The site was down for a few days while I moved it from 3IX hosting to the current one. It went pretty smooth except for some SQL fun I had to mess around with. The site is back up and ready to rock.

System Administration Pros finally has a home on the web. I am currently too busy to put much time into the side business but I am excited to get the site up so I can start doing some volunteer work with my God given skills. This also allows me a place to blog about the geek stuff. The Open Source community has given me a lot of stuff to use, I want to start giving back by posting the solutions I have found when working with the open source tools.

We visited a church this morning that seems to be a direct answer to my concerns in the previous post. We will give it some time, but we think we have finally found our church home!

$n + Jesus = Denomination where n is anything.

Is it really that simple? I think it is. As folks who have been trying to find a church home, we have found that people will stand on doctrines and convictions and hold them as high as essentials. In other words they major on the minor and make divisions where they do not belong. But then there is the other field into which we have walked where there is little structure to belief, just that you can say the word “Jesus”. In this case the essentials are little more than guidelines. When I say essentials I mean things like, Jesus is God, The Trinity, Original sin, the authenticity of the word, and other such things.

It is really hard to find a church and I do not think it is because I am looking for a perfect church. I am just looking for one that does not lean into the extreme and border line unbiblical or over into useless. It is proving most difficult to find a church home, but we need to step up our efforts and get into a fellowship.

Last night we watched “The Seeker, The Dark is Rising”. I really like fantasy SCI-FI so in part I liked the movie. But that being said, the movie was not that good. The plot was great and I think they could have done so much more with it than they did. During the movie the charachters are not given much depth and there are times you are thinking, wow that was so corny. But if you love fantasy and you can ignore the fact that this is not even close to Potter, LOTR, or even Narnia turned into a movie, then you will be ok, just revert back to childhood and enjoy the movie for what it is worth. Bottom line; would I rent it again? Honestly, I would because I enjoyed it.

I did some research after the fact and found that this is a movie based off of a book series from the 70’s. I hear the books are much better.

Last weekend I spent the day with one of my girls. Today it is with my son, doing this and that and ending with a trip to Toys R Us. My son L-O-V-E-S Dinosuars! So we got a ton of them at Toy R us.

Here are some pix from Peet’s, the park, and such.

Hope your Saturday is going well!

You can win some books and check out a cool blog at the same time! So head over to Challies.com and enjoy.

Tonight I taught the kids about Joseph. I tried a few different things tonight. One was to have them color pictures I printed out of Joseph wearing his coat; the second was to ask several questions that made the story practical for a young child. The last thing that was different than the usual lessons was picking one thing that we could draw from the story of Joseph and what seemed just right was jealousy.

Joseph brothers were jealous so we talked about that, we also talked about times we have been jealous of each other and what it means to God when we are jealous. Our memory verse tonight was Leviticus 19:17 “Do not hate your brother in your heart”

No more than 20 minutes later and my oldest was displaying jealousy in such a way that she was disrupting the whole house during bed time. It was really neat to see the lights come on and watch her connect what we had just learned with what she was doing. It turned out very good.

You know the scary thing is that Joseph had 10 older brothers; all wanted him dead except for Ruben who sheepishly negotiated just throwing him in a well so he could return for him later. The hate came from jealousy and bitterness. Jealousy is no fire to be played with, it can cause you to lose joy in anything and everything and it works in your heart such that you think of doing harm.

The fact is our society is based on jealousy. What sells cars, bigger homes, and upscale lifestyles? Jealousy sells! You do not need it, but someone else has it, so you out of jealousy want it as well. What happens when our economy can not support all the jealous shoppers and consumers? What happens when people can not afford what they see others have and they are consumed with jealousy? I think using jealousy to sell will backfire, because getting out of jealousy does not leave you satisfied, when you get something because of jealousy, getting it does not fulfill. Jealousy can not be quenched by fulfillment, it must be gotten rid of by grace, by giving, by selfless and genuine happiness for other people. Most importantly jealousy is defeated by thankfulness.

Putting legs to what you believe is a painful process, especially when it involves dying to self. Check out the photo below, it is how I was going to make my WRX look. I am pretty much there except for the red accents, which were not too far off thanks to clubwrx.net and the folks I have met there. This is a hard post for me, because it puts a stake in the ground and makes me accountable.

Long story short, the money I could use on such a hobby does not make sense to me any more. Track days are fun, but expensive. My car is fast but it could be faster. Excuses, excuses and more excuses. I tell myself that everyone should have a hobby and mine just happens to be expensive, but that does not fly, not really. It is hard to drop my wish list and stop working on my car, but we have financial commitments and when those are gone I do not believe that if I am honest with myself that God would bless my using my money this way. I do not mean this as a blanket statement; this pertains to me as a father and husband blessed with so many blessings. I have more than just a desire to bless others; I believe God has commanded it, especially in these times and where I live.

Turbo Downpipe = $700.00 VS I know a family that can not even feed their kids because of job loss and out economy.

Time Attack Package for 2006 WRX. $2800.00 VS. Our own town has people who can not find work and are almost on the street.

DEFI BF package including three gauges and display. Installed $1800.00 VS Lots of people in our church who could use a few hundred dollars just to make ends meet. We could help several families grow their faith, fall deeper in live with the Lord, and feel that they are practically loved by other Christians.

When I line item each thing, it helps me to gain a bit of eternal perspective. I owe God everything and giving back what was never really mine is just a way to express the love and change God freely and graciously gave me.

Brave Saint Saturn, remember those guys? I went to so many of their concerts when their lead singer was the lead singer for Five Iron Frenzy. I really wished those guys made it as BSS. One my most favorite songs by them is day light. It seems I am really focusing on redemtion these past few weeks. Not a bad thing to think about. Check out these lyrics, good stuff.

did you hear the news today
i’m not coming home,
no
and i wished it all away
i felt so alone
and the darkness crept it’s way
like stars we know will die too soon
there is never any sunrise here in the shadows of eclipsing moons
crawling on a tightrope
the bravest thing i have is hope

daylight, save me
daylight, save me
tonight, tonight

halogen, the lights will flicker
incadescent burning lies
and the silence stands for nothing
desperate i search the skies aching for a spark
trembling in pitchest dark

RADIO:
Mission Control: U.S.S. Gloria, this is mission control, do you copy?
we have lost contact with the U.S.S. Gloria

U.S.S. Gloria: Mission Control, this is the U.S.S. Gloria, do you read me?
Mayday, we have lost primary guidance functions

News Reporter: The crew is now out of radio contact.
presently there is no way for us to know whether they
are alive or dead.
our hopes and prayers go out with you all.

RADIO:
Mission Control: U.S.S. Gloria, this is mission control, do you copy?
U.S.S. Gloria: Houston this is the U.S.S. Gloria.
good to hear your voice
we are coming out of the eclipse now.
i see the sunlight. it’s beautiful
the sunlight is beautiful.

Jesus Christ, Light of the World
You never did forget me
and when i bled in darkness, You held
me
still held me
when desparate nights i cursed You
You loved me, still loved me
Jesus Christ, You dry the tears
You break my heart of stone
Your words are life
cut marrow through
the darkness, to the bone
a heart of flesh You gave me
only You can save me

Savior
Daylight
I am coming home