Anti-Semitism

What is the explanation for anti-Semitism? That is the question powerfully asked in this little video.

Why is it that anti semitism is alive and well today after all that has happened in the last 100 years? And it is not just Islamic nations. I caught just a small glimpse of this a while ago when a company in Austria refused to do some prototyping for me. I was told that they did not do ‘religious items’… but I am pretty sure what they meant is that they would not do Jewish menorahs!
It is equally difficult to understand the continued preservation of the Jews apart from the promises of God.

Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar– the LORD of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the LORD, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 31:35-37 ESV

1993

1993

No, its not a date.

And its not money.
Or an address.
Its not a phone number.
Give up?
Well, it’s probably the most important number I can think of.
It is printed on two bracelets.
My sister wore one of them and the other…
belongs to Ethan William Johnstone!  Born last night, it must have been just a little before midnight.  
Mother and son are doing well and we are all very, very thankful.
For pictures go to:

Contentment

I found myself checking the financial news quite a bit this last week as I watched the markets completely tank (the last few months haven’t exactly been stellar either). And yeah, I felt like tanking too. I guess you never really know how much something is a source of security until it is taken away…


The Bible has a lot to say about money and its real value… as though humans might have a recurring problem in this area. Here are few that have been a challenge to me,


“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. ‘Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.  ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  Matthew 6:9-12 

 And some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages. Luke 3:14

 No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”  Luke 16:13

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal . But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:19-21

But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  1 Timothy 6:6-8

 Two things I asked of Thee, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, Lest I be full and deny Thee and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.  Proverbs 30:7-9

 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:5-6

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  1 Timothy 6:10-11

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Matthew 6:25

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.  Deuteronomy  9:1

Trust and contentment… they are elusive things. To be content with little or much, to be thankful for daily provision’s and to trust God with the future.

Fear Fear

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…

…our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

-from FDR’s first fireside chat

How did this evolve?

In bio class today we got into glycolosis. It is an incredibly complex process that I don’t understand at all… see chart!

At the end of class, after having described this incredibly complex process, the prof asked us a question.
“I want you to think about this and consider, How did this evolve?”
Good question!
I was looking forward to hearing his explanation but he just left it at that and moved on.
I wonder how many of my class mates actually did stop to think about it. We have spent quite a bit of time already on chemical and biological evolution and sadly, I think most have accepted it as an incontrovertable fact. Certainly that is the way it is has been presented so far.

The Deck

This is a deck for a customer who wanted something a little different…

The backbone of the deck was a laminated plywood beam that sat on concrete pilings. The step stringers were then lagged to the beam.

We heated the Trex (composite) boards in a makeshift kiln until the boards were almost too hot to touch.

This softened them up enough to bend although we still had plenty of breakage! I owe Dad big for this one.



The sky is falling!

At least that’s the impression I get reading the financial news these days. World changing events are occurring and it is not exactly easy to sit back and watch completely detached…

Anyway, no matter what the stock market does, one thing is for sure, Wall Street will never be the same.

It has been interesting reading some of the guys who have seen this coming all along. They saw this coming but their recommendations have been mostly wrong up to this point despite their solid grasp of the economy and foresight. At first the great fear seemed to be deflation with the flight to the dollar but after the latest round of bail outs, it seems that inflation is our greater enemy… and a flight to gold. Maybe next week it will be deflation again.

The US government has taken an unprecedented role in the markets. They have not only bailed out companies as they did Chrysler, S&L’s etc. in days gone by, they have nationalized mortgage lending and assumed massive amounts of debt in the process. Interestingly, the US Gov’n could stand to benefit by having purchased these notes at greatly discounted rates. But as potential beneficiaries of the market the US Gov’n now has a direct interest in seeing real estate prices stabilized… otherwise their debt burden only increases. (by some some estimates to 2 trillion)

Some have highlighted the dangers associated with the govn’s latest interventions. Now the institution that has the power to make law also has a direct vested interest in the market. But then again, you could argue that it wouldn’t have benefited anyone if the entire financial system collapsed. I don’t envy central bankers these days.

Here is an interesting quote,

“The eruption of the U.S. sub-prime crisis has exposed massive loopholes in the United States’ financial oversight and supervision,” writes the commentator, Shi Jianxun.

“The world urgently needs to create a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States.”

Not sure how the Chinese say this with a strait face when their own economic policies are not exactly sound either (to put it mildly!).

Fishing in the Crowsnest

A couple weekends ago we got a chance to do some fishing in the Crowsnest area.


It was a classic trout stream with nice ripples, deep pockets and undercut banks. It was trout heaven … but without any trout.


But later in the afternoon the clouds moved in and the fun began.

It was epic! iv’e never seen anything like it. The entire stream was erupting with rising trout. But they were selective too… They weren’t going for our bigger flies. But with the right fly… well with just a few cast’s I lost 3 flies on 3 very nice sized trout! And I did manage to land one too.


All around, a great day with good friends.

The President of the United States

It was the birth of a new Republic, the fulfillment of years of struggle. John Adams stood before the House and Senate and proceeded over the inauguration of America’s first President.

The fledgling Congress had pressing matters to attend too but none so important than what title should be given to the President of the United States. This question alone would consume an entire month in the Senate and would pit America’s greatest statesmen against the rest of Congress. John Adams believed that the President should have a title commensurate with his position and proposed that Washington should be called “his Majesty, the President” or something of the sort. But the rest of Congress disagreed and decided that George Washington was to be referred to simply as “the President”. For his unyielding stance on the importance of title John Adams received the ultimate insult a young republic could bestow on its most loyal patriot. John Adams was a monarchist!

Although it would seem strange today to hear George Bush referred to as ‘his Majesty, the President’, this might have less to do with a developed sense of republicanism and more to do with a loss of respect for position and authority. There is not much that is sacred anymore. John Adams was worried that the title ‘President’ was too common and could lead to lowered view of the Presidency. “There were presidents of fire companies and cricket clubs…” but the President of the United States was not one those. He was the leader of a nation that would arguably become the most powerful and wealthy this world has every known.

So I wonder what John Adams, America’s first vice president, would say to the nomination of Sarah Palin to the Vice Presidency? A political play to buy votes maybe?

I am not questioning whether Sarah Palin is a respectable woman and an able governor but it’s fair to ask whether she has the experience to be head of the United States of America. We are not talking about Uganda here. Not France. Not Britain. Not Canada. But the economic and military powerhouse that is the USA… and a nation that is facing one of the severest financial crisis since the 30’s, a crisis that has deeply effected markets around the globe and shows no sign of abating. There is no shortage of potential foreign security concerns either. Israel continues to warn of an impending attack on Iran. Russia is still in parts of Georgia. Bin Laden is still hiding in a cave somewhere. China’s thirst for world resources has not disappeared. Kim Jong Ill isn’t feeling well…

As capable a leader as Sarah Palin might be, she would have a long uphill battle to fight if she were to assume the Presidency. She is a pawn in a political game and the rest of the world knows it. As John Adams understood well, it is vitally important that the President of the United States command a certain amount of fear and respect, title or none. I don’t know that Sarah Palin has it.

Anyway, I hope I’m wrong.

Sacred or Secular?

their god is their stomach.

their glory is in their shame.

their mind is on earthly things.

but our citizenship is in heaven

and we eagerly await a Savior from there.

So which is it? What is the drive? The motivation?

It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular but why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. AW Tozer ‘The Pursuit of God’