Friday, July 24, 2009

What a world! What a world!

So I've immersed myself in rapidshare communities and now I'm in this lonely space between being neo and jedi master. I've been "rapidsharing" ever since my friend let me in on it last summer when I got my computer. Basically, it's people uploading files (wether music, video, or other) onto a server run by a German company, obtaining a link for it and then giving the link to others to download either for free or by paid subscription for a faster speed. I think I first downloaded Jimi Hendrix' Blues album and got slowly hooked from there.

It's cumbersome to download movies for my CPU speed and space it's perfect for music here and there and I do love uploading files as long as it's not over my 5 Gigabyte internet down/upload limit. I've been uploading music mixes and DVD rips but my circle of peeps have been unresponsive so far, and I have the feeling they are not into rapidshare, since none of them share links. There are a few, though, that are mac geeks, linux programmers, and java junkies that know the deal and probably run some of the sites I'm on!

I started with RapidFind.(apparently the first rapidshare forum) I was hoping to learn the ropes of uploading and downloading larger files on a mac while be embraced by a cozy international community. I was respectfully, yet sternly, reminded to "code" my links and edit my signature. I had trouble downloading rapid uploader for mac and could not get any results. Finally, I just resorted to finding another community *sniff, sniff* I remember downloading Ironbutterfly from Katz forums and liked the layout so I registered there. By then, I finished uploading a DVD and decided to post it. All went well, with no chastising afterwards! very cool forum, no snobbery. So if you don't know what rapidshare is, get on the beat train! Not saying you should be an addict but at least be in the know. check out www.whatisrapidshare.com

I borrowed a really bad copy of "knowing" from Jonathan just because I've been really wanting to see it. Something about numbers predicting disasters and eventually the end of the world... interesting and creepy but most definitely conflicting. Physicist, recently widowed with a son, son of a preacher. Anyway (spoiler!) at the end of the movie, his son is "saved" by angelic aliens from the firey tribulation about to take place on Earth that was prophesied. Meanwhile, physicist, played by Nicholas Cage, is not a believer in God but suddenly goes to reunite with his pastor father, mother and sister before being obliterated by excess sun flares. It ends with him saying, "this isn't the end," meaning, we're going to heaven after this. What's missing here? What are the requirements for getting into heaven? Obviously, his father believes Jesus is that requirement but he is a skeptic. The crazy woman who heard voices 50 yrs. ago and prophesied the disasters with numbers-not the scriptures-read the bible but did not speak of Jesus, spoke of the end of the world which is not scriptural. I wouldn't mind so much if was at least original and intelligent but I saw right through it and it was unenjoyable. It was all around a unoriginal mess of a movie.

The best movie I've rented so far has been Miracle at St. Anna, so if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do so. It's about a valuable remnant of an Italian church destroyed by the Nazis that traces back to the travels of a black platoon in WWII getting separated in Italy. Multi-faceted, makes you want to see it a few times to catch the details. Why it did not win an Oscar, begins in C-O-N and ends with SPIRACY. That's all I'll say about that.

Stay tuned for the next podcast, me and JHood (Jonathan) will probably just smack talk about life here. Peace.

Monday, July 20, 2009

More steps of faith

So far, exercising has been good. I invested in a protein shake recommended from the care cure site but haven't noticed any changes as of yet. it has only been 2 weeks. Make sure to check out the latest podcast episode located on the right. Interesting music mix. For those who don't understand why I speak in this strange robotic voice, I have tracheal stenosis and so air cannot pass through the vocal cords. I use a device that vibrates the cords for me, thus producing sound. I will be going to Mass general in Boston on Aug 5 for a different kind of tracheostomy tube and then will go back for a resection surgery. I am very scared but I must move forward and trust that God works all things for good no matter how much we dislike it.

Despite the hardships I have been blessed in many ways. I've been able to see my own short sightedness on some issues, my own selfishness. Through my own suffering I am able to truly have compassion. Most of all, I can honestly say I know who my God is and that is Jesus Christ who is a true historical person who fulfilled prophesies, performed miracles and made claim to his divinity in typical Jewish fashion. Too often, people are putting doubt on the divinity of Christ because of comparisons of mythological gods which have no real bearings and have no real evidence to back up assertions for their claims. Everyone at some point needs to face the fact that there is a God. If so, why aren't we seeking him? Then there's the question of why Jesus? Don't all religions basically teach the same thing? No they don't! They are very different particularly in the nature of God and what our goals as human beings are. No other religion has the the historical, archeological, extra biblical and theological evidence to support it. It was one thing to feel it in my being, but how was I to answer questions about my faith? How was I to look to God for answers, to trust his word? All of a sudden, all the ugly past Christian mishaps came back and although what I experienced on that roof was real, how did it fit with the Book called the Bible? I mentioned in a post some time ago that I began reading about David, abraham and Moses again and although they were the "heroes" of the Bible, that they too, made mistakes, had doubts, were afraid, were angry with God, didn't always do what he asked. But through it all, God was faithful. He kept his word. Another thing I noticed was that throughout the Bible, God has shown to operate through his word. From the very beginning, he created with a word, complex worlds with complex organisms and biosystems. He he healed just by saying you are healed, spoke easily of what was really in people's hearts and no malice passed from his lips. To have this consistently in books by many authors over a period of 1500 years is a staggering amount of proof that God's word accomplishes what he sets it out to do, regardless of how much we mess up or try to cast doubt on it.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't come to this conclusion easily. After all, we want to do what we want to do, right? I have a friend who's a priest and everyone's "cool" that he's a priest as long as he's not trying to tell them that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. But if you had important information about life after death, wouldn't you want to let your close friends in on it?

This is the reality of the situation: The time we are in now is the time predicted in scripture that God will reveal himself soon and will judge the nations. We are all sinners. But Christ who is sinless died for us so that we can be righteous before God when judgement comes. Take the time to read the Gospel. Here is a great DVD called All roads do not lead to God by Christian Apologist, Charlie Campell:










If you're not into rapidshare, I suggest just going to the website, www.alwaysbeready.com and browsing their store or helpful articles. If you find the video helpful, I would urge you to pass it along. Here are other resources:

www.bethinking.org
www.rzim.org
www.carm.org