VW Beetle Camper!

Who'd of thought you could turn a VW Beetle into a camper! Well, I have proof. here is is folks!

Funny Walmart Story

This sounds like something my brother would have tried in college. Enjoy!

Dear Mrs. Fenton, Our store is considering banning your family from ever shopping with us again unless your husband stops his antics while you are shopping. Below is a list of offenses over the past few months, all verified by our surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the ladies' restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official tone, "Code 3 in housewares".....and watched what happened.

5. August 4: Went to the service desk and asked to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.

6. September 14: Moved a "CAUTION - WET FLOOR" sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they'd bring pillows from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When our clerks ask whether they can help him, he begins to cry and asks, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera, used it as a mirror, and picked his nose.

10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, asked the clerk if he knew where the antidepressants were.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously, loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

12. December 6: In the auto department practiced his "Madonna look" using different sized funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled, "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

14. December 21: When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, he assumes the fetal position and screams, "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"

And last but not least:

15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, and waited a while; then yelled very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

My Responses to Existence/Nonexistence e-mails

4/12/06

Goten: To rebuttle your last statement, God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Revelation22:10) There was nothing before Him and there will never be anything after Him. Also, as I stated in the comment, God is not confined to time or space therefore even though we have to live within the boundaries of the present He does not. " To God 1 day is like 1000 years and 1000 years is like a day." (IIPeter 3:8) That shows that His time frame is completely seperate.

4/13/06

I will try to get back with you later, i have a meeting this morning at the school I teach at and don't have time right this moment. I enjoy the discussion.

4/13/06

Hello again! I began looking for a way that I could better illustrate to you the point that I was trying to make. If you would like to look at this question furtherthen I would suggest that you find and read the bookMere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He does a muchbetter job of explaining it. There is a whole chapterthat focuses on time and space and how God fits intothe whole situation. If you want me to I can send yousome quotes from it, but I figured it would be easierto just check it out at your public library.

4/14/06

Ok,I will do my best to explain things as I see them froma Christian standpoint. 1. God is all powerful. There is nothing that God can not do, but at the sametime there are things that God has chosen not to do asit applies to man and Satan. Some of this will alsotie into the question concerning God being all good. God has created angels and humans and has given themthe free will to choose to love him or hate him. IfGod wanted to or had wanted to He could have made manwithout the ability to sin. I believe that He didthis so that everyone who chose to believe in Him andbelieved in him would do so under thier own decisionrather than by force or by programming such as a robotmight have. Christ many times refered to himself as the bridegroomin scripture and refered to the church or Christiansas His bride. Just as you yourself would want someoneto love you because of who you are I believe Godwanted to do the same thing with himself. He wantedpeople to choose him based on what He had done forthem not so much because He forced them to. OtherwiseHe would have people serving him out of force ratherthan a personal desire to. Now Satan comes into this picture where God allowedhim to roam the Earth and decieve people into notbelieving in God and the same thing was accomplishedwith 1/3 of the angels who fell from heaven along withSatan when he decided he was more equal with God. 2. God is all good. God is all good and we have notseen the end of the story yet. At the end of theBible, sin is punished. Also, God made a way for allsin that had ever been committed by humans to be paidfor once and for al when he sent his Son to earth as ahuman. Jesus lived 33 years without ever sinning andwas killed as a sacrifice to pay for all sins. ThenHe rose from the dead three days later conqueringdeath. Because he died after as a sinless man, hetook all of the worlds sins upon his shoulders and Godforgave all men of their sins under the condition thatall humans would accept Jesus Christ as their Lord andSavior. He decided that anyone who accepted Christ asthier Savior and confessed that they were sinners, theblood of Christ would cover any sins they had evercommitted and they would then be sinless before God. John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Romans 8:23, I John 1:9,Romans 5 (whole chapter)Then, Jeusus returned to Heaven to be with God HisFather. One day Christ is going to return to Earth. After the return of Christ to the Earth and therecieving of all of Christ's followers then those whorefused to follow Christ including Satan and all ofhis angels will be placed into Hades or Hell foreternity. Hell is made up of everything that is eviland nothing good becase everything good comes fromGod. That is the completion of God showing hisHoliness because He can then rule and reign withoutsin.I pray this was helpful. I hope I answered yourquestions for you.

4/18/06

Yes God does know the consequences of sin and that iswhy He showed us the way to go in the Bible so that wecould and would avoid the devistation that we oftentimes bring upon ourselves. God treats us much like a parent treats theirchildren. You teach a son or daughter what is right,such as telling them not to touch a hot stove becausethey will get burned, but that doesn't mean that thechild won't go and do it anyway. Or a better example,an older child whom you have taught not to drive underthe influence. That adult child knows that drinkingand driving are putting themselves at risk, but stillthousands go ahead and do it anyway. Does that meantheir parents shouldn't have had their children andthey did not love their children because they allowedthem to grow up and make their own choices? It is thesame with God, He has shown his children how theyshould live so that life goes well for them, but welive in a world where everyone has not chosen tofollow what He has said and so therefore we have theproblems we have today. Ever since the first day thatAdam and Eve sinned, life has no longer been perfectfor man. God created a perfect world to begin withwith the garden and Adam and Eve, but they chose tochange that ,by sinning, ruining it for all the restof the world, because from then on everyone else wasborn with sin. I am sorry if I am not answering all of your questionsperfectly. I am trying to tell you as well as I caninterpret what I know. I am still human and I stillhave much to learn. I do know one thing though. There are some things I know we will not understandcompletely until we get to heaven, that is why theBible says "For by grace are ye saved through faith;and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God notof works, lest any man should boast."Ephesians 2:8-9 Part of being a Christian is faith inthe unseen.

5/7/06

Well, I look at it like this. If for some reason,there isn't a God and I have no doubt in my mind thatthere is, what have I lost by believing in Him andtrusting Him with my life? Whether you think it is aloss to have faith in Christ Jesus or not. I know Iam a better person for believing. On the other hand,if there is a God and I spent my whole life believingin Him than I have a reward in Heaven and have missedout on the worst punishment ever given to man (Hell). One other thing, you continually say the threereligions and I imagine you are referring to Judism,Islam, and Christianity. Christianity is the only true way to Heaven, becauseChrist said "I am the way, the truth, and the life, noman comes to the Father except through Me." and "ForGod so loved the world that He gave His only begottenSon that whosoever believeth in Him should not perishbut have everlasting life. For God sent not His Soninto the world to condemn the world but that the worldthrough Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)

5/7/06

Actually, I have the opposite of fear, I have peace. Peace inknowing that my sins are forgiven, peace in knowingthat I serve a God who cares about me, and will dowhat is best for me, and peace knowing that I willspend eternity with the God who loved me so much thateven while I was still in sin, He chose to send HisSon to die a death that no man would ever want to gothrough just so that I would be able to live foreverwith Him. Please, don't feel sorry for me, I am as happy as aperson could ever be, but I will pray for you that Godwill show himself real to you. God is real! JesusChrist did come to this earth and die for you, andHell is very real and I pray you find Christ Jesusbefore you breath your last breath. Once again, I encourage you, read the Bible all theway through from cover to cover before you decide whatyou think about Christianity, and ask God (even if youdon't believe there is one), to reveal Himself to you. The Bible is God's word written to man. If you stillfeel the same way after you read it, then I won't sayanymore. But, please don't give up on God before yougive him a chance.

5/8/06

Ok, be more specific. In what ways have you givenJesus Christ a chance in your own life? For one thing, you brought up Colombine and 9/11 asresons for the non-existence of God. What about thethousands of people who just happened to not be in theWorld Trade Center at the time of the attack becausethey happened to wake up late or had something happenthat delayed them. There are countless stories likethat, God was watching out for them. Also, I think you, along with many other people, havebeen fed the idea that once a person gets savednothing else bad will ever happen to them and lifewill be a bed of roses. God never promised that tous. In fact, the whole salvation concept should havebeen described not as a life of comfort but rather inthis manner... Let me give you a scenario...Two people were getting on a plane, the first personwas handed a parachute and told to put it on becauseit would make him feel more comfortable. So, theperson puts it on and goes back to their seat. Asthey are sitting in their seat they begin to feel thatthe parachute truly is not that comfortable and thatother people are not wearing theirs and decides thatmaybe it really is not that important. The secondperson is handed thiers and told that the plane isgoing to go down and they are going to have to beready to jump at any moment. This person, puts thierparachute on and doesn't even take comfort intoconsideration because he knows that it is the verything that is going to save his life. In fact, he isworried about the other passengers who are not wearingtheirs or have even misplaced them because they didn'tlike the way they looked or felt. This person evengoes around the plane trying to convince other peopleto put theirs back on but many of them don't becausethey are still stuck around the fact that it wassuppose to make them feel comfortable. From a spiritual standpoint, I know Jesus Christ doesnot always make my life a bed of roses. There havebeen many times in my life where I have felt that Hewas far away and that things have not gone the way Ithought they should. But, that did not mean I turnedmy back on God. If anything, it was in those times, Iclung tighter to Him, knowing that He would see methrough. How do I know there is a God? There aremany ways.1) He has given the Bible to me telling me abouthimself. (This is the oldest book in history and haslasted for thousands of years without change)2) I can also look outside at His creation and knowthat there is no way in a trillion years that thingswould have evolved into what they are today. Themathamatical equatioin of something as small as thehuman eye evolving is impossible. 3) He has taken care of me in times of need, such aswhen I was a baby and stopped breathing from SIDS,Sudden Infant Death Syndrom. I spent a week at achildren's hospital where they told my parents at thebest I would be a vegetable, blind, deaf, and mentallyretarded. Because of prayer and faith in God withinthe week I pulled the tubes and machines off my ownbody and without any explanation apart from a miraclethe doctors said I was well, minus my hearing whichcame back before I was one. Just to prove that I wasbetter, I was in the top 99% in my standardizedtesting in 1st grade, I had 20/20 vision until I wasin high school, I ran a mile in less than 5 minutes inhigh school, and I can hear as well as anyone. I also had a second life threatening event happen whenI was in second grade. My sister and I were struck bya car when we were crossing a busy intersection. Whenthe ambulence arrived they were sure that my sisterand I were dead. As the people in the cars all aroundgathered to pray for us, we began to move. I wasreleased later that day with only bruises and mysister was released the next day with a broken leg anda minor concussion. You can say both of these were coincodences, but Iknow that it was by the healing of Christ Jesus that Iam here typing to you today. My faith is not justsomething that I read in a book, it is alive andliving. I have many more stories of the way God hasdone miraculous things in my life. I can not denysomething that is real. To me, that would be likedenying that I am here talking to you right now. Thatis why I tell you, seek the Lord and you WILL findHim. Just try it. What do you have to lose? Youdon't have to do anything special, just pray "ChristJesus, I want to know if you are real. Reveal Youself to me I pray."

5/11/06

Well, guess what. I think you have already made upyour mind what you believe and nothing I say or Goddoes is going to change that. Instead, it seems asthough you are trying to make me change my mind aboutthe way I believe. My beliefs are something I HAVEput a lot of thought and question into (20 plus yearsin fact) and concluded that Christ is someone that Iwant to believe in and one person on the internet isnot going to change my mind through a few e-mails. If there is no God and I am just here, I have no reasonto live and I might as well go shoot myself. But IKNOW there is and He has a purpose for me being here. I am sorry that I have wasted your time and I am sorrythat you feel that God let you down, even though Iknow He is still there with you even this moment.

Existence / Non-existence of God Part III

Here is the latest e-mail from this person, I am pretty convinced that they do not want anything to do with God and are no longer searching but rather working to pull others away from Him.

5/11/06

This is a very holy letter. By holy I mean has a lot of spots where you contradict yourself and make no sense whatsoever.First of all, I mean I gave him a chance in that I was brought up christian and I have seen through all the lies. "Christ Jesus, I want to know if you are real. Reveal Youself to me I pray." Been there done that and what i said before happened (9/11...)On that subject, there were thousands of people were working at the Twin Towers before the attack. Not all of them will be on time every time. Mabey you should find how many didnt come to work the day before I'm sure the numbers would be similar, mabey even more. And also if this "god" saved all those other people what did he do for the others in the building? He let them die! Were they not worthy of his divine intervention? Or is god just picky on who lives and who dies. This doesnt make him look any more allgood. Here is another one of your contradictions, "He has given the Bible to me telling me about himself. (This is the oldest book in history and has lasted for thousands of years without change)" First of all, the bible wasnt made by god it was made by man. Man lies man stretches the truth, and man can make mistakes. AND most importantly the bible just got changed a month ago, the book of Judas. Another thing, how can the church just remove pergitory? If it exsisted they cant wipe it away by just denying it, and if it didnt exsist they got something wrong, what other lies could you just be blindly following. Is it all just one big lie? Another hole, " I can also look outside at His creation and know that there is no way in a trillion years that things would have evolved into what they are today. The mathamatical equatioin of something as small as the human eye evolving is impossible." Evolution is scientific and more importantly reality not math. Example, If this a packaging machine packs 10 boxes of soda a minuet in ten minuets according to math, it should pack 100 boxes in 10 minuets. Reality says that the machine breaks and make none in 10 minuets. Thus math cannot be used for evolution because an organism can get into perfect conditions to develop faster. Others might not. Proving your mathematical prediction wrong. And science is also different from math, in math 1+1=2 in science 1Na+1Cl=1NaCl (or 1+1=1). So you cant prove or disprove evolution with math only science, or is studing science being a heathen? Also, you are putting words in my mouth I never said being saved is a bed of roses because I feel the exact opposite. Being saved is like putting a blind fold on and letting someone who you think they know where they are going lead you by the hand but really they too have a blindfold on. I believe that you should pull your hand away and take your blindfold off because you are the only one that can find where your going and nobody else. Religion is merely control set because people with power dont want to lose it (pope, cardinals, presidents, dictators). Because they fear what the population would do if they were allowed to think outside the box. People would no longer need these leaders, and that is why it is enforced with the fear of damnation and fire and brimstone.

Existence / Non-existence of God Continued

Refer to the last post to bring yourself up to speed as to what is going on.

5/8/06I have given this supposed "god" a chance all my life and nothing has happened. O wait things have happened. They were called Columbine, 9/11, the War in Iraq, ... the list goes on. i gave religion a chance and it screwed up, i figured out that it is my duty to find the answers not to blindly follow a religion forced on me since the day i was born. You seem satisfied with the fact that you are going to heaven, i am satisfied with the fact that there is no heaven or hell only false hope and fear. There is only nothing after death. i am also satisfied with the thought that if i become a rapist murder, or a saint my fate stays the same just as yours will be. Nobody knows or will ever know how we, how exsistence came to be. Wehter it was an allpowerful god that took seven days to create exsistence wen, if he is allpowerful, could have surely done it in a matter of a second, or a huge bang with no origin created everything. They both have holes. I could come to grips with the fact that something could have made us, but not a god because if he was all knowing and all good wouldnt he wouldnt have but us through all this pain and suffering to test us because he would know all the concequences. I could go on with that forever but anyway my point is that it doesnt matter how we came to be, because if it was this "god" then he obviously isnt here anymore or just doesnt give a dam, all that matters is that we are here and our fate is in our hands. Our lives, the onty thing that exsists to us and will ever exsist to us (meaning no afterlife) is in our hands. The only gods that exsist is every one of us. You are your own god i am my own. There are no other gods. In relevance to "heaven" and "hell" you still make my point of control. The people with power, the smart ones anyway, dont blindly rule masses of people. A long time ago when people had to endure extremly hard times of work and suffering many would have given up and stop working. That is when the rulers realized to save their empires and cities, that they could create false hope in these people tell them that their labor would be repaid in the "afterlife" where everything will bee ok. Sure I can admit that all these creations of the human imagination and forms of control could have gotten is right, but thre is always a chance for everything. You know what they say, "If you put a bunch of monkies in a room full of type writers there is a chance they will write shakespear," Meaning that there is a very VERY small chance you are right but dont count on it. The more likely scenario is that you are wrong and you have wasted a perfectly good human mind in worshipping a false god who preaches that he knows all the answers when actually you need to find the answers out for yourself.You still havent told me what proof you have.

Existence / Non-existence of God

These are some e-mails I have been getting from a guy that has been e-mailing me questioning the existence of God. I will try to post more as they come.

4/12/2006
i was just browsin around and saw ur comment against the whole freewill vs omniscient god thing. Nobody ever said he was holding anyone's hand through life and choices. Also think of him knowing wat choices you will make thing as you walking blind in the snow. you think that you are making your own choices but are merely walking down a path carved in the snow and dont know it. I believe in no god and also think that i make my own path through the snow.

I could also present the argument that god cant know the future because there is nothing but the present. this contradicts your point that god knows the future. he cant know the future because it doesnt exsist for him to know. but then god is not all knowing if he doesnt know the future, there fore we prove that he cant be god because he is not all knowing.

4/12/06
"God is not confined to time or space therefore even though we have to live within the boundaries of the present" the boundaries of the present do not exsist he cant go outside of the present if there is nothing but the present. The future does not exsist he cannot go into something that does not exsist. Here is another thing to ponder. All major religions believe in three fundemental things: 1.God is all powerful 2 God is all good and 3. Evil Exists. If Evil exists then god is either not all powerful, not all good, or not there at all.You cant argue that evil doesnt exsist so 3 is proven. That leaves 1 and 2. If god is all good he would wipe out all the evil. This shows that god is not all good and doesnt give a shit. So two is disproved. Finally lets say god is all good, and evil exsists then he is not powerful enough to wipe out evil or he would. Either way if he does exsist were screwed.

4/13/06
Also how is god the beginning and the end when he has no beginning and end. Im not trying to be smart I'm just confused.ok mabey I will look into it, but you havent said anything about the three things the major religions believe in. i really wanted to hear your response to it.

4/15/06
So what you are saying is that, to do a quote of my own, "God is a kid with a magnifing glass," (Jim Carey) and were a bunch of ants on an ant hill. You still establish that he is not by any means all good, it seems to me that this supposed "god" is just having fun with us. He ,if he exsisted, looks at us like the kid with the magnifing glass looks at the ants, he is playing with us.By no means am I saying that god exsists i am just establishing that religions' ideas of exsistence are false, and you should not follow them but find your own path through life.

4/18/06
Another thing, according to you, god knows EVERYTHING. If he truely knew everything then why would he give us the ability to sin. He knows all so he would know all the pain the suffering, the death, the devistation, and the tragedy caused by this ability to sin. So God is not all good because he went along with it and helped create the chaos that resides in our world. You could say that it is not god's fault, man choose to sin and kill. Then i would say that if I shot someone, im not guilty, it was the bullet that killed him, i merely pulled the trigger.

4/20/06
w/ your example about the older kids and drunk driving the example doesn’t seem to fit. Choosing to not have kids is different then not creating sin. Kids can do things better than sin so they arent the problem. If a parent was in this situation( god) and he/she could to wipe drugs (sin) out completly to save their child from hurting themselves by driving under the influence then they would. god didnt do this though he created sin still aware of wat we would do with. I know this goes against wat you said about programing us like robots, But parents want was is best for their children and will do anything in Their power to create a perfect life for them. If it is within gods power to not make sin and make the lives of his children perfect why has he not done it? Because he doesnt see us as children and he is not all good. i still have to clarify because it sounds like I believe in god. I dont, I am merely trying to show how someone who believes in god can start to stray from lack of proof or things that make no sense.

5/5/06
I know ur r probably very busy n that is why you haven't responded to my message but i havent expressed my best argument yet so here it is. Humans cannot and will not come to grips wih the fact that they have no purpose and never will. they always have to feel like they are the creations of a "god" and arent here by accident. How many people do you think would go on with the hardships of their daily lives if they truely knew that it would amount to nothing in the end. No heaven No grace of God No hell either. Nobody would do anything. What was your exsistence like before you were born? It was nothing, exactly what it will be when you die, nothing. Another reason why religion is still around is because governments know it is the perfect form of control. If you thought that you would be sent to an eternity of fire and brimstone then you would not try and "sin". Don’t you think it is a very funny coincidence that America's laws are largely based on the 10 commandments? Not because the writers were religious, but because they, like Osama Bin Laden and Pope Urban II, relized how blindly masses of people will do what they command because god demands it. Religion is the worst idea ever created every person should have their own unique ideas for the hows and whys of the world. How much do you think people will argue and even KILL for their religion if there was over 7 billion other unique ideas that can contradict theirs. People like Osama can be rendered powerless! My ideas might not be perfect but im just trying to free your mind from the oppression of religion, and instead of elieveing the supposed "answers" you have been spoon fed all your life you can make your own live the way you want to live not the way the church tells you to live!

5/7/06
Want me to tell you what i see when i read your response. I see fear. That is the way people like you are controlled. You fear hell and eternal damnation. Your fear has caused you to grip onto something that could not give an iota of actual proof but promises you eternal happiness. On that topic, what proof do you have? Where do you think you have the proof to justify your outrageous claim. You have lost everything in not believeing in god. The conformity of all religions dont help you to eternal happiness, it doesnt save you from eternal damnation. No such religions ,including the holy "we never do anthing wrong" Christian church, can do this. The answers to all the eternal question the the Alphas and Omegas of every one of our lives, lie within the recesses of our own minds. Religion makes you think you know all the answers and what to really do with your life so you dont open up, you dont think because you think you know."True wisdom is admitting that you know nothing" (Socrates)

The Ford F100 Explorer

My dad and I went and picked up his new, or should I say old pickup the other day. He bought a 1978 Ford F100 Explorer pickup for $500 off of a guy that was doing some electric work at the school. It is white with a Ford 302 V8 5.0 litre 2x4. It is prety cool, it neads a little TLC though. I think dad is going to have my cousin Brandon paint it. It needs a seat cover too, because there is a hole in it on the drivers side. There is some rust on it, but it is only on the surface and can probably be sanded out. I think it will be fun to do a little work on it here and there. Dad also bought a new set of BF Goodrich tires for the front. I will try to post some pictures of it as soon as I get a chance.

The End Is Near

I am comming down to the last four weeks of my career here at Taylor Schools. Part of me is excited about leaping out into a new career and working environment, but at the same time I am still very concerned about where I am going to work since I do not have any clear direction. As far as the end of the school year being over I think I am as anxious and excited as my students who have gone into coast or zombie mode since Spring break ended four weeks ago. I am so dissapointed in them right now and I have been on them hard and heavy to get their work done. Nothing seems to help. I have stood kids in the hall for sleeping and sat them in the hall and in the corner for not doing anything, but nothing seems to be working. Heck, when I was a kid an F meant something. I have 31 F's in my class and it doesn't even seem to phase them. I hate the fact that these kids know they are going to pass on to the next grade whether I say they shouldn't or not. Most of these students could care less if they are held back too because they still have friends in the grade below them, or they are so stoned off their butts that they don't care. Yeah, I have a bunch of 7th grade pot heads. I tell them all the time too what they are doing to thier lives, but that seems too far down the road to matter now.