οι λογοι Δαυιδ

Christmas

2011-12-26T18:29:00.000-08:00

This year our family stayed for a quiet Christmas at home. Adam, Sally and Reed came today (Monday) and we exchanged gifts this evening. Hopefully we remember the greatest gift of all this Christmas season.

Revival

2011-12-20T12:28:00.000-08:00

I thought I would give my plants an early Christmas present today by giving them fresh dirt, fertilizer, and water. Here they are enjoying the gifts. They should be thankful.

As I try to revive my house plants, I thought I would also try to bring back to life another project that I've neglected lately, namely, this poor blog. Thanks Google for the new awesome look!

Textbooks

2011-08-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am keeping textbooks from some of my core classes, but would be willing to let some people that need them for one semester use them. To help offset the initial purchase costs, I'm requesting a small payment per book per semester. Here is a spreadsheet that lists the books, the class I used them in and if they are still available. If you are interested, please email me, message me (facebook.com/davidwilson91) or comment on this post.

Music Recommendations?

2011-07-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Looking for music recommendations. I usually listen to Newsboys, Casting Crowns, other Christian and worship music, soundtracks (Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean), other soundtracks, Tempest, other Celtic rock, some classical (probably not technically classical, Andrew), Trans-Siberian Orchestra, some Skillet, a little Christian rap like Lecrae plus some various other artists and albums.

I know, not much variety. So, I'd like to expand my music selection. I'm looking for Celtic/Irish-sounding rock somewhere between Tempest and Sigur Rós. Also, some Christian music that has solid lyrics and sounds good (sorry if that is asking too much). As you may have noticed from my list above, in general I like strings, big and swelling sound (in moderation), and some dramatic-ness to the music. In addition, I'd just like to hear about whatever you enjoy listening, too.

Any recommendations?

I think the river is a little full

2011-04-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Picture Slideshow

I'm Going to Africa!

2011-04-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

With the semester coming to a close, I thought I would share with all of you my summer plans. And, yes, as implied by the title, I won't be bumming around at home.

It all started early last fall when a friend of mine, also in Agricultural Engineering, told me I should join the work on a "BUV" project. Whatever is a "BUV," anyways? That was my question as well. "BUV" stands for "Basic Utility Vehicle." That helps some, but let me provide you with some insight into what that means. A BUV is a vehicle designed for transporting goods (and people) in third world countries where reliable and inexpensive modes of transportation are scarce. The main criteria for these vehicles could be summed up in three points:

Inexpensive: As a critical part in helping people stuck in a cycle of poverty lift themselves out, transportation must be available at a reasonable. What is reasonable? Ideally, a buyer would be able to purchase a BUV on a small loan (micro-loan) and be able to pay it off within a short period of time so that he would be able to earn money with it. The BUV could be loaned out for day or hourly use for a charge. The buyer could be a individual, company, NGO or anyone. Our goal is to keep the total cost under $1500, neglecting the engine.
Local Parts: This is one area that sets the BUV apart from other modes of transportation. Someone may ask, why not just send over some Gators? Well, for starters, the price would render them unsustainable there. In addition, what if something breaks on it? Can you stop by the local John Deere dealer? No, because one doesn't exist. The BUV must, as much as possible, be made out of locally available parts and material. The Purdue group has a focus on designing a BUV for Cameroon where there are a lot of old Toyota Corollas. Because of that, we try to design the BUV to be able to use parts from that car model.
Durable: Fairly self-explanatory. Because of the rough terrain and usage these vehicles will experience, they must designed to be quite durable. Parts must be easily replaced (this correlates with number 2).

With all these criteria in mind, the design for our current BUV began began almost a year ago. Last fall, fabrication of the vehicle began. Over winter break, the BUV was finished enough to do a short test drive. After some initial changes early this spring, the BUV passed another, longer test drive. The rest of the spring semester has been spent on some redesign work for certain parts of the BUV and also work on finishing some of the "finer" parts. My design project was the front end. For that, I sought to make steering easier, add suspension and add a brake.

To provide our BUV design good testing and our team deadlines and motivation, we participated in the annual BUV competition with the Institute for Affordable Transportation(www.drivebuv.org). This years competition took place this past weekend. For our team, the week before the competition was somewhat a frantic race to completely finish the BUV. However, we had a very solid design that earned 2nd place overall in the competition and also the innovation award. Here is a video summary of the competition:

All this to say, the next step... we're taking our design to Cameroon, Africa! The Monday after final exam week, a team of us who have been working on the BUV will be heading for a three week stay with ACREST (www.acrest.org), an organization that we have partnered with on this project. This will be the third year a team like this has traveled from Purdue to work with ACREST. Our goal is to build a replicate BUV there in three weeks. It will be quite a challenge, but we will do our best. I have the opportunity to stay for another ten days in Cameroon. Most likely, I will stay at ACREST to make sure the BUV is well finished and to help with any other projects they may have.

This is turning into an unusually long post, so if you have any questions, you should ask me some time. How will I do laundry there? I don't know. In what kind of place will I be staying? I don't know. As of yet, am I sure anyone can house me for my additional ten day stay? No. There are a lot of unknowns right now. When I come back I should have more answers. Please be praying for safety, team unity, gospel-advancing relationships and BUV-building success.

Spring Break in Gatlinburg

2011-03-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

It was a much needed rest and time of reflection. With 22 other Salt & Lighters, I took to the hills of Tennessee to tackle mountains, take pictures and spend time with each other and God. If those were our goals, I think we can safely say, "mission accomplished." I really enjoyed and grew from getting to know everyone else on the trip. It was awesome to see all our different lives come together for the same purpose (knowing God better), fellowship together and talk about how God is at work in each of our lives in different ways.

It was all very beautiful country, even if it wasn't full of fall colors or the green of spring and summer or the white of winter. But, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

2011-02-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

With two days of snow recess from Purdue, I thought I would take a few minutes to edit and upload some pictures I took Sunday morning. If you have a favorite edit version, let me know.

Foggy Morning on the Farm

2010-09-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Foggy Morning on the Farm

This picture may look somewhat familiar if you visit my blog. It is the first picture I've edited it in Photoshop much. The red hue is much more noticeable in this version compared to the background of my blog page. I believe this one is worth printing, framing and hanging. By the way, does anybody have a favorite place to have their pictures printed? Please comment if you do. Here are some starters from what I've found (both have surprisingly low prices):

http://www.nationsphotolab.com/prints.htm#sale

http://meridianpro.com/products-pricing.html

Storms

2010-06-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

We have had several large storms here lately. After one such storm, I went outside to take pictures and found a full double rainbow waiting. It was the best rainbow I have ever seen. It was so big that I couldn't get it all in one frame and the pictures I did get weren't the best, but I hope you will enjoy them anyway. Soon, I will post pictures of the trip to Washington and Oregon.

The Calf's Ghost

2010-05-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

I was out yesterday taking pictures of the trees blowing in the wind by using a slow shutter speed. Wanting to see what a slow-shutter picture would look like with an animal like the calf in it, I pointed my camera in the calf's direction. The exposure to get this photo was twenty seconds. Halfway through the shot, the calf walked away to the right. You can see a white blur on that side if you look closely.

For the World to Enjoy

2010-05-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Someone mentioned to me the other day that if I ever wanted to, I could send them some shots that I have taken so that they could use them. To that end, I've decided to start an online album with some pictures of mine in higher resolution so that you can use them for your desktop background or something, if you feel so inclined. Here is my start of eleven photos. You can find the images for download at the Picasa Webalbum, Desktop Background.

One more thing, please keep the use of these photographs for your own, personal enjoyment. They are not available for commercial use. If you would like to use an image for another purpose, please contact me by either emailing me or commenting on this post. Thank you.

How to Google-it

2010-05-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever asked you a question that you would just Google to find the answer? Well, here is a way that you can help them learn the answer and know how to do it for themselves the next time. You would fulfill the proverb that says, "give a man a fish..." Wait, how does that go again? Ah, a perfect example. Go here to find the answer.

The website that makes this is http://lmgtfy.com/

Lens Filters

2010-05-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

I got a few lens filters today: Ultraviolet, Circular Polarizer and Fluorescent. I think I will keep the polarizer on my camera. It is slightly adjustable so that I can set the amount it affects the incoming light. Also, it will protect my lens from dust and if I bump or drop the camera, it will hopefully take the brunt of the damage. Here are some quick shots I took to test the polarizer filter.

No Filter

Filter at Max

Filter at Min

The Power of God

2010-05-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

God's creation is beautiful and also powerful. Last night after my physics exam, I rushed home so that I could photograph the sunset and oncoming storm. I didn't make it in time to get much of the sunset, but I did enjoy photographing lightening successfully for the first time.

This passage is quoting what God said to the man Job. It gives us a good perspective of how small we are and how great our God is.
"Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?" (Job 38:33-35)

ENGL 108 project

2010-05-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

This spoof advertisement was made for the last project in my English 108 class. I think it speaks for itself. The original ad was found on the internet along with a million others.

Although I like my little ad, this movie my friend over at the Learning to Make Boilers blog rocks it. Enjoy.

Large Eggs

2010-04-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

And the store calls the eggs they sell in these cartons "large"?

You don't find large eggs at Walmart.

New Camera

2010-03-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

I got my new camera Tuesday! It is a Canon Rebel XSi and I like it a lot. Here is a sample picture taken with my Fujifilm S700 and a sample picture taken with my new Rebel XSi. You can view them at 100% to see the difference at that level. Also, notice the width to height ratio difference.

Taken with my old Fujifilm S700. View at 100% and compare to the next photo.

Taken with my new Canon Rebel XSi. View at 100% and compare to the previous photo.

More Eagle Watching

2010-03-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

This past week of Spring break has been very nice. Today, I went with Maria down to Fort Ouiatenon to look at and photograph the Bald Eagles we hoped were still there. We didn't have a lot of time as I had an advising appointment at Purdue to work on registering for classes in the Fall. Although the photography results aren't impressive, we enjoyed the time sneaking along the Wabash and spying on the eagles.

Here is the best photo of an eagle that I have so far. With a new camera on the way, I hope to get better shots.

Snow and Ice

2010-02-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been enjoying the weather lately. I like a little adventure now and then along with the beauty it brings. We didn't get quite the 3ft of snow Washington DC got, but we have had a little and also some pretty frost.

End of the Semester/Beginning of Another

2010-01-04T11:48:00.001-08:00

As you may have noticed, it has been awhile since I last posted on my blog. But I have not forgotten it completely.

I am somewhat surprised that my first semester in college is already over and I am about to start my second! I must say that going to school at Purdue has been a bit of a change for me. For the first month or so, I struggled with the transition, but then I settled into a routine and figured out how to get the work done. Although the work load this semester will be greater than last semester, I think I will be able to start off on the right foot. Towards the end of last semester, I realized that studying the Learning Objectives is a good way to study for exams and should also be studied while going through that material in class. Hopefully, little things like that will help me out next semester.

Besides academics, I am excited about seeing what God is going to do with and in me this coming (soon to be current) semester. I have learned a lot this past year and look forward to this new year in anticipation of growing even more.

Covered Bridges

2009-08-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday my family took a day vacation to Parke County. We went to three or four covered bridges, for which the county is famous, and spent some time in tourist shops, something that we don't often do, with which, need I mention, I am quite alright. We had fun as a family and I even snapped a few decent shots. Beth also took some nice pictures with her new camera. I think she is enjoying it a lot.

The English Language

2009-08-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

It is crazy.

How do you pronounce "clove?" Okay, now take the "c" off the front. The correct pronunciation for it is different from the original for no apparent reason. Its just the way it is.

Now say "wire." Is it one syllable or two? We say it like it is two syllables ("why-er"), but there is really only one.

Now say "baked." Easy enough, right? Okay, then, replace the first letter with an "n." It changes, doesn't it? Again, no rhyme or reason. That is just the way it is.

When a young person, international, or I make a mistake pronouncing a word, give us a break. With so many rules which are only followed half the time, it is hard to know how to say a lot of words.

Battle of the Bugs

2009-06-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

I shot this last summer.

Hummingbirds

2009-06-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I hung a hummingbird feeder just outside my window. Since then, I have been trying to take a good picture of the hummingbirds that come to it. I'm quite pleased with the results.

Sally and Adam

2009-05-28T08:48:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday Adam, Sally, Beth, Maria and I packed ourselves, along with Maria's bike, into Beth's car and headed off to Prophet's Town State Park. Our plan was to take pictures of Adam and Sally for their wedding announcements and other such things. We were surprisingly quite successful. Out of about 350 photographs we actually got a decent number of good ones!

Full Album

Roses

2009-05-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I took of roses.

Pig Shower

2009-05-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today at lunch I went out to collect eggs and check on the animals. The pig's water was low, so I added some to it. The pigs came running out of their little house to the water and started knocking it around. They sloshed a lot of water out and then sat and rolled around in it. I, attempting to put my smarts (what there is of them) to good use, decided that the pigs must be hot and would like some water in which they could cool themselves. Once I figured that out (you can imagine how long it took), I felt like a genius. Still in that sate of mind, I engineered a little watering system, or shower, for them to enjoy. And boy did they enjoy it! The video says it all:

Chain maille

2009-05-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

After everyone seeing and asking questions about my chain maille at the last Family Gathering, I decided to test out an old piece that I had made quite a while ago. I tested three different weapons on it: an arrow, an axe and a knife, as shown below.

Of all the weapons I used, the arrow was the most deadly. It went right through the chain maille. As you can see from the picture, it wasn't even sharp. What the problem is is that the arrow has a lot of force that is applied against the chain maille at one very small spot. It enters into the rings and just opens them up as it continues on into... well, in this case, it was dirt. I tested the chain maille also with some leather behind it. The arrow went right through the chain maille, but when it hit the leather, it bounced right back up. So, in this case, the leather worked better, though, if the arrow was sharp, the arrow probably would have gone through it also.

The knife was about the same as the arrow. However, there were a couple of differences. First, the knife was very sharp. Second, I didn't strike with half as much force as the arrow did. This was due to two reasons. First I don't think I could swing that hard. And second, I didn't want dull my knife too much. The results were also similar to that of the arrow's, but it only went partially through the chain maille and also cut into the leather.

The axe was a different. It didn't cut or wedge in so much, but rather it just smashed. It did damage the chain maille and also got the chain maille and the leather dirty, for it drove about an inch or so into the ground. At least it wasn't my head or chest! This made me think about the scene in The Lord of The Rings, Book Two, Chapter Five when Frodo's chain maille saved him.

"A huge orc-chieftain, almost man-high, clad in black mail from head to foot, leaped into the chamber... Diving under Aragorn's blow with the speed of a striking snake he charged into the Company and thrust with his spear staight at Frodos. The blow caught him on the right side, and Frodo was hurled against the wall and pinned."

Frodo, of course, gets off with just some severe bruises. This seems very unrealistic. Chain maille (or mail) is flexible. If without the chain maille Frodo would have been skewered, he would have, with the chain maille, at least been smashed into a pancake by the spear, just as my axe went right into the earth, driving the maille and leather before it.

So now, I am trying to think up a better type of maille. I think thicker wire and a tighter pattern would be best. We'll see what, if anything, I come up with. In the mean time, here is what the chain maille looked like after my multiple attacks upon it.

It's All Over

2009-05-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

After six years in debate and four or so years of speech, I went out with a bang at the Regional tournament last week. Don't get me wrong. The bang doesn't refer to how I defeated everyone, but to how they got me. Okay, so my partner and I didn't get completely blown away in debate. Winning three out of six debates isn't bad... just average. In speech competition I can count all the ballots that ranked me something besides "5th and below" on one hand. But again, that's is fine. I didn't expect to do really well relative to all the other competitors. There were some exceptionally good speakers and debaters at the tournament including one I personally know who advanced to the national tournament in four events.

I find it pretty sad to leave all this behind me. I have really enjoyed debate, except for maybe the first year. To a novice debater, debates seem very, very long. I remember being assigned to watch a VHS tape with a debate on it my first year. I think the debate was about income tax. At the time, I thought it was about the best way to bore oneself for an hour and a half. The resolution for my first year was "Resolved: That the United States federal government should significantly change its policy toward one or more of its protectorates." In an effort to pick an Affirmative case upholding the resolution, I randomly picked one on Japan. Did you know that Japan is one of our protectorates? I must have had an interesting definition of protectorate to have a case like that.

The next year's resolution was that the US should reduce its dependence on foreign oil. That year I rationally thought through what case I should run. I landed on E85. Interesting to note what has happened since then. No, we haven't made a lot of cars that run on solar power, turkey guts or hydrogen but rather we have made a big switch over to Ethanol.

Then there was medical malpractice, NATO, illegal immigration and then finally this year's resolution to change the US's policy towards India. I guess I can say what my case is. No more tournaments or debates so it's safe now. My case is... was to cut aid to India. By the assumed definition of "aid", the case gives an advantage to the opposing team. "There are starving children in India! We have to keep sending them aid!" Appeal to pity. In our case, we listed four main reasons why we should stop sending aid to India:

U.S. aid to India isn't needed - India sends aid to other countries
U.S. aid to India doesn't work
U.S. aid to India causes harm
U.S. aid to India violates the U.S. Constitution

Of course, we had evidence to back up each of our points. Even with the seemingly unfair disadvantage, we usually won on affirmative. I think we only lost four times out of eighteen.

I am very glad that I was given six years to do debate. Through it, I've learned a lot and created and sharpened many skills. I would encourage you if you are in middle school or high school to join a local speech and debate club. The first year or two can be very hard and not enjoyable, but stick with it. You will soon reap the rewards.

Spring is here

2009-04-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stating the obvious, David.

But just in case that isn't enough for you, here is proof. Yes, I got my camera out the other day and took a ton of pictures (127 exactly).

My lone goat, Nell enjoying a pasture paddock I had just let her in that morning.

Same story here, I think

We have hungry animals.

I think I'm going crazy...

2009-04-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

oh, am I the last one to figure that out?

Debate. It's taking over my mind. From waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night, I think about debate. Mostly, I think about my case, why all the arguments against it are wrong and how to make the judge understand that too. That is really the most important part of debate. No matter how much you may want to strangle the other team, it really won't help your cause. Humbug! I wasn't going to write a thought provoking post, but I just had this thought pop into my head. The situation I just described is a little like real life. God is like the judge. Other people are like the other team. Going through life, we often want to fight with other people. When they frustrate us, it seems like the right way to deal with it, is to respond in anger and deal with them ourselves. We lose sight of the big picture. We want to solve the problem ourselves. God has told us that the way to "win" is to obey Him.* When we deal with things on our own, we aren't trusting God.

Anyways, this week my alarm clock has been doing strange things. Or, at least I have been imagining strange things. Several times this week I've woken up and was quite sure that the alarm going off was the negative team's speech. Of course, after that, I had to come up with a rebuttal speech explaining how the negative team is all wrong and why our case is right. Either I am going crazy or my alarm clock is.

I have restructured my case and have sent it to several people for critiquing. One thing everybody has mentioned is about the fourth point under the fourth observation which is, "..." Wait, I can't spill that. Well, I'll tell you this, the weakest point in our case is obviously... Hmmm, I shouldn't say that either. I guess I should at least tell you what change our case is making... except, well, that isn't such a good idea either.

Okay, at this point, I better explain something, what we debaters call "HCACI," which stands for Highly Classified Affirmative Case Information. In debate, you don't tell anybody what your case is. You see, it is supposed to be a great secret. If everyone knew what your case was, then they would be all prepared to argue it with evidence. Even when you get into the room you are debating in, we always turn the case face-down. That way the other team never knows what your case is until you read it in the first speech. Not that it really matters. What would they do? Pull out evidence against our case? They don't really have any more time to prepare five minutes before the start of the debate. The point of all this? I can't reveal ANY HCACI.

Well, I guess I will reveal one thing about our case. It will break the HCACI tradition, but I can't leave you hanging. Hopefully, this won't leave me literally hanging for revealing some HCACI. Okay, here it is: are case is... changing the United States policy towards India.

There, I did it. I revealed some of our HCACI. I don't think I will do that again. It is a little dangerous.

That is what has been on my mind lately. It will be over soon. Too soon for me. I realized that this next tournament will probably be my last tournament. I will never do this again. I've learned a lot from debate, though. It's not all gone. The skills I have learned from debate will still be with me. How will God allow me to use them for His glory in the future?

* I am not supporting works based salvation here. This is dealing with people who are already saved. We need to trust God and be obedient to Him no matter what other people do.

Just when I thought I was done...

2009-03-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

Remember about a month and a half ago my post on our adopted lambs? Well, ever since we got them we have had to bottle feed them milk replacer. At first we tried to get them to eat more and more. Then, after awhile, we started to try and cut the amount they were drinking so that we could wean them off the milk. Finally, (oh joy of joys!) we were done feeding them! It takes a lot of time, especially when they are drinking multiple bottles multiple times a day.
Just when I thought I was done... we got another phone call. "How many lambs do you want? Three, four, five?" To make a long story short, Mom and Maria went up today and picked up two, no three, one or two day old lambs. Whew! Back to bottle feeding. This time however, I won't be around all the time. From Wednesday to Sunday, I will be in Louisville for another qualifying speech and debate tournament. Then, at the end of the month, I get to go to Cincinnati for the regional tournament.
The lambs aren't the only additions to our farm. Last Saturday we picked up two pigs from friends of some friends. They sure look like pigs. "What did you think they would look like, elephants?" you ask. Actually, they do have pretty big ears. That is what Maria was especially impressed with. I'm not big into naming the animals, but "Dumbo" does seem like an appropriate name.

George and The Dancing Monkey Hair Salon

2009-03-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

Everyone, thank you for your help and for putting up with my goofiness. The story has turned out pretty well even though I am not very good at writing stories. But no more of what I have to say, let's here what you folks came up with.

In a fat house near Tallahassee in East Timor, there lived a disheveled man named George. For breakfast he ate Death by Chocolate and avocado with lemonade. Because he had Ebola Zaire, he didn't eat any lunch. However, for dinner he ate a ugly feast! He had ham salad, salami, smoked herring and sushi with soy milk. For company, he kept an aardvark. For protection, he had a moray eel. He called the aardvark, Mark, but his moray eel had no name. He just called him The Consoled, because he would sprint all day. Jobless and with no friends, George didn't know what to do. One day, he read in The Post that a new business was moving into Tallahassee. The new business got paid by people to move gourds from Boring, Oregon to Greenwich and was named The Dancing Monkey Hair Salon. The Dancing Monkey Hair Salon was hiring workers to move those gourds. George decided to apply for one of those positions. He had always wanted candor and thought this would be a squeamish chance to get it. Not to mention that it would give him something to do. The magnanimous job interviewer resoundingly did not hire him. Feeling befuddled, he left and went home for his portly, fourteen course dinner. The next morning, he was back again at the The Dancing Monkey Hair Salon headquarters. No longer feeling befuddled but rather terrorized, he fleetingly ran 14/18 of the way there. Unknown to anyone, however, was the approaching frozen flood waters. When the frozen flood waters hit, it was followed by another catastrophe, a volcanic eruption. Then, in the footsteps of the volcanic eruption was a swallowing 3 cups of ammonia. Finally the final and most celestial catastrophe struck: the end of the story.

A Crazy Game

2009-03-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, this may seem like a crazy idea to some of you, but with your help, it just might work. I have written one of those stories with blanks left for certain types of words to be entered. This type of story has a name, I think, but I don't recall what it is. I need your help with coming up with words for the blanks because, if I came up with them, this would be no fun at all. You can fill in the blanks by commenting on this post.

It will (hopefully) work like this. The first person to comment will do number one. He/she will choose either true or false. The second person to comment will do number 2, which is ADJECTIVE-3. Don't worry about the number at the end. That is for my reference. He/she will choose any adjective they please. This continues on until all blanks are filled. Now, there are a lot of them, so I encourage you to do more than one at a time. For example, if the last comment to this post gave a location for number 14, you could fill in three blanks like so: "15. Earthquake 16. Soft 17. Pizza".

If everyone really thinks this is crazy or childish and no one fills in the blanks by commenting, never fear! I will just force my family members to come up with words to fill in the blanks.

REMEMBER TO DO THE LIST BELOW IN ORDER!

TRUE/FALSE (just choose one or the other)
ADJECTIVE-3
NAME-2
FOOD-4
ABSTRACT-GOOD-THING
ADJECTIVE-6
NUMBER
CITY
COUNTRY
NAME-1
CATASTROPHE-1
FOOD-1
FRACTION
LOCATION-1
CATASTROPHE-2
ADJECTIVE-5
FOOD-6
DRINK-2
ANIMAL-1
ADJECTIVE-4
LY-WORD-1
ANIMAL-2
VERB-2
FOOD-2
NEWSPAPER NAME
LOCATION-2
DRINK-1
ADJECTIVE-7
SICKNESS
FOOD-3
LY-WORD-2
FOOD-5
VERB-1
EMOTION-2
ADJECTIVE-1
CATASTROPHE-3
NOUN
ADJECTIVE-2
EMOTION-1
BUSINESS NAME

Of Birds and Dwarves

2009-03-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, in the late afternoon through evening, Mom, Maria, Sally, Adam and I went to the Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area, where thousands of sand-hill cranes are supposed to rest in the evenings. Well, we saw a lot, but not thousands. We first walked through a marsh area on a gravel road. If you know me well, my goal was to take pictures of wildlife. I am not a professional photographer nor a wildlife specialist, but I do know one or two things about wildlife photography. The one thing I had in mind especially yesterday was silence. If you want to get close to wildlife to photograph it, then you must be silent in your approach. That is a little difficult in boots on a gravel road. I kept trying to remind everyone to be quiet, but when you have more than two people together, that is a difficult to do. It reminded me of this excerpt from The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien:

But at any rate hobbits can move quietly in woods, absolutely quietly. They take pride in it, and Bilbo had sniffed more than once at what he called "all this dwarvish racket," as they went along though I don't suppose you or I would notice anything at all on a windy night, not if the whole cavalcade had passed two feet off.

Now of course, I don't claim to be any extra a quiet walker than your average human. This is just what came to my mind. After a fair success at getting everyone somewhat quiet, all my efforts were squelched. Remember what we were walking on? A gravel road. As we walked, still fairly noisily, a car came along. Now a small group of people isn't too quiet, but a car... that's a different story. After that, I wasn't so picky. But I can't complain. I got a few good pictures and everyone enjoyed themselves (I think...?).

Photos of Spring

2009-03-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Shep always has itches

Playing with focus and zoom

The lamb and goat seem to be getting along

Debate and Speech

2009-03-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Last week and this week I have been desperately preparing for next week's speech and debate tournament. Although I have been in debate for six years, this will be the first qualifying tournament I have been to. I have been to many different practice tournaments, but none of those are " real" tournaments. This qualifying tournament is in Indianapolis. Since it is so close, we will be driving back and forth every day. We're supposed to be there by 7:30 AM the first day! It should be lots of fun, though. One can't have too much of debate! My partner does most of the negative preparation, while I on the other hand, do most of the affirmative preparation. I have this idea in my mind of a perfect affirmative case. That is why I have rewritten our case use multiple times this past week. I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a perfect affirmative debate case.

Tonight I found something really cool on my computer. I found that I have speech recognition on my computer. That means I can use voice commands to do different actions. Most of this post has been written by dictating it to the computer. It works fairly well, although I'm not sure how much I will use it for really working. In dictating, it still makes many mistakes. It may be nice though to open and close programs. It is late in the nation go to bed. That last sentence is a perfect example of how speech recognition works. I had said, "it is late and I should go to bed." One good thing is that this program is hoping the speak purely. No, no, no. One meant to say, "this program is hoping me speak clearly." I still can't seem to say "helping" correctly. Maybe I am beginning to sound like Maria!

Butchering Chickens

2009-02-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

WARNING: rated PG-13 for City-dwellers

Well, today was chicken butchering day on the Wilson farm. Of course, the temperature had to keep dropping this week so that we were freezing out there this morning! Ah well, we can be thankful that there were no flies or bad odors hanging around.

The process started last night when we separated ten chickens out from the rest of the flock. But how do we decide which chickens to butcher? We have our chickens primarily for their eggs, so we really don't want to get rid of our egg laying hens. We also know that not all the chickens are laying eggs (especially two of them, something to do with the fact that they crow). But how do we know which hens are laying eggs and which ones aren't? We don't. We just have to guess.
"Hey Dave, that hen's comb is bigger than the others which means it is probably older. Take it out."
"Dad, this chicken is a lighter brown. Maybe that means its old too."
"Sounds good to me. Here's one: it's a little skinny and not so healthy looking. Maybe it isn't laying eggs. Let's take it out."
"Hey! This chicken just pecked me! Let's get rid of it!"

It really was pretty random. You may charge us with discrimination in the areas of ageism, racism or definitely speciesism and it would be true... at least with chickens. So, we ended up taking out ten poor chickens, that, with the luck we have with this whole farming thing, were probably our ten best egg-laying hens. It took quite awhile and we didn't get in the house till around 11:00 pm. Thankfully, Dad let me sleep in this morning (till 9:00!). I guess he wants me to be awake and alert when I use sharp knives. So about 10:30 this morning we got going with the whole process. Here is the process we go through to butcher the chickens (it is all done at the barn):

First, we rotate them 180 degree and stick them in an upside-down laundry detergent container with their head sticking out through the hole in the bottom.

WARNING: Those of you who can't stand seeing blood better close their eyes now.

At that point, Dad uses a razor blade to cut the arteries in their neck. That way, they keep breathing and their heart keeps pumping all the blood right out into the bucket under the chicken. This is actually one of the most humane ways of killing a chicken. Because they bleed to death, it just like fainting. After they stop kicking and fighting, we cut their head off and place the rest of them on the table. then we cut the skin down the breast, cut off the two pieces of meat off the breast and also the leg and thigh together. That is all the meat we take off of them. All the meat still on the chicken, is very little for all the time it takes to get it. Once those four pieces of meat are off the chicken, the chicken body joins its head in the trash can.

That is pretty much it. Mr. Sabens and Connor came over and learned how we did it and helped us. Next time, Matt Borg gets to come and help. One odd thing happened this time. As I was throwing away a plastic sheet in the garbage can and smashing it down on top of the chicken bodies below, I heard a little squawk. Yes, they are all dead, but sometimes they can still make noise when pressured. A little unnerving, I'd say.

A loss and find of the valuable

2009-02-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Late last night I had a little scare. Around 10:30 I was getting ready for bed. As I emptied my pockets, I notice that my wallet was missing. Now you must understand, there are three items I always carry around: my cellphone, my knife, and my wallet. These items are all useful and important, but I have to say that my wallet is the most important of the three. My phone is really not very unique. Besides other people's phone numbers, the minutes I bought for it are valuable as is my saved game of "space". Neither is my knife very special: a fairly dull blade, a corkscrew, a broken pair of "scissors" and something I think is supposed to be a screwdriver. The idea is that my cellphone and knife are easily replaced.

Not so with my wallet. It's not really the wallet that is valuable, but its contents. The wallet was literally the cheapest one I could find. My wallet has many irreplaceable items. Some examples: rectangular pieces of green paper that have pictures of U.S. presidents from years ago. Of course, the pieces of those papers I have aren't very unique except for one very important thing: they are mine. My drivers license is the only one like it. There is not another card in the whole world just like it. That's what I call special. The list goes on: business cards, pictures of family, my library card and gift cards to Starbucks and Barnes&Noble.

Lose your wallet and you lose a lot.

I would like to describe last evening in narrative form. Here goes:

As David emptied his pockets, he pulled out his cellphone, his knife and his...
"Where's my wallet!"
David began searching the floor, his bed and his closet hoping that his wallet would show up quickly. Without any success in his room he moved to the living room where his mother and two sisters were talking. He looked around the couch where he had been sitting: nothing.
"Anybody seen my wallet?"
At that point his mother and two sisters entered his room milling around searching for a little, black wallet.
"Beth, it's not a book so it wouldn't be on the bookshelf."
"Sally, I didn't even open that drawer today."
"Is it at the barn?" - Mom
"I sure hope not."
"Is it in the car?" - Dad
"It's cold out there, Dad."
"Nope, I checked, it's not in the car." - Dad
"Is at the place you gave your presentation today, David?" - Mom
"I don't know."
After awhile the crowd of helpful family searchers began leaving for their the respectful beds.
"Dad, if it is outside somewhere, would anything happen to it overnight?"
"It's supposed to snow and rain tonight."
"Oh."
"Do you want my flashlight?"
"I suppose."
David dressed for the freezing temperature and went outside to search for his wallet. He went everywhere he had been earlier, but there was not wallet.
"Any luck?" - Dad
"No."
"I'm sorry, Dave. Did I ever tell you about the time I lost my wallet?"
"I don't think so."
"Your mother and I went hiking up a mountain one day. When we were on it, I realized I didn't have my wallet with me. We looked at the trail all the way back looking for where it might have been. When I got home, I found it on the shelf. I must have never put it in my pocket that morning!"
A little before David's Dad said "I found it on the shelf," David had looked down in his closet and seen it there sitting on a ledge of a shelf.
"I found it."
"Oh, good!"
"It must have fallen out when I went to put my pants away and landed right there on the shelf."

So ends my little adventure: happily, as it ought.

"And he lived happily ever after... until the next morning."

The Most Awesomist Game

2009-02-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

For thousands of years people have played games. All kinds of games. From physical ball throwing and catching to games of words, sentences and questions. I enjoy all types of games. I especially like to play strategy games. For awhile I played chess, though I never got very good at it, as Nathan Schinckel could tell you. But I have found a game that I enjoy more than all others, that is full of strategy and that is very different each time you play.

Enter Settlers of Catan.

Unlike many board games, the board of Settlers varies each time you play. No more loss of fun from learning "the trick" to winning the game. Everyone I know that plays has a different strategy. Some of them seem to have a different strategy each time they play.

I have probably played Settlers around twenty to twenty-five times. My dad has probably played around five or six times. Yet, just the other night, he won against the rest of the family. I also am a very bad loser. I really hate losing. So it was with some disappointment that I put Settlers away that night. But, as it has been said many times, one learns more from losing than one does from winning.

So what can I learn from losing?
1. People are more important than me winning. I should always be thinking of others, even in the middle of a game against them. This doesn't mean that I should just let them win, but just do it nicely, so to speak.
2. What God thinks of me is more important than what people think of me. Sometimes I want to win just to look good and impress people. That doesn't impress God. A humble heart is what He is looking for.
3. A game is for fun and enjoyment! If I turn it into something where I have to win at all costs, the fun begins to slide away from me and from everyone else playing. A game is just a game.

I highly recommend Settlers of Catan to anyone old enough to play (don't ask me for a number here). Learn from my mistakes, though. Play to have fun with others not to win (although you should try).

Our Little Adoption and Analogies

2009-02-13T15:46:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, my Dad asked for his name to be placed on the list for free lambs from the Purdue lamb barn. When there is a situation at the farm where a lamb would have to be bottle fed (e.g. the mother ewe dies, or cannot feed all of its lambs), they try to give the lambs away. So Wednesday evening Dad got a call from the PU farm and yesterday Mom, Maria and I went up there to pick up two lambs. The dark lamb is bigger. The milk we are bottle feeding them, he chugs down as if he hasn't eaten anything for days. The other one is light and small. We are having to force him to eat, and only a little bit at that. He shivers and shakes the whole time we try to feed him.I was thinking tonight about how our little adoption of these lambs is like God's adoption of us. A few similarities:
1. We were completely helpless before God saved us/These lambs can't do much for themselves
2. We were without understanding*/Sheep are dumb
3. God adopted us into his family/We "adopted" these little lambs (not into our family, though)

But the analogy (praise God) stops there:
1. God has given us the promise that He will never leave us/I for one, don't plan on sitting in the barn all day long
2. God created me/Enough said
3. God said that, as His children, we will have eternal life with Him/Our little lambs will have life until they're fat, their free feed is gone (grass) and our freezer is empty enough to fit them in

This brings me to a small but important point: Every analogy stops somewhere.

I have found that this is something many, many people miss. Even people I think wouldn't miss it. Often, when I am trying to explain something and use an analogy, the person I am explaining it to will begin to argue with the analogy, not what it represents: my argument. In a debate, sometimes I will use an analogy ("say this chair is India and " etc...) to explain my argument to the judge. Then the other team will get up and start arguing with my analogy, acting as if it was the reality ("if this chair really were India, then India would have four legs like a cow, which means you are saying Indians " etc...). This would be fine, if the opposing team then backed up their argument with evidence, external to the analogy. It usually goes like this:
1. I make an argument
2. I use an analogy to explain the argument
3. The other team gets up and uses the analogy to support their view point.
Instead of using the analogy to explain how they are right and I am wrong, they use it to support their case. They have forgotten that every analogy stops somewhere. Now, it is okay to attack the analogy saying that it is a bad analogy, that it doesn't represent the real thing. But we must remember:

An analogy is just that: an analogy. It isn't the real thing itself.

*This does not refer to any lack of intelligence but the foolishness of rebellion against God.

Me? An Attorney?

2009-02-12T16:15:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night was Teen Court. We had two cases that night. It was also the first time I have been an attorney. I had "second-chaired" as an attorney, but never spoken or questioned in court before. I was a defense lawyer the other week during a mock/practice trial. This time however, it was the "real thing." Before I knew it, I was sitting in the Teen Court Specialist's big, office chair and speaking to my "client" and their parent across the desk from me. I asked them the very basic "So, what happened?" question and was then stumped. "And what consequences have you had already?" Then I explained what would happen in the court room and then let them leave the office. At the beginning, I did warn them that this was a first time for me. I wonder how they felt hearing that their lawyer was a newbie. But in the end, I think the respondent was happy, or least they should have been happy, since the jury decided on a lower sentence than even I, let alone the prosecuting attorney, had recommended. In the trial itself, I had an assistant or second-chair attorney with me. He did a fine job. He made the closing statements on the case and made the sentence recommendation.

That night I also represented the county by prosecuting another respondent. Again, I had another attorney with me, but this time he did one of the questionings along with the closing statements and recommendation.

Teamwork

2009-02-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

Here is a goofy yet fun video I have enjoyed:

Photography

2009-02-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

I went down to the Wabash today and tried taking pictures of Bald Eagles. I wasn't too successful. This picture is cropped significantly:

I did take some other nice pictures though:

Evolution, the United States and the Iron Curtain

2009-02-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

I've been reading two books lately. The first, for my apologetics course, is "To Everyone an Answer," which is a compilation of essays by a variety of authors. It deals with a wide range of issues, from the existence of God to Postmodernism. I just finished the chapter titled "Darwin, Design and the Public Schools," which mostly deals with why teaching Intelligent Design in public schools is constitutional. But it got me thinking again about evolution and the "scientific fact" taught in public schools today.

However, this post deals with two books I am reading. "God's Smuggler" is written by and about Brother Andrew. From his childhood in Holland, this book describes how God got a hold of Andrew's life and used him to encourage the church behind the Iron curtain during the 50's and 60's . I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is one of those books that is an encouragement and challenge to one's faith and also hard to put down because of the excitement of the true story being told. During one of his trips behind the Iron Curtain, to Yugoslavia, Andrew visited a Roman Catholic church in a small village:

I noticed that there was not a single person under twenty in the entire congregation, and I asked Nikola about it. In answer he introduced me to a peasant woman who had a ten-year-old son.
"Tell Brother Andrew why Josif is not here," said Nikola.
"Why is my Josif not with me?" she asked. Her voice was bitter. "Because I am a peasant woman with no education. The teacher tells my son there is no God. The government tells my son there is no God. They say to my Josif, 'Maybe your Mama tells you differently, but we know better, don't we? You must remember that Mama has no education. We will humor her.' So? My Josif is not with me. I am being humored."

In America today, we do not have these problems... at least not to this extent. Let's follow some logic:
1. All public schools in America are ruled and regulated by the government.
2. The government does not allow teaching religion in public schools.
3. Teaching creation is considered a religious teaching and is virtually banned from being taught in public schools.
4. There are really only two options for the origin of life: either it came about by chance (naturalism) or it came about by the will or design of some greater being (creation).^{1 2}
5. The U.S. government has completely excluded the far option of creation. Since religion cannot be taught in schools, it cannot be taught that a god created the earth.
6. Public schools only teach evolution (at least the very large majority do). Evolution is taught almost as history is. While teaching evolution supports one option of the origin of life, allows belief in the in-between (see footnote 2), it again doesn't leave any room for the belief that a being or god created all of life and the world we live in today.

This has made me ask the question: How much is the government controlling what we are taught? This isn't only in public school, but in all areas of public life. What are they telling us? Communist Yugoslavia controlled what was taught in the schools, which caused a whole generation of young people to turn against the beliefs of their parents. Brother Andrew tells about how printed material was very carefully censored behind the Iron Curtain because the government wanted to control what the people knew and how they were influenced.

In "God's Smuggler" Andrew describes how different communist countries fought against the Church. Some outright attacked Christians and put them in prison. Some didn't allow Bibles to be printed. Some allowed Christians to meet publicly and print Bibles, but attacked the Church by controlling what the younger generation was taught was true.

How far is America from this?

I am not going to try to answer all the questions this post brings to mind (at least not now). However, I would appreciate some input. Do you think my reasoning has error in it? Did I miss something important? Do you agree with me? I don't claim to have all the answers. I just have one: Jesus.⁴

1. Here is a quote I like very much: “When it comes to the origin of life on this earth, there are only two possibilities: Creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved 100 years ago, but that leads us only to one other conclusion: that of super natural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore we chose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance... The spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible yet here we are - as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation.” George Wald2. Now, one may say that there is middle ground, that a "greater being" or "god" created the earth or was the initiator, but that life arose by spontaneous evolution (with or without the intervention of that being). This point does not mess up my logic, as you will see (or, at least I see, and I hope you will see too).3. [The map above] is the Iron Curtain after WWII up to the late 1980s. Created by Vernes Seferovic. Image From Wikipedia.
4. This answer will hopefully be described and built upon through every post on this blog. Also, hearing the sermon at my church this past week, may give some insight into why I gave that answer.

Trustworthiness of the Bible Part I

2009-02-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

In the last post, I listed several reasons why the copies of the Bible we have now are accurate and virtually the same as the original manuscripts. A follower of my blog, in a comment to that post, asked this question:

Is the Bible true because there is an abundance of evidence that supports it's validity or because God says it's true?

I am going to write a series of x posts as a response to that question. While the last post dealt with the accuracy of the copies we have now, these posts will deal with what makes those original documents trustworthy. In this post specifically, we will look at the Bible's:

Historical Accuracy
The evidences below are all taken from my apologetics cards. If you are one of those people who don't read everyone's posts, this would be a good post to skip (i.e. it isn't as important as the other posts in the series). I found these finds interesting though:

“For years historians denied the historical existence of ‘Belshazzar.’ Then in 1854 Henry Rawlinson discovered an inscription in Ur that named ‘Bel-shar-usur’ (Belshazzar) as the eldest son a coregent with King Nabonidus, who was often away from Babylon and left Belshazzar as king. This clarifies Daniel 5:29, which says that Daniel was the ‘third ruler in the kingdom.’” (Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences, copyright © 2006 by H. Wayne House)
The Hittites were the sons of Heth, the son of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah. The Hittites were thought to by a mythical people until a Hittite library was discovered, proving that the Hittites were not mythical.
The Ebla Tablets (2350 BC) in Syria, describe cities such as Sodom, Zeboim, Hazor, Megiddo, Jerusalem, and Gaza, (all mentioned in the Bible) which were previously thought legendary. It also contains similar names to those in the Bible which would have been used just a couple hundred years later (Nahor, Israel, Michael, Ishmael, and Eber). Finally, the gods Dagon and Baal are mentioned in the Ebla Tablets as they are also in the Bible.

Of course there are many other examples of the Bible's accuracy, but for the sake of time, I will end there.

The Bible

2009-01-29T04:12:00.000-08:00

Right up to last weekend's tournament, I had been preparing for the Apologetics speech event. This even is categorized as a "Limited Preparation" event. There is a list (pdf) of questions that will be used, about a hundred of them, in six different categories. At the Lafayette tournament, they only used the first two categories. The first category is the Existence and Nature of God. The second category is about the Scriptures. You can prepare as much or as little as you want to answer those questions.

I have found that researching this category has been very beneficial. I never had thought a lot about where the Bible came from. We just always had "The Bible." As I researched to prepare for those questions in category two, I had to begin to think a lot about where the Bible came from and how accurate it is from the originals.

Of course, we have no original copies of any of the books of the Bible. All we have now are copies of those original manuscripts. This causes many to claim that the copies we have are not accurate. Yet, there is significant evidence against this claim. Compared to other ancient manuscripts, the copies we have of the original New Testament books and letter are much closer to the original manuscript in age and are much more plentiful (over 25,000 compared to 932).

"Errors" and differences between copies seem to be a hole that critics poke at often. But between copies, there is only a 0.5% difference. The differences are far from substantial. They are mostly comprised of spelling errors and minor word changes (exempli gratia "Jesus" to "Jesus Christ").

Another interesting thing to note: even if no copies of the original manuscripts were around today, scholars could still reconstruct 99.86% of the New Testament. This is because Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Polycarp and others quoted the New Testament 86,000 times.

A lot of interesting things I learned! As I begin to learn Greek and struggle through reading a couple verses in 1 John, I am amazed that I am reading the Bible in its original language. I think that is really cool! Of course, as of yet, I have no clue what I am reading, but that will come (I hope).

Long-time-no-post

2009-01-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, Tonto, it has been a long time since I last posted.

A lot has been going on for me. This past weekend was Quo Vadis' Speech and Debate tournament. That was lots of fun. I felt like I was doing mediocre at the limited preparation events: Apologetics and Impromptu. I actually got some ballots with something besides "5th and below" for my ranking in those categories. I enjoyed giving my Hank the Cowdog speech because there were several judges that really thought it was funny (maybe all the judges did, but they didn't all laugh). Debate was a lot of fun. I had been out of debate "mindset" since Christmas time. Well, I got right back into it the first round when I was scrambling to find disadvantages to the Affirmatives case.

Teen Court has been going through some changes lately. Because of some changes in the way cases are handled, we haven't had that many cases. Last night we did have a meeting and training session time, which was mostly comprised of two mock trials. During the first trial, I acted as the jury foreman. During the second, I got to be the defense lawyer. That was the first time I had been an attorney. I liked it. I could feel some similarities between asking the respondent questions and asking an opposing debate team questions during cross-examination.

Snow and COLD!

2009-01-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it snowed several inches. When I got up this morning, it was negative nine degrees Fahrenheit! It got fairly warm today: maybe five degrees Fahrenheit. Hear the sarcasm?

My goat was shivering when I went to the barn this morning. She usually isn't affected by the temperature. Like yesterday, she was standing outside watching the snow fall all morning, then she was walking around in it later.

Anyways, the snow gave me an opportunity to practice my photography. Not much color, I know, but it gives the photo a lonesome feel to it. Don't tell anybody, but I don't think that I even got our of my chair at my desk to take this picture.

Teaching

2009-01-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I talked to the junior high students about evolution vs. creation. The title was "Where is your faith, in God or "science"? The big idea I was trying to get across was that we should believe God created the world because He says so, not because science supports it. The view that God created the world is not only logical, but it is also strongly supported by science.

The lesson went pretty well. It was rusty but they seemed to get the idea. It's an area I can really work on. Being in the speech club helps, but it is really different. Most speeches are memorized, while most debate speeches are arguments on a certain topic. I can only improve!

Proverbs 1:7

2009-01-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction." (NASB)

Proverbs is full of profound yet simple truths. Without the fear of the Lord, people are without knowledge. Now this doesn't mean that they don't know anything. There have been some really smart people who did not fear the Lord. But this isn't talking about how well one's brain works but rather if you fear or honor Him who gives wisdom and understanding. If you do, you're a step ahead.

On the other hand, a foolish person "despises wisdom and instruction." I often find that in myself. When someone instructs me in how to do something, sometimes I'll reject it. What does that make me? A fool.

New thing #1

2009-01-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm new to this blogging thing. I thought I would try posting new things I've learned. Here goes...

I learned from my good friend, Matt Garret, that February 12th is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birthday. Don't get me wrong, I don't support Darwin's theory of evolution. While he did observe species changing within itself, there is no indication to believe that one species can change into a completely different species.

This Wednesday, I am talking to the Middle school students about God creating man vs. evolution/atheism. The focus for the talk will be what we are putting our faith in. If we believe God and His Word, then it doesn't matter what "science" tells us. We will stick to the truth. On the other hand, if our faith is in "science", then we will believe whatever we are convinced of by scientific observations. If science seems to support creation (as it does), then we will believe in a created earth. But if some amazing scientific discovery seems to provide overwhelming evidence in support of evolution, we will trust in that.

(By the way, if you are really interested, you can learn all about the Darwin Day Celebrations at http://darwinday.org/)

Hello World!

2009-01-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a blog. Here is a new blog. Here is my blog.

The first day of the year is a good day to start a blog.