Serenity Prayer

Thanks to Reinhold Niebuhr for creating and Wikipedia for preserving this version of a prayer. You can read its history there. 

God, give me grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Daniel in Exile

Here is a recording of the message given at Carson City’s First Presbyterian church on May 25, 2014. We examine how to be God’s dream.

Download a recording of the message (right click and save for later listening.)

Based on Daniel chapter 2.

We are in the middle of the dream season, May with Moms and Proms, June with Dads and Grads, visions of beauty all grown up in a fairy land of music and soft lights. Graduation of eagar faces ready to make real dreams of making a difference, or making at least making a living. And parents remembering the dream come true of parenthood and family. Tomorrow is Memorial Day, where we pause to remember those who died so we can pursue our dreams, a time of memory and mourning and thoughts of what could have been are mingled with what was.

Who do you share your dreams with? Some told me they don’t dream at all. Others told me that they tell weird dreams or dreams with celebrities to their co-workers, but the scary ones, just one, or none.

So the day’s barely begun, but I’m sure I’m in trouble and I am sure I don’t know why. Finally, my wife lets me know why I’m getting glared at, “I’m just mad at you because you were mean to me in my dream.” I think she is a follower of Havelock Ellis, “Dreams are real while they last…can we say more of life?”

On the other side, there’s Maria Matthiessen who during the podcast of This America Life in November informs us that telling someone your dreams is one of the 7 banned conversation topics. Something not to be done. It is boring and no one cares.

I don’t know if our Mrs. Matthiessen knew about King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter 2. It was not boring. People did care, it was a matter of life or death for some of them, including our hero, Daniel. Yet, come to think of it, the King didn’t tell anyone his dream. Maybe Mrs. Matthiessen is on to something after all. Telling no one his dream and demanding they interpet it or be torn limb from limb is anything but boring.

Who do you tell your dreams to is an intimate and revealing question. But how about the King’s challenge to Daniel, all the wise counselors, and to us, Who do you let tell you your dream? A prophet? A pastor? A president? The valaditorian? The commencement speaker? Your parents? Your spouse? Your fiancee?

Dreams are not just something that happens while we sleep at night to set our mood when we wake in the morning, they are what we hope for ourselves, for our children, for our community, for our country, for our world. We pray every Sunday, “thy kingdom come”, what do we mean? Come like Russia into Urkranie replacing the flags and the currency? Come like European powers into the new world making colonies of continents forcing natives to become like foreigners. To be exiles in their own land. That kingdom?

Maybe realm is better, a gentler word, thy realm be established. Boundaries less defined and extended organically by will not war, built on fellowship and not fear.

How about, just consider as a spirit experiment, that God’s dream for humanity comes true, where God’s Will is done on earth as in heaven. Where God’s hopes are realized and desires accomplished. May God’s dream for you come true for you. May you be what God’s is dreaming of.

Daniel agrees with the King, with all the wise ones of the court, no one can tell someone what their own dream is, much less what it means. Only God can tell us what our dream is, the king confesses this, calling Daniel’s God our God, the God of gods, the Lord of Kings, and a revealer of mysteries.

Daniel in Exile, through his story, through crazy kings, and insane laws. Daniel calmly lives God’s dream. Following God’s law when it was easier to follow the crowd, worshipping God only when other powers threatened, and praying faithfully when it meant death to do so.

If you live God’s dream, you are, like Daniel, in exile, this place is not quite right, you’re not quite right, because you see, you’re in a dream, God’s dream. Maybe that is why Daniel is always so calm, with threats to his freedom and life everywhere. He knew it was all just a dream, a dream of God’s.

George Bernard Shaw said, “Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world, unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves, all progress therefore depends on unreasonable people.”

I say that resonable people adapt themselves to the world, faithful people attempt to adapt themselves to God’s dream for the world. Spiritual progress therefore depends on on people who wake daily to God’s dream.

We can get up every morning and say to all we meet, and all the world, “I know it doesn’t make sense, it isn’t reasonable, it’s nothing you’ve done but I love you because of a dream God had.”

Live in Exile. Live God’s dream.

Prayer of Confession from Daniel

Little light on the religious and spiritual. Here is a prayer of confession I wrote for a sermon on Daniel. I’m preaching Sunday 10 AM at First Presbyterian in Carson City. Come and pray this live then. One show only! ;)

God of all gods, Master of all kings, we have dodged your call and detoured from your path so much that we are often lost and cannot hear you. We deny dreams of your kingdom come, your will done by rebuilding ruins with relics. Our exile from you means a nightmare of struggling with others. Forgive our self worship and reveal the mystery of the dream you have for us…

FREE Drugs and FREE Programs

Users should consider the offer of FREE software with the same caution and care that they give to the offer of FREE drugs!

1. WHO is giving me this? Is it someone you know and trust in a reputable establishment? There is a difference between your physician giving you samples of a prescription and packet of pills from a stranger. In computer programs and apps, there is a difference between software recommended by another computer user you know and trust and one offerred by a clip art image on a website or a link in a curios email from a stranger.
    
2. WHERE am I getting this? Are you at a club (or website) with a lot of flashing lights and suspicious activity in an unknown area? This is probably not a safe place to get drugs or software. If you are at pharmacy or doctor’s office with certificates on the wall which has recommend by others you trust in a well established and maintained environment, the products have a better chance of being safe and effective.
    
3. WHY am I getting this? Is this software or drug prescribed after diagnostic that you sought to solve a problem you have? Reputable doctors and pharmacists don’t call you at home to tell you you’re sick and need to this miracle cure. Neither do reputable computer software companies. Disconnect and, IF you have a concern, seek advice from your choice of enthusiast friends or recommended professionals.

These practices won’t protect you absolutely in life or on-line. Nothing will. But practicing similar caution between what you put in your body and what you put in your computer will help you keep your computer healthy.

Update on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 at 9:41AM by Christy Ramsey

Think you are protected because you have an antivirus? Here’s a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal on May 4, 2014 where Symantec (Norton Antivirus) states they catch less than HALF of the malware attacking computers.

Symantec Develops New Attack on Cyberhacking

Declaring Antivirus Software Dead, Firm Turns to Minimizing Damage From Breaches

Symantec Develops New Attack on CyberhackingDeclaring Antivirus Software Dead,
Firm Turns to Minimizing Damage From Breaches

5 Simple Ways To Keep Using XP

Tucked in an epsiode of podcast “Security Now” on iOS security, Steve Gibson gave a level headed discussion and practical advice for folks continuing to use XP into 2014, “”Five Steps for XP Usage Past April 8th”. I’ve extracted his advice from the podcast and added my comments here, the full audio and a pdf transcript are linked and in the references below. This guidiance is valuable for all versions of Windows, but especially important to those who continue to use Windows XP.

1. Make Yourself a Limited User
   
   Now it is called “standard” user, but both are users without administrator rights. If you do nothing else, lower your privileges (and that of malware that attack your machine) by switching from and Administrator user account to a Limited user account. (A better name would be “Protected” user.)
   See Paul Kenyon’s article on the Avecto blog for more about the protection offerred by NOT being an administrator.
   
   First go to Control Panel | Users and create a new user with Administrative rights so you can log on to this user the rare times you need full privileges, (like installing a new program). I called my user TECH. After setting up the new user, log in by logging off your using account via the shutdown process switching to TECH. This first time some housekeeping will be done. After you get a desktop, go to Control Panel and modify your user account to Limited. Shut down and log in as usual and you’re protected.
   
   When you need to install a program, (such as the browsers below) or make changes (such as removing Flash and Java, see below) you can try to right click the icon and “Run as Administrator” but with XP, you probably should plan on logging out for your account and logging into the Administrator account when you need to install a program. Then restart the computer and log into your main (limited) account to use the program and the computer.
   
    
2. Remove Flash and Java
   
   While Flash and Java will continued to be updated even on XP systems, they are avenues for malware to enter your system. Control panel’s add/remove programs (from an account with administrator access!) will allow you to remove these helper programs that are can be hijacked by malware authors. A variation is to offer an officila looking update to Flash or Java that is not an update but malware.
   
   This article by Sue Marquette Poremba discusses the concerns with Java and offers a middle ground.
   
    
3. Use Chrome or Firefox instead of Internet Explorer
   
   Chrome and Firefox will continue to be updated and supported on Windows XP. Internet Explorer is stuck at version 8 (first released in 2009)
   
   A discussion of browsers for XP users is in this article by Chris Hoffman..
   
   
4. Use an Office Alternative
   
   Since Office 2003 updates end as well, moving from Microsoft Office to an alternative program is recommended. Steve Gibson likes LibreOffice which is a “fork” or descendent of OpenOffice. Other folk, such as the good folks on PC RadioShow on WBAI recommend KingSoft Office Suite.
   
   I use LibreOffice but others are fine and supported on XP.
   
   
5. Practice Safe Surf
   
   No matter how secure a building is, if someone (you!) let mischief makers inside-bad things will happen. So be safe no matter what your operating system is.
   
   - Do NOT open unexpected email attachments, confirm by phone/email before opening
   - Do NOT click on “you must see this!” links or links you are not expecting or confirmed
   - Do NOT click on Urgent Update notices or Download this viewer links 
   - Hang up on any “Microsoft rep”, or others who CALL YOU and want access to your computer