#rmdo Turning Mary Into A Nerd #geekhumor

Mary and I stayed up to watch The Nerdist tv show because it had Nathan Fillion from the excellent TV show Firefly cancelled by nitwit network Fox, Will Wheaton, the former child star of Star Trek, Next Generation, David Tennant, former Dr. Who, & The Nerdist of the Year Runner up Weird Al Yankovich, introduced to us by our super geek friend Barry Skalski. The winner was supposed to be Isaac Newton, but he couldn't attend the ceremony on account of he was dead. (see pictures at bottom of blog)
It felt good to know my influence of two years had turned Mary into a fanatical sci fi nerd.

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Barry got us back stage passes
to meet Weird Al.
Mary's on the right.

This is not Weird Al!
This is Isaac Newton!

#rmdo O Holy Night #inspiration #wisdompoet

  I was thinking about the shepherds today.
They were fearless. 

Think about it. 

Guarding a walking, bleating meat locker from wolves, bears, and lions in often total darkness with a STICK! 

Yet they were terrified by the angels, and awed by the Christ child. This thought formed a poem in my mind.

The Christ child:

Fearless shepherds are awed by Him.
Wise men acknowledge their ignorance before Him.
Intimidators are terrified by Him.
The lost find their way by Him.
The hopeless find hope in Him.
The captives are delivered by Him.

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#rmdo US bridges built by Chinese Firms? #politics

Seems like a simple fix to me. American Bridges should be built by Americans, especially when paid for by American tax dollars.

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#rmdo Further Proof Men Need Supervision! #humor #funnypic

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Putting all my humorous, insane posts on this blog, also.

#rmdo GETTING ALONG #denominations #wisdompoet

How to get along with people of different denominations, theological and political persuasions, and contrasting personalities:
Step 1: Embrace or continue to embrace the Crucified Jesus.
Step 2: When your friend embraces the Cross, grasp his hand. Your work is done.
Step 3: When it dawns on you that your friend was embracing the Cross all along, my work is done.
Step 4: When you both can peacefully enjoy God, HIS WORK is done.

Barry, Weird Al, and Mary

There is one person I've added to my Gratefulness List that is unique. I became acquainted with Barry Skalski on Facebook, but he's really a long time friend of the family, a lifetime friend of my son in law Charles Daly Jr, (the source of my Sanity as a virtue is overrated! quote. My son in law Charles Daly Jr is also creator of the my on line moniker Rev Mad Dog or revmaddog1948, which he created when I found my nick name from work, Mad Dog, was already taken on line.)
Barry inspired me to start tweeting by his example, and we've had several enlightening geek and political discussions, but Barry's biggest contribution to my life was proving to Mary, my wife, that Facebook and Twitter people are REAL!
Barry had several extra tickets to a Weird Al concert, so we took Barry up on the offer and sat next to Barry and his lovely wife Kim for the entire concert, irrefutably proving to a VERY skeptical Mary that Facebook people really exist. See the rest of this photo album for pictures of that night. We had a blast, and Mary was forever changed. (However, don't expect Mary to be opening a Facebook profile soon, not until you know where freezes over)

By the way, the man in the picture with Mary is the 
great Weird Al himself.

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The Power of Collecting and Wisdom

Several decades a faithful bible teacher, Bill Gothard, challenged me in a seminar to collect wisdom instead of the normal things (in my case, hand cut leaded glass crystal!). 

I greatly rejoice that I listened to his advice!! 

At first I collected the wisdom of others, but as I saw the response my own quotes had on others, I focused almost exclusively on my own quotes.

I wish I could take credit for them, but part of the "secret?" of my wisdom is the deep realization that I have no wisdom at all, that ALL Wisdom is found in Christ the Living and Written Word. All I am doing is meditating on His Words long enough to where I can put His Wisdom into my words.

Basketball Fever

This week I received a text from my daughter Rebecca about my granddaughter Allie, and my son in law Tim. God has blessed us richly!
From Rebecca: Last night at the end of the basketball game, Allies team was tied up with the other team. Allie was sitting on the bench because in the last minutes of the game a brute of a girl DELIBERATELY (emphasis mine- md) pushed her down, and Allie hurt her face and knee. 
The game went into a 3 minute overtime, and Allie's coach/dad Tim pushed Allie a bit to get back out there for her team. She did so.
In the LAST MINUTE of the overtime, Allie made TWO THREE POINTERS!! They won the game by those 6 points!!!
My wife Mary chimed in: Cheaters aren't winners!
Mike: I am delighted but not surprised. In the 1st scrimmage game I watched, Allie made all 4 free throws I saw. They were swooshers.

Silent Monks, Alaska School Kids, Hallelujah Chorus

I found both of these videos funny and moving at the same time!

I'm also including another video of Alaska school kids doing a similar video as a communications project, preceded by the comments of the teacher:Hallelujah Chorus -Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 5th Grade - Quinhagak, Alaska
Wow!! Thank you for all for the wonderful comments. The village of Quinhagak is glowing because of them. The amount of views is mind blowing!! Considering this video was intended for an audience of about 200. As many of you have thought, the kids worked very hard on this project. They put in 10 hours of work shooting all the scenes (on a weekend nonetheless!!) I am very proud of them!
Thank you also for pointing out the apostrophes! I now have a very teachable moment once we start school again. One they will never forget!! I'm just glad I spelled "Hallelujah" correct. 
Thank you on behalf of Quinhagak, Alaska!! Merry Christmas!!

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MORE ABOUT BLOGGING VS FACEBOOKING

I'm very glad I went to blogspot for several reasons: I can use larger print, add pictures, etc., blogspot will sponsor the blog, but the biggest benefit is the google search brings in viewers that Facebook and Twitter don't reach.
I've been using Facebook as a rough draft for the blogger. It seems easier to get started writing on Facebook, because, like right now, my friends (I started this conversation with Facebook friend Melinda Bartley Alleyne  who also writes a blog, healing joshua on blogspot) will inspire me to write on a subject.
To handle all the pasting and copying, I set up with tabs, not windows, which makes it a lot easier to switch back and forth between Facebook and blogspot. To store the notes until I'm ready I use a notepad. I find the Chrome browser is the easiest, fastest, and safest browser to work with on this. I tried both Mozilla and Explorer.
You'd be amazed to find out how much constant prayer can help you with geek stuff. The Holy Spirit is The Great Professor, so willing and able to lead us into all Truth. Of course, He still expects us to do our part. Of all the aspects of learning, language takes the most work and is the least fun. Fortunately, bloggers are already skilled journalists, and keeping a personal log of steps to take will only be a small step for you, and will greatly speed up your geekification. God also started working with me on this area when I humbled myself (a difficult step for me) and gave Him credit for everything I learned. The Word says He leads us into ALL  TRUTH,  and last time I looked, all meant ALL!

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Hazing, swirleys, and guys from Gary

Recently a young man died because of "hazing", an initiation procedure of varying degrees of meanness done to the new guy, or in college, the freshman. That caused me to think of an incident from my youth.

I was a young man from a very tough neighborhood in Gary, Indiana. I learned about the hazing process when I attended Olivet Nazarene College, now called Olivet Nazarene University. Olivet is a christian liberal arts college located in Bourbonnais, Illinois, USA. 
At Olivet College, the initiation was called a swirly. The head of the freshman was stuck in a toilet, and the toilet was flushed, creating a swirling effect; hence the name. When confronted with a threaghtening group, many freshmen went willingly. Some were forced.

Guys from Gary were normally not initiated. Our tough city background normally frightened the hazers away. But this year one group decided to take on what they thought was the toughest one (I have no idea how they made that judgement!) to be sure every freshman was hazed.
In a brave attempt, 10 guys tried to give me a swirly. They stormed my room and threw a blanket over me to keep me from hitting them. The blanket didn't stop my hands from finding one of the 63 nerve points I had learned of in judo classes, specifically the Achilles heel, and pinching them sharply.
2 or 3 athletic young men screaming and jumping back in pain was a wonderful deterrent for the rest of the group. I was not initiated.
There were 6 freshmen that were NOT initiated. Five of them, including myself, were from Gary, Indiana. The 6th one claimed to be from Gary.

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Pray for our President

Dear brothers in Christ: I tearfully say believers have failed politically because we don't heed God's Word, therefore He doesn't listen to our words or prayers. The Apostle Paul admonished us to pray (the opposite of cursing) for those who rule over us, pray for their success as statesmen and as guardians, and for the protection of them and their families.
If our President is our political enemy who curses us under his breath, we are to bless him, as Jesus told us to, commend him honestly when he does a task well, and be slow to anger, slow to criticize. We do this to honor God's Word's, and not to gain political advantage.
Do not fear that his success as a statesman will lead to his success politically, for God decides who will be lifted up or brought down. Both Nixon and Carter were great statesmen, probably because of the prayers of believers, and failed spectacularly politically. 
God choosing who to lift up is the reason we should listen to God and NOT MEN when we go to the poll booth. Next time you vote, ask God who His man is.
Paul's Words:I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Political News on Pearl Harbor Day

News today: Rod Blagojevich, former Illinois State Governor, was sentenced to 14 years for corruption charges. He's the 2nd governor in a row to go to prison, and the 4th in 4 decades. It's ironic that in Illinois the nadir of morality has been Richard Daley.
Daley's saving graces are not his high ethical standards. Chicago city politics operate on a more savage plane than typical politics, hence the joke about Chicago's voting slogan: Vote Early. Vote Often. But Richard has a passionate love for his city. He broke all sorts of Federal Laws when he bulldozed MIGs airfield at midnight, because he rightly perceived that a downtown airport was an opportunity for terrorists. If Rod Blagojevich had that same love, he might have had a different fate.
Speaking of politics, today, December 7, Pearl Harbor Day is reminder that God has a guiding hand in the affairs of men. Because of pride, a blindness had settled on the hearts of American leadership leading up to the attack. But the same blindness had also settled on Japanese military leadership. Only Yamamoto, a most brilliant Japanese military mind, opposed going to war with the US. He was ordered to come up with the best plan anyway, and the attack on Pearl Harbor was the result. His words during the attack: I'm afraid ...we have awakened a sleeping giant.
God's hand was also upon MacArthur, who ruled the defeated Japanese so justly that he became their hero, and our deep friendship with Japan became possible.
I am including, with his permission, my Facebook friend John Whitelock's comments on my Facebook post, who accurately observes: the Japanese deified their emperor --- willing to literally sacrifice and die for his "glory" in the reknowned "Kamikaze" attacks thru-out the war... MacArthur was a committed Christian who Knew the significance of Japan's defeat... It cost him his career eventually, but his FIRST act and appeal in behalf of the defeated nation --- was to call upon America's churches to fill the spiritual vacuum in the Japanese heart... "... we have dethroned and defeated not just a man or a nation, but the god of this nation... what the Japanese NEED more than anything in this hour is prayer, missionaries, and Bibles ! They NEED to see the compassionate heart of the living Christ !"