With Spring in the air and Easter just around the corner, I found some fantastic images of flowers. Katinka Matson has managed to produce some of the most striking digital images of flowers. The colors and the composition just leap out at you. And here is the catch, she does not use a camera! She uses a scanner. You can read more opinions about her work at The Edge.
Hoping to catch Saddam Hussein, the war started on March 19 (about 8 pm EST) with a preemptive air attack on a single leadership site. Ground troops started crossing the border the next night, and the air attack started the following night. Now, the Coalition forces have complete control of the newly renamed Baghdad International Airport. Coalition forces have also discovered a building on the southern edge of Baghdad that may contain chemical weapons. Hmmm…
Here is a short list of fun things to enrich your weblog experience.
BlogShares—“a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links.” (Be warned, this will take away some of your time for writing.)
the blogger code—an obscure code that describes a weblog. To quote the website, “Geeks have one… Isn’t it time bloggers have a code to describe themselves as well?” By answering several multiple choice questions, this website will automatically generate your blogger code. To decode someone else’s code, visit the blogger decoder. For example, my blogger code is b2 d t+ k s− u f i o++ x− e l− c+.
The Friday 5—A set of five different questions are posted every Friday. Leave a comment linking back to your weblog. If you ever run into writer’s block, this might be the place to help you through it.
WeatherPixie—Place a personalized weather icon on your weblog to show the current weather in your area.
BlogChalking—To quote the website, “Collaboratively mapping weblogs for smarter blogsearching.” By placing a BlogChalking icon on your weblog with your weblog information hidden within the HTML code, the hope is that it will become easier for people to search for weblogs matching your interest.
Crayon Box—Put a little crayon icon on your weblog to show that “People are like crayons, it’s not what color they are, it’s the picture that they make.”
GeoURL—“a location-to-URL reverse directory.” By placing a meta tag describing your latitude and longitude in your weblog, you will be able to find owners of other weblogs that are located near you.
Raging Platypus—has a set of cool little icons/buttons “to steal” for RSS feed links, W3C validation, Creative Common license, and many others.
Sunday’s readings (Ephesians 2:4-10 and John 3:14-21) reminded me of the old debate between faith vs. works. One side of the argument says that faith alone is enough to save you and get into heaven (see Ephesians 2:8). The other side says that you need faith plus good works to get you into heaven (see James 2:14-26).
I am reminded of something I once heard—when you die, God will ask you one question, “Did you love Me to the best of your ability?” (See The Question)
Now, this might sound a bit naive (after all, I am kind of new to all of this), but having faith says that you love God. You accept Him in your life. But having faith and accepting God in your life does not answer His question, “Do you love Me to the best of your ability?”
If you are following the two commandments from Jesus, love God first and love others, then it follows that you must show your love. How do you show love for God? Well, for me, loving God is an internal thing. Loving others is an external thing and I show it by doing good works and service for others. But then again, by showing your love for others, you show your love for God. The process, the love, builds upon itself.
To paraphrase Brian, when you have faith (or are baptized), you become a vessel like a clay pot. Your vessel will be completely filled with God and His love. You can make your vessel bigger by loving others through service and good works.
I know it sounds like I am saying that faith is enough to get you into heaven. But I am reminded of Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats and those that have helped/served others will “inherit the kingdom”.
Are you going to do just barely enough to get by and make it into heaven? Or are you going to love and live life to the fullest? I want my vessel to be as big as I can make it. Without hestitation, I want to be able to answer “Yes!” when God asks me His question.
It is Day 12 of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The news reports are talking about another 100,000 U.S. troops being sent to Iraq to help topple Saddam Hussein’s regime. Some reporter made the comment that this will most likely push the war into the summer. I don’t think that the troops will be home for Christmas. I pray that I am wrong.