Many moons ago, God had given me an excellent idea for a book. The uniqueness of it comes from the idea that the majority of the story is an allegory to the life of a lukewarm christian who is brought to their knees when convicted of the guilt of their apathy towards advancing the Kingdom of God. This I feel is an area that God wants me to address to the reader. It has 2 major principles that I hope comes across clearly at the end of the reader's journey. First, a warning of some of the spiritual dangers of being lukewarm within the church - that it can result in utter ruin. As it is written about lukewarm christians, God will 'spew them from His mouth'. Needless to say, hard times come to the main character of this book - times that bring him to his knees in repentence. Second, that there is hope, reconciliation, and restoration for those who were guilty of this but desire to repent of it.

I have enjoyed playing around with the idea, watching the drama unfold before my proverbial eyes. I had been working on writing about a fictional culture on another world for many years, and this was the perfect match to write my fictional allegory. So, watching as this imaginary world comes to life, complete with a rich cultural background, idioms, beliefs and such, is a blessing to me.

My only problem was how I was going to bring about the saving sacrifice of the Jesus figure in the story. I want to do it honour without simply ripping it from the bible. Of course the sacrifice of Jesus in the bible is by far the superior telling of this atonement - this payment for our sins. And no one allegory could possibly capture the entire essence of it because it goes way beyond all theory and understanding - we can only hope to understand parts of it in this world. And I did not want to simply take the story of it from the bible, change the names of the people and places, and leave it as that, because I do not wish to say that I completely understand Jesus' death on the cross in the bible. No one can. So I had to find an allegorical representation of this sacrifice that spoke of the elements of which I DID understand, that would also fit in the context of the world and culture that I was writing about. And this proved to be a challenge indeed.

But praise be to God, whom I believe has granted me a vision of this most crucial scene, along with its intentions and emotions. I most certainly am NOT going to write the details about the scene here, because it is a focal point of the book. You will have to read it when the book is done! But I did want to share this with you all. As well, I hope to share the final product with you when it is done - either when it is published or at least ready to be published.

God bless ya!

mE

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Why? Why? Why?

Why does it seem that my computer is out to get me? I have a long history of owning computers which develop problems that no technical support person can figure out or even guess as to what is going on. Well, with the exception of the laptop which was working fine until one day someone sploshed it with a large cup of water by dropping their books onto the table, catapulting the cup, which was about 3 feet away from it, into the laptop (I say 'splosh' because in fact it was a very tall Coca-Cola cup COMPLETELY FILLED with water, and 'splash' just didn't seem to paint it accurately). It eventually worked again, but never fully recovered. The water blew out the backlight of the screen and shorted out the motherboard in some areas, causing it to become extremely slow and requiring it to now be tethered to a monitor just to see what you are doing. Grr. Other than this, computers seem to have developed problems by themselves, without the help of a flying cup of water.

Case in point. I got this wonderful tv-to-computer video recording device called the "WinTV PVR2 USB" from Hauppauge. Granted, the price was good - free, as I inherited it from someone else. I want to use this thing to import video clips of my improv group for editing and then posting to Youtube.com. As you can see, I was successful at first (see archives for posts of clips uploaded to Youtube) But then something happened and I had to reinstall it. Now I can record the video to the hard drive, but no editing software will open the file! The only programs that will open the file are those that came on the CD which came with the hardware. Of course, none of THOSE titles do what I want. Going to the manufacturer's website was about as useful as a microphone at a Briney Spears concert (you can thank Drew Carey for that one). I found out that the part of the software which was the source of the problem (this part is called the CODEC) was created by a company in Germany, whose only phone access is an international number (guess I won't be calling them anytime soon). Neither company had this issue in any of their FAQ's, yet online complaints of this problem can be listed in a length longer than my arm! These are all characteristics of the various problems I have encountered. I get more help and support from other users than I do from the companies themselves. Does this sound right to you?

I end this post with the current problem yet unresolved. I can record the video, as sloppy as all-get-out, and HOPEFULLY post it to Youtube.com. It won't be pretty - although it SHOULD be - but it will have to do. I say "hopefully" because since this little problem surfaced, I have not uploaded anything to Youtube. Now watch. After saying that, it would come as no surprise if Youtube can't recognize the file either. I'd be torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to slam my head against the wall. I mean, it's not the end of the world for me. But it is most certainly very frustrating.

Here's hoping to a successful upload. Check back in a couple of days to see if I was successful.

God bless you, and I hope that you computer problems aren't as wacked-out as mine. But if they are, then we are not alone. Hehehe. Let me know and I'll bring the sledgehammer.


mE

Labels: problems stupid computers

Make A Scene - "Exit The Stage: British Rocker and Activist"

Improv Game: Exit The Stage. Actors A and B compete to be the first to leave the stage. Their exit must be with a logical reason, and can be countered with an equally logical reason by the other actor. Their occupations as well as the scene location are chosen by the audience. In this scene, Actor A is an British Rockstar, Actor B is a Marsupial Activist, and the location is the British Rockstar's Private Jet.

Make A Scene - "Exit The Stage: Orderly and Waitress"

Improv Game: Exit The Stage. Actors A and B compete to be the first to leave the stage. Their exit must be with a logical reason, and can be countered with an equally logical reason by the other actor. Their occupations as well as the scene location are chosen by the audience. In this scene, Actor A is an Orderly, Actor B is a Waitress, and the location is a Mental Institution.

Make A Scene -

As some of you know, I am starting up an improv ministry at Germain Street Church. We recorded our second week of program and I uploaded a few clips of our work to youtube.com, and therefore blogged them here. This will probably be a regular occurance. Please comment!


Here are the details...
Improv Game: Evil Twin. Actors A and B unfold an improvised scene. Actor A has an 'evil twin' who randomly switches place with Actor A and commits some random evil act upon Actor B and then switches back with Actor A, who is left to deal with the effects of their 'evil twin's' actions. Here, Actor A is a swimming instructor and Actor B is a young client learning to swim for the first time.

It had been a number of weeks since David and I had coffee together. We used to do it weekly, sharing Life's ups and downs, talking about issues of accountability, and praying for each other. And we'd go to Tim Hortons to do it. But lately, we both have been so busy with our callings (his as a Church Army captain with a variety of duties, and myself as a Church Army student with classes, homework and placement) that we have had little time to meet as we did in the past.

It was good to speak to my friend again. But it wasn't long enough a meeting to get to all the things we both had to say. I look forward to the coming weekend, as we are both attending the Evangelist Retreat in Hampton - both of us staying overnight for it too. Some good chatting should come of it. Much has happened in the last few weeks that I have scarcely shared with him.

What has happened for the most part is that God is showing me some of the things that He is working on with the High School students in the Uptown area. The parable of the Sower and the Seed talks about different types of soil - of the readiness to receive His Word in people. It would seem that God is tilling the soil here, making good soil where the seed of His Word can grow. I am excited. The Vice Principal of St Malacky's High School had recently expressed to me that he is actively trying to implement some sort of Christian Education in their school. Granted, because this school is a public one, they cannot simply start something like this without allowing for other beliefs as well, which they will. But the intention I think is there. Even today, I was speaking with a student from Saint John High, Jen Fry (has her own blog - see my links), and she told me that there is a small but growing group of high school students that gather for regular prayer in the school! That blows my mind! These kids are taking it upon themselves to pray for and in their school! There is no way that God is not behind this - not a chance! I was so encouraged to hear of this.

Add to that the "Make A Scene Tuesdays" Improv ministry that I am running out of Germain Street Baptist Church is showing good potential, and I cannot help but think "What a wonderful God we serve, who is continually working in ways that we all-too-often never notice because we don't take to time out of our busy schedule to look and listen to His movements." I wonder how much more effective would we be if we simply took the time to figure out where God is working and plug into that as opposed to trying to do things under our own steam, which by the way is never enough.

Well, those are my thoughts for today. Oh, and in case you are wondering about the 78¢ coffees as mentioned in the title, David and I have a way that we go about buying our medium double-double coffees from Tim Hortons which costs us each about 78¢ as opposed to the normal $1.25 for everyone else. 2 little-known facts here; 1) an extra-large coffee there costs $1.65 and is exactly the same amount of drink as 2 medium coffees, and 2) they knock 10¢ off the price if you bring in your own travel mug. David and I bring our travel mugs, and we buy 1 extra-large double-double coffee to be put into one of our mugs (thus making it $1.55), and then when we sit down, we split the coffee, effectively getting 2 medium coffees each at 78¢ a cup (½ of $1.55).

Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches

Well, you see, I have a friend named Sarah-Jane, who also knows this song very well. She has never seen the video before. But I had, and I told her about it when she stuck that ol' tape in the car stereo and let'er rip with "Peaches". She didn't believe me that the video included random ninjas jumping out and a completely rediculous, pointless, and totally hammed-up martial arts fight scene ensues. Sarah-Jane, this is for you...

How to fold a T-Shirt in 3 seconds

Guys, forget about the complete lack of english here. But you gotta try this. Makes folding your t-shirts a snap! No joke! I did it this morning!