"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." Flannery O' Connor

Surveys, Polls, and the like

This post is to show that you can't take statistics, polls, and other research just at face value.

Today I did a study on the effect of a certain object in a females reaction to me. Without this certain object the females studied all showed varying levels of disdain to me. However with this object they all were happy to be near me and be very friendly. Therefore I have concluded that this object will work for any male to attract any female.

Now I'll give you some background which should explain the above statement.

First there were only three females studied.

Second the three females are all under the age of two.

Third they are all related to me.

And finally the pictures underneath should explain it.

That's my niece Hannah playing with my cellphone. She finally warmed up to me now that she's leaving tomorrow.:( I'll miss them.

If you think you had a bad Christmas...

So maybe you didn't get the gift you wanted for Christmas. Or maybe you were snowed in like me. But take a look at some of the things that happened yesterday. And be glad for the Christmas you had.

- An Al-Quida terrorist attack on a plane headed from Amsterdam to Detroit was thwarted on Christmas 2009.

- A pastor had his family at his house for Christmas. His son got into a violent argument with a woman. The pastor intervened with a gun and ended up shooting his son in the chest on Christmas 2009.

- An actor was arrested for domestic violence on Christmas 2009.

- A store that sells Christmas related products throughout the year had a real live Grinch steal an undisclosed amount of money from their store on Christmas 2009.

- And President Obama was in Hawaii for Christmas and got his vacation interrupted by the terrorist attack on the plane.

So if you think you had a bad Christmas think again...

Unless of course you had a worse Christmas.

Gingerbread House

One of our activities today was making gingerbread houses. I arrived late and therefore mine was rather small. They all seemed to like it but I didn't see anything especially amazing about it. What do you think?

Rejection

Through the years with my family frequently moving and finding new churches, it has always been a challenge finding new friends. When we would begin attending a new church, many times those in the church I would expect to be friends with already had their friendships made and inadvertently or intentionally rejected me. And since we moved about every three years for my dad’s job, the situation kept occurring. Because of this I found myself continually trying to “fit in” and not merely being myself. But as I thought about this something hit me. While He was on this earth, Jesus had no close friends. His twelve disciples were the closest earthly friends He ever had. And he knew them for about three years! But when push came to shove, when He was taken away to be condemned and killed, they all left Him. One of His closest friends, Peter, went so far as to deny that he even knew who Jesus was. But did Jesus let that bother Him? No, instead he merely said “I came to do the will of Him who sent Me”. He found His comfort in praying to His Father both in the good times when the crowds were searching for Him, and in the bad times when all forsook Him. “He was despised and rejected of men… But He was wounded for our transgressions”. Those who rejected Him, He died for. Those who spat in His face, He bled for. Those who denied Him, He loved to the end. So should I let it worry me when I merely get a cold shoulder? No, instead I should go to my heavenly Father in prayer. And if I’m ever popular and have plenty of friends, I still need to go to Him in prayer to seek wisdom. Someone said “For every hundred men who can handle trials well, there is only one man who can handle success well”. May God help us whether we are popular or not to glorify Him and handle it well.

Gambling!?!?!?!?!

While recently traveling through the state of Alabama, I heard on the radio an interesting piece of news concerning an upcoming football game between Alabama and Florida. The governor’s of each state had a friendly wager going on the outcome of the game. The Alabama governor said that if Florida won then he would send the Florida governor a box of barbeque steaks from a famous restaurant near the university. But if Alabama won then the Florida governor would send the Alabama governor a box of oranges. So a lady was saying that this was a form of gambling so the governor was wrong to do it. That got me to thinking: “What is wrong with gambling?” Sure we can go into the instances of those who get so addicted to gambling and end up wasting all their money and ruining their lives. But that is merely a practical reason not to gamble. As Christians we go to the Bible to find the basis for our beliefs. The Bible commands “Do not be greedy for easy gain”. Why do you find people in a casino? Do you think you would find anyone there who would say “Yep I’m here to see how much money I can waste”? I doubt it. Most go there in hopes that they can “strike it rich”. That is why gambling is wrong. So let’s go back to our situation we started out with. The two governors had a wager going. Were either of them hoping to make an easy gain? I don’t think so. When you are a governor I don’t think you care that much for a free box of oranges. Although I suppose with this economy the governors may be pretty bad off. So are the governors really gambling here? Or is this merely a publicity stunt? What do you think?

Our recent vacation

My family just got back from a week and a half long vacation. We went and visited family along the east coast starting in Florida and traveling up through Virginia. We then went to Cincinnati, Ohio for a conference. It was put on by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches and was called the Sufficiency of Scripture conference. It was excellent and included speakers like Paul Washer, Vodie Baucam, Doug Phillips, Ken Ham, Jeff Pollard, Scott Brown, Geoff Botkin, and many others. I personally enjoyed Doug Phillips’ talk on the Sufficiency of Scripture in the Laws of Nations. But I think a general favorite was Paul Washer’s talk on evangelism. It was very convicting. At the end of the conference we attended the Cincinnati premier of “The Mysterious Islands”. It was very well done. Afterward they had a meet the cast time where they interviewed different people who had a part in the film. I would defiantly recommend seeing the film. It is a tour of the Galapagos Islands through the eyes of a 16 year old, Joshua Phillips. The footage is breathtaking and very well done. We saw many old friends at the conference and met many new ones. But it was good to get home. We arrived home to find over a foot of snow. Good old Iowa! I’ll be giving a more detailed account of our trip later on along with pictures.

"Time is what we want most, but what we use worst." ~ William Penn. A friend of mine recently posted this on her Facebook. I really liked it so I figured I'd pass it on. How true this is. How often people say "If only I had one more hour in my day". But if they got another hour they would fill it up just as fast, and with unimportant tasks. An excercise I once heard of was to write down everything you do in a day. Then go through that list to see just how many of the things you do in a day are really necessary. Don't get me wrong I ain't a kill joy. I like to haue fun just as much as the next guy. Ask any of my friends. But your time is a talent from God. Be careful how you use it. Always need more time? Maybe you're wasting the time you haue