The Christian Warrior

March 8th, 2007

I’m a Christian. Not just one who happens to be part of a church that happens to ascribe to Christian traditions, but I am a follower of Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ.

A couple of weeks ago at a Bible study, the discussion turned to the persecution of Christians, and that is something that makes me squirm a bit. I think it’s ok to say that I hope I’m never subjected to any real persecution — because I hope that I am not. What Christians experience here in the US in 2007 can’t really be called persecution, but that doesn’t mean it’ll never happen. But if it does happen, I wonder how I might react to it. My fear is that if real persecution ever comes my way, I might fight back. And I wonder if that would be an acceptable reaction, both to the Christian community and to God.

I recall reading not long ago about islands in the South Pacific where Christians experience a great deal of persecution at the hands of Muslims. Often the Muslims would drive away entire villages of Christians, commandeering their property and even killing some. Searching news articles can almost always yield stories of how Christians are persecuted in many parts of the world today. But is it ever appropriate for those Christians to strike back?

Jesus’ example to us was to go like a lamb to the slaughter, to turn the other cheek, to forgive countless times. But if my family is in danger, can I just stand by and not do anything to protect them? Is it God’s intention that we should just allow the bad things to happen?

Then there’s also the issue of living in a place like the US… Today we enjoy a peace that is currently being subsidized in a way by armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. If fighting & killing those who openly attack us — persecute us — is a sin, then is it also a sin to condone and enjoy a peace that is bought with such a price?

I need to think on this a while.

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Anti-Christian Terrorism?

March 8th, 2007

I read last night about a “prank” that was pulled on the parishoners of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Ash Wednesday. Someone set up three CD players to play obscenity-filled pornographic audio in the middle of Ash Wednesday services at the church.

Monsignor Jerome Martinez y Alire said, “The people who did this had a grudge against the church, or they were anti-Catholic, or were just sick. You have to worry about what else they might do.” I’d have to agree with the Monsignor; but wonder if they are just sick or just evil. And where do you draw the line between something that’s considered a prank and something that’s considered terrorism? Another point at which I agree with the Monsignor; what else might they do? Those CD players could have made one very loud bang instead of just a string of profanities.

That brings up another thing; I first read about this incedent on BoingBoing.net, and they thing they highlighted was that two of the players were detonated by the bomb squad, as if it were the most ridiculous thing ever. I think blowing them up was a prudent call in this situation. Just hope the third unit yields some clues as to who did it.

The one question that remains is this; if the same had been done in a Muslim holy place, would that have been treated any differently than this instance? My guess is that such an act in a Muslim mosque would be treated as a hate crime at best, and terrorism at worst. So why isn’t the same true for doing this at a Catholic church? Gotta wonder.

Posted in Faith & Worship | Comments Closed

Funniest Two-Line Joke

March 8th, 2007

What’s green and smells like red paint?
 Read the rest of this entry »

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The Revelation Song

February 26th, 2007

The Worship Team at Central has done this song a number of times, and it gets me right there every time. I’ve never been able to find much about it online; I figured that it had been recorded & was on CD. Not that I could find anyway.

Last time it was used in a worship service I recorded it three different times, but each recording has some little glitch with it, but I love listening to it anyway. Laura Wick did an awesome job on it (but then again I think I’d enjoy anything she sang.)

Today they did it again, and had the lyrics on the screen, along with the name of the songwriter — Jennie Lee Riddle.

Turns out I’m not the only one that’s been touched by this song; she’s got quite a following. Don Moen has even included her on one of his CD’s, which is available through iTunes. Jennie’s church, Gateway Church in Dallas, TX, has quite a worship music ministry, and produces & sells their own CD’s — and books — online. I’ve already bought the Don Moen version on iTunes, but will probably buy the Gateway CD — Living For You — to help support the ministry.

But in truth, I think I prefer the Central worship team’s performance!

Posted in Faith & Worship, Music | Comments Closed

The Go-Hub

February 26th, 2007

gohub.jpg

I love bikes, and love to ride them. But the trouble with bicycling as a means of everyday transportation is that it takes serious work to get somewhere in a decent amount of time. That serious work makes one sweat, and while I don’t have a problem with sweating per se, there are times when sweating is just not… nice. I don’t know about you but I don’t like smelling myself all day after biking to work, and I’m sure others don’t appreciate it either.

So, I’d really like to get one of these; a Go-Hub electric motor. It’s a motorized assist to make the ride easier… To flatten the hills and make the ride to work (or wherever) much less strenuous (and make me easier to be around throughout the day.) And for the ride home, I’d be free to use it or not; get some exercise or get there fast. While I’m not a treehugger by any stretch of the imagination, I still have a difficult time with the concept of driving 2,000-plus pounds of metal just to get my sorry butt to where I need to go. Most of my trips around town are just me in the car, and if I could do it without having to pay for the gas, all the better.

The Go-Hub is essentially an electric motor built into the hub of a front wheel. It sells for about $550, and comes with the battery pack, throttle, etc… The price sounds a bit steep, but considering that I’d be able to get by without buying gas for weeks in a stretch, I think it’d be worthwhile. The batteries give it a range of 25-30 miles, and recharge via 110V AC in a matter of a few hours.

Now to convince the Chief Financial Officer that this would be a good idea…

Posted in Cool Technology, Fun! | Comments Closed

It’s a Small World (and getting smaller)

February 20th, 2007

I just discovered Skype, and am really, really impressed with how that works, and it’s potential. Skype has been around for a while, but not many people know about it or what it can do for them. It’s an Internet-based telephone system that offers free worldwide computer-to-computer calls. That’s F*R*E*E!

It’s a really great service, and I love the FREE part of it. Last weekend Yvonne talked with Thom & Ellen Schotanus, who are BGC missionaries in Cameroon. They are supported in part by our church, and we first met them face to face when we visited Cameroon in 2004. And Yvonne was talking with him like he were on the other side of town. Of course, there’s the 7 hour time differential to deal with, but that’s not insurmountable.

Earlier this week I was using Skype to chat with a guy in Australia, giving him some help in figuring out why an accellerator card I sent him wasn’t working. I was complaining about the below-zero (Farenheit) temps, and he was complaining about the 35 degree (Celsius) temps there. And it didn’t cost a dime.

Between e-mail, Skype and Google Earth (and Google Maps), the world is getting smaller all the time.

Posted in Computers | Comments Closed

Who the heck is T. Denny Sanford?

February 5th, 2007

Sioux Valley Hospital, a mainstay of healthcare in Sioux Falls, SD, since the 1800’s, just disappeared this weekend. From now on it will be known as Sanford Health, in honor of T. Denny Sanford, who donated $400,000,000 to the hospital foundation this past week.

A Google search yields some interesting results; Sanford is #117 on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. Interesting that Forbes’ shows Sanford as one of the top philanthropists in the country, and his goal in life is to “Die broke”. Also interesting is that he’s known by his friends as the “wolt”; World’s Oldest Living Teenager. I think I could like this guy.

He’s a lifelong entrepreneur, having made his fortune himself in the banking industry, more specifically First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, both based in Sioux Falls.

Philanthropy.org has a nice article on the man and his gift.

Both Yvonne & Emily work at Sioux Valley… I mean Sanford Health. And the campus is only a few blocks from home. On the news last night they showed an architect’s rendering of what the campus might someday look like; I wonder how close it will be in say ten years.

Posted in Just Stuff, sioux falls | Comments Closed

Wacky Spammers

January 10th, 2007

Spammers try all kinds of tricks to get their messages past filters. Some of the subject lines they come up with are just plain comical; like today I came across one entitled “Man in hot pants struts in boots, cheers city”, complements of the “I. Koehler – News Service”. Where the hey does that come from?

With that, I thought I ought to start keeping track of some of the doozies that come across the line. Oh, here’s another: “Neuwirth gets to ‘wiggle again'”, this time courtesy of one G. Nguyen of the super info potential News Service. Seems there is a slew of such messages coming in today, all touting some hot investment that is ready to hit the big time, the stock of which I simply must buy.

Not.

Posted in Fun! | Comments Closed

3000 Faces

January 6th, 2007

3000 Faces – New York Times

Not sure how long this will be online, but it’s a great graphic showing stats on the casualties in the Iraq war, from March 16, 2003 to the present. Among the more interesting tidbits is the percentage of Air Force personnel lost in combat (1%). Good proof of what I’ve known for a long time; if you are going to volunteer for military service, the Air Force is the place to be.

Also of interest is the breakdown of casualties by race; 74% are caucasian, and 10% are black. Compare that to the breakdown of enlisted personnel by race, according to the DOD; 64% white, 20% black, 10% hispanic, and 6% other. Quite a disparity. Makes one wonder what could account for that.

Posted in Links | Comments Closed

Evil Flash Games

December 30th, 2006

There are thousands of addictive flash games out there. Lots of them remind me of the old classic arcade games, like Asteroids, PacMan, Galaga, etc… (if only I could have all the quarters back that I wasted on those games, with interest. I could probably retire!)

A couple of days ago, Deane posted about another one that’s particularly addictive, Jeu Chiant, or Irritating Game. It’s as simple and basic as a Flash game can get; takes hardly any time at all to load, and game play is as simple as moving your mouse back & forth. The difficulty in the game is the multiple goals. At the top of the game panel is a pong-style paddle with the ball that bounces between it and the walls & ceiling of the panel.

The twist is that below the paddle is a ramp with a ball on it, and the ramp tilts in the direction you move the paddle. The farther you move the paddle, the more the ramp tilts, and the faster the ball moves near to the edge. So the trick is to keep the ball bouncing up & down without making the ramp tilt too far.

Thus far my highest time is 43.something seconds. The ball starts going hellaciously fast after 30 seconds, so I don’t know if it’s possible to get much better than that. Something tells me that I’ll likely keep trying.

Oh, and just for the record, I realize that I blew my resolution to do a post-a-day. And it only took a day to do it. Sigh. But to justify my blunder, Deane also posted something relevant about that. Seems that a post a day is a bit too much for most bloggers. I don’t feel so bad after reading that.

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