delicate

Maple keys in snow

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: SILLY (Laughing, Clowns, Faces, Kids or Animals Playing, Signs,...)

life-changing stories wednesday - Miracle Macaroni

Our pastor has just returned from a week in Ethiopia. There he worked alongside PAOC missionaries Brian and Val Rutten, taught in the Bible College, visited the Child Care Plus facility and the school for kids. His message on Sunday morning included some incredible stories. Here is one, told in his words:

Miracle Macaroni

I met a man and we sat and talked. He told me his story. This man had been born and raised in a Muslim family. He had become a teacher of Islam, was a teacher in a mosque and an authority in the Koran. He was hostile to Christianity and was not interested. He’d met a Christian but had no interest whatsoever. That’s the background.

The circumstance was that both he and his wife lost their jobs and they had run out of food. They were down to one small bowl of macaroni and physically that’s all they had left in their place. He said there were so few macaroni inside he could count them. And so he and his wife sat down at the table with this small bowl of macaroni, to eat.

As they were sitting down to eat, there was a knock at the door and a guest arrived – a friend of his wife. The custom is that you invite the guest in and you share whatever you have with them. So they invited this woman in to sit with them and share their food. Now there are three of them sitting around this little bowl of macaroni.

They began to eat and continued to eat. “My wife thought I was doing something sneaky, and I thought she was doing something sneaky, but we were able to continue to eat – the three of us,” the man said. “We ate until we were satisfied from this one bowl. And at the end there was still the same amount of macaroni in the bowl.”

“So,” he said, “I was confused by this. But there was nothing more to do so I left them talking and went to bed. While I was sleeping, I had a dream. And in my dream Jesus Christ appeared to me and said, ‘If you give me your life and follow me, I will multiply your life the way I have multiplied the macaroni in your bowl.’”

The next day he got up, found the Christians and became a believer in Jesus Christ. He was discipled for a period of two years. They had baptisms every three months. He postponed his four times because he had troubles balancing the Islamic worldview and the Christian worldview. But he finally came to realize that Jesus was not only a prophet but that he was the Son of God, that He had died and risen again and that He was indeed the Savior of the world. So he was baptized. He then went to Bible college. He is now the leader of ten tribes among Muslim people.

I asked him (and I had to push him to tell me), “Tell me, how many people have come to Christ in those ten tribes that you’re working among?”

He said, “At least ten thousand are now following Jesus. Many, many more.”

Every night they meet to talk and they ask questions. He said what the Muslims do now is they test the power of God. They come and they ask questions. Because the Christians say that God will answer their prayers. So they haven’t believed in Jesus yet but they’ll bring prayer requests to test and see if Jesus will answer prayer.

And so what this man does now is he goes and teaches in the mosques. He starts with Jesus and the Koran and then takes them to John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And the strategy is simply to start, not on the street corners, not in the market place but to actually be in the mosques and teach those who want to hear. It’s the most amazing thing.

They have vision and they have people who are ready to go to any of the Muslim nations of the Middle East that you want to name – the most severe under Sharia law, it doesn’t matter. They’re prepared to go and share Jesus Christ in this manner with those who are hungry. It’s exploding; it’s beyond comprehension. It seems impenetrable, impossible, where your life is on the line. If you convert, you can have your head literally cut off, you’re separated from your family, you lose all economic opportunity, you’re ostracized, you’re treated as dead, and they’re saying it’s growing and expanding every day, every day.

Go here to listen to all of last Sunday’s sermon.

of worms and websites

f you've been listening to the news this weekend, you've probably heard of the Conficker worm - an internet virus that has apparently infiltrated the bowels of thousands of Windows computers and is just lurking there, waiting for its next assignment. That could come as early as April 1st.

60 Minutes did a segment on it last night. Lesley Stahl didn't seem to have a clue about what its next move might be. The NY Times bits blog claims a bit more knowledge:

"Given the sophisticated nature of the worm, the question remains: What is the purpose of Conficker, which could possibly become the world’s most powerful parallel computer on April 1? That is when the worm will generate 50,000 domain names and systematically try to communicate with each one. The authors then only need to register one of the domain names in order to take control of the millions of zombie computers that have been created."

The Symantec article on Conficker tries to sound like they have the situation well in hand - of course: "If you’re worried about the Conficker worm striking on April 1st, don’t be." Of course, the spiel after that is to use their software to purify your computer.

Here's PC World's "Protecting Against the Rampant Conficker Worm."

(It's times like this I'm really glad I have a Mac, she whispers, trying not to sound gloatish.)

On another topic, find out how your website rates marketing-wise by putting it through its paces at WebsiteGrader.com. I did for my various blogs and website. I can tell you right now, yours won't have any trouble rating better than mine! It's obvious I'm fairly baffled by the process. Every single site I checked is missing meta descriptions and meta keywords. What are they, and how/where does one attach them?

earth hour - 60 minutes for lights ON!

Sometime today - in the evening when it's dark, I guess - we're encouraged to celebrate Earth Hour by dousing all the lights. This from the great environmental establishment to get us to contemplate, in the dark, how we must reduce our carbon footprint.

I like the National Post's quasi rebellious editorial stance (clicked on front-page link headlined "Earth Hour is a joke" - I like it):

"Once you’ve had enough of sitting in the dark, think about what it means that you can go back to that switch on the wall and put the lights back on. Electric light, now regarded as a banality, was in fact a breakthrough technology that expanded our great-grandparents’ universes radically: It transformed the productivity of businesses and workers, enabled round-the-clock transportation, made the night less terrifying in both imaginative and practical respects, and — let Canadians never forget it — allowed humans to settle the realm of short winter days without being required to basically hibernate.

To renounce that — and all that it represents — even symbolically, is to renounce ourselves."

But even more, I like Joel Johannson's idea of turning on the lights during earth hour in defiance of all the killing that's happening in abortion mills (read mostly public hospitals) throughout Canada:

"My one hour of all-lights-on action represents for me the eleven or twelve pure, innocent, helpless babies being savagely “aborted” on just that hour, on “Earth Hour”, in Canada. (275 will be “aborted” that whole 24-hour day, including the “Earth Hour” of cult darkness.) All will be aborted at taxpayer expense against my conscientious objections, mostly in public hospitals, largely for utterly no reason except convenience and cosmetics and birth control for idiots who have, given the choice, chosen to shirk the highest and most sacred responsibility given to humans, and who as a result will choose to engage in the most disgusting, most egregious act ever thought of by humans.

I call it “human hour”.

Way to go Joel! We're with you!!

frivolous friday

building

The Wark / Dumais House - one of Langley's heritage homes
(love that doily trim!)

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: DELICATE (Glass, Lace, Jewelry, Plants, Breakable Things,...)

one-world currency?

**Updates**

China calls for new global currency

Geitner 'open' to China proposal while "President Obama flatly rejected the notion of a new global currency at last night's press conference."

So now Geitner and Bernanke reject new global currency idea.

Related: Meltdown 101: Will China global currency idea fly?

EU president Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek describes President Obama's plan to push U.S. out of recession with $2 trillion as "the road to hell."

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Joel Rosenberg (author of the just-released Inside the Revolution) reports that talk of a one-world currency is echoing around the globe:

• Russia and Kazakhstan

• Iran - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "...last week called for a single currency for 400 million Muslims in the Middle East."

• Libya - "Muammar Ghadafi, recently elected leader of the African Union of states, is calling for a single currency for all of Africa and has persuaded 200 tribal leaders to call him the 'King of kings.'"

Rosenberg goes on to say: "These are curious developments given that scholars of Bible prophecy have long noted that according to the Scriptures, in the 'last days' the world will see the emergence of an entirely new international financial architecture, complete with a single global currency created and mandated by the leaders of Europe. ....

Cynics and skeptics have long dismissed such talk as the province of “religious nuts” and “prophecy buffs.” But the discussion has suddenly blown past the realm of Bible scholars and is now the discussion of major world leaders. It’s too soon to say where this will all lead, but these are certainly developments worth watching."

Read all of RUSSIA TO PROPOSE NEW GLOBAL COMMON CURRENCY And the Kremlin is not alone.

mistrial for googling

When you're a juror, Googling to do research on the case you're hearing, or twittering, updating Facebook, your blog can lead to a mistrial according to a March 23rd National Post article "Google Mistrials' derail courts."

A couple of tidbits from the piece:

"We are so hooked on this instantaneous communication, we can't seem to drop it even for a short period of time in order to discharge a civic duty."

"He (Alan Young - law school prof) believes jurors go against judges' instructions more often than the legal community would like to think, at least partly due to modern society's addiction to constant communication and information consumption."

And this telling little paragraph:

"The law is not about truth-finding. It's about, ‘Can we convict this guy based on the rules of evidence?' " he said. "That's something that really has to be stressed over and over again" (bold mine).

I'm thinking rather than endangering all future court cases by maintaining the status quo, we'd be better off updating the judiciary to fit with our technology - oh yeah, and making the process less about semantics and more about convicting on the basis of truth (a novel concept indeed and - in Canada at least - one that may well net one the conviction of contempt of court.)

chameleon tendencies and other aspects of online life

Jennifer Lowther (Vancouverite and on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other social networking sites) quoted in a National Post article:

"I have definitely found that my online life is now bleeding into my personal life.... People I have never met follow me on Twitter and they know me, and they expect me to know who they are."

Managing multi online profiles ("The average Canadian has seven online profiles, according to Microsoft Canada research") can be tricky. Living online has its drawbacks. The article points out several:

no secrets: "You can meet a girl or a boy and before you've had your first or second date, you know who they have been with, who was their last boyfriend or girlfriend - it makes for interesting conversations."

a type of curfew: "If I don't upload a photo on Flickr, or update Twitter for two days, people send out a rescue party," Krug (Kris - Vancouver photographer and member of multi social sites) said. "I don't want my digital life to be the entirety of my identity."

dossiers: "It's also leading to a 24/7 surveillance that would make spies look like mere slouches. We are assembling the kind of dossiers that most intelligence agencies would kill for and we are doing it without them lifting a finger .... I'm not suggesting this is going to be some massive Big Brother conspiracy, but it requires a little bit of thought - how much of our lives are we revealing and how much do we want to reveal?"- Rob Cottingham - Social Signal

Read all of "Twitter, Facebook beget the 'social chameleon' and self-surveillance."

My feelings on the subject:

Why I don’t twitter

What are you doing?
What am I doing?
Who needs to know

I’m currently contemplating
another trip to the fridge
and all that coffee
has sent me to the bathroom
gazillion times?

I don’t care
that you heard from your big-name agent
are over-the-top excited
and just posted to your blog

Tweet tweet
Scratch that trip to the fridge
I’m going outside
where it’s spring
and I can listen to the birds
twitter back and forth

What a return flight
First dibs on this tree
I’ve found true love!
Tweet tweet

© 2009 by Violet Nesdoly

frivolous friday

time

Vehicle with attitude

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Thursday Challenge

Next week: BUILDING (House, Hut, Tent, Skyscraper, Green House,...)

life-changing stories wednesday - A Changed Heart

A fellow member of The Word Guild posts the story of how he left a life of homosexuality and is now making summer wedding plans. Alan Yoshioka describes himself on the About Me page of his blog:

"My name is Alan Yoshioka, and I live in Toronto, Canada.

I've been there, done that, bought quite an extensive collection of gay T-shirts, thank you very much – and discovered there's nothing as satisfying as living in Christ."

Read "A Changed Heart" and rejoice in God's faithfulness!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

organized - cluttered

Pigeons on White Rock Pier

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Two 4 Tuesday photo challenge

my weekend

It's the end of another weekend and I feel sad. I love weekends. But there's no getting around the fact that time moves on and since last week was pretty much a write-off for getting stuff done (the Brier was on - three games a day Monday to Thursday, finals Friday, Saturday and today - amazing curling!) I must psych myself up to get down to business first thing tomorrow morning.

Today was our pastor's 50th birthday. In church this a.m. they showed a little retrospective video with shots of him throughout the years - very cute. Then he sat down at the piano and led us in a singalong of some of the songs that have characterized his time here.

Our church has had some close brushes with full-fledged revival (e.g. 300 attending 5:00 a.m. prayer meetings for a while). Of course music is always a part in these "moves of God." We all sang William Booth's "Send the Fire" (YouTube below; one of the songs I remember from when we began attending). What a rouser - and it fits right in with my 'fire' quote from this morning - only this is good fire.

Then several of the pastors came up with his birthday gift. It was a sports jacket made by one of the ladies of the church out of the bright orange upholstery fabric salvaged from the old pews (taken out and replaced with theatre seating last year). Wouldn't you know, this is the Sunday I neglected to bring my camera or I'd have a photo.

After church we went for our usual walk, got drenched in the rain, stopped for lunch at Choo-Choos and watched as the rain turned to snow. Fortunately by the time we were ready to walk home the serious snowing had stopped.

The electricity went out for a while this afternoon, but it came on again after about an hour and a half -- in time for us to watch most of the Brier final which was a lopsided affair with Alberta easily winning over Manitoba.

But, as I said, the weekend is almost over. So, V, repeat 100 times: I will work hard next week. I will work hard next week. I will work hard next week....

(If you decide to listen to the YouTube, turn off the music player by clicking on the II, top right sidebar).


Send the Fire
( Zach Cherian and the Praise Team - I think it's John Hagee's church)



SEND THE FIRE
by William Booth

O God of burning, cleansing flame, Send the fire
Your blood - bought gift today we claim, Send the fire today

God of Elijah, hear our cry, Send the fire
And make us fit to live or die, send the fire today

To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory in
The revolution now begins, Send the fire today

It's fire we want, for fire we plead, Send the fire
The fire will meet our every need, Send the fire today

Give us strength to always do what's right,
And grace to conquer in the fight
for power to walk this world in white, Send the fire today

Look down and see this waiting host
And send the promised Holy Ghost
We need another Pentecost, Send the fire today

sunday quote - anger

"A little too much anger, too often or at the wrong time, can destroy more than you would ever imagine. Above all, mind what you say. 'Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire, and the tongue is a fire' --that's the truth. When my father was old he told me that very thing in a letter he sent me. Which, as it happens, I burned. I dropped it right in the stove. This surprised me a good deal more at the time than it does in retrospect."

-from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

frivolous friday

broken

Fissure
(Englishman River Falls Park - Vancouver Island, BC)

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: TIME (Hourglass, Clock, Calendar, Wristwatch, Hurrying,...)

the book biz

A couple of interesting articles from on the book business, the future of publishers and writers.

• About the book business in an article on Slate:

"Forget all the myths about the book business: the parties, the poring over manuscripts, and passionate arguments. The book business is a distribution business, pure and simple. It's about getting the words and ideas of a writer into the hands of a reader.

...Few readers buy books based upon reviews anymore. Listen to Farrar Straus and Giroux's editor in chief, Eric Chinski: "Reviews don't have the same impact that they used to. The one thing that really horrifies me and that seems to have happened within the last few years is that you can get a first novel on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, a long review in The New Yorker, a big profile somewhere, and it still doesn't translate into sales."

What does translate into sales? A direct connection to the reader. That comes from publicity or word of mouth."

Read all of the The Kindle Revolution

• Branding

On the contentious subject of branding, if you read the interview with popular agent Wendy Lawton a few days ago, you'll know where she stands.



Jill Priluck at Slate takes a slightly different view.

"Brands are often the elephant in the room no one wants to confront. Some authors consider it unwise to be branded as, er, brands; it's a signpost for low-brow, mass-market sensibility.

...In today's fickle marketplace, the Internet—with blogs, videos, Twitter, and other promotional tools like Amazon's Author Stores—is the modern-day equivalent to hand-selling. Thomas Friedman even posted a chapter of Hot, Flat and Crowded on LinkedIn and asked members to weigh in. (Disclosure: I was part of Friedman's publishing team.) In a way, authors are empowered in this new model, provided they can leverage their networks into living, breathing communities who have a stake in—and benefit from—an author's ballooning platform.

But it comes with a price. When authors are beholden to a brand, they ally themselves, almost like actors and athletes, with agendas and meanings that are well beyond their control. In their desire to fulfill the dictates of a brand, authors can compromise their integrity as writers, especially if they cubbyhole themselves."

Read all of Advertisements for Yourself - Can and should book authors become brands?

In the area of branding, I'm more amused onlooker than anything. Long ago I blew my branding potential by branching out into all kinds of genres -- kids, poetry, writing how-to, book reviews, articles for adults and this all-over-the-place blog. Now I love my mercurial life far too much to limit myself to one particular genre. And so I'm content to remain an unlabelable and unknown writer -- which would probably have been my fate in any case.

old-new

Spring sunshine

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Two 4 Tuesday photo challenge.

Rate the photos. Help choose the weekly winner.

sunday quote - Why?

Why must I weep when others sing?
'To test the deeps of suffering.'
Why must I work while others rest?
'To spend my strength at God's request.'
Why must I lose while others gain?
'To understand defeat's sharp pain.'
Why must this lot of life be mine
When that which fairer seems is thine?
'Because God knows what plans for me
will blossom in eternity.'

from Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman