The Times

I knew it had been a while since I last made an entry, but didn't realize it had been a month. During the break I have been ill and have had some busy days as well. Also since my last post, we had the school shootings in Connecticut. I feel sorry for all the families involved with it, but it's an unfortunate result of the world we live in.

When tragedies like Sandy Hook Elementary occur, people often ask how could a loving God let such a thing happen. I see it as a wake up call, bringing our attention to the world we live in. For an entire generation now, the Bible has been banned from public schools and evolution taught as fact. This teaching says that man is just an accidental byproduct of a random sequence events and that life has no meaning. In evolution, death is normal and is all that we should expect to get out of our time on earth.

With kids growing up being taught this is what they are, it's not surprising that school shootings and mass murders are becoming more frequent. People are simply acting out according to what they have been taught and what they believe. Keeping with the same line of thinking, it is also not surprising that humanism, better known as atheism, continues to grow as well as "gay" marriage and abortion. The world is getting further away from God and is becoming increasingly pervious.

Recently, I read a blog entry by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis that said about 44 percent of Americans believe humans and animals were created basically as we are today. Despite the increase in evolutionary teaching, that number has pretty well stayed the same in the last 20 years. That's great to hear that it hasn't dropped, but it also means that nearly 66 percent of those poled don't believe we were created mainly as we are today. Mr. Ham doesn't go into the details of this study, but I'm guessing the 66 percent believe in some sort of evolutionary basis.

Reading the Old Testament, you can see a repetitive cycle of God's chosen people, the Israelites, rejecting God and doing as each person saw fit. They are then given warnings, and turned over another nation that mistreats them. After a time, the Israelites repent of their sins, return to the Lord, and He restores them to freedom and prosperous times again.

Looking at today's world, I sometimes wonder if we're not in the warning stages to return to God or suffer the consequences. In Luke 13, Jesus is asked about some people who were killed when a tower fell on them, if they were worse sinners than others. His answer was that we need to repent or will likewise perish.

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son..." As sinful humans, we don't deserve anything, but God so loves us that He provided a way for us to be saved.

A number of people I know are expecting to have a child, or two, sometime in 2013. I am excited for them, but am also sad to see the world these children will be born in to. I pray that it changes for the better, but history has shown us that it is not likely, and we do not fully understand God's plan for our futures.

December Thanks

I apologize for anyone that does actually read this blog for the long break. Every time I thought about making an entry, I thought of something else. This has not been a priority even though I do like writing. My original intent for this post was to have a list of 31 items thankful for, one for each year I've been given on this earth. I don't know that I'll get up to that many, but we'll see where it ends up.

First off, I'm thankful for the sacrifice of God's son Jesus on the cross of Calvary and His resurrection. As I have said on here, sin is something I struggle with in different ways. I can't imagine going through life without having faith in God and looking to forgiveness when you know you have done wrong.

Second is the family God has given me, especially my parents. I know some in my situation whose parents have completely abandoned them and don't care what happens. We don't always agree on everything, but I am thankful of how my parents raised me and continue to sacrifice time and sometimes their own goals in order to help me. Some days are very difficult for them, especially my mom, but they are always there when needed.

Next would likely be the work God has given me. As I have said in previous posts, the work I have been given is often less than I would prefer, but at least there is some. Not everyone can say that, especially those with severe disabilities, but I do at least have something constructive to do most days.

In general, I'm thankful for this country I have been given to live in. Due to some of the assistance programs established one before I was born, I am able to live outside of a care facility and be a productive member of society. I am also able to freely practice as a Christian without fear of opposition to my beliefs. The last few years have seen laws come about that I don't agree with, but work is being done to turn those around.

That is where I will stop for now, but more may be coming in future entries. We will see when that entry shall be.

November Ramblings

Sorry for the lapse in posting a new entry, but I haven't had a lot to write about since my last post. In the past few weeks, I came across a game called Farming Simulator 2013. It's a game that allows you to do various farming activities to earn money in order to continue to improve your farm and equipment. It will not be available for Apple computers for a few weeks, so I have been watching several videos on YouTube how people play it.

It looks like a game that will hit a number of my interests. The simulation aspect allows me to drive several different vehicles in a somewhat realistic manor and the budget requirements go along with my management interests. Thinking about my gaming past, this will be the first time in several years that I have gotten a completely new game. I have had several expansions to my flight and train simulators, but those just added to the experience. I'm looking forward to the new challenge and hope it will last me several years.

I have been feeling strangely lazy in the last few weeks as well. Spanish has seen little progress and work continues to be pretty slow. Fortunately, this week has been a little busier, so it will hopefully change soon.

That's really all I have at this point. I may put a thanks related article later this week, but we'll see how it goes.

Writing

Yes, you read the title correctly, I'm writing about writing. It may seem a bit ironic, but it is the subject I've chosen for this post.

Since this past May, I have been writing my own series of lessons in the church newsletter that I am the unofficial editor of. These articles are about how we need to base our thinking upon the Bible, God's word, instead of fallible man's ideas. They are based on the Foundations series by Answers in Genesis, but with my own additions and made for one page articles. Today, the fourth article, out of a planned six, was officially released.

The newsletter goes out every two months, so I've known that I needed to get the article written for quite a while. Unfortunately, I could not get in the right frame of mind to write it and finally made it about one day before it was printed. Since I wasn't in the "writing mood" for it, I struggled to finish the piece and did not feel that I did very well on it. Well, apparently I was wrong about that.

My last newsletter entry received one comment from a church member that it helped her thinking and encouraged further study. I was happy to hear that and that maybe my writing was helpful for people. Today's release though has already had three responses that they liked it, that makes for three times the comment from the last one. I guess it shows that what I think is poor work may not be the case for someone else.

It is my real hope that making these articles available for people will help them to better understand God's word and help to base their thinking from a Christian perspective. I know that my study in this area has helped me, so why not pass on the knowledge I've been given to others. The last two items in the series will be more difficult to deal with, hopefully they will remain a valuable resource for my readers if it is the Lord's will.

Some Days

The last 24 hours have lived up to the unexpected times portion of this blog's title. Just about this time last night we received one of those dreaded calls, the night nurse wasn't coming and a replacement couldn't be found. So mom, who just got over a bad cough/cold, and I stay up until 2:00-3:00 in the morning until dad gets up and takes over. He then stays until the day person arrives around 7:00.

Therefore, we're all tired on no nurse days and are very thankful when the next comes in. After a short night, I was greeted by an ever increasingly rare busy day. Part of the busyness was due to going out for a scheduled hair cut, but it still cuts into the day.

After about a two week hiatus, one of my business partners calls to check on progress for a particular client's site I've been working on. This site is going on Wordpress, a web platform meant for blogging, so the client can do their own updates. Unfortunately, I have had little opportunity to work on the programming side of these sites, so it's a somewhat steep learning curve. Of course the theme we're using is not programmed how I would expect making it all the more difficult. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll need to bow out on this project to another programmer who has more expertise in the area. I of course don't like losing work, but it's in the best interest of the client.

Last weekend, I switched a different client's web host to another in order to provide better reliability. They use their own server for email though and it was messed up due to the switch. I had to again go to an outside source in order to get it fixed. You would think that after twelve years of doing web development that I could do these things, but apparently not.

I'm sure it's partially due to being tired, but tonight's Spanish review lessons also didn't go well. Only scoring a 90-93% on material I've already covered is pretty pathetic, in my thinking anyway. With everything combined, I start wondering if I'm really completely competent or just a good actor. However, I know that's temptation trying to take hold, so avoid such thinking.

Tomorrow I'm planning to attend a networking event with other local business people. Hopefully it will prove to be productive and I can get my name more in circulation. I have also had a few potential site contacts come through in the past week, hopefully a few will turn into actual business.

I know last time I said this post would be about chairs, but this felt more like today's topic. Look for chair information coming soon, hopefully.

Fall

Autumn is in full force in Iowa, as much as I hate to admit it. A lot of people say that fall is their favorite time of year, and I can't blame them for that. Trees turn colors and show a very beautiful part of God's creation. Where I like to go out for rolls (walks), it seems like everything is new again with different color that changes on every visit. For me though, fall means colder temperatures, and a foretaste of what is to come, winter.

It also means an end to my barefoot summer. Last week I went out train watching with my parents and whore shoes all day. It was a grim reminder of the season change and I could tell my body didn't like it. After getting home, my feet were swollen and had several red marks from their experience. The outing itself was enjoyable though, especially exploring roads around the rails we hadn't been to before.

One of these roads had an old wooden bridge on a dead end rock road that went over the tracks. It was a great place to sit because nobody would care that you were there and it offered a bird's eye view of the rails. The only slight problem is that the approaches on both ends were rather steep. This meant that on our return trip over the bridge, the van bottomed out and got stuck. It was a minor problem that didn't take much to get out of, but it made for an entertaining excursion.

The bridge was just outside of Boone, Iowa, the home of the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad. They were using their steam engine last weekend while we were in the area so we could hear when we were in the country. Hearing the lonesome sound of the steam whistle in the distance made it seem like we were back in the days of steam when the Union Pacific Challengers and Mountains would have ruled the tracks. If I can get dad's memory card the videos, with background steam whistles, will be on my YouTube channel.

Speaking of fall, I'm starting to think my health might be doing the same again. For the past few weeks, I haven't been able to keep my lungs completely clear for anything. My nurses have been having allergy trouble, which I may be as well, but it's very odd to be so congested for so long. This week, I've had a few times that I could hardly keep my eyes open. Today is Friday and I have been wanting to get this entry in since Monday. The leaking bladder problems have also returned, thankfully not as bad as last time though.

In my next update, I need to talk about what's going on with my wheelchair. That topic could likely take a few posts, but I'll try to keep it down to one. The next few days look to be warmer again, so I'm hoping to get out and get some sun, barefoot of course, while I still can. Until next time!

Beginning to End and Back Again

In high school, mainly, I started to regularly read a portion of the Bible before I went to bed at night. This has been a habit that I've adjusted, but kept doing through the years. Last night saw the completion of another time through and tonight will have another start beginning with Genesis 1:1.

When I first started my reading, I only did one chapter a night. This is what I felt was a good pace and it stayed for a number of years. Sometime after high school, I went up to reading three chapters a night, and that has primarily been what I stay with. At that rate, it comes close to reading the entire Bible in a year. I do skip some nights though, especially when falling asleep, so it does take me more than a year to complete a cycle.

I haven't kept track, but this time through was likely my tenth or so complete reading. After all these years of study, you would think I would be an expert, but I'm not. I can recite much of the information and recognize several passages, but there are very few places I can give you the exact passage where something is found. For that, I often need to refer to a service like BibleGateway.com where I can search for a certain phrase. Unfortunately, one of my biggest problems is distractions, I can easily let my mind wonder away from what I'm doing.

This results in several verses being glossed over, but I can't remember what it was. Therefore, I may reread part of it again and possibly end up with the same problem. It's an area I continue to work on, but one that needs a lot of attention.

After my first few times reading from cover to cover, I started adding in a few requirements. A few times was reading every foot note that was referenced. Some of these did not agree with God's word, so they weren't always helpful. For this time through, I don't know that I'll add any requirements, but I will see how it goes and new things I learn!