Here we destroy again!

In a time where global conservation is a front-page issue, you would think that people who care about 'creation' would be foremost in wanting to keep our forests alive. This doesn't seem to be the case here in St.Thomas. In our city of dwindling natural trees and forest habitats, more forest is being torn down to accomidate another building.

Just north of town in a once wooded area, construction has now started to build a new church. Trees have been cut down, habitats have been destroyed and who knows how many animals have been evicted from their homes, all in the name of religon.

First of all, you would think that being a religious organization, they would want to keep God's creation intact. Now I understand that building and production is inevitable and forests and farmland are where we will have to move to next, but while we still have open, unused space in the city, why would you want to destroy what little forest we still have? Do you think that God would suggest tearing a hole in a natural forest over choosing an existing, non-forest lot? Churches should be in the forefront of enviromental rights arguments because we are destroying what God gave us, not adding to the disaster.

There are so many buildings in town that are empty and unused that would be a suitable space for a church. What it might come down to is a desire to make a building that would 'represent' the people who want to come to the organization. That is saying that they expect the people who want to come there to appreciate a large, new and probably very expensive building and couldn't see a use for an existing, not-so-exqusite building that could maybe save them money which they could help out a needful community. What kind of money would they save, not to mention the trees and forest, if they chose a building not normally percieved as a church. What could they spend this money on? Maybe helping the homeless? Assisting children in need? No, they'll just get that $500 per-square-foot marble for their walkway.

Take a walk downtown. Look in a few of the empty buildings and imagine a gathering of believers sitting there. It may not be an amplitheater with spotlights, pillars and stone fountains, but put the extra money to good use in our city and you'll get those pillars, marble walkways and stone fountains in heaven where no bulldozers exist.



Edit:::
This story was published a few weeks ago in the St.Thomas Times Journal. I surprisingly havn't gotten any calls or threats yet, but the year is still young...

Today's Links

More posts coming soon! Here's some links to keep everyone (mostly myself) occupied!

Heres a compilation of some of the year's weirdest news. It includes a story on a man who fights laws to freeze his parents so that he could revive them once medical knowledge could bring them back to life only to have his freezer fail...Another reports about a cartoonist who sketched a burglar as she was robbing his house infront of him...And watch for the one about "Jesus Loves Pornstars"...More here


Ok now the most amazing site ever! This site allows you to go in and view an animal and switch parts with other animals. Check it out and watch the morphing closely, its done so well. Switch Zoo

More to come!!!

Worship: The Next Step

Worship is a staple in most churches. As music, it has been used for centuries as a way to glorify God.
The normal worship scene consists of a band playing a number of songs a few times over and the congregation singing along.
But there is a new wave of worship leaders who are starting to experiment with the next phase of worship.

The original form of worship was not what you see thesedays. It was using the talents that God gave you in whatever way you could to glorify Him. Whether that was playing an instrument or using your mind to design something, as long as it was done for His glory, then that is considered praise.

The new evolution of worship is just that; using whatever talents God gave you to praise Him publicly. My ideal worship would be this: a worship band playing songs that come from the heart, not practiced and pre-chosen weeks before, leading the people and not playing for themselves. This all surrounded by people praising God in other ways: painting as they embrace the music, digital graphics done on a screen, perhapse a sculpter moulding a peice of clay into an abstract that portrays how he feels about the song.

Worship need originality, creativity and passion. Its coming to the next step.

Moments of silence

With Rememberance Day yesterday to honor the men and women who have fought for our freedom and current way of life, you would think that everyone would respect that day. A friend of mine was at a Tim Horton's in St.Thomas yesterday with his family, out for a morning coffee, when the staff at Timmies announced that there would be a few minutes of silence. With trumpet music playing in the background and all conversations and work stopped, the silence was broken after about 3 minuets with a customer in line who exclaimed out loud something like "this is stupid" and proceeded to walk out of the building.
I find that so conceeded. How pressed must you be to need a hit of coffee that you would disgrace the day and anyone who has fought and died to defend the defenceless? Is it that hard to be quiet and patient for a few minuets of your year to honor the day? I mean like who was dying in those few minutes in which you chose to tap your craving that you had to leave for and not keep your mouth shut.
It was tasteless and childish. I hope that the rest of this guy's life is filled with old coffee and spoiled doughnuts.

First story post

Writing has always been at the back of my mind for a way to get some of the thoughts out of my head before they eat my brain like a pig at an hawaiian feast. Of the various attempts at making words work, most of which found their way quickly to my trash can, I figured I'd post a more recient one that I am liking so far. Here is the beginning of it, the rest is on the link below. The story isn't done yet, still a work in progress...i'll post the rest when finished (if ever). Enjoy. Or hate.


FATE
from Latin fatum, literally, "what has been spoken"

by aaron robb

One often wonders how events somehow come together in such a fashion that they seem to be predestined. Hands of the so called "fates" drive our lives, sometimes erratically and sometimes they seem to group together certain people who have nothing in common but destiny. This certain grouping of fates starts with our journey with Matthew.

Matthew Jackson was a calm man. Friends recent and past will tell you that they had never seen him angered or overly worried. Some in college figured he was stoned most of the time due to his placid nature, but those who knew him really well knew that it was just his personality. This came in handy when he decided to become an arson inspector for an insurance company. Seeing burnt out buildings every day would be depressing enough, but to make things worse they sometimes come with a dead body. It just happens that the latest assignment was just that. An old factory in a small town had been burnt down in what looked like an accident, but it got bad when the body of a homeless man was found inside. The police said it was an electrical fire, but when Matthew and the local fire marshal looked it over, they ruled it arson. And this meant Matthew had to watch the medical examiner expect the body found to get any evidence to send back to his company.
Now on his way home, the 4 hour drive in the dark was not looking very pleasing. He just got off the phone with his wife, who now was in bed, and was missing his own soft pillow. His mind mulled over the case from earlier today, thinking what forms he needed to fill out in the morning and making mental notes of what he had to do. He was almost in a daze when his headlights caught the figure of a man on the side of the road. He barely had time to snap out of his daze and swerve his car back into his lane before he just missed clipping the hitchhiker. It took a few seconds of shock before his heart beat normal again. Then a few extra seconds until his humanity kicked in and he realized that the poor man back there was standing in the rain on a highway where he may be the last car for hours. He slowed his car down and pulled over. Throwing it into reverse he slowly backed along the shoulder until he glimpsed the figure in the distance. By now the hitchhiker had seen him reversing and started to walk his way. A handful of seconds later Matthew rolled down the passenger side window and looked and looked into the tired wet face, noticing that fate wore an army green coat and pants.


Lucas started his day like any other: woke up from a bad dream, looked around and realized that it wasn't a dream; he really was sleeping in an abandoned house on a bare mattress that was made 60 years ago. He had found the house a few days back after hitching a ride on the back of a farm truck out into the country. He had to get away from the city for a while; there were a few groups of people who were now looking for him, including the police due to a report or two of Lucas breaking and entering. He had never done anything to hurt anyone, but being homeless with no money he had to do a few things to keep himself alive, and that meant finding food however he could. Needless to say, he had decided it was best to lay low for a while and headed right out of town.


THE REST HERE

Come hither Robin Hood!

As attention spans get smaller and bigbox stores get larger, it has come to this writer’s attention that the world seems content to be separated by class and money. The wealthy are getting richer off of first world nations’ hunger for anything that makes life easier and more fun, while the poorer nations are only getting…well…poorer.
Its amazing how self-centered and cheap people are as we see in a recent study of church tithing (giving of money to the church). While the bible recommends giving upwards of 10% of what you make to the church, a meager 1.5% is actually given. Could you imagine the tens of millions that the church could be using to help the poor (if that is indeed what the ‘church’ did with the money)?
What if the 50 richest people in the world gave even 10% of what they made to the poor countries to aid with relief or just to get healthcare.
A modern-day Robin Hood character is what I am suggesting to relinquish this divide of rich and poor. We have tried asking for money (and some does come to the aid of those in need when you show photos of crying children with no shoes in mud huts). There have been celebrity charities and spokespeople (some of which have done amazing things, thank you Bono). But what the world needs now is a vigilante whose only goal is to take from the rich who spend money on frivolous things without thinking about the money, and get it to those who need it. Someone who works under the cover of night and secrecy, whose ambition it is to not have the glamour of being in the spotlight for doing these deeds but who does it for the glory of those in need. There are so many Prince John’s in the world today, although some take the form of entertainers or tycoons, and who aren’t evil animals (see the children’s cartoon for reference on evil animals), but still they ‘hoard’ and ‘tax’ without giving back.
Where is our arrow-shooting, law-evading hero? Has our society become so registrated and policed that there is no hope for people who will do what is right and take from the rich? Why doesn’t the world care about the people dying every day from hunger and lack of healthcare?
It is because society thinks that there are ‘other people’ helping and that they don’t need to because of those good Samaritans. Ignorance is a great inhibitor of feelings and thoughts, especially if it is something that you only see on TV, where fact and fiction get so jumbled up that the subconscious mind has a problem deciphering.
I say let the Robin Hoods come! Lets start a revolution where having too much money doesn’t give you the leisure of being ignorant. You don’t need that extra Porsche, or that fifty thousand foot addition onto your second guesthouse. Beware those who are wealthy and don’t help humanity! Keep your silver pouches in eyesight, for you never know when a hero will come out of the forest’s shadows to snatch it from your carriage!

Give me my floating city!

Is it so hard to find a job where you get to express your mind to the fullest extent? Everthing seems to want limits, yet the mind is limitless.
"Yes, be creative on this project....but stay within this color scheme"
There are so many ideas out there that could have surfaced if not for limits set forth by society.
Who knows how many floating cities we would have by now if it was allowed to think that way. But we are told that cities cannot be built in the sky and people believe that. This is why you shouldn't listen to people deemed "smarter" than you (like teachers?) if they tell you something isn't possible. All things as possible. THe problem is that many of our society have had their minds shrouded by others into not believing the "impossible".
So i say, express your mind, create that city, use red and yellow together!

Thats all.

The Need to Create

Do you ever feel like you're just not getting something out of your head right or you know that there's something you should be doing but arn't doing it? I get to that point alot. There are so many creative thoughts floating around my head that I can't get out that it's frusterating. I feel at the verge of something great, but don't know what it is. Its just at the back of my mind, trying to push forward but can't seem to get the momentum. You see other people creating things that are good, but you know you can do one better than that, yet it doesn't come out. I'm calling this the 'delayed-idea syndrum'. I'm hoping its curable with just an increase in creativity, or possible a good shot to the head...i'm going for the first of those tho out of self-protection.

Now i'd think of a smooth way to sign off, but that would just show some creativity...so that won't happen right now...haha

Later

Aaron
Eternal Studios Photographer