Save the Princess!

I found this pretty cool little flash game this morning.

Check it out... it's a good way to kill some time.

Higher Ground 2005 audio coming soon!

I don't know about Jason's progress, but I finally chose the path of least resistance. I was going to edit each file individually, but after playing with the first, I discovered it wasn't too productive.

So, I wrote a little script and am letting the wonders of linux & a 64bit processor work for me. The files are taking about 30s to convert from wav to a vbr mp3 with an average bitrate of 112k/s - very good when considering the quality of the source.

My thought is that, next year, I'll bypass some of the confusion by bringing a real microphone (already have one) and my laptop to the studies and just record them straight. If I convert as the days go by (my laptop IS slower than my desktop) I should probably be able to have some cds to handout on saturday morning!

...that is just so sweet!
In the time it took to write this, they're all done!

Meditations with Jason

Jason is working on an idea to meditate on a scripture for the week to better apply it in our lives.
I'm all for this. I started putting up a "memory" verse on the white board behind my monitor at work and I think I'm going to add Jason's too.

I'm going to add a link to his entry each week as well as include the text of the verse for reference. If no one is reading this, then at least I get the exercise of typing it to help it stick in my head.

To Jason - Good on ya, mate! Thanks for pulling this together!

Verse for the week:
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (ESV)

hoorah! someone knows my blog exists!

Well, everyone else seems to be griping that they don't like this thing, but I like the fact that someone knows my blog exists!
On one level, I totally agree, it's like the email spam survery foolishness that most teenagers or females (or both) pass around, but I figured I'd fill it out.

One note first - ran my third 5k saturday morning. I didn't do spectacularly (32:20) but hey, most guys running weigh 145, not 230.

So, degarmo passed it to me, from Jason, from Nathan. There's are all about books, but since I like music, too, I'm going to include that as an addendum and a reference to the "original."

Books
1. Total books on my shelves - currently about 25 (most of mine are in storage - i probably have about 400 split between biblical resources, some fiction, language (italian, irish, german, french, etc...) and mathematics).
2. The last book I bought - I, too, took part in the outlet insanity in Gatlinburg and bought 3:
Then Sings my Soul, vol. 2 - Morgan
Old Testament Prophetic Books - Bullock
The Tentmaking Pastor - Bickers

3. Book I'm reading right now:
The Dangerous Duty of Delight - Piper
The Lion & the Lamb - Goldsworthy

4. Books I read a lot or mean a lot to me:
Bible (NASB, but considering the ESV)
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Word Pictures of the New Testament - Robertson
Tons of other stuff... I just don't have as much time anymore.

5. Last books I've read:
Bible As History
Incendiary Fellowship - Elton Trueblood
Blender 2.3 Official Guide

6. books that should never have been written:
Anything by Stephen King
Anything by Anne Rice

Music:
1. Total MP3s - 28.7G on the hard drive, probably another 15G archived.
2. Last CD bought - "Happy" by Matthew West
3. Next songs in playlist -
Coldplay - Shiver (live acoustic)
Frente! - Accidently Kelly Street
Weezer - Death and Destruction
Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
Save Ferris - Under 21
4. Songs I listen to a lot/mean a lot to me -
Thomas' Song
Hosanna
Be Still My Soul
Secular at This link
5. Songs which should never have been recorded -
Most Britney Spearsish stuff
Most Gangsta Rap stuff (though I love the music and beat, the words are horrendous)
Yanni, John Tesh, Kenny G and their ilk

Passing this baton to - NO ONE. Everyone I know who has a blog has already done this silliness!

Interesting Question

A good friend from church posed a question based on some reading he had done. The reading comes from a "narrated" bible which looks to put things in chronological order. He came across the last week of Jesus and found an interesting thought.
Typically, we think of (or it has been taught) that Jesus ate the passover feast with His disciples on Thursday night before being crucified later that evening.
This new (to me) assertion is that Jesus actually ate this meal on Wednesday night. A few of the reasons are as follows:

• Jesus rising on sunday after being crucified thursday night (friday by the Jewish reckoning) is not three days and nights after His death.
• John 14:29 - The disciples reckoned the Passover to be the next night.
• Jesus - symbolizing the passover lamb - entered the city on the 10th of the month, and was crucifed on the 14th (the day of preparation for the passover) just as the passover lamb was to be prepared.

This is all pretty new to me, but it seems to make some sense.

So, any thoughts out there? Did this guy get it right? Does it matter? Where is he off base if he isn't correct?

I'd love to get some comments on this one!

"Thank you, God, for..."

Paul states in Romans 10:1-3 the following:

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. (ESV)

There are many in the "christian" world today who are very sincere and convicted in their service to God, but they don't have the knowledge to properly direct that zeal. With that in mind, many in the Lord's church today could learn some lessons from our denominational friends. I was listening to a broadcast(wma rm) yesterday on the way to work that prompted the title for this entry.

One of his points is that we need to consciously thank God more for all that He does for us - but to do it explicitly and specifically! The more I thank God, the more I'm thinking of Him, the more I'm serving Him, the better I glorify Him!

A very short list of things I'm thankful for:

• Thank you, God, for Jesus, His example of purity and devotion, and His sacrifice for me.
• Thank you, God, for my wonderful, supportive wife, Stacey.
• Thank you, God, for my beautiful daughter, Willow.
• Thank you, God, for allowing Stacey to become pregnant again.
• Thank you, God, for my job that allows me to take care of my family so well.
• Thank you, God, for your word that guides me when I listen.
• Thank you, God, for all of the good friends that you've blessed me with.
• Thank you, God, for Mark, Dan DeG., Daniel M., Jason and all of my other friends who push me to excel still more.

I think if we devote ourselves more to specifically thanking God all day long, we'll be - very simply - better servants of His.

Many updates...

First - the savetoby.com thing was a hoax
Secondly - We just returned from a marvelous and uplifting week in Tennessee. The theme of this "retreat" was "Higher Ground." Basically, it was a week of a bunch of youngish christians praising God, working to get to the core of their walk with God to grow closer to him and encouraging each other to be better each day. This was such a wonderful opportunity. I'm working to make much application from the good lessons that were learned and am very much looking forward to being with everyone next year - or being with them in heaven if God decides that time comes first!
Third - I was introduced to a great translation this week - the English Standard Version (ESV). There is a lot to this, and that website has some great features. I think I'm going to look at getting a copy of this for reading if nothing else.
Fourth - I don't know if I mentioned this already or not, but we're going to have another baby sometime in late November/early December. That is a wonderful blessing from God!

Finally - Read, understand and use this passage to give God more glory each day!

Psalm 29
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace! (ESV)