Psalm 119: 97-104

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

No matter the lies, the confusion, or the opinions out there about everything (especially God), we have one foundation of truth. That is the Word of God. It is all we have to light our path, and it is the only place where we can go so we don’t get lost in the mass chaos. It shows us right and wrong, what pleases the Lord, and how to live our lives.

Help us Lord to always do what is good and right in your sight. And may we never ignore the smallest word of all you gave us. Help us to embrace them above all traditions.

Posted in Bible, Commentary, Psalms | Leave a comment

Good Times and the Future

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

I step back and look at my life and see how good things are at this moment in my life. I am very thankful for everything: for my family, my friends, my career, my church, and my relationship with my Creator. All good things come from His hand, and He even allows us to go through difficulty to teach us. Its very simple: trust Him, love Him, and follow Him. I find great comfort in knowing my destiny from beginning to end, and I am so thankful to have a consistent, solid foundation of truth in my life.

In all the confusion and opinions in the world, there is one source than never changes. That is God’s Word. Yup, I truly believe God chose to reveal Himself to certain men, inspired them, and guided their hand in recording what they did without error.

I am feeling very optimistic today about where I’m headed in my life. I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to college to work on my Masters of Science in Management Information Systems. I should have it by the time I’m 39 or so. That will be a good time to step up into IT Operations Management somewhere. In the mean time, I’ll keep on getting certifications.

I’ve been continuing my martial arts training at a local school, and I may just be stepping up to instruct again here very soon. I love teaching, and this will be a great opportunity to do that. I’m going to work toward my 2nd Dan in Combat Hapkido and Tang Soo Do as well. If I’m going to promote students to 1st Dan I need to have my 2nd in both systems.

Church wise I’m beginning to move into more service. I’m stepping up to coordinate ministry (if the need is there), serve with the kids, and continue teaching as the opportunities come. It is very important to do those things we have been called to do.

I’ve mentioned to some that I’ve been feeling deeply bored with life. That boredom wasn’t just simply not having anything to do. I realized that not having long term goals to work toward was part of the problem. When I was 25 I had accomplished all the goals I had set for myself up to that point. It was a strange place to find myself. Then I set another goal, which I accomplished by the time I was 30. So the last few years I have been meandering around a bit, not sure what to do with myself. So its good to set direction and move toward it.

My wife and I have decided to buy a house. We have a contract on a home over in Coweta about 15 minutes east of where we currently live. Its a good location. It will be so nice to move out of our tiny 2 bedroom/1 bath we’ve been living in the last 4 years. The new house is much larger, and will be very nice. I’ll have a 1/2 acre to work with, which I find very exciting to think about. I’m going to build a privacy fence in the front, and build a wooden chainlink fence across the back to meet up on both sides of my neighbors. Then I get to start landscaping. I’m going to really have a lot of fun. We will have to do some painting and wallpapering before we move in, but I think its going to be a smooth transition. The last thing we are waiting to hear about is the seller’s insurance company and whether they are going to replace the roof. The roof had a lot of hail damage, so it will have to be replaced. If they will not replace it, and the seller won’t replace it, we will probably not be able to buy that house. So we are hoping for the best.

Many know that I am a lover of games. I enjoy playing all kinds of different types too. I currently play Eve-Online, which is a Sci-Fi MMO. I’ve been playing for 2.5 years now, and I really like it. I’ve trained up to a level to form an Alliance between my corp and another, which has some RL friends in it. The problem is I am trying to come up with a good name for it. lol Yeah, coming up with good names it tough sometimes.

I’m also looking to take part in a RPG in the local area. I’ve found some resources online to find other players, which will be interesting. I’ve never been with a RPG group other than friends that I knew socially. So this will be a good opportunity to get to know some other people in the area outside of work, church, and martial arts. I’m hoping for the best. I’ve missed D&D for a long time, and I hope something will work out where I can play 1x a month or 1x every 2 months or something.

My family are doing well. My wife is happy with where we’re at, and she really likes her job. My son is turning 6 at the end of this month, and he will be going into the 1st grade next year. We have a good place lined up over the summer for him where he will get to swim, continue his swimming lessons, and go on 2-3 field trips a week. I think he will have a good summer there. We also enrolled him in martial arts where I go too. He is doing good with it.

We hope to close on our house at the end of this month, so that is a good birthday present for the boy. He wants a bigger house too. We will be prepping and moving for the entire month of June.

Well, that is it for now. I hope all of you are having a great day, a good life, and are filled with happiness.

Peace.

Posted in Bible, Eve-Online, Future, Goals, House, Martial Arts, RPG | Leave a comment

A Spring Afternoon

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Its a lovely spring afternoon today. Not much going on, so I decided to take a little time to write today. I should write more, but of course, like most people I am very busy with life in general and writing does not get much of a priority.

Its that time of the year again when the air begins to warm up a bit. For the first time in my life, I have to say that I am actually tired of the cold weather. I lived in Houston for the first 30 years of my life, so I loved the cold weather and wanted it to be cooler all the time. Its just hot and humid in Houston most of the year. When I moved to the Tulsa area, the past few years have not been too bad when it comes to cold air. We’ve had our 4 seasons, which I have enjoyed immensly. This year it got cold in November, and it has been cold ever since. Its only been in the last few weeks that it actually started warming up a little.

If I had my way right at this moment, I would be on a nice warm beach somewhere, swaying gently in the breeze on a comfortable hammock between two big palm trees. I’d have my sun glasses on, plenty of coco butter smelling sun screen, an ice cold tropical beverage on the table next to me, and Bob Marley playing on the CD player. That would be absolutely wonderful. I’d want my family and friends around as well, and we would have a great day relaxing, swimming, snorkling, and surfing. Then we’d all go to dinner and have an excellent meal, then go dancing and have a lot of fun in the evening and night.

Overall, I know that everything is going to be alright, as Bob’s Three Little Birds song says. I wrote a long letter to a friend today detailing the past four years, and even though things were difficult it can only get better from here on out. That is a good feeling, and I trust in the plan of my Creator for all things.

My grass in my yard is very green and growing again. It is so nice to see the grass come back to life. Today, finally after 5 months, the city finally picked up all the tree branches that came down on The Day the Trees Fell. That happend during an ice storm last November. It was terrible how the ice broke the trees. So it was nice to get all the limbs picked up so we can put that behind us.

I’ve been watcing Battlestar Galactica Season 3 recently through Netflix. It is a fantastic show, and I have really enjoyed it. The show I watched last night was the one they had all the flashbacks and everything during the boxing matches. It is a very character driven show, which is why I love it so much. During the flash back they had a shindig on New Caprica, and I was waiting for Capt. Mal and his crew from Firefly to walk up. It was very similiar in music and setting of Firefly. Both excellent shows. If you ever want something good to watch, pick both of those up. You will not be dissapointed.

Over the past year or so with all of the stories coming out about animal abuse and all in the food industry, I actually went to the PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) website and found that I agree with a lot of their agenda. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should eat meat and all and I do, but we could at least treat animals humanely and ethically. Its wrong to mistreat any animal, and people who do should be held accountable.

God brought me my cute little cat, Winter, and my beautiful dog, Mia over the last 8 years. I love them both, and they are part of my family. I couldn’t imagine a day without them, and I think I would be really sad if something were to happen to them. They are so loving and so happy to be close to us. They desire our attention and our love, and they love us in return unconditionally.

Love you all, and may peace surround us and be in our hearts.

Posted in Animals, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Spring, Vacation | Leave a comment

Church, Life with Christ, and the Great Artist

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

I had a friend mention that she feels bad because some Christians who attend church look down on her for not attending regularly. Here is my response to her.

There is no need to worry about what other Christians think about you in regard to whether you attend church regularly or not. Don’t feel bad about it. The only opinion that matters is Christ’s.

The writer of Hebrews wrote that we should not negelect gathering ourselves together for encouragment, teaching each other to love, and to do good works to glorify God. (Hebrews 10:23-25). Its good to be around other Christians who love Christ and live for Him. We can really benefit from those relationships. I have. But, going to church is not required for salvation or anything like that. It doesn’t mean you are a good Christian or a bad Christian.

The most important thing is your relationship to Jesus. Our faith is about walking with Him every moment of our lives. I love Him far more than words can ever describe. I breath Him and ask for His Spirit to saturate my spirit, to fill every cell of this body, to fill my mind, heart, and soul. Loving Him is living a life of repentence and trust in Him. To follow Him, to love Him with all my heart and strength, and to love others as He loves me. Especially loving my brothers and sisters in Christ. And putting my love for Him and others into action. All that is what pleases Him, especially trusting Him for everything.

As the Great Artist, God has created beauty and works so wonderful and so amazing. Landscapes, music, the sky, color, the very elements of the universe, and His plan of grace and salvation. What is more beautiful, the works of His hands or the mind and person who created those things? All good things in the universe, this world, and our lives are all from God.

I hope you are walking with Him and find His peace today.

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"Your faith merely keeps you in line"

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

My response to this:

Its simply rubbish to imply that faith is “merely” a way to keep people in line. That refers back to the atheistic idea from the 1800s that religion is the opium of the masses, a means of control. Of course, they didn’t believe there was a God, so “faith” for them was hollow.

The truth is that God exists. The Christian faith is not hollow or some man made construct. Why would any man come up with a system such as the Judeo/Christian faith that teaches the exact opposite of human nature? The teachings of the Bible reveal the evil and wickedness of humanity. That would be illogical if the Bible was not true. If you want to see a man made religion take a look at the mythology systems from around the world. You will observe a huge difference.

In history, people of the faith, were often on the edge of social change. That does not sound like staying “in line” to me. A good example would be William Wilberforce who led the assault on the slave trade in Britain. It was a Christian who fought against such a great evil in his culture.
Faith is trusting in God. Faith pleases God. That is what we should do as Christians, live a life pleasing to Him by trusting Him for everything.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 ESV).

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10 ESV)

My love for Christ produces obedience to Him. I love everything good, holy, and righteous. That is what I want, and everything good in this world is from the hand of God. Its only humanity that corrupts the good things given to us by Him to twist them into evil.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV).

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21 ESV).

“For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

Posted in Apologetics | Leave a comment

Good News

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Hi there… I wanted to share some good news with all of my family and friends. I do so because I love each and everyone of you.

At one time in my life I was a man who lived in sin and darkness. In God’s eyes I am a sinner. I broke His law and deserve His wrath and punishment for what I have done. What did I do wrong? I rejected God and His Word, and I hurt other people in my life. I did whatever I wanted, was very self centered, and selfish.

God declared at the beginning of time that the punishment for disobedience to His Word would be death and destruction. The bad news is we have all disobeyed His Word. God is a God of righteousness and holiness. He hates sin and will punish sinners eternally for their sin.

The Good News is God is also a God of love and grace. He designed a way to find mercy and forgivness before Him. Jesus, who is the Christ, died for sinners on the cross, and whoever believes and follows Him live in God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

What does God command? He is God and He has that right since we are His creation. He commands us to repent of our sin. That means to turn away from it and follow Him. Go and sin no more. The second part to that is to believe in Christ and follow Him. If you want that, believe in your heart and confess it with your mouth.

Pray this:
“God, I am a sinner and deserve your wrath and punishment. I believe in Jesus and ask that you would please forgive and save me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to live my life for you.”

Send me an email and let me know if you do that. I’d be happy to pray with and for you. We can talk about these things anytime, and I will help you anyway I can.

Live a life pleasing to God from now on.

Posted in Gospel | 1 Comment

Some Things…

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Original Date: August 5, 2007

Today, I was discussing with my special lady some things I would like to do. This list is in no particular order.

1) be the best Dad ever

2) go to culinary school

3) go to film school

4) go to graduate seminary where among other things I would learn Greek and Latin

5) change my middle and last name. not sure about the middle just yet.

6) have a martial arts school

7) play multiple instruments and write music

8) of course finish my CISCO and Microsoft certifications

9) buy an XBOX 360 so I can play Halo 3 when it comes out on September 25

10) travel to Israel and tour the land

11) learn to program in multiple comp languages

12) take voice lessons

13) learn to dance with a partner (ballroom, salsa etc)

14) finish all the stories in multiple formats (novels, screen plays etc) floating around in my head

15) get my graduate degree in Management Information Systems

16) be in the best, top physical shape ever

17) above all else, serve Christ and be the faithful servant in all things that He has called me to be

Peace.

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Summer 2007 Thoughts (Part 2)

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Original Date: August 2, 2007

I’m tired this evening, but since its been a couple of weeks since I’ve written anything, I decided to make the effort. I’m not sure if I have anything really profound to say tonight.

Summer is passing, and the heat is beginning to return to my area. I don’t mind the heat too much, I just wish I could go swimming. I love to swim, and I think its one of my favorite things to do outdoors. I’ve loved the water ever since I can remember, even the time when I was three or so standing on the bottom of the pool looking up toward the surface. No one knew I had fallen off the steps, but I remember being very calm and sereene. I walked myself back over to the steps and climbed back up.

Movie Reviews (Part 2)

Ratatouille: I think this is one of my favorite Pixar films of all time, and it was fantastic. I don’t have anything negative to say about it. It was one of the most original ideas I have seen in a long time.

I am happy that someone out there still has original ideas and tries to make good films based on those ideas. I get so tired of formulaic, regurgitated stories being done over and over again.
One good thing about this film, my little boy started looking at food a bit differently for a day or two. He actually wanted to try different things. So now I just need to get the movie on DVD.

I think that is about it for the summer movies. There are some interesting films coming out later this year. August does not look like anything exceptional is coming out. I read through www.movies.com for all the latest every Wednesday. I think its a great site.

Changing subjects, one of the necessary tools everyone needs in life is a back scratcher. It is amazing how wonderful of a tool it is when you get an itch where you can’t reach. I find it is important to always santize it after use, using your favorite anti-bacterial soap. Speaking of tools, I love them. You can do anything you need to do if you have the right tool.

I cleaned my garage a couple of days ago. I try to do it yearly to clean out all the dirt and bugs that try to find a home. I had a Brown Recluse (Fiddle Back) infestation a year ago. Nasty spiders because of their terrible poisonous bites. Last year, I lost count at killing them (20+ in the house / 40+ Garage). That was the first time I have had that problem since living here. Our neighbors have had a hard time too. Their dog got bit. A friend at church father’s been bit twice this year.

I exterminate (house and attic), use sprays regularly, have electronic repellers in every room, sealed every hole and crack I could find in the house, and try to keep everything as clutter free as possible. Thankfully I have only seen around 10 or so in the house this year. That was prior to sealing more holes in the walls that I didn’t get last time. I think the worse months for them is May and June. I only saw around 5 in the garage this year when I did my cleaning. A couple were already dead (proof the sprays work).

I really don’t have a problem with spiders as long as they are not in my house. I acctually appreciate them because they help keep the insect population under control. If it was not for spiders we would probably be over run. I don’t even mind insects as long as they are not in the house. Live outside and be happy. I’ll live inside and be happy. hehe

I decided to empty my 10×10 storage unit and return all the boxes to the garage. I don’t want to have a ton of stuff in the garage, but I am tired of paying to store my stuff. When I moved up here from Houston, we went from a three bedroom home to a two bedroom. So to say the least, we cannot fit everything. I have decided to bring everything back to the house, so I can start having garage sales and get rid of as much as possible.

This past year I had a TV, DVD player, and VCR go out on me. I moved them out of the garage today and onto the curb. I hope someone picks them up tonight or tomorrow. If you ever want to get rid of anything that is the way to do it. Just sit it out on the curb. I got rid of a bunch of junk during last year’s garage cleansing by putting it on the curb.

Work is going well. Right before and during the first week of school is the busiest time of year for me. Plus, the summer was shorter than normal, so I have been working hard to get everything ready for the teachers when they come back. For those of you who don’t know, I work in IT. I love my job and this field, but I have been very frustrated with our departmental leadership lately. But, I’m not sure I know anyone who doesn’t have problems like that at work.
My boy (Elijah) starts Kindergarten this year. Not much of a change since he has been attending Pre-K day care for a couple of years now. I hope he likes going to “big” school. I love to learn, and I want to try to pass that on to him. Its nice too because we don’t have to pay for day care anymore.

I read the new Harry Potter book in 4 days. I liked it, but I would have liked to know what Harry and the others did for a career after everything wrapped up. Did they finish school at Hogwarts? Just a few questions I would like to have answered. I think having the Epilogue set 19 years after the story ended was a bit too far in the future for my taste. The 8 months living in the tent time span was pretty drawn out. Other than that I think it was good.

I’m currently reading Star Wars: Dark Journey. Almost done with it. Only 100 more books to read in the New Jedi Order series. lol.. I’m kidding of course. Its not quite 100.

4, 8 15, 16, 23, 42…..

Peace.

Posted in Book Reviews, Movie Reviews | Leave a comment

Summer 2007 Thoughts

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Original Date: July 13, 2007

Hello there. This summer has been nice. The temperatures have been mild in June and July because of all the rain here in the mid-west. Its been good except the grass grows like a bunch of magical bean stalks. Try mowing it with a twenty year old, beat up non-catching mower with no exit flap and see how you like it.

Movie Reviews:

Spider Man 3: poor, Spidey should have went squish when Sandman was hammering him. That would have made the movie excellent. I did not know Spidey was indestructible. If a twenty ton mountain of sand and concrete can’t smash him like a bug, I don’t know what could defeat him.

Shrek 3: poor, low quality story and Shrek’s magnified face the whole time on the screen got old really fast. I felt like vomiting quite a number of times.

Pirates: okay, could have been a lot better. Some very corny dialogue and scenes. A lot of confusion and story telling was very subtle (too much so for the slow of mind). Keira was fantastic in it though.

Fantastic Four: poor, lowsy story. Surfer was cool until they started interacting with him and he changed his mind on a whim.

Evan Almighty: funny and light hearted. I was really surprised when Evan told the big bad politician to “repent.” He should have said it with more passion and some hand motion. lol Other than the bad theology, it was good. I surprised myself that I even went to see it.

A Mighty Heart: okay, not very interesting. Too many cell phones, and the grief scene was stupid and forced.

Transformers: cool if you are not an old school fan. Too many humans, not enough robots time wise. Maybe they should have named it Human and Robot Lackies.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: good. The actors and actresses did really good. Battle scene between Dumbledore and Voldemort should have been longer, but it was good. The movie should have been at least three hours long. I felt like I was watching a slide show of the book. Same with Goblet.

Nothing else warranted a trip to the theater. Some of the films put out this summer would be best used as… well… Maybe August will surprise me, but I kind of doubt it. The special trailer of JJ Abrams new movie coming out in January was cool (showing before Transformers) until the head of the statue of liberty landed on screen. I almost shot sprite out of my nose due to writing stupidity. That really detracted from the effect because it was so cliche. The idea over all looks really good. A monster movie shot in the Blair Witch style will be great.

I will not go see the Simpson’s Movie because of the outright disrespectful shot at Christianity when Homer is looking through the Bible and says, “This book doesn’t have any answers!” That is what drove me away from watching the television show in the first place. I’m glad that was in the preview, so I don’t go waste my money.

The media doesn’t care what Christians think when they do that kind of thing because they know they can get away with it. Christianity teaches turn the other cheek and peace. If they did that to the Koran they would be targeted for attack and execution. The Muslims don’t take that kind of attack on their faith and “prophet.” And you can see the media stays away from doing that to them. That really shows the difference between Christianity and Islam.

Jesus told us to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. Muslims would have a day of rage and burn some Homer dolls, American and Israeli flags, chant “Death to Homer!”, and issue some death warrants against some Fox executives and Simpson’s staff. But, according to our politicians Islam is a peaceful religion. Okay.

So I’ve been busy studying for my Microsoft and CISCO testing that I’m doing to get certified. That is coming along well, and I am hoping to have my MCSA soon. I’ll get my CCNA before the soon after, and hopefully my MCSE not long after that. Work is going well, and the family is doing good.

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Ideas Stolen

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Daniel Silas

Original Date: February 24, 2007

Half Popped Popcorn Kernels!

I often think it is really funny when I have an idea for something and then go out years later and see someone had the same idea. In the past, I often talked about the above product as a snack line. Well, I went to Silver Dollar City in Missouri last fall and found the exact thing I had been thinking about. The company started out in 1992.

A Gladcorn Brand: Amaizing Corn Snack Maiz Tostado
http://www.gladcorn.com/

They even come in different flavors, and its tasty.

Exploding Man

Yup… another great idea taken and used by someone else. I think it was my junior year in High School when I wrote and illustrated a short comic book called by the above name.

It was the same time Bart N drew Captain Curious (a great comic that I wish continued…)

Well, I’ve been watching Heroes and lo and behold a character that can explode. The character just somehow developed this power, my Exploding Man was a result of Nazi experimentation in the 40s against captured soldiers.

Posted in Creative | Leave a comment