We're back from NYR. Did I mention that we were going to Colorado for a week? Well, we did and we're back. It was a fun week, but we really missed Emma. She stayed with my parents and didn't get too upset about us being gone, but it was the longest we've ever been away from her. I'll have more about last week as soon as I can.

I'm pleased to present the third installment of BlogSwap. This time we'll hear from Tim Challies, the creator of BlogSwap. If you're interested in participating, use the link below. Many thanks to Tim for all the work he does to make BlogSwap happen.

Dr. W.A. Criswell (1909-2002), long-time pastor of First Baptist Church
of Dallas, was once traveling by airplane on a trip across the country
to attend a speaking engagement and was thrilled to recognize the man in
the seat beside him as a well-known Christian theologian. Criswell
admired this man and wanted to strike up a conversation with him. After
the plane left the ground and settled into cruising altitude he
introduced himself and the two began to speak.

The theologian told the pastor how he had recently lost his four-year
old son to a terrible illness. The child was sent home from school one
day with a fever. At first the parents thought it was a typical
childhood illness, but as the child's condition continued to worsen they
took him to the hospital. After the doctors ran a battery of tests they
told the parents that their son had a virulent form of meningitis and
that there was nothing they could do for him. The child was going to
die.

The loving father did the only thing he could do, which was sit with his
son in a death vigil. It was the middle of the day and the illness was
causing the little boy's vision began to fade. He looked up at his daddy
and said softly, "Daddy, it's getting dark, isn't it?"

The professor replied, "Yes, son, it is dark. It is very dark." And for
the father it was very dark.

The little boy said, "I guess it's time for me to get to sleep, isn't
it?"

"Yes son, it's time for you to sleep," said the father.

The theologian explained to Dr. Criswell how his son liked his pillow
and his blankets arranged just so and how he put his head on his hands
while he slept. He told how he helped the child fix his pillow and how
his little boy rested his head on his hands and said. "Good night daddy.
I'll see you in the morning." With that the little boy closed his eyes
and breathed his last.

The professor stopped talking and looked out the window of the airplane
for a good long time. Finally he turned to Dr Criswell and with his
voice breaking and tears spilling onto his cheeks said, "I can hardly
wait for morning to come!"

Though it may sound like merely the cry of a grief-stricken parent, the
father's words speak of far more. They speak of a profoundly beautiful
truth. His words echo those of King David who, after his son died said,
"I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel 13:23) The
father believed that life does not end with death - death is just the
beginning! His words are an awesome statement of faith. He had faith to
believe that Jesus' words were true when he said, "I am the way, the
truth and the life!" Only through Jesus can we have the hope of eternal
life that sustains the grief-stricken father. Only through Jesus can we
have assurance that he "will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there
shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying." (Revelation 21:4) God
offers us this assurance if only we will believe in Him.

Do you believe in Him? Give God the opportunity to be real to you and to
give you the faith to believe that there really is life beyond death.

Tim Challies writes essays, articles & reviews written from a Reformed,
Christian Perspective. He tries hard to put the fun back into
fundamentalism. Check out his site at Challies Dot Com.

My entry will be posted on The Irvins.

To view the rest of this week's entries, click here.

Would you like to BlogSwap? For more information visit Challies.com.

Thanks to Sears for sending me this link.

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in months. It's the staff of Microsoft from 1978. Gates is on the lower left. (Oddly, the guy in the middle of the top row is named Bob Wallace.) Every one of these people ranges from a multimillionaire to a multibillionaire, all because of the free market, and not politics. It might confirm what I've been saying for years--ultimately we are going to be ruled by Homo Computergeekizoid Nerdus. This might not be such a bad idea, considering what the State and politicians have done. All hail the new masters!

Welcome to the technocracy. Join us or face the pain. Once we've completed our takeove there's going to be some serious revenge on jocks and bullies.

By the way, since Matt finds all these good links, I think he should start his own blog. Drop a comment if you agree.

I haven't made any major tech purchases recently. I've been slowly gathering old computer stuff for my little Linux playground, but now I have an idea for my next purchase: A Secure Digital wi-fi adapter card for my Pocket PC. It would put the internet in my hand at home and work. I can also get it with 256 MB of memory. I started thinking about this when I read that there is a Pocket PC version of Skype. I could use my PDA as a phone. How cool is that? Doug was telling me that he uses his wireless adapter to stream music to his PDA. I know I don't have the money for this now, but it's fun to dream.

I finally watched Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The movie really did have an effect on me. I know that half of it is the manipulation that comes with the craft of documentary filmmaking. I also know that Moore stretched some facts and led viewers to make connections that aren't really there. But still, Bush did look pretty bad in parts. I'm talking mainly about all of the business connections. But Kerry and company are not exactly blue-collar America either. It's also pretty clear now that WMD wasn't a good reason for going to war. Tonight even Bill O'Reilly admitted to that. But then again, Kerry supported the war originally, too. So, I don't know what to think or who to vote for.

I just added some links to the list on the left. These are three blogs that I've started reading recently.

Kristin is a friend from Truman.

John is also a friend from Truman.

Techfreak (Brendon) is a blogger I met through Brendoman.com. He's taught me some Linux stuff and his blog is pretty interesting.

Sometime I want to organize the link list into categories. Happy reading.

prsnmn.hopto.org :: personman's postnuke playground - After some work I have a Postnuke site running on my Fedora box. It has been a good exercise in learning how to work with Apache, MySQL and php. I'm also trying to install Movable Type and phpBB2, but with less success. If any Linux geeks read this maybe they can recommend some more projects for me. Should I set up webmin? An email server? Jabber (like Brendon)?
Wordpress? Koha is on my list, but I need some practice first.

I have recieved quite a bit of criticism for the Worst Worship Songs post and subsequent comments. This is good, I guess, but it has made me a little wary of opening myself (and my various neuroses) up to be dissected by others. This quote from Lawerence Lessig (found in Free Culture, p. 156) allayed my fears. "We have a principle of free speech. We have this principle, not just because it is the law, but also because it is a really great idea. A strongly protected tradition of free speech is likely to encourage a wide range of criticism. That criticism is likely, in turn, to improve the systems or people or ideas criticized."(italics mine) I feel like that is what I, and you, fellow readers, have been doing in creating this monster of a post. And yes, the people who criticize the criticizers have equal right to do so (and an equal possibility of improving me). They may win yet.

I finally figured out how to use my Linbox as a web server. Behold: prsnmn.hopto.org.

Create your own South Park character. The picture above is what I might look like if I were on South Park.