The History of Tallassee

I’ve been reading a book my granny has let me borrow. The book is titled: “A History of Tallassee”. So far I’m on about page 30 and it’s been somewhat interesting. Most of it is information so far has been on diffrent families and their helping found the city. The book was written in 1949, so by no means is it up to date (but very informational and historical). There’s a bit of information, also, on the Native Americans who once lived in this area (Talisi, or “old town”). Some of the most interesting items, though, are the pictures. These pictures that date back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is also a picture of the high school, presumably from the late 1940’s. Honestly, it looks about the same as it does now (minus the huge air conditioning units on the sides now). Oh, there are also some trees that aren’t there or have been replace. Other than that, it looks the same. There are other pictures of the flood of 1919, the twister of 1916, and the building of the powerplant (dam).

It’s been interesting so far, I may add more later. It’s time for bed now. Time is about to change (losing an hour, sadly).

All Around Me

Ah, pressed for time tonight (hint: short read). I wanted to post some song lyrics, which I normally do not do. I’ve recently read how lead singer of Flyleaf, Lacey Mosley, became a Christian. I’ve added a little bit of this at the bottom. It’s was in a church magazine.

My hands are searching for you…
My arms are outstretched towards you
I feel you on my fingertips…
My tongue dances behind my lips for you
This fire runs in through my being…
Burning…
I’m not used to seeing you

I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive

I can feel you all around me,
Thickening the air I’m breathing
Holding on to what I’m feeling,
Savoring this heart that’s healing

My hands float up above me….
And you whisper you love me
And I begin to fade…
Into our secret place
The music makes me sway…
The angels singing say
We are alone with you…
I am alone and they are too with you

And so I cry…
The light is white…
And I see you…

I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive

Take my hand I give it to you
Now you own me , all I am..
You said you would never leave me
I believe you, I beleive…
I can feel you all around me
Thickening the air I’m breathing
Holding on to what I’m feeling,

Savoring this heart that’s healed

Flyleaf, “All Around Me”

Check Flyleaf out on iTunes and PureVolume.

Here’s how she found her way home:

“The preacher came on and started talking about experiences he’d come across in ministering, and it kind of described my whole life,” she admits. “I was shocked, but then he started talking about how Jesus died so he could take our pain away, forgive us from our sins and set us free. He started crying at one point and said he felt a suicidal spirit in the room, I felt like he was talking to me again. It made me want to turn away, but he said ‘God wants to take your pain away.'”

Mosely’s resistance walls began to melt. When church was dismissed, a fellow prisoner pulled her aside and told Mosley that she could find comfort in her heavenly father despite her earthy father never being around.

“I never knew my dad, but this really did catch my attention because this man at the church didn’t know me!,” she says with shock. “And the more he kept saying about pain, the more my heart broke into a million pieces. Finally when I was more desperate than I’d ever been, he asked if I wanted to pray, and I said ‘yes.’ I had my head in my hands, and he prayed for God’s peace to come over me. Jesus saved me, and it was the most awesome freedom I’ve ever known.”

Read more (bottom of the page)

Currently Flyleaf is featured on Yahoo! Music, in which the band states they are Christians and that they cannot seperate their faith from their music. I’ve got great respect for this group.

The Battle

An interesting event took place over the weekend. The Battle Cry event took place. I have no idea what happened at the event (I’m sure it was awesome). A very interesting event took place, though, durring the event:

Twenty-five thousand evangelical Christians demonstrated against TV sex and violence in San Francisco this weekend. But that didn’t go down well with the city council, which passed a resolution condemning the rally as an “act of provocation” to negatively influence what the council called America’s “most tolerant” city.

The group, called “Battle Cry for a Generation,” uses the Bible to counter what it calls corrupting influences in the media. But the San Francisco Chronicle reports that about 50 counter-protesters denounced the gathering as a “fascist mega-pep rally.” And San Francisco’s State Representative Mark Leno called the Christians loud, obnoxious, and disgusting, adding, “they should get out of San Francisco.”

Source: Fox News

There’s two main points that really interested me. One: attention was drawn (national, as this was on The O’Reilly Factor). Two: the enemy has his eye on this and is not happy and he’s terrified (because he’s already been defeated and WE WIN/WE’VE ALREADY WON). There’s rarely a time when you see this happen (protesting against a Christian event). Things are happening that can’t be stopped. There’s a lot of prayer and intersession now that just can’t go unheard. I believe time’s running out. It’s almost midnight. We can’t stay in limbo and watch everyone else — we’ve got to act. We’ve got to pray. There is going to be more than just a few [secular] defections …

School, History, and Creation

Over the past few days, I’ve been wondering about what I’ve actually learned in college thus far. I’ve almost got a full year out of the way … sadly, only two of the classes really taught me anything. What’s more, there have been studies that have pointed to those who throw away usless information (hence: music appreciation, among other information) are generally smarter. Maybe it’s just these core classes, I’m not sure. Math and Economics — those are two subjects that are real world and I know I’ll be using constantly throughout my life. Essays and the history of China are two things that (unless God really surprises me) I won’t care about two months from now, much less remember (note: I’ve learned a lot more from the History Channel than I have any history class since 10th grade). Sorry to say this, but essays don’t help people learn a subject. Tests don’t either (I may remember a date better, while another person may remember the color of the leaders robe better, for example). I’ve almost (almost) came to the conclusion that [freshman?] college makes people more ignorant.

On another point, I’ve found that I can understand why the statistics for people coming out of college whom are Christians are less than those who do not attend college. Anyone taking what the professors say at face value are ignorant. No one should do that. There’s a lot of debate about what this and that 5,000 years ago really meant. It’s not proven fact — it’s speculation. The History Channel generally tries to make this assumption. Text books, some do and some do not. Sometimes I seriously wonder if they’re trying to brainwash and make people believe everything they say to be history. Parts are great and interesting. Roman history is great — there’s tons of laws and text to actually back things up there. Pots and picture text in these other civilizations — that’s not really a lot to go by (no matter how educated you are).

There is so much history in the Bible it’s incredible. What I don’t get is why we didn’t go over the laws for the Israelites in my history class. What other civilization had so much history and laws (not to count that it’s been the most widespread history book — not including the other great lessons — of all time).

Moving on into Creation discussion …

There’s one question about the creation account that I’ve came up with (that would explain an “old” Earth), when God created the Earth, did he create it and then just let it sit for a while? Why I say that is because,

IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep.

Genisis 1:1-2 (Amplified Translation with emphisis added)

When was the beginning? Did day one start there, or did it start when God created light? Other planents are void and formless (Mars, Saturn, etc). I’m aware that this really doesn’t matter, but I think it’s interesting. Thinking a little deeper on this … if there was no light, then there would be nothing seperating night and day so therefore there would technically be no night or day and so when the light was created, would that begin the first actual day? God could have created entire galaxies (and even put the stars in place), accounting for the time it would take for light to reach the Earth (this was an interesting question posed by a friend). Light speed could have been sped up. The speed of light could be diffrent then and now, or there could be holes in space, among countless other possibilities. Light could have been created thousands of years after the Earth was created (I honestly don’t buy any “million year” theories).

The entire debate and discussion on this could be very interesting. I found an interesting quote today, “saying life came from evolution is like saying a library was made by someone spilling a bottle of ink” (Annale Fleisher, high school student). Also, if evolution took place, why aren’t other planents still “evolving”? There would be “evolving” on them too because organisms would “adapt” to their enviorments. So far, there’s not been anything found on the other planents. For the most part, scientists still seem to be looking for water and oxygen — even though it works on Earth, why would it have to work on other planents? Didn’t we evolve and adapte to use oxygen and water (evolution supporters thinking, that is)? And if there was a “big bang”, where did the bang come from? There would have to be some sort of origin. You can’t get something out of nothing (that’s why 4 times 0 equals zero).

I jumped to a few topics tonight, but purhaps I’ve got some people thinking. Creation happened. There’s evidence there. I personally believe the world was created in a 6 day period (+1 day of rest), just as God said it was (literal translation). There’s some thought provoking questions that can be arived from the first few sentences of Genisis though. Also, I don’t dislike my professors, I just dislike the work they give. Most of them have great personalities, and I like them all okay (some more than others, of course). Are essays really that important? I can freelance just fine … I think … why don’t they just ask me to do that?

Goings On

I’ve not really posted much about what’s going on with me lately, so here I go I ‘spose.

School is actually kind of lame (and getting lamer by the day).  Essays, I’m okay with — as long as it’s not about literature.  That’s some of the lamest stuff I’ve ever heard of.  Just something I’ll have to try to manage to get through.  I’ve always been a B student in English, but this class may push me to a C.  Hopefully not, but I don’t know.  The two classes I enjoy are on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, which is Economics and “the computer class” (that’s boring as I know most of it, it’s in front of a computer though … so, not all bad, GMail with GTalk is great for that class).

E-Blah has been going pretty good the past month.  I’ve started working on version 9.75 (don’t ever ask me how I’ve numbered E-Blah, as I still don’t know).  There’s a lot of new things that I’ve implemented just over the past six months that from version 9.2 to 9.75 makes it feel almost like a brand new system.  I just enjoy seeing people get it and see that what they’ve wanted all this time is finally there.  The moderator team there has been pretty stable as well, those are some of the best support guys any company could ever have (anyone who’s got support from them can atest to it).

MinistryTalk.com lately all I’ve been working on with MinistryTalk.com is the Church Broadcast (or “sermon”) section.  I’ve added several new features with a few more planned in the next few days.  I’m actually hoping that we can expand and grow and offer a few more services for churches and other Christians “areas of interest” (whatever that’s supposed to mean).  Either way, hopefully Tim and I can get something going that pumps it up from being “just a sermon site”.  Ah, and I’m hoping to allow a few more churches to join in the next few days (with the approval of the server admin — Tim).

Church is going great.  More and more things are coming in and it’s just awesome.  The projector is now working, which is what I like to do.  I’ve been spending several hours lately trying to find some things to make things better software wise.  Overflow (band is coming from Wetumpka) is Saturday and prayer walk is Sunday at 10am.  The sad thing is, I’ll have to cut both events short as my sister is in the city wide pagent and on Sunday morning my other church is going to need me (my mom said).  I’ll probably get to stay at Overflow for an hour or two, and then I’ll probably get to go to the first 45 minutes of the prayer walk … at least I’m hoping.  Now I just need to figure out which one I’m more ready to go to (hmmm) …

There’s other things I could talk about, but none of it’s that important.  I’ve not been as focused on many other things here lately.  I guess something that does deserve mention, I’ve gotton back into playing Enemy Territory (the free multiplayer FPS World War II game).  Now it’s an “older” game, so I can max out all the settings with my computer and it has no slow downs.  There’s still hundreds of users playing the game too, that’s what makes it all the more great (and it’s free).  That and Age of Empires III are the only games I have installed (I believe).  Both are relatively clean games, so that’s a plus with me now (actually, I wouldn’t mind burning a few of my old games).

With the Bible on Radio podcasts, I’ve been going through the book of Numbers.  I’ve really enjoyed a lot of it (minus the parts I skip — the census numbers, for instance).  There’s a lot of good teaching in Numbers though.  A lot of good discussion topics too!

I’m going to start building people up and encouraging them more.  I think sometimes we can have friends that are really close, but yet we also pull them down sometimes by joking with them (when it may be something they can’t handle).  A good example is, for instance, joking with a friend about their weight.  The person could be skinny as a stick (and even if they aren’t), but saying they “really big” may not exactly be helping them.  I think it’s based on the person though, too.  Some people take things in stride, while some people wallow in them and believe everything and take it to heart.  Other times, I think that some of the words are friends say are taken the wrong way (especially if that person is going through depression or feeling worthless).  Point being, we should all be encouragers.

Open Source Software

Over the past few days I’ve started to understand why I decided to go the way of Open Source (“free software”, with source code, basically) when I released my software, E-Blah.  When I released E-Blah I wanted it to make money, but I was persuaded to follow the open source direction.  In the end, I’m very happy I did.  I’ve got to see more people use my software without restrictions, than I ever would have putting a hefty price tag on it.  With E-Blah, I’ve also got to actually share the gospel with people via the software credits in the Admin Center (I have no idea if anyone has turned their life over).  Now I say all that to maybe (just maybe) pursaude others that, before they release their software to the public — consider making it open source (or at least free).

Bible on Radio

When I was searching around the internet for an audio Bible spoken in the New Living Translation, I came across a great resource on iTunes Podcast’s.  The podcast is from BibleOnRadio.com with about three minute introduction commentary with about two chapters (or about two pages) from the Old Testement and then a seperate for the New Testement, Psalms, and Proverbs.  Currently I’ve only listened to the Old Testements which I like to follow along with in my Bible (the iPod’s coming in handy with that).  I can pause and read the notes in my Bible too, if I need to.  I’m a slow reader (and find that reading and listening bunched together helps me understand better).  For those wanting to add it to their iPod’s, the iTunes page is located here.  Anywho, it’s not too late to jump right into where it’s at right now.  Each one is planned to be about 20 to 30 minutes per day (Old and New Testement, along with Psalms and Proverbs).