerful punch.  This book certainly met those criterion.  In a hundred pages or so Tad Thomson gives an quick overview of parenting and gets his message across:  Be intentional about your parenting.  Take advantage of the opportunities to parent that God puts in you way. Plan to parent.  Don't just react, but be active in parenting.  There is plenty of practical advice in this book and yet he does not veer into legalism, but keeps the emphasis squarely on Christ. A book well worth the read for those of us that are parents or have parenting in our future.

Random Quote:
Failing to pray before a meal is not a sin, but it is a lost opportunity, and family discipleship is all about seizing opportunities. Shared meals provide us with regular occasions to express gratitude to God and model prayerfulness to one another. (page 63)

To smart for your own good

"whereas men in the earlier times said unscientific things with the vagueness of gossip and legend, they now say unscientific things with the plainness and the certainty of science.” – G.K. Chesterton

Have you ever listened to nerds argue?  Being a bit geeky myself, not only have I heard these arguments, I've been involved in them.  Spending hours discussing whether gravity affects everything, or whether things like ideas are exempt from the laws of nature, or talking about if I can know whether the floor will still be there next time I take a step, or discussing why the magnetic forces in that last Indiana Jones movie only acted on certain things.  Sometimes, we are just a little to smart for our own good.



I am not trying to tell anyone to stop being inquisitive, nor am I trying to say there is not merit in delving into philosophical realms.  What I am saying here is that some things are simple and that simple things need to be kept simple.  Sometimes we have the tendency of the super smart kid in the class who writes up 4 pages of equations to solve a problem, (and perhaps even ends up with the right answer at the end) when there was a very simple 2 line solution.  Just because there are complicated ways of looking at things and finding answers, does not mean we always need to use them. 2+2 can equal 4 without a 5 page proof. 


The scientist or academic may know words that send the rest of use scrambling for our dictionaries, or equations and mathematical theories that could give my computer a headache, but does that mean they know why the stars are there?  Perhaps they could give you complicated argumentation and theories and proofs, or even write a book on this, but isn't the answer really quite simple?  Ask a 3 year old girl.  She'll tell you why they are there.  'They look pretty.' 

You may be able to explain all kinds of things in terms of those equations you learned in school, and you may be able to spend hours arguing about the epistemological certainty of the latest philosophical theory, but do you really have more clarity about the world than you did when you where 3?   Learning may give you knowledge, but does knowledge give you truth and does truth give you wisdom?  Obviously, those steps can (and should) work that way, but do they? are you pursuing knowledge for the sake of knowing, or for the sake of truth? And are you pursuing truth for the sake of wisdom, or for the sake of superiority? 

Reality is, well, real. Its also all encompassing.  Facts, on the other hand, are just facts.  They are meaningless apart from some structure of reality. "The grass is green." is a statement of fact, but it does not have any meaning in and of itself.  Green grass only means something if I have eyes that can see it, and construct of reality in which the terms green and grass mean something.  Of course once you have that conception of reality, the statement becomes so much more than a statement of fact.  It conveys emotions. It speaks of springtime, and worms and lying on your back looking at the clouds, and freshly mowed lawns, and so much more. 

Education isn't about learning facts.  It's about understanding reality.  It's not about defining reality based on the facts, but rather about defining the facts based on the reality in which we live. If we start with green grass we have nothing, but if we start with reality, we suddenly have green grass!

When teaching our kids we shouldn't be focused on cramming their heads with facts, but rather on helping them understand reality.  We need to bring back the senses of touch and taste into education.  We need to keep God in education.  We need to see and understand the world and glory in the magic of it all.  If you can describe the motion of an atom with an equation you have achieved a certain kind of beauty, but don't forget that other kind of beauty.  The kind that comes from not knowing the details, but marveling in the wonder, joy and miracle of it all.  Your equation may be beautiful because of the way it so perfectly mathematically describes what you see, but don't forget about what it is that you are describing.  Why does that atom follow those mathematical forms?   Because its efficient?  Because it's beautiful? Because it just happens to be that way?  Because it was made that way? Sometimes the facts just can't capture the full picture!

Programs I use

I just got a new computer at work and so I thought I would lean into the geek side of thing and share several programs that I find are essential enhancements for my windows experience. Interestingly these are all freeware, so you can easily try them out yourself!

MultiMonitor TaskBar
I love having 2 monitors, but the one thing I can't stand is having all my programs from my second monitor crowded onto the Task Bar on my first.  This handy little tool extends the task bar onto the second monitor and also gives keyboard options for moving applications from one screen to the other.

Everything
If you have ever tried searching for a particular file on your computer using Windows Explorer you will understand why I use this app.  Everything indexes all files on your computer in real time and gives instantaneous (i.e. orders of magnitude faster than Windows Explorer) results.  It supports wildcard searching and oh, did I mention that it's faster than Windows Explorer? I use this program frequently and have found it to be very helpful

Notepad++
There has got to be an option for text file editing that falls somewhere between the uselessness that is notepad and the other uselessness that is Word.  That something is Notepad++.  Maybe its just because I live in a primarily Windows world, but I love this text editor.  It has customizable language support for dozens of programing and scripting languages. Its actually manages to correctly display files that have either dos or unix lines endings. It has wonderful text highlighting capabilities.  It has an extremely powerful search capability (supporting full regular expression syntax should you really want to go hardcore) and it allows for tabs and split screen and so much more.  I have used quite a few different text editors and this is my all around favorite.

Process Explorer
Once again, here is an app that makes up for windows deficiencies.  Puny little Task Manager? Hah!  This progam will blow that out of the water.  Full reporting of what is going on with each of your processes and what handles and dll etc. are being called. Details on processes like time it has been running etc.  Details on each core on your machine. Information about memory usage. Yes, this program has it all.  My favorite tool offered by this program is the Find Handle or Dll option which allows you to see what handles are running in a given folder.  Very handy if you are trying to delete said folder and are told that it is being used by some process!

windiff
Although the split screen option in Notepad++ comes in handy, there are times when you need just a little bit more power when trying to compare two text files.  That's where this utility comes in. Offering both file and directory comparisons, this is another program I have come to rely on.

Texter
This is my personal favorite of all the programs on here.  This is a cross program text substitution app.  What does that mean?  A lot less typing for you.  If you have a string that you commonly type (say your good buddy`s email address, or the path to that favorite command line utility, or maybe just `Peace Out Yo`at the end of your email) you enter it in here once and set up a short string to activate it, and viola! you have saved yourself hundreds of keystrokes in no time.

Mongoose
This program is basically and drag and drop web server.  You put the executable in the folder you want to share and start it up, and just like that all files in the folder are accessible on the web. This is a wonderful app for doing a quick test of you site, or file sharing something quickly, or doing a demo, or any number things.

Vancouver - city of insanity

Two news stories came out of Vancouver in a very short time.  I'm sure you heard that the Vancouver Canuks lost to Boston in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and that riots ensued, but you might have missed the other news story: Vancouver home prices average $800,000.  Ok, why mention these both in one place?  Isn't the answer obvious?  No wonder there were riots in Vancouver. Anyone living in that kind of housing market is obviously insane and so why wouldn't they riot? I think Vancouver has become a haven for nutcases.  Clearly the Sedins need to get out of that kind of environment and should come play for Toronto.

Books I've Read: Letters to Philip

Letters To Philip
By Charlie W. Shedd

This little book of practical advice is well worth the read.  The book is a series of letters that a father wrote to his son who was approaching marriage and give him advice about how to handle things after the knot is tied. Much of it should be obvious advice, but I fear that for many it might not be, and even for those that know this, its never a bad idea to be reminded of some of the simple basic truths that make for a good marriage.  Some of the stuff in this book is perhaps a little bit a product of the culture of a few generations ago, but much of it is timeless advice that every man should be reminded of in his dealings with his wife.  Overall it was an excellent book!

Random Quote:
The rule has got to be that troubles are for sharing, and you deny your wife a lot if you don't believe it. For one thing, you have cut her out of that sense of partnership, which is among the deeper reasons for marriage. "Together' is one of the most beautiful words in our vocabulary and it take on special beauty when it indicates that two people are closing the gaps between them by drawing shoulder to shoulder against all comers. (Page 80)

Happy Playoffs

Ice hockey combines the best features of figure skating and World War II. – Alfred Hitchcock

Enjoy the playoffs :)

Books I've Read - A God-Sized Vision: Revival stories that Stretch and Stir

God-Sized Vision
by Collin Hanses and John Woodbridge

The idea behind this book is to retell some of the stories of revival that God has sent in the past several hundred years.  There are stories in this book about revival in Wales, America, Korea and more.  I really think that authors of this book are correct in their assessment that we need to understand the great works of God in the past if we want to be a part of the great works of God in the future, but I found that I was somewhat underwhelmed by this book.  Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't fully get into the book.  I did enjoy the stories and found that it was still a useful read, but I just found it didn't enthrall me like I had a hoped a book on revivals would.  God has truly done some wonderful things in the past and we know he can do those same things again, and so a focus on the saints of the past, whether they were part of a revival or not, is a study well worth doing.  Let us look at our glorious past and work and pray towards even greater glory in our future!

One thing that did stand out to me from reading this book, was how often revival is opposed by those within in the church.  Revival almost always brings with it excesses and of course that means those excesses are the things we need to warn against if we were in a revival situation, but it made me wonder how often in those cases were people just scared of change?  How many of us truly want a revival?  Are we ready to have our comfortable world turned upside down by the Spirit of God?

Random Quote:
Dwight identified several means other than gospel preaching that God uses to reveal himself. These include Bible reading, prayer, talking with Christians, catechism, and self-examination. Not coincidentally, these are the same means Dwight employed as he promoted revival among Yale students. Yet even this moderate position that held God's absolute sovereignty and his ordinary means of grace in balance did not persuade everyone to support revival. Just as in his grandfather's [Jonathan Edwards] day, many venerable pastors wanted nothing to do with such outbreaks of religious fervor, no matter how orderly or biblically defensible. (page 67)

Books I've Read: Opening up Genesis

Opening Up Genesis
By Kurt Strassner

I believe there is a whole series of these coming out, and I found this book to be quite helpful.  It was a simple, practical and applicable book that helped draw out some of the application of the book of Genesis.  The intention of this book wasn't to be a commentary or to delve into the nuances of the theology, but rather  to give draw out some easily accessible application to our daily living.  My wife and I read this book together for our family devotions while we were reading through the book of Genesis, and found it a useful tool to get us thinking about what the passage or story we just read meant for us.  I would recommend this book as a gentle introduction to the wealth of wisdom that the stories of scripture can give us in our daily living.

Random Quote:
Maybe Lot's wife is the most modern of all the character in the account. Her life, it seemed, consisted in the abundance of her possessions. Is that true of us? If someone were ask us, "What are your chief ambitions in life?", would our answers be given in terms of job status, pay scale, and retirement possibilities? Would we speak of the dream house we've always wanted to build, the vacation we've always wanted to take, the financial security we hope to achieve, or the popularity we hope to attain? If so, there is a good chance that, when God calls us out of the world, we will find ourselves looking back...and left out of the kingdom. For Jesus says, "Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it" (page86)

Guilty! (and forgiven)

After watching that video, ask yourself this question: aren't we all a little like that dog? We do something wrong and what happens? We don't want to face the person. We try to placate them. We avoid them as much as we can. Of course the same thing also happens in our relationship with God.  When we are in sin, we avoid him. We don't talk to him. We try to appease him with our actions or try to ignore him and pretend that he doesn't exist.

This is why confession of sin needs to be a daily part of our lives.  We need to constantly turn our sins over to God and leave them at the cross. Those of us in the Protestant tradition do not go to the confessional and tell all to the priest, but nonetheless there is something we can take to heart from that tradition. We do need to confess our sins.  We need to confess to those we have wronged, and every sin that we do wrongs God, so we need to continually be bringing our sins before him.

Many Evangelical Protestants seem to think that salvation is a one time thing.  "I was saved on May 16 when I asked Jesus into my heart." or maybe for some, "I was baptized as a baby and grew up in a Christian home."  I'm certainly not trying to belittle any of these experiences, but salvation is so much more than that! In some of our lives there is that pivotal 180 turn point.  The point were we suddenly saw the light clearly and turned our faces away from sin and towards the Saviour. But, that's only one tiny point in the story we call Salvation.  The rest of the story is about walking towards the Saviour that we now love, and unconfessed sin is a barrier to that.  We become like that dog, unwilling to look at our Master, and we lose sight of where it is that we are heading.

Salvation isn't just about asking Jesus into my heart, and salvation certainly isn't just about being born and baptized into a Christian home and church.  Salvation is about walking towards the Saviour we love.  Its about gazing on him and growing closer to him day by day.  Its about daily struggles.  Struggles to know him better.  Struggles to love him better. Struggles to obey him better.  Its about his loving help in these struggles. Its about confession of wrongs.  Its about forgiveness that he gives again and again and again. Its about his unconditional love for us.  Its about the swelling notes of music in our hearts that rise as we think about these things. 

Are you saved because you were baptized? No!  Are you saved because you asked Jesus into your heart?  No! Its not what your pastor has done, and its not what you have done that can save you, its what Christ has done. Many of those who were baptized go on to live a life that shows no signs of salvation or walking towards the Saviour. And many of those who answered the alter call also walk away from the faith.  These things do not save you! If you are trusting in the fact that you were baptized or that you walked down the church aisle to save you, you are in trouble! 

You are saved because you are in relationship with God. That is where your trust needs to be.  You are are saved because your gracious loving Saviour sent his Spirit to stir your heart towards him.  Cultivate that relationship!  Treasure it! Confess your sins. Bring them to the cross and leave them there. Keep that vision of your Saviour clear and walk in his paths.  Work out your salvation with fear and trembling!  And what if you don't have a relationship like that?  Ask God for it and He'll give it to you.  He's not a stingy God. Just ask Him for this gift, and when he gives it to you, cherish it like that treasure that it is. 

Books I've Read: Boys Adrift:

Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men
by Leonard Sax

Ideas from this though provoking book have come up in conversation several times already since I read this book. I'm sure many of us have heard stories or anecdotes of how hard it is to find someone who can put in a honest days work, or how simplified some college courses have become due to the lack of basic education that many come into them with.  I know I've heard the stories of laziness from many who work in the trades or construction, and I have seen it myself in offices and factories as well. There was a professor that I knew that had his college math class complaining that his tests were too hard, so he had my highschool aged cousin do the test, which she easily passed. These types of stories seem commonplace and in this book Leonard Sax looks into some of the possible reasons for this.  He focuses in the book on problems that are specific to boys, although I'm sure a book could also be written on what out culture is doing wrong when it comes to girls as well.

The 5 factors that he looks at are:
1) Education system flaws
2) Excessive use of ADD/ADHD medications
3) Video Games
4) Endocrine Distruptors
5) Devaluation of Masculinity

I was a little skeptical on some of these, but even then he gave me a lot to think about.  My favorite point was that of the devaluation of masculinity.  We live in a culture were its just not cool to tell a boy that he needs to be a man, and even if we where to tell him that, how many boys would actually know what 'being a man' look like? Boys need to grow up into men, and they need role models that show them what true masculinity looks like. As men, we need to model masculinity. We need to show those boys in our lives that being a man means using our strength to help other.

I really enjoyed this book and gained a lot from reading it.  Easy to read and well reasoned, it was a thought provoking book.

Random Quote:
After one of the boys from Prep has spent five weeks working dawn to dusk to build an infirmary or a road or an aqueduct, and the job is done and he returns home, he can watch NFL football on a Sunday afternoon and see a beer commercial that claims that real men drink Miller beer - and that boy can laugh. He knows that being a real man has nothing to do with drinking any particular brand of beer. it has to do with using your strength in the service of others. (Page 182)

The Hobbit

Here is a cool little clip about some of the sets, costumes, makeup etc. as they prepare for filming The Hobbit. Pretty crazy to see how much work goes into a movie like this before they even start filming!

On the Election

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money – Margaret Thatcher

Here in Canada we have an election coming up.  There are campaigns being run, promises being made, accusation being hurled and talking heads, well, talking. Of course election time also brings with it a question.  Who should I vote for?  Don't worry, I'm not going to convince you to vote for any particular party. I'm more interested in looking at some voting principles.

I always struggle at election time when trying to decide who to vote for.  Do I vote for the party with the platform I agree with the most?  What if that party has no reasonable chance of getting in?  What if I don't like any of the platforms?  Do I vote based on party lines, or do I only consider what the candidates in my riding stand for? What about the fact that politicians seem to break their word as if it was a brick at a karate convention?  Should I vote at all if I'm forced to choose between pack-of-lies 1 and pack-of-lies 2?


I know pretty well where I stand on social/economic ideas, but the problem is none of the 'big' parties  really come all that close to what I believe.  If you merely look at the party platforms I'm probably the closest to the conservatives, especially on economic issues, but when I look at the conservative track record I end up shaking my head and wondering where they got the idea that what they are doing is fiscally conservative? The same thing happens when you look at social issues.  Can I really trust anybody to represent what I believe?  Probably not.

So if I don't like any of the major parties should I vote for some obscure party that doesn't have a shot at getting in?  It seems kind of like wasting a ballot sometimes especially when I still dont' agree with their whole platform.  However, I do think that it is important to support those that come closest to what I believe.  When the rubber meets the road in parliament, it doesn't seem to make much difference whether there is a conservative or liberal government in control.  The policies that come out often end up being different spins on the same thing with enough good mixed in with the bad to prevent the implosion of our country and enough bad in there to make me want to declare my home and independent entity.  Ultimately I think that true, radical change will never come through an election.  Some other event is going to have to trigger that, so I am left with a choice between voting for the 'best' candidate, even though I probably don't have a lot in common with him, or not voting/spoiling my ballot.


I suppose in the end I'll roll my eyes, cast my ballot, and go on my cynical way, because when it comes down to it, agreeing with less than half of the platform is better than agreeing with less than 10% of it.  Good things seem to take time to come and sometimes it seems like stemming the tide is hopeless, but I guess I'm not called to stem the tide, just to throw my little bit of mud and do what I can, leaving the rest in hands that are bigger than mine.

Books I've Read - Animal Farm

Animal Farm
By George Orwell

Yes I know, this is a classic and I should have read it long ago.  Having finally gotten around to reading this book I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Much has already been made of the lessons in this book in English classes across this country so I won't try to analyze it too much.  If you have not read this book though, you really should.  I think one of my favorite characters in the book was the donkey.  In repeatedly stating that he had lived a long time, I could hear the words of Solomon:  'There is nothing new under the sun.'  It is true, of course, that people can and do change, but utopia cannot be found on this side of heaven. 

This book presents a good story in a quick and easy read and still gives you a lot to chew on and think about.  There really is a lot of depth in this book and I can see why it has become require reading in the classroom.  I'm pretty sure that my kids will be reading this book!

Random Quote:
Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which (pg 95)

Bible Word Cloud

Someone put together a word cloud of each book of the Bible, visually showing the frequency of words in each book. Its incredible to see how important the words God, Lord, and Jesus Christ are. In almost every book of the bible (except Esther) these words are among the most commonly used words. This is a good visible illustration that the bible is primarily about God's work. There are, of course, incredible benefits to following the teachings God had given us, but first and foremost the bible is a book about God. God has done so much for us! He has given so much to us! May his name be honoured!

Rob Bell. Yes I'm Finally Going There.

I have studiously avoided talking about Rob Bell, mostly because there has already been far to much talk about his new book, but I have finally found a response that I like.

First watch the trailer for his new book


And then, watch this response.


Robbed Hell - C.A.S.T. Pearls Presents from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

Books I've Read - Reforming Marriage

Reforming Marriage
By Douglas Wilson

A lot people would probably find this book somewhat controversial, and I think that would largely be an indication of how much our society has lost of the idea of what it means to be men and women. Although this book is about marriage and how we can change it, Wilson tends to focuses in on the man's role in this.  He points out that when it comes to have a successful marriage and raising strong children, a lot of responsibility lies with the husband and so this book on marriage ends up being more of a book about how to be a man in the sense of the word that our culture tries to ignore. 

It is no longer kosher (is it even kosher to say kosher?) to talk about the differences between men and women and how those differences should play out in our day to day lives.  Men are called to do certain things in a marriage that women are not and vice versa.  These differences should never be degrading to either party but they are there and I found it enjoyable and challenging to read a book that unashamedly assumed this and pointed a strong finger at us men.This book is well worth the read.  Even in those things that I may not have fully agreed with the author, he left me with a lot to think about and reflect on.  Douglas Wilson is good at challenging those ideas you may have always accepted, and although I think this book could make some people upset, I really do believe that its a call that we need to hear.  We no longer know what it means to be a man or to be a women and we need to reclaim and re-learn these roles if we want to see truly biblical and successful marriages.

This is a pretty short book and its a quick read that is well worth the time you will spend on it.

Random Quote: (page 35)
The problem is that men commonly have trouble honoring "weakness." When men get together with men, some sort of competition usually arises. And when competition is there, men seek to exploit weakness whenever they think they see it.... ...Consequently, if there is any kind of problem in the marriage, men commonly fall into an adversarial, competitive relation with their wives. If they disagree over something, and the distressed wife expresses her concerns, a husband with this basic competitive mentality is going to say, "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"... ...When he responds this way, he is seeking to exploit her. But Peter [1Peter3] does not say to exploit the weakness; he says to honor her in it.

Things to Pray For - Goodness

None of us wants to be a 'goody-two-shoes' but I think we can all agree that there is plenty in this world that is not good including you and me.  I know that I often don't do the good things that I would like to do and give in to the selfish desires of my heart and I would like to do better in this regard. Join with me in praying for goodness in our own lives and also goodness in the world around us.  Its time to stop feeding the evil in our lives and to start feeding the good!

Merry.....9 months til Christmas

No one’s hangin’ stockin’s up,
No one’s bakin’ pie,
No one’s lookin’ up to see
A new star in the sky.
No one’s talkin’ brotherhood,
No one’s givin’ gifts,
And no one loves a Christmas tree
On March the twenty-fifth.
- By Shel Silverstein

If you think about it, today is 9 months until Christmas and a human pregnancy is 9 months long.  Maybe today is a good day to read Luke 1 as a reminder that the birth of Christ was not just wonderful because of the future that it ushered in, but also because of the past promises that it fulfilled.  The birth of the Saviour was prophesied hundreds of years before he came to this earth, but it was also foretold 9 months before it happened.  Things had been set in motion.  Christmas will come in 9 short months!

Things to Pray For - Kindness

I'm sure we would all agree the more kindness in this world would make life better for all of us.  Join with me in praying for this. Join with me also, though, in praying for true kindness to be seen in the world.  Too much of what goes for kindness these days is just a hidden way for people to further an agenda or make themselves look good.  Pray for a kindness that flows from a heart filled with love for God and man.  A kindness that is done out of a true desire to help those around us and to give of ourselves freely and unconditionally just as God has given to us.

Books I'ver Read - Monster

Monster
By Frank Peretti

A very entertaining read.  The message was perhaps a little too obvious (I prefer novels that get their message across a little more subtly) but the story was still very entertaining and suspenseful.  This is a book that will draw you into it and keep you on the edge of your seat as you go through.  It has a good elements of suspense, mystery and intrigue and I would very much recommend it. This book is different than most of Peretti's books in that it is not about demonic presences or anything of that sort, but is an adventure story that does not rely on spiritual beings interacting with the physical world. All in all, I found it to be an enjoying read.

Random Quote: (Page 220)
Those eighteen-inch footprints had given Reed a whole new way of looking at shadowy trees, obscured stumps, and breeze-rippled bushes. He'd already chambered a round. The safety was off. Thinking of Beck was the only thing that kept him pushing into this madness.

Happy Pi day. And other nerdy stuff

Of course you already know that today is pi day (3/14) so don't forget to draw a Euclidean plane circle and look at the ratio of the circumference to its diameter...

In other nerdy news here is a game you can play in the url of your browser
Hunt 'Animals' in your url

Did you know that daylight savings can be bad for your health?  When are we going to stop this silly practice?  I don't like having to get up an hour earlier.
Daylight saving bad for health?

Red Green's solution to global warming

If we would all only watch more Red Green this world would be a better place. And junkyard owners would do booming business.  Red Green can solve any problem with just a little duct tape and some ingenuity and things that others might consider junk.  This guy is my hero.

Books I've Read - Take Charge of Your Life

Take Charge of Your Life...Before It Takes Charge of You
 By Richard Ganz

Richard Ganz was a psychologist who was captured by Christ and became a pastor. In this book he talks about how we can take charge of our lives and stop being victims of our circumstances.  It was a good book in that it was a good reminder, but I found it a little on the simplistic side of things.  His message is basically that your circumstances do not need to control how you think, act and feel, but that if you look to the objective grounding in God you can be in charge of you life and rise above your circumstance.  I totally agree with his stance, but I'm not sure it needed to take 250 pages to convince me.  This book, however,  is worth a read (maybe skim read) as a reminder to not be the passive recipients of our situation in life.

Random Quote:(page 164)
The Bible contains a mountain of truth that can negate any negative psychological state we may be in today, or may find ourselves in tomorrow. This includes despair, anger, anxiety, loneliness, and so on. The truth demands a verdict! The problem for us as we face this is simple. If we do not know the Bible, we lack the ability and knowledge to counter disabling thoughts.