Month: November 2008

  • Thanksgiving Pride …

    Can’t say I’ve read Rob and Elliot in awhile but I did find my way back to their webcomic the other day and found this one pretty interesting.

    Though I don’t own a boat, I do find myself extremely blessed.  This led to me think about where our country bases their success and pride in.  It’s one thing to be a proud American or even take pride in the things that this country offers.  You heard it throughout the Presidential campaigns and especially after 9/11.  We as a country can be extremely proud and thus flaunt it as if all this was something owed to us.  Just the mere fact of being in the United States of America somehow invokes this right upon us.  God Bless America.

    Obviously, this can’t be totally right.  This being the Thanksgiving season we tend to take the day and be mindful and thankful for our blessings.  But as Christians do we do this every second of our lives?  Do we weigh the forgiveness of our sins as our greatest blessing and realize that everything else is just icing on the cake? 

    I don’t know.  For myself it’s sometimes hard to remember I’m not worthy.  I get distracted by all the shiny and sparkling things that I do lose sight of it sometimes.  Even my patriotic pride gets in the way. God Bless America.

    Usually what gets me back on track is reminding myself of this phrase: America Bless God.

    Some know what it means and most probably don’t even think in that fashion …

    It’s never about us. 
    It’s all about God.

    America Bless God

  • Oh SWEET Potato!

    My brain hurts.  My body feels weak.  My eyes are tired.  Being at work for 18+ straight hours, going home getting 3 hours of sleep and then running around for 9 hours for the next work day really does crazy things to you both physically and mentally.  I’ve pretty much been a walking zombie the last few days at work.  A walking zombie with root! 

    Other than that some pretty cool images have come to my attention.  The first being some exclusive Walt Disney Potato Heads!!!

           

    I have to say they’re not as cute as Darth Tater, Spud Trooper or Artoo-Potatoo.  Actually they all look a tad creepy.  The only half-decent looking one is Fett and that’s a stretch.  But nonetheless there are more Star Wars spuds out there.

    Besides the spuds there are better pictures of the highly anticipated Mickey Mouse Transformer!  Even if he reminds me of the Box transformer he looks pretty nice.  And yes, it’s a Japanese exclusive (by TakaraTomy) hence why little Mickey is sitting on the opposite side of the cab.  Well opposite for us, not for those living in Japan.

  • It’s No Jaws 3-D …

    IDW is reprinting their Spotlight: Optimus Prime comic in 3-D!!!  If you’ve got a pair of 3-D glasses lying around checkout their preview. 

  • Yeah, Furniture!

    We finally bought some bedroom furniture!  Being sick on Thursday led us (me) to watch several James Bond flicks on the tele and then (Chewy) noticing an ad for Thomasville Furniture.  They’re currently running a sale til December 1st which essentially gave us 8% off their normal prices.  Not too bad I guess.  The hard part about buying furniture for us (Chewy) is that the wood has to be from a sustainable source and all that other good stuff. 

    For the set that we were interested in, it was endorsed by the Sustainable Forest Initative (SFI) which was formed by the Forest Industry.  Sounds like double-dipping but after some research it would seem they’re not that bad per Chewy’s perspective.  So that’s why we bought the furniture. 

    Our particular bedroom set is from the Sonterra line.  For what fits in our bedroom we bought the head and foot board, dresser with mirror and two nightstands.

       

    Yeah, we finally have furniture!  Now we have to paint the room before the furniture gets delievered.

  • A Michael Jackson Song Popped Into My Head …

    Not surprisingly there’s already been a ton of commentary about this new ad campaign.  If you’ve haven’t heard of it this is basically what it is:

      
    (Picture From FoxNews)

    So yeah, tons of Christians are commenting about what the American Humanist Association is doing.  The Fox 5 News byline was pretty interesting so I ended up watching the whole 10pm news hour only to find out that they were going to talk about it on their News EXTRA segment at 11pm.  Man did I feel duped.  Anyways, I digress. 

    Personally, I do have issues with it from different angles.  First, a random person would see it and say “Yeah, I don’t need a god.  Am I am good enough.” (No inserting any Stuart Smalley sayings)  Besides it being misleading to non-Christians and even potentially harmful to young/less mature Christians who would not take the time to look further into the question.  Beyond that, I find the ad laughable.  Mostly because they’re equating “a god” to a picture/image of Santa Claus.  You know Santa, the guy when you rearrange his name spells … SATAN.  (Man, I’m on some SNL kick)    Do we really see Santa as “a god”?  I think not.

    Either way, it really shows how ignorant the AHA is (and their name is a tad laughable too) because we don’t serve a god, we serve THE God.  (Maybe they’re going for an attack against a polytheistic religion.)  But I will say they do bring up a good question: 

    Do we do acts of good will because we are told to or because we live changed lives? 

    I hope most say because we live changed lives.

  • So sad …

    Really just commenting on the current state of things in the good o’l U.S. of A.  Even as we remember our veterans today it’s amazing that post-WWII we’ve seen a decline in the country.  I think I’ll go watch Saving Private Ryan to cheer me up.

    • Watching the Nightly News lastnight there was a piece on how IndyMac through the FDIC were helping people in near foreclosure status.  Basically their deal was to lower a 6.5% interest rate to 3% for five years and extending a 30 year loan to 40 years.  No mention of any “strings” so for the one couple mentioned it lowered their monthly payment from $3,000 to $1,700.  Pretty sweet for them.  I should see if our lender is doing anything like this and if they are start defaulting on payments.    Gotta get some of this financial action!   It’s not like this action surprises me (hey I’m happy people are getting helped – I’m not that _c_o_l_d_)  But we see how today’s parents treat their kids and how they can do no wrong.  We reward bad behavior because it doesn’t lower self-esteem.  (No dodgeball for you!)  These actions are just parents rewarding bad behavior for the majority of the folks in trouble.  Like I said, it’s no surprise.  An intelligent person would actually think that it would be prudent to extend something similar to every person who holds a mortgage.  Why you ask?  Lenders are having credit crunches – why would they want a sure payment by those who planned, managed their money, did some simple math and seemingly are responsible to get a break on their mortgage payments?  Because the other part of this problem is that consumer confidence and spending are dropping.  By lowering their rates, that puts more money in their pockets which should hopefully equate to more consumer spending.  And that’s actually something that will help get the economy back on track.
    • Hopefully the Phoenix will rise again. 
    • Yo Obama!  If you’re gonna seek a bailout for the poorly managed, non-innovative automobile companies can you please also bailout this poorly managed, innovated automobile company?
    • “God has vindicated the black folk,“ – How does this type of talk make you feel?  There are similar quotes in the article that to me are disturbing.  Not because I’m secretly a racist and I’m just trying to put the black man down but because it makes God sound so petty and IMO makes another reason for non-believers to dislike “Christians” and our God.  I’m sure you’re like “But shyeah you go to a Chinese church!”  My response to that is … “Yeah, but there’s a white girl who attends, it’s not all Chinese.”  Obviously I kid (not about the white girl, she’s actually a good friend and a kind hearted Christian) about my answer.  It’s true but I seriously doubt we attend because of the “cultural” reasons.  For myself, growing up I was around mostly African Americans til High School.  Then Indians after that.  We attend because we like the pastor, the people and the work that God is doing there.  Plus I sense it’s more a calling then wanton desire to be around other similarly looking folks.
    But back on point and less defending ourselves.  Are the statements said in the article valid?  If we are a global Church (note big “C” verse little “c”) how can we say stuff like that?  Are they draws to being able to witness His grace and mercy to others?  Or are they just deterrents?  I don’t want to take away from the historical nature of the event and how folks are proud of the event (though pride is one of the deadly sins) but should it really be said in a church environment? 

    Personally, I think no.  It’s nice to be cultured.  To draw those similar in culture in and make them feel at home with what they’re used to but the overall message and statements still need to be God driven.  Those statements to me does not sound God driven.  I remember attending a church in Denver that was a large multi-ethnic congregation.  People within the congregation may have shared different cultures but overall the important thing was that they were there worshipping God and drawing closer to him. 

    That’s all I seek.

  • A Bunch of Randomness …

  • What a Week!

    First the Skin’s got spanked by the Steelers.  Then Tuesday happens.  Then the Terps got spanked by the Hokies on Thursday.  Here’s something that put a smile on face though.


    Halloween costumes for a bunch of Marylanders

  • Congratulations …

    We congratulate Barack Obama on becoming the second Black American to win the Presidency. (I kid )  It still amazes me that people vote based upon external qualities.  He is only half-Kenyan and Tiger Woods is half-Asian and only like an eighth black.  Yet people flock to them due to their skin color.  However, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ex-Mayor of D.C. Anthony Williams were all deemed “not black enough.”  And who the heck is this Michael Steele guy? (Yes, I know who he is, just like I know who Alan Keyes is.)  Oh well that’s America for you. 
     
    On a side note, how scary will it be for the next two-to-four years?  Why scary you ask?  We will have an extremely liberal President in office.  Liberal Democrats controlling the Senate.  Liberal Democrats controlling the House of Representatives.  And the possibility of two liberal Justices appointed to the Supreme Court.  Checks and Balances?  Not really going there but more on the notion of the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah.  One can’t just think the possibilities are limited to physical destruction but also could include financial destruction.  It’s not just the leaders, we’ve seen what one faithful Believer has tried to do to help the country and how it didn’t work, it’s also the hearts of the people.  So a combo of morally suspect leaders and people makes a scary country.

    Don’t believe me?  What happened to the country after 9/11?  More people came back to the faith and the country began to prosper.  Then as things seemed to have calmed down and life seemed to be nice and comfortable we see the beginnings of the downward spiral of morality and greed.  Will it take another 9/11 event to bring people back to God? 

    Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.  (Proverbs 13:21)

  • Go Out, Vote and Get Something Free!