Fourth Link Year Recap 10/23-10/25

Guys, I think I have finally figured out a way to intro into these recaps. It's really smooth and transitional. I feel like it's as smooth as-


This week was a little different because we didn't have any guest speakers. I know that's crazy but it's true. Instead we had Adam Donyes talk on Tuesday, Adam Martin talk on Wednesday, and finally Adam Donyes again on Thursday. Personally I was looking forward to this week because I've heard Donyes speak and I've always enjoyed it, also I had never heard Martin speak so I was ready to see what his presentations would be like.

On Tuesday Donyes talked about Time Management and how everything we do in life has eternal significance. This was a really good day because he had us outline what a week looks like for us and I realized how much free time I actually have. It's a whole lot more than I thought so that was really good for me to see. Also he pointed out how the Bible considers those who poorly manage their time to be fools. I don't wanna be a fool so it was good to have Donyes talk about this.

Wednesday was a pretty good day in my opinion. Martin talked about Managing Money and had a lot of insight because in college his degree had to do with finance management. Growing up I'd been taught the basics of money handling and common sense helped a lot. Basically in my mind if you don't have the money, don't spend it. I know this sounds really simple but it seems some people just can't grasp that concept. Sad how many people spend money they don't have. But besides that Martin's talk was educational on all things money. Stuff like checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, and investments. Also how to budget. He even showed us a really great site he has been using for 7 years called "Mint.com" which seems incredibly helpful with budgeting and money management so I'll be sure to take advantage of this!

Finally Donyes spoke again Thursday about Managing Self. This was a great day to learn about self-control, heart change, and other things. Discipline is the main ingredient to managing self. This is something Donyes told us and it rings true. He talked about 3 main disciplines. There are Inward, Outward, and Corporate Disciplines. These all were greatly expanded on by Donyes and it was really good.

Now I have come to the part where I tell you good folks 5 things I learned. Here they are.
1) Actually looking at a physical sheet of paper with my schedule on it really helps me find my free areas. It was really amazing to see how much time I was wasting, yes wasting, every day. I can fill it up with a lot more productive things. This is something I shall keep with me.
2) High interest rates on loans is a bad thing. But low interest rates on loans are great! Whoop, good stuff.
3) Mint.com is a really really useful looking website. I look forward to using it. Basically just go look up the website if you are wondering what it does. It may not sound secure, but it definitely is, been running for awhile with no reported thefts. Good stuff right there.
4) "I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him." - Ravi Zacharias.
I don't think more needs to be said about this. The quote speaks for itself. Really good point made by the Ravi.
5) This is not something I really learned, but something that was a highlight of my week. Donyes showed a video from Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Texas, talking about a rose...sorta. You'd have to see the video for it to really sink in, but trust me, it's incredible. Gives me chills every time I hear it. I was really glad Donyes showed it cause I saw it a few months ago, but had forgotten about it. Here is the link to the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuGYh6QDNYY. Seriously, if there is one thing you get out of this blog post, watch this video. Really great.

Well peeps, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the ride and that you'll join me next time. Peace out dudes and dudets, it's been a trip.

Third Link Year Recap 10/8-10/11

I've been thinking about the best way to intro these "Link Year Recap" things. So far I have not found a good way, as I am sure you can tell. But I guess this explanation about my bad intros will be my intro. See how that works? It just does.

This week we had what has definitely been my favorite speaker so far. He was crazy good. His name was Jonathan Morrow and he has written many books on apologetics including one with Sean McDowell (Josh McDowell's son) called, "Is God Just a Human Invention?: And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists". So if you were counting, that is 18 questions answered in his book. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. He also has a website called, "thinkchristianly.org". Pretty good stuff right there. Anyway, I should probably briefly go over what he taught us on Tuesday through Thursday. 

For Tuesday he talked about what truth and faith actually are and how they relate to culture and the debate on God. He also talked about how important knowledge is to the Christian faith. You need to know what you are talking about. That was pretty cool to hear because a lot of Christians will try and pray they can love God with all their heart, body, soul, and strength, but the only problem is they forget the "mind" part in that verse. On Wednesday Jonathan went into a much more apologetical defense of God through the Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Design Inference. These are both really good and effective deductive arguments for a creator. Finally on Thursday Jonathan talked about the Moral Argument for God and the Historical Argument for Jesus. This was really helpful because a lot of times atheists will say there are no actual facts for Christ living, yet there are more documents showing Jesus of Nazareth lived then there are for Tiberius Caesar. That is pretty crazy to think about.

So in conclusion I would say I definitely enjoyed this week's speaker more than any other. Jonathan is a great communicator and a great defender of the Bible. Really encouraging to see someone so down to earth like Jonathan. But quickly here are five things that stood out to me this week and that I learned.

1) This is actually something that happened Tuesday night when Jonathan did an optional Q&A in the Ala Moana. Only about 10 of us were there but it was well worth it. I forget what the question was, probably something along the lines of desire and feelings, but Jonathans answer is what stood out to me. He pointed out how in Jeremiah 17:9 it talks about how the heart is deceitful and wicked so we cannot trust the desires and feelings we have. But then he followed that up by pointing to Psalms 37:4 which talks about how if you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. He said that you reconcile these two verses because the more and more sanctified you become and the more you trust the Holy Spirit in your life, the more your feelings and desires will line up with God's purpose. Interesting stuff right there, haven't heard that put that way before. 

2) On Wednesday Jonathan briefly brought up Antony Flew and how he was once a hardcore atheist but has since changed his mind to believe there is a God. This was really cool to learn and encouraging because it showed me that no matter how far a friend of mine may be from God, he can be turned around. Not by my arguments, but by the Holy Spirit working through my words. Nothing of my doing, but it was still really cool to hear that and be reminded of it. 

3) Another thing I learned that was really cool was how intricately designed the universe is. If the initial mass of the universe varied by as much as plus or minus one grain of table salt there would be no universe. That is crazy. Just think about that for a little bit. Mind boggling. It's good to know because it gives me another "awe factor" to tell others about how amazing God is with his creation.

4) This one is really cool. Get ready. Ready? Alright here it is: The one place in all the universe where there is life is also the best place to discover everything else. The "place" being earth. You understand what that means? If life was on any other planet we would not be able to have discovered and know all that we do about the universe. For reason such as comets, dust and debris in space. But I think that's pretty amazing yet again and another thing I'll use in my life when I talk to others about the awesome creation of God.

5) This final thing is something that will require more research on my part, but it will be well worth it I know. So one of the objections that Jonathan said atheists will bring up against the existence of God is something called the 'God' Gene. This is a relatively new published idea (I believe it was first publicly talked about in 2005). Because of this I did not know much about it or how to defend against it. Basically the 'God' Gene says that all humans are born with a gene that predisposes us towards a spiritual experience. Like I said before, I must read up on this more and shall be doing that as soon as I can afford a book about this. 

Well that is all folks. Well done for sticking with me this far, you get a prize. Just don't ask me for it or you lose it. Anyway, if you couldn't tell I really enjoyed Jonathan Marrow this week and will be supporting him through buying of his books and such. This is honestly the only week where I could have written more then 5 things I learned so I am understandably excited to read more of his books. Great things to learn from them I am sure. I'm Timothy Wright. You stay classy, San Diego. 

I Thought Long and Hard About This Title

I am mad about a movie ending. I know that's an odd way to start out this random post, but it's true. I just finished watching the movie, "The Mist". Being a fan of the original short story written by Stephen King I was hoping the movie would be a faithful adaption and for the most part it was. Except the end. The end made me legitimately (and yes I just looked up how to spell that word, it's a tricky one) mad. I don't mean, "throw couches around, yell like king kong while punching walls" mad. But just upset, yeah, that is a better word, upset. I will now go on and tell why I was mad at this ending and you have been warned...I am going to spoil the movie so if you don't want the movie to be spoiled for you, don't read the rest of this post. There, you have been warned.

Alright so first off I should say a little something about Stephen King. I have read a few of his books and have enjoyed them. I realize that the content in his books are not usually "appropriate", but I can't deny a good story when I read it. Is Stephen King for everyone? Heck no. Is he a talented writer who I have enjoyed reading? Heck yes. Have I read all his books? Nope I have not. So can I recommend all of his books? No I can not do that either. What I can do is give you my thoughts on this movie and while doing that give my thoughts on parts of Stephen King's writings. So that is about it...I am going to go ahead and talk about the premise of the book and then the movie. Once again, spoilers ahead (in case you couldn't tell by the whole premise of this post being about the ending of the movie).

Here is the basic plot line for the short story, "The Mist" (honestly I have not read this book for about 3 years so I may have forgotten parts, but the movie helped refresh my memory, so bear with me if you can). Anyway, it starts off in Bridgetown, Maine where a huge thunderstorm takes place and does a tremendous amount of damage to the town. We then zero in on the main character of this story, David Drayton (who is an artist if you were curious). Well David takes his son and his neighbor into town for materials to repair damage done to his house and such. Anyway he arrives at the Supermarket which is packed with people because of the recent storm and everybody is flippin out, because that's what people do when wind causes trees to fall through their houses. Or at least people who have to pay for the damage. I am guessing kids wouldn't freak out as much as they would enjoy climbing the tree that is now in their kitchen. But I am getting off topic and should get back on track. Back to David now. He is in the supermarket when a huge mist covers the whole town of Bridgetown, Maine. This mist contains creatures that they can't really see but know are there because whenever anyone tries to escape or go to their car they are promptly eaten, usually accompanied with a certain amount of cuss words. What a nice side dish for those creatures. Plus later on they see the creatures for a few break into the Supermarket. Basically that is the premise of the short story, or horror novella as some sophisticated people call it.

[Here I took a break and looked up what a novella was and found out that it's usually between 17,500 - 40,000 words, an example of this would be "The Old Man And The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. Which is an interesting book by the way. So I guess a little longer then a short story, but for the purpose of not trying to sound to fancy or sophisticated I am going to keep calling it a short story. Besides I read it in Stephen Kings collection of short stories, "Skeleton Crew" picture here...

...yup, that is a monkey with cymbals. I distinctly remember liking that short story because it had a creepy monkey, but hoping what that monkey did in the story never happened to me. But that is not the point right now, different topic altogether. This is really long bracketed statement. I completely got off topic. Oh well, back to the point of this]

Yes well anyway, like I was trying to say before I so rudely interrupted myself, the premise of the story. Basically these people are trapped in the Supermarket and must survive. It is really interesting how Stephen goes into how people would actually act in this situation. The depravity of man is really shown with the factions that are formed. There is even a religious crazy women who rants and raves about how the creatures and the mist is a punishment from God and the fulfillment of Revelation. She got really annoying in the book and movie because of how far off she was from the actual truth that the Bible talks about. Needless to say, halfway through the book and movie I wanted to punch her. I know, not very nice, but she just grated on the nerves. I am sure there is some sorta statement Stephen was trying to make with this.

Now to talk about the movie a little bit. I actually was greatly impressed with how well the movie stayed in line with the book. Which is probably one of the reasons I was so disappointed with the ending. In the book it ends with David, his son, and a few other characters escaping to David's car and driving down the highway slowly, with barely any visibility in the mist. Eventually they find a place to stay for the night and David hears a garbled and static filled message on the radio with only the words, "Hartford" so they head to this city in hopes that it is a refuge. That is how the short story ends. I know, not much closure, but that's what makes it kinda cool. They head off into the mist toward an unknown fate. Survivors, going on to survive more. Good stuff in my opinion. But here is where I get upset, the ending of the movie. As I said before the movie was doing a great job of staying faithful to the book. I was impressed! See how impressed I was? I used an exclamation point. Which means something fo sho. In the movie it ends with David and Co. driving down the highway when they suddenly run out of gas. I should point out that there are five people in the car. David, his son, some chick, and an elderly couple (a pretty rough and tough couple if I do say so myself). Now, they have run out of gas and are just sitting there on the highway with the mist all around them. They can hear the creatures milling about but cannot see them, which is a scary thought. Now when these creatures kill, they do it slowly and painfully. Why would I tell you guys this? Well...in the car is a gun. Need I say more? The problem is the gun has only four bullets. So in a terrible turn of events everyone in the car chooses suicide over dying slowly to these creatures. So David shoots all four people in the car (including his own son who did not actually choose suicide but was asleep) but is now out of bullets. See what has happened here? David is a hero for shooting them and putting them out of their misery of a future slow death by creatures. So David gets out of the car and walks into the mist. But wait! Suddenly the army rolls up and saves the day. What. The. Heck. I didn't even know what to say when this happened. Seriously? Basically David killed everyone in the car, including his own son, for nothing. The army came in and saved the day. First of all that just seems like a huge cop-out for the story. Oh look, the army is suddenly here to save the day. How conveniently timed! Plus the whole thing of him having to shoot his own son. Just dark. Which don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good "dark" story (which seems like a contradiction) but it's true. I have enjoyed many dark stories and movies for what they are. Stories and movies. But this ending just seemed completely pointless to me when the ending of the book was much better. Much better!

Anyways that is my rant for the day. I am sorry to have put you through this. I could wrap this up by putting something about Jesus and how he is a much better ending or something like that. But I think I'll just leave it at this for now. If you peeps like this kind of thing maybe I'll talk about a book or a movie more often but it depends I suppose. Depends on what? No clue, just depends. Maybe I'll talk about something a little more uplifting next time. Like Ted Dekker or Frank Peretti. Who knows.


So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.




Shout out to first person who tells me what that goodbye is from.

Second Link Year Recap 10/1-10/4

Here we are once again, time to write up another recap of this week. Let us dive right in. This week was different from last week because last week we had three speakers for the three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) but this week we got the privilege of having Mike Aleckson for all three of the days. Well...we shall now jump into this head first. Here we go.

Tuesday Mike had a huge whiteboard and wrote the whole outline of the bible on it. Yes you heard correctly, the whole bible. Crazy I know, but he did a pretty good job at it. Here is a picture of it for your viewing pleasure.

The picture quality may not be the best. Also I know that there are glares on the whiteboard, but it's okay. Trust me. It was a pretty cool whiteboard.

Now we move to Wednesday which is the day where I took the most notes. Having a laptop makes note taking a bit easier, but it was still a lot. Anyway(s) today Mike talked briefly about the outline he made but focused more on works, faith, and grace. He brought up a lot of passages that showed if you have faith and truly believe your works will show this. Also he talked about sanctification (although he didn't use that word) and how each day the Holy Spirit is in us regenrating us and walking with us. Pretty crazy stuff right there.

Finally we arrive at Mike's last day with us. I would say mostly everyone enjoyed Mike and his lessons so we were sad to see it end, but as "they" (who is "they" anyways?) say, all good things must come to an end (sorry for the cliche, I'll try to keep those at a minimum on this blog). Basically this might have been my favorite day this week. He talked a lot about the Messianic expectations that those in the Old Testament looked for and how Jesus fulfilled those expectations, but sometimes in different ways than the Jews were expecting. Also another thing that I thought was really cool was how Mike talked to us about the New Heaven and New Earth. How we don't need to be tree huggers, but we should still take care of the earth because we have been given stewardship over it and even Adam back in Genesis was taking care of the garden. So yeah...that was pretty cool to hear. To wrap up Mike left us with one major point that I really liked. He said, "Make what you work on last. Your vocation should glorify God from the Now to the Not Yet. Can the job you are looking at bring God glory? Can it connect with the kingdom to come?". This was really cool to hear and good for me because it made me look at what I plan on doing with my life and gave me more encouragement to make sure what I work at will glorify God in the present and future.

Here at last I will leave you with five things I learned this week.
1) That assigning shapes to Worldview's makes them easier to remember. I will be applying this when I talk to others about Worldview's.
2) Christ = "christos" "anointed one" with oil. [greek]. I am not sure how to apply this, but it is good to know!
3) The 12 Disciples names will be on the cornerstone of the new kingdom when it comes. That is pretty cool right there.
4) The context of verses is quite important, something I already knew, but was reinforced greatly through this week.
5) I need to make sure what I do with my life brings glory to God not just now, but when His kingdom comes.

Well that is it you guys. Sorry about the limited jokes and entertaining words. I am feeling sick so can't really think straight. Well I will leave you guys with these wise words a friend told me, "Make the little things count. Teach midgets math."