I was reading a magazine at the Pain Clinic yesterday, and I saw an ad that said something like will you face his wrath? and left a URL. wrathofgod.info.
I was curious so I went there.

It's funny too, because I didn't recognize the ad though I had seen similar commercials. It was for the Discovery Channel's series on Rameses: Wrath of God or Man?. They were discussing the plagues of Egypt. I wanted to see it. But I missed it.

So...Anyone see what they had to say to disprove the Bible? Maybe I'll catch it in rerun.

My comment section is acting up. If you are desperate to post a comment on my blog right now (and I do love your comments), I have to let you in on a trick. Now, if you can do this on your own, don't mind this post. I am trying to help out those who don't WWW as much as others. (Okay, I admit it. Maybe it is I who am desperate for comments.)

       1. Type your comment.

       2. Copy the text of your comment to the clipboard.

       3. Click the Preview and Post button.

       4. Your comment will not show up.

       5. But you can now paste your comment into the empty text box,

       6. And hit Post.

Now, like I said the comments haven't been working for a day or so. But Ben, I'm sure, is about to announce another miracle save. But this round about way works well enough.

I'm back from Duke once again. The lead has been taken out of my back and the scs device returned. Dr. Pasi and I discussed the test, and I made my decision. I am going to get the permanent device.

So. It was a success. The new procedure should be scheduled probably in 4 weeks. I don't know anything else really.
thanks for your prayers.

Now that I don't have the scs, I've got the pain back and I want my remote control to turn the pain off.

So. The day after the surgery is supposed to be your first journal day when trying out your spinal cord stimulator. But I slept a lot of the day away. That's okay though. I started moving around this afternoon. The stimulator is doing its job. Basically what I'm doing now is playing with my remote control to get the settings the way I like them.

Right now because the scs lead isn't permanently implanted, it moves around quite a bit (when I move, it moves). This causes the stimulation to go up and down, on and off. That takes some getting used to. And I have to figure out what is the optimal setting for sitting down, walking, lying down, etc.

But the trial is going pretty well. My back is sore, no doubt. But it'll get better. I was convinced that this was a very bad idea this morning when I was in so much pain and had only 3 hours of sleep, but now I see how my judgment might have been affected.

If I feel I can move around tomorrow I am going to go to church. I can't miss the Ephesians study in Sunday School after all.

I'm back. And my back is killing me. The surgery went very well. The trip back was hurtful, but I'm okay.

The scs is working. I don't really know how well so far, but I can feel the tingling more than the pain. I'll be going back on Monday to have the lead removed and discuss getting the permanent version. The upgrade, so to speak.

More later...

Did anyone notice the mistake with the picture in Alias tonight? You know that picture of Irina and the baby? When everyone held it the baby's head was on the right side of the picture. But when Jack held the picture at the end of the episode (when he told Nadia who he thought the baby was) the picture was reversed. It had the baby's head on the left side. I can't figure out how that happened. Were there two pictures? Or did they reverse the frame? Anyway. Funny. Reminds me of that Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where the guest star held a tricorder right-side up, up-side down, then right-side up all in the same scene.

It's snowing. It hasn't even been that long and it's sticking all over the place. My mother just made it home and she said it is pretty bad out there.

Okay. Here's the news. Tomorrow is the day I go down to Duke for my pre-op appointment. I'll talk to Dr. Pasi about the procedure, ask my questions, get all the information I can, then Friday will be the day.

I've said all this before, and I hate to bore you, but here's a recap. Friday morning, early, I'll have the procedure done. This Trial is where they put leads in my epidural space and connect it to a device known as a spinal cord stimulator. This device will hopefully interfere with the pain that I feel.
Now, I will only have this Trial device for a few days. I will probably have it removed on Monday. But that should give me enough time to know whether it will really helped more or not. 50% or more pain relief is considered success.
If it is successful I will have to heal for at least 2 weeks. Then they can do the final procedure.

Please pray that everything will go well.
And that the doctors will know whether to give me the RF device or the IPG. Right now my parents and I think the RF device will be better for me because it is rechargable (so the battery doesn't have to be replaced every few years) and has better control over the settings (in case my pain goes up or down). But I'll discuss the options with my doctor.

My family went to hear the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (and the Virginia Children's Chorus for a few numbers) perform a tribute to John Williams last night. Yes we went to hear movie music. It was wonderful though.
Here's some of what they played:

• Olympic Fanfare from the 1984 Olympics
• ET
• Theme from "Schindler's List"
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Star Wars Suite
• Jaws
• Superman March
• Hymn to the Fallen from "Saving Private Ryan"
• Amistad
• Star Wars Episode 1: "Phantom Menace" Duel of the Fates
• Indiana Jones

It was a very nice concert. And a lot of fun. Even if we were a little warm in the balcony.

Wow. I read the first 80 pages of this book this morning. It is so good. The third chapter is the meat of the text. It is the exegetical response to the "new thought" that nixes the imputation of Christ's righteousness.

Anyway, I will write more about this book. I just couldn't keep quiet about it.

Yahoo! News - Judge Rejects School Board Evolution Stand

Once again craziness rules our court system.
The ACLU argued that a warning on a biology book "effectively pushing the teaching of creationism" should be removed from a Georgia school district. This is absolutely ridiculous. If the warning on the books really said,

This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.

How is it promoting Creationsim?

Here's the entire article in case they take it down:

Judge Rejects School Board Evolution Stand

By Paul Simao

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered a Georgia school district to remove stickers challenging the theory of evolution from its textbooks on the grounds that they violated the U.S. Constitution.

In a ruling issued in Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said Cobb County's school board had violated the constitutional ban on the separation of church and state when it put the disclaimers on biology books in 2002.

The stickers read: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

"We are pleased. The law was pretty clear," said Maggie Garrett, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the board on behalf of a group of parents who were opposed to the disclaimers.

The ACLU argued that the school board had demonstrated a clear bias about the material, effectively pushing the teaching of creationism and discriminating against non-Christians and followers of a number of other religions.

Creationism refers to the belief that life was created by God. Evolution, which is accepted by most scientists, contends that life developed from more primitive forms and was dictated by natural selection.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that creationism could not be taught in public schools alongside evolution.

The Georgia school board, which introduced the stickers at the behest of hundreds of parents, many of them religious conservatives, contended that the stickers only advised students to keep an open mind.

The board's lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

The federal ruling came about two months after the re-election of President Bush, who won the overwhelming support of religious conservatives with his stands against gay marriage and abortion.

The Cobb County case also evoked memories of the 1925 "Monkey Trial" of John Scopes, a Tennessee biology teacher who was found guilty of illegally teaching evolution.

I had a nice 24^th birthday yesterday. I haven't been feeling/sleeping very well for about a week. But yesterday was nice. My mom made me a strawberry cake and bought me a new pair of shoes. She got just what I wanted and they were on sale.
Christa surprised me. I had no idea what she would get me. She bought me John Piper's book Counted Righteous in Christ. I've read the introduction online. This is nifty, it came with 5 cds of Piper's preaching on the subject from Romans 5:12-21. This is actually the first Piper book I own. The others I've read online or as pdf's.
I actually painted yesterday, too, using water colors. I'll post it when it is finished.

grace and peace
micah

I mentioned before in my p.s. that Alvin, TX (well, a lot of Texas) got snow for Christmas.

I finally have pics.

I had one of my recurring dreams. Yes, I have a few recurring dreams. I remember my dreams a lot because I sleep lightly and have irregular sleep patterns. Anyway, this one was about church. I was organist. But I was high up in a dark balcony and I could barely see the songleader (who looked a lot like Frank Garlock). Anyway, the organ lights kept going out so I had to find a flashlight and I couldn't find the pages. That's one of the worst feelings in the dream. Everyone starts singing, but I am thumbing through the two books. Plus this particular organ didn't have the stops labled easily so it was really hard to read. I could only get the pedals going well and a solo flute stop. It was lame. They were labled in braille, but I can't read that.

I think this has something to do with my being organist in Michigan at my church. You see we used multiple books and all sorts of music. And there were repeats in the music and I had to turn pages on the fly and plus there was an "orchestra." So we all had to be together. Plus, I was just learning that organ. I had to figure out all the stops on my own and how they'd sound with the ensemble. It was fun. It is odd to be dreaming things like this now, because I loved being organist there. It wasn't tense. Even with all the page turning and hoping I'd get the repeats right. I loved the music there and the congregation loved, loved to sing. They sang with all their hearts.

Happy Birthday Grandma. Wish I could be there with you today.
I hope your kids bought you something expensive.
Miss you.

love,
Micah

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Romans 7:14-25 esv

I'm sorry if you caught the torrent of spam on my blog today. That's a great way to start the new year with my blog. I think I have removed it all. I hope so. Watch out for it on your blogs if you have one. This is the worst kind of spam you can get.

In spite of the state of the world and spam, I pray that you have a blessed Lord's Day. It's my parents' 27th anniversery tomorrow. And my cousin's 6th, I think.

merry new year to you.