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Re: comments on job, church, Holy Spirit, food, and Conrad

Important insight, especially when it comes to corporate praying!

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 1:38 AM, Michael Uhler <stranger7x@gmail.com> wrote:

The Spirit lives not only in individual believers, but among groups of believers.  In some way, God chooses to dwell in the local church body through His Spirit in a way that is distinct from His dwelling in us individually.

comments on job, church, Holy Spirit, food, and Conrad

Howdy, y'all!

I haven't written in a long time, so I just thought I'd get some thoughts out to y'all.  My family is currently in Fort Worth, Texas.  Sara stays home with Conrad while I head up a cabinet parts distribution shop.  We cut out and dowel parts for other companies that build commercial or residential cabinets.  We also have capabilities in engraving, 3D artwork, and custom shapes.  We have bid on arcade boxes, store displays, bookshelves, kiosks, internet access boxes, counter tops, church furniture, and more.  If your company or anyone you know has a need of such services, we do have the ability to ship via freight.

At the end of February, we moved from Arlington (where we were only a few blocks from the new Cowboys Stadium) to NW Fort Worth.  Here, I am a lot closer to my job, but it's too far away for us to continue going to our old church in Grand Prairie.  Google Maps helped us find Grace Community Bible Church, and we've been going there ever since.  It's the first time for me to have a senior pastor that is younger than me.  There is tons of new home construction surrounding the church, and it is across the road from a high school, so there are plenty of opportunities for outreach and growth.  I spoke to the music team, who is looking for some more people, and we joined a small group of parents with younger children.  Currently, the pastor is preaching through 1 Peter and talking about living as strangers in the world.

At home, Sara and I have been studying the Holy Spirit through all of Scripture, reference by reference.  Some things that have stood out to me:
The Holy Spirit being given to us is the pinnacle of the promises given in the Old Testament.
An entirely new order was inaugurated at Pentecost.
The Holy Spirit is very clearly personal, and very clearly the essence of God.   To be filled with the Spirit is to be united with God Himself. His power, His character, His love, and His wisdom are all available to us through the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.  Our full inheritance is a total intimacy with God Himself.  To be married to Him.  To be united with Him.  This means that the glory of God we reflect, the status we have as God's family members, and the knowledge of God that we savor is only partial right now through the Holy Spirit.  At the resurrection, when we are glorified, the Holy Spirit will not only live in our body of flesh as it does now (if we are believers), but our whole body will be of the Spirit.  And we will know Him, even as we are fully known.
God is at war with sin and rebellion.  Thus, His Holy Spirit in us is at war with the flesh.  In as much as we submit to the Holy Spirit, God's power is available to us to overcome sin and rebellion internally.
The Spirit lives not only in individual believers, but among groups of believers.  In some way, God chooses to dwell in the local church body through His Spirit in a way that is distinct from His dwelling in us individually.  We (the people collectively, not the physical building) are a temple in which God lives by His Spirit.  As such, He also wars against sin and rebellion in the church.  In as much as a church is united in submitting to the Spirit, God will cleanse it and empower it to be His light in the world, thus glorifying His name through them.
That's a summary in my own words.  I hope I've articulated accurately what God has been showing me in the Scriptures.

On the home front, our eating habits have been changing drastically as we've been learning more about modern "food".  I'm bemused by the fact that much of what we get is labeled "organic" when it used to just be considered normal food.  But now, genetic modification (not hybrids, but changing DNA to create new life forms) is common, the FDA approved use of toxic pesticides has been relaxed, animals receive hormone therapy and antibiotics whilst being fed newspaper, and many foods are given doses of radiation that disrupt the cellular structure of our foods and create unique radiolytic products that have not been tested for safety.  While some debate the dangers of these things, America has become an obese, cancerous, and sickly society.  Check out Morgellons disease, if you dare.  It makes your skin crawl, and some are blaming genetically modified foods.  We've also noticed that corn syrup and soy are an ingredient in or the primary base of almost every pre-packaged food nowadays.  But there's good reason to avoid those as well.  To do so, we buy from local farmers whenever possible, and would like to start our own small plot.  Currently, there are a lot of pots on our porch.

Conrad is now 10 1/2 months old.  Some new pictures are posted here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhler/
He has three teeth, is improving in his balance while standing, and crawls very quickly to the front door, refrigerator, and dishwasher when opened.  He also likes animals, his books, and getting into mommy and daddy's things.

I'd love to hear back from y'all to reconnect and learn what's been going on in your lives, so e-mail me back or give us a good time to call you.

Later,
Michael Uhler




--
We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?
- Ray Bradbury

Beast or Desert

The Desert seems further away every day. I am daily concerned with my family, my work, my finances--and caring for all of these as God would see fit. Originally, my family had planned a week from now to be in the desert for two weeks to prepare us for our great journey to The Desert. I have e-mailed a few of my friends from there, but have not heard back in quite some time, and I believe they may disappointed in me for failing to compile my notes into a published treatise examining their culture and people. Whether or not that is the case... I am disappointed in me. My notes and journals always sit close at hand--untouched. My excuse is always time. I have so much to do for work and commuting, I barely have time to be with my family. So how could I take the focused and extended time it would require to complete such a project? I've already stopped e-mailing friends and prayer supporters, stopped blogging, stopped journaling, reduced time in prayer, and lost the discipline it would take to use what time I have left for such a grand project. Unlike most, my time is not wasted with the TV or sports. We have no TV, and just found out moments ago that the Super Bowl was next week. I don't know who's playing. My time is wasted on the Internet. Again, perhaps not like many. Not with games or gambling or chat rooms or explicit material. Although I check e-mail frequently, I really don't spend much time with it. More often, I waste gobs of time searching through the vast amount of historical, empirical, political, and scientific information available to all those willing to wade through it free of charge--learning about all the terrible things that have happened to humanity, mostly in the past century, and who is behind it all. No, I don't mean the dark spiritual legions behind it all. One Book told me about that. I mean the human actors who through avarice, pride, insolence, and selfish ambition have stolen, lied, defrauded, conspired, hijacked governments, perpetrated wars, and committed countless acts of violence to achieve their ends. I mean the Bankers, of course. The Rothschilds, the Morgans, and the Rockefellers. Originally, I saw only the players in our local stage, that fascist [group] we call the Neo-Conservatives. But the more carefully I looked, I realized that these shared not just geo-political ambitions, but financial ambitions as well. I noted the web of conspirators shared ties not only to political think-tanks, but to major corporations. CIA leaders, again, shared not just ties to secret societies, but also to the financial markets. The popular communist film Fahrenheit 9/11 only barely touches the surface regarding these ties. I have seen dozens of films on such subjects, and most of them, it seems, only touch on one small aspect of the big picture of what's really going on in our world. Some might claim that the film-makers are mere "conspiracy theorists", but this is a very misleading term when used in a derogatory fashion. Most of these film-makers have made an honest assessment of historical facts and determined that the official story they've been told simply does not withstand the facts. So the official story IS a lie, but discovering what alternative really happened may take some speculation. So that is where the "theory" comes in. But theory or not, one thing for SURE is that whatever the teacher/media/government told you is false. So these people want answers, real answers. They want the truth. And they want justice. At least when it comes to modern-day events, those responsible are still alive, but refuse to tell the truth. A few people do talk, but their voices are drowned by the loud and overwhelming power of the controlled and contriving press, who are owned by the same people who perpetrated the awful events in question.
I have consumed so much information, but have no idea what to do about it. What can I do to war against the bloodthirsty Bankers? I cannot personally outlaw the Federal Reserve. I cannot undo history. I cannot convince the average person addicted to their iPod and reality TV show to even think about something that really matters. All I can do is pray--and vote for Ron Paul.
But still there is the desert. It seems all the more appealing, to get away from the propaganda and the corporate giants and live in the Wilderness where you link up to your ADSL under a palm branch thatched roof. Yet I know that there is no corner of the globe that is not on the agenda of the Bankers. Especially when this Desert is filled with natural gas and oil. And when local and Chinese corporations are already competing with BP for control. They will arm the Islamic militants there, just as they have elsewhere. But even still... might it be safer than right here in the belly of the beast? I ask that question for my family. I know that safety is an illusion, but I still like to consider it, even if it doesn' t drive my final choice.
Why has God kept me here in the Belly? Does he want me to fight for truth from the inside out? The sword of God's Word calls men sinners who lie and steal and pervert justice and incite rebellion and oppress the poor. It pronounces God's wrath on those who do wickedly. Would God use me here--to prophesy against the Bankers and call the complacent church to repentance--before sending me to The Desert to proclaim Light and Hope and Salvation to the prisoners living in darkness and fear. Guide me, o Thou Great Yahweh.

Female Goldenrod Spider

I spotted this misumena vatia in the parking lot at work, on a sunflower that survived being mowed down. They are usually hard to find due to their ability to change color at will. "The color change is made possible by secreting a liquid yellow pigment into the outer cell layer of the body. On a white base, this pigment is transported into lower layers, so that inner glands, filled with white guanine, become visible." (Wikipedia)
The first day I took photos, they all turned out blurry, but a few days later I found it again on another flower of the same plant, and adjusted all the settings on my camera till it came out right. For some perspective, the back end of this one is about 5mm across.
I think it's amazing that God makes every creature uniquely fit for its place. These spiders are found almost exclusively on goldenrod, sunflowers, and a few other yellow and white flowers. The flowers die (or get mowed down), but year after year these spiders find them and continue to reproduce. To God be the glory!

Take Action

At a commencement address a year ago, George W Bush declared, "In this new century, the loss of freedom anywhere is a blow to freedom everywhere."

Our nation's freedom is under attack. The liberties we hold dear could be taken away from us if we do not act now. This very day, whole families, including toddlers, are being imprisoned in concentration camps with inadequate healthcare, education, and food. They must wear prison uniforms and rarely see the light of day. These prisoners are being wrongfully detained by one of the most secretive and propaganda-filled regimes in power. And new laws passed by this regime have suspended their right to petition the goverment for a redress of grievances. They are held without legal counsel in violation of international laws. This was confirmed recently, when the government minister over these concentration camps denied access to UN inspectors there to monitor the conditions of the prisoners, most of which were asylum seekers, running from violence and oppression elsewhere. This same nation has been holding other foreign nationals that were sold to them by bounty hunters for over five years in a remote location. One prisoner was convicted of a crime, but hundreds of others have never had charges brought against them or seen the evidence against them. They are being held arbitrarily, according to new laws pushed throught by this regime, at the whim of the leader of the armed forces. Despite a huge underground push from inside this country to expose these atrocities, the mainstream media have all been bought off by the government, bound under an oath of silence regarding criticism of the regime.

So, according to Bush's aforementioned statement, freedom everywhere has received a great blow thanks to the Bush administration. All of the above descriptions speak of none other than the United States of America, the US Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, and the President of the United States. The facility incarcerating toddlers is the Don Hutto Family Residential Facility in Taylor, TX. Actual experiences at the facility are nothing like the explanation by the ICE website. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the 2001 USA Patriot Act, and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 have all traded personal freedoms for a false sense of security, violated human rights, and brought this once great nation ever closer to becoming a police state.

Be on the lookout for more eroding freedoms. Unless it is repealed before its enactment, the REAL ID Act will mandate all of your personal information to be kept in a vast federal database, linking your employment, your education, your assets, your travel, your purchases, and your medical history. Without the federally mandated ID cards, you will not be able to work, travel, or open a bank account. Potentially, the ID card could be used to track your location (with GPS chips), or deny you healthcare and education. Several states have already passed non-compliance declarations in their state legislatures, stating their intent to refuse compliance with the new law. Some of these have openly declared its danger to personal privacy and freedom, while others simply cite its great cost to the states and lack of funding. Many are also concerned about government talks with VeriChip that will likely result in these federal IDs being later implanted under the skin.

DO SOMETHING! Write to your congressmen and other officials to let them know you are concerned about these actions moving the US closer to a dictatorship.

Amnesty International has pre-written letters, with contact information for the appropriate officials, that you can e-mail or print out and send by mail. http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/