Without effort, victory is meaningless

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

That is one of my favorite quotes, it popped into my head today and I once again realized how I love being that man in the arena. I love the effort you have to put in as you push for something. For me a battle is almost more fun than a victory and a loss only makes me want to try harder the next time. I know the enthusiasm, the rush, you get when you are devoted to a cause or task that is worthy, it is one of the greatest feelings on earth.

More and more the world is becoming a place of "cold timid souls" who do not understand the thrill of doing something great even if it ends in defeat. The lion chasers are scarce and becoming more so. I know this is a common theme in my "thought" posts and that is probably because it is an ever pressing thought in my mind. How do you show or express to someone the greatness of something if they have never done it and have no desire to? It is a quandary for us humans which has been around since the earth was created.

God loves us, wholly, unconditionally, regardless of the fact that we tend to be ridiculously selfish and sinful beings. He knows what is best for us in our lives and wants us to follow Him, yet so often we don't recognize the amazing potential we could have if we just surrender. We live our lives having never fully surrendered with no real desire to and that causes us to be "cold and timid souls" spiritually. This is going to sound harsh but that is what I feel has happened to a lot of churches today.

There is no more worthy cause than to be enthusiastically dedicated to being a shining light for God in this world. Yet how can churches be so timid about proclaiming the Gospel and Biblical viewpoints in our society? Because they have not experienced the joy and thrill that comes from being in that arena, they would rather sit back with their 501c3 status and build their church membership.

Somehow this post has gone way off topic, all I wanted to do was post the quote and say I love it and somehow it has bounced around to churches building their membership! So I end it now with another quote:

"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."

Political Rambling

Today is NC's primary for the November elections. Rather than join most of the United States on February 5th, we wait three more months to have our primaries. The lateness does not matter that much except usually by this time a presidential candidate has been picked and it does not really matter who you vote for. This year is an exception for the Democratic party, NC's primary actually has some meaning in that race, but since McCain is really the only guy left for the Republicans their presidential primary is, to quote Matthew West, "going through the motions".

The fact that McCain will be the the eventual Republican nominee bugs me, as I don't particularly like McCain, he has some good things going for him but I have felt all along he is more in the mold of a Kennedy style liberal than a Reagan conservative. At the start of '08 there were several candidates who would have been a better choice but in a bewildering display of indecisiveness the public seemed to go with McCain more as a default, "he has been there before" choice rather than the best candidate for the job.

The Republican party only has itself to thank for this mess, then again the leadership probably does not even view this as a mess. :p Still, I am not a fan of the idea that staying home on election day "teaches leadership in a party a lesson" it could actually do irreparable damage to our already muddled political situation. Our government is so far from where it was when this nation was first founded, political correctness is killing us, our inability to have or stand by any type of principle is eroding our very society. Yet decayed and decrepit, we continue to meander though darkness refusing to turn to the light, unaware of the impending precipice. Ugh, it is enough to make you want to get into politics if only to try to bring about a little bit of change for the better. :)

Religion is killing us???

This is a post I have wanted to get out for almost a week but I just have not had time to get all I wanted to say typed up. Just as a warning I know it is going to be long but I feel it is worth it... I don't exactly frequent USA Today's website, reading their slant on the news tends to just get me riled up. I do on occasion read their articles though, usually found when I am looking at headlines on other sites. There was an article published last Monday by a Rev. Oliver Thomas that I honestly read with my mouth open in amazement. It starts off like this:

"Is what we preach — and ultimately, what we believe — hastening the destruction of our planet? The answer appears to be a resounding yes. Be fruitful and multiply," says the book of Genesis, and Lord knows we have. To the tune of more than 300 million at home and more than 6 billion abroad. But as we go about the heavenly task of multiplying, a poignant question arises: Might our religion be killing us?"

It continues:

"We all remember the Aztecs. Some say their religion, with its penchant for violence and human sacrifice, played a critical role in the destruction of their civilization. We moderns are far more sophisticated, of course, but if we persist with some of our religious practices, we could be heading down the same disastrous dog trot. Sort of a reverse Noah story. Noah is credited with saving humanity during the big flood. We could be the ones who get blamed for destroying it.

Here's why. The hundreds of scientists who make up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned recently that the environmental crisis is more dire than originally believed. We might have reached a tipping point."

I am going to snip it there and just say that I do not believe there is a environmental crisis. A majority of the people pushing this scare-a-thon are also happen to be evolutionists and thus I'm immediately suspect as to their scientific reliability. Besides that, even secular scientists are widely divided on the fact that carbon emissions are causing global warming. Further, many reputable scientists remain unconvinced that the current warming of the earth is the result of any human contribution at all.

On top of all that, this past winter has been one of the coldest in memory for folks in the northern US or so I have read, which just another reason against a supposed environmental crisis. Yes the earth may be warming up slightly, at the same time 20 some years ago wasn't everyone worried about the world cooling off? The earth's temperature obviously fluctuates, like most things on our earth, it has a cycle. But in the interest of the article lets assume global warming is a serious issue.
Back to the article:

"much of our environmental problem is due to overpopulation. There are simply too many people for the planet to sustain — at least the way we expect to be sustained. Each new person requires more food, water and oxygen. At the same time, each is producing more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane. For each additional human, planet Earth (and the rest of us) pays a price.
Now, consider the Roman Catholic Church's continued opposition to modern birth control or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' (i.e. Mormons) encouragement of large families. This might not alarm you unless you realize that nearly one in every five humans on the planet is Roman Catholic and that the Latter-day Saints belong to one of the fastest-growing religions in the Western Hemisphere. Many Orthodox Jews and some Muslims also eschew birth control."

You see where he is headed don't you? We as humans are supposedly killing the very earth we live on with our very lives. So what is Rev. Thomas' solution? (If you have not guessed it, you might want to sit down)

"In the interest of preserving our planet and our species, shouldn't religious organizations be encouraging smaller families? Do our spiritual leaders need additional divine revelation to realize that our current doctrines — which threaten to take the entire world down with us — have become ethically and theologically questionable?"

"Shouldn't religious organizations be encouraging smaller families?" :o Yeah, that is right, because the population is contributing to the theory, the theory mind you, of global warming and humans obviously must be the leading contributors to this bogus cause. Religious organizations should be happily encouraging smaller families for the sake of our planet!!! The Bible is obviously outdated and the spoken word of our very Creator is ethically and theologically questionable. Right?

I SERIOUSLY DISAGREE! The Rev. Oliver Thomas is speaking blasphemy in the very truest sense of the word, claiming to know better than God. It seems Rev. Thomas is part of the growing group of liberal "Christians" who feel the need to either re-interpret the Bible or even worse, completely disregard it as being behind these modern times in favor of a more "Politically correct" religious worldview. He continues on later in the article to say:

"we must stop having so many children. Clergy should consider voicing the difficult truth that having more than two children during such a time is selfish. Dare we say sinful? The average American might not listen to his elected representatives, but he darn sure listens to his pastor."

I guess in Rev. Thomas' mind I would be pretty sinful, because I certainly want more than two children! I would not be so rash as to tell God the exact number of children I want but, whatever number He sees fit to bless me and my future wife with I will take. Though if I were lucky enough to have 13 the transportation situation might become interesting. :p The article closes with another look back in time at the Aztecs:

"When Aztec society was threatened by disease and military defeat, their religious leaders appear to have let them down. Most likely, these leaders encouraged even more human sacrifice to appease the gods, thereby further weakening the society and ultimately facilitating its collapse. Let's hope we can learn from their mistakes."

That closing statement adds yet another flaw to the entire article's thought process. First, the Aztec were a carnal society which followed false gods, we trust in the one true God, the command's we receive from Him far outweigh some crazyness an Aztec witchdoctor told the people about sacrifices. Second the last sentence, "Let's hope we can learn from their mistakes." is almost an oxymoron of the article.

A sentence before he is talking about how the Aztec's desire to appease their false gods through sacrifice resulted in the weakening of their society in numbers and it's ultimate collapse. Yet for the whole article the main theme is for a limiting of children, forgetting our Biblical mandate of being fruitful and multiplying, isn't limiting the number of children we have doing the same thing the Aztec's did with their sacrifice, weakening the number of people with our beliefs and our society as a whole?

Environmentalists who value the earth above everything else, who view humans as expendable, would do well to remember Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. Yes, we should take care of the earth, nobody wants to live in a nasty pollution filled earth, but we also should remember that it is the Lord's, if He wants to cook our current earth, (which will happen eventually, Revelation 21:1) nothing we finite human do will stop Him.

To say I disagree with Rev. Thomas' article would be a understatement, I vehemently disagree in every sense of the word. To be opposed to having a quiver full of arrows, one of God's greatest blessings, is I feel, a serious offense towards all of humanity and God Himself. The fact that this man also is a Baptist minister as well as a constitutional lawyer only worsens that bitter taste in my mouth.

The whole article can be read here, I only took pieces from it as there were several other things said which I could continue ranting on but I knew this post was going to be long from the start without having a whole article pasted in my post.....

Today is Earth day....

And in celebration of such a glorious day as well as Arbor day this Friday I present the following picture from the "Sarah and William crazy picture archive"

Note, our faces are turned away from the camera so it would not appear like this was a publicity stunt. Today and Friday are days in which we should be celebrating nature and we wanted our true feelings for both Earth and Arbor day to be conveyed through the power of the photography without a distraction which might arise from seeing our smiling visages.....

Ok enough of that gobbledygook! (yes it's a real word) Since it seems spring is upon us, how about some helpful advice on avoiding potentially painful experiences which can arise between now and the fall.

So it is getting warmer, the sun is shinning, the flowers are starting to bloom, bees are flying from flower to said flower, though none of them are mine since my hives died, the pollen is turning my car a nasty yellowish green, and people are starting to wear shorts. If you happen to not believe in wearing shorts, let me be the first of the season to tell you that you are a smart person, though probably a very hot one as the weather continues to heat up. Why are you a very smart person for not wearing shorts? For the simple reason that by wearing shorts you present the lower half of your legs to serious injury.

Case in point:

As you can see, exposed legs seem to attract hard pointy objects as well as possess a strange, almost magnetic pull towards any hard surface, especially that of concrete. Yes shorts are MUCH cooler in warm weather, but are they worth it? I leave it up to the readership to decide for themselves.

Something even worse and much more serious than injuries to the lower extremities comes from our always shining source of light, the sun. I am talking about sunburn! Now maybe some people don't have this problem, count yourself blessed if you don't, but the sun really likes shining it's bright rays onto my skin and toasting it a nice shade of reddish orange. Maybe toast is too light a word, fry would probably be more like it. The times I have had to deal with skin peeling off in quarter sized pieces is sadly too numerous to count.

Fortunately there is a solution to both injuries to your legs and sunburn, stay indoors! :D (This is not a very feasible option however) A better approach is to wear sunblock to prevent sunburn, yes, it is a slight pain to put on but you are saving your skin. As to bloody injuies on your knees and legs, if you can't wear long pants, at least always have band-aids handy to keep the blood at bay and maybe Neosporin to prevent infection.....Oh and avoid mulch piles in the dark ;)

Notebook Blogging #8

The state of morality in our nation and the world is appalling. Everyday people do not have principles they are willing to stick to and the leaders of the various forms of government are sadly not much better. I don't get frustrated very easily but honestly, the state of morality, or lack of it, in the world's population really gets me hot. For that matter, the leadership in government and even the church for the most part is ridiculously depressing. Rather than go into a rant, which happens often when I am on the above subjects, I am just going to say the morality and overall attitude of my classmates leaves something to be desired.

Technically we have 15 students in the class. I say technically because only on a handful of occasions has the full 15 member class been present. There is a core group of about 10 people who regularly are in class, of those 7 or 8 are for the most part on time. The rest come and go like the wind, one day they will be there for 2 hours, the next they will not show up and the day after that they will stay for the entire class! There is no method to their scheduling, it is almost like they come when they really want to show up.

This attitude to class attendance and the apparent reflection of laziness on their part is mildly irritating to say the least. I guess I should not care about it, but I just don't understand how people can have such a lackadaisical attitude. I am an action type person, sure, I enjoy laying around watching 4 days worth of basketball games once a year, but if I have a job that needs to get done, especially one that involves manual labor, I am going to bust my tail and get the job done.

It is just very frustrating when we are trying to get things done and 1/3 of the class is usually absent and of the 2/3rds who do show up, about half of them would be content to sit around and talk on their cell phones when we need to be sticking headers in the openings! Do you just feel the frustration dripping off my words? :p It is a good group of guys, they just sometimes remind me of chickens in a pen, content to stand around with their mouths open on a hot day and the only way you are going to move them is if you start yelling and moving the pen and even then they sometimes don't move....Chickens, especially ones you raise to eat are some of the dumbest birds but I digress, I'll save that subject for another post.

My classmate's laziness does not just extend to our class as I found out the other day. As part of the requirements for our class you also have to take a math and English class, unless you test out, which I easily did. You don't have to be a mathematician or an English major, of which I am neither, to be in construction, imagine that! Not everyone in my class tested out of the math and/or English classes so some people are taking those in addition in construction/building code.

Anyway two of my classmates were talking about an English assignment they had to do, one classmate could not understand what they were supposed to do and the other was saying he was just going to pay someone to do it for him! Curious, I asked what they had to do and they showed me the assignment. It involved pretending you had your own business and were presenting a proposal for services to the government. Sounds easy right? It is the type of assignment you can hit right out of the park. Instant A+

I asked the guy who said he was going to pay someone to do it for him if he did not understand it. I was like "Dude that is a cupcake assignment" His reply was yes he knew how to do it, he just did not want to! I asked why not and he said he would rather pay someone to do the work because he just did not want to take the time to do it. He then offered to pay me to do the assignment! I told him $100 bucks, he said sure, paid me and I did it.... :p J/K!

I have to admit I was slightly tempted to, not because I wanted to help him cheat or because I wanted the easy money, rather, because of past work experiance, I seriously can write proposals like the assignment called for in my sleep. My competitive nature was already thinking how I could make this the greatest proposal the teacher had ever seen....

Even though my classmate's attitudes can sometimes be a pain, at the same time it is sad and I feel sorry for the guys. That type of mentality is just so foreign to me, I honestly can't comprehend it. I also feel their mentality is a reflection of us as a nation. No one wants to work hard and accomplish something with a feeling of satisfaction at a job well done. We want instant gratification, and we are willing to do whatever we can, even compromising our principles to get it.

Oh and sorry this is so long guys, like I have said before, sometimes I sit down to write and it just keeps on going on and on... :p

Nothing

is more valuable, not your dvds, your cds, your TV,
not your computer, your vehicle, your pets,
not your house, your job, your friends,
not power, position, fame, money,
not your reputation not your
family, kids, husband/wife,
not even your very life,
is more important
than the God
who gave
his life
for it
all.

Want a CD?

Even though we get around 60 visitors a day to the blog I have noticed there usually are only a few people who comment. So either visitors don't have anything to add or they just like to lurk. I don't really care if people comment or not, I am still somewhat surprised we get even 60 visitors a day! I think I know maybe 10 or 15 people personally who visit the blog and the rest..... I have no idea who you are. :p I was thinking about comments and magic cookie points and then the thought occurred to me there is a bit of a gender slant going on for comments. Except for occasional comments by Jeremy, Enil, my cousins and some guy named Uncle Jim, all the comments seem to come from people of the female gender.

I have no idea why that is, maybe my blogging does not appeal to male readership, which would be strange as I am myself a guy. Maybe guys just don't comment on blogs often unless they really have something to say, that whole "woman use twice as many words as men" idea. Anyway, I have to think that out of 60 people a day more than 3 or 4 of you are guys. So in order to find out, I am going to give away a cd.

For every guy that comments I will stick your name in a hat and next week I will pick someone to get a cd of their choice. So if you are a guy reading this, comment! If only one guy comments then hey, you have a 1:1 chance of getting a CD! :D If no guys comment.... I guess everyone who reads the blog is a female. :p Oh and the honor system is being used here people, if you don't have a blogger account and comment I have no way of knowing if you are a real guy or a female pretending. If you are reading this Sarah G. this means no comments from "Joe" ;)

Notebook Blogging #7

Sorry "notebook blogging" is getting out late today, after class I decided I wanted to have some fun with drywall so I went to my apartment and fixed some holes in the walls and ceiling. This could be a whole topic in itself, but the quick version is, the apartment above me had some pipe issues and they had to go through my apartment's ceiling to get them, which of course left holes that I figured should be fixed. In case you have not experienced fixing holes in walls I recommend you "accidentally" slam a door open and fix the resulting hole, it is great fun. Or you could just use duct tape like a good friend of my does ;)

Because of the weather our house has been moving right along, no one has gotten injured except a guy named Steve who hit his pinkie with a hammer...everyone kids him about that. I was in charge of cutting all the joists for one side of the house and I have to say good tools really do make a difference. The circular saws we have in class are simply amazing. Even though we have a circular saw as soon as I can, I am buying the one we use in class.

When we finished the sub-floor Mr. T. got up on it and did a little dance number, oh the times I wish I had a video camera! This past week we actually had this thing called the "cultural fair" which I guess is supposed to introduce us to different cultures....All I did was eat great food :p Oh and watched Mr. T. dance. Turns out his little dance move he did on the sub-floor was just a warm up for the dancing he did with his group, "The Crazy eights".

Next week I have spring break, which means I will have an amazing amount of time on my hands. Back in December when I was looking at the schedule the thought crossed my mind that I would go on a road trip up north on spring break but that is not an option at the moment. My grandmother actually has been wanting to go to Boston to visit her sister but she is going to be flying up. Stuck in a car with me did not interest her too much, besides she got her plane ticket free. I have a feeling my mother has plans to use my "skills" around the house, if that is the case, just a heads up, there may or may not be any blog posts next week. :p

Daylight savings yet again steals my sleep

People who know me may or may not have heard me give my little rant on springing forward or falling back with our clocks. I will save everyone's ears from hearing the whole thing but the point of it is, DST has really no purpose and should be done away with. The popular reasoning for it lately has been to save on energy but a recent study done by a professor of environmental economics at U.C. Santa Barbara has said it might actually cost us more when we reset our clocks... Sorry it is just one of those things that make me tick. :p

It is also slightly irritating because since we had concerts until late last night and also had some friends spend the night we did not get to bed exactly early if you know what I mean. :D That extra hour comes in handy....Nevertheless, I fought off Sleepy Rufus in time to get ready and arrive on time at church where we sang a song that I love, "There Is A Higher Throne"

There is a higher throne
Than all this world has known
Where faithful ones from every tongue
Will one day come
Before the Son we'll stand
Made faultless through the Lamb
Believing hearts find promised grace
Salvation comes

Hear heaven's voices sing
Their thunderous anthem rings
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
Forevermore

And there we'll find our home
Our life before the throne
We'll honour Him in perfect song
Where we belong
He'll wipe each tear-stained eye
As thirst and hunger die
The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King
We'll reign with him.

Hear heaven's voices sing
Their thunderous anthem rings
Through emerald courts and sapphire skies
Their praises rise
All glory, wisdom, power
Strength, thanks and honor are
To God our King who reigns on high
For evermore

The song is based on Revelation 7 and standing there singing made me think of Revelation, which is split into two parts, earthly scenes and heavenly scenes. There is somewhat of a debate on the earthly scenes and how they are going to happen, if they have already happened...etc which when you think about it is slightly silly. Yes the earthly scenes are worth reading and studying but they are not really important in comparison to the heavenly scenes of the exalted Christ on the throne! The throne, where all worship, all adoration, all praise goes in honor of The King.

If you have read the blog you probably know music is something I really enjoy. Those who know me personally know I play around on the piano and the guitar, neither of which sounds too hot and as for singing, an American Idol I am not. But you don't need to be a concert master or Pavarotti to worship God, no matter our talents, we are all made to praise The King and bring honor to the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Even though my gift of worship is small, He finds it acceptable. Ah, it is hard for me to put words to my emotions and I know this blog post can never adequately convey my feelings on the subject. I will just say, for me, it is a feeling unlike any other worshiping our Creator. I hope everyone has a good week. Anna wants me to get a video up of her part in one of the concerts last night so be on a lookout for it sometime this week.

Playing it safe can be risky part two....

No notebook blogger today, the weather has been great this week so class has mainly been outside so we have not had breaks like we do while inside which means I have not had the time to write anything in my notebook. Besides I have more I want to say on risk anyway... if you have not read the first part just scroll down a bit. Like I said at the end of part one, our slowness to act when an opportunity presents itself comes from our uncertainty of a situation and the fact that we like to be in control. We say we trust God, but then an opportunity comes along which may change our whole life and all of a sudden it is like "Whoa! God what is going on here?" We have a choice, either grab that bucking bull of an opportunity and trust God to protect you from getting gored, ( sorry I just had to use that) or wait and say "Lord, riding that bull is going to hurt, I think I am going to wait for a calmer bull". Have you ever caught yourself praying for things to be easier, for everything to just fall into place so you don't have to worry? I know I have, life would be so much simpler.

Except well, life is not supposed to be a cakewalk, it is supposed to be filled with trials, it is how we grow as Christians and human beings. That bull of an opportunity may very well have been placed in front of us for the specific purpose of helping us grow spiritually. God wants us to trust Him, and how better to help that trust grow than to put opportunities in front of us that will enable us to grow in Him. Sure, we still grow as Christians by just reading our Bible and learning more about who our Creator is and everything He has done for us. But until we are faced with an opportunity or a situation that will allow us to whole heartedly surrender all trust to God we can never reach our full potential and bring God the glory He deserves.

Take Gideon, he has his army camped out ready to attack the Midianites. The Lord knowing us humans are quick to puff ourselves up decides he is going to present an opportunity for Gideon's trust in the Him to grow. God tells Gideon to send home troops and 31,700 of his 32,000 troops head back. Now if that had been me and I was about to attack enemy forces who were as "numerous as locusts" I would have wanted every man who could hold a spear with me. If I was standing out there in Gideon's sandals as I watched 99% of my army march away I would be thinking to myself, "Hey Lord, I know you are sovereign over all , but I don't feel so good with only 300 men!". We are never probably going be in that sort of dramatic position but that does not mean God does not put opportunities in our path that will involve a similar choice of trusting God. We climb on that bull and ride for all it's worth or we don't, maybe regret it for the rest of our life, and possibly miss seeing God perform something miraculous. BTW if you don't know the story of Gideon, him and his 300 men destroyed the Midianite army killing over 100,000.

Every opportunity is a gift from God, what we do with them is our gift to God. Ephesians 5:16 says "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days". There is a saying "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die", you want the reward but not the pain. When I am presented an opportunity, I want to make the most of it, as I am sure everyone reading this does. But I also tend to want my opportunity wrapped up with a nice bow and all I have to do is unwrap it and say "Thank you, God" Most opportunities typically don't present themselves to us that way and they sometimes come at the most inopportune times at least to our thinking.

But God is in control, He is sovereign over everything. He has plans for us, plans for good not disaster if we only trust Him. Being a Christian does not necessarily reduce our circumstantial uncertainty; spiritual uncertainty yes, unlike non-believers we know where we are headed after this life, but for our circumstances, we need to trust Him. When an opportunity comes along we don't want to be like the man with the one talent in Matthew who decides to play it safe and not become involved in a risk/reward situation. Circumstantial opportunities have risk, but they also have a reward if we only trust the Lord.

Personally, jumping on that opportunity "bull" is something that has always been hard for me, some of that is me just me being human but some of that is just because of the way I am wired. Or maybe I should say was wired, there are so many little decisions as well as some major ones that have occurred in my life in the last year or so. Some have turned out better than I thought they ever could, others not quite so much...But every single one has involved trusting God a little more, getting me more out of my comfort zone to where He wants me to be.

Ok I think I will stop typing now.... sorry this one topic turned into two rather long posts, all I started out to do was comment on a quote I read but somehow as I typed my brain went into overdrive somewhat. :o Hopefully nobody's brain exploded. I also don't want anyone to read this and go out and do something risky for the sake of randomly going after an opportunity! We have to remember there are good and bad opportunities but with the Holy Spirit's help we can have the discernment to see the difference between good and bad opportunities and to get on that potentially risky bull when it is the right thing to do.

Playing it safe can be risky....

I was reading the other day and I came across this quote by Mark Twain that I thought was pretty good....

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Opportunities are around us everyday but so often we (we being the human population) miss that opportunity because it might change something in our lives. Chasing that opportunity, making it a reality usually takes us out of our comfort zone and more often than not will involve some risk. Humans for the most part don't like risk, we like to know what is around the bend on the tracks we ride on. We like to be in control of our lives, we don't like being in a position where things spring at us unexpectedly that may mess up our carefully calculated plans.

Obviously unexpected things are going to happen even when you plan, aka an alternator turning to slag or running out of gas, or me missing my exit and spending 20 minutes driving around NJ trying to get back to where I can get to my hotel or even having issues with appliances, that is just part of life. Sure you try to avoid issues like those but there is not much more you can do, besides they make life exciting. :p

Going after an opportunity on the other hand, one that possibly might involve taking a risk with a potential negative impact in some aspect of our lives is an opportunity we might not jump at right away. We don't like that potential negative, we would rather stick with the status quo rather than doing something that could hurt us, even though the opportunity could benefit us in the long run. There is a balance of course, some people take risks because they like the rush they get from unknown. They take needless risks at the sake of themselves and the detriment of their families. For most people though, jumping at opportunities that might mean risk or a change in our lives is something even Christians try to avoid. Why is this?

This is something I know I do, when an opportunity presents itself, I like to sit back and run through scenarios in my head. I am somewhat analytical and when something important is involved I can sit there and analyze for so long that the opportunity is long gone by the time I make a decision, besides the fact that I can give myself a major headache! This slowness to act comes from our fear of uncertainty which is a result of us relying on our own judgment, rather than trusting God's...... I have more to say but brother has told me in the past that I knock people over the head with my "walls of text" So I will cut this post into two parts so as to save at least one person's head. :p

Thoughts...

Rain drops on the window pane

are like the thoughts in my brain

constantly dripping, always moving

sometimes I wish for wiper blades

to help rid my mind of the thoughts that weigh

have you ever been somewhere with so much to say

but you don't say a thing at least not like you wanted

the mind replays the event somehow you're haunted

or there is deafening silence the type that makes you want to shout

you open your mouth yet no words come out

drowning in our thoughts sounds impossible

there is no way that is remotely logical

yet the thoughts fall through your head as in a downpour

slipping and sliding they keep on coming

thoughts without voice there is always a choice

If you keep them inside will they just roll up and die

hardly, you will probably just end up feeling sorry

that you did not express what was burning on your chest

sometimes the greatest risk is the one not taken

we're too scared of a fall, not trusting the One above all

that opportunity before you has a purpose behind it

but maybe you will never see it unless you deny yourself

and take a leap and remember that you are one of His sheep

the Lord will protect you through every decision

and everything that ever happens has a reason

with that knowledge in your head the need for wiper blades is dead

so your brain may feel like a storm now and then

just remember to place your trust in Him

Winter Jam 2008

Yesterday my uncle and cousins were heading over to Greensboro for Winter Jam 2008. Never one to miss a cheap concert I happily tagged along. We arrived in Greensboro, ate lunch and set ourselves up in line. Line? You may ask, yes line. See, the tickets were only $10 except it was open seating, which is code for: mad rush through the doors for good seats, so we of course wanted to position ourselves near the front of the line which meant we got in line about 4- 4.5 hours before the concert started...Yes, feel free to think I am nuts I hear it quite often. :)

Anyway we stood, leaned and sat in line for multiple hours then had a 10 minute rush of adrenalin as we fought 18,000+ to people find seats, then sat for about another 30 minutes before the pre-show started. As you can see, lots of siting, which in turn made my feet fall asleep, quite irritating! There were about 10 different acts/groups but the main five were, Mandisa, Newsong, Barlow Girl, Skillet, and Mercy Me which was pretty good for $10 if I do say so myself.

During the pre-show there was this group called "pureNRG" no offense to them but I am going to rant a bit here. (Just skip down to the next paragraph if you want to avoid it) First off, using the letters "NRG" does not spell energy (which was how it was pronounced) and does not give you coolness points. Second, dancing around the stage lip syncing is just ug, (yes I know that is not a word but that is how I felt) Finally the members of the group were 14, 11 and 12 and maybe it is just me but seeing a bunch of kids dance around a stage to popish Disney channel music is not exactly something I am into. One more thing, talking into the mic after dancing is not the best idea if all you can do is breathe very loudly and get out one or two words at a time while gasping for breath. The other smaller acts were ok nothing worth writing about, as for the larger acts....

I was probably the most impressed by Newsong, they have several songs I like but I had never seen them in concert and I thought they were very good live. They have this one song, "Arise my Love" readers may or may not have heard it but the harmonization in the song, to see them doing it live is worth seeing. If you have not heard the song you can hear it on youtube here though it does not really do it justice, it is one of those songs that is just better live. Barlow Girl was actually a bit of a disappointment, the only reason I could come up with as to why was their stage presence just seemed to be a bit off, it might have had something to do with them having to do a shorter set because of all the groups but for whatever reason they just did not seem up to par.

Mercy Me was their usual self, one thing I have always liked about Mercy Me is while they care about performing well they don't make themselves the focal point of the performance, but rather God. If they hear the crowd singing praises they will stop singing, even stop playing and it will just be the crowd worshiping a cappella. I can't really explain what it is like, unless you have been to a Christian concert where there is more emphasis on worshiping our Lord then performing you probably don't know what it is like, but eighteen thousand people all singing "I Love You Lord" a cappella is probably the closest I will ever get before I die to the type of worship we will experiance in heaven. I get chills thinking about how amazing it is going to be.....ok back to the concert.

I have to admit I am not a fan of Skillet, actually they sorta bug me, but I figured to hear Mercy Me I could handle Skillet. If you don't know who Skillet is they are a rock band and well, that is all there is to say. They also seemed to be somewhat full of themselves which is something that really bugs me with some Christian artists. I have no idea what their lead singer's name is but when he is telling people to "rock out" I just don't feel that is appropriate.

There was not really any mention of God in terms of "rocking out" it was just like, "I want you guys rocking out so hard that you will wake up tomorrow with a neck ache from head banging" I personally think there is something theologically wrong with suggesting you give your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, a neck ache because you were "head banging" to Skillet...But that is just me :p I don't have a problem with folks jumping up and down and dancing, while praising the Lord but it has to be done in the right spirit... I also wonder at what kind of witness it was to folk who were there who were unsaved....

Anyway, I could go on and on, like I have mentioned before music is something that I could write quite a bit about, I actually have a huge post typed up about it but I think having to read it would probably scare away everyone who reads this blog. So how about some pictures, while I have issues with Skillet I have to admit their pyrotechnics during their show made for some pretty impressive photographs.
One of Newsong:

Newsong and their Cello/Guitar dual

Forget lighters, this is the 21st Century folks we have cell phones! :p

Skillet.... as you can see, the lead singer is taking his own advice and was banging his head something fierce. The other dude liked to jump around a lot, must have been too much coffee before the show...

Flames

and more flames

Yeah the flames were rather impressive.

One blog note, I am heading out of town with my dad, so unless my sisters post the blog probably will be a little dead for a few days. Everyone have a good week. :)

Notebook Blogging #5

I woke up this morning to a lovely Valentine's day surprise of about 3 inches of snow. Yes 3 inches is barely more than a dusting and most of it has already melted as I type this but hey, it is snow. I love snow, plus on the way to class I got to yell at people driving like we were in a blizzard or something that is always fun.

Something rather funny happened in class this week, or maybe I should say before class. Like I have said in past posts, even though I usually wake up when I need to, as a precaution when I need to be somewhere on time in the early morning I set my alarm. Sometimes because of Sleepy Rufus even that does not work. :p Well one day this week I woke up and rolled over to see what time it was. My brain, still in it's somewhat foggy state from the adventure I was having in one of the seven levels of the candy cane forest, only noticed the minute hands were at :49 and my alarm was set for :50. Choosing to avoid some needless noise I turned off the alarm and went about getting ready to leave.

I ate breakfast, looked at the temperature outside (26) grabbed a warm hat and headed out the door. When I arrived at class I noticed the parking lot was not as full as it usually is but I did not give it a second thought that was until I noticed that Mr. T.'s truck was also not parked near the shop. "Hmmm" I thought to myself, I hope we have class today. It was at that moment that I thought to check my phone to see if I had somehow set a new land speed record getting to class, to my surprise I was early. An hour early! I had to look at my phone twice just to make sure I was getting the correct time.

When I thought about it I realized I looked at clocks in the house as well as the clock in my car, all of which were displaying the correct time but my brain just did not process it. What made it worse was the fact that I had taken my Bible and the book I was reading out of my backpack so I had nothing to read. Fortunately I still had my notebook and pens so I just sat there and wrote this post up. Then, since I still had quite a bit more to wait, I decided to stick it to verse...The things we do when we have time on our hands....

The alarm did not sound
still my feet hit the ground
when I jumped out of bed
thoughts of getting ready in my head.
I had a bite to eat
I brushed my teeth
put on my socks then shoes
I was on the move.
Though I did not drive fast
I arrived early to class
with nothing much to occupy my time
except composing this cheesy rhyme.

Oh yeah pretty awful I have to admit. That may be due to the subject matter or maybe just because I stink at creating verse. Anyway even after writing the above in my notebook I still had some time on my hands which was spent praying about the day. Finally it got close enough to the time when class was to start that I headed that way. When I arrived at the shop, to my dismay I discovered that class had been canceled!!!! Mr. T. had hurt his back and was unable to get to class! I spend an hour waiting for class to start and then I discover it has been canceled, what fun!

Heh, the time was not all a waste, it gave me something to write about and I actually did not leave the campus for another hour because I somehow got involved in a conversation regarding the state of our country which I am always up for. :D Since today is Valentine's Day I do have one thing to say about it. Just because you don't have a "sweetheart" does not mean you don't have people around you who you can show your love for aka, parents, brothers and sisters. Don't let commercialization of the holiday and the heavy emphasis on "doing something for that special someone" make you feel like you can't celebrate it if you happen to not have a "special someone" ;)

Polo shirts.....

I like "polo" shirts, aka a short sleeved shirt with a collar which typically has 2-3 buttons below the collar and is usually made of cotton. Like this:
They have been adopted by most people in today's society as "business casual" attire. Not as dressy as a button down shirt with a tie, but nicer than a regular old t-shirt. Actually for most people today, a polo is considered "dressy". I have a whole post on society and the standards of clothing but it will have to wait because that is not today's topic. Today the topic is polo shirts, or rather one thing about them that is slightly irritating.

When good ol' René Lacoste started making his "polo" shirts (They were not called polo shirts back then) I am not sure if the shirts had the two small slits on the bottom of either side but most polo shirts today have them. I know there must be a purpose behind those two small slits, after all, fashion always has been created with a purpose, no? :p

Anyway those two slits at the bottom of a polo shirt while interesting, weaken the structural integrity of the shirt. Ha! I bet you never thought you would be reading the words "structural integrity" in the context of shirts. Yes, the slits are reinforced, but nevertheless they are still a weak link, ready to be exploited to the detriment of the poor shirt!

Now maybe this is not the case for everyone, but I have to be careful when putting on polo shirts because if I am not, a sound reaches my ears which is painful to any purchaser of clothes. The sound of the very threads of the shirt ripping right at that little slit at the bottom of the shirt.
Believe me I have tried to prevent it and as long as I don't stretch too much while putting on the shirt usually it is saved from damage. Still, I feel those two little slits at the bottom of my shirt have no real purpose other than to cause me irritation and should be done away with....Below is my poor orange (which happens to be one of my favorite colors) polo and the results of me not being careful.... :(

It's late....

I was in bed
but all I did was toss and turn
I closed my eyes
but my brain still churned

I roam the halls
it's past midnight
my stomach growls
maybe it needs a bite

Weaving in and out of
furniture in the pitch black
a chair out of place gives
my shin a bruising whack

In the kitchen I arrive
and food I do find though
it does nothing to ease my
overly active mind

All I want to do is sleep in my bed
but there are so many thoughts
running..
through..
my head!

I sit down at the computer
stare blankly at the screen
that sounds so cliche if you
know what I mean

I type up the lines that
you have read above
my fingers tapping the
keys they are so fond of

I think I will go read a book
Somehow this post just lost it's rhyming
sorry for that I am sometimes not the best person with timing
If you ever awake and can't get to sleep
my advice would be just to get something to eat :)

Notebook Blogging #1

The day is overcast, a crowd is gathered outside a doorway. Smoke rises like a cloud above their heads. It is break time and that means it is time to kill yourself, slowly, painfully, carcinogenicity. The group is comprised of young men in their 20s, their whole life in front of them and yet daily they stand outside and slowly destroy the most unique machine they will ever control, their own bodies. I think all this as I walk past them into the building, what caused them to get hooked on tobacco? Was it the need to fit in with their friends? Maybe it is how they deal with the stress of their life, standing outside, crowded under a brick overhang, in an attempt to avoid life's trials. It does not really matter how nicotine got it's addictive hands in their life, they are hooked. Rather dismal wouldn't you say?

Classes started this week, hence the lack of blog posts. I have urged Sarah several times to post but she keeps saying her mind is like a sieve or something. During my breaks rather than join the above mentioned crowd outside I have been writing this post in my notebook. Writing out things rather than typing them has been interesting, lots of crossed out lines and little arrows as to how things should be. Also there is the whole spelling issue, I am a pretty good speller, but without the crutch of spell check I eventually just gave up trying to think of how to spell "carcinogenicity" :p I guess it does not really matter what my notebook looks like, no one will probably ever read it but it was slightly hard to read and type up, I think this had something to do with all the arrows....

Except for the fact that everyone pretends they are a chimney in the winter during breaks, the classes have been very informative and actually rather fun. Then again I can't remember a class I have ever had that I did not enjoy, hard yes, but I still enjoyed them. I always approach class situations with the mindset that you are there to learn something and you can either view it as a chore you have to get done or you can view it as an opportunity to gain knowledge that will help you become a better person in some aspect of your life, even if it is just the ability to take well organized notes.

If you did not read my 2007 post or talked with me recently there is a chance you probably have no idea why I am back at school taking classes, if you want to know go read the post or call me or chat me up on Google talk sometime. I am writing in a notebook here, I don't feel like wasting my ink and paper on something I already have talked about. Beside someone might have missed the 2007 post and while it is long and rambles, I think it is worth reading. (Not to toot my own horn) :p Some funny things worth blogging on have already happened in class but I think I will save them for another time. :)

Huck's Rising

Anyone who has been following the Presidential race or for that matter, just listened to the news over the last two days probably knows there was a Presidential primary in Iowa Thursday night and the eventual winners were a bit of a surprise to the political pundits and so called experts. Obama won on the Democratic side with 38% and Huckabee won on the Republican side with 34%

I personally think it is rather silly to put so much weight on who a handful of people in Iowa or New Hampshire and South Carolina think should be the President. But ever since Jimmy Carter won Iowa and went on to win the Presidency our news media seems to think the people in these states have a better grasp over the political climate than anyone else. The news media certainly does not have a grasp as evidenced once again by the "surprising results" out of Iowa.

If you have been a constant reader of the blog, you probably know I am a Mike Huckabee supporter. I know he is not perfect and his record for 10 years as Arkansas's Governor while solid did involve some things I personally would not agree with. At the same time I feel he is best option from the mixed "GOP candidate" bag. I have talked to a number of people who like Huckabee but feel he has no chance to win the nomination so they would rather sit back and see what happens before they make a political decision.

This is, in my opinion a reflection of the lack of backbone in our society. You like a candidate, but you don't think he will win the nomination so you are not going to support him?? Of course he will not win if people have that thought process! In order to enact change you have to be willing to stand up and support a candidate because he is the best candidate for the job regardless of if you think he will win or not. People sometimes are content to let the process move along and then after the conventions are held and Presidential candidates are decided on, then they will support whomever their party's nomination is.

If this is how you operate when it comes to elections, I would encourage you to not be complacent and rely on your political party to pick who they want as President, which will happen if people don't take some time to read about the candidates and their positions. (This does not mean listening to the news media and who they think would be a good choice, as evidenced once again by the Iowa primaries, they rarely have as firm a grasp as they would want you to believe.) Once you have studied all the candidates, make an educated decision on who you personally feel should run for President long before the your party does and then support 100% whomever you choose!

For me that candidate is Mike Huckabee, like I mentioned above, he is not perfect and he has done things I would not agree with but I feel he is the best man for the job regardless of those negatives. I would much rather support Huckabee in a losing cause than be drawn into supporting "Rockefeller Republicans" like Giuliani or Romney. The fact that Huckabee even with paltry fund raising, (2.4 Million vs. $63 million for Romney and $47 million for Giuliani) won in Iowa shows that people are not quite ready to turn in their social conservative badges which is rather encouraging to me.

It is my hope that Mike Huckabee gets the GOP nomination but even after that, the fight against the Democratic nomination, (which I have believed for a while will be Obama, his win in Iowa just caused me to be more firm in my position) will be an uphill battle. As Christians we just have to remember that no matter what happens in November, God is the ruler of the universe and He is in control no matter what happens or who sits in the Oval Office.

Also, regardless if you are a Republican or Democrat tonight would be a good chance to learn some more about the candidates for both parties. ABC is televising debates for both parties starting with the Republicans at 7pm EST tonight. Just remember to push mute when George Stephanopoulos decides to come on and give his thoughts. ;)

Will's thoughts on 2007

Today is January 1st, the first day of a new year when we usually look back at the previous year and make resolutions for the year ahead of us. For me, this past year had been amazing, I am not just saying that, this past year for me really has been the type of year you look back on and go, yeah things have changed. B)

When I think about it, my mindset is so different than it was last January it is actually a little freaky. I had planned to do a "year in review" post and talk about stuff that happened each month but after thinking it through I realized I could write a multiple page editorial and it still probably would not cover all I would like to say...I also figured people don't really want to read that much about my year anyway. :p So how about the cliff notes version?

In January, my friend Daniel and I decided to go on a road trip up the east coast in June. It is something I had wanted to do for several years but never actually planned out. It actually took less planning than I thought it would and by March we had every detail planned out, even where we would eat in some places.

Sometime in April or May I am not sure when or how exactly it happened but I decided I would spend more time praying and reading the Bible and make my relationship with God more of a focus. Not that it was not before, but I was having lunch with a friend and it occurred to me that even though I was not really thinking about marriage, if it were to happen I did not feel as capable to lead a family spiritually as I felt I should be. So that really became something I wanted to focus on.

June rolled around and Daniel and I embarked on our magnificent road trip. DC to Philly to New York City to some little town in PA to Niagara Falls and back home. The trip was a blast, we did everything we had planned in DC and more. Philadelphia was not a main leg of the trip and due to somethings out of our control we were unable to do all we wanted but I did get an incredible Philly cheese steak sandwich. :D New York City was for me the best part of the trip.

If you don't like crowds New York might not be the best place to go but since I have no problem with crowds I thought it was awesome. Even at 1am the city was still at a frantic pace. We ended up leaving before we finished everything we wanted to get done because we unfortunately had some bad weather, that was the only bad thing about the trip, the limited time we had in NYC. I honestly could have spent the whole trip just in NYC.

After a stop in PA to visit some of Daniel's friends because my friends were not home, we headed to Niagara Falls for some unknown reason....I had been to Niagara Falls when I was like 8 or so and I remember being sorta bored. I guess I figured since I was older it would be more fun....heh Well it was more fun but still not quite as exciting as I had hoped. We did say in Canada though which was cool. After eight days of traveling we headed home....Planning the trip really helped cut down on the cost. We stayed in 2 star or higher hotels every night, ate meals at sit down places not McDonalds and their dollar menu and since we had my car, got great gas mileage. The total cost for both of us covering food, gas, hotels and sites (cough, Statue of Liberty = $15!!) was only $970 which divided by both of us equaled a pretty good deal at least IMO. That is a very brief overview of the trip, most people who know me have already heard most of the details of the trip anyway. :p

When I got back from the trip I decided I had some priorities that needed to change and along with them my whole mindset on life shifted somewhat. I doubt anyone except maybe my family really noticed. A change in the way you think about the world and life in general is not as noticeable as say gaining 30lbs of muscle. :p Anyway because my mindset had changed as well as my relationship with God due to spending more time in the Word, I started working on the "William Manifesto" Sound cool eh? ;)

It really is just my philosophy on everything, life, music, God, culture, society in general....Some of it has made it on the blog, if you have talked to me, you have probably heard more of it than maybe you even want to hear. :p Most of has been in my head for a while but I have found that typing it out has enabled me to really focus on why I believe the way I do. Still much a work in progress it has nevertheless really helped me grow as a person at least in the terms of how I think about things and my ability to explain what I believe.

I know this post is getting longer, just think we might still be on January if this was the non "cliff note" version. In August we had the first of three visits with our great friends up in New York, and Sarah and I also started this blog. Most of the things that have happened since are documented on here and you probably know them already. If you are a new reader and want to read pages upon pages of the things that have happened since August, feel free to check out the archives in the side bar on the right ;)

There are somethings not on the blog that I have not mentioned, one of them is in September I started thinking about changing jobs. For the past several years I have been the office manager for a residential development company. The pay was rather lousy but I was learning the business as well as patience (this is a story in itself, suffice to say I sometimes feel like I could give Job a run for his money in terms of patience.)

Because of my changed mindset on what I needed to be doing with my life as well as some other things, I started praying about what I should do and where I should go job wise. I am sure everyone remembers my apartment bought cheap, fixed up and currently for sale though someone is very interested in purchasing it. Well going through that process made me realized fixing up houses and selling them is something I really like. There is a lot more I would like to know construction wise though so in a few days I start classes with that purpose in mind.

Looking forward to 2008, there is so much I want to get accomplished, it is a good thing I had a job that worked on my patience because now every bit of it will probably be put to work. Without that or my trust in the Lord, that He is there to guide me through it all, I might be dreading this upcoming year. As it is I am really excited about 2008! :D

Sidebar on the blog, I want to thank all the many people who visit, as well as the few who visit and actually comment for taking the time to read Life from the Toaster. I never thought we would have half as many visitors as we have had. While most visitors don't comment, the fact that we have a significant number of visitors a day has been pretty awesome, it shows people actually feel the blog is worth reading, (or maybe they just like laughing at us :p ) Either way thanks for visiting and reading. Oh one more note!

The 500th comment! The 500th comment actually occurred while Sarah and I were in NY in December.....It was actually my sister :p I don't think I mentioned this on the blog but family was not eligible to win. Since comments 499 and 501 were by the two people who have commented the most since the blog started (Abigail and Sleepy Joy) I decided just to give them both a CD. Just thought I would mention that if anyone was wondering.....

The real final note, :p some readers already know this but, because of my changing job situation as well as some other things I feel I should be devoting time to, the blog is going to be updated less frequently than it has been. I know that is rather sad, and I wish I could continue to post as much but I just don't see how I will have the time. Hopefully Sarah can pick up some slack and Anna probably will post some as well. I pray everyone will accomplish the goals they have for this coming year and that y'all will have an incredible 2008. :)

Good Search

I came across this site by way of another blog and I thought I would share. GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. It's a simple and compelling concept. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it’s powered by Yahoo, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime! Of course it is not the same as just donating money yourself, but it is nice to know that as you search around some of the advertising revenue will be going to a good cause of your choice! :) It is worth checking out: www.goodsearch.com If you want to add it to your search bar in the top right hand corner of your web-browser there is a tutorial here

Remember "Of alternators and dead batteries" and how I drove to K-mart to buy a set of jumper cables? If you don't remember this, go read the story :p Well ever since that day I have had that set of jumper cables in my car. Anyway since I got the cables they have been used at least once every week! Last week being an exception since I was in NY and nobody around me had battery trouble. :p Maybe it is just the fact that I now have the ability to help people who have dead batteries, but I will be walking from a store and see people with their hood open, "Need a jump or jumper cables?" I will ask. Usually they thank me and already have something worked out, but if not I am ready with my cables! I am also glad I ended up spending slightly more for the longer cables, the extra length has really helped in a few situations. The moral of this - (If there is a moral to be had from a paragraph about jumper cables) is to be willing and able to lend a hand to someone who is in need. Oh and if you get jumper cables get the longer ones, they are worth it. ;)