God’s Dominion

Okay, dumb title. Hey, at least it’s unique. Anybody whose talked to me has heard me support the Bears against the Colts this Sunday. What you haven’t heard is me making a prediction about who’s going to win. The reason? I have absolutely no idea. The Bears are the most schizophrenic team I’ve ever seen. One week they look like they could beat the AFC Pro Bowl team. The next week they look like I could find 11 teenagers on the street to beat up on them. Every analyst has picked the Colts to win. I’m not really sure why that is. Most analysts picked the Seahawks to beat them. Every analyst picked the Saints to beat them. Yet here they are in Miami and nobody’s picking them to win again. You would think eventually one of them would learn that these guys aren’t as bad as they think. Here’s my take on the whole thing:

1) The Colts are an excellent team (as were the Saints). Their defense is a bit of an unknown. After playing terrible defense all season, some other defense showed up in the playoffs. If their defense is able to stop the run, they have an excellent chance of winning this game as Rex is probably not going to beat them. If their run defense reverts to the one that gave up over 175 yards per game during the season, the Bears excellent ground game could exploit that. That would allow Rex to have a pretty good day and lead to a Bears victory.

2) The Bears defense is also a bit of an unknown. After losing safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Tommie Harris, the defense struggled. These are both excellent players and their backups, while good, aren’t nearly as talented. They have been able to step it up when needed (or when they are taunted by rookies). If they play like they did last game and force turnovers, it could be a long day for Peyton, Marvin, and Joseph Addai.

3) Everybody knows Rex is a huge unknown. He led the league in 100+ quarterback ratings and in under 40 quarterback ratings (for an explanation of quarterback ratings, go here or here). He rarely gives you a middle of the road game. He’s either excellent or awful. If he doesn’t turn the ball over, the Bears have a great chance of winning. If he plays one of those games where he’s feeling very unselfish and giving the ball to the other team, the Bears don’t stand a chance.

The Bears can pick it up when they want to. After being taunted by Reggie Bush (an extremely bone-headed move for a rookie to taunt the opposing team’s captain), the Bears outscored the Saints 23-0. The Colts are too disciplined to do something stupid like that, but the media overwhelmingly picking the Colts to win might just be all the motivation they need. We’ll see which Bears team shows up on Sunday. I’ll be rooting for the Bears, but I cut my nails so I wouldn’t bite on them! Laterz!

So, I had a heck of a day today.  I’ll tell you all about it, but first I wanted to point out a couple of things.  I’m so happy that Maria has started posting on my forum!   I hope you don’t feel like I’m harassing you.  I just wanted to make sure somebody was going to participate since nobody was posting.  I’m so happy you did.  Also, remember that we have a prayer request section there.  Adding it there allows us to go to one place and see everybody’s requests.  It makes it easier for us to pray for each other.  Also, remember that I’ve added a section for you all to introduce yourselves to each other.  I hope you guys make use of that section so we can all get to know one another and grow closer as a family in Christ.

Now, on to my day.  This morning the CFO came over to tell me that when they tried to post the invoices for billing, the file the system generated was blank.  Apparently, the guy who developed this part was in India until February 12th and nobody else knew anything about it.  Meanwhile, there was also a bug in one of his web applications that prevented searching and I needed to fix it.  While I’m working on those two, I got a phone call from another customer that he’s having problems with his email system on my server.  It needed to be fixed right away as he was preparing to send out an email blast.  Eventually, I was able to figure out the billing issue. I found the data under the wrong date.  I told them they should just upload the file.  An hour later, the CFO finally agreed.  While that was going on, I was called into somebody else’s office who told me that I needed to put together a report and mass mailing so they could send out 3000 letters at the end of the day (it was around 1:00 by this point and I hadn’t yet eaten lunch).  I spent the rest of the day getting that working properly (never got back to the search bug on the website).  Around 5:45, I was told the mailing wouldn’t go out and I was off the hook.  By the time I left, it was almost 6:30.  I still don’t have the report quite right.  Meanwhile, I was told that my server was on a spam blacklist (something I don’t believe to be true).  It’s been an all around interesting day.  Well, tomorrow it starts all over again.  I’ll need to finish the report and get that bug fixed.  I’ll have to tweak my server, as well.  How exciting.  I can hardly wait.  Laterz!

So, a week ago I was in church, as I am every Sunday.  I was sitting halfway back on the left.  I don’t like sitting there (I prefer middle front), but I was sitting with some friends.  I looked over to my left and there it was.  Some guy was sitting in church during service with his bluetooth headset on.  Was he expecting a phone call from God?  Was he actually planning to answer a call?  I sometimes think people go to church for all the wrong reasons and just miss the point.  Some people go to church just because that’s what we do on Sundays.  We should be in church because we want to be in God’s presence, learn more about Him, and fellowship with other Christians.  God doesn’t want us to be lukewarm.  He either wants us to be hot or cold.  Revelation tells us that if we are lukewarm, He will spit us out of his mouth (Rev. 3:16).  I hope we all strive to be on fire for God.  Laterz!

Well, I’ve been reading Matthew for a week and still nobody’s posted anything in the forums.  Four people have signed up for accounts and a few others have told me they’re interested.  I just hope people actually do it since I think reading your Bible is important.  Don’t give up.  Don’t stop because you think you’re behind.  I’ve set this one chapter per day pace, but you can easily catch up reading two per day instead.  Or, you can just always be a little behind.  We don’t all need to go at the same pace.  It’s more important that we read it and understand it.  I’m trying to get this going so we all have an opportunity to do both in a supportive environment.  If we need to pause for everybody to catch up or something, let me know.  Don’t give up!    Laterz!

I added a section in the forum for spiritual questions and another for tech questions. Feel free to post any questions you have for me in either of those. If you see a question and you know the answer, feel free to answer them, too. If I don’t know the answer to a question (quite likely), I will do my best to find the answer, with references. Let me know if there’s any other sections you’d like to see in the forums (not that anybody has actually posted anything there yet) .

On a related note, I might get rid of the section for problems with creating a login. It seems the process is working now as three people have created accounts (six if you count the weird accounts from the Ukraine!). I have had to delete quite a few posts in there (including two about homosexuality) and it’s becoming more trouble than it’s worth. If anybody has any objections, let me know.

As always, add a comment if you’re reading this so I know who’s out there. I tailor my posts depending based on who’s reading this. On another note….Go Bears! Laterz!

Update: I also added a new members section to the forum where you can tell us a little about yourself so we can all get to know each other.  Only members can read this section as well so you don’t have to worry about a total stranger reading about you.  Say hello to everybody and tell us a little about yourself.  Laterz!

Okay, just to clarify some stuff on my birthday:

1) I don’t start an argument with my mom.  I don’t even bring it up with her at all figuring avoiding the discussion altogether is the best way.  She will always ask me a question which basically amounts to wanting to know if I’m happy she’s throwing this party for me (she knows I hate them because she tells people I hate them when she invites them).  Since I’m not a liar, I tell her the truth.  At that point, she throws a fit.  I guess she wants me to lie to her, but I won’t do that.

2) Although I hate that she insists on throwing a party every year that she knows I’m going to hate, ultimately it seems that the big deal is that I actually admit to hating it.  Since she knows I hate it, I doubt she suddenly gets upset that I hate it.  She seems to be upset that I would actually admit that I hate it.  It’s okay for me to hate it and okay for everybody to know I hate it, it’s just a problem that I actually tell anybody I hate it.

3) No matter that she’s my mother or anything, that will never change that I hate celebrating my birthday.  I will not like celebrating it because she’s my mother.  I hate any type of event where I am the center of attention no matter what the event is.  I have been known to skip awards ceremonies for me (including the one where I received an award from the Massachusetts state legislature) without even a second thought.  I have even been known to throw the awards I receive away.  I just don’t like the parties/ceremonies/whatever and the fact that my mom’s the one throwing does not make me like it more (as a matter of fact, I like it less because she knows I hate them).  I am the only one who gets these.  My parents don’t.  Ronaldo doesn’t.  Nobody on your side does, Wendy.  Only me.  And I’m the only one who hates them.

P.S. I can’t believe you’re cheering for the Colts.  They beat you so you should cheer against them.  Besides, who do you know in Indiana?  Go Bears!  Laterz!

I have added a new forum section for prayer requests.  That forum can only be read by registered users.  Unregistered users can see it’s there, but can’t open it to read it.  If you have a prayer request, you can go in there and add it knowing that only other registered users will be seeing it and not the entire world.  If you don’t, go in there and read others’ requests so we can keep each other lifted before God in prayer.  Please make use of this section as I feel it’s important that we pray for each other and we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s going on.  Laterz!

Hey, Geordie! So glad you found my site.  Wendy, Maria, meet Geordie.  He is a friend of mine from the young adult group at my church and is a relatively new Christian so be supportive!  He is currently in seminary (so ask for a lot of advice! ).  Geordie, meet Wendy, my cousin, and Maria, a friend of mine from back when I lived in Boston.
I enjoyed talking with you last night and look forward to many more conversations both online and off. I wanted to let you know that you are free to sign up for an account in my forum (the link’s at the top) and just add your comments whenever you want. You can add your own notes even if you’re three books ahead of us or even read what we have written and just add your own two cents. I have also added a new forum for prayer requests and there is a section for any ideas people want to add. One idea I have thrown out there is one for tech questions as I get a lot of those through emails or comments here. Adding that will provide one place people can go to see if their question has already been asked and answered. Nobody responded to that, but you can let me know if there’s anything you want to see there. Great to have another reader! Laterz!

So, I read an article about a family that was trying to fly on AirTran (formerly ValuJet…yeah, the one that crashed in Florida due to bad maintenance a few years ago), but was asked to leave the flight before it took off.  They were refunded the amount of their ticket and they flew home the next day and given free tickets to anywhere AirTran flies.  What happened, you ask?  Well, their three year old daughter was throwing a fit on the plane and running up and down the aisles.  The parents were asked repeatedly to calm their daughter and put her in her seat with her seat belt.  FAA regulations require that every passenger over the age of two is seated and belted before they are allowed to push back from the gate.  The parents asked if she could sit in their lap for takeoff.  Since she is older than two, the airline refused citing those FAA regulations.  The flight had already been delayed 15 minutes because of this incident, so the airline eventually asked them to get off the plane.  The parents aren’t happy with how this turned out, but I’m wondering what they expected the airline to do.  Did they expect AirTran to break FAA regulations and allow the child to ride in their lap?  I hope not and I hope no airline would do that.  Did they expect the plane to sit at the gate until they were able to control their child?  I hope not as that would have negatively impacted hundreds of other people (112 on that flight plus the other flights that would be delayed because the gate was in use).  I know if I was on that flight, I would’ve wanted them kicked off so we can get off the ground.  Considering they ended up getting home for free and got free tickets out of the deal, I think AirTran did more than they should’ve been expected to do.  They essentially rewarded the family for something that wasn’t AirTran’s fault.  Maybe I’m missing something here.  I bet if it was another family whose child was screaming and running through the aisles, this family would’ve been complaining to the flight attendants that they want to take off on time.

Amazing how selfish we can be sometimes when things don’t go our way.  Perhaps we should take a little time to look at things from somebody else’s perspective when things aren’t going our way.  How is this situation affecting them?  Is it really as bad as it seems (I’d gladly take a refund and a free ticket for a one-day delay returning from my vacation).  Another example, some have already complained about the amount of snow we’ve gotten here in Illinois.  They have had 74 inches in Anchorage, Alaska.  For those of you a bit challenged in the math department, that’s 6 feet, 2 inches.  That’s an NBA point guard.  People have been talking about piles of snow twenty feet hight in places.  Is it really that bad where you are?  Probably not.

As always, feel free to drop me a line in the comments and please sign up in my forum and add your comments for our Bible reading.  I’ve read the first three chapters in Matthew and nobody’s posted any comments yet.  Laterz!

Well, I am typing this post on my brand-spankin’ new laptop.  I bought myself a MacBook Pro and I’m thrilled with it so far.  What does this mean?  Well, it means that, after a couple of days of configuring and personalizing the computer and couple of more days doing work I should’ve done before but didn’t because I was without laptop, I will begin fixing up my site.  That means fixing the photo gallery which isn’t working properly (it doesn’t allow me to add new photos), among other things (like scheduling a backup so I don’t lose everything if the server crashes again).  So, Wendy, you should be able to see pictures of Elijah at the beach in another two weeks or so, along with plenty others I plan to add.

I started my Bible reading last night.  I read Matthew 1, but I didn’t add any comments because my comments for the first nine chapters of Matthew are already there from when I started this last month.  Don’t take that as I’m not participating as I am going back and rereading the first nine chapters.  Please go ahead and add your notes.  I have two others signed up in the forum right now with promises from three others and a possible invitation to my small group when we next meet.  Hopefully, we’ll have a nice little group going soon.  We should all read the Bible in its entirety at least once and it’s much easier to do when you have others supporting you.

I should be posting much more frequently now that I have a real computer on which to post, so keep your eyes peeled.  I’m still waiting on somebody to tell me if they want a section in the forum for general questions & answers since I get so many tech questions (what am I, Geek Squad…don’t answer that! ).  I do plan to add my first review this week.  I will be reviewing the movie, Freedom Writers.  Laterz!