Friday Reflection from Today's Devotion

When reading Friday's devotion from ODB (Our Daily Bread) it made me think of this topic, why many churches still view the internet as a bad thing and how they can not understand how people can form friendships with people they have never met. It's amazing how many churches still think of many people that use the web as "very lonely souls." They wonder how can someone befriend someone who they have never met or how can someone "hook up" with someone via internet?

I have to be honest I have been in the blogging community for over a year on Vox and this year I have been on Twitter and late this year I have joined Facebook I have met some very cool people last year and this year. It may be said in the eyes of some pastors that people can form friendships with people they have never met, never seen but what is really sad to me is that people can form stronger bonds with people in a internet community than church members.

It's amazing how we as Christians are sometimes the last to know the true meaning of some mediums...we trash it then after a long, hard look at it we accept it but by that time many in the secular world dismiss what Christians have to say because we many times, "shoot first(with our words) and then ask questions later and it's sad to say but it seems it takes many church community sometimes to adopt and adapt to current times. Not to do as the world does but to use the electronic tools that God has blessed the secular world to use. Yes pornography is one the web and yes we MUST monitor what our youth on the web on a daily basis but many youths use the web for good day in and day out and many adults use the web for good on a daily basis as well. What churches need to ask is "why" people are turning to the web instead of the church instead of bad mouthing the internet community.

One thing that the church community gets wrong time and time again is that people are upfront and "fake" when it comes to communication on the web. One of the best things about being a geek is that we are not afraid to say when we do not know something. If we need help on trying to figure out something whether it's coding, tagging our music, moving files, we throw the question out there and we try and give an answer to the best of our knowledge. We don't go behind someone's back tearing them down, trying to make them feel stupid because we think back to when we were starting off using computers, searching the web. Why can't that same principle be applied in our churches? Have the time when pastors tell their own congregation to meet and greet one another we do not move out of our own aisle to meet someone. Now I know there is no perfect church, never has been never will be but why in the blogging community most times we are quicker to forgive than in the churches?

I think one of the main reasons is that even Christians think we have to paint ourselves as "perfect" in the eyes of others and our Heavenly Father throughout the Bible used many "imperfect" individuals for his work. I think that sometimes this is the reason that many of our youths turn to someone on the web instead of the church because they see sometimes the hypocrisy in our churches and children are not looking for people to be perfect, they are looking for us as adults to be honest. God knows we are flawed, the youth know we are flawed why can't we as adults and Christians allow them to see us flawed at times?

I'm not painting the entire church community still living in the stone age because many church organization now have podcast of their programs, wonderful websites, mp3 downloads of their services (biblegateway, Harvest Online, Crown Financial Ministries, Enduring Truth) and as a said in the beginning no church is perfect but maybe if not only the outside world but members could feel that oneness inside the church than via web more churches would be packed.

I know what keeps me balanced is what an older Christian taught me years ago, "You got to know that man(God) for yourself." and "Never stop learning because once you stop learning you become old." I have not and will not tell Christians to compromise God's word because being a Follower of Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me and there is nothing in the world I could go back to for me to turn away from God but we as Christians have to realize that just because people chat online does not make them "lonely souls".

I just think many on the web realize our flaws more so than the "church folks".

Be Blessed, Be Safe
and have a Wonderful Day.

Don’t waste your breath on fools,
for they will despise the wisest advice.

~Proverbs 23:9

First Look At Firefox 3.0beta

I am so hoping that when FF3.0 finally hits the masses the bugs will be worked out of it. To be honest Firefox is still my favorite browser but this has been the buggiest one to date.

Check out the screen shots for FF3.0 beta

Message For My Mac Brothers and Sisters

I think I should share this the masses who are Mac users in reference to a trojan that has been released in regards to Mac users reported by download squad. My opinion I really wish it was really harsh penalties for people who write this junk because it takes up so much time to get your system back in order.

I would share what they should to people who write these type of viruses but I do not want your opinion to change of me. LOL

Have a great day every one. Happy Geekin'

Wednesday Devotion & Reflection...Finding My Way Back

Inspired by today's devotion from
Our Daily Bread...rbc ministries

This past month I have found a new love for writing, blogging again. To be exact it happened last Saturday morning around 3am after going into my new found "prayer closet"(our bathroom...it's amazing sitting on the side of the tub reading God's word can do for a man) and finding out what I need to do when it comes to posting blogs, finding insight on what to write. I found that my focus was on the wrong place.

I know we all go through this spell when sometimes writing because a "job" and not fun. We sometimes put unnecessary pressures on ourselves and forgetting why we began blogging. For me I found myself paying attention more to who was commenting than writing and when you begin down that road that's not good because after a while you begin to seek approval from people. And let me tell you, True bloggers, true readers are not stupid at all, they know when you are writing from the heart more so than trying to please the public so in the end you only hurt yourself. When you begin looking for comments, and lets be real...it's praise it turns into pride and when that creeps in you begin thinking it's all about you and to be honest it's not all about you. That is how I was feeling for a while but again having to Christ Jesus bringing me back to why I began in the first place I am back where I am when it comes to writing...to seek, find and share information with others, it's not "all about me." As a Vox buddy has told me time and time again, "it's about having fun, not about work." (thank you again Patrice )

This devotion from this morning shouts out to me that by putting God first in EVERYTHING I do, a heavy weight is lifted from my shoulders. I learn that I am writing for him, what brings him joy, what I do needs to satisfy him and when I put all of my just in him, apply God's word to my life(there it is again, doing my part, Christians need to get out of that habit of treating him like a Genie in a bottle, He's not having that) and do it on a consistent basis I will be just fine.

I did small things to help this process along like clearing out my Firefox toolbar with my blogs and replacing them with sites that I get my information from to share with the masses. By me having my blogs up there it made focus on them first thing in the morning to see who posted a comment...again the focus on me and not what I should be doing, gathering information. Another thing that I began doing is the first site I go to is either RBC, In Touch, or Harvest.org to get God's word in me. I can't tell you how that makes the rest of my day go so peacefully.

Next after I have read the devotion I read a chapter of Proverbs. I may have shared this but I heard this is what Billy Graham does. Proverbs has 31 chapters and most times there are 31 days in a month so I try and keep to that schedule. I slip up sometimes but I'm getting better.

Next I pray for guidance, wisdom, discernment, keep me alert and then I LISTEN for him. Sometimes we pray so much we don't give God a chance to talk back to us.

And then I go about my day applying his word and I always keep in mind that his time and my time are on two different time schedules. Many people think if God doesn't do it in "microwave" time it does not work. Think of it as gaining and losing weight at times. You didn't gain it over night and it takes time to take off the pounds through exercising(they it is again...doing something about it, putting things into motion). These habits has began to keep me grounded and keep me focus on Him and not reward I get from man because that comes and goes with a quickness.

Just like in the devotion how Hezekiah found his way back to God to lead his kingdom I have found my way to Him and finding peace in my life again, finding blogging so much fun and loving sharing God's word, music, tech news with the masses again.

Be Blessed, Be Safe and
Have a Wonderful Wednesday.

Two Beta programs that's Kinda Cool

It's in beta but man it has me hooked already. Snitter is a small desktop application that allows you to post to Twitter may be sleeper for 2007. I enjoy the feel of it, the look of it, how it alerts you when a twitter entry has been placed on twitter, it's cool for PC and Mac and I know the creators will build on it as time goes on, so what are the downsides? It's still in beta and you can send files and add a webcam photo, but again...Snitter is still in beta.

Like tweetr, it needs ADOBE Air to run on your desktop so you have to install that first before installing Snitter. Once that is taking care of the Snitter installation is a breeze. I love the interface of Snitter...you have different templates to choose from, on the side of each of your twitter friends there are buttons for reply in timeline, direct message to your fellow twitter and a button to toggle as a favorite. you're able to delete your twitter entry in Snitter. the option drop down menu allows you to see your friends, your archives, replies, favorites,

I know tweetr does this but one thing tweetr doesn't have is looks. It's good every once in a while for a application to not only be "purr-dee" but have some muscle under the hood like Mac machines.

Another app that's desktop is in beta but is pretty cool is the the music player slacker. It's another last.fm, pandora, but what I'm really enjoying about this is the small features like it shows your what artist or group that is next to play, when you click on the artist up next it gives you the bio on that artist(s). Another nice feature is you can right click on the past songs or current song and choose whether as a favorite, ban the song or band the artist. I like the nice cd artwork it shows of the artist. You can also install slacker radio on your desktop just like last.fm

One thing it will have that last.fm does not have will be a portable player with built-in wi-fi so it will update your player, it will have a 4inch screen to check out the reviews, cd artwork. This is left to been seen if this will take off. I can see this running into problems, even though from an earlier article it will be mp3 capable but with the iPod touch with wifi capability it run into problems because even if you do not own an iPod just about everyone knows what there are but you never know. Another downside is that its not Mac based as of yet. I hope they will come out with a player on the Mac side because I think Mac people will love this.

One thing I'm realizing as well as you the readers is that what these two products are is just another creator or creators coming along and enhancing the products. First came Twitter then Jaiku came along then Pownce. The same is going on with Snitter and Slacker. Will they be around in 6months, time will tell. I started off with Twitter, then Jaiku and Tumblr, now I'm back using Twitter. For me all of these products has a place in the web market because it keeps each one on their toes and that's a good thing. As I wrote a while back on twitter/jaiku/pownce, I take full advantage of them all. As my geek brother luis said,

"it's not nice to have both you just like to join and install everything."

Yes I have to admit, I'm a joiner. But hey by me joining I have a chance to kick the tires and let you know what's good, what's not, what to keep, what to pitch. (and besides, he's a cranky geek anyhow...I know he's going to get me for that, oh well)

Now, when will a product come along and knock the iPod and iTunes off of it's throne...we're waiting?

Reflection from Devotion for Nov 3

reflection from rbc ministries
devotion, "How To Walk"

My job is stressful at times, I'm not going to lie about it, "it is what it is" as the saying goes. But through the midst of it I can still give God praise for many reasons and not just, "Thank God I have a job because there are people who do not have a job" line. Working at a pharmaceutical company makes me take stock of my life in many ways. First and foremost I am thankful people do the job that I do but God keeps reminding me, "this is just your "tent"...not your home and that is so true in many ways. I can not see myself doing that job for a career. It seems that some companies want you to do top notch jobs with 5th rate tools. Zondra (my wife) and I were talking about how companies do not want to spend the money for proper office equipment. We all the reason, to keep overhead down, that I understand but not to a point where it cripples the entire department. But like I told my wife, supervisors, managers will demand better equipment if they had to deal with it on a daily basis.

Another thing is the fact that you realize how terrible some of the insurance companies are out here. They can change the DRUG FORMULARY list on you in a heartbeat and most insurance companies know people do not read all of the literature they send out to the patients and to be honest it's up to the patient to take the time to read the mail they receive from their insurance companies. I am thankful for this because this makes me step up and begin reading the material I receive from our insurance company(even though you need an attorney to decipher most of the material they send you). But the insurance companies are not all at fault...

I have lost count the times I have called patients
and said the following:

Me: Good morning this Keith calling from ________ trying to reach Rachel*(why I picked that name who knows)

Patient: This is me

Me: I'm calling to inform you that there is going to be a slight delay in your order, your insurance is not covering this medication without a Prior Authorization. We have faxed your doctor and we are waiting for your doctor to either fax us or contact us by phone to get a Prior Authorization from us or approved the alternative medication that is on the form we faxed to your doctor.

Patient: Why did you change my medication and this is just a refill?

Me: No ma'am, this change is coming from your INSURANCE not from us.

Patient: This does not make any sense, no one gave you permission to do this.

Me: Ma'am, we are only going off of the information your insurance is giving our company. We are not changing this medication on our own accord. I do not know why your insurance is not covering this medication you have received in the past.

Patient: You people are always making things complicated....

This can go on for 5, 10 minutes. Now some callers they understand but for the most part these are the type of calls I get day in day out. This doesn't make it better for me that I sit in the same cubicle space with my supervisor. We have orders to get out by a certain time and if I get orders for Tuesday and they need to go to a Prior Authorization Coordinator by Thursday and I get them on a Wednesday and I was supposed to have received the orders on a Wednesday and I am supposed to have 3 days to work the order:touch base with the patient, touch base with the doctor office to make sure they received the fax and many times either the fax phone number was not correct in the system or the doctor's office say they did not "receive" the fax and I have to fax it again. Not to mention that sometimes we fax a doctor's office and when contacting the patient they say, "or, I have change doctors."....

ya see where this is going? Back to the devotion...

I am learning that no matter what the stress may be God is always teaching me something. I am learning that when situations begin to squeeze in on me that is when I go to my God to give me strength, discernment, understanding and when you have a close relationship with God day in and day out he will give you that peace, stillness you need in dealing with the job you love and the job you do not like as much. I've learned I can do two things: I can ask God, "why, why, why?" or, "God, what are you trying to teach me in this situation in my life right now." You never know He may be showing you some things you need to get right in your life. You may have those same qualities, those same characteristics that is coming back at you from customers, patients, co-workers. What I am learning from these patients is that to not attack people on the phone, there are different levels of each situation, a soft but stern voice carries much weight than yelling, screaming. Here are some other lessons I am taking away from my time in the "pit"...

• Be obedient to Him always: I know this is just a job and not my career. He has blessed me to enter school a time around.
• Learn from other people's mistakes: When dealing with companies you MUST do your homework on them, stay on top of them because believe me, most companies DO NOT have your best interest at heart
• Take care of yourself health wise: there are some diseases we have no control over but for the most part, by eating right, getting proper rest, exercising you will stay healthy.
• Seek the occupation or vocation that God has set before you: God has giving all a true calling on our lives whether it's being a CEO, a musician, a writer, an actor, a motivational speaker...do not let anyone stir you away from your calling because believe me there is nothing worse than working a job that you cringe when Sunday rolls around.
• Have a stable home life: relationship wise, financial wise, communication wise. There is nothing worse than going into a job that you do not like and to come home to drama. I don't want to see you on the 6pm news about snapping and taking your life, your spouse's life because you have had a bad day.
• Get up each morning and meditate, have a proper breakfast : Trust me, it will make your day go much smoother.
• Learning the true meaning of "Multi-tasking:I know many workers, mothers and fathers(especially) know what I'm talking about when it comes doing this. You have to "think ahead of the game" because many jobs think you should be able to do 15 billion things at once(ok, I'm stretching it I know when I say, "15 billion things...10 billion things at once).

For me I know that having a close relationship with my heavenly Father has helped me day by day dealing with the corporate madness, babysitting grown people(patients) dealing with overworked, underpaid nurses when calling the doctor offices. Some days are better than others and I have people that I have reached out to and they have been supportive. They have told me what I need to hear and do and just want I want to hear, makes a big difference.

Sometimes it does not take a tragedy to make you begin to walk with God, sometimes it only takes working at a job that you do not care for to realize how God can impact your life.

Be Blessed, Be Safe &,
Have a Wonderful Weekend.