IT'S SNOWING!!!

OK...it's not snowing exactly where I am.

A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars has detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft's landing site.

Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.

Whether or not (or should that be "weather or not") the snow has ever accumulated on the ground makes no difference this time because "Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground."

Sorry. But the martians children will still have to go to school today. (Read the entire article...)

(By the way. The graphic at the top of the post is a Martian sunrise. Doesn't look too dissimilar from the Midnight Sun of Alaska now, does it?)

350 More Days To Go...

   This is a post that I wanted to make about 3 weeks ago and just couldn't get to it. It was supposed to be about how excited I was about the upcoming Men's Retreat, but instead will be about how excited I am about how the retreat went.

   The theme of the weekend was "Fighting For Peace." This goal was to help the brothers to understand on a Biblical level how to righteously deal with each other while not in full agreement with one another. There have been many disputable matters that have come up as of late and as a result there has been disunity. Far be it from us, as members of a unified Body, to allow disunity to set in! And so, we needed to start "Fighting For Peace" instead of fighting each other.

The discipling nature of our walks with God - Part 2

I ended my last post on this topic with my challenge to be like Jesus in His commitment to avoid sinning by wrestling in prayer until I can withstand the temptation. This time, I want to continue walking through Hebrews 12 and enjoy the choice spiritual morsels that are in that passage.

Now let's get back to Hebrews 12, and specifically verse 4.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Free side note: Call me thick-headed, but I only just recently realized Paul is not talking about shedding blood because of persecution, but instead about Jesus’ passionate and bloody battle in prayer to avoid sinning while in the garden. I know many people believe that Jesus was so intense because of a fear of the cross. But I refuse to believe that. By no means to I mean to belittle what Jesus was about to go through. But it goes against so many commands of God to be afraid of something so temporary. No. Jesus was so intense in prayer because of His desire to please God and not give in to temptation. And He did this to avoid sinning even once!

The fact is we need to fight, just like Jesus, to avoid sinning even once. And this includes in our relationships with other people.

Question: What is the best thing to do when we are having a problem with another person?

Answer: PRAY!

Question: What is the hardest thing to do when we are having a problem with another person?

Answer: For me, at least, it's to PRAY!

The truth is, when we pray about a problem we are having with another person, we must instantly take the posture of:

• “What can I do to avoid sinning.”
• “In what way might I have been wrong.”
• “What is it that that I need to change”?
• This is followed up with deep searching about how the other person might have been right.
• And dare I say that when we go and address another person with whom we have had a struggle that we begin with an apology for sinning against them – and maintain that humble posture?

Honestly, our first desire should always be to maintain righteousness..always...not matter what.

Let’s look at some of the expectations and truths that the passage in Hebrews 12 lays out here, beginning in verse 5. 

 [5] And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:    "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline,
        and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
    [6] because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
        and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."
[7] Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? [8] If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. [9] Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! [10] Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

Confession: For the longest time I read this passage in a “hard” light as if being honed, trained, disciplined, and rebuked by God was...well...not necessarily "bad," but more like “ungood.” This time I read it and heard a different heart behind the passage. Listen to what is really being said here.

•  Don’t forget you’re God’s child
  •  This is the highest honor we could possibly have bestowed upon us
•  Don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline
  •  He is actively involved in disciplining us and training us
•  Don’t get emotionally weird when He rebukes
  •  Rebukes from the Lord are good!
•  If we are not disciplined by Him, it would be a sign that He didn’t love you
  •  How many times do my kids say “Why do you always make me go to my bed or take away privileges?
•  Because I love you
  •  If you are being punished, you are being accepted!
  •  Strange, but it’s true.

You get the idea. We are supposed to embrace the Lord’s discipline.

Let’s continue reading in verse 11:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 

Here are some tell-tale signs that we are actively being "trained by" the Lord's discipline:

• We give the Holy Spirit free reign over the deepest regions of our souls in order to be perfected in Christ
• We actually seek out times to spend with the Lord just to get our hearts set for the next several hours or so
• We do battle with the Lord as Jacob did and don’t give up without gaining the victory!

 When this becomes our walk with the Lord, we will: 

• Be inspired
• Be inspiring
• Be involved in many growing relationships
• Be freed from the grasp of the evil one
• Be living life to the full
• Be like Christ who: for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

*** And that’s right where I want to be too!
   
Let’s look one more time at the example of our Lord Jesus and how He fought so diligently to avoid sinning…and how clear it is that He did so for US!

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (Herbrews 5:7-9)

Jesus allowed His walk with the Father to get Him past the temptations thrown His way by Satan and bring Him into a peaceful, quiet place of reverent submission.

I want to do likewise!

The discipling nature of our walks with God

This is the first half of a two-part post about being like Jesus in our committment to fight temptation and not sin.

For years I've thought that people who read their Bibles and prayed every single morning without missing a morning devotion were of the spiritual elite. And to be sure, there is something to be said about being disciplined. It is a highly desired character trait that Jesus, Himself, possessed. But discipline doesn't always mean spiritual. It can be likened to "keeping an appointment." Imagine that every day a child talks to his parents 4 times a day 3 times to ask for food and once to ask for clean clothes.Hey! That’s consistency! But it’s not much of a relationship, is it?

*** We ought to spend time with God even when we don’t have a “reason” to. I'm coming more and more to the conviction that those who really walk with God do so every day, throughout the day. In other words, there is no consistency other than the fact that the walk is constant. After all,

• He is always with us.
• He is vying for our heart’s devotion at any given time
• He is wants us to be aware of His presence at all times
• He eagerly wants us to just POP into a conversation with Him 
  • Remember Tevyah from Fiddler On The Roof? I love the way he just sort of pops in and out of conversation with God whenever he has anything on his mind.

One sign that our relationship with God is strong is that we talk to Him any time, any where, about any thing. This is something I am working on in a big way. But it is hard to realize that I’m not focused on God, when I’m not focused on God! Yet the Bible lets us in on the secret of how to remain focused.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY 5 YEAR OLD PRINCESS!!!

Daddy's little girl turned 5 today. I must confess that I absolutely lose it whenever I think about my little girl growing up so I forced myself not to focus on the fact that she really turned 5 today. But wouldn't you know it? Just today, a friend at work let me know about a song that he really loved and he played a bit for me. It's called "Cinderella." I had to make him turn it off or I was going to lose it right there at work. Here are the lyrics to the song. Get the tissues, read them, and bawl your eyes out with me:

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
but I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Yep!!! I'm all messy, too.

If you want to hear the song, you can click here to hear it on YouTube.

 If you're really daring, and while you have the tissues out, you can play the song below:

 I love you, princess!!!

Hello? Is anyone still there?

I don't know if anybody still comes around this little corner of the world wide web anymore, but I wanted to let everyone know that:

I'M BACK!!!

As you see, there is yet another look to the site. I downloaded the new BETA release to the blogging software and I hope you like it. (The back end is a LOT different and will take some getting used to.) And I obviously have a lot of customizing to do on the sidebar. But I'll get to all of that in good time.

I have longed to get back to my blog and spend time with my blogging buddies. I knew that school would take a lot of time and that I would have to decrease my blogging. But between school, ministry, starting a new job, Mom passing away, and a host of other things that take place in life, I lost my ability to blog.

Let me start by thanking everyone who prayed and sent condolences to me and Chic. Losing Mom was really tough even though it was expected. There really was no way to prepare for it. When I got the news that Mom had passed on, I responded in typical DK fashion: refuse to believe it and it won't be so. But no. It was so, and I had to deal with it. I was thankful that Dad was by Mom's bedside holding her hand as she took her last breath. May God bless Dad's loyalty and devotion to her.

I also want to thank Chic for her endless hours of service to Mom. Chic was there for whatever Mom and Dad needed, whenever they needed it. May God bless her serving heart (with a really great job, maybe?)

Anyway, school is done and I'm getting settled into my new job. And now, with my newly freed-up time, I'm blogging, putting together the 2008 Men's retreat (The banner for which can be seen at the top of this page!), and I just agreed to be the den leader for my son's Wolf den. So all my free time just got taken up again...but this time with the things I WANT to do instead of the things I HAD to do.

I look forward to rebuilding the relationships that I was unable to maintain during the last year or so. And I look forward to building new ones, as well.

God bless you all and let's have some fun!

PivotX - 2.0.0: beta 1.8

If you can read this, you have successfully installed a version of PivotX. Yay!! To help you further on your way, the following links might be of use to you:

• The official PivotX Homepage.
• The online documentation at PivotX Help should be of help.
• There's always someone willing to help on the PivotX Forums

And, of course: Have fun with PivotX!