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Review: Flushed Away (rated 4 stars)

Flushed Away (Widescreen Edition)

No greater power

Psalm 47 concludes with a thought-provoking and reality-shaping statement:

For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted!

One might be tempted to rush past this sentence though it ends a Psalm that is intent on pointing us in grateful adoration to a Great God. However, the truth that it proclaims in eloquence has the power to set you free from worry, fear, doubt, and frustation today.

Consider for a moment that our Great God in Jesus Christ owns the “shields of the earth.” Shields are a defense for an army in battle. A shield enables a soldier to stand his ground and fight. It offers protection in the midst of battle.

No shield. No protection.

Our enemy is without defense, the Psalm is telling us.

When taken with the entire message of scripture, it is as if the believer in Jesus Christ stands in the middle of occupied territory, with foes all around but upon closer examination, your enemy has no defense against you!

Romans 8.37 urges us to realize that because of the love of Christ, we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Matthew 28.18 records Jesus sending out His disciples into all the nations because “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

Jesus Christ possesses the shields of the earth. No authority exists outside his own. We have become spiritual warriors through Him, with our purpose being to extend His kingdom and proclaim salvation to all nations through faith in Him.

So what are you worrying about today? What are you afraid of? What’s holding you back?

Press on in prayer and obedience, followers of Christ.

Ghost is back..

First of all, Ghost is back.

Two weeks ago,  I discovered an unfortunate result of being a two-wheeled traveller… a flat tire is total stoppage.

There is no spare on a moped.

I was at a meeting at Sam and Adelyn’s school, and when I strolled out into the parking lot after school, donned my Village People Moto Helmet and prepared to disembark, I felt an unsettling wobble in my rear end – the moped’s that is.

I dismounted and stared at the tire, totally confused as to what to do. Ah! Cell phone. Wife. Bicycle pump.  Yep.

Carolyn arrived in her Sequoia with a rather snide grin on her face. At least she’d brought the pump.

I aired it up and zipped back into town. I made it to the square before I felt the back tire begin to give. I pulled over, with Carolyn pulling into the parking space in front of Discount Merchandise and went to pumping again.

I made it home on the second air-up.

The next day we took the moped to Exxon. They couldn’t get the tire off to change it. It seems it’s not as easy to change a moped tire as one would think. On to Monticello’s Outdoor Store, which sells motorcycles and four-wheelers.

Poor Ghost sat there for two weeks, waiting patiently for a new tube while uglier and less-loved vehicles were repaired in front of it. Darn hunting season!

Finally, we were notified on Saturday that Ghost was ready to ride.

So, beware Monticello… Ghost is back!

The Coffee Bean

Just got an email forward about the reopening of Dad’s Place under new owners: Richard and Vonda Russell! Needless to say, I’m excited about getting my other morning office back! I want to encourage all local readers to stop by and let them know you’re glad they’re opening up!

Here’s the text of the email forward:

…purchased the coffee business formerly known as Dad’s Place.  Our new name is ‘The Coffee Bean’.  We will be in the same location of 123 Carla Lane, Ste A here in Monticello which is behind Waff-L-Inn and beside The Phone Company.

Richard will manage the store during the day and I will help him at night and on weekends.

We will serve Lattes, Cappuccinos, Mochas, Frappaccinos, Mud Slides (made w/ice cream), Shakes, Snow Cream, Iced Lattes, Chai Tea, Coffee Cakes, Cheese Cakes, Pound Cakes, and Sodas.  We will incorporate soup and sandwiches for lunch from 11 a – 2 p within the first two months along with deliveries to specified locations.  Within the next year, we will add a drive through.

We open October 15th @ 6 a.m.

Our hours of operation are Monday – Saturday 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Be sure to pick up one of our discount cards.  When you purchase eight drinks you get the next drink free.

All UAM students and Senior Citizens will receive a 10% discount.

Help us spread the word!

We would appreciate your support and most importantly, your prayers!

We will dedicate the business to the Lord this coming Sunday.  I look forward to all the Lord has in store for us as we enter into this endeavor.

Rewarding interaction; Reader appreciation

Glenn Wosley had a rather radical idea over on his blog: reward commenters.I’ve seen all kinds of blogs have Reader Appreciation Week/Month etc., but I’ve not seen a blog take it to the level that Glenn has. I’ve been challenged many times by Glenn’s insights and tech help with the Mac. He also has a very polished and creative video podcast that I subscribe to.So, not to be outdone, I’m going to implement his idea as well. Top commenters get rewards here at Notes this month. We’ll see how things pan out.At the end of this month I’ll be sending the top commenter $30, and the second and third $10 each via PayPal as a little way to say thanks for sharing your insight, feedback and thoughts.Try to keep it relevant to topics or posts at hand; however, that’s not required. Enjoy my site and let’s see what happens…Oh, and by the way, there’s still an iPod out there waiting to be won!

Facebooksync for Mac Address Book

I stumbled across a nifty utility today called Facebooksync. Essentially, it syncs your contacts in Facebook with your Mac Address Book. Very cool.  It even puts your contacts profile pictures from Facebook into their profile on Address Book.

After you download it and open the application, you’ll need to login to Facebook to give it permission to use your Facebook account. Then in the Facebooksync window, you will want to click on each box in the top right: Missing Info, Missing Photo, Missing Record.

Click “OK.”

You’ll need to quit Address Book if it’s open and relaunch it.

You should see all your contacts updated now with the information that they have supplied through Facebook.

The Noble Look-alike-Meter…

With many thanks to Jenny for posting this first in our blog circle…


I don’t think this thing is real accurate… What do you think?

Faith in football

Many of you know I’m an avid fantasy footballer. I won’t dwell here on the fact that both of my kids now have teams (and better records than I) in one of my leagues.

I stumbled across this great ESPN article which highlights Christian faith in the NFL as it focuses on Detroit Lions (currently 3-1) quarterback Jon Kitna. It’s a great read and highly encouraging.

Apple’s slippery slope

This may come as a shock to many of you who know me.

I think Apple has, so far, royally screwed up in relationship to its iPhone stance.

I’ve been using Macs for a loong time – since 1988, and the iPhone is beginning to look a lot like some of the major “sull up and pout” antics of 1990s-era Apple, Inc. Yes, they have released a truly innovative product into the market. Yes, everyone is still in awe by it. However, that was yesterday, and technological honeymoons are notoriously short.

Apple is now beginning to receive the ire and outrage of thousands of customers and would-be customers for its refusal to “open up” the iPhone. For example, on my Treo 650, I could install hundreds of applications and customizations, thus creating a user interface and experience that was just for me. Not so with the iPhone. You take what Apple gives you and no more.

If you haven’t been following the growing dissent with the iPhone, this Apple Insider article is a great place to start. Nokia has even capitalized on the public frustration with Apple by launching a campaign with the slogo “The best devices have no limits.”

One of my personal experiences of frustration is with putting my own personalized ringtones on the iPhone. Every cell phone allows you to do that these days. To think that initially, the iPhone didn’t have that capability was ridiculous. However, the cool factor made you overlook it – for a week or so. Once the coolness wore off, I just wanted to be able to customize my iPhone to make it more “me.”

Unfortunately, Apple says I can’t.

While I was able to use Ambrosia’s iToner to flawlessly put my own ringtones on the iPhone, every successive update of iTunes wipes off those added ringtones, and now with the latest iPhone firmware update (1.1.1), iToner no longer works with the iPhone (their site says they are working quickly on a solution to it).

However, what is Apple doing?

Sulling up and pouting – that’s what. I can only imagine by their response that they are coldly complacent to the growing frustration and whining about why folks have quit singing their praises so soon. Here’s a message, Apple, it’s not just the hardware that’s cool… it’s interactivity. That’s what we all want. That’s why blogs are huge. That’s where everything is going.

I didn’t want a $500 technological brick that only does what you want it to. I want the ability to improve upon your offerings. Isn’t that what’s made Apple & Mac great?

So, please, get your grubby hands off my iPhone! I still love it, but I want to be able to do more with it – and I know it’s possible! In today’s technological wonderland, third-party developers and geniuses are what make everyone better. Embrace them rather than evade them.

Shane and Shane’s website

OK, I know this isn’t a church website, but I’m going to stretch the series a bit and include it because it is a ministry website. It may be one of the more innovate sites I’ve seen lately. I found myself playing with the floating notes. (By moving your mouse, the notes follow it.)

Shane & Shane are a dynamic Christian musician team that play upbeat and meditative worship music. The lyrics to their songs are, at times, deeply prophetic. It’s reassuring to know that in today’s cotton candy theology world there are still many artists out there truly concerned with theology as art.

Dever’s forthcoming book

Mark Dever is a dynamic expository and biblically-saturated preacher. He pastors at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, which Carolyn and I visited on our trip to D.C. earlier this year. He has written a book called What is a Healthy Church? that looks to be extremely challenging.

For those who would say, “Eeew. That book is for my pastor or church leaders,” consider Dever’s words:

“If you call yourself a Christian but you think a book about healthy churches is a book for church leaders or maybe for those ‘theological types,’ while you would rather read books about the church life, it may be time to stop and consider again exactly what the Bible says a Christian is. …you and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors and other leaders–you.”