Way Short of Heaven

White Spaces have been opened!

Obviously, we have a new president elect because of people turning out in record numbers to vote yesterday and thats great!

But did you know about another vote that was held yesterday (by officials who make big decisions on behalf of the people, and we can’t vote for them…)?

After heavy lobbying by Google, and [I hope] your signatures, the FCC has voted to allow this unused bandwidth to be used as a large Wi-Fi network! This means fast internet access for so many more people, which in turns gives resources and a voice to so many more! I can’t wait for this to unfold.

This will, of course help Google’s bottom line, if you have some capital and like to invest, I would seriously consider Google as a stock option! Their stocks have soard before, and they’ll do it again.

Because God Isn’t Sovereign

This is photo is only really directed towards a certain group of people. Christians who are passionate about McCain simply because they like him better than Obama. If you like McCain for what he stands for, and you voted for him on principal, please don’t take offense! I personally don’t like Obama, but I think that’s a bad reason to vote for McCain.

America! Where is your hope?

With all the buzz (it’s giving me a headache!) about this “historic” election election, more people are registered than ever before. Great! I encourage you to go vote if you have not done so already.

But if you haven’t noticed, people in general have gotten crazy about these candidates. democrats, republicans, race, sex, mavericks and muslims, people of “color” and “woman” (the quotes are just to be fair…haha) and blah blah blah!! Enough banter! That’s kind of how I feel right now.

While some issues I think are really important, and I’d like to think my vote will count for something, there is something much more important to realize here.

So many of us (especially you, O Christian) have put our hope in this office of president. I heard someone say they would literally grieve if Obama was elected. Seriously?

No matter if you are an Obama person, or a McCain person, or anybody in between, please keep in mind the scope of the office of President. Especially in the light of God’s complete sovereignty.

The second we start putting our hope, or our trust in anything but Christ, we have missed the point entirely. A president of any kind will not fix things! No president can soften a hard heart or cleanse a wretched soul.

Are you furious about abortion? Does it just make you sick? (if it doesn’t, think about some more, it will.) What about Sex Trafficking? What about people who can’t put clothes on thier kids backs? What about kids born with aids? Do you honestly think a president will be the answer to all these problems and countless others?

Please, by all means, spread the word about thing you are passionate about, and vote! But do not put your hope in a President.

Christ alone is the answer to all of these problems. Please think about this. Do you believe it? I’m preaching at myself, because so often my hope is in my paycheck, or not arguing with my wife, and sometimes in politics. How seemingly innocent. How dreadfully wrong.

McCain on SNL with Tina Fey

I’m not voting for McCain, but thought this was really funny. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a gander.

The Other Guys Running for President

I had every intention of voting early, and didn’t. The main reason being that I have no idea who I’m going to vote for! Some of you may say that I have had enough time to figure it out by now, and you’re right! I have not done the research required to make a decision I feel right about. So tonight I did some research.

It turns out that there are 327 people who have registered with the Federal Election Commission or filed a statement of candidacy?! Wow. I mean, obviously only one of the two guys you hear about EVERY DAY will make it in the end, but I wish we heard more about some of these other presidential candidates.

I definitely did not look through every one of these people’s bio’s nor do I have the desire to! But i did find some choice selections that are pretty interesting….

Exhibit A: Jack Grimes is the pick of the United Fascist Union. Yeah. I’m not making this up! Don’t waste too much time, but check out thier web site just to make sure I’m not lying! Thier opening statement says they exist to “to promote the economic theories and political ideologies of Benito Mussolini and Saddam Hussein“. Ok, well. Moving on!

Exhibit B: Brian Moore is the pick for the Socialist Party USA. Also, don’t wast too much time, but it’s just very interesting.

Exhibit C: Tom Stevens is the pick for the Objectivist Party. Honestly Didn’t read much on these guys, but it sounds at first glance to be a ‘purist’ party. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Exhibit D: Bob Barr is the pick for the Libertarian Party. Maybe not a waste of your time. I might actually vote for this guy. Not sure yet.

Exhibit E: Chuck Baldwin is the pick for the Constitution Party. Another interesting choice. haven’t read a whole lot, but it seems he has a lot of good things to say.

So as you can see, you have plenty of choices! From crazy….to crazy!

But seriously. As far as McCain vs. Obama, they both lose in my book. That’s why I have had to get off my butt and do some research. Unfortunately I still haven’t decided…hmm. Not a good sign.

I might just have to write in for Stephen Colbert!

Legos, Taylor Mali, and Guy Love

“Stay of Execution”

Taylor Mali is very creative and funny, but this video brings up a great point, and it’s delivery is perfect! Bryan first exposed me to this video on his blog).

Finally, something completly useless. Guy Love.

How to turn off X3 Watch

I hope the title of this post deceived you. I have to admit, I’m a little frustrated. The majoraty of people who find this blog via Google or some other search engine, find it by searching for things related to the X3 Watch accountability software. But it’s not because they (and possibly you) are interested in installing it, or what it does, but rather how to get around it. They want to know how they can turn off the software without it notifying the accountability parters, or just simply how to look at porn without being caught.

This assumes that they already have it installed, and if they have it installed, it’s because they (at least on the outside) want some help in the right direction – to not look at porn. So for them, or you, it’s all a facade. You don’t really want to change. You just want people to think you do.

Consider these lyrics from As Cities Burn – a song called “Terrible! How Terrible For The Great City”.

am I a monster when I sink my teeth into her
when I don’t love her
no, I don’t love you
forgive me darling, but love has nothing to do with this
it has nothing to do with how I can’t stop
until I get what I want from you

this is what real men keep quiet
it doesn’t exist if you can hide it behind your teeth
and sleep at night next to your wife
who you love too much to tell her
you don’t love her at all

I just feel as empty as the lungs
of those waiting in the womb
do you feel as empty as the lungs of those waiting
to come into this world
where being beautiful means being used

how long will we blame the devils on our shoulders
and pose like angels on the outside
when all I am is a monster

I have some compassion for people who look at porn, but don’t want to. If you are trying to get around X3 Watch, that is just a symptom of a bigger problem. You can’t just try harder, you’ll fail. If not the first time, you will eventually. You need something bigger and better than yourself to help you if you intend to stop.

Leave some comments if you want to talk. I’ve been there.

The Space Between

Gatherings start at 11:00am. Located at 297 Haywood St. downtown Asheville(across from Hunter Volvo). I go here, and it’s an amazing, Gospel centered church. Come Check it out.

Google Chrome enters the browser ring

Google has build a web browser. I don’t know the details, but they are releasing the beta tomorrow. As Microsoft is releasing it’s own beta’s for Internet Explorer 8, I don’t think the timing is an accident.

Just from skimming the official google blog post, it looks like they aren’t trying to come in a destroy the competition. It gives credit to Apple’s Webkit as well as Firefox, and plans to release the source code for community development.

I am a big fan of Google, and I’m looking forward to see what comes of this project. Sometimes their ideas freak me out just little, but maybe I’m just old fashioned. I’ll be downloading Chrome tomorrow.

UPDATE: The download URL will be gears.google.com/chrome/?hl=en. It is not live yet, but it was, just long enough to be indexed by Google’s own search engine.