Monday, May 31, 2010

Coffee Love

I love coffee.   I've been drinking coffee since I was a kid, and I probably always will.    Some people have comfort foods.  I have comfort drinks.    I used to like going to Tim Hortons to get my brew of awesomeness, and then I switched to McDonalds because, despite the general health issues that come from eating their food, their coffee is alot smoother tasting than 'Timmies'.    Then last summer came Coffee Culture, which is located half a block from where I work.   What a great place!    It serves great tasting coffee, and they support free trade with the coffee farmers; and they also give you the choice of organic coffee!!   They also have this great sayings on their mugs, 'We're changing the Culture'.   The more I contimplate this, the more I come to understand that this is exactly the mission of the Church.   Beyond the surface of the saying itself, think about the analogy a little bit.

Each cup has this saying, and the message is ... with one cup of coffee we are changing the culture, the way it drinks its coffee.   What if the Church, you and  I, do that on a daily basis.   Changing the way people view the Church, and most importantly view the person of Christ, by just doing one simple thing ... like giving a word of encouragement, giving a helping hand ... or even giving a free cup of coffee to SOMEONE.   This is how we change culture, this is how we become world changers.   Giving of yourself to someone just because the love of God impels us too.

For as long as there has been the Church institution, we have messed things up, and have lost the message of simply giving a part of that grace that God has so freely given to us.    I think this is because we like stuff big, and loud, and part of that is pride ... ok, maybe alot of it is pride.    But by giving of ourselves, in a simply way, every day ... I think we can do what a simple coffee has put as a slogan ... 'We're changing the Culture', not for our own ends, or theological/ political point of view; but by a natural extension of the love of Christ in our own lives.   Just a thought for the day.

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On a less sermony note, Massively.com put up a picture of my character from Star Trek online.    Check it out here 

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Hacks

Well, my World of Warcraft account got hacked today. I'm not sure how to feel, as I haven't played this online game in about a month. My character 'Waaghknight', a Horde deathknight has nothing, but my alliance characters still have their stuff. Very strange that someone only 'partially' robbed me. So I've done the proper thing and changed my passwords and uploaded a Maleware protection program. What I find weird about this whole thing is that:
a) Only one of my characters got robbed
b) This happened just one day after my internet went down because of rain or something, and my internet provider called to let me know that they have the situation under control, but I should install a 'Maleware' protection program as soon as possible.

Now I'm not really playing World of Warcraft anymore, and the fact is I still have time on my account because a friend game me a time card as a gift for being his 'personal taxi' for a day. So really, it's not a big deal. What is a big deal is that I am HOPING that only information pertaining to my Wow account got out, and nothing else.

So, now begins the task of setting up new passwords. This time, no words, its going to be letters, numbers, and different font sizes. It's going to be a pain, but nothing would be worse then hackers getting into any other files. So here's the warning. .... Don't trust your internet company to keep you safe, pick up a good Maleware protection program -- even if you have an anti-virus program, and make your passwords so funky and difficult that hackers aren't going to bother with you ... also... different passwords for different programs.

There, that's my public service announcement.

Rise of the Women Rockers!

I picked up the new letter black cd "Hanging on by a thread", and once again I'm very impressed by the musicianship, and great vocals of another outstanding Christian female rocker band. It's a great thing. I remember in the '80's when the closest thing that you could find to a female rocker was on a Rez album, and even then, it wasn't always a pretty thing. Now we can find bands like Superchick, Fireflight, Flyleaf, and the Letter Black.

I love all of them, and their passions seeps through the songs. Not only that, but they have come into their own style, and are great influences for rocker girls everywhere, and their making a great impact on the music industry itself.

Flyleaf's debut album, self-titled album received not only rave reviews in Christian circles, but in the secular industry as well. They had a song in the newest Die-hard movie incarnation, as well as featured in the 'Rock Band' video game ... something to definatly be proud of.

So if your looking for some good female, guitar wailing good times, check out these bands... a good investment for anyone who likes some metal peddle screaming goodness.