Don’t let promises of an easy life or great riches catch your eye. God never promised an easy life and definitely did not promise riches – at least not in this world. He promised persecution and condemnation for standing up for the Truth, but He also promises that His yoke will be lighter than anything we can carry because all we need to carry is our daily cross. He can, will, and does take care of anything else – but only if we let Him.

I also like how the authors treat Scripture. Even though they are using it as a mode to tell a story, its as if the story isn’t theirs, but the one that belongs to Scripture. They are taking the prophecies of the end days and using it as a vehicle to bring people closer to Scripture. I hope that was their intent, though back in 1995 I wouldn’t have been ready to receive that message, now that I am a believer I find it even more enjoyable to see Scripture told in such a manner.

Hey Josh, I will be coming over to your place one day to watch each of the movies in turn (not all in one day, but definitely expect me, hehe).

Another thing I like about the book, is it forces me – as if my cancer diagnosis hasn’t done so enough already (more on that later) – to ask the question: “What do I know about what Scripture says of the end times?” and “What will I do if I’m one of those left behind? Will I kill myself in grief, or will I allow myself to be broken after having found out my wife has been raptured away and search in earnest for that relationship that I was missing?” or “What purpose does God have in leaving me behind?” To be honest if there is a rapture as pictured in the book (and by others in more serious, non-fiction works), and I was left behind, I’d be seriously crushed and questioning my faith.

I’ve been asking myself that a lot since December 23rd when I learned of the possibility of cancer in my broken humerus. I’ve been questioning my own faith really hard for the last several months because of sin I’ve let dwell in my heart. I’ve confessed that sin and try to turn from it but I find it so easy to keep slipping into it. I once thought I had been relieved of it nearly a year ago and to fall into it again, right before all this happened, it’s got me wondering just how serious I have been in my studies, in my pursuit of God, and in my relationship with my wife.

I thought I was doing pretty good, engaging myself in self-studies, but my resolve for them hasn’t lasted long (aside from my current study of Job which I started several months ago and only in December did I start taking notes after having read Job for the 4th time in as many months). I thought my relationship with God was at least satisfactory. I pray, praise, and worship Him (in and out of church) but I kept finding myself drifting further and further. I thought it was just a matter of perception but now I’m not so sure. I thought my relationship with my wife was great, but the sin I had to confess to her was nearly shattering for me and I’m sure her heart broke a little, but I know that4 she – as did God – has forgiven me.

It still bothers me though and drives me toward keeping up at least better studies then I have recently and turning to God with my questions more than I have been. It’s interesting what a well written story about the end times, coupled with a simple book of the Old Testament, can do to keep one turning toward God. Just wish it didn’t take a diagnosis of Stage 3 Osteoblastic Osteosarcoma to get my attention even more-so then my own sin has.

I love my family, I love my wife, but more importantly I do truthfully and honestly love God most of all even if I’m still wondering what He has in mind with all that is going on with me personally and all about me. This world is going to pot and no one has an answer – except for the Bible – of what world peace even would begin to look like. We think it will be one currency, one government, one world. But who picks the rulers? Who makes the rules? Who enforces them? People, people, and more people? We can hardly run our own cities, counties, states, provinces, and countries without bloodshed, corruption, and injustice. Even religion (and I use that word in a very specific manner) can’t agree on what it looks like. Joel Osteen smiles about everything while raking in millions every year. Fred Phelps scowls at America and homosexuality while he leads his church in ugly, un-Christ-like protests of funerals and whatever else strikes his fancy. Paul Washer cries at where the American church is at and where it continues to go and that no one really seems to get it.

Where does that leave World Peace? Even the hippies seem to really just be drifting in drug-induced hazes with no more direction than anyone else. God lives, but I really think He’s seriously distressed at how ugly His beautiful and good creation has gotten. We’re so focused on things of trivial importance (“Keeping up with the Jonses’”, as it’s known in the U.S.) that we flippantly disregard what Scripture has to teach us and seem to get more and more self-serving each successive generation. Sure, some of the causes are really noble: cure for all diseases (cancer, AIDS, and the like), better care for the environment, better care and treatment of animals, equal rights and responsibilities regardless of gender or ethnicity (I hate using the word race as it’s really inappropriate, we are all members of the human race), the end of abortion. How we go about it, though, is mostly ignoble. Wars, bombings, killings, vandalism. Even Christians seem to get caught up in the ignoble methods for seemingly noble endeavors. Where is God in all of this though?

Despite all that I have seen and done, all that I’ve experienced and know to be true (not just from experience, either), I sometimes am left to wonder if we as a world are being given enough rope to hang ourselves with. I feel as if I’ve already been hung. “And the wages of sin are death.” Here’s hoping I’m not reaping what I know I deserve. Here’s hoping that it’s not too late for me. I pray for healing as God sees fit to bestow it. I know others are praying for my healing and calling out in Christ’s name for His healing hand to touch me. What if it already has? What if I’m not a True Believer as the Bible regards such? 1 John 5:14-21 speaks of two types of sin. That leading to death and that not leading to death. We know from Scripture that the only sin that will not be forgiven is the one we do not ask forgiveness for (the Gospels show that in the Pharisees that blaspheme the Holy Spirit, such a person as that would not ask God to forgive them). It’s alluded to again in Hebrews where the writer speaks of those who have been called, if it were possible for them to fall away and they did, there was no coming back a second time. What if I had it, and then because of this inability to shake myself of this sin, lost it? Many questions, ones God can answer, but I don’t hear them. I’m even beginning to believe that my study of Job is more academic (i.e. carnal) then spiritual. If so, it will not benefit me – or anyone else – one iota.

In times past, the penalty for those responsible for the death of the unborn was death for the responsible party. Now its popular to be disdainful of those who still see abortion for what it is: murder. When exactly did we stop being joyous at the prospect of a new life coming into the world? When exactly did human life become a commodity? When did the life of the unborn stop belonging to the growing child and transfer to the mother whom was blessed to be that child’s mother? What happened to the father’s input in the matter? Surely he has as much say as the mother. He did contribute 50% of the genetic material. Of course considering anything but the convenience of those left to care for this precious new life is anathema.

When it takes the courts to intervene because a child is threatened with physical harm if she doesn’t abort, we should take notice. When the courts let a woman go for murdering her newborn and classifying it as an abortion, we should take notice. When we feel that a pregnancy by a minor in our charge is more inconvenient then its worth, we should take a look at our moral compass and beg God for forgiveness and pray we haven’t reached the day of judgment for then it really is too late. Where is God in our lives when our actions speak of an irrepressible hate for all that He has created. Where is God when we say things like “gender reassignment surgery” are okay because someone thinks they were born the wrong gender? Where is God when we say He made a mistake in saying that marriage is only to be between one man and one woman?

Have we become so enamored with ourselves that we reject anything that looks like a moral and ethical absolute? I would say that with one look at the American politician and the things that have been allowed – both in practice and being taught as being alright – the answer is a resounding and depressing – yes. We value that which feels good over that which is truly good. We value selfishness over selflessness. We encourage greed over charity. We push vanity over contentedness. We take that which is already beautiful and make it perverse. We take life and destroy it – no matter what stage of life the person is at – deciding for them that its continued existence is too inconvenient for us. Yes, the death penalty is Biblical, but in a time when our form of “justice” is a perverse mockery of what was instituted how can any in good conscience advocate for such measures? Where is God in our justice when His very Commandments are stripped from the very rooms where we are most in need of a reminder that there are moral and ethical absolutes that none should dare to cross.

We are a society in need of our Creator yet it is He whom is so thoroughly rejected. There will be a day of judgment when all must answer for all they did. What will you be answerable for? More importantly, will you have someone on your side whom already has taken that blow for you?

The Book

Book: McGraw-Hill’s National Electrical Code 2011 Handbook, Twenty-Seventh Edition
Author(s): Brian J. McPartland
Frederic P. Hartwell
Joseph F. McPartland
Pages: 1,642
Binding: Hard-cover
MSRP: $75 USD
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

The Review

This book is a great tool for any electrician looking to navigate his or her way through the myriad of rules presented in the 2011 edition of the National Electrical Code as published by the National Fire Protection Association. From the very beginning it gets right down to business and begins with detailed explanations of every bullet point presented starting in Article 90.

While I won’t say this is a perfect book, it is extremely thorough and – as an added benefit for some of the more computer-savvy amongst electricians – there is a full PDF copy (which is fully searchable) of the book available for download (the code is under one of those scratch-off areas in the very beginning of the book).

If I had any complaint of the book at all, it would be it’s apparent lack of tables. The most glaring of these omissions – at least for me – was the motor tables that come after 430.245 (labeled XIV. Tables). The only reason I can think of for the tables not being included are that they are really pretty self-explanatory and need no further interpretation. There is, though, no where in the book that I have found that expounds on why the tables have been left out (or even that they have been left out).

Aside from that, I really enjoy McGraw-Hill’s book. I find it is going to be a valuable addition to mine – and many other people’s – library for as long as the 2011 NEC is enforced. I strongly recommend this book unless you feel that the tables in the NEC need further explanation. In that case, you may not find this book to be as useful as I have found it.

The Rating

The ratings are based upon a 5-star system with 5, of course, being the best, none being the worst.

Content: 3
Presentation: 5
Portability: 3
Access to additional resources: 5
Overall: 4

There is no two ways about it, either. Christ made it very clear while He was on earth that one cannot serve both mammon and God (Matthew 6:24). You cannot serve money and God (Matthew 6:19-21). You cannot serve the world and God. It’s one or the other. Black or white. Dark or light. Hell or Heaven. He went so far as to even tell us not to worry about clothing or food (Matthew 6:25). Yet what do most American Christian’s worry about? Food. Money. Clothing. Status. The Jones’. Where does it all stop? Sure it’s nice to have nice things. I enjoy having clothes that fit and look nice. I enjoy eating good food and living in comfort. Yet for all the people in the U.S. who are better off than I am, I still am in something like the top 10% to 5% of people in the world who can count those as things I take for advantage.

In Acts we find brand new Christians so radically sold out that they, without any prompting from man, sell everything and lay the proceeds at the feet of the apostles so that all may be taken care of. When’s the last time you saw someone who went up to the alter, give their life to Christ, and then sell everything and give to those in need – starting with our Brothers and Sisters and moving on to others – without even a second thought? I’ve never seen it nor have I heard of it happening in my 33 years of life (by the way, if I was Christ I’d have been hung from a cross several months ago yet who am I to live on this earth longer than He who saved me from an eternal death?). I’ve not read about it except in the Bible. Surely it’s happened somewhere? Right?

Well I don’t own a home, a car, or much of anything except some clothes, a few electronics (5+ year old computers I probably couldn’t give away much less sell), and debt up to my ears. What’s a man to do? He’s to be totally, radically, forever sold out to Christ. The best I can say for myself is that I’m working on it. I’m part of a great house church. I have a wonderful, God-fearing wife. I have wonderful, God-fearing friends/family. I know where I can go to be fed. I know where I can go to receive instruction. I know where I can go for counsel. Friendship. Love.

Spiritual growth and maturity are part of the process of becoming radically sold out. You cannot become off-the-wall-nuts for Christ without growing spiritually. It just won’t happen. Sure you start off on the milk, but once you’re done with the milk that’s it! I know of at least twice in the NT letters the author has to rebuke the audience for not growing spiritually! God takes His Word, and His call to us, very seriously. It’s time we did to and put away these so-called preachers that only offer worldly blessings.

The world – and it’s so-called blessings – will allow you to go straight to Hell without a second thought. God, on the other hand, died so we wouldn’t have to. Don’t be a Laodecean (Revelation 3:14-22). Don’t hunker the fence to try and get the best of both worlds. You can’t have the best of both worlds. It’s either an eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:15) or eternity with God. Get prayed up, get a good foundation in His Word, and don’t just expect a “Get Out of Hell Free” card. This isn’t Monopoly. This is for keeps. This is for real.

There will be times, even, when we have vehement disagreements with our family and when they (or we) will do things that make you regret that they are part of your family. It happens, we are human after all. What doesn’t change, though, is that we are still family. Being such we are still called upon to love on each other and retain that love for one another even when all reason says that we would have every right to stop loving that person.

Often it seems that we are unable to live up to that very big responsibility of being brother or sister, mother or father, son or daughter and don’t bother trying to “interpret” anything. It is a responsibility. Our family can never be fully deceased when we (rightly) include all of our adopted brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Adopted through who? Through God when we give ourselves over to His will and call His Son our Lord and Savior.

Family ties are not and should not be broken just because you’ve moved on to a new home. When you reject God’s command for us to love one another (and even to bless your enemy, if you count a fallen away brother, sister, mother, father, son, or daughter as such though I believe doing so is unbiblical in the highest) you are acting out of order. I have an unquenchable love – not of my own desire or even my own will – for my entire Family, even if I don’t agree with them all the time.

So then, my beloved brethern, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

No kidding. These past two weeks have been very hard on me and some close friends. There has been hurt. There have been things said. There have been partings of ways, even. All for what, though? Things of flesh? Things of the spirit? What exactly has been accomplished in all that has gone on and all that has been said?

Where has the love been? Where has the light of Christ been? I’m afraid I cannot see it right now. Maybe my own eyes are darkened because of hurt I feel.

Romans 8:28-29

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

If we go back two verses, though, to vv 26-27:

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Emphasis mine.

If we search our hearts, we find that it can be a dark place when we have been hurt. How much darker than does the Spirit perceive it, being entirely holy and righteous and us being imperfect and sinful? “Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” It’s very, very hard to resist our initial urges in painful situations. I firmly believe it’s a complete and utter work of the Spirit that will break us. How much better we are, though, when we approach the throne of God in our brokenness. Broken of sin, putting the flesh to death, and responding in a manner according to the likeness to which we are called!

We are called to blessing, though.

1 Peter 3:8-17

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing knowing that you were called to this that you may inherit a blessing. For

“He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their
prayers;
But the face of the LORD is against
those who do evil.”

And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the LORD God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the ope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

I follow God. I go where He leads. I live as He tells me I should. I have a perfect book that agrees in perfect harmony that was wrote over a period of I don’t even know how many years. I’ve heard that it was thousands. It could have been millions and it would not make a difference. It is the Holy and Perfect Word of God. Many of its precepts I cannot accomplish in my own strength. This is one of them. May I be completely broken before God and respond to my brethren in a manner pleasing Him. Praise God!

I’ve been put in areas of trust and ministry doing things I couldn’t have imagined that have an impact far after I’ve stopped even thinking about it (John 4:37). I’ve delved into spiritual matters that I would never have even conceived of prior to my salvation. I’ve read things and have had an understanding of it that I know is not of this world or my own doing. Around every corner, though, there has been one seeking to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). There has been one who is indeed a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) and I feel as if I’ve been completely devoured, not because God left me, but because I could not let go of the things of the world. I could not let go of TV and its programs. I could not let go completely of worldly music. I could not let go of the things of this world which I knew God to be disapproving of. I couldn’t not be contentious. I couldn’t stop even when everything about me (aside from the Enemy) said I need to.

Be warned, Brothers and Sisters. There is indeed a heaven and a hell. Satan exists and he does not care a thing for you. His only goal is to try and hurt God and he does so the only way he can: By trying to keep you and I from having that perfect relationship with Him (and make no mistake, we are called to such radical lives of Christ-like devotion that we can – through the power of Christ – be just like Him). Satan cares not one wit if you are cast into the eternal lake of fire. He cares not one wit that you will be eternally separated from the Father. It won’t be a life of partying. Make no mistake that Hell is a place of eternal torture. Make no mistake that you will be keeping your flawed, imperfect bodies to be tortured in. Make no mistake that you will be eternally separated from God. Make no mistake that such a fate is not what God wants from you or I. It pains Him in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend, but in that same vein He cannot and will not reward sin. Proverbs 16:25 says it best, I think:

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

.
Make no mistake, that false prophets and religions will all be equally appealing to the worldly because it tickles the ears or seems right to you. If it seems right, if it seems logical, if it seems too easy to be true: I guarantee you that it is wrong. I make no compunction in this, there is only one true religion. I have no compunction or problem declaring everything else to be false. I have no compunction against warning you to stop, pray, and believe. God doesn’t exist because we believe in Him. He would and does exist outside of our belief, make no mistake about that.

Why am I giving up? Because I’m tired of the spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:12). I put aside my armor momentarily and I feel as if I am mortally wounded. I have done things in the past 5 days or so that I’m completely ashamed of and that I would forget or undo if I could. What’s done is done. My only hope left is that God hasn’t given up on me, and scripture says that He hasn’t (2 Peter 3:9) but I wouldn’t blame Him if He’s already signed me off as I’ve signed myself (and others) off.

I pulled away from my friends and Family because I do not want to risk them being pulled in with me. I distance myself so that whatever whirling vortex that is sucking me in and no one else stumbles because of me. Take what’s happened with me as an example of why one should not set aside your armor and why you should upgrade it quickly and with all do haste. Do not wait for trouble to find you before discovering your weak in one area. Pray, fast, give, be in the Word and know the Word better than you know yourself and most importantly, let it all be done in Christ’s strength, or you too may find yourself in dire straits. If I have any communication left with my Daddy, it is my prayer that you do not follow in my footsteps. That you do not fall to the enemy. That he does not devour you as I feel I myself have been consumed. That’s my prayer, and my hope, for you.

Part of me wouldn’t mind going back to that farm and putting a nice house on it and living there with my lovely wife. Let the field grow up with weeds and trees affording us even more privacy while the lawn around the house was nicely manicured with a smallish veggie garden and some nice flowers planted willy-nilly. The other part of me, though, doesn’t really miss it that much and finds urban life just fine in Smithville. Who knows, perhaps there is a happy medium that God will provide for us. Until then, I will just have to rely on my memories of that time on the farm.

Electricity isn’t easy to generate.Wind power doesn’t quite cut it yet. Even in areas where wind is near constant, you must have unseemly windmills and – apparently – planting more trees in the world actually slows down the wind overall making it even less practical in more areas. Hydro-power is limited to where one has enough water to turn the turbines at a reasonable rate (waterfalls and dams come to mind). Nuclear is getting yet another black eye (thank you Japan) and while I have nothing against it, many others do. Solar is still too inefficient (even with more efficient panels) and dependent on the sun being out, and the issue of storage (batteries, which need to be replaced every so often as they do not last forever). On top of all that, though, is the fact that most electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, etc.). That means your brand new all-electric vehicle (the one made with plastics, fiberglass, and other fossil-fuel derived products) is still dependent on fossil fuels.

Some people believe that alternate fuels in this country (USA) are being hindered by the government and others who profit by fossil fuels. I have no doubt about that, but it’s not to the degree that some would have us believe. Solar energy is relatively new to the energy game (windmills and batteries having ancient origins). No one in Tesla’s day could have imagined you could harness the light energy of the sun by having it strike a material that would generate an electrical charge when hit by photons and develop a system of electricity. Trust me, if Tesla knew about it (doubly so Edison whose baby was direct current) he probably would have been all over it like white on rice.

If anyone has studied the history of electrical power in this country, one of the biggest issues has not only been generation but it has been distribution. In the end Tesla won out because it’s easier and cheaper and more efficient to transmit AC power over long distances. For those not well versed, without an inverter all you get out of solar cells is DC. Not really useful in the home or over long distances without using an inverter to convert from DC to AC.

Therein lies another problem. Anytime you’re inverting (DC to AC) or rectifying (AC to DC) you lose something in the process. There is no avoiding it. Even when using AC you are only using 70.7% of the peak (single-phase, which is typically run to residential customers). Sure you could convert to DC and get more bang for your buck, but your still having to rectify the AC coming in off the power lines (most all of your electronic devices already do that, for what it’s worth). Rectification, filtration, and regulation of AC to DC is full of losses because of resistance. Everything has resistance. When electricity encounters resistance you just aren’t limiting the current, you are actually dissipating it as heat. No electrical circuit is 100% efficient (and anyone who tells you otherwise is flat-out lying). Even straight copper wire has resistance (something like 12 ohms per thousand feet, it adds up real quick when you start talking in miles).

Do we need to be concerned about fossil fuels? I think we need to be very concerned, but calling electric power the cure-all for our fossil fuel woes is not only short-sighted but straight out foolish. I think we need to get into energy conservation. I think we need to force car manufacturers to start bringing their fuel-efficient designs from Europe over here (look over at European cars and pull up their mileage charts (it’ll be in liters per kilometer, but the conversion process isn’t too inaccurate to miles per gallon). The car companies like Ford, GM, and Chrysler have the technology to lessen our dependence on petroleum. Why don’t they? Greed. Each company almost guaranteed has interests in developing new oil rigs (or interests in companies who are interested in drilling for more oil).

Don’t oversell electrical power. It’s good, but it’s far from efficient. It’s far from being the holy grail of our energy problems.