Driving Backwards

We all do it... It's only a matter of when.

A couple years ago, I was driving with my brother and he noticed my driving into a parking spot. He decided to ask me why I didn't back into the spot. I realized that I had no good reason. He proceeded to say that as much as I might hate driving backwards, I'll eventually have to do it. Why not back into the parking spot rather than back out and not know what's coming? It takes the same amount of time and most importantly, you can see who's coming when you're making the fast get-away! Since then, I have made an effort to back into a parking spot unless I can pull through a parking spot so that I can pull out without having to drive backwards.

Try it. It might just prevent an accident!

Drive time... waste not!

If you have a lengthy commute like me, you may have thought to yourself ‘how can I use my commute time most effectively?’ Well, I have thought the same question myself and have come up with a few ideas.

One thing you can do is pray. I mention this first because it is what I find myself doing the least of.

Besides praying I have found my drive time is very useful for listening to audio files. Most people think of books on CD when I mention this, but I rarely listen to an actual CDs anymore. Perhaps, like me, you don’t have a CD player in your car. To overcome that, I listen to mp3 files on my laptop. You can use a portable mp3 player or iPod as well. If you choose to go with your laptop, here are some thoughts to consider. Find a file player that uses the SPACE BAR key to pause the audio. Personally I use CyberLink PowerDVD which can be bought here for $39.95 if you select the download option. CyberLink automatically add a TOGOCD (a backup CD) for an additional $10.00 which can be removed from the card to bring the total back to 39.95. There are free mp3 players on the web, but I haven’t found one that uses the SPACE BAR to pause audio. Two other features that PowerDVD offers is that the PAGE UP key work to rewinds a few seconds and you can play the files at 1.5x or 2x the normal speed (I love hearing people sounding like chipmunks). Then, queue up your files BEFORE you start driving. Lastly, enjoy. If the sound isn't loud enough, get laptop USB speakers fot $10 - $20 to amplify the sound. Lately I’ve been listening to Joe Focht’s verse-by-verse series which can be downloaded here. I’ve also been listening to some college lectures. Of course there are many versions of the Bible on mp3 now. Since I find that I don’t have all the time I want to read the Word, I find listening to it read to me is just as edifying.

Another awesome find a colleague showed me was a list of portable FREE programs. I have looked over the list and it is an amazing suite of FREE programs that one can copy on a USB drive and carry around where ever you go. All you have to do is pop the USB drive into ANY machine and launch your programs (including a web browser) and have all your favorites, personal settings and files with you! All you need is an operaing system. If you choose to have the browser save your passwords, I STRONGLY encourage you to encrypt your data. E-mail me to find how.

A Hidden Message: The Gospel in Genesis by Chuck Missler

I heard about this while listening to Joe Focht and decided to investigate it a bit further. When compiled, the meaning of each name in the line of Noah gives us an amazing message! How awesome to know that God had his salvation planned out before the beginning of time.

The Composite List:

Hebrew	English
Adam	Man
Seth	Appointed
Enosh	Mortal
Kenan	Sorrow
Mahalalel	The Blessed God
Jared	Shall come down
Enoch	Teaching
Methuselah	His death shall bring
Lamech	The Despairing
Noah	Rest, or comfort

That's rather remarkable:

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.

Here's the Gospel hidden within a genealogy in Genesis!

An unlikely coincidence, me thinks.

See Chuck Missler's full article here.

Prayer, just a call away.

I just got off the phone with my dad and he reminded me of an amazing service that the 700 Club offers. I'm sure other Christian organizations offer the same, but this is one I know about. He reminded me of their 24/7 prayer line. Have you ever had a prayer item that you needed prayer about, but couldn't really share it with anyone you knew, but still needed a prayer partner? I'm sure you have. Sometimes certain pray request aren't even appropriate to share with someone you know or in the setting of a group. That's where a prayer line come in. From their web site, the center’s phones are staffed by more than 350 prayer counselors who are trained in offering comfort and encouragement from a biblical perspective. So rather than face an issue on your own, call a Prayer Counselor at (800) 759-0700. A 700 Club Prayer Counselor will answer your call.

More things New...

I am terribly excited abut what I just learned about accelerated learning. Just this past week I was thinking (and getting depressed) about how long it will take me to get my associates, not to mention my MA and BA. Needless to say, I signed up to take volleyball at college this summer to get 2 credits. It's funny telling my wife that I'll be playing volleyball for $200.00 to further my education.

Despite my 'progress', I was still frustrated about how long it would take me to get another 40 credits. Fortunately, my wife encouraged me to join her in going to a homeschooling conference. I truly was going to learn more about my daughter's homeschooling experience and to learn how I can help with that. After looking at the workshop schedule, I decided to go to listen to a speaker Woody Robertson who spoke about Dream, desire, & Decision. What I learned was something totally different! I learned that I didn't have to go to college to get my BA! woot! I learned that through a course sponsored by Collegeplus! I could get my BA in about 2 years. Upon further research and more lectures by Woody, I learned that I could take CLEP exams and DANTES to get credits for college and eventually transfer them to Thomas Edison State College in NJ. The research took me to this blog.

I will spend the next week studying for my Security+ exam (hopefully the last computer exam I ever take!) and then look into taking the CLEP exams. I am once again excited about my education journey towards my masters in Organizational Leadership.

Thoughts for the day:
I took time to begin reading Creating Community by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits. Take time to connect with a stranger today!.

The Begining of Something New...

This blog marks the beginning of something new. Actually, it marks the beginning of many new things going on in my life now.

One of the most life changing experiences going on in my life is that my family will be changing churches. God is pulling my family to join JR Briggs in starting a new church in Lansdale. After much prayer and consideration, we feel that this is God thing and a very good thing as well. This change set forth before us was indeed a challenge. A life changing challenge one might say. JR laid out some expectations for people interested in teaming up with him in starting this new church called Renew. Many of the changes weren't new ideas to me, but rather things I knew I ought to be doing, but wasn't. After committing to help JR, I realized that I need to make some major changes in my lifestyle. The hardest change for me was to give up online gaming and significantly reduce PC gaming in general. I found I was wasting too much time worrying about little towns I had built online and not spending enough time with family and with other REAL people. I also felt a deep conviction to write a book, but would always dismiss the idea due to not being able to find the time to do that. Finally, I prayed about where I could find the time to write and was reminded about the time I spent gaming. Since, with God's help, I've abandoned those online cities I have found new wells of time. So here I am now, spending some of that time writing this blog.

My hopes of this blog is to help me get into the mode of writing and write down life golden nuggets that I learn along the way and share them with others. My prayer is that this blog will not only help me form my thoughts for an eventual book, but that this blog will also bless others reading it and strike up conversations and perhaps even convictions that would not come about otherwise.

What I share here is what is going on in my life; thoughts I am having, ideas that hit me and what make my world go around. It is not meant to condemn you or make you feel condemned in any way, but if God convicts you about something you read here, pray about it, let God speak to you, share your thoughts with someone and see miracles flow. May you experience God's immense love for you while reading this blog!

More new things to come...