In, Not Of

For me, and I'm sure many other Christians tis really difficult for us to be in the world and not of it. The easiest thing is to be in the world and become of it as well. For most if not all Christians it is a daily struggle. Some of those that it is not a struggle, don't even try to fight it anymore, they have become in and of the world, yet still believe in Christ. That is a very difficult and dangerous position to be in, if not impossible and spiritually deadly. Another way that most tend to give up is to have almost two separate lives. One is the one they show off at church and with that group of people. The other is the one they show the rest of the world. They are the hypocrites that most of the world takes note of. People who say two different things, and live two different ways. Another danger is what some choose. Being not only not of, but doing their best to be not in as well. Tis a very hard task to do, and people take from these Christians, that Christians are arrogant and uncaring of the world. Most churches as a body are stuck in this mode. To be in, not of a Christian must live the way Christ did. This doesn't necessarily mean going on missions around the world, or even dying for their beliefs. It could simply be taking the step to show the light of the word in areas around them that don't usually see it. But it is not just the individual Christians who need to do this. Churches as a unified body need to step out of their comfort zones and go to the front lines of ministry in their own areas, or maybe a nearby one. Individuals and bodies must come together remembering that we are called to serve and minister to the world we are in. We should not demand that the world come to our places of worship to know God. This can be done through local service projects of varying types, or maybe renting a theater or some other neutral place for a night and having a free concert for their neighbourhood. God is everywhere. Everywhere we go, we take Him with us. To truly be in, not of and be faithful to your belief you must go out and introduce your neighbours to the loving God, their Creator, and Saviour. Create a place where they will feel welcome, and maybe they'll experience God for the first time and acknowledge His grace.

Dating: Can You be Too Picky? And Some Things to Avoid

Is there actually such a thing as being too picky when it comes to finding a mate?
No, there absolutely is not. This peson is meant to be your soul mate, your one and only. You want to be picky! Settling for someone that is less than what you deserve is the worst thing you can do.
You need to take your time and not rush things. Go out on dates, and get to know many different people. Figure out what you like and don't like. Make a list of qualities that are necessary, another of things that you can't stand, a third of what you'd like, and a fourth you'd rather they not have. If your necessity list is bigger than your likes you're in trouble and need to rethink some things. Not necessarily during the date, but definitely after go through your lists and see how that person matches up.
If someone doesn't fit at least ninety percent of your likes and necessities they're probably not right for you. If less than fifty percent definitely not. But just because they don't fit your mate ideal doesn't mean write them off completely. Some of them could end up being your best friends in life.
You may not find your mate, but great friends are always great. If you're really lucky you'll end up with both.

Some things to look out for and avoid whilst dating:
Cheaters! Always be sure you're not helping someone cheat. You don't want to be that person. And if they'll leave someone for you, they're all too likely to leave you for someone else.
People needing rescue. If you help them as a friend, and everything gets fixed then there may be possibilities. But if you get involved when they're still in trouble, then they very likely might leave you once they don't need to be rescued any longer.
Liars. If they'll lie to begin with then they'll never stop.
Jealousy. If they don't want you even spending time with friends when you're dating they'll become even more controlling later on. Beware and get out.
Abusers. Whether its emotional, verbal, or physical never put up with it. Don't even start with someone who is. Walk away if you already are.
And never be with someone just because its easy or to avoid being single. Never know what you could miss whilst you're just settling into a false comfort zone.

Yom Kippur, Fasting, and Eating Disorders

In case you missed it, this Saturday was Yom Kippur. To quote from Wikipedia

Yom Kippur, also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. Yom Kippur completes the annual period known in Judaism as the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im ("Days of Awe"). Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the month of Tishrei. According to Jewish tradition, God inscribes each person's fate for the coming year into a book, the Book of Life, on Rosh Hashanah, and waits until Yom Kippur to "seal" the verdict. During the Days of Awe, a Jew tries to amend his or her behavior and seek forgiveness for wrongs done against God and against other human beings. The evening and day of Yom Kippur are set aside for public and private petitions and confessions of guilt. At the end of Yom Kippur, one considers oneself absolved by God.

Yom Kippur reminds me of my human frailty and how much I need God's guidance to survive. How grateful I am to know He has a plan for me. I need not doubt, only have faith in Him and His plan, and know that His grace is protecting me.

For me Yom Kippur and the other days of fasting are also difficult times. They remind me of part of my senior year when I nearly died from anorexia. No one around me noticed how much weight I had lost. Luckily, for me, I had a good friend end up hospitalized because of anorexia. She had passed out and they finally noticed she was anorexic. I was almost to that point as well. Her experience scared me badly enough that I began eating again.
The fasting days also remind me of not long later in my senior year when I'd had a migraine every day for a month. Drs. couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, tests were coming up completely negative on everything. So they ordered me to fast for a week. I was worried the whole time that I would end up anorexic again if I got in the habit of not eating. Results were inconclusive, so they ordered me to have another week of fasting. I almost refused, but so badly wanted to find out what was wrong with me, that I went through with it. After that second week, they found I have a liver disorder that effects my metabolism, I need to eat more often that most people or my body stops functioning correctly. Even just a one day fast like Yom Kippur will result in a major headache, weakness, fatigue, and possibly passing out. Due to all that this is the first time in ten to eleven years that I've participate in a fast.

But my experiences have also given me one of my personal crusades, fighting eating disorders.
Very few people realize how many suffer from them. We all likely know at least two people with one, and very likely never noticed that they have one. Anorexia and bulimia are probably the most well known types, but there are many others. There are lots of different causes of them too. They can be caused by psychological, biological, or environmental effects upon someone's life. Even such common things as depression and peer pressure can cause one to occur, and ADHD is known to increase the chances of developing one. Most forms can be easy to correct, and often are totally avoidable in the first place.
The easiest prevention is the person's knowing they have someone who cares for them just as they are. Even a smile could help someone. Who amongst us couldn't use those?

3rd Senator

Do hereby propose that each state be given a 3rd Senate seat. Senate terms should remain 6 years long, with an election for one of the Senators occurring every 2 years. Senator's votes should no longer be counted individually. On each issue whichever side the majority of that state's Senators agree gets the 1 state vote. This should give greater importance to each state as a whole, rather than individual voters, which is the point of the Senate to begin with.


Note: This has been stuck in my head for a couple weeks now and I wanted to try and get it out. The unlikelihood of such actually being taken up is noted. And please ignore the government growth aspect and focus on what it might mean for state's power. This is a piece purely to prompt discussion.

Food Reviews

I've actually been at three new restaurants since I said I was going to do reviews, and I've been looking over food critics seeing the formatting they use. Just not happy with the fit of any so far. Guess I should just post them anyways and see how they work. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do so tonight. Mostly saying, I've not forgotten this ;)

Assumptions

So many people assume way too much. See right there an assumption, it is that easy. How much harder is it to not assume someone is a certain way, without finding out first? Actually really difficult. It is human instinct to make decisions based on first impressions or generalities. We naturally judge others, by our own understanding of things and expectations. But to truly know people you have to be able to look past surroundings and surface perceptions. You have to get to know them, as if everything else was a blank slate. In the long run you can put back their actual surroundings and influences to try and understand how they became who they are, but still you must overcome the stuff that your own mind adds without even thinking. Various philosophers have said you can't truly no someone til they are about to die. At that last moment you meet the real them. Now I don't know about going that far, but there is a definite truth in that when you strip all else away then you know someone's true self. I often see on Twitter a lot of people just making assumptions all over the place. There, I mostly talk with conservative, middle class, Christian, Americans. So most assume I'm one as well. Not all of those are true of me. Which isn't, doesn't actually matter. Point is most everyone assumes they're all true. When I make a comment about celebrating a Jewish holiday often people assume that must mean I'm Jewish. Or when I make an anti Obama tweet, I often receive messages from liberals yelling at me for being "tea party" or Republican, neither of which I am. And these are just examples that happen to me, regularly. If we all shared stories we'd have all millions of examples. And it isn't like I myself am immune to it. It is something I'm working on. If anyone took the time to see the whole picture they might begin to actually be able to understand people. Differences are what make life worth while, time to stop trying to putting everyone into your little box.

oooShinyTreats

For those that missed it, I've created yet another twitter handle: @oooShinyTreats. Tis going to be completely based on food and drink. I'm letting you know this hear, because I've a new goal of visiting at least one new restaurant a month (hopefully once a week), and I plan on blogging here about the experience, basically a review of the place. We shall see how it goes, as I continue constructing my journey through life.

Preparing For a Road Trip

Plan ahead. That can't really be emphasized enough. You'll want to begin saving up a few months in advance.
Know exactly where you are going. Count the miles and then allowing for your car's miles per gallon (subtracted by 5) you can figure how many gallons of gas you'll need. Add in an extra 50 miles per day just to be safe.
Look up how much gas costs where you'll be. Add one dollar to all prices to allow for unexpected fluctuations. With the knowledge of gas prices combined with how many gallons your trip will require figure out how much gas is going to cost you. This should lead to you having more than you'll need, which is never a bad thing.
When you're planning the money for the trip, factor in hotel costs of one hundred dollars a night and food of twenty five dollars a day for fast food or twenty dollars a meal for restaurants. Again, this should be more than it'll actually cost, but better safe than sorry. To save money you may try taking food with you, and hitting a grocery store on the way back.
Remember to at least look at hotels that are near or on your chosen path. Whether you reserve or not is up to you, but you'll want an idea where you're staying. Or if you have the equipment, camping can be a fun way to save money.
A few weeks before you go, take your vehicle into your mechanic for a checkup, just to be sure everything is working perfectly. If not you have the next couple weeks to get it all taken care of. Some of the extra money set aside could come in handy here.
If you have the time, consider going to attractions along your route. These could add some great fun and extra memories to your adventure. Also check to see if you have any old friends or online ones you could meet for lunch or dinner, along the way.
Music, especially if you're travelling alone, is a very important key. You could be going through places with no radio stations at all. Don't just bring any CDs, but your favourites, that you can listen to over and over again. Mix discs are also a great way to commemorate your trip.
Lastly, we can't forget safety. Know your driving limits and don't push them. Plan stops for food, stretching, and walking every three to four hours. Set fuel stops so that you never get below a quarter of a tank. Getting gas and taking a short walk every so often could seriously save your life. Plan your hotel stops so that you won't end up too tired before you get to them.

Update on The Issue at Hand

Twitter's head of security @delbius

Nod, it's not something we'd do, nor from an email configured for mail. Sounds like forged headers.

With that and other tweets, Twitter has stated that the email mentioned last night was not from them. And that my week off Twitter was likely from this bug.

That bug doesn't actually explain what had happened to me, nor the following events of last night.

Facts:
Monday night through Saturday morning my phone could not access twitter via browser or apps. Nor would my password work from other sources. Yet suddenly Saturday afternoon the same pw (since changed) allowed me access.
Someone did send me that email. Someone apparently pretending to be twitter. As the email specifically acknowledged the issues I'd been having that someone either had been involved in blocking me from twitter or is on a very short list of people who saw my facebook describing the issues I was having.
Not long after first blogging about it, someone (not me) deleted the blogpost, which after finding that out I reposted and changed my blog's password.
After that my email was hacked and I lost access to my proof. At this point still waiting on google to help me recover my email account.

Summary:
Over the last week someone managed to block me for most of the week from twitter, then phished me with an apparently forged twitter email, and also managed to access my blog.

Conclusion:
Somewhere someone how I pissed someone off, and they set a trap for me. They're likely reading this. This someone hacked multiple sites, and so I would consider them dangerous.

Lessons:
Be careful who you piss off.
Make sure you're protected.
Always attach your proof to your accuastion, don't do them seperately.
Likely a good idea to share your proof with more powerful people before going public.

Reiteration:
For those that say I made this up, I didn't.
To my friends who never doubted me, thanks.
Again y'all be careful.


Addit: 10-4-12, had several people mention to me, during CPAC Colorado, that I was possibly one of the first victims of the Twitter gulag.

Why I Was Gone From Twitter

(Addit if you read this, go here afterwards.

This is a repost of a blog I posted earlier. I did not take the first one down…

I've been debating whether to make this a long or short story. I can't decide, so I'm just going to start writing.
Sunday night I found myself unable to access twitter via web or by any of the apps on my phone. When I woke Monday all was fine, til Monday night when everything was down again. Tuesday I still was unable to even access the login page, anyone's timelines, or get anything but a blank white page when I tried twitter's site.
At that point I asked a couple people if they'd heard of anyone else having problems. All came back negative, and so Wednesday afternoon I sent my first email to Twitter. Thursday evening another, around the same time I commented on Facebook about my troubles. Friday night another email, and Saturday another.
There never was any response to those.
Sunday afternoon however I suddenly had Twitter back. And I had an email from them.

"We at Twitter want to apologize for your issues over the last week. We were asked by a government agency to suspend your accounts while you were investigated for suspicious activity, including anti-government propaganda. We complied after being given a warrant from a federal judge. You have now been cleared, and your accounts reinstated. Sorry for any inconvience this may have caused."

The email goes on with information on how and who to contact their legal department to receive more information.

Y'all have seen my tweets. You know what they say. You know what I believe in and stand for. Somehow my desire for a return to Constitutionally limited government has put me on a government watch list. I'm cleared, for now, supposedly.
How many of you are on such a list for your tweets?


(Addit: remember to go here now.