Curtis runs a site that has really impressed me. He has a variety of Christian testimonies on the site. He also has organized an international prayer group. I don’t receive many newsletters, but this one I enjoy receiving. People join the group; they share prayer requests and people pray.
Take a look at his site. Read the amazing testimonies of the power and grace of the Jesus of the Bible. Join the prayer group.
The verse that saved my week rang loud and strong from the Craig’s lips last Sunday.
3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3,4 (ESV)
Every Thursday morning I meet with my administrators. Every Thursday morning I dread it. Every Thursday morning I sit, listen, nod, and hold all my negative thoughts inside.
This last Thursday, I read these verses before the meeting.
What a difference.
In the meeting, I actually listened with an open mind. We even had a short conversation about things unrelated to work. I looked for ways to be a blessing.
Not only did the meeting seem almost enjoyable, the rest of my day did too.
As you can see, I’m a slow learner, but I’m starting to catch on to some of the basics.
Choosing a web host poses challenges. Advertisers hammer on two things consistently:
Don’t believe the hype. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of hosts promising unlimited bandwidth and huge amounts of space. I will say it now (listen carefully);
bandwidth and disk space are not the most important things to consider when choosing a web host.
Too often people choose the wrong host for the wrong reasons. Then they wonder why their site disappears randomly, why customer service seems nonexistent, why they can’t get a refund, why they’ve been charged for excessive usage, and why (gasp!) their host suddenly vanishes into thin air.
Consider the following when choosing a web host.
Hopefully you understand by now; bandwidth and disk space offerings should not drive your decision on which web host to choose.
You should look for a company passionate about serving and protecting customers, unafraid to invest in the highest quality equipment, willing to be completely open and honest about all policies, and that commits to staying in business for the long haul.
Do you know any web hosts that can meet all these expectations? I do. They’re called Parcom and I’ve been with them for nearly ten years. My main website (truthsaves.org) has reached 40,000 hits per month and has been on the $3.99 plan (cheaper because I pre-paid for three years). I’ve recently upgraded to the $9.99 plan to handle the traffic.
Dave, Parcom’s owner, welcomes all customers in the Renton area to stop by and visit. He might even take you up to his super-secure datacenter. I stopped in a couple years ago and that’s exactly what he did. He’s available in the Parcom forums on a regular basis. Sign up and see for yourself. Ask questions. Push the envelope. He’ll talk to you and lay it all out on the table.
Security, speed, stability, and service – Parcom has it all.
And no, I get nothing for this. It’s appreciation for long-term, top-notch service.
About Dave
About Parcom
Parcom Intrusion Detection System and Firewall Solution
Parcom’s Datacenter Layout
More About Parcom
Hosts that Give Too Much Space
Customer Testimonials
Another Article on How to Choose a Good Host
7 One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.
Proverbs 27:7 (ESV)
For one full of God and His Word, sin appears disgusting. For those starving for His love, even the most vile cesspool might look inviting.
As I read II Corinthians 7 the other night, the term “godly grief,” really caught me off guard. I find myself grieving, often, over things like my working conditions, failures I’ve experienced, the disappearance of my cat, my own state of mind . . . but my grief can hardly be categorized at “godly.” See what Paul says.
8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it – though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.
9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.
10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
II Corinthians 7:8-10 (ESV)
I sat still and thought about it for a while. Do I feel grief when I’ve said or done something that might mislead another? Do I grieve when I sin? Do I feel sorrow when I let Jesus down, when I displease Him?
Sin should appall us and produce godly grief leading to repentance. Worldly grief results from loss of earthly possessions or disappointments unrelated to God or His Son. We need to learn to throw off worldly sorrows; we are not of this world. The things that the world finds important we should regard as unnecessary, trivial, futile. If events unrelated to God produce grief in us, we should be wary, as Paul warns us that worldly grief produces death.
What grieves you?
Tonight we studied Proverbs 11.
Verse 15 talked about not being a surety for a stranger. Read it for yourself:
Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.
Proverbs 11:15 (ESV)
Then the question was asked, “What about co-signing for a family member?” Our fearless leader went on to read Proverbs 6:1-3 to us:
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
Proverbs 6:1-3 (ESV)
And I think the point was that it’s better not to co-sign for anyone, anytime. What do you think? Should we co-sign for friends or relatives or is Proverbs telling us that this is an unwise thing to do?
Have you ever had one of those day which, when it began to draw to a close, felt like a very complete waste of time and energy? I have . . . today. I got up this morning, posted a couple outlines and a poem on truthsaves, then I got a very stupid idea. I thought I’d try to run the Knoppix distribution on my computer. Not knowing much about Linux, but knowing that Knoppix was a non-installing distribution (a demo, as it were) I thought it’d be fun to see it. According to the instructions, I downloaded it and burned it onto a disc, then tried booting my system with the disk. Nothing. I thought, “What a waste of time.” I took out the disk, restarted my computer and proceeded straight to the blue screen of death. I restarted the system. I began to do something when again the blue screen struck. I restarted again, quickly deleted my temp files, restored my registry to a few days earlier and restarted again. No more blue screen.
I then tried calling my parents on Skype. But Skype had disappeared. So I re-downloaded it, re-installed it, and then tried calling my parents. Needless to say, Skype didn’t work properly. I kept getting errors and losing my parents. So, I uninstalled Skype, looked up possible solutions, cleaned my temp files (again), deleted everything to do with Skype, cleaned my registry deleting every reference to Skype, updated my Logitech software and drivers (for my webcam), signed up for a new account with Skype and tried again. More errors. How frustrating! I had already gone through this on Christmas day and had fixed the problem by following the same steps. But today the same steps failed.
In the middle of the day I went out with my wife and Tim and we hiked around Round Lake. It felt good to get out. I took some pictures, came home a couple hours later and got busy on the computer again. Nothing worked. My website went down, my email quit working, my webcam stopped working, I was re-installing and un-installing programs . . . the frustration and irritation continued to mount.
Then, as the day wound down, I downloaded my pictures from my camera onto my computer and I stopped and started to think. I stared at the trail disappearing into the fog and I thought about the line in the Lord of the Rings:
The road goes ever on & on . . .
Then I thought about my own life. It’s a journey. It has a destination. Each day marks another step toward that destination. Did I get anywhere today? Did I step closer to my goal? What is my life’s goal? Where am I headed?
As I filtered through the jumble of thoughts in my frenzied mind the light came on. I’m headed toward Jesus. My life will end with Him. My journey should be leading me into His presence. But today I took some side-roads. I didn’t move toward the goal. I didn’t pray. I didn’t read the Word. I didn’t think in a productive manner. I let the challenges of the day defeat me and I wandered in circles. I let the little things control me. I didn’t see the big picture of life and death – of heaven and hell.
Jesus told us to:
Pray without ceasing.
I Thessalonians 5:17
Did I pray today? Do I normally pray? Do you? We should. In the Psalms we’re told:
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:2
Did I think on God’s Word today? Did I let it guide my thoughts and my actions today? No. And that’s why my day turned to crap. That’s why I swam through a swamp of negativity today.
Thankfully we serve a merciful God.
As I travel the unpredictable journey I pray that each step will lead me closer to Him.
Bad Behavior has blocked 153 access attempts in the last 7 days.