Think This // After Hours

I am sick and tired of hearing the phrase Happy Holiday at this time of the year. When greeted this way, I always respond Merry Christmas to you too! It is December 25th after all, which is CHRISTMAS, nothing else, no other holiday but Christmas.

Why some people are so afraid of Christmas? Is being politically correct so important that they throw out 2000 years of history and tradition? Who are they trying “not to offend” by renaming December 25 to “Holiday” from Christmas?

Who are they?

I have yet to meet a person of another religion who was offended because Christians celebrate / or call Christmas CHRISTMAS. Have you?

I had lunch with a friend yesterday who is Jewish. He said something like ”I wish people would bring back Christ in to Christmas, because it is Christmas, not a generic holiday.” He wants for Christians to keep their Christmas tradition so that he can learn more and be reminded what Christmas really stands for to offset all the commercial and materialistic messages we hear this time of the year from all around us.

I like what Stuart Shepard of CitizenLink.com did in this video. He sends a message to all the retailers who are afraid to call December 25 Christmas. They do not want to offend their shoppers by using the word Christmas but they look ridiculous when trying to convince their buyers to buy their Christmas Trees, Christmas Lights, Christmas Gifts, Christmas Cards - who do you think will buy that stuff? People who celebrate Christmas or people who are offended by the word Christmas?

Watch the video, it is really good:

Merry Christmas!

No arms, No legs, NO WORRIES - A testimony of Nick Vujicic from Australia.

To learn more about Nick, visit http://LifeWithoutLimbs.org/ Here is Nick’s  story from his website:

A Remarkable Story of God’s Grace

It says in James 1:2 - “Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

….To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was “Praise God!”. Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors were shocked and had no answers at all! Read the rest of this entry »

By Dr. S.M. Lockridge
The Bible says my King is a seven-way king
     He’s the King of the Jews; that’s a racial king
     He’s the King of Israel; that’s a national King
     He’s the King of Righteousness
     He’s the King of the Ages
     He’s the King of Heaven
     He’s the King of Glory
     He’s the King of kings, and He’s the Lord of lords. That’s my King.
Well….I wonder, do you know Him?

David said, “The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork.”
     My King is a sovereign King.
     No means of measure can define His limitless love.
     No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply.
     No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings.
     He’s enduringly strong.
     He’s entirely sincere.
     He’s eternally steadfast.
     He’s immortally graceful.
     He’s imperially powerful.
     He’s impartially merciful.
Do you know Him?

He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world.
     He’s God’s Son.
     He’s the sinner’s Savior.
     He’s the centerpiece of civilization.
     He stands in the solitude of Himself.
     He’s august and He’s unique.
     He’s unparalleled.
     He’s unprecedented.
     He is the loftiest idea in literature.
     He’s the highest personality in philosophy.
     He is the supreme problem in higher criticism.
     He’s the fundamental doctrine of true theology.
     He is the cardinal necessity for spiritual religion.
     He’s the miracle of the age.
     He’s — yes He is — He is the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him.

He’s the only one qualified to be an all sufficient Savior.
I wonder if you know Him today?
     He supplies strength for the weak.
     He’s available for the tempted and the tried.
     He sympathizes and He saves.
     He strengthens and sustains.
     He guards and He guides.
     He heals the sick.
     He cleansed the lepers.
     He forgives sinners.
     He discharges debtors.
     He delivers the captives.
     He defends the feeble.
     He blesses the young.
     He serves the unfortunate.
     He regards the aged.
     He rewards the diligent….and He beautifies the meek.
I wonder if you know Him?

Well, my King….He is the King!
     He’s the key to knowledge.
     He’s the wellspring of wisdom.
     He’s the doorway of deliverance.
     He’s the pathway of peace.
     He’s the roadway of righteousness.
     He’s the highway of holiness.
     He’s the gateway of glory.
Do you know Him?

Well, His office is manifold.
     His promise is sure….and His light is matchless.
     His goodness is limitless.
     His mercy is everlasting.
     His love never changes.
     His word is enough.
     His grace is sufficient.
     His reign is righteous.
     And His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
     I wish I could describe Him to you, but He’s indescribable — Yes He is!? He is God!
     He’s incomprehensible.
     He’s invincible.
     He’s irresistible.
Well, you can’t get Him out of your mind.
You can’t get Him off of your hand.
You can’t out live Him, and you can’t live without Him.

The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him.
     Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him.
     The witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree.
     Herod couldn’t kill Him.
     Death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him.
     Yea!!!, that’s my King, that’s my King.

Yes, and Thine is the Kingdom….and the Power….and the Glory….Forever….and ever, and ever, and ever — How long is that? And ever, and ever.

And when you get through with all of the forevers, then. AMEN!
Good God Almighty!  AMEN!   AMEN!

Today is blog action day. Many blogs, including “Think This // After Hours” is bringing attention to this effort - the effort of focusing attention on our environment. Here is my take. God created everything:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. Acts 17:24

God - Jesus - sustains everything by his word:

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Hebrews 1:3

We are the stewards what God entrusted to us - his creation. We are responsible for managing it well. However, God is upholding it all - no “global warming” will have any effect on the environment or surprise God.

So, I do join this day to spread awareness about the environment. God created it and He is sustaining it by his word. We are the stewards, so let’s be smart about it, and do not fall into each extreme.

Thanks to Pronet Advertising for making me aware.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean judge sentenced a man to four months in jail for stealing a Bible, admonishing him with Scripture before hauling him off to prison, The Straits Times newspaper reported Wednesday.District judge Bala Reddy also gave a new Bible to the 26-year-old thief, who said he had tried to steal the book from a bookshop last month because he wanted to replace his old, tattered copy.

At the Tuesday sentencing, the judge told the defendant — who has previous convictions for theft — to open his gift.

“You will see at page 65 that it says “Thou shalt not steal. While you are in prison, sit in prison and read the Bible, and ensure that you don’t come before the courts again,” Reddy said.

It is a sad day today for many who loved to hear Dr. D. James Kennedy sermons. His ministry has produced incredible amounts of resources for Christians to use. The depth of his messages and quality of their content kept many coming back for more. Dr. Kennedy’s passion for evangelism mixed with scientific apologetics helped many to consider the evidence for Christ and confess HIM as their Lord and Saviour.

“Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.” - D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

I have truly enjoyed Dr. Kennedy’s ministry by listening to him on the radio and watching on TV.

Visit a memorial tribute to Dr. D. Jame Kennedy.

I will miss him.

I love Scott Adams and Dilbert. First off, the comic strip alone is a complete riot. Some things that I find amazing about it are that all or almost all of it is based upon whatever Scott Adams receives via email. It’s pretty much as if the strip writes itself these days. I like that I can get it emailed to me for free every morning by signing up to receive it at Dilbert.com. What amazes me even more is that he was afflicted with a strange muscle control disorder a couple of years ago and had to draw the strip with his left hand. Nowadays, he draws the strip using a special computerized drawing tablet that allows him to use bigger pen strokes and less pressure, and this appears to have helped him continue with the strip. The entire ordeal was detailed in a Washington Post article from 2005.

Aside from the riproaring comic strip, he post to the Dilbert Blog about every other day. The blog often has nothing to do with Dilbert but are amusing observations that Adams makes. He’s usually quick to get his humorous point across, which I like as it is therefore a low-cost committment (same as reading a comic strip) for me.

In addition to the Dilbert comic strip and Dilbert Blog, he puts out a riotous monthly Dilbert Newsletter. This one is well worth signing up for and it too, is largely driven by user contributions. Of course, Scott Adams writes books as well and I just finished reading (well, listening to the audio version) Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel. The audio version is read by Adams himself. I’d recommend this one if you’re ever interested in a quick, funny read.

Lastly, something many people may not know is that years ago, Adams hired some special food engineers to create flavorful burritos that provided a whopping amount of nutrition in one shot. I personally haven’t tried one of these as I haven’t found any locally. The Dilburito.com website highlights some of these burritos. As a recent convert to vegetarianism, I’m especially interested in a quick but nutritious vegetarian meal such as these.

[Scott’s family website and blogs can be found at www.Yanoff.org.]

A few days ago I received an email from my friend who lives in Israel. He started a new organization to help poor holocaust survivors - ”Helping Hand Coalition.” One of the ways they are raising awareness is by producing a film “161154 - Chai Life.” This is an amazing true story of a holocaust survivor. Here is his shortened story: 

CHAI “Life”

This is a true story of Izak Goldfinger. In 1939 the Second World War is raging and Hitler is terrorizing Europe with war and ethnic cleansing. Itzhak Goldfinger, a 14-year-old boy from Poland, suffers the gravest penalty for his ‘crime: He is born a Jew… In the following 6 years he survives 11 Nazi labor and concentration camps. At the end of the war his body barely alive, is found in an open mass grave on top of a pile of corpes. Minutes from death, Izak fights for life.

How did Izak find the will to survive for 6 years in the most degrading circumstances the world has ever seen?

It is a miracle that he survived and lives to tell this story. These are the memories of a man who has seen it all. Memories for future generations, so that they will be reminded of the terrible things people do to each other.

In the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz / Birkenau, Izak gets a number tattooed on his arm. A rabbi tells him this number has a special meaning. The numbers correspond with Hebrew letters; those letters spell a word; this word will help Izak to find the strength to survive through his terrible ordeal.

Watch a trailer of this documentary movie. WARNING: This trailer contains shocking WWII images of death and starvation.

Read the rest of this entry »

I love my iPod. I listen to it on the bus or on my bike as I commute to work. I listen to it in bed to help me fall asleep. Sometimes, I hook it up to our stereo and listen to it while the family eats dinner. I also love iTunes. As first, I didn’t understand why I needed another specific jukebox-style piece of software to manage music. However, I really like the interface. You can add any column you want, you can easily change MP3 tags, even on a mass scale, and the ability to keep the music on your computer in synchronization with your iPod is an asset.I’m a big fan of the podcasts as well. I’ve tried a few of the “song of the day” podcasts out there and enjoyed them. However, I found the music they played to often be obsure and by unsigned acts that I had a hard time finding elsewhere, so I abandoned those podcasts. I currently listen to:

• Grammar Girl (http://grammar.qdnow.com/)
• Mr. Manners (http://manners.qdnow.com/)
• Frank Deford (Sports commentator on NPR)

What I really love are the little details that separate the iPod and iTunes from other music players that I have tried. Being a numbers junkie, I love to sort the list by the number of times I’ve played various songs, just to see what my listening habits are. I like that it tracks that. I can also sort by the number of times I’ve skipped a song to see if the song is no longer worthy of my collection. I also really dig the ratings as I can create smart playlists based on those ratings.

Speaking of smart playlists, that’s possibly my most favorite feature of the iPod and iTunes. Beyond just plain playlists of songs, smart playlists allow you to create a playlist with rules that filter which songs you hear. There’s even a site, SmartPlaylists.com, where people share ideas about smart playlists they’ve created.

Currently, I have the following smart playlists created in my iTunes and iPod:

• “Lost Friends” - this randomly plays anything with a play count of less than 1. This helps me find stuff in my 4,000-song collection that I haven’t been listening to
• “Unrated” - this plays anything without a rating. This allows me to listen to songs and rate them as I listen to them. I made this one such that the songs with the lowest playcount are played first, so it’s like a less-random version of “Lost Friends”.
• “4-Star Random” and “5-Star Random” - These play anything I’ve rated 4 and 5 stars, respectively, at random. This is when I want to really listen to the best stuff in my collection.
• “Children’s Random” - Since I’ve labeled all my kids’ music with an artist of “Childrens”, I created this playlist to play those songs at random.
• “Sleepy - Random” - This is one I listen to when I’m trying to fall asleep. I created a regular playlist called “Sleepy” where I’ve put some of the more mellow songs in my collection. Since I haven’t found a way to may a regular playlist always set to play songs at random, I created the smart playlist to pick songs from the first playlist and play them randomly.

Today is National Day of Prayer. Pray for our government, for all the officials, federal, state and local. More about the National Day of Prayer - official website or Wikipedia entry.

“… NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 3, 2007, as a National Day of Prayer. I ask the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, each according to his or her own faith, for the freedoms and blessings we have received and for God’s continued guidance, comfort, and protection. I invite all Americans to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.” - George W. Bush (read full text of the proclamation)

Read the rest of this entry »