Glass Panes That Separate

Human potential, it is often said, is a vast untapped pool of resources. While this is true, what is it that keeps us from realizing our potential. I was inspired last night by the Aphid. I don’t even know if this is what he inteded, but it hit me like a ton of lollipops this morning. Our crutches are what keep us from our full potential. His character relied on several crutches: food, beer, and swearing. It is not that we need these crutches to make it through life. These are the things that hold us back. It is not their nature to hold us back, but it is our nature as humans to use them for that purpose. Read more

Now, unless I seem entirely humanistic, let me clarify. The above diatribe is for the average american. It is not for the believer, the saint, the one who follows Christ. For us, there is an even higher standard, a greater motivation, a more pressing need. We must use our gifts for Christ. No call could be greater, and yet few of us really make the commitment. It is not our sin that people stare at. It is our lack of commitment to something that should enthrall every fiber of our being. If what we say is true; if the gospel is indeed the salvation for every man, it ought to be worth the commitment, the pain, and the suffering. But what we have shown the world is just the opposite. It is not worth much of anything. It is worth a little portion of our money, a few hours out of a week, and a few moments before each meal. That is all.

Let us not be guilty of this great hypocrisy. Let us show the world that our message is not filthy rags. That our faith is more than dust and ashes. That our faith is alive. And has the power to breathe new life into any man. Every man.

In Sunday School we talked about the passage where Jesus says something to this effect, “Get the plank out of your own eye before you attempt to help your neighbor with the speck in his eye.” The issue of hypocrisy is not new to the church. We have always had hypocrites in the church, and we always will. But God is calling us to get rid of our planks, not so that we can say we are perfect, but so that we can grow and build up others in the body of Christ. He is longing for us to take out our planks, and give them to Him, so that He can use them to build something incredible.

I was watching some late night show last night, and they had an actor from some show I can’t remember. He seemed like a pretty cool guy, went off about the whole T.O. situation. Then the topic of conversation turned to the television show LOST. He said that he hadn’t gotten into the show until some friend burned him a copy of season one, and now he loves the show. Now, there’s one way that could be ok. Maybe he bought the DVD later. But he never said that. Jimmy Kimmel never even questioned him about it. The show just continued on as if he had never admitted to illegal activity. I wouldn’t even care too much, except there have been multiple cases where parents and grandparents have been harrassed and brought to court for media piracy that their children and grandchildren have committed. CHILDREN! They go digging through confidential records, hunting for children to nail for piracy, but an actor admits to it on national television, and no one cares! I guess the ideals of Robin Hood no longer exist. The rich can steal from the rich, but if the poor do it, they better run for cover.

Casey discovered a nifty little program called iFolder last year, which Novell had released to the public as open source. At that point, setup was a bit difficult, and the client refused to run on my laptop. I never did figure it out, and gave up on it. Until yesterday. There’s now a handy HOW-TO. I had a couple issues, but I fixed them, and updated the instructions, so they should work for anyone. The client was a bit tricky as well, so instructions for Gentoo users (may work for others too) are here.