Celtic Odyssey

Since I am rather 'new' to the Episcopal tradition, there is a lot I still have to learn. But one thing that my good friend told me (he also happens to be the rector of our parish!) is that when we come together, we are not just there with those around us. These people are not our only family. There are those across town. There are those in the next city. There are those in the next county. There are those in the next state. There are those in the next country. There are those in the next continent. And then, there are those who have gone on before us. There are those who will come after us. The point is, we are so much more than just the persons next to us when we are at church. Our family is world wide and centuries old. I also learned that some parts of our Sunday morning service goes back to the second century. Talk about feeling 'connected'! This got me thinking. There are a lot of times, even when I'm sitting in a 'church service', that I...

Last time I posted, I talked about PCLOS. Well, this week I did some work for a lady who needed a laptop looked at. I know the people she works for (good people) and they needed me to look at some enterprise stuff as well. So Thursday I stopped by to take a look. The desktop was alright except for some spyware (17 -- including websearch). The antivirus app she uses (it came with the CPU) wasn't updating. So I uninstalled it and loaded the free AVG . A great little app that I have used for a few years now. At the same time, I started looking at the laptop. I can sum up its condition in one word -- dirty. The problem was not so much that (although it was a factor) but the fact that it was running hot. Very hot. And when it got too hot, thankfully, it would shut down. I had to take it with me. It was going to be a Father's Day gift for her husband if I could get it up and running. In the meantime, I showed her PCLOS. She really liked it. Since her husband is '...

This is a Linux distribution; i.e., an operating system for your computer. Scratch that -- a free operating system for your computer. I have mentioned this Linux distro a couple of times now. I even have a link to the website under the 'Links' heading on the main page. I like this distro. I mean, I really like it. Let me explain how I got into messing around with Linux and why I settled on PCLOS in particular. My passion for Linux actually started with my Apple iBook (which Apple replaced with the MacBook ). You see, Apple's operating system (OS) is Mac OS X (that's 'ten', btw) and it is based on Unix. That is, the core of the OS, it's foundation, is Unix. Linux is a free OS based on Unix as well. Since I liked my Mac so much, I thought I would try and see if Linux would be just a good on my Dell (the office computer I was using). I had seen Linux about six years earlier when I was in tech school and it was awful. Not user friendly in the leas...

What if the reason for demonic activity is because no one has been there as a witness of the true king? What if no one has been there as a representative of the kingdom of YHWH? Or, perhaps, if they have been there, they must continue to bring these 'principalities and powers' to reconciliation? What if this must be done constantly and continuously? I ask because of the story of St Bartholomew. It is said that he stayed in India at a Temple housed by the demon, Astaruth. Before Bartholomew was there, the demon would 'cure' people of infirmity (but only, it seems, temporarily). However, after Bartholomew showed up and stationed himself in that same Temple, the demon was no where to be seen. You can read more about this here and here . This has gotten me thinking. What if that is the case? That is, what if the problem is that these 'principalities and powers' have been rebellious so long that we must continually bring them under 'control', as it ...

Well, today is the day that we see just how uneducated the world is. And not just the world. No. We get to see how uneducated the Church is too. For today is June 6th, 2006. Or, as so many of called it, '666'. Today also marks the release of the remake of the 'Omen' -- a movie about a boy who has the 'mark of the beast' on him. He is supposed to be the son of Satan -- a parody of the 'Son of God'. What this means is that most of the world, including the church, gets it's understanding of biblical things from Hollywood! So, what does it mean? This '666'? We find all about it in The Revelation of St John the Divine. This letter, sent to at least seven churches in Asian Minor, is a highly coded book (Talk about your Divinci Code. This letter puts that book to shame!). It was sent to the suffering Christians who were being persecuted by the Jews and tortured and killed by the Romans in the first 'official' Roman persecution. T...