Ski PITTSBURGH!

At least someone enjoyed the snow...

Skiing in Oakland, and Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh during the Snowstorm of 2010.

It's an amazing vid!

You can see the University of Pittsburgh's Dorms in this Pic, this is up by their Physics building. Never thought anyone would ski down these stairs!

Open Source Sermon Resources

Our Church Networking Group the MCM Network has 'Open Sourced' a lot of our sermon materials mostly graphics, and some video. It's good stuff!!

You can find the free resources here.

Big Brother Is Watching vs Freedom and Integrity

I was shocked to learn that a school near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has been accused of cyber-spying on their students via the web cam in their Macbooks. This is a school whose district officials had bragged that they had given all 2,3000 of their high school students these laptops to "ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources."

Apparently some of those same School Officials had 24/7 access to the students as well in the form of web cam spying.

The Superintendent of the school district has since admitted that they do have the ability to spy via those web cams - in other words they can remotely activate the web cam on the sly allowing them to see a live image of whatever is going on in front of that camera as long as the computer is turned on. However the Superintendent of the School District is claiming that this 'feature' was for security purposes only - that it was to be used in case of computer theft.

Honestly, that is the lamest thing I've ever heard! Why didn't they instead keep the MAC addresses of those machines and track those electronically if the machine went missing?? I am incensed to think that anyone would believe that remote access to a web cam was good idea!! When would it EVER be okay to turn a computer that you are giving to children into a spying device that allows you to peek at them in their private quarters?

Ignorance is no excuse. I believe that most of the officials of the School District honestly believed that the spying 'feature' would never be used except in case of 'emergency' or theft. Still how could they ever approve this? Did they ever even consider how this system could be abused?

And what IT professional recommend such a thing? As IT professionals we all know that we have the ability to spy on people if we really wanted too. And some of the more deviant of us do. But for the most part folks in the IT industry are very careful to police themselves and maintain a high level of personal integrity when it comes to this kind of thing. Or maybe I'm dreaming. *sigh*

Parents only learned about the cyber-spying machines that had infiltrated their homes when an Assistant Principle called a student on the carpet for 'improper behavior' at his home.

This article from the Philadelphia News explains:

The family first learned of the embedded webcams on Nov. 11, when Harriton High's Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko reprimanded Blake Robbins for "improper behavior in his home," according to the lawsuit. Matsko cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam on the boy's school-issued laptop.

The lawsuit does not specify why the photograph was objectionable.

They were spying, in private homes!!! This should increase the blood pressure of every one of us who believes in the US Constitution and in our rights to fundamental freedoms.

And what exactly were those pictures of? That's the really frightening thing...

Honestly I am incensed over this issue and as far as I'm concern someone had better go to jail over this issue, including the IT 'pro' that set it up. It's not only wrong, it's just plain stupid.

Please Help Haiti

I don't normally solicit for anything but the Earth Quake in Haiti has hit close to my heart. My Church helps to support a man by the name of Hudson Michele who runs 3 schools in Haiti with 250 students and he also pastors a church of 150 people. He's a GREAT man, one who cares nothing for fame or fortune. Hudson cares about trying to meet the physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs of his community.

A Pastor at my church - Andy Lehmann - went to Haiti a year and a half ago without any real plans other than the knowledge that the Holy Spirit would guide him. He flew to Santa Domingo then went over the boarder into Haiti, where he met a Haitian who was starting a little church and Christian School. Through that meeting a relationship has grown with the Haitian Pastor Hudson Michelle and my Church - Allison Park Church.

Hudson is concerned with meeting real world needs of the people of Haiti and has started 3 Christian schools with 250 students as well as pastoring a church of 150 people. In addition to giving these children an education they insure that they eat one real meal a day - which is far above the average for Haiti which is three meals a WEEK. When Andy was there the children were literally eating mud pies just to fill their empty bellies. And now with the earth quake things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Andy heard from Hudson this morning and he is fine, his home did not fall down, but we still don't know how the school and all the families and children have fared.

If you want to help in some way but worry that your money might be used for administrative things and not for feeding, clothing, and helping those honestly in need you might want to look at this web site that talks about Hudson and how you can help. Like I said I don't solicit, but I give you my solemn word that if you gave to this cause every single penny would go to Hudson who is a man of great integrity and has a heart for his suffering people. In a country such as Haiti that is filled with Government corruption it's hard to know exactly where emergency relief is going. In this case you'd know it's going to help Hudson's kids and community.

The Web site is promoting our general Haiti project that went into effect last year. The emergency relief stuff isn't there yet, so you'd want to make sure to note that your contribution is earmarked for the 'Earthquake':

http://generationsprojects.com/index.php?id=7

Here is a video made by Brian Lippert at our Church using photo's and Video made by Pastor Andy during his trip to Haiti - this was made well before the Earthquake.

If you want more information and want to call our Pastor Andy you can reach him through the Church at 412-487-7220 x360. I'm at x350.

Thank you and please pray for Pastor Hudson and all the people of Haiti during this desperate time.

The year of seeing through Jesus' eyes

“Teach us to number our days aright,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
—Psalm 90:12

Pastors Jeff and Melodie Leake taught me to name each year as a symbol of what and how you want to become closer to the Lord. This year is my year of 'seeing through Jesus' eyes'.

God is truth, and to see through the eyes of our Lord is to see what is real. Only what you see through his eyes is real. All else is lies and deception.

When we see others through the eyes of Jesus we see who they are in Christ, and we can not help but love them. Everything created by our Lord is pure and wonderful. I want what the world has done to be meaningless and inconsequential - I want to see the perfection and excellence that the Lord intends in my fellow human beings.

I want to see each and every situation through the eyes of Jesus. How might I serve him, do his will upon the earth.

And lastly - and perhaps the most difficult - I want to see myself through the eyes of Jesus. This is absolutely the key to it all. If I can see myself through the eyes of Jesus I can accomplish the two goals above without effort - because that's the person I already am - in his eyes.

This past year was the "Year of Leaning Forward" into the arms of Jesus. It was a year to grow my faith, and I think I did okay. I prayed this year for better health for my daughter, and he answered that prayer by telling me to improve my own. Reluctantly I did, exercising and losing 47 lbs. When people would ask how I was able to find the motivation I said I didn't know other than the Lord told me to. But that was not the truth and I wanted to know why too. I began to pray and study exactly what was going on. I learned that the Lord was slowly revealing to me exactly who and what I am in truth. Who and what he made me to be. Who I ALREADY AM in his eyes. And WOW that revelation makes all the difference!!!!

My prayer for everyone on this planet is that we can begin to truly see who we are in Christ - who he has made us to be. Who we already are in TRUTH. What we are in this world has been warped and contaminated - but through Jesus we can come a lot closer to who we are in his eyes.

That is my goal for this year. To become ever closer to the woman that Jesus made me to be.

Christmas Prayers

Today I pray for the hurting, the despised, the lonely, and the desperate. For my children. And I pray for Peace on Earth.

There is so much to pray for. And sometimes when I pray I begin to despair - until I think of the man who left the right hand of God to become a baby in the must humble of circumstances. To walk amongst us and die so that this world would not remain cloaked in darkness. He came so that his light would shine for each and every one of us even when we are unworthy. So that we - no matter how much we hurt, no matter how much we are despised, no matter how lonely or desperate we are - we can come home to him and find solace, joy and peace in his arms.

So while it's good to pray, it's even better to praise because our God lives outside of time and space!! No matter your circumstance right here and now this Christmas, God sees the end game, and if we but believe our end game is glorious!!

Thank you Father for Christmas. I don't deserve it, but I accept your forgiveness and your love and there alone I find joy.

May the joy of the Lord be your strength during this season and always. Merry Christmas.

All that's gold doesn't glitter...

I can't exactly say that we're moving into the Christmas season now, when Walmart has been playing Christmas tunes for over a month now, but I'm a late shopper. Still before I hit the stores I make sure to stop and take an inventory of what exactly is of value in my life.

The holy spirit turned me on to this article in his usual perfectly timed way. I highly recommend this article in Boundless entitled The Wealthy Ones. It sure puts everything into perspective.

Everything I buy this season will eventually turn to dust. But there is one thing that I can hold fast too that will never change. Thank you God for your steadfast love.