Category Archives: Life

Correction

Posted on by benfraley
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Yeah… maybe… not sure I want to…

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’  The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Matthew 18:21-35

OK, good point… not sure I’m there yet…

“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?”

Matthew 9:5

…

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Mark 11:25

Forgot about that one…

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Colossians 3:12-14

Hard to argue that when I’ve been forgiven so much. OK then…

…

…

…

(deep breath)

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Reflections, Regrets, Rhymes and Reasons

Posted on by benfraley
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This song really got to me today:

It’s an old John Denver song. I must have heard it at least 1,000,000 times over the course of my life, as my dad is a huge John Denver fan, and I’ve enjoyed his music immensely as well.  I’m not sure of the exact circumstances of his writing it (he said that he wrote it in the shower), but I like to imagine that it’s his imagined (or maybe inspired, who knows) response from God after praying about some bad things that had been going on in his life,  his struggles with his faith, and questioning God’s plan for his life. Here’s the lyrics to the first half of the song:

So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that you’ve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend

And you wonder where were going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason
And its you who cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day

Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
Theyre a promise of the future
And a blessing for today

About a year ago, I had some really bad things happen to me and my family.  Not all job-loss-related, looking back that was a blessing, though at the time it was difficult.  There were other, bigger, things that happened.  The details of which aren’t that important.  The real tragedy of the situation was my response to all of it happening.  All of the things happening at once left me feeling betrayed, bitter, angry, and other negative emotions. And, up until recently, I wasn’t dealing with the problem.  Instead, I reveled in my bitterness, and let the wounds fester. I struggled with my faith when I should have let God in. I withdrew myself from those who cared about me.  So, when I was listening to this song this afternoon, I really felt like it was speaking to me.  I felt as though I had prayed a lot of prayers questioning God’s plan for my life and why certain things worked out the way they did.

Recently though, I’ve been taking steps to reduce and eliminate my bitterness, and be more open about things. In retrospect, this should have come sooner. Much sooner.  The bitterness and anger I felt only hurt myself and my relationships with others.

So, hopefully this can be a cautionary tale for someone. Don’t let your wounds infect the rest of your body. Seek healing. Don’t be bitter. Seek wisdom.

The last part of the song really helped lead me in the right direction:

And its you who cannot accept (it’s always me that changes, never God)
It is here we must begin (like, right now!)
To seek the wisdom of the children (what’s great about my daughter is that she trusts her father. How much more we can and should trust our Heavenly Father!)
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind (God takes care of the flowers, He’ll take care of you)

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WoW Bible Study Night

Posted on by benfraley
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This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the Unite...
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I’m big into WoW at the moment, really enjoying raiding and such.  Really enjoy my guild mates.  I’m in a Christian guild called “Narrow Path” (based on Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter though it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find it.”), which raids, helps other guildies, and has generally good conversation in game.

However, last night was the first night I spent on a program called “Ventrilo” (“vent” for short).  What it is is a program for voice chatting over the internet. WoW players typically use the for coordinating raids and other events where typing instructions would be too much of a hassle, or just want to chat with their friends while raiding.  Our guild also uses it to hold a Bible study on Monday nights.  That was what got me hooked.  I hadn’t used it before simply b/c I wasn’t that into raiding, plus I didn’t really know anyone that well yet.  But my desire to have some Bible study time after my daughter went to bed sealed the deal for me.  Downloaded the program, and after a few minutes of playing with the settings, I was on listening to one of my guildmates talk about God‘s provision for us, how Satan attacks us, etc.  And I’ve gotta say, I really got a lot out of it.  Not just from listening to the lesson, but from hearing others share about things going on in their lives and the struggles that they have.  I didn’t have my microphone connected, but I wish I had. Next time I probably will.  But I’m really intrigued over this method of holding a Bible study.  I would have never thought something like this would do so well, but it did, and I’m glad.  More on this later :)

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A Great Day

Posted on by benfraley
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Welcoming Warm
Image by Joel Olives via Flickr

Good days seem to sneak up on me lately!  A lot of good things happened today, and I’m excited about all of them!  Let’s see, I’ll put them in ascending order (least important first ;) )

1.)  So, I’m moderating a friend’s blog today who is a missionary in Peru, along with his wife (www.thechadwickchronicles.com), and I think to myself, “I wonder how much traffic this site is getting.”  Log into Google Analytics, and they’re getting about 20-40 visitors a day.  Pretty good!  But then I notice my own traffic is up over 700%!!!  What the cause, you may ask? Well, I look at the source, and it’s from my favorite World of Warcraft Hunter blog, BigRedKitty.net!  At first I thought it was from a comment I posted there, and since BRK gets a lot of traffic, I’m just getting a little bit off of that.  But no!  BRK put a link to my little ol’ site on his site!  Rock!  (Note to self:  Post more about your hunter!)  So, if your interested, here’s my current hunter, of which I enjoy so much: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Thunderhorn&n=Redbeered I’ll be posting some of my thoughts about character builds and the new patch notes in the next couple days.  UPDATE!!! I just found out shortly after posting this that the missionary family in Peru that I wrote about in this post just had a daughter!  What a great day!

2.)  (Remember, ascending order, this is more important.  Stay with me ;) )  A good friend of mine and his wife had a baby today!  A reason for rejoicing on any occaision, but this is pretty miraculous, IMO.  When this couple first got married, the wife was diagnosed soon after with non-hodgkins lymphoma, and soon after went into chemotherapy.  After a lot of prayer nights, sickness, and all that is involved with being on chemo, she was finally declared cancer free!  So, thinking that the cancer had ruined their chances of getting pregnant, they decided to adopt, which worked out really well for them (didn’t have to wait too long).  This was probably a year and a half ago.  So, imagine their amazement when the doc told her she was pregnant 9 months ago!  Truly a miracle, and I couldn’t be happier for them!

3.)  Last but not least, and most important.  I’ll give you some backstory on this as well, otherwise this will make less sense than I’m already not making. :)  About 3-4 months ago, my wife and I stepped down from a ministry leadership position at our church.  We had been at it for about two years, and the 4-5 months before we stepped down had really worn us down for a multitude of reasons.

So today, I’m sitting at my desk, and my wife gives me a call.  Very excited, she tells me that one of the members from our previous small group decided to get baptized and dedicated his life to the Lord!  I was shocked!  At the time, I didn’t know what to say really!  But the more I thought about it, the more I really thought that God was at work in our small group, even while my wife and I were being lead to other opportunities.  To me, this was a real testament to the power of God, b/c at the time I really felt I wasn’t doing a good job of leading our small group in prayer, Bible study, etc.  So I know it wasn’t me that had any impact, but rather that God did it all!

So, all in all, an exciting day.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

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What I’m Up To

Posted on by benfraley
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I haven’t posted in awhile, and that’s not right.  A lot has been going on, so it’s time to share! :)

My job at AT&T is going well.  It’s a lot different than what I was expecting.  Going from a small business to a large business has definitely been an eye-opening experience.  Working with a large team on a single project has really been awesome, and has helped me learn a lot about coding methods and review.  I was so used to kind of doing everything on my own!  Kind of a system shock!

Working in the city has also been an exciting experience.  I wasn’t really looking forward to it. A long drive in, along with cold weather (which I hate), made me really dread having to take the train in.  I’m really glad a good friend of mine, who lives two blocks away, works right next door!  We’ve been driving in each day, which really helps our expenses.  What a blessing!

I’ve also been playing some World of Warcraft in my spare time.  I really enjoy it!  I’ve found a Christian guild to play along with, and they’re a really great bunch of people (“Narrow Path” on Thunderhorn server, if you’re interested :) )  I have a lvl 63 mage named “Mustachio” (because of his extraordinary mustache), and it’s really a fun time.  Ok, here’s where I’ll get really nerdy :)  He’s a frost mage, specced especially for AoE grinding, which is a blast.   It’s awesome to take down 12 or more monsters in the time it takes the lesser classes (lol) to take down one.  Couldn’t enjoy it more I don’t think!  Here’s the spec tree I’m going for, of which I’ve filled out the entire frost side so far, and am working my way down the fire side:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?tal=00000000000000000000000000000023012303100230010000000000003033033313233100032120231050

I’m thinking of not taking “Chilled to the Bone” and taking more fire talents, but we will see.  I think it will be a great AoE spec.

Anyhow, that’s what I’m up to!  Enjoy!

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AT&T: My Job. Delivered!

Posted on by benfraley
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AT&T Mobility LLC

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My unexpected job search is over!  I’ve landed at AT&T in Chicago, and I couldn’t be happier!  I’ll be doing PHP, Javascript, AJAX, HTML and the likes there, along with a few other things, and then learning a few more tricks! I can’t wait!  I hope to be starting between December 1 and December 8, I have to pass a drug test and a background check (no problems there).  I’m really happy with how things turned out.  Although I was sad to not have a job for 3 weeks, I was glad to move on.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, well-wishing, and encouragement!  It really helped the wife and me through this rough time!

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World of Warcraft Update: +2 Geek Points

Posted on by benfraley
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I’ve really been enjoying WoW lately (probably too much) so I thought I’d update on my progress, of which I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for with baited breathe :)

So, I’m a level 50 hunter now, which is still 30 levels away from maxing out my leveling.  I just love the hunter.  I can take on 3-5 monsters at a time with my awesome gorilla (pictured below), and do very well in PVP as well.  I’ve specced in marksmanship (which is a talent tree, go look it up on www.worldofwarcraft.com :)) after a brief stint with beast mastery.  I feel that marksmanship makes me and my pet a lot more efficient,  while not making me too dependent on my pet for my awesomeness.  The “Go for the Throat” ability really lets my pet shine, and all the other talents in the tree just give you more and more pwnage.  Still gotta figure out how to use “Volley” properly (an area-effect damage spell), so far just using it again groups of mobs, I think I should be using it against single targets as well.  Who knows.

Last night was particularly fun, as there was a world event in Stormwind (one of the capital cities) where a huge undead force attacked part of the town, and we had to defend it.  This was all in preparation for the latest expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, which should be out today or tomorrow methinks.  I’ve taken some pictures, hope you enjoy! More to come.

As for my job search, it’s going well, but I don’t want to get too much into the details.

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