Dad of three...or more?

Collusion

2011-03-05T16:36:00.002-05:00

You probably learned in school about separation of powers, and how in our system of government the divisions between the federal legislative, executive, and judicial branches provide something called "checks and balances" in order to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

What was never explored, at least in my formal education, was whether the system actually performs as designed -- whether it is at least moderately effective in restraining abuses of power by the federal government. I contend that it has failed miserably, based on evidence far too voluminous to present here of intrusions upon freedom not imagined by the founders of our nation. It appears that, while in theory the separate branches are responsible for opposing each other in defense of the rule of law, they have no interest in doing so. This suggests that the separate branches are mutually interested in the concentration of power within the federal government in general, knowing that it will benefit each branch in particular.

There are perfectly legitimate instances of mutually interested action, for example when competing organizations join together to promote a product produced by their industry, as in the promotion of milk in a way that does not necessarily benefit a particular dairy producer. The problem with mutual interest is when it is used for fraudulent purposes, and becomes collusion.

Collusion, agreement between two or more persons to defraud persons or institutions of their legal rights, or to obtain an object forbidden by law. All acts effected by this means are considered void. (emphasis added)

Does this sound like anything happening in America today? Does it suggest a solution?

Pondering the Kingdom

2009-09-27T18:25:00.003-05:00

Some of my favorite scriptures with respect to my view of God and His intentions, with commentary:

Matthew 6:10
"...your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven."

(How is God's will done in heaven?)

Matthew 13:33
He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

(How much of the dough was leavened?)

Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

(What happens to the government of Jesus?)

Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45
[Dream]
While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.

[Interpretation]
"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

(What happened to the Rock?)

Isaiah 2:2-4
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

(What happens to the mountain of the Lord's temple?)

Ezekiel 47:1-12
The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.

As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep.

He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea.

When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

(What happens to the river as it progresses?)

Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea.

(How much of the sea is covered by water?)

Isaiah 31:34
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.

(When will this happen?)

Revelation 11:15
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."

(How did Jesus come to rule the worldly kingdom?)

John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Isaiah 55:11
So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

(Who is the word again?)

Final comments:
Jesus is the Word of God. This can be taken quite literally; Genesis records that God spoke everything into existence, while John tells us that everything was made through Jesus.
The Word brings forth the Kingdom; it does not fail, but is effective, accomplishing all that God intends.
The authority of the Kingdom is represented by the Mountain image.
The Church is represented by the House on the mountain. It is a subset of the Kingdom (God is working around and ahead of His people).
The life of the Kingdom is represented by the River / Seas image.
The Mountain and River continually increase in the earth until there is no place untouched, at which point God can honestly call the Church a victorious bride. He then switches from subversion by proxy (Jesus is currently seated, right?) to authoritative, visible, and final confrontation with the remaining rebellious outposts (swamps and marshes). He defeats them and we rule and reign with Him forever.

If any part of our theology is depressing or scary or results in God or His people failing, and the world getting worse and worse and everything going to hell in a handbasket, and the devil just having the run of things, maybe we've got it wrong. And if the way we believe prevents us from laying foundations, digging up hidden truths in the Word, having children and sending them out as reformers to every area and institution of culture, and generally investing in things that won't bear fruit for a generation or more, then maybe the devil has us just where he wants us.

If God says His kingdom continually increases, and everyone else says that the kingdom of darkness continually increases, who's telling the truth?

Almost Perfect

2009-08-01T21:32:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer:
I don't know everything. I may be wrong. I also have the unshakable conviction that we as members of the Body of Christ need to be searching out and advancing ideas about where we are and where we are going. I keep hearing it prophesied that there are new, undiscovered truths in the Word of God. So please allow me to dig, hone my skills, stumble somewhat, and contribute to a marketplace of ideas where healthy competition elevates those things that are beneficial and discards those that are not. Thank you.

Almost Perfect

I love this verse:

Habakkuk 2:14
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

It's so interesting that it doesn't say the glory will be everywhere, just the knowledge. It kind of reminds me of that part of the Great Commission where Jesus commands us to make disciples of all nations -- not that every individual in every nation will be saved, but that as a whole, the nations will acknowledge Christ as Lord.

I'm noticing a recurring theme of the exuberant Old Testament prophesies -- they have so much to say about wonderful things happening on this earth, in this lifetime, and, importantly, before any sense of "absolute perfection and the end of all things" has arrived. For example:

Isaiah 2
2 In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

It really sounds like the people are still in a state of "seeing in a mirror dimly" rather than "knowing fully as we are fully known." Otherwise, why would the people a) need to learn God's ways, b) need the law, c) have disputes, and d) own weapons? It's almost as if God were reigning but not actually physically present on the earth to completely enforce His will.

Given that God has given us images like this of a reformed-but-not-yet-perfect world, why then the current passivity of the church in the arena of world-influence (that is to say, culture and politics)? I suggest it's a case of doublespeak; we need to spend trillions to solve our debt problem, we've always been at war with Eastasia, and God has to lose before He can win. I'm speaking of a literal, chronologized, and modernized interpretation of the book of Revelation and other apocalyptic passages.

Jihadist Muslims believe in ordained chaos, so they order their lives around accelerating it. Western Christians believe in ordained chaos, so they sit back and numbly or gleefully watch it happen. This is not surprising -- you can see the same trend in relationships. Imagine a young engaged couple: maintaining purity is hard work because the devil is constantly pushing them toward physical intimacy before they are in covenant. On their wedding day, the tactic switches: since he hates marriage, he does everything in his power to drive them apart. Similarly, to advance the doctrine of ordained chaos, the devil drives one group to create chaos, and placates another against resistance.

Understand what I'm not saying: I acknowledge that judgments must come, and certainly we in America are experiencing national judgment right now. However, the Biblical pattern of the Flood, the Egyptian Plagues and other judgments is that they are times of dividing; God wipes away the wicked and causes the righteous to escape, and often to inherit land and wealth. (Aside: this is a very appropriate thing. Since wealth simply gives the power of being a "decider," you want Godly individuals doing the deciding. People in positions of wealth and power determine what is reported in the news, taught in the classroom, directed in the boardroom, encoded in law, entertained on TV/movies/radio -- in short, they control the culture.) Even when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the Christians who had been forewarned or driven away by persecution were not massacred. It was the Jews who rejected their Messiah and engaged in false worship in the Temple that were destroyed. Judgments are a case of God bringing alignment to the earth and therefore cause the devil to lose power, not gain it. (Aside again: I can't stress enough that this should be making the Church think, "Opportunity!" rather than "Hunker down.")

I love the statement made about a year ago that "Jesus was a community organizer." I completely agree, and I believe that He established and commissioned the Church as a world-organizer. When He sovereignly moves and causes certain things to happen, we need to understand that He is creating the conditions necessary for us to do our jobs.

I think a big (BIG) part of the Church's job is simply to be a voice that loudly and insistently speaks the truth. Going back to the Biblical pattern - John teaches us that Jesus is the Word of God. Through Him all things were made, and later, through Him the devil (the father of lies) was defeated. So part of the job is boldly confronting lies (remembering that the Truth has already won). Another part is casting vision -- you can't just be against something, you have to be for something. Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint, so we need to advance a hopeful vision of where God is going, and share whatever He is currently saying or what we have discovered in the Scriptures, with anyone who will listen. "Wisdom calls aloud in the street / she raises her voice in the public squares."

I really love the work some are doing to train young people with a Biblical worldview and send them out into the mountains (arenas of influence) of culture. I also feel strongly about the value of pleading established e.g. governmental covenant in prayer, necessarily involving imprecation as well as establishment. ("See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.") That is, I feel that if we can uncover the solid foundations laid by our forefathers, God can empower us to build "new and better" structures upon them.

Understanding that all things are already in the mind of God, I want to apprehend the spirit John Adams had when he said, "Why have I not genius to start some new thought? Some thing that will surprise the world?"

Upcoming Elections

2008-09-30T08:59:00.002-05:00

This is why the Nov 4 elections are important:

When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice.
But when the wicked are in power, they groan.

Proverbs 29:2 (New Living Translation)

If you want to rejoice and not groan, get out and vote for the candidates whose principles are more aligned with God's truth.

Can a nation be changed in one day?

2008-08-12T20:30:00.001-05:00

Readers Are Leaders

2008-05-02T07:25:00.006-05:00

Here is a must-read book for anyone concerned about whether the book of Genesis can be understood as a scientifically accurate and authoritative guide to the origins of our world.

The book is In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood. In it, Dr. Walt Brown explains, using easily understood, experimentally verifiable scientific laws, why the geologic evidence supports a young earth recently shaped by a global flood, not billions of years of random chance.

I know when I was in high school, evolution was a Fact, and humans were monkeys that learned to use tools. If you wanted to believe in God too that was fine, but this was science and God didn't have much to say about it. I have several Christian acquaintances who espouse theistic evolution - the idea that the earth is billions of years old and we evolved from a primordial soup, but God directed the process to get us where we are today.

The problem with this line of thinking is what happens when you follow it to its logical conclusion: If God used evolution to create man, then God by definition introduced death into the world before man sinned. Consequently, the wages of sin is not death, Adam and Eve are abstractions, and the new Adam, Jesus Christ, is irrelevant. Who needs a Savior when the Fall is a fairy tale?

I can't do justice to the book in a blog post; read for yourself. If you're local, I have a copy I'm willing to lend out. The full text is also published online at www.creationscience.com.

Three Good Words

2008-01-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

Three words from my loving Father for me tonight, that hopefully will be encouraging truths for someone else out there...

It is your determination that is going to carry you into your destiny.
An acceleration is coming.
God does not prophesy to us at the level of our circumstances; He speaks at the level of His vision for us.

Money

2007-12-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

God talks about money a lot in the Bible. I think about money too, mostly because it's something I use a lot of in the maintenance of a family of six.

Here's a couple nuggets:

Dishonest money dwindles away,
but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.

and

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children,
but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.

(Proverbs 13:11,22)

This got me to thinking: What if I stopped focusing on how much I need now, and started thinking about meeting needs that don't even exist yet?

I've heard the idea of a 100 year plan before - where do we see the Church after we're gone? How will our actions today set the stage for the next advances of the Kingdom on earth? I think one facet of our preparation needs to be in the financial arena. How many good ministries today are less effective than they should be because they are under-funded? Will that get better in the future if we don't have a vision of the future today?

The great thing about 100 years in the future is it's a long time away :-) That means there's a lot of leverage for the magic of compound interest to work. Answer a quick question for me: If I wanted to have a million dollars in a hundred years, how much would I have to invest now to get it?

drumroll...

...

...

...

...

Of course, it depends on the rate of return, which varies constantly and between investments. However the historical average rate of return for the S&P 500, a prominent U.S. market index, has been about 10% over the last 80 years. If we can assume a similar well-chosen investment vehicle over the next 100 years, the magic number we need to attain a million is a present-day investment of $75. That's right; not $10,000, or $1000 -- only 75 bucks.

Well gee -- if it's only that much, I could probably save that more than once. What if I saved $75 a year -- could that mean that in the future someone could have at their disposal $1,000,000 a year, for every year I made the $75 investment?

What if -- let me dream here -- what if I invested $75 a month? Could the beneficiary reap a million dollars a month?

Assuming a lot of things and the Lord's protection and wisdom in guarding it... the answers are 'Yes!'

Right now about half of U.S. workers are living paycheck to paycheck -- totally controlled by the money they need to make, one step ahead of disaster. I'm there -- families are expensive -- and it's no way to live. Guess what -- my parents never had much, and their parents didn't either. Someone has to break the cycle.

It's not enough to hand down money, of course. The world's rich have often either (a) bequeathed large sums to the detriment of their children, or (b) given away their money to protect their children from its effects. But what if we raised our children to master money in the fear of God? What if our children continued to invest their extra wisely, and taught their children the same? We have a window of God's blessing on this nation, where there is relative prosperity everywhere. (When was the last time one of your friends died in a famine?)

Do we have the vision to lay up treasures for the godly people who will inhabit the earth after we leave, so they don't spend their lives wishing they were free to pursue God's purposes fully?

The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

(Deuteronomy 28:8)

Benefits

2007-12-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

It's easy to forget that there are benefits that go along with being a child of God. Here's a refresher:

Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:2-5

Hunger

2007-10-29T15:09:00.001-05:00

We're supposed to hunger after God, not just fill our stomachs. I'm getting there -- and I have something to help me.

Ouch

2007-10-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

There's a challenging video over on Brandon's blog you should see.

Waiting, Standing.

2007-10-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

I got my instructions today, courtesy of BibleGateway. I've been waiting for a breakthrough for what seems like forever, but God knows what He's doing. He wants me to hold on a while longer and trust Him completely.

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

Which is very reminiscent of an old favorite:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Ephesians 6:10-13

When something in the Bible is repeated, that usually means it's important. I'm listening...

Assurance

2007-10-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

Most of my life I've wanted assurance of one thing, that I was doing what God wanted me to. Somehow it's easy to work and plan and hope that God approves, but harder to trust that He guides our steps and we are in fact right where God wants us.

Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:20, 21

Word for Walls

2007-08-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

I've been busy being a graphical designer recently. This primarily stems from a conviction that I need to have the Word in front of me to increase my faith. Check out the sidebar feature "Word for Walls" with all my nice PDFs.

Quiz

2007-08-11T23:21:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist this when I saw the post on Brandon's blog...

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan, You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

96%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

64%

Fundamentalist

54%

Reformed Evangelical

54%

Neo orthodox

50%

Emergent/Postmodern

43%

Modern Liberal

25%

Classical Liberal

11%

Roman Catholic

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

God Has Made His Choice

2007-08-06T06:13:00.001-05:00

And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.

Zechariah 3:2 NLT

Your Choice

2007-08-06T06:09:00.000-05:00

For the despondent, every day brings trouble.
For the happy heart, life is a continual feast.

Proverbs 15:15

Of Greenery

2007-07-20T06:50:00.001-05:00

I saw a story this morning. It looked something like this:

Here's the story.

The asphalt was a barrier constructed by our enemy to separate the life-giving resources in the soil from the life-sustaining resources in the sky (sun, rain) in order to neutralize the children of God (the grass). Any seeds trapped in the earth underneath or falling on top of the barrier would be unable to grow.

However...

God, in His wisdom, had set into motion unseen forces that stressed the asphalt and, in time, caused tiny cracks to form in its surface. He used wind and rain to cause soil to collect in the cracks, and planted tiny grass seeds there. The seeds germinated, sending roots down to the soil below the asphalt, and blades of grass above the asphalt, and they grew. The seeds prospered in isolated communities, but were bound by the constraints of the asphalt around them.

What the seeds didn't know, and what nobody could have predicted, was that the simple fact that they were growing and being nurtured, sending blades up and roots down and reproducing, was slowly but inexorably crushing the asphalt walls that contained them. In time, no matter how unlikely it may seem, the pavement will be broken up and totally consumed, lost to time in a forest teeming with life. The structures intended to squash God's blessings will not only be destroyed, but will be replaced by new, more flexible structures that will support the fullness of life that God intended.

Beloved
How handsome you are, my lover!
Oh, how charming!
And our bed is verdant.
Lover
The beams of our house are cedars;
our rafters are firs.

Song of Solomon 1:16-17

Since It's My Day

2007-07-19T13:24:00.001-05:00

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

Isaiah 8:6, NIV

Soon

2007-07-16T07:23:00.000-05:00

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet... (!)

Rom. 16:20a

07.07.07

2007-07-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

This Saturday my wife and I will be joining with 150,000 - 200,000 Christians in LP Stadium for TheCall Nashville.

TheCall is a day of fasting and prayer for America to turn our country back toward God and His righteousness, in agreement with 2 Chronicles 7:14:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

Information about TheCall can be found here. There is an awesome video you should watch if possible.

If you can't go, send someone. If you can't send someone, pray! Our nation is ripe for its 3rd great awakening.

Up with God! Down with his enemies!
Adversaries, run for the hills!
Gone like a puff of smoke,
like a blob of wax in the fire—
one look at God and the wicked vanish.
When the righteous see God in action
they'll laugh, they'll sing,
they'll laugh and sing for joy.
Sing hymns to God;
all heaven, sing out;
clear the way for the coming of Cloud-Rider.
Enjoy God,
cheer when you see him!

(Psalm 68:1-4, The Message)

Selah

2007-06-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

This works best out loud -- I imagine it as a two-part call and response (Psalm 34:1-10).

I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.

My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.

The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

The Valley's Not Such a Bad Place

2007-06-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”

Today's lesson comes from Ezekiel chapter 37. God has asked Ezekiel the a question, obviously more concerned with his education than receiving a correct answer. Moving on...

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

God reveals the secret of His restorative order: Speak what God is saying in order to release His power. As Jesus said, "...I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me." (John 8:28b)

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

Ezekiel speaks the words that God gave him, and God's miracle working power is released. The bones join and are covered with flesh and skin. His work done, the prophet can return to... Hey, wait a minute. Ezekiel obeyed, a miracle happened, and yet the end result was a pile of dead bodies, not much better than a pile of bones. What's going on here?

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

Now it's done. The valley of bones has made the full transition from death to life. Why did this take two different acts of God, and two prophetic words from Ezekiel?

I think a look at the imagery will be helpful. The first prophesy was to the bones, which would represent something natural or fleshly. The second was to the wind, representing that which is supernatural. The bodies, with their natural response of growing flesh, became the appearance of life; the wind released the breath of life. The bodies were a potential army, but the living bodies were an effective army.

It seems to me that one of the purposes of God for this vision was to give Ezekiel authority both on the earth and in the spirit realm. As it says in Psalm 8:4-6:

"What are people that you should think of them, mere mortals that you should care for them? Yet you made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority."

I can't say I understand the full wisdom of God in all this, but I do know it's awesome and I want to be an active part of what He's doing!

Favor

2007-05-29T12:44:00.000-05:00

As we go back to work after the holiday weekend, my verse to meditate on is Proverbs 22:29:

Do you see any truly competent workers?
They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people.

2007-05-25T12:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

I'm a very pragmatic person, so this is difficult for me -- however I've come to realize that vision is an absolutely essential quality of the vibrant Christian walk. If we can't see our world through God's eyes, we're stuck with satan's vision, and it isn't encouraging. How we perceive our circumstances dictates our response to them. That's why the Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law."

On to one of my favorite portions of scripture that I've discovered this year, in Psalm 77:19-20:

Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters — a pathway no one knew was there!
You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.

The reality of this situation is that God had known His people before the earth's creation, and out of His love for them he prepared a road for them to cross on the floor of the Red Sea. (Perhaps this was part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit as he hovered over the surface of the waters in the beginning!)

The people's perception was that God had forsaken them to be slaughtered by the Egyptians. Because they could not see God's salvation, they did not believe it and began to despair. Fortunately, God had anticipated this and had given them Moses and Aaron to exercise their faith in His goodness and unveil the escape route.

And the single most important lesson? Even though most of the people lost all hope of survival, a few trusted God -- and God used them to bring every man, woman and child across in safety.

What a plan. What a great God we serve.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Happy Birthday, Mama Lily!

What is this Kingdom, anyway?

2007-05-23T20:34:00.000-05:00

My last post referenced something called the Kingdom of Heaven, sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of God. It's something that's talked about a lot in the Bible, but I get the feeling most people don't really understand what it means.

An earthly King is a sovereign, someone who rules over a region by their own authority. Where God's Kingdom is, His will is done. (If this sounds like the Lord's prayer, it should.) His perfect will is obviously done completely in heaven; he also desires the same on earth.

The Kingdom was foretold in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had a dream about a statue that represented the kingdoms of men. The statue was then crushed and completely destroyed by a rock cut from a mountain without human hands. The rock then grew to become a mountain that filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:31-45). Similarly, Habakkuk 2:14 says, "For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord." Obviously the entire sea consists of water, and the entire earth will know that God is King.

The Kingdom is not the Church; it is bigger than the Church. Isaiah 2:3 talks about going "to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob's God" to learn His ways. Two things are evident here. The Church (house of Jacob's God) is on the mountain, rather than the mountain being in the Church. Also the nations are coming to learn God's ways; not exactly what you expect of a group of discipled believers, but definitely what you expect from unbelievers who have become aware of God's glory and have begun to seek its Source. The Kingdom of God is the region where God's rule is preeminent, that is a region that has been transformed to the point where God's will goes forth and becomes reality because His people obey His voice.

The Kingdom is not a human government. Many Jews in Jesus' day, even his disciples, wanted him to overthrow the Roman oppressors and set up an earthly kingdom to restore the past glory of the city of David. They didn't understand that Jesus was inaugurating a Kingdom that was far too powerful to be contained within human governments, but rather was about transforming hearts one at a time to conform to God's will.

The Kingdom is not a future hope; it is a present-progressive reality. Many people today have lost their hope for transformation of the earth and are waiting for Jesus to descend from heaven and establish his rule by force -- the same lie the disciples believed two thousand years ago. Fortunately, Isaiah 9:7 tells us that "Of the increase of His government and its peace there will be no end" -- meaning that every day since its inception on earth, the government of God has been steadily gaining ground and reproducing righteousness.

Matthew 13:33 compares the Kingdom to yeast, which when kneaded into dough spreads until it permeates every part. God is bringing every part of the societies of earth under His authority: Not only the church, but also the spheres of government, education, business, and media. 1 Corinthians 15:25 tells us that "Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet."

The Kingdom is victorious. Jeremiah 31:33-34 speaks of a new covenant that God will make with His people. "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the Lord.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already," says the Lord.

Ephesians 5:25-27 speaks of Christ's love for the Church, with the end result being "a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault."

I don't know about you, but that excites me. I can't wait for the day when they say about our company of believers, "they are holy and without fault." God desires to bring the fullness of His Kingdom to earth, and He will accomplish it and He is accomplishing it. By the way, He's always looking for partners in His mission. Join with Him or you'll miss out on all the action!

Re-Definition

2007-05-23T20:16:00.000-05:00

I've had lots of ideas for short blog posts recently, but haven't been able to make the time to act (no time like the present...).

I've decided this would be a good forum to share truths that the Lord is showing me in my life. The new Theme verse for this blog would be Matthew 13:52:

Then he added, "Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old."

It's neat because this entire chapter is about subversive transformation. The teachers of religious law (Scribes and Pharisees) were blind guides and whitewashed sepulchres; however if they became obedient to the Kingdom, they would bring forth the truths of God.

I'm Not The Only One

2007-04-05T15:59:00.000-05:00

I got a certificate at work last week. It kind of made me feel special -- my name is in a large bold script (the largest text on the whole certificate, except for our company name). I'm proud to know that the male or female version of myself has completed ESD Control Training. (I'll be impressed if anyone knows what that is.)

Here's the kicker: the certificate is dated May 11, 2005. That's right, two years ago. I just received it.

Apparently I'm not the only one who gets a little behind.

Networking

2007-03-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

I've gotten onto this networking kick lately. I like to keep tabs on all my former co-workers (I have lots of them -- I'm a bit of a survivor in my office). I like to see what I can do for them or what the buzz is. So a number of months ago I discovered this online professional networking site called LinkedIn, basically designed to help you get to know people you might need to know at some point in your career. You can connect with other people, then potentially get introduced to their connections, up to three degrees of separation.

I've been working on this for a while, and was rather stunned lately to find that my LinkedIn network contains a grand total of just over 176,200 professionals. I've been successful at finding people who work at several companies I've been trying to research, and it's been a really useful tool.

I added the LinkedIn button on the lower left of the page. Join the fun if you dare :-)

Dexter

2007-03-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

You need to check this out...

Off To The Side

2007-03-04T14:09:00.000-05:00

Paul Graham wrote an essay last year titled The Power of the Marginal in which he discussed how people or organizations that are outside the mainstream often have more power to make revolutionary changes than those who are part of the established system.

I think Paul is really onto something here. Even though he discusses this primarily from a business perspective, I think many things in life do hinge on the margins simply because they don't receive the scrutiny of the 'main' things. For example, I know very few people who would put their mortgage payment down on a roulette table at the nearest casino, but plenty who would swipe a credit card for designer coffee in the morning and McDonald's at lunch. Statistics show that the vast majority of millionaires in America accumulated their wealth slowly and persistently, by living in nice but modest homes, driving reliable vehicles paid for with cash, and by choosing to save a marginal amount out of every paycheck instead of spending it on something they didn't need.

In the same way, the Bible talks about a remnant -- a relatively small percentage of faithful believers who steadily and persistently choose to invest their lives into others and walk in God's way. Just the way that the landscape of business is periodically re-shaped by a couple of college dropouts in a garage (e.g. Google in 1998), the landscape of America is being transformed by small groups of Christians faithfully praying and believing that God still wants to be Lord of our nation.

Why I don't do this at home...

2007-02-19T16:17:00.000-05:00

Another picture that makes no sense. I know. I guess I just like taking them.

What you're seeing are two socket blocks, six contact blocks, and 100 spring loaded pins to make contact between them. And it only cost $812. And now you know why I don't do this at home.

My 2 Cents

2007-02-19T15:33:00.000-05:00

I just had to chime in on Billy's and PianoBoy's posts on the school board meeting. I commented on Billy's but needed to take the discussion a little further.

I'll start by blatantly copying and pasting from Billy's post:

The Fourth Amendment to the United Stated Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Let's talk about the difference between rights and privileges. A right is something that cannot be taken away from you, at least without judicial intervention. For example, you have the right for your house to not be searched, unless a warrant is issued by a judge based on probable cause that the search will turn up evidence of criminal activity. You have the right to life, unless a court of law convicts you of a capital offense. You have the right to liberty, unless you are sent to jail for wrongdoing. Before you are sent to jail, you have the right to counsel, and a jury of your peers. Rights are things the government guarantees you, and only the court system has the ability to act against them, within the limits set by the Constitution.

A privilege is something that is not guaranteed to you by force of law -- it's a "get to." You "get to" obtain and hold a job, by meeting certain qualifications, passing a drug test, maintaining an acceptable standard of behavior, etc. You get to drive a car on public roads, as long as you are a certain age, have passed a driving test, maintain registration on your vehicle, etc. Privileges can be limited. The government could pass a law tomorrow raising or lowering the standard you have to meet in order to "get to" drive or take advantage of anything else that is not guaranteed to you in the Constitution.

I mentioned drug testing to get and hold a job. I totally agree with this -- the funny thing about privileges is you give up your rights somewhat when you choose to enjoy a privilege. This is because the people who have the authority to limit the privilege can impose conditions on it. They are not taking away your rights (for example, to keep your bodily fluids to yourself) because nobody is forcing you to apply for the job.

This is where it gets tricky. The Supreme Court has decided that random drug testing is permissible for a public school student involved in any competitive extracurricular activity or who has a personal parking permit. Technically, students do not have to participate in competitive extracurricular activities, just like teachers don't have to get a teaching job. Technically, students don't need a parking pass -- they can carpool, or walk, or have their parents drop them off at school.

So in a cruel twist of fate, the definitions I've used to frame my argument have forced me into accepting that schools in fact may have the right to perform random drug testing on (take away the rights of) students who participate in unrequired activities.

Now on to why they should not.

In America we have a system of government called a democratic republic. It's a republic because legislation is performed by representatives of the people rather than by the people themselves. It's democratic because those representatives are chosen by common elections, and there are cases where a decision is brought before the people directly (a referendum).

Democratic Republicanism is a horrible way to run a country. Money and time are wasted almost beyond measure. Special interests are subsidized, entitlements strain the ability of the national economy just to service debt, the electorate is appeased and lied to and played for fools. Partisan politics is the rule of the day as scandals abound, drive-by borkings and filibustering mire down any attempt at consensus or progress.

The perfect system of government is a monarchy. A wise and righteous King can speak with authority, cutting through the morass and Getting Things Done. With a word, he can speak justice to the poor, declare peace or war to neighboring nations, and strike fear into the hearts of evildoers.

Unfortunately, a monarchy is also the worst form of human government, because it concentrates so much power in one person that there is a tremendous temptation to abuse one's position. A monarchy with an unwise and unrighteous king is called a dictatorship, the bane of free societies everywhere.

Our Founders understood human nature; they witnessed the abuses of the Americas by the king of England. Their desire was to establish a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. They realized that in order for their new nation to survive free past the first generation they needed to build strong protections into the new Constitution, to prevent abuses of power. They separated the executive, legislative, and judicial powers. They created two legislative houses, one based on population and one equally represented by state.

The Founders limited and decentralized the governments powers to protect the rights of the people. They recognized that, "some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it." And, "who can tell whether (our) successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything(!)"

When considering suppressing the rights of citizens, it is wise to consider what would happen if all the power and information created by our action fell into the hands of evil people. That is exactly what happened in Germany in the last century: The Weimar Government enacted a law in 1928 requiring registration of firearms. The Nazi party used the information gathered by that law in 1933 to sieze firearms from opponents of their regime.

Registering firearms and testing for drugs may be useful, even beneficial. They can be used to prevent problems from occurring. They can also be used to hurt people very badly. Suppose an unscrupulous person doctors a drug test to make it look like an athletic opponent is taking drugs (this could be as simple as slipping something non-harmful into their food). The victim could not only be subject to disciplinary action in the high school, but the record could be leaked and follow them for the rest of their life.

Let's take it a bit further: suppose that the schools decided to screen not just for drugs, but screen DNA for proclivities toward a certain societal deviation, such as violence, gambling, or sexual predation? What if they did background checks to see what our parents or grandparents did? What if they installed cameras and microphones in the locker rooms to make sure nobody was making fun of anybody else's privates?

What if the lives of born or unborn children depended on being a certain sex, or having strong predictors of physical strength, intelligence, or good looks? What if the people making those decisions about children found themselves weak or unhealthy or demented later in life?

What if?

In the case of German citizens, the seemingly benign requirement to register firearms was used to take away one of their defenses against a monstrous evil.

As Americans, we have a strong heritage of preserving freedom. Let's always err on the side of preserving rights, not taking them away.

The Perils of the Internet

2007-02-14T07:54:00.000-05:00

Horror of horrors!

We got the most wonderful snowfall last night. My wife and I went sledding, which was great fun except for getting face- and mouthfulls of snow at the bottom of the hill every time. (Ok, that's part of the fun too!)

So I was going to blog today about what I like to do with snow and MY WIFE STOLE MY IDEA! I love making snow towers but she put up a picture of me with a snow tower so now I can't put up another one because that might look unoriginal and I can't be like any of the other billion people online.

Fortunately, today is a multipurpose day, so I found another image to use. Enjoy dear!

FreeMind

2007-02-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

I ran across a piece of Free/Open Source software on the internet that I really like. It's called FreeMind and it's advertised as Mind Mapping software. I generated a kind of revolving daily reminder/to-do list in about a minute to show what it looks like.

This is useful for me in my work, when I have about 50 projects hanging open all the time in various states of completion. It allows you to show and hide heirarchies, add icons, insert pictures and hyperlinks, and all the cool stuff you'd expect from a well thought out organizational tool.

If you're interested in checking it out, FreeMind can be downloaded from its SourceForge site. (You'll have to install Java if you don't have it. There are directions at the SourceForge site.)

Astonishing!

2007-02-10T09:44:00.000-05:00

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named Governmentium*. Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction which would normally take less than a second - to take over four days to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium - an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

I don't know where this was originally posted, but it's not original. A coworker (and relative) brought it in one day and I had to share it.

Performance Review Time

2007-02-10T08:23:00.000-05:00

It's that time again -- my annual ~~Behavior Modification Plan~~ Performance Evaluation is scheduled for next week. I don't know how this works for all of you, but at my company we are given a template listing all of the objectives for our position, and we have to justify with examples how we met every one of the company's expectations over the last year. I think it is designed to challenge the sales abilities of engineers. Or maybe it's intentional Demotivation.

I read somewhere that almost every employee has two weeks out of the year when their performance stinks, they have a bad attitude, and nothing gets done -- and those are the two weeks after their performance evaluation. I know in my personal experience there hasn't been a whole lot of positive feedback from management on any aspect of my work, so I tend to believe it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me -- I know there's a lot of research out there about people being more productive when they are happy and have the support and tools they need to do their jobs.

Anyway, maybe things will be different this year. I have a new boss doing my evaluation, and he's from Tennessee (I'm in Ohio). I've met him I think three times, and he's been my direct manager for about a year. He seems to be a pretty agreeable guy and I believe he's going to give me a fair chance.

TAXES FILED

2007-02-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

Maybe now I can relax a little. I finished filing my federal and state tax returns last night. We'll be getting a nice refund so I wanted to get that out of the way as quickly as possible. Unfortunately every year some piece of documentation doesn't arrive until January 31st so the earliest I could possibly file with my maximum refund is in February.

I used an online service called TaxACT.com. It is a web 2.0 application for Federal and State taxes. I was fairly impressed with the useability of the site, however I was miffed that there was an additional bank fee that wasn't presented up-front. It basically doubled the cost of using their service. I sent them a nastygram about their marketing but I e-filed with them anyway. It definitely saved me time over doing everything by hand like I have in previous years.

Even last year I used a friend's copy of TurboTax to do all the calculations, then I double-checked everything against the IRS paperwork. I guess I don't trust software that tries to simplify things, because simplifying means leaving out details, and leaving out details can cost me money!

Anyway... I wish you all lots of fun with your taxes this year and hope you get money back. And if you see me in early April, ask if I've filed my local and SD taxes yet (I'll pay on those, so I'll let the money sit in the bank for a while longer).

~~~Back to work on a chilly Saturday morning :-)

Slow Day

2007-01-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

I'm watching a very interesting program on the Soviet Union's very early advances in military airplanes. Cool...

How NOT to make decisions

2007-01-19T18:27:00.000-05:00

I should probably explain.

I work as a Test Engineer at a company that manufactures printed circuit boards (PCB's) for its clients. Part of the service we provide is the ability to generate test systems in-house to verify that the PCB's we assemble are working properly before they ship to the customer.

One particular customer that has a large volume of business with us has sponsored a combination of test benches, test fixtures, and test modules. Wait here while I draw a picture to define my terms.
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...Drawing...
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Ok, back.

As you can hopefully read from my masterpiece, the test bench is kind of a table that holds a bunch of really expensive electronic instrumentation that is controlled by the invisible computer. The key here is the test bench is fairly generic and the interface can be used to test a whole family of different products.

On top of the test bench is the test fixture. The fixture contains a number of components such as transformers, relays, filters, and communication circuits. The purpose of the fixture is to group together some related functions that are common to a particular subset of the product family.

The test modules fit in the test fixture. Each module is machined to be specific to exactly one product, and is basically a direct electrical transfer from the fixture to the specific test points on the circuit board that need to be contacted.

To review: One bench supports multiple fixtures. One fixture supports multiple modules. One bench tests an entire product family. One fixture tests a subset of the product family. One module tests exactly one product.

Back to the picture at the top of this post.

What is shown is a closeup of the interface between a test fixture and a test module. The fixture is on the bottom, and the module is on the top. The interface has a bunch of spring-loaded pins on the bottom side that push against a bunch of metal pads on the top side and conduct all the electrical signals that need to be transferred.

The reason I'm showing this to you is not to bore you to tears (as my wife believes). I'm interested in the conductor in the center foreground of the photograph, which has a red and a yellow wire soldered to it.

We use a fairly standard code for wire colors in test fixtures. Red is a voltage supply, black is a ground, green is communication, etc... yellow is a measurement. What we have here is a voltage supply and a measurement tied together, in the fixture. Is this a big deal? Let's see.

This group of products has a test sequence in which the system applies 28VDC to the device under test (DUT) and then takes a number of measurements that depend on the 28V actually being applied to the DUT. As a general rule, we design test systems to verify that the voltage being applied is actually on the DUT before progressing through the test, to simplify troubleshooting in the event of test failure. The simple way to do this is to apply the 28V to one test point on the PCB, and then measure it from a separate point on the PCB. It appears that for one particular product, there is only one good 28V test point on the PCB. That makes this test irrelevant because the supply and measurement wires are going to be attached together when they both try to hit the same point. We can verify that the power supply is on, but not that the energy is actually reaching the circuit board.

So what's the problem? These wires were going to have to be connected together, and they are.

The problem is where they are connected. Remember that the fixture is capable of testing multiple products depending on the module installed. In fact, new modules are being created to test new products on existing fixtures. Most of these products have plenty of 28V test points, and they should be making use of them.

What I have described is a breach of encapsulation. I'll make up my own definition here: encapsulation is the idea that decisions should be made at the place where there is the most information available relevant to the decision. In my long-winded example, it was a no-no for the test fixture to make the decision not to perform a true 28V measurement because that decision could have been made closer to the DUT. The fixture reduced the effectiveness of any test module placed in it, and no amount of wiring in the module could compensate.

What can we learn from this?

The principal function of the test bench is to supply resources to the test fixture. The principal function of the test fixture is to supply resources to the test module. The function of the test module is to direct the resources where they need to go. Any deviation from this pattern reduces the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall system.

Watch me now as I gently rotate the discussion toward what I'm really thinking: Leadership is a lot like a test system. The function of support roles is to enable decision-makers to make decisions. It is to provide a platform to maximize progress, not hinder it. The ultimate goal of leadership should be to create through sheer rubbing-off people who will make decisions at least as well as the person they learned from.

As the title of this post suggests, decisions are best made closest to the work they affect. If you are one of those people who is a step removed from the work that needs to be done, or if you plan to be one of those people, please please please remember that your job is to trust the people you have hired or recruited to make wise decisions. Yes, they will screw up and need direction. Yes, you could do it better sometimes. But if you want to get the most from them, eventually they have to have ownership of what they do and that means you providing resources and removing obstacles and otherwise staying out of the way.

Disclaimer: This opinion is not a reflection of my past or present employers. It is
based on observation of the industry I'm a part of and human organizations in general.
People tend to be dysfunctional. I'm not talking about you.

Alpha

2007-01-17T21:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the 0.1 version of my blog. I'll dispense with the conceit that my first attempt at internet publishing will be something polished and profound -- my comfort is that it's likely to get better, not worse.

So, quick introduction: I'm a young man with a wonderful wife and three very active children. I'm passionate about computers and business ideas, good friends, close family, and hands-on ministry.

Here's a picture of me with our little peanut when she was a newborn (she's 9 months now).

More later I promise!
--Nathan