Where's God When I'm Scared?!

I do not know if any of you have seen the Veggietales Episode with that title, but I have! It was a good episode that taught children that God was bigger than any of their fears (He is the biggest afterall) and that He will protect them from harm. This is a good reminder for adults too because even people who are older than 10 face fears and challenges in life that are too big for them to handle- but not too big for God.

Back Story

So last night I was helping out one of the camp sites at the summer camp that I am working at this summer. This particular camp site was in the middle of the woods and is designed for the participants to have a complete outdoor experience. Because they needed someone over 18 there to cover for someone else, I graciously took the job and stayed there from 9:30p.m. to 11:00p.m.

The camp fire was great and I enjoyed 2 smores during it. The participants and counsellors sang numerous camp fire songs and it was fun! At 11 I left just as it started to rain heavily. Now, I was walking alone with a very small flashlight in a pitchblack forest... Yeah, my nerves were a little on end.
So, I started to sing the musical number from that Veggie Tales Episode:
God is bigger than the boogie man
He's bigger than Godzilla or the monster's on TV
Oh God is bigger than the boogey man
And He's watching out for you and me!
However, those lyrics did not help at all! So, after a bit I started singing one of the songs I learned in Sunday School:
God is good,
God is kind,
God is loving all the time,
Loving you, loving me.

That eventually evolved into me praising God for all of His attributes and quoting from Revelation and other Scriptures. You know, it wasn't until the shift focused from God looking out for me to God alone I did not feel so afraid anymore. I just wanted to worship my Creator in all His glory and my circumstance shrank as a result. Oh yeah, and the rain started to die down too!

Lesson to be Learned

I thought, huh....Maybe that is how I move a mountain that is blocking my path. If I focus on God and not on the mountain

Why? Because the Bible already tells us we are under God's protection and that God is always with us. Therefore, I do not need to pray for those things because I already have them. So, God wants me to move on from a Veggie Tales' faith to the Written Word as my foundation faith. And the best way to do that is through reading the Word and prayer. Which is what I did last night when I combined the two. Makes me glad that my Bible reading and studying was not done in vain!

Summary

1. Because the Bible says that we already have God's protection, we do not need to pray for it because it is already ours
2. Instead of comparing the size of the problem to God, we should focus entirely on God- especially when we are afraid
3. The best way to be prepared for circumstances like mine or whatever you are going through is impportant to know the written Word of God so that when Satan, the world, or even yourself starts telling you lies you can capture the lies and defeat them with truth.

Resources

One of my favourite Christian authors is Sharon Jaynes. One of her books is Becoming a Woman Who Listens to God. I bought the book at the beginning of May. It is a good book and it really opened my eyes to how God speaks to me. However, the common method is that if a person thinks God is talking to them, besides through the Bible, it must always be interpretted through the Bible and not the other way around. Everything from my thoughts and words to what I hear coming from other people must be interpretted through the Word. Thankfully Sharon's book teaches us how to Listen and her newest book I'm Not Good Enough...And Other Lies Women Tell Themselves is also another great tool!

Man...Sharon Jayne is one of my favourite authors. God really helped her to reach women of all ages to teach people the Word of God. She really is a mother of many spiritual children in God's earth.

1. Sharon Jayne's Website
2. Sharon is also one of the three authors of Girlfriends in God, an email devotional that I get from Monday to Friday in my email!
3. Sharon Jayne's Facebook page and Fan group

Isaiah 17:10-11 and Bible in 90 Days, Day 1

So, I get Bible verses daily in my email from Zondervan. It turns out that their readers are being encouraged to read through teh Bible in 90 days. I remember CHRI did this a few years ago too and even provided the link to a forum where someone could post their findings.

So, I decided to try it this time and I started today. However, it seems the forum CHRI used is top secret because I cannot find it on their website. So, I'll type up my findings as I go along. I think it will be an interesting experience to read through the Bible in an intense way. I am also gonna continue with my other reading projects too: Isaiah, John, and Acts and Romans.

First- Isaiah 17:10-11

This Isaiah passage has nothing to do with Bible in 90 Days but thought I would share it.
10 You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, 11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.

When God talks about the people of the Northern Kingdom (N.K.) forgetting Him, He does not mean that it simply slipped their minds. It means that they have head knowledge about Him and they are refusing to acknowledge it. in the end they paid the price of it when shortly after this passage is written they get conquered by the Assyrian Empire.

This passage is so insightful because it shows what will happen to me if I ever forget my Saviour, and choose not to acknowledge my Rock. My life will simply be in vain because I would not be planting vineyards that would last or be fruitful. This just shows how important it is for me to stay connected to Jesus and to give thanks to God, my Saviour so that I will always acknowledge Him and show reverence to Him. Otherwise, my Samaria/Jerusalem/Damascus will be destroyed and my vineyard would produce nothing.

I hope I never forget God or choose not to acknowledge. He is already causing me to grow in numerous ways and I do not want to give anyone else but Him the credit. I mean without God I certainly wouldn't be here writing this blog. In fact there is a good chance I would be dead because I only came to know the Lord because I wanted to end my life. It is unfortunate but true!

Btw I have changed a lot since then. For example, during my hospital stay for suicidal attempts I was diagnosed with my nonverbal learning disability with some of the symptoms of asperger syndrome. At first I either hid it from everybody or fought it with every last breath that I had. Now, however, I am quite content with it and I know that God will use it for great things. I will also never forget my Saviour or choose not to acknowledge Him.

Shows that the Old Testament has a lot of messages and it would be a real shame if people MISSED IT because they fail to acknowledge that all of the violence occurred because it is human history, and because humanity is sinful. Sin is nothing but destructive and brings about nothing but destruction. The only thing the Old Testament does is show God's intervention and points the world towards Jesus.


Day 1: Genesis 1:1-16:16

So, I started reading this using the NASB, instead of the NIV. It was quite a different excperience. I chose this particular translation because it is much more of an accurate translation then the NIV according to one of my profs so I chose to use it. I like how the pronouns that repace the word "God" are capitalized. Makes it an easier read in that sense, and it is something the NIV forgot to include!

I also chose it because it is harder to read!!!! The NIV is way easier, not as easier as the NLT, but not as hard as this one. I find the more accurate and word-by-word translations are always the more difficult read because it is hard to put together what the phrase is actually saying. The NIV and NASB is like the difference between English and French. In French, when someon asks for a kid's age the kid will say, "J'ai sept ans." Now if the Bible was originally written in French, the NASB would translate into English as "I have seven years." What the NIV does is that it realizes that in English we do not say "I have seven years," but "I am seven years old." That's the difference between direct translation of the NASB, and the dynamic translation of the NIV.

So, yeah, it'll be tougher read but that's OK. Because I needed challenge in my Bible version and I was getting bored with the NIV. I mean I have read Genesis 1-11 over and over a lot of times and the Creation story gets boring after a while. Interesting, gives me a reason to glorify God, but boring! Sorry, Moses, but there is no two ways about. So this will definitely be an interesting read!

Verses that Stood Out
I am reading through and a few verses stood out. First, Genesis 3:15 because it is the verse that first reveals that God is great. The moment Adam and Eve sinned and like made it clear that God did not owe them or their descendants anything, He chose to send Jesus! I mean He could have let us rot and let us destroy ourselves (which is what happens when sin takes its course)

Another one I noticed was how both Eve and Sara made mistakes, and blamed someone else for it. Eve chose to eat the fruit, and blamed the serpent instead of repenting. Sara blamed Abraham for Hagar despising her and abuses her slave. Which is totally unfair because the whole Hagar/Ishmael thing was Sara's idea!!

Hagar/Ishmael just proves that one should not intervene in God's plans. Face it, intervening in God's plans just puts the promises into the wrong hands: your own!!! Yeah, I'll be careful about doing God's job for Him from now on, since it clearly doesn't do anyone any good.

Oh, and in Genesis 15 when the flaming torch moved ebtween the dead animals, I learned this year in my Old Testament courses that by doing that, God was invoking a curse upon Himself if He failed to fulfill th covenant... Talk about a God who loved us to death! Not that that part should be made fun of because it is more serious and more sacred than anything in this world, other than God.

Well, that''s it. Look forward to completing Day 2 tomorrow!

Video Games and Cheat Codes

One thing that I have noticed about video games is that they normally do have a way for the player to cheat. For consoles, this could be punching in a key combination and for PCs, it could be by entering a cheat code in a chat window or being able to modify the game. Other ways of cheating come from flaws in the original programming itself that a player can exploit (aka a glitch).

The first video game I ever owned was Pokemon Yellow for the Gameboy Colour. Mine was a special gameboy that had pokemon on the cover. Although I do not still own it outside of a VBA/VBC emulator, I have managed to exploit a lot of the glitches that was in the original game. Some examples include the Mew glitch, and Missingno.

Most- if not all - cheat codes can be easily found online. Websites such as gamefaqs provide a page that gives a player access to the cheat codes. I have found that cheat codes come in numerous different categories:

Key Combination
This type of cheat is common to a lot of console games. This type of cheat requires you to punch in a certain order of keys on the game controller in order for the cheat to be activated. This cheat, I find, is becoming more common. It is also used on handheld consoles too such as the Nintendo DS. An example of it would be Lego Star Wars where on the beginning menu you can punch in cheat codes in order to increase your money or unlock stuff.

Glitches

Everyone who has played the original Pokemon games knows what a glitch is! In video games, glitches are when there is a flaw in the programming that allows for something to happen that should not. People who still play Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow probably have done this to get Mew, gone through the Viridian City/Cinnabar Island routine to get Missingno, and all other things in order to exploit the glitches of Pokemon Blue, Red and Yellow.

I think this is probably one of the first RPG to be for a handheld console. Therefore those games were tempermental and was full of glitches and crashed a lot. I should know- I played all three in the Pokémon Blue/Red series. Numerous websites are devoted to these glitches, it is not even funny! I think people still play those games for the sole purpose of exploiting glitches!! Can't say I blame them because they do save people the time of getting 99 of a certain item or going to a Nintendo thing to catch Mew.

Because of that, I will not give anyone instructions on how to get the glitch! I am sure they can find it easily. However, from the online encyclopedia that knows everything I did find the cause for it on the Pokémon Wiki:

Missingno is the Glitch Pokémon that appears after viewing the Old Man's tutorial in Viridian City on how to catch Pokémon, then immediately Flying to Cinnabar Island and Surfing along the right hand side of the island, near the Gym, until one is encountered.
When you talk to the old man in Viridian City, the game needs to change the player's name to "OLD MAN" so that it will display the "OLD MAN" sprite instead of the original character. Because of this, the programmers needed a place to store the player's information and name while the "OLD MAN" data replaced it, so they decided to store it in the area where wild Pokémon information is. This was done because of the lack of memory on an original Game Boy. This normally wouldn't cause any glitches because the correct data for wild Pokémon available is written to this area in memory whenever the player travels to an area where it is possible to catch wild Pokémon.
Cinnabar Island's coast has no data for indicating which wild Pokémon are available because no pokemon can be caught in the general area. The same is true for both Viridian City and Cinnabar Island itself. The game uses whatever data was already in the nearby area, or whatever area the player was in last, when determining which wild Pokémon are encountered and what their levels are. This is seen when exiting the Safari Zone and flying directly to a place with no available pokemon memory such as Cinnibar Island. When this is done, Safari Zone Pokemon can be encountered along the right side of the island because Cinnibar Island is using the Safari Zone's available Pokémon data.
Normally this memory space ,found on the side of Cinnibar Island, would hold the data of the last area visited where wild Pokémon were catchable and their level data. But since the player's last visited area had no Pokémon and instead the player's temporarily stored name (Viridian City), this leaves the game placing in the temporarily stored data in the available Pokémon data's place. This is what causes Missingno's. availability.
The name of the player has much to do with the level and appearance of MissingNo.. As stated earlier, MissingNo. appears due to a lack of Pokemon data in Cinnibar and the use of the player's info (which has been stored in the pokemon info data in Viridian City) inserted into this empty space. The type of Pokémon or MissingNo. the player encounters is determined by the characters used in the 3rd, 5th, and 7th characters of the player's name. The level of the Pokémon or MissingNo. is based on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th characters.

Few! Talk about an explanation, huh? Yeah I've exploited these glitches before and there are numerous others on all the Pokémon games. You think Nintendo would have weeded glitches out by now! But no, missingno and its variances will always be to Pokémon as...huh, actually I do not think Missingno has an equivalent yet! Btw, Missingno is not the only glitch. There is LM4, 'M, A, a, Chiisai-u, PokéWTrainer, _4, Charizard M' and h POKé for Pokémon Red/Blue. For Pokémon Yellow there is Missingno, 3TrainterPoké, ♀, X-x, Q, 7g, Glitchy Charizard, and 44 Hy.

Game Modifications

This form of cheating is probably most common to computer games, and the occasional X-Box game. Game modifications allow the player to get at the programming of a game, for PCs it is usally XML files, in order to change things about the game. One game that I play and enjoy to modify is Star Wars: Empire at War and its expansion Star Wars: Empire At War Forces of Corruption.

A positive thing about Game Modifications (Mods) are that they areone of the most sneakiest and evil ways of cheating. This is because you can do whatever you want with the XML files. For example, in Empire at War I prefer playing the Empire as my faction. So, if I want to modify the game I would make it in such a way that the Empire would win such as making my troops immortal, make the intervals between their special abilitites shorter and stuff. Like, I was able t give myself two Darth Vaders and two special AT-ATs in the game from modifiying the XML files. I am posting a picture as evidence.

The problem with modifications is that if they are done wrong they do screw up the game. Therefore, they are limitted at first to people experienced with computer programming and not released to the general public until someone is willing to educate, like RC1162 on GameFAQs.

GameSharks and Other Cheating Devices

Well, if glitching your way through to becoming a Pokémon Master won't work there is always your trusty GameShark! GameSharks have to be bought separately, unless you use VBA, of course, but they are the next best thing to game modifications.

Gamesharks can allow you to do anything on a game console. They are available for all kinds of games and can either make a video game harder or easier with the entering of a code. Other than Pokémon, I am not familiar with the codes for other games. Although, since I am starting to broaden my hand-held horizon beyond Pokémon, I am sure I'll find a few!

Conclusion

I prefer to play the game without cheats a couple of times first. That way I am completely familiar with it and I will know what would be nice about the game if it had this or that. For example, I always want the Mewtwo Gameshark Code when I play my VBA games because what is the point of capturing Mewtwo at level 70 after you have beaten the game? Like, what good is a reward if I can't use it?

But I do not agree with people going crazy with cheats! Atleast catching a Mewtwo with a gameshark does not damage my game like flying to Cinnabar in search of Missingno! Just like I would much rather play Empire at War where my AT-AT can die then using a cheat and not get to play it all. Therefore, discretion should be used when using cheats because a game without challenge is no fun.

So, to all my fellow gamers out there, use cheats if you wish. But you should probably beat the game first and enjoy the challenge while it lasts. Then, by all means, go get Missingno and his other glitch pokemon brothers. Punch in the key combinations for Grand Theft Auto and ride around in an army tank. Program your XML files to give your Civilization in Sid Meier's game the best, undefeatable army in the game and this list could go on. But, just don't go crazy or do anything stupid that messes up you game!!!

Happy gaming.

A New Perspective on the Simpsons Part I

The Simpsons Part I: Satire

I have never really cared for the Simpsons. Before, I usually watched it when I had nothing else better to watch. . It did not help that the adults surrounding me continuously slammed the cartoon and its deemed "inappropriate and stupid" content. However, these same adults also had absolutely no problem watching Seinfeld, which to some extent is no better than the Simpsons.

OK, one thing some people need to understand is that The Simpsons, first and foremost, is satire.

*Satire

sat⋅ire [sat-ahyuhr]

-noun
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.

Satire is designed to make fun of anything and everything. In the Simpsons's case, American family life and the stereotypes people make about others in small-town America. This includes looking at the stereotypes that the American family life holds, stereotypes of immigrants, and even stereotypes about movies and religion.

From watching the episodes I have, I think the Simpsons are funny! The satire is very well done in a way that portrays the message the episode wants to get across with the humor that comes with that genre. Man, the people who make them clearly know how to make fun of stuff with tact. A lot of cartoons a part of this genre do not.

Family Guy

Family Guy, is similar to the Simpsons. Both shows use satire in order to spread a message about family life, political issues, and religious issues. However I found it blatantly insulting when it made fun of certain issues. For example, both shows make fun of the stereotypical Christian family. What Family Guy does is completely denounce and dismiss the Christian faith altogether without a thought of respect to the people who follow it. I should know, because I have watched some episodes of it. So...Yeah, that show has definitely not earned my respect or fanatasism!

The Simpsons, however, makes fun of the stereotypical Christian family and people who choose to hold to it. However, there is a "but" to it. I heard of a book that did come out that revealed lines from the Simpsons that were God-honoring lines.

I remember one episode where Bart Simpson (see left picture) needs to get a certain mark on a test in order to avoid a failing grade. Now he failed to study up until the night before the test. He asked God to make it snow in order for their to be a snow day and he would have an extra day to study. God apparently answers Bart's prayer.

Now when Bart heard that school was out, his automatic impulse was to run out and play with all the other people. Lisa, however, heard Bart's prayer the previous night and confronted Bart. God had abolutely no reason to send a snow storm and it would have served Bart right if it hadn't of happened. But, God. Did it. Anyway.

Looking back on that episode, I think I saw a hint of God's grace coming out in that episode. Lisa also continues her speal by saying that Bart OWED God for it. Now, we can never pay God back for His grace and grace, by definition, is supposed to be free. However, that does not mean we can use it to do whatever we want. Bart had a choice: to abuse God's grace by playing in the snow with everyone else or go and study for the test he had that was now postponed...

Lesson from The Simpsons: We have a choice with God's grace, to respect it or abuse it. Talk about GOOD insight.

Romans 6:1-3

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

... WOA a lesson from the Simpsons...

DON'T HAVE A HEART ATTACK BECAUSE I AM NOT FINISHED YET!!!!!!!!!!

Makes me wish I had of watched the show before to make up my own mind instead copying somebody elses. Shows that TV is not just mindless entertainment and can teach people something. Unfortunately too many people watch TV and shows like the Simpsons FOR mindless entertainment. Then there is the other end of the spectrum is people who judge as a show with bad messages.

Well, OK, I would not place one of my nieces in front of TV set with the Simpsons on. But that is because it is not designed for young children. Like Family Guy and King of the Hill, the Simpsons really had the Teen and adult audiences in mind. The fact that young kids watch it anyway says that perhaps parents don't get that it is not for younger children or they are too busy to monitor what their children watch. The first part makes sense to me because traditionally cartoons are designed for younger audiences. Although, some that are designed for 8-12 year olds put jokes in that a Teen audience would get but are cleverly designed so that the original target does not. Examples are Sponge Bob Square Pants and Fairly Odd Parents.

The Simpson, however, is for the older audience. Therefore, KIDS SHOULD NOT BE WATCHING IT!!!!!!! However, that does not mean that it should be thrown out the window. A lot of movies are not designed for a young audience but are good movies and are worth watching, like Avatar. I think that The Simpsons fall under that category. Not for kids, but cab carry a good message. You just need to really dig through it and take it a part. I can think of a lot of Bible books that are not for children, such as the Song of Solomon, yet I would not toss the thing out all together.

WARNING: Some of the jokes on the show are potentionally insulting. But that is more to heighten what that particular episode wants to educate about. And if TV pisses you off that easily, perhaps it's you who needs to lighten up instead of always jumping at it and attacking it. Like Homer being a poor excuse for a father--> Well, he is a lot better than a lot of fathers I know. He is loyal, loving, and faithful to his wife and children. True he can be lazy and get drunk some times. However, I find that his positive qualities are what father's (and people in general) should have and not the above negative characteristics. What I see in Homer is a small problem with American families: Faithfulness, love, and loyality with laziness and an intoxicating consumption of alcohol in the same individual. See how one side over powers the other side? And just like on the Simpsons, the negative side is all people see. Makes me glad that Jesus wants to erode that from me!!!!!

Conclusion

I am glad I started watching the Simpsons. It made me realize that I was becoming more of a Ned Flanders (the Christian/Pharisee guy) and not enough of what God wanted me to be. Hence, why I am starting to watch shows like the Simpsons that may have more intelligience than what surrounding people have said about it. However, I will be discussing the Simpsons more as I begin to watch more episodes and soak this show up a little bit more.

Blessings!

*Definition taken from Dictionary.com on May 5, 2009: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/satire

Spiritual Insights I learned from Watching the Movie: Catch me If you Can

You know, it is amazing what Hollywood can teach us, even if it is not the point of a movie. I discovered this from watching the movie, "Catch me If you Can." If you want an overall plotline on the movie wikipedia's article on it is the best place to go.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_Me_if_You_Can

My little take on the movie will assume that you either read the synopsis there or you actually watched the movie. Overall, I found the movie excellent and the protagonists very cunning and clever. So here are the two insights I dicovered from watching that movie:

First, a Rule I learned for people who are considering marriage or are married,
Do not be alone with a member of the opposite sex in your house behind a closed door.
Especially when your spouse is not aroun and with a person who you have potentially more than juust a professional relationship with. This can lead to the temptation to interact with one another inappropriately or inappropriate thoughts.

In one scene Frank's mother requested that he not say anything to his father, she said that he didn’t have to because there was nothing to tell. She even bribes him with money in order to keep him quiet. This “nothing to tell” is the code name for him catching her with another man behind a closed door, which probably lead to her and her husband’s bedroom.

Sorry girlfriend, but that is not nothing to tell. A member of the opposite sex does not belong in your house in your bedroom with the door shut when your husband is not around . The “nothing to tell” is really you having an affair that lead to your divorce with your husband and your child running away.

It is unfortunate because if she had of chosen to stick with her marriage and kept her marriage vows, perhaps her son would not have run away to become, someone who cashed, "$2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign "1. True, he probably wouldn’t have become the multi-billion dollar man in making security protocols for checks but it could have spared spending a couple of years in an isolation cell in one of America’s prisons and all the millions of dollars he stole and the heartache that he experience and all the heart ache he caused other people.

Man it is amazing what a simple rule of not being alone with a member of the opposite sex behind a closed door can do, unless they are like your brother or something. However, I am sure the affair was going on for awhile for Frank's mother in this movie but I can clearly see what the implication was in that scene. That nothing was something and it would be best for all Christians and non-Christians to heed the warning.

Second: Sin is only great for a season.
When Frank gives himself up to his love interest, he has suitcases and suitcases full of money. Some people probably would look at it and ask for someone to sign them up for that. However, it seems to show that a life of ease built because the person was a common criminal comes to an end. That sure was the case for Frank Abegnale Junior.

Yeah... Forging checks might bring huge bucks but I think God would prefer if I skipped life in prison. Even better, He'd prefer if I did not steal money in the first place!!!!! Since, He would probably be the first to toss me in jail if that is the life I chose to live. Nah! No criminal activity for me, but...

I think that applies to sin in general. For example, an affair can have nothing to with wealth but is still fun...For a season then it leaves a trail of heartache behind! Yeah, sin can be nasty business, even though it can be fun for awhile. I saw that throughout the movie and even the real Frank Abegnale admitted that , " [I] consider my past immoral, unethical and illegal. It is something I am not proud of. I am proud that I have been able to turn my life around and in the past 25 years [I have] helped my government ... deal with the problems of white collar crime and fraud."

Another example is something from my life. Darth Vader was fun. I collected everything from the books and movies to action figures. My Star Wars games had to have Darth Vader in them or else I would not be interested. Now? I realized that he was the culprit behind my dry spiritual life.

For a time I noticed my spiritual life kept hitting a see-through brick wall. I wanted to go to God but I something, or someone was blocking the way. Sorry, Darth, but you werer the person and you had to go. Yeah, obessions can be sinful and can keep you from God. Great for a season, but in the end it was in my way and in God's way!!! Yep, you guys will never see Darth Vader on my accounts or in my topics again. I love God too much to do that.

Verses for thought:
1. "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immporal" (Hebrews 13:4 NIV).
2. "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel" (Proverbes 20:17...Man, that was advice Frank could have used!).

Notes:
1. Abagnale and Associates, "About Frank Abagnale: FRANK W. ABAGNALE (Ab'-big-nail)Author, Lecturer and Consultant", http://www.abagnale.com/aboutfrank.htm (accessed May 3, 2009).
2. Loren Eaton, "Catch Me if You Can," Plugged in Online Movie Reviews, http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0000102.cfm (accessed May 3, 2009).

Comment on the CBC Story: CUPE Ontario members back boycott of Israeli universities

Since the CBC won't post my comments directly on their website, I just thought: "Fine, I'll post it on my blog instead!"

Here is the article found at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/02/22/cupe-israel.html :

Delegates at a Canadian Union of Public Employees conference in Windsor, Ont., have voted in favour of a resolution to boycott Israeli universities to protest against Israel's recently ended offensive in Gaza.

When such a boycott was proposed earlier this year, CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan angered many by saying universities in the province should bar Israeli professors who refuse to condemn Israel's three-week military campaign, which ended Jan. 18.

Ryan later said the union was not calling for a boycott of individual Israeli academics, saying the resolution instead took aim at what CUPE referred to as "academic institutions and the institutional connections that exist between universities here and those in Israel."

The union leader said he was pushing for action because Palestinian schools were among Israel's targets. He also compared the Dec. 29 attack on the Islamic University in Gaza to Nazis targeting educational institutions during the Second World War.

He later apologized for the remarks, saying he used "a poor choice of analogy."

Members of the Jewish Defence League called the boycott proposal and Ryan's remarks anti-Semitic.

So, here is my comment in response to the article:
I am disappointed in the organization. Man, people who hold to liberal view points call themselves neutral and tolerant but when the going gets tough they automatically become intolerant and very biased against those who disagree with them.

Personally, I think Israel did have a right to fight back in Gaza because militants were the ones making the first move to fire rockets into the nation. No one seems to be critiiczing those militants who put their own country in danger by attacking Israel, a country that had the militaristic and technological superiority. So, I think Israel had a right to protect citizens against Hamas, who could have had no respect for theirs.

Now that this is on the Internet, I probably should steer clear of CUPE for awhile. Since they seem to not be tolerant of those who disagree wiht them and who seem to keep some anti-semite people within their ranks. I am a Christian after all and the foundation of my faith is very much in Judaism and the people of Israel. Therefore, I guess CUPE doesn't like me or people who follow the Christian faith either.

Again, very disappointed in them. To think I supported them when they went on strike at Carleton a few years ago! Won't support them if it happens again!

So, yeah. That's my opinion on CUPE's choice of action. I fail to see how what happened in Israel has anything to do with them. Man, people really need to learn to mind their own business sometimes and to not stick their nose in a situation where it doesn't belong.

CUPE should know better than to compare what Israel did in Gaza to what the Nazis did in the Second World War. Some organizations can be such air heads sometimes! Considering the Nazis killed 6 000 000+ Jews and even more people during that time period the situation in Gaza is hardly comparable. First, the Nazis were trying to take over Europe and thus were the original agressor. Israel was responding to Hamas militants who were sending rockets into Israel that was killing Israeli citizens, a clear act of agression on the militants part. Second, what the Nazis did to the Jews is similar to the goal that the militants had. So, it is bad that the Nazis killed off 6 000 000 Jews, who could fight back but it is wrong for the Jews to defend themselves in their own country against a militant group that wants the exact same thing as the Nazis did 60+ years ago? Yeah...No!

I know I added some more, but this seems to be an issue where Israel is frowned upon by the Western world when Hamas was the real agressor in this. That and it shows, to me, that the media is a little bias against Israel. Which is too bad because according to my faith Gaza is a part of the Promised Land and what Hamas owns is really Israel's land. That includes the Northern half of that land too. So, someday Gaza will be a part of the land of ISrael, probably when Israel's Messiah returns in Glory...Something I cannot wait for because He is my Messiah too!!!!!!

The odd one out: Mewtwo

The Pokemon franchise has made Nintendo a very rich franchise. It produces around of handheld and console games that make instant millions every year. It also has an on-going TV show, manga, trading cards, and movies in Japan and North America every year. So much is the franchise, that Super Smash Bros. includes Pikachu as the big icons of Nintendo for both Super Smash Bros. 64, Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube), and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii).

As a fan of Nintendo, I too have become accustomed to purchasing a Pokemon game for my Nintendo hand held console. Although Pokemon is one of the easiest RPG games to play, one specific character/feature of it makes me keep coming for more. That character is Mewtwo.

Mewtwo is an intersting Pokemon. He is the 150th Pokemon in the national pokedex and is one of the original Pokemon in the original games: Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow. Mewtwo is a legendary Pokemon in the games. As Pyschic type Pokemon, he was designed to be the most powerful pokemon in the games. This, in my opinion, is continued throughout the franchise. Only to be challenged by the latest legendary pokemon in the Ruby/Sapphire and Diamond/Pearl game series.

Mewtwo is also the only pokemon in the games that has an actual origins. According to the Diaries in the Abandoned labratory on Cinnabar Island, a city in the Blue/Red and Fire Red/Leaf Green games, he is the offspring of Mew the bonus 151st pokemon in all the games. However, because of his power he can have vicious tendencies and ended up destroying the lab and escaping. He is also the prize of the player defeating the Elite Four and can only be found at the bottom of the Cerulean cave in Cerulean City.

So, what is it about Mewtwo that draws me back to the franchise? Well from watching the series off and on I find that most of the characters are either too sweet and innocent or too evil or just not human enough to be related to. From watching the movies that Mewtwo has starred in, I can really relate to him as a character.

Origins in the Movies:
In the first pokemon movie, Mewtwo was cloned from a fossilized remnant of Mew. Mew is the rarest and most powerful natural Pokemon on earth. However, Giovanni wanted to make a clone of Mew that would be the most powerful, even surpassing Mew. Giovanni, however, is the leader of the main criminal organization in the series called Team Rocket. So, Mewtwo began as no more than an object to help Giovanni rule the earth.

Pokemon, the first Movie. Mewtwo Strikes Back/Mewtwo vs. Mew:

So, the movies present the first character that is the bad guy in one and a good guy in the other. In the first movie Mewtwo refuses to submit to Giovanni and attempts to wreak vengeance on humans. He even goes as far as pitting pokemon born of natural means against clones he created to prove who is the stronger one. In this battle he fought against Mew, according to his refletions in the movie Mewtwo Returns Mew was his "nemesis," not his parent because Mewtwo during this point was struggling with what his purpose should be and up until the end of Mewtwo Returns, his own self worth.

Mewtwo Returns

The fact that by his second movie he turned good it showed that even the worst of us can have redeeming qualities. Although in the next movie Giovanni still views Mewtwo as his personal property, Mewtwo wants to protect everyone from Boss Rocket's (Giovanni) oppressive power. He even is willing to sacrifice himself.

Now the only character that has been willing to put his life on the line for another in the whole franchise that I have seen is Ash. And that was to knock some sense into Mewtwo.

Was Mewtwo just evil in the first movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back?
I don't think so. In the first movie, Mewtwo suffers through questions we all deal with: Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my destiny. The answer that he got was, "To serve your master, that is your purpose" (Giovanni, Mewtwo Strikes Back). What would any of us had of done in response to that? Mewtwo was tool to the people who cloned him and to Giovanni who ordered even before he was brought into existence! Any one of us would have called for vengeance to that.

Now I know what your thinking, because I am a Christian shouldn't I shake my head at someone or something who rebels against his creator? Well, yes, but there is a difference between us and God, and Mewtwo and Giovani.

First, Mewtwo was not created from scratch like Adam and Eve were . Because he is a clone, Mewtwo is really just the resultof Mew's DNA replicated and mutated . Second, God created us partially for us to "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13b NIV). Mewtwo was created in order to further Giovanni's plan to rule the earth. God's love is also what motivated Him to create us and send Jesus to die in order to provide a way for us to return to Him 4,000 years after our first parents, and the rest of us humans after them, chose to rebel. What was Giovanni's motivation for sparring Mewtwo from the torture he made the pokemon undergo in order to get Mewtwo's will to submit to his own? "You can't destroy it, it could take years to clone it again" (Black Tulip, Team Rocket Agent to Giovanni, Mewtwo Returns).

I think Mewtwo had every right to put Giovanni in his place and rebel, unlike us who have only our stubborness and selfishness to blame for our rebellion against our Creator.

More human traits? Well, in Mewtwo Returns Mewtwo does not see himself as an equal to naturally born pokemon. To him, he has no right to be on this earth because of how he was made. This is how he views the clones that are with him that he made in the previous film. We all can go through this. Feel like the odd one out. All who have gone to high school understand the fight that there is t get into the "in" crowd and the pain that we experience when we know we are not a part of it.

Just like Mewtwo understood that his choices determine who he was, he learned that he had every right to live on this earth and that he was the same as all the other pokemon. That's something that I had to realize on my walk with God too. That although I struggle with a learning disability I also have every right to live in God's creation. I am a unique creation made in God's image and Jesus died for me and offer's me salvation. And just like Mewtwo was a fully redeemed character by the end of his two movies, I am also redeemed and a child of God when I accepted Jesus in October of Grade 9.

But, I don't think Mewtwo's story is finished. Mewtwo lacks companionship, and I think he needs that instead of being forced to live alone. That is Mewtwo's one problem and it ends on a sad note to me. Although Mewtwo, because of his power and strength, has to live a more secretive life he still has no companions. I don't think Nintendo should resign him to a lonely existence for the rest of the Pokemon story. It would be nice for Mewtwo to have a Pokemon Trainer who can be his friend, like Ash and Pickachu are friends. Then I would say his story is complete for that aspect of Pokemon. And hey maybe it can be a story that does not include Ash, Misty, Brock or any of the other protagonists in the TV show?

But I am sure Nintendo will come up with something as long as the Pokemon franchise remains popular among gamers and anime lovers alike.