Terry Pruitt's Blog

Some of the questions for this quiz I would have answered differently a few years back. Do I say Y'all? I'm not sure. I used to say "you'uns", a contraction for you ones. I don't say the "you guys" phrase. I'm undecided. I used to say pop and call all pop coke too. I used never say soda but now that is what I say. Your Linguistic Profile: 80% General American English 15% Dixie 5% Yankee 0% Midwestern 0% Upper Midwestern What Kind of American English Do You Speak? Hat Tip: Liquid Paper .

Playing Tag : "It's a game that's been going round the sphere. If you're tagged, then you play the game by answering on your blog. I've been tagged by Rebecca Writes . Here's the scoop on how to play: I pick 5 occupations out of the list below and complete the 'what if' statements . Then I'm supposed to tag 3 other people to post their answers on their blog, but I think I'll let you tell me you want to be tagged first. Then I'll tag you and post links to your answers when you're done. Okay? The 'questions': If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...If I could be a musician... If I could be a doctor... If I could be a painter... If I could be a gardener... If I could be a missionary... If I could be a chef... If I could be an architect... If I could be a linguist... If I could be a psychologist... If I could be a librarian... If I could be an athlete... If I could be a lawyer... If I could be an inn-keeper... If I could...

I once heard a lecturer say that English was made up at its heart three languages; Anglo-Saxon (A Germanic tongue), French (influence from William the Conquerer A.D. 1066), and Latin (from the church and scholars). She also mentioned that Celtic had been the language of England before the influence of the Anglo-Saxons and some “tie together words” had been brought into English. I assumed she meant words which tie sentences together, or nouns. But I was not sure which words she meant in particular. So I did a little research to find out what those relics in our language are. It seems that Celtic has few words surviving in English. I'm not counting the Celtic words which came in through other languages such as French. I'm not sure that there is a definitive list of Celtic words in English but here are a few I found in various places on the Internet and a book I have. ass (borrowed earlier by the Celts from the Latin asinus) bannock bard blarney bucket car cart clock coll...

Here is a blast from the past. Check out the Pong Justin has on his blog. Justin's Games

I cycled 10 miles today in preparation for the C and O Canal trip. I think I took the 10 faster than I will go on the Canal. There I will take a casual speed and have fun. I’m thinking of taking a book to read. I’m not sure which one it will be. I always look for wildlife while I jog or cycle. The only thing I saw today was a rabbit. See more progress on: Bicycle The C and O Canal

Last month I was impressed the first part of the article. I thought that I would not dovetail simply because I liked it the first time. This article though is as much about education as anything else. The article about the hierarchal system of education has been ported over to companies like Microsoft. In a sense I'm not sure that is a criticism as much as it is an observation. Few companies really want creativity, what they want is performance. That is defined by making the boss happy or something else besides true creativity. I have been a part of non-traditional schooling for a long time. I basically started reading on my own which I really consider my education. Schools were just a place to supliment my supply of books and activities. My wife and I homeschool our children. I got my degree in a non-traditional fashion. Basically, I'm a non-traditional education product. I don't think that is bragging either because I think in reality, most people are. W...

So my big trip on the C and O Canal is rescheduled. I will try again this coming month of May. I have bought a rack to carry my stuff. I bought a compact tire pump. I still need to get rain gear. I hope I don’t need the rain gear but I don’t want the trip ruined for lack of it. Oh yeah, I met a guy at the movies the other day who had biked the part of the trail from Pittsburg to Cumberland. He enjoyed it. See more progress on: Bicycle The C and O Canal

I purposely did not post the answer to my Romans 1 Quiz earlier. I hoped to generate enough interest to get someone to ask for the answers. Well, here are my answers anyway. 1. A, B, and C all are right. 2. I'm not sure I can find the most explicit about David being the father of the Messiah. These scriptures all relate to Messiah being a part of the David kingdom. That of course is a little different than son of David. 3. D 4. B

When I'm trying to post a Blogger post, I find my Linux box slows down responsiveness to a ridiculously slow level. Basically, I'm not able to make a post by typing in the window. I've resorted to writing my blog in Open Office and then posting it. Is anyone else having the same problem? I suspect that it is a Linux only problem.

I recently read a paper by N.T. Wright called " The Shape of Justification ". As I read it I was surprised to find that I had little to disagree with him about. It seems that N.T. Wright defines Justification as "the declaration of God, the just judge, that someone is in the right, that their sins are forgiven, and a true member of the covenant family, the people belonging to Abraham." I can't say that at face value I can disagree with this. The fact that God's work and our standing with God is first says to me the priorities are right. However, if they were reversed I would have to say our standing in the community of faith secondary to our standing with God.

My daughter writes about her struggles. I encourage you to read it. Writing's of an exceptional being: I wanted to shrink until I could dissapear : "I wanted to shrink until I could dissapear I used to have an eating disorder. One of the things that convicted me to stop was a Stacie Orrico song, 'Dear Friend'. Another was I realised that I was not giving control to God. I was saying here God here is all my life except this part. You can fix and manage everything but this. And then I concentrated and put all my effort into the one part of my life that God didn't have."

Romans 1:1-7 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The following quiz I wrote to aid in spurring on discussion about some topics in Romans 1:1-7. Sometimes there are right and wrong answers and at other times there are exploring questions. 1. When someone is called by God, what does that calling mean? (Choose a...

Kapor is at a conference on Open Source Software. His write up here is interesting. Mitch Kapor's Weblog : "Snippets from Emerging Technologies - Tuesday A.M. Networks of amateurs (in astronomy, publishing) are displacing the professionals -- Leabeater, quoted by Rael Dornfest Too much important knowledge is locked up on paper where it's not searchable and hard to get to. -- Jeff Bezos, also by Rael. Pay attention to design patterns for innovation -- Tim O'Reilly. Examples: * Build with 'Small Pieces, Loosely Joined': (borrowing the David Weinberger book title) * Design for participation, e.g., have users add value to your data (Amazon user book reviews) * Make participation the default: Aggregate user data as a side effect. (Flickr's default for sharing is public) * Data is the next 'Intel Inside': owning a unique, hard-to-replicate data source as a competitive advantage"

Not too long ago I listened to a book on tape Saint Augustine by Gary Wells. I had read the "Confessions" and read a little more on the theologian. The book was written from a more historical point of view than one of faith. Gary Wells cleared up some points though for me. The importance of a story about Augustine stealing the pears had never made sense to me. It figures big in paintings about the theologian, but why paint about that story above others. But Wells points out the connection between Augustine's pear stealing and Adam's eating of the forbidden fruit. Wells also helped me out with the chronology of the Augustine's life. "Confessions" is not written as a history but as a book of devotion. Where there is mere speculation on an issue of history or chronology Wells gives a balanced veiw. I recommend this book on tape, CD or audible. Christian History - Augustine of Hippo - 131 Christians Everyone Should Know : "Timeline 312 ...

The ESV is now blogified. I'm not sure how this is different FAQ questions section to their website. Perhaps I'll see. Hat Tip: Rebecca Writes

What is going on? I mean it. The world is turned upside down. MC is now..... Messy Christian: Coming out of the "closet" : "Coming out of the 'closet' mesmall.jpgDaphne and I were having tea today, and she asked me: 'Isn't it time for you to come out of the closet?' I'm not gaylah. She means the pivotal 'reveal' - just how does Messy Christian look like? And does she have a real name? Well, so here I am. :) And well, my name is ..."

I got this from Dave Barry. The photo of the police carrying the gator is pretty funny. Authorities find alligators, snakes being transported in RV trailer : "Authorities have found 32 alligators and about 50 boa constrictors being hauled in an RV trailer along an Arizona interstate. State Department of Public Safety officials said Damon Heynen, 38, was driving a truck towing an RV trailer on Interstate 10 Sunday night when he was pulled over for a faulty taillight. Upon investigating the trailer, DPS found 32 alligators and about 50 boa constrictors in cages."

I got this from Dave Barry. The photo of the police carrying the gator is pretty funny. Authorities find alligators, snakes being transported in RV trailer : "Authorities have found 32 alligators and about 50 boa constrictors being hauled in an RV trailer along an Arizona interstate. State Department of Public Safety officials said Damon Heynen, 38, was driving a truck towing an RV trailer on Interstate 10 Sunday night when he was pulled over for a faulty taillight. Upon investigating the trailer, DPS found 32 alligators and about 50 boa constrictors in cages."

For those of you who were wondering about OpenOffice and if you could make the leap, check out this article. NewsForge | Making the leap: Microsoft Word to OpenOffice.org Writer : "Whether you're moving from Windows to GNU/Linux, or just from the proprietary Microsoft Office to the free software OpenOffice.org suite, one of the challenges you'll face is learning how to use OpenOffice.org Writer effectively if you're used to Microsoft Word. In this article I'll show you around OpenOffice.org Writer, where to find familiar Word tools, and how to customize the interface and preferences to make it a little more Word-friendly. First, don't worry; you won't have much trouble adjusting to OpenOffice.org Writer. The interface isn't terribly different; the menu and toolbar layout are similar to Word's. If you prefer a custom display you'll be much happier with Writer, as it doesn't have a lot of the annoying Word features that people often ...

How often is the heavy duty power of the HMVEE really more than one needs? This vehicle may not make it to the final purchase but it is an interesting concept. Wired News: Hybrid Could Fill Humvee's Boots : "Cutting fuel costs and reducing maintenance were the driving forces behind the decision to create hybrid vehicles, according to Hal Almand, the Army's light tactical forms team leader."

My household now is home of six blogs. Mine of course: Pruitt Communications My Wife's: Big Red 5 My Oldest: Musik Grrrl My Second: Writings of An Exceptional Being My Third: Tally Times My Fourth: Flying Horses 12

My daughter Corrie is blogging. Writing's of an exceptional being: Clay : "Clay Here I am A lump of clay useless unless Some takes and creates You look at me with love You take me in Your master hands And begin to shape me to Your plan And the wheel begins spinning You push me and pull me Shaping me to what I'm to be Your infinite mercy is sprinkled upon me To ease shaping me in Your hand My creator, create me"

bigred5: I love DC! : "Today I went with three of my daughters and our friends, the Rings, to the National Art Museum and the Natural History Museum. The weather was warm with a breeze and low humidity-a rare DC day. We found a parking spot three blocks from the Mall and only paid $4 total. We arrived at 10:10AM and left at 2:45PM. There is a Navy Memorial fountain on 9th and D(?) Street where we ate lunch in the shade."

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii [1] worth of bread and give i...

When I was young I used to think that when you reached 21 everything sort of stopped then suddenly you hit 55 and everything changed. At 55 you would be old. (By the way I don't think 55 is all that old now.) I did not realize that there was constant change in our minds, emotions and bodies. Study of human growth and development emphasizes the changes of childhood and adolescence. But we constantly change with spurts of dynamic change. Adolescence is one of those periods of dynamic change. A speaker this weekend, Josiah Bancroft , mentioned that often young people who have to renegotiate their faith as a teen if they make a decision for Christ as a young child of say 5 or 6. He sort of mentioned in passing that often people have to renegotiate their faith when they pass through other stages of life too, say mid-life. It sort of hit me that I have been renegotiating my faith for quite a few months now. It seems that we need to renew our walk with the LORD periodically. Lor...

I thought I included this outline but it did not show up. As you can see that flat world refers to power relationships and competition. Getting Flat, Part 1 | Linux Journal : "Tom says the world is being flattened by ten forces, of which open source is one. Here are the chapter headings that outline his larger case. Each is labeled a 'flattener': 1. 11/9/89 - When the Walls Came Down and the Windows Went Up 2. 8/9/95 - When Netscape Went Public 3. Work Flow Software - Let's Do Lunch: Have Your Application Talk to My Application 4. Open-Sourcing - Self-Organizing Collaborative Communities 5. Outsourcing - Y2K 6. Offshoring - Running with the Gazelles, Eating with Lions 7. Supply-Chaining - Eating Sushi in Arkansas 8. Insourcing - What the Guys in Funny Brown Shorts Are Really Doing 9. In-forming - Google, Yahoo!, MSN Web Search 10. ...

My computer that I built with my daughter and wife has slipped in time just a little. The CMOS battery is new, so that was not the problem. I asked a friend about how to fix it. He told me to synch up to a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server. I synched with the Naval Observatory and it is working great. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/time.html

I may have to go out and get this book. I think the issues of power and how it is changing are important to the church. The emergant church is a part of the dialogue about the issues of how power is changing. But like I have said before, the power of God is the transcendant issue. Getting Flat, Part 1 | Linux Journal : "Getting Flat, Part 1 By Doc Searls on Thu, 2005-04-14 23:00. Our Senior Editor digs into Tom Friedman's new bestseller, from a Linux/open source angle. 'It's a Flat World, After All', Tom Friedman says. That's the title of his long essay in this past Sunday's New York Times magazine. A few days earlier, his new book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, hit the book stores. I have a copy right here at my left elbow. In support of our local book store, I paid the full price for the hardcover, which weighs in at close to 500 pages. At this point I've read most of it, including everything it says abou...

Go check out D.J. Chuang Daily Communt Podcast. I have had the pleasure of meeting D.J. He is an interesting personality and he tells a bit of his story in this particular podcast. djchuang.com » Daily Commute Podcast, April 15th edition : "Daily Commute Podcast, April 15th edition category: journal posted: 2005-04-15 7:27 pm Daily Commute Podcast (MP3 audio) [running time = 15:42, size = 11MB] Sound check using my handheld voice recorder. DJ Chuang in 5 minutes, a quick overview of my life story. A compare & contrast of Asian culture and Western culture, and how one’s perception of oneself can make a difference on life and work."

My daughter who is a senior this year has started blogging. She does some nice devotional type writing. Check her blog out. Writing's of an exceptional being: Walk Trilogy: Walk in Love : "The next three post will be discussion a passage from Ephesians chapter five. God is the perfect example of love. He showed love when He created us. He showed us love when He died for us. He shows us love by wanting to have intimacy and a relationship with us. When we imitate Him and follow what He does it is an act of worship and praise which bring Him great joy. Just as a little brother or sister(us) copies every thing their big brother(Jesus) does, so we must do with Christ."

My daughters have played on a soccer league ran by homeschooling families like our own. (The league is not related at all to "The League of Extraordinary Reformed Bloggers". I knew some of you were wondering.) There was a boy who played that was athletically gifted and seemed rather quick. It seemed though that any little pain he would show signs of discomfort hold the affected area and the game would stop. All these nice children would just stop the game. After a few times of this the referee, who is a good Christian man, saw that the boy would milk each and every little injury. It is hard to say whether it was intentional or if it was just how he had a habit of dealing with pain. The referee was not insensitive to the need to stop the game, but he saw the repetition in the behavior and said, "the play is still in motion". And that sort of got the game back on and made the minor pains of normal play less of a tool for gaining desired out comes in the game. ...

My grandmother, Beulah Griffin, was featured in the local paper on her 85th birthday. She is an outstanding woman of God who has influenced many to live godly themselves. I encourage you to go over and read the story for yourself. click here This link will take you to a PDF file on my brother's website.

A blog I've been reading for over a year, Rebecca Writes has won an award. Go over and congratulate her on this accomplishment. Rebecca Writes: The Big News : "Saturday, April 9 The Big News ....is that I have been awarded a Warnie Award. One of the things Warnie awardees are asked to do is give an acceptance speech. I thought of starting mine out with 'Nanny nanny boo boo!' but decided that might be undignified conduct, and not quite the comportment befitting a Warnie winner."

I saw Joe Missionary and Messy had this denomination quiz on their blogs. Given my poor luck with quizzes lately, especially those that Joe Missionary has triumphed over, I was hesitant take this test. (Well, at least that sounds like what I should say. Actually I was looking forward to taking another test. Back to the feigned worry...) I was worried I was going to have to change denominations or something. I'm glad that I took this test and found out I was okay where I am at. My wife asked whether it mean PCUSA or PCA? So perhaps the test did not help me after all... Rank Item Percent 1: Presbyterian/Reformed (100%) 2: Congregational/United Church of Christ (90%) 3: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (74%) 4: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (54%) 5: Eastern Orthodox (49%) 6: Lutheran (44%) 7: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (41%) 8: Seventh-Day Adventist (40%) 9: Roman Catholic (35%) 10: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (31%) 1...

If you ever wondered how Verizon actually tested their mobile network, check out this article. They hava some good photographs of the laptops, antennas, software screen shots and that really cool stationwagon. I know I want one. MobileTracker - Ride along with a Verizon Wireless test man : "By Jon Gales -- Can you hear me now? Ask anyone under thirty the first thing they think of after hearing that phrase and you'll likely hear back Verizon Wireless. For good or evil, the ads portraying a lonely Verizon Wireless employee asking the person on the other line if the connection is good, are everywhere. While the actor in the commercials probably couldn't program his speed dial, I recently rode along with a real Verizon Wireless test man named Levy Rippy. Levy works out of the Temple Terrace office near my home in Tampa, Florida."

I have added some photographs from my recent retirement ceremony and our blogger get together. I believe the albums will show up on my Webshots section located on the right, if not just click on see all photos.

My Kingdom Is Not of This World 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' 34 Jesus answered, 'Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?' 35 Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?' 36 Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.' 37 Then Pilate said to him, 'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.' 38 Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' I have had several discussions lately on the role of the church and state. Some of...

I have been doing some light defense on my paper on the New Perspective on Paul. I actually try to make peace between the two sides of the issue in some small sense by showing the strengths of biblical theology and systematic theology and how they address different issues. There have been two criticism of my paper so far, one is that I don't understand justification and the other is that I should read NT Wright in order to write a paper like that. I guess I don't feel compelled to talk to every sales person, watch every television program, read every article in the newspaper in order to understand their wares. Not that NT Wright is a salesman or entertainment, but he is one voice among many. A summary of his ideas done by a competent friend or critic may be enough to tell me if I do want to read further. In preparing my paper I decided to give my brother in Christ NT Wright a listen. I listened to one of his sermons done at Calvin College. It was not bad, I sort of en...

I found a book at work called Learning Perl. It seems small enough that I could actually read it. I think five pages a day would do. See more progress on: Learn Perl

I checked out whether I could get a MABS and an M.Div. The seminary said that on 50% of the hours from the MABS will transfer over to the M.Div. Oh yeah, I’m accepted at Captial Bible Seminary. See more progress on: Obtain a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.)

So it is not enough to have a quiz tell me I'm a whimp, I'm actually getting people tell me.... Some weeks are just like that. :-) JOLLYBLOGGER: Jolly Digest 4-3-05 : "As is typical of the myriad self-appointed 'reform enforcers,' Pruitt appears to not have engaged Wright at all."

Here is a link to my daughter's blog. She is a high school senior. Writing's of an exceptional being: Who sinned? : "Monday, April 04, 2005 Who sinned? My math teacher gives a little devotion before math class begins everyday. This helps me tremendously because I'm not very good at math. Today she talked about Tamar daughter of King David. "

I have had a hard time articulating to those who hold to pluralism what it is that they are missing. Often I felt that while they are ready to say they are agreeable with the teachings of Christianity along with other religions, I have had a hard time seeing that they actually take Christianity or other religions seriously. While they may claim to accept Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc...they in reality change each one so that they are not in conflict with yet another religious system, that is humanism of the Enlightenment. I recently came across this quote on the subject in Donald Macleod's book The Person of Christ: Contours of Christian Theology . "In the last analysis, there is a blatant hypocrisy in Hick's position: under the language of pluralism there lurks a most dogmatic exclusivesm. Far from gazing admiringly on all the world's religions, Hick is standing on the vantage-point of modern western humanism, giving a nod of approval to the few ele...

Some fellow ministerial students were talking about how one is not required to get an M.Div to get ordained by the PCA . I think while it is possible to get just a two year degree, I think you do loose something in not having a full M.Div. I am considering right now getting the two year degree from Capital Bible Seminary on my way toward the M.Div. There is not a single course from the MABS that is not a part of the M.Div program. I would seek the Old Testament concentration. See more progress on: Obtain a Masters of Divinity (M.Div.)

Joe Missionary sucked me into this quiz. I'm blaming him for all the results despite the fact that I answered the questions. You are decaf. You are for WUSSIES who can't take caffeine. You try, but you just ain't coffee. Sorry. What Kind of Coffee Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

* Now I don't want to get off on a rant here . . I don't know, but his wife had crab cake sandwich - I think he had a crab dip appetizer that I got to sample. * Jollyblogger Crab Cake (Mrs. Jollyblogger had the shrimp scampi) * Pruitt Communications Burger * Big Red 5 Fish And Chips - * Beyond the rim… (Shared with Mrs. Beyond the rim....)Appetizer to share - Blooming Onion, Ribs and Chocolate Cake - * a place called home , Church Marketing Sucks , For Ministry I don't know - * Intellectual Defenestration I don't know - * Reflections, Murmurs, and Treatises I don't know I think somebody down at the other end of the table had ribs and somebody had might have had another burger. If you know what they ate, post a comment.

I have been on again - off again about reading Christian Computing Magazine. Now I see that they have gone to a digital format. One of the nice things about Chrisitan Computing Magazine is that its focus is practical. They have regular columns about desktop publishing, music and sound systems. These are things that churches do routinely and yet it is often done with out any kind of training that tells a person, what makes a good church bullitin, what makes a good sermon tape. Some times advertisements in the magazine are really as good as the articles. I have yet to see Walmart carry a tape reproduction machine, so how do you purchase those items? Hat Tip: GBEPC Website Christian Computing Magazine Home Page : "Christian Computing Magazine has been in print for over 17 years! Now they are offering a special digital version of their magazine for FREE. It is sent to you via e-mail in an HTML format. S"