Imagine you are in a computer lab.  You log on to a computer to check your email and maybe facebook... You notice that the Windows XP that this computer is running has the silver color theme to the taskbar.  You are used to the default blue theme.  This silver thing infuriates you, and also this has no bearing on the computer's operations or functionality, you simply must log off and try another computer that has the blue theme, since it's the only way you can fathom having a taskbar colored whilst checking your email in your browser of choice. 

Ridiculous huh? [no one comment on Mac vs. Pc, or XP vs. Win7 okay – it's the principle here!]

Then why do we as members of the multiple Churches of God, never meet with each other when often times our differences are not any greater than that of a taskbar color in XP?

This song by Relient K is interesting to this end:
Down in Flames Lyrics 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnYIkir9NjU  [youtube video of the song]


Christ prayed for unity his last prayer, [John 17:11 - And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.]  We are to be one!  Christianity has had many trivial schisms over trivial issues, and continues to today!

There is no excuse! Christ prayed for unity, and we have very little of that!

It's frustrating sitting back and just accepting that there are 200+ splinter groups from WCG, a good many of which have similar if not identical doctrines and practices.  [see a list of Armstrong-ish groups: http://www.servantsnews.com/docs/coglist.htm] Yet none can associate with 'the others' because of petty issues springing from the previous generation.  Thus the other groups are “laodicean, wrong, headstrong, too organized, not organized enough, deceived, not doing enough to further the work... [insert other bad traits and unsubstantiated propaganda]”  During our parent's generation 97.56% of the groups split off because ONE man had an issue, and started his own church. [okay, it's a made-up statistic, but it's probably higher than that in reality] These issues were mostly limited to power struggles [who's in charge] and pride issues.  I am not attempting to say that there were not deep personal wounds inflicted, but to let those pride-based divisions remain intact for the next generation is something I cannot sit back and accept!  That's not to say that the organizations/groups are not full of wonderful zealous people because of a less-than-orthodox beginning, because I am convinced that God's people are scattered amongst all these groups, and these are my brothers and sisters.  But like the Protestant movement being started by Henry wanting a divorce, some of these groups were not started with the correct Godly motives at times.

Almost every year, I run into another group at the Feast of Tabernacles, keeping the same days in the same city for the same reason... why can't we be united? There are thousands of people that I will be right next to but never meet because of petty governmental issues!  This is ridiculous and cannot be justified any longer!  The organization I attend has met in the same building on a Holy Day as another group, just a few rooms apart...  There are thousands of people who don't affiliate with any group, and are yet many more people striving to follow God, that I will never meet.  We need each other now, more and more each day, yet we're not allowed to be one body, as the Bible instructs us to be.

What is there to do about it?   I can complain, but that's not terribly productive.  I could start a group of people who hate that there are so many groups, but that would be self-defeating, and not terribly productive.  So I guess I'll just blog about it for now, and ask that you would pray that God's will be done, and that we shall continue to fight the good fight and strive for unity.  When our generation becomes the next wave of leaders in the Churches of God, I pray that we would have a more concentrated effort on breaking down the unnecessary walls of separation and fulfill Christ's new commandment – to love on another!  [John 13:34, 35: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another.  By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another]

“If you want the short answer, here it is: Love. This is our utmost command and the we are especially called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ (Jesus says that they should recognize us as Christians by the way we love each other).Divisions in the Church do pose a small problem to this command . But, "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8)- and in this case we're not even necessarily talking about sins, just differences (and maybe some sins...?)”
[http://www.revelife.com/]


We are told that at the end times, “many will be offended, and will betray one another, and will hate one another. And many false prophets will rise and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold”  But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe. [Matthew 24:10-13 ]  People are gonna start to be not-so-nice to loved ones, but we still need to show love and try to combat this.

I don't know what could be done... I pray that God will work things out according to His plan, and that we as the body of believers can better follow commands of unity, fellowship, and brotherly love.  I look forward to a time when    everyone who is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. [Zech 14:16]

Peace be with you,
your brother in Christ,
Corbin

My New Computer:

My computer is nice.  It’s not the shiniest, most expensive tower, but is plenty powerful and has capability for change in the future.   I had looked around casually for towers that might interest me, and looked at some of the varying characteristics and got a feel for what I was looking for and separated that from what was the general concept of traits desired in a computer.  Would it be nice having 8GB RAM? Maybe, but do I really NEED that?  Right now, no.   Just because other people think a trait is desirable doesn’t mean I have to or even want to have it.   So I sighted a Powerspec that was beautiful on the inside.  It was fairly simple on the out, but after long hours of work and all-nighters doing papers, does the outside really matter?  As long as durable, stable performance is happening in the core of this lovely machine, I am happy.  Upon comparing different brands I kept on coming back to my PowerSpec. One Sony All-in-one looked very tempting on the outside, but I thought about the practicality of such a machine:  an all-in-one promises you everything but is very hard to upgrade or change anything. If one thing breaks – it’s all for naught.  I want to be able to go inside and fix things on a simple motherboard, not something so complicated that I cannot even access anything below the outer case.  I want a computer I can grow old with, one that will make changes as I make changes and be able to appear new and fun with upgrades long after a static all-in-one could offer me.  So I chose the PowerSpec.  500GB hard drive, 2GB RAM (which I upgraded to 4GB with PowerSpec’s permission), Vista Business (with downgrade rights to XP Pro), and a quad core processor.  Now, this is not a wimpy ‘pretty’ computer. 

 

This is the Proverbs 31 computer:

She strengthens her processing abilities, she is like the merchant ships, bringing in data and info at lightning fast speeds.  Her user has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.  She downloads updates while it is still dark and she provides an ultimate gaming experience for her family of users.  Many computers do fancy things, but you surpass them all! Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a PC who fears the Administrator shall be praised.

 

Now I have long awaited this desktop computer.  I had/have a laptop but it was not fulfilling.  I needed a computer that I could really rely on and that I could store all of my work, pictures, and documents on. My laptop is my friend, but could not fully lighten my load.  I have saved some games to be played only on this Powerspec, before I even met this machine.  I was preparing for the day when I could install the game and let Powerspec know she was special.  I also bought Microsoft Office 2007 months before I bought this computer, and have been saving it ever since.  I could have installed it on my laptop, but I did not, for it was not proper that I stir up Microsoft before it pleased.  [Song of Songs 3:5]

 

So I urge you all to treat your computers kindly, for this is good.  Your computer will work as hard as it can to make your life easier, but you need to do your part as well:  no yelling at it to work faster, no hitting it with a hammer, and no comments behind its monitor about how slow it’s getting or any other inadequacies!

 

Well, this analogy has gone entirely too far, so I must end this now.

Anyway – I like my computer – it’s fast.

 

Corbo

Camp was good, camp was fun, camp introduced me to some sun.
We had some good times, made lotsa’ rhymes, we even reduced the world’s number of crimes.
But I got hurt, in the dirt, now I’m really needing some Squirt® …?

Okay, this isn’t going to work for long.But yeah camp was good.  And since everyone is asking,
THIS IS HOW I HURT MYSELF THIS TIME:

I was playing sand volleyball – it was knockout, where every time you lose a point or make a bad hit, you’re out of the game – and it was me versus like 5 of my boys! I fight valiantly, or at least dive ridiculously enough to keep myself in the game. The ball goes over my head, and I try to do a 180, and most of me does, but my big toe decides its fine staying in the same direction.  So I twist, the tow stays, and I hear three snaps, and my weight falls on the now contorted toe.  I hobble off the court, and try to walk again in a few minutes only to meet and epic failure. I couln’t put any pressure on my whole foot from top or bottom.  I, along with the nurses at camp, were sure it was broken, but I had to get it checked out anyway.  It turns out I just really messed up the ligaments, which is apparently worse than a break, and will take longer to heal.  Good times.

So camp highlights:

“JJJJOOOONNNNEEESSSS (one one one one…)” – Jones 1
“HANDCOCK!!!!!” – Jones 1 / Kojo
“Heritage is attached to me… it’s like me foot.  I love it and its full of blood” – Me
“Word…” – Kayleen H
“Shake and bake!” – Jones 1 / Kojo
“We’re playing tennis!!” – Mr.Ryan
“errrrrrrrrrerererrerrrrrrrrrrrrrr” – Jeremy’s shofar.
“Dump n’ jump” – Jones 1
“eh?” – All of the Martins
“your screen is so cool!” – camp heritage
“everytime something/anything happened, the girls in my raft would just scream and throw their paddles!” – Corbin J
“how’s it going Crack-a-toe-a!” –Mr. Summers
“handful of latrine!” –Jones 1

And of course, the singing/dance party at the campfire with Jones1/Franklin1, featuring songs like, Ice Ice Baby, fresh prince, Don’t stop believing, and every Disney song ever written.

Our dorm chant to the tune of A Whole New World from Aladdin:

Jones can show you the world
Shining shimmering Splenda®
Tell me Franklin now when did Handcock let your heart decide?
A whole new Jones
With our fantastic sports to view
Are we conceited? No!
It’s time to go
I guess we’re only dreaming.


<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>


So, after camp…Fiascoes happened in plentiful amounts.
We wanted to go get a bite to eat with some of the other staff members – and since we were going that direction, we thought we might as well drop off Liz D. at the train station, since it’s bound to be on the way! [famous last words… not the dropping off Liz part, but rather the ‘it’ll probably be on the way’ part…] Anyhowzers, we got lost trying to figure out where the place we were eating was in our caravan of caravans. We finally get there after much craziness. Then we go to visit an elderly couple somewhere in PA that my friend’s mom knew well (friend’s mom = driver and owner of the van that became my home for quite some time) So we chill out there for a while and shoot the breeze and some targets with a semi-automatic rifle. We played some hymns and ate pie.  So we then get directions on how to get to Connelsville train station (which was not exactly a train station, rather a misunderstood booth) It was about 35 miles away.  So 2 1/2 later, we finally arrive after much chaos and lost-ness inside the van.  Dancing happened at a gas station though, which was fun. We finally arrive at Connelsville, which was a very scary town… We felt bad about leaving poor Liz there for like 4 hours till her train left, so we left her at a bar downtown instead. Bars were the only thing open in this town, and even then, they didn’t seem like they’d last.



SO we get back on the road heading towards our destination, in South Detroit. We backtrack and make positive progress after our little 3 hour detour, and we get about 40 minutes in the right direction past where camp originally was, when we stop for a toll booth on the PA turnpike (which actually was a rotating fish) and the van started shaking and overheating and flashing gage lights and stuff.  So we pulled off the road and the van breathed its last. We tried starting it intermittently for about an hour to no avail.  So we busted out our lawn chairs and ate peanut butter. I waved to passers-by with my crutches and got a semi to honk at us. Once a patrol came by we actually got it started for a while, but its was giving out 79.2% more smoke than it should have been, and it was no bueno. We get it toed up an exit and found a hotel.

 

So at about midnight we had make it about 30 miles from camp. We were originally supposed to be back in Detroit at 7pm. I then was a 2.68 hour drive back to my home from there and make it to work at 6am. It didn’t happen.  The next morning we tried to get that puppy toes back to MI for under $500 to no avail. We ended up leaving it there and renting a car to come back home. I don’t know where that old van is now.



But anyway, it was an eventful journey back home.  I then had to take detours through Detroit to get back home = never a good time.  As fun as 8 mile road is to travel, it was not on my to-do list.

Alright – classes start soon.  wOOt.
Corbos