Earthships

Earthships
I was telling some of you about Earthships this past week. I've recently been researching these self-sustaining homes, and my fiancee and I are very interested in this technology. We'd like for our next home to be an Earthship. Here's the website for a company that will design and/or build an Earthship for you.

http://www.earthship.org

Here are some fast facts if you don't want to check out the website:

- The cost of building an Earthship is the same as new home construction if you have it built. If you do most or all of the building yourself, the cost is significantly lower.
- It can be completely off the grid. It generates its own electricity and water, and disposes of sewage.
- Electricity is generated by solar panels and wind power.
- Rainwater is collected and stored for use. It's first used for sinks, shower, dishwasher, and clothes washer. This now becomes gray water, and is filtered through plants and used to flush toilets. Finally, it's filtered once again through plants outside and is dispersed as nitrate-free sewage water (it's clean at this point and does no harm to the water table).
- There are no heating or cooling costs, because the home is self-heated and self-cooled. It's designed to capture and trap the heat of sunlight during the winter months, and interacts with the earth for coolnees during the hot months.
- Earthships can be designed for and are successful in any climate, anywhere on Earth.

There are a couple of Earthship communities near Taos (this is where these all started, about 30 years ago). My fiancee and I are going to take a trip next Sunday to check them out. They have a model you can check out (and even rent on a nightly or weekly basis!) and you can see how the systems work. I'm very excited about having a home that is self-sustaining, does not harm the environment, and will save you tons of money in the long run (no utilities!)

I built a website!

I'm so proud of myself!

I built a website as part of my HTML class. I just finished loading it, so I encourage you to check it out. I'm also going to put this link in the "links" section of this blog.

http://wownow.freewebpage.org/index.htm

Let me know what you think!

Various Ramblings

Books I'm reading
I have a habit of starting a book and not finishing it. Currently, I'm in the middle of reading the following books (and hopefully some day I'll actually finish them). These are in no particular order:

• A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.


• The Zinn Reader by Howard Zinn.


• God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis.


• World Orders Old and New by Noam Chomsky.


• World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin.


• Monkey Business by Marvin Olasky and John Perry


• Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli.


• The Art of War by Sun Tzu.


• Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraaff.


• Knowing God by J.I. Packer.


• Night Light: a Devotional for Couples by James Dobson and Shirley Dobson.


• Toxic Relief by Don Colbert, M.D.


• Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer L. Towns.


• Your Personality Tree by Florence Lttauer.

Classes I'm taking
It's the summer and so I'm taking it "easy." I'm only enrolled in 3 courses for the summer term at TVI, and they're all online courses. I've also gone back to a full-time schedule at work. These are the classes I'm taking:

• Nutrition 120: Personal and Practical Nutrition


• CIS 145: Introduction to Computer Networking


• CIS 164: Beginning HTML

Political stuff that interests me

• Why are we still in Iraq?


• Venezuela's social programs


• History of our country we didn't learn in school


• Class struggles. What causes different classes and what can we do about this?


• Children should not suffer. We should stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. (Uganda and elsewhere.)


• Homeless people. How to help them and what are the factors that lead to homelessness?

Taking every thought captive

God sends me a message
For years I've heard it preached and read it in the Bible that we must "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). But I've always struggled with actually doing this. I tried to think about different things whenever a thought would enter my mind that was a sinful thought. Many times, that was like trying not to think of a pink elephant.

Then I came across an audio lesson from Nan Missler. You may have heard of Chuck Missler; she is his wife. In this lesson, I gained an understanding of how to finally submit my thoughts to Christ. This was a little over 3 weeks ago now, and God has absolutely blessed me in so many ways through this teaching. He is using this to really work on different areas of my life in which I was not in submission to Him. The lesson can be found here. I encourage you to listen to all 5 of the lessons, in order (each one is about 27 minutes long).

What God has shown me
Over the last few weeks God has shown me so many things through this lesson and its application on making every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. God is so awesome, in that He waited until the perfect point in my life to reveal these things to me. I have been broken down over events with work and just trying to figure out what course my life is going to take, and I realize that this is God pruning away branches in my life that are unnecessary. Here's a quick summary of some of the things He has taught me. I share these with you with the hope and prayer that this message will be a blessing to you as you read it.

- Love for the "little ones." A desire to help those people who are disadvantaged, especially the children who are abused and have no one to stand up for them.
- Patience at work. God is my rock and my fortress. He is teaching me to be a faithful steward at work even when the job is not one that I enjoy. It is important to have a servant's heart with everyone, not just with people I like.
- Putting God's desires above my own. I am so selfish that God has been working on this for years now! Right now I am at a decision point about what my next job is going to be. God is revealing to me that my decision should be based on what is going to ultimately bring Him glory, not on my own desires (salary, prestige, convenience).
- How to make decisions. I heard it preached during my Monday night Bible study that there are 3 factors to consider when making a decision. External considerations (does it "make sense"), a peace from God that comes from making the right decision, and is it meeting God's will?
- Loving my girlfriend. If I try to love my girlfriend according to my own standards, that will not be the best for her. I need Christ's perfect love to abide in me and work through me in order to love her as Christ desires me to love her. I also need to be a spiritual leader and take the initiative to wash her in God's word.
- Serving. Serving is a way of life. I need to have a servant's heart at work, with my friends, and at church. I tend to have a servant's heart some of the time. God is showing me how to have a servant's heart in all my circumstances.
- Be content in God, not in my circumstances. I have allowed my circumstances to dictate whether I'm happy or sad, angry or content. This is a sin. I must be content in my relationship with God, in the fact that I have eternal life because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Circumstances have no effect on this, and when I allow them to affect my emotions then I am putting my circumstances above God.

Invisible Children - YOU can make a difference

NOTE: If you care about this topic email, blog, or send a link to
these events to your friends. If nothing else just send a copy the
text below. I don't know the same people you do and everyone can help
to get the message out.

Watch the story of the Ugandan Civil war and the children kidnapped
from their beds by the rebel soldiers during the night. Join the
Global Night Commute this Saturday April 29, by making the trek to
sleep in your local city to commemorate the children in Uganda which
travel miles every night to hide away from the Rebel armies who seek
to kidnap and forcibly recruit them. Help get the message out showing
the press and government officials that its time to put pressure on
the Ugandan government to end this war.

Facts

* NORTHERN UGANDA CALLED THE WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE
WORLD TODAY BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF ATTENTION
* 1.7 MILLION PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISPLACED AN ESTIMATED
* 20- 50,000 CHILDREN ABDUCTED TO FIGHT AS SOLDIERS
* TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COMMUTING NIGHTLY 130 PEOPLE DIE
PER DAY IN NORTHERN UGANDA DUE TO VIOLENCE

Who is going from your city?
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMovement/globalNightCommute/

Watch the whole video on line
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643

Order the DVD
http://www.invisiblechildren.com

How can you Help?
1. Sign up for the global night commute in your city (Sign up early so
the scale of this event is known to the press in advance and others
you know will know you are going.)
2. Order a DVD, buy a bracelet, or contribute money to the cause
3. Email or blog about the topic - if nothing else copy my blog entry
in its entirety into your blog or email and send it out. I don't know
the same people you do. Help get the message out!

Info Bits

Italicized comments belong to the author of this blog

Planning the U.S. "Long War" on terror
The "Long War" is the name Washington is using to rebrand the new world conflict, this time against terrorism. Read more at BBC News.
This war now has no end in sight. It reminds me that at the beginning of the war, our President told us that this would be a long, drawn-out war. But 20 years? Fourth-generation plans?

French protestors to mark victory
Students and trades unions in France are planning a day of action on Tuesday as they celebrate the defeat of a law introducing flexible youth employment. Read more at BBC News.
It’s awesome to see that a group of people, in peaceful protests, can indeed change the government. This proposed law would allow French corporations to fire young people without reason. It was hoped that this would create more opportunities for young people. Circular reasoning, perhaps?

Zimbabweans have "shortest lives"
Life in Zimbabwe is shorter than anywhere else in the world, with neither men nor women expected to live until 40, a new UN report says. Read more at BBC News.
Zimbabwe is also one of the poorest nations in the world, ranking 185th in Gross Domestic Product, per capita (out of 232 countries). In fact, most countries in Africa fall in the “low-income economies” category. See for yourself at solcomhouse.com.

Venezuela and FMLN mayors of El Salvador form joint venture
Caracas, Venezuela, April 8, 2006—On Wednesday, the Venezuelan government signed agreements with the Inter-municipal Association of Energy for El Salvador (ENEPASA) initiating a joint venture company, which it is hoped, will provide cheaper oil to El Salvador and Central America. Read more at target="blank">Venezuelanalysis.com.
Now this is a very, very, very cool idea. Basically, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will trade oil for coffee, sugar, industrial goods, and other products that Venezuela needs. Venezuela is one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world (and this June, it may be declared the largest oil-producing country in the world by OPEC). He wants to trade with 20 mayors of cities in El Salvador. Even since Chavez took office in 1998, he has struck trade agreements with other countries in this fashion, giving discounts to oil to poor countries. He even donated oil to poor communities in the Bronx! So why is our government opposed to him and these tactics?

God's word is a lamp unto my feet and a light onto my path

The verse that makes up the title of this posting can be found in Psalm 119:105. I didn't go to church this weekend, because I didn't know about the time change and so when I woke up at what I thought was 9:30 am on Sunday, it was actually 10:30 am and too late for me to shower, and still make the 25 minute drive to be at church for the 11:15 service.

I did, however, watch the service via streaming video on my church's website (hooray for technology!) The guest pastor mentioned this particular verse, and through him God illuminated this passage in a whole new way to me. When God's word is described as a lamp and a light, in the Hebrew it was referring to the lanterns that were carried at night. By nature, these lanterns could only light the next couple of feet in front of you.

In the same way, God's word illuminates the next couple of steps I need to take in my walk of faith with the Lord. Sometimes it's only the next step. Now, by nature, I like to know exactly what is coming up ahead, and as far ahead as possible. But God is teaching me patience, and to trust in Him. So quite often, I have to take that next step before I can see the following step. Instead of being afraid of this, or challenging God to show me more of the path ahead of me, I should give God the glory for leading me along the path with His word.

Let's all praise God for His infinite wisdom and His perfect love for us!