Anyway, I said all that to say this. I like this zombie theme so I will leave it up till after Halloween. Enjoy!

I haven’t been out to take any photos this has been a pretty hectic two weeks. One kid starting volleyball practice and one starting a new school. Desi is playing volleyball again this year, they have started practicing even though school doesn’t start till September 1. Anna started a new school last week, it was very traumatic, for me. I would have rather home schooled her so I would have company throughout the day. It is a good school at least, Christian bible based teaching. Once both girls are in school I will have no excuse for not getting out and taking some new photos.

I have lots of things on my mind that I would like to post about but it took me two hours to get this stupid laptop updated and ready to post. I am waiting for the screen to blackout again. Usually happens after a few hours. I need a new one but it isn’t in the cards for awhile.

Click to enlarge

Front door of a local church. seemed like a good idea at the time.

This may be true in some cases, but not all. Sometimes you have to deliver the message in such a way as to get the current generations attention. For those who feel that this is wrong let me remind you that God made a donkey speak:

(26) Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. (27) When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. (28) Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

(29) Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

(30) The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
Numbers 22:26-30(NIV)

Not enough for you? Jesus spoke in parables all throughout His ministry. Sometimes you have to talk to people on their own level in order for them to understand.

Is it a sin to change the message? Yes and a deadly one at that:

(15)Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. (16)He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV) emphasis added

Relevance though is not a sin, even Paul did it:

(19)Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. (20)To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. (21)To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. (22)To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. (23)I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NIV) Emphasis added.

No, delivering the message in a new and exciting way is not a sin. Not delivering the good news at all, THAT is a sin!

I am a firm believer in free speech and all that, but some have taken that right a bit far. A lot of those suffering from BDS (Bush derangement syndrome) are suddenly offended by others exercising that right. Political discourse was alright when it was coming from the left, but now, they seem to take offense.

I feel that this is much bigger than a right wing or left wing problem. This problem is a lack of experience, knowledge, and respect. So far we have seen this administration allow itself to be seen as weak numerous times. (Source1 Fox) (Source2 AJC) (Source3 Reuters)

The left are attacking Christianity at an alarming rate, whether they are trying to remove it from America or just cripple it I’m not sure, but it is definitely injured. Mainstream media has even taken to bashing Christians. (Source Newsweek)

I know it is just a pipe dream, but it would be nice if all parties involved could get together and just agree on whats best for our nation. We are tearing our country apart bit by bit and who do you think will be coming to pick up the pieces? Probably one of the countries with a huge financial stake in us.

I hope and pray that I am wrong, that I am not witnessing the decline and fall of the United States, but it seems more and more every day, that that is just what is happening.

I’m sorry that this article went astray, but there is so much going on right now I just can’t fit it all in one post even though I did try. Next post will be something about photography, I promise!

Title: The New Media Frontier Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ.
Editors: John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton.
Publisher: Crossway Publishing
Authors: Multiple
Pages: 254

This book was right up my alley. A book about blogging for Christians. I admit I was really psyched up for this one. I also admit I felt a little let down. It is by no fault of the authors or publishers for my disappointment but rather just the facts of Internet life. The tools and the players on the Internet are constantly evolving, so unfortunately what you write today may not be the latest news in a month or so.

That said, this would still be a great book for someone just starting out with blogging or looking to move forward in their blogging. They start out with a brief history of how we got here and then a little about where they think it is heading. From there they point out a few of the dangers, three biggies and then move right into the basics of blogging.

The chapter entitled Beginner’s Toolbox: Blogging starts you out on the basics such as read first – blog later. Great advice, read blogs lots of them, especially on the subject you want to blog on. Get a good feel for what works and what falls flat. Know why you want to start a blog, a very simple question that you should ask yourself before you start. ( I should have asked myself that one as well, oh well, hindsight!)

They then move on to tools of the trade, blogging software. Whether you want to go for a free blog or spend a few dollars and go with a hosting service and your choice of blogging software. (Psst, WordPress is the way to go!) They even give some advice on choosing your blogs name. It is good advice, a bad name can kill a blog before it even gets started. The next chapter covers pod-casting and video blogging. Two areas of blogging that I shy away from as it puts me out there a little too far. Never the less, they give some solid advice to those looking into that form of blogging as well.

The next section of the book covers many different ways of blogging, from evangelical to politics. They give you a quick breakdown in the subsequent chapters of the many different ways to blog. I will admit that I had a few stumbling blocks here as well. I felt that some advice was being repeated in chapters and there was at least one chapter that felt like an advertisement for the authors blog. He did pass on useful information but his constant referal to his own blog get distracting for me. That is one of the downfalls of multi-authored books. You will sometimes find repetition and there will always be someone that you either don’t agree with or that just makes you want to take a nap.

Final word: This is a good book for beginners. As I stated earlier, if you are just starting out I recommend reading this book before you put yourself out there. If you have been at it for awhile now, nothing in here is really new or going to change your world but it may give you some ideas. I am going to give this book 4 stars out of five. I would have given it five if not for those few qualms I had. They may not be issues for most, especially newbies!
[rating:4]

The book The New Media Frontier was provided to me at no cost for review purposes by Crossway books and Active Christian Media.

For awhile I had serious doubts about whether I should be enjoying Halloween. I was told that a good Christian should have nothing to do with such a dark holiday. It wasn’t until recently that I finally realized that the thought process that got me to that point was rubbish. First off it is a great opportunity to witness to the neighborhood children. What other night are they going to willingly come to my door and let me give them a tract? Yes I do give them candy also, but the tract is key to this whole thing. Secondly, it is the only time of year when I can find some good horror movies on the television.

My scary experience

When I was around 7 or 8 we lived in this old house that was just naturally creepy to begin with. My room was on the second floor and my parents room was on the first. The first time I slept in my room I kept being awoken by the sound of footsteps. Now being that young I was naturally scared witless. The thump thump thump of footsteps in a dark room is enough to give anyone the heebies. The fact that I had a light on and could still not see who was moving around up there made it much much worse!

After the third time of waking up I just lie there awake trying to hear the noise that kept bringing me into this wakeful state. It didn’t take long before I heard the noise again. It was a distinct thump scrape thump scrape. I was now downstairs in the living room, it took me about two seconds to get there! I went to tell my parents what was going on. My dad at first told me it must be a tree branch, I reminded him that there were no trees near the house. He then wrote it off as a squirrel, now I was young and easily fooled, but that was no squirrel, way to loud for a squirrel to accomplish.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night sleeping on the couch downstairs within easy run of my parents room. The next day my dad and I went up to try and figure out what was making the noise. We sat for the longest time in silence trying to hear anything that sounded like it but never did. There was a storage room off to the side of my room, it had a small door into it. I opened this door to see if there was anything in there that might make noise. When I swung the door open there was a dress makers dummy right there in front of it. I screamed at the top of my lungs and made my way away from that room as fast as my little legs would carry me.

I would not go upstairs in that house ever again, as much as my dad tried to get me to, I flat out refused. While downstairs sleeping on the couch, you could still hear the noise at night, but it was not as loud. It was definitely coming from upstairs. My mom heard it a few times when she would get up in the middle of the night for something and my dad heard it once also. The day after he heard it, he started looking for another house for us to live in.

End of scary story

What am I wearing this Halloween you may ask? A simple mask, store bought with no modifications. I thought it was creepy enough just the way it is. All you have to do is wear it and not say a word, it creeps ‘em out every time!

Boo

The creepy lighting is courtesy of the auto focus light on my point and shoot, I couldn’t have asked for a better light! Yes, you can click to enlarge!

All photos can be clicked to enlarge!

Suffer the King

Yes I broke the cardinal rule of concert shooting and used a flash. I couldn’t help it though as I don’t have any fast lenses yet. The best I have is still 3.5 wide open, I really need a 1.8 at least, but 1.4 preferably. Anyway, this next shot is of the singer, who has the coolest name in the band IMHO.

Jeff

Did I mention that I shot most of the show in RAW mode, which made it even more of a challenge for me since I had to figure out what all the different sliders in the conversion program do! Next up is my buddy Quentin, he’s a really good guy, which makes me wonder why he puts up with me? Quentin has some mad bass skills and is showing them off here, granted you can’t tell since this is a still photo, but you can pretend or go to their mySpace page that I linked earlier.

Quentin

Next up we have the guitar wizard himself Dan, who by the way is hilarious. He reminds me of myself when I get going, only he is actually funny!

Dan

Last but not least we have the drummer, whom I could not for the life of me get a good shot of because every time he looked up someone got in front of me.

Derek

I hope I got everyones names right, I had to write them down from memory and as you all know, my memory is pretty poor! Suffer the King rocked the show Saturday night and I can’t wait to see them again!

Title: Reasons We Believe (50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith)
Author: Nathan Busenitz
Publisher: Crossway Books
Pages: 24
Ah yes, now this is more like it. I admit I was a tad afraid after my last attempt at an apologetics book review but after reading the description I just had to read this one!

One of the first things some may notice is that this book will get you nowhere with most “new” atheists; as they generally will not accept the Bible as a legitimate historical document. Then again, most atheists won’t accept anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow world view. The book has 50 lines of evidence that confirm the Christian faith; which, oddly enough, is the subtitle of the book. Most of these lines are references to the Bible; some delve into other texts and may be useful to you when dealing with someone who insists that you are using circular reasoning when you quote from the Bible. (which by the way kills me since they want to quote all their favorite authors but do not want me to use mine)

There are 5 reasons we believe sections; broken down as follows: Reasons we believe in God, Reasons we believe in the Bible (part 1), Reasons we believe in the Bible (part 2), Reasons we believe in Jesus (part 1), and Reasons we believe in Jesus (part 2). They are logically laid out and you can skip around as you please to read the ones that catch your fancy first. As I have mentioned previously, I really like it when authors use Bible references, even more so when they make me work for it, as the author does here. I am inclined towards research so I tend to enjoy it when I am required to look things up for myself. That and I imagine it cuts down on printing costs as well so it is a good thing for both sides!

The book is well written and eloquent, and no big words to stumble on thankfully. There are lot’s of footnotes with reference to more books to add to your reading list. This text was written with the layman in mind and is successful in not going over your head or confusing the reader with philosophical references that make your brain hurt (thank you Nathan).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about the Christian faith and Christians who want to better defend their beliefs. Yes it’s definitely a 5 star book.
[rating:5]

The book, Reasons We Believe, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.

First I would like to apologize to Crossway books and the author, William Lane Craig. I took way too long on this review, I got in way over my head on this one. I should have realized that since it was described as a seminary level text on apologetics. I love apologetics, but once you start getting into philosophy, you tend to lose me. I tried to be fair in this so whenever I got too lost I would look something up and not go on until I understood what was being said. Hence the extra time on the review.

That said, this is an awesome book with great arguments for the Christian faith. If you have a background in philosophy then you will have no trouble with this book whatsoever. If you are like me and easily confused by complex theory, then it may take awhile to get through it. Do not let that stop you from reading this book. This book is great for Christians who want to be able to have an answer for their faith. It would be equally good for giving to a non-Christian friend that needs to have some of his doubts answered.

The book’s lay out is easy to work with, giving the arguments first, then practical application, followed by a literature cited or recommended section. The chapters, eight in all, are lengthy, but considering the amount of information he is giving you, that is understandable. The book has 415 pages, all chock full of information.

One of my favorite quotes occurs close to the beginning of the book.

“In a world without a divine lawgiver , there can be no objective right or wrong, only our culturally and personally relative, subjective judgments. This means that it is impossible to condemn war, oppression, or crime as evil. Nor can one praise brotherhood, equality, and love as good. For in a universe without God, good and evil do not exist–there is only the bare valueless fact of existence, and there is no one to say that you are right and I am wrong.”

I think I latched onto this quote partly for the great truth it imparts but also for the fact that it was the first one that I didn’t have to look anything up to understand.

I am giving this book 5 stars, while I had some difficulty with it, it forced me to learn a lot and that is never a bad thing!
[rating:5]

The book, Reasonable Faith, was provided to me at no cost by Active Christian Media and Crossway Books for review purposes. To become a reviewer for ACM you may click here.