The Peaceful Gnome

Hi all, I just wanted to share what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving morning. I thank God for all of these things that He has so graciously provided for me: First, and always at the very top of my list, is Jesus, he came and took on human flesh (John 1:14), lived a perfect life and took on my sins (2 Corinthians 5:21), and died for me (Romans 5:6-8). Second is family, my mom who never gave up on me and kept praying for me even when I was rejecting both her and God. My daughter Lora whom I love dearly and who is so much like me. My granddaughter Serenity who lives life full bore and keeps me going all the time. For my cousin Mike who has been so generous with our expanded family the last several years. And of course my little sister Kari who has such a great way of bringing me down to reality when I wander off in my head sometimes. I'm thankful for Messiah Lutheran Church and our congregation, and especially for Pastor Ledic. I'm thankful for my job, and my employers...

Reason Not to Dehydrate: Man Speaking After 23 Years in Locked-In State Monday, November 23, 2009, 10:57 AM Wesley J. Smith We hear constantly that people diagnosed as being persistently unconscious should be dehydrated to death because they are not “persons,” or are actually “dead”–and so should be available for organ harvesting. We hear that even if the family resists , futile care theory should permit bioethics committees to impose unilateral withdrawal. And we hear this even as repeated studies demonstrate that 40 or more percent of patients diagnosed as PVS really aren’t... Read the whole story here: Reason Not to Dehydrate: Man Speaking After 23 Years in Locked-In State » Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog

Last night Mike, Maryann, Topanga, Serenity, Lora and Larry all went on a Commodore City Lights Bay Cruise that Maryann had tickets to. It was pretty fun actually. The dining room was a bit noisy for my taste but once the loud music came on and I didn't have to try and figure out what people were saying it was all good :-) I like loud music but hate loud rooms full of talking people. Go figure. I didn't take my camera but did take a few fuzzy shots with my phone so here you are, enjoy :-)

Thanks Mom :-)

Lora, Serenity and I went and saw this thing yesterday, the biggest warning I can give is this thing is LOOONG! And pretty funny too, especially the alleged "science" they tossed in. It was fun though. As the review says: There is something inherently ridiculous about using a (primarily) paranoia-inspired date and transforming it into a cinematic spectacle. The scientific explanations behind the catastrophes that rip through "2012" are about as believable (and logical) as a book by Dr. Seuss. The 160-minute run time overwhelms before the end credits roll, almost making an after-film Advil a downright necessity. "2012" is, admittedly, a fun ride at times -- albeit a dumb and dizzy one. Pleasanton Weekly : Movie review: 2012

Cool, each phrase in the Nicene Creed is linked to Scripture: Extreme Theology: The Nicene Creed According to the Scriptures

I never realized that Advent was a season of fasting before reading this from Weedon's Blog : On Keeping Holy Advent For us Western Christians, the Advent fast is fast approaching (our Eastern fellow Christians already have begun it). But how shall we approach this holy time so that it produces spiritual benefit for us? First, it requires time. Here's where the busyness of our lives does us such a great disservice. We hurry ourselves to the grave. Don't think of the extra services in Church as "one more thing" added to your already insanely busy schedule. Instead, see them for what they are: oases of peace that will allow you time for prayer and reflection on the coming of our Savior into the flesh, His coming in the Sacrament, and His coming in glory. Make every effort not to miss a single one of the Sunday or Wednesday liturgies. We were not made for busyness; we were made for communion with the Blessed Trinity! Click here for the rest .

Heh, two ways to cut down to just one per day.

Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV) 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. So, it should have been obvious to me but it wasn't. When struggling with sins it doesn't actually pay off to be dwelling on the sins. Constantly thinking "Oh why did I do that again?" and trying to figure out how to stop doing whatever the particular sin I'm worried about just seems to make things worse. It keeps that thing I am trying to avoid at the front of my mind. If it wasn't something I wanted to do it would not be a temptation now would it? So thinking about something that I actually want...

Last night, after having spent all day at Perpetual Recess, Serenity came excitedly to my room and dragged me to the computer she was "playing" at. There she was listening to, and singing along with, a Japanese cartoon video. I thought she would have no idea what they were saying but there was an English version she had listened to as well. She said " at first it sounded like gibberish but then I could understand it! " Heh, fun stuff, none of it was intended to be "educational" but there she was learning some Japanese words ;-)

I received this as an email but thought it worthy of inclusion here: New Direction for any war: Send Service Vets over 60! I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing ass-backwards. Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35. For starters: Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy. Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill some asshole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while. ...

Please Join me today in honoring our Veterans by donating generously to Disabled American Veterans by clicking on the link below, thank you

So, I was listening to Slacker radio today and I glanced at the screen and saw that the California Employment Development Department (aka Unemployment) had an add there so you could "click your unemployment benefits into place." I thought it was funny. I guess I'm easily amused. :-) Screen shot is to the left, click to embigenate it.

Not long ago, on October 14th, I posted about the LHC being sabotaged from the future , well look here :-) Large Hadron Collider stalled again... thanks to chunk of baguette - Times Online

I think this has potential, I'll forward links to the following posts when they come out, if they live up to my anticipation: Science and an Incarnational Approach to the Bible - Science and the Sacred

Anyone who really wants to make me happy for Christmas will find Trans Siberian Orchestra DVDs :-) ooh, ah...

Thanks to Trans Siberian Orchestra I'm in the Holiday Spirit a little early this year :-) Here is the Christmas Canon

Christmas in Sarajevo

There are some amazing music services out on the interwebs these days :-) There is Pandora , which I'm listening to at the moment, Up Around the Bend by Credence Clearwater Revival was playing when I started this post. Pandora plays a customized blend of tunes on stations you make for yourself so you tend to get music you like most all of the time, and it turns you on to music you might not have known about that is similar to what you have been marking with a thumbs up as you go along. There are occasional ads that play but not nearly as many as on over-air radio. You can listen for 40 hours per month for free, if you happen to use up those hours in a month you can pay 99 cents and listen as much as you like for the rest of that month, which is pretty reasonable I'd say. I have never yet used up my 40 hours though. Another cool thing about Pandora is that I can listen to it on my Blackberry, which makes walks and bike rides and commutes a pleasure, though you have to hav...

Here is a link to a great interview with Sandra Dodd about unschooling. We met Sandra at the Good Vibrations Conference in San Diego back in September. She has a way with words and is fun to listen to. If you ever wondered about how unschooling could possibly work this is a short discussion to get you started. Unschooling

Like the risk of "Terrorist" attacks in America the risk of Halloween candy poisoning is pretty close to ZERO. Even so, we can't be too paranoid, eternal vigilance, even if it sucks all the joy from life , is the price we must pay to eliminate even the slightest risk from our lives! That way we will all live forever, right?

Baconbetter_160by600_1 , originally uploaded by ldevich . God Whisperers had a special bacon edition that I listened to this morning and then this showed up next to my face book page, coincidence? I don't think so!

Pheasant escaped from Chinatown , originally uploaded by ldevich . This pheasant landed outside of our front door at 3:00 am, security called Animal Control and they picked him up. The tail was tied with a rubber band so I'm pretty sure it escaped from a couple of blocks up Washington in one of those shops up in Chinatown where they sell live birds for dinner. I'm assuming they will release it in the wild :-) Don't bother telling me otherwise, I don't want to know... la la la la... I can't hear you...