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This came in via Daily Wisdom today and I wanted to share it. I highlighted the part I know I personally needed to hear today -

Camouflage - May 06, 2008

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Hebrews 4:13

We were on the back porch. A holiday morning, not much stirring yet. I was slowly waking, cradling my steaming coffee mug, when my husband quietly asked, “Do you see what’s in the tree there?”

I strained to look, and all I saw was healthy, green fronds. I noticed how tall the coconut palm was getting. But I didn’t see what he was talking about.

“Sit here”, he said. “There’s something blocking your view there.”

Perfectly camouflaged, the iguana lay draped over a top branch. I zoomed in the lens, and was once-again amazed, at the mimic, nature can come up with.

“He’s so concealed by his coloring and marks”, I thought. However, my husband saw him, then I did as well. Sometimes I cover things up, put a smokescreen over them. But nothing in all of this world, including my heart, is hidden from God.

Our very thoughts are known to Him, and they are not even a surprise.

He doesn’t say, “Hmmmm, imagine that, what she’s thinking”….or, “Gee, look what he just did!” No news to the Lord, who knew us before we were even born (Psalm 139).

And, He loves us anyway. You may have heard this, and it is true: there is nothing you could ever do that would make God love you more, and there is nothing you could ever do that would make God love you less. He loves you. Period. Forever. Unconditionally. Just as you are. Forever and ever.

That is definitely good news.

Milton Stanley is pondering, thinking and teaching on the habits ofNehemiah, specifically his prayer life which was CONSTANT. Part of Milton’s pondering is brought on by a piece by Jeff Weddle ), which Milton followe with some personal audio about. Milton’s Post / Audio Here. Give both posts a read and Milton’s audio a listen.

This is the coolest clock in the world. Link

First of all…THANK YOU TDOT FOR FINALLY GETTING AROUND TO FIXING DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE, even if it does affect my drive to church for the next 14 months. I am leaving 10 minutes earlier Sunday, regardless of what the wife thinks…LOL.., and all should be well. Fourteen months of inconvince is worth the rest of my life driving on three FULL lanes of Interstate through downtown.

Yes, I know this should have been done in the 70’s, but hey back then half of Knoxville fought it and the other half moved to Farragut and started working in Oak Ridge so there you go. Regardless of the timing it is time and I appreciate it. Bottomline thanks, good luck, and do good work ASAP… (13 1/2 months would be even nicer wouldn’t it?)

Now for my next point. Mr. Nicely start the Knoxville Beltway in 14 months. You got B&B here, you got the machinces, you got the workers here, you got the gas taxes, you got EPA warnings that could drop with less congestion, so get to paving and building and such. If you can do the downtown thing in 14 months with all the traffic and roads around it, I think you can do the Orange route in 3 years since there fewer roads and less traffic to contend with. So, 2012 or early 2013 I would love to see a finished beltway around Ktown. Worst case give me Lenoir City to the Oak Ridge Hwy area by 2012.

Then Knoxville, and it’s visitors, can get on with our bizness.

Milton Stanley of Transforming Sermons has a great post / link up to a piece at Jesus the Radical Pastor Post here that is a great reminder that we all need to take some BE time with GOD.

Smooth upgrade and all is working well.

Life Hacker is running a great poll - top 5 or best text editor - my vote Notepad++ or Vim

This AM as I drove into work I was already thinking about lunch. It was not that I was really hungry it was I was missing a little sandwich shop near my work that closed a few years back.

This little sandwich shop made some of the best sandwiches I have ever had, they made a good calzone too but you had to come after 5 for those as the owner (and only employee) did not turn on the “pizza oven” until 4PM due to the cost of running it. The sentence above really tells you most of the reasons that the shop is gone - one employee (the owner) and a bare bone budget with no room for advertising. Adding to the last issue was the fact that the owner was a quiet guy who you almost had to drag more then a “Hello” out of. Not exactly a self promoter you might say.

Well bottom line as I thought about those sandwiches, the business situation of the shop, and the owner himself an additional thought came to me - how most Christians have similar habits to that little shop and it’s owner when it comes to sharing their faith and their relationship with God.

You ask why I say that? Well think about it a bit. Christians have the best thing in the world going for them - a one to one relationship with the creator of the Universe, the savior of the world, and the perfect patient and persistent teacher of true wisdom - yet many never talk about how great their life is or the perfect peace that comes from the Father. They allow their natural habits and tendencies to confound their walk, which eventually results in them just giving up and moving on. Many Christians go quietly through life, concerned more about not being noticed or being different, then actually worrying about showing / telling other about the very thing that makes them different, special and unique.

Understand I am not talking about,or saying that, Christians having to run into a room hand out tracs and share their testimony 15 times a day. No, I am simply talking about Christians taking the time to share with others (friends, co-workers, etc) the love of God. I am talking about relating too / investing in people close to you. That means talking to people about more then sports, weather, kids, and cars. That means carrying about the person enough to want to get to know the REAL person and allowing them to know the REAL you.

Back to my core point, this pattern of silence and camouflage by many Christians goes on month after month, year after year. They then wonder why their faith is stale, why they are unexcited about the things of God, why they seem so unfulfilled, and why no one really id’s them as a child of God. In time they begin to drift away even more and they begin to languish in their own disillusionment. After that they just stop thinking about the things of God entirely. They are resigned to being saved and to being silent about it. Unfortunately by doing this, they are missing the fact that they are not living up to the potential that God has for them. They are sliding silently through life while carrying a incredible (and free) gift with them and that is not God’s call to His people.

Just something to ponder as you move through your day and your walk with the Lord. Also something to ponder if you are ready to hang up your walk with God and just accept a quiet life of sliding along.

First of all, I am not a big Dell fan. Their higher end stuff (XPS, servers, etc) is good, but their lower end stuff is just terrible in my experiance. Honestly, they make fine computers if you buy a new box every few years, but if you want to upgrade and expand well their non standard motherboards and all on one board systems have always bothered me. Bottomline, in high volume big business where there is a consistent and regular migration pattern then Dell works, but in small to medium non tech businesses they create problems with the less then stellar quality and properitary products.

With that all behind us I heartly say CONGRATS and WELL DONE to Dell (HP and Leveno too) for coming up with creative and LEGAL ways to continue to provide XP after the CURRENT (as I think the Redmond gang will move it) June 30, 2008 end of product life date for XP. Vista is just bad. Every person I know now is trying to stay with XP. All my IT friends are working hard to keep Vista out of their offices and off their users desktops when possible. Windows 7 better get here soon or OS X and Linux will continue to get traction (and growth) in the marketplace. At this point Microsoft needs to understand that people are trying to stay on XP and are only going to Vista when they have too. That sort of situation causes people to look around at alternatives ALOT more. Personally I would love to see a working Windows 7 by Jan 1, 2009, but honestly I don’t think Microsoft could hit a any reasonible deadline at this point.

Stories here, here and here.