Jim

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8 April 2005

Lime Coke and Mexican food

Today I finally got some Lime Coke (not diet Coke, the new Lime Coke). I think I’ll have to have a few more cups before a final judgement, but so far so good. It’s not what I expected.

You’ll notice that in our last poll our site visitors chose Coke as their soft drink of choice. Y’all would fit in great in Mexico, where the Coca-Cola company…well, it does very well! (Be sure to take our new poll)

Actually, I enjoyed a wonderful meal thanks to Shari – some tacos with lots of yummy fillings, and then for dessert a fresh pineapple. Actually, it was unintentional, but we were running out of salsa, so I went to the store this afternoon. I must have been quite a site, wearing a ball cap that said “Mexico” and buying only two jars of salsa and a lime. Believe me, I’m not trying to be a stereotype!

Other than that, today was spent slugging through my last assignment for my course. May its end come soon… 😯

7 April 2005

Hearing what we want to hear?

Jim Computers and internet, News and current issues 0

EPIC A few years ago I remember reading that the latest trend was “mass customization”. In other words, instead of everyone having something alike, ie mass production, modern technology was making it easier for people to quickly and cheaply get customized things, such as clothes. Of course, in my opinion this customization is rather deceptive, because you usually still have a very limited number of choices, even though the choices are greater than they were before.

The internet offers an increasing amount of customization. For example, on a news site you can customize what type of news stories you want to see. You’re interested in news about red-toed Costa Rican spider medicine? No problem, you can just see news about that. It’s a great thing, really, allowing you to sift through the thousands of news stories to ones that are important to you.

However, there are some unintended consequences to this. More than ever you’re looking at little tidbits of information out of context. In other words, the danger is that you see only what you want to see, or you get deceived because of a lack of the “whole story”. The internet is so big that there is likely to be justification for your point of view out there.

For example, if you look for information on the “healing with echinacea”, you may only find those who are believers in the herb. You’ll never see both sides of the story. It’s a human problem that we have “itchy ears” that hear what they want to hear (2Ti 4:3). The same thing happens when we hear certain verses over and over but never see how they fit in the rest of Scripture.

The future of news is speculated upon in a little 8 minute presentation called EPIC. The presentation traces the history of news media from 1994 to 2014 (yes, that’s right) by Robin Sloane and Matt Thompson with music by Aaron McLeran. If you’re interested, check it out, and ask yourself how you discover truth. Follow this link and click in the white box to view EPIC.

6 April 2005

Meditating

Jim Devotional and Bible 0

I was going through some files to prepare for a sermon, and I came across a quick Bible survey I did several years ago on the idea of meditation. Here’s what I read from various passages, particularly in the Psalms:

Q. When should you meditate?
A. Anytime (although before dawn seems to be a favourite)

Q. Why would I want to meditate?
A. To have a fulfilled life, prospering and finding true salvation, wisdom and understanding.

Q. What is the goal of meditation?
A. To obey God, to be encouraged to keep going, to realize that God is supreme

Q. What should I meditate on?
A. On God’s Word, on God Himself and on what God has done. (In the Bible, there’s no hint of the modern concept of “emptying your mind” to meditate. There is an object that we are to meditate on. However, of course some concepts are still the same, such as learning to focus and concentrate. In the Bible, however, meditation is something that can be done all day long, as you go about other activities.)

Q. How do I meditate?
A. Already implied above, but there is a way in which we are to approach God and His Word. We are to enjoy it, delight in it, love it, and give ourselves entirely to it’s Truth.

A couple of important passages relating to meditation are Psalm 119, Joshua 1:8 and 1Timothy 4:15.

6 April 2005

Graphics viewer – Irfanview

Jim Computers and internet, Free software reviews 0

Now that I have these blog entries neatly arranged in categories, I thought some of you might find it helpful to hear about some of the best free software out there. So, every once in a while I just may include a little note about one of my tried and true favourites.

One of the first things I install on any computer, and one of the programs I use the most, is called Irfanview (pronounced earfanview). Irfanview was created years ago (though last updated in October) by a guy named Irfan Skiljan, originally from Bosnia, now living in Austria.

Ok, so what is it? Irfanview is a very fast graphics viewer – actually, multimedia viewer, for Windows. You can use it to view photos, sounds, and movies in all different formats. Some of the common ones would be jpg, gif, avi and some mac formats such as pict, and other formats like kdc (Kodak digital camera), psd (Adobe photoshop), cur (cursor), ttf (true type font) and many, many more. In other words, if you don’t know what to open that file with, try Irfanview!

You can also make changes to some files. You can make your photo smaller, brighter, and add special effects. The other nice thing is that Irfanview comes in about 30 languages now, including English, Spanish, Uzbek, Hebrew and Chinese. Yikes, if I tell you everything about the program I’ll be here forever.

So, here’s how to get it…go to the website, and click on “download”. Be sure to also download the plugins, that way you can load a lot of extra file types. Irfanview is free for non-commercial use, but for commercial use (or if you really like it and want to support Irfan) you can pay through PayPal or Kagi by clicking on “Support Irfanview”.

You may ask, how did I do that cool screen shot of Irfanview for you to see? Well, I used Irfanview, of course! 😛

4 April 2005

Meet the Meximize Team!

Jim Ministry glimpses 0

I’d like to introduce to you the Meximize Team! These are the people that will be going into the urban wilds of Central Mexico in July to serve God and be a part of what He’s doing there! You can see a picture of them and read a bit right here at the Lansing Avenue Baptist Church website. I’m really excited about what’s being cooked up for us in Mexico as we speak. I’ll tell you more about it as the details come together.

The team will be working primarily with Bryan and Lori Smith. If you get our newsletter you may remember the feature we did on the Smiths a year ago February. (read the newsletter here) I’ve been in touch with the Smiths quite a bit, but I’ve never met them in person. They came to Mexico after we were there. If you prayed for the Smiths, you can find out the latest way to pray by reading their prayer requests here.

4 April 2005

Mexico and the Pope

Jim Mexico 0

Watch the news for references to Mexico as the mourning continues for Pope John Paul II. Although most Mexicans rarely if ever attend Mass, most still consider themselves Catholic as a part of their culture.

Mexico is an important place to watch for a reason. Pope John Paul II was known specifically for his devotion to Mary. His personal motto was “totus tuus“, totally yours. This phrase was addressed, of course, to Mary herself, and he repeated it every day as a reminder of his dedication to Mary. He believed Mary saved his life during the attempted assassination in 1981.

If there’s anywhere in the world where Mary is honoured, it’s in Mexico City. The Pope visited Mexico five times over the years. In fact, Mexico was the first foreign country he visited as Pope. The great Roman Catholic church in Mexico City is the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, the Basilica of St Mary of Guadalupe. In Catholicism, Guadalupe is an incarnation of virgin Mary, and this place is considered by some Catholics to be the holiest place in the western hemisphere. In the courtyard of the church is a large statue of the Pope. Minutes after his death, thousands gathered around the statue to mourn.

(in the photo is the the old church on the left and the newer Basilica on the right. The Basilica is huge; it’s hard to get a proper appreciation in this photo)

So, Mexico was very important to the Pope and the Pope was very important to Mexico. This will be a very personal event for many in Mexico. It will also demonstrate how much power and influence this Pope had around the world. Click here for a quick view of news stories relating to the Pope’s death and Mexico.

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