Sunday 27th January 2008 Forgiveness and other things.

Now ain't they good looking? What!!!! You don't agree? I know they are. My darling wife and our youngest (so far) daughter. Cathy is adorable and gets better every day!. She is fast becoming Daddy's shadow. I didn't know an 11 month old girl could crawl along a passage way so fast when she was called. But she does! With this humongous grin and lots of loud, very loud squealing noises that drive Stephanie mad. But there is a lot of that. Like Stephanie still doesn't really understand how it can take a man 15 minutes to change one diaper.
Michele now is 4 years old as of the 5Th January. And, as she is now 4, that means she gets 4 kisses and 4 hugs every night. Tonight was different. I got 4 kisses and 4 hugs. Stephanie got 4 kisses and 8 hugs. When asked why the 8 hugs? "Because your very big, Mummy." At four, they are very honest. Some times too honest.
What did Cathy get? A big fat raspberry from Dad and milk and hugs from Mum.
And, now for the never ending saga of trying (yes it is trying) to get one small Bible on one even smaller computer running Linux. Well, I have had success or a sort. I know have Gnome's Word installed and running. Of course as yet I have no short cut key so I have to pack a cut lunch and a water bottle for my excursion into the innards of the computer to find it. But it works. Now I am still trying to get Bible Desktop to work. It is a far better program. However, so far I can only get it to work if I am on line. So, I keep on keeping on.
And now it seems I have upset some folks with my musings. Seem they didn't like my post of the 10Th January regarding a statement made by William Booth. That's fine. The only trouble is they took the bit they quoted out of context. It would have been far better if they had read the blog in the first instance and in the second, if they had kept it in context. I like something Stuart Briscoe once said. Some times when one takes the text out of context one is left with a con.
Now, I do read other blogs. I like Katie at Team Bettendorf and her Husband Jeff at Oh My Dad. They have a mutual admiration society going similar to the one that Stephanie and I have going. Their parenting style is the same as ours, only they are better at it.
And last but not least, if you take the number in my blog, it is the year I was born. I got a year older on the 20Th January. My wife tells me I should act my age. But, really, somethings are impossible!

Tuesday 22nd January 2008 Impulse

Isn't she wonderful? She is. So is her sister. And their mother.
Can I whine? Grown men should never whine. But then grown men should never act upon an impulse either. But I had to have it. I saw it, I cover ted it and I bought it. What is it? You can also look and read about it here. Do I like it now I have had it for a little while? No. The concept is good but on a value for money basis it is not good value. I paid A$499 for mine. Last week I found out that I could have got a similar device for $567 with Windows Vista installed and 120 GB hard drive. Mine had Linux and 4GB hard drive. That is what happens when one acts on impulse.
However, all is not lost. Yes, I was silly and yes I could have done better. And now I will pay. That's the down side or the bad news. There is always good news. And the good news is that I get to learn all about Linux. Windows Vista requires 15GB just to install. Linux requires 2.5GB. One can't "tinker" with windows unless one "hacks" into the program. Not for the faint hearted. I am faint hearted. One can "tinker" with Linux to one's heart content. So tinker I will. Even as it is, one can do everything Windows can do. I can surf the net, write emails, play my favourite media file, chat with who ever where ever.
Now for today's Bible reading from St Luke's Anglican in down town Frankston. Matthew 23.
In this chapter I can really see the heart of Christ. He pronounces a series of of woes and outlines where they have gone wrong. Space does not permit further expansion. The climax is in verse 37. I can almost see Jesus, pleading with the people for a change of heart. We have to remind ourselves that as God, Jesus can see down through the ages of human history and it near breaks His heart to see the continued rebellion of the people as they again reject the One who can heal them. I think it good to examine myself in the light of this chapter.

Thursday 10th January 2008 Religious hell

"I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell." - William Booth.
William booth wrote that last century. He is very true. It is a true description of what passes for the church today. And every where you go you see it. What can we do. It is easy really. Give the Holy Spirit His correct place: our hearts. Remember He is God. Allow Christ His rightful place. Don't forgive until there is genuine heart wrenching soul destroying repentance that comes from the very essence of our being. Stop preaching easy salvation. It is conditional. If you don't believe me then we obviously read from a different Bible. If you can't see the evidence then your salvation is false.
Will we do it? No. Of course not.

Tuesday 8th January 2008 Picasa

Isn't she just the best? Now that is what you call a chocolate face. Don't ya just love it? Makes ya just want to kiss it, don't it? My Cathy... Where would we be without our girls.
Last night when I arrived home from work I went in to kiss my eldest daughter. By this time she was in bed sound asleep.......... topless. When I asked her about it this morning she had "given" her pajama top to her teddy called Rowe Rowe "coz he was cold". Only a four year old could come up with something like that. But she did. Tonight she has borrowed some of Cathy's clothes because teddy might get cold.
I have given Flickr the flick. What is Flickr and why would I give them the flick. Flickr is a photo site. I gave them the flickr for reasons I wont go into here. Now my photo's are at Picasa.
These people have some things in common; Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Solomon and Nathan, King Saul and the Apostle Paul. What are the things they have in common?
Abram became Abraham, Sarai became Sarah, Jacob became Israel, Saul became Paul. What does the name change signify typologically? One out of the four's name was interchangeable. Who was it and why?
Now I have a question for any one game enough to write to me. Why is it that the doctrine of Foreknowledge is so neglected?
There are three genealogies for Jesus. What are they, where are they and why is there a major difference between the first 2? What has the book of Ruth got to do with them?
And last but not least, in Matthew 13, which ground are you and how do you know?

Monday 7th January 2007 Boys and their toys

Yes, I have a new toy. Its called a Eee PC series and its by Asus. I am typing on it now. It runs Linux, which is not good. I prefer DOS/Windows. Why? Coz I cant find a Bible like e-Sword to load on here like e-Sword does. The only Bibles I find have to have scripts written to run them. I am not a computer program writer. I am a train driver. But I do like its compact size. Size isn't everything you know. I like to think nice things come in small packages.
That reminds me, this is my first post for 2008 A.D. It is the start of a new year. One year closer to Jesus return. One year closer to the Rapture of the saints. Another year of excitement. Last year we got a new baby. I like that. Can we have another?
That brings me to another thought. The vicar of St Luke's vacated the preaching last Sunday. Liz filled in. She preached a brilliant sermon on Christmas. She said we stop celebrating at the wrong time. She is right. Everything happened after Jesus birth.
Enough for now.