Redeeming creation one byte at a time
Faith
Posts specifically linked to just Christian topics.
My new favorite Hymn…
0From the Gadsby Hymnal, originall written in the early 1800s:
Save Me
Words: H. Fowler.
Save me, O God, my spirit cries,
And on thy faithful word, my world relies,
Save me from sin, my desperate foe,
That fills my soul with every woe.
O save me, O God, my spirit cries.
Save me from pride, that angel form
That swells a poor and weak and sinful worm
That moves the tongue, the hands, the eyes,
And often takes me by surprise.
O save me from pride, that angel form
Save me from this bewitching world,
That has to death ten thousand thousands hurled
Whose charms enchant, and lead astray
From Jesus Christ the living Way.
O save me from this bewitching world
Save me from Satan’s wiles and snares,
From all the malice and the pain he bears
Against thy image, work, and grace,
Against the visits of thy face.
O save me from Satan’s wiles and snares.
Save Me from gloomy black despair;
On thee alone, I would, I’d cast my care,
And wait, and pray, and groan, and sigh,
Till thou in mercy drawest nigh.
O save Me from gloomy black despair.
Wondering about Identity theft.
1Yeah, so we got the surprise of a lifetime Tuesday in the mail. A company (avoiding using the name to lower myself on the radar of anybody that might misue the information) whom we’d never heard of revealed to us that they: had our information on our main account (including demographic information like SSN, address, etc.) and a rather unscrupulous employee of theirs decided to sell over 2 million records of people like us to a data broker who in turn pushed that information off to 3rd party marketers.
The thing that baffled me was that someone had all this information that we’d never heard of. Literally, I didn’t know this company existed until they sent us this letter and our information existed on their computers for purposes I’m still trying to understand.
Well, we got the account number changed and we’re spending the next week or two connecting with people and businesses that need to know the new one.
What’s ironic, I think, is that I spent the morning yesterday speaking to a group of people on social networking. That, as educators, they had an opportunity to teach their students about apprpropriate uses of facebook by modeling it and that sharing some information online is not bad and allows them to connect with this student generation.
However, I believe that this current generation lives in a glass house; that information for them and communication is something that happens within the context of a larger community.
The problem comes though is that a weakness with that idea is the inability to be alone. In college some of the most valuable times for this extrovert were up at Cedar Campus, InterVarsity’s training center in Michigan, spending Sunday afternoon’s being quiet and alone–an activity that required that I not interact with people or technology.
I think this is where experience and a different viewpoint become valuable. Managing information online is becoming more of a dance. Reveal too little and you lose your ability to, in a very 21st century sort of way, “connect”. Reveal too much and you lose your identity.
Body Sourcing.
2Back when I was a student (and even to some point now), one of the things I really wrestled with was the usefulness of my skills going into IT. Seeing the Kingdom Value in coding or in Systems Administration was one thing that I really had a hard time doing. Of course, that was *ahem* 12 years ago and the world has changed since then. The World Wide Web really came into it’s own, social networking is the latest of a long lineage of connectivity/relational software out there that has enabled people to stay in touch and the role of the geek in any organization has heigtened a bit especially if communication is a part of the goal of that organization.
Well, I helped out Chapter Focus Week this year (InterVarsity runs week long camps at the end of each Spring semester for training and planning for groups for the next school year) and got into some discussions with some friends from NIU and we had some really in depth talks about how we fit into the body and how might IT people be better used or even visualize what they can do for the Kingdom and the idea was floated about having a tech exchange, if you will, where needs can be met with skills. People who otherwise wouldn’t be connect to InterVarsity, the particular ministry I help out in, could reconnect with their alma mater or even the movement in general. Students who are already moving towards a degree can cut their teeth on projects they might otherwise have not known about and InterVarsity chapters can benefit as a whole, and hopefully people can have a fun time doing it.
One of the things I had always appreciated about my time in InterVarsity has been the opportunities I have had to participate, to include my particular skillset (whether it be web design, sound, or geek-fu in general) and to help; it’s been fun, challenging and I’ve always came away learning something. I’ve literally prayed over computers (you laugh, but have you tried it?) and watched God do some amazing things in the field of technology. In short, it’s been a growing experience.
On the same end, I know there is an unending need for skill and there are knowledge gaps that occur when information isn’t passed on. Like a doctor, there seems to be no shortage of ‘sick’ computers. Where does that meet? I think Romans 12 offers a suggestion. IT people are a part of the greater Body and have a vital role to play in advancing God’s kingdom. We can help. So, in the spirit of Open Source Communities, I’d like to propose Body Sourcing; allowing IT people who are a part of a community a chance to help out.
I’ve created a facebook group ‘IV Students/Alumni with IT Skills’ as hopefully a start to this. If you’re not on facebook (and why aren’t you?), get on, and if you’d like to contribute, or even benefit from it, join the group and we can get a dialogue going. Either way, please tell your friends because it’ll be as good as the community that comes to it and by all means have a good time 
.
16
1Earlier this year, I made it out to a large wind farm out east of town, for a project I was working on, at sunrise to take some shots and it was beautiful to be out there. At the time, I realized that it would be great to be out there when it was warmer and today, since I was on vacation this week and really gunning for things to renew and refresh me.
So, my day started around 5 a.m. and I made my way out to the wind farm, literally, at the crack of dawn with the intention of doing a quiet time out there. What’s particularly cool about the wind farm is that it is, literally, out in the middle of nowhere. I was able to take about a 2 mile stretch of country road, off of the interstate route, and took another left to give me a nice front row seat for the sunrise.
As I sat there, reading the Bible and waiting for the sunrise, with no one around for miles, I thought about a couple of things. It is facinating that there are so many things that happen in this world, so much visible art, that large goes unwitnessed. Sunrise this morning was beautiful and I never really quite totally appreciated just how much cool things were going on in the sky at that point. There are so many things within creation that speak of the creator and watching the sunrise really spoke volumes of his artistic flair.
The other lesson for me was in watching the sun rise, and looking at periodically during the day and noticing it’s trajectory across the sky and realizing that there are so many things that happen in spite of me. That as a human it’s important to rest, that things will continue and that the same God who sustains a sunrise will keep me through the day.
CFW Photos
1Yeah, I took a lot of shots.
But the thing is, I’ve really felt like photography has been a relaxing, creative outlet that strangely is mixed with work and I wanted to bring up the camera for similar reasoning that someone might bring up a guitar; it just would be fun to work with and allowed me to worship a bit by being creative.
Anyway, now I’m sharing with y’all. Enjoy. And for you folks that have made Cedar Campus a destination, feel free to share cool stories.
Photoalbum # 1 – Family
Photoalbum #2 – People
Photoalbum #3 – Cool Photos Part 1
Photoalbum #4 – Cool Photos Part 2
AND….Photos from the soo locks. We got a chance to see a boat go through.
Enjoy…and again, click on the above to check out the full albums.