Traveling

     Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

A Warning (for those who are interested in one)

     When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

     David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

     And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death

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     I was listening to some music this morning. And it got me thinking about how I act in church during worship time. When we’re all singing and some people are raising their hands and yet others stand in a solid stone-like stance. And while I’m trying to worship God, I find sometimes that my self-consciousness gets in the way. I feel that if I were to do a certain action, it would have certain effects on those around me. And in a way, I am correct. If I am free, completely self-less and uncompromising of my worship of my God… I’m sure it allows people to free themselves and worship God more freely in whatever way suits them. It also has the opposite effect and probably makes some people uncomfortable. Sometimes, I wonder if I’d ever have enough boldness, audacity and focus to dance before a gigantic audience, yet dance only for One and Only.

     Add on top of that… to be dancing in “less than respectable” fashion (possible wardrobe malfunction?) in my worship & praise to God. To place worship & celebrating in His presence above my own diginity. To not fear (losing face) losing respect of my peers or ridicule by those close to me… but rather to get so immersed & overwhelmed in the presence of the Infinite One, that all the other stuff just fades into the background.

How do you cultivate your inner-David?
(yes… this means you, the person who reads this)

These are the ones that hit that spot today. Love Liberty Disco (Remix) – Newsboys & You – Switchfoot

——- ——- Online Tidbits for your Monday afternoon ——- ——-
In contrast to “Merry Christmas” in my previous tidbits.

Racial / Cultural Tensions in Australia
Lebanon / Syrian car bombings
Christmas in Da Hood
The most comfortable, (arguably) iPod accessory…
Superheroes go to help Katrina victims… (all I can say is, wow.)
These airplane incidents are disturbing…

Ready to battle on, to fight the evil selfish one within?
To actually triumph for Christ and successfully die and become a fully spirit-consumed sacrifice to God?
To know that victory means the evil parts will be vanquished… utterly annilated.
That Christ will be Lord and Law over you, completely and fully?

Before you can take the sword of God and use it on others properly…
You have to use it on yourself. A spiritual Hari-kari of a sort.

I think that until you’ve found something you are willing to die for,
you really don’t know what’s worth living for…

— to live is Christ and to die is gain. —

P.S. By the way, has anything been happening to anyone around 6:00 AM EST these past three days? Something keeps waking me up, and it’s not the alarm clock (set for 7 AM). Maybe God’s trying to tell me something…

——-  Craigslist Tidbits (HA Ratings) ——-

How to be a Man 101: Muhammad Ali (PG)
Die Spinny Hubcap Thingys!! (PG-13)

     Today, I woke up at 6:15 AM. Maybe it was the snow, maybe it was sleeping at 11 PM, maybe God just wanted me to get up, who knows? But I got up, did my morning ritual, got out, shoveled the sidewalk, cleaned off my car, then shoveled and cleaned some more, then I gave mom a ride to work, (she insisted upon bringing plants), I drove to work, slide around b/c I hit the gas too hard on the corners, almost got into an accident b/c someone stopped when I expected them to go, found a parking spot and proceeded to hurry from my parking spot in the cold, brisk morning air to work… that’s when I saw it.

     It was drifting down the trees above. Most likely disturbed by the air currents as cars whizzed past at city-pace. The snow slowly floated down to earth, sparkling as it was caught by errant beams of light breaking through the overhanging canopy of grey, cement walls clinging to tall jungle of buildings. But, I’m a city boy, born & raised… so I ducked my head, hunched over against the cold and thought some bad thoughts about the slippery, dirty mess I was trudging through.

     It happened again, this time, to my right… at the edge of my peripheral vision. Fat, powdery clumps of snow drifting slowly to the ground. And that’s when I heard… “What are you rushing for?” Dunno… “Are you late for work?” No… “Wouldn’t it be grand to just watch the snow fall?” Sure… “How about a snowball fight?” Who would I fight with?… Maybe not today, but hopefully soon…

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“Be still, and know that I am God;       
I will be exalted among the nations,       
I will be exalted in the earth.”

— Psalm 46:10 (NIV) —

 ======= Online Tidbits =======

The Cat who flew
Bible course in the public eye
Drug dealer execution
Torture in China?
Squirrels attack & kill dog?!?
Say “Merry CHRISTmas!” (because you legally can!)
Hello patient1785134AF…

I was talking with a friend and I heard something I’m not going to forget for awhile.
“She has never met you nor seen you, but you live for God so loud that she hears you…”
Thank you, Dad, for placing someone like that in my life.

We interupt your regularly scheduled programming for a test of the personal broadcast system. This is only a test…

< A rare personal post >

I went to grace cafe that was sponsored by my church, GCC. I met a bunch of people: e7sense, esohn80, oneeyedking, knugget, Hahacincin2, half of mosesYoonjoyce, ONEder_Woman and OneNose. These are people I actually know in RL already. I’ve either been introduced or at least have some sort of connection with them: Family group, friends of friends and an old classmate. I’ll let you guess which one’s my classmate. 🙂

In addition, I also spotted tigress52, jasonyip, passionprayerpurity, WayneSimmons,  dejeeOINKoink and korean_darkness.

     I’d already done a bit of socializing earlier at dinner b/c a friend asked me to eat, chill & chat. How can you turn that down, right? I met 1 new person and another acquaintance that’s pretty cozy with this friend who asked me to dinner. I’m really an introvert, even though I act like an extrovert sometimes. Meeting new people and dealing with large groups really tires me out mentally. So you’ve got the general feel of what’s going on here. So after dinner, I’m going to this new event set up by my church, to chat with some buds, meet up, and maybe, hopefully also connect with other people in this particular body of Christ. Now that I’ve already taken the time out to come out on this chilly Friday nite and having already stretched my “outgoing” nature to it’s limits from work and dinner, How am I supposed to connect with anyone? to build up the body?
     Well, let’s just say, it didn’t really happen. I sat down, mostly talked with people I already knew. Some OAK’s had shown up and they were chatting it up with some people, got a couple of nods and high-fives. (High-fives are kinda strange, they seem like some sort of retro thing. But I cannot turn down an offered high-five, just like I wouldn’t have the heart to turn down a handshake, it’s just so wrong. But I digress…) But yea, I stayed mostly inside my comfort zone. I was tired, a bit off balance from both work and dinner, so even though I know OF some of these people… like tigress52. I didn’t come up and say hi.
     I guess in some ways, it’s very strange to come up to someone you don’t know anything about and just say, “Hey, nice xanga.” But as the night was drawing to a close, I was helping with the clean up and just helping out, I happened to catch a glance from korean_darkness. He was smiling and generally looking friendly, so I thought, “aw heck, why not?” I walked next to him and said, “Hey korean_darkness” and he was stopped to think for a sec, most likely shifting from a list of RL friends to online xangians he knew. But I’m not a subscriber to his site, nor do I visit often. It just so happened that I checked my list of visitors. (Yes, I know you guys come to my site… you see all this text and you run out just as quickly.) And I saw him listed, so I went and visited his site. I said “Hi, I’m ha256 / Hon” We chatted a bit about xanga, but it was really hard to find something to connect on. I’ve seen him a couple of times when I went to visit the Ardmore site, but I can’t say exactly when we may have met before. (I’m really bad with names / faces.) We chatted about where we might have met and made a bit more polite conversation and then that was it.
     Retarded, huh? I didn’t go up there to make small talk. I didn’t want to be a wallflower. But life happens. Was there some body-building going on? Probably… I’d have to take it on faith. Just wanted to share about a most peculiar Friday nite.

Learned lesson of the day?

I’d have to say that if you want ha256/Hon to come up and say hi, all you need to do is smile at him. I’d be most unmannered to not come up and at least make chit-chat. But yes, smaller groups are better for me, probably the best is single digits, unless I know each one of them. (And no, polite small-talk does not count as KNOWing.)

Hope everyone’s having a good weekend.
</ A rare personal post >

We will now return to your regularly scheduled programming. Thank you.

Equipment of a Christian
  Knight: Serving the King – Part IV (Part III)

    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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
    Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

— Ephesians 6:10-20 (NIV) —

    Are you already down for the count or are you ready to do battle? If you knew that each day, there was an invisible spiritual war going on. What would you do differently? Wouldn’t our mornings be spent putting on our armor? And not just a little bit of protection, but everything and the kitchen sink? Satan’s a wiley opponent and if you’ve got a weak spot, I’m sure he’ll hit you there. Satan probably invented the low-blow, no such thing as good sportsmanship. He’ll flank you. He’ll drive wedges into the ranks. What were you expecting? a nice leisurely walk through a war-zone?
    Now… how about an inventory of equipment? Belt of truth. If you’re going to put on equipment, you’re definitely going to need a good belt, well-tested and throughly examined to hang it from. (Can you imagine Batman w/o his belt? and his pants around his ankles to boot?) Breastplate of righteousness. Protection for the heart and other internal organs. If your heart is always out of wack, maybe your need to further develop personal purity and to do whatever is good & right regardless of the price. Gospel of peace to speed up feet. Where are you going? Wandering does no good, set your feet onto the path of peace-making. The greatest of which is making peace between God and man. The shield of faith. Believing that God is working through you, even when you can’t see it. Affirming the importance of the unseen spiritual realm by the way you live. It makes quick work of blocking that nasty little barbs Satan likes to shoot at you. Helmet of salvation. Protect your mind, keep salvation on it. Last and not least, the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. If you’re going to go in spiritual battle, you’re going to need a weapon. The sharper the sword and the better your technique… the better spiritual fighter, you’ll be. The best defense is a good offense, yes?
    But just having equipment isn’t enough. You’ve got to put them to good use. Training and building up your spiritual muscles. Learning how to pray for and with people. Protecting the weak and defending the helpless. Doing good can only be learned by doing. Just talking about it won’t help you progress. And the Word. Think of it as your sword… you can upgrade it from a shortsword all the way up to a two-handed broadsword. And not only that, but you’ve got to develop technique. Iron sharpening iron takes on a whole new meaning in this context. Just like a sword can be used to poke, slice, slash and smack… the word can do wonderful things as well. Keep your armor and sword in good working order. Maintain it so that when the battle comes to you, you’ll be ready. Ready to battle for friends, for family and most especially, for God.

Battle on, fellow knight !

======= Modern-day soldier =======
Troops, War & the media
Bloggers & PTSD

P.S. What do YOU think of the new color scheme?

It’s been a good thanksgiving. Praise God !

======= Random Analogy of the Day =======

And for the random thought of the day:

Love is to Sex as Home is to House.

I wanna go home…

======= A song for the season… =======

Christmas Shoes by Bob Carlisle

It was almost Christmas time
there I stood in another line
tryin’ to buy that last gift or two
Not really in the christmas mood
standing right in front of me
was a little boy waiting anxiously
pacing around like little boys do
and in his hand he held
a pair of shoes

and his clothes were worn and old
he was dirty from head to toe
and when it came his time to pay
I couldn’t believe what I heard him say

Sir I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please
it’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
and I know these shoes will make her smile
and I want her to look beautiful
If momma meets Jesus tonight

They counted pennies for what seemed like years
then the cashier said, “Son there’s not enough here”
he searched his pockets frantically
and he turned and he looked at me
He said, “Momma made christmas good at our house
although, most years she just did without.
Tell me sir
What am I gonna do?
some how I gotta buy her these christmas shoes”

So I laid the money down
I just had to help him out
and I’ll never forget
the look on his face
when he said momma’s gonna look so great

Sir I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
and I know these shoes will make her smile
and I want her to look beautiful
If momma meets Jesus tonight

I knew I caught a glimpse of Heaven’s love as he thanked me and ran out
I know that God has sent that little boy to remind me
what christmas is all about

Sir, I wanna buy these shoes, for my momma please
It’s Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry sir?
Daddy says there’s not much time
You see she’s been sick for quite a while
and I know these shoes will make her smile
and I want her to look beautiful
If momma meets Jesus tonight

I want her to look beautiful
If momma meets Jesus tonight

======= Some Dot Com News =======

Black Friday
The obese epidemic’s present impact
Digital scrapbooking
RIP: Mr. Miyagi
I wanna go back to college !
V-8 engine, origami style?
The “Beer Googles” Effect unraveled…
Xbox trampling…
Kissed to Death?

1 Corinthians 7:36-38 (New International Version)

 ³⁶If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. ³⁷But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin – this man also does the right thing. ³⁸So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does even better.

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Dad, may your will be done. In Jesus name, Amen.

======= EDIT: Blogs of the Day =======

These kinda popped out at me today. So I’m sharing. Enjoy and hope everyone finds something to be thankful for.

China: Wealth – Moral Compass = Corruption
Art and Artists.
Myshkin’s thoughts…

I remember taking this picture of Pastor Young and his son at my first GCC retreat. And I still remember the first thing to come to mind after I took this picture.

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  See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

— Matt 18:10-14 (NIV) —

=== EDIT: Online Tidbits ===

Back to the dunce cap…
Who presented this bill?!?!
Gamers can be addicts ( DUH ! )
Thermobaric weaponery…

My favors are not for sale. I’m not your chauffeur, don’t tip me. I’m your friend. I don’t do things b/c you can pay me for my time and gas bill. I’d be driving a taxi or a limo, if that was the case. I grant favors because that’s what friends are there for. If you want to thank me, then do so. If you want to write an IOU for a favor, then do so. If you want to give me a gift… I’m not going to refuse it. @#*&@#*^  Maybe this is just something specifically chinese/asian… and I’m too much a twinkie to appreciate it.

OOO – Hold on out there, lil sis.

The MS Theorem…

Ladies… I’d specifically like your take on this. (Men, feel free to put in your 2 cents. 😉 )I was chatting with some ladies while waiting for the multimedia team to meet up. Y and I were talking about the God’s Truth for Women class and she joked about having a new class called “God’s Truth ABOUT Women.” At this point, MS jumps in and says, she’d rather start a class called: “Female Sensitivity Training”. ( I’m guessing a good number of you already know where this is going. ) So she busted out this theory about how a man is to deal with a lady in distress.

Step 1: You arrive upon or witness a lady in distress. Herein to be referred to as LID.
(Distress can be anything from a lady falling down the steps, a stubbed toe, emotional angst, spiritual anguish… you get the idea.)

Step 2: You ask the LID, “Are you okay?”

Step 3: The LID under most circumstances will say, “Yes”
(This can be attributed to pride, politness, or … )

Step 4: You must ask a second time, “Are you sure, you’re okay?”
(The premise of asking a 2nd time is to affirm that you actually care for LID’s well-being.)

Step 5: Assume that the 2nd answer is the more truthful of the two.

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For a mostly logical and reasoning being, I’m afraid this strikes me as rather non-sensical. But if God made women to puzzle the heck out of men… Who am I, to tell Him how to do things? ( Sure as heck keeps a man on his toes… )

But here’s where you come in… Ladies, what do you think about MS’ Theorem? I leave it to you to say yay or nay to this possible and curious theory.