Archive for September, 2011

Persistence

Monday, September 26th, 2011

I sit in front of my computer just about ready to start hitting the keys and an emotional wall slides up between my heart and the screen. My head, which neatly rests above my shoulders, looks down and then across at the screen and wonders why the fingers are not moving. There is indecision about what to write. And I am uncertain as to how to express an idea. What is the cause of this doubt? Perhaps it is an attack from our common enemy the devil or perhaps it is a God moment when something that needs to be changed must be changed before I can continue. Either way, nothing actually gets written. Neither on this blog or on the rest of my sites.

Those who know me, even a little bit, know that I can (at times) be a dynamic person capable of accomplishing much work. Also, if you know me a little bit, you will know that I am subject to long fits of depression. Fits? Perhaps I should turn that around. Times of fits and fury followed by lingering silences. Yeah, that’s more like it. I have always struggled with self-doubt and that is why it is so easy for an unkind word, or a challenging word, to drop me into silence.

How can I describe this? Get a picture of the ocean in your mind. The winds are blowing and the water swells. Now picture a cork floating on that sea going up and down with those swells. If a wave comes along and knocks it below the water, as a cork, it would immediately pop up to the surface to ride on the ocean swells. That’s not me! Question? Can a cork get waterlogged? If it could, then that would be me. I don’t do pop-ups! (Well, on social occassions I sometimes do) I usually rest (sometimes struggle) somewhere under the water and ever so slowly rise to the surface. Once at the surface I don’t ride high in the water. I rise just high enough to glimpse heaven before another wave of circumstance plunges me back under. Yep, that just about describes me.

Those who have been following me over the years will see that this is the pattern of my life. Now someone may ask, “I thought he was a Christian. Where is his victory?” Well dear questioner, there is a victory. Every time I come back up to the surface and get a glimpse of heaven the light of hope filters into my soul and gives me a moment of peace. Think of it as mini glimpses of my future salvation. What salvation? The one when God’s hand will reach into the waters and finally pluck me from this (sometimes calm/sometimes storm tossed) sea of life.

So dear reader, when you read something on my blog or see something on the rest of my site, know this… I just came to the surface and have a moment to share. Each time I do this I hope to reflect a little bit more of God, an ever so slightly better version of me. There are many who live this type of faith. We appear for a moment and then we are gone from view. It is neither good or bad. It just is. I titled this piece “persistence.” But it isn’t my persistence I am talking about. It is the persistence of a loving God who waits for me, and when he helps me to finally rise near to the surface, he lets me have a glimpse of him who saved me.

As you may have guessed I am hoping that I’m at the end of a (small) lingering silence and ready to engage in a (small) fit of activity. For those who are like me? Do not despair. Float in the circumstance and wait for God to bring you to the surface. Then glimpse your hope and make your contribution before you slide from view. You will have many opportunities if you are patient. And remember… It is not the ocean that holds you but He who holds you in his nail wounded hands.

Posted in personal side, Random Topic Posts | 2 Comments »

The Culture War – opening salvo – the calendar

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

The Culture War – opening salvo – the calendar

A king Is born! Long Live the King! And with those words a new calendar was started. It did not matter what the kingdom was called. In Rome the calender dates from Julius, then from Augustus and so on. Each subsequent ruler had started his own era. It was like saying in the 7th year of Augustus Caesar. To get the full calendar you had to know the list of succession and how many years long each of the eras were. Other calender systems started with the foundation of their nation. The Hebrew calendar started from year one of mankind’s reign on the earth. Adam started the count and it has been progressing ever since. What do these types of these systems have in common? They represented a turning point in the affairs of men. A singular moment from which all else would progress… for those people under their system for measuring the passing time.

AD and BC

Hundreds of years after the birth of Jesus the Christ a monk decided to change the way he was measuring the passing of the years. Instead of using the years of the current Roman Emperor (era), he decided to begin his calendar from the birth of Jesus (his era). Thus began Anno Domini, The Year of Our Lord, and a simplified way of keeping track of the passage of time was created. Most of the world adopted this method to make it easier for historians and also commerce to work in their respective fields. BC then came about to measure world events that occurred prior to the birth of Jesus. Not everyone who adopted this form of measurement liked the idea that it all started with the birth of a Jew, the founder of Christianity, as the ending of one major era and the beginning of the other.

CE and BCE

Good old Henry the 8th. Wasn’t satisfied with the religion coming from Rome. He couldn’t divorce and marry whom he pleased. So he began his own flavour of religion. The church of England was born. The calendar did not change, after all they still worshipped the same God. Yet shortly after his death a slight change began to appear as to how the calendar dates were referred. It was started by those who did not like the pope and the “papists” who followed his lead. Such a slight change but a reflection of the times (for their politically correct version of time). The change? They dropped the Latin AD and adopted CE (Christian Era) and BCE (Before the Christian Era).

CE and BCE (the second coming)

Second Coming (of unbelief)? A little joke. Yet a new definition came from the Jewish community, in the 18th century of our Lord (but not theirs). They referred to the same calendar not as the start of the Christian Era but as the Common Era and BCE as Before the Common Era. Yet there is no defining moment for why the calendar should be split at that time. The only significant event is still the birth of Jesus. It reflects the heart of the rebellious, it is the age old cry of the wicked “we will not have this man rule over us.” Wicked? Simply those who will not honour or obey the words of a king.

Adoption

As we entered the Era of the Scientist a quiet rebellion against faith began. If it can’t be measured does it really exist? My senses will be the judge of reality and later my sensors would add to that reality. All else, they say, is an example of hocus-pocus. It is a magic incantation, a trick to fool the gullible. It is like the priestly words spoken at communion to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. It is a marriage of fake and faith. Fortunately some, if not many, scientists still have faith. Yet the rebellious among them, those who also say “we will not have this man rule over us,” continue the religion of their cohorts (humanism) by using the CE, Common Era designation.

Political

Scientists are supposed to be the epitome of reasoned thought. Other intellectuals are also, supposedly, of the same mould. Yet these wise and enlightened people have chosen to continue to divide the stream of time into two parts. Our time of two thousand years called the Common Era and the earlier part of history called Before the Common Era. Yet there is nothing that signifies why that division is necessary. There is no sociological event, no scientific breakthrough, no cataclysmic event that shouts down to us through time that “this, whatever it is,” has changed the world. Without the birth of Jesus, there is nothing to point at. It is simply an easy arbitrary choice. It is simply a political point for the politically correct, for they have no point of value from which to measure.

Reasoned thought? Not at all. Just an unbelieving, disrespectful act towards Jesus, his values and those who follow him. That is the basis on which the politically correct take their stance. They want to change the times and the seasons… or at least the names of them… so that they have the freedom to do whatever they desire. It isn’t even Anarchy. It is too well controlled and defined. AD/BC or CE/BCE? It was just the opening salvo in the Culture War.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in history, politics, Random Topic Posts, religion | Comments Off on The Culture War – opening salvo – the calendar

Phishing: Email Alert: ACH Transfer Review

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

I would like to first write that NACHA is a legal institution and does work with transfer payments. They do not contact people/customers through emails. They do not request information from people/customers.

Phishing:

Phishing occurs when unscrupulous people fake an email in an attempt to get you to respond. They may just want to verify that your email address is valid. They most likely will also want you to fill out a form and thereby gain more information from you. Or send you to a web-address where you can be hacked. Delete all such emails without responding. Do not click on any links in the email or any attachments. Never send your username and/or password when requested through an email. Companies never ask for that information in that way.

The Attempt:

I received an email supposedly from NACHA. It was about a supposedly ACH transfer (with an id number included). They explained, with very little detail, that a money transfer did not go through successfully. At the top of the email there is a form they wanted me to fill out. (form-62.zip)

Don’t get suckered into responding. If you recently made an online purchase you could be tempted to respond. Don’t! Go to the website, through history on your computer, where you made the purchase and check with them through their site if you think there is a problem. Again, do not click on any link provided in the email.

Delete the email!

For more information: Email Alert: ACH Transfer Review

Posted in Random Topic Posts | 7 Comments »