Here is scientific proof that fish are really out to get us. "Rather than simply being instinct-driven...fish are cunning, manipulative and even cultured." See, I'm not crazy.

The HMS Pride
The HMS Pride sailed the Sea of Me when she received the call to put in to Submission Harbor. Her captain sailed her around the Life Islands but couldn't find the entrance to the harbor.

During one circuit around the island, a storm arose. It drove the HMS Pride hard. Her captain fought mightily to maintain control of the ship. Mr. Humility, her First Mate, pointed the captain toward a harbor, sheltered from the raging storm. "I believe that may be Submission Harbor, Cap'n! But this ship'll ne'er navigate those rocks."

Her captain, seemingly unaware of the size of his bloated ship, dismissed his First Mate's warning and managed to steer a course for the harbor. The storm continued to rage and soon HMS Pride struck the rocks at the mouth of the harbor and broke up. Mercifully her captain was thrown to the ocean and made his way to the rocks that stubbornly resisted the storm and there he clung.

In a mercifully short time, the First Mate came rowing by in the ship's boat. As he approached his captain, he called to him, "Sir, I cannot row close to those rocks but you could swim to meet me and we'll together make it safely to the harbor."

"I barely made it to these rocks, Number One. I fear I don't have the strength to make the swim," the captain answered over the roar of the sea.

"Sir, you must lose your heavy garments. Cast off your rank insignia and your decorations from past victories and throw yourself into the arms of the sea. It will carry you safe to me!"

Of course the captain knew his mate was correct but it was hard to release all of his badges of honor. The rage of the storm sounded in his ears, it promised to not relent till he was safely ashore. It threatened and promised at the same time. With a bit of hesitance, the captain stripped off he coat and threw it into the crashing waves. He lingered a moment, clutching the stubborn rock and then with a mix of fear and relief, he jumped in to the trashing waves himself.

Mr. Humility pulled him safely into the boat. Once there, he knew that he was no longer the captain, that in submitting to another he was safe and free. As they entered the harbor, he felt finally free to enjoy the sea, the waves, the island. He was no longer compelled to make quick judgments, the pressure was off.

Yea, that whole fish thing I've been harping on (here and here), well it just turned gross! (via Russ)

In light of SoBig.F and MSBlaster, both of which I had to deal with at work, may I point this out: Mac Viruses By The Numbers - Word Macro: 553, Classic Mac: 26, OS X: Zero. [Cough]. Humm...

How would this be different if blogs existed when Calvin and Hobbes was written?

"An elderly Vietnamese man thought to have died in a hospital revived after spending the night in the morgue", Reuters reports. He came in with chest pains and his heart failed so they declared him dead. His daughter found him alive when she came to claim the body.

Everyone knows that no one can come back from the dead so Reuters put quotation marks around 'dead' in the title of the piece. Yet, Jesus rose from the dead. So did Lazarus, Tabitha, an elderly woman's only son and a handful of others. At the crucifixion many rose from their graves and showed up in Jerusalem. But dead people don't come back. Jesus didn't die of an apparent heart attack, he died on a cross as is attested to by water and blood issuing from a stab to his side. He didn't spend the night in a locked morgue, he spent three days in a tomb guarded by Roman soldiers. Mary Magdalene didn't open the tomb to find him alive, the large stone was rolled back. A doctor wasn't there to attest to his resurrection, two angles were. Reuters didn't report on his resurrection, but his disciples and more than 500 people did. No one had any idea that Nguyen Van Quan would come back to life, yet Jesus repeatedly told his disciples he would.

Jesus' resurrection is better attested than is Nguyen Van Quan and yet it is repeatedly denied. The reason is that Nguyen Van Quan's resurrection proves nothing and demands nothing. Jesus' resurrection proves that he was the one the prophets looked forward to, the one he claimed he was. And that demands a response.

A friend of mine told me that he'd had fixed a problem with his computer. He said it was a "eye dee ten tee" problem. I looked confused till he wrote it out for me: ID10T. I've had that same problem in the past. That and the multiple problems infliced by a loose nut on the keyboard and mouse. Both are common across all computer platforms and OSs. ;o)

I was talking with a friend today about John Piper's biographical sketch of John G. Patton. Here's a little blurb on it:

Upon hearing Paton's intention to go, a Mr Dickson exploded, "The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!" To this Paton responded, "Mr Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." (p. 56) This is the kind of in-your-face spiritual moxie that would mark Paton's whole life.

I recommned buying the tape, Piper adds his own passion to the story. Failing that, why not read the transcript?

Yesterday's fishing story was nothing. It's getting worse. Remember Hitchcock's The Birds? Now its The Fish!

I decided to install Windows 95 on my iBook. I know, I know. Windows? Right. And, Windows won't run on a G3 processor, only Intel! Right again. I had to buy a copy of Virtual PC for my Mac so I can use a piece of Windows 3.1 software that is required for classes next term and strongly suggested for this term. So I bought Virtual PC with DOS and installed a legal copy of Win 95b I had kicking around the house. It was a lot cheaper that way.

I gotta say, Virtual PC is very cool, no wonder Microsoft bought it. It sets up and environment for Windows that emulates a Pentium computer. It even uses the devices on my iBook like the modem, the CD drive, and the USB port.

So now my iBook can boot to OS X and run OS 9 and Win95.

I've always enjoyed fishing. I just hate it when I'd get interrupted by actually catching a fish. Well, it turns out that catching one doesn't only interrupt a quite day at the lake, it can be lethal!

Last school year was sort of tough. I felt overwhelmed with work and isolated. I didn't know many people at school because I'd just started. I didn't know many people at church because I couldn't get too involved. I knew everyone at home but spent little time there. This year seems like it might be different.

I stopped by today to take care of some paperwork. On the way to the office I ran into a guy I meant last year in Suicide Greek. We chatted as we walked, catching up on what we've been doing this summer. When I got to the office, Dr Janiszewski knew me by name. He was glad to see me and we chatted for a bit. When I'd finished, I headed to check my mail and passed Dr. Roy's office. He, too, knew me by name and took time to talk.

I'm not name-dropping here, it was just good to be known. I'm hoping that the workload won't be as devistating as it was last year (though I am doing Hebrew) and I can plug in more.

I'm ripping this off from a friend, but it cracked me up!

Two church members were going door to door. They knocked on the door of a woman who clearly was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms she did not want to hear their message and then slammed the door in their faces.

To her surprise, the door did not close. In fact, it bounced back open.

Seeing the two church members at the door frustrated her. She stormed back to the door and flung it shut.

But the door still didn't close. Furious, she grabbed the door with two hands and shoved it as hard as she could. But again, the door wouldn't shut.

Convinced one of these rude church members was sticking a foot in the door, she reared back to give the door a slam that would really teach them a lesson.

Just then, one of the church members said, "Ma'am, before you do that again, you might want to move your cat."

What really had me going was that I actually went door to door with the man who sent me this, so I know he does it.

Interesting thread starting on why Windows gets so many virusii compaired to other platforms.

For, as for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so loth to go to God, and when it is with him, so loth to stay with him, that many times I am forced in my prayers, first to beg of God that he would take mine heart, and set it on himself in Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there. Nay, many times I know not what to pray for, I am so blind, nor how to pray, I am so ignorant; only, blessed be grace, the Spirit helps our infirmities (Psa 86:11). - John Bunyan

When I read that, I knew it sounded familiar. I had just read something very similiar in J. Oswald Sanders' book Spiritual Leadership:

"When I go to prayer," confessed an eminent Christian, "I find my heart so loath to go to God, and when it is with Him, so loath to stay." Then self-discipline has a role. "When you feel most indisposed to pray, yeild not to it," he counseled, "but strive and endeavor to pray, even when you think you cannot." - Sanders, p. 86

At any rate, Sanders & Bunyan are right, prayer is work. It is hard to get started and hard to remain in once it has been started. Bunyan's perspective, which didn't come through so clearly in Sanders, is that without the Spirit, we cannot pray. We don't know how we should pray, we don't know what to pray for and without the Spirit, our prayers cannot be acceptable to God any way. Even then, it is still a difficult thing. I needed to remember this to spur me on to struggle into prayer more regularly.

Here's a pic of me and my son Benjamin (I'm the one with the gotee) at the Michigan Ave. Apple Store in Chicago. Cool store. We took the pic via an iSight on a 12" Powerbook. I'm posting this via my iBook and their Airport network. Technology is so cool. Next stop today is Moody Bible Institute library.

BTW, Ben got the shiner from a friend. They were acting in a movie when he got biffed, as in biffed.

The real question is exactly who was the cruelty perpetuated on? I'm thinking it was the neighbors.

2 Timothy 2:10 - Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Long ago when I was doing a local radio program, I had an Arminian gently point out that the term "elect" in Ephesians 1 was speaking about the position of being "in Christ" and not about particular people. We had a pleasant exchange and when we were done, he hung up. Since it was my show, I got to continue to discuss it. :)

I was not convinced that elect is a position and not a people. This verse from 2Ti seems to reinforce that point (wish I'd have had it handy back then). How can a position "obtain salvation"? To maintain the Arminian position, I guess you'd have to say that God had no one in particular in mind when he elected 'them' to salvation.

I cried during Communion this Lord's Day. No, the devotion was not particularly moving, nor was the music. The reason I cried is complicated. I've recently come to be (once again) painfully aware of my own spiritual shortcomings. Before Communion I considered not taking it because of these shortcomings. Then I remembered that the Lord's Table is a means of grace and that I was in need of a lot of grace.

In 1Co 11:26 Paul says "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Every time we celebrate the Lord's Table, we proclaim His death and his resurrection and His return. This isn't subjective, it is totally objective. Whether I'm moved or not, here is a tangible presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in it I receive grace.

So this Sunday as I ate the bread and drank the cup I prayed for that grace. During the devotion my mind wandered and in the wandering God answered. Where I lacked vision, vision developed. Where I lacked planning, a plan materialized. And I cried briefly and quietly. God's grace came to me when I didn't expect it and it came to me (in this case) through the means he's ordained: bread and wine.

I heard about this on WMBI this morning on the way to work. While I applaude the Bishop's intent, I am worried about his methods. I've heard white churches express concern about there not being enough diversity and this is the first instance of a black church expressing the same thing. I hope that we might continue to move together (without the lure of cash), the terms "white church" and "black church" bother me. We are united in Christ.

I've been reading in 1 & 2 Kings lately about Elijah and Elisha. Man, what a story. These guys did some incredible things; taunting the prophets of Baal (1Ki 18:27&33-38), making axe heads float (2Ki 6:1-7), and curing and creating leprosy (2Ki 5:14 & 27). The author of 1 & 2 Kings just tells the stories. No explanation of why and there doesn't appear to be a common thread holding the stories together.

Anyway, it got me thinking about John the Baptist. He was Elijah (Mat 11:13-14) but not the Elijah the people were expecting. In Malachi 4:5-6 it was prophesied that Elijah would return before the Messiah came. I think the people were expecting him to come with all the miracles he performed before. What he came with was not the miracles but the message. John was a fiery preacher calling the nation to repent.

So how could it be that John was Elijah? Well, Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit to be upon him (2Ki 2:9) and it was done for him. So it was (apparently) with John. John was not Elijah in person, but the "spirit" of Elijah.