Fool's Gold Versus That Which Is Pure And Priceless

May you be blessed. It seems that a few of this author's last posts might have alienated some his readership, since the number of track-able views dropped by eighty-percent; however, they are now about twenty-percent over what they originally were.

But, during this author's life, living in region a world were the quest for wealth supercedes that of a search and longing for righteousness, he has often asked for fool's gold in short-sighted and silly supplications of a Supreme Benevolence.

While, not readily acceptable some, this author's wisest memorable moment, when offered money, was as a child who could speak, but would crawl at times. The author's father asked him, if he wanted one United States dollar. He replied "No", and said that he did not need anything. He said, "You could buy an apple or some candy." Without mentioning the spiritual themes in this statement, this is a sign of fundamental wisdom. Yet, it came from a child.

As a young teenager of about thirteen, on one summer's day, the author lay on his bed one evening and prayed that he would met a charming and pretty female friend. And, asked the Lord that he show him who she be, by making her eyes sparkle. The next day, while running with the regular neighborhood entourage, he came across a family in house which was usually vacant.They used it as summer house. It was a large goldenrod tri-level and, likely, one of the largest homes in the neighborhood. And, as he entered the driveway, he saw a young female, his age, with sparkling eyes!

We entered the garage, and an irregular chunk of pyrite set on a workbench near the door entering the house. Being incredibly silly, which is an enduring trait of his, he grab the "gold" and ran for the mailbox, which had a hinged door. He said, "Let's hide it". The United States postal service arrived. "Oh, my goodness! He will get it." Then, the author ran and grabbed that the ore from the box, before the postman reached therein. He ran with it and placed it back in the garage. Here he set it, and said., "Well, it is only fool's gold." The young girl was simply giggling all along.

Then, he and the entourage with which he ran left. In retrospect, he learned a powerful lesson. This home and a few other such homes in the neighborhood were places where illicit activity occurred and was photographed. As, he grew older and saw time pass; he saw the gradual destruction or drastic remodeling of these properties.

This only became known, when he grew older and entered places where angels dare tread. Yet, he rather thankful that the Lord him away from the eminent danger that looked like an answered prayer. In retrospect, something was simply spiritually unsettling about that moment, when he saw her.

The same was quite true of other prayers which have been answered. As the author looks back and thinks things over, he sees that many answered prayers were simply tests of his heart. Is this what your heart desires?  Do you know its flaws and imperfections? Will having it cost you more than you dare give? Will it ultimately cost you your life? In the end of your days, will you say that it was worth it? Was it worth more than Me or, at least, the joy of searching for Me?

Life near fifty looks different, than at ten, twenty, thirty, or, even, forty. A few weeks ago, the author drove passed, a person who resembled an classmate, and mostly, was one her near-kin based upon her appearance. The grin and look on her face gave her position way. She drove her Toyota Highlander, with a sense of pride and accomplishment. And, as the author passed in his blue, clownish Dently with missing molding on the driver' side door and short-yellow sport-stripe from a post in parking lot, he stopped and paused, wondering was a "Blue-S" decal on the front-fender. We all realize dreams in different ways.

The quest, on which we are all, is a journey which ends with one immersed in a world of charity. Charity based upon its original meaning is "love", not a lustful erotic love, but a long-suffering one which nurtures, nourishes, and protects. The word charity often connotes alms, but its denotation is something entirely different.

Gaining a reputation for a reasonable level of brightness, plus being woolly-head, in a country where some descendant of slaveholders feel that the production-wealth of certain classes of citizens simply is a genetic manifest destiny and a inalienable birthright. Unfortunately, many whom are the descendant of slaves and, quite possibly, a few slave-holding family lines mimic this senseless behavior. A devilish deportment whose end is the ultimate destruction and deterioration of region of the world whose perceived wealth draws those from the ends of the Earth, searching for opportunity,  unparalleled freedom, and comforts. The resulting reality of such a wretched search for luchre lets lascivious lusts for that which provides pleasure, whether ultimately punctuated with puissant, punitive pangs, reign.

During the author's life, he has seen numerous of his mentions of this, that, or the other enter the international marketplace. His papers, which were not of exceptional quality, yet above the norm, have become trite in their circulation among high-school, college, and some graduate students. Dishonesty among man is incredibly common. It should not, at all, be surprising that this pernicious symptom would be quite prevalent when students are seeking a transcript packed with plentiful, plump, praiseworthy pen-strokes. And, do not get him started, on dreams, doodles, thoughts, lines, musing, and rough renderings of automobiles ripped from pages of various notebooks. Over, nearly half a century, visions have come and gone. Few fulfilled, as originally dreamed.

This is the nature of dishonesty. But, before the reader starts believing that this passage is about the author's exploits, let him say, " His Word be true and every man a liar!" It says that, "a man will be dishonest for naught more than a slice of bread". Now, whether the author lies, in search of something which he does nor deserve, or the men around him, during his lifetime, have the frailties outlined in scripture, and have borrowed, at on a few occasions given, "a thought" and developed it, if only, for their own benefit, is immaterial, based upon the premises of this message. It is all fool's gold!

For a color-free, transparent view of this region of the Earth, pause and ponder, the message of this urban poet, Lacrae. His crisp, compelling, and clear critique of this modern Mecca, America, can be found his song about todays' tenuous Timbuktu. This song's musical genre might be for all. Yet, this artist reaches many of the youth of this country with a message, whose goal is eliciting repentance and, ultimately, restoring faith. It is very "lukewarm" Christian message; yet, a vessel must simmer, before it boils and percolates.

But, a phenomenal price exists found funding the American economy with "fool's gold". For instance, while in a "Mathematics Challenge" class during fourth or fifth grade, our teacher taught some of the fundamentals of the highest common factor, prime numbers, and composites. She also shared, an example, of factoring with the Chinese remainder theorem, after the author asked if a "pencil and paper" procedure existed for factoring small composites. We had learned long-division. So, the author assumed that such an approach existed for factoring. This is the oldest example of a factoring approach, yet, it is not always reliable. Now, bear with this development of the theme. Let us tarry with this thought a while. The long and short of it, this question was posed among many well-trained mathematicians for span of a few years. A well-known mathematician,Karl Friedrich Gauss, stated this was the "hardest" problem facing the Western world during the sixteenth century. Great names, great reputations carry much weight. This problem was chosen as the underpinnings of the protocols securing modern electronic messages.

Solving this in the modern era might seem like a phenomenal feat. It is not. A few of the mathematics students within an enrichment course at the author's old high-school studied this problem. They all had varying insights. Some developed viable solutions. The author was not part of this course, yet spoke with those student's, at times. The "best-groomed" of the students, eventually graduated with a PhD in mathematics from the MIT. He said, while in high-school, he had a solution based on gradually walking along a special shape, until one finds the very bottom. The author had a differing insight which accelerates this process. Not that, this is a matter of competition or pride. Eventually, it should show the futility of this American chase for wealth and superiority. A draft of this thought was shared with one person, then, shelved.

The first day of college was a "traumatic nightmare", while studying at a place which most would expect could eventually produce a life of fulfilled dreams. Such is experienced by a rare few.

Disruption, after roadblock, after barrier, after hurdle, after interruption, and finally, a sophomore year arose nearly three years after. This was also in a "special" place. Learning of the first glimmers of mudsites and other services on the academic side of the old DARPA net. This fool, the author, drafted a short acronym in school notebook, WWW. The phrase World Wide web and e-commerce. A short musing resulted in the widespread use a simple phrase and old concept. How did occur. We are human network? We steal, lie, and cheat. If this phrase, still rested in the yellowing pages of old notebook. This passage would not seem laughable. If the author shared an acronym which was never used and relatively unknown, the mostly response, "Well, that is nice." But, most shared dreams are ignored, unless one sees the potential in them. Dreams are much like other humans. How this disseminated. Who knows; Who cares! It only brought about greater instability in modern computing. One can build an infrastructure quickly or well.

Remember the foreshadowing or mention of the mathematics protecting the network. Techniques were known for unraveling the rope which secured electronic communication. So, continued mentions of a WWW, and, eventually a American government decides that they will make it available for the world public. Mostly, so they can gauge the health of a World's public. This is might be the primary reported premise. Yet, how one uses the tools available in one's  profession shows the nature of one's heart. The author was a late-adopter, entering the web around late 1996.

Thoughts, intuitions, and events occurred. A sense arose that possible instabilities in the fabric of developed nations exist. It a was mentioned that a "read-only" network would be safest. But, silly struggles arising about who said, thought, or wrote this, that, or the other, first is the very life-blood of pathegeon eroding the foundation of the Western World.

In short, if a troupe of high-schools students, whom have a knack for mathematics, can see passed the mystery that factoring is. How, more so, could well-trained and formally-educated philosophers of the mathematic? Besides, most of the "old high-school gang" spent weekends which could be best described by a video profiling the Digital Underground. Or quite, possibly, anyone on the Earth who has read books on Algebra and Geometry and know some of the standard procedures of those subject.

This existence, which we live, is ever so fragile. The other day, it occurred, in a moment of ranting within my room, that only the Hand of The Creator is staying the rapid decay and ruin of developed nations. That mere fact that many software products run without a critical fault occurring at a time that results in disaster,is a miracle. That is His True Gold. This country realized a failure, in what, we assumed would never fail, when an interstate bridge crossing a major river collapse, and numerous men and women lost their lives.

The author owned a Dell notebook over a decade. This would likely be running this day after its third internal upgrade, yet, a regimen of ants on an old desk went on an reconnaissance mission within it. And, as that old Naval secretary, Grace Hopper, likely heard, one day while computing, the "fritz" heard, only in a valley of peace upon an old ash desk, fizzle within a fraction of a second. This let the author stop and realize that, if a spider can find its way among the jester, cook, and cup bearer, within a king's court. He can surely find himself on journey within the circuity controlling missile silos, if not in this country, possibly others. Of course, America is infallible. This is the kernel of the American Dream. While we arise at each day's dawning, whether in abundance or extreme want, it is solely, because, the Creator stays the just destruction drawn from the depths of human stupidity which build large towers of technology, wealth, and power for our aggrandizement and not His Glory. His Mercy and Long-Suffering, we shall never deserve. Yet, we, with each breath, exchange this Pure Gold. It is the currency of all of creation.

Could a web of dust form within an old silo, as currents of air-conditioning circulate and cool the liquid hydrogen filled tanks within missiles, so they do not rupture.? Mix in a little moisture for conducting electricity, and we have another zap! The Lord knows every turn of each and every lot. He can touch them and turn them at any juncture in this jaunt which we call life. Who commands the winds and waves? This includes in the depths of the Earth. Personally, we perish when we continually cross those barriers which scripture set; as a world community composed of smaller sub-communities, we collective fail each other and ourselves when we seek a gold which shall see the stains of tarnish and become pitted and patined.

In this life, we must seek a level pursuit of a gold which brings fleeting pleasure and one that brings His Gold.

Many Blessings. Enjoy Your Upcoming Week. Seek Wisdom In Scripture.

Ma'at

Value In All Men and The Lord's Law

May Your Week Be Blessed! While randomly reading scripture this morning, the author was led until he found Acts 10:01 - 11:18 (NIV). You can read these verse for yourselves by following the web-links. Yet, in those verses, we find more evidence that the Lord's view of whom might judge worthy of a life eternal extends beyond the scope of whom we might see as fit. Of course, most men would view themselves as being "acceptable in the Lord's sight", but we also quite commonly exclude others from being fully qualified for receiving His Grace or Mercy. This notion of we are "special" and those others are not "worthy" of our "specialness" is a highly seductive, albeit erroneous idea arising from the pride of life. It is the keystone in the arch of religious thought which says that we are excused from rebuke or retribution for our wrongs when others who lack our "specialness" must face the full fury of their sin's consequences. Please note verses:

[Act 10:28 KJV] 28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

[Act 11:18 KJV] 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

Also, it should be mentioned that Peter's vision while in a trance has often been used in teaching that all foods are acceptable for consumption by someone who follows New Testament scripture. This is not the case. Never forget the Sermon on the Mount and the verses in Matthew 5:17-20. All foods are not clean. The issue in this scripture was simply eating among non-Hebrews, Gentiles. This act, in of itself, was considered "unclean". It was quite likely that the Gentiles who received Peter were considerate of his Hebrew diet when he was offered a meal. It would be quite surprising if they offered him foods which Hebrews found unclean, seeing that they were looking for acceptance among the Hebrew Christians.

May The Lord Continually Smile Upon You.