God’s Dominion

There is a song by Salvador called “Shine”.  The chorus:

Lord let me shine, shine like the moon
A reflection of you in all that I do
Lord let me be a light for your truth
Light of the world, I wanna be used to shine for you

I got to thinking about this song.  I found it interesting that he would ask God to let him shine like the moon.  Why not shine like a star or the sun?  The moon doesn’t technically shine.  Was it just creative license?  No.  Think about it.  The moon doesn’t actually create any light of its own.  It shines bright enough in the sky that I can use the moonlight to find Pepper outside at night very easily (she’s black).  Where does this bright light come from?  It’s reflecting the sun’s light.  When he’s asking to shine like the moon, he is asking to reflect God’s light, not create his own.  He wants to shine brightly entirely with God’s own light, not any of his own.  Imagine shining that brightly and it’s all because of God and everybody knows it.  They can all see God’s reflection in you.  Wow.  I hope and pray that I reach that level some day.  Do you have the same prayer?  Laterz!

As you can see, I’ve been posting more often again.  Tonight I plan to start back into posting on the forum for Matthew.  I’m still waiting for others to join us as Maria and I are the only people posting.  Feel free to jump in anywhere.  I’ve had quite a few people sign up, but nobody’s actually posting.  I’m hoping we get some others joining us soon.

I’m currently working on three projects for work which is keeping me quite busy.  I have the photo gallery fixed so I can upload more pics.  I’ve already uploaded a few and I plan to upload more whenever I get a chance.  Laterz!

I must apologize for the weather here in Chicagoland.  Why, you ask?  Well, it’s been a wonderful week, weather wise.  Since it was finally above freezing again, I washed my car yesterday (I don’t like washing my car when it’s below freezing as water expands when it freezes and I’m afraid it will expand in my door and break something) for the first time since August.  Well, today we got a bunch of sleet.  Since the weather always goes bad when I wash my car, I think I’m just going to forgo it altogether and enjoy the nice weather.  Laterz!

Just in case you don’t know what there is to watch during Carnaval (a.k.a., Mardi Gras), I figured I’d explain.  During Carnaval, there is the standard partying in the streets all day & night.  While that may be fun to attend (I can only guess! ), it’s not really all that fun to watch.  However, at night is when the interesting part begins.  13 samba schools (in Rio, not sure how many in Sao Paulo) each have a parade down the sambadrome (like a stadium, but basically a straight concrete street with permanent stands on either side).  The parades last 80 minutes for each school (which is why it takes most of two nights).  They have to have a theme, write their own samba, and create their own floats (usually 7 or 8 of them).  There are anywhere from 3000 to 4500 people in the parade divided into groups called “alas”.  Each ala is dressed in outfits/costumes which are related to the overall theme.  For example, one school’s theme was sports and they had guys dressed as Greek gods during the Greek Olympics part as one of the alas.  The floats are huge (I’d say up to three stories tall) and are generally elaborate and have movements.  For example, one had a huge snake on the front that moved and opened its mouth.  These floats put the Rose Parade to shame.  When you consider this is all put together by poor volunteers, it’s very impressive.  Some of these parades are very beautiful and extremely well done.  These went on until 1:30 and 3:00 in the morning on Sunday and Monday night, respectively.  I enjoy watching it.  One of these years I hope to go watch it live.  Laterz!

Well, I’m feeling much better, but I’m still been really busy working on three projects at once (four, if you count my own stuff).  I should be posting more this week, but not as frequently as I was before (at least for now).  Meanwhile, I’ve fixed my photo gallery and have started adding new photos (just added a few for now, but I plan to add many more this week).  The Carnaval (Mardi Gras) is going on in Brazil right now, so I’ll be up until like 2 tonight and tomorrow night to watch the ceremonies in Rio (I’ll explain what that means when I’m not as tired as I am now ).  I’ll go back to adding my Bible study posts on Wednesday (anybody else going to join us?).  Laterz!

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything, but I have been really busy (working on three projects at the same time) and I am starting to get sick.  I’m not really full blown sick, but I can tell it’s coming.  I’ve spent the past few days getting as much rest as possible so that I don’t get sick.  I hope to resume my normal posting around the middle of this week.  Laterz!

So, the young adult group (Emerge) from my church (The Chapel) had their Super Bowl party at my house this past Sunday.  It was fun and a lot of people showed up (more than I expected), although they didn’t eat as much as I expected (probably because the Bears lost).  We had a few Colts fans there, too.  It was a fun time.  Anyway, part way through the first quarter, we were enjoying the game in hi-def on my 51 inch television when the sound suddenly cut out.  I went into the other room to see if it was a CBS problem or a problem with my system.  Sure enough, the sound was working fine in the bedroom.  I had to completely rewire my system in the living room to get the sound working again.  Never had this problem before and it had to happen in the middle of the Super Bowl with a party happening in my house.  Murphy’s Law at its best.  We ended up missing most of the Colts’ first scoring drive (the field goal) but I was able to get everything working with a bit of a kludge and the party went on.

Anyway, still hoping to get my review up this week (I’ve been so busy it’s not even funny) and I also am going to be adding a poll at some point.  As I’ve said, I’m thinking of making some changes to my site and I’m hoping to get some feedback.  One of the changes I’m considering might not be liked by some so I wanted to have a little discussion/vote about it before doing it.  Although it’s my site, I don’t want to run anybody off because of a change that would help me but wouldn’t be a big deal if I didn’t implement it.  Stay tuned!  Laterz!

Just the other day, Wendy and I were talking about how it was too cold to snow.  Apparently, that’s not true.  It’s currently 2 degrees (the warmest it’s been in days) and it’s been snowing steadily all day.  I can’t believe it.  I was always told this is too cold for snow.  Of course, the freezing snow turning to ice is going to do wonders for the commute home.  All you Illini, drive safe tonight!  Laterz!

I know I was supposed to post last night and I was also supposed to post my Chapter 11 comments, but I was without internet for part of the evening and that really threw me off.  I plan to post something tonight and add my chapter 11 and 12 comments in the forum, as well.  Laterz!

So, somebody explain to me this weather reporting.  I never saw this in California, so it must be a cold weather phenomenon.  How is it that the weather report currently states that today’s low will be -4 while also reporting the current temperature as -7?  I would think there would be something in the software that states that if the current temp is lower than the low, move the low.  I think the wind chill is somewhere between -25 and -30.  The car wash across the street is closed.  It’s a beautiful sunny day, but the water probably won’t run.  Even if it did, the water getting in between the window and the door would freeze really quickly.  Water, unlike anything else on the planet, expands when it freezes.  This would cause a pretty serious problem and could damage the car.  Well, just thought it was a funny weather report.  I’ll post for real later.  Still planning on posting that movie review, but probably not until later this week as tonight I’ll be trying to fix my a/v setup in the living room (a story I’ll tell you about later tonight).  Laterz!