On The Road Again...

Good ole Willie Nelson.

Well, it's funny how things turn out I suppose. When I was looking for a job a few weeks back, the company that was my first choice - the place I really wanted to work - had turned me down. I, along with 3 other people (one of those people being my good friend John who was fired from Assit - my last employeer) had been called back for second interviews. They were only hiring for two positions, and both my interviews went really well I had thought, so I was expecting to be chosen. Unfortunately I wasn't - I came in third in the pecking order. John came in first and he landed a job with them. Well, as it turns out, the other person they hired didn't work out too well. They ended up firing her this morning, which was weird because I knew they were going to be doing that yesterday. How did I know? Because the owner of the company asked John if I still might be interested in coming to work for them. John called me and we had a little chat. John talked to the owner and then called me back again with the owner's cell number. I spoke to the owner twice today and then he sent me an offer letter this afternoon. We've been haggling and I think we are close to hammering out a deal. The only thing left is if I get my time off in May that I've already planned for to help my grandmother move in California. I don't see that as being a problem - but you never know. Anyway, if it is agreeable to the owner, then I will get to work with my buddy John again, work on some really cool, bleeding edge technology and be in a very cool company with some software developers who are first in their class. The owner is fairly well known in the Open-Source community and I could learn tons and tons from him. One bonus from the entire thing is that it's much closer to home than where I am going now. Right now I drive nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to work. This place would only be about 20 minute commute probably.

Shawn

I'm In Cheese Heaven!!!

Woo Hoo - Brett Favre has stated that he will return to the Green & Gold this upcoming football season. Whew...I'm so ecstatic and elated. I was really hoping he would return for at least one more season, although I'd really like to see him back for two before hanging up the cleats. This white boy don't dance, but I'm dancing tonight!!! Yeah Baby!!!!

GO PACKERS!!!!!!!!



Shawn

Tieing the Hands of God

In the sermon yesterday, we heard about 4 friends who had faith enough to bring their paralytic friend to Jesus. Becauase the crowd was so prohibitively large, they were unable to approach him in a conventional manner, so they climbed up on the roof of his house (assuming it was Jesus' home) and tore a hole in the ceiling to lower their friend down to Jesus. The passage in Mark says that when Jesus saw their faith (the 4 freinds) he forgave the sins of the paralytic. One wonders what sins a paralyzed person could commit or whom he could wrong. But since Paul says that none is righteous and all have sinned, he must have some. The religious leaders thinking became indignant because of what Jesus had just claimed to do and Jesus said, "What is easier? To say to this man your sins or forgiven or to heal him? But so that you may know the Son of Man has the power to forgive..." then he turned and healed the man.

It's not that the religious leaders missed the point - the knew exactly whom Jesus was claiming to be by forgiving the man. But they wouldn't allow their knowledge and reasoning to carry over to faith, because it was too incredulous for them. In essence, they tied God's hands from allowing them to see. It's not that Jesus was unwilling for them to believe in him - He didn't stop Nicodemus when talked with him at night. It was their stubborn unwillingness to believe that tied God's hands. It comforting to know that God does not force himself on anyone, yet it's a terrifying thought as well. People complaing that God does not make himself known to them, that he hasn't done enough, that he doesn't do something about the evil in the world. They are just like the religious leaders of the first Century. He has made himself known in more ways that I can think of but if one is unwilling to follow the evidence to where it plainly leads, then one is going to be hardpressed to come to Faith.

C.S. Lewis once said, "I believe in God as I believe in the Sun, not just because it rises everyday, but because by it, I see everything else."

Shawn

A Matter Of Taste

I admit it - The Beatles are by far the best band ever and I have absolutely no qualms about saying so. I got into them back in the Spring of 1980. I had come home from school that day and I walked into our home and told my mom that she listened to that "old fuddy music". She said, "Oh really?" Then she put me in the car and we went for a ride to the record store. Once there, she bought me the Beatles "White Album" on vinyl. I was instantly hooked! My collection now is huge - I've got so much stuff by them it's probably ridiculous. Anyway - just had to have a random, mindless post and I couldn't think of a better topic for a post than this one.


Shawn

Sunday Morning Class

Ah...I think the class got off to a great start this past week. We began watching the DVD series titled Apologetics: Then and Now. While you might probably might have needed to watch the DVD to answer some of the questions in the Study Guide, there was one that I thought I would post on here to see what you all might have to say.

The psalmist speaks of the fair beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27). The Apostle Paul speaks of his faith in terms of exuberance (Philippians 1). How can you communicate the beauty of the Gospel with your life? What would prevent you from communicating the beauty of the Gospel with your life?

Shawn

Day 1

Good times...good times :)

Shawn

Broomball or Bust?

Okay, I admit it - I'm a schmuck...I was soooo jazzed about going to Broomball last night - I mean seriously, the facility is only 3 miles from my house, perhaps even closer. So, Davina was hosting a jewlry party and the lady who was actually running it parked in our driveway in such a way that the kept anyone else from being able to park there and me from getting out of the garage. By the time I had realized what she had done the party had been going on for several hours and I didn't have the heart to interrupt and tell her to move. Davina thought I was being silly because I didn't speak up, but I felt it would be rude to interrupt the lady just so that I could get to Broomball, so I just kept quiet.

Hopefully there will be another opportunity to go. Sorry I bailed on you guys. :|

Shawn

The Hunt Is On

Davina had actually started looking for a job before I did. As things at my work progressively became worse, she encouraged me to intensify my search while she put hers on hold. Now that I have found something and start next week, she is going to pick back up on her search. So, again, if you all could keep us in your prayers regarding this and if you know anyone who might be in need of her talents, that would be fantastic!

Thanks,
Shawn

At the Core

I remember reading several years back that what is at the core of a persons being is manifested when they are under great duress. When the world and its troubles and persecutions press down upon you, what comes out is what is most central to your heart. If you want to know what someone really believes, test them by pressing down on them - that will show you if their conviction holds.

It's one of the things that gives encouragement when you look back over the centuries to those who were martyred for the cause of Christ. You see them tortured and killed for their beliefs and in the midst of it all you see their unwavering dedication to their faith.

Today is Ash Wednesday and as thoughts turn to the Christ and the Garden of Gethsemane it's good to study His unshakeable faith in the knowledge of what he was about to endure. He was to be pressed down upon like olive pressed by a heavy, stone wheel to make oil. He was to be ground down, beaten, stripped of his dignity, made fun of, whipped, falsely accused, treated like a criminal and nailed to a cross, hung between two theives to die. And who would do this? Those whom He created. But the ironic thing is that He did this for those whom He created. Their greatest act of Evil turned out to be God's greatest act of Good. And the only thing we saw from Christ through the persecution and the pain was a most pure Love than the world has ever known.

Shawn

Bookaholism

So, I've got a problem. I love to read and while this post may not be entirely all that enlightening, I thought I would post the titles of the books that I've read the last two weeks.

1. Being Logical by D.Q. McInerny
2. Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli
3. Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics by R.C. Sproul
4. Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy
5. Truth and the New Kind of Christian by R. Scott Smith
6. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
7. Gospel of John by the Apostle John :)
8. 1, 2 and 3 John by the Apostle John :)

On to the next stack...

Shawn

24 = 72?

Jack is back for 72 more hours of world-saving action and drama, that is, if FOX decides to pick up the show beyond next season. Keifer Sutherland has inked a deal that will keep him on the show for another 3 seasons, make him an executive producer (currently he is the co-executire producer), pay him $40 million over the next 3 years and also help him launch his own television production company. You can read more about the news here. Hopefully FOX will pick up the show for the remaining 2 seasons to make this happen.

Shawn

Grand Canyon University

I finally got a meeting scheduled with an advisor at 10 AM this morning with Grand Canyon University. Time to get all the class stuff moving in the right direction. I looked into ASU's Philosophy program and their requirements and while they are ranked 43rd nationally among their peers, I would have to take a ton of other classes outside the philosophy department which would make getting the degree much longer. At Grand Canyon, so it appears, I would have far fewer classes to take - as best as I can tell right now it would be just the philosophy classes - since I have fulfilled all their other requirements.

Shawn

Da Vinci Joke?

Uh, yeah, so I read this last weekend...Hmmm - fast paced, definitely a page turner. Seriously, it's absolutely horrible in how it paints historical Christianity. I've got so many little flags sticking out of my copy of the book - it's pretty funny looking. The sad thing is that while it is a work of fiction, it's an extremely popular book and many people are taking it very serious and within a historical context - like it's fact. Have we lost our sense of distinguishing fact from fiction? Are the lines so blurred now that we have difficulty knowing the difference? If so, then it's a very tragic time we find ourselves in.

Shawn

Game on

The company that I was waiting on for a response didn't come through - but my good friend John, who was fired by Assist was hired by them today - so that's awesome - I'm happy for him. I accepted the position with the company that offered me a position on Tuesday - I'll start there on April 17th - so I'm pretty jazzed about that. Thanks for all the prayers you guys have offered on my behalf - it's great to think that there are people out there doing that for you!

So I turned in my resignation letter this morning - the response was pretty much non-existant, which is fine. The only comment I heard about it was "Well, it's no big deal. We should probably start fresh with the development department anyway." Uh, yeah, you think? Not like they have much choice - they don't have any developers left except for the new guy and he doesn't know any of the software or systems. Thanks for the memories - it was an experience. So, that means that I have the next week and a half off - which is cool.

Shawn

First one in

Just received my first job offer about 30 minutes ago. Waiting on one other company to come through because the one that offered me something would be my second choice. But, I'm also thinking beggars can't be choosers - not that the place is bad - it's not. It actually looks pretty good...

I think I'll make a decision tomorrow. :)

Shawn