SteadiCam and My Absence

Sorry all that I've been gone for so long. I'm spending all my spare time working on my steadicam, which I hope to sell small scale, and I want to have prototype V2 ready by this friday, because my brother Ross and I will be driving to CO for Generations with Vision's Shepherding Conference. I know that there will be some people there more involved with the Christian Independent film market (like Kevin Swanson), so hopefully I'll be able to get some advice, and maybe even some exposure!
We will be leaving this friday, and It's a twenty hour drive from here to there, and we're pretty much going to do it all at once, so maybe I'll have some time then to get some photos up.

Where the Photos went

You've probably noticed that I haven't posted any photos lately. Well, here's why.
I use a program on my Mac called Aperture for all of my photo organization and editing. I have two macs, one's a MBP, and the other I built out of windows parts and got OS X running on it, Known as a mackintosh. My Hackintosh's OS drive got corrupted somehow, and I've just finally got it to the point where I can recover the files and reformat it, but I have to get another 2TB hard drive to copy all the files too. So I can't use that one yet for photo editing. And would you guess what happened to my MacBook Pro's hard drive? Yep! You guessed it! The hard drive went bad! Thankfully I have a backup of it, so After I got a new hard drive, I discovered that my backup had some troubles!! Thankfully I was able to fix all of those, (due to a nifty new program that I just bought) so now (in theory) I just need to restore my MacBooks hard drive from that backup.
Needless to say, I can't really access my photos right now, and even if I could, I've been spending most of my free time trying to get both my computers working.

More Valuable than Rubies

We value items based on a couple of things. One of those is how much we paid for it. When we get something for free, it's not a big deal if it gets damaged. But if we spend a lot on something, we get really upset if it gets even the smallest of scratches.
How much more then does the Father care for us? He didn't redeem us for free, He paid the price of His own Son's blood as our ransom!

We are so valuable to Him, how it must grieve Him when he sees us not walking with Him, according to His commands and desires?

Just an interesting thought from church this week.

Focus on the lord

Our pastor said this today, and it really struck a chord with me.

"The more preoccupied we are with the lord, the more he can entrust us with physical blessings, without worry of derailing our focus on him."

The Rule of Thirds

Or should I say "The Exception of Thirds"?

To preface this short post, I want to say that I do not claim to be an authoritative commentator on this subject, nor have I even come to a decision myself. I've been thinking a lot about third parties lately due to the fact that the current republican nominee is not looking all that attractive. I will probably do a number of posts on this as I mull my thoughts around in my head, so this is me just thinking out loud.

Third Parties.
They get quite a bit of attention come most presidential elections, but the question always comes up
"What's the point? A third party candidate has never won the presidency, so why throw your vote away on them?"

This is a (para)phrase I hear fairly often from prominent people in the homeschooling/libertarian circles:
"Should we just chose the lesser of two evils?"

But I wonder, is this statement actually valid?

Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Psalms 14:3: They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

So if we vote for a third party, aren't we technically just voting for the lesser of three evils, since all men are evil? So it seems like that statement is, to some extent, invalid.

And to keep the mood light hearted, just remember:
"One must always chose the lesser of two weevils!!" (From Master and Commander)

Would Someone Please Just Tell Me!?!

Here's a scenario: You love doing backflips on your quad using a wooden ramp. However, unbeknownst to you, this made some of your friends, even close friends, nervous because some of the boards looked loose. None could muster the courage to tell you directly (perhaps because you've not taken reproof well in the past), so they eventually brought their concerns to your parents, who intended to relay those concerns to you. However, they hesitated for some time while waiting for the right time to tell you so as to not offend you. However, while they were waiting, the top board of your ramp finally gave way, your quad went flying through the air in an uncontrolled spin, and broke your arm in the landing. So now, you are lying in a hospital bed recovering from reconstructive surgery, and your dad strolls into your luxurious room, sits down in the chair, and this dialog follows:

"Well son, how's your arm feeling?

"Better, but it still smarts somethin' fierce.

"The Doc said that the pain meds should be kicking in soon. Listen, there's something that your mother and I should have told you awhile ago. You see, a couple of your friends expressed concern about the integrity of your ramp, and we were going to tell you, but we didn't want to hurt your feelings, so we waited for the right time to tell you. But it looks like we waited too long."

"What? You were worried that my feelings would be hurt? I think I'd rather been offended than have this broken arm."

"Hmm, good point. Well, what could we do differently in the future?"

"Maybe if I didn't let my feelings be hurt or get defensive when someone comes to me with advice or a reprimand, people would be more likely to voice concerns to me?"

"Son, I think you've hit the nail on the proverbial head."

•  •  •

Ok, now I know that this is NOT one of the best analogies ever devised (nor even close), but I think it gets the point across. If you think that someone else is in error, bring your concern to him. Even if he gets upset, you will have the knowledge that you did the right thing, and then it's up to the Lord to change his heart. Proverbs 24:25: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

So, there are two morals to this story. Moral 1 is for the recipient of reproof:

Proverbs 15:31: The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

Proverbs 15:32: He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Moral 2 is for him that offers the reproof:

Titus 2:6: Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.  

Hebrews 3:13: But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Here's the clearest one: 

Proverbs 27:5: Open rebuke is better than secret love.

 This verse, I think, carries a lot of weight in and of itself. Basically, it's saying if you really love someone (as in brotherly love), then you will do what's best for him, rather than what simply makes you both feel good. And in the long run, if he isn't a fool, in the future he will thank you for it.

Tardy Me

Oops! I just realized that I didn't post any pictures this week, or even last week! Well, I have a valid excuse, my family is visiting my brother and me here in Michigan, so we have been super busy. However, they will be flying out tomorrow morning (sniff), so I'll try to post some pictures sometime in the next day or do.
Paul