Rwanda information

Jordon Cooper has an excellent article on the situation in Rwanda. Link

firefox mac and blogger

I'm experiementing with Firefox on my powerbook G4. After doing the switch from PC to Mac less than a year ago, I'm ready to try some more new things. Firefox seems like a good option for blogging. Safari didn't have many features in the compose mode. Most formating had to be done manually with HTML code. I didn't mind learning blockquote or href's, but using a wysiwyg editor (compose in firefox) is much more prefered. Using HTML reminds me of writing documents on my VT-100 terminal using postscript language (anyone remember the .tb command?) Preview back then was the print key and instead of standing around the water cooler, it was standing around the printer waiting for your job to make it through the queue.

chilliwack bruins

It looks like Chilliwack's patience paid off. The Chiefs are staying for another season then in 2006 the puck will drop to a new WHL expansion club -- the Chilliwack Bruins! BC newspaper group reports:

CHILLIWACK (BC Newspaper Group) - It's the best of all possible scenarios. Hockey fans in Chilliwack, many of whom voiced their displeasure over the possibility of the Chiefs leaving without a farewell tour, will soon have the most entertaining junior hockey in the world at their disposal.

The Chiefs are officially preparing for their final season in Chilliwack and playing out of Prospera Centre. That's because in 2006-2007 Chilliwack will join the Western Hockey League, becoming the 21st franchise in the major junior circuit. (cont.)

This is good news for Chilliwack and their fans!

what's worse, email or pot?

Here is an article describing the results of a study on the effects of email on a person's IQ. Link.

coldplay review

My friend David reviews the latest Coldplay CD here.

questions from the treadmill

My 11 year old son and I signed up for 4 sessions at the hockey performance center. It's a training facility used to mainly work on your skating. There is a teflon treadmill where you wear your ice skates, video cameras to analyze your skating technique and a variety of other training tools.

Now, I've been a pretty good skater most of my life. I was skating since I could walk and have been on the ice every year since. So, I go to this facility with not much expectation for improvement. You know where this is going.

I lace them up with anticipation and now it's my turn to get on the treadmill. The cameras are all set and the thing starts moving. I can hardly keep my balance and I'm flapping all over the place. I've shifted from cocky to I'm exceptionally self conscious. I can hardly skate and keep my balance. The trainer, Terry (he rocks!), starts talking to me about stride and nose, knees and toes. He shows some video of my 40 year old stride and starts taking it apart. It takes awhile cause there is so much to point out that's wrong. He starts giving me pointers and of course next time I get on I'm over thinking and that makes it all that much worse. But Terry laughs with me and keeps showing me and working with me. After the 3rd session, I had some resemblance of a stride that I can tell works much better on the ice.

At one point he showed me that I was stickhandling to my backhand in a way that would put my whole body off balance. With some help and tweaking we got it much better. I am more balanced, faster and more firm on my feet, thanks to Terry and the hockey performance center.

But this experience raises some questions like why did my cockiness put me in a good mood and my humiliation put me in a bad mood? Why can't we be in a good mood when we are aware of our weakness? Why did I think I didn't have anything to learn prior going to the trainer? I mean NHL players use something similar and they learn, why did I think I didn't have anything to learn? What is with that?

I wish I went to the trainer 20 years ago. I wish someone humiliated me and worked with my stride years ago.

I keep thinking how this relates to life. Who do we have that will observe our lives and tell us brutally honest things about our lives so that we can become more whole? Why is this something that is so rare and why is it when someone is honest with us and has our best interest in mind, do we become defensive? Can you relate?

heartland fellowship chilliwack

heartland church chilliwack

heartland church

english and dixie are the top runners

Y'all Dudes, I've lived in too many places to be consistent with my speech, eh?

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Adobe To Buy Macromedia

Adobe Systems Inc. said it agreed to buy multimedia software firm Macromedia Inc. for about $3.4 billion.
Link

tassels (pt 1)

In the book of Numbers, Moses gets a commandment from God.

Numbers 15:37-40
"The Lord said to Moses, “speak to the Isrealites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will rmember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to you God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”

Moses, this is what I want. I want, for generations to come, I want everyone to make tassels, (tzitzit) on the corners (kanaph) of your garments (taleet). So that you remember the ways of God.

The heart of God was not to overlay his people with some set of arbitrary, binding laws, but to engage the people in a way of life that would bring them into fullness, health and to see their community flourish. It was reasonable and highly motivating for Moses and his people.

If you look at the tassel, there are 5 knots and 4 spaces. One knot for each book of the Torah, one space for each letter of God's name (YHWH).

Now I can see Moses he had to be thinking, what, every day? You mean when we go to temple? Yes. When we plow? yes. When we go to bed? Yes. Every day, even the boys wear tassels. Why? Because whenever you see them, whenever they get dirty, whenever you step on them or the strings get tangled, whenever you think about the tassels, remember, I gave you 613 commandments to live by, you remember them. Which meant they all had to memorize them. 613. And then, obey them. Obey them because it will be the best for you and your people. My commands are the way, the truth and the life.

Wow. You want us to all wear a visual aid, 24 hours a day to remember all the laws, all the commands, and try at least to obey them so that you will live in harmony with God. And God said, you're right. So every Jew, on their outer robes, sewed tassels.

So they constructed clothing to have tassels on them. First it was like a blanket with tassels on the corners. Now they have a piece of clothing called a Tall-eet which was like a poncho that have tassels on them. If you find a good orthodox Jew today they will probably have tassels hanging out. And whenever they see that tassels, they think, I've gotta do what God wants. Not to be saved, that's a grace thing. But, I want to obey God and live in harmony with him.

author emphasizes relationships not programs

Author of "Blue Like Jazz", Donald Miller, talks about the importance of relationships. The article is here.

lego in the bible

You can see lego scenes depicting Biblical stories here.

albert's influence

When I was about 11, Albert was my friend. He was 2 years older than me. Tell me what 11 year old has a friend 2 years older? He was cool. He always had spending money, dared to do things that I never dared to and had older brothers with fast cars. We’d ride bikes to the co-cart track and get 5 minutes on the go-carts for 1 dollar. Then buy cokes, eat cheezies, ice cream sandwiches and smoke Players Light because regular Players were not good for you and I was an athlete. He always paid. Did I tell you my mom didn’t know any of this?

Some days we’d go to the pool hall and play pinball games and watch the big boys play pool, while they smoked Players Light. Albert always had money, some of it he earned honestly, the rest, the majority, he stole from his brothers change collection, and he had 5 brothers, lots of change cans in the house. He also got extra money from his paper route. He managed to swindle the newspaper into giving him 50 extra papers then he would turn around and sell them to the Terrace Hotel. Easy money. I never understood how it worked, but as along as he was paying for the go-card rides and the smokes I didn’t ask questions. It wasn’t cool to ask questions.

It all started to unravel when my mom found a pack of Players Light under the woodpile. She asked me if it was mine and with my poker face that I learned from Albert I said, "nope". I wasn’t real good at lying yet, not as good as Albert, since I hung around him only for a couple of months by then. He learned it real good from his 5 brothers. I eventually caved and she found out I was stealing stuff, smoking Players Light, playing with matches, buying junk food, and listening to Albert’s Elton John LP’s.

Mom didn’t like me hanging out with Albert, she said. So I was told I couldn’t be his friend anymore. That was really hard -- one of the hardest things I had to go through then. I didn’t get a spanking or have to quit playing hockey, although those things certainly were threatened. So not hanging with Albert got easier.

I eventually realized that my mom didn’t want me to become like Albert. She was afraid if I spent to much time with him, I’d become like him.

Today, I’m glad my mom found out, cause later Albert started drinking his brother’s beer – without them knowing it, of course. And if I drank his brother’s beer, and they asked me about it, I would have caved and got beat up.

package from Israel came today!!

I just got my long awaited package from Israel today. I ordered the contents from here

It has to do with prayer and shalom. More to come.

another one!

Hey anybody see this sign? Who is involved in this?

bc pastor quits ministry

Why This Pastor Quit

I found this link from here.

satellite image of chilliwack

Here is google's statellite image of chilliwack.

depression treatment

Here is a short article on depression treatment link.

not home alone

Hey, Hey, they made it home safe and tired. 15 1/2 hours of driving from Yuba City, CA to Chilliwack, BC. All in one day. Soooo good to see everyone and to hear of their adventures. Thanks for the support, the invites to dinner, the movies and the prayers for the travelers. God Bless.

home alone (pt4)

Patti and the kids are coming home tonight! As I type, they are traveling north on the I-5 and are planning to arrive tonight. Pray for their safe arrival.