"Wieder ein ewiger Tag des Wartens".
("Der Erwartung" Monodrama by Arnold Schönberg,
Libretto by Marie Pappenheim)

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]]> http://layouts4myspace.wordpress.com/?p=34 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:33:53 +0000 lynneth_fox http://layouts4myspace.wordpress.com/?p=34 Speak up and be heard! Say what's really in your heart with quote layouts for Myspace. These quote layouts for Myspace are a good way of expressing your thoughts and sharing inspiration to your friends on Myspace. Featuring quotes and sayings about love, life, friendship, and relationship, these quote layouts for Myspace are perfect not only for the poetic fellows, but for the romantic and emo persons as well.

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Here's Lilith's quote for the day:

"Stay away from illegal drugs. You'll never know when there's gonna be random drug-testing."

Hehe...am I in trouble? Let's hope not, dearies. =D

My reading on July 3rd proved to be rather timely for the upcoming day celebrated by most citizens of the United States. From Free of Charge by Miroslav Volf:

"Here is roughly how sin works in relation to God the giver. All things are from God and through God, and yet we want to be independent of God, standing on our own two feet, claiming God's gifts as our own achievement. The young Karl Marx, barely twenty-six years old, put this sentiment as boldly as possible. In a text that remained unpublished during his lifetime, 'Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts,' he gave an expression to the heart of his rebellion against God:

'A being only counts itself as independent when it stands on its own feet and it stands on its own feet as long as it owes its existence to itself. A man who lives by grace of another considers himself a dependent being. But I live completely by grace of another when I owe him not only the maintenance of my life but when he has also created my life, when he is the source of my life. And my life has necessarily such a ground outside itself if it is not my own creation.'

Marx held firmly to human independence. It almost seemed to him a value that lies at the bottom of all values. Because the reality of God as creator is incompatible with human independence, he denied the existence of God.

Most of us, especially the believers among us, won't deny God's existence in order to secure our independence. Instead, we thing that we can have it both ways. We believe that we can stand on our own two feet, independent of God, and still affirm that God is the creator of everything. But that doesn't make sense. We can be both dependent on God and free; dependence on God is the source of our being, and therefore, our freedom. But we can't be created by God and independent; God sustains creatures in being and in freedom. When we assert our independence, when we ascribe to ourselves what comes from God, we wrong God - at least as much as I would wrong an author whose ideas I would peddle as my own. That's our main sin against God the giver. If, like Raleigh Hays, we see ourselves as more or less honest, hardworking citizens, we may believe that we deserve what we have, and even a bit more because an evil world is cheating us of our proper reward. We might not feel particularly grateful for what we have because we think that, rather than receiving it, we earned it. And we want to dispose of our hard-earned goods the way we please; they become not so much gifts given to us to enjoy and pass on, but rather our exclusive possessions.

Assertion of independence, pride of achievement, sense of entitlement, and absolute right to dispose with our goods - these are the ways in which we live in contradiction to who we actually are in relation to God. And in these ways, we, decent citizens, live as inveterate sinners. To live in sync with who we truly are means to recognize that we are dependent on God for our very breath and are graced with many good things; it means to be grateful to the giver and attentive to the purpose for which the gifts are given." //

// Miroslav Volf. Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. pp. 35-6.

My heart that was rapt away by the wild cherry blossoms - will it return to my body when they scatter?
~inspirational text messages by Kotomichi

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Without philosophy, history seems to me to be deaf and dumb.
~saying on History by Ferdinand Baur, Symbolik und Mythologic

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving evidence of the fact.
~inspirational text messages by George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such, 1879

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you
~inspirational text messages by John Wooden

In dreams begins responsibility
~text messages by William Butler Yeats

A child enters your home and for the next twenty years makes so much noise you can hardly stand it. The child departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad.
~sayings about text messages by John Andrew Holmes

A frustration we’ve had however, is that Christians generally, seem to think little about the arts, if at all. It is either nice and we like it, or ‘out there’ or ‘off’ and we don’t. The thought seems to be that Christians should be involved if it has an evangelistic agenda; but what else would you want to do with it?

But this isn’t very helpful to the person who writes poetry just because it wells up within them. Is this a waste of time? Or the actor who just wants to do it because that happens to be what drives him. Isn't this indulgent and 'glory seeking'. Is there value in painting when it may never hang in a museum? Or designing books full of boats which will never be built? Should Christian boys and girls be discouraged from attending secular performing arts schools like NIDA?

I haven’t got much to say on this topic today but it is one which our family has mulled over for years and years. Occasionally we’ll find a useful resource to help sharpen us a little further. That’s why I was glad to find this post a while back on the Sovereign Grace Blog. I’ll be keeping my eyes out for Art for God’s Sake, recommended as further reading at the bottom of the blog post.

Here’s a quote from the post (written by CJ Mahaney):

Artistic talent originates in God and for this reason the church has esteemed artistic expression throughout the centuries. French Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) wrote, “all the arts emanate from God, and therefore ought to be accounted divine inventions.” [1]

But this appreciation for art and its divine source does not contradict the church’s need to evaluate the value and limitations of art.

A century ago, Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) wrote the following concern.

Art cannot close the gap between the ideal and reality. Indeed, for a moment it lifts us above reality and induces us to live in the realm of ideals. But this happens only in the imagination. Reality itself does not change on account of it. Though art gives us distant glimpses of the realm of glory, it does not induct us into that realm and make us citizens of it. Art does not atone for our guilt, or wipe away our tears, or comfort us in life and death. …Granted, the two are connected. From the very beginning religion and art went hand in hand. [2]

How do we as twenty-first century Christians evaluate and critique the value of the arts? What relationship do the gospel and the arts share? What role and service do the arts play in the church?

When, did anyone never feel tired, or weary? or bascially in singlish, SIAN of everything thats around us. wishing that time would just freeze for a little while & we could then just rest, or just scream our hearts out?

we all need that break, we all long for someone to just be there in our darkest times. we long for that everlasting eternal hug.

Jesus says. rest in me. rest, rest.

some people do not believe that that is possible. some people are unaware of it. some people just can't remember that.

life goes on, we can never freeze time. thats just wishful thinking. Heaven & Earth will fade, but His word will still remain

Jesus is the same yesterday, today & forever.

He's there for you, He's right there beside you.

thing is, do we choose to look & fix our eyes on Him?

Elizabeth has been reading “Do Hard Things” by Brett and Alex Harris, 19 year old twins. I’ve been reading along behind her. I mentioned it in December when I put it on backorder at Koorong, but now it’s finally published.

I want to post some quotes I’ve highlighted as an indicator to the content and it’s helpfulness to teenage Christians:

God’s word is clear. Psalm 1:1 tells us, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” A lot of people, though, seem to quit reading there and miss the next verse: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Our culture seems to hear the don’ts but not the dos.

Charles Spurgeon…commented, “Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you – Is you delight in the law of God? Do you study God’s word? Do you make it your…best companion and hourly guide?” If not, Spurgeon said, the blessing of Psalm 1 does not belong to you.

I appreciate the following comment on our modern culture’s low expectations for achievement; you only need be ordinary to gain accolades for excellence, and let’s face it; most good, Christian kids these days could gain this reputation without effort -

The real danger for youths intent on rebelution is that these smarter-than-the-average-bear kudos can become the new and easy standard.

Unfortunately, we often get praise for things that weren’t particularly difficult to achieve. If we focus on the props and the encouragement to those who have low expectations for us, we become mediocre.

It can be challenging to set our sights on excellence, particularly when we’re hearing that we’re already there. One of life’s greatest lessons, which we all must learn, could be expressed in the phrase “That was nothing. Watch this.” Challenge yourself and others to call the normal things normal and save that word excellent for things that really are.

We’ve received [letters] form teens complaining about getting corny awards at school like the Celebration of Excellence for Leadership. All they’d done was turn in their homework and pay attention in class while everyone else goofed off. “It’s sad how little I had to do to earn this award,” wrote one girl.

What do we expect of/for our emerging adults?

- Henri De Lubac

Quotes from the weekend:

"You best not take that picture unless you want a bunch of Nigerians to take you down."

"That car is riding on 12" Kickers."

"She comes fully wrapped."

"Jimmy Deng -- he's the first person I knew with a 1 GB hard drive. I asked him, 'Dude, what are you going to put on that thing?!?'"

"I don't do names, I'm here for faces."

"I don't trust anyone who doesn't know how to eat a Maryland crab."

And finally, I leave you with the following pictures.

About dreams. It is usually taken for granted that you dream of something which has made a particularly strong impression on you during the day, but it seems to me it’s just the contrary.
Often it is something you paid no attention to at the time–a vague thought that you didn’t bother to think out to the end, words spoken without feeling and which passed unnoticed–these are the things which return at night, clothed in flesh and blood as characters in dreams, as if to force you to make up for having neglected them in your waking hours.

Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago

I took a break from reading this past week.  On Monday night, there was a fire in the apartment below Manny and hisfamily.  It was the superintendent's apartment.  The super and his entire family were badly burned and their apartment is completely destroyed.  On Wednesday, the super's 14 year old grandson died from his burns.  We are hoping and praying the rest of family pulls through.  So it has been an emotional week, and instead of reading, I've been thinking over the fire and how fragile this crazy life really is.  The thing that kept the fire from spreading?  It was because the family wasn't able to reach the door to get out of their apartment.  They couldn't open the door.  Because they couldn't open the door, the fire didn't spread upwards into the rest of the building.  But because they weren't able to open the door to escape, some of thekids were trapped in their bedrooms and couldn't get out until the firefighters broke down the door and rescued them.  I know its cliche to say, but when you think about how quickly everything can change, you realize what is really important in life.  And that is the people you love.  There's really nothing else.

Which brings me to The Reluctant Mr. Darwin.  Charles Darwin's favorite daughter, Annie died of a mysterious illness when she was only ten years old.  Darwin referred to the time she died as the time he gave up on Christianity.  The death of his daughter, combined with Darwin's knowledge that natural selection lead to the evolution of species rather than divine law made the concept of God impossible for him to believe.  This was what made Origin of Species so controversial.  Quammen writes:

It was a bigger issue that whether humans and monkeys share a common ancestry.  It was the issue of whether humans and monkeys, along with lobsters and dandelions and all other living creatures, share an absence of special divine appointment.  In plain language: a soul or no soul?  An afterlife or not?  Are humans spiritually immortal in a way that chickens and cow's aren't, or just another form of temporarily animated mean?

Darwin's theory of natural selection depends on variation among species, and these variations are completely random.  There is no divine intervention, there is no higher purpose of life and death.  And yet despite all of Darwin's experiences and knowledge of evolution and the origin of humans, it was not enough to make him disbelief in a higher divine power.  He believed in, according to Quammen, "a Supreme Being in the fuzziest sense, given rise to the universe and set it in motion according to the mechanics of fixed laws." 

Can you imagine what Darwin thought of his daughter has he wrote about natural selection and how it meant that human life was nothing special.  What of the soul of his daughter?  Was there no special purpose in her life?  Was she not any more special than the barnacles he was studying at the time?  Maybe that's what kept him from being an all out atheist. 

Anyway.  Tomorrow I resume reading.  I really want a light novel or something.  But last week I went the the Strand Annex on Fulton Street (where everything is 20% off because they're closing that location, all NYC'ers should go) and picked up some more science books.  I don't really want to read them.  Maybe I'll go the library tomorrow and get me some light reading.

His statement reminded me of something my good friend and former colleague, Tim Jack, used to ask -- "Are our ministries really equipping people, or are we just keeping them busy?"

I think about that question in relation to my current ministry and wonder whether or not I am making a difference. My passion is to train and equip people through preaching, teaching, writing, and leadership development. I want to bring all to maturity and many into leadership. My scorecard as to whether or not I am accomplishing that mission would include some of the following questions:

• Are people more mature now than they were when I began my ministry?
• How much farther along are people in their relationship with God?
• Are more people serving now than were when I started?
• Are there more or less leaders now than there were when I began?
• Do the leaders have the tools and experience they need to lead, as well as the authority to carry out their task?
• If God took me out of my church tonight, would the church survive? Would they know what to do?

I'm not sure I'm satisfied with the answers to those questions, but I am certainly challenged to get back to the task of equipping people for service so that the body can build itself up (Ephesians 4:11-16).

This is a great feel good book.  Each chapter ends by asking you to "Quickly turn to your Personal Awesome Action Plan Page (p...) and write the five "awesome actions" you're going to take as a result of reading this chapter..."

A much more difficult challenge than you could ever imagine.  It is amazing how quick your thoughts can become redundant.  So the challenge really becomes looking deep within and finding your true desires of what will take you from average to awesome.

Jim takes you through many great stories of his past and present, mistakes and successes.  These stories he tells are everything from tear jerker to pump you up raw, raw; bringing memories of a similar time in your life.  And they surly reinforce your belief that you can accomplish anything.

Talk about relatability.  Do you know people who have constant pity parties?  I didn't realize I knew so many.  It was funny walking into my previous job with this new found knowledge.  Just listening a bit more, and WOW - talk about pity party central.  Amazing how eye opening this book makes you.  What a great opportunity to expand my leadership skills.  I began to ask questions and work towards teaching others that finding great solutions from their strengths would remove them from their own funks; but at the end of the day it's all their decision to move forward.

I highly recommend this book and can't personally wait to see him in person.  Also, a person that has Les Brown write the forward is a mighty fine guy in my book...for whatever that may be worth.

I leave you with two quotes...

"Know that "but" is an argument for our limitations and when we argue for our limitations we get to keep them" - Jim Smith, Jr.

“When things go wrong, don’t go with them” - Les Brown

PS - check out JIMPACT

- live for your Karma

"Cerrar de vez en cuando las puertas y las ventanas de la conciencia, no ser molestados por el ruido y la lucha con nuestro mundo subterráneo[...]; éste es el beneficio, como hemos dicho, de la activa capacidad de olvido, una guardiana de la puerta, por así decirlo, una mantenedora del orden anímico, de la tranquilidad, de la etiqueta, con lo cual resulta visible en seguida que sin la capacidad de olvido no puede haber ninguna felicidad, ninguna alegría, ninguna esperanza, ningún orgullo, ningún presente."
F. NIETZSCHE, La Genealogía de la Moral

acrylic/canvas 24"x32" (click on image to enlarge: double click to zoom :)

Remember, the most beautiful things in the world

are the most useless;

peacocks and lilies for instance.

~John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice , 1851

Hello my little pretties. :) I hope all is good in your worlds. All is good with me. We worked on Drayton Island the last couple of days, and today was one of rest and renewing of energies. We spent the holiday weekend crossing some major projects off the list...and that is a good thing.

I am having my nightly glass of red wine..tonight 'tis Me'nage a Trois. So many things I think of chatting with you about, but one can't say it all, can they? Hmmm...this morning my lilies spoke to me as I walked by, asking me to tell our their story...so I will.

I found this quote and liked it...peacocks and lilies. hee, hee. So many other things could be added to the list of useless, but beautiful things...eh? Useless though?

back to the lilies....

We used to have a beautiful huge tree right by the front door, but a few years ago a hurricane damaged it beyond saving. Though, I was saddened about the loss, the opening did allow the sun to touch the earth once again. Much to my surprise, when summer came again, large blades of green pushed through the earth. In time, revealing what had been silently sleeping...waiting for the awakening light. Beautiful wild lilies...thus, my quick study of wild lilies in a jar painting! I had no idea they were there! I found out they are native to Florida and are called "rain lilies"...don't you just love that! They are blooming again right now.

Sadly, another huge tall 75' pine tree had to come down too. Unbeknownst to me a wisteria vine lived way in the top. In time, the rain and sunlight revived the vine, and now a simply divine wisteria bush grows where the pine once stood. Some of you may remember the painting called It's a New Day. Well, that painting and others are from that bush and the creatures that come and go...such as butterflies, bees, or the little warbler in that painting.

Okay, so why am I going on and on about storms, trees, flowers, and sunlight? Well, I think at times this is a perfect analogy for our lives. We all have and will experience what seems like upsetting changes..without sounding too corny ...the hurricanes of life. Yet, often as time passes..wonderful and magical things start stirring within our hearts and unfolding in our lives, due to the change...things previously unbeknownst to us!

I could say a lot more, but I think not tonight, for it is late. Besides, you know dear hearts..you already know!

Wonderful and magical things are within all of us! I leave you with this quote:

The windows of my soul

I throw wide open to the sun.

~John Greenleaf Whitter (poet 1807-1892)

I opened the windows of my soul

then the light came again

and now,

my heart is like a wild rain lily

unfolding, blooming, and hopefully revealing...

Love and Light to all,

~gypsy-he♥rt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

]]> http://mikeytherhino.wordpress.com/?p=465 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:23:04 +0000 mikeytherhino http://mikeytherhino.wordpress.com/?p=465 Joyful News on the economic front....or something.  A quote from a story on Bloomberg.com :

The U.S. trade deficit probably widened and the cost of imported goods jumped, underscoring how the surge in oil prices is hurting growth and igniting inflation, economists said before reports this week.

The gap between imports and exports grew to $62.4 billion in May, the widest in almost two years, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Perhaps my favorite portion of this story is how blase Joseph Carson, The director of global economic research at AllianceBernstein was when he said that Overseas inflation

gives U.S. firms the added flexibility of passing along cost increases to consumers without undermining their competitive position.

Love the way they look out for the typical American, don't ya? Now I don't really mind if you are trying to make a buck, I don't mind using every possible weapon at your disposal to your advantage to create wealth, but do you really have to be that much of an asshole about it and rub the fact that you are using us to absorb your Financial loses without any liability to yourselves?

Or is there another way to look at that statement? I don't see one.

Back to the news tho. I learn stuff every day. Here's today's newly learned fact. The people who put together numbers to calculate the gross domestic product do not count the costs of petroleum. The article by bloomberg states that after eliminating the influence of prices, the trade deficit shrank..." I thought current GDP had at least something to do with Current prices...

Oh yeah, another tidbit for those interested. Total jobs lost so far this year... 438,000.

Oil is at $145 a barrel and going up what seems to me at least to be about a dollar a day.

Well the G8 is meeting at a resort on the Island of Hokkaido in northern Japan today. maybe they'll do something about this. I'll drop a report on this if and when possible. word is they will talk about increased food production in and for Africa, as well as talk about creating a panel of experts on how to predict and avoid another global economic crisis in the future.

I'm kinda hoping they work on the one that's happening as we speak. That would be nice, wouldn't it? I personally think we should concern ourselves with the present first at this meeting and worry about the future a Little later.

And climate change, which was to be the original main purpose of this meeting, would be a nice thing to talk about as well. I ain't gonna hold my breath tho. Bush is notoriously stupid when it comes to environmental concerns. We will have to wait for our next president to come up with a better environmental plan to help save what we can of the Planet.

Hmmmm.... More oil news. Chakib Khelil, who is the Algerian energy minister and currently president of Opec, has said a few interesting things. One, he more or less said that the price of oil is pegged to the strength of the dollar, saying in a marketwatch.com story that:

"We have to follow the evolution of the dollar, because a 1% fall in the dollar means $4 more on the price of oil."

And guess what else he says adds to oil Prices? You got it! ETHANOL! That damned American Corn is costing us Billions at the Pump! 40% of the price of oil he says is due to the use of ethanol.

Wait...

What?

How can it be pegged to the Dollar and at the same time pegged to Corn turned into ethanol? Simple! He wants Americans to Buy MORE OIL, so he says that it's YOUR Fault that you're an oil addict and then says it's your fault it costs as much as it does, and that if you want more, you should not work so hard at helping fix that OIL ADDICTION of yours (why do you think we came up with ethanol, cause we don't like corn on the cob anymore?) One would presume that he has the backing and support of the oil industry here, not Just the Arabs, but all of Bi oil, ExxonMobil, BP, and all the others. As long as they have a strangle hold on prices and the market, they think that can control the world.

Wonder what happens when Americans, Sick of the Bullshit, Start mass producing electric cars and Hybrid clean fuel burning vehicles and stop using oil so much.

That should be a Happy War, don't ya think?

A Video for you, about Opec and Oil prices and yet another "reason" Oil prices are so high, from Reuters a few weeks ago:

That's it for me. Later!

Today's Nuggets, From George Washington, Via Wikiquote: If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.