My son is home from Iraq. He just spent 8 months in Iraq with the US Marines. I am very proud of him.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
My Son is Home!
My son is home from Iraq. He just spent 8 months in Iraq with the US Marines. I am very proud of him.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
9/11 - May we never forget...
I used to travel a lot when I was in consulting and was on a plane almost every week. I remember the eerie feeling boarding the plane after 9/11. We should never forget those who lost their lives in this tragic attack by those who were fooled by a lie. How someone could knowingly attack with intent to kill innocent men, women, and children under the guise of religion is tragic.
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Power of Focused Attention
This is a great article. Well worth the read. Here is a snippet.
"I recently sat down with several highly enthusiastic achievers, all of whom have many ambitions. These casual chats revolved around the theme of, “How do I turn my ambitions into reality?”......"
Here is the link
"I recently sat down with several highly enthusiastic achievers, all of whom have many ambitions. These casual chats revolved around the theme of, “How do I turn my ambitions into reality?”......"
Here is the link
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
McLeod User Conference is next week!
September 14-17, 2008!!!!Yep. I will be there. I am presenting a session on the "McLeod Business Intelligence Framework". It is a technical session that will be introducing a new service provided by McLeod Software.
Rev. Roger Salter of Saint Matthews Anglican Church in Birmingham, AL - Meditations...
FROM A BOAST TO A BEAST (A Lesson From Nebuchadnezzar) 08-24-08
Our powers of thought and self-expression are exercised continually yet it may be that we fail to appreciate as to how remarkable these “everyday” capacities happen to be. Ideas and words flow almost constantly in our conscious moments but the processes of initiation, inspiration, and influence are a mystery. The mind is a marvel and speech is a miracle. In our preoccupation to gain an estimate of greatness, and to note the exceptional, in the human species we tend to overlook the impressiveness of very ordinary functions, performed by the majority of us, which suddenly become quite extraordinary when impeded by any handicap. The achievements of a genius astound us, but who is not amazed at the slightest wiggle of an infant finger or the first gurgle of a newborn baby? To think, speak, and execute any purpose are astonishing feats and they point us beyond any purely materialistic explanation for the existence of all that is. The self-awareness of the soul puts us in touch with the realization that it is in God that we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28) and that we can do absolutely nothing without Him — neither good, which he causes, nor bad, shich he permits. Our powers are given and sustained by Him. Without Him we would not exist. Without His enabling we would be inert. We simply cannot boast in anything meritorious. We must take the blame in anything perverse. Good action, moved by the energy of God, is guided by His will. Evil action abuses God-given energy by taking a wrong direction. The good person happens to be prompted by the Holy Spirit through the influences of special grace or common grace. The bad man takes his cue from the Evil One by whom his thinking is infected.
Any unique or extraordinary talent can never be attributed to the possessor. Though their faculties and creativity are genuinely exercised of their own volition and effort yet the intelligence and skills employed are divinely donated and, at root, the inspiration comes either from God or the god of this world. The sovereignty of God overarches and operates through all things. The incitements of Satan are allowed by the Lord for a set span of time as the Evil One exerts his control over the limited sphere of the denizens of darkness. The unredeemed are wholly under the devil’s sway so far as they are concerned, but always his powers are checked by God and his people are subject to the restraints that God irresistibly imposes.
How often the authors or originators of worthy things testify to a mood or inspiration that overtakes them, a fire that fuels their creativity, which they sometimes describe as their muse or a sense of the divine. They are working at a level where they actually excel themselves in a way that exceeds their known capabilities and achievements. Sometimes when we are in the presence of a great work of art, visual, musical, or literary we describe the encounter as spiritual and a pointer to God. No wonder. In spite of the Fall God chooses to work great deeds through his creatures — the worthy and the wicked. He will gain His glory how He pleases and witness to His power through any instrument of His choice. We were created to be His co-workers and even the sinful participate in His grand programme, often unwittingly and unwillingly. God gives ample demonstration of His government and generosity and innumerable gifts are distributed among men that are not accompanied by saving grace, although they are inducements to seek it and arouse repentance (Romans 2:4). All of us who have known a season in the mental or emotional doldrums know that we need an impetus or spark from beyond to rekindle us and urge us on in the fulfilment of even customary tasks. Without God we can do nothing. Our minds are barren and our bodies listless. All strength is His gift. Health is a daily endowment. Mental fortitude and fruitfulness is His bestowal. Any ability that we may have is granted by Him to exhibit His unlimited ingenuity, and hence any degree of human boasting is tantamount to robbery of God. He must be acknowledged as the source and sustainer of anything praiseworthy or beneficial. The recipients of His gifts ought to humbly admire the benefactor and abstain from any instinct or expression of hubris. The recurring refrain in every heart ought to be, ‘Without you I can do nothing “.
John Newton was acutely aware of our utter dependence at all times upon a “superior agency”. “Though my pen and my tongue sometimes move freely, yet the total incapacity and stagnation of thought I labour under at other times, convinces me, that in myself I have not sufficiency to think a good thought; and I believe the case would be the same f that little measure of knowledge and abilities, which I am too prone to look upon as my own, were a thousand times greater than it is.” Newton alludes to “particular turns of thought” or “words in season” that enclose blessing for self or others that occur unexpectedly and from a point beyond our usual reach. “This gracious assistance is afforded in a 1’ay imperceptible to ourselves, to hide pride from us, and to prevent us from being indolent and careless with respect to the use of appointed means; and it would be likewise more abundantly, and perhaps more sensibly afforded, were our spirits more simple in waiting upon the Lord”. These touches of apt thought or speech, or any abiding facility or flair from God should never induce arrogance. As the apostle Paul warns us in things spiritual and natural, “And what do you have that you did not receive? iVoiv f you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as f you had not received it? (lCor 4:7). Success leading to smugness and self-satisfaction constitutes a danger zone that portends big trouble for those who indulge a tendency to brag. If God is the source of our self-expression then we should credit Him, and if our cleverness smacks of anything evil then we should be ashamed and repent. In neither case is there cause for a pat on the back. Pride is an entry point for the “proud one” that creates access to the soul for the creation of infinite evil and chaos.
Newton expands upon the notion of “external sources” for our thoughts, words, and acts. “Though there is a principle of consciousness, and a determination of the will sufficient to denominate our thoughts and performances our own, yet I believe mankind in general are in ore under an invisible agency than they apprehend The Lord, immediately from himself and perhaps by the ministty of his holy angels, guides, prompts, restrains, or warns his people. So there is undoubtedly what I may call a black inspiration, the influence of the evil spirits who work in the hearts of the disobedient, and not only excite their wills, but assist their faculties, and qual as well as incline them to be more assiduously wicked, and more extensively mischievous, than they could be of themselves. I consider Voltaire, for instance, and many writers of the same stamp, to be little more than secretaries and amanuenses of one who has unspeakably more wit and adroitness in promoting infidelity and immorality, than they of themselves can justly pretend to. . . . Perhaps many now applauded for their genius would have been comparatively dolts had they not been engaged in a cause which Satan has so much interest in supporting.”
In 1948 the American humourist James Thurber published a collection of pieces under the title The Beast In Me And Other Animals. The beast in human nature is pride and where it ranges freely other unlovely and dangerous animals lurk and roam also. When we sever ourselves from conscious dependence upon God we unleash the countless wild brutes within and there is every possibility that they might escape their cages (our private thoughts and guarded urges) and rampage persons and situations around us. We are liable to learn the lesson of our helplessness should God cut off any capacity or condition concerning which we take on an air of conceit and vainglory. Every faculty we possess can be swiftly neutralized. There is the writer who cannot fill a blank page; the great thinker who lapses into dementia; the musician who can no longer bear to hear his own compositions (Elgar); the artist who despairs because no one will purchase a canvas; the politician who is ousted by his or her former followers; the athlete who pulls a ham-string. The disciplines may strike at any moment. Even when we come to the Word of God we can never presume that our acumen will penetrate its secrets. Every apprehension of truth is the result of the Spirit’s illumination of both text and mind. Without God we can do nothing.
The appalling biblical example of human pride in defiance of human dependence is the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4 relates the details. The powers of this man’s God-given human faculties are totally withdrawn as a consequence of his brazen boastfulness before and in competition with God. The beast within became apparent without. Wolf-like in his hunger for power and glory he succumbed to lycanthropy — the state of being a wolf man — and he took on the features and characteristics of wild creatures. When God in his graciousness revisited him the humbled man declared, “At the same time my reason returned to me” (v36). May God preserve and empower us. “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
RJS
Our powers of thought and self-expression are exercised continually yet it may be that we fail to appreciate as to how remarkable these “everyday” capacities happen to be. Ideas and words flow almost constantly in our conscious moments but the processes of initiation, inspiration, and influence are a mystery. The mind is a marvel and speech is a miracle. In our preoccupation to gain an estimate of greatness, and to note the exceptional, in the human species we tend to overlook the impressiveness of very ordinary functions, performed by the majority of us, which suddenly become quite extraordinary when impeded by any handicap. The achievements of a genius astound us, but who is not amazed at the slightest wiggle of an infant finger or the first gurgle of a newborn baby? To think, speak, and execute any purpose are astonishing feats and they point us beyond any purely materialistic explanation for the existence of all that is. The self-awareness of the soul puts us in touch with the realization that it is in God that we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28) and that we can do absolutely nothing without Him — neither good, which he causes, nor bad, shich he permits. Our powers are given and sustained by Him. Without Him we would not exist. Without His enabling we would be inert. We simply cannot boast in anything meritorious. We must take the blame in anything perverse. Good action, moved by the energy of God, is guided by His will. Evil action abuses God-given energy by taking a wrong direction. The good person happens to be prompted by the Holy Spirit through the influences of special grace or common grace. The bad man takes his cue from the Evil One by whom his thinking is infected.
Any unique or extraordinary talent can never be attributed to the possessor. Though their faculties and creativity are genuinely exercised of their own volition and effort yet the intelligence and skills employed are divinely donated and, at root, the inspiration comes either from God or the god of this world. The sovereignty of God overarches and operates through all things. The incitements of Satan are allowed by the Lord for a set span of time as the Evil One exerts his control over the limited sphere of the denizens of darkness. The unredeemed are wholly under the devil’s sway so far as they are concerned, but always his powers are checked by God and his people are subject to the restraints that God irresistibly imposes.
How often the authors or originators of worthy things testify to a mood or inspiration that overtakes them, a fire that fuels their creativity, which they sometimes describe as their muse or a sense of the divine. They are working at a level where they actually excel themselves in a way that exceeds their known capabilities and achievements. Sometimes when we are in the presence of a great work of art, visual, musical, or literary we describe the encounter as spiritual and a pointer to God. No wonder. In spite of the Fall God chooses to work great deeds through his creatures — the worthy and the wicked. He will gain His glory how He pleases and witness to His power through any instrument of His choice. We were created to be His co-workers and even the sinful participate in His grand programme, often unwittingly and unwillingly. God gives ample demonstration of His government and generosity and innumerable gifts are distributed among men that are not accompanied by saving grace, although they are inducements to seek it and arouse repentance (Romans 2:4). All of us who have known a season in the mental or emotional doldrums know that we need an impetus or spark from beyond to rekindle us and urge us on in the fulfilment of even customary tasks. Without God we can do nothing. Our minds are barren and our bodies listless. All strength is His gift. Health is a daily endowment. Mental fortitude and fruitfulness is His bestowal. Any ability that we may have is granted by Him to exhibit His unlimited ingenuity, and hence any degree of human boasting is tantamount to robbery of God. He must be acknowledged as the source and sustainer of anything praiseworthy or beneficial. The recipients of His gifts ought to humbly admire the benefactor and abstain from any instinct or expression of hubris. The recurring refrain in every heart ought to be, ‘Without you I can do nothing “.
John Newton was acutely aware of our utter dependence at all times upon a “superior agency”. “Though my pen and my tongue sometimes move freely, yet the total incapacity and stagnation of thought I labour under at other times, convinces me, that in myself I have not sufficiency to think a good thought; and I believe the case would be the same f that little measure of knowledge and abilities, which I am too prone to look upon as my own, were a thousand times greater than it is.” Newton alludes to “particular turns of thought” or “words in season” that enclose blessing for self or others that occur unexpectedly and from a point beyond our usual reach. “This gracious assistance is afforded in a 1’ay imperceptible to ourselves, to hide pride from us, and to prevent us from being indolent and careless with respect to the use of appointed means; and it would be likewise more abundantly, and perhaps more sensibly afforded, were our spirits more simple in waiting upon the Lord”. These touches of apt thought or speech, or any abiding facility or flair from God should never induce arrogance. As the apostle Paul warns us in things spiritual and natural, “And what do you have that you did not receive? iVoiv f you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as f you had not received it? (lCor 4:7). Success leading to smugness and self-satisfaction constitutes a danger zone that portends big trouble for those who indulge a tendency to brag. If God is the source of our self-expression then we should credit Him, and if our cleverness smacks of anything evil then we should be ashamed and repent. In neither case is there cause for a pat on the back. Pride is an entry point for the “proud one” that creates access to the soul for the creation of infinite evil and chaos.
Newton expands upon the notion of “external sources” for our thoughts, words, and acts. “Though there is a principle of consciousness, and a determination of the will sufficient to denominate our thoughts and performances our own, yet I believe mankind in general are in ore under an invisible agency than they apprehend The Lord, immediately from himself and perhaps by the ministty of his holy angels, guides, prompts, restrains, or warns his people. So there is undoubtedly what I may call a black inspiration, the influence of the evil spirits who work in the hearts of the disobedient, and not only excite their wills, but assist their faculties, and qual as well as incline them to be more assiduously wicked, and more extensively mischievous, than they could be of themselves. I consider Voltaire, for instance, and many writers of the same stamp, to be little more than secretaries and amanuenses of one who has unspeakably more wit and adroitness in promoting infidelity and immorality, than they of themselves can justly pretend to. . . . Perhaps many now applauded for their genius would have been comparatively dolts had they not been engaged in a cause which Satan has so much interest in supporting.”
In 1948 the American humourist James Thurber published a collection of pieces under the title The Beast In Me And Other Animals. The beast in human nature is pride and where it ranges freely other unlovely and dangerous animals lurk and roam also. When we sever ourselves from conscious dependence upon God we unleash the countless wild brutes within and there is every possibility that they might escape their cages (our private thoughts and guarded urges) and rampage persons and situations around us. We are liable to learn the lesson of our helplessness should God cut off any capacity or condition concerning which we take on an air of conceit and vainglory. Every faculty we possess can be swiftly neutralized. There is the writer who cannot fill a blank page; the great thinker who lapses into dementia; the musician who can no longer bear to hear his own compositions (Elgar); the artist who despairs because no one will purchase a canvas; the politician who is ousted by his or her former followers; the athlete who pulls a ham-string. The disciplines may strike at any moment. Even when we come to the Word of God we can never presume that our acumen will penetrate its secrets. Every apprehension of truth is the result of the Spirit’s illumination of both text and mind. Without God we can do nothing.
The appalling biblical example of human pride in defiance of human dependence is the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4 relates the details. The powers of this man’s God-given human faculties are totally withdrawn as a consequence of his brazen boastfulness before and in competition with God. The beast within became apparent without. Wolf-like in his hunger for power and glory he succumbed to lycanthropy — the state of being a wolf man — and he took on the features and characteristics of wild creatures. When God in his graciousness revisited him the humbled man declared, “At the same time my reason returned to me” (v36). May God preserve and empower us. “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
RJS
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