Father's Day - June 21, 2009

Pastor Stewart asked me to speak in our church along with 2 other men in honor of Father's Day. It went well. Deacon Lamar Gaines and Brother Keith Warren Gaines did awesome. I've put a transcript approximating my remarks from that day. The text in "[]" was something I thought I was going to say but during the time I was delivering this, I thought that it was too far a digression but I included it today. The pictures are of my family.


Fatherhood is a gift from God. Plain and simple. It’s one of the best gifts that I have ever received and perhaps the most daunting. When I think of what being a father is I feel blessed and grateful because God did not have to give me Makayla or Matthias. I think of how I get to be a link in a chain that stretches back to the beginning of the human race. I get to pass on the things God wants us to know to a new generation as it was passed to me.

My own father is a good example for me. He showed me much about how important it is to provide for the family God has given you charge over. And although he always taught me that education was important, he himself modeled that the most important things you can learn are about God. God makes life worthwhile. I never have seen my daddy reading many things, but I have always seen him read and study the Bible as if life depends on him knowing as much about God as possible because it does. He instituted the policy in his household thst we all go to Sunday School every Sunday and he was always at YPWW and any other service he could go to. In addition every opportunity I have had came from God, through the sacrifices of my parents. These are the legacies that I have obtained from my father that I owe to Makayla and Mathias to pass on to them as I have received. I believe that this is the responsibility of every parent to their children (ie the children God has put in their lives.)

I’ve recently heard a lecture from a psychologist who studied famous atheist and found out they all had poor relationships with their fathers. He concluded that a bad human father makes it difficult (not impossible) to accept God as Father. Hearing this made me even more grateful for my father. It also challenged me because the last thing I want to do is to be a stumbling block to Makayla and Matthias to come to God.

There are a lot of scriptures about being a father. The Bible even gives examples of what not to do. For example when you have time check out Jephthah from Judges Chapter 11. Although Issac and Jacob were not horrible fathers, they still showed favoritism. That is also as fathers we must avoid. God doesn’t do it. We should not either. [As a freebee, at the risk of digressing too much, I’ve got to point out that election spoken of in Romans 9 and the way that God selects us in Ephesians 1: 4-6 says

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

I love it…for this is the gospel in a nutshell. Again this is what I want to make sure our children (and all of us) get.

The passage does not mean that God shows favoritism because “chose” which in the Greek is “eklegomai” means “chosen/pick out of a group” and carries the thought that what is selected is “picked without rejecting that which was not picked”. God picked you for Himself without rejecting anyone else. Just like when I choose to give Makayla a birthday gift in August, it does not mean that I’m rejecting Matthias if I don’t give him the same gift. I’m going to have press this point further at a different time.

Back to topic:] I want to focus on the scriptures that come to mind first about fatherhood.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets – Matthew 7:7-11

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. – Ephesians 6:4

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Pslam 17:3-5

These are just snippets of what the Bible teaches about fatherhood. Fathers are important to God and He is holding us accountable for the families He has graced us with. He wants us to call him “Daddy” and have that kind of right relationship with Him. This is why Jesus came and died. Remember Pastor Stewart’s message reminding us to remember we are children of God and admonishing us to remind one another?

I want to end with Romans 8: 14-16 which says:

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

Are You Smarter Than A Two Year Old?

Trust me, I was not doing this when I was two.

Vote for Makayla!

Vote for Makayla at the following website!

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index_e.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=1184881&x=.jpg

Thanks!

Makayla Dancing in the Car 2008

I have definitely realized that children really watch everything we do. A few month ago, Makayla, was allowed to sit in the front seat of the car while we were parked. She is never allowed to be there alone. I wanted to see what she would do. Well, at first she did what she sees me do. Then she stood up and danced.

Makayla Dancing At Home

Here is a video of my daughter Makayla dancing to one of her favorite songs. Funny thing is how I found out about how she liked that song. One Saturday, we were watching a bunch of DVDs. Then I happen to put the movie Sicko into the DVD player and this song was playing during the main menu! Makayla would not let me change it. She cried and through a fit if I picked up the remote. "No, Daddy, I want to dance!" is all she would say. So, I relented and let her dance. Funny thing is, I still haven't seen Sicko. Looks like I'll have to watch it when she sleeps. Not that I can't make her obey, just not worth the fight, especially given the way she light ups when she dances.

Juneteenth 2008

I just found this on the internet. I took my family to the Juneteenth celebration last year. While we were there, Makayla was dancing to the music and a few people noticed, including a photographer from the Vallejo Times-Herald. He interviewed Mitsouky and I briefly and took Makayla's picture. I thought that they were going to run it in the newspaper, but instead they posted it on their website coverage of the event. Makayla had a great time! Here is the link: http://extras.timesheraldonline.com/galleries/2008/062208a/pages/Juneteenth%2002.html

Valentine's Day 2009 Post

Well instead of multiple posts today I thought I would write a single post containing what I would like to say today. We are only about 6 weeks into 2009, but there has been so much going on.

The first thing I would like to write about today is that I thank God to see my 34th Birthday today. I'm very grateful. I still remember seeing the statistic when I was 17 in high school that said that I had a better chance to be dead or incarcerated by 25 being a black male in Oakland,CA than earn a degree from University of California. God said "No." At age 34, I have 3 college degrees, two of them from the University of California, Berkeley. I have a beautiful wife, Mitsouky, and wonderful daughter, Makayla, and a son, Mathias on the way. There is much to thank God for. I have a picture of picture of us at the top left and a picture of Makayla on the top on the right.

All that being said 4 things have happened in the news that deserve comment.
One of those is that there was a devastating fire in Australia. We need to pray for them. I have never heard of anything so horrendous ever in my lifetime. I mean we have forest fires in California all the time, but I have never seen anything like it.



Next, I have read an interesting article called The Elephant in Room: Intimidating the Critics of Islam. It makes some very interesting points. It turns out that -

last month's story about a Dutch court's ruling that Geert Wilders [pictured on the right] was "inciting hatred and discrimination" - and that "it is in the public interest to prosecute" him - understandably didn't make the American news.

I was amazed when I read the reason why:

...he's a member of the Dutch parliament, and his precise villainy was releasing a 15-minute film. Entitled Fitna, it suggests a direct link between certain verses of the Koran and acts of terrorism.

Not to be outdone, the United Kingdom this week banned Wilders from entering the country. Its reasoning: His "presence in the U.K. would pose a genuine, present, and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." A letter from the home secretary went on to tell Wilders that "your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security."

I was floored. I think one characteristic of a cult is that a cult discourages scrutiny and investigations of the claims the organization makes. I'm not insinuating that all Muslims do that. In fact some so-called Christians do the same. If you can't explain what you believe and why you believe it, I think you need to re-think your claims. We are seeing in European countries such as the Netherlands and in England a fear of any criticism of Islam being seen as racism or persecution of the people who practice it. In trying to protect them from persecution, these governments are curtailing the freedoms of Christians. Christianity says many different things completely opposite from what Islam says. By saying that Christians cannot say things opposite to what Islam says or for Christianity to raise objections to Islam is effect silencing Christians. Why should we care in America? Simple. Some people are trying to do the same thing here. Christianity is open to investigation and invites scrutiny by anyone. Ask whatever you want. It's been 2000 years, there is no way anyone can raise an objection or ask a question that there is not an answer. Some well-meaning Christians and some not-so-well-meaning "Christians" have said that asking questions show a lack of faith. I disagree. More importantly, God disagrees. Christians believe that the Bible was written under God's inspiration. Therefore we must accept that the following came from God in 1 Peter 3:15-16:

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

We are obligated and mandated to provide a reasonable defense for the faith which we have pledged our lives.

And now for the last thing. Today, I saw an article on AOL.com that reports that a 13 year-old boy in Britian has become a father to a baby, and the mother is 15. The article talks about the boy not knowing what "financial" means when he was asked how he was going to financially support the baby. Apparently, teenaged pregnancy is just as big a deal in Britian as it is here. It seems like the decision to help the situation there is to start offering basic sex eductaion to kindergarteners. As the father of a two year-old girl, I don't want that here. I'm amazed that there are boys at the age of 12 and 13 are even considering sex. When I was that age I did not know what sex is and at two, I really don't want my daughter to be thinking about it either. I think education is important and needed. The question is what should be taught? I have never seen an educational program for sex education that was Biblically based (meaning teach what the Bible teaches about sex, not what it teaches about salvation) being tried in public schools. I think that would work to change our whole society for the better.

Here are two video. It can be found in the following article.

Family Portraits 12-13-2008

My wife and I took Makayla out to make family portraits. I thought I would post them below. I love the technology that allows you to post your pictures in a virtual gallery. You may have to download the latest plugins for your browser to see this but it's cool to see.

Our Son

Well, God is blessing my wife and I with a new bouncing baby boy! It was confirmed yesterday when Mitsouky took her ultrasound. I thought I would share his first pictures! I would have done the same with my daughter's ultrasounds but I did not have a blog then. So permit me this indulgence. I thank God so much. I only desire that my children love God and dedicate their lives to His service. Name? Oh, his name will be Matthias Ezekiel McElhaney. Here is a little special way to show his first pictures.

Regime Change

I have decided that single blog does not fit all my interests. I have decided to split things up a bit so that I can better structure my thoughts. This will continue to be my main blog, containing news, articles, videos, movie and television reviews, and such that I find interesting. However because I come across widgets and gadgets I like, as well as graphical user interface stuff I wanna test and new technologies , I will be posting those in a separate blog called: Favorite Gadgets. And thing like fictional character art and profiles, my Mugen and video game projects, and articles will be in my blog called: Favorite Fiction. (Which doesn't have anything on it yet. I may move articles from the Main blog, but I haven't decided yet.) Thanks for your support and reading my blog!

Today is a big day

Today, August 20, 2008. is my fourth wedding anniversary. I thank God daily for the gift he has so graciously bestowed upon me - my wife. Mitsouky is so wonderful in so many different ways. She has an outgoing personality. She lights up a room with her charm. She is so very intelligent. God blesses her to accomplish whatever He puts in her. She has wonderful people skills and does her best work in the center of attention without being arrogant or prideful. On top of that she is beautiful - inside and out; physically and mentally. On top of all of that she is a powerful partner and helpmate. I have no idea what I would do without her. She has also blossomed as a mother. Our daughter is blessed to have her as a mother. I love her sense of humor and her abilities to sing and dance. Mitsouky brings the party with her where ever she goes. She loves music and has talents that allow her to explore musical genres.

The Bible says that

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22 (KJV)

Mitsouky is my good thing. I love that scripture. It reminds me that no matter what my wife is a gift from God and He gave her to me to show me His favor. Favor is undeserved on my part, meaning it was because of his mercy and goodness not because of anything I have said or done. I thank Mitsouky for choosing to give me the love God has put inside of her for me and for accepting the love God has put inside me for her.

Not that there aren't problems or issues. Not that sometimes neither one of us knows what to do or how to do. But with the help of God we stick to one another, loving and caring for each other's needs and desires just as much as we care about our own individual needs and desire.

The only downside to having an anniversary in the middle of a week is that we can't celebrate that day. So we'll be celebrating this weekend.

The True Meaning of Ambidexterous

I found the picture on the left on the internet and I know it perfectly captures what the word Ambidexterous means to me!

Hybrid Conspiracy?

Yesterday, I had a disturbing thought - a questions really. It's only disturbing because I did not know what answer is. I was gazing at a hybrid vehicle and I wondered at the fuel cell. How do you dispose of the battery? Can you just throw it away when it is no longer being used? Does it get recycled? Is it toxic like nuclear waste? I mean you can't just can't throw away an alkyline battery without polluting the environment. Could the batteries that power our cars be worse? More disturbing to me, why isn't anyone in the media talking about it? Could some people be hiding dangers in order to make more money.
The good news is that there are answers. I read a couple of articles online and found out that Honda, Toyota, and Ford all claim that their batteries last for the life of the car (160,000 miles). And that the batteries are not rechargeable nickel cadmium (which are toxic to life) but NiMH batteries that can be recycled. The problem is that I only found references to Toyota having a comprehensive recycling program and no comment from Ford or Honda. I'm not saying that they don't have one but that I didn't find anything. So according to the articles I read, I guess there is no concern. I might write later about this. I want know why the media is not talking about any of this.

Here are the articles I found:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/should_we_be_wo_1.php#ch02
http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html

Things I wish I had said! (Part 1)

I heard this quote on GodTube the other day:

"'Ignorance' can be fixed, but 'stupid' is forever!"

I think it is very interesting and so very true.

Jesus said many great things. Wonderful things that we need to live by....everything we know that he said. The Bible does not record everything he said and did...but everything that it does record we must obey and adhere to. When I try to pick just one thing he said this one comes to mind first:

"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:47,48

I think it resounds within me because its the creed that Spider-man lives by, first stated in his first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15:

"With great power comes great responsibility"

Introduction

07-10-08

Well, the year is half over. It's going by so fast!!! Opps! I'm digressing right from the start, aren't I?! Ok...Ok...here goes.

Here is some information about me. I am 33 years old. Blessed to be married to a beautiful woman (left), and to be a daddy of a little girl (right). I am an engineer and have a variety of interests.


Let me start at why I am finally starting a blog. Let me enumerate them:

1. Google has made it a simple 3 step process and made the service easily customizable
2. Google's blogger tool can be hosted by them or from a normal web site
3. There are a lot of writing I will need to do and things to be able to say.
4. I can communicate with pictures, text, and video about things that interest me that I want to share.
   
5. Doing my own means that I can help others set up theirs.
6. It's free

This blog will blog will be divided into several categories:

• General - announcements and miscellaneous thoughts that I can't put into any category
• Family - stuff about family
  
• Church - I am active in my church, things dealing with church issues will go into this category
  
• Theology - Bible study subjects, videos, and articles dealing with apologetics and religion
• Movies - I love cinema and this will be used to discuss the art form
• Comic Books - comments on the industry, characters and such
  
• Television - shows that I like
  
• 'Technology - Computers, science, engineering
• Video Games - I have played video games my whole life and this will encompass the industry, software, and hardware
• MUGEN - a hobby of mine that is a customizable video game engine.

I'm sure that I will be making more categories as time goes on but this will be it for now.