Apologetix concert in NC

Last Friday Apologetix (that Christian parody band) gave a concert at a Emmaus Baptist Church in Pittsboro, NC. It wasn't a very big venue, which was great because it was fun having a real 'A-list' band in a small setting, playing in the gym. We got there early and watched their sound check. I caught a few images on my camera phone. Unfortunately, my real camera recently went home to be with the Lord, and is no longer with us.

So, sorry about the questionable picture quality. They played many of my favorites, including Life Restored and All the Stalls Stink. After the show, the band was nice enough to meet the fans and sign autographs. I got to talk to them a little bit. J. Jackson, the lead singer, who is about 7 feet tall, laughed about my Chuck Norris shirt. He said one of their fans they always talk to in Pittsburg looks just like Chuck Norris, and they always just refer to him as Chuck. But I digress..

I brought my Fender Strat pick guard for them to sign. They kind of laughed and asked if the guitar was too heavy to carry or something. I said that I just didn't want to carry the whole thing in, so I brought the guard. They happily obliged and autographed it with a sharpie, and one of them wrote Romans 10:9, which in case you're wondering, is probably the most often-quoted verse. It goes like this:

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

All in all, a great show and a cool bunch of guys. I can't wait for their next show!

Miss USA runner up a real winner

I just want to say something about the recent Miss USA pageant runner-up Carrie Prejean. If you are unfamiliar with the topic, here's the basic low-down. Apparently, Ms. Prejean (Miss California) was the favored contestant in the pageant, with the highest rating in talent, bathing suit competition, etc. When she was prompted by a judge to respond to a question regarding gay marriage, she essentially said that she was raised in church and believes that marriage is defined as 'one man, one woman'.

This, obviously, is not the "politically correct" answer, as she enjoys the very great honor of being the first Miss USA contestant to be boo'd.

She was cornered by a trick question, one which forced her to disclose her faith, which she did apologetically. I salute her, because many Christians are now in the place that homosexuals were a couple of decades ago: in the closet. If more believers would come out of the closet, so to speak, we could be mainstream again, and build the body of Christ back to the principles that led our country for generations.

Carrie might have lost the Miss America crown, but you know what, there's a better crown waiting for her in Heaven when she goes there, because she stuck to her guns and was the real winner there.

For the record, it hasn't done much to dilute her popularity. She is the number one searched topic on Yahoo!, and is scheduled to present at the Dove Awards.

For the record, anyone who thinks I'm an anti-gay bigot, I'm only interested in the truth as it relates to God's word. What does the Bible say about homosexuality and marriage? I thought you'd NEVER ask.

Genesis teaches that God instituted and designed marriage between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:18-25). There are a number of reasons why He did so.
The complementary structure of the male and female anatomy is obviously designed for the normal husband-wife relationships. Clearly, design in human biology supports heterosexuality and contradicts homosexuality.
The combination of male and female enables man (and the animals) to produce and nurture offspring as commanded in Genesis 1:28 “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth.” This command is repeated to Noah after the Flood (Genesis 8:15-17). But procreation is not the only reason God made humans as sexual beings.
Additionally, God gave man and woman complementary roles in order to strengthen the family unit. Woman was to be the helper that man needed (Genesis 2:18). However, the woman's role as the helpmate is certainly not an inferior one. The enterprising God-fearing woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 is an inspiring role model.

OK, I'm off my soap-box.

Congrats, Carrie, and to Miss North Carolina too for winning Miss America 2009.

PUMPED about Apologetix concert

Hey y'all

Just wanted to say the christian rock band Apologetix is coming to the Raleigh, NC area Friday night April 24, 2009. I'm pretty amped about this group coming! Year before last, my wife bought me their CD, Keep the Change off of Ebay. See, I'm a big fan of Weird Al Yancovic, and the ad said "weird al- keep the change CD". So she bought it, and presented it to me on Christmas. It had no Weird Al on it, but another band that does parodies. The difference is Apologetix only does Christian lyrics. For a better picture of who they are, you can bounce to their web site. They have such songs as Bethlahamian Rhapsody, a parody of Bohemian Rhapsody. In this version, it has David and Goliath talking smack to each other and it's hilarious. Another of my faves is a takeoff on Papa Roach's Last Resort song, called Life Restored.

Their versions are pitch-perfect versions that will make you think you are listening to the original. These guys are good. We've been looking forward to this concert a while, and if I get to go I'll try to get some pics and post them here.

Not much else going on, other than I'm dancing with joy about finishing my Strategic Management class. Whew man, it was a sleeping pill of a class! I got three more, then a dissertation and I'm DONE with grad school. YAAY!

Peace,

I'm outta here

Reflections on working in ministry

Let me first state that I am not a pastor. It is possible to do God's work in the ministy without being made a preacher. My wife and I have worked in Royal Rangers, Angel Food, the Childrens Ministry, and Food Bank.
Having said that, I wanted to post what's going on in my head about it recently. With work, kids, chores, and school, my wife and I discussed stepping out of the children's ministry for a while, that maybe we had set up a good structure for someone to follow, and maybe we had done our job. When we came to the church a year ago, there was nobody to teach it as their normal teacher was about to have a baby and had complications that would put her at home for a while.
We were told that we arrived just in time and were an answer to prayer. In our theology, if someone comes to you with news and it's confirmed from another independent source, we interpret that as confirmation. I can tell you that when God has a plan for you, and you listen to him, you will see this happen! That is a topic for a whole other blog, though.
Anyway, we recently prayed and asked the Lord for confirmation that we were being released from childrens church. We were led to teach a unit on Jonah, the prophet who ran from God so he wouldn't have to go to Nineva. If you are unfamiliar with the themes of Jonah, I'll post this excerpt from his prayer. At this point, he has run from God to the point of taking a ship to Tarshish, considered the 'other side of the world'. God sends a storm, Jonah is thrown off the boat by the men who recognize he is the reason for God's anger, and he is now in the belly of the giant fish. Here we go:
(By the way, this is the NIV version)

Jonah 2
Jonah's Prayer

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.

2 He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the

depths of the grave [a] I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents

swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.

4 I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.'

5 The engulfing waters threatened me,

the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God.

7 "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

8 "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD."

10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

OK, basically, Jonah asked for forgiveness and God heard his prayer. He used the most unlikely of things, a giant fish, to bring Jonah where he was supposed to be. I don't know about you, but I am thankful for a God of second chances. And sometimes, third, fourth and fifth chances!

I see now that sometimes we are called to teach a topic because not only is it important for the audience, but to the teachers too. Actually, we are part of the audience, ultimately God is the teacher. I pray that I never forget that humbling lesson. Gotta go, that lesson is actually taking place in a couple of hours and I am doing the voice of the surfer dude! It's a long story...

STAR TREK (2009)

Hi, fellow nerds
I just wanted to post a link to a web site featuring the Star Trek (2009) TV spots.
It can be found here:
http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp?aid=11623&tcid=1

Live long and Prosper!

The Effect of Moore's Law on Technology Jobs

My job at a major telecommunications company provides me with the interesting challenge of being on the forefront of the exciting field of technology. Currently, I work as an electronic technician, building and maintaining systems which tie together fiber optics, traditional phone cable, and switching equipment. Recently, my wife and I heeded God's calling to move to North Carolina to fill a job opening at my company there, and continue work in the ministry. What I found is a job doing what I normally do, with some new equipment our company bought that nobody knows how to maintain. We have training, but we're scratching our heads over some of this stuff!
The changing face of the company means that employees must train as often as possible to keep up with the competition. One subsequent side-effect of this aspect is that the higher up the training scale employees go, the more narrow the area of expertise. This has both positive and negative aspects.
The positive side is that we employees learn more valuable skills which keep us sharp. The negative is that the narrow, more focused skills center on products that could be replaced. Moore’s Law states in general terms that technology for a given product doubles in performance every 12 months (Stokes, 2008). This means that not only are fewer employees needed to maintain large networks, but the items we are trained on are inevitably replaced, rendering our training obsolete.
With that in mind, one personal policy that I have is that any time the opportunity for training surfaces, I will take advantage. This applies to information regarding my work as well as classical educational opportunities which may prove valuable in the future should my job be outsourced or eliminated altogether.
My short-term objective connects to my personal policy. My objective currently is to finish graduate school before the next union contract is settled in August 2009. This way, I will be more equipped to find employment that is comparable in compensation should our union strike or our jobs are reduced. Previously, my personal career strategy has been to work toward a management position. However, our company was acquired by a larger firm which traditionally utilizes fewer managers over larger territories. This translates into lower job security, especially for employees with under 15 years of service like me. In response to this trend, I shifted my strategies to position me for a job as a mentor or trainer.
Hopefully, I can finish school this year and pursue my dream job: teaching at a secondary school like a junior college or vocational school somewhere. I think it would be the bomb to train adults in continuing education classes, business math, electronics or something.
I would encourage anyone in technology jobs to try to keep your training up-to-date, and do have a backup plan. It never hurts to learn how to do more than one thing, even if it means sacrificing some spare time and a bit of money. It's an investment, not unlike investing in an I.R.A. or stocks. And don't be too freaked about the current state of the economy. I personally believe that an upswing is inevitable, it will just take some time. And besides that, the last time I checked God's throne is not empty. He is still in command, not the stock market, not Alan Greenspan, nor anyone else. Keep your eyes on Him, and thank Him that He hears and answers prayer.

reference:
Stokes, J. (2008). Understanding Moore’s law. Retrieved April 18, 2009 from http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/09/moore.ars

Tax Day

Happy day-after Tax Day. Whew, we got ours filed the day before the cutoff this year. It has never taken me that long before. When we lived in Memphis during the last 7 years, we always had it done at least a couple of months early. Praise God, we actually got some back, yaaay!

I encourage everyone that can, pay in a little extra on your paycheck during the year. The new Obama plan will put a little more into your pocket every week, but don't forget it's not actually free money, we will pay for it one way or another. By sacraficing a little more, even say $10 or so a week, you will be thankful next year you did.

I actually don't mind paying taxes, I look at it this way. We are paying our rent for living in the greatest counry in the world. To put it another way, do you ever see some guys in Florida load up on a raft and try to paddle to Cuba? No! And you're not going to. We have the best country, that's why eveyone tries to get in, through legal or illegal means.

Not much else going on today, just working on getting my assignments done for graduate school and my wife and son have been working very hard keeping the yard maintained. I've never owned big property before, it's more work than I anticipated, but it's very worth it! God made the home possible for us, so naturally we're obligated to keep it clean and neat. Unfortunately I wasn't much help since I worked last night and slept most of the day (Sorry dear!)

North Carolina Taxes

I just moved to the great state of North Carolina from Tennessee not too long ago. I finally got around to transferring my tags over, and holy cow! I was introduced to the concept of property taxes, transfer and licensing fees, and some other fee that I'd never had to deal with in TN. Normally, I would go to the DMV and pay $75 a year. Here in NC, I got hit for over $200. Yikes. Hopefully that was a "welcome to NC" fee. Maybe it's not going to be as high each subsequent year? We'll see. Yuck, I'm also paying a state tax on my income too, which is something I'm not accustomed to.

What I can say for NC's DMV is that unlike what I'm used to, I quickly got in, was seen right away by an English-speaking employee, and got out in 5 minutes. In Memphis, you better take the day off, and arrive 30 minutes before opening time if you want to get out and not die of hunger that day. If you are in Memphis, and you must get a license or tags, bring a Gameboy or something, cause yer gonna be there a while!