So far this summer,

Gosh! May has melted into June already!

I'm not sure if it was the heat or the rain. Idaho's weather has been all
over the map. We have seen highs in the 60's one day and 80 to 90 the next.
We even had more rain-fall in one day than we usually get for the entire
month! (Maybe that will mean that the rest of the month will be warm and
dry? But don't count on it!)

The girls had a camping trip last week-end. They went up with the church
youth group and had a good time. They pitched tents in good weather and
packed things up in the rain. Needless to say they got back in dampened
spirits. They had hoped to have more fun than it turned out to be.

Pilar and I celebrated our 18'th wedding anniversary (on the day that it
rained all day) We had a wonderful time helping a friend pack all her
belongings and move them to storage. That is like a minus ten on the
romantic scale, but it was the right thing to do, even if the timing could
have and should have been better.

I drove school bus for a couple weeks (again) because the school year for
the local school district ended three weeks latter than my college classes
did. Meanwhile, I'd gotten an e-mail about a position open at a near-by
water park called Roaring Springs. I was interviewed and hired! This is
the answer to many prayers. It is a full time job that is seasonal and I
can return to it every summer until I'm finished with school. It will also
allow me some opportunity to apply the skills I am being taught.

I guess mom & dad have had a real trying time… ask her about their water woe's!
They hired a guy to come in and install a lawn sprinkler system. They knew
there was a tap for the water somewhere, but in all these years of living
there they had never been able to find it. After cutting the power and
phone lines to the shop and house, and digging up about half the yard I hear
they finally discovered that the tap was buried under their front steps. In
the mean time, their phones and internet access was down. Mom had to have
her lap-top set-up to run off my wireless here at home so she could keep up
with her work. She isn't allowed to return to work just yet since the knee
surgery, so she has done the mobile office thing and connects via the net to
her pc at work. That way she can still get her work done even if it means
putting up with being around her grandchildren instead of cranky office
co-workers; reclining on the sofa instead of bolt upright in a flimsy task
chair; having home cooked meals instead of fast food; and listing to some
TV, radio or water fountain gurgle in the back-ground as opposed to a lot of
chatter and telephone ringing and printers whirring and clicking. Rumor has
it that she just might be ready to get the other knee done about the time
the new school years starts up… ;-)

Pilar has been able to keep her time card filled. Maybe too much?! They
are two people short in a four-man office. In order to compensate they
shifted from four ten-hour shifts per week to five 8-hour shifts. The good
news is that they can cover all the days this way, the bad news is that they
can't get ten hours worth of work done in just 8 hours. It has caused her a
lot of stress. She is a very thorough worker. Leaving a job where only the
higher priority stuff has gotten finished is not her style. She has no job
satisfaction from a job like that! That, as well as the pressure to do more
in less time, has put a tremendous load on her.

Summers are always a blur of activities. The Mercedes is up for sale at a
local car lot. They took it on a consignment basis. A neighbor might be
interested in buying the trailer dad gave me several years ago. I told him
he could make me an offer. I would be just as happy with something about
half the size right now.

Well that is about all that is going on around here… what has your family
been up too? I'd love to hear from you too!

In Memory of our Trops Today.

In Memory of our Troops!

 

Then and Now.

 

Today is Memorial Day 2007.  We are at war in Iraq.  Our troops are in harms way and many people just want to see it end, to bring them home.  They do not see the point of this war and just want to be done with it.  In keeping with this day of remembering, I thought I'd remind some of you how all this began.

 

Go back to July 1990.  Saddam Hussein is the military dictator of Iraq.  He rose to power under the Ba'th party and hates the Shi'ites.  He has been at war against Iran, but suddenly abandons that in favor of Kuwait.  He accuses Kuwait of essentially stealing their oil and on Aug 2'nd commands his troops to occupy the smaller and more vulnerable Kuwait to their south.

 

 

The UN immediately condemned these actions and a coalition was assembled against him.  Operation Desert Shield commenced which consisted mainly of economic sanctions.  These did not work, and on January 15'th 1991 the allied forces of the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, and others… turned Desert Shield into Desert Storm commencing with an air campaign and precision bombing attacks.

 [ On a side note:  It is interesting that the price of gasoline in these allied nations has risen to between 3 and 7 dollars a gallon, while in Arab nations it is still under a dollar a gallon.  How did that happen?]

 

Hussein responded with big words, threats and acts of terror.  He called on all Muslims to unite in a "Holy War" against the West (US) and defined us as the satanic enemy.  He had 39 Soviet-made "Scud" missiles launched at Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem in spite of the fact the Israel was staying neutral in this war!

 

Hussein had the pipelines breached and spilled Kuwaiti oil into the sea in hopes of polluting the water for other Arab Nations.  He also had 365 out of 700 oil wells burned.

 

 

 

 

The oil wells burned for about 8 months before they could be extinguished.  It was dubbed "Ecco-Terror" and worst man-made disaster of all time.  The smoke plume was thick, dark, and stayed close to the ground fouling the air.  Kuwait got the brunt of it.  The smoke choked out the sun for up to 1500 miles away and was clearly visible from space.

 

This view up the Persian Gulf from the Qatar Peninsula into southern Iraq (25.5N, 51.0E) shows an excursion of the smoke plumes from the Kuwait oil fires set during the short Persian Gulf War. Smoke from the fires north of Kuwait City, extends across the Persian Gulf while a larger smoke plume from the southern fires heads into southern Saudi Arabia before beginning to spread out and become more diffuse

 

[ Side Note:  During the eight month period about six million barrels of crude oil and about 85 million cubic meters of natural gas were burned each day!  And yet the environmental & human health effects of these fires were MUCH less significant than expected.  In fact, numerous studies found that concentrations of most harmful airborne chemicals like VOCs, PAHs, and heavy metals were lower in Kuwait City and at American military bases just miles from the fires than in major cities in the United States!]

 

On February 23'rd the ground war started, Desert Storm was now if full force.  However the Iraq forces were decimated and fled in short order.  By February 27'th, (just four days latter) all our major objectives had been achieved.  Iraq had been kicked out of Kuwait, and our troops were halted at the boarders.

 

Hussein remained in Baghdad.  He was supposed to comply with UN inspectors and allows us the assurance that he would not attempt to collect or create weapons of mass destruction, but he did not.  He obstructed the efforts of the UN Weapons inspectors, ultimately banning them from accessing anything.  Economic sanctions were again employed with no greater success than before.  

 

Meanwhile, the best foothold our troops could enjoy, was at the hospitality of the Saudi-Arabians.  And these boys made life a little less than comfortable for our troops.  We could not enjoy the diversity of freedoms that we have come to know on our own soil,  especially those freedoms of religious expression.  One thing I know about our military, they do not care for being dictated to by anyone other than the commander and chief!

 

So why are we still fighting in Iraq?  In a word, Saddam Hussein.  He gave place to terror and to terrorist's.  Via radical Muslim doctrines, doctrines of hate and death to all Westerners (US), we find ourselves defending our freedoms, our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, on foreign soil.

 

   

 

The question we all have to ask ourselves is this:  Is it better to fight this war over here or over there?  Should American soil be scorched like this?

 

 

And how do you fight such a war?  Do we use weapons or do we use diplomacy, words, and actions to combat the ideas born in religious doctrines?

 

 

In my opinion you have to do both.  Military action is required to deal with suicide bombers, snipers, car bombs and other terrorist activities.  (The few rotten apples in the barrel.)  But the freedoms we enjoy here are not exclusive to American soil.  They are Basic Human Rights which all people should be able to enjoy, everywhere.

 

We brought down Saddam Hussein.  We brought down a dictatorship.  The Iraqi people have held an election and are starting to enjoy both the liberty and responsibilities of freedom.  This part of the war will only be won given time and the proper use of diplomacy.  Our words and our actions have to send out a message, a message which is more powerful and better thought out than the ideas behind the Muslim doctrines of hate and death toward all Westerns.

 

And in the process we might just find a better foothold for our troops and military bases in a more American-friendly nation as a result.  It would suit our Military.  It would suit American interests (in keeping oil prices down) and would allows us to continue aid to a new budding nation.  Democracy in an Arab/Muslim nation… that has never happened before has it?

Keep our troops and their commanders in your prayers.

 

-Dan Willey.

 

 

 

 

 

This month.

-=-=-

 

What a month I've had!  It started with Pilar and her gal-bladder surgery.  Then we payed a visit to the ER when one of her 'stitches opened up.  About the time she was back on her feet, my mom had a knee replaced & came here after being released from the hospital.  We live in a nice flat house with no stairs... unless you come up here to the office.  So I've been running for meds, paying visits to the hospital and trips to the physical therapy for the last two weeks.  Today Amanda was seen by Quick Care, the ER and an Optomologist... she had bumped her head off the rock ceiling in Kuna Cave last saturday and had been experiencing periodic headaches ever since...  she may have a mild concussion!

 

-=-=-

 

I was near exhausted today after all the running around.  I went to sleep around 8 but Pilar woke me up when she came in.  After that I had trouble getting back to sleep so I came up to the office.  I always check my e-mail... and I have plenty of class work to be getting on with.  But the rain tonight is enough to keep anyone awake.  It start to drizzle a bit around noon.  That cleared off but darker clouds could be seen looming in the distance.  By evening it had tried to rain in earnest, but subsided once more.  As I lay on the bed almost asleep it started to really pour down, that was when I decided to make a hot cup of tea and try to get some studying in.

 

-=-=-

 

I have had several different ones vist my cache "Peace of Junk", it is a very easy find and not too terribly difficult to reach.  Only one logged visit to the cache "Humpty Dumpty"  which is up a hill out behind the dump.  To get there you either need a 4x4 or take a nice half-mile walk.  Go figure.

 

-=-=-

 

I still want to hook-up and do some caching sometime this summer...

 

Keep in touch...

 

Oh... one more thing... a VERY COOL LINK!

 

I don't know what kind of music you favor these days, but this "music" has just captivated me!  It is so cool.  Okay load the page and sit through a short commercial.  Then a 'music machine' will appear.  The hoax going around is that some engineers at Iowa Tech built this thing our of John Deer parts.  The truth is that it is all Computer Animated, available if you want to buy the DVD...  but you have got to see this!

http://www.atomfilms.com/film/animusic_pipedream.jsp

 

-=-=-

 

Well now that I have written this I see parts of it need wider distribution.  I'll have to post some of it on the blog.. :-)

 

God bless and take care!

 

Should guns be allowed in schools?

Guns in School. In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech. Shootings, I’ve heard some discussion about what it will take to make our schools safe. One man suggested that we arm the students; others think that is just pure foolishness. So let’s consider the alternatives. The problem is that a student or students will decide to go on a killing spree. They arm themselves and appear at their school where the daily routine and emergency protocols are known to them. Then they randomly take the lives of others, staff and students, until law enforcement has arrived in sufficient numbers to close off any available exits. But this was not a hit and run, their own lives are the ones they take last. It would appear that they were suicidal from the start, and had no planes to try and get away. The problem may be that this person has lost all hope. It may be that they feel they are incapable of dealing with the world and all of its societal pressures. Is the kamikaze mission which ends in self-destruction a last ditch effort to be noticed or to ‘in effect’ impose their will on a world, even if only for a moment? Is this perhaps an attempt at grasping their moment in the lime-light, even if it is infamy and not fame? Regardless of the source of the disturbance, the fact is that the other students and faculty are facing down the barrel of a loose canon. A canon that has pre-meditated the death of as many people as they can access, and considers their own life forfeit from the start. There is no reasoning with this person. Pleading, begging, reasoning or counseling are a waste of time. They have a gun. You do not. For the moment they have the god-like power to choose who lives and who dies. You are their subjects. How do you respond to that? Preventative measures would have to be aimed at either figuring out what has spawned this phenomenon (addressing the differences of a modern education in contrast with how things were taught in past) or at early detection and identifying probable shooters to getting them into counseling. The outcome of such directions will invariably open up the rift between the secular and the sacred or it will expose the limitations of our current psychological practices. Neither of these are going to lead to a satisfactory result any time soon. Failing preventative methods leaves us with the situation of a student throwing lead at anything that moves. There can only be one answer to that. The sooner someone can throw lead back, the fewer lives this kamikaze is going to be able to take. Cameras will not stop someone from pulling a trigger, nor will ID badges, nor will uniforms, or metal detectors or any other form of ‘physical’ security. All these devices will do is increase the resemblance between our schools and our prisons. No student in a ‘free society’ wants or needs to be treated like they are in a prison! Plus it will have the undesirable effect of insuring our would-be shooters that no one inside can possibly shoot back. But what if that were taken away? What if they had no assurance that they were going to be able reign supreme, even if only for the ten to fifteen minuets it would take for officers to arrive? What if they had to deal with the very same fear that they are using to incite terror? What if the ‘terrorist’ had a reason to be terrified? That can only happen if students who are of age and who choose to do so, are permitted to exercise their right to self-protection, and ensure their ability to fight gun-fire with gun-fire by bearing arms sufficient to the need of self-preservation. Only then will a shooter have to fear being shot at. Their ‘subjects’ would have the same power as they do, and their god-like ability to pick and choose who lives and who dies would be stripped away from them. Making schools a safe place to live is not something anyone can do for them. Whether it is a campus or a foreign country, populating it with militia is not synonymous with providing security. You’d think that Americans would have learned this lesson by now. Security will only occur when the students or residence are enabled to defend themselves. When they are secure in the knowledge that they can deal anything life throws at them, then they will feel and be secure. No ‘system’ will ever give them that. And the reason is for this is simple. No system is fool-proof. Nor is this a perfect solution, but then this isn’t a perfect world. As long as there is the threat of yet another student going berserk, the best solution is the one that minimizes the damages.

Geo Caching

This is my first attempt at creating a geocahe. I used a large plastic flower pot. Cut the bottom off about 2.5 in. up and buried the top part up-side-down. The bottom piece forms a tight lid and the cement provides camaflage... Roadkill, my raccoon icon gives you some persecive of size and I use him in a lot of my pictures to 'stamp' them as genuinely mine. The site is in the review phase. If it is passed it will be up on the website www.geocaching.com under the name "Peace of Junk", but a friend of mine isn't sure if having the cache buried like this is going to be allowed. On one hand I did have to dig a hole, but on the good side, I am not making anyone dig in order to find it. So we will have to see what the reviewer thinks about it.

The Benz

Yea, this friend-of-the-familey has been amoung us for almost 30 years. It still has its original paint and interior, which means it is due some spurcing-up but dad rebuilt the engine and restored the running gear. I cleaned it up and installed a CD/AM/FM that really kicks! Almost everything is back in working order. There is an issue with the power door locks (minor fix) nor did I bother with A/C or Cruze-Control. I got everything else working again... I put it in the paper and online asking 4,000 but that is my 'best guess' as to what it is worth. So far I've had no calls on it at all.

End Times

Durring the time that Jesus walked upon this planet, the religious leaders of the day, the people, and the various special interest groups of that time, were all very missguided about what the saviour must do. They had the prophesies, they had thier ideas, and as it turned out, not one of them was right. Not one! Now we have the prophies of his "Second Coming" and the end of life on the planet as we now know it.. the End Times. We have religious learership too, and our leadership his thier ideas on how all this will come about. I could be wrong, but history has a way of playing out again and again. It occures to me that our main-stream idea's about the second-coming of the christ are probably about as accurate as were the ideas about his first arrival. If that so the the entire collection of books in the "Left Behind" series is fiction upon fiction upon fiction. I have done some random "events" posting on here thus far... but would anyone be interested in going "topical"? -Dan.

An E-mail I got about Bill snd Hillary

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 10:28 AM Subject: Fw: Fwd: Bill snd Hillary

Bill Clinton registers for the draft on September 08, 1964, accepting all contractual conditions of registering for the draft.

Selective Service Number 326 46 228.

Bill Clinton classified 2-S on November 17, 1964.

Bill Clinton reclassified 1-A on March 20, 1968.

Bill Clinton ordered to report for induction on July 28, 1969.

Bill Clinton refuses to report and is not inducted into the military.

Bill Clinton reclassified 1-D after enlisting in the United States Army Reserves on August 07, 1969, under authority of Col. E. Holmes.

Clinton signs enlistment papers and takes oath of enlistment.

Bill Clinton fails to report to his duty station at the University of Arkansas ROTC , September 1969.

Bill Clinton reclassified 1-A on October 30, 1969, as enlistment with Army Reserves is revoked by Colonel E. Holmes and Clinton now AWOL and subject to arrest under Public Law 90-40 (2)(a) registrant who has failed to report...remain liable for induction.'

Bill Clinton's birth date lottery number is 311, drawn December 1, 1969, but anyone who has already been ordered to report for induction is INELIGIBLE!

Bill Clinton runs for Congress (1974), while a fugitive from justice under Public Law 90-40.

Bill Clinton runs for Arkansas Attorney General (1976), while a fugitive from justice.

Bill Clinton receives pardon on January 21,1977, from President Carter.

Bill Clinton FIRST PARDONED FEDERAL FELON ever to serve as President of the United States .

All these facts come from Freedom of Information requests, public laws, and various books that have been published, and have not been refuted by Clinton .

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia , which killed five U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised t hat those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia , which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

Maybe if Clinton had kept those promises, an estimated 3,000 people in New York and Washington , DC that are now dead would be alive today.

AN INTERESTING QUESTION: This question was raised on a Philly radio call-in show. Without casting stones, it is a legitimate question.

There are two men, both extremely wealthy. One develops relatively cheap software and gives billions of dollars to charity.

The other sponsors terrorism. That being the case, why was it that the Clinton Administration spent more money chasing down Bill Gates over the eight years in office, than Osama bin Laden?

THINK ABOUT IT! It is a strange turn of events. Hillary gets $8 Million for her forth coming memoir. Bill gets about $12 Million for his memoir yet to be written. This from two people who spent 8 years being unable to Recall anything about past events while under oath.

Sincerely,

Cdr. Hamilton McWhorter USN (ret)

P.S. Please forward this to as many people as you can! We don't want this woman to even THINK of running for President

... and, why doesn't the press ever ask any questions about these things? Do you think they would hesitate for a second to ask about it if the Clintons were Conservative Republicans?

Long Over-due

Happy Easter! Yes, this is Easter Sunday. And wouldn't you know it, the April showers have already started. The weathermen say it will rain today until sometime after noon. So much for the morning egg-hunt-plans.

Pilar got up at 5AM to go to work. (This is why I'm up and finding some time to stop and blog). She has surgery tomorrow morning, and then a few days of R & R to re-coop. I have to hand it to Pilar, she is a trooper! She came home from 8 hours of work Saturday, and found me working around the yard. I pulled the trailer out and started loading it with trash that I need to haul off to the dump, so she came out and started collecting junk from the back yard too. Saturday was such a pretty day. I started out by washing the car, (this only a scant few hours before the rain unwashed it again, if you know about Idaho dirt, you know what I mean. Washing the car lead me to washing the oil off the driveway, which lead me to cleaning up a bit in the garage, which lead me to need the trailer to collect all the trash... and so it goes. I think they call this Adult ADD. It is difficult to finish one thing before you run into something else that needs doing, and then another, and another, and so on.

Well, on Saturdays I have the liberty to address house work, the other five days of the week (excluding Sundays) are reserved for homework of the college kind. I have made good progress with the Physics class, but I am still struggling with the math. Calculus II these days. Step by small incremental step I am getting this stuff, just no where near as fast as I should be able to learn it. It is discouraging on some levels, and hearting to know that some folk never get it. I suppose slow is better than not at all, but slow is causing the cost of learning all this stuff to go up... and that is not a good thing.

Saturdays have also become a day to do a bit of recreation. These days I have discovered Geocaching. This is a bit of a sport, only it is played with a GPS and all the common-since you can muster. Basically the game works like this: other people have hidden small plastic containers in various and random places. Inside the containers are a log-book, and nick-knacks for trade. You are given the coordinates of the location and possibly a hint or two. You use your GPS to guide you to the general location, and use your common sense to figure out where someone else might have hidden a small container in that area. All this is recorded on a web-site... geocaching.com. If you locate the cache, you write your name in the log book, and log the find on the web site. I have found 17 already, and was unable to find about half that many. Occasionally these caches are discovered by people who know nothing about the game, and so the cache is "stolen"... for that reason you have to use a bit of stealth when you find and re-hide a cache, so you don't cause anyone to become suspicious. That is the nuts and bolts of the game, but the really great part about it has nothing to do with plastic boxes, GPS technology or dollar store trinkets. The really great part is that people stash these things in some of the most scenic, unusual or off-beat places. You will be guided to some of the neatest locations... places you had no idea even existed... probably places very close to where you live. I like the caches that are just out of town the best. This summer I hope to be able to put a trip together and geocache all the locations in and around Silver City Idaho. There is so much history up there, but I have never had a road-map to find it all like I will with the GPS and numerous cache sites! I want to take a tent, a camera and rent a quad for the trip. Any body else up for a bit of adventure?

Stained glass. Back in my High-school daze, I had an art teacher that showed us how to make stained glass windows. My wife and children all enjoy some handi-crafts, and often is the time we would visit a hobby craft store. I would look for any sort of stained glass supplies, but I never found any. Well I messed around with 'stained-glass-paint' and made a design for a bit of window I have here in the office, but it never looked right to me. So I got the bug and started looking online. You can find anything online. Then I got curious, and pulled open the phone book. Believe it or not, we have a specialty stained-glass shop right here in Nampa! I was amazed! I bought three sheets of glass and went right to work. I have had a bit of trouble finding the right solder and soldering iron... a 100 to 150 watt iron is a tough find these days, and so is the traditional 60/40 solder. Building supplies used to stock it, but their stock is all the silver (lead free) junk now. When I get this project installed, I will put up some pictures.. on the photo blog.

For Sale. It was a longer project than I'd figured on, but I was at long last able to get the small blue Geo back on it's wheels. Naday is finally driving it, but not very happy about it. She never wanted to drive my Geo-Tracker either, but she became accustomed to it. At least it has the automatic. The Metro is a standard, and you'd think she was being tortured by that. She has not been easily coerced into learning how to drive a stick-shift! She even dubbed the car, "The Anti-Christ" because of how it has "treated" her. Any one else can get in it and drive it smoothly.... :-) Thank God I had the foresight to install a new clutch kit in it while I had it apart! But the additional car left me with two to drive, and some bills backing up. I need cash. So I started to sell the Tracker... but it is 4-wheel drive, seats four (just), and tows a trailer, not to mention, it has a cool (removable) hard top, and I can go convertible with it). The Mercedes-Benz is almost as good on fuel, but burns Diesel (which costs more at the pump these days), it seats five, and has a great stereo (installed by yours truly). It was a tough call, but after weighing out all the pro's and con's, I decided to sell the ol' Mercedes. It has been in the family since (gosh) I can't recall, It's a 1976, and Dad would have had to have bought it before we moved up here, so he bought it around 78 or 79 at the latest. Tina learned to drive in that car, and I took my date to the high-school prom in that car. Dad finally rebuilt the engine and turned it over to me about a year ago. I've had to do a bit of work on it myself. But most everything is working like it is supposed too... with the exceptions of non-essential air-conditioning and cruse control... options the car came with. I have it listed in the local paper coming out today as well as with three online classifieds. I hope to find it a good home with an auto-enthusiast.

Google Re-Direct

If you Goggled dlwilley@photoblog.com and it sent you here.. it has misdirected you. Sort-of. Somewhere in all the text I've written, I mentioned the other blog I keep, the one WITH photo's

Where you want to go is:

http://dlwilley.photoblog.com

That's the one with pictures.

This is the one where I rant/rave or debate.

I don't think anyone reads this one, to tell you all the truth. At least no one has responded to anything here in a long,

long

long

long

long time.

This week-end

Watching the news this morning; weather man said that if our plans included travel in the area at and around McCall, we might want to change them.  That area is under a snow warning right now.  We have plans to go up Friday night.  Johanna and Anthony are planning on getting married there on Saturday, and then there is the big dinner afterwards.  Our plan is to stay over-night and travel back home on Sunday morning.  We will keep an eye on the weather & hope that mother nature is not going to modify them.  After-all, Tina has worked so hard to make this happen! 

 

Would I laugh if it all fell apart?  I would not wish that on Johanna, maybe... but I'd find it hard to not be delighted if Tina's plans were ruined.  This is adult-sibling-rivalry.   At the drop of a hat I'd not go at all.  Last week-end they were all at the house, upstairs: where Tina and Randy stay, My family and I went and payed a vist to mom & dad, dowstairs, same house.  None of them said 'Hello'.  They couldn't even bring themselves to walk down a flight of stairs to say "Hi"!  And yet I am expected to make a two or three hour drive to attend the wedding.

Yea..  right!

 

So okay, I went upstairs and payed them a visit.  I got the doe-in-the-head-lights responce.  All wide-eyed and nervious, but no genuien happiness to see thier one and only true uncle...  I get so sick of that.  I think the next time I meet Joseph I need to hit him over the head with a baseball bat.  Toss it aside and when he notices that I'm standing there, say, "Hi! How are you!" and smile real big, full of genuine affection.

 

Perhapps I'm well on my way to becoming a grummpy old man who will walk with a cane, not because he needs the support, as much as he enjoys having a big stick at the ready to whack young whipper-snappers who need to be taught some respect!  ^_^

 

He he he!  I'm venting and making a joke out of it!  Well if any famlly member happens upon this, a remote possibility of which I doubt.  Just keep in mind that...  umm... er... I'm just joking... yea that's it, this is all in fun.

 

Oh and that if I take any good pictures, I'll publish them on the photoblog.  I can never seam to get this site to show the pictures.

 

-Dan.

 

 

 

 

The day the Wii came home.

It had taken almost two months. Every chance we got we would cruse past the Game section and check to see if any Wiis' were on the shelf. We talked to the clerks and acquired all the intel. We could about when they received them and when we should be at the store to possibly find one. On Sunday morning, we received word that one store had gotten a new shipment in. Game Crazy got them on Saturday, thus it just might be possible that other retailers in the area would be stalking them over-night. Early the next morning we set out and meet three major department stores at the door as they opened up. All to no avail it seemed. None of them had gotten any in.

Just when it looked, well, like a waist of time, suddenly a clerk blurted out that Wal-Mart was supposed to have just received a shipment of Wiis'. We headed over to Wal-Mart with all the haste possible for one wishing to avoid any police type entanglements. There they were at last. 6 unopened, fresh from the factory, white and printed boxes, each containing a brand-spanking-new Wii! The girls both beamed and grinned like Cheshire cats!

It is Monday night. The girls have already plugged in about 9 hours of Zelda, and tried out every feature of Wii-Sports. Even my wife, who has never gotten on a game machine before in her life, enjoyed a round of bowling with the family. Tonight, after dinner, Grandma Pat & Grandpa Carl joined us and tried it out. They golfed, bowled and practiced their batting and pitching on the Baseball field. Grandma went away saying she just might have to buy one of these for herself.

The Wii has got to be the biggest advancement in game systems since the development of the Attari. The X-Box and the PS3's are both doomed to go down in flames. I mean come on! A bunch of over-aged "juvenile delinquents" might like net-working a bunch of systems together and gaming all night, but lets face it. Grandma, Grandpa and the kids are not going to be up all night playing Halo! The Wii has already endeared itself to an entirely new and larger market of potential gamers! EVERYONE! Yes everyone from 102 to just big enough to handle the remote.

Programmers beware! If you think you can just port over your old games, your "first-person-shooters" .. games like Halo or Resident Evil, the Mature games et. al. It won't work! They will not sell. The Wii has opened up a market for FAMILY FRIENDLY games. Multiple player games. Games that open up social interaction, require physical movement and advance gaming physics. The Wii is about people coming together and having FUN. It is not a machine for your isolated lone predator, blood and gutts, shoot everything that moves trash. Okay! I hope your getting this!

I can't wait to see some good driving/race games on our Wii. Mario-Carts or something like it might even be fun. Hunting games, Fishing games. Olympic sports like you have never seen them before! I'd love to see Spyro, Rayman, or Odd world. All with entirely new moves and utilizing the features of the new controllers of course.

Managing Growth

It is foolish to build houses over your farm land.

I know I read that somewhere, I thought it was in Proverbs, but try as I might, I can't seem to find it right now.

The truth of that statement should be self evident. More houses means more people. Less farm land means less food. More people, less food. This is not a sustainable trend. But that is what we are doing here in the Treasure Valley, and a lot of other places all over the Western States. We are selling out our small farms to developers. Once these fields produced corn, barley, or maybe hay, something people or live stock could eat.. Now they produce grass clippings which get put in the trash.

Americans everywhere need to re-think the way we use land. Land is a finite resource. There is only so much of it, and it is not all the same. Flat lands which are good for growing things and close to a water supply are rare. Some 70% of Idaho is reserved National lands. BLM or Forest Service land... and either way a lot of that is not sceanic or productive, endangered habitat anything. Most of it is too steep to hike, too dry to farm, and to remote for people to care about.

It would be a good thing if some of these area's were made availible for development rather than surrender any more productive farmable ground to housing tracts. I know there are some who fight against development of the Boise foothills, but the alternitives are worse in the long run. Homes can be built on hills, it gives them a view. Houses can be built on rock, it gives them a firm foundation. Homes can be built on hills and rock, but farms can't. I hope city planners everywhere will exercise some wisdom, and cause the growth to occure where it should. Use wisdom, fore-thought and planning. Preserve what is good and productive, loose only that wich we can afford to loose. We are building tomorrow, lets make it grand. If we don't, then the next generation will have to do it over again, and at a higher cost.

Christmas 06

Praise God. We had a white Christmas for once. Not too much snow, but the grass stayed covered while the roads cleared. I have some pictures up on the photoblog. Take a look at dlwilley.photoblog.com. With funds a bit tight, this year I missed the family shopping trips. It’s always fun to pair-up with someone you’re NOT shopping for, and then help each other shop for the rest of them. I enjoy the hiding gifts… wrapping things… trying to guess what you’ve been given and such. That and the wonderfully lit houses, the fun, happy music and such, all come together to make this time of year so special (in spite of the gloomy weather and gray overcast days). Sure, we know that the Christ was probably born in April or May… but celebrating His birth at this time of year makes good sense. This year, however, I missed out on most of what I enjoy about Christmas. I did want to see the family assemble and have a good time together. We are getting to be such a large group that deciding on where to meet is becoming a problem. Hosting a party for this motley crew is also a lot of work, and fairly expensive. So I made what I thought to be some practical suggestions. First have someone host who has a large enough room. (A couple of the newer homes are larger and fairly spacious.) Second, the host shouldn’t be expected to cook everything. We have so many who can afford to contribute, and it is easy to cook one or two dishes. We represent some five or six married couples, who all have homes and kitchens and can cook. Then when we come together we can all enjoy a wide variety of foods and probably in great quantities. It seemed like a good idea. But I was disappointed because not everyone showed up. I had started talking to the family about Christmas right after Thanksgiving. I did not want to host the dinner here, because our house just isn’t quite large enough for everybody. But other options were shot down and our house was chosen in the end. Then it was suggested that we do something more informal, and just have finger foods. That meant that less space was needed, as no huge table setting would be needed. Since we were not setting up tables and chairs, we went ahead and made some deserts and drinks. My cousin John showed, as did my parents and my sister, Tina. Or I should say; Tina, Randy and the twins, but her boys and their wives and children all were no-shows… so we ended up with more than twice the amount of food than we needed. (The boys were either not told about the party at all or figured that since their mom would be hosting a big dinner the very next night… Christmas Eve was their night to spend with their wives families… and not with us). Hence my disappointment! So in part, my plan to put our family party together as a co-operative effort ended up being a sham! The real family party ended up at Tina’s (as always) and we were not even invited. But I have to curb my disappointment with this somewhat, because those who did show up here on Christmas Eve all had a great time! No one went away hungry. We all sat around the table and played games. Mom even stayed after everyone else left and played cards till after midnight. No one was trapped in the kitchen trying to put everything together. No one was stressed out by the daunting task of making sure everything is prepared. So all-in-all the concept I’d proposed seemed to work. I guess these family traditions are harder to change than I’d figured. Well, perhaps next year a few more of the family will see the sense in this and we can get more people involved in planning and preparing the family Christmas dinner. I know it’s a huge a job, but it is far easier to put it all together if everyone takes part, and the work load is delegated out. It is also more rewarding (for me at least) if I know I have added something to everyone’s enjoyment of the holiday. When I’m just invited to attend a party hosted and pre-paired by them, I feel like an unwelcome guest at what should be my family get-together. As it turned out, we were able to take the ample leftovers to a friend’s house. They were struggling a bit under the load of preparing food for a rather large group and when we came along with Turkey Soup, Steak, Shrimp, Salad, Pie, Cheese Cake, Brownies, Fresh Fruit, Wine and more… it just kind of made their day! We ate, played games and had a great time! So this year I opened not a gift. Nope, not so much as one wrapped gift. But I lacked nothing. I was surrounded by the love of family and friends, and that means more to me than all gifts in the world. If they only knew how much it means to me to be able to spend time with them, perhaps a few more of them would want to show up!

Life's too short

<<< Deep Thought >>> Life is just too short. I ask you. You spend you early years just learning about life, then you have to learn howoake a living, and then about the time your getting all this figured out, someone pulls out the "RIP" imbossed ballons! PLEASE! I think man ought to live to be about 150 or 200. That way you can learn all the things you ought to know and have enough time to enjoy it too. Maybe then we'd want to build things like they used to.. buildings and such that were ment to stand for a few hundred years instead of this trash that'll be lucky to stand for longer than the morgage payments will last. I suppose that is a bit harsh. Funny though. how life is. I've lived clean & never did nobody no harm. But life has never cut me a break nor done me any favors. Yes I have travled. Canada to Florida, Mexico, Korea, Spain and England too. I have seen life from more vistas than most men ever do. In spite of all that, there are many more places I have never seen. Hawii, Rio, Venice, Scottland, Ireland, Sweeden. Life is just too short.

Quick Notes

As it has been rather a long time since I've written, I thought I'd just make some quick notes about the major events.

Although we had him for only a few months, Tiggy, our big yellow cat has passed away. The only thing we can figure is that he must have gotten into something toxic, because he stoped eating and litterly just waisted away. I've never know an animal or person that seemed not to have an evil bone in their body, not one, like this cat did. His eyes reflected a light emerald green, rather than red, his manner was gentile and un-impossing. If I can find just one person like that before I die, and make that person my friend, I'd die a wealthy man, and I wouldn't need money to do it. The cat will be missed.

David, our friend and neighbour from the old house, stuck the front of his car under a truck. It did little to the truck, but his Geo Metro sustained a good deal of modification. I helped him bang out the worst of the dents, a replace a busted headlight. It could be fixed, but a car like that isn't worth a lot to start with, and as it is holding togeather, drivable, and still street leagel, he is content to drive it as is.

Our sea-food night appears to have been a success. Our Real-Life Group came over last tuesday for fish, salmon, shrimp, fettachinni, salad and a movie. We watched, "The God's Must Be Crazy" an older film, but still a fun one, and soo, so funny! Everyone eat a lot, laughed a lot, and had a good time.

Amanda has been in marching band. The band at Nampa High School has held a great deal of respect in the community for several years, and has proven itself again this year. They swept the local compitition, and took almost every award in the District as well, so they went to Seattle for a state wide compition, where they had placed 8'th the year before, and took 4'th place this year! We are all proud of her, and the NHS Marching Band. After all, it is hard enough for some people to walk and chew bublegum at the same time, while these kids are marching in formation and playing music at the same time! Great Job Dawwgs!

Pilar continues to excel in her carrer. She took the Discharge Planner possition a few months back, and she may not have to wait long before she is asked to take over that office. Her current supervisor is making elementry level mistakes that there are no excuses for.

Nadya is now a Junior in Highschool, and for the first time in her life she is having to work at keeping her grades up. But then, she is already taking college level courses. Through a program offered by the school, in cooperation with NNU, the local University, she can earn college credits from her classes at the Highschool this year, because some of the classes she is taking now, are equivalent to the class offerings at NNU. The program is called "concurrent credits" and requires us to pay a fee (a fraction of the price that college credits nomally cost). Her success at this level could mean that she will have most of her College freshman courses completed on graduation from H.S.

I'm just glad that I've been back in school and learning all this advanced math and stuff. Otherwise, dear old dad would have been clueless about how to help her with her homework lately. As it is I've managed to stay one or two steps ahead of her, but my lead is wanning. She got into a physics class this year, and I have to wait until the spring to get into physics. I'm required to have Calculus I under my belt before I can get into that class. I should be able to must it this time though. I got an 'A' on the frist exam, a 'C' on the second. Our thrid exam will come about the middle of next week, so there isn't much new matterial to put on an exam. I'm confident that I'll pass the class with good marks. I have been retaking the Pre-Calculus corse (for the grade) at the same time. This has enable me to re-inforce my algebra skills, and to plug a few holes. Ultamatly it should prove worth the time when it props up my GPA. I've had some trouble with all this math... at this point I'd not recomend to anyone older, looking to get a BS degree, that they go back full time. Instead, I'd recomend that they start with a series of night classes, and concentrate on the math. Get through Calculus I and then go after it full time! In any case, look to your weaknesses, and deal with them first. I always liked math, so I did not suspect that I'd have any trouble with it, but I have been having some trouble, too much trouble, with these math classes.

They are falling like flies! My Uncle passed away, our friend & Nephew to my sister passed awaw, our pet cat... and now... Mom called me saturday and told me that Terry Rock was found dead in his home. Terry was one of the few relitives that I grew up with. I think he is only a second cousin, but he and older sister Melinda were very close to the same age as Tina and I and while we lived in Eureka, we saw a lot of each other. Terry taught me how to ride a mini-bike, walk on stilts, shoot pool, and play war with rubber-band guns or stinging neddel 'gernades'. I don't think my parents ever realised how much of a bad influence he was on me. (he he)! Fortunatly for me, we had moved away before he found drugs... something that may have played a roll in his early departure. He can't be but about 45 yers of age... too young to be dying!

Well, see how much you miss when you don't keep, er, well, when I don't keep the journal upto date. ( grin ) Life is just too short and way too fast passed! -Dan.

NEW OR USED

There are only two things I know of that will keep a diesel engine from starting, short of total mechanical failure that is.  One is a fuel problem such as a plugged fuel filter or a leaking fuel line which lets air get into the fuel pump.  The other is glow-plugs.  These little plugs are a lot like gas engine spark plugs, but they are only needed to get things warmed up enough to start the engine, and then they are turned off.

 

I went out to the car on Monday to go to class and found it had been smitten by a bad glow plug.  It would not start.  The last time this happened, I messed around with it most of an afternoon and into the evening.  Dad finally came over and gave me some tips, and a replacement (used) glow plug to swap out with the bad one.  This system is not the best design either.  Five glow plugs are wired one after the other so when just one goes bad the circuit is broken and none of them work!  But this time I was ready for it!  I had been mindful of the fact that I was depending on a miss-matched group of aged plugs, but also of the fact that I did not know how to work on them.  When I was searching for some small diesel fuel line, I was directed to a foreign auto parts store that has a lot more that I'd like to buy! Trust me on that one.  While there, I picked up a repair manual and five brand new glow plus.  I just hadn't had the time or maybe the incentive to install them.

 

Here in Idaho, I think the mentality of most people is to spend as little as possible on repairs.  For example, find which one went bad, get a good one (used if possible, they cost less) and just replace the one that went bad.  This saves you a lot of money on repairs, right?  But does it?  Sure the cost of the parts is less out of pocket, but isn't there a lot more to consider?  In my case, if I just replaced the one, how long would it last?  Winter is approaching and the glow plugged are working harder in the mornings than they have all summer.  More heat is needed to start a freezing cold engine than is needed when it's about 70 degrees out.  By changing out all five, I should avoid having to do this again anytime soon, especially in the bite of winters weather.  But I was talking about costs here.  It took me about three hours to swap them all out.  If it had been done in a shop, the final bill might have come to about 4 or 5 hundred dollars.  In addition I lost a day of classes... I paid for those too!  If all I had accomplished was to replace one that was blown with a plug that is just as likely to fail soon anyhow, how many more times this winter would I be missing classes and spending several hours under the hood searching for a bad glow plug?

 

With some things, it doesn't make sense to buy new when used parts are available.  With some things that wear out or burn out over time, it just doesn't make sense to buy used when new parts are available.  Obvious examples are tiers, brake pads, clutch plates, ignition parts, starters, alternators and such.  These things fail eventually and replacing them with another used part is perhaps a stop gad measure, at best. It ensures that at some near future date, it will have to be fixed all over again.  So the cost out of pocket is soon exceeded by the "down-time" and by the "shop-time".  By that I mean the cost of not having a working vehicle (in my case it was the loss of classes that I pay to attend) and the cost of labor to make repairs, which in a shop is above 100 dollars an hour now?  So the cost of new plugs over used is cheaper if I don't have to put it in the shop just one extra time.

 

Still I thank God for his grace.  If this car had not started one time earlier... things would have been quite different.  You see, at home here, I had the parts and tools and manual.  Everything I needed to make the repairs.  The last time I started this car was Thursday, leaving school.  (I stayed home sick Friday (flu) didn't go anywhere Saturday, and Sunday we used the wife's car to go to church.) So if the car had failed to start just one use earlier it would have left me stranded at school, in Boise (25 miles away from home) mid-day, ill with the flu, no tools, no parts, no one to call for a couple hours...  that would have been the Murphy's Law moment! You know, the guy who says that things always go wrong at the worst possible moment.  Well, in my case it didn't.  That is something to be grateful for!

 

2 UP & 1 BACK

All week, my mom and I debated about what to do for labor day.  My sister had made plans for the family to go camping, but those fell through because the camp grounds closed.  (Wildland fires were in the area, and they were shut down.)  A few other ideas were bounced around, but in the end it looked like everyone would be going in different directions.

 

Friday came and we still were not decided, but mom had gotten news that her brother (my uncle) was in the hospital, and not doing well.  They were going to try him on dialysis, if it went well, he might live to see the new year, if not, well, they gave him up to two weeks.  With that in mind, I told mom we should use this opportunity to get out of town and go see him while he is still among the living.  It would mean more to him and I to actually talk a bit than to pay respects at  a funeral.  Dad has been working near there, and had hoped we would all get to come se him, so she finally agreed to the idea and we all packed for a short trip to Yuba City California on Friday night.

 

Saturday morning we left early.  Two hours into the trip, mom got a call.  Dad had drove down from Eureka and was in the hospital with uncle Doyle already.  Dialysis that morning had gone okay, Doyle was looking a bit better.  Then we got another call.  Doyle had taken a turn for the worst, he might live long enough for us to see him.  Then another call Doyle had passed away.  The trip suddenly changed from one where we were going to visit Doyle, to one where we needed to take his sister  (mom) down, and we all needed to be with the family.  Then she got another call.  My sisters nephew, Carl, had been hurt in an accident.  No details.  Latter we got more.  Carl had passed away.  The young man had been out riding motorcycles with some friends, two of them had gotten tangled up, Carl was injured and died soon after, the other man was still in a critical condition.

 

We arrived late Saturday in Yuba City.  We were able to connect with Sterly, Brandon, Steven and their families... we also paid a visit to Bert, Doyle's wife.  I was glad we had made the effort and taken the time, in spite of the sad circumstances.  Monday came and it was time for us to head back to Idaho.  I had promised my daughters something of a camping trip, so we took in a short detour off the main roads and climbed around a mountain for a couple of hours before continuing on home.

 

Out on HWY 395, Nadya started asking for a pit-stop.  We skated through the small town of "Likely" without seeing any place we wanted to stop, so we pushed on another 20 miles and pulled into a Rite Aid parking lot.  Upon getting out I looked down and saw that the front tire was almost down to the rim.  It was FLAT!  We had everything onboard that we needed to change it except a lug wrench!  And while there were a surprising number of small businesses open on the labor day in the small town of Alturas, not one of them sold anything like a lug wrench.  I found a station with air, and got the rim off the ground, but the tire's side wall was already damaged and the tire a complete loss.  Then I found an engine shop with one door cracked open.  The mechanic was there on personal business, but he helped me swap out the flat for the spare.  I thanked him with a 20.  Least I could do for saving us from being stuck overnight in Alturas!

 

So we lost two on the way up.  We lost one on the way back.  The loss on the trip back pales in comparison to the promise of young life taken by tragedy.  It pales in comparison to the loss of a good man, though elderly, in failing health, Doyle was one of the good guys, and this old world just doesn't seem to have as many of those as it used too.  We grieve the loss of one more.  Our grief is tempered by the sincere hope and faith that both these men, young and old though they were, had both found the saving grace of our Lord Jesus, and that today they are both in a better place.  Our prayers go out to their families and friends.  May God's peace be with you all. 

To Judge or Not to Judge

The following response to an earlier post caught my attention, and I wanted to address it fully.  This line of reasoning has been around for some time and I just can not abide by it.  I’ll explain why.  But first a look at the posted response.

 

 

“Anonymous said…

This was in my mailbox as part of my Bible verse of the day and I thought of you.  Romans 14:1-13.  (See passage)

<snipped for brevity>

I pray that you consider that you risk losing someone by judging them.”

 

 

The key verse in this passage is Romans 14:4, “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.”

 

Thus the idea is promoted that the Christian should not judge.

 

There are two fundamental differences between what I promote and what this passage condemns.

 

First:  The passage is clearly written about Christians passing judgment upon other Christians.  I agree with the passage, that such a practice is wrong.  From time to time you will hear a minister condemn the activities of another minister.  That is a bad business.  As we grow in the Lord it is important to learn that God calls each of us to unique avenues of ministry.  My favorite example is to compare Noah with Moses, both had the problem of getting a large group over a body of water.  Noah was instructed by God to build a boat, and the fact that he did so makes him a great man of the faith.  But if Moses had followed Noah’s example at the red sea… it would have been a sin.  Moses was given different instructions, as were fitting to the situation.  This is confusing to the new converts.  But what it means is that we should not criticize OTHER CHRISTIANS just because they do things differently than we would.  This is normal, expected and even part of God’s overall plan. 

 

Second:  The activity in question is not something that is clearly contrary to the Laws of God.  Neither the parting of the Red Sea or the building of a boat is a violation of any of the ten commandments.  Please note that there is a huge difference between violating the laws of God and violating the traditions of various denominations.  Mankind is always writing rules.  The Scribes and Pharases turned God’s basic laws into several volumes of man-made rules.  Any Law Library is another example of this fact.  Every denomination has it’s version of the Doctrine and Covenants, whether or not they have stopped and wrote them down.  Men like rules!  BUT the only rules that we will be held to at the great judgment, are those which are given to us by God.  Those are the only ones that really count.

          Also note that there is a huge difference between expounding on the Law of God and passing judgment.  How can anyone keep God’s laws if they do not know what they are?  And how can they know what the Laws are, if no one teaches them?  But teaching the Law is not pointing our finger at someone and calling them a sinner.  It is the act of expounding or promoting the Laws of God.  Nor is admonishing people not to lie or steal a judgment of any particular individual.  It is educating them that the act itself is a sin.  In other words, I maintain that exposing sin is not the same thing as exposing the sinner.

 

Now that I have defined the differences between what I believe we should be doing, from what we should not be doing.  I’d like to explain WHY we should be doing this.  Okay?

 

The biblical cautions against being judgmental are clear and oft quoted. But these assertions have been so overstated that they impress me like the difference between being open minded and being so open minded that have become mindless.  Are Christians really supposed to be so judgment free that they become the epitome of indiscretion?  I think not!  The act of discerning right from wrong is a fundamental exercise in judgment.  Learning right from wrong is a lifelong process and a fundamental part of Christianity!  But that isn’t all.  It isn’t enough to pursue this for yourself only.  The “Live and let Live” philosophy of life.  I think God calls us to do more than that.

 

A part of being a Christian is being salt and light to the world.  Salt is a preservative.  We are supposed to help preserve the nations.  The scripture asks the provocative question, that if salt looses its flavor, how will you season it?  Then it points out that flavorless salt is good for nothing.  My take on that?  Simple, if the Christians look like, act like, sound like the world… well if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and acts like a duck, it is a duck.  Christians who blend in too well with the world, so that you can’t tell the difference between them and the lost, are not being salt or light.

 

To make the point a little sharper, we need only consider God’s word to Ezekiel.  See Ezekiel 3:17-21.

 

“17.  Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

 18.  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

 19.  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

 20.  Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

 21.  Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”

 

As I understand this, if we are not warning the lost of the consequences of sin, then their blood is on our hands.  We are accountable.

 

Haven’t we all been commissioned to spread the gospel message?  Are not we all given that task?  Then I ask you this; how can you tell people about the saving grace of Jesus, if and when the lost know nothing about God, God’s Law or their sin?  You might as well be telling them that Santa Cause threw himself on a live grenade to save them from the bogeyman under the bed.  It is all a bunch of silly nonsense to them.  You have to start, like the book of Genesis starts, with the existence of God, that God created everything, and that means it all belongs to Him, and that because he owns it, he has the right to make the rules.  Then I need to know what his rules are, forsaking all the man-made tripe, and then I need to figure out whether I’m guilty or innocent by those rules.  Then and only then will the gospel message become meaningful. 

 

What they do with that message, is between them and God.  But if we fail to warn the world about the whole “the wages of sin is death,” thing, then we are the ones who sin before God.

 

-Pastor Torch.

Endurance 05

The pitfall of false apostles. During his travels Paul ran into this cleaver little scam. Think of the guy who is riding a donkey and gets it to move by dangling a carrot in front of its nose. In like manner a false apostle is someone who uses what motivates you to get you to do his work. They see that you want to grow in the Lord and that you’re striving to learn the things of God. So they tell you all sorts of great stories and stuff on one hand, but with the other they make certain requests known. They need money, they need food, they need you to serve them in some manner. Hold the phone. So do all pastors, teachers and priests. So what is the difference? Ah… good question. The difference is when they sell you on the idea, somehow, that what they offer is special and you will only receive it, if you get it from them. Remember that God is no respecter of persons. What he will do for others, he will do for you. So no man has anything special and unique from God. Neither can any church, organization or group make that claim. The only unique name in the Bible is the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. The word says that there is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved. Therefore the one thing you need from God, Salvation, is given to you directly by Jesus. No man, no organization, no group, no not even a church or a prayer room full of ordained ministers can do anything to affect that. So when you find that the teachings of this one or that one is starting to bring you under bondage to them, rather than closer to Jesus, well, you are being lead astray by a false apostle. These critters can be hard to discern from the real thing, and a mite hard to deal with. But here is something I learned the hard way. The false apostle will eventually reveal their true heart. You know that where your treasure is, you heart will be also? If their heart is with anything other than God, that is your queue! Common maladies are the love of money, power, prestige, and/or fame. Hints of such maladies may be discerned when for example a pastor declines an opportunity to minister to the lost because: ‘it costs too much’, ‘they would not become members of this church so it isn’t expedient for us to do so’, ‘our mission is elsewhere right now and that would just put an unnecessary burden on everyone’, or ‘if we did that, the press would have a field day at our expense!’. If you have heard any of these lines, or anything like it, you have been given a clue that the person does not have his heart in the right place. Pray for that person and be on guard. Do not allow them to ensnare you and burden you. If you do, you’ll eventually become aware that you have been made an (er) donkey … out of.