Some NaNo pics

As you may or may not know, November is officially National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is to finish a 50,000 word novel in 30 days—just writing for fun, quantity, not necessarily quality. The cool thing is though, that once you just start writing and stop second guessing every other phrase, the stuff that comes out can be great! Of course, it can be utter rubbish too, but that’s part of the fun.
Anyway, this is my third year attempting NaNoWriMo, and the first year I have a computer to attempt it on. Hopefully, I’ll be able to cross the finish line with a few hundred words to spare, now that I don’t have to try it all longhand. Anyway, you can find more information, if you’re interested, at http://www.nanowrimo.org/. Look me up if you join—I’m Elyn W. Marsh if you search under authors.
So yesterday, my sister came to my room and asked if I had any pictures she might use as inspirational material for her story (she’s doing NaNo as well). I have about 300 landscape photos in my computer from a clip art program, so we looked through it for a while and found her a few things to use. In the process, I also found a few photos that I thought worked well for NaNo, and I decided to post them here for you to enjoy as well.
However, a disclaimer before you view them: To my fellow NaNo-ers, I am not responsible for any time lost while you read my blog. If you fall behind in your word count as a result of my post, that’s your fault. LOL
Anywho, here they are. Enjoy!
~Trav

Daddy’s busy, honey—yes, it’s “that NaNo thing”…

And it’s only day six…

A common NaNo facial expression:

4,345…4,346…4,347…

Hey—I’m homeschooled

Have you started your NaNo yet?

Happy Reformation Day!!

Hey, World.

Yes, I know that most people don't realize that this day, the 31st of October, is actually the celebration of the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany.

It was 492 years ago today that this momentous event took place.As for Halloween - *spits*. Forget about it. An Americanized, modernized celebration of the ancient druid holy-day of Samhain? Why bother?

Actually, if you've read my blog for very long, you may have realized that I posted almost exactly this same post last year. I'm just updating it a bit, because I wanted to post something about Reformation Day, but...ahem. I forgot. LOL

Anyway, I thought I'd also include the rapier-witted conversation (LOL) that I have with many people this time of year. So, here's how it goes:

Person: "Happy Halloween!"

Me: "Actually, sir, I do not celebrate the pagan holiday of Halloween. I find it and it's trappings distasteful and don't believe that any self-repecting Christian should acknowlege it. However, I and my family DO celebrate Reformation Day, the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
"So, though Halloween is an evil and perverted celebration of pagan beliefs, I do celebrate on this day in honor of Martin Luther, and I will take that candy bar. Toodles!"

LOL, hope you enjoyed my rant,

~Trav

PS: for a good artical on Luther's Theses, check out this link. It's pretty good, for a secular website. See ya 'round!

Creation--Not Chaos

A while back, some of you may recall my posting called “A New View of the Universe”. It included some amazing pictures of galaxies and stars, along with some scale representations of the planets in our solar system along side the sun, which was along side some larger stars…you get the idea. The point was to show just how big the universe is, and how small we are in comparison—and yet God says that he measures it with the breadth of His hand.
Recently, someone who goes by “Travis” posted a comment on that post. He (or she, but I’m just assuming he) said, quote:

This just proves how random the universe is and how much we dont matter. There should be trillions and trillions of other planets with intelgent life.

Do you really think God killed him self on each of them?

Look at these pictures your evolved bacterea on a pebble.

Instead of replying to the comment in the comments to that post, I decided this was a big enough issue that I wanted to devote an entire blog post to it.
So, Travis, let me address your words:

First of all, I’m curious as to how you find chaos and randomness in any of those pictures. The universe, specifically galaxies and stars in this case, follow very rigid rules. Gravity. Centrifugal force. The laws of thermodynamics. And a lot of things that I don’t understand because science is not my forte. But the point is that the rules exist.

Everything—from the smallest nano-cell in your DNA, to the largest galaxy out there—follows these rules. They operate on a regulated system that baffles leading scientists in its complexity. There is no room for chaos in such complex systems as the blood-clotting mechanism, the process of photosynthesis, or the pupal transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. “Random” simply doesn’t cut it.

Second, your comment about “trillions and trillions of other planets with intelgent[sic] life”. First of all, as a high school teacher once said—it’s hard enough to find intelligent life here on earth. What makes you think it’s anywhere else? LOL.

To be serious though, I doubt you’ve been watching the Science Channel lately. If you had been, you would have seen them stating—over and over again—how they’re this close to finding an Earth-like planet. They study the light from stars eclipsed by orbiting planets, and calculate the size, shape, and distance from the star using mathematical principles that hurt my brain to contemplate. However, as one scientist stated, they’ve “been surprised every time.” He went on to say that it’s possible that “Earth is a cosmic freak. No one believes that, but we all fear it.”

I personally think that they may be right. Earth is a cosmic freak—rather, not a freak, but a hand-made creation specifically designed with a Plan in mind. I would love to think that there may be other “earths” out there—what fan of sci-fi wouldn’t? But I’d be willing to bet that the most “life” we’ll ever find will be of the bacterial sort, if that. God created life that is able to survive in the most hostile places on Earth—I suppose he could have created it to live on a planet a zillion light years away. But intelligent life? Nah.

Precisely because of your next sentence. No, I don’t think that the Christ event happened on any planet or world but ours. When Jesus was on the cross, he said “It is finished.” As in, done. Completed. Mission accomplished.
He didn’t say—“Ok, I’m done here, next destination, the Planet Zurlog!” No; it is finished, and all is well. No alien races that need salvation, no far off worlds requiring a Messiah. The work of the Cross was complete, with no need for a sequel.

As for being, as you so eloquently put it: evolved bacterea [sic] on a pebble, I can only sigh. What will it take before people finally start to see the fallacies of a theory that has been “rewritten” several times since its conception? Darwin didn’t even know about atoms or radiometric dating, and yet evolutionary scientists try to force the “evidence” to fit their preconceived notions.
They even believe in miracles to save their theory. Like the dinosaur that was being excavated, and when they accidentally dropped one of the leg bones, it busted open. Wonder of wonders, what do they find? Soft tissue. Un-fossilized cells. The thing has been dead and buried for 60 billion+ years, and it’s somehow managed to escape being completely fossilized. It’s a miracle.

I could say a lot more right now, but this has already been long enough. However, please feel free to leave comments, and I’ll respond to the best of my abilities.

Very sincerely,
~Trav

Please Vote!

Hey all!

As you may or may not know, I often get onto an internet discussion board at http://www.bindingoftheblade.com/.

Recently, several of us got together and wrote a few stories in a Writer's Challenge, with the rule that each story must contain:

a) the opening line The storm leered down at the small party, delighting in their powerlessness against it.

b) A dog (or acceptably dog-like creature)

c) A character named Bart

d) A suitcase filled with old clothes

e)The phrase: Too much all at once would arouse suspicion

f) Someone with red hair

It had to be no longer than 4000 words long, and had to end with the line: The sky was clear, the wind was crisp, and the future was thiers for the taking!

Guilt trip: Seven people entered, but only three made it to the September 31st deadline. Here are the entrents:

Caeli
Falchion

Shadowfax

Sulare

Silent_Chaos
Mindarin
Oriana Lassar
And of course, your's truely: the Traveler

However, only myself, Caeli, and Falchion completed the Challange.

Here are the links to our stories. Please read them, and then vote at the poll that I will create as soon as I finish posting this. Have fun, we hope you enjoy, and if you know one of the people who entered, but didn't finish, give them a big guilt trip for me. LOL - Just kidding.

Caeli's story: here

Falchion's story: here

My story: here

~Trav

New Book Review Blog

Hey, all:
Just for your information, I now have a separate blog solely for book reviews. You can find it by going to my profile and clicking the link to the "Book Brownie Blog", or just by clicking here.
See ya over there, hope you enjoy!

Heaven

I promised I’d write this, and events of the last week or so have conspired to inspire me, so here we go. Sorry in advance for it being so long – there’s just so much to say!
Personally, I cannot wait for Heaven. There are some nights when I just lie in bed and imagine – and yes, as I write that, the song starts playing in my mind “I can only imagine…” (Though, not to go off on a tangent or anything, but you really ought to check out this vid, by Tim Hawkins. Very LOL).

But I love to just think – just picture in my mind what it’s going to be like – and the best part is, that no matter how great I am at imagining it, it’s going to a zillion and twelve times better in real life. Which – do remember, it’s going to be real life. I think a lot of people picture heaven as this kinda misty, floaty place where we all sit around in white robes on clouds and pick at harps all day. No way! Here’s how I picture things:

First off – let me clarify. When I talk about Heaven, what I really mean is the “new Earth” that God is going to create from the ruins of the old one, like it talks about in Revelation 21. Randy Alcorn has a great book out called, simply Heaven, and I strongly suggest picking it up to read. Take everything with a grain of salt – and a heavy dose of checking against the Word – but you couldn’t ask for a better, more biblical picture of Heaven then what Singer gives.

But here’s how I picture it:

The colors will be more vivid than anything you’ve ever seen on the old Earth. The greens will be like liquid emerald, and the reds deeper than a priceless ruby. The sky will be of such a rich and bright blue, unclouded by pollution, and full of the light that shines from the Throne.
Everyone there will be Christian – just think about it! Forget the stuff about “all roads leading to God” and all that nonsense…but that’s a debate for another time. For right now, it’s simply amazing to think that one day, there will be no more crime, because there will be no more criminals! No more sin! No more wrong at all.

Now, that doesn’t mean we won’t disagree on things in Heaven. I know we’ll all agree on the basics – Christ and Him crucified, ect – but I’ll bet that the theologians will spend eternity puzzling out the fine points in friendly debate. Can’t you just picture John Calvin and Martin Luther and others, sitting around a pizza while they expound on the greatness of God? (And yes, there will be pizza in Heaven. Why not? I’m sure there are Christians who know the recipe!)
And I don’t think we’ll ever stop learning, either. Some people have this idea that we’ll get to Heaven, and suddenly know everything; but I don’t agree. Honestly, can you think how dull it would be to no longer have any questions? To have no more to learn, to explore, or to discover? Bleh! I think that in Heaven, there will be vast centers of art and science and learning – grand libraries filled with millions of books – hey, we’ll have eternity to write, right?

I can just picture it – huge, open-air cities with wide, tree-lined avenues; and the buildings all of white stone and gold trim. The streets – of course – will be paved with gold (“pure gold, as transparent as glass” – and science has discovered that chemically pure gold really is transparent, just check out an astronaut’s helmet visor. They’re coated with a layer of pure gold.) I kinda picture it like the paintings done byJames Gurney for his book Dinotopia – only, maybe with a few less lizards about! LOL

There will be dinosaurs there, though, I think. And every other creature God created and called good. Lions and tigers and…you know the drill. From dinosaurs to cats, elephants to do-dos. And maybe even some we don’t have here on the old Earth – who knows what our vastly creative Creator might invent to delight us in our new home? He loves to amaze His children – I wouldn’t even be surprised if there was a dragon or two, or a unicorn, or some other creature out of ancient myth.

I don’t believe in people turning into angels when they get to heaven – that’s completely unbiblical and ridiculous. But wouldn’t it be cool to become friends with an angel? I’d love to ask them all about their perspective on events that played out before their eyes here on the old Earth. Maybe get Gabriel’s point of view on his message to Mary; or the unnamed angels who visited the shepherds in the field. Can you imagine their joy at proclaiming the Messiah’s birth?
And speaking of talking to folks, I can’t wait to sit down with some of the heroes of the faith – people like Abraham and Joseph and Ruth and Esther; Paul and John and Luke; David Livingstone, Gladys Alyward, and Amy Carmichael – and ask them to tell me their stories.
Just this last week, my parents took the whole family “home” to the big city, where the church they grew up in was having a big reunion. We got together with my parents’ old youth group, and sat around for a few hours reliving their days as teenagers. “Remember when we TP-ed the youth minister’s house?” “Remember what we did at camp that year?” “Do you remember? Do you remember?” It made me think of the scene in C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian, where the four Pevensie children return to their old treasure chamber at Caer Parivel; and start reminiscing about their old days in Narnia.

And it also make me think about Heaven – the greatest reunion ever! Maybe something more along the lines of the final scenes in Lewis’ The Last Battle, where all the old heroes of the past are reunited, and old friends find each other again.

And every day, we’ll walk by the side of our Lord, and pay homage in the Great Throne Room, crying with the angels “Holy, holy, holy! Is the Lord God Almighty!!” Can you imagine a greater song of praise?

It gives me a weird feeling in my stomach – like every surprise, and every heartbreak, and every gorgeous wonder all wrapped up in one. Of all the happy endings ever told, the ones that made you want to laugh and cry and sigh with wonder all at once – this will be the best ending ever.

And guess what? This one will never end!

See you there!

~Trav

Dual Citizen

This past week, Dad and I had the opportunity to attend a patriotic rally/informational meeting on the dangers of radical Islamic thought.

However, while that by itself would make a great blog entry, there was something else entirely that kept bouncing around my head the whole time we were there.
The fervor of the speaker as she detailed the history of militant Islam, and her own experiences with it; and the energy with which she and her colleagues asked for our support and help, was inspiring.

And depressing.

They pressed on us the need for more activists and local groups, spreading the word about the danger that true Islam poses. They were insistent that a grassroots organization could lead the way to a new era of security for the American way of life; that we needed to eagerly give the support due our American troops; and that we had to fight against the rigorous brainwashing that spews out of the liberal media, and even our public schools. They were excited about their mission, wanting to bring us along with them.

And the thought kept coming to me – wouldn’t it be great if the church was like this? I mean – America is a great place to live, don’t get me wrong. I personally believe that (despite its many problems) my country is still the greatest, most amazing, free and beautiful country on the face of the planet.

Still, as a Christian, my first love and first allegiance is to that “better country” that I look forward to immigrating to one day. Not an earthly government or kingdom, but a heavenly one. As great, wonderful and amazing as America is (I even type this wearing a shirt that proudly bears an image of Old Glory, with the words “God Shed His Grace on Thee”), that new country is even better.

Shouldn’t I be as adamantly excited as these speakers, telling people about that country? People all over the world have for generations dreamed of becoming Americans, of claiming this country as their own. They’ve had relatives and friends who have visited or immigrated here, and they’ve heard the stories. The arrivals at Ellis Island, back when it was in its glory days, came expecting streets paved with gold, houses as big as those of the landlords back home, and plentiful food for everyone. Their dreams were a little over-the-top, as we all know – but America was still far better than the countries they had come from.

So they sent letters back to their loved ones – “Come to America! There is work here, there are good people, and there is freedom and peace and the chance to make a better life!”

People came by the thousands.

Meanwhile, we Christians know of an even better address, where the streets really are paved with gold, and Jesus Himself has gone to prepare it for us, and the Feast of the Lamb awaits …But we keep quiet about it. We think we might be ridiculed for believing in some “pie in the sky”. We’re afraid to show any kind of passion or excitement.

Or if we do, that’s even worse! Ever heard the saying “so heavenly minded, they’re of no earthly good”? Friends, that’s not possible! If someone is truly focused on Heaven and the beauty and richness of it, they won’t be able to help telling others.

“Guess where I’m going! I’ve heard some wonderful tales about the place – can’t wait to get there…”

Now, the original purpose of this blog was going to be on being excited to recruit other people to our cause, to our family of families. But…I think I like where it went even better.
In fact, I’m going to sign off with that note – I can’t wait to get there – and then I’m going to go work on a post completely about Heaven. Trust me; it’s going to be so much more than clouds, robes, and harps all day…you’ll never believe what God’s got in store.

Get excited, fellow Heavenians! Or Heavenites, or whatever you want to say. You’re ambassadors, recruiting officers, messengers. Don’t slack off now – remember the dreams of those soon-to-be-Americans, and the dreams of those in the world even today, who long for this better country, with the freedoms we take so for granted.

Remember that we have an even better one waiting – and if America is this great, think about how much better Heaven’s going to be!
~Trav