Been Busy

Well, it's been a week since I updated this. We have been very busy. The past Sunday Night (the 21st) our church put on a Christmas play. I had to provide sound for it, but only found out on the 14th. When I went to play practice on the 17th, I found out that they needed sound for a video clip, two children's choruses (two of them singing on different sides of the stage), 7 actors (we only have 3 lapel mics), and our Hunter Hills Singers (14 Adults who each use their own handheld mic). Needless to say, I spent some time Wed. (17th) and Thus. (18th), just trying to get everything set up.

Friday night, Erin and I cleaned house and wrapped Christmas presents because her sister and family (3 nieces and a nephew) were coming down on Saturday. Saturday morning I got up early and went to church for rehearsal. Then spent the rest of the day Saturday with the kids.

Sunday was church. One worship service with the HH Singers leading worship. Then we had another play rehearsal after church. Erin and I then went to Montgomery and had lunch with the family and played that afternoon. We had to leave early to get back to the church in time for the play. The play rocked and a good time was had by all.

Monday was Christmas at the Hundley's. We spent all day Monday with the kids and Brooke and Bill (Erin's sister and her husband) and Gary and Hope (Erin's parents). That night the two oldest nieces stayed with us and we played games. I taught Jayde and Aubree how to play chess. Jayde hated it and Aubree loved it (and was good for a ten-year old). We stayed up until 11:30-12:00 playing games.

On Tuesday, I ran a few errands and got ready to leave. We packed up the car. When the kids were picked up by their parents on their way home, we left (around 1:00 PM). We drove up to Belleville, IL where my parents live. We got in around 10:30.

Now...things have slowed down and I can enjoy my vacation. I hope to share some more thoughts.

Happy Birthday to Heavier-than-Air, Powered Flight

Since the dawn of creation man has yearned to break free of the bonds of gravity. The ability leave the Earth, float above the treetops, and speed through the clouds has always been seen as liberating. In the mind of ancient man, to be able to fly was to be a god or god-like. Every ancient mythology has spectacular tales of gods spiriting through the air or man achieving this seemingly impossible dream.

Ancient Indian (not Native American) mythology alludes to flying on board the "Vimana", while the gods fly on the back of giant eagle named Garuda. The Greek God Hermes has wings on his helmet and sandals to help him fly. And one can not forget the well known tale of Icarus, who became so ecstatic while flying that he forgot his father's warning and flew close to the sun and fell when the heat melted the wax.

Man's craving to fly has given rise to many popular children's stories woven around princes and princesses riding on flying horses or flying carpets. One modern story purports that with a little magic (from pixie dust) and a happy thought one can surf the winds.

In the modern day world these are no longer fables or tales of what can be. Today we celebrate the 100th anniversary of man's triumph over nature. We celebrate the ingenuity of the human mind and the spirit of America. On this date 100 years ago, the Wright brothers, a couple of young men who had never gone to college and were just a couple of self-employed, small businessmen (running their own bicycle repair shop), bestowed upon mankind what can arguably be seen as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century - indeed, one of the landmark inventions in the history of the human race. The Wright brothers' first airplane flight was only about 120 feet - not quite as long as the wingspan of a 747. But it began one of the longest journeys ever taken by the human race, and it is not over yet, as we soar farther into space.

There is something quintessentially American about the way the brothers pursued their goal. They worked independently, as most American heroes have done. Their intense preoccupation with their airplane was fueled not by economic necessity -- income they already had, from their bicycle business -- but mostly from their imaginative determination to cross one of the last technological barriers to human flight.

Well done Wilbur and Orville. Years of hard work, followed by 20 seconds of joy...and you changed the world forever. You made men like the gods. You achieved what so many people had only dreamed about for so many years. You were giants of your time.

The Spiritual War

I was very perturbed in my earlier rambling that I lost my thoughts. I'm going to try to recreate them.

Even though through the Resurrection Christ has won the War against the Evil One, there is still a spiritual battle waging. In its most discreet form, it is the battle over the mind and loyalty of each individual on Earth. We recognize this battle in our own lives through our personal temptations and sins. A truth that we (as self-centered Americans) forget, though, is that this same spiritual warfare takes place at a global level as well. We have (I believe) falsely concluded that global struggle between the Ancient of Days and the Accuser has no place in modern Christianity. It has been my observation today that no one in my religious heritage has placed the significance of the capturing of Saddam in the terms of the global spiritual battle.

First, let me say that the Old Testament is full of the global conquest of I AM. A close study of Israel's history reveals that their purpose was to change their world:

• During the Patriarchal Age - He told Abraham that "Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you." - Genesis 12:3 (CEV)
• During the Kingdom Age - He gave the Israelites the clear command to "Tell every nation on the earth, 'The LORD is wonderful and does marvelous things!'" - I Chronicles 16:24 (CEV)
• During the Captivity Age - Even after Israel had turned away from and He was punishing them, He reminded them of their primary purpose, "I have placed you here as a light for other nations;
  you must take my saving power to everyone on earth." - Isaiah 49:6 (CEV).

When the people of Israel and Judah failed to keep the law and turned to idolatry and wickedness, the prophets teach us that God sent nation after nation to chastise them. Many believe that with the fulfillment of the Law and the establishment of the Way, that God set aside the notion of a national/global relationship with His people. They believe God only involves Himself in personal relationships today.

It is my contention that, if God is unchanging (which He is), then He did not disinterest Himself from the global view. The Ancient of Days has no problems being both a personal God and Global God. They are not mutually exclusive of one another. I say all of this to support my contention that a battle has been being fought in the unseen realm of the spiritual dimension. This type of contest bleeds over into the physical realm through man. Man is very different from all the other creatures in that he has an eternal soul confined to a physical body. This allows for man to sense and be influenced by occurrences in both planes of reality at the same time. Mankind acts as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. When the battle rages in the unseen Spiritual world, then that is mirrored through the actions of mankind in the physical world.

The war on Iraq is the physical manifestation of a spiritual battle for global dominance between the Deceiver and the Truth. This is a battle that has been being played out for centuries. See, Satan has drawn a great veil over the eyes of the Middle East by creating the religion of Islam. In a mastermind stroke, he developed a monotheistic theology based on early idol worship (Idol worship was just the physical expression of demon/Satan worship). By claiming to be a religion that worships the same God of Israel and Christianity, he blurred the distinction between true and false religions. However, a close examination of the roots Islam and a comparison of its modern-day practices to ancient practices reveals that Allah is not the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Rather, it is a Moon-god worshipped in South Arabia.

In this excerpt of Dr. Robert Morey's book, The Islamic Invasion, the word Allah is a derivative of the name al-ilah. While there is much debate to the accuracy of his claims, his article makes a lot of sense to me with what I know of the ancient Middle East.

Of course, once you compare the present day "worship" of Muslims to the practices that the Lord finds detestable, the accuracy of Dr. Morey's statements are substantiated. For instance, in a manner that is eerily reminiscent of Elijah's encounter with the worshippers of Ba'al on Mount Carmel, some modern day Muslims practice self-mutilation. Not to stop there, in the same way the that child sacrifice were presented to the Phoenician god, Molech, Muslim parents offer up their children to Allah.

I lay all of this as a foundation to say the War against Terror in a holy and righteous war. The capturing of Saddam, a central figure in the advancement of the satanic worship of Islam, is a reflection of the victory in the spiritual world by the forces of God. Praise and Glory unto Him who makes His people victorious. We worship the Lion who crushes His enemies and brings justice to the oppressed. We bring Him honor for His protection over our troops.

Saddam Caught

I wrote a great blog yesterday about catching Saddam...However, when I clicked the Post button, things went awry. It seems that while I was typing my post that blogger.com went down and I lost my thoughts. I was quite dismayed...they were great thoughts...oh well...I was excited and pointed to the Spiritual battle. It is my belief that there is a war going on in the spiritual realm that has bled over into the physical realm. Saddam is the manifestation of the Accuser. Our American troops, surrounded by a host of Angels, led by our President who is led by the Spirit, have played their part to win this battle. I also went into depth (with supporting research) to point out that Islam's Allah is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that we as Christians worship. Instead Islam has its roots in Ba'al worship, mixed in with a little worship of Molech and sprinkled with monotheism to give it the appearance of being in the same class as Judaism and Christianity. Anyway, since I lost all of that...I'm not re-doing it...you have to fend for yourself on the research.

Web Conferencing

Wooo...Today was busy. We are investigating Web Conferencing technologies right now. So yesterday I went out and purchased 5 web-cams (Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 - The top of the line...very, very nice cameras). We already had 1. On Monday we are doing two demonstration sessions for all of the directors, vice-chancellors, and other "power players." So, today I went to all 12 machines that will be using this and installed the camera drivers, installed the web-conferencing client software, and tested the connection. I also was concerned about 6 clients streaming video across my 10Mbs LAN would effect performance, so I ran around and got six of them started to see. No network trouble. Each connection only uses 256kbs. However, the technology we are testing really only works for PCs that are Pentium IV and above with 256MB RAM. I have a PIII 996Mhz with 384MB RAM and it distorts the video pretty badly on my machine.

Anyway, this is the second company we are looking at...and I like it better than the first one. We are convening a committee from the people at the colleges to look at adopting a standard Web Conferencing solution.

Largest Prime Number found via Grid Computing

Here is an article. The prime number is 6.2 million digits long. It was found by using the equation 2 to the power of "p" minus one, in which "p" is an ordinary prime number. In this instance, p=20,996,011.

Outrageous: American "social benefits" may be given to foreigners living abroad

The Arizona Republic is reporting that officials of America and Mexico are discussing a proposal. This proposal would allow millions of illegal Mexicans to return to Mexico while continuing to receive their Social Security checks.

Even if we ignore the fact that the whole Social Security program is a horrible intrusion on personal liberty by using force to transfer the fruits of one person's labor to another individual, this is still outrageous. Our federal government really only has one task to do and that is to protect the interests of its citizens. Everyone knows that the solvency of Social Security is in danger. Moving hundreds of millions of dollars out of a program that is already struggling is like drilling more holes in a sinking ship.

Reasons this is a bad idea
1. Increase in Illegal Immigration
     If a check from the US Government is "promised" to all Mexicans who illegally cross the border for the rest of their life, then there is an increased incentive to indulge in this kind of illegal behavior. Now, I'm not an anti-immigration nut. I believe that part of what made this country great is that so many people could come here. I am personally against our immigration policy of limiting the number of immigrants we allow in each year. However, this entry is not the most conducive place for me to layout my immigration ideas. I will try to post another entry that explains those at a later date. Let me just say, though, that we have laws and people who do not follow those laws should not be "entitled" to the same "benefits" that people who do follow the laws are "entitled" to. Increasing the benefits of performing an illegal action without increasing the security measures to prevent that action from happening or increasing the penalties for being performing the illegal action will always invite more people to attempt to perform that illegal action.

2. Sets a dangerous precedent
     There is an old Indian saying that says that when making decisions, one must consider the effects that the decision will have down to the seventh generation. (I tried to find the exact quote...but couldn't locate it quickly.) While some people may be able to fallaciously argue that the illegals earned the right to the benefit today, how long until that morphs into giving the benefit to other non-Citizens who did not earn it. Then that might be perceived as unfair, so other benefits (Medicare, disability, and welfare come to mind) will be granted to non-Citizens. This seems ridiculous (of course). I can hear people saying, "We would never give poor Dutch people living in Holland the same welfare benefits that we give our American 'poor.'" If we have learned anything it is that there are no boundaries that confine liberals. They will twist the law and manipulate emotions, while pointing to this benefit, to say that America has an obligation to take care of the children of the world.

3. Creates the Illusion that Social Security is a benefits program, not a tax
    A benefit is something that I pay into that sets money aside for me to use later. When I take advantage of the health-insurance benefit package at work, they take money out of my paycheck and pay it into an account in my name that allows me to make claims against it. Sue, down the hall, can not make a claim against my insurance. A benefit is also (usually) voluntary. I do not have to participate in my health-insurance package. A tax, on the other hand, is compulsory and the money is given to "society." Try opt-ing out of paying into Social Security (trust me, I would love to. I could take that money and invest it for a better retirement than I am going to get with Social Security). Also, try getting a letter from the government guaranteeing that Social Security benefits will be there for you in 20-30 years. They won't give you one... Go this Heritage Foundation site to learn how Social Security really works.

Needless to say, this is a bad idea all the way around.

First Century Service at Church

We had a "First Century Service" at Church tonight. It was really cool. We didn't really plan on doing that, but the Spirit led and we followed. Our typical Wednesday night service is:

• Catered Dinner begins serving at 5:45 PM and is cleaned up at 6:30 promptly


• Meet at 6:45 for a 15 minute time of praise and prayer


• Bible Classes 7:00 to 7:50/8:00ish

Due to the holiday season, though, Bible classes have been put on hold until January. So we ate and then met for praise and worship. Our worship and praise team led us in worship. We sang, prayed, and recited scripture together. At 7:20 the worship leader then invited anyone who had a song that they wanted to sing to come lead it or to suggest it for him to lead. Completely unplanned, one of the guys said he didn't have a song...but wanted to share a thought and pray over our worship leader. When he finished, the worship leader tried to return to his original plan, but another member requested the microphone and shared a Spirit-inspired thought. Finally, a third guy also felt a leading and he took the microphone and spoke for a few minutes.

As all this was going on, I was reminded of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians where he gave them instructions for how to come together and eat (as we had done). I was also reminded of his teaching in chapter 14 about how several people will be inspired to share a revelation or be given an interpretation, about how two or three prophets should speak while the others weigh it carefully. I thought to myself...that this is what worship is about.

Hopefully we will do the same thing next week because I am "eager to prophesy...in a fitting and orderly way."

First Hurdle in Home Study

Our social worker for our Home Study (we are going to adopt a child) cancelled our first meeting tomorrow. She was supposed to come by and ensure that our house met the minimum standards (which I'm sure it does). Her sister has gone into labor so she is traveling to be with her family. She did say she would put the paperwork in the mail for us to fill out. Once that is done, we will call her to reschedule the appointment.

Tyranny of Justices

The Supreme Court has decided that "preventing political corruption" outweighs our right to free speech by upholding the ban on so-called "soft-money" donations imposed by the deceptively titled "McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform" bill passed last year by congress and signed by the President. The 300-page ruling also upheld a ban on political advertising by special-interest groups 60 days before Election Day.

So, we see now that the Government can dictate how much of own money we are allow to spend to promote our ideas and when we can promote our values. The three branches of our government have collaborated to keep underdogs down and themselves in power.

Let me try to explain why this ruling is a death blow to free and open elections. Suppose that I don't happen to like the fact that President Bush just signed a huge entitlement package to seniors to be paid by me. Now, I'm just a small fish. I don't have a lot of money, but I have a few friends and family members who are also small fish without a lot of money. I talk to my friends about this issue and say, "We need to advertise to young people and explain that a huge loan has just been levied on our future. Let's all throw in $2,000 and I can get some flyers printed-up, make a T.V. commercial, put up a billboard, and distribute bumper with some kind of pithy statement." Obviously I can't do all of these things with just $2,000. However, with the $30,000 that 15 of my friends contribute to this fund, we can achieve these goals. However, this is exactly the kind of speech that has not been specifically forbidden by our Congress, our President, and our Court. We have no avenue left for redress.

It is good note, though, that the ruling was close with a 5-4 ruling. Judge Anthonin Scalia (as usual) hit the nail on the head when he wrote in the dissenting opinion, "The first instinct of power is the retention of power, and under a Constitution that requires periodic elections, that is best achieved by the suppression of election-time speech."

So, please join me as we bid farewell to free and open elections. We will gladly accept these chains because we are sure that this move will finally get corruption out of politics.

Ramble #1

You will never hear an intelligent statement followed by "You know what I'm sayin'?"


The ability to communicate clearly and effectively is a lost art. Intelligent communication has to, like, you know, be thought out well enough that one would not need to, you know, like question whether people understand. You know what I'm saying?!? People just speak, like, straight from their hips (You know what I'm sayin')

Testing adding Title

I'm working on my formatting just a lit bit more. I want to add the title and see what happens.

Well...I published it successfully. The only thing is that I don't appear to have permission to do a directory listing, create folders, and write other files to my web folder. Therefore, my blog is missing my logo.

Once Kevin and I get that worked out...this should work great.

I am also going to play some more with the blog commands and see what else I can do. By the way, the cartoon I sent to Kevin that he was not able to credit was drawn by Jake Fuller of the Gainesville Sun.

Like my Brother, I tend to lean toward the Libertarian way of thinking. People should be free to keep the money they earn and to give it, spend it, and invest it in ways that reflect their own values. With the usurping of the freedom to use our own money to work toward our own goals, the government is implicitly telling us that our goals and values are unimportant. I don't know about you, but I happen to think my goals of adoption and running my own business are more praiseworthy than a Rainforest in Iowa. But, hey, what do I know...I'm just a poleterian with no real influence...Since they obviously got elected...they must be smarter than me.

Well, Kevin set me up yesterday. I spent a few hours last night and a couple of hours tonight coding my template and getting me set up to for a itty-bitty website. I didn't have much time to really work on this tonight because I was fixing a problem for Joe at MCS Information Technology. Anyway...I'm about to attempt to publish this to my spot...see what happens

This is my first post. It will be used for me to work out the design of my blog.