Sword vs. Cross

Ok so I am guilty I have a tendency to want to get back at people because as everyone on planet earth knows, “I am the most important person ever, and what i think is right.” You better not cut in line in front of me. You better not cut me off on the highway. Or I'll... (get really mad). So this is what I got slapped with Sunday morning. These are my notes so you can listen to it here if you want.

An Invitation to life in the Kingdom Matt 5:3-12

1. When the law said pick up a sword, Love says pick up the cross.

John 18:36 - Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world."

2. Jesus has not given us what we deserve (the sword) he has given us grace (the cross).

3. 381-382 Constantine mandated that the official religion is Christianity, the next year the first person was murdered in the name of Christ.

Matt 26:52 - Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Matt 5:38,39 - "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' " But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

4. People are changed inwardly and permanently by the cross, not the sword. The cross opens people up, the sword shuts people down.

5. 3 Types of Sword Bearers.
a. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your worth.
b. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your possessions.
c. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your time, energy, dignity

Matt 5:40-42 - "And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

6. This text is not saying that you have to roll over and take everything. This is not saying that if you are in an abusive relationship that is doing you physical harm to stay in it, this would be unwise.

7. The focus of this passage is to lay the sword of retaliation down, let God deal with the other person. Don't continue the cycle of brokenness.

1 Peter 2:21-23 - For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Wow I know that I am so guilty of forgetting what has been done for me. I know that I need to remember to extend the cross to others, but sometimes I just don't quite make it there. Hopefully these study notes will be a reminder for me.


All scripture taken from:
English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

You are No One's Rival

Here's my journal entry from today just thought that I'd share it with anyone who'd care to read it.

12.28.09

O Lord,

I am at the point right now; right here in the coffee shop on Monday @ 4:35p listening to "Unthought Known" by Pearl Jam (from Backspacer), that I am struck with the immense fact that we live in such a fallen world that things truly to the core are longing to be the way that You made them. Things are not bad--or were not originally made evil. You made all things good, "very good" but they are deep down to the foundation cracked and marred, misinterpreted by us. We are truly image bearers of you. You alone made us, made us to mirror You in creativity, love, glory, so that You alone would be glorified by our mere existence. The simple fact that we: live, breathe, laugh, love, cry, scream, sweat, work, whisper, talk, eat, give, take, run, walk, crawl, is the crowning jewel on the most glorious of all Your creations. This speaks volumes about You, Your might & Your worth, it is truly all about You. The fact that we exist is about You, You alone make the sun shine. There is none to rival You. You alone are: Might, Power, Strength. How do we miss this so well, it's right in front of us, the very air that we breathe is such proof of You. Molecules, Science, Chemistry they are all the evidences of the ways that You work, and in Your image we work to try to figure out the things that You speak into existence. O Lord forgive me for missing it so deeply, forsaking what's right in front of me, as if this was all about me. How could I so greatly miss the obvious? I miss it down to my core. But there You are working to restore what we broke. There you are putting right the things that went wrong. How the very essence of creation longs for You, it reflects You. You are so great, not in the very small great that I use all the time like: "Oh those shoes are great." , but in the earth shattering, millions of stars in the sky, how I feel so small standing on top of the mountain, kind of Great. Oh how sad it is that I am so flawed that I am so amused by such passionless things as: technology, computers, busyness, big houses, new cars, and all the gadgets and toys that we ourselves make. We choose the finite over the infinite time after time. You-the infinite chase us down with such perseverance, such purpose. We are so quaint to miss it time after time. You have given such evidences that you'd think it'd be easy for me to see. Coffee, music, art, love, sex, children, family, wine, food, friendships, the very time that I waste not looking for You. There should be nothing left to intrigue me but You. All these things that I enjoy are but gifts You've given to show the glory and majestic power of You.

So back to the song, I think the lyrics of this song were unexpected but very telling for me today.

All the thoughts you never see
You are always thinking
Brain is wide, the brain is deep
Oh, are you sinking?

Feel the path of every day
Which road you taking?
Breathing hard, making hay
Yeah, this is living

Look for love in evidence
That you're worth keeping
Swallowed whole in negatives
It's so sad and sickening

Feel the air up above
Oh, pool of blue sky
Fill the air up with love
All black with starlight

Feel the sky blanket you
With gems and rhinestones!!!
See the path cut by the moon
For you to walk on

For you to walk on...

Nothing left, nothing left
Nothing there, nothing here...
Nothing left, nothing left
Nothing there, nothing left...
Nothing left, nothing left
Nothing there, nothing here...

See the path cut by the moon
For you to walk on
See the waves on distant shores
Awaiting your arrival

Dream the dreams of other men
You'll be no one's rival
Dream the dreams of others then
You will be no one's rival

You will be no one's rival...

A distant time, a distant space
That's where we're living
A distant time, a distant place
So what ya giving?
What ya giving?

iMac Hard Drive Upgrade

Ok so this is not usually a Tech blog but since I am such a Tech person this is what I been up to lately.

I thought that the Hard Drive in my iMac died I was using it and it just froze up one day, so I had to hold the power button to a manual shutdown. (I'm sure all my Windows user friends are saying "see told you...") And to my dismay when I pressed the power button again it sat there for the longest time. It finally read the boot sector off my USB backup drive this is the one I use. When it booted my internal hard drive was missing so I thought great it's dead. So I took my iMac to the Apple Store in Tulsa and they said it would be $279 for the replacement drive & $85 labor. +tax = $395, so I freaked out a little & decided not to part with my life savings. We went around the mall a bit & let the kids play at the little playground thing they have. I text Brent Albert & told him that it was going to be almost $400 & he told me about ifixit.com, I had never heard of them before. (Their amazing by the way) So I decided i'd give it a shot try to fix it myself, which I have now successfully done. I got a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green drive from Newegg. I got the tools I needed from ifixit so this whole process only cost me about $120 (and the Apple drive was going to be 640GB not 1TB) I pretty much followed the ifixit "iMac Hard Drive Replacement Guide" to the letter and they were right on. It is definitely not for a novice but to the average tech-ie it's a nice challenge.

Here's my proof (along with the fact that my iMac still works)


prepped & ready to go.



remove the RAM door first. (it's just 1 Phillips screw)







It's not as hard to pull off with the suction cups as I thought



There are 12 of these Torx T8 screws the 4 on the bottom are longer than the rest.


I flipped the bezel straight up it's still connected to the mic.



you have to remove some tape to take it apart.



with the bezel off there are 8 Torx T8 screws 4 each side of the LCD.



next disconnect the LCD temp plug.



next remove the 2 Torx T6 screws on the LCD data cable



then disconnect the LCD data cable



pickup the Left side of the LCD fist.



there are 4 cables on the rigth you have to disconnect first 2 bottom 2 top



I labeled mine A,B,C,D



There is a tiny black dot on the front so you can reconnect them properly



next disconnect the HD temp sensor cable



the handle is not too hard but it takes a firm grip



remove the handle & move it to the new drive



move the HD temp sensor bracket to the new drive



also move the posts on the other side of the drive



then place the HD temp senor back in the bracket



the SATA power & data cables are standard



then just reassemble and VOILA!! your done.


For me it was fun & a little nerve racking especially when I dropped a tiny screw down into the rest of the innards, luckily I only had to move a fan to get it out. If you have an iMac and want to give it a storage boost this is definitely the way to go. If you want some help or some pointers let me know. Have fun & don't be scared, but do watch for dust when putting the glass back over the LCD.

Matt

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Let's just start with this so that I don't lose my train of thought, cause I do that fairly quickly.

"Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." -Psalm 51:10

This is from Psalm 51. I know a lot of you just checked out: "Oh, he's quoting the Bible-so boring and dull." -- I know you're thinking it. But hopefully you haven't clicked away to go search for iPods or Christmas presents on Google™ yet. Seriously, take a second and think about this. I'll preface it for you.

Ok David the king of the country is writing this, but he is writing it directly after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. She was out taking a bath (yeah that means she was naked, guys) and he was on the roof, where he should never have been in the first place because the army is out in a war & he should have been leading them...he's the king remember? Not only that, he then sent her husband to the front lines of this war so that he would get killed (which he did). So now he's sitting in his palace after he's knocked up this woman and killed her husband having someone play him harp music with the servants using those big leafy things to fan him, ok so maybe the leafy part's a stretch. Ok I know you're thinking what a jerk; I'd like to teach him a lesson or let's put him on the front lines of the battle. Which is what I'd think too.

But back to the two wrongs don't make a right part. So Nathan the prophet (a messenger from God) hears about it, comes to the palace, and confronts David -- basically tells him what a sack of trash he's being-- and David finally admits it & he's truly sorry for what he has done so he sits down and writes the above. Now when I blow it big time I know that my response is not to immediately sit down and beg for God's mercy. It's usually run and hide for as long as I can until I've done my "time" and then I'll wander back to God with my tail tucked and take my punishment right? Wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right, so a sinful response to sin is just a bigger mess. It'd be like if one of my kids wet the bed and I go in there and see it but instead of cleaning it up I just pull the covers up and hide it. Later it's going to stink pretty bad, huh? In the same way, a sinful response to sin stinks pretty bad. I should have the same response as David did to all of my mess ups. Instead of running and hiding I should go to God and tell him I've messed it up and ask for his help. The same way my son comes to me and tells me he's had an accident and there's a mess. I don't beat him down & rub his nose in it. I love my son so I go in and clean it up for him. David is crying out to God help me! Clean up this mess I've made. Make it right so that you'll be honored. You can go read on the rest of the chapter (Psalm 51) where David talks about how he's messed it up, and how he's asking God for help.

If you want to read the whole story, which is probably equivalent to a lot of rated R movies movies out there, then you can go read 2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12. You can even read it online if you want.

All scripture taken from:
English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

breakfast photoshoot!!

Me & Keagan hanging out at breakfast time eating oatmeal this morning. Got these photos in a row so I deceided to make a photobooth strip out of them.

the seemingly idle tale...

I guess that this really should be an embarrassing thing but I just finally finished reading the gospel of Luke (in it's entirety) for the first time in my life today. I was reading the last chapter, just a little bit ago and this one particular section jumped out at me.

but these words seemed to them an idle tale, (Luke 24:11a)

WOW! Seriously you just got through seeing people healed, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk & now you think it's an "idle tale". What more do you need in order to believe that Jesus is not a liar? But WAIT! Don't I do the exact same thing? God shows up and totally bails me out of some particular situation (not to mention loving me & giving me salvation), and I'm all thank you, thank you, thank you. Then later I'm freaking out about something different all over again. Where's my faith, where's my trust, where's all my Sunday school answers, "Oh God loves us & he'll take care of us..." -- In my best religious churchy voice

Why do we say that we love and believe in Jesus? But then we live and act as if it's the biggest idle tale that we've ever heard, "oh yeah that'd be nice." I can't really explain how real this is and how real that I know it is in my heart. Jesus really for real came back to life. He talked to and walked 7 miles with two of the apostles, and they didn't realize that it was him because again they were believing as stated above. Then he revealed himself to them, and then disappeared. So then they did; as i'm sure I would do, they freaked out and ran (the entire 7 miles) back to where the rest of the guys were to tell them all what happened. Then again Jesus shows up, and again they all think it's a ghost. So Jesus has to prove it to them so he says "Have you anything here to eat?" -- i.e. Can I raid your fridge? Coming back to life makes you really hungry. So they hook him up with some broiled fish. Then he explains it all to them about Moses and the prophets and how everything had to play out so that it would all be fulfilled. So then he takes them out to the next town and then he; right in front of them, ascended into heaven. Then finally they start to see it's not so idle.

And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. (Luke 24:52,53)

So now they know that it's true and they live in response to the fact that it's true. So I really need to live like I know that it's a fact and that it's so true and not carry on and freak out about each and every little situation that doesn't go according to my plan and is not "ok" by my standard.

If you're not getting what I'm saying or are just confused about what I'm talking about read Luke chapter 23 & 24 then think about this section. Jesus is real and true.

All scripture taken from:
English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

Last Day Living Logo GRFX

Last Day Living Logo GRFX, originally uploaded by frame:45.