Grace and Forgiveness, Mercy and Healing

Here are some lyrics by a band called Third Day. Hope you enjoy.

To everyone who's lost someone they love,
long before it was their time.
You feel like the days you had were not enough,
when you said goodbye.

And to all of the people with burdens and pains,
keeping you back from your life.
You believe that there's nothing,
and there is no one who can make it right.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing,
He'll meet you wherever you are.

For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on,
They lost all of their faith in love.
And they've done all they can to make it right again,
still it's not enough.

For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains,
you try to give up but you come back again.
Just remember that you're not alone,
in your shame and your suffering.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing,
He'll meet you wherever you are.

To the widow who suffers from being alone,
wiping the tears from her eyes.
For the children around the world without a home,
say a prayer tonight.

There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary,
and love for the broken hearts.
There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing,
that meets you wherever you are.

Orders!

Canada Computers
I just ordered a new computer for the school year. Here are the stats...
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz quad-core
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 1GB DDR3
RAM: 2GB DDR2 800MHz (2x1GB)
MAINBOARD: ASUS P5K/EPU Socket 775 Intel P35 chipset
HARD DRIVE: 500GB SATA
POWER SUPPLY: 500W PSU

ThinkGeek
I ordered a few things from thinkgeek.com again. An ice cup mold, geek poem shirt, mini solar-powered car, miracle berry fruit tablets, a radiometer, and an annoy-a-tron (say that ten times fast).

The Something Store
Next week I'll be getting something in the mail. What is this something? I have no idea! I placed an order at The Something Store, and I don't have a clue about what I may receive. Well, I guess I have a bit of a clue, since there is a list of things that they won't send me, like body parts or drugs. Basically, the idea is this... Pay $10 and receive... something. They've got a Something Tracker that allows you to see what has been sent in the past. The reviews are super good, and all the somethings seem to be really cool. I wonder what I'll be getting.

I haven't really made any large purchases since... actually I'm not sure I've ever made a large purchase before. Until now. But I think a new computer was a good investment. I'm not sure if this new hardware will ever get old...

Genie in a bottle

A man is walking through the woods, and he finds a magic lamp on the ground. Instinctively, he picks the lamp up, rubs the side of it with his sleeve, and out pops a genie. The genie thanks the man for freeing him, and offers to grant him three wishes. The man is ecstatic and knows exactly what he wants.

"First," says the man, "I want a billion dollars."

The genie snaps his fingers and a briefcase full of money materializes out of thin air.

The man is wide eyed in amazement and continues, "Next, I want a Ferrari."

The genie snaps his fingers and a Ferrari appears from a puff of smoke.

The man continues, "Finally, I want to be irresistible to women."

The genie snaps his fingers and the man turns into a box of chocolates.

Nike

"If you are going to buy nike shoes, you might as well just rent a child and beat him with a whip." -Shane Igo

Olympic Oops!

This year more than any other, I've reading about all sorts of Olympic booboos.

1. BSoD Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting
2. Beijing Olympic 2008 opening ceremony giant firework footprints 'faked'
3. Olympic organizers reveal lip-synched child performance

Hopefully that's as big as the list will get.

Starbucks Coffeehouse

Yesterday was a good day. After church Steph and I went over to the Metzger's home for lunch and some games (accompanied by popcorn). Steph won every game we played, but that was alright. We played Whoonu, which turned out to be a whole lot of fun. And we learned a few things about each other. We ate supper with my family and went for a long walk to visit some horses. To close the evening off we went to starbucks for a coffeehouse. We both had chai tea lattes (5 pumps, no water) and shared a Banana Chocolate smoothie while listening to Elsa and another band. I even bought one of Elsa's cds because the "Sailing to the Moon" song is awesome.

Ahh, Glorious life...

Toronto Propane Depot Explosion

Yesterday there was a tragic incident in Toronto. A propane depot caught fire and a senior fire fighter lost his life battling the blaze.

You can skip to about 1:50 to see the largest explosion.

You can watch the video here.

Take me as I am

These are the lyrics to a song that's really got me thinking lately. It's by Lecrae.

Christ through faith.
I talked to a cat the other day,
And he was like;
"Man I really wanna come to Christ,
But I gotta clean my life up first, get my sins together".
I told em, I used to think that way too.
I thought I had to change myself before I could come to Christ.
But Christ changed me.
Let me tell you my story, it starts like this...

It's 5:46 in the mornin', tossin' and turnin',
Chest burnin', sermons in my head keep reocurrin'.
Havin' visions in my head of a kid,
Cryin' at the feet of the Father, for all the wrong things that he did.
Now I'm sweatin' in my sheets can't sleep.
My mind keeps tellin' me I'm six feet deep,
Don't remind me.
Even though I'm still alive I can't tell,
The way I'm living my life I feel I'm going to hell.
God, they telling me I should accept you.
That you had to leave the world, cause the world left you.
Reason I can't change, like a mystery to me,
So I make believe there really is a heaven for a G.
Even though they say you loved the world so much, you shed ya blood.
God, I feel I'm too messed up for love.
They tell me come as I am but I smell like smoke.
My whole life's full of sin cause it's all I know.
The bible told me that you died for my sins.
If I believe in Christ, it'll save me from the end.
But I'm scared to ask you, to save me my heart.
So evil, I got thoughts, that's full of hatred, hurtin' people.
I thought at first I had to clean up my life,
Now I'm hearin' I just need to cling to the light.
I'm ready to do it, but Lord I pray you understand,
My life is a mess, will you take me as I am?

Will you take me as I am?
I know the way I'm living is wrong,
But I can't change on my own, trying to make it alone.
I wonder, how could you love me when my life so ugly,
But you came down and died for me.

Will you take me as I am?
I know the way I'm living is wrong,
But I can't change on my own, trying to make it alone.
I wonder, how could you love me when my life so ugly,
But you came down and died for me.
Will you take me as I am?

I'm sick and tired of trying to me the man, my daddy never taught me to be.
I'm grown up now, life ain't what I thought it would be.
I made many mistakes in my past I can't fix,
Now I'm staring at this crucifix tatted on my wrist.
Is it true what they telling me, am I just crazy?
Did ya bleed on the cross, for my sins to save me?
But why would ya die for me?
My whole life I've been working for Satan, while He fed lies to me.
And now I'm hearing too much, trying to get a true touch,
Of a love that can change me, I'm all screwed up.
Figure Hell is what I deserve,
But your word says we all fall short so I guess we all outta burn.
Teach me I wanna learn,
How you could save a wretch like me, before death says it's my turn.
I think I finally understand,
No matter my past, you'll still take me as I am.

My father had a few last words to give,
I be telling people the reason to live,
The reason to die, united with the King in the sky.
This life is passing us by, I got no reason to lie.
You'll never give the world enough, they'll hunger for more,
They figure there ways are nuthin' to the wondrous Lord.
More security than the man that left you,
More love than the moms who kept you,
He'll always accept you.
Be everything your supposed to,
Let Christ rule ya heart, mind, body and soul cause He chose you.
And if the world don't know you,
It don't matter you're Gods child and he'll never disown you.
Ya purpose on earth is far from worthless,
That's why ya glorified like ya life's been purchased.
And it don't matter if the world don't seen us,
We still mean the world to Jesus.

Yeah, we're saved by grace through faith.
It's not works,
Ain't nuthin' you can do, ain't nuthin' I can do,
That could get us this grace salvation that we got man,
It's only Christ.
So if you feel like you gotta clean yourself up,
Before you can come to Him,
Forget it. Just come to Him.
He'll take you as you are, and he'll change you.
From the inside, out.

It has come, at last!

The Weekend! It's finally here.

For some reason, the week after a long weekend seems so much longer. It feels like I haven't blogged in forever... but it's only been a few days. A lot has happened in these last few days. I've decided I'm going to be more decisive. (Ironic, I know.) And less lazy, which pairs nicely with the decisive quality. I figure they're both essential in gaining the goals that I am striving to reach. Goals in relationships, religion, education, business, finances, etc. This week I set personal goals for myself and actively made changes to many areas of my life. (With my investments, I now get free cheque books.) I'm most excited about where my relationship with God is going. I set some hefty goals in that area, and I look forward to them becoming reality.

Failure isn't when you fall down. It's when you stay down.

Here's a little humour for the weekend.

Spam Spam Spam!

Lucky Me! I received spam through my contact page. It's bad because I don't appreciate spammers (77.244.212.231) sending me information about legal/illegal/prescription drugs. But it's slightly amusing that they'd spam a personal blog. Maybe I'll have to write my own PHP captcha. That could be fun.