Following the tread marks in the snow

Today's sermon at church was talking about how to walk in the power of God.  The preacher used a metaphor to show how one could survive while driving on snowy roads.  She discussed her personal experience in that when she followed the tread marks on the roads that were left by previous drivers, she knew that she would be safe.  She related that to our spiritual walk with God in that if we follow the patterns and paths that are given to us from previous saints, we would be able to walk in power.  In order to do that, we need to need to follow the pattern of the saints and be filled daily with the Holy Spirit.

This sermon stirred me to go back and break open my spiritual journal from previous years and reconnect with some of the parables, visions, analogies, similes, and metaphors that God brought to me at the time.  I wanted to take this opportunity to digitally document some of these now.

March 2, 2002 - God and the bank

• We are the tellers of God's bank but He controls the money flow.  Our job is to exchange money with the customers.  God is also represented through the customers.  When the money changes hands, it is actually the exchange of love.

March 9, 2002 (Parables)

• Let us be like a water pitcher.  We can pour our waters of love out to the people of this world and be filled up again by the fountain.  May we be used to serve others to spread God's glorious love that flows through us all.  The potter creates us to give and others to receive.  [John 4:7-14, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15, Matthew 10:8, Zechariah 13:1, John 7:37-39, Acts 10:45-46, Isaiah 64:8, Romans 9:21]

• We are stronger than diamonds.  A diamond is forever in this world but a Christian bonded with Christ is eternal.  Let us fuse our spirit with Christ through our extreme pressures of life.  Let us bond to Christ as a diamond is formed through pressurized carbon and through that, our rock is stronger than any rock of this world. [Matthew 7:24-28, Psalm 18:1-2,46]

• May our seed of life be like a pumpkin seed.  May it grow its vines and over take us.  May our grounds fully accept its roots.

• May the rain be like God's love pouring down on us for they both come from the heavens.  Let us be like the ground and the trees for they soak up the nourishment which brings life. [Hebrews 6:7-8]

• May the breeze be like God touching us.  Let us be like the flowers that move in its caress. For we can stand strong through the weeds of evil and only God can move us.

• God is the ever flowing electricity to our light.  He is the water that turns the generators and the power plant that harnesses the production.  He fills us so that we can shine in the darkness.  May our light be so bright that it reaches the light-less people surrounding us.  The more connections we have with Him, the stronger our light will shine.

• God is the technician to His people.  They are like computers that rely on an operator to fulfill their tasks.  They wait on His commands and execute them.  Some have failures while others remain faithful.  He is the one who can add or subtract to our lives.  His people work through networks of believers allowing Him to connect to new souls.

• God is the music to our hearts.  He brings melodies to the vastness.  He fills up our emptiness with His glorious sounds.  May our hearts receive His sound like the acoustics of a concert hall.  May our lives be enriched by the harmonies of His soul.

• God is the surgeon of our lives.  Every surgeon needs his instruments.  We are His instruments which He uses to rip through the flesh of this world.  He brings out their spirit and sews up their flesh with love.  He gives life to others by the use of His instruments.  May we fully cooperate with the working of the surgeon's hands.  May His peace be with us and guide us through the operation of life.  May His gentleness and delicate touch be caressed by us whom can change a life working together with Him.

I rewrote the last one today and I feel it better encompasses the intent in a more direct way.

• Let us be like the instruments of the surgeon.  For the surgeon uses these instruments to tear through flesh and repair the internal damage.  Let us put ourselves in the hands of God to be used as His mighty instruments.

Capacitance or resistance

In terms of electrical circuits, capacitors and resistors exist for specific purposes.  Capacitors are used to store up charges and release the stored energy in time.  Resistors actually restrict the flow of electrons on the circuit because the material used is less conductive.  When thinking about these different types of electronic components, I can see an analogy that can be made with our Christian lives.

As the Holy Spirit lives within us, we have the power of the Spirit.  If we can act as capacitors, we can store up the power by drawing close to the power source (God) and become energized.  Then, we can release that stored power during ministry opportunities that we encounter during our daily lives.

On the other hand, if we act as resistors, the flow of the Spirit can be hindered by our choosing to restrict the outpouring to others.  Not only will the Spirit be hindered, but we ourselves will have a struggle within us because the Spirit is stifled by our deliberate choosing to be closed down to the flow of His power in our lives.

So, which are you?

Capacitor?


or

Resistor?

Elf on the shelf visited us this year

We had an elf visit with us this year.  Her name is Ella and she made a video of her escapades.  She was such a great little elf and I can't wait for her to visit with us again next December.

High definition video here.

Excited that I learned how to crimp RG6 cable

I've been having issues with my digital television tuner where one channel (and one channel only) will pixelate so much that it is not watchable.  This issue has been there for over a year and I just never had the desire to fix it.  The channel that was not watchable was ESPN2 and when college football is not on, there's really not much that I want to watch on that channel.  Besides, the standard definition channel for ESPN2 worked just fine but was obviously just not crisp.

This issue became much more apparently to me during this year's college football season where I was forced to watch one of my football games on a different TV in the house.  I had my cable provider come out to my house for a different issue but I mentioned this problem to them.  They wanted to charge me $60 to run a new cable.  I decided that it was something that I could do myself.

So, I purchased this cable crimper.
http://www.harborfreight.com/coaxial-cable-compression-tool-95862.html

And, this cable stripper.
http://www.harborfreight.com/rotary-coaxial-cable-stripper-98953.html

Luckily, the stripper was already configured for RG6 cable and my first compression crimp was perfect.  These are great tech tools to have and I spent less money on these than I would have paid to my cable provider.

I now have the capability to crimp RG6 and RG59 with these.  This adds to my collection of tech tools.  I already have the capability to crimp my own 8p8c and 6p6c connectors for making network and phone cables.  I love learning new skills.