“We are not illegitimate children,”  They protested.  “The only Father we have is God himself.”

Jesus said to them,  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God an now am here.”  John 8:41b, 42.

 Jesus set out to wake them from their stupor and found some pretty grouchy people, unwilling to wake from the dream they had of themselves.  They had witnessed the miracles, the teaching of God’s love and character, yet they wouldn’t submit to the price they needed to pay to continue in the light.  Here they are claiming God as their own Father without any real awareness of what it meant to be His son or daughter.  If being physical descendants of Abraham didn’t make them his children spiritually, then calling themselves the children of God wouldn’t make it so either.  Something was missing.

“Why is my language not clear to you?  Because you are unable to hear what I say.”

They clung to their interpretations of God’s Word so hard nothing could make them hear the truth.  It’s like they had stuck their fingers in their ears and began singing,  “La, la, la, la, I can’t hear you” as loud as they could to shut out His words.  To hear meant they would have to obey.  Jesus reveals the root problem of their spiritual deafness:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.  He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Ouch!  Ever hear of diplomacy, Jesus?  What are you trying to do, drive them to kill you?

Every time I read these passages it seems to me He’s actually pushing them to crucify Him.  His arguments push all their buttons without cushioning the blows.  Yet what other choice does He have?  He spent nearly three years being subtle, careful to demonstrate the power of God and rightly dividing the Scriptures so everyone who heard would see the light, and it got Him nowhere with these people.  They wouldn’t listen when He told them the hard truth of God then, to back off now would be foolish.

By calling the devil their “father” Jesus reveals their motives for not wanting to hear what He has to say.  They preferred their fantasy constructs to real truth.  The story of God held little interest to them, for what they wanted was the story in which they triumphed over every obstacle to gain personal glory and power.  Knowing truth made no difference if they weren’t going to be able to be the heroes of their own stories.  What they rejected from Christ’s teachings was the one little morsal of truth on which the rest of salvation hinged:  it wasn’t their heroic efforts or mighty deeds which impressed God but the humble realization they were powerless to do anything for themselves in this regard without Him.  Total dependence on Jesus is the only way possible for us to find salvation or freedom from death.

“Can any of  you prove me guilty of sin?”

These people who had believed in Him knew His character, work and words were above reproach…it’s why they followed in the first place.  What turned them off is their misunderstanding of the spiritual nature of ingesting the Son of God.  They couldn’t get past Jesus’ demand that they eat His flesh and drink His blood, nor did they grasp the spiritual nature of that command.  Their minds were so focused/consumed by the lies of spiritual grandeur they blinded themselves to their need for reconstruction.  Nothing will wake a person up to their condition if they continue to take the drug of pride.  It washes away the ability to see ourselves as lost to truth without intervention.

Not one of these men could prove Jesus guilty of sin.  Blasphemy was a convenient excuse to shut Him up.

Why were they so quick to pick up stones at the end of His speech to them?  They wanted to silence His voice so badly they would have used any excuse to kill Him.

In our walk with God do we shut out truths we find unpalitable?  Do we shut ourselves off from light because it hurts our eyes to look?  Are we willing to break the mirror of truth because it shows we are not the fairest in the land making a lie out of the fantasy we’ve built up about our own value?

Our value comes from the fact God loves us, sent His Son to save us; it has absolutely nothing to do with how cool we are.  The reality of those who find Christ and those who reject Him couldn’t be more different than total light and total darkness.  When we walk into the light through the power of Jesus, we see ourselves for who we really are without any airbrush tricks to soften the blow.  At this point we have two choices:  hide our eyes by running back to our dank, dark little caves or falling into the arms of the one who brings us out of such misery.  Make no mistake the end of all rejection of Christ results in misery. 

On the other hand taking our eyes off ourselves brings joy unlimited, if our focus is, of course, Jesus.  We can find no contentment with our spiritual eyes turned inward; no peace when we are worried about our own; no joy or love of life unless we turn our eyes to Jesus.  He is our peace.  He is our joy.

I’VE just had a thought, and though I’m sure it’s been done many times before, I wanted to throw open something that should be fun (as I’m currently working on something similar and I’m having a great time).

SO if you feel like jumping in to this Comment Box Poem, just post in response below! All you really have to do is read what the poet before you has written and see where it takes you!

I have this javame library I have been compiling for a while. It has a lot of small small code snippets and classes I use often, there is a database part where I have tried as much as possible to encapsulate parts of the saving/retrieving parts of RMS, there is also the UI part, which is what I want to talk about today.

This part contains a TickerForm, which is a form that can show scrollable contents pulled from database or URL at intervals(I am yet to finish it) and the second thing is the Controllable form. This form has a Controller that you can use to service the form(just like posting a form through POST). You call the submit() method of the form and the service method of the controller is called. The service method stores the values of items of the form in a Properties object(which is basically a key-value pair). A code is worth more than a thousand words they say, so here we are

/*
* To change this template, choose Tools | Templates
* and open the template in the editor.
*/
package com.trinisoft.atpay.forms;

public void commandAction(Command c, Displayable d) {
if (c.equals(ok)) {
submit();
if(getResponseCode() == 200) {
display.setCurrent(loginForm);
} else {
Alert l = new Alert("Error Occurred",getResponseText(),null,AlertType.ERROR);
display.setCurrent(l,d);
}
} else if (c.equals(cancel)) {
mainForm.notifyDestroyed();
}
}
});
}
}

You should draw your attention to two places, the contructor and the commandAction in the init() method. In the super constructor, you pass in a Controller, the controller have a service method, which handles the forms submit() and stores response-code and reponse-text keys and values in the Properties passed to it. These keys are used in the commandAction to get the response code and value. Any other value(or object for that matter) that you want to send back as response can be stored in the Properties object.

I think this suite of classes would be useful for anyone interested in Java ME development. Try it out and let me know your feedbacks.

Code hosted at www.gitorious.org/~trinisoftinc

ciao

	�
I was reading Aaron Wall’s blog the other day and I found the following post: Do Article Submissions Work for SEO? I get the feeling that Aaron is not a big fan of using article submission for SEO and neither am I, here are 5 good reasons why article submission is a poor link building tactic and why you should publish your best articles on your own site as opposed to article sites: 1/ If you submit the article to an article site and market the article on social media sites, the links will be going to the article site and not your own. 2/ If you submit the article to an article site and it attracts links from other websites, blogs etc. they will be going to the article site and not your own. 3/ If you submit the article to an article site then the search engine traffic will go to the article site, the readers may or may not click the link to your own site. 4/ If your article is great surely you want the readers of your website to be able to read it, if you submit the article to an article site they won’t. 5/ Most article sites are not trusted by the search engines so the links back to your own site will hold little if any weight. Publishing informative articles on your own website and marketing them on social media and press release sites etc. is a great SEO tactic and the rewards can be plentiful. Publishing the article on your own site and article sites is a complete waste of time as article sites generally generate very little traffic and only one copy of the article will be counted by the search engines. 26/07/09 Update: This article has been so popular that I have decided to update it for you all and add some extra information about how to do article submission properly and where to submit to. I still stand by all 5 of my reasons. How to do article submission properly 1/ Don’t post anything really decent that stands a chance of getting links to an article directory, publish the good stuff on your own site in a blog or articles category and publish all of your OK articles on article directories. 2/ Don’t publish any of your articles in more then 1 place. This one rule will help you on so many different levels with SEO. If someone re-publishes your article then that’s fine, but don’t go out of your way to get an article published twice, only one copy will rank in the search engines and pass weight to your site. 3/ Make sure the article directory you are submitting to provides dofollow links and add a keyword text link or two to your author signature, my ones usually come out looking something like this: Generally speaking you should not add links to your pages in the main content area – Ezine Articles and quite a few others nofollow these links so they won’t pass weight there, plus your article will probably come off as being less professional because you will have plugged yourself. The only time this is OK is if you are linking to something that genuinely ads value to your article, like what you can see by viewing the article below: How To Get Traffic And Links To Your Blog 4/ Don’t go mad with it, if you are trying to SEO a regular site like this one, then 1 per month is more then enough. If you have a huge holiday website or something with lots of categories to rank, then maybe do one a week, any more time then that spent on it will be wasted. 5/ Use the very best article directories that you can get published at and never submit more then two articles to each one, once you have a couple of links from an article directory don’t use it again, find new ones because the links will count more. Here are links to my top 4 general article directories to get you started: http://www.xooarticles.com	�
Email: congtran@vnbmedia.com

Tags:�� X�search engine optimisation , X�article submission , X�free article submission ,

]]> http://sarahbaram.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/fear/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:00:35 +0000 sarahbaram http://sarahbaram.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/fear/

I am by no means an actress. At fourteen years old, I dabbled in the art. I wrote a Shakespearean themed play to act out with a friend on a stage in front of parents, teachers and classmates. My monotone lines and blank stare were enough to scare me away. It just was not for me. I prefer to write the lines, and watch others perform. I’m a puppeteer; I run the show.

One might attribute my lack of acting skills to stage fright. It is an easy excuse. “My lines suffered from my stage fright.” No, thank you. I just cannot act. Now, you may presently be thinking: “What in hell does this have to do with writing?”

Everything.

Page fright, publication fright, whatever you would like to call it. It is the reason you have yet to submit a piece of your work to any type of publication.  You are afraid of rejection, of not being good enough. Who knows, you may not be.

Rejection means everything. It is the water to your seed of writing. You may pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming, what I am telling you is not a nightmare. Without rejection, you will be lead to think your writing does not need room to grow. It does, all writing needs room to grow. Rejection forces it to do so.

My first submission to a literary magazine took place at Rider University two years ago. I sat in my dorm, horrified. I had the guidelines in one screen, and my pieces in others. I refused to pick what to send to the magazine, I was afraid of what the outcome would be. I forced myself to submit a short story, and various poems. Not everything was accepted. To my surprise, that was thrilling. I was forced to confront the fact that my writing has yet to become perfect.

Now, I am daring you. Write a short story; write it about anything. Then, when you have tortured every last sentence to your idea of perfection, search for a literary magazine currently accepting submissions.

Submit.

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="postback.aspx.cs" Inherits="postback" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
    <title>Events and Postback</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
        <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" OnClick="Button1_Click" Text="Button 1" />
        <asp:Button ID="Button2" runat="server" OnClick="Button2_Click" Text="Button 2" />
        </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Collections;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

public partial class postback : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }
    protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        TextBox1.Text = "1";
    }
    protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        TextBox1.Text = "2";
    }
}

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head><title>
	Events and Postback
</title></head>
<body>
    <form name="form1" method="post" action="postback.aspx" id="form1">
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwUKMTk0MTQ1MTcxMWRkFKmiofOm3t+a1FeTyiSsorNM4sk=" />
</div>

<div>

	<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTVALIDATION" id="__EVENTVALIDATION" value="/wEWBAKWt63zDALs0bLrBgKM54rGBgK7q7GGCNoGUvTkiMJt3F6eDcqfS57GMOdl" />
</div>
    <div>
        <input name="TextBox1" type="text" id="TextBox1" />
        <input type="submit" name="Button1" value="Button 1" id="Button1" />
        <input type="submit" name="Button2" value="Button 2" id="Button2" />
        </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="postback.aspx.cs" Inherits="postback" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
    <title>Events and Postback</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">
    <div>
        <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
        <asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" OnClick="Button1_Click" Text="Button 1" UseSubmitBehavior="False" />
        <asp:Button ID="Button2" runat="server" OnClick="Button2_Click" Text="Button 2" />
        </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

[This is same as the previous server code]

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head><title>
	Events and Postback
</title></head>
<body>
    <form name="form1" method="post" action="postback.aspx" id="form1">
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTTARGET" id="__EVENTTARGET" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTARGUMENT" id="__EVENTARGUMENT" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwUKMTk0MTQ1MTcxMWRkFKmiofOm3t+a1FeTyiSsorNM4sk=" />
</div>

<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
var theForm = document.forms['form1'];
if (!theForm) {
    theForm = document.form1;
}
function __doPostBack(eventTarget, eventArgument) {
    if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
        theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
        theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
        theForm.submit();
    }
}
//]]>
</script>

<div>

	<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTVALIDATION" id="__EVENTVALIDATION" value="/wEWBAKWt63zDALs0bLrBgKM54rGBgK7q7GGCNoGUvTkiMJt3F6eDcqfS57GMOdl" />
</div>
    <div>
        <input name="TextBox1" type="text" id="TextBox1" />
        <input type="button" name="Button1" value="Button 1" onclick="javascript:__doPostBack('Button1','')" id="Button1" />
        <input type="submit" name="Button2" value="Button 2" id="Button2" />
        </div>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string eventControlName = Request.Params.Get("__EVENTTARGET");
        string eventArguments = Request.Params.Get("__EVENTARGUMENT");

    }

The quicker you’re able to learn to submit to others, the quicker your recovery process will be.

Let’s define the term first: 

sub·mit

v. sub·mit·ted, sub·mit·ting, sub·mits

1. To yield or surrender (oneself) to the will or authority of another.

2. To subject to a condition or process.

3. To commit (something) to the consideration or judgment of another.

4. To offer as a proposition or contention

WE WANT TO BE IN CONTROL
People who are steeped in sexual sin are masters of control.  They have secrets to keep and they have to control their environment and actions so their secrets don’t get out. 

Sexual behaviors are often about control.  A person is in control of their fantasies and their porn use.  They try to control others and manufacture sexual scenarios.  

People with sexual sin are selfish, self-absorbed, and arrogant.  Lust by it’s nature is selfish

Society tells us to be in control.  Our peers tell us to be in control.  The media tells us to be in control. 

BUT WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL
Somewhere in the recovery process, it hits us that we are not in control.  Maybe a hard patch of consequences reminds us.  Maybe we lose our job.  Maybe we relapse.  This is a great place to be. 

Before, we were arrogant, self-centered, and self-absorbed.  But when we start to grow we start to look for the help of others and from God.  This is the beginning place of humility.  This is the beginning place of submission. 

Realizing there are many things you can’t control is a tough spot.  It is counter culture.  It goes against the grain.  Nobody likes to admit they don’t know what to do. 

 Lies You’ll Hear – Be careful when you get to this place!  This is where a lot of lies set in.  The lie that says, “your situation is hopeless”.  The lie that says, “you are alone”.  The lie that says, “you can’t talk about this.”  The lie that says, “you are a failure.” 

WE NEED TO TURN OVER CONTROL
The critical point in our sexual purity and recovery happens when we submit to others and to God.  Let others speak into your life.  Others have been through the same things and have a lot of wisdom.  Others can identify with you.  Others can help you with your blind spots.  Others can help you get through the humps and the struggles. 

 Look for:

1. Other men or women who share your struggle
2. Skilled hands who can help you – counselors, pastors
3. Your spouse
4. God Himself

Submitting to these people says, “I am powerless to fix it, but you can help.”  Submission is a place where we listen and learn.  It is a place where we get busy writing stuff down in our notebooks or journals.  It is where we start buying books, listening to podcasts, reading the Porn to Purity Blog J, going to Intensive Counseling sessions…

When we give up control, God can do His best work.  Others can be quite valuable in helping you grow.

As some of you may or may not know, I am in between jobs as we moved 16 weeks back from Dubai here to Vancouver and this was a move in faith where we followed God’s leading. In the last few months, I have been looking for work and it’s been a long but blessed journey as I see doors close and new ones open. Through all of this, we have been praying for God’s leading and his discernment in this area and yesterday was a low in the process as I lost an opportunity to a better candidate after many rounds of interviews. As you can expect, our first thoughts were to feel bitter and shaken by this but as we spent time in God’s word and in prayer, we found the Lord speaking to us through Isaiah 40 where we are reminded to ‘Wait on the Lord’ and that we are doing.

Today’s passage spoke to my heart because it reminded me that we need to seek God regardless of our challenges. Can you picture the impossibility of how these 4 people who were carrying the paralytic man could get him across to Jesus? The fact that the place was full and they could not get Jesus’ attention in the normal way did not deter them from getting Jesus to heal the paralytic. They struggled to make a hole in the roof and bring the man before Jesus and this was what moved Jesus to heal the man because of their faith. Today I am reminded that we need to pour out our needs before God regardless of the challenges that are before us and he will bless us in his time. The paralysis was permitted in the man for God’s act of healing as is every issue and challenge in our lives. We are called to pour out our issues before God and ask in faith but we can only do that if we willing to be shameless and willing to show our brokenness. Are you? I certainly am and I know that our Jehovah Jireh will change my struggle to a blessing in his time.

The Needy Man

Hebrews 13:17 (NIV):

17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

One of my greatest fears about following Christ is my evidence of faith when the rubber meets the road and tough times come storming into my life. I always wonder if I will have the strength to carry on and live by the faith which I now live by. It seems that the disciples were in the same situation when they were asked by Jesus to go to Galilee after His resurrection. When Jesus called them, they left everything they had including family, careers, homes and all to follow Him but when Jesus was captured and flogged, they ran for their lives. Even Peter who promised Jesus to be by his side regardless of the outcome denied Him 3 times before the rooster crowed. What then is the use of saying we have submitted our lives to Christ and where is he calling us?

Over the years, I have learned that as long as we are ourselves, we can never really be faithful followers of Christ because we are sinful by nature and our inner selves want nothing more than to appease ourselves. However, when we hand over the reins of our existence to Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells in us and directs us, but we still have an option to obey or not. The disciples were called to Galilee and they went, some with real doubts, but when they obeyed and accepted Jesus’ commissioning for them, their belief was transformed and they became pillars of faith that today we look up to. What Jesus is asking us to do today is to leave our problems, issues and worries to him and to simply obey him. When we do, he will transform us into his likeness and show us a new life with new meaning which we never had and also give us the faith we need to follow him. Obedience and submission is key.

Vineet

Mystery Flower

Later in the evening on OTK nights a side room is opened up.  In it is a bondage bed that’s the perfect height for strapping and caning.  We had waited because said bed was perfect for the scene we wanted to do.  Rad and Sandy brought the strap pictured below, with them.

(This post includes a picture of an implement below the tag)

For the longest time, holes in any implement were a hard limit for me.  Saturday night I wanted to be pushed a bit.  This strap and the thick heavy cane were perfect for that.  It started with the strap, and over my pants.  The first stroke wasn’t terribly hard, but a few in, there was a really hard one.  He told me to let him know what was right, but I didn’t really say anything, leaving it up to him to choose the severity.  There was a part of me that wanted to shake my head and say lighter, but I wanted it hard, and even more so, I want him to do what he wanted.  I wanted it too, but I wanted to submit to it, rather than dictate it.

He strapped me for a while but only over my pants.  I had already been spanked twice, caned once, and belted once, and soon it was time for something even harder.  I kicked my shoes off because for some reason, I felt really restricted with them on.  I didn’t want to be naked, but I didn’t want shoes on my feet.  I continued to hold onto the front edge of the bed thing, and when he stopped I relaxed a bit, and stretched my fingers.  He put the strap down and pulled my pants and panties right down  to my knees.  That’s around the time I started getting really headspacey.  I had taken six from the thick cane before but never more, and I wasn’t sure if I could.  I knew I would, but I wasn’t sure how it would feel, or how I would react.

The strokes started hard and got harder.  It wasn’t a joke, not that I thought it was, but it was clear from the beginning how it would be.  I didn’t even contemplate reaching back and kept my grip on the wooden edge of the bed.  There were a few times when I raised up or moved a bit, but I wanted to take it.  I wanted to take it well.  I wanted to take whatever he was going to do, even if I didn’t like it right then.  There was one specific stroke that any other time, probably would have signaled to me that I was done, I’d reached my moment and was ready to be finished.  Right before this stroke, he had leaned down and said to me “I’m not done with you.  We’re going to stop when I want to stop.”  I nodded and we continued.  After that stroke, instead of stopping it, I wanted to take it.  It landed square on my thigh – not lower butt, not sit spot, but right smack at the top of my thigh.  He paused, checked the spot and rubbed it a bit and said to me “I’m not going to hit there again.”  That’s part of what made me want to take it.  I knew he wouldn’t, because he said he wouldn’t, but had he wanted to, I’d have taken it.  I had to take it.  It just was, and I wanted that.

I was ready to submit.  I started crying during a brief flurry of a few that fell rapidly after each other, but never was I out and out sobbing.  It hurt, but I wanted to submit, and submit to what he wanted to do.  Not long after he told me we were going until he wanted to stop, did it end.  It took a little while to register in my mind and he knelt next to me and stroked my hair until I returned to earth (from God knows where).  He asked if I was ok and I nodded.  I’m sure I looked pretty startling, but I felt amazing.  Eventually, I sat up and he gave me my shoes.

So how did I end up feeling at the end? Content, peaceful, and submissive.  I felt right, and grounded.  I wanted to be quiet, and still and sit by his feet, my head on his leg. For logistic reasons, that wasn’t really possible.  Instead, he sat down next to me on the bed-table thing and held me.  I was proud of myself for taking it, as it was a pretty hard scene overall, but more-so I was proud of doing what I wanted to do, which was to submit, and give up control.  To have it be his will and decisions that dictated the scene, not mine.

Once more Jesus said to them,  I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.  Where I go, you cannot come.  John 8:21.

The Jews’ immediate reaction, of course, was to think of the worst thing Jesus could do to make Himself completely unavailable to them.  Last night as I thought about this text, I wondered what their teachings were on suicide because that was their first thought when He proclaimed they wouldn’t be able to find Him,  “Will He kill Himself?”  Considering the common perception of it when I was young, suicide was an unpardonable sin since the person committed self murder and would never be able to repent from such a crime.

If the Jews felt the same way about suicide, then Jesus saying He would be somewhere they couldn’t access Him meant that special place of hell where those who kill themselves go, or may be it just meant hell itself.  The point is, of course, they completely missed or ignored the last part of the sentence “…you will die in your sin” which would have put them beyond anyone else’s reach for all eternity.

But Jesus won’t let them off the hook on this one because the truth He had to say was far too important to let it go.

“You are from below; I am from above.  You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Pretty blunt, don’t ya think?  Yet they wanted Him to clarify even further, which was simply a ruse to denounce Him to the public as a blasphemer.  I’m starting to get the picture here that Jesus never named Himself as the Messiah precisely because He knew these people would destroy Him moments after the words were out of His mouth.  Which is strange, really, since self-proclaimed messiahs were cropping up constantly in Israel at that time and no one bothered to go take them down.  Instead, He made them focus on the miracles, His blameless life and every other shred of evidence from Scripture they all knew identified the Messiah’s work and character.

Yet they refused to believe, not out of lack of evidence, mind you, but from lack of desire.  The more I read their objections, the more I come to the conclusion these men didn’t want to be saved from sin but exalted as a nation to rule over the world as it is, with just a little sin to keep it interesting.  In other words, they wanted what they considered the “gross sins” eliminated but were more interested in power than true righteousness.  The church has been the same, for the most part, down through the ages.  We want sin dealt with in what we consider its distasteful forms but wouldn’t mind keeping those we don’t think are harmful around.  In our own country we argue for the American Dream as if it’s something God gave us and holy.  I’ve heard plenty of pastors stand for “America the way it used to be” pointedly ignoring the oppression of other races, the inequality of classes and sexes, and host of other social norms that hurt and isolated people from God because of a poor perception of the gospels.

D. James Kennedy and Focus on the Family fought politically for a return to old-fashioned American values without ever acknowledging that these self-same cultural norms allowed for pretty messed up thinking about sex, religion in general and race relations.  But argue for the tradition these men will, either ignoring the downside or being ignorant of what they’re saying.  The world hears the message of these preachers of “traditional” values as a call to go back to slavery and oppression, though I doubt any of them mean that when they are speaking.  I know James Dobson condemns oppression and hate speech on his radio show, but calling for a return to the 50s ethics is not a call to wisdom but ignorance, social facades and a host of lies we told ourselves during this period about who and what we are.

The message of Jesus never meant to combine world government with Christian values because they were and always will be incompatible in their goals.  God will rule the world sans sin and evil as an option.  Human ”supremacy” will go away in the light of God’s take over of everything.

Jesus didn’t come to judge humanity Himself but to save it.  Yet the Word He spoke and work He did left little room for wiggle room away from the contrast between God’s Way and human desires.  By shining a light in our dark cave of human interest Jesus automatically pronounced judgment on our thoughts and actions by default.  The Father used Jesus’ example and mission to throw a light on the world of His own people, the children of Israel, to display to all who wanted God that nothing less than a supernatural intervention could change the nature of humanity.

Then Jesus goes prophetic,  “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be, and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.  The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”

They wouldn’t recognize Jesus until they crucified Him, though they still wouldn’t grasp God’s message—or, if they did, they would rebel against it in favor of their own interpretation.

Take this as a cautionary tale:  Don’t cling to our own understanding so hard that we refuse truth when it hits us square in the face on any level.

This is about submitting to a list rather than a forms library.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc162745.aspx#ip2007SubmitDataSPList_OverviewofSubmittingDatafromInfoPathForms

Every weekday at 6pm Andy Hall picks a listeners “Pick 6″ that they submitted on Lazer1033.com and brings them on-air to talk about why they chose the songs they did.  This has quickly become a listener favorite.  The sponsoring client receives mentions and presence on Lazer1033.com

Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) that God sends His rain on the just and unjust alike.  In other words He blesses us whether we are open to Him or not; whether we accept Him or not; whether we receive His blessings or not.

This doesn’t mean He forces us to receive what He gives.  On the contrary God’s love rains out the blessing equally, it is a sign of our openness to Him how much of it we receive.  If I believe everything in the world has a sinister twist, I will see God’s blessing as a double-edged sword. 

Cynicism has no place in the attitude of gratitude.

We are called vessels for a reason.  All of us are designed to be filled with God to overflowing.  Yet only some of us open ourselves up to God completely, most others partially or not at all.  Those who open up to God completely receive the blessing to overflowing and begin raining on other lives within their spere of influence. 

Those partially open fill up slower and many times envy those who’s lives are overflowing.  The partially open people think somehow God is playing favorites, though it’s not true.  He doesn’t play favorites amongst His children because He loves them all equally—the just and unjust alike.  The only difference between those who fully receive God’s giftings and those who don’t is their level of trust and willingness to open their hearts to Him.

Those closed off to God merely hear the rain pounding on the outside of their lid.  Some might have so many layers of stone (refer to Ezekiel 18) between them and God they don’t even hear the rain pouring down from heaven.  What gets into their cup only seeps in through cracks found in their self-sustained armor—depending on its “weather” tightness.

God wants to bless us and give us everything of Himself.  We don’t have to pray for the Spirit to “rain on down on us” because God sent the Spirit to the world long ago.  It isn’t a matter of us begging God to bless us, as if He’s needs wheedling or persuasion, but one of us begging Him to open our hearts to receive what He’s already giving.

What brought this to mind was a worship set I did this last weekend.  We sing about “Holy Spirit rain down…” like somehow our request will open the floodgates of heaven, when all along God is raining down the showers of blessing and we are either too blind, deaf or closed off to sense it.  So our spiritual condition is nothing more than our own ability to receive God.  If we’ve only made enough room in our spiritual house for Him hang in the living room or kitchen, that’s all the blessing we’ll be able to hold.  If we open the whole house to Him, every area will be blessed with His presence, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is life, joy and freedom.

As the father of the  demon-possessed boy begged Jesus,  “Lord, I believe!  Help my unbelief!”  Instead of persuading God to bless us, may be we should pray for a receptive spirit, open heart and willingness to house the Holy One, for this is where the blessing lies in its totality:  the presence of God.

He spoke these words near the place where the offerings were put.  Yet no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come.  John 8:20.

So you have written a good story. I think I have written a few too (not the ones on this blog!). Now we want it to get published. Not for the money, but for the credit. Now we have to write the cover letter to accompany the story we’re sending in. Let the ass kissing begin. I hate writing these. No matter how much time you spend on it, you’ll still have to wait months for a response. Months where you’re walking around paranoid, pondering whether or not the letter was too friendly or too funny.

I have browsed through many a query letter and I think I have the recipe.

You should start with the address etc, but I’m not sending anything via snail mail, so it doesn’t apply on e-mails. It’s almost 2010 and the average response time is a few months. I would also have to buy stamps and envelopes etc. Too much of a hassle…

Start with Dear, (name or magazine)

Then write: Please consider the following xxxx-word story, ‘‘title of the story,’’ and then try to give the synopsis in one sentence. (Surprisingly many places don’t accept genre stuff, so be careful about using too specific terms)

Then you write two or three sentences on how you love their magazine or website (wherever you are submitting). Explain to them why your story is suitable for them and tell them if you have published anything earlier.

Don’t think that you have to kiss ass, but the sad fact is that you have to acknowledge that you are a piece of shit and that they pretend to be God. They hold the keys to your success and it sucks to have to admit it. We all know the truth, so let’s play along until we have enough stuff published. Then we can tell them to go fuck themselves… –Am I right?

Have a really good DS Clip that you want to share? Or do you have one that needs fixing? Submit it in a comment here. please quote the DS and nothing else. Credit will be given to you for DS fixed/finished by me.

Leaning toward the mirror with one hand on the vanity,  getting ready to go back “one more time” I inspect my face.  Applying concealer to the spot above my lip on the left side, right above my mouth from the crease of my lips, up about an inch…     Purple with dots of red and yellow - I blot it with a thick, creamy ivory concealer, I rub it in.  I see in the mirror a dark bruise, I realize from my reflection… I bruise easily.

I put on more eyeshadow and mascara to be consistent with the whorish amount of concealer and cover-up I have on as a mask.  Still wearing the brown T shirt and torn mini skirt I left his apartment in.  Like a flash i recall when  he asked me while we were still laying naked in bed if it hurt me when I leave him.  I said, “no, i just don’t think about you.”  He said, “I’ll have to try that trick.”  We drank our coffee and talked about books.  I got dressed back in the clothes I arrived in, only taking a pair of my panties out of his drawer that I left the time before.  As we walked to the door he took his camera off the tripod and became my paparazzi once again.  He kissed me simply and lovingly as I said, “I’ll see you later tonight, just one more time.” He smiled.  I told him good-bye and shut the door.

Battle wounds on my face, nicely covered up from his ravaging last night.  He was, as I told him would be the title of my book some day, Vulgarly Romantic.  I distinctly remember my most pleasurable moment:  We were on his bed, he on top, in the midst of our positions while reacquainting ourselves, our bodies - the physical and intimate fork in the road.  He repeatedly shoved his enormous and hard cock so deep inside me that I was in pain before pleasure, my organs were being pierced and pounded fiercely.  I was crawling up the bed on my back moaning from the rearrangement that was occurring.  The palms of my feet involuntarily found themselves pushing against the toppest part of his thies attempting to push this… this…  I don’t know, maybe Caveman… but push his thrusts backwards and my body upwards to ease this transaction.  He became a wild beast searching for prey, instinctively knowing from this action of mine that I was a wounded baby tiger.  He roared. laid his heavy, strong chiseled body on top of mine, quickly rolling over my feet and legs to straighten them so he could continue to consume his new victim.  Raping me, even tho I persisted.  The pain was so great I wanted him to cum, knowing this, he refused with empowering delight.  I could feel his kiss on my mouth, making me cum and soak his newly batchellored sheets. He looked at me and engulfed my mouth with his, then leaned back with his back straight, still fucking me… I put my hands on what I call his “fuck muscles” and focused on his eyes.  Completely submitting to him from this gesture more so than with the heavy slap to my face that made a trace of blood come about the crease in my mouth I touched his face and brought him to me.

I set my nude lipstick on the counter next to the sink and took a step back from the mirror pleased with my transformation.  I wash my hands and the make up I mixed on the back of my hand… seeing the colors go down the drain like the memory of last night.  I remove my war attire and get my suit out of the closet, carefully dressing so not to smear any prejudices on anything I take to work.  Wondering how I will go on with my secret as just my own, knowing I can do nothing other than that.  Guilty for giving in to Man, but content with being true to myself.

What do you make of Empire of the Sun? The band, not the book (excellent) or film (haven’t seen). Personally I find the singer’s voice a little irritating. Not sure why I brought that up…

Oh, yes. We are the people. “We” being your ever-loving exec, who are the people who will all be writing on this here blog. We will be posting our views on all sorts of things, including new and reviews, plus of course the latest society doings.

If you’ve got a piece you’d like to see up here in sparkly lights, just email it to us via the usual website.

The reviews should be formatted something like this…

Film Title (director, year of release) Score out of 5 stars!

[Insert your review here!]

I’ll post one of mine shortly.

Cheers, y’all.

David

(President)

done

We can build our lives upon many different things. It may be a hobby or a relationship, an experience or a religion. When these things become our priority, it is these that our lives become rooted in. They become our foundation and if that foundation is not stable and reliable, then the whole house is placed at risk of collapse.

I was once drawn to a Psalm that it seems apt to address here. It draws a distinct contrast between two different lifestyles. In Psalm 1 it says ‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night,’ [v.1-2].

This man is choosing to live in a godly way. He keeps good company, he takes delight in the living righteously and following Gods commands and he even takes deep consideration over the law of God. The word meditate in today’s language has many connotations but it simply means ‘to chew on or over.’ Some people say that we are supposed to chew our food 15-20 times before swallowing to ensure that we properly digest our food and get all the goodness out of it. It is the same with God’s word, the Bible. It is very easy to read a passage because it’s that time of the day, or that day of the week, and we easily dilute its power because we do not allow the word of God to take deep root; we are not chewing over the word.

I love the simile that is depicted here for describing this man. ‘He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper,’ [v.3].  This man has deep roots, but not only are they deep, they are also in a good supply; in the rivers of water. This supply produces three beneficial outcomes, according to the Psalmist. Firstly, this person is producing fruit, as any tree should. Good things are coming out of this man’s life. The positive seed which he has chosen to cultivate produces good fruit in his life. Secondly, his leaf does not wither. All deciduous trees go through cycles each year of the dying and reproducing of leaves, but this man’s leaves do not wither. Why? Because he is connected to a good supply; a supply that does not waver like the signal on the mobile phone, but is consistent, reliable and never fails. Thirdly, whatever he does shall prosper. Imagine if that in all you pursued you would not fail but rather prosper. Prospering does not necessarily mean living lavishly, having a big car, big house and beautiful wife. More simply it means ‘that it goes well with you.’ When our actions and attitudes come out of our link to the power supply of God, then we can trust that the Lord will direct our paths and it will go well for us.

That man fully depended upon the supply of that metaphorical river and as a result experienced tremendous benefits to his every day life. He was not confident in his own resources or vain in thinking that his way was best, but rather submitted himself to a greater supply, humbling himself to God’s ultimate provision.  As new-born babies we depend entirely on our carer for everything. We cannot feed ourselves, clothe ourselves or even wash ourselves; someone has to help us. As we grow older, we gradually become more and more self-sufficient and we are able to provide and support ourselves. However, as we become more senior in years, we become less able and begin once again to depend on others.

My mom recently recounted how, when taking my grandparents out in the car for the day, she had to help them into their seats, help them with their seatbelts and even put the safety lock on the electric windows so that they would not be inadvertently shocked by a sudden blast of air! The man in the Psalm however learned to lean on a greater supply regardless of his age or ability. It didnt matter that he could have been self-sufficient, he decided to submit himself to a life-supply he knew nothing else could offer. 1 Peter 2v1 says, ‘Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.’

God’s supply is always there for us. The river is always running; it never dries up. The word of God, the Bible, can be our life-supply. It can be the solid ground upon which our lives can be established and our roots can remain strong.

Just briefly let us consider the contrasting lifestyle described in this verse 4 of this Psalm. ‘The ungodly are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.’  In the dictionary the word chaff means ‘anything light and worthless.’ In sharp contrast, the ungodly man isn’t connected to the river and in fact doesn’t appear to have any roots at all, but is rather blown about, being shaken by every circumstance that comes his way, unable to depend upon anything accept his own efforts and performance. He fails to humble himself to anybody’s help or instruction, but is rather vainly puffed up in his own opinions, attitudes and ideas, under the deception that he always knows best.

So the question comes to us. Which man do we most identify with? Do we have roots and if so what are they in? When difficulties come our way how do we respond? Does God’s word rise up within and its power made manifest in what could be dismal situations or are we blown about, knocked down and overcome by difficulties? We can build our lives upon all sorts of foundations, but will those foundations remain strong under pressure and last into eternity?