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Last year I wrote a blog entry that covered my favourite things from 2008.  So, why not start early on my 2010 resolution to blog more and write my favourite things of 2008.  I’m no Oprah, but I do have things I like!  I enjoy recommending things to people, especially when they like them too.    Some of these are in no particular order, some are.. you’ll just have to guess which it is.  So without anymore preamble, I’ll just get right into the list:

Oh, I also became an uncle this year too, which was pretty sweet.

Top 3 Books:

1) Freakonomics – If you have ever thought “If crack dealers make so much money why do they still live with their mothers?” Then this book is for you.  It will change the way you approach problems and situations, and in a good way.

2) The Shack – Yeah it was hyped to insane levels, but for good reason.  This is a great read for people of faith or not.  It turns some of your preconceived notions of God on their heads.  Some people really didn’t like it, but I did.. so much I’ve given it out to a few people already.

3) 1984 - It’s a classic for a reason.  Finally got around to reading it this last year.  If you haven’t read this book why not? Go, buy it now.

Top 3 Games:

I game too much, but here are some games that if you have time to play do not miss them.

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum (xbox 360) – This game was perhaps the perfect mix of Batman style gameplay, memorable characters (they used the cartoon voice actors which added a huge amount of polish), and game pacing.  There were some minor gripes with the boss fights, and the detective mode, but it was an otherwise enjoyable experience.

2) Shadow Complex (xbox 360 Arcade) – It was an arcade title this year done in the MetroidVania style.  It was an awesome game that kind of came out of nowhere for me.  If you haven’t played it, spend the Microsoft Points and pick it up.  I promise you won’t regret it.

3) Modern Warfare 2 (xbox 360) – It’s sold like a billion copies, and deservedly so.  The single player story can be extremely confusing, but the set pieces were amazing, but I bought this for the Multiplayer and I’ve played a lot of it.. probably too much.

Top 3 Albums:

1) Armistice by MuteMath - I LOVED their first album, and this one destroyed it.  It was my most anticipated album of 2009 and it did not disappoint me one bit.  Please go buy this one, it is simply amazing.  From some Jazz inspired hits, to some hard hitting rock songs it’s a varied piece that was well put together.

2) Church Music by David Crowder Band – A Collision was an absolute masterpiece, Remedy wasn’t that great or memorable, so how does Church Music stack up? Well they went back to their A Collision routes and wrote an album that has to be listened from first to last song as each flows right into the next.  I really loved this album and still play it months later.  It’s not as good as A Collision, but is definitely a close 2nd.

3) Travel Vol 1 & 2 by Future of Forestry – I had never heard of these guys before this year, but their unique sound grew on me.  The two EPs are basically half albums that make up a full set.  I wish more bands did this, release a few songs every few months rather then keeping a ton for one release every 2 years.

Top 3 Movies

1) District 9 – I love Science Fiction and I love Peter Jackson what happens when you put both together? You get an awesome directorial debut by Noel Kampann about an Alien race that landed in South Africa and is stuck and treated like garbage by us.  It was a fun ride, and I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.

2) Zombieland – This movie kind of came out of no where.  It was a fun ride, the highest grossing Zombie movie of all time and had a sweet Bill Murray cameo.  If you haven’t seen this yet, go watch it now.

3) Avatar – This was closer to a Disney Ride than your typical movie.  If you haven’t watched this yet, go, now!  Do not wait to see this on a TV, it will never do the experience justice and you will walk away thinking that you just watched Pocahontas in space.  The 3D was crazy awesome.

Runner Up: Star Trek – It was awesome and JJ Abrahms touch is golden.

Top 3 Trips (I love to travel and do as much as possibly can!)

1) Alaska - I got to see Alaska with my Grandfather and Dad.  It was an amazing experience I will never forget.  The view and good times are something that you can only experience once in your life.

2) Bahamas - I went to the Bahamas with Jenn and her Family in May.. that was sweet.  I love beaches and hot weather, which I got a lot of.  I liked it much better then when I was in Jamaica a few years back.

3) San Francisco – I was there for work, which kinda sucked but regardless I have few nights to myself and I was able to go check out some sights and sounds of a pretty cool city.  I also had the opportunity to have dinner with the creator of Rolando.  That was a pretty sweet experience.

Top 3 Purchases

1) PS3 - Yeah, I was a hater at first.  The machine has potential, but right now the game library is just too small, hopefully that changes this year.

2) Tom’s Shoes – I bought myself a pair of Tom’s Shoes, I’ve blogged about them earlier as they give away a pair for every one they sell.  This is a sweet concept that I hope more companies jump on board with.

3) 23″ LG Monitor – Got this on a boxing day sale.  It’s nice going to 1080p, and it was an amazing deal.

Top 3 Restaurants

1) Churchill Arms – I love their curry, and rarely buy anything else when I’m there.

2) Gahan – Amazing pub food and very reasonable prices.

3) Casa Mia - I don’t eat here often, but their coffee is awesome, and they are next door to my office which is ++!

Top 3 websites

1) Twitter.com – It’s a weird site, that some people don’t get.  But it benefited me in 2009 in a few ways.  So it gets on my list. Follow me at @rfilsinger.  Even though it’s a great site for some things, it’s good for a laugh too… check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ff2X_3P_4 for a good satirical look at Twitter.

2) http://www.google.ca/ig?hl=en – Makes the list again this year.  No better homepage out there.  All my news in one easy to view spot.

3) http://stuffchristianslike.net - He is a very funny blogger who organized people to raise $60,000 to build a Kindergarden in Vietnam.  If you love Christian Satire presented in a unique way, this is definitely a great site to read.

Runner Up: Wikipedia .. because it has taught me so much, so quickly.

Top 3 Shows

1) V - It’s only 4 episodes in, but it has me hooked.  I’m just a SciFi junkie though, so I’m easily hooked by half way decent science fiction.

2) Fringe – JJ Abrahms at it again.. this guy works magic.  It has one of the best TV characters of all time in Walter.  A decent cross of  X-files and lost.

3) Dexter - In season 4, they blew us away with an ending no one will ever forget.  Glad to see the writers go somewhere tough in this weirdly styled show.

Well that’s it for this year.  Hopefully 2010 will have just as many good movies, books, games, and trips.

Generally I hate resolution.  Last year was the first time I think made any resolutions.  Here is the list:

1. Read a book I expect to disagree with completely.

I read quite a few books this year, none that I would say I disagree with.  I have to admit that I did not go out of my way to look for a book that would stretch me as much as I had intended with this resolution.

2. Go somewhere I have never been.

I got to go to Alaska AND the Bahamas last year.  These were both absolutely amazing experiences, and made me want to travel the world more and more.  I already have a couple trips planned this year to places I’ve never been, and it’s something that I want to continue doing every year.

3. Meet someone I did not know existed before today.

I met some new people this year, nobody really stood out in this situation.

4. Eat a restaurant I have never been and order something I have never had.

Yup, I eat out too much.  I was able to go to a ton of new restaurants this year.  The one that stood out the best was Chocolate Elements on vic row.  They had amazing food, some good live music and was a memorable experience.

5. Strike up a serious conversation with a stranger.

I did not do this to my recollection.

6. Discover 3 bands/artists in 3 different genres of music that I don’t normally listen to that I like.

I definitely completeled this, with much help from my buddy Jamie. I discovered some new bands, but not neccessarily in different genres.  I continue to try and increase my musical tastes.  The 3 bands I discovered this year are : 1) Future of Forestry 2) Great Lake Swimmers 3) Rise Against.  There are more bands I discovered this year, but these three stand out as I’ve come back to them again and again.

7. Rent a movie that I have never heard of and know nothing about.

I’m pretty sure I did this, but nothing completely stands out to me as I’m writing this.

8. Attend a concert where I do not know the style of music.

I went to see some local bands I’d never heard before, so I think that counts.

9. Attend a play that I know nothing about.

I don’t remember attending any plays at all this year, not as cultured as I’d hope.

10. Make a serious attempt to get published.

Uhm, I write now for 148apps.com, but have been a bit MIA for a while.  So i’ll give myself a half point for this one.

I think I did pretty good at keeping with these resolutions.  This year had it’s up and downs as most years do.  This year’s resolutions will be similar, as I try to stretch myself and become a more rounded person.

1) Blog/Write more. – At the end of this year I pretty much wrote next to nothing as the fall was draining on me and I got distracted.  I really hope to get back into blogging and writing more.

2) Listen to more new music. I love discovering new bands and music.  Jamie helps me a lot in this regard, but I’m going to work at it myself too.

3) Lose 10 more lbs! I know most people do this, but I’ve already lost 10 lbs since August 24th, I hope to get down another 10 and keep it there for this time next year.

4) Read More! I read quite a bit this year, but I’d like to finish at least 10 books this year.  5 Novels, 5 Non-Fiction.

5) Travel to somewhere I don’t have planned right now.  I travel a lot, and I’m blessed with the ability to pull it off.  I hope this continues into this year.

I’ve been in need of a new pair of shoes for a while now.  The pair I currently wear on a day to day basis hurts one of my feet just enough to be annoying, but not enough for me to switch shoes.  Most of the time I like to keep a pair about two years before switching out and have generally stuck to a couple brands I’ve really liked.  Also, I usually don’t like to spend a lot on shoes even though I wear them everyday.  I have a pair of sneakers for the gym, kicks for everyday and the dress shoes for appropriate times.  I like to keep it simple.

So at some point in the last year or two, I stumbled across a company called Tom’s Shoes .  What he does is run a company that when you purchase a pair of shoes from him, he donates a pair to a person in need somewhere in the world.  I highly recommend you go to the site and read through their blog.   There is something so beautiful, simplistic and amazing with this concept.  Tom is taking the idea of filling a need for those of us that need shoes and have money to buy the product, and yet it also provides a shoe for someone who cannot afford it.  While doing this he is making money, providing jobs for people and all the while being ecofriendly.

I believe in the basics of capitalism, but when you mix in human greed it can become so destructive.  The earths  resources get drained, the distance between the wealthy and the poor widens, we consume more then we produce getting ourselves in immense amounts of debt.  But, it also produces some of the best innovations, allows for anyone with an idea and hard work to succeed.  I think Tom’s approach to Buy One Give One, is an amazing concept that should be duplicated in many areas of business.  What if the grocery store gave away equal amounts of food that it sold to the hungry, or clothing stores gave away equal amounts of their sales to naked, or optometrists gave away “the extra pair free” to the blind.  Our spending, consumption and want habits are catching up to us, and in some cases already have with the way the economy has gone over the last year.  Will Tom solve the world’s shoe problem? Probably not, but he is helping a lot of people out, turning a profit, and not charging any outrages prices for his goods.

I think we as people need to start thinking about our spending habits, our levels of consumption and look for ways that we can use the business we are in to help out someone.

Oh and if you purchase a pair of shoes from Tom, use this coupon code: ShareTOMS .  It will get you $5 of your purchase, cutting the shipping in half.  I can’t wait for my pair to arrive!

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  Mostly, my comments and thoughts have moved to twitter (on a side note I have been writing an article on twitter in my head, that will come eventually).  In an effort to re-start my blogging days a little, I decided to write a response to a recent article I read about an analyst by the name of Michael Pachter that has stated that he believes the appstore is a terrible place for Game Publishers to go.  His reasoning behind this is that it’s teaching people that games should be extremely cheap and/or free.  Take a game like tetris for example, on the Nintendo DS the game will cost you $20, but is available for $4.99 on the iTunes appstore.  While there is something to be said about how the appstore pricing is flawed in a lot of different ways, barking about how this will kill publishers is not the answer.

After reading the article, my thoughts first went to what happened to the music industry at the turn of the century.  People found a way to obtain free music in a manner that the industry had not yet developed.  They refused to adapt at the pace needed to keep up and lost billions of dollars in revenue.  I’m not going to go into the details as it’s available for a more detailed explanation elsewhere on the net, but suffice to say, the Apple appstore is creating a similar situation.  People can now obtain games on their handheld devices at speeds and prices never seen before.  This is creating a very volatile market where people complain about price increases of $2.99 from $0.99.

I don’t think the answer is to cry fowl, and run around screaming the sky is falling to publishers.  My opinion is that publishers need to learn to adapt, and fast to this new market.  There is money to be made, but previous practices that have worked before are going to have to be thrown out the window and new ideas tried.  Some ideas will be terrible, some will fail, but in that innovation comes and so does the answer to current situation.  The appstore leveled the playing field between developers, publishers.  It created an easy to use fixed distribution model, and has allowed unparalleled access to innovation and usefull applications in one location.  With the store now being at roughly 90,000 applications and over 2 billion downloads so far, the space is crowded.  The game has changed again, and now publishers need to change with it.

Note:

Michael Pachter the analyst listed who made the claims listed in my article has also stated some crazy things before, and seemed to be way off the mark when it came to digital media, distribution and the power of the online world for gaming.  They are summed up here.

Just over a year ago, this sub section of the industry did not exist.  Now it’s reaching sales of approximately $2.5 billion annually and at the moment no signs of slowing down.  It is no wonder everyone is trying to either get into the app store or create their own.

http://gigaom.com/2009/08/27/how-big-is-apple-iphone-app-economy-the-answer-might-surprise-you/

If I were to tell you that Apple’s app economy was worth more than $2.5 $2.4 billion a year, you would laugh hysterically, shake your head and walk out of the room, yes? Surf on over to some other web site? But here I am telling you exactly that! According to mobile advertising startup AdMob, there are some $200 million worth of applications sold in Apple’s iPhone store every month, or about $2.4 billion a year

This is pretty crazy when you think about it.  There are many issues that still need to be addressed, such as their app submission process, and their arbitrary reasons for not approving apps, that have identical content available through TV shows and music that can already be purchased through iTunes. Regardless of all that, this sub section of the software industry has been keeping me employed through this recession and I’m sure happy about it.  Some of the innovation coming out of this market is insane.  (See some of the augmented reality stuff people are doing)

About a year ago I ran across the title of a book called The Sparrow while searching for something new to read.  It then took me about 5 book stores to track down a copy and a few places had never even heard of it.  The wiki article states that Brad Pitt picked up the movie rights on this book, and on a side note I would love to see the film adaptation of this book.  First of all, the reason I picked up this book is because it touches on a lot of the themes that interest me.  The main theme though that drew me to purchasing this book, was the question of “What would it look like if a religious community was the first to make contact with another intelligent race?”.  Russell tackles this question through the eyes of the main character Emilio Sandoz who is a Jesuit Priest who specializes in linguistics.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion which reveals the fate of the entire voyage first, and then unravels the pieces.  Whatever your opinions on this form of story telling is, it works here.  By going between 2060 on Earth after the events, and the past on the planet Rakhat, created a situation where I wanted to get back to each location while in other.  This pushed me to read through large chunks to unravel what happened.  Overall, I really enjoyed the book, as the themes of choice vs fate, love, forgiveness, Religion, and Science Fiction were all intertwined very well.  This book probably isn’t for everyone, but if you are like me and think about questions like “Did God create other intelligent species?”, “What would first contact look like?”, “How would we treat a species who have completely different morals than us?” then this book is for you.

My main complaint is that the end of the book was sped up way too much.  She spent 350 pages setting up this grand finale of an unveil to only really spend about 20 pages explaining the last of Emilio’s secrets.  I know the enjoyment is in the journey and not the destination, but the ending seemed very rushed.  The character of Anne, was also a bit too perfect.  Russel seem to go out of her way to make Anne be this Saint Mother type who rarely made mistakes, and didn’t seem to struggle.  The rest of the characters had problems from their life that formed who they were, and gave them depth.  Although, these two things did not ruin the book, and I quite enjoyed it.

I give this book 8 vegetable gardens out of 10.

CBC just posted an article on their website about how this year’s annual Festival of Lights has only sold 5000 tickets this year.  For the last decade they have pretty much sold out without an issue.  This year they are completely dumbfounded on why the tickets haven’t sold.  They are blaming it on that there is a plethora of concerts in the maritimes this year, yeah that has something to do with it.  But it has more to do with the fact  that the lineup is absolutely garbage.  I mean it is perhaps the worse its ever been.  There are 8 bands, not one of them which I would even go to see if I could go hear for free (oddly enough the local band 2 Hours Traffic does a free concert every year here in Charlottetown), and add on top of that they raised ticket prices.

“This has been the worst year ever for the Festival of Lights,” said Antoinette Goeseels, sales manager of the Howard Johnson Hotel in Cornwall. “We’ve always been sold out, or pretty near being sold out. It’s never an issue, but this year, for some reason, it is.

Between the 30 people who complain about the loud noise downtown every year, the terrible choice in bands, and the planning committee seemingly unaware that the surrounding provinces landed the likes of AC/DC, Bon Jovi, KISS and Chickenfoot all within a month of FOL, they really dropped the ball this year.

To give you an example, I’m going to Rockfest in Halifax in 3 weeks to see Chickenfoot, Our Lady Peace, Sloan, and Finger 11… 2 of those bands played here last year.. hrm… wake up Charlottetown.  You lost this year badly, and stop whining and do something about it next year.

My tip next year if anyone is listening is this:

Make Canada day the family oriented day of concerts, and turn the FOL for young adults who will spend the money to come over.  Bring in bands the 18-30 year olds want to see, we are the ones with disposable incomes, little commitments and the time to attend.  Going after the tween crowd (See Marinias Trench, Theory of  Deadman) who have to rely on mom/dad to attend will not fill hotels.  Also get your lineup out there before Moncton can announced AC/DC and Bon Jovi in the SAME summer. cripes.

What is your Spiritual Footprint?

Introduction

The Lord has really been talking to me lately about a lot of things. This blog is a collection of inner workings, fights, discussions, conversations and investigations that have been going on my life recently. So through that struggle, I have felt compelled today to share some of what God has been working on me with. If I say anything today that resonates with you, then that is all I can hope for. So in essence this sermon is for me and my life as much as it is for you. It is something that I need to hear as much as anyone else.

Carbon Footprint

A buzz word that has recently come into our vernacular is “carbon footprint”. A definition of which I grabbed from Wikipedia is “the total set of GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product”. We are asked by the media to be mindful of our “carbon footprint”, that effect on the environment that we leave with our lifestyle. I’m not here this morning to debate Global Warming, or the green movement, but I do know we need to take care of this earth God made, but I am here this morning to talk about our “Spiritual Footprint”, which I would like to define as “A person’s reaction to the impressing of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in their life in regards to giving back to the Kingdom.”

I believe that once we accept the great gift that Jesus has offered us, we then have a responsibility to act and give back. So what good are you leaving behind at the end of each day? What has the Lord asked you to do for another person? Have you ignored the Holy Spirit’s prodding? Have your ears been deaf? Your eyes blind? Is your heart cold to the hurting of the world?

Rich Young Ruler

Do you ever “hate” a scripture? Well, this following scripture is one I’ve hated for a long time. Only for the fact that the Holy Spirit uses it to convict me each time I read it. Many times I can find myself becoming a HighLighter Christian. Reading the scriptures that I like, ignore the ones I don’t, and this just happens to be one those hard scriptures that fall into both of those categories.

Mark 10:17-31

¹⁷As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.²⁰“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”²²At this, the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. ²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is^[b] to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” ²⁸Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!” ²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

How would you define rich?

Websters dictionary defines rich as “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth”

What percentage of the world’s population would have to be below you for you to consider yourself “rich”? If you were in the world’s top 51%, would that make you rich? I think on a technicality you have more possessions than more than half the world, so yeah maybe. Well what about the top 25%? 10%? 5%? I wonder these things myself. So where exactly do you as a person rank amongst the world’s wealthiest. Luckily there is a website that does the math for us! www.globalrichlist.com. I decided to do a little digging and I looked up the AVERAGE family income in Charlottetown, PEI and that amount comes in at whopping $61,569. According to this calculator if you are an average family in Charlottetown you now fall into the TOP 0.95% of the world’s wealthiest. Now let’s go back and read verse 23 “How hard is it for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” What does that mean for us North America?

When I was a kid my complete concept of being poor meant shopping at KMART and that my family could not afford to buy me Reebok Pumps. But never once did I ever wonder where my next meal was coming from, or what would happen when the cookie jar was empty, or even if I was going to be able to play hockey next season. I was born into a life of privilege, of intense wealth, and of never actually needing something (even though I thought much differently as a kid). Sadly, it took me a long time to realize this. The Lord has been continually convicting me of my wealth, of how everything I have in my life is because of Him, and how much I need to detach myself from my “stuff”.

After years of struggling and fighting, I feel like finally the LORD has gotten me to a point where if he asked me to sell all I had and move to Africa, I would. This is where the last part of that scripture really hits home for me, and makes all the sacrifice worth it. He hasn’t asked me yet, but I know he is preparing my life for a watershed moment like this.

²⁹“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

I finished reading a book recently called The Irresistible Revolution: Living the life as an ordinary radical by Shane Claiborne (which I cannot recommend strongly enough). And in that book, he has some great quotes, but one that resonated with me was this “But as I pursued that dream of upward mobility preparing for college, things just didn’t fit together. As I read Scriptures about how the last will be first, I started wondering why I was working so hard to be first.” Bill spoke last week, on this very topic, why is the church trying so hard to be first, when maybe all we need to is learn how to be last a little more. Something that I’ve heard said a lot recently is that “The church is the sole institution that exists for the benefit of its non members”, so why does the church spend so much time trying to please the people inside it?

So how can we as rich Christians serve? We need to recognize the need around us, and act on it. Luckily for us a wise person by the name of Jesus had something interesting to say directly on this topic.

Recognize the Need around You

In scripture there are more than 2000 references to helping the poor, and the destitute.

Jesus only talks about judgment day once in the gospels.

And this scripture has both!

Matthew 25:31-46

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  ³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  ⁴⁴“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  ⁴⁵“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  ⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Jesus is all around us. All we need to do is open our eyes and help those in need. Jesus isn’t asking nicely. Jesus isn’t saying to his disciples here “Well if you kind of feel like it today, then maybe you could, you know maybe um, drop a can of corn into that bin at the end of the line at Sobeys next time you get groceries”. No, he is commanding his disciples (us) to help those in need, and weight of the world is upon our shoulders. At the end of the age, there will not be a theology test. Nowhere in this passage do I see Jesus saying “and the sheep and goats will be sorted to the left and to the right, which will be determined by a 1000 word essay on Entire Sanctification.”

It will be on how we treated, or mistreated the marginalized, the poor, the widow, the hurting soul and the man in jail. As you have done to the least of these, so have you done to me. That what you have NOT done to these, so you have not done to me.

Now don’t get me wrong and think that I am saying one can get to heaven by works, no, it doesn’t work that way. But what I AM saying is that we will be held completely accountable on how we used our time, immense resources and calling on our lives to serve God. If you, can honestly say right now, if Jesus was to walk into this room and separate us, where would you fall? Are you one of the sheep that has given up everything to follow him? Or are you still saying “Jessus, I did not see you”. Ignorance will not be an option, I’m sorry. You should not live your life afraid of losing it, you should be afraid of not living the life God has in store for you. What exactly are you still holding onto? Where is your heart?

Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“What you believe is not what you say you believe, what you believe is what you do”

Donald Miller – Blue Like Jazz

Jesus’ call on your life is always on the table.

In 1999 I moved out to Calgary to go to school. To this day I still believe that God called me out there for a purpose. It was in leaving my family, and seeking God that landed me into some of the darkest times of my life. Even if those years were not easy, they were necessary and formative to the man I am today. Somewhere along the line in seeking God though, I forgot to keep looking, and I was subsequently side tracked for many years. I had lost my sense of purpose and the call of God on my life. In a lot of ways, I relate strongly to the rich young ruler. I went out to Calgary, much like how he went to Jesus. Saying “Ok Jesus, here I am, I followed all your rules, I was a good boy! What else must I do?”. Jesus, then put the question to me, will you give up your life? Give up your desire to become first? Give up your desire for wealth? Give up everything? How much do you trust me… and I didn’t trust him, and I did my own thing. This led me falling away from God, and losing my sense of purpose. The parable of Prodigal Son, meshes well in this context as well. As we see in the scripture of the rich young ruler, Jesus does not chase after him when he walks away. The father in the Prodigal Son, does not chase his son down the road when he leaves with the money. But, he is always waiting, his arms are always open for a loving embrace and welcome home feast.

God’s arms were open waiting for me to come back, and even though it took a small life crisis for me to recognize this, he was there, waiting for when I did. If you are in a similar situation, I guarantee, he will be there when you finally choose to listen, and you won’t regret it.

Conclusion

So now what? What is God saying to you right now? What is it that you need to do? Today my prayer is that when you lay your head down on your pillow tonight, tomorrow night, and every remaining night for the rest of the life, you answer to “What is your Spiritual Footprint?” will be a positive one. God saved you, so you could give back to the Kingdom.

John 13: 35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Has God called you to a purpose and you’ve ignored him?

What is God asking you to give up today?

Have you become apathetic to the needs of those around you?

What is your Spiritual Footprint at the end each day?

Almost one year to the date I blogged about the iPhone finally coming to Canada.  Now today, Apple announced that the 3rd version of the iPhone will be coming very soon (June 17th to be exact) and has some great new features.  The iPhone 3GS and features some of the following upgrades (along with 3.0):

• Tethering Support
• 3mb Camera
• Tap to focus
• Video
• MMS
• Voice Activation
• Hardware Compass
• Battery Upgrade
• CPU/RAM upgrade

Most of this is old technology, and the iPhone should have had when it launched, but plugged some of the final holes/criticisms of the device.  Now we just need a front facing camera, and flash support built into safari.

The only thing stopping me really from getting the iPhone is Rogers.  It has been said before, but Rogers is the worst iPhone provider in the world.  This is a comparison of the fact that they require a 3 year contract, and they don’t offer unlimited data.  I really hope someday soon the spectrum auction that happened late last year here in Canada will open up the GSM spectrum so more than just Rogers will be able to sell the iPhone.

On another note, ngmoco got to show off their game Star Defense, which is available today, and my company Sculpin QA worked on it with them.  When I first heard about the iPhone 2 years ago, never did I dream the device would pay my bills, and I wouldn’t even own one.  haha.

The one thing that really impressed me today was the application for doctors.  I said to myself “wow we are in the future”.  This app lets a doctor monitor his patients without actually being in the hospital, now it just needs to read alien life forms and be used by Captain Kirk.

The new device comes in at $199 and will have 16gb of storage.  No mention of any new iPod touches, but perhaps that will come out later this summer.  Are there better devices out there?  Yeah in some areas, but it’s the App Store that really makes this device limitless in terms of expandability.  Should be another interesting year.