Video Podcast 4

In this podcast I discuss the need for a maid in our office, the great lessons my team members came up with today, and the dance situation at the upcoming VSTE conference

VideoPodcast4

Wasted Time?

Three posts in three days? Man, I've really gotten into this blog thing lately, but to be honest, I think it's just a form of stress relief, because I'm going through an overwhelming time with work. I've taken on a bit more than I can handle with teaching an evening ESL class from 6-8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I find that I feel like posting when I'm stressed (ie, the Lost entry and the Paint entry from February). I'm not ready AT ALL for tomorrow's ESL class... but I came home early and took my kids to the park. The weather is warming up, flowers are starting to bloom, and we had a lot of fun. Was it a waste of time? Of course not! We never look at spending time with our kids as a waste of time. Yet what about spending time with God? How easily I rationalize that time away. I would never call prayer or Bible study a waste of time, but my actions speak otherwise. For when I put work, the gym, even family time, over time with my Savior, I'm basically saying, "I can't waste valuable minutes on Him... I have more important things to do." Today in the One Year Bible I was reading in Mark 14:3 "Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper; during supper a woman came in with a beautiful flask of expensive perfume. Then breaking the seal, she poured it over his head. Some of those at the table were indignant among themselves about this 'waste,' as they called it." The point is, anything you "waste" on Jesus, whether it's time or money or even your life, is actually the most worthwhile investment you can make. So waste some time with God today!

Amazing Grace (remix)

Most of my iTunes playlist is dance/techno/trance/electronica music. It helps fuel my workouts and provides the aural caffeine I need sometimes to get going. But I amaze myself at how quickly I get bored of songs. I'll download a song from iTunes and think it's really snap (like my current favorite, Goldfrapp "Number 1")

...but after a couple hundred plays in my Scion CD player or my iShuffle, I'm ready for something new. I got to thinking seriously about this, especially as I reach a certain number in my "Purchased Music" list that I'm ashamed to admit here, and the verse popped into my mind, "Sing to the Lord a new song." (Psalm 96:1). God gets tired of hearing the same stuff over and over again too. Yet, how often do I repeat rote phrases in my prayers to Him and sing hymns to Him that I've sung for years? He wants something new and fresh from me... He wants a new song. Jesus is always doing something new and great in my life... I need to focus on that and sing it back to him. That's what I've been trying to do lately...mix it up a bit. His amazing grace can be expressed in so many different ways. So in the spirit of mixing it up, check out this dance remix of "Amazing Grace"

Hands Up for Life!

Hands up!
Originally uploaded by Photochiel.

Today the governor of South Dakota banned abortion. I commend him for his courage and boldness in taking a stand for the civil rights of smaller human beings. Of course, he will face intense persecution, just as other civil rights leaders have faced. Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both hated for defending those whom the “enlightened” of this country would seek to classify as “nonpersons”. Yet all medical definitions of human life (heartbeat, brain waves, etc) preclude us from making this arbitrary, but oh so convenient, classification. The unborn baby is just as human as you and me, differing only in size. Pro-choice activists sound very self-righteous in their defense of women’s rights. However, since when did selfishness gain the moral high ground? Only 2% of all abortions are carried out to save the life of the mother. The other millions of babies are murdered purely for the sake of personal convenience. That’s selfishness, plain and simple. “Every child a wanted child” the pro-choice movement proclaims. Yet is this truly the morality Americans want to defend? That a human being is only valuable if he or she is wanted? Let’s make it personal. Am I only valuable as long as someone wants me? Will there ever be a time in my life when no one wants me? Is it then morally justifiable to kill me? As our own Declaration of Independence states, human life is valuable because God Himself gives it value. “All men...are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” So who cares if no one in this world wants me. I am still valuable because my Creator gave me life, and no one except God has the right to take that life away. In this modern age we marvel at the ancient "barbaric" practice of child-sacrifice. Yet is sacrificing our babies on the altar of Self-Fulfillment really so different? If pro-choice activists want to defend selfishness as a basic human right, they join the ranks of the slave holders and white supremacists who would be incovenienced by granting civil liberties to their fellow human beings. I, for one, join Governor Rounds in acknowleging the intrinsic worth of the unborn child, not because he or she is a potential human being, but because he or she IS a human being...a human being whose value is not defined by wanted-ness nor size. To murder a fellow human being because he or she is different--whether because of religion or race or stature--is genocide. Thank God that today, legalized genocide is not a choice in South Dakota

Cuddle Time

Yesterday I received an email from one of my teammates saying..."No wonder your wife is upset with you. Convert some computer time to cuddle time!" To which another teammate responded saying... "Now I see why I'm not nearly as creative and computer literate as you--too much Cuddle and not enough Computer." So this Lego movie is my reply... and yes, all of those faithful readers who are worried about how much time this movie took to make... my wife DID get cuddle time today!

CuddleTime