Taking Notes

I happened to have been offered a framing job with some friends of mine for a few weeks. Framing is my new "fallback" skill. It used to be secretary/office-assistant work, but I'm SO over that! Get me in the sun building things and I'll be quite happy. You can HAVE those office politics... eeeewwww!

So, anyways, because I can't stand office politics and I happened to be out and about doing this framing gig, I was privileged to be in the right place at the right time on the way home. Some other friend's of mine have an website gig (Cities Unlimited) and I saw yet another friend's car in front of their house (an office-in-a-house house, that is) and I thought... "Hm... maybe I should go in and see if there's anything of note."

Note-taking note, that is.

And what an AWESOME conversation that was! It's so exciting to see 2 people spark together in the realm of internet marketing! How cool that was. Took alot of notes, too!

I actually believe that being in the right time at the right place (did I say that right?) happens every day all the time... in varying degrees and for different reasons. We walk (sleepwalk?) through our lives which are a beautiful tapestry of interacting people and opportunities. But RARELY do we see it! And when we do see it, it's also rare that we invest our moments in our "soul-bank." We don't take note of the phenomenon.

Ever notice how children FIXATE on fun little thoughts? "Buzz Lightyear! To the Rescue!" And they'll say something like that over and over, weaving it into various other imagined scenarios until ... well, until they drop, usually! That practice is what I'm talking about... only on a more ... adult scale.

Me, I'm 41. And I'm just beginning to take notes.

Although I am still selective. I don't watch everything within 100 feet of me (like some control-freaks do). I'm just about handling the person inside my skin (his peace, his connection with God) and the person or people God has put in front of me.

And, uh... That's it.

And sometimes the people in front of me are obviously NOT placed there to receive my peace! So I look the other way.

But I try to take notes from that perspective... and to groove on the things that sing. And I'm not talking about resonating with any Rolling-Stone/Vogue prejudice - that's plain ol' materialistic HOGWASH. I'm referring, rather, to looking at the soul of the person through the lenses of God's grace.

And a lot of times, the angels get involved! There might not even be people around and stuff is just plain SINGIN!

That's another good time to take note.

Make Way for the Terrorists! NOT.

Israeli children play for the last time (?) on their beautiful (and fully legal!) homeland in Israel... before they are evacuated and it is destroyed... BY OTHER ISRAELI'S!!!

25 neighborhoods to be torn down to make way for the terrorists!

Picture this:

Husband looks up from reading newspapaer. Sees commando outside his window violently motioning he vacate the premises. A hungry bulldozer waits behind the commando.

"Uh, honey. The army is here to destroy our house!"

Wife responds, "WHAT???!!! What on earth are is their reason?"

Husband, in disbelief, "Dunno, really... Perhaps our peaceful coexistance with the terrorist entity?"

In case you don't care about what's going on in Israel today, please be aware of the complete dismantling and demolition of 25 Jewish communities. Here is some reliable background on the legality and history of the Jewish communities in question.

[FYI - The Jewish Virtual Library is the most balanced and comprehensive archive of all things Jewish that I know of... I highly reccomend taking your questions there before you trust CNN or the New York Post! Also see Honest Reporting!]

This from www.israelnn.com article: "The first group of communities slated for destruction includes only three: Morag, Netzarim and Kfar Darom - the more isolated of the Gaza towns. Morag is appended to the east of the southern tip of the Gush Katif communities, while Kfar Darom is three kilometers to the north of Gush Katif. Netzarim is another ten kilometers further north, in central Gaza; residents and visitors travel to and fro Netzarim accompanied by military convoys roughly every hour."

"The second group of communities to be forcibly transferred includes the four in northern Shomron – Ganim, Kadim, Sa-Nur and Chomesh. The third group is the largest, including all 15 communities within the approximately 85-square kilometer (33 square miles) area of Gush Katif. The fourth group is the three secular communities of northern Gaza – Elei Sinai, Nisanit and Dugit. The final order of the groups' expulsion has not yet been set."

Isn't it interesting that our own Condoleeza Rice calls for a "contiguous Palestinian state within the borders of Israel," thus rewarding the very entity, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, aka The Palestinian Authority, created and nurtured by the godfather of terrorism himself, Yasser Arafat, with EVERYTHING THEY WANT!!!

But Condy and the rest of our good American representatives didn't react so kindly to al Queda when our own towers were "bombed"! We took to whoopin their butts as I recall!!!

So why the double standard with Israel? Why are they being forced to REWARD the terrorists in their land?

Really.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. AND for the peace of Gush Katif!

I'm a POST "post-modern" kinda guy.

I vehemently disagree with the following statement:

" The nice thing is that since we're all post-modern now anyways, you can choose anything you want and it can be your 'good'! :) "

It was discovered on an email list I'm a member of... a bunch of film industry gurus from Hollywood (and elsewhere) were arguing about the new HD technologies versus film. The statement was slightly tongue-in-cheek but it clarifies my suspicion that "post-modern" thinkers use their intellectual gymnastics to excuse all sorts of philosophy and behavior as acceptable in the sight of God.

But it ain't necessarily so!

I firmly believe that, although there is some value in questioning tradition, there is infinitely more value in doing so with a whole-hearted study of the ancient scriptures of the Hebrew peoples! The Bible is more than another world-wide bestseller (tops the charts every year, in fact!). It's the Truth written by a Being who exists outside our time-space realm - and also, thankfully, within it.

Israel is OBVIOUSLY the center of attention in our planet and for what reason? It is more than coincidence that a bunch of people (for the first time in history) who were scattered across the globe are re-united and see resurrected their dead, ancient language and participate in restoring a barren wasteland of a desert to be the only non-oil-producing democracy in the Middle East. It is providence. At least Leo Tolstoy saw it.

Look at the ancient scripture and ask your heart if it's applicable to today's sleepy, over-indulgent and EVER SO POST-MODERN Hollywood, er, I mean.. America -

2800 years ago (and does that, therefore, mean "less relevant"? Ask your heart. I pray for your insight.) Isaiah spoke and it was written and indelibly communicated in chapter 5, points 20 through 23 -

20 How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter. 21 How horrible it will be for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever. 22 How horrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at mixing drinks, 23 who declare the guilty innocent for a bribe, who take away the rights of righteous people.

And Paul's letter to the Ephesians (circa 57 AD), chapter 2, in verses 1-5, makes the point that the Maker cares for us in this condition -

1 You were once dead because of your failures and sins. 2 You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God's anger just like everyone else.

4 But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. 5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.

Give up on making up your own rules with absolutely no regard for the writings of those who have gone before you! And, I beg you, look at the writings of the apostles of Jesus, Yeshua, King of the Universe, who was so busy healing people and doing good things on this planet that He didn't have time to write, only to speak and love and do. Read the gospels of John, Mark, Matthew and Luke.

Ask how post-modern a thinker was Yeshua!

You might find yourself chucking the whole (supremely cool) post-modern ideology and clinging gratefully to ...

THE TRUTH IN YESHUA.

The Downtown KC Ramp is for Riders. (vlog06)

Skating the downtown ramp has been very satisfying for this oldschool dog. I can't thank the city of KC enough!!! Thank you Kansas City!!! You ROCK!!! ALSO Baruch atta Adonai Elohaynu, Melech HaOlam... who give us RAMPS TO RIDE and WHEELS on which to RIDE THEM!!!!

Also posted here. back in Feb. 2005.


Downtown Ramprider (vlog06)

Aspiring Vlogger... (vlog05)

Been reading about VLOGS lately. A "vlog" is a "video web log." There are various people doing it. Like this guy.

And me!

One stop shop for vlogs.

How to do vlogs.

A convention about about vlogging.

A note about the FIRST VLOGGER... perhaps it was Edison Carter (or Max) of the infamous sci-fi show, Max Headroom! Note the "in-the-face" style so characteristic of vloggers... the "on the spot" stream-of-consciousness... hmmm....

And, hey, where are all the CONSERVATIVE ARTISTS out there?

Aspiring vlogger (vlog05)