"Yet it was our weakness he carried; it was our sorrow that weighed him down. And we though his troubles were a punishment from God for his won sins! But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace*. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the guild and sins of us all."
- Isaiah 53:4-6, NLT
* Peace (from Strong's Concordance)
completeness, soundness, welfare, peace
1. completeness (in number) 2. safety, soundness (in body) 3. welfare, health, prosperity 4. peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment 5. peace, friendship 1) of human relationships 2) with God especially in covenant relationship 6. peace (from war) 7. peace (as adjective)
You are my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you
- Words from the song "You Are Holy" by Michael W. Smith
Last Friday, Brooke and I were out running errands and our car would not start. We borrowed a friend's car to get a jump, but the car started before I hooked up the jumper cables. I had the battery checked and was told it was holding a charge, although it could still be time to replace it. I found out the battery had to be purchased from the dealership and they may have to install it because removing the battery might reset the computer on the car. Cost: $110. This was the same day I was paying the bills. Looking at my checking account, I saw that I did not have enough money to buy a new battery this week. But whoever said the devil isn't predictable? As I sat there trying to figure out how to get a new battery so that my wife did not get stranded somewhere, I suddenly noticed that my tithe check plus what I had left over for the week would cover the battery. Right then and there, I prayed, "Lord, I am going to be faithful with the tithe and I am asking you to take care of my car and battery." Sunday night when the car would not start at Life Group for Brooke, I thought for a moment that God may not have heard what I prayed.
On Monday, a mechanic friend from church offered to check my battery and alternator. Both checked out fine. We then went online and researched the problem and found out that many people with 2003 Saturn Ions have had these same intermittent failure-to-start problems. In each case reported, replacing the ignition switch was Saturn's answer. My friend offered to install a new ignition switch for me, so it seemed the $42 for the part was all I would be out. My friend spent 3 and a half hours trying to install the part. Actually, he had it installed much sooner than that but spent the rest of the time trying to figure out why the engine security light came on 100% of the time now and the car would never start. He did all he could and I finally got him to go home. He figured either the new part was bad or there was some sort of procedure that needed to be followed when installing an ignition switch so that the car's computer would accept it.
I would like to say I was walking by faith and knew God would take care of it all, but that simply was not the case. My stomach was in knots. Now I was going to have to have my car towed into the dealership and I had no money at all to have it worked on. Worry, worry, worry. Go to bed worrying. Wake up worrying.
Tuesday morning, the one verse to this song, "You are my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you" just kept going through my head. Finally I prayed, "Lord, is this song for me today? I can't seem to get it out of my head. I am doing my best to live my life for you, so I am going to trust you to be my Prince of Peace." I certainly would not say I was the picture-perfect man of faith from that time on, but I did begin to trust that the Lord was going to take care of the situation for us.
I called the Saturn dealership and told them what happened. They told me the computer had to be reset and asked if I could bring the car in. I told them it would have to be towed, so the lady on the phone talked to a tech there in the shop. She came back and told me the computer could be reset manually and the instructions to do so could be found online, but it was a very complicated process and most people just give up. I was walking in faith too much to give up (or to more honest, I knew I could not afford to give up!), so I asked the tech to call me back and give me the instructions on how to reset the computer. Ten minutes later he called, gave me the instructions and it worked. Our car problems were fixed for $42.00
And then to top it all off, Isaiah 53 was part of my devotional reading for today and I ran across verse 5. When I saw the word "peace", I did a quick word study. Sometimes I a slow learner, but I think I got my lesson for this week!
Yes, that is correct. You can read all about it here! Of course, the article lists an excuse why dead voters are 4 times more likely to be Democrat than Republican, but see if you think their argument holds water.
"Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes over 24 days for $4.50 each -- and won a prize for coming up with "most creative" new fair food."
Here's the link to the "automatic toilet" story at Endgadget. The basic idea is walk up to the toilet, it figures out your "intentions" and lifts the appropriate seat(s). Some interesting comments from readers at the end of the article such as: "what if it misreads my 'intentions' at night when it's dark and I can't see?" and "when will the glow in the dark version be available?"
Mexico's president-elect Felipe Calderon is not happy about the Secure Fence Act of 2006 calling it a "huge error" on America's part. The act, signed by President Bush today calls for a 700 mile fence to be built along the US/Mexican border in an effort to slow the flood of illegal immigrants and potential terrorists along our southern border. It seems the president-elect is not much of a history buff as he made a comparison between this new fence and the Berlin Wall. I thought the Berlin Wall was built to stop emigration {leaving}, not immigration {entering}. President-elect Calderon isn't building the fence, is he?
You may have seen the ad...you can find it on Youtube. I'm still trying to figure out Proposition 2 in Missouri that all of the hub-bub is about. Claire McCaskill says that the bill is about allowing stem cell research and that her opponent, Jim Talent, wants to make this illegal. Others say the this is ridiculous because stem cell research is currently going on in Missouri and is not illegal now. Leave it politicians to muddy the waters.
Amanda and two friends
Our "gang" for the day
The gang with a Komodo Dragon
Mrs. Hurt and the Posse
I'm a conservative Republican. If you are a fellow conservative, I don't know how I feel about this guy being our next presidential candidate, but I personally don't like it much. I've been thinking how I would vote if he were "our" candidate. I didn't much like the idea, but I was throwing it around nonetheless...should I not vote or vote for a 3rd party candidate just to make a statement to the Republican party "this is not who I want us to be"? But then I thought, "if a lot of us do this, a Democrat will end up in the White House and that (obviously) is not a good thing."
OK, so here's a quick week-in-review (just the highlights). First of all, the picture of the guy to the left with the BIG forehead. Great day! I knew I was losing hair, but that is not how my forehead looks when I look in the mirror. Oh well. The is me and I am holding just a few of the chips I won in Saturday night's poker game with the guys. Just to clarify: 1) I did win ALL of the chips, 2) I was down to just $300 in chips, barely enough to cover little blind, and I came back to win ALL the chips, 3) yes, I had a number of lucky hands and 4) no, we do not play for money...just chips. I guess all I can say about my game-playing that night is that the greatness of my playing is only overshadowed by my humility in winning ALL the chips. (Sorry guys, but we all know it will be a long time before I win again, so I've got to enjoy it).
On Saturday, we were out running family errands and stopped by Academy Sports and Outdoors to look for some bike stuff. As we drove up, we noticed they were having their grand opening kick-off party thingy, so we enjoyed some good BBQ chicken and hot dogs as well as free t-shirts and hats. Here Amanda and I are showing off our free stuff.
Sully loves his blankey...so much so that he chews it up and eats it! All week long we have been looking for another blankey that will last him more than a few weeks. He loves to chew on the blanket and play tug-of-war, so while we are looking for a suitable replacement, we picked up this toy for him to pull on. Of course Boo did not want to be left out, so she had to try it out as well. Notice Boo is a bit more laid back than Sully...she cannot even stand up to pull.
Rain on Friday kept me from getting to go geocaching by myself, and it kept us from getting to go out as a family on Saturday. But, during the week, I did get to take a couple friends geocaching. I already posted about caching with Jason, and then on Thursday this week, Amanda I took Clay out to learn how to use his new GPS. Here is he finding his first cache, one that I hid, BINY In My Life - David Wilson.
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has begun flight testing for the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program and has generated "first light" of ATL's high-energy chemical laser in ground tests, achieving two key milestones in the laser gunship development effort.
Judge #3 was an inexperienced Chili taster named Frank, who was visiting from Springfield , IL . 
This Fox news story, Shouting Out of Fashion at Army Boot Camps, says that drill sergeants are yelling less and fewer recruits are dropping out of boot camp. Here's a little more from the article: 
I just visited the Humanist News blog again. Newsgator Online, my RSS program, told me about the post earlier today, so I've been waiting all day to get to it. I usually get fired up and enjoy the discussion/debate on whatever anti-God topic they are posting. (Side note: I am constantly amazed at the amount of energy these people spend attacking a God they do not believe exists). But tonight I felt saddened. One of the staff writers, a college-age or just-out-of-college-age young lady wrote about a Washington meeting she attended cosponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), and the National Education Association's Health Information Network (NEA HIN), the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS). (Those of you out there who are particularly perceptive can already tell this is going nowhere good!). The report from this meeting was titled How Medical Inaccuracies, Fear, and Shame in Federally Funded Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Put Our Youth at Risk (link here). Had I simply read this, I guess I could have been fired up and upset, but instead I read the staff writer's blog post and was saddened.
Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.
The Fox News article starts out:
