http://www.groklaw.net/pdf/Comes-3096.pdf

It was a long journey (36+ hours by plane) but eventually we landed in Durban, South Africa. We were met by two members of the Tugela Ferry Rock of Life church and were kindly transported to Tugela Ferry. As we drove further from Durban and closer to Tugla Ferry it became obvious that the living standards in these communities were worlds apart. Here are a few facts taken from a newsletter by the Rock of Life Church in Tugela Ferry:

Tugela Ferry is the largest populated area in the Msinga district of Kwa Zulu-Natal. The Tugela River flows through the Northern border of the rural village of Tugela Ferry. There is an estimated population of one million people.

Rock of Life Christian Church started in 1964 as a very small local church. The congregation grew steadily and in 2000 the membership totaled 400.

The church has on staff six full time pastors, ten elders, and seven deacons.

Worship services are held on Sundays at 10:30am with Sunday School for the children. The church has twelve branches that serve the region.

Below is a typical Sunday morning service at the Rock of Life Church:

A typical Sunday morning service at Rock of Life Church

This is perhaps the poorest region in South Africa and is literally the “heart” of Zulu-land.

Overlooking the Tugela Ferry region

This was a typical Zulu home from what I saw while in the area

The needs in this region are great. There are souls at every mountainside, living vast distances away from civilization making it hard to reach many. AIDS is an unprecedented epidemic is this area where once the cycle begins, it is nearly impossible to stop. 4 out of every 5 children under 15 will die before they reach adulthood. Orphans are many and poverty is in the majority. I was completely overwhelmed by what I saw and I cried out to God for this people, that He would send labourers and indeed if it is His Will I would go.

Elzeth Malherbe, a dear woman of God has given her life to care for orphans in the area having worked among this people for decades. She administers the Khayelisha Care Orphanage where children who would otherwise die are taken in and cared for.

At the time of this writing I cannot say for certain in what way I will be involved with this need that would take many lifetimes to address, but I pray and cry out to the Lord for His Grace and His Church to get a feeling for the vast need. As the scripture says:

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

While the church body in Tugela Ferry is running full blast to help in every way they can (lead by Pastor Barney Mabaso), we the rest of the body of Christ should seek the Lord and ask Him in what way He would have us to help. Let me say that the greatest need (in my opinion) is NOT money. These people need help, prayer support, encouragement, intercessions and a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit! Yes, God is among the Zulu’s and these people are WIDE OPEN to the gospel. They have many customs that in some ways prepare them for coming to Jesus.

I recall a discussion with pastor Barney regarding musical instruments. Barney mentioned “we blacks don’t need them, God placed it in our mouths”. I must agree with this dear brother:

The choir singing ‘repent’

In conclusion I would love to answer any question that my readers may have regarding this people, just send me an email to (mark_vejvoda @ h o t m a i l . c o m ) but I will post contact information for the Christians working directly in this area. These people are trustworthy and very competent, God fearing servants of Christ:

Rock Of Life Church
Tugela Ferry Mission

PO box 397, Tugela Ferry, 3010 email: tugmission @ x s i n e t . c o . z a
Ph. 033 493 0087 FAX 033 493 0083

For more photos of Tugela Ferry, check out my facebook photo album:

here

fatal error C1085 … The parameter is incorrect.

In my case the solution was found here (see Gary Gilbreath’s comment.. especially item #3)

I was compiling on a mapped network drive (in my case using VirtualBox’s shared folders) and VS2008 does NOT like working on pre-compiled headers on network drives. The solution was to change the path of the pre-compiled headers from pointing to my mapped drive (w:) to c:\xx.pch

I learned so much about the “real” side of the system in those years (being included in conferences calls with brokers, etc). Since that time I have researched more heavily the history of the American and more recently the Canadian financial systems and have thus far concluded they are “By design” a disaster waiting to happen.

First allow me to discuss the Canadian side, the “Bank of Canada”. Taken from the Bank of Canada website here are some facts (irrelevant points skipped):

1.  What is the Bank of Canada?

The Bank of Canada is the country’s central bank. Its role, as defined in the original Bank of Canada Act of 1934, is “to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada.”

3. Who owns the Bank of Canada?

The Bank was founded in 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the federal government. Since that time, the Minister of Finance has held the entire share capital issued by the Bank.

4. Is the Bank of Canada a government department?

No, it is a special type of Crown corporation. The Bank has considerable autonomy to carry out its responsibilities.

5. Why do we need a central bank?

The Bank of Canada was created to be the sole issuer of bank notes and to facilitate management of the country’s financial system.

Having an independent monetary institution allows for the separation of the power to spend money from the power to create money.

Separating the central bank from the political process enables it to adopt the medium- and long-term perspectives essential to conducting effective monetary policy.

7. Can I file a complaint with the Bank of Canada regarding a bank?

No. The Bank of Canada does not play any part in the regulation or daily administration of commercial banks. To file such a complaint, contact the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

and last (but certainly NOT least)…

8. How does the Bank of Canada pay its operating expenses?

The revenues generated by the Bank each year greatly exceed its operating expenses.

The revenues derive from the Bank of Canada’s role as the issuer of bank notes to Canada’s financial institutions. Institutions pay the Bank when they withdraw bank notes from it. The Bank then invests these funds in government bonds and treasury bills. The interest earned on these investments is the Bank’s main source of revenue.

The difference between the interest the Bank earns and its operating expenses is its net profit, which is given to the federal government. In recent years this profit has averaged about $1.7 billion annually.

This process, whereby a central bank earns revenue in exchange for its role as the issuer of a country’s currency, is called seigniorage.

Here is some food for thought:

The purpose of the central bank in Canada is “to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada.”. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the federal government. Is the Central Bank a government run department? No, it is a special type of Crown corporation. The Bank has considerable autonomy to carry out its responsibilities. The Bank of Canada was created to be the sole issuer of bank notes and to facilitate management of the country’s financial system.

In some ways this may sound very noble, but something just feels wrong. How does this central bank make money and how do the private banks make money and who is affected?

The revenues derive from the Bank of Canada’s role as the issuer of bank notes to Canada’s financial institutions. Institutions pay the Bank when they withdraw bank notes from it. The Bank then invests these funds in government bonds and treasury bills. The interest earned on these investments is the Bank’s main source of revenue.

So lets try to understand this. The central bank prints money (bank notes) and is the “sole issuer”. The more they print, the less each dollar is worth that is sitting in my bank account and my wallet (that is called inflation). Who creates inflation? The central bank does (not you and me). Why is our money worth less? Because each time they print notes, there is nothing backing the value of those notes (like gold or other real goods) so as they introduce more notes, it de-valuates the existing notes (like what happened in Germany during the world wars).

So the bank “issues” bank notes to “financial institutions”. What did it cost the bank to print these notes, or rather “issue” notes (think of the cost of introducing numbers into a computer). Almost nothing compared to the value of that note. It was virtually “for free” to create that money and lend it to private banks.

Now lets say the central bank lends $1.00 Canadian to a private bank and charges them $0.05 to do  so. In order for that bank to pay that fee and make profit, they lend it to you and me by charging the original fee of $0.05 + their profit margin (say $0.15) = the cost for you and I $1.20.

My question is why should these banks essentially “for free” make money from us? Why can’t we get in at the $0.05 on the dollar? Why are we dealing with usury middle-men who get the privilege of charging us for something they didn’t earn, they got $0.15 on the dollar for doing nothing! Further more when these banks fail, it almost always ends up with a bail-out of some kind (it HAS to since there is nothing to back these notes in the first place, unless you count the fact they liquidate all of your assets when you declare bankruptcy).

Next the central bank takes that $0.05 for each dollar lent to private banks and “invests” it in Bonds and T-Bills. These are primarily bought up my foreign investors and private banks. Essentially by design the central bank %100 relies on the private banks and the private banks %100 rely on the central bank. Each will NEVER allow the others to disappear. While the purpose of the central bank is to separate the politic process from the monetary system, its purpose is ALSO: Having an independent monetary institution allows for the separation of the power to spend money from the power to create money.

This separation clearly DOES NOT EXIST!

Perhaps another time I will discuss the American System, which might I say is “the cavalier of all systems”. Canada is quite mild in comparison to the American counterpart. For starters look here.

Thankfully I have a friend close by who is a heavy duty mechanic and he checked things out for me. One The starter motor itself there are two wires connected, one thick wire coming directly from the positive battery terminal and a smaller thinner switch cable that gets triggered by the ignition.

My friend used a screw-driver to directly connect the screw holding in the Positive cable to the screw holding in the switch cable to test to see if the start would turn over. If not then either a) your battery may be low or dead but more likely b) the starter is failing. Once you have verified that the starter won’t turn over, remove the screws holding the cables and the two long screws directly underneath the start (which hold it in place of the car body and the engine).

Take that part to the auto parts store (or wreckers) and likely they’ll give you some cash for the old core which you can use towards your new starter (mine cost $184.00 Canadian before taxes). Be sure to KEEP the heat shield from your old starter to put on your new one (you just pull it off it fits on via pressure fit). Below are some pictures of the new starter showing the nuts where the cables would connect to and the holes where the two long bolts hold it into the body.

- Should we do foot washing during communion or not?

- The sisters should wear a head covering or not?

- We should greet each other with a holy kiss or not?

- How often should we have communion and who can participate?

- Prayer, real regular prayer meetings?

- Should a Christian dress modestly and how does that look?

- Christian community or individuals?

- Should Christians fight (war, court, etc) or not?

- Speak in tongues / prophecy or not for today?

- Eternal Security /Predestination?

So many topics and so many ideas. What I have found is that these items above are often causes for a lot of fighting and grief amongst Christians (what an oxy-moron… or just moron?). Yes I have been a moron myself and have fought many over these issues myself. What alarms me are two things:

1. Why are we fighting about these things, why can’t we grow up and come to some kind of agreement (for items not critical to our collective walk in Christ agree to dis-agree and love each other)

2. Why are so many abandoning convictions they once believed so passionately?

So I am resolved to:

a) Avoid a fight. Discuss when a peaceful opportunity arises, share in love and leave it be.

b) Always re-evaluate my convictions, but not to abandon those ones that stand the test of scripture and the assurance of the Holy Spirit.

Too often many abandon convictions for a whole host of reasons (I don’t understand all the reasons). People want to be accepted and the more you hold to convictions different than others, the less they accept you. No-one wants to be alone so over time people either compromise or abandon. No I am no fan of being alone, but either the conviction is real and based on your love for Jesus or its false and you wasted all those years in the past following it. I am seeing people show courage less and less to stand for what they believe, as if they never thought through what they were following in the first place.

My cry is for the Lord to give His people faith, strength and courage to follow what is right and good in the face of tremendous pressure to abandon and compromise as it faces the whole Body of Christ today.

network: Firewall authentication: site= protocol=http, prompt=, scheme=ntlm

It seems there is a bug in the JDK version for Linux (and MAC OSX) when it comes to NTLM. If you have access to the webserver that serves the web application and it happens to be IIS, remove Integrated Windows Authentication and viola… Linux works with your applets.

So what can be expected moving from the Okanagan Valley where you have super hot temps and semi desert conditions (cacti, rattlesnakes, tumble-weeds, black widows, etc) to the colder climate of Central BC (some would call this Northern BC)? Having been here for only 1.5 months I feel there are things to share now, before I forget about them which can only be expressed as a first impression.

- Cost of housing is 1/2 of the Okanagan

- Cost of land is 1/4 to 1/2 of the Okanagan

- Food prices are close to the same with some exceptions depending on the store(s) you visit.

- People are MUCH MORE friendly in general. There is a northern culture that just seems to inhabit most people and places I have visited.

- Winter plays with you in mid October for a few days.. melts away and comes back to stay mid November.

- Winter tires are non negotiable. In some parts of BC (basically ONLY Vancouver) you might argue that winter tires are not required. If you leave Vancouver then you NEED them in BC.

- Everything is VERY easy to find and laid out very well in the Prince George area. We were able to find everything without exception with no problems.

- The agricultural side here seems much more slim than the Okanagan and Lower Mainland. If you want to buy animals you may have to travel out of area to get what you are looking for. Likely due to smaller population than the areas previously mentioned.

- You’ll ONLY find U-Haul trucks in major cities Like Vernon, Kamloops and Prince George (Williams Lake or 100 mile house are NOT considered major cities).

- Prince George has nearly everything that Kelowna has, an Airport, A University, a College, a Regional Health Authority, a Costco, a SuperStore, Canadian Tire, etc.

- Prince George has a stigma for bad crime and very cold weather. Both of these are over-rated and sensationalized. But hey it keeps the masses from coming and raising property values and taxes so that’s ok with me.

- There are pockets of godly Christians in the area making it a good destination for Christian Fellowship. Of course it will take a bit of time to find them

That is all for today.

After planning and praying for 1 year, our family has moved from Enderby, BC to rual Prince George, BC. We leave behind some dear friends, friends who we prayed with, and studied God’s Word with, friends who love Jesus. Goodbye Andy and Wanda, Lil, Tim and Brian, John and Heather, Gene and Lori, Michael, Richard, Ken, Bill and your wife, Owen. Each of you spent meaningful time in prayer with us and touched our hearts in a very special way. You prayed out evil influences from our communities, saved broken marriages, softened our own hard hearts and participated in the exercise of eternity. We will miss you and remember you. By God’s Grace we will see you again before eternity.

Some people questioned our move, while others gave encouraging words. Was it the right thing to do? Yes, and only the Lord can see the full fruit. While moving, a lot has been shown to me. Tremendous challenges awaited us, many of which I feel I did not navigate through as Christ would have had me to have done. We moved from our home in Enderby, BC to Lac La Hache for 2 weeks, then on to Salmon Valley (Prince George). Many things went wrong and the logistics were insane. Dealing with utility companies, banks, moving truck rental companies, Notaries, inclement weather… the whole experience left me sitting down and looking at it in mediation. God was showing me myself. Through the trials and tests, my replies and behaviour… it is what I am. The Lord knew it would take a giant two part move for a family of 8 mixing in the real world with real people to show me what He wants to change in me.

The final blow to my self-confidence came while listening to: this

There have been times I have known what it means to really pray… to change history… to intercede and to agonize for things on God’s heart. Lord help me to return to this place of eternal usefulness for the Masters sake.

Amen.

We have moved to:

9115 Salmon Valley Road

Prince George, BC V2K 5W4

Following our family vision we are now totally debt free! I just got high speed Internet installed today and all is back to normal (sorry for not having answered emails / dealt with all of the communications over the past month but we had to move 1.5 times and setup shop 800 KM away from where we once lived).

That is all for now.

In Thunderbird goto:

Edit->Account Settings->Outgoing Server (SMTP)

and select your hotmail server (smtp.live.com) and click edit

Now just UNCHECK the “Use name and password”, then RECHECK that checkbox and click OK.

Now if you try to send an email (MAKE SURE the FROM: dropdown is your hotmail account too) thunderbird should RE-ASK you for your hotmail password (And you can save it to the cache) and voila, the problem is fixed.

I did this in Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty)

What I am refering to is the phenomenon of things, actions, people, decisions which lead to a bad moral outcome. A bad moral outcome could be something that”de-moralizes” team members, or it could be “ethically immoral” or anything else that makes you feel dirty that you did it (skipping that unit test in order to increase velocity). You all know what I am talking about because at some point or other you have been there. We track everything that higher management wants to see to turn people into micro resources but I have never heard of anything in Agile “designed to improve morality”.

Since Agile is supposed to be all about high quality at a lean cost, one would think that satisfaction of employees in their job should create a big part of the overall equation since it affects quality. We are usually supposed to value “people” over a “process”. Personally I’m tired of catch phrases and pretenses and “new ways” of doing things when the reality at the end of the day always ends up the same… “work harder not smarter”. The “moral debt” is always present whether we accept its existence or not. People keep track of it in their minds and hearts and it affects their productivity and loyalty.

Unfortunately the typical North American focus in business revolves around making money and not around making X (the product you make). Instead of worrying about competition from China, maybe we need to build a quality product that will last longer than a pack of bubble gum! More and more people are seeing how the “deals” they thought they were getting were not deals at all. That old Ford that used to last 20 years is breaking down the next week after its 10 year warranty has expired. That netbook (and even regular laptops too) with its cheesy 1 year warranty is as disposable as my children’s diapers.

Do your reasearch and support high quality products (and promote them). Vote with your wallet and word of mouth, and be a part of the solution to this current crisis. Spend “smarter not harder”.

jar uf myJarFile.jar com\vsoft\servlet\myServlet.class

This will replace the class myServlet.class inside the myJarFile.jar with a new one located in com\vsoft\servlet\myServlet.class

You may open the jar in winzip / 7zip to see that it in fact replaced the class with a new date/time. If you do not properly match the full path of the original class within the original jarfile it will ADD the class into the jar instead of replacing the original class so be sure to properly create the full path to the updated class.

I stumbled across some helpful info from here which was the basis for this posting.

It can be a challenge sometimes to find hardware that runs with Linux so be very careful when you do want to purchase a device, whether it be an MP3 player, a printer, a scanner, or a modem you need to keep in mind that your loved device is as useful as cow manure if not supported on your primary operating system. Take the time to research and review before you buy to find the best device at the best price and a good warranty as well.

I give the Epson Perfection v300 a 4 of 5 star rating. the V500 is too pricy in my opinion and only offers higher resolution scanning (which is hardly noticeable unless you are doing professional work with photos or something). Although I like Canon hardware, avoid them when it comes to Linux as they are not “Linux Friendly” in most cases which is unfortunate.

Enoch, walked with God and was not, for God took him; and while it is not stated in so many words, a fair inference is that Enoch walked a path quite apart from his contemporaries.

Another lonely man was Noah. Evidence points to the aloneness of his life even while surrounded by his people.

As far as we know not one word did God ever speak to Abraham in the company of men. Face down he communed with his God, and the innate dignity of the man forbade that he assume this posture in the presence of others.

Moses also was a man apart. While yet attached to the court of Pharaoh he took long walks alone. After the break with Egypt he dwelt in almost complete seclusion in the desert.

The prophets of pre-Christian times differed widely from each other, but one mark they bore in common was their enforced loneliness.

Jesus died alone in the darkness hidden from the sight of mortal man and no one saw Him when He arose triumphant and walked out of the tomb, though many saw Him after-ward and bore witness to what they saw.

This cheerful denial of loneliness proves only that the speaker has never walked with God without the support and encouragement afforded him by society. The sense of companionship which mistakenly attributes to the presence of Christ may and probably does arise from the presence of friendly people. Always remember: you cannot carry a cross in company. Though a man were surrounded by a vast crowd, his cross is his alone and his carrying of it marks him as a man apart. Society had turned against him; otherwise he would have no cross. No one is a friend to the man with a cross. “They all forsook him, and fled”.

The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world.

His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences his is forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. A certain amount of social fellowship will of course be his as he mingles with religious persons in the regular activities of the church, but true spiritual fellowship will be hard to find. After all, he is a stranger and a pilgrim, and the journey he takes is not on his feet but in his heart. He walks with God in the garden of his soul– and who but God can walk there with him?

The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another. He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord and asks no portion or share for himself. He delights not to be honoured but to see his Saviour glorified in the eyes of men. His joy is to see his Lord promoted and himself neglected. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shop-talk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up”. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else. He learns in inner solitude what he could no have learned in the crowd– that Christ is all in all, that HE is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that in Him we have and possess life’s summum bonum.

Two things remain to be said. One, that the lonely man of whom we speak is not a haughty man, nor is he the holier-than-thou, austere saint so bitterly satirized in popular literature. He is likely to feel that he is the least of all men and is sure tp blame himself for his very loneliness. He wants to share he feelings with others and to open his heart to some like-minded soul who will understand him, but the spiritual climate around him does not encourage it, so he remains silent and tells his griefs to God alone.

The second thing is that the lonely saint is not the withdrawn man who hardens himself against human suffering and spends his days contemplating the heavens. Just the opposite is true. His loneliness makes him sympathetic to the approach of the broken-hearted and the fallen and the sin-bruised. Because he is detached from the world he is all the more able to help it.

The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful “adjustment” to the unregenerate society they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the very moral order against which they are sent to protest. The world recognizes them (modern Christians) and accepts them for that they are. This is the saddest thing that can be said about them. They are not lonely, but neither are they saints.

A.W Tozer