Spiritual lessons from Starbucks

Marni found a spiritual lesson at Starbucks today.

“Many people lack a spiritual belief system and fill that void with obsessions about celebrities. The celebrities are raised to the rank of gods, and these earthly gods will always fail the expectations the masses have set for them. The cycle runs thusly: adoration turns to obsession, obsession turns to disappointment, and from disappointment it is a just a short emotional jump to contempt.”
Donna Phillips Freelance writer. She lives in Claremont, California.

Where did you last find God?

Ratliff against school vouchers

Former Texas Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff, R-Mt. Pleasant, has come out against school vouchers. I think this is a great quote:

“We don’t understand how it is that if you have a campus with 500 children and 100 somehow… take advantage of the voucher and go somewhere else, how does that affect the other 400?” Ratliff said. “If it’s a bad school and we take a hundred of them out with vouchers, it’s still a bad school. We believe a far better course… is fix the school. Don’t abandon 400 children for the sake of the hundred.”

In memory of Jerry Diffee

Jerry Diffee
DIFFEE, JERRY WAYNE, Age 64, passed away February 12, 2007.

He was born September 11, 1942. in Dallas, Texas, to Buford Elmer and Zola Vandergriff Diffee, who have predeceased him. He was also preceded in death by sisters Doris Diffee and Martha Diffee; and one brother, David Diffee.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Charlotte Palmer Diffee; three sons, Jeffrey and wife Delaine, Jonathan and wife Michelle, Jason and wife Allison; and six grandsons, Dillon, Payton, Tanner, Micah, Mason, and Logan. He is also survived by a brother Charles Diffee and wife Lavina, a sister Joan and husband Wayne Starkweather, and sister-in-law Cheryll Diffee.

Jerry served as Associate Minister at Metropolitan Bible Church for over 40 years. He had oversight of youth and senior adult ministries, and taught a Sunday School class. He was well-known in the community for his involvement in the Kiwanis Club, Southeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Sparks Foundation, Southeast Dallas YMCA, and Southeast Dallas Emergency Food Center. Jerry was also a member of the Board of Directors of Hidden Acres Retreat Center, Kaufman, Texas.

Services will be held at Casa View Baptist Church. 2626 Gus Thomasson Road, Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. Presiding ministers will be his brother, Rev Charles R. Diffee; and Rev. Keith Treadway, Pastor of Metropolitan Bible Church. Visitation will be Wednesday, February 14, at Grove Hill Funeral Home from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Memorials may be made to Hidden Acres, Box 1462, Mesquite, TX 75185. Dignity Memorial Grove Hill 3920 Samuell Blvd. Dallas (214) 388-8887

Jerry will be missed by all. Matt and I still joke that we always knew when Jerry wanted us to do something or we were in trouble — he’d always ask us to meet him for a burger at Griff’s, his treat.

He lived a life that loved God and loved His people.

Even the morning of his collapse he led another soul into the kingdom of heaven.

Jerry had a major impact on my life and my thoughts and prayers and with Charlotte and the rest of the family.

Rest in the embrace of your Savior Jerry. Well done.

Verse & Quote of the day

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as for you, follower of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

– 1 Timothy 6:9-11

Because Jesus’ teachings are so challenging and radical, it is much more comfortable to focus on a quiet, private, personal relationship with him than it is to follow his teachings that call for a public prophetic witness.
– Alvin Alexi Currier

Blog Maverick predicts the end of personal computers

Mark Cuban’s latest posts predicts that Google is set to dominate in the future (they’re already one of the top Tech stocks and best companies to work for) with the demise of the personal computer.

Remember the days of Pentium releases being a big event ? The excitement of a new line of Dell or Compaq or IBM computers ? It seems to ancient to think that the release of a new PC even mattered. Today its the release of a new XBox or PS3 that gets the attention and people waiting in line for stores to open. Even the release of Vista didnt generate much consumer excitement.
Gaming consoles are already serving as hosts for DVD , HD DVD and Blu Ray players, along with hard drive and USB support for video and pictures. Which leads to the question. Will gaming consoles replace PCs in the home, not just for gaming as they have done already, but also as the primary home device for all things graphical ?
Will people stop putting their pictures on their PCs and buy gaming consoles for this purpose instead ?
If the gaming consoles get real keyboards and better web browsers they will.
Which is exactly what could make the future of home computing very, very interesting and upset the MicroSoft and Applecart :), and give a huge edge to Google and maybe Yahoo and even Sony.

I already use a number of open source programs as well as most of the Google apps online, including Google Reader, Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs.
Why limit myself to using programs I need to just my laptop? With Google’s online software I can access my information from anywhere with an Internet connection.