The Station

Glad you got your files off -- how did you do it?

Make sure you check southwest manually for airfair, depending on your time of travel you might be able to find a better deal there (it's not part of orbitz which I'm sure you already know).

dude, you really need to stop doing the "well, God wanted it this way" about everything. there's absolutely nothing you can't rationalize that way, which makes it not only dangerous but also slightly crazy. i hate to break it to you, but God's not micromanaging your life. he didn't decide to break your hard drive just to renew your hope in Him by reviving it long enough to retrieve essential data. everything you say is all about God doing something in your life is just you being blindly optimistic. anyone can say that absolutely anything that happens to them is God, but almost all the time it's a huge stretch. does God know what happens to you? sure. does He care? of course. does he constantly meddle? no. He did not decide to move you across the country so you can start a completely new life with a sucky job. you can say He did, but He didn't. of course good things are going to happen, but that doesn't mean that God is making every one of them happen. how can you be so sure that it wasn't Satan guiding you to the west coast so that you can fall into debauchery and sin? you can't say it won't happen, because it's possible, no matter how much faith you have

I was upset that my hard drive crashed. I prayed that I might be able to recover the data. God answered that prayer, and I am thankful. What's the big deal with that?

Maybe that's not how you interact with God, but there's no reason to get all millitant about it.

Also, it didn't "renew [my] hope in Him." My hope is always in Him.

I really don't know where you get these ideas about my relationship with God. I did not think that God called me to go work on the west coast. I don't think God calls anyone to do anything except to be like his son, Jesus. Simple, huh?

God does micro-manage my life. I count on it. The Holy Spirit continuously works within me to bring me closer to knowing Jesus and making him known to others. Want proof?

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
-Phillipians 1:6

This is also why I can be sure that your final assertation is false, namely, "that Satan guiding [me] to the west coast so that [I] can fall into debauchery and sin?" God is doing the work within my heart, not me. It's a good thing, too, because if it were up to me, I'd never get anywhere.

For Jim:
I got the files off by just hitting reset until the drive was recognized. I think the resets warmed it up causing a thermal expansion closing of a (erroneously) open circuit. Once started, I transferred via master/slave.

wow...Shanes comment was a quick punch to the gut- painful. It hurt me and it wasn't even directed towards me!

Hmm...who do I know that watches "Futurama?" Oh, wait, that's everyone I know.

you know...i have to agree with shane for once (dont take it personally shane). yeah, people believe in God, and feel that He does amazing things. however to consistantly feel that He wants your life the way it is seems rediculous. what about freedoms? do you ever feel trapped because God has *planned* out your path in life? do you ever want to do something that you feel God didnt *plan* for you?

Gal 5 says something like, "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free"

you should be able to do things on your own, and not feel that He had an influence. shane is completly right that in retrospect, you should say that the devil made you do it.

in the same thought process, would it be so bad to say that the devil made you do it? i mean by all means you claim that *something* made you do it. why does that *something* have to be God, and for that, why does God have to be called God? would it really be any different if you associated the *thoughts* you had of God to a different name?

in the end....and apple made me write this.

I enjoy good comments such as this
However, I despise cowardice
Next time when you write with such zeal
Remember to type in the "name" field
Next time you choose not to comply with my plan
You'll find your comment gone and your IP banned

are you scared of the unknown?

Wow! Two minutes for a reply! Stop hanging out at my website and get a life. You didn't even give me a chance to write a second comment to answer your first. Go away for a while.

Also, I'm not scared of anything.

Yes, you are right about Galatians 5:1 "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

Free from the punishment for our sins, free from the power of Satan. That does not mean that we no longer sin or have a license to sin. We still have free will, but we are never free from the Holy Spirit of God once we are saved by Jesus Christ.

Read on to verse 13 "do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."

So, you see, Christ sets us free from the sin that we aren't able to earn our freedom from on our own. He offers this gift to us for free. All we must do is acknowledge him as Lord and Savior. This means submitting to his plan for our lives. Namely, that we repent by avoiding indulgence in the sinful nature.

You are right, I am able to do things on my own. God doesn't control me like a puppet. Humans always have free will, even Christians. I can choose to obey or not. Even if I disobey, I don't lose my salvation because I am a child of God.

The concept of a child of God (John 1:12) is very important here. It answers all your talk of "wanting something other than God's plan." Sure, there's plenty of times I want things that I know God doesn't want me to have, but I choose to obey God instead. Why? Becasue I trust that his way is better than my way. Because I know he repays many times over for the sacrifices I make to follow him.

I have surrendered my life to Jesus Christ becasue he is God alone and only he can save me from my sin. In doing so, I seek to live as he wants me to live and he promises to help me with that (much needed help!). I will still make mistakes along the way, but he will always be there to pick me up again and set me back on the right path. He is ever drawing me closer to himself and making me more like himself. He promises that and I am greatful for it. When I die, I will spend eternity with him in heaven.

The devil doesn't make me do anything. As I said, I have invited Jesus into my heart and as such there is in no longer any room for the devil. True, Satan can still whisper in my ear and from time to time he might distract me from the path of righteousness. However, to state that the devil has any form of direct control on me is ridiculous. Read the bible.

Finally, God doesn't have to be called God. As long as you know who he is as the God revealed in the holy scriptures you can call him: Jesus Christ, Father, King of kings, Lord of lords, I Am, Holy Spirit, Ancient of Days, Emmanuel...

dude, your current religious state is a walking contradiction. you say "I seek to live as he wants me to live" so that means you feel some sort of guidance, even though a few comments earlier you vehemently denied that it was God who brought you to the west coast. you can't just rationalize every action with "well, this is how God wants it." how are you sure? yes, you say you've accepted Jesus into your heart, and yes, i have no reason to doubt this. however, this doesn't sanctify your every action. there's plenty of Christians who are devout, but how many are perfect? none. so, how can you be sure you're not just constantly erring. and how can you be sure that it wasn't Satan who whispered in your ear to go to the west coast. he's very sneaky. he can even make it seem like it's what God wants

my basic point is this: just because you've accepted Jesus into your heart doesn't mean that everything you say or do is what He wants for you at that moment, because you just don't know. Satan's a powerful force, and while God will be there to save you in the end, you can't just say that every single intermediate step between now and then is leading you closer to God. you can try and try, which is a good thing to do, just don't go around with a "well, I prayed about this, and i've reached a decision, so God must have guided me to this decision" attitude, because there's no guarantee that you're not being misled. in fact, if i was satan, that's exactly how i'd get people. make them do something which seems good in both the short term and the long term, and make them think it's what God wants, and then eventually, perhaps years later, give them the business

There is no contradiction. Not even close. Let me clarify.

True, I said that "God didn't lead me to the west." Yes, that does sound contrary to "I seek to live as he wants me to live," but back up to what I said after that first statement. I said that "God doesn't lead anyone to do anything except to be like his Son, Jesus."

You see? In seeking to live as he wants me to live, all I do is seek to be like Jesus. There's no questioning that God wants that. And I can do that in the west (among other places).

So the big picture is living for Christ. I can fill in the details on how or where I choose to do that.

Even if you're right that it was the devil that brought me here, so what? The point is that I'm here and I can choose to live like Christ here just as easily as I could back home or anywhere else. So you see, I can make the decison of where to go and what job to have, but the ultimate choice remains constant, to hold fast to Christ.

Of course, I do pray for wisdom before making these decisions. Sometimes God is clear in answering, sometimes he isn't. Even if he isn't, I can still confidently make any decision if I know I can still follow Jesus with the result.

I really don't think we disagree. It's just I don't do a good job of explaining. I can assure you that my thoughts on this are biblical, though.

>>You see? In seeking to live as he wants me to live, all I do is seek to be like Jesus. There's no questioning that God wants that. And I can do that in the west (among other places).

So THAT explains the making of hammers and rooms inside of rooms. I bet Jesus could make lots of things inside other similar things.. he was a carpenter after all..

( And no I don't really mean anything by it, just a joke really, those are still allowed I'm pretty sure. )

Of course, they're still allowed, and much more appreciated than Shane's cross fire.

i really don't think we disagree (too much) either. however, the way you've been presenting yourself has been, well, asinine. i know what you mean, but you often have trouble expressing what you mean. my critiques were meant to force you to look at just why i might think you're saying what you're saying, even though you don't think you're saying it. sorry if this paragraph seems patronizing, but i've been waiting for so long for you to patiently explain that you're being misunderstood rather than getting upset and impatient