So who is right and should we really argue with someone that doesn’t agree with us?

Look at it this way….if you want to build a house, you need to start with the foundation. The foundation is often unseen as it is below the ground. It is often forsaken, it is unseen after all. It’s rarely lived in, but without it, we would not be able to stand in the living space. Kind of sounds like Jesus. He is the foundation of salvation for humankind, but He is unseen, often forsaken, and without Him, we cannot stand forever. So what is the truth, the way and the life?

John 14:6 – I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me. Add to it what you will, but that’s the foundation. We don’t all live in the same type of house but we all have a foundation. Is Jesus your foundation?

I am not trying to say that all paths lead to God. I would never say such a thing. I am saying that there is but one foundation that has been proven, has always existed, and can change your life forever if you simply just ask Him to. Don’t believe in the unknown? Sure you do. If you say you don’t then tell me how the electricity that flows through the device you are using to read this makes it possible for you to read this? If you can’t answer, then you trust the unknown.

Now before you go and get offended because I am “preaching my religion”, I am not. I don’t have a religion, I have a belief in Jesus Christ. I am not pushing anything, I am asking you to open your mind and your heart. I am not preaching, that’s for Sunday mornings. I am trying to be thought provoking. I can’t save you, I can’t bring you to Christ. Only Christ can save you and only He can take you to the Father. I am just throwing out words and hoping someone enjoys them.

10. Circles are easier to manage than lists. I didn’t even create many of these lists and don’t care about them.

9. I think I found the “Is” over there.

8. How many shades of blue can you really have? Add some color fb

7. It’s like twitter and Facebook, but it’s neither. It’s something new.

6. Profile pictures flip. That’s pretty awesome.

5. I can actually understand the notifications list and it doesn’t change every other week.

4. I already use the calendar, the browser, the mail, the search, the video service, the operating system (android) and so on.

3. ALL SSL – I mean really.

1 Chronicles 5:1

The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright…

You may be wondering why on earth I would pick a genealogical introduction to write a devotion? Go ahead and check out the link, it’s an entire chapter devoted to genealogy. Two reasons really. One is that there is not a single idle word in the Bible. Each word has a meaning and purpose. No other book is like it and none ever will be. But the main reason is that we see God in action here. So often God rejected what was first and accepted what was second. Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Abel over Cain, and with Joseph’s sons, Ephraim was given the birthright over Mannessah, though he was older. The list goes on.

But if you look at the list of the sons of Israel, Reuben is first and Simeon second and Joseph is number 11 on the birth list. However closer examination shows us that Joseph is the first born of Rachel and Reuben is the firstborn of her sister, Leah. So what happened here is God essentially rejected the first and chose the second. Why is this important? Because God rejects that which came by the first man, our sinful lives and accepts that life which comes by the second man, our rebirth in Jesus Christ. What may make you scratch your head at first is actually God marvelously at work in showing His plan. The second replaces the first.

Knowing that, don’t you just want to thank Him today for accepting your rebirth in Christ? If so, make sure you do indeed put off the old and move onto the new. Too often we still hang on to that which God has rejected. Oh, He still accepts us, but we really should just let it go.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Do you have a plan for tomorrow? How about the day after that or this summer? We all make plans and we all find that our plans often don’t work out, but sometimes they do. So should we not make plans? No, that’s a bit foolish, but we should not worry about those plans. God has plans for us. Each of us. These words to Jeremiah and to the house of Judah are for us as well. He knows the plans, we don’t. He knows who will prosper and who will not but His plans are for us to have hope and a future. But wait, there’s more…..

He says that we will call upon Him and come and pray and He will listen. Then the best part. We will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all of our heart. Yeah, that’s a plan to have.

So what is seeking Him with your whole heart? It’s desiring to know Him, it’s turning to Him with intentions of following Him and confessing your sins to Him. Then, you can know the freedom that comes by knowing Him. Then you can experience a faith like never before. Then you will know Him and He will know you and will come into your heart and live there. That’s true joy. That’s unbelievable comfort and hope. That’s our God.

The problem for many is they think they are seeking Him with their whole heart but for whatever reason, they are not. Don’t get me wrong, I am not laying out a 12 step program for you. I am saying just ask Him to reveal Himself to you and He will. It may be different for you than it was for me. It may be harder or easier. It may take years to fully discover Him the way you long to, but don’t ever stop longing for Him.

There is so much we want to bring with us though. We want to show God all of our abilities and good deeds but this doesn’t honor Him. A longing heart, turning only to HIm with nothing else is what He desires and rewards. Try it. Turn to Him now and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Stop going half heartedly. Go to Him today with just your heart open to Him and He will enter in and I guarantee, no I promise, He will change your life. Don’t be fooled by those that say you don’t have enough faith or you need to pray more. That’s not right. Just desire Him and He will reveal Himself to you. But you must desire Him and no one can teach you how to do that. You just must do it. Let Him do the rest.

Wireless routers are becoming quite common because of their low price and availability and because of the number of people now on broadband connections. If you own a wireless network, SECURE IT! If you are not sure how to secure it, follow one of the links below. If you have an unsecured network, anyone can sit on the road near your house, in the apartment next door, or even just outside your home, connect to your network, and with firesheep installed steal information about you as you login to Facebook, make a credit card purchase or use a program like Skype or Netflix. Basically, you can be easily compromised. It’s very easy to secure a network and well worth it.

If you go to a public place, make sure you use only a secure network. You really should never connect to

unsecured networks for anything. If the establishment doesn’t have a secured network, ask them to secure it. They may respond with it’s too hard to let everyone know what it is. Then tell them to make a sign. It can simply say “The password for this secure network is…….. and spell out the password. A secured connection that everyone knows is far better than a completely unsecured connection.

Finally, it’s of utmost importance that it be WPA-2 security. This is easiest to setup too since you can make any password be anything you want. If you want to keep from letting your neighbors on your network, make a harder password, but make your connection secure no matter what you do.

This of course will change as technology evolves. Someone will find something that makes WPA-2 obsolete, but until then, use it.

Useful Links:

Secure your network

Make Use Of a Secured Network

See How Firesheep Works – It will scare you

Proverbs 25:11

A word aptly spoken
is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

You see it from a distance, a silver bowl. It is pleasing to the eye to see silver. It’s shiny and you know it has some intrinsic value. As you approach the bowl, a wonder meets your eyes as the glistening golden apples are occupying the space of the bowl. The silver was pleasing but as you got closer you found a real treasure in the apples of Gold. Thus is a well spoken word, thus is the Bible.

In his wisdom, Solomon spoke these words but God’s word truly is like golden apples in a bowl of silver. On the surface, from a distance, you get stories for Sunday School. The coat of many colors, the walls of Jericho, an axe head floats, the feeding of 5000. Salvation is for all and John 3:16 so eloquently states it. The story of Christmas and the joy it brings. The horrifying thoughts of the crucifixion and the hope of a future resurrection. But these are but the silver setting that holds the beautiful gems within. As you dig deeper into the Bible and draw nearer to God, He reveals the golden apples to you and you see then in a new light. A pure light, the light of righteousness.

See for yourself the silver bowl you have seen for years. Step up closer and see that the word of God is like the golden apples indeed.

After doing some quick Google research, I discovered that many people were reporting that the phone had a flicker problem. While typing a text, browsing the web, or just looking at it, the brightness would dim, and then come back on. It looked like an older television coming on. It would slowly fade in and out.

It seems that few actually realize however that Android devices have a power widget and on this power widget is a brightness control. The Motorola Triumph, and probably other devices as well, default to the Auto Brightness setting but the Triumph didn’t handle it well. By simply choosing a different brigthness level other than auto, the flicker problem was gone for good.

So if you have an android device of any sort, don’t forget to check out the power widget which is also good for turning on and off wi-fi, bluetooth, sync, and of course the brightness.

See also:

Tech Crunch Reports Flicker Problem
Virgin Mobile and the Motorola Triumph

A mighty fortress, He is. He is here when all hope disappears. He is here when there is nothing else to hold onto. The earthquake that shook Virginia in late August 2011 came without warning and without the ability to stop it. Thankfully it was relatively minor compared to earthquakes seen recently in China, Japan, Haiti, and Chile, but this earthquake nonetheless happened in the United States and in a place that was unexpected. Had this small earthquake occurred in California, it would have barely made the news and people would have shook it off and moved on with their lives. But it happened in Virginia and was felt clear up into New England.

No one could control it. We try to control so many things in our lives but this could not be controlled. So we simply had to wait the 20-30 seconds for the ground to stop shaking and then look around for any damage. It’s times like these, when we can’t control a situation that God is ever present. Many prayed that day and many praised and thanked Him. He was there to hear all of the prayers too. If it had been worse and if many had died or lost their homes or livelihoods, God would have still been there. If you lose absolutely everything, like Job did, you will still have God and He will still be that fortress, that rock, that almighty unshakable ground that we can stand on.

Stop trying to control everything in your lives and lean on Him more and let Him have control.