Subject:Re: Please vote tomorrow. Follow-up to last meeting request.
Just a reminder: Tomorrow is Stoneham's Town election. As always please remember that all politics is local. Please get to the polls and vote!
What, exactly, does "back to where it belongs" mean? Terrorism against residents and elected officials? Or continued defiance against the law?
Why is it that Bob Sweeney has not reported his campaign financials? And I don't just mean this year. As it turns out, he either failed to report or provided woefully incomplete financial records for each time he ran for Selectman.
Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or both.
I'm looking forward to receiving some answers from the Office of Campaign & Political Finance.
Before Tom Boussy, there were a number of eye sores around Stoneham. And when I say eye sores, I mean out-and-out, long-time holes in the ground (ie- EIGHT YEARS of the 411 Main Street "crater" in Stoneham Square). Tom was literally beaten up in his quest to better our Town.
Fast forward to a successful, winning campaign and more-than-fulfilled promises that we all are enjoying as residents today, I'm excited about the continued progress of the Stoneham Square Action Plan Advisory Committee! (Note: Tom Boussy is the only Selectman on this committee) The Stoneham Chamber of Commerce held its first Stoneham Square Merchants Group introductory event on March 26 at Doucet Remodeling & Design. All Stoneham Square businesses were invited to learn about new initiatives and share ideas for revitalization of the town's center.
Speakers from l-r: Rachel Meredith Warren – Chair of the Stoneham Square Action Plan Advisory Committee, Erin Wortman – Stoneham Town Planner, and Chamber VP Chris Senna of C&S Capital Properties.
…We also have made progress on what was a several decades-long fight for the Greenway/ Bikeway.
*Develop a housing plan so that we are no longer at risk of undesirable 40B development projects like Weiss Farm. A housing plan will enable us to preserve and develop housing for the needs of all residents, from young singles looking to start their lives, to families, to retirees looking to age in place with dignity.
*Tom has already begun to create a Downtown Revitalization Program that will identify and define business goals and revitalization. A solid plan will help attract businesses that are a complement to our community goals and values and not be vulnerable to possibilities that will forever change our culture.
*Develop a well thought out Open Space Plan to ensure the future of our Parks and Recreational Space including a plan to bring back the Parks & Recreation Department. Tom has made it a priority to work with our Town Planner to update our plan and position Stoneham to become eligible for thousands of dollars in state grants. For the last several years our local parks have only received a minimum of attention. Parks tell a community how we value ourselves and our community. They are a resource to young and older alike. The importance of community social opportunities in well-maintained and invested upon resources attract active life within the community and repels opportunity for crime and other undesirable activity within a depreciating area.
Tom needed no convincing to recognize the value a new linear park and bike path would bring to Stoneham from both a social perspective and as a business development tool. The passage of BW/GW provides Stoneham with an enviable amenity in the form of open space and recreation. Economically Stoneham businesses have an opportunity of visibility and of capturing the business of users. Most important Stoneham gained the lion's share of $5.5 million in state funding. All of this at no cost to Stoneham.
*The Bikeway Greenway Committee actively sought the support of Tom when they faced opposition by town leadership. Tom got involved early to lend his support to the project. He rose awareness of what was at stake should Stoneham lose this opportunity. Tom's strong communication and outreach skills brought the issues to the public's attention so voters could make an informed decision.
*Tom worked hard to educate the public and encouraged residents to have a voice in their community. The result was one of the largest turn outs in recent town meeting history with 650 people in attendance to overwhelmingly support the greenway.
Let's keep all of the positive momentum going, Stoneham! On April 7, 2015 vote for continued, steady progress: re-elect Tom Boussy.
Tonight were the Stoneham Town Moderator and Stoneham Board of Selectmen candidates' live televised forums at Stoneham TV. I plan on writing about the contents in the coming days, but for starters I want to focus on one thing: No Shows.
Seriously. Nothing says "I don't care about or have any respect for the Stoneham community" than not showing up to make your case for why we, the residents of Stoneham, should vote for you.
Larry Means already had my vote during last year's Town Meeting workshop, co-hosted by Tom Boussy and Larry Means. Moderator Means and Selectman Boussy worked hard to ensure all residents had the opportunity to understand exactly how the Town Meeting process worked, thus providing us all with everything we needed to be able to effectively and properly participate.


Taylor Germantown is a luxury 22 home brownstone development that straddles two sides of Taylor Street on 2nd Avenue in Historic Germantown. Steve Ezell and Mike Hartley of Landmark Realty Services and Trimark Builders are bringing their considerable experience to bear along with principal Michael Ward of Allard Ward Architects to create a modern community that seamlessly melds into it's historic surroundings. No detail has been ignored down to the color and reflectance of the commercial brick and the R-factor of the sealant on the Sierra Pacific window package. The development team strove to give each and every home features that would set these homes apart from the marketplace and those details are numerous: New York loft-style open tread metal stairs between the 2nd and 3rd floors, 25 foot light well vault above the wet bar, CAT6 & RG6 prewire for gigabyte capable homes and more.
Many of these homes are 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 2 car and all feature a roof top terrace with considerable views that will only get better with the development of the TPA and Neuhoff sites. Phase 1 consists of 8 homes that have been under construction for nearly 12 months and will deliver in July, 2019. Phase 2 will begin in the next 30 days and will deliver prior to the end of 2019 as all of the infrastructure and site work has already been completed. Phase 3 is located on the north side of Taylor Street and will not commence until Phase 2 is mostly complete as Phase 3 will be used as a construction staging area to facilitate a faster build in Phase 2.
Immediately to the east of Taylor Germantown is a large full neighborhood block light green warehouse that used to house a Goodwill Industries sorting facility. That entire site was acquired by the TPA Group from Atlanta in 2018. The TPA Group is a private real estate investment, acquisitions, and development firm whose principals have acquired and developed in excess of 30 million square feet and 30,000 acres – all valued at more than $10 billion. TPA is planning a mixed use development called Germantown Union and I have attached their "First Look" book to this email. It includes creative office space, a boutique hotel and a food hall that is rumored to be the Gun Show from Atlanta.
It has become very clear to us that the heart of Germantown is in the process of shifting towards the river. With the more than $800,000,000 of development outlined above, we are expecting to price our future phases in the $400/sq ft or higher range. Should you be interested in a Phase 2 or 3 home, we are creating a priority waiting list. Please respond below with your contact information to be added to that list.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
7 Things To Know About The $1.8B IBM-HCL Technologies Deal
India-based global solution provider HCL Technologies on Thursday announced it is beefing up its software business and as-a-service capabilities with a $1.8 billion acquisition of a large part of IBM's software portfolio.
By Joseph F. Kovar, O'Ryan Johnson December 07, 2018, 01:41 PM EST
Apart from the cash, what's in it for IBM?
For IBM, the divestiture of this part of its software business is a way for the company to better prioritize its investments in more emerging, high-value segments of the IT industry, said John Kelly, IBM senior vice president of cognitive solutions and research, in a statement.
"Over the last four years, we have been prioritizing our investments to develop integrated capabilities in areas such as AI for business, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity, analytics, supply chain and blockchain as well as industry-specific platforms and solutions including health care, industrial IoT and financial services. … We believe the time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products," Kelly said.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Back when yours truly was a college student, if you wanted to establish your politically progressive cred, you had to own at least one Vanguard Records platter. The New York-based record company was one of the first to challenge the entertainment industry's black list in the fifties (putting out new releases by then political pariahs like Paul Robeson and the Weavers) and was home to a host of bluesfolk (Mississippi John Hurt, Big Mama Thornton, Buddy Guy, et al) and uppity folk singers (Joan Baez, Buffy St. Marie, Rambling Jack Elliot, etc.) in the sixties. And though Vanguard didn't get into rock as firmly as fellow folk label Elektra Records would, it was the home of Country Joe & the Fish Cheer – decidedly a counter-cultural touchstone all by itself.
My first choice would have to be the guy whose original Vanguard long-players took up the most space on my dorm room record shelf: Jim Kweskin. Of all the artists on Vanguard's roster, Kweskin was the least sternly political – his primary medium was a jug band, fergawdsakes – though his career would later take a decidedly strange turn into counter-cultural cultishness. Jug Bands enjoyed a brief vogue in the folk community in the sixties and were a proving ground for rock artists like Jerry Garcia and John Sebastian, but the only one to have an extensive recording legacy was Kweskin's group. The loose-knit Boston-based collective released three albums on Vanguard – and a fourth on Warner Bros. – before disbanding. Kweskin himself put out three more solo albums for the label.
The "Vanguard Visionaries" set is credited just to Jim Kweskin, though the photo on the cover is a black-and-white cropping of the cover to the first Jug Band LP. The band's most famous alumnus, Maria Muldaur isn't even repped in the picture, though one of her better tracks, "Richland Woman Blues," is thankfully included in the set. Though Kweskin was the group's top billed singer, the band had a variety of personable lead vocalists – Maria, her bluesy vocalist husband Geoff Muldaur, nasally crooner Bruno Wolfe – contributing, and on the eight tracks featuring the Jug Band, they all get to take center mic at least once. Two songs on the set are from the man's solo albums, though to be honest, I wish compilation producer Vince Hans had put in two more Jug Band cuts instead. Solo Kweskin was for the die-hards and the New England folk crowd; the juggers provided syncopated folkiness at its most universally irrepressible.
As folkies, the Jug Band took its musical inspiration from a plethora of sources: early blues groups from the twenties and thirties like the Memphis Jug Band, Tin Pan Alley, and big band hits from the thirties and forties, even then-more-current songs like Peggy Lee's "I'm A Woman" or Chuck Berry's "Memphis." The ten-track intro favors older material (e.g. Walter Donaldson's 1928 "Borneo;" Memphis Jug Band's statement of purpose, "Jug Band Music;" "Somebody Stole My Gal"), though "My Gal" is credited to a host of then-current juggers like Kweskin, John Sebastian, and Zal Yanovsky. As a musical unit, the Jug Band was tighter than many of its contemporaries, with washboard bass and jug impresario Fritz Richmond (who later played jug on Warren Zevon's "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead") and banjo picker Bill Keith shining, in particular. Unlike a lotta sixties folk music, which was first aimed at an audience quietly sipping espressos in coffee houses, jug band music was designed to prod you out of yer chair and stomp yer feet. Kweskin and his crew were masters at this.
Prior to the "Visionaries" release, the only Kweskin Vanguard sets available on compact were two best-of collections, the second of which duplicates nearly every track on the first. This new 'un contains one band cut not featured on either set, Bruno Wolfe's "Newport News," which does not showcase the singer at his best (I'd've picked "Ukelele Lady"). The more familiar jug band material is overpicked for a reason: it's all irresistible. Whether it's Kweskin jauntily bemoaning his lot in "Somebody Stole My Gal" or "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me" or Geoff & Maria comically billing & cooing in "Never Swat A Fly," this is good time music which doesn't betray that much abused phrase.
It couldn't last, of course. Perhaps one of the secrets behind the band's dynamism was its combustibility. After their stint on Vanguard, Kweskin and his group would produce one more album, adding fiddler Richard Greene to the mix, before the singer would bust up the band to be part of a religious cult centered on the teaching of jug band harmonica player Mel Lyman. (Honest!) Kweskin & Lyman would go on to produce one of the most soporific records (Jim Kweskin's America) in the history of folk music, though, thankfully, it's beyond this set's purview.


Paint a droopy red face which will be the basis of our realistic portrait.
Paint a sad face and a lollypop neck.
Make the cheekbones more skull like.
Paint some black for the depressing background. Eat me I am Bacon!
Add yellow highlights to raise them cheekbones high into the sky….cheeky!
Blue background and some fanny flaps make a tidy addition.
Tiny details painted make her look rotten and meat like, she likes to wear her meat.
Paint some hair in with brown paint.
Lighten the hair to bleach it and use as a mop for cleaning.
Add some more yellow highlights to instill an image of the Devil.
Teeth, eye lashes and scraggier yellow hair brings it all together for a nice portrait of ga ga.
Funny stuff from the mind of Wayne Tully 85% Artist and 15% Crazy Arse Fool!


text:
Posted on: March 25th, 2013	by AlYunaniya Staff No Comments
UN temporarily relocates some staff out of Syria owing to insecurity
photo: UN
A young Syrian woman's deadly voyage to Europe
UN confirms polio outbreak in Syria
Syria cooperates to destroy chemical weapons
The United Nations is temporarily relocating some of its international staff in Syria out of the country due to security conditions, a spokesperson for the world body said today.
Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York that yesterday and today, a number of mortar shells fell in close proximity to, and on the grounds of, the hotel in Damascus housing UN staff. The mortar fire caused some damage to the building and some cars in the parking lot, including one UN vehicle.
"The United Nations Security Management Team has assessed the situation and decided to temporarily reduce the presence of international staff in Damascus due to security conditions. We are also exploring safer premises," he stated.
"The United Nations attaches great importance to the safety of all its staff – national and international. With this in mind, we are temporarily relocating some of the UN international staff in Syria out of the country."
As part of that effort, Mr. Nesirky said that most of the Damascus-based staff of the Office of the Joint Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, are being temporarily relocated to Beirut, Lebanon, and to the Joint Special Representative's main office in Cairo. All of the Office's national staff have been asked to work from home, until further notice.
"These measures are being undertaken solely for security reasons," said the spokesperson. "The United Nations remains active and committed to helping the Syrian sides in their search for a political solution."
There are approximately 100 international and 800 national staff in Damascus working with the offices of the Joint Special Representative, the Resident Coordinator, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and various UN agencies and programmes.
Mr. Nesirky added that UN agencies and their partners also remain committed to providing assistance to millions of people in need across Syria. Over 70,000 people have been killed and more than three million displaced since the uprising against President al-Assad began in March 2011. Some 1.1 million people have also been forced to flee Syria and take refuge in neighbouring countries.
"The UN will maintain inside Syria the number of staff and capacity required to continue running its critical humanitarian programs and deliver assistance to civilians in need. This is a priority for the UN."
Last week Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced an independent investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria. The initial focus of the probe will be an incident involving the alleged use of chemical weapons in the village of Khan al-Assal on the outskirts of Aleppo on 19 March.
Tags: Damascus, security, Syria, T, UN, UN staff


The New Jersey Devils defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at home on Friday, April 12, 2002. The game was the Devils last regular-season home game and was Fan Appreciation Night.
John Madden beat Stephane Fiset (his first NHL game in over a year), at 17:34 of the first period. Madden's 14th goal of the season was assisted by Brian Gionta and Tommy Albelin. It was the second goal in two nights for Madden.
Just 47 seconds after Madden's goal, Craig Rivet scored for the Canadiens (assisted by Saku Koivu) to tie the game, 1-1.
The first period ended with the game tied, 1-1. The Devils outshot the Canadiens 13-10 in the period.
Petr Sykora got his 21st goal of the season just 1:00 into the second period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Sergei Brylin and Bobby Holik assisted on Sykora's goal.
Scott Stevens scored his first goal of the season at 6:31 of the second period to give the Devils a 3-1 lead. Sergei Brylin and Petr Sykora assisted on the Captain's goal. It had been 89 games since Stevens scored last.
Valeri Kamensky beat Fiset at 7:12 of the second period, giving the Devils a 4-1 lead. Jim McKenzie and Sergei Nemchinov got assists on Kamensky's 7th goal of the season. The goal was his 200th career goal and 500th point.
The second period ended with the Devils leading 4-1. The Devils outshot the Habs, 21-4 in the period.
The third period began much more conservatively for both teams, playing more defensively. Jan Bulis scored for the Canadiens at 17:35 of the third period, cutting the Devils lead to 4-2.
Patrik Elias slid the puck under Fiset and into the net with 42 seconds remaining in the game, to give the Devils a 5-2 lead. Scott Niedermayer and Valeri Kamensky got assists on Elias's 29th goal of the season.
The game ended with the Devils winning, 5-2. The Devils outshot the Canadiens, 41-18 in the game. Each team had one power-play opportunity in the game, but neither was able to convert.
The win was the Devils 40th on the season - their sixth straight season accomplishing that feat.
Saku Koivu was cheered by Devils fans several times; when he played his first shift, for his two assists, and when he was announced as the games' third star.


Hmm... So you think Developer skill level just gives you a few extra settings? Who said anything about skill levels controlling only the displayed settings?
-Also you can add a new column to the Events table showing the raw parameters.
-It also shows more game info details. And more map info details.
-And additional pages with more details in the About Scelight dialog.
-And a new coumn in the Jobs dialog.
Thus for example if the favored player (A) is the second player in the replay file, the application reorders data in other columns but not in these.
I will look into it, thanks.
I like it! I found out how to see when I am injecting. However, is there a reliable way of checking the average inject usage?
Not yet. It's an upcoming feature.
Tell me more about you/your skills and give me some references. Would be best to continue this in PMs.
is there any way to change the color scheme? I need to invert the colors, because my eyes are bad. White screens make them bleed.
Yes. Open the Settings dialog, go to the Replay Analyzer page. You will see a setting: "Invert colors in tables having user color". I think you're after this.
Hmm, I can't see to find the multiple replay analysis button?
Yes, asked before, it's not yet added.
It seems that the time on the graphs and build orders is real time rather than game time, is there a way to change that?
Is there any way to have the time interval for seconds in the Build Order section be by Blizzard in game seconds, or will it remain real seconds?
Also, excellent job on this!
Real-time time measurement is used by default. This can be changed back to game time in the Settings dialog, Replay processor page. The help next to this setting explains my reasoning why I chose real-time by default.
I've never seen that one. Do you still get the same?
Yeah I'm still getting the error.
EDIT: Just signed in and out of Google and now the page is loading.
I'm guessing scrolling with the middle mouse button doesn't count either?
It should produce exactly the same actions as scrolling with the other methods. At the same speed setting, all methods do the same (I'm just back from checking , so if scrolling with the keyboard at 100% is not included, middle scrolling is certainly not either.
Anyway, that's a detail, I'm just honoring my nickname.
More important question 'cause I'm curious: what's the story behind the name "Scelight"?
Am I stupid or is there no option to have game time AND supply benchmarks in the build order tab of a replay?
Thanks for taking my suggestion and adding SPM. I am so happy to have a good tool to measure that now!!!
Since you are the one who developed the autouploader for GGtracker, will you be making a plugin for Scelight that does the same? I think it's quite convenient to have the replays automatically uploaded somewhere if I want to share them.
Other than this I look forward to future updates to get some of the sc2gears features in this program as well.
Edit: Also is it possible to have additional custom template options for singular players? For example I'd like a tab in the replay list that shows only MY apm not average and not my opponents. Preferred player list would set me as 1 and show only that apm. Have I missed how to do this? Or is it not in there.
-I asked the author of GGTracker if he wants me to create an External Module for that, his reply was that first they will try to do this on their own.
-Yes, other Sc2gears features will come.
Since you're favored, your APM will be the first.
card-carrying grubby fan. developer of GGTracker.
Supply is not yet indicated. Hopefully I'll add that later.
Released Scelight 1.0.1 which adds the missing Smix recordings and fixes a bug.
Details are in the first post. (Re)start Scelight and it will install the updates automatically. It will also notify you of the updates if you have it running.
No. Still too much white on my screen. Basically, I would need to invert everything.
But of course, there are more important things than that. I really like the new program, even though it hurts my eyes.
I can't delete one of the default replay folder, the one under Documents/Starcraft II, since I move my Documents folder away from C: this one is useless but I can't delete it from replay folders.
Also are "Builds/Tech stat" and Map view (show building location on map) still in? Or it is an upcoming feature?


In this episode we celebrate Halloween with... Halloween! John Carpenter's genre defining film faces off against Rob Zombie's remake, and we accuse one of these filmmakers of being the quarterback on the couch. We'll let you guess which one. To find out for sure, listen to our discussion with our horror expert guest Derek Stewart.


MS Bladder Problems: Why Does MS Cause Bladder Problems?
Why Does MS Cause Bladder Problems?
As many as 80 percent of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience bladder problems. Issues with bladder control occur because MS disrupts the transmission of signals to and from the brain, which disturbs the electrical impulses to the muscles responsible for emptying out the bladder.
In a healthy person, the bladder fills and the nerves send messages along the spinal cord, informing the brain of the need to urinate. The muscles keep the urethra closed to prevent leakage until you go to the bathroom and squeeze the bladder, at which point the muscles relax and the urine is released. If these nerves are damaged, as they are in many people with MS, the brain doesn't get the message until it's too late. Or if you have spinal cord lesions and/or dysfunction of your lower limbs, you are very likely to also have bladder problems.
If you experience bladder problems as a result of your MS, you may feel overwhelmed or embarrassed by the issue. The good news is there are some effective steps you can take towards managing your bladder issues — allowing you to live your life without worrying about your bladder acting up.
Those who experience urinary urgency feel the need to urinate frequently. While frequent urination can be annoying, it's not the real issue here.
The issue with this particular bladder control issue is the urgency. You may feel fine one moment, and then when urinary urgency takes place, you'll experience an uncontrollable urge to urinate, leading to incontinence.
If you experience urinary urgency, you can control this by paying attention to your body's signals. Prior to urinating, you'll experience what is described as a small tickle, along with pressure. This is your body's way of telling you it's time to go to the restroom. By heading to the restroom as soon as this sensation is experienced, you're more likely to make it on time.
Incontinence is a complete loss of bladder control. This occurs when the nerve signals in your body that control urine movement are disrupted. Those with MS sometimes experience a disruption, which causes urine to move out without notice and beyond your control.
Bladder training, frequent trips to the restroom and fluid management techniques along with medication can help prevent loss of bladder control due to incontinence.
Those who experience nocturia find that they wake often during nighttime hours to go to the restroom. Nocturia occurs due to the disruption of brain impulses that travel up and down your spine and control urination.
MS is one of the most common causes of nocturia. If left untreated, this problem can contribute to the fatigue associated with MS.
In order to treat this bladder control issue, you should reduce or eliminate evening fluid consumption. Additionally, if you take water pills, always take them first thing in the morning.
This condition causes the opposite effect of those previously mentioned. Rather than causing you to urinate without notice, those with urinary hesitancy experience difficulty initiating urination.
The culprit here is the interruption of brain impulses that control the initial urination process. Some people with this condition find that a catheter can eliminate the issue while others experience relief from prescription medication.
Be sure to see your doctor to rule out other problems that could be causing your bladder problems, like a urinary tract infection, for example. Tests like a PVR (post-void residual) can evaluate the amount of urine left in the bladder after urination and help to detect any other bladder dysfunctions.
Prescription drugs – The drugs prescribed for bladder dysfunction are quite effective, in many cases helping to relieve symptoms entirely. Oxybutynin is one option and is usually taken one to three times daily. You can also get it as a patch you wear throughout the day. Another effective drug is tolterodine.
Bladder training – Training techniques like Kegel exercises can help you to strengthen your pelvic muscles and improve your level of bladder control.
De-stress – The bladder is very sensitive to stress, so consider taking up stress-management techniques like yoga and meditation.
Catheter – To keep bladder volume low (below 500cc of urine) and therefore improve symptoms, clean technique intermittent catheterization can be used. Urine is eliminated from the bladder through a catheter on a regular basis.
Botox – Botox injections aren't just for wrinkles. Also, botox injections can be used to treat an overactive bladder, especially when drug therapy fails or is not tolerated well. Based on research studies, a botulinum toxin injected into the detrusor muscles can improve urinary incontinence and the overall quality of life in MS sufferers.
In addition to the drugs and therapies that specifically target urinary dysfunction, standard MS drugs can also help. These drugs decrease inflammation and prevent the loss of myelin and future MS relapses.
Certain behavioral changes, like avoiding drinking anything in the hours leading up to bedtime, or drinking more than two liters of liquid in a day, and also help. While you work on improving your bladder control, consider using incontinence pads or underwear.
Bladder problems from multiple sclerosis don't have to control your life. With ongoing education, behavioral changes and the use of urination aids, you can treat your MS-related bladder control problem, and prevent ongoing health concerns caused by bladder control issues.


text:
Clipping In: How Pro Climber Leslie Timms Found Her Home on Escarpment Rock
While rock climbing all over North America for a year after college, my husband and I stretched our dollars so far that we were left eating out of a can, sometimes a dumpster. We'd reached the end of the road and had to move back in with our parents to get back on our feet, or in my case, back on the rocks.
Timms climbing Nutcracker, 5.8, Devil's Glen. Photo: Colin Field
Words: Leslie Timms
After scraping together change, we flew the nest again and this time in search of our own. Lion's Head, on the Bruce Peninsula, was rumoured to be the best climbing destination in Ontario and seemed like an obvious place to start our search. We planned to go for a week, but on the drive up I stumbled across a job offer that led to an interesting twist of fate.
"A community of local guides and organizations is now working closely with the MNR to create a sustainability plan for Metcalfe Rock…"
The owners of a farm near Lion's Head called me back about the job and soon we were unpacking into a trailer on their property where we would live in exchange for help around the farm. Lion's Head moved me: turquoise waters waved below my feet as I danced across beautifully sculpted limestone, with not another climber in sight. I had to live near here. We soon discovered cliffs in the Beaver Valley and felt immediately at home in the town of Thornbury, on Georgian Bay, minutes from the Escarpment, and a day trip to Lion's Head.
Leslie Timms at Lion's Head. Photo: Glen Harris
I stalked the co-owner of Free Spirit Tours, Jennie Elmslie, begging her for a job as a guide, and my husband came out of "retirement" from serving tables to work at Thornbury restaurant The Mill.
The community was incredibly welcoming and our jobs gave us the opportunity to meet people. Whenever locals found out that we were climbers, it was usually followed with the question, "Do you know Gary and Dee Posey?" Our friendship with them appeared to be written in the stars, as they were the only other climbers around. Ten years later, not only has our climbing community grown, but also the number of rock climbs, climbing businesses and the sport in general. With climbing making its Olympic debut in 2020, and new climbing gyms opening all over the GTA (plus Climbers Corner in Collingwood and Alt Rock in Barrie), the sport is flourishing.
"The Beaver Valley has become a very easy-to-navigate climbers' playground."
Soon after moving to the area, I heard there was a "new" cliff called The Swamp and it was like we had stumbled across Area 51 when we found it—super top secret. We climbed not knowing route grades/names, and added a few of our own. I lived in the area for two years before hearing about Devil's Glen (arguably one of the best cliffs in the Beaver Valley region) and had to scrape my jaw off the trail when I walked that cliff line for the first time. It's a different story today; since the release of two updated climbing guidebooks, the Valley has become a very easy-to-navigate climbers' playground. I knew this incredible area wouldn't be quiet for long, as I slowly brainwashed climbing friends and even my parents to move here. As climbing grew in popularity, so did the demand for climbing courses along the Escarpment. This motivated me to get accredited as a certified Lead Guide with PCGI and soon after I opened On the Rocks Climbing Guides.
Leslie Timms on Roaming Gypsies, 5.10d, Lion's Head. Photo: Colin Field
Little did I know that the sport of climbing would grow so fast, I would work full time as a guide and provide work opportunities for other certified guides. The negative side of growing popularity is the increasing environmental impact on these fragile places, from climbers and hikers alike. A community of guides and organizations is now working closely with the MNR to create a sustainability plan for Metcalfe Rock, including bathrooms and regeneration signs. It is imperative that everyone follows "Leave No Trace" practices while enjoying these environmentally sensitive areas. It is also imperative that we educate others to do the same.
Leslie Timms is a professional climber and owner of On the Rocks Climbing Guides. Leslie is also an Arc'teryx Athlete. She resides in Thornbury, Ontario.
MULTIPLICITY 2017: LESLIE TIMMS ON FINDING BALANCE ALONG CLIMBING'S SELFISH PATH
As a professional rock climbing guide and top Canadian climber, Leslie Timms is a fixture in the Southern Ontario climbing community. She is also one the few women in Canada to develop new routes and has put up sport and traditional first ascents at Lion's Head and the Beaver Valley in Ontario. Leslie is an incredibly well-rounded climber with an impressive list of sport, boulder, and traditional ascents across the globe… Read more
Beaver Valley
Leslie Timms
Metcalfe Rock
Marie-France Roy on Discovering Wild Places and a More Meaningful Approach to Snowboarding
A Source of Water & Recreation for Millions, the Great Lakes Face a Growing Threat from Microplastics
Blizzard Tecnica's Scholarship Renamed for Mountaineer Hilaree Nelson
The Canadian Arms Race
A Feeling for Rock
Once a Racer, Always a Racer


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Peinture Boomerang > Who we are?
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text:
A Woman's Love, a Prophet's Promise
Zainab bint Younus shares the stories of two women who held the Prophet's promise of Paradise close to their hearts.
A woman's love is deep and runs strong; it's tender and fierce and sometimes needs no more than an instant to establish a bond that stretches beyond time, beyond space. A woman's love can result in an angel being sent from heaven to reveal a miraculous well; in her name being mentioned in the greatest of all Divine Scriptures; in the power to defy a tyrant king before his people.
A woman's love is powerful and a Muslim woman's love for her Lord and His Messenger, Muhammad (SAW), can make her the most powerful human being amongst mankind.
Rasul Allah (SAW) knew this, respected it and praised it. His love for the women of his Ummah did not stop at his wives and daughters, but extended to those who struggled, fought and died for the message he taught.
Martyr for the Beloved
Sumayyah bint Khayyat, Umm 'Ammar, was the first to die for the sake of Islam. She and her family were slaves who had accepted Islam and, when their masters discovered their acceptance of the faith, they tortured Sumayyah, her husband and her son. Every day that they were dragged out to the desert and tormented, Sumayyah faced the very worst of it. Abu Jahl and his companions raped her repeatedly with hot metal instruments, which eventually led to her death.
Rasul Allah would sometimes pass by and see what was being done to Sumayyah and her family – what they went through for the sake of his message. His eyes overflowing with tears, he prayed, "Have patience, O family of Yaasir! Verily, your meeting place will be in Paradise."
Her heart burning with love for Allah and His Messenger, Sumayyah would answer, "I testify that you are the Messenger of Allah and that your promise is truthful." Soon after, she died as a martyr and the first woman to be guaranteed Jannah by Rasul Allah (SAW).
A woman's love does not need flattery or trinkets to keep it alive; it needs the Truth. Sumayyah had never lived with the Prophet r in his household; it was likely that she saw him or heard from him directly only a few times. She did not even need physical proximity to create love for him in her heart; it was enough for her that he was the Messenger of Allah, who had brought the message of truth that guided her to her Lord.
A Warrior's Spirit
Umm 'Imarah al-Ansariyyah was another sahabiyyah whose love for Rasul Allah (SAW) resulted in a unique relationship that has been immortalised in the seerah.
Initially a nurse, Umm 'Imarah was present at the battlefield of Uhud when the rumour began to spread that Rasul Allah had been killed. Amidst the fleeing of Muslim soldiers, Umm 'Imarah lifted her sword and sought out the Prophet (SAW) for herself. When she found him, she placed herself firmly in front of him and began to defend him with a strength and courage to rival that of the male companions. The power of her love was such that when her son was gravely injured, she didn't even stop until Rasul Allah (SAW) told her to attend to him.
"From where can anyone get courage like you, O Umm 'Imarah?"
It is narrated that the Prophet said that in whichever direction he turned in the battlefield, he could see her defending and protecting him. Admiring the ferocity of her devotion, Rasul Allah invoked Allah's blessings on Umm 'Imarah's family and prayed that they should be his friends in Paradise as well.
After the Battle of Uhud, Umm 'Imarah wielded her sword on the battlefields of Yamamah and Hunayn and was present at the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. She also took part in the second pledge of 'Aqabah. However, Umm 'Imarah's relationship with the Messenger of Allah was not restricted to the battlefield. It is also due to her questioning that the famous verse of Surah al-Ahzab, verse 35, was revealed.
Umm 'Imarah al-Ansariyyah said that she went to the Prophet (SAW) and said to him: "I feel that everything is for men. Women are not mentioned as having anything!" Verse 35 of Surah al-Ahzab was then sent down. (The Hadith is narrated by at-Tirmidhi under No. 3211, and is in Sahih at-Tirmidhi under No. 2565)
These stories are examples of how Rasul Allah interacted with the women of his Ummah, inspiring their love for him and their dedication to Islam. His dealings with the sahabiyyat were full of dignity and respect, acknowledging their sacrifices and their talents. He valued them as much as any male companion and never, for a moment, doubted their sincerity or their worth.
In turn, the sahabiyyat loved him fiercely. Not as a husband or a father, but as the Messenger of Allah: the person who had brought them the message of Islam, the truth that purified their souls, the only path that would lead them to their Lord and Creator. It was Muhammad r who taught them about Allah, who told them about Paradise and its beauty and its reward, who warned them against Hell and its torments.
It was for the sake of Allah and His Messenger that the sahabiyyat transformed their lives and sacrificed their health and wealth, dedicating their lives to the promise delivered by Rasul Allah (SAW):
Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so – for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. (Al-Ahzab:35)
Zainab bint Younus (AnonyMouse) is a young woman who finds constant inspiration in the lives of the Sahabiyyat and other great women in Islamic history. She hopes that every Muslimah is able to identify with the struggles of these inspirational women and follow in their footsteps to become a part of a new generation of powerful Muslim women. She blogs at http://www.thesalafifeminist.blogspot.com.
Khadijah Bint Khuawaylid: A legacy that keeps my marriage alive
When SISTERS Become Family
In light of the recent changes at SISTERS, Khadijah Stott-Andrew reflects on everything she loves about the magazine and the team that makes it all possible.
Iman Series: From Submission to Faith
Introducing a brand new series, Ann (Umameer) Stock discusses the hadith of Jibreel as we begin our journey through the depths of iman.
Yearning For Submission
Shabnam Bagheri shares her first experience prostrating to Allah (SWT) and how it lead to a heartache she didn't know she could feel.
Guidance through the Stable Door
Anisah Jameel-Hardy felt her life crumbling around her. One day, a prayer uttered from her stable door changed her life forever…


text:
Q: T-SQL Pivot - Pivot on all rows programmatically Situation
I have a report which is to be export by customers to excel format when they please that must meet certain formatting criteria.
Problem
This report is a statutory return that must be returned in a specific format. I have decided this can be achieved with the use of pivots. Instead of a list view they require a grid of totals, like this
o...
This can be done manually by writing out lots and lots of pivots in a big complex statement, but would need to be updated as soon as the column I am pivoting on has a new entry, which will be frequent.
Perfect Solution
The perfect solution for this would be for somebody to find something magical that automatically pivots on all data in one column and does so programmatically, so if entry's are added to that column, they will also be pivoted on.
I am not looking for exact code here because that's lazy and I won't learn anything. A shove in the right direction would be nice though, if this is at all possible.

A: You can do this with dynamic SQL (Example in this answer). Although this is frequently best achieved through an application/reporting layer rather than directly in SQL.
In your case you can embed reports in Windows Forms Applications, which gives the option of just viewing the report, or exporting in a number of formats. If the pivot needs to be done in SQL then dynamic sql is the only way to do it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Why cvPutText doesn't work in this case? I am using openCV function cvPutText, but it seems it won't execute or it is quickly overwritten. Here is my block of code:
          ...
if(showResult==1){

        cvNamedWindow("Znak", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
        cvShowImage("Znak", znak);

        if(result == 0){
            ascii_result = "A";
            cvSet(znak, cvScalar(26,26,26));
            cvPutText(znak, "A", cvPoint(13, 185), &font, cvScalar(255, 166, 44, 0));
            printf("A working");
        }
        if(result == 1){
            ascii_result = "B";
            cvSet(znak, cvScalar(26,26,26));
            cvPutText(znak, "B", cvPoint(13, 185), &font, cvScalar(255, 166, 44, 0));
            printf("B working");
        }
          ...

It isn't in any loop. The problem is, that the window "Znak" is created, but cvSet() and cvPutText won't execute or are overwritten...so I only see blank window with its deafult gray color

A: CvShowImage should be put every time you made change to the image and want to show it.
      ...
    if(showResult==1){

    cvNamedWindow("Znak", CV_WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
    cvShowImage("Znak", znak);

    if(result == 0){
        ascii_result = "A";
        cvSet(znak, cvScalar(26,26,26));
        cvPutText(znak, "A", cvPoint(13, 185), &font, cvScalar(255, 166, 44, 0));
        cvShowImage("Znak", znak);
        printf("A working");
    }
    if(result == 1){
        ascii_result = "B";
        cvSet(znak, cvScalar(26,26,26));
        cvPutText(znak, "B", cvPoint(13, 185), &font, cvScalar(255, 166, 44, 0));
        cvShowImage("Znak", znak);
        printf("B working");
    }
      ...

When you call cvShowImage it sends a copy of the image to the window. If you change the image in your code it will not change in the window, since it's just a copy of an older image.


How do I maintain accurate record for my 2016 Return after I complete and print an amendment then decide not to file the amendment so do not mail it?
Why can't I print an e-file status while in Turbo Tax? I have always been able to right click in order to print these pages in the past!
How do I print an an individual form like a Schedule A, Line 1 worksheet.
How do I file a 2017 Q4 estimated tax payment? I began receiving SS in Nov and it is enough I think that I need to file estimated to cover it. How to do it?
How do I get the TTX program to print an amendment and not print a total of 395 pages? This doesn't make any sense. Please help.


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Kasasa Cash: A free variable rate checking account with no minimum balance that rewards accountholders with dividends and nationwide ATM withdrawal fee refunds when they meet minimum qualifications during the account's Monthly Qualification Cycle. This account is intended to be the accountholder's primary share draft account in which payroll transactions and day-to-day spending activities including but not limited to grocery, gasoline, apparel, shopping, dining, sporting and entertainment transactions are posted and settled. Commensurate with the spending activities identified above, we expect the account's debit card to be used frequently throughout each month and for transaction amounts to reflect a wide dollar range. Small debit card transactions conducted on the same day at a single merchant and/or multiple transactions made during a condensed time period particularly near the end of a Monthly Qualification Cycle are not considered normal, day-to-day spending behavior. These types of transactions appear to be conducted with the sole purpose of qualifying for the account's rewards and thus will be deemed inappropriate transactions and will not count toward earning the account's rewards. Timberline Federal Credit Union reserves the right to determine if the account is being maintained for a purpose other than day-to-day, primary use. Accountholders who persist in making debit card transactions in a calculated and limited fashion in order to meet their monthly qualifications may have their accounts converted to a different share draft account or closed altogether. We also reserve the right to convert the account to a different share draft account if the account does not have consistent active use over 6 consecutive Statement Cycles. We have the right to close this account at any time, with proper notice. Our decision to close the account will not affect your existing obligations to us including any obligation to pay fees or charges incurred prior to termination. No deposits will be accepted and no checks will be paid after the account is closed. If the account is closed, you will forfeit any rewards that have not been credited to your account. A Timberline Federal Credit Union check for the remaining balance, if applicable, will be mailed to accountholder at the address indicated on our current records. Upon termination of your Kasasa Cash account, any optional add-on products / services associated with this account will also be terminated at the same time. Dividend Rate & Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Compounding & Crediting: Dividends will be compounded on a monthly basis. Dividends will be credited to your Kasasa Cash account on the first processing day of the following statement cycle. If you close your account before the dividends are credited, you will not receive the accrued dividends. Dividends begin(s) to accrue on the day you deposit noncash items (for example, checks). "Statement Cycle" means the period of time for which Timberline Federal Credit Union provides a summary of the financial activities and transactions that post and settle to the accountholder's account. Balance Computation Method: We use the average daily balance method to calculate the dividends on your Kasasa Cash account. This method applies a periodic rate to the average daily balance in the account for the period. The average daily balance is calculated by adding the principal in the account for each day of the period and dividing that figure by the number of days in the period. The period we use is the Statement Cycle. Dividend Rate & Annual Percentage Yield: When your Kasasa Cash account qualifications are met during a Monthly Qualification Cycle average daily balances up to and including $15,000.00 in your Kasasa Cash account earn a dividend rate of 3.9285% resulting in an APY of 4.00%; and average daily balances over $15,000.00 earn a dividend rate of .2497% on the portion of the average daily balance over $15,000.00, resulting in a range from 4.00% to 0.74% APY depending on the account's average daily balance. When Kasasa Cash qualifications are not met, ATM withdrawal fees are not refunded and the dividend rate earned on the entire average daily balance in the account will be 0.0500% resulting in an APY of 0.05%. Qualification Information: To earn your rewards, the following enrollments must be in place and all transactions and activities must post and settle to your Kasasa Cash account during each Monthly Qualification Cycle: At least 12 debit card purchases, Be enrolled in and log into online banking, Be enrolled in and have agreed to receive e-statements rather than paper statements. Account transactions and activities may take one or more days to post and settle to the account and all must do so during the Monthly Qualification Cycle in order to qualify for the account's rewards. The following activities do not count toward earning account rewards: ATM-processed transactions, transfers between accounts, debit card purchases processed by merchants and received by our credit union as ATM transactions, non-retail payment transactions and purchases made with debit cards not issued by our credit union. Transactions bundled together by merchants and received by our institution as a single transaction count as a single transaction for the purpose of earning account rewards. "Monthly Qualification Cycle" means the current statement cycle. "Statement Cycle" means the period of time for which our credit union provides a summary of the financial activities and transactions that post and settle to the accountholder's account. Reward Information: When your Kasasa Cash account qualifications are met during a Monthly Qualification Cycle, average daily balances up to and including $15,000.00 in your Kasasa Cash account earn a dividend rate of 3.9285% resulting in an APY of 4.00%; and average daily balances over $15,000.00 earn a dividend rate of .2497% on the portion of the average daily balance over $15,000.00, resulting in a range from 4.00% to 0.74% APY depending on the account's average daily balance. You will receive reimbursements up to an aggregate total of $25.00 for nationwide ATM withdrawal fees incurred within your Kasasa Cash account during that Monthly Qualification Cycle. We reimburse ATM withdrawal fees based on estimates when the withdrawal information we receive does not identify the ATM withdrawal fee. If you have not received an appropriate reimbursement, we will adjust the reimbursement amount if we receive the transaction receipt within sixty (60) calendar days of the withdrawal transaction. When your Kasasa Cash qualifications are not met, the dividend rate earned on the account's entire average daily balance will be 0.0500% resulting in a non-compounding annual percentage yield of 0.05% and ATM withdrawal fees are not refunded. Dividends will be credited to your Kasasa Cash account on the first processing day of the following statement cycle. Nationwide ATM withdrawal fee reimbursements will be credited to your account on the first processing day of the following statement cycle. APY = Annual Percentage Yield. APY calculations are based on an assumed balance of $15,000.00 + $100,000 in your Kasasa Cash account and an assumed statement cycle of thirty-one (31) days. Rates, rewards, and bonuses, if any, are variable and may change after account is opened without notice to you. No minimum balance is required to earn or receive the account's rewards. Rewards less than a penny cannot be distributed. Fees may reduce earnings. You will automatically qualify for the account's rewards during your account's first statement cycle. If the account is closed before rewards are credited, you will forfeit the rewards. Additional Information: Account approval, conditions, qualifications, limits, timeframes, enrollments, log-ons and other requirements apply. 20.00 minimum deposit is required to open the account. Enrollment in online banking and enrollment in estatements are a condition(s)] of this account(s). See accompanying schedule of Consumer Fees and Charges for fees that may apply to this account. Enrollment in electronic services (e.g. online banking, e-statements) and log-ons may be required to meet some of the account's qualifications. Limit of 1 account(s) per membership. There are no recurring monthly maintenance charges or fees to open or close this account. This account is not to be used for commercial purposes. If the account is closed, you will forfeit any rewards that have not been credited to your account. Contact one of our credit union service representatives for additional information, details, restrictions, reward calculations, processing limitations, cycle dates and enrollment instructions. Federally insured by NCUA Kasasa and Kasasa Cash are trademarks of Kasasa, Ltd., registered in the U.S.A.


text:
The Promise Questioned: I'm Going to Die
Scripture: Mark 8:31-9:1
Track 15 of 27 in the Transforming Story As God Gave It series
Speaker: Chuck Sackett
Dr. G. Charles Sackett is minister of Madison Park Christian Church.
Sermon for Sunday, April 9, 2006
15th sermon in a 27 part series
"The Promise Questioned: I'm Going to Die"
The Transforming Story As God Gave It
(Mark 8:27-9:1)
Copyright 2006 G. Charles Sackett
From where I was standing last week, this is what it sounded like. (you dropped scrabble letters in bucket) It was absolutely remarkable. I was close enough to these front trash cans to listen to you throw away your sins. It was an incredible experience to be here and to watch you do that.
Later, we were sorting out the scrabble tiles and discovered that somewhere in the course of the morning some of the communion cups also got tossed in with the sins and some of the tile came out rather, ah, stained. Seems so appropriate. The blood stain of the cross over the top of our sin.
I don't know that God does anything greater for us than to make us that offer of forgiveness. To make it possible for His blood to be a cover for the sin that we've committed in our own lives. And yet, if that were all there were to it, it would be too little.
Somewhere along the line the church must come to grips with the fact that forgiveness of sin may be God's greatest gift but it is not the end of the story. That there is something far greater than that, that goes beyond that in our relationship with God.
The text that we're looking at this morning is Mark 8. It's a fascinating statement of what occurs in the lives of the disciples of the first century and I think has a great deal to say to those of us who are at this end of the journey in the 21st century.
Mark 8:27 is a passage that is familiar with virtually everyone who has been around the church very long. If you haven't heard it in Mark 8, you have certainly heard it in Matthew 16. You've heard it read or said at some point. Mark words it this way: Mark 8:27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
That statement may or may not mean a great deal to you and me at this end of the journey. Quite honestly, most people who live in the United States, are not raising questions about whether Jesus came as the Messiah or not. But it was the most profound question that could have been asked in the first century. You had a bunch of people of Jewish heritage who were waiting patiently for God to speak and it had been 400 years of silence. And they were hoping, waiting for anyone to come along who could be this person for whom they waited. This Messiah, this One who had come to bring redemption to Israel.
In fact, this isn't the first time that this set of questions and answers have been offered. If you back up a couple of chapters in Mark's Gospel, you'll notice back in Mark 6, this same conversation is coming at the end of the story of John the Baptist. After having been sent to prison in this particular text, Mark 8:14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him."
Others said, "He is Elijah."
And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago."
This was a pretty common image of Jesus, to be a prophet, to be a good man, to be a teacher. But the answer that Peter gave was the answer that was supposed to have been the answer that everybody was to give. He is the Messiah.
Unfortunately, by this time, people had a fairly warped opinion of what that meant. For a good Jew in the first century, under Roman domination, being held against their will to a rule that they totally disagreed with; anybody coming in the name of David would have come as a conqueror, not a servant. Would have come prepared to lead Israel back to its glory. The anticipation of one in the lineage of David would have been coming as a king who would set Israel back on its rightful place. And Jesus began to fit that image.
If you could imagine yourself an oppressed people, underneath someone else's domination, waiting for somebody who would come and relieve you from that kind of domination. To have experienced Jesus the way that the disciples had experienced Jesus, would set you up to give the answer that Peter gave. Only it would have been colored by what you were hoping for. If you're looking for a conquering king, how nice would it be to have somebody that could take five loaves and two fishes and feed an army? Who could take a man who was lame and heal him? Who could raise a person from the dead? What kind of a military leader could you have asked for, any greater than one who could do miracles at the drop of a hat?
And so, in that sense of expectation, if Jesus is the Messiah, He could be the One that we're waiting for. The One that would deliver us from Roman domination. And Peter, both in hope and at great risk says, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" "You are the Christ." And I don't know whether to say that with an exclamation point or a question mark. Did Peter say, "Thou art the Christ!" in good King James language or did he say, "You're the Christ?" But that was the hope. It was the dream that someone was going to come to be the person that they needed to be. In the language that you and I have been talking about up to this point in our story, the story is fulfilled. We've been waiting for the Messiah. The whole Old Testament story has been to get us to this place. That Jesus would come and there would be One who would be the Redeemer of Israel and Peter takes this enormous risk and says, "Okay, I think you're Him. And talk about dashed expectations. Look at the next segment of this text.
Mark 8:31. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
And notice what Mark does here in Mark 8:32. He spoke plainly about this. . . . Make sure you understand Mark's insertion. He wants you, the reader, to be sure you understand, Jesus could not be misunderstood at this point. He was being absolutely clear. Peter, the rest of you disciples, I'm here because I have to suffer and die. That's not what the expectation was. So what does Peter do?
According to this verse, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. It's an extremely strong word. He repeatedly rebukes Him. I can just see Peter taking Him by the toga and pulling Him off to the side saying, "Jesus, what are you talking about? You can't do that. That's not what Messiah's do."
Mark 8:33. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
I don't know. I don't know any conceivable way to capture what that must have felt like for Peter. I tried to put myself in a position where I could figure out what that must have . . . . .you just took the risk of your life. As a good Jewish man and you said, I think you, Jesus, are the Messiah. Jesus comes along and says, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and die. Peter stands up and says, Wait a minute. No you're not. And Jesus says, Get behind me adversary! POW! Man that had to hurt. But the key is Mark 8:33. You've got your mind set on the things of men, not on the things of God. Peter, you're thinking like a man. You're not thinking the way a disciple thinks. You're thinking like a human thinks. You're thinking like a Jew thinks. You're thinking like an American thinks. You're thinking like a person who wants out from under domination thinks. You're thinking about this from the wrong perspective, Peter.
Now I don't know how much of this occurs in the actual conversation, between Peter and Jesus, but I got a sneaking suspicion there's a whole lot more going on here than what's written. And I can just see Jesus saying, Peter, don't you remember that day, down on the beach? You were fishing, and I came up to you and I said, Come (remember what He said?) Follow me.
Sounds so simple. Ah, at the risk of pointing out the obvious, do you know where you have to be standing if you're going to follow someone? You got to be. . . . .behind them. By the way, that is literally the word that is used. Peter (Mark 1:17) come behind me.
You know what happens in Mark 8? Exactly the same word. Peter, go behind me.
See Peter's problem is he got ahead of Jesus and he started to do the leading instead of following. He was going to tell Jesus what a Messiah was supposed to look like. He was going to tell Jesus how it is that you follow after identifying Him as your leader. And I come back and remind you of what Jesus said. I must suffer. It wasn't a choice.
By the way, that word "must" that occurs in this text is used very sparingly in the New Testament and it's used exclusively to talk about something that God ordains to happen. It doesn't happen because you say it has to happen. It doesn't happen because somebody powerful says it has to happen. It doesn't happen because a Roman says it has to happen. This happens because GOD says it has to happen. I MUST, by divine ordination, I must suffer these things.
Here's what I'm trying to tell you. While redemption is absolutely incredible, and there would be no one more convinced of that than I am, while being able to take your sin and pour it out and get rid of it; while that's so utterly remarkable, that's not the end of being a disciple. That's only the beginning. That's just the start of the story for you. This is a story of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. Someone, who, because they have been redeemed have identified Him as the Lord of their life, and as the Lord of their life, they are willing to say whatever it is that you ask of me, I'm willing to do. Wherever you say to go, I'm willing to go.
So let's ask ??? Where is Jesus taking us as disciples? By the way, I understand Peter's reservation. Jesus just got done saying, I'm going to go to Jerusalem and die. And He says, Come follow me. There's some people you don't want to play follow the leader with.
Look at this text. Because here's what it means to be a disciple. Here's what you signed up for when you decided to say, "Jesus is the Lord of my Life."
Mark 8:34. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come (behind) after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
The implications of this statement about following Jesus are really very clear. And I'm not going to try to hide them from you. I'm just going to say them as clearly as I know how. The very first thing He says is we have to be willing to die to our self.
That's not a popular trait, by the way. And it doesn't come easily to any of us. We are by nature, born selfish. Any of you have children? Any of them ever seem demanding and wanting their own way? Any of them ever learn this word? Mine! Any of them ever have trouble sharing their toys? Any of them give you difficulty by saying, "No" I don't want to do it your way. Many of them learn how to say that before they know how to voice the two words together. No and no. But it was clear, wasn't it? That they were self-centered egotistical creatures. Now they had that initially in order to survive. You have to think about that, that's a pretty good trait to be egotistical and self-centered when you're an infant and totally dependent on the rest of the world. And frankly I'm a, I just readily admit I'm a bit of a spaced out cadet sometimes and if my children didn't cry, the chances are I wouldn't have fed them. So the self-centeredness was not a bad thing on the front end of things but you know, it gets really troublesome when their 17 and still telling you the same thing.
Did you read about this the other day? I was listening to the radio or reading this in a story and this person is on asking for advice. "I have this son who is totally hooked on computer games. I don't know what to do with him. I can't get him off of the internet. Oh, by the way, he's seventeen." It's like, who's the parent here for cryin' out loud!
We don't deny self easily. But you got to remember that, that's exactly what this thing is about. It's about self-denial. It's about making your self subservient to what the Lord wants from you. That's just the way it works. This whole thing is about "taking up your cross" which, by the way, as Lacey pointed out, we have turned into a lot of things that it wasn't in the first century.
Any of you ladies got one on this morning? You have one right here in the front row. Oh man, I'm sorry! Do you know what wearing a cross around your neck would be equivalent of in today's culture? It would be like having a little rendition of an electric chair, or a firing squad, or a lethal injection. See this thing here? This was never intended to be pretty. The first century person would have never said, "Oh, that's a lovely cross." They would have said, "That's death." Because that's all it ever meant. If you were Jewish and you walked down a road somewhere and sitting on the side of the road, you saw a cross, you would have said this one thing. "Somebody died here." To a Jew, if you remember your Old Testament, for anyone to die on a tree, meant that they were "cursed" of God.
So Jesus comes along and says, "If you want to be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me." "Die to your self."
If you haven't come through the foyer, may I encourage you to go through the foyer and just kind of meander around the display because the display is not of bad things. It's not a display that you would normally think of when you think of worldly things. We don't have any playboys out there, you know. We don't have any pornography or any alcohol out there. There are no drugs in the thing out there. It's houses and cars and computers and date books. It's the stuff that we live with every day that is a "good thing", as long as you own it and it doesn't own you.
So He says, one of the implications for being my disciple is that you're willing to die to your self and to follow me and you got to remember where He's going now. He's going to a gallows. He's going to a cross and He's asking you to come. There's nothing easy about discipleship. Everything's easy about salvation, by the way. Please don't misunderstand me. Forgiveness is easy for you. It was pretty hard for Him, but it's easy for you. All you got to do is say "yes" to Him, right? He says, "Come to me and I'll give you salvation". You come to me and identify with me, you participate in my death and resurrection and I will give you salvation. And so we make that offer pretty regularly and it's not, oh it's a little embarrassing to go in the Baptistry. It kind of makes you a mess, but it's not a bad thing. You know. You identify with Jesus and you come up and you're new. The challenge isn't getting saved. The challenge is living like a disciple.
The second implication of that, by the way, in this text is that we have to determine our price. Mark 8: 36-37 reminds us that we all have a price. I know that you don't like that and I think you would deny it, but the question still is in the text just as clear as it can be. What would a man exchange for his soul?
I read a half a dozen stories early this morning. I don't know. You don't have probably a chance to do that kind of thing. You probably have no need to do that sort of thing. But I'm always doing that kind of thing cause I've got to stand up here and talk. If I read less, maybe I would talk less, but that's probably not true.
So I read about the professional football player who traded his soul for drugs and alcohol. I read about the finance man who traded his family and his soul for a big paycheck. I read about, Madonna, who, believe it or not, finally admitted that money and materialism isn't everything. And so, she's going to do some searching she says. Right now she's looking at Jewish mysticism. She's not going to find her answer there, but, at least she recognizes what the rest of us finally have to come to recognize. That whatever it is the world has to offer isn't the answer. Some of us have to learn that the harder way than others. But everybody, they say, everybody (I don't know if this is true), but they say, everybody has a price.
That was the whole point of the movie, Indecent Proposal, which I did not see, by the way, but have read about. Where Robert Redford pays a million dollars for the privilege of sleeping with another man's wife. They wouldn't do it for just a pittance you know because that would make you a prostitute. Well, when the offer hit a million dollars and they saw that as a ticket to their freedom in the future, suddenly it didn't seem like such a big thing after all. And you sit there aghast that anybody could do that and yet I'm here to tell you that every one of us at some point in our life has exchanged our soul for a great deal less than a million dollars. We have traded our soul for a moment of anger. We have traded our soul for a fleeting glimpse of what it might mean to be happy. We have traded our soul for a friendship. We have traded our soul to be popular with our friends. We have traded our soul for a lot less because all of us at some point have a price. And the challenge of being a disciple is to learn that you don't have to do that. You don't have to be popular and you don't have to be wealthy. You don't have to have friends. You don't have to have any of that if you have Christ. The rest of that will take care of itself, in the long run.
So Jesus says, what would you trade? Peter would trade, by the way, an earthly Messiah. Later he would trade, he would trade almost anything later on just to get out of that courtyard.
Well, the third thing that He says is you have to take your stand. Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me. . . . .in this generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him. And Peter, just a few weeks from now, in this text, will, in fact, turn his back on Jesus and three times, say, "I never knew you". It's easy for Peter. It's easy to condemn Peter at least. Cause you probably have never done that, right?
Some of you have heard me tell you this before. It's one of my life's most embarrassing moments. (The band can stay down there, cause I'm not done yet. I just want to come down here where I can tell you the story better.)
My daughter was in high school track and she's good. She didn't get that from her Father, by the way. She left her medals from the track meet at the high school one day and she asked if I'd go get them cause she had to go to work. So I thought, well, sure, why not, that's no big deal.
So I drove out to the high school. At Lincoln there's a circle drive. I pulled into the circle drive where you're not supposed to park and I parked. And I hopped out of my car and I realized I was wearing a homemade tee shirt from one of my classes that day. One of my students has a project teaching as if we were little children, had us write our own Christian shirts. And, on it said something about "We Love Jesus" and it looked, really hokey. I mean "cheesy" to the max and I remember stepping out of the car and I started to close the door when I looked down and I realized that I got this "cheesy" I Love Jesus tee shirt, on. And there was that moment when I made a profound decision in my life to take off the shirt before I went in the building and anybody saw me.
And I would like to tell you, it isn't because I'm ashamed of Jesus, that I was only ashamed of the "cheesiness" of the shirt, but to this day I still don't know the answer to that question. Why did I take that off? Why? Probably the same reason I don't like it when people know that I'm a preacher. Probably the same reason I don't wear Christian tee shirts. Because there's just something hard about being a disciple in public, for me. Maybe not for you, but, for me.
And Jesus says, "You want to be my disciple, you follow me. And following me means you can't be ashamed of me. You got to own it." I am a disciple of Jesus. And I come to this text and I find myself challenged with what it means to really be a disciple. Not just to take advantage of the salvation that God offers, but to really be a disciple. Because frankly, this call to a discipleship is a great deal harder than I ever expected it to be. And honestly, Jesus does not always meet my expectations. Things don't always turn out the way that I think they're supposed to.
I wonder if Peter must have thought - Did I just get it wrong? Was it a mistake? Is He not the Messiah? Did I blow it? Did I misunderstand? This isn't what I thought I was getting in to.
I think that is why the next text is there, by the way and I'm not going to preach on it. Otherwise, we'll be here until Easter. Which, by the way, is next week.
The next text is an out-of-transfiguration and if you didn't pay any attention to it, it would sound like this in Mark 9:2. After six days Jesus took with him (and who's the first name on the list? You got it!) Peter. What a statement of grace, uh? Get behind me Satan (and six days later) Who is the first person He calls? That my friends is grace. And they get out of transfiguration and Jesus is transfigured before them and Moses and Elijah are there and then all of a sudden there is this cloud. And I don't have time to go into all of the Old Testament ramifications of that but you just think about mountains and clouds and Moses and Elijah and all of a sudden you've got all kinds of images that should be flooding your brain. And there's a voice of God that says, "This is my Son, . . . . .Listen to him!" And the cloud peels back and there's no Moses and there's no Elijah and Mark is so abundant . . . . . .with him except Jesus, always.
This isn't about Moses. This is not about Elijah. This is about Jesus. Peter, you were right. He is the Messiah. Listen to him!
I wish I could say this more profoundly. But I'm going to say it the same way. "This is God's Son, . . . . .Listen to him!" Because He has the answers to your life. And while discipleship is hard, it is worth it.
Now just before we sing, I want you to meet somebody who has made that statement true this last week. I want you to meet Paul and Birdie. They're going to stand in just a second right back here and I'd like them to stand up. Paul and Birdie Garden. They came this last week. They took another step in their journey with Jesus and they were immersed into Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins and, they just want to be a part of this body with you. And we're grateful for that. Welcome.
And I want you to hear that the invitation is always there. But the invitation is not just to the benefit, the invitation is to the challenge, to be the disciple that God is calling you to be. And that means dying to your self. Now here's my polite way to say this. I don't know any better way to say it. So quit whining when things don't go your way. This is about following Jesus, not being served, but serving. This is about dying to your self and giving your life to Christ and doing what God calls you to do no matter how hard that is.
It means coming as a collective community to follow Jesus. And together, to walk side-by-side and to get this thing done and to hold each other up, and to make sure that we're all able to follow and that none of us are guilty of selling our soul for a pittance.
So we're going to sing. And here's what we're going to do, we're going to have our Elders and anybody else that feels led to do that, to just stand up here in the front, along the front, and if you would like someone to pray with you about your life, they are here to pray with you this morning. And we're going to sing and while we're singing, you come and you pray and there will be a second song. It's going to go two songs long because we want you to have an opportunity to just voice before God your desire to follow Jesus. And if you need some help, let us help you. So while we're standing, would some of our Elders and their wives make their way up here to the front. Some of our Staff and their wives if they're in here, just come up here and be available.
The rest of us, let's stand and let's sing together, shall we? Let this voice your commitment.