Jones' Blogspot

The forward thinking church?

2011-11-10T10:29:00.001-08:00

what is it to have a forward thinking vision for your church? I observed an old style baptist church this last sunday. It was awesome, totally brought of back to my roots. One thing i observed was a ton of really creative retro fitting that looked really pretty clean and a normal paritioner would not notice. So I gauged the building at being 20+ years old. I found out it was over 50-years old.This made of awe at how well the upkeep was. I them asked how full it gets... They pretty much for the last 10 years have done 2 services and always about 3/4 full. On the surface this looks really good. I think its great in a lot of ways. There is one concern i have, what now? I also recently visited a local church that the body has been around for 20+ years and recently completed a new facility. it was a $7-million building. The max capacity was set to be about 500 people and before a split with the youth pastor, their congregation was at 400. Its now at about 200 people. What I'm curious for is why at 400 people in regular attendance would you consider making a building capacity at 500? I understand the idea of multiple services but that has its own set of problems and divisions among the young and old. In a time where the younger generation needs wisdom and guidance from the more spiritually mature congregation, it seems difficult to split those into two different service segments. I am not a pastor, architect or anything else besides a Communication graduate and web coordinator, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. I have been apart of ministries for the last 15 years and worked on the technical end for a vast majority of that. That being said, what happened to believing in long term miracles of revival and drastic increases of church attendance? I know every movement of God has been bathed in prayer more massively then we could have ever imagined but even past that we need to actually BELIEVE in that. Why do I stress that? Well I think we become caloused over the years to unanswered prayers when God really was answering but we just missed what He was really going for. But the fact of the matter is, God wants to see His children return to Him, correct? If so then why are we not praying and expecting to God to act? If we are really saying we expect God to move, then why are we making buildings that cannot support the ministry that we believe and pray for? Its an entire paradigm shift to believe that way as well. And maybe you are just wanting to support the ministry you currently have and thats awesome, some buildings really are only made for a small group, so hey why not allow some chinese or russian or hispanic churches to meet in there too? Lets build each others ministries with the resources we currently have. Just a few thoughts. Post thoughts in the comments, I would love to continue this conversation because I really believe its important on more levels then we can imagine.

Why we need to re-think urban living and development

2011-09-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

so, inherently this is something that comes to my mind pretty often. The main proponents and inspiration of this are Barb Chamberlain and James H Kunstler. As a result of Kunstler, Wal-Mart is also in this. Barb Chamberlain is a pretty involved individual in Spokane, WA. and is dedicated to making places bicycle friendly, technologically green, and to borrow from Kunstler- to create a place "worth caring about." Amidst this a big push of Barb's efforts are related to advocating biking (although I advocate longboarding), is to design, re-design, and build a city that is pedestrian and biking friendly. This would inherently have intense ripple effects and would impact every part of society. Everyone should follow her twitter account because she is really that cool. @barbchamberlain and her website is http://www.biketoworkbarb.blogspot.com/ . This could reduce obesity in the region, promote healthier environments (on the ground and air), and build a stronger sense of community. I don't believe the last one is as explicit as the others however, I believe as we strive to put people closer together, we are going to either have amazing communities that have positive impact or we will have more crime. I believe and would hope for thriving communities that could inherently build stronger interpersonal relationships with one another and by golly kids could actually play outside. Above these things though, I think we have to take it one step further into a different perspective and a step into the realization of what this really looks like. Now the above things hinge on two aspects – how far away we live from our job and how well we design our cities. These are not and cannot exist outside of each other and because of that, for any of this to work would be contingent on one thing. People willing to set aside their selfish images, beliefs and take one for the team. For an example, with Kunstler in mind, if say a designer who works in the heart of downtown Spokane says to himself, "I want a home that kind of has a suburb feel that has four bed rooms and two bathrooms, designed super modern," then he would potentially live 20-30 minutes away from the heart of downtown right? Now in perspective we deal with traffic, but this house location could be 20-30 miles away to reach a suburb or relatively country yet modern location to find and raise a family. However, for the example of Spokane, to get from river park square to the south east corner of the valley is about 12miles, 22+minute drive (without traffic). Now I'm not in the most awesome shape and due to my adverse relationship to bikes (I had a bad experience as a child), I would drive my 32mpg car. So every two days I would spend roughly $10 on gas. Please stay with me on this. That's close to $25 a week in gas just driving to work, a huge mortgage payment every month, headaches, and more construction in further areas because you might have 2+ kids who will want homes in 20 years. All of that just because you "wanted" or "needed" that house. You "believed" that you had to attain an "image" and it was all about "you." Sounds pretty selfish eh? Now you might say you have no other option, the city doesn't provide that kind of housing. This is true. That's where the other hinge has to come into play and Kunstler's ideas come in. We must design better urban sprawls because well, it doesn't fit the current need and over-population doesn't help either. This is where Wal-Mart parking lots could stay parking lots but, have structures that provide housing, or schools in an innovative format that is aesthetically pleasing. I may sound idealistic but how come we don't move closer to our jobs? Why don't we revamp River park mall as a giant condo community with stores on the bottom, condos on the top floor and use that whole middle space for a school? Oh you don't want to live that close to work? But what if you could walk 3minutes and have lunch with your son or daughter? Walk 5minutes and be home? Your first thought is, "But Adam, I want *insert desired noun or adjective*." That's nice, but when are you going to take one for the team? Take one for your family, city, and nation? When are you going to be willing to build a place "worth caring about?"

Anonymous, I appreciate you but careful yo

2011-09-15T08:53:00.001-07:00

Anonymous just released its #opIran press releases and this weekend plans on setting up to occupy wall-street and camp there for a while. All the while I dont believe in all the methods and integrity they stand with, I agree in most of their campaigns. However with the recent crackdown by foreign authorities and our own government via the FBI, I wonder what the future holds. One thing as I look at the circumstances is that Anonymous needs to be leery of two things. The first I believe is that even though anonymous is supposedly a collective, which in some cases is true, however there is definitely a sub group of leaders and the second is that they are spreading everything pretty thin. Now I dont know know exactly these people do for a living, however the sub-group of leaders may need some time to relax and re-coup and retain their vision for what is going on. The worst thing that could happen is burn out and fatigue. Past that is going broke and being unable to actually do their own conceived work due to poor financial decisions. I know these people range from 16-60 years of age however I cannot help but wonder what their day occupation is. The second point I think is more serious due to the increase in activity not only of #operations but citizens arrested for participating. The more diversified and strangely un-united the efforts are, the less effective they will become in their efforts to make change. E.g. if you have a collective of 500 working on #opIran, but most of those want to work on different #ops, then their going to be down to maybe 200 people on #opIran and when you have 75 raids and 16 people arrested it can make #opIran a bit more difficult to make a difference and easier to trace with the lowered amount of people. The fix to this is to go back to the core #operationpayback and focus on 5 targets max as a much larger collective than to diversify into some many off branches. This would also hopefully reduce in-fighting as well but also retain the integrity of what #anonymous really is. In my mind, Anonymous is a societal watch dog for the American constitution and a force that does good amongst the nations, once they break past that, then I cant believe in their vision. Some Food for thought.

New kitchen project

2011-08-17T09:59:00.001-07:00

So I definitely bought a strange house. One of my room mates calls it the hobbit house and there are some definite oddities So far I painted the main interior, and built a bonus room in the basement. I'm now looking at re-modeling the kitchen in stages. I say stages because I cant afford to do it all at once and one of my room-mates requires a dishwasher which is no biggy. Big Tip for remodels: Check the clearance/refurbish appliances at Home depot and lowes! I bought a $1100 all stainless steel GE Profile dishwasher for $475 (after $25 energy rebate). Why? Because the rubber liner on the machine broke and they had to fix it... they fixed it and sold it for less than half price. Good deal? Amazingly so.

Fake Pho

2011-08-09T17:37:00.001-07:00

Ingredients packet of pho seasoning 4 capfuls of memmi soup base 8 cups of water enough beef that you want to eat 3 bags of nissan top ramen noodles 1 small cube of beef bullion 3 chive branches, minced So i know this isnt the real stuff but it definitely made my day. there are sometimes pho soup packets you can get at the store which are high in ingrediants that you dont know, so I thought if I used 1 packet as a base I could get it flavored the rest of the way. So boil the 8 cups of water with the pho seasoning packet and the beef bullion, then add the slices of beef to it with the chives. let it simmer/boil with a lid on it for 15min. As far as noodles go, I only used the nissan ramen noodles, DO NOT use the seasoning packets, just the noodles. Eat when noodles are ready :) tips: the longer you let the soup base sit, the better it tastes. And if you really do like pho, make sure you have a lime with you when you eat, it makes a world of difference.

Anonymous' message to the FBI

2011-08-01T15:21:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abmw0C2NYBU&feature=related - Anonymous So I know this is a little bit of old news, but I just got back from vacation and actually have a slew of written pieces I want to upload, but I figured this would be interesting for now. As unlawful as some things may be, I agree that government needs to change

I have mastered the art of cheap lunch!

2011-07-18T15:35:00.001-07:00

So... You ever have those days where you forget to pack yesterday's leftovers and then are super hungry at lunchtime but don't really want to spend money? Well here is my tale of a journey of science with finances and how I mastered the art of a cheap lunch. Option #1: skip lunch Valid option but for dietary reasons really isn't an acceptable model. Although it does save the pennys, its not worth the value your costing your boss, while not performing at you top, nor worth the cost of your body. Option #2: go home and grab food Not always the best solution because you may not have a vehicle or may make it back to work late because of the distance. Once again cheap, but really if your trying to get between two places quickly, your gas economy drops and your possibly costing yourself a lot more than you think. Added negative impact is if your late coming back to work. Option 3: gourmet fast food Even though these places may have $5 deals, they usually charge extra for the drink and with tax make it $5.50-$8 which if your really bad about bringing lunches and regularly get Starbucks on the side, adds up extremely quickly. You could easily spend $25 a week, and over a years period gets close to $1000-$1200 a year you pay on extra food. Option 4: $5 footlong over 2-days The cool thing about buying a footlong is that it gets about two days worth of lunch for $5.40 (without drink). Now this isn't too bad and brings you down to $2.50 a day per missed lunch. Only negative, I'm so cheap I wanted to find something cheaper and the subway bread gets awkwardly soggy after a day in the fridge. Option 5: french bread w/ powerade. Okay so totally your like, "wah?" But I ate today for $2.19. Now the grocer I went to wasn't the cheapest but considering I got a french bread made this morning for $1.50 and a 32.oz powerade for $.69 cents was super encouraging. And because it is a grocery store, they don't charge tax on food. Now you could find french bread for less and when you think about it, straight bread is pretty filling and low calories. A serving of french bread is about 100 calories roughly. So in theory you can cut your costs from $1000 a year down to potentially $350 on extra food. Food for thought ya'll.

and this doesnt scare anyone??

2011-07-13T09:10:00.001-07:00

and this doesnt scare anyone?? The ramifications of big brother watching you in all sorts of ways on FB, and other locations is crazy. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/178391/20110712/anonymous-hackers-release-government-passwords-antisec-security-online-hack-hacked-booz-allen-hamilt.htm

The February release unveiled an alleged project Anonymous named Operation Metal Gear -- perhaps referring to the popular Konami Game. Anonymous described the project as having two goals: "The main aims of the project were two fold: Firstly, to allow a lone operator to control multiple false virtual identities, or "sockpuppets". This would allow them to infiltrate discussions groups, online polls, activist forums, etc and attempt to influence discussions or paint a false representation of public opinion using the highly sophisticated sockpuppet software. "The second aspect of the project was to destroy the concept of online anonymity, essentially attempting to match various personas and accounts to a single person through recognition shared of writing styles, timing of online posts, and other factors. This, again, would be used presumably against any perceived online opponent or activist." During its raid, the post by Anonymous alleged that it had discovered documentation linking Booz Allen Hamilton to Operation Metal Gear: "HBGary Federal was just one of several companies involved in proposing software solutions for this project. Another company involved was Booz Allen Hamilton. Anonymous has been investigating them for some time, and has uncovered all sorts of other shady practices by the company, including potentially illegal surveillance systems, corruption between company and government officials, warrantless wiretapping, and several other questionable surveillance projects."

why we need to re-think urban living and developement

2011-06-23T11:14:00.001-07:00

So, inherently this is something that comes to my mind pretty often. The main proponents of this are Barb Chamberlain and James H Kunstler. As a result of Kunstler, Wal-Mart is also in this. Barb Chamberlain is a pretty involved individual in Spokane, Wa. and is dedicated to making places bicycle friendly, technologically green, and to borrow from Kunstler- to create a place "worth caring about." Amidst this a big push of Barb's efforts are related to biking (although I advocate longboarding), is to design, re-design, and build a city that is pedestrian and biking friendly. This would inherently have intense ripple effects and would impact every part of society. This could reduce obesity in the region, promote healthier environments (on the ground and air), and build a stronger sense of community. I don't believe the last one is as explicit as the others, however I believe as we strive to put people closer together, we are going to either have amazing communities that have positive impact or we will have more crime. I believe and would hope for thriving communities that could inherently build stronger interpersonal relationships with one another and by golly kids could actually play outside. Now the above things hinge on two aspects - how far away we live from our job and how well we design our cities. These are not and cannot exist outside of each other and because of that, for any of this to work would be contingent on one thing. People willing to set aside their selfish images, beliefs and take one for the team. For an example, with Kunstler in mind, if say a designer who works in the heart of downtown spokane says to himself, "I want a home that kind of has a suburb feel that has four bed rooms and two bathrooms, designed super modern," then he would potentially live 20-30 minutes away from the heart of downtown right? Now in perspective we deal with traffic, but this house location could be 20-30 miles away to reach a suburb or relatively country yet modern location to find and raise a family. However, for th example of Spokane, to get from river park square to the south east corner of the valley is about 12miles, 22+minute drive (without traffic). Now I'm n ot in the most awesome shape and due to my adverse relationship to bikes (I had a bad experience as a child), I would drive my 32mpg car. So every two days I would spend roughly $10 on gas. Please stay with me on this. That's close to $25 a week in gas just driving to work, a huge mortgage payment every month, headaches, and more construction in further areas because you might have 2+ kids who will want homes in 20 years. All of that just because you "wanted" and "needed" that house. You "beleived" that you had to attain an "image" and it was all about "you." Sounds pretty selfish eh? Now you might say you have no other option, the city doesn't provide that kind of housing. This is true. That's where the other hinge has to come into play and Kunstlers ideas come in. We must design better urban sprawls because well, it doesn't fit the current need and over-population doesn't help either. This is where Wal-mart parking lots could stay parking lots, but have structures that provide housing, or schools in an innovative format that is aesthetically pleasing. I may sound idealistic but how come we don't move closer to our jobs? Why don't we revamp River park mall as a giant condo community with stores on the bottom, condos on the top floor and use that whole middle space for a school? Oh you don't want to live that close to work? But what if you could walk 3minutes and have lunch with your son or daughter? Walk 5minutes and be home? Your first thought is, "But Adam, I want *insert desired noun or adjective*." That's nice, but when are you going to take one for t he team? Take one for your family, city, nation. When are you going to be willing to build a place "worth caring about?"

what is the church?

2011-06-08T08:46:00.001-07:00

Recently was in the Seattle area and while hanging out with my friends, we went to their home church. It was a med-sized place, 4 sets of greeters before the sanctuary, open spaces and pretty modern. One of the greeters though said something that caught my attention for some odd reason, "Welcome to Church." Now they said that, but it was something that stuck with me as I entered. Stuck through worship. During offering they mentioned stuff about church related and it still stuck out. Then the sermon started. Sermon was extremely good. I thoroughly enjoyed it and there were some really awesome points, one of the best ones was that, we need to "scourge our schedules." As I was listening though, there was philosophical question that begged to be asked and answered. All the while during the sermon, he said that people will not be tired as you dedicate yourself to the church, that the church is a place of restoration, that the church was one of the most important pieces of our lives and if we just committed ourselves to regularly going to church our lives would be so much better. How is church being defined? In this example it almost seems as if church was apart of the trinity. I know that is not the heart motive of the pastor however, a clearly defined definition from the start would have helped. Are we talking about the actual service, physical building known as a church, or the body of Christ that is preparing itself for the Lord's return? For the comment section: how do you define "church" and how important do you think an actual building and service is?

thoughts while riding in a car

2011-05-27T18:21:00.001-07:00

So today I spent 6 hours in a car going to seattle my best friend josiah. I spent it with 3 of my best female friends, including my amazingly awesome and cute girlfriend. We had thought provoking conversations that hit a great range of topics. it made me wonder a lot, why I don't see this kind of friendships in others. I know I'm probably blind to something, but it really struck me how really cool my female friends are. This realization came after most of the conversation died and I suggested we listen to a podcast. The podcast was of Mars Hill Michigan and was going verse by verse through 1st John. I bring this up because after 10minutes they suggested we listen to a book on cd called "Crazy Love." I am in no way stating the legitimacy of either audio within the car, however I do want to make the point that I definitely was more amazed by God in the verse by verse analysis of the Bible vs. an author basically saying all of the cool amazing and awesome things God is, does, and did. I bring this up because after listening to 5 minutes of "Crazy Love," I was extremely bored and wondered what was going in twitter-land. In this I realize how different God makes us and the elements of which we enjoy, relate and grow in God. Its cool to me to see that while we're so different we can have supremely profound discussion in other times relating to the majesty of God or how we relate to one another or church culture, etc. God has created us so different, yet so similar. We all share similar needs, wants, desires. We long for family interactions, deep friendships, loyalty, futures, dreams and goals. Yet its the details that have blended us to be such a tight-knit sub-set of friends. Proverbs 18:24 (amplified) "The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Although they are not blood or brothers, these are definitely my sisters and I am so blessed by God to have them in my life. As that stands, I can also sit through what I consider boring audio, because I know it blesses them and their hearts.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Real Estate category

2011-05-26T16:33:00.001-07:00

So I just added a new blog category and some may wonder why I did. I actually have enjoyed real estate watching, renovations, design, wholesale, etc. for years and was recently re-inspired by my previous supervisor who is currently in Ohio. In a good neighborhood in youngstown , OH. a 3400sq foot 7bedroom, 3bath house went for $12,000. I'm not even joking. Its absolutely crazy but true and since I just bought a house in the pullman area, i'm definitely still enjoying real estate and watching how this all works. So join with me in learning and finding opportunities. Sign up for a mailing list with information and potential deals as I come accross them throughout the states.

one more test- click to read my setup though

2011-05-16T18:36:00.001-07:00

So I just set up wordpress to crosspost to blogger, tumblr, twitter (which posts to facebook). why is this cool? Not sure but I wrote this post from my blackberry :)

another test of the blogging blast system

2011-05-16T18:13:00.001-07:00

test

Test-

2011-05-16T18:11:00.001-07:00

Working on a multi-link synchronized setup. sounds fancy but its really just a bunch of plugins

Been a while yet, life is busy

2011-03-15T17:08:00.001-07:00

Manm cant believe its been 4-5 months since my last post, yet so much in life has happened since those days. New frustrations, friends, life, etc. I do believe I will be closing this blog though. I have personal stuff I want to write out but, somehow I dont feel at ease or free to put anything here anymore. its almost like I wonder who all is still reading it, yet I doubt very many. my analytics hasnt been working so I cant trace stuff as well anymore. So this will probably be the last post on this blog. Farewell and may this blog RIP in the archives. This has been a blog since 2005 I think. crazy...

-AdamMosesJones

musings of life

2010-11-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

watching the street, as the people pass, only a fairy tale can pass. waiting for a bus, the people walk. stare stare away at the feet of the day, hoping not to trip along the way. they see the light of hte city streets and alas they hope that they might have a little bit left. still waiting amongst the shuffle of time. One gives up, another walks by, until the glisten of the city bus moves by. people dont make eye contact, oh my what a stare that would be in the crisp air. pods of humanity all alone, all with lives of their own. As i watch society, it always intrigues me that thousands of people around me have places to go and people to see. emotions they feel, wants, desires, hopes and dreams. Yet we always consider ours above others. well sure we think that because we're not in their shoes. Its only when we're inspired that we so choose to be involved. If we really believed what we say we believe.... then our lives would be different, so very different. I would hope that my life would be a better reflection of light. Yet we cannot be truly Christ but that was the example modeled for us. Currently i'm working for washington state university and for a non profit at that as apart of my daily activities. Man is that overwhelming. Yet its all about priorities. life is about just that. malawi is currently the 4th poorest nation in the world and yet do we as americans make it a priority? i know i try but thats because i work and try and get partnerships setup with people in malawi and hope that it can make a hiuge differece to the people there. Overwhelmed i might seem but thats because i cant control a darn thing. Waiting and watching is the way i go , sadly not free and easy like dirks bently always said. the other end is responsibility. I am responsible for myself and myself alone yet as soon as others get involved i assume responsibility for them. whether its a room mate or friend, how else do you define responsibility in relationships with other people? makes me wonder what its going to be like to have a relationship and then have to decide and choose and be responsible before her and God. Responsible for work, location, spiritual stuffz, and so much more. As much as Ive gotten overwhelmed and busy, it drives me even further in my needs fro God especially when im so busy i dont have time. it drives me to my knees before God because I know i cant do it on my own. that time is now and it seems so odd, that anxiety can push through such uprising of times. But im ready and willing to face that challenge for yet it is still just God wanting em to grow and have my significance fully in God, for he is the best.

-AdamMosesJones

What is wrong with duty?

2010-06-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Something I've been pondereing and will update soon enough the whole story

-AdamMosesJones

needing a new laptop

2010-04-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well I've been thinking and the mini dell 9 was great while I was in school... But now that im working and other stuff.... I need something with a bit more kick. But also I wonder if I should be worring about this as I save money for a car fix up.... Needing firewire with decent capture ability, decent webdesign adaption, and whatnot...

-AdamMosesJones

twitter spam?

2010-04-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

What do you consider twitter spam and what do you consider a service? There are a lot of automated twitter accounts but I am going to perform an experiment. Using the account @MarketingArmada I am going to provide a marketing service provider and test several "tools" from twitter. Without having a website, I really wonder how much people consider things as a service and actually benefit from it. Thoughts?

-AdamMosesJones

Leadership? pensive or gung-ho?

2010-03-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Leadership is an itneresting thing. different styles and different groups and ways of doing things. theres not really a good way or wrong way, but theres ways that work and ways that dont. Its your heart for the group that is important but then your methods you choose to use will either work or not. How then do you stand before your group in good times and bad when your leadership works and when it doesnt? The thing is, if their loyal they will follow in the bad methods and who knows what will happen because of those actions. A servant leader does his best and as his followers submit to his will, so must he submit to humility and prayer and be before the group in a poor spirit

-AdamMosesJones

what do we aim for?

2010-03-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

So I came to a weird realization. And let me help you follow my train of though. I'm not sure where I'm going in life, but I know I want to change the world. But I relized I don't have desires of a different kind. As I've thought about dating and whatnot, something of note I've come to relize is that its best to be equally yoked. Even past just being christians, our goals and dreams must be equal. Our hearts must have a similar mission and call. Currently I'm writing this from a fundraiser dinner, where the girl has known for years that she wants to go to africa, uganda specifically, and has had this longing and desire for ages. Another gal I know wants to and desires just to go and live in honduras after her degree to work and minister... As I've thought about it, I have no... Great desire to go to other places. Well I don't have much vision for when and where I'm suppose to minister to. I know for now I'm suppose to work on these guys but sometimes I really feel that I'm not doing a great enough of a job. I have been wanting to go back to the west side of the state but haven't felt led to go back yet. So I feel I'm trying to prepare as best I can but don't know what else I'm suppose to do. So I'm looking for vision. Wish there was some concept and brand/branding classes I could take.

-AdamMosesJones

life as is

2010-02-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

What is life that we should believe that we are setup and suppose to do things of our own accord? Anything we ever do in this life is because we had the backing of other people. Whether we have friends, family, spouse, or God, we must have support. We must be driven by community, but above all else, the leading of God by Walking in the light, as He is in the light. Why do we think so independently when businesses look for partnerships, collaborate, and network? Why do we think we are so capable and our own strength when the bible clearly states we are all apart of a body. These desires for self work is only in the context for selfish desires and the inherent wanted fulfillment of said desires. Yet in business terms, though we're trying to fulfill selfish desires, we are still using other people. So as we submit ourselves to God, each of us submitted together can create a meaningful community and church body as outlined in the book of acts and we could change the world. Why change the world? If we really believed every person who is not saved is going to die... Our evangelism in america and the world would be so different. So why change the world? Because if we don't, we fail our friends, and family members who do not know Christ. Are we really loving our neighbors if we don't tell them about God? Then changing the world should be the result of the overflowing love in our relationship with God. Why change the world? Because we have to, need to, and should choose to.

-AdamMosesJones

musings of a bored worker

2010-02-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

So i recently graduated and now working full time at WSU and its been pretty good. I do have some odd down times here n there but oh well. Work is work. Its interesting though, I'm surrounded by a lot of asain and muslim people now and I really wonder some days how I really can live and show them the Lord through my behavior and relationship with Christ. Leading a bible study has been an awesome adventure too. Leading and mentoring random guys has been really awesome. I just hope I walk in the grace, faith and spirit of God enough to change the world.

-AdamMosesJones

2010-02-22T17:54:00.000-08:00

Test

-AdamMosesJones

Discouragement of a external source

2009-09-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Now there are many ways we can be discouraged in our lives, for me it usually tends to be me self analyzing too much and i really come down harshly on myself. The other form is when we know someone was counting on us and we let them down. Another one dealing with people is where we unknowingly did something and the person becomes upset at us. I've recently come across another type of discouragement. It is where you (person A) wish to help person B, and you offer advice or services and then person C comes along with much better advice or abilities or services and person B is grateful for the help from person C. Now the focus of this was to help person B, and that was a shared goal by both A and C. C did not mean for A to feel inferior, yet in some weird way, it may discourage person A even though the initial goal was achieved. Now why would this even matter? Well to dive further in, was the discouragement stemming from the lack of ability to sufficiently help person B or is it a prideful hurt that was unintentionally done by person C? For more information concerning the situation we must ask what is the relationship between A and B. Are A and B just friends or acquaintances or is A attempting to find themselves in a position where B would be reliant on A e.g. dating relationship/marriage. Then we have to ask what is C's relationship with B and A. Before i make this into a soap opera, in which nothing is accomplished, the core issue comes back to discouragement. Is it a legitimate experience? possibly. But where should our hope and and self worth come from? From our Lord Jesus Christ.

-AdamMosesJones

10 min before end of work

2009-09-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, im feeling like i need to ramble just a bit today. Its funny because as humans we are always looking forward to the next big thing. Even in the book by Ted Dekker, The Slumber of Christianity, this is the case. We are always feeling like we need to wake up and find ourselves in heaven and then we get our big pay off. All the this is going on we're subconsciously and sometimes very consciously waiting for our time on earth to end so that we can go about being happy in heaven. Content is the issue. Why do i bring this topic up? Well ive found myself lacking contentment lately and its been bugging me alot. I've found that i have an awesome ministry, I just got a mac at work so i can fulfill my work appropriately, i have an awesome car, awesome friends, longboarding is pretty bawesome, etc. and yes i just used the word "Bawesome." So why am i discontented? I have no idea, it might be my food didt really sit well with me and i dont feel up-beat or it really could be that I need to start counting my blessings more, or just need to have more worship music playing to help lift my spirits in the meandering parts of the day. as far as society is concerned, I am horribly unhappy because i dont party, drink, have a girl friend or lead a promiscuous life. As far as society is concerned, society itself can go shoot itself for believing that those things will really make you happy. The thing we have to come back to, is Joy vs. Happiness. Happiness happens, joy is everlasting. So it has become my week goal to walk out in Joy in my heart and life for I know the things my savior has done for me and it should reflect in my life, regardless of what im feeling in the here and now. As far as unmet legitimate desires, well God is my rock and my refuge and I will abide in Him and his shadow for my fufillment and wait patiently upon the Lord.

-AdamMosesJones

Spec'in a new rig

2009-07-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well im torn. I really want a quad monitor setup. and i could do it but i would have to change my setup to a water cooled and spend $200 on a single card with 4 dvi outputs (already have the water cooled system but its in another pc). Or i could spend about $400 and get a quad core, 2 cards with 2 dvi each = quad monitor, 8gb setup, and basically double my entire pc specs.... cant really afford it right now though and if i did update later on i could use the $200 still..... so hard >_<

-AdamMosesJones

Been a while since i posted last

2009-07-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

ya stuff has been busy as of late but thats ok. I recently went on a camping trip and it made me think alot. the reason i thought alot was because i had alot of time to myself which is why i thought of something to write here :) So essentially i'll admit im not a great camper, outdoors person, etc. and i even fell asleep in the sun and burned a little bit which, if you knew me irl, is very hard to do. But the fact of the matter is, i really dont interact well with others. one girl kept saying through the whole weekend how creepy and weird i was (known her for 2 years). Now i admit im nerdy, but im not THAT weird. but apparently my social skills are not usually up to snuff. Now i recently also had some hits to my self esteem, and it really made me wonder why in the world im even leaving my house because of what everyone says and does. mind you this is in the context of a church/bible study group atmosphere. As christians are we that judgmental to the point of even little things are weird or creepy? I know no one is perfect and everyone judges but seriously, i dont blame people for not wanting to be or hangout with christians. I also began to wonder if alot of things that God even blesses us with are worth it sometimes. but thats a rant i dont feel like going into today. Patience, and long suffering are the keys though in my opinion. God tells us to wait, and know that his plans are above our own. i would agree and do my best to walk out in obedience.

-AdamMosesJones

perma linkages

2009-07-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

well in an effort to generate more traffic i have permalinked everything to a better pattern. hopefully it helps. me and my boss might put together a marketing website that we update every so often with some resources and strategies. dunno if we will yet or not but that could be alot of fun.

-AdamMosesJones

inadequacy

2009-07-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

The quality or condition of being inadequate. An instance of being inadequate; a failing or lack. ------------------------------ When the dictionary defines inadequacy, it defines it as a condition. as condition can imply circumstances and personal experience and in some ways personal choice. we can choose to be inadequate in a skill area because we dont take the time for training for instance. we can only consider that life circumstances havent allowed for us to be trained in a certain area as well. We might also have a wool pulled over our eyes, eg. a lie. whether the lie is from ourselves or external forces, eg. satan or people, we can believe fully that we are inadequate in whatever area of life is bothering us. So how do we determine its a lie? well the bible says all things are possible with God, phillipians 4:13, and it also implies that if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could walk on water and move mountains. Now allbeit i believe this can happen as illustrated by peter in the new testament. Jesus said follow after me, which numa videos explain as, come and do as i do. so if we're called and chosen by God as his children, ephesians 1, then why do we feel inadequate when we can do as he does and all things are possible? i dont know... maybe someone can tell me.

-AdamMosesJones

Motivation continued,

2009-05-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well Its been a while and I feel I need to finish this argument before beginning my next blogging schemes. I also recently began reading mere Christianity, from which i will borrow some argument type elements. To be able to define laziness for the most part, there is an opposite by which to help define it. likewise, fast or high rate of speed is contrasted and opposite of slow or low rate of speed. Darkness is defined as the absence of light. These terms although opposite can hardly exist without one another. So truly what is the opposite of lazy? I would say that it would be that which is ultimately productive, and a balance in the middle riddled with exceptions. These exceptions may include sleeping/resting, which although can be considered lazy for the lack of productiveness, is actually a productive action because you are resting your body and regenerating energy. Motivation being more of a state of mind can be altered. Happiness Happens, Joy is Everlasting. Music, food, life, people, stuff, traffic, weather, almost everything can affect our moods. For this reason we must capture our mind and our heart. Psalm 119:15-16 says: "15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word." Proverbs 4:23, "23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life" (NLT) or 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (NIV). I think if we let despair or helplessness it can drain not only our spirit, but drag on our minds and our hearts. Depression can steal away our promises, minimize them. However we can make a choice to get up and move and take steps. We are called to meditate on Gods promises and his precepts and principles. Guarding our hearts we must not let evil come out of it. We have been saved and purified. Despair should have no p lace for our hope is in God, the one who destroys the impossible. Meditating on our hopes and promises that God has given us and What we have and have to come will help keep us motivated. With our hope put in something firm, we will always be taken care of. Motivation to do something successful and our hope put someplace firm, man think of the things we could do to change this world and live full lives with blessing and storing of treasures in heaven. So how do we know what that is? Well we have to practice listening to God, spend time in prayer, fasting, reading the bible, seeking wise council consistently and on a regular basis, asking the holy spirit to help lead and guide us, getting plugged into a church. All of this and more can help us be motivated, not only in the physical but the spiritual too.

-AdamMosesJones

Laziness,

2009-05-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

Lately its come to my attention that the factors in life can be broken down simply, over simply, into two main categories. motivated and unmotivated. Motivated being, you have the drive and will to do something, and unmotivated indicates that you have no will to do anything. Motivation is defined as, the condition of being motivated. Synonyms include, predetermination, encouragement, and desire. "will" as it stands will be defined by a rather large definition, the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions. the act or process of using or asserting one's choice. wish or desire. purpose or determination. These definitions were pulled from Dictionary.com but I believe they have been appropriately attributed and referenced for the purposes of my thoughts. so how does my title of laziness fit into thoughts of motivation? Well, that is very simple. Unmotivated people seem lazy. Desire, encouragement, and purpose of determination and the lack thereof, is what drives unmotivation. Unmotivated people are not necessarily lazy, they are just have no drive, no purpose, or (not always, but some cases) no encouragement. With this notion in place, it can explain why students dont do well in school, why people are on welfare and stay there, why people at work can perform better but dont. Students may have no drive to succeed because they dont know what that brings. Those on welfare get fed and have money, so no purpose is created for their lives. Employees do not excel or perform at their highest because there is no encouragement. The latter of the three is clearly pointed out in popular illumination studies that suggested that, more lighting would increase worker productivity. whether it was darker or lighter had no effect, what was found was that the workers were having constant contact with their bosses and had encouragement and general contact. So what is the key to staying motivated? I'm not sure, I'm going to try and find that out myself find a way to present it an a relatively academic form.

-AdamMosesJones

Swine flu, Influenza ftl

2009-05-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

So..... apparently all of America and the world is scared about this thing. Honestly I'm not worried too much. Being a christian, I'm not afriad to die, I do worry sometimes the manner in which I will die but meh, Death is chill with me. To bring another side of things, heres something that has been researched and looked at by different researchers to study pandemics. I present to you, Corrupted Blood,

-AdamMosesJones

Peaks and valleys

2009-04-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well, lately I've been feeling like I've been hitting a peak in my christianity and life and in that, I realize that a valley or platue is inevitable and may ensue. To delay that or prepare for that, pray with me as I try and find more ways of expressing my faith, growing and reading in my faith, and working to build my relationship closer to Christ in all things. In other news: this is a really interesting article Living on Air: A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac The authors ending words sum up the article fairly well:

That's not to say that every aspect of the Mac is superior to the PC. Vista's Network and Sharing Center, and especially the Network Map, is an excellent, simple, all-in-one destination for networking that Mac OS X would do well to emulate. Overall, though, Mac OS X beats Windows. There, I've said it. And lightning hasn't struck me yet. RELATED BLOGS: Preston Gralla: Five reasons a Windows fan also loves the Mac Sharon Machlis: Mac at work However, there's no doubt that you often pay extra for a Mac; there really is a Mac tax, even if Microsoft has overstated the amount of that tax. But after living with a Mac, I can understand why people would be willing to pay the tax. Am I giving up PCs for the Mac? Certainly not. I've got multiple PCs at home, including those that run Windows XP, Windows Vista and a beta of Windows 7. And I've got one that dual-boots into either XP or Linux running Ubuntu. Replacing all those machines with Macs would be prohibitively expensive, and simply not worth the effort. As for the MacBook Air, for a portable machine, it's perfect in just about every way but one -- its price tag. Still, I've bit the bullet and am buying one, used. This isn't about productivity or getting work done; it's pure machine lust.

-AdamMosesJones

Hello World, default posting because its the first

2009-04-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I figured a blog spot that would cross post from my blog, http://l337-coffee.com might be a good idea to help build some traffic. Check out either my official blog for more information or AdamMosesJones.com to check out my e-portfolio.

-Adam