Owner: One of a Hundred URL:http://oneof100.spaces.live.com/ Join Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:00:12 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Reguarlly features the faith based on line comic "One of 100", as well as reflections on art and faith. Site statistics:Click here
Satan and the Bigger Better Deal 2007-10-16 00:31:32 Since we've got our main site (which is updated every weekday by Julie and myself), I might as well link this space with it, so when I have an article there, I'll post the first few paragraphs here as well. Then if you like the beginning, you can follow the link at the bottom to the rest of it.
Julie's post yesterday about doubt, combined with my own the other day on possessions got me thinking about the little weasel who wants to be behind the scenes of every selfish little act. Sometimes it's just us being the self-serving jerks we all know how to be, but sometimes there's a much more malevolent force at work.
Before I gave myself over to Christ, whenever a Christian would talk about Satan
and spiritual warfare, I would sort of nod and back away slowly without making any sudden moves before these crazies started foaming at the mouth. I could handle them talking about God and Jesus and stuff, but the whole deal with demons and angels fighting for our souls was just too far-fe
Jealousy (Little Green Man) 2007-10-25 00:45:38 As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. - 1 Samuel 18:7-9
It's hard for me to hear the word "jealousy" and not think of the 45 my older sister, Michelle, had of the song "Jealousy
(Little Green
Man)" by Al Thomas. I must have heart that scratched-up song at least a hundred times, but I can't for the life of me remember how the song goes except for a few lines from the chorus. To my defense, I was only like 9 or 10 when I heard it that much. (Michelle would get into a song or record and play it over and over and over.) Like many songs we "remember", we can only remember only really very little of it.
When I actually did know the song, I rememb Read more:Little Green
How Great is Our God 2007-10-29 01:44:13 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great
is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. - Psalm 145:1-3
This morning (I'm writing this Sunday night) in church, one of the songs we sang was Chris Tomlin's How Great is Our God. I had heard and sung the song many times, and I often get chills from the lyrics. Not the creepy chills, but a really, really good kind. It's hard to explain unless you've felt them. Thinking about and singing about a being of power who is just so entirely awesome and who has a nature that I can't (in my limited human brain) fully comprehend.
If you want to read the rest of it, follow this link. (It won't actually publish until after 1 am Central Time.)
Five Years 2007-11-04 23:12:11 New one-shot comic! Five Years
is a comparison of Peter and Judas, two men with problems who dealt with them in completely different ways. What a difference five years can make in anyone's life. To read it, please click on the image. (note: it won't actually publish until after 1am central time.)
This comic also appears on Webcomics Nation. While you're there, read some other comics by very talented people. Read more:Five Years
For the Love of Pizza-Burger 2007-11-09 00:00:01 Unlike probably a lot of you out there, I don't have many memories of school cafeterias serving something called "pizza burger". Throughout secondary school, I brought my lunch and usually ate across the street at the park or somewhere equally quiet.
The only thing that I had ever known with this name was something my mom bought frozen in a box from a food distributor. From my memory, it was more like a piece of ground meat with cheese on it and breaded. You would cook them and put them on hamburger buns. They were okay, but they reminded me more of a chicken fried steak than pizza or burgers.
It wasn't until I was in my late 20's and married that I found what a Pizza
-Burger
truly was.
If you want to read the rest of it, follow this link. (It won't actually publish until after 1 am Central Time.)
Being Accepted and the Low Self-Esteem Punk 2007-11-15 01:19:29 Life is (usually) a pretty long and bumpy road to walk, and very few things can make the trip less painful than fellow travelers. Perhaps a companion by your side or a hearty handshake from the person who's coming down the hill you're about to climb. There are some who choose to move by night without anyone around, but most make the journey in the light of day with a hearty, "Hail, good fellow!"
Whether we are accepted into the company of others (or we accept theirs) is another matter altogether.
One of my unwanted traits (of many) is poor self-esteem. Usually it's a feeling that the only reasons I'm in any group are out of pity and being nice, but I just don't belong. My inner voice (the punk) tells me things like:
If you want to read the rest of it, follow this link. Read more:Accepted
Time to Thank...uh...Someone 2007-11-20 01:56:58 Thanksgiving is coming in a few days and we'll spend it the way many people in the United States do. We'll go to a family member's house and eat lots of food that includes at least turkey on the menu. After the gluttony, each person will say (a minimum of once), "I ate way too much." Children will run rampant. There will be a group of people huddled around the television to be hypnotized by whatever football game thing happens to be on. (I don't watch football, so I don't follow what big game it is that people just have to watch.) Room will be made in stomachs for various pies. Leftovers will be contained. People will go home.
With the exception of those four years in the Navy (and a few of the lean "college" years), my entire life has had this same routine on the same holiday that occurs on a Thursday in late November. And each year everyone hears the same thing: It's a time to be thankful.
If you want to read the rest of it, follow this link. Read more:Thank
Comic - page 70 2007-11-28 23:09:21
Due to my schedule, the comic will now be published on Thursdays. Sorry for not giving warning. - Marc
Read more:Comic
Sometimes it’s Really Tough 2007-11-27 00:11:36 When I accepted Christ, I wasn't under the false impression that my life would immediately get better. I didn't get that sudden blast of feel good energy. I wasn't witness to a vision of Jesus sitting next to me at McDonald's while scarfing down a McMeat flavored sandwich. I used deductive reasoning to establish that Jesus existed in history and if he did indeed die on that tree for the salvation of my unworthy soul, I owed him big time. I also realized that I needed him in my life because I wasn't doing too well trying to bear the weight of the world and my own baggage.
I'm told it's a good thing that I didn't get the glow or the visions or the miracles. If I did, then I would want them all the time and my faith would be weaker because of a need to be shown something bigger next time. "Give me a blinding flash of light that tans the left side of my face followed by a big pile of cash, or I'm taking my ball and going home."
If you want to read the rest of it, follo Read more:Sometimes
, Tough
Bad Prose Corner Episode 2: Talents and Moping 2007-12-12 00:18:01
Welcome to the second installment of Bad Prose Corner. It's been a while since the first one, but in honor of the nice little ice storm we got and the ones that caused three states to call a state of emergency, I have picked out this little bucket of vomit which contains bits of half-digested clichés in a fine broth of random whining and bison dung (my school's mascot was the buffalo) with just a hint of idiocy. Can you smell it? Does it smell like teen angst?
Well it should. Like the first installment, this was written sometime in my high school years, over twenty years ago. So, kids, grab your barf bags and Dramamine, ‘cause your in for another long-winded (and I mean lo-oooong) ride on the artsy-tragic ride of confusion! Here goes:
If you want to read the rest of it, follow this link. Read more:Episode
, Talents
No Ifs, Ands, or Buts 2007-12-10 00:59:09
At church yesterday (Sunday), I sat listening to our worship leader singing. I usually sing along, but I've had a bad cold and my voice starts to give out. But in just listening, I found myself drifting into prayer and thinking about the usual stuff in life: family, goals, talents, etc.
I asked God to care for my family and also to lead me where He wants me to go (as is usual when I pray). But I get stuck in the idea that these might be construed as related or that one is conditional. I don't want God to think that I will do what He wants me to do IF he does what I ask, so I spent time trying to explain to Him my intent. As if He needed me to explain what was on my heart. He knows me better than I do.
But this whole train of thought led me to thinking about how we sometimes set conditions on our relationship with the Almighty. I probably have, but I don't think I do consciously. I get flustered with Him and ask why bad things happen when I think I've done what He asked of me.
S
Preparing a Photo for Press in Black and White Using Photoshop 2008-03-06 00:56:37 Intro Notes
I love using Photo
shop. It offers so many tools and doohickeys that no other imaging software currently can. But, not many people can afford the $650 for it. A more economical alternative is Photoshop
Elements ($99). Then, there are the open source Gimp, Paint.net, and a variety of others. But none of them offer all of the items needed to effectively manipulate a photo for press quite like Photoshop. I guess you could use Corel PHOTO-PAINT, but you'd have to buy CorelDRAW ($429) to get it.
The free applications (at least the major ones) currently don't offer an information window that gives you a numerical readout of color samples that you need for this. Also, all of them are too automated for tuning. (Auto-contrast, auto-color, etc.)
But, unfortunately for the pocketbooks Read more:Press
, Black
, White
Go Ahead and Splurge on the Roses, Jerk 2008-02-11 00:01:26 Valentine's Day is coming in a few days. Ah, Valentine's Day. When people make a conscious effort to express their love for each other (because any other day of the year isn't special or commercial). It's also a day that schoolchildren all over are forced to make stupid Valentine "mailboxes". And then they sort through their packages of licensed character Valentine cards, making sure that nobody "gets the wrong idea". It's also a day for you to be an insensitive, planet killing, exploiting, and hedonistic jerk.
Yes, you.
A little side note: I love the color green. It is probably my favorite color, of all shades and variations, but I have come to dread the word "green" when it is soiled by the connotation of being an agenda. I try to be environmentally consci Read more:Roses
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