Establishing Infrastructure in Iraq

As a digital map maker I enjoyed reading the following article. Geospatial referencing is such a big infrastructure enhancement allowing everything from aircraft approaches at airports to designing a transportation network. We don't hear enough good news about what the coalition military forces do in Iraq. Here's a good article from The American Surveyor on how the military is working together with the Iraqi government to set up the Iraqi Geospatial Reference System . Link. The article specifically mentions US, Italian, and British military troops working together with each other and the Iraqi government to enable a geospatial reference system for the Iraqis.

This Week at The Gate: Jan 29

Brothers and Sisters, We have another great week planned this week at The Gate.

I hope you all had an inspired time at Bible Study tonight. I am very excited that we have so many young men and women attending the Monday Night Bible Study. I know God is working in marvelous ways in your lives and knowing how His plan works in our lives is the biggest part of studying the Word of God.

Wednesday Feb 2:

Thursday Night Alive! at 7:30 at The Gate. We have another dynamic McKendree graduate who is in the full-time ministry sharing with us at Thursday Night Alive! Danny Walls graduated from McKendree in 2003 and is the Associate Pastor to Students at FBC O'Fallon. He does great work with the Jr High and High School kids and is deeply involved in mentoring and leadership development of FBC O'Fallon's collegiate students. The Lord has has been speaking to Danny's heart and I can hardly wait to hear what he has to say. Plus he is a real good drummer! Snacks and drinks will be provided.

The Gate is located at 225 N. Monroe St, Lebanon, Illinois, 62254. Here is a link to a Yahoo Map of the Gate's location. Link.

I am looking forward to seeing each of you on Thursday.

God bless you all.

Work Day at The Gate: Jan 16

On Martin Luther King Day the Lord blessed us with an unusual 70 degree day, so we held a work day at The Gate. Here's some pictures from the projects we did that day. Everything looks so much better!

Thursday Night Worship at The Gate: Jan 19

Thursday night was the kickoff for the Spring semester at the McKendree College Baptist Collegiate Ministry, also known as The Gate. One of my plans this semester is to have a worship service every other week where McKendree graduates who are serving in the ministry come back and speak to current students about how they can make a difference in people's lives. Kind of a "I was in your shoes a short time ago and understand what you are going through and you can make a difference sooner than you think." Our first guest speaker was Noah Oldham, a 2004 McKendree graduate who is a charter member of The Gate and out first student Bible study ledader.

Thanks Noah for helping us kick off our new semester at The Gate. Noah is currently a Pastor at Little Chapel in Harrisburg, Illinois. Noah is incredibly bold in his faith and the Lord has really used Noah to work on the hearts all who meet him.

Music was led by Mike Cheeseman and we definitely felt the presence of the Holy Spirit during the entire evening.

We had about 30 students show up for our kickoff service and we are looking forward to what the Lord wants to do with us this semester.

We will have Danny Walls, a Youth Minister at First Baptist Church of O'Fallon, Illinois with us on February 2. Danny is a 2003 McKendree graduate. There is nothing so satisfying in my couple of years running The Gate than to see young, dynamic Christians make a commitment to the ministry. Praise God.

I bought a new digital camera for our annivesary and promise to post many more pictures this year. These are from Thursday.

Human Ears Evolved From Ancient Fish Gills!

Here's the link to a Yahoo news article. Link.

Just another ridiculous claim that the evolutionists are making that shows me how desperate they are to tie anything that sounds like scientific research to evolution. I don't see much scientific proof in this article.

A Sudden Ending To A Great Life

I received an E-Mail from an old Elementary School, Junior High, and High School friend named Jim this morning. He was also back home in Los Angeles for New Year's Day. He left on Friday to go back to Michigan and after his 76 year old Mom dropped him off at the Burbank Airport her car was hit my the Metro Train on her way home and she was killed. The accident was reported here. Link.

I feel so sorry for Jim. I had lots of great memories of his family helping out with Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and school events.

God please comfort them in their time of need.

Final College Football Thoughts for 2005

It was a good round of College Football Bowl Games for me. Here's how my teams fared:

Nebraska beat Michigan 42-38
UCLA beat Northwestern 50-38
Texas beat USC 41-38 in the BCS Championship Game. I am not a big Texas fan, but I am a UCLA alum, so I cheer on whoever plays USC.

I came in second in Rob's College Football Bowl Mania group on ESPN.

Nebraska ended up ranked in the top 25 for the first time in over 2 years. They finished out at #24 in both polls. Link.

UCLA ended up ranked #13 in the USA Today Poll and #16 in the AP Poll.

I look forward to an even better year in college football next year. Nebraska looks like an up and coming program again and USC looks like they will lose the heart of their program to the NFL.