The Acer

So this is going to be my new laptop. Not this exact laptop, rather this is one that is very much like mine. Mine will be sent to me and not live in a picture. Since I know you want to know what it is I will tell you. Its an Acer Aspire with a 1.66 ghz Intel CoreDuo, thats dual core baby!! 2 gb of memory and a ATI Mobility Radion x1400 with a dedicated 128 megs. No more S3 graphics no way. Its got a webcam built in and what I really like is the middle mouse button. A Toshiba style keyboard so I can jump right into it. WinXP Pro. DVD burner and 120 megs of hdd so I can easily dual boot. Wide screen. 4 USB 1 Firewire Gigabit Ethy, a/b/g wireless Flash card reader and IR too. I'm excited I hope it turns out good. :)

To day I preached. It seemed to be my best sermon yet. I was pretty smooth, but took forever to get it like that and just didn't have the polish I thought it could have. But I think it made the message stick good. Good message on comitment. Basically I was preaching the sermon for one of the elders. It'll get preached again.

Heather was here this weekend. It was nice to spend alot of time with her. She really helped me with my sermon a whole lot. Mmm I'm going to stop blogging now so that I can hang out with her. Bye.

The Eulogy

Lappy

August 21, 2002 - April 28,2006

Devoted PC, Loving Compy,with a CPU of Gold

Lappy, after nearly 4 years of hard service has passed away. Efforts to resessitate it failed today and it was pronounced dead at 2:43 PM CST. Lappy spent most of its days in hands or lap of Mark Lee. Mark said: loosing lappy is like loosing half my brain, one hand, and a friend that doesn't speak much.

Plans are underway to part the machine for spare cash. If you would like to contribute to the new lappy for Mark fund send all your checks to him.

Lappy left behind, a mouse, a webcam, and several CD's. The AC addapter commented that it never thought that it would outlive Lappy. The news was a shock.

Lappy, if you are up there, we miss you.

The Darknes

So I'm sitting in world music night and I'm pretty sure I just heard a song about tawdry sex blurred and lyric changed. Praise ...erm Jesus?

It was a cigarette break and I was des...perate
I saw her pushing that wheelbarrow
She said have you got a match. I said yes
My cock and Farmer Giles' prizewinning marrow

Frolicking in the summer fields were we
I fell for you and you grew to like me

I carved U 4 me in the bark of a tree
In an English Country Garden
We rolled around kissing on the ground
In an English Country Garden
You succumbed to my charms, fell asleep in my arms
In an English Country Garden
Beneath the stars above I fell in love
In an English Country Garden
Jardin Jardin Jardin Jardin

They did a quiz at the village fete and we came last
Everybody laughed at the two of us
But I've never seen a bale of hay move so fast
She was a bona fide forking genius

Frolicking in the autumn fields were we
I cherished you and you tolerated me

We mucked about while we were mucking out
In an English Country Garden
You took me under your wing when we had our fling
In an English Country Garden
You gave my heart a boost, we ruled the roost
In an English Country Garden
Just as I got broody you got moody
In an English Country Garden

Pulled out all the stops, harvested the crops
In an English Country Garden
The yield was meagre, you were far less eager
In an English Country Garden
The seeds we scattered never really mattered
In an English Country Garden
I saw you leave the farm on another guy's arm
In an English Country Garden
Jardin Jardin Jardin Jardin woooh!

Really, do we actually have to screen this stuff? Praise Jesus.

The Cult

Here is a chart by Shane Smalley. Be sure to add this to your cults file. Don't forget to pray for the Jehovah's witnesses as well.

	Christianity	Jehovah's Witnesses
Founder of the “Movement.”	Jesus Christ.	Charles T. Russell (1852-1916) Founded in 1879.
The Gospel Message	Jesus came as God in the flesh, and died for our sins, so that we might be found justified in the eyes of Almighty God.	Jesus opened the door for us to earn our own salvation by adhering to the Watchtower's rules, doctrine, and mission.
The Church	Those who are saved, and have been baptized into Christ Jesus (Romans 6). These are the ones who have put their faith in Christ.	Those who have been baptized into the Watchtower organization, having received the Watchtower baptism. This faith is in the “Victorious Watchtower”
God	Trinity; 3 Persons in One Essence.	One God, revealed in one Person.
Trinity	The 3 Personal Aspects/Manifestations of God; The Father, Son and Holy Spirit; all Co-Equal for all eternity, yet internally distinct from One Another.	In essence, Big God, little god, force. God, JHWH (Jehovah) is all powerful, Jesus, created, and the Holy Spirit, force. To them, the Trinity is a repugnant, 3 headed false god invented by Satan.
Jesus Christ	God in the flesh. Eternal, Immutable, Fully God, Fully man.	Created being, Michael the archangel who became a man, and while sojourned on earth, died a Physical Death, with a Spiritual resurrection only.
Holy Spirit	The 3rd Member of the God-head; active in Creation, God in us apart of the New Covenant, seal of promise (Ephesians 1-3). The Holy Spirit has personality and Deity (Romans 8:26-27), disciples also knew the Spirit Personally (Jn 14:16-17).	Deny both the Deity and personality of the Holy Spirit; an Impersonal force that God uses to accomplish His will, similar to the force of Star Wars. The JW use their translation at Gen 1:2, and escape the Definite Article that is in the Masoritic Text, and call him the “holy spirit”, Inactive.
Salvation	By Faith, Through Grace. Man responds to God's offer of Salvation by First Hearing the Message, then he must believe what he hears, then must repent, confess Christ as Lord, then present Himself for Baptism for the Remission of sin, to receive the Holy Spirit In Order to help live the Christian life; then must be a practicing, faithful Christian until His Last day.	Elusive, works-oriented, and different for two classes of believers. The Watchtower wants everyone to look to the society for salvation, not Christ, and to get 'ones name written in the Lamb's book of life depends upon one's works (The Watchtower, April 1, 1947, Pg 204). They want all to come to the Watchtower Society for salvation (The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1981, Pg 21)
Scriptures of the New Covenant.	The Holy Bible; Emphasis on the New Testament as the standard for rule, faith and practice in the Church Age. The Bible Alone.	The Bible (New World Translation-Badly translated), Studies in the Scriptures, and the Watchtower and Awake Magazines.

Resurrection	Jesus rose in the same body He died in.	Jesus rose spiritually from the dead, and the body of Christ was either mistakenly lost, or thrown to the dogs.
Second Coming	Christ has one second coming, of which noone knows the day, time nor hour. The 2nd coming is VISIBLE, not an INVISIBLE one (2 Thess 4; Mt 24:26-27; Rev. 1:7.)	The Watchtower asserts that Christ has returned multiple times, such as in 1874, and was 'invisibly present'. Have taught many 2nd comings, due to error of their 'prophet's' prophecies not coming true. 1874/1914. Taught in many different places within Watchtower paraphernalia ( Creation, 1927, Pg 310 in the early editions, Pg 289 in the later ones; Golden age, 1930, Pg 503; Golden age, 1934, Pgs. 379, 380; The Harp of God, Printed March 1937, 5,736,190 Edition, Pg 235; Etc.).
The Conception of Grace	Christian concept of Grace: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. We see that, from the words of Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by Grace through Faith, and that faith causing us to respond in such a way that is pleasing to God. Titus 2:11 speaks that we are saved by grace apart from anything we could ever do. We realize that God has saved us according “to the riches of His Kindness in Christ” (Eph 1). Paul says that if one works for grace, it is no longer free, but earned (Romans 4:4). We are given God's grace, free of charge; because of What HE has done, not because of what we've done.	Grace depends on affiliation with the Society. This concept is relatively unknown to them. The Greek Word Charis, what we would translate in our modern day and time as “loving-kindness”

The Covenant(s)

Hello Central Students. Here are some covenant theology graphs for you. For those of you who don't know Dispensational good (Covenant wise); One Covenant bad. :)

The Sea

This isn't a picture from my life. This is a picture of my life. I'm going to moan for a bit. So trying to go to bed at 12 is useless. Something always has to get done. Fix the computer, write an e-mail study for a test. Then my palm pilot does a nose dive off my bed which is 6 feet in the air. Thankfully it lives still. Test today, which the whole class probably bombed. Test tomorrow where the whole class will probably bomb. Test friday where half the class will bomb. Test next friday where 75% of the class will bomb... if they were still left. Paper Tuesday, Project Thursday, another Paper Friday.... same day as the test. I used to wonder if I was lazy about all this, saving all this til the last minute, but the fact is... no. I know I was really busy before now. But now all that business has caught up and so I'm even more busy. Mmmm. Sermon Sunday, 3 lessons as well. I'm going to bed. Pray for me.

Oh and I know it will all get done :) 

The Alarm

Just yesterday Shane ran into the room telling me to get my camera quick. Thinking that the library was on fire, the aliens had landed or Jesus came back and was holding a press conference I ran out side to see the weirdest clouds I'v ever seen. They were all bubbly and there were just rows of them. Crazy lightning too, it was pink. This was a shot I managed to get. You can't see the pink, but immagine the clouds flashing pink from one end of the sky to the other. Considering the storms that have been pounding the midwest it was really eirie.

I didn't dare take a picture bc it was too personal. Not to me, to the victims. We went and picked up the pieces of a house torn apart by a tornado a few weeks ago. The house was gone and what was left was burned to clear the land. Down a field from where the house used to be is where we went and helped. Garret described it best when he said we were working down where it looked like a T-Rex just ran through. I have never seen so many trees torn down in my entire life. It was just like someone sat the tree line on its side. The part that really go to me wasn't all the giant pieces of tin, not the log that was hurled through a piece of plywood. It was the muffin tin. Once you see something like that you realize this isn't a house that was wreaked it was a home. My mom makes muffins in a tin like that. There was parts of a stove, a shelf from inside an older refridgerator, bits of screen door, a little kids plush toy. Things we touch everyday at home. Shredded. Obliterated. Destroyed.

The worst thing I noticed while I was there. None of the churches helped... only the college. Now on Saturday I have two options. Cough Church is putting in a sound system, since I have knowledge of that kind of thing I would be perfect to help get everything squared away. The second is this: get up at 7 AM take a bunch of scrap metal toss it in a truck. It takes not special skill. Get cut. Tire myself out before I drive home. Bet sweaty and nasty. Bleed.... What would Jesus Do? Bleed. On one hand help a church bc no one in the church will do it. On the other hand help some stranger bc they need it. I wonder if our churches do that? I remember one church that spent thousands of dollars on upgrading their lights so they could better set the "mood". Perhaps, I will suggest the problem with church is church. We are infatuated with it. How do we improve our church. How can we change our church? Maybe we should change ourselves. Maybe it would be better for us never to enter the doors of church to praise, when we fail to praise out side the building. Frankly, I don't care if Cough gets a new sound system or not. I'm going to go bleed.

The Comic

So Justin is reliving his highschool days by picking up and reading some comic books. There's Spawn.... its ok. Spiderman by Todd McFarlane... havn't looked at it. But I have looked at V for Vendetta and the few chapters I've read have been real good. The best part is it came out in 1997 ish so its all finished so I don't have to worry about them not making any more or waiting for the next one. Its kinda fun to read a chapter once in a while.

Heather's grandma Bragg came today for her birthday. I got cookies that was fun. Of course we went to the Holiday Inn Express the only indoor pool in Moberly. Good times. Only Heather Sarah and Pratt were there from school so it was a bit quieter but I had fun splashing Heather anyway. I think Pratt is dying of Bird Flu. 

The Mess

This is my dorm room. It is clean now.
It still looks like a mess but as Justin says: To us its clean. It was kinda laying heavy on me. I don't know how well I will be able to keep it clean.

I've gotten into drinking green tea. It has Antioxidants in the kind I drink. I don't like free radicals in me. Either way it tastes good for me. Heather does not like tea anyway but cold without sugar I found. Oh well, more for me.

I had a tough time spiritually today in Pentatuch today. However, when I think things through my doubt goes away. I walk away strengthened. I love this Bible college thing. It is the toughest test of my soul and the greatest reinforcer of the spirit in me.

I'm at a loss as to how to get everything done. The good news is that I am refreshed and have been making sure I get lots of sleep. Not to be lazy, but to take care of myself. Rawr. Lets go!

So the coolest thing happened today. I was walking down to the dorm when I saw one of the guys in my devo group walking with his girlfriend the other way. They were dressed up so I wistled and said looking good Josh.. and Josh's lady friend. Just as I was passing them he helped me out that her name was Paula. Now I have talked to Paula on maybe two short occasions, no small talk about the weather, but not deep encounters either. I was nearly out of earshot and she told Josh that I knew her name. The truth was I really had never taken note of her name, but the very fact that I stopped and talked to her those few times ment enough to her that she was confident that I knew her name. Its inspiring to think that when we talk to people, when we try to get to know them, people notice. While I didn't minister to her as I would think of it, I didn't counsel her or preach or teach a lesson or anything like that, she was left with the fealing that someone knew her. Think how we could effect people just by having a converstation.

The Soldier

This is Emilie. The baby. She is not a soldier. That is her daddy Jacob. He is not one either... atleast til monday. He is having to leave his family and join the guard. While he won't be fighting on the front lines, he doesn't get to see his family for over 140 days. Please pray for him and his family. When he gets back he will have missed a good portion of her first year.

Today is Heather's birthday. I already gave her a book for her birthday.... she has already read it. Gosh. Oh well, her grandma is coming down tomorrow. I'm taking her out to eat after my ultimate frizbee games.

Speaking of ultimate frizbee. WooT!1 the season starts today and I am so out of shape. This will be great! I will post a comment later on how our games went. Out team was named X-files Beast. Why? I don't know. Not nearly as cool as Shadadanu (or something like that) which is Hebrew for we kill life continually. Now thats a name. 

The Phone

So I'm tired of my phone. It is simply costing me way too much a month to stay pre-paid. I'm kinda having a bad day. I just feel like everything is jumping in my way. I'm always so distracted, I had hours and hours of time schedualed for different things. Then something more important comes and jumps in the way. Some how still at the end of the day I feel like I didn't get anything done. Do I really need to ask how the guys on my floor are doing? But, if I don't will anyone ask them, not in passing. Who will clean my desk? Who will help someone with their fried computer. Now still I don't miss assignments and I still get A's on them. I just feel like I'm wearing myself out by doing it this way. Justin always gets on me about all the caffeene I drink. 18 hours doesn't seem like enough time awake and 6 hours doesn't seem like enough time asleep (last night I got 5). Anyway that was enough self counseling... lol. I feel better. If any of the three people who read this care to give any clue on how to get things done. Feel free. (Get off the computer) I did get most of my stuff done yesterday. I even had enough time to relax a bit and work on a project for just fun. I'm going to outline a lesson now I think. Until 7 then I'm going to spend time with Heather. Then I don't get to anymore bc the ole Palm Pilot will wisk me away. :(

The Clock

So Justin goes to Korea for spring break to do a mission trip. He does good in another country and brings back this freak of technology. Now as aweful as it looks in the picture, its worse in real life. The eyes and the mouth turn, but not quietly at all or at the same time. Nope, every second you hear clack click clack. Over and over again. But Justin did add the Dilbert callendar which is a defenite plus. You can see it in the reflection on the clock.

I've been having trouble getting things done on schedual. I'm never late getting things in, but working at 3AM is not fun. I think part of it will come down to schedualing my time, but I don't always stick to that. I'm a just 5 more minutes kinda guy. So I know no one read this thing yet... and I mean no one, but if you are no one and have any suggestions be sure to comment. 

The First

Hey, This is Mark Lee.
So I'm spending my summer working as an intern for Ravenwood Christian Church in Ravenwood Mo. Since I won't be able to see everyone this summer and will be pretty busy, I started this blog in order to let everyone know whats going on with me. This Blog does have an RSS feed so if you know what that means go ahead and keep track. If you don't know, bookmark this page. Also be sure to post comments like "I read this" or "You Stink". Who knows I may ever comment on your comments so be sure to check the comments pages after you take note. Hopefully I will see you all soon.