Some vehicles are built on other planets.

So, this past Thursday we decided, at great risk of being disowned by my brother (sorry Curtis), to purchase a 2004 Ford Freestar from CarMax.  The reason for this purchase was because of our growing family.  You see, we have a little girl that will be joining us some time in July.  Coincidentally, she her official due date is on the same date as said brother's birthday.

I must say, that either there are some issues with the clock on the dashboard/radio, or the vehicle was built on some other planet and shipped here afterward.  On the way home that night I looked at the clock and noticed it said 11:11.  I couldn't believe it was already that late, considering we had been there since just before 7.  I had my wife check the time and then she proceeded to try to reset the time.  She discovered, to both of our confusion and bewilderment, that the clock was working off of 90 minute hours.  Which means that it is not all that uncommon to look down and see the time as 8:75 or 6:67.

So, I guess our next task, concerning our newly purchased vehicle is to figure out if there is any way to fix this, or if we are stuck with the only vehicle known to man that can give you the accurate time on Mars.

I wonder if we can pick up radio stations from the moon?

The Trinity Can be Hard to Explain.

Brother Michael Pearl, of No Greater Joy Ministries, who I have posted about before, is usually pretty good at clarifying some confusing truths from the Bible, but even he sometimes comes across a challenge that may be a bit bigger than he realized.  Here he is trying to explain the nuances of the Trinity:



Admittedly, he does a pretty good job, but sometimes an explanation like this can make someone even more confused about a topic as important as the Trinity.  Personally, I have found the best explanation of the Trinity to have been written by a somewhat unknown man by the name of Athanasius.  Way back in the fourth century, during one of the most challenging periods in the history of the Christian church he penned the following creed:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled; without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father unlimited; the Son unlimited; and the Holy Ghost unlimited. The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty. So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords; but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity; to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion; to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are co-eternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshiped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation; that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, of the Essence of the Father; begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Essence of his Mother, born in the world. Perfect God; and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father as touching his Manhood. Who although he is God and Man; yet he is not two, but one Christ. One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by assumption of the Manhood into God. One altogether; not by confusion of Essence; but by unity of Person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell; rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the God the Father Almighty, from whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies; And shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith; which except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved.

 Here is a great illustration of what this creed is talking about:

The literal translation of this illustration is thus:

"The Father is God, The Son is God, The Holy Spirit is God; God is the Father, God is the Son, God is the Holy Spirit; The Father is not the Son, The Son is not the Father, The Father is not the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is not the Father, The Son is not the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is not the Son."

 Hope this helps.

Many Corporations Have Overlooked Something

It's possible this has already been covered somewhere, but I am just too lazy to go look for it.  So, I thought I would post about it anyway.

There is something that many corporations are overlooking that they may, or may not, realize they are doing it.  Take a look at the websites for these three companies: Veterinary Pet Insurance, Hewlett Packard, and 1-800Flowers.

God Hates Sin, Not the Sinner

This is a recent video where Michael Pearl, a Christian leader of the No Greater Joy Ministry, is answering a question posed by a subscriber to his video series, about what the bible says about homosexuality and how we, as Christians, are supposed to treat them, or any other sinner.

Now most people would consider this message a message of hate, or homophobic.  Clearly it is not.  As Mr. Pearl states, the Bible calls us to respond to those who choose to live this way with respect and compassion and convey to them, in a loving way, that the way they are living is sinful.

This is the way God wants Christians to treat anyone who is guilty of sin, and is not repentant of it.  To Mr. Pearl's point, we should judge people as we would want to be judged.  Specifically, if I am living in a way that is contrary to how God wants me to be living I would hope that a fellow Christian would confront me, in love, and call me to repent.  Sometimes it takes a view from outside of ones self to see something that may be destructive.  And it can take a tremendous amount of courage for a brother or sister in Christ to confront a fellow believer.  It takes even more courage to confront a non-Christian, especially considering the possible backlash that may ensue.

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To another point that I may expound on later.  Just because someone expresses a viewpoint that is contrary to an accepted social norm, it does not mean that person hates a person, or a group of people.  They are merely expressing another point of view.

Wisdom Can Come From Changes In Perspective

A number of years ago after having seen The Shawshank Redemption my brother-in-law asked me what my favorite part of the movie was.  Not thinking too much into it I said it was the scene where Andy Dufresne (played by the great Tim Robbins) was sitting on top of a sewer pipe holding a rock and timing his strikes with that of the lightning and thunder strikes. 

My brother-in-law obviously had been looking a little bit deeper into the movie, his favorite part of the movie was the scene when the prison warden had ordered that Andy's cell been "tossed."  Which basically means that the prison guards can throw anything they want, including, or especially, anything they find that is breakable.  At the end of this scene, after the warden had picked up Andy's Bible, he handed it back to Andy through the bars of his cell and said, "Salvation lies within."

What is important about this scene is that the Warden's arguably hypocritical statement was somewhat ironic in that even though one can find salvation by studying The Bible, if the Warden had actually opened this one in particular he would have found Andy's modus operendi of escape.  For hidden within it was his rock hammer.  The tool that he used, painstakingly for years, to facilitate his escape.

The change in perspective that I gained in this conversation allowed me to view movies, and read books, differently, which opened my eyes to plenty of other aspects of them that I had been missing.  Or as an old high school teacher of mine pointed out when I was struggling to grasp the concept of "higher level meanings;"  as Sarah was told by the worm, in the movie Labyrinth, "you ain't looking at it right."

Later on I gained some additional knowledge in watching movies and reading books from someone else who showed me some "patterns" or "rules" writers use when putting together a story.  Basically, if a writer sticks the set of rules they set out with then the story should be well put together and entertaining.  But is when they start breaking these rules that cause the story to become ridiculously stupid (I am looking at you The Lake House).  There are times when it is ok to break your own rules when writing a story, as long as you do it successfully, and it fits well with the plot of the story.

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Something else I discovered about Perspective, or more importantly, Perception, is in complete contradiction to what many people understand about it.  About a year ago while I was at a previous job I was getting ready to go through what is called a 360 degree review.  Basically what happens is a bunch of people who work with you, over you, or who are in significant contact with you, are given a survey to fill out to give their opinion of you.  What the coordinator said to me about this process was, "Perception is reality."  This basically means that what you perceive to be real, is real.  At the time they said it something didn't quite jive well with me about the concept.  Later I realized that this line of thinking was inherently flawed.  Though I do understand that there are people who live by this credo.  These are the people who are considered narrow-minded and can be easily duped by scams.

A more accurate statement would be, "Perception is part of reality."  By this I mean that what you perceive is not reality, but can affect it.  Reality is made up of many different things, mostly it is made up of actual events, but it is also made up of how people react to those events.  And that is where perspective, or perception, comes in.  What a person perceives happened, can be markedly different from what actually happened.  This is where conflict comes from, and ultimately leads to other events that lead to other conflicts.

The only way to rise above causing, and possibly being affected by, these conflicts is to understand that your perception may not be the same as someone else's, and that it is possible that one or more of the parties involved may not completely understand what was really the cause.

There are plenty of examples of this throughout history, but the truly wise understand that what they perceive is not necessarily the whole picture.

Co-Ed Softball Rules Are Almost Too Efficient to be Fun

Recently I joined my church's co-ed softball league after not having played in over 15 years.  Not expecting the rules to have changed any over the years I thought I would be able to pick right up where I left off.  Boy was I wrong.  There were so many changes I spent half of the first game getting accustomed to most of them.

Back when I played the last time, which was in Wisconsin, the basic rules included:

• You get 2 strikes and 3 balls;
• There was no "mercy rule";
• You played either 9 or 10 players, depending on whether or not you wanted a deep shortstop;
• The strike zone consisted of solely the carpet behind the plate, everything else was a ball;
• When running to first you are required to step on the orange bag (basically first base had two bags)

Other than that everything was pretty standard.

Some of the changes I discovered were:

• The strikes and balls part is pretty much the same, they just have a different take on it, thus you began each at bat with 1 ball and 1 strike;
• There is now some rather convoluted mercy rules that basically prevent the game from being a complete blowout;
• You play 10 players;
• The strike zone now includes the plate and the carpet behind it;
• First base still has the double bag and you are required to run and step on the orange one;
• There are now two additional things to worry about when rounding third for home:  First, there is a line perpendicular to the base line about two-thirds of the way toward home plate.  The purpose of this is if the person intending to make a play home does not have possession of the ball by the time the runner has crossed that line they must get out of the way.  Second, regardless of what is happening at home plate, the runner must run wide to the right and if they cross a line that is running straight off of the first base line to the backstop, prior to the catcher having possession of the ball they are safe.  If they step on home plate they are out.
• The game, regardless of what is going on, has a time limit.  So if you have not completed the normal 7 innings in the time allotted the game is over anyway and the team with the most runs wins.
• If a batter is walked without any strikes counted against him he can take two bases if the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter is aligned with Mars.  Just kidding, the rule actually states that if you are walked without any strikes against you you get to take two bases if there is no one on first or second, and if there is a woman in the line-up behind you.

Now I understand some of the rules were implemented for safety reasons.  After all if you have a sprightly woman at home plate waiting for the ball to be thrown to her, you don't want some 250lb behemoth bowling into her to ensure he gets the run.  And I get that we want to make sure that the game does not last forever, but do we really need all this rules allowing extra bases on walks, increasing the strike zone, and the two different rules for making sure you don't run into anyone at home?  These last two just seem redundant.  I mean if the runner is going to be required to run to the right of home plate and cross the provided line why bother having the other line farther up the third base line?

These could just be differences between league rules developed independently in California than what is being used in Wisconsin.  Of course Wisconsinites aren't afraid of a few minor injuries, and we don't mind taking a little extra time to play a sport if we are having fun and want to actually finish the game.

Ah well, I have embarked on this little journey and will see it through.  Hopefully our team will be able to build on our last win and become a contender for the tournament at the end of the season.

Wish us luck!

Inspiration Can Come From the Most Unlikely of Places

One of the things I find ridiculous is when a dictionary, whether online or in an actual book, use the very word they are defining in the definition.  For example, recently I came across an AP news story about how the CEO of BP was being raked over the coals because of how his company is handling the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The term the author of the article used was "pilloried."  Obviously this is a word that is not used very often.  And I have to admit, before seeing it in this article I have never heard it before.  So, in order to understand what they were saying I turned to this fancy thing called "the internet" to find out what this word means.

Americans as a Whole Couldn't Care Less About the World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is getting under way in South Africa this week and the general reaction from American's is: meh.  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who follow this world wide tournament in this country, but those people are usually those who have most likely come over recently from one of the many nations where this is huge.  The rest of us pretty much could care less.  The reason?  We want to see some action! (i.e., broken bones, blood, etc...)



The idea of watching a bunch of guys run around on a huge grass field where, every once in a while, someone eventually scores a goal is not exactly entertaining.  This is really the only exciting part of the matches, and they are few and far between.  It is common for matches to be really low scoring.  We, as Americans, want to see a lot of points on the board, and will always tune in for even the remote possibility of seeing someone get taken out in a horrifically spectacular fashion.



Sure soccer has its fair share of injuries, but they are more likely to happen in sports such as American Football, Ultimate Fighting Championship, Hockey, and Basketball to name a few.  Sure there is Rugby, but this is one sport that few Americans even understand, aside from Cricket (no one understands Cricket).  It is a bit like football but without the pads.



Basically Americans require a sport where, even if they have never played it, they think they know more about it than both the players and the coaches combined.  This is also why Baseball is popular as well.  Sure Baseball is not as fast-paced as Football or Hockey, but it has enough going on, most of the time, to keep spectators interested in the outcome.

Football, has action pretty much on every play, and the potential for seeing someone get creamed, whether they are anywhere near the ball or not.  Plus there is the possibility for some really high scores.

UFC, is pretty self-explanatory.  It is even becoming more popular than boxing.  This is where grown men, who have been studying every form of fighting from Karate to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, climb into a cage and beat the snot out of each other.  Oh, and break a few bones as well.

In Hockey you wait with baited breath for a break in all the fighting to see a goal scored.

Basketball is non-stop action from the very tip-off, and the scores usually end up somewhere between 80 to over 100 points for each team.  And there is the chance to watch your favorite player flop around on the floor like a freshly caught trout, which is always fun to see.

Really, the only way they could make Soccer more watchable is by making the field smaller.  It would help speed up the action, since they would not have to run as far, and there would be a greater chance for someone to score.  Even on accident.  Regulation soccer fields at the level they play at the world cup is longer and wider than a standard football field.  The dimensions are 130 yards long and 100 yards wide.  They should reduce that by at least a third, if not a half.  Then we will see some much higher scoring matches.



After all, it is just for entertainment, right?

Politicians are Considerate, Honorable People

If you believe that statement then you haven't been following politics since the dawn of time.  Ok, maybe not the dawn of time, but at least within about 100 years since then when people started forming committees to decide whether or not it would be a good idea berries off of a particular bush.  After all they had no idea if there would be adverse effects to it, such as death.  So they would get together, force feed some of it to the village dog, then stand back and see what happens.

BP Oil Spill is Obama's "Katrina"

In poll results that should surprise virtually no one, except maybe his most staunch supporters, most Americans consider Obama's response to the BP oil spill to be worse than Bush's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

That being said there are some things that have shaken out of this recent catastrophe, as many are calling it, that most people are seemingly oblivious to.