We are still in Beta.

Ok so what is it with company’s taking your ideas, and giving no credit to you? They make millions, you make none. This is why I wish I was rich, so I could actually build my ideas, and sell them rather than just tell a company and then they use it and give you no credit. So far there is 2 times I can think of this happening. The first time was when my brother Cameron and I built a lego chess set. We built our pieces and then sent in pictures. The Lego company never even showed our pictures in their Lego magazine. Then a few months later they started selling Lego Chess sets, and made a computer game. No credit, not even a picture. Now more recently I sent a comment to the owners of Facebook telling them a great thing they should have is an RSS reader integration. This way I can stick it on my Facebook and my friends can read my blog, and I don’t have to copy it over to Facebook. Along with this idea I said “hey I’d like some credit” (something like that) but what did they do? Give me none, duh! So here I am taking credit for it. So that all of you know. I also wanted to say that that’s why I love God, I mean he’s the boss of all bosses… and he will reward me and give credit for all things I do.

Romans 4:4-6

“if someone does a day’s work, they don’t see their wages as a gift, do they? No they Broke sweat for it- so they deserve it. But if someone does nothing except take God at his word, God marks them down as “Straight and sorted” even though they’ve not earned it.”

(tWotS) The Word on the Street

1 Peter 2:22

“But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”

Revelation 22:12

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”

Colossians 3:24

“since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

So I know I will be rewarded for the Good I do now here on earth. God will reward you more than fairly, he will credit you for what you did, unlike some people and companys here on earth. What a wonderful God.

God knows your plans! You don’t have to worry.

Jeremiah 29:11(NIV) says
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The Word on the Street says

“D’you think I’ve lost the plans I drew up for your lives?’ Asks God. ‘that they’ve fallen down the back of my desk, or got snarled up in heaven’s red tape? No, they’re open, on my desk, permanent. They’re plans to do you good, not to pull you down. Plans that’ll be worth waiting to see in 3D.”

So don’t worry as Matthew 6:25 says

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”

and finally you should rejoice when life is ruff! Think of when Paul and Silas were in prison (Acts 16:25) They sang! And listen to Jame’s advice

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds”
(James 1:2)

or listen to “the Word on the Street’s” Paraphrase

“A hundred types of hassle? Then change your attitude: think of them as an exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Enjoy it. What?! See, hassles build stamina and stamina stays the distance. End product: you’re the genuine article, finished and polished, batteries included. So enjoy the hassles.”

And why not? Think of yourself as a work in progress. You’re still in beta. Your a rough draft and God is editing you. The typos and errors are getting erased, it may be hard but in the end it makes you a better product, a better paper. So enjoy life, persevere and don’t worry!

“You make everything glorious. And I am Yours. What does that make me“

-David Crowder Band-

What does that make you? I’ll tell you! It makes you Glorious. So don’t ever doubt it.

Matthew 5:13-16

“You guys are the world’s natural preservatives. Like salt, you bring out the flavour. But if you go bland on me, what use is that? You might as well be chucked out an go join the wasters at the landfill site. You guys make the world visible. You bring light. You can’t camouflage a fireworks display. You don’t put floodlights behind a brick wall, so don’t pull curtains across the good things that brighten up people’s lives. let them see it. And get God some great reviews for what he’s done in your dark corners”

(the Word on the Street)

Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

(NIV)

This is why I love “the Word on the Street”! It just throws this stuff at you and you get it! I mean this means way more to me than the same verses in NIV! It’s so true though, in both versions. As you should know this is talking about Christians. We are the light of the world! The salt of the earth. We should be the best, the flavor, culture, we should be at the forefront of things, inventing, teaching, acting, showing our stuff, our side and living for God! That’s how it’s supposed to be. So do it! Be flavourfull (as the British would spell it) be salty! Live your life as a leader! Being different, not worldy. Stand out.

1 Corinthians 7:10

“You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”

Titus 2:12

“It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”

Wow! So I’m in Seattle, currently at the library. I realized while here that we’ve kind of destroyed the atmosphere of the library, to some extent. I mean, the Library used to be a place for books, now it’s books and computer, and iPods, and DVDs etc. etc. It was once this wonderful thing (still is) and now it’s not so wonderful. Well I’m actually appreciative of it, otherwise I wouldn’t have my free wifi and couldn’t be writing this post, instead I’d be reading books. Not that I don’t read enough, I figured out the other day, I think Saturday that I had read the Bible (actually the “Word on the Street) for over 5 hours. . . isn’t that crazy! That time doesn’t include the time I read something else, such as “Christian Inspiration” books as the bookstores like to call them. So I do love books.

Another reason (did I have a first) I love Seattle is the people. Everywhere you go there are interesting people, and when you see someone who looks normal they will have some funny looking bag which makes you wonder whats in it. It’s great! It makes it seem like every person has this huge story, it’s just full of life, and language! Everywhere I go I hear different languages! It’s insane, but cool. I love Seattle and people watching.

So I was at the mall today and I went into the Christian Bookstore. I like going in there and just looking, I love Christian bookstores I could live in one! Haha. (man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3) Anyway while there I checked the sale section (it was actually labeled “Summer Sale” or something) because I always check the sale section. While in it I found a book called “the Word on the Street” which is Rob Lacey’s paraphrase of the Bible. It’s really interesting cause he cuts the uninteresting stuff (see Leviticus, Numbers) and tells the basics of that section. It reads like a story, a song, an email etc. It’s current, it’s real. It’s really interesting to see. If you want to check into it I have a second copy cause it was such a great deal ($6.97) check it out!

The thing is though you have to approach it knowing it’s not the Bible. If you approach it in that aspect you will enjoy it more. Read it like it’s a story, otherwise you could misinterpret it. I mean it’s a great thing, but not the Bible. It’s just one humans (a messed up as Rob would say for sinner) interpretation. Yes it’s accurate but it’s not exactly what Jesus said, or God, or Paul, Moses, Noah etc. It’s a reinterpretation. I recommend it to everyone.

I’ve also been listening to Life house a lot lately. I found their CD “No Name Face” at a thrift store for $1. It’s really good. Now their songs I really enjoy especially songs like “Everything” which sounds like a Worship song, but you have to realize that they say they aren’t a “Christian” band ( see http://www.christianitytoday.com/cl/2001/006/22.28.html). Yes some of the people in the band are Christians, but they aren’t a “Christian” band so don’t approach them like they are. Just like you wouldn’t approach “the Word on the Street” like it’s the Bible. Though anything you read, listen to, do can be used to worship and connect closer to God. So live life looking for God in everything.

So I’ve decided, work is work and computers are dumb. Now you may think “Spencer have you gone crazy?? Computer’s? Dumb? You think? What?” but it’s true. I’ve experienced many problems with compatibility issues for computer all the time. From one program blocking another, to formatting issues, to websites going down and thus screwing up my website. So it all comes back to no matter what we create that’s supposed to make life better (cars, computers, ovens, houses, government) life stays the same difficulty, or harder. Seriously! Think about it. If we hadn’t invented cars, we wouldn’t have to travel far for work, or church, or to visit friends, thus we wouldn’t have to pay for Gas, and Road taxed and the car, thus we wouldn’t need as much money, thus we wouldn’t have to work as hard… got it? Another example. If we hadn’t invented computers, then they wouldn’t break down, and thus loose important data. There are so many things. The more we build the more problems we have. The more problems we have the more we build to solve the problems we have. Thus an endless cycle. It will never end. Yes there are benefits to things. If I didn’t have a computer I wouldn’t be able to be writing this write now, and you couldn’t be reading it. Then again maybe if we didn’t have computers I would be hanging out with you, rather than you reading my Blog. Understand. Therefore be content with what you have.

Hebrews 13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

So the site has gone through some recent changes, for me at least. For one you can now go to http://www.inb3ta.com to get here. Also I haven’t had a new post in a few days cause I couldn’t post. My site was getting updated to a newer version of Wordpress and screwed up slighty, but now is working! Check back soon for a “real” post!

2 Thessalonions 1:3-7

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:12

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

James 1:13-15

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

1 Peter 1:6-7

“now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

2 Peter 2:9

“the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials”

Ok so this is a lot of verses. I will try and go through and talk about what I get from them.
So I’ll start by talking about bad things. A lot of people ask “if God is so good then why do bad things happen?” which I’ve talked about before. My whole light/dark good/evil analogy. You can’t have light without dark, you can’t have good without bad. Another answer is that humans have free choice, God doesn’t do evil, he can’t (Isaiah 55:8-9, Rom. 3:23, Rom. 5:12, Eph. 2:3) and thus God didn’t create evil. Evil is the absence of God. The third reason and the one I’m going to talk about is that evil causes tribulations and trials which creates perseverance (James 1:2-4) Thus if we didn’t have evil (which causes trials) we wouldn’t ever grow(1 Peter 1:6-7) and yet when we are tempted we shouldn’t worry (Matthew 6:25, 2 Peter 2:9) because God will take care of us. Also we can know that when we are tempted we will get a reward for standing firm against it. Now to stand firm you need verses that you can recite after all Jesus used verses from the Bible when the Devil tempted him. Here are some good verses

James 4:7

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Psalm 32:8

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way
you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.

Psalm 91:4

“”Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”

So you can be sure God will protect you, you can be sure the Devil will flee from you. Stand Strong through trials and tribulations and know that without evil there cannot be good.

Romans 15:30
I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

So how often do you pray for yourself? How often do you pray for others? Do you do it continually? Do you do it all the time? Do you pray for specific things? Do you really talk to God? Communication? I know I find this hard. I pray every night along with my devotions. I have a list of people and things to pray for and it isn’t usually easy to pray for it all. I find it difficult. Do you? Cause it’s rewarding to see your prayers answered, but I’m going to tell you right now you don’t see your prayers answered immedietly. No way not in the slightest. God has his own time schedule and you can’t change it. You just have to wait and know God has it all planned out for the best. So pray.

Click this picture to go to http://idont.com a great site. This is so true, or at least it’s how I think. It’s funny to think that the iPod is named the iPod, and everyone has adopted the I part of it. Everyone wants a piece of the I. All they can think about is I. It’s really quite funny. I, I, I, My, My, My, My it’s all about you isn’t it? Myspace, Ipod, it’s about you, but is it really? Are you just a iSheep? iPuppet? iChimp? iFollower? Are you iShackled? Just part of the iHerd? Don’t go with the flow! Be your own person, but more importantly be God’s person. Be what he wants you to be. I want a jPod, and a JCspace. It would be cool. Jesus for me, not I or My.

1 Corinthians 3:3
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

Titus 2:12
It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age

So think about that, and try not to go with the flow. Check out http://www.battlecry.com/ and join it! It’s a great site. Also check out their powerful video at http://www.battlecry.com/pages/casualties.php.
Start fighting for our generation, be different. Be a Jesus Freak.