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Friday, August 31, 2012

Silence is consent

Certainly so many, stating concern about preserving God's truth, would not be swayed to turn a blind eye to the importance of truth in all other areas as well.

Misrepresenting the truth is lying...silence is consent.


Precision in word



It is far better to speak well occasionally, than to speak poorly often. d(-_-)b 

people believe they are right

It is expected that people believe they are right, it is unacceptable when people believe they can't be wrong. d(-_-)b

I would prefer to be wrong

I would prefer to be wrong by thinking on my own, than to be right simply because I let someone else do my thinking. d(-_-)b

Thieves and Liars

How long should we seek love and accept hate?

How long should we ask for truth and accept lies?

How long should we ask for compassion to receive cruelty?

Let not the truth be silenced and liars given occasion to spew their venom among the masses.

The fight will be tiresome, for they will speak loudly and relentlessly because every liar knows that equal time for truth is not a luxury that can be afforded.

You must know that the liar and the thief are one and the same and their insatiable desires will only be satisfied when they have taken all they can, and even that is fleeting.

Speak the truth in love, exposing the liars and giving voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.

For if we fail to speak with the strength of the truth now while we can, the truth will be silenced and we then have lost the one thing that can make us truly free.

Before you passively surrender that, ask yourself in doing so, when the power of lies have taken over who then will be there, and how will they fight, if the thieves and liars then come for you?

And they will...

Verbose (or The First Person Tense)

I speak for your benefit , I write for mine...

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Let not the truth be silenced

Let not the truth be silenced and occasion given to liars. For the liar and the thief are one and the same, each with the insatiable desire for ill gotten gain. d(-_-)b

Houston we have a problem

It seems to me that the problem with social media isn't so much that people have nothing to say about matters, the problem is that they seem to say so much about nothing that matters.

Precision in language is precision in thought

My friend Shane at Rhino said that to me and I thought it was great.

So, not being the sort of guy who can leave anything alone I went on line and found this excellent little quote:

I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along. - Bertrand Russell

Number Eleven Thirty One

If you do this to me: (face book status from "unbelievable facts")
#1131 Religious sites are more likely to harm your computer with viruses than porn sites.

and as a result a discussion of idiocy ensues, then I'm going to do this to you: (my response)

Please remain seated

Welcome to the internet.
Where you can say whatever you want, and someone will believe you without question.

Number Eleven thirty

Prior to it's use on the internet, LOL meant "Lots of Love".

The popular redefinition of LOL is " Laughing Out Loud".

Coincidence?

Maybe, or perhaps dots to be connected about the state of our culture?

You tell me...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Wasabi Peas

It love them, I'm just glad there's not a medical condition called wasabi pee.

Just Because It's True...

<p>Doesn't mean you have to say it.</p>
<p>I usually say this to my kids when I'm taking to them about the importance tact.</p>
<p>But then I was also just thinking about how that might also be applied to so called news reporting.</p>

How that saying has become about anything except tact.

<p>And so the opposite seems to be true when it comes to the news as well...</p>

Is God Unfair?

Yes.

There's no I in Team 3

There's no i in team, but there is an i in quit.

Any Given Sunday

Try this:

On any given  Sunday, walk in to a crowded church service, and loudly proclaim something (hopefully untrue) horrible about yourself. I mean something shameful and potentially life ruining.



Now, go back in a couple of Sundays and loudly retract it.
Everything should be fine now, right?

Why not?

There's No I in Team 2

If there's no eye in team, I certainly hope that team isn't attempting any sort of dangerous sport.

There's No I in Team

Anyone who thinks that there's no I in team, has never been on a pirate bowling league.

Is there an I in team there?

Aye!

The Nile

You'd think I'd see a lot more stigmata given the number of people that tell me they're doing so called "cross training".

Yeah...whatever you say.

Who do they think they're fooling?!

Themselves maybe, but not me, that's for sure.

Liars...

My Sunday Gig is Everyday

I haven't been to church in a while.
It's been an amazing catalyst for discussion and ministry to those who don't go to church.

You can't give it if you don't live it.

Black Theology

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisyNlinn-T39KaJnsguF9nV3yftmtRRersTxqVpbCTq0MeHXg0BrM8u06AdiJRyK3ai4Gs5qqF9DHfJ7s07STkIJnkjo0VaGt09A0Rg5-eXpftYnFJW4nbR6HE-DZI4NV48h4-RwN7ZET_/s1600/black-power.jpg
It was recently suggested to me that Obama is a racist, 
running on a racist platform.

Departing from traditional Christian Values and God's word 
      he has has apparently fallen under the influence of "Black Theology". 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

If you can't laugh at yourself

... well then there are certainly plenty of other people you can laugh at.

Song of the moment

Listening to Bright Lights (feat William Cartwright - Netsky remix)
by Die & Interface -

http://bit.ly/On1aPC 

sent via Motorola

You got to be patient to be a horticulturist

You got to keep your plants on.

Idea No 601

Holla Backs: A return thank you on a  Hollagram. (See Idea No 600)

Idea No 600

Hollagrams: Hip Hop / Rap greetings like singing telegrams.

Idea No 137

HollaGrahams: Graham crackers with hip hop style greetings.

Idea No 269

Tandem Unicycles

One last thing

If I could tell you only one thing before I died, This is what I would tell you...

Phase Shifter

It's all new at first, everything.
Shiny and new, to you at least.

But then after it goes for a while, it really seems like it all just starts over again.
Like some sad sick joke that was really funny once a very long time ago.

It never really gets much better, but I guess it never really gets much worse either.

Same old questions, same old answers.
Same old products in a different package.
And it just keeps going ... and going ... and .... going.

I suppose maybe we should do the same until we can't that is.
That day comes...eventually, for all of us.

Hang in there.

It'll be over before you know it, and then you'll wonder where it all went so fast.

d(-_-)b

Monday, August 27, 2012

It's OK to Think, Really

It's not offensive to find thinking people (for me at least) who disagree with my views. I encourage thinking people to continue earnestly doing so.

The best way to ruin a good thing

I made my wife an mp3 CD for the car.
It was a labor of love, an awesome mix, with lots of songs.
It was music she wanted to listen to and she enjoyed it...even after it got stuck in the CD player it was still an awesome mix.

What You Really Really Want

For couple a weeks the pain from my teeth had been increasing, and I began to wonder about the competency of my dentist...

People would rather believe an incredibly outrageous lie than face a simply ugly truth. d(-_-)b

Nowhere Man

It's just the representation of text.

Light 

What you see here, without electricity, doesn't really exist at all.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

We can be heroes

If for one day I could hear nothing at all about what people thought was important, I might be able to focus on what actually is important.

There will be blood

That the path is crowded with fellow travelers is not at all indicative that one is on the correct path.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

I see this warning a lot...

I like kids.

Heck I've spent a lot off time dedicated to them.

I just can't understand why so many of them (apparently) want to choke and suffocate me by using plastic bags and wrappers.


KITTENS!



Religious Persecution in America

I remember every year on Christmas Eve our family would gather out front, and share the Christmas story.


Speak to me Peter

speak

Unplugged or Fall into the Gap

See this?

The Buying and Selling of America

The media by careful marketing techniques capitalize and sensationalise those things that may or may not be the case.

They are in business and business need to generate profits.

While we cannot assume the actuality or any certainty of a situation based on the entertainment presented as news, we cannot entirely dismiss it either.

We are left to our own devices and discretion in discerning the truth.

This is exactly the confusion and uncertainty that religious leaders and politicians prey upon in swaying opinion and in gaining unmerited favor and credibility.

The tactic is to polarize us in order that we would do to each other what they know they alone cannot do.

So we are inundated with conflicting information and perpetuate it by passing along information  we are uncertain is accurate further escalating the tension and widening the expanse in the division.

It is a divide and conquer technique based on their need to gather the single greatest resource we have, the one resource that they know they require, the strength and support found in the unity of the people compelled to action in an us against them mentality.

Never underestimate the strength and power found in the unity born of those believing they suffer mutual affliction especially when it is presented in the guise of some greater moral cause.

We must examine our own convictions to think and decide for ourselves or suffer the consequences of others who would gladly do it for us.

This is one of the greatest fears I have regarding what I see to be declining literacy in a culture of self entitled people so used indulged in immediate gratification.

d(-_-)b

If I Can't Be Right

And if you can't be wrong...

Then I can't be bothered to find the possibility of finding the truth about either of those things.

How does the pavement pass gas?

Through its asphalt of course.

Single Hole Punch

That's what I'm going to start doing...

Of sheep and goats

If you don't want your goat to be gotten, don't make your goat so easy to get...

Friday, August 24, 2012

Get Right Get Left or Get Going

This is the best I could come up with to explain this statement:

There is no conservative or liberal Jesus, there is only Jesus.
__________________________________________
Everyone believes that they are right, or at least deep down they must hope that they are.

This often seems especially true of those who too freely proclaim their certainties of God,  His views, and just what it is He requires.

Often this will be the motivating factor in qualifying to their mind many reprehensible actions and reactions they might not otherwise feel compelled towards.

I am surely no exception.

I find it however quite disturbing when over the course of time I come to see that this God so many speak of with so great of certainty, seems to look remarkably like them.

Perhaps their confidence and certainties in speaking about who God is (or is not) then is based in personal experience.

More disturbing to me though is the further realization that God, their God, looks so very different from mine.

For I am quite certain that in actuality God looks and thinks remarkably like me, and as I change, so does He.

I have to believe however in considering all of this that we are merely the finite in quest of understanding the infinite.

It is a quest that we must admit and accept, will not come to resolve in this lifetime.

It is a process and in that process we tend to attribute the views and values gleaned from these very limited experiences and understandings as those of God's, for that is how we have come to know and relate to him.

We mistake the many steps in the process as each being the end of the process.

For this we should ask and extend forgiveness.

At the end of it all though, it is my sincere hope that we find He is very much unlike us, any of us.

That being the author of them, His views are not limited by time and experience as outs are.

So that He is able and willing to give us that which we actually need over that which we desire, or believe we need.

For which of us, if we are capable of being honest with ourselves, could measure up to the rigid standards that we, without thought or regard for the experience of others, seem so free about applying to them, as though our understanding and experiences should be theirs a well.

It is as though we seek a mutual understanding only on the term that it is our own understanding.

This will never do, for just as our lives are very different, we will certainly then each have our own callings and convictions which will manifest themselves differently in each of those lives.

We will each then have to account for our actions or lack there of in following them.

That we apply "liberal" and "conservative" to both politics and Christ mostly seems to confuse the nature of both, and serves more to divide than unite.

We err in judgement to take the view that the cause of Christ is served through politics.

If any actions that might seem parallel to the heart off Christ is found in any political party, or politically based actions, it is purely incidental because politicians (and consequently then politics) are rarely if ever concerned with His cause.

Even if at the outset a politician has the best of intentions toward serving Christ's cause, the success of one area will generally come at the expense of the other.

I have to believe that reasoning, in part, might be why Jesus himself might have been so stringent in specifically not taking up the kingly (political) Messiah as the Jewish people had anticipated and longed for and why He very carefully avoided the pitfalls in addressing inquiries of that nature.

Politics was the path to the cross.

Let's then not look to our own standards, but make Christ our standard, so that we can move beyond applying the labels of conservative and liberal and address what matters in the way that it matters.

If we are then to be liberal or conservative, let us pray that it is the very manner which Christ himself exemplified, without reducing His agendas to ours.

Liberal in grace and mercy. Liberal in compassion and forgiveness.

Conservative in judgment regarding matters we have no business judging for we cannot know the heart of another or the path God had planned for them even if we find that we are in many ways remarkably similar.

We are all remarkably similar, in one way, we are all sinners, some perhaps less offensive to our senses than others, but all of us offensive beyond hope without Christ himself intervening to do for us that which we could never do for ourselves.

If we reduce the compassion of Jesus for the reconciliation of men's souls to mere politics or religion, we will not achieve the whole of his purpose and we will have accomplished nothing.

In doing so I think we will find that at the heart of the matter there is a good deal of heart in very little that matters.

and there's no paper in there...


Thursday, August 23, 2012

I Can Go Outside Now


Looks like I found my flip flops.

Napoleon Complex

That's what my farts must have...

Life Begins at Conception

...the famous mantra of the pro-lifers...

But then following that logic, why does the volume of the outcry of those claiming their desire to protect and preserve life seem to so greatly decrease once the umbilical cord is cut?


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Art is Conceptual


 ART



If you must explain your art for it to be understood, 
perhaps it does you a disservice.

http://brickartist.com/img/gallery/yellow.jpg 

The English Interpreter of English

I see quite a few posts of graphics on facebook with misspellings and improper grammar. Could they be easily overlooked, sure, but why should I have to?

False Hope

As a kid I was told what it takes to be a doctor. 
 http://www.stopoxy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/prescription-pad-used-for-addictive-drugs.jpg
That obviously never happened for me...

What the world needs now...

I can't tell anymore if people with such apparent passion for their agendas, are more concerned with simply speaking their minds or they're just shouting so loudly and continually as their attempt to make sure that no one else can...

Trench Warfare

Digging in and holding ground... it has a time and place to be sure. 

I'd say they truly must be Christians...


Fallen Empires by Snow Patrol

Fallen Empires by Snow Patrol

God is moving...

God is moving, that's for sure...

Song of the Moment: Love is Stronger than Death (the The)


Me and my friend were walking, in the cold light of mourning
Tears may blind the eyes but the soul is not deceived
In this world even winter ain't what it seems

Song if the Moment: Shine (Rollins Band)

if I'd listened everything that they said to me, I wouldn't be here!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Law Abiding Citizens

I'm not the most educated guy in the world, nor do I have the time to pursue the interests and issues I would love to. I'm sure I'd be a much better person if I did.

Music?


History always repeats


What the Hell..


My People


For Mr. Vonk pt 1 of 2

Listening to Disconnect by Rollins Band - http://bit.ly/PCvpnk sent via Motorola

For Better or Worse

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTemz3lDTDXa82mETPenmqtV4ZXkq3sbCee8_vVUHWEVJIW0Wlbv0UD7UhidgrWGAgdgCJr6wrAzBnprr9j-SVbUMsNjwSzBPqPnhXzrPJITezApK0PdHNy4qFDbuCEAoF4_WxnHZvzE/s400/Better+Or+Worse.jpg

Does it always get worse before it gets better?
That's a fair question...

Monday, August 20, 2012

Don't post about it, man. DO IT!

Do It by Rollins Band

Listen: HERE

Lyrics here:
 
Don't think about it, do it  
Don't talk about it, do it  
Do it, do it
 
Don't lie about it, do it 

Do it, do it
 
Talk about your sick man  

So good, you got to do it, do it  

Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it 
Do it, do it, do it, do it  

Don't lie about it, do it
Why give a fuck about it, man?  

Do it, do it  

There's a law but who cares 
Do it, do it
 
Don't rip me off, man, just do it  

Do it, do it, do it  

Do it, do it, do it, do it  
Do it, do it, do it, do it
Don't talk about it, do it, do it 


Don't lie about it, do it, do it
Don't cover it with a lie, man 

Do it do it, just do it, just do it  

Do it, do it, do it, do it  
Do it, do it, do it, do it

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Better wear a tux...


OK so the sign maker can't spell, but someone had to look at that and say, 
"Looks great. Let's pay them."

Signs of Life?
 More like signs of decreasing literacy....
 

Signs of Life?
 More like signs of decreasing literacy....

Keeping It Real

It's good to have goals that aren't so lofty that you loose hope, but so easy that you aren't challenged.
It think this is one ambition that achieves both:

Friday, August 17, 2012

TGIFE

Thank God It's Fried Egg!






Song Of The Moment: Damien Jurado – Tornado


Damien Jurado – Tornado

Video:
http://youtu.be/VOwVrPoE1Ao


Lyrics:
She spends her time with other boys
He spends his time fixing cars
She doesn't mind that he's gone
It gives her more time to talk

He'll come around when he's bored
And she'll pay him no mind
"We must stop meeting like this,"
He said with a grin while walking in
And she just slammed the door in his face

I'll see you around sometime

She hangs her coat on the door
He hangs his head on her hopes
She sleeps alone with her thoughts
She dreams of good times

He'll come around when he's old
She'll pay him no mind
"We must stop meeting like this,
Coming to bed with no words said
Makes it tougher on both of us."

And I'll see you around sometime

It used to be much better than this

Say What

In my younger days as now I loved music.
The louder the better.

It really couldn't be loud enough.

Nothing has really changed much about that through the years, except that now it can't be loud enough for very different reasons.

Well I Guess It's Working

For some reason I've been getting these weather alerts on my phone.

I don't t recall signing up for them.

The good news is since I've been getting them I haven't been caught in a flash flood.

I suppose if I'd ever been caught on one before, I'd have a much greater appreciation for that.

Thanks...I guess...

There's no I in team

But there is an I in quit.

Truth In Advertising

The omission of truth, partial truths, misleading presentation of the truth.
It's not just corporations, it's in nature too.

I don't appreciate it.

Thursday, August 16, 2012




I always think it's a bit of an oddity that we seem to confuse fighting for the freedom and rights of our fellow citizens, and patriotism with pledging allegiance to a flag.


The Process of Recovery

A year ago I was in a car wreck. 

It took about a second, if that long to total my car, need 18 stitches in my face, 3 broken ribs, and I still have severe migraines.
So why am I telling you?

How To Make a Facebook Post

Don't have anything to say?
No original thought processes that might indicate independent thinking? 
Maybe it's just too risky to put it all out there.

Well then...I have a solution for you!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Finnish Well


What If

People who made donations to elect candidates also had to match those donations by giving them to a charity that is actually helping the problems in the world right now.
That's a lot of money...

Born This Way?

Unless your mom was about 65 feet tall, I sincerely hope not.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

What do you imagine him thinking?

Me? Mmm...probably something along the lines of:

You people aren't making this very easy for me.

Let's try this again. This time I'll ask that you actually read my word. 
No skimming, no selective memorization and NO interpretations, just READ it, and live it.

Please...for the love of God, would you please just do that?!




Be Still, and know that I am God

You're tired of hearing it. 
I'm tired of saying it.
I'm not even sure that it makes any difference to you anyway. 
You hear what you want, 
you see what you want, 
so please, by all means, do what you want...

Monday, August 13, 2012

One of my favorites

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right” Abraham Lincoln

FYI

Just so you know, inspired by my deodorant, (as I do most of my reading in the bathroom) I will now be referring to my flatulence as "invisible solids".

God is God.

I'm always skeptical of folks who claim to have view or position that is so concretely backed by God, that they seem to be beyond considering or reconsidering evidence and logic that may show their understanding of the issues may not fully encompass divine understanding and perspective.


It's good to take a position, it's a starting point, but in equating our position as that of God's, we make that starting point our ending point as well.

That is a methodology rooted in insecurity, fear, and pride, and it is contrary to everything that Christ taught. What is there to fear, for in the end truth will prevail.

It is not making one's self available and teachable to have a faith that glorifies God's strength through our weakness.

Those who maintain views steeped in ignorance, are hiding something (or from something), if not from others at least from themselves.

It is a method that seeks to glorify ourselves so that we don't have to actually face either God or ourselves.
It is not the relationship God created us for, it is the religion he speaks against.

Be not deceived, for God is not mocked...and one day every knee will bow, every tongue confess, God is God.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Self CTRL

In the office I work at, I sit closer to the restroom than any one else.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name

Sometimes in life I meet certain people I have an instant connection with or I just plain old like them.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Evil in my Heart

This week I face an ugliness about  myself I never thought I would find, and I just can't seem to shake the shame of it.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

In a NutsHell


I am discouraged to think of all those folks who will never know the Jesus of the Bible, simply because they could not see past the American Jesus. That people would fail to consider Jesus before or more than his followers, and thus leaving the condition of their humanity unresolved.

That God allows people like me to be associated as one of his, I believe is an evidence of sorts that he is bigger than any of our problems individually or collectively. But it is the very reason I no longer attend church. Although I still maintain my faith, what the term Christian has come to represent in the world is honestly quite shameful and I'm afraid too often a warranted reputation.

I address this in many of my posts, and have been accused of not loving the church. The real problem though is that I do love the church, so much that I am willing to tell them how much they need to change instead of just walking away.

I'm afraid it's made me less than popular among many.

To them, and to you I would say and close with this line, one of my all time favorite movie quotes: 

God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.

(> piece out
d(-_-)b

I think that's it in a nut shell.

I'm not voting for anyone

I won't be manipulated into voting against someone if I'm not actually voting for someone.

But that's not what this is about...it's simply what inspired it.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Monday, August 6, 2012

The God of Science and the Science of God

Let me start by saying, as I have always said, I'm not an expert in anything... Nothing.

Visual Stimulus

That's what this place needs!




Blessed are the piece makers



Guns don't people, people kill people





Tits and Tats

Man it seems like everywhere I look there's an ever increasing downward spiral of tit-for-tat hate propaganda on either side.


On Consumerism and Happiness

On Consumerism and Happiness

by Roberto Esponja on Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 3:31pm ·
(From a FB Status and reply)

(Status): If money can't buy happiness and is, thus, not happiness, why is the insatiable desire for it and the avaricious mentality that often comes with it so prevalent in so many people today?

Here they come again...and here I go

Here they come again...and here I go.

by Roberto Esponja on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 3:03am ·
Well,  I've been thinking a lot about offending and being offended lately. It does seem like a lot of people (Christians and not so muchers) are awfully offended these days, and easily so....

Over it?

Not if you aren't above it you're not.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Celebrating Diversity! (oh stop that nonsense in your head right now)

Well, I'm happy to announce that a couple of new authors should be joining the ranks of the highly unpaid staff of  authors (well, more accurately, author singular) here at Victory Garden Failure. (We do at least compensate for no wages by not offering benefits either.)

It's a labor of love.

I don't know how often, when or what they'll post about, but you'll know it's them (and not me) when and if they post, because they'll probably exercise they mastery of the language by being much more concise and insightful with their posts.

That said though, (and I hate to disappoint you by saying so) I can't speak for the offense level they'll bring to the table, I've set that bar pretty high, but they're both talking the talk and walking the walk and they're both very honest and loving folks with a heart for the sorts of folks that Jesus had a heart for.

They get it and that's enough for me!

Matt and Jonathon, welcome to the team!
I love you guys....now bring it boys!

To you who may be new, I suggest strongly once more, if you haven't already, reading these two things:
These two (possibly redundant) pages may help your perspective of what happens here by lending some insight as to what it is I'm doing here.

(But may in fact lend no insight as to what Matt and Jonathon are doing here.)

I'm excited...
Things are gonna change, I can feel it.

d(-_-)b


Rule # 1: You are NEVER wrong


Do not, DO NOT, allow for the exception that your understanding of things could be "wrong". This admits the possibility of fault in your thinking which you know cannot possibly be the case. Your experience tells you so...

Haters gonna hate

That we should expect to be hated by the world doesn't excuse that we often give legitimate cause to be hated by them.

First and Second Aid

I hope exercising my First Amendment right doesn't mean you're going to start exercising your Second Amendment right...

WDJD?

You can't possibly hope to answer the question,"What would Jesus do?"

Thursday, August 2, 2012

You Can't Handle the Truth...

A couple of times this week, I've heard people say,"God doesn't give us more than we can handle."
No disrespect, but after some consideration of the larger issue, I'm afraid I have to disagree.

Equal Time

The time between so called "news reporting" and advertising.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012