Wonderful thoughts as we finish a tumultuous year! BEN Letting Go of Old Hurts
One of the hardest things in life is to let go of old hurts. We often say, or at least think: "What you did to me and my family, my ancestors, or my friends I cannot forget or forgive. ... One day you will have to pay for it." Sometimes our memories are decades, even centuries, old and keep asking for revenge. Holding people's faults against them often creates an impenetrable wall. But listen to Paul: "For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see. It is all God's work" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). Indeed, we cannot let go of old hurts, but God can. Paul says: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's fault against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is God's work, but we are God's ministers, because the God who reconciled the world to God entrusted to us "the message of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19). This message calls us to let go of old hurts in the Name of God. It is the message our world most needs to hear.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A Christmas Love Story
I just wrote a Blog entry about an amazing story I heard this morning over breakfast. Please read about it here!
http://drben54.livejournal.com/78091.html
http://drben54.livejournal.com/78091.html
Friday, December 18, 2009
The Fullness of Time - by Henri Nouwen
The Fullness of Time
Jesus came in the fullness of time. He will come again in the fullness of time. Wherever Jesus, the Christ, is the time is brought to its fullness.
We often experience our time as empty. We hope that tomorrow, next week, next month or next year the real things will happen. But sometimes we experience the fullness of time. That is when it seems that time stands still, that past, present, and future become one; that everything is present where we are; and that God, we, and all that is have come together in total unity. This is the experience of God's time. "When the completion of the time came [that is: in the fullness of time], God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4), and in the fullness of time God will "bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth" (Ephesians 1:10). It is in the fullness of time that we meet God.
Share your thoughts on this reflection. These reflections are taken from Henri J.M. Nouwen's Bread for the Journey. Read the latest Nouwen release: Home Tonight. Watch Home Tonight with Henri Nouwen video.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Rev. Dr. Ben has shared a Huffington Post article with you
Rev. Dr. Ben has shared a Huffington Post article with you:
Michael Moore Threatens To Boycott Connecticut Over Lieberman - sent by Rev. Dr. Ben
Michael Moore Threatens To Boycott Connecticut Over Lieberman - sent by Rev. Dr. Ben
Senator Joe must go!
Check out this funny sock puppet video of Senator Joe Lieberman holding health care hostage for his list of personal demands. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vS6kIbJu64
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Why? A song by Tracy Chapman
I was sent this link and realized it asks questions we need to remember to ask. Especially in this age of Christmas parties and retail excess. BEN
Monday, December 14, 2009
Anticipating the Vision - by Henri Nouwen
Anticipating the Vision The marvelous vision of the peaceable Kingdom, in which all violence has been overcome and all men, women, and children live in loving unity with nature, calls for its realisation in our day-to-day lives. Instead of being an escapist dream, it challenges us to anticipate what it promises. Every time we forgive our neighbor, every time we make a child smile, every time we show compassion to a suffering person, every time we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to tame or wild animals, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens, and work for peace and justice among peoples and nations we are making the vision come true. We must remind one another constantly of the vision. Whenever it comes alive in us we will find new energy to live it out, right where we are. Instead of making us escape real life, this beautiful vision gets us involved.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Peaceable Kingdom - by Henri Nouwen
The Peaceable Kingdom
All of creation belongs together in the arms of its Creator. The final vision is that not only will all men and women recognise that they are brothers and sisters called to live in unity but all members of God's creation will come together in complete harmony. Jesus the Christ came to realise that vision. Long before he was born, the prophet Isaiah saw it:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the panther lie down with the kid,
calf, lion and fat-stock beast together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like the ox.
The infant will play over the den of the adder;
the baby will put his hand into the viper's lair.
No hurt, no harm will be done
on all my holy mountain,
for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.
(Isaiah 11:6-9)
We must keep this vision alive!
Henri Nouwen
I'm back!
Thanks to the new Posterous.com service, recommended by Andy Ihnatko, I will be autoposting again to this blog as well as my Livejournal and Facebook. please fell free to check me out there as well. BEN
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Twitter Tweet Tweet
Rather on a dare, I signed up for the much-touted "Twitter" service, after dismissing it as for "twits" for the last year or so. Coming as it does, two months after my arrival on Facebook, I wasn't sure what the deal was.
I have to say that after 3 days up as "DrBen54" I'm still not sure.
I've had 4 people "follow" me. One was from Russia and wanted a Green Card in return for her making me a "very happy man". Not sure I need that type of happiness.
Another was from a guy trying to tally up his total of people he is following.
The other two were form genuinely interesting people. One was a minister and the other a Chaplain, both careers I am actively pursuing right now.
For now I will follwo the interest folks ignore the others and see where this leads. Compared to my Facebook account in which everyone I've ever seem to have met joined within a month, Twitter has been quiet. Since I won't put it on my cell phone, it's likely to stay that way for now.
Once we survive the economic disaster in California, I might spring for texting for for now I sit. Keeping my ears open for a soft little "TWEET".
I have to say that after 3 days up as "DrBen54" I'm still not sure.
I've had 4 people "follow" me. One was from Russia and wanted a Green Card in return for her making me a "very happy man". Not sure I need that type of happiness.
Another was from a guy trying to tally up his total of people he is following.
The other two were form genuinely interesting people. One was a minister and the other a Chaplain, both careers I am actively pursuing right now.
For now I will follwo the interest folks ignore the others and see where this leads. Compared to my Facebook account in which everyone I've ever seem to have met joined within a month, Twitter has been quiet. Since I won't put it on my cell phone, it's likely to stay that way for now.
Once we survive the economic disaster in California, I might spring for texting for for now I sit. Keeping my ears open for a soft little "TWEET".
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Michael Phelps and the Bong Hit
Dave Winer (who unlike Al Gore really DID help invent the Internet) posted this today. Looking at the hypocrisy of the world, I find little to disagree with in Dave's post, though it gets a little gamey in one spot.
Give it a read here
Medical pot got through through too very difficult treatments for cancer and a related infection. While I seldom go near it today, I credit medical pot with helping me get back to work more quickly without a lingering opiate addiction in 2001 and 2005.
Michael's pot was not medical, I know. But we let our athletes drink beer and coffee, what's the harm in smoking something which you can't OD on, is not addictive, and actually helps the body handle pain and fatigue.
I agree with Dave that it's time for us to lose our hypocricy about marijuana. We need legalization now and we need to free the people in prison whose only crime was smoking a doobie.
OR, perhaps we should start cramming beer-drinkers in jail too.
Give it a read here
Medical pot got through through too very difficult treatments for cancer and a related infection. While I seldom go near it today, I credit medical pot with helping me get back to work more quickly without a lingering opiate addiction in 2001 and 2005.
Michael's pot was not medical, I know. But we let our athletes drink beer and coffee, what's the harm in smoking something which you can't OD on, is not addictive, and actually helps the body handle pain and fatigue.
I agree with Dave that it's time for us to lose our hypocricy about marijuana. We need legalization now and we need to free the people in prison whose only crime was smoking a doobie.
OR, perhaps we should start cramming beer-drinkers in jail too.
My Favorite Christmas Present.... The AUSUS EEE
This Year, I got my hands on one of the coolest items out there - an ASUS EEE netbook. While it's small0ish, the 6.5 hours of battery life, the 1.9 pound wieght and the 40 GB SSD drive with no moving parts adds much to this experience.
The PC comes with XANDRO LINUX installed. That is a pretty good system for non-linux geeks, though the first thing I did was switch it to K-Desktop so I could have access to many of the tools I'd come to know through usings LINUX in it UBUNTU and KNOPPIX flavors.
It's been a month now and I'm still quite happy with the EEE as it is with no plans to move it to clunky old XP. To have a quiet, long-lasting Micro$$oft-free system which weighs almost nothing has changed how I do things.
WHAT WORKS:
Boot-up: 20 seconds. Opposed to 3 minutes on my optimized Thinkpad.
SKYPE CHAT with VIDEO. The built-in webcam makes chatting with my friends in the UK a breeze.
Open Office: A Micro$$oft-Free Office package starts quickly and works flawlessly on spreadsheets and documents. Testing on the Presenter module for my church PowerPoint shows comes next.
Firefox Browser: Though a slightly slower startup than the XP version, the rowser work with all my Firefox add-ins and handled my bookmark updates flawlessly. I've tested it on blogs, YOU-TUBE banking, financial, and remote access to XP systems in my office.
Network Switcher: As an IT Manager, I use static IP's at several of my work locations. the built-in XANDROS Network app, once I figured it out, allows me to save all wireless secure and static IP Ethernet connections and switch between them as needed without a restart. I wish Windows came with that. I am using a dated shareware package on my XP which I expect to break after every new UPDATE. Oh yes, I could write scripts for NETSH, but I can't see my computer challenged friend in CT or my 79-year-old dad doing that. Yet my friend uses an EEE easily and Dad's birthday is coming soon.
Voice Recognition: I stumbled upon this one and it works. As I am using Dragon when my left hand doesn't remember how to type (usually when I am tired) this would be a great thing for me.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
iTunes: I've yet to find an easy to use substitute for iTUNES in LINUX. As a previous LINUX user, I've sorted out K-mixer for playing MP#'s I've loaded some MP#'s and Podcasts on the EE and I can listen to them fine. But I'd like something a bit more intuitive for people like my friend and my dad.
Palm Pilot: At this point I am keeping the Thinkpad around because I live and die by my PALM Zire. I don't want it in my phone, I can't afford an iPHONE now so this is it. K-Pilot has not been updated in years and I'd kills for something which works with my 3-year-old ZIRE. The smartphone will come but not in this economy.
Blog Clients: Yeah I know, just use open office. It's well over time I brush up on basic HTML anyhow (sigh).
I'd be interested in see what any of you have to say about their LINUX EEE's. SOmeone at work had one with WINDOZE XP and I was NOT impressed or amused comparing the performance to mine.
The PC comes with XANDRO LINUX installed. That is a pretty good system for non-linux geeks, though the first thing I did was switch it to K-Desktop so I could have access to many of the tools I'd come to know through usings LINUX in it UBUNTU and KNOPPIX flavors.
It's been a month now and I'm still quite happy with the EEE as it is with no plans to move it to clunky old XP. To have a quiet, long-lasting Micro$$oft-free system which weighs almost nothing has changed how I do things.
WHAT WORKS:
Boot-up: 20 seconds. Opposed to 3 minutes on my optimized Thinkpad.
SKYPE CHAT with VIDEO. The built-in webcam makes chatting with my friends in the UK a breeze.
Open Office: A Micro$$oft-Free Office package starts quickly and works flawlessly on spreadsheets and documents. Testing on the Presenter module for my church PowerPoint shows comes next.
Firefox Browser: Though a slightly slower startup than the XP version, the rowser work with all my Firefox add-ins and handled my bookmark updates flawlessly. I've tested it on blogs, YOU-TUBE banking, financial, and remote access to XP systems in my office.
Network Switcher: As an IT Manager, I use static IP's at several of my work locations. the built-in XANDROS Network app, once I figured it out, allows me to save all wireless secure and static IP Ethernet connections and switch between them as needed without a restart. I wish Windows came with that. I am using a dated shareware package on my XP which I expect to break after every new UPDATE. Oh yes, I could write scripts for NETSH, but I can't see my computer challenged friend in CT or my 79-year-old dad doing that. Yet my friend uses an EEE easily and Dad's birthday is coming soon.
Voice Recognition: I stumbled upon this one and it works. As I am using Dragon when my left hand doesn't remember how to type (usually when I am tired) this would be a great thing for me.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK:
iTunes: I've yet to find an easy to use substitute for iTUNES in LINUX. As a previous LINUX user, I've sorted out K-mixer for playing MP#'s I've loaded some MP#'s and Podcasts on the EE and I can listen to them fine. But I'd like something a bit more intuitive for people like my friend and my dad.
Palm Pilot: At this point I am keeping the Thinkpad around because I live and die by my PALM Zire. I don't want it in my phone, I can't afford an iPHONE now so this is it. K-Pilot has not been updated in years and I'd kills for something which works with my 3-year-old ZIRE. The smartphone will come but not in this economy.
Blog Clients: Yeah I know, just use open office. It's well over time I brush up on basic HTML anyhow (sigh).
I'd be interested in see what any of you have to say about their LINUX EEE's. SOmeone at work had one with WINDOZE XP and I was NOT impressed or amused comparing the performance to mine.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Mother said there would be days like this....
I received this unsolicited email from a "personals" website just now:
Off to hug the cats. At least they still love me!
BEN
Ben, we've found 0 new matches for you
Off to hug the cats. At least they still love me!
BEN
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