The Final Guide to Wordpress on your Ubuntu LAMP Server

I've gone over all the setup and nit-picky details of setting up my own web server. However, the one thing I could never get quite right was my Wordpress install.  If you peruse the Wordpress (and Ubuntu) user forums, you will see countless examples of people trying to get their permissions set right for one reason or another.  Wordpress recommends, rather irresponsibly, CHMODing everying 777.  To compliment that, you should really find a theme with a large header saying "HACK ME."  The problems range from being unable to upload pictures to having serious trouble with plugins, some of which won't work at all without (again) CHMODing several parts of your Wordpress Install to 777.

I've lived for several months with my blog like this...balancing usability with security, and totally unable to use the "Upgrade Automatically" feature in the plugins page.  If you've setup your own Wordpress Server and worked with plugins much, you know how the process typically goes.  You Upload your plugin to the plugins folder.  Then via terminal, chown -R your new folder to www-data, perhaps chmod 777, depending on the plugin, and then go into your Wordpress Admin page and activate.  Time for an update?  Same process.  Such a pain, with nary a solution in sight... at least that I could find on the forums.

The problem lies with this:  your files are uploaded (via ftp, or whatever) under your Ubuntu user name.  Apache owns web processes under the user name and group www-data.  So when Wordpress tries to work on a folder owned by your username, it gets denied, because it is trying to work with it as www-data.  To fix this, I attempted to add my username to the www-data group, but that was unsuccessful.  And then I discovered the envvars file under /etc/apache2.  In this beautiful file, is the designated Apache username, www-data.  It looks something like this:

envvars - default environment variables for apache2ctl

# Since there is no sane way to get the parsed apache2 config in scripts, some
# settings are defined via environment variables and then used in apache2ctl,
# /etc/init.d/apache2, /etc/logrotate.d/apache2, etc.
export APACHE_RUN_USER=www-data
export APACHE_RUN_GROUP=www-data
export APACHE_PID_FILE=/var/run/apache2.pid

Just change the information to match your user name and group for Ubuntu, restart Apache, et voila!  Permissions and Ownership issues are resolved.  Now Apache is working with files under the same ownership and permissions set they were uploaded with.

One important caveat here:  I'm unsure about the security issues with this.  I'm going on the assumption that it is significantly more secure than CHMODing everything 777, and it certainly makes your Ubuntu/Wordpress Web Server much easier to use for upgrade purposes.  Plugins install and upgrade with no hassle now!

Hope this helps all of you with these issues.

Site is Back Up

My server had some plug-in issues...and then some connectivity issues.  But all seems to be well now.  Thanks for your patience.

Regrets

It's that time of year again.  The time of year when we all gather together, to eat good food, spend time with family, and think about all the things we regret about our lives.  What?  That's not Christmasy?  Well screw you, this is my blog.

I always chuckle to myself (not the amused chuckle, the "This person is stupider than me chuckle, and although I'm angry, I can revel in my intellectual superiority" chuckle - my wife says I'm arrogant) whenever I see some schmuck on MySpace send around some ridiculous questionnaire bulletin (these are why I use Facebook now) and among the hodge-podge of brain-hemhorraging questions is this one: "What do you regret most?"  To which some little twit is always apt to respond: "I DON'T REGRET ANYTHING I'VE EVER DONE!"  You little sociopathic punk . . . of course you do.  You've just mistaken the deep hatred you feel for yourself as apathy for what others think.  Or perhaps you live in a drunken stupor and believe all the things you've done in life "Totally ROCKED!!! YEAEAAAEAAAHHH!"

There are tons of things I regret.  I regret getting into debt just about as soon as I graduated High School.  I regret going to Bible College and then transferring to a regular one after dropping out complete for a year, and incurring even more debt that way.  I regret that I didn't go to one of the several schools offering me a full-paid scholarship, and majoring in something I would've actually enjoyed doing.  I regret that I didn't switch my major to Pre-Med, and become a Doctor.  I regret not making more friends in school.  I regret making fun of fat people in the mall, even though they couldn't hear me.  I regret quitting a good job for one that only looked better, and ending up poor, and taking my family with me.  I regret not taking all those major decisions before God in prayer, to know His will about things, so that I wouldn't end up regretting them later.

People who purport to have no regrets often use the excuse that even the bad things they've done have made them into the person they are today.  Seriously?  The person you are today is that great?  Sure, some good has come out of many of those things.  And learning from those bad decisions, and their repurcussions, has made me into the person I am today, which is not all that bad.  I've learned to take my decisions to God, and seek His will.  I've learned that debt is really bad.  I've made some good friends in places I wouldn't have been, had I chosen some other path.  But none of that lessens the fact that I truly do regret those things.

I suppose it's human nature to look at your circumstances and consider where you could be today, had you done things differently.  Combine this with the desire to be better, have a better job, make more money . . . all that, and it makes sense to feel that way.  The difficulty is in seeing success, and failure, how God sees them in me, and not how I see it myself.  I've never been too concerned with how the world / people view me.  However, there are things in my life that I consider to be success and failure, and mostly my regrets center around missed opportunities to have an easier, more comfortable life now, and a more enjoyable job.  But the things I enjoy most:  my wife, and children, are always there.  And I have the feeling that even my own conceptions of success are so far from God's, that it's scary.  Especially since I think I'm probably far away from anything resembling "success" in God's book.

Holidays = Awkward Family Time

I'm going to avoid the trite little jokes about how you're forced to spend time with and act interested in people you see once a year.  I'm also going to avoid going on a tirade about the mind-numbing number of churches with some quip about "Thanks-Living" on their oft-abused signs (You already pervert the Gospel, much you also massacre the English Language?). I'm going to bore you with tales about my sun-shiney happy times in Louisiana with estranged family, and force you to like it.  . . because that's what Thanksgiving is all about.

For some reason or another, that I'm sure sounded perfectly reasonable at the time, my mother raised me to resent my father's side of the family.  You would expect this behavior from divorced parents, but mine are happily (now anyway) married.  I'm sure there were some conversations taken out of context, mild offense, blended with the typical awkwardness of "involved" parents and newly-weds learning to flesh out their new relationships.  But for whatever reason, not only was I not allowed to participate in this side of family, I was encouraged to resent the 2 times per year I went to their house.  Opposed to my maternal family, my father's family is one with some attachment to its history and culture.  My Grandfather moved to America during WWII from Germany, and still speaks with a very noticeable accent.  My father himself has been to Germany several times.  But along with this situation, I was also banned from discovering or learning anything to do with Germany.  Other than Hitler . . . because, you know... he's German.

I'm not turning this into a pity-post, just giving the background.  Of course, at some point in my adult-hood, I realized that they probably weren't so bad, and were certainly not the evil cloned spawn of Hitler himself, and made very real and reasonable attempts at building some form of relationship with them.  I made sure to visit if I was in town, staying even after the awkwardness became tangible in the room.  I barely know them, even today, so conversation was . . . fitful, at best.

However at Thanksgiving this year, with, I believe, all of the family in the house for the first time since I was a child, I realized how truly deprived I was.  I have several cousins, some of whom I can't name.  But what struck me was how incredibly similar to them all I was.  My mother's side of the family is filled with typical southerners (no offence . . . not that any of them read this... because only 1 family member knows how to use the internet over there).  I love them all, but am obviously the black sheep.  At Thanksgiving I'm typically the only male to not show up wearing camouflage, straight from a morning hunt.  They've long-since given up trying to convince me to freeze my buttocks off on a deer-stand with them, and now don't bother much with asking about what I've been up to, since they won't really understand anyway.  My lovely and dear Grandmother makes an effort though . . . and that's all anyone can ask.  I have no real friends there, and nothing in common with any of them.

But at my father's family's house (is there a more convenient way to phrase that in type?), I glanced around when I got there (I was told the wrong time to arrive, thanks Opa) and saw nearly every person there surfing the net on a laptop!  People were emailing pictures back and forth to each other.  After catching up a bit, one cousin asked me, "Oh, do you have a facebook account?" and it dawned on me:  these are my people!  Geeks, every last one of them.  Geeks, and strangers.

It's been literally years since I'd seen some of these people, although I once saw a cousin at a shopping mall and didn't recognize her until after I left, I think she still thinks I'm rude.  I've been left wondering if there really is a way to make up for lost time?  I mean, my cousins all seem relatively close, and all enjoy relationships with my grandparents that I am envious of.  But with all those times lost, memories, childhood experiences, the natural bond you form with a grandparent as you grow, can I ever have a similar familiarity with them?  Only a couple of them talked to me there at all.  And who can blame them, I'm not sure I'd act much differently, especially if I believed the only reason was there was out of obligation, and was sure to leave immediately.

So...all of that added together with my arriving late and missing dinner (not my fault), and my subsequently hungry children, made us have to leave sooner than I would've liked.  My daughter loves to play with her cousins at my other grandparents' house, so we spent all day there on Friday, and didn't get to go back.  I'm doubtful that I'll ever truly know any of them.  And that's a shame.  I think we would've been good friends, and had great relationships.

Prosperity Flakiness

If you've read my stuff for any length of time, you've no doubt caught me defending the message of prosperity being taught in some Christian circles today (and on TV), and encouraging you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.  However, after a recent event at Books-A-Million, I've come to realize that maybe my exposure to certain teachings in this doctrine have been limited.  I don't watch Christian TV (TBN, etc), and my views on God's plans for prospering his people have largely come from my own study, and from my pastor.  Because my Pastor is so Biblically sound, and makes so much sense, I assumed everyone else did as well, and were being unfairly criticized due to the loud, but few, flakes out there.

Maybe I was wrong . . . I overheard an apparently lonely, middle-aged, obese man acosting a Books a Million Employee in between the Christian Section and the Comic Books (I was in the Comic Books, thank you very much).

Fat Christian:  "Churches have really gotten away from reaching out to people and from being mission-oriented, and instead have built large mega-churches"

Employee:  "That's right."  (While putting books up on the shelf)

At this point, I thought the Fat Christian might be a good Christian, and was making a point about Charitability.

Fat Christian:  "But God doesn't want to make us rich just for Mega-Churches, he wants to make us rich so we can use our mega-churches to reach out to people... tell them how to become rich also."

Employee:  "Uh...Yeah, God wants us to help people."  He was clearly uncomfortable, and left a sitting area and walked to my aisle in the comic books...Fat Christian followed

Fat Christian:   "People think that we're preaching that we're all supposed to be like super-rich billionaires, but I don't think that's really the case.  I think God just wants us to be well off.  God may not give me millions, but I could sure use 100,000 or so!  God wants to give his people money, so that while everyone around us is losing their jobs, and getting their homes repossessed, we can come right in and buy them up for really cheap."

The Employee the left and the Fat Christian followed close behind, clearly ambivalent to the fact that the guy just wanted away from him.  I finished making my comic book selections and went to other side of the store, with a new understanding of why Christendom, at large, hates the prosperity preachers.  Jesus wants us to teach people to be rich, so we can really screw the people who are already victims of the predatory bank lending.  YAY JESUS!

Sheesh.

Goodbye Blogger, hello all new TheLimitless.com

If all goes according to plan, this blog will swap over to my new servers within the next few hours.  So long Blogger...you've been an accomodating home.

Dems turn out the lights in Congress - play "Gotcha!"

Just when you thought that wily Miss O'Hara (Mrs. O'Hara?) only wrote about horses and other equally hairy and smelly things, she shares with us a gem of a story that I missed in the news.
Stupid and childish is right, Miss O. We're supposed to trust these 8 yr old knuckle-heads with the administration of our country?
...wait...I get it now...the last 2 years have been Ashton Kutcher's BIGGEST episode of Punk'd ever...right? C'mon..right?

Christianity and Prosperity

I’ve attempted posts on this topic occasionally, generally trying to point out that while many criticisms of the prosperity movement are valid, the teachings are sound.



Cerulean Sanctum has an excellent post up on just that topic.



To sum it up from my point of view, God can and does bless those who follow after him.  The problem with many followers of the prosperity message is, they’re following after the not-so-almighty dollar. . . not God.  Having been through quite a few hardships (including financial) in my life, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’ve seen God prosper me, and work financial miracles for me (which I will detail soon) that were beyond the scope of natural occurence, or me getting a just reward for hard work.  As Dan eloquently points out…that’s scriptural.  However, those victories came after I submitted myself to serving God in the midst of terribly trying times, and I was joyful, no matter my situation.  Once I had stopped begging God for more money, and quit trying to make things happen for myself, like stressing out all day trying to find a better job, and more ways to provide for my family, and I started submitting my life to prayer, witnessing, and living to serve God, his purposes, and his kingdom, I saw an equally dramatic shift in my financial situation.



Am I rich?  Far from it…but my situation today is drastically different than it was even 1 year ago.  And as I learn to submit to God in other areas of my life . . . I see God continuing to bless me financially.  Perhaps, as I’ve heard a preacher put it, God is seeing that he can “trust” me with his money.  Meaning that I don’t hold any back from Him during offerings, or from people in need.  Why wouldn’t God prosper you if you were sharing that prosperity with the rest of his people?

Ebay: Unprecedented levels of Uselessness

Back in the day, eBay was awesome. Remember when you got super-good deals, from average Joes selling stuff out of their home? I do...I bought an awful lot of electronics off of eBay, and sold quite a bit too. Even back in 2003, though, I saw troubling signs, signaling the direction eBay was going.
I was selling an old laptop, with the intention of purchasing a new one. Some guy offers me an extra $200 over my reserve if I end the bidding early. Being quite naive about online scams, at the time, I said, "Sure!" and did just that. I exchange the emails at work, and his final email instructs me, quite urgently, to ship it that very day. I saw the money in Paypal, so I was planning on doing just that. Thankfully, I had to stay at work a bit late that day, and didn't get to the post office in time. When I got home, I saw an email from Paypal, stating that the funds were fraudulent, and to not send the item.
I never heard from the guy again, obviously, but that was only the beginning of my troubles. A near scam later on a purchase (took 2 weeks for the person to send it), and many many buyers who didn't read the full listing concerning condition of a used item, and I was quite frustrated.
It's been well over a year since I've used ebay, but when we found ourselves with a good deal of new-looking clothes that our daughter had outgrown, we decided to list them, and see what we could get.
Nothing.
We used to make this a regular habit, with most things selling, just a couple of years ago . . . but when I looked at the listings in the little girls categories, it's mostly junk, mostly with no bids, and mostly sold by junkshop businesses with tons of other junk auction listings.
With eBay's recent changes, (including allowing major businesses to list with no fee) it really isn't the big neighborhood market it once was, and is either too pricey, or too scarey to deal with in any meaningful way. We sold the books and DVD's on Amazon.com, and are giving away the clothes. Why pay fees when there's little chance that anyone is even looking anymore? (Especially when other people don't pay those fees to begin with.)
I declare eBay a has-been website...you heard it here first. It's already turned into that old shopping mall in town...the one with dollar stores, and cheap knockoffs, that's really gone downhill since the newer and larger mall opened. . . Only in this case, the newer mall is the increasingly competitive online retail market, which is more attractive now, than ever, considering eBay's higher prices and fees.

New Headline for The Limitless

In the process of creating the new look for thelimitless.com, I've made a new header. Check it out and tell me what you think.
All things are going smoothly on the server...Ubuntu has some features that makes it truly a breeze to work through some problems. I need to install Bind9, and then I'll be moving over. All my old posts and comments ported over quite easily, so it should look simply like a site update...but it's really a whole new system!

"IT'S ALLIIIIIIIVVVEEE!!!!"

And after 8 months of working on it (I'm slow...don't judge me), my server has finally lurched to life, and is accessible from the internets.  I still have some work to do on getting the website ready for the public, and of course, I want to make sure all the security holes are patched, but it's mostly there.
Coincidentally, all the trouble I was having with getting it up and running was due to a pooched installation of WordPress.  It seems that the last 8 hours of work, over 5 days, has been mostly for nothing. 
Things are trucking along, and I even got all my old bloggers posts imported today.  It was simpler than I thought it would be, but my labels imported to categories, instead of tags...so I have a bit of a mess to clean up.  But I haven't lost anything, at least.
I wonder if my old Live Spaces blog can import easily?  That would be great.  It's a shame that all those old gems from 2004-2005 are lost forever, though.  Eh well...the better ones have ended up rewritten in the older posts here anyway.
By the way...working on a top secret Web 2.0 project for the Christian bloggin community.  I'll let you know more when there's more to know.

The Danger of Hip Seeker-Sensitive Churches

I'm not talking only about the danger of false doctrines, and getting a cake-and-ice-cream view of holiness, and living for God . . . oh no. I'm talking about actual physical and bodily danger. Apparently pastors, seeking to be young and hip, will go to ridiculous extremes to make their churches "cool." And this can make for some dangerous (and hilarious) situations.
Link.

Server Headaches

Over the last... oh... 8 months or so, I've been casually putting together a LAMP server to host my blog and personal website on, and give myself access to files from work, etc.  Last week, I believed I had it reasonably prepared for entrance into the World Wide Web.  My CPU then jumped up, slapped me in the face, called me a B!%^#, and attempted to destroy my server.
I forwarded my ports, and nothing worked.  So I decided to go editing config files for Apache.  That was all well and good, until I really screwed something up . . . not sure what.  This led me to uninstall my server programs: Apache, MySQL, PHP, and supporting modules.  I attempted to reinstall, but the computer flipped out everytime.
Several reboots, and some manual file cleaning later, I just wiped the hard drive and resinstalled Ubuntu.  Their sudo tasksel command, which I learned during this process, made the reinstallation of the LAMP server super easy and quick.  I had a little trouble using phpMyAdmin, until I linked it to my /var/www folder, reinstalled WordPress, et voila!  Back where I started.  With ports forwarded, I was still unable to access the server from the web.  I noticed later that I was connected to the IP for my modem, not the USABLE IP assigned to me by my ISP.  I must be honest:  I have no idea what that means.  Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to call tech support and have them walk me through what to do with those IP addresses. 
Anyone know if Apache should be configured past its initial installtion?  Is the server ready to go as soon as the IP address route properly, or do I need to configure apache for my domain?
All of this has led me down a very interesting chain of ideas.  In the coming months, I have a new website that should be launching, and I'm pretty excited about the idea.  It will hopefully be different from other things you've been seeing.

All Grown Up: Installing Wordpress

Back in years gone by, when I had a respectable amount of traffic, and instigated more than a few squabbles in the blogosphere, (Before InTheAgora ruined 3 separately good blogs), I had a big-boy web server, with for-reals blogging software installed.  A marriage, 2 children, and a lapsed contract later . . . I moved to blogger to get started blogging again.  It was easy, and free . . . and ugly.  But I've never been a huge fan.

As a do-it-yourselfer, I like to try new things just for the experience, so several months ago, I undertook the laborious task of setting up my own LAMP server, using Ubuntu.  For the tales of this undertaking, my old temporary blog (pre-blogger, post webhost...confusing I know) tells more about that.  It was easier than I expected, but I really enjoyed learning about the setup and configuration of servers.

With that setup, I've never taken the next leap to actually getting a blog setup.  So, last night, I finally bit the bullet, revived my home-grown server, and installed WordPress.  This, unlike the original setup of the server, was actually a bit more difficult than I expected.  Nevertheless, it went quickly.

First of all, WordPress has great documentation.  This helped tremendously, as the instructions for setting up your databases and DB users was outlined in detail for whatever tool you used (phpmyadmin, cpanel, terminal, etc).  It was geared toward people paying for hosting, obviously, as only masochistic crack-tards like me actually attempt to setup their own server.  Right off the bat, I ran into a few problems.

First, by default, Ubuntu has root disabled.  While in the process of trying to find a quick and easy way to move my wordpress files into my web folder, I discovered a new command: gksudo.  During my test of the server, and playing with some php editing, I would create my page in bluefish, then open the terminal, and sudo mv the file to /var/www.  That was fine for single files, but moving every file in wordpress was not something I wanted to do.  Enter gksudo:  Simply hit Alt-F2, type "gksudo nautilus" (in the standard gnome installation, you KDE people would probably use gksudo konqueror), and hit enter.  Up pops the nautilus file explorer, but with root privileges!  Next step...copy and paste, just like any other folder.

After copying the contents of Wordpress (I don't want my blog in a subfolder) to the /var/www directory, it was time to initiate the installation...BUT WAIT!  We have to setup a database for Wordpress, and a user!

I had long ago forgotten how to access MySQL via the terminal.  This was something I did just to learn about the commands, which come in handy when coding php to access your database, but I couldn't even remember how to get into MySQL, and couldn't seem to make it work (mysql -u root -p ***** gave me a database not found error).  Luckily, I installed phpmyadmin.  This made it relatively simple, however I apparently have an older version installed, so the process was slightly different from the instructions.  It was straightforward enough: create database named "blog."  Create user named "wordpress" then give wordpress all permissions on "blog."

Time to install...right?  That's what I thought...I pointed my browser to http://localhost/wp-admin/install.php and ... aaaaaannnddd ... error.  Wonderful.  In WordPress's instructions, they direct you further down the page to find specific instructions for your database tool, but fail to instruct you to go back up the page to find the next step.  It was a frustrating few minutes as I read "Troubleshooting" until it said, "If none of these solutions work, go back up to step 2 and 3 and repeat them."  WHAT?!  There's a step 3?!

Dangit.

Back to Step 3:  Change the wp-config-sample file to wp-config.  Then edit it with your database name, username, and password.  There are some other fancy options you can configure, but I left those alone, and it seemd to go fine.

Now...back to install.  It works this time, and I name my blog (The Limitless...I need a new name...but then I'd have to get a new domain...and that's just too much to think about), it gives me the admin password, which is a confusing string of random characters which I promptly change to something more memorable.  I create a new account for me, and then call myself done!

Over the weekend, I hope to forward my ip to that computer (a task that I've been quite confused about) and see if I can access my site over the interwebs!

 . . . I am such a geek.

Which comes first . . . time with family, or time with God?

Back in my single days, I typically had all the time in the world to pray, and study the bible.  I participated in churchy things a few nights a week, and was generally an "involved" person, when it came to ministry and service.  Marriage and children changes a lot of things though, not the least of which is the amount of "free time" you have.
I'm not suggesting that God's time should only fit in when you have some "free time" to spare.  I'm simply saying that my day is already full . . . and it's difficult to spend 15 - 30 minutes in devotion with God, much less go out and follow my own advice of serving others, visiting the sick, and checking on people who've been missing church.
In general, my excuse is that my day is so hectic because I have small children, and by the time they're in school, things will be back to a much more normal routine (and I will have a full night's sleep as well), so I'll have the time and energy to serve God more.  But while that comforts my guilt, it does little to dismiss the nagging truth in my mind:  I am too selfish of my time to serve God.  I have a 4 year old and an 8 month old.  The evenings are crazy.  I get home, play with kids until dinner time, then the baths and bed-time rituals start.  By the time both children are asleep, I'm exhausted, and so is my wife.  Looking at a typical evening, I just don't see how to insert the availability to witness to someone, or minister to someone in need.  And I apparently don't care enough to find a way to make it happen.  This concerns me.  How hard has my heart become if I don't show care and love for others?  I'm choosing time with my family . . . time with my wife.  But how do you balance those?  I obviously cannot neglect my service to God, and outreach to people, but it's wrong to neglect my family as well.
 . . . if only I were independently wealthy.  Any rich people out there want to donate to my cause? :)

We Love Jesus . . . but not You

As a followup to yesterday's ranting and raving on churches, I've stumbled across a great article on Beliefnet called, "Why Christians Suck." Basically, we're all a bunch of arrogant, self-absorbed, uncaring dweebs.  Great stuff...and it follows right along with what I've been going on about. Christians suck...the non sucky Christians (apparently less than 5% of Church-goers, who I personally differentiate from "Christians") need to help the sucky Christians be less-sucky. If this fails...we should run them from our churches with pitchforks and torches...just like an old-fashioned lynching.
Or we could pray for them...either way.

The Christian Bloggers Network

Andrew Jackson (of SmartChristian.com, not the founding father) launched the Christian Bloggers Network on Facebook awhile back. To date, I believe that I am the only Arkansas Blogger. If you're a Christian, and a blogger, I recommend wandering on over and linking up. I've gotten at least one visit from it, from Liturgy, and probably several more that didn't comment to me about it. It's kind of cool to see where everyone is from.
Visit here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13679025366

Churches: Havens for Weary Souls or Spiritual Dr. Kevorkians?

I have a good friend, who, if you have read his blog, doesn't exactly hold modern churches in high regard. I've criticized him, perhaps wrongly, because he chooses to have a service with his family, instead of going to a real church. I've defended churches of all types, under the premise that it's better to go and be a part of a community of believers, to help others, and to occasionally be supported when you go through your own hard times. I, myself, belong to an amazing non-denominational church. While no church is perfect, I feel that mine gets it right on all the major points, and if they're wrong in an area, they try their hardest to be right. I've always made the assumption that most churches were similar...that in their own way, they all just wanted to be right. They may go about it in wrong, or different ways, but that mostly they were trying to help people. Boy, was I wrong.

Recently, a good friend of mine, a youth pastor, discovered his wife was in adultery. They had recently had their first child, and as you can imagine, he was devastated. They separated, and my friend was intent on working things out (a good deal more than I would've done, personally). When he told his senior pastor, he was FIRED! Can you imagine? He has a baby, has just lost his wife, now his job, and his church! Apparently his church was concerned that it would make them look bad.

First of all, my friend did nothing wrong... at least to my knowledge. This would've been a time for the church, and the ministers of the church, to surround him with support and prayer. Take some time off...sure. This could've even been an example to the members of how a Godly person works through horrible situations with help from God. But instead, in his time of greatest need, the people that he had worked for, given his life to, and prayed over brushed him to the side when he was no longer immediately useful for praying for headaches, warts, or meaningless relationship problems. When it came to to repay all that he had given, they threw him out and brought in someone new to use and abuse until there was nothing left in him also.

Is this biblical? I think not. But it happens everyday throughout the country...when self-righteous, arrogant, Pharisaical, self-glorifying, religious dingbats run churches like medieval extremist witch hunters, on the prowl for the weakest Christians to crucify in their times of need. I see it constantly in my wife's family (her grandmother pastors our church). The church has used up every bit of life in her until her health has failed...and is trying to do the same to her daughter while she fills in for her in the pulpit. I am sick and tired of willfully and woefully idiotic church-goers expecting their pastors to be nothing more than religious slaves, waiting on their beckon call, for whatever ridiculous thing they need that day... "Pastor...my son is running with a bad crowd...can you come witness to him?" How about living saved in front of your son, and not allowing him to participate in things you don't agree with...cracktard?

We are all called to be ministers. Making our churches the healing centers that God means them to be is a responsibility we share in equal parts with our pastors. It's our responsibility to go out and bring in sinners...it's our responsibility to see about other Christians who need help, or who are sick, as much, if not more, than our pastors. STOP USING PASTORS TO BE SPIRITUALLY LAZY! STOP KILLING OFF THE LIFE IN OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN NEED! TAKE CARE OF YOUR PASTORS, INSTEAD OF USING THEM!!!!

How long were my friends in need of someone to turn to, to talk about their problems in their relationship? But no...as youth pastors, they weren't able to say they needed help...they had to be Superman to their church's Metropolis. Pastors and Ministers are people too...they go through things, feel the same hurt and heartache we all do. Their families are just like our families...they miss their husbands and fathers when they come out to see about your broken arm at 2am, because you just had to have your pastor there. After he spends all day praying over and tending to the needs of his flock, he is seldom able to devote that same care and concern to his family, because members call all night long. Of course in a true emergency, a pastor would want to come. But I'm not talking about rare occasions, I'm talking about a habitual systemic abuse of clergy, that is not the exception, but the norm, through our country.

Christians...I encourage you to grow up. Take on your biblical responsibility of caring for your brothers and sisters, and set your pastors free to seek God and pray for you and your family, as well as your church and town. Organize hospitality groups in your church for members to visit the sick, elderly, and back-slidden. Build your pastor up with prayer and encouraging words...because he prays and encourages you. Even if you don't like or agree with your pastor...it is who God has given you today...and that makes them worthy of your respect, prayer, and help, in every way you can give it. Make your church a safe haven for weary souls...not a executioner's table for the down-trodden.

Dropbox Online Storage and Syncing

I've fallen in love with DropBox's online storage solution.  Totally seamless integration with your desktop...files in your DropBox folder are uploaded to their servers, and even auto-magically appear on other linked computers, and their website.  Great for backups, and accessing files in multiple locations, and while away from one of your main computers.
It's currently invitation only, but I have 10 invitations...comment for an invitation to the private beta.

New Look for The Limitless

I'm playing with a new look for my website, and making it a full site with pictures and stuff. If you'd like to check it out and let me know what you think, head on over, and comment back here . . . or there. Wherever.

Christian Music: Just like regular music, only CRAPPIER!

So, I was recently perusing the iTunes music store, checking out some new podcasts, which I love, and I decided to go over the the actual MUSIC (it is a music store, after all) and see what Godly awesomeness Christian bands were serving up for our aural pleasure these days. And wow, what a hot mess.
It seems that as a Christian, I am forced to choose between two different types of “musicians,” if you can call them that. I can pick between me-too bands copying the sappy, vomit-inducing styles of “Butterfly Kisses” by What’s-his-name, (Stephen Curtis Chapman, you know you're the worst offender in this) or I can subject my ears to the torture of Rock / Alternative bands who just sing about Jesus because they’re not good enough for a regular record label to sign them (Would Chris Sligh be sining Christian music if he won American Idol?). For this I blame the Canadians. But only if Toby Mac is Canadian, and therefore Canada is responsible for Gotee Records by proxy.
Speaking of Toby Mac, DC Talk was super-cool when I was kid, because they were unique, and that got on adults’ nerves. They were only mediocre, artistically, but Kevin Max did at least have some influence, so they weren’t totally crappy. Today’s crop of “Contemporary Christian Artists” seem to rarely sing about Jesus, and if they do, they have no artistic ability whatsoever. It’s a different style, but Rich Mullins wrote lyrics that made you FEEL what he felt about God. They were infused with his passion. I rarely even hear this so-called Christian artists mention the name of Jesus, much less convey the passion they have for Him in their hearts.
Years ago, some of the world’s greatest composers wrote their masterpieces for the glory of God. Works of true art that we still regard today as unrivaled. They had the right idea...Christian music, art, work ethics, everything should be of such high quality, that the world strives to produce something as excellent as we do. Songs that do have meaningful lyrics are usually unlistenable due to horrible music.
Something must be done. I’m sick of “Christian Music” being marketed as a better alternative for our kids to listen to than secular music, and hearing the same self-indulgent lyrics. I’m boycotting crappy Christian music. I encourage you to join me.

Christian Carnival up at Parableman

This weeks Christian Carnival is being hosted at one of my favorite blogs, Parableman. Head on over and check it out. My post on "Is Sickness the Result of Sin?" is on there this week!

$200 oil?

Opec has officially announced that oil could hit $200 a barrell. At least, that's what the reporter thought he heard, since the background of a loud and raucous party made it difficult to hear.
They followed by stating sadly, "And oh nooooos! There's nothing we can do to help! Tee hee."
And people wonder why Americans hate the Arabs...

Is Sickness the Result of Sin?

We've all run into our fair share of loony-tune type wackos out there, when it comes to the prosperity / health / happy-go-lucky doctrines. One thing I've been working through here is finding the truth in their teachings, without the obvious erroneous extremes to which they've flown. I met a man one time who told me that if Christians were sick, it was because of 2 reasons: 1. They were in sin, and therefore out of God's protection; or 2. They didn't have enough faith to be well.
This sent my head reeling, as I'm sure yours is after having read that. (Coincidentally, if your head is not reeling, you may, in fact, be a loony-tune wacko) My retort was instant, "What about Paul? He suffered from a physical problem throughout his ministry, despite praying God take it away, and even had to travel with a physician to care for him."
"Paul obviously didn't have enough faith to be well." (He also informed me that Peter, and others who were martyred didn't have enough faith to live)
I watched his face silently to see if he was having a laugh at my expense, but I saw no such indication. I excused myself shortly thereafter, and saw this same man walking home the next day because he had run out of gas, while driving to town on an empty tank, believing that God would keep it full, like the widow's jar of oil. It was difficult not to mock him, but instead I just pretended like I didn't see him and kept driving
Obviously we bring sickness on ourselves many, if not most, of the time. Our lifestyles, even years earlier in life, lead to health problems. Lack of exercise, junk food, etc wreak havoc on our bodies, and this doesn't even take into account worse things. So...does sin cause sickness? Of course it does, many times. Who can look at an alcoholic and not realize that his sin caused his liver disease? We reap what we sow...even after being saved, however I believe God often alleviates much of this burden for his children. If you lead a wild and promiscuous life as a young person, it's not unthinkable to believe that you may have physical problems as a result of that later on in life. We also live in a world under the curse of sin, and that is why we have sickness to begin with. So, in some way, we can say all sickness did originate because of sin.
This is, however, a far cry from saying that personal sin makes people sick, as a rule. We are a part of this world, and subject to its curse. I believe in healing, I've seen many people healed of all manner of diseases. But why isn't everyone healed? I don't know. God has a plan in all things. Perhaps it is because of lack of faith, although I typically don't believe that is the main reason. Job suffered from sickness and tragedy like no other that I know of. Yet he was a righteous man in every way, and still put all his trust in God. From his (and his friends) Point of View, there was no reason at all for him to go through all of that. He easily could've gotten mad at God, saying, "Haven't I served you? Haven't I lived righteously for you? And what has it gotten me?!" But while he did ultimately trust God for restoration, and to work his will, he didn't have the haughtiness of my acquaintance with the empty gas tank. He quietly accepted what God had for him, and stayed true to his faith in God through it all.
Ultimately, this life is a journey...a trying ground. How we respond and react to adversity of any sort shows God who we are, and how devoted to him we are...it also shows Satan and the lost around us the same thing. So...why do the righteous suffer? Why do Christians get sick? Lack of faith? I think not. To prove faith, is what I think.

Why I would vote for Hillary Clinton

I'm a republican, a real one, not a McCain, Bush, Cheney, et al neo-con republican. I'm conservative. I would vote for Hillary Clinton over John McCain, and after this recent comment, I'd vote for Hillary Clinton over many other candidates too.
Read.
I firmly believe that the willingness of our leadership to back Israel is one of the most important topics we need to discern before an election. God said he would bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel. This is the kind of backbone I want in a leader. Obama is a pansifist (hat tip to Miss O'hara for that word) of the highest degree, and far to weak and ideological to be the President during this stressful time. We are being held hostage at the pumps by middle-Eastern countries with questionable ties to terrorism. We have to know where we draw the line, how far OPEC can push us. I think Sen. Clinton knows that line, after reading that she will NUKE Iran if they attack Israel. Bravo, Mrs. Clinton. We disagree on many things, but you won me over on what matters most.

Ubuntu 8.04 Coming Soon!

I'm not a fan of Microsoft. I loved my old Apple Powerbook, but got rid of it awhile back, and hope to get a new Apple MacBook Pro some day soon. In the meantime, though, I've fallen in love with Ubuntu. I've played with Linux distros for 5 or 6 years now, and Ubuntu is the first I've seen that truly gives that polished, pretty, Consumer GUI feel that Mac or Windows does.
And I'm geeking out over the new version of Ubuntu being released in just 3 short days! I've been playing with creating my own LAMP server for several months for hosting this very blog, and even wrote about it at my blog's old homepage (which is, by the way, where you can read my older stuff). Although I haven't found the time or the patience to learn how to finish my setup, I plan to one day. :)
Even if you think Windows is the best thing in the world, I strongly encourage you to give Ubuntu 8.04 a try. This is first linux brand that I heartily recommend to non-ubergeeks. Even my wife uses Ubuntu with great ease. It's secure, stable, and FREE! You can't beat free, in my experience.

No news is good news

I have a store of news and issues that I'm very excited to discuss, but I spent the majority of my weekend installing Central A/C in my house. And my girl had her very first SoftBall game. So, new material will trickle in, and I do plan to get something up for the Christian Carnival by tomorrow.
As far as Home Repair goes, I highly recommend paying someone else to do it. Attics and crawl spaces are not where I like to spend my weekends. We did, however, save a few thousand dollars, and drastically increased the resale value of our home. But, if you can afford it, I definitely recommend sitting in the house and sipping some lemonade while someone else gets hot and dirty.

Church of Oprah?!?!?!?!?!

If Barack Hussein Obama turns out to be the antichrist, Oprah would be a great false prophet.
Just a thought.

Christian Carnival 220 is up!

Well, as part of my return to the blogosphere, I have participated in this week's Christian Carnival, up at Imago Dei.
I'm always looking for some new interesting reading, and I found a bit this week. Parableman always interests me, even if I disagree with him from time to time. Bounded Irrationality was a refreshing read this week, and I've added it to Google Reader. I recommend you do the same.

Live, Laugh, Give

For this first installment of "Live, Laugh, Give" I'm going to keep it rather simple, with some ideas that I live by as often as possible. Every week, here, I'll discuss one practical way to live your life by the Bible, and Jesus' example, one way to enjoy the little things, even in the midst of hard times, and one way to give back to those around you.

Live:

Jesus teaches us the value of children several times through his gospels. But he demonstrates it in such a great way in how he reacts to them in Matthew 19. With all the "adult" stress and cares in the world, it can be so easy to look over the children in our lives and rush through evenings and weekends in a flurry of all the things that we just really need to get done. If we don't take the time while they're young to teach them the important things in life, they'll miss out on how great a lifetime of joy and serving God can be. Let's encourage our little children to come to Jesus . . . and us. In doing so, I think we can learn more about who Jesus really is, when we see him through their eyes. Plus, we get to enjoy time with them that we'll never have back.

Laugh:

In a family of 4, everyone is busy with something all the time. It's really difficult to find the time to spend with your spouse you both deserve. The not-so-laughable part of this tip is this: make a schedule for evenings and stick to it. Kids in bed at the same time every night. I myself, at this time, am usually tempted to kick back and unwind playing video games or surf the net. I'm sure you all have your own vices like this. This lifestyle makes it really easy to forget why you fell in love in the first place. Turn off the TV at least one or two nights a week and just talk. You may rediscover a romance that you thought had been replaced by soccer games and 2 am feedings.

Give:

Everyone of us has been touched by cancer. 1 in 7 people will die from it. Local communities across the U.S. will be having the Relay for Life next month, and typically do various types of fundraisers for cancer victims and research. Find your relay event here, and ask what you can do to help. This is a great cause, and one that benefits all of us directly or indirectly. With the amazing advances in science we're making recently, I can't believe that a cure for cancer is that far off. Maybe the few dollars you spend sponsoring a walker, or buying a cake will be the final straw in defeating this disease.

Extreme Measures

I was reading Jesus' sermon on the Mount recently, in Matthew 5, and noticed something I had never seen before. We use his words on adultery and lust as an example of why you can't live by the letter of the law, but by the spirit of it. It also shows us what the Law was originally intended to do: show us our sinful hearts. We can see that if we keep the commandments of God, and live a seemingly holy life, that's all the matters, but our heart must be changed.
I found it very interesting, then, that as Jesus makes this point, he segues into this:

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell."
-- Matthew 5:29-30

I don't think it is a coincidence he says this directly after telling us that lust in your heart is the same as committing adultery through God's eyes. I actually think the allusion here is as purposeful as it is blunt. Before you get all hot and bothered, I don't think we're being instructed by Jesus to actually borrow our neighbor's hatchet and start whacking away at body parts. I think what we're being instructed to do here, is to take whatever measures are necessary, no matter how extreme, to prevent ourselves from falling into sin.

This is a bit of a foreign concept, I think, in today's age. We tend to be told by our friends and churches that many sins are okay, or are understandable, God understands, and as long as you're giving it your best shot, he'll save you a spot in heaven. Clearly, Jesus sees sin differently. Not only is it not good enough for you not to sin outwardly, but evil, carnal thoughts in your heart are also enough to condemn you.

Jesus is telling us here that sin is so foul, so destructive, that you must do whatever you can to make sure you don't sin. I know someone who found it incredibly difficult to keep themselves from looking at pornography on the internet. It was their last resort to maintain their relationship with God, to sign up for XXXChurch.com's accountability software that emails an accountability partner of your choosing if you go to sexually themed websites. That way he knew he couldn't sin in secret anymore. As far as I know, this has worked for him.

But each of us have an area in life where we are most easily tempted, and our instructions are equally as clear as Jesus' teachings on lust: get away from sin in any way possible. Perhaps friends, acquaintances, people we have lunch at work with, TV shows, movies, etc are problems drawing us back into sins we want desperately to be out of. Maybe you can't stop yourself from drinking when you're with a certain crowd of people. Maybe you have uncontrollable habits or thoughts because of what you fill your mind with on the internet or TV. No matter the cause, the solution is the same. It may take extreme measures to ensure you stay away from sin. People may think you're silly, and that it doesn't take all that to be Christian. I've even known Pastors who got on to church members for being too extreme in trying to avoid a sin. I know of a man who came out of gangs, drugs, and prostitution, who, when he found himself tempted to look at a woman lustfully, would actually make himself leave wherever he was at to get away. He was in a mall with some friends, and actually excused himself and left the mall! I know that some of you are chuckling self-righteously right now, and saying things like, "Well, obviously he has a problem he needs help with if he can't even be in public without lusting." Obviously he does, Pharisee. Obviously we all do, we just don't take our sin seriously enough to do something equally as extreme about it. Or maybe we enjoy it too much?

Either way, our calling is clear. Just not murdering someone, or hopping into bed and committing adultery, is not enough. Our hearts must be pure. And if we can't find a way to keep them pure, and still go to the same places, be with the same friends, or watch the same things, we must take extreme measures.

Faith and Finances

Just mentioning God and money in the same sentence typically draws very impassioned responses from many different belief systems. And that's really too bad, because if there is one thing that Jesus taught quite a bit about, it was money. If there is one thing that has the ability to move and shape our everyday life (or at least our perceptions of it), it is money. Even Solomon recognized this, in saying, "money answereth all things. (Ecc 10:19)"

It seems like money is mistreated in Christian teachings universally. IF it's taught on at all, it seems I hear that we should hate it, and accept a life of poverty, because the prosperity people are loonies, and God doesn't want us to be filthy rich; or I hear that God does indeed want us to be filthy rich. We also should never be sad, have problems, or have to save up over time to buy stuff we want...and if we do, we just don't have enough faith. These two diametrically opposed viewpoints have led to many Christians having a financially abusive relationship with their checkbooks.

There's a lot to address on this topic, and I plan on exploring many aspects of wrong thinking in Christendom on money. However, I'd like to just tell a bit about what I think and why in this post, and explore such things are the Giving and Receiving (Sowing and Reaping), the Prosperity Gospel, and poverty in separate posts.

The question at the center of this is, "Does God really want us to prosper?" For which the answer is a resounding, "YES!" Let's read 3 John 1:2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." Now before you go all Calvinist on me, I do admit there are many different ways to prosper BESIDES making lots of money. But we, at least, must all agree that if we are prospering and being in health, as our soul prospers, it is conceivable that one way we prosper will be financial. Not the only way. Not filthy, stinkin' rich (Although I'm not opposed...so be unto me, my Lord!). But just financially prosperous. Bills paid. We're able to afford all we need, and at least a moderate amount of what we want occasionally. We're not worried day to day how make ends meet. And we have the money to make sound financial decisions, such as saving and investing. That's what I think of when I think of prospering financially. And I think that this is something that we have every reason to believe that God will do for us. I'm very excited about exploring all the reasons why in the weeks to come.

Non-Mac Macs?

There's a lot of talk today coming over my Google Sidebar New widget about a (lawsuit waiting to happen) company called Psystar, which I would link to, but I'm hearing that their site is already down. They've made a cute little PC, and are installing OS X on it for people, and violating the EULA in the process.
I am a Mac Fanboy. The day I parted with my Powerbook was a very sad day for me, and ever since I've been saving up for a new Macbook Pro. I own an iPhone. I use those white apple logo stickers on everything. And this machine is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.
I suppose the question is, "What makes a Mac a Mac?" Is it just the OS? We've been trained to believe by Windows that computers and their components are inconsequential . . . what matters is the Windows OS. But crashes, freezes, slow downs, compatibility errors, dll errors, conflicting IRQ's, improperly installed video cards, and the slew of drivers that must be manually updated outside of the normal Windows Update process would tell us a different story.
The Mac experience is as much about the beautiful hardware as it is the OS. . . maybe moreso. Oh, I do prefer OSX over Windows any day, but I suppose part of that affection is due to the fact that it rarely crashes, and is much more stable. But I have a sneaking feeling, much of that stability is due to Apple's control over their components and hardware manufacturing. Either way, I'm going to pass up this freak of nature, and keep salivating over the MacBook.

Losing God

I've lived and been a Christian long enough to notice a disturbing pattern. And while I see it in my own life, I can see that it's a pattern that is widespread, and not confined to my own...idiosyncrasies. I've noticed that every time I have a significant experience with God, overcoming some area that I've struggled with, a breakthrough, some would call it, I get extremely lazy in my prayer and bible study. This, after I've devoted prayer and time to seeking God for some period of time, and I practically run back to a self-centered lifestyle, and lose what God has done in and for me.

It's a curious occurrence. Jesus said that when a spirit leaves a man, it wanders about, then returns, finding the house clean, and bring seven other spirits with it to reoccupy the house. I'm paraphrasing of course, but it seems to me this is a very strong warning against just such activity, and maybe an explanation of why it is so difficult to keep ourselves deeply committed shortly after God has done a work in our life.

My question, really, is why? I should be (and generally am) ecstatic about having an experience with THE God. It's an honor above all others. So why do I want to just "rest" from prayer, and indulge my flesh afterwards? Should my flesh not be much more subjected to the Spirit after such an experience than before? Thankfully, recently, as God helped me see his will in a very trying situation, I noticed myself the very next day being drawn into this temptation, and was able to observe my reactions to the seduction of lethargy, and to seek God to contain its effects in my life. I believe I also realized how, and why this is an issue for us who are earnestly seeking God in our...most of the time, at least.

Jesus said, in the parable of the sower, (Mark 4, I suggest you read the whole thing, as I will only quote two verses) that some seed falls on thorny ground, some on stony, and some on the road. I think that this probably falls under the "thorny" category.

"And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful." Mark 4:19

It would seem that, if we receive our word, whether it be the initial revelation of saving knowledge of Jesus, or perhaps any word, deliverance, or instruction we receive from God for our lives, if we allow thorns to stay in the same ground, it will choke out God's work, and make it unfruitful. This certainly differentiates from the seed on stony ground, or on the road, which died, leaving the person in the original desolate sinful state they began in. This is a condition of receiving what you want or need from God, and then keeping the other cares of the world, fleshly appetites, worries, the scheming for money, etc, which take up so much room in our lives that it makes that work of God unfruitful. Seeing this makes me truly understand the words of Paul: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24) But the death in this body, that renders the miraculous delivering power of God unfruitful, is present because of my obstinacy in wholly surrendering my life to God. The fact is, I enjoy many things in life that offer zero spiritual benefits. There are shows on TV that I enjoy so much, that I overlook sometimes overtly anti-christian, even occultic themes to watch them. On top of that, who can totally ignore the deceitfulness of riches? Money makes this world go round, so the world says, and without it, we can't survive. It's very difficult to not seek it as the deer seeks after water. However, it's with that fervency that we're instructed to seek God. The desires of decadence, entertainment, and fleshly pleasure are contrary to God.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that many times when God blesses us, it is temporally as well as spiritually . . . but if that is what we are seeking after, even that blessing will end up unfruitful. Let us then all take the warning to seek after God's holiness, to seek to purify our lives of all that is worldly and unGodly, and therefore not allow our experiences, blessings, and gifts from God to be made unfruitful and useless.

Live, Laugh, Give

I'm going to attempt a weekly feature here...beginning next Wednesday, called Live, Laugh, Give. Every week, I'm going to discuss a way to take time to enjoy the little things in life, a way to give back to those around you, your church, and community, and a way to live...applying Bible lessons in your life, finances, and family. I'm pretty excited about it, and have ideas for the next few weeks. Please check back, and let me know about things that you do to take, give, and live.

Also, check out new sections that will be appearing over the next few days, most of which will help generate revenue for the site to keep it going. I'll be outlining my favorite books and movies, products and tools that I've found to be useful in work, parenting, or leisure. Please let me know any ideas that you have as well!

Green Idea #1

Work this week has been absolutely crazy, so I haven't had time to discover what is going on in the world or politics, but I have made the time for a little project of mine: going paperless.
Paperless offices are a huge buzzword, these days, and mine is so far from it, I feel that we actually are responsible for at least 3 rain forests being hewn down in the last year. But I decided it was time for my home to be.
I hate mail. I hate filing bills. I really hate bills. And I don't care for most other paper things in my home...they just clutter things up. We've made the switch to E-Bills with our bank, and have started using Microsoft Money for keeping up with our finances. Now, before this, our "method" for tracking our finances was a notebook with scribbles and corrections all over it, a checkbook registry that rarely got updated with anything besides what cleared the bank that day in our online account, and my adamant avoidance of everything to do with figuring out a budget. Our bills got put into piles of varying degrees of organization, and eventually lost. At least one day per week, the wife and I would panic and try to remember what was due, frantically search for the bill, or find it online, and pay it (typically 1 day late).
Needless to say, organizing our life has turned out to be a monumental, but incredibly rewarding process. Most of our bills can be billed directly to our online bill payment account with our bank. Everything gets put into Microsoft Money, with pop-up warnings starting 5 days before a bill is due. Best of all (for me anyway), is that many of these, I can pay simply by clicking a button in Microsoft Money. We download our statements daily to reconcile them with our registry.
Our switch to paperless not only helps the environment, but actually makes our lives very much easier, and vastly more organized. It was quite a bit of work to get set up, in my opinion. However, once it's done, I find it to be well worth the time invested. MS Money basically asks for every piece of information about your entire life. And somewhere in the switch, our registry got out of sync with our bank account, and we can't find our lost money. But other than a few such hiccups, I'm calling Operation Paperless House a rousing success.
Note that Microsoft Money is not the only program that works such wonders (and we have not even begun to touch the surface of...Deluxe edition can help set up a budget, provide cash flow reports, help control spending, plan for the future, and invest!), I understand that Quicken is also quite good. We chose Money because the interface is prettier, and I like to look at pretty shiny things. It seems more user friendly to me as well, but this is based solely on casual and biased observation.
If your bank doesn't offer online bill pay, or online bill presentation, MyCheckFree.com offers a scaled down version of their Bank services for free. They don't seem to have a whole heck of a lot of bills available (Sadly, AT&T Wireless is missing), but Entergy and other utilities abound there. I have looked at it, and it also is pretty easy to use.

Going Green

As Kermit the Frog once said, "It's not easy, being green."  But it certainly is better.

I'm a closet fan of such programming as HGTV, and home improvement  shows on TLC.  Since becoming a homeowner, I've become enamored with improving my house, making it more comfortable and efficient.  Now, I own a turn of the century (last century, not this century) home, and this is sometimes nothing short of a Herculean feat.  We make changes when/where we can.  Like choosing an energy efficient central A/C unit.

The wife and I recently watched HGTV's Green Home Special, and were inspired.  I'd love to add Solar Panels to my house one day, especially when I get that ginormous tree out of my front yard that rains branches onto my roof.  But we're attempting to "go green" in the little ways right now.  I must be honest, I have absolutely no idea where to start.  Recycling?  Is this even possible in Crossett, AR?  I know there is a recycling plant about 45 minutes from here, but is for metal and such things.  Plus, taking a bag of plastic bottles and cardboard box 45 minutes in my non-fuel efficient truck probably does more to harm the environment that just throwing said bag and box to wind in the middle of a national park and allowing animals to choke on the contents.

That being said, we are making smarter choices in the meantime as to what we buy to operate our household.  Buying green cleaners with environmentally friendly chemicals, pesticide free cotton clothing, taking reusable fabric bags to the grocery store instead of using disposable paper or plastic bags there, etc.  Our future remodeling / redecorating projects are going to be green as well (green paint FTW!). 

What I'm really looking for is ways to be greener.  We're starting somewhere, and I'm sure that if everyone did just a little like us, the world would be much better off.  But how do you stay green?  Any ideas for recycling is a small town with no facility?

Also...what do you make of this?  How do you know what green products are actually green?

Candidates and Israel

I have a piece on B. Hussein Obama and his anti-Israel stances (in light of recent news, perhaps I should also mention his anti-American stances?) that I have been neglecting to post for quite some time. It will come soon. Hold your horses. But I have a recently read a very interesting quote from a top Clinton aide on Clinton (had tip to seemingly liberal blogger AmericanGoy who was quite upset with this announcement.)
Here is Ms. Lewis' quote:

"The role of the president of the United States is to support the decisions that
are made by the people of Israel. It is not up to us to pick and choose from
among the political parties."

This was said in retort to an Obama representative firing off several incredibly defensive jabs about Obama's "enemies" accusing him of anti-Semitism. All baseless, of course, since his Pastor only believes that Israel is guilty of state-sponsored terrorism against...well, terrorists (read Palestinians). So obviously we should all trust Obama's unquestionable loyalty to Israel.

And apparently the libs are in an uproar over this statement. Why? Of course Israel has the right to defend itself. And we, as a nation that values liberty and freedom, should not only respect that, but encourage it, when it defends itself against the evils of muslim fanatical rule. Even McCain's rep didn't express such strong words. He did, however, say that he promised to never "push Israel," which I assume to mean that McCain would not coerce Israel into giving up land, or into an unfair "peace" arrangement, etc. Which makes me more comfortable than his past rhetoric on Israel's need to back off some of their positions.

B Hussein Obama, on the other hand, has said he will meet with President Ahmadinejad of Iran, and possibly with leaders of other militant Islamic terrorists groups and discuss peace. This tells us a whole heap about his alleged support of Israel. If the enemy of my enemy is my friend, then surely the friend of Israel's enemies, is also an enemy of Israel.

Our choice between Obama and Clinton will be over long before the November elections, and I'm not certain that there exists a discernible difference (at least judging from public statements) between Clinton and McCain on the topic of Israel. However, I cannot encourage anyone who loves and supports Israel enough...flee from B. Hussein Obama. He will be an enemy of God's chosen people...and that certainly makes him an enemy of Christianity (if his pastor shouting G**D*** America from the pulpit wasn't enough to convince us of that).

The Candidates and Israel: John McCain

For me, one of the most important issues in voting for people to run our country is their stance on Israel. This is one of the reasons Ron Paul was such an attractive candidate for me. While his policy was technically non-interventionist, I think that would actually help Israel. Our "Peace" efforts have largely crippled and hindered the nation, in my opinion. If Iran shoots missiles at them, they should be able to respond to what any sane person would call an "Act of War." But we've restrained them several times now, in just such instances.

However, I'm not righting this about my opinions. I'm writing this to inform you, my loyal readers (all 2 of you!) about the candidates opinions. I'll start with McCain.

"I’m proudly pro-Israel, and my positions have been consistent and clear. Israel, as one of America’s closest allies and the only democracy in a
dangerous neighborhood, deserves our support and assistance. That’s why I view
with such alarm the victory of Hamas and the Iranian president’s vile comments
about wiping Israel off the map." -- John McCain 1

John McCain has been turning up his pro-Israel rhetoric lately, mostly in an effort to bridge gaps with the evangelical base of the Republican Party. Christians LOVE Israel. Typically, the most devout Christians are republican. And most of us hate John McCain. Well, hate is a bad word. We are Christians after all. We love him, hate his politics. How about that?

So what's the real story with McCain? I have the feeling that he is more FOR blowing up Iran and hunting down every last muslim extremist in the world than he is FOR Israel... but hey, that's close enough right? Not so fast. The above quote is the first of many from McCain trying to distance himself from comments made in an interview in 2006. An interview published then, but never commented on until now. When he says that he was quoted out of context. Here's a few snippets:

McCain reportedly added: "I would expect concessions and sacrifices by both
sides."
When Oren asked McCain if that meant a "movement toward the June 4,
1967 armistice lines, with minor modifications," the reporter wrote, "McCain
nodded in the affirmative."
Oren said that McCain stated clearly that Israel's policy should be one of
"defending itself and withdrawing, defending itself and withdrawing."2

The Oren mentioned here is the reporter, defending his journalistic integrity. He even invited McCain to take a polygraph test with him, to see who was lying about the interview...the interview which McCain never questioned until this past weekend. It would seem that McCain expects Israel to concede much of its disputed territories to Palestine, which would include Bethlehem, and much of the surrounding area of Jerusalem. This is the Palestine that is run by Hamas...the terrorist organization. To be fair to McCain, he says that talks can't happen until Palestine shows they are committed to non-violence. In a related statement, McCain also was overheard booking a ski vacation in hell.

For those of you who don't "get" sarcasm, I'm saying that Palestine will never renounce violence. Oh, they may say they will...but the Quran says that it's okay to lie in situations like this, to infidels, in order to position yourself to destroy them later. (I'm paraphrasing here.) Hamas' sole raison d'etre is the destruction of Israel, and the death of every Jew in the world. And they're not too fond of Christians either. It reminds of the scripture, "Beware when everyone says, 'Peace! Peace!'"

So, is McCain FOR Israel? My answer is, "Meh." He'll do. He's better than Obama. He's about equal with Hillary, whose stances I'll be detailing in another blog. He does seem to value Israel as an ally. And I doubt he'd stand for much Israel bashing. But he's not the staunch supporter that Paul or Huckabee would've been. He's very comfortable with negotiating (or forcing Israel to negotiate) with the Palestinians, and having Israel fork over their God-given land to terrorists.

November 2008: Hope for America

You all know my thoughts on a John McCain vote . . . they haven't changed. Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh, among others have brought a little hope to me lately, though.


The Presidential Election is pretty much done, from a conservative viewpoint...but the fight is far from over. The President, himself, has no power to do much of anything (well, besides invading Middle Eastern Countries, it seems). Congress is the true power player...at least the one we should concern ourselves with. There is a new crop of conservative candidates coming into their own in elections around the country. McCain may not represent our viewpoints, but these people do. As Ms. Malkin points out, Obama was just a peon in the state legislature 4 years ago...and today is an increasingly likely Presidential Candidate. Many truely conservative young politicians fit this bill as well.


Take a look at Jingal (I think that's his name) that recently won the Governor race in Louisiana. Many are calling him the next Ronald Reagan!


So, I am recanting my lamentations that led you to believe I would consider sitting out the vote in November. While I'm still not voting for McCain, there are a TON of people, at state and local levels, that do deserve my vote, and will be getting it. Information on these people are hard to come by sometimes, but I urge you all to look up as much as you can on the candidates in your states, and help mold the government of the future, if not the next 4 years.

Reconciling my vote with my faith

I have had a hard time with the presidential race, thus far. The man whom I truly believed represented the values and ideals that I hold dear was written off by the media months ago, dooming his campaign. The man that I'm told I should vote for because I'm an evangelical Christian (which seems to be a very unpopular group these days...thanks G. W.) is so liberal on every single topic besides gay marriage and abortion it makes my head spin. And the man I'm left with at this stage of the Republican Primaries is as far from conservative as Michael Moore. What is a Christian, who votes with his conscience as much as his intellect, to do?

Ignoring the futile campaigns of Ron Paul (sad) and Huckabee (why is he still around?), I'm left with three options, as I can see it. I can vote AGAINST McCain, and in doing so vote FOR the democratic candidate. I can vote for McCain, since I am a registered Republican, and hope that the conservative voices of the party move him more in line with what I'm looking for. Or, I can sit at home.

Personally, I'm not seeing a morally clear-cut answer. McCain is for Real ID, taxing the middle class out of existence, continuing to drown our country in a multitude of debt, stem cell research, limiting free speech, surrendering rights to privacy, flinging wide the borders with Mexico, supporting the global warming propoganda machine...basically everything I have eschewed voting for democrats for in the past. On top of all that, he is pretty much George Bush v2.0 Extreme Edition on all the stuff that has made me regret daily ever voting for Bush in the first place. Iraq for 100 more years?! Egad! Did Karl Rove track down Common Sense, find him huddling in a dark alley, shivering and alone, and put a bullet in his head? If so, I have the feeling that he wrestled the Constitution from his cold, dead, hands, brought it back to the White House, and destroyed it in a vile ritual with Bush, McCain, and several other RINO's.

So, voting my conscience aside, my intellect cannot even wrap its mind around a McCain vote. Ron Paul represents a very ardent group of people. A group that the media cannot ignore forever. I believe that McCain would not just be a bad president, but that he would put the final nail in the coffin (built by Bush) for the conservative movement. And no, I'm not talking the Huckabee, liberal spending, neocon, Jesus-centered conservative movement. I'm talking about the growing unrest with liberal spending, liberal financial policies, etc, etc. The conservative movement with whom Ron Paul's message resounded so well. Small Government. Low Taxes. Decreased Spending. Neutering the Fed. A reasonable foreign policy. No empire building. No policing the world. Stabilizing the economy so that free markets can work unencumbered. This conservative movement is the antithesis of both the current Republican power-wielders, AND the democratic party. McCain's lunatic Bush Extreme policies would usher in 30 years of democratic control of the country...during which we would likely lose all ties to true democracy, and become a socialist state.

Speaking of socialism, I don't believe I can vote my conscience and vote for Hillary, and I'm sure I can't vote for Obama. Despite the fact that Clinton has a MORE conservative voting history than McCain. But I'm not sure that sitting out an election is a socially or civically responsible thing to do either. It's our responsibility as Christians to help redeem the world, and be productive and helpful members of society...participating in all our civic duties. This is quite a predicament. What does one do when there really isn't a lesser of two evils? The evil is equitably distributed amongst the candidates. Who does an evangelical, conservative Christian vote for?
Discuss.

Ubuntu 7.01 Installation Attempt 1 (respost)

Author's note: This is a reposting from a series I began at my last blog host, which I plan to continue here.


Well, by the title, you can see that I did not succeed in my first installation attempt. The installation CD is also a live CD. Basically meaning that you can run Ubuntu totally off the CD, without installing on your hard drive. I played with a few features in the live boot. In short, Ubuntu is beautiful. It looks like a third major OS, next to Windows and Mac. It runs smoothly, and is easy enough for a first time or clueless computer user to use. The installation instructions were in plain English. Actually, I would say installation was easier than Windows...significantly so. I believe that a total computer novice could install Ubuntu first time...given that it works right...
...which brings me to my first issue. An easy to understand an informative error box popped up and explained that I had an error on my CD, that I should reburn it at a slower speed, or move my computer to a cooler area. Huh?
My computer is cool enough, thank you. I didn't have the time to reburn the CD...I will try that. This is the only negative thing I have to say about Ubuntu thus far. It looks like an amazing OS, and I'm pretty excited to try out more.

This is my first post.

I'm considering using blogger to host my blog until my server is up and running.