/mattyakel

Believer, Husband, Father, Perpetual Student, Computer Geek Extraordinaire, Video Nut & Music Fan. I don't know everything, but what I do know I will share.

[mattyakel]

YouVersion The Bible App 'for kids' but not nabi (not yet anyway).

Ok so I was kinda pumped about getting the "YouVersion The Bible App for kids." on my kids nabi(s) yes we have 3, (kids and nabis)...Anyway I logged in to Amazon only to get the following message. :( 

So the App from the Amazon Android Store will not install to the nabi2 tablet. So I had to perform this little work around. 

note: if you only have iPhone/iPad then these steps will NOT work. This must be from an Android device. 

(if that's the case you can download the 1.01 from me here. Bible for Kids_1.01.apk ).

Note: You will need the Amazon Appstore on the nabi tablet. You can follow the "Fan-A-Tech" how-to here. http://vimeo.com/43952870

You will need the ES File Explorer & AirDroid apps on the nabi.

All of the steps on the nabi need to be done while the nabi is in the Daddy / Mommy mode.

You can export the app from your android device using the ES File Explorer app (if you didn't download it from the link above.)

Step 1: Open the App Manager in the ES File Explorer App. Press Tools and then Press App Manager.

Step 2: In the App Manager long press on the Bible For Kids app to select it. Then press backup from the menu at the bottom. 

Step 3: This puts the exported app (the .apk file) into the backups/apps folder on your device. 

Step 4: Open the AirDroid app on your device. 

Step 5: Now login to AirDroid from your computer and download the Bible For Kids_1.01.apk file to your computer. (Click on the Files icon.)

Step 6: Now launch the AirDroid app on the nabi and login to it from your computer. Then Upload the file to the nabi. (I usually put it in the download folder). 

Step 7: Open the ES File Explorer App on the nabi and go to the download folder. Press on the Bible For Kids icon. This should open a pop up with an "Install" button. Just Press install, and then it should install the app. 

Step 8: Don't forget to add the app to the nabi mode. 

Step 9: Renter the Nabi Mode and lets the kid have it. Enjoy!

This process is known as sideloading apps on Android. Maybe in the future the Nabi software will suppot the Google Play store and then this process won't be needed. Of if YouVersion was able to release this app to the Nabi "AppZone" but for now it's just unfortunate that this hasn't been released for the kids tablets. But it's not impossible to get it there. :) 

[mattyakel]

devastation by design

My name is Matt Yakel and this is my tornado story. My story begins at around 10:30 am on February 10th 2013. Now for my wife this story began before that, but I'm not sure if she can give you the actual date. So let's skip ahead and then we'll work our way back. May 20th 2013 I was at work like any other Monday, donuts and all. The news and weather station had forecast severe thunderstorms again. We had just rode out the storm that hit on Sunday, we got a little bit of hail and heavy winds. We watched the news all evening seeing the devastation that happened in Shawnee. So my wife and I sat down Sunday evening later on and discussed getting a storm shelter installed. Our home was built in 1980 and had survived the tornado in 1999. Actually none of the houses on SW 14th Street had a storm shelter. 

I have been a resident of Oklahoma since I was two years old, so I have seen a bunch of thunderstorms and tornadoes hit other areas and go over me but I have never had any direct experiences or even close calls. So I typically don't take tornado warnings very seriously. But I had heard someone mentioning that there were going to be some thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes again on Monday. So I knew that this tornado threat was a little more plausible I told my wife to go to Mustang, OK and spend the afternoon with some good, and now life saving, friends of ours, who have a storm shelter. She had a homeschool co-op meeting that morning at 10 and then just went on over to our friends at around 12:30-1:00 when the meeting was over.

I work on the 15th floor of the Valiance Bank tower on Northwest expressway in Oklahoma City. We had guys running around the office looking at the clouds forming outside, most of that morning had been clear as far as I could see. But then it got dark quick. Everyone came by saying that it was over Mustang so I started getting a little nervous. A bit later they blew the sirens at our office, had us all walk down 15 flights of stairs to the basement. The cell service was lousy, as expected, but even with everyone trying to use it at once, I managed to text Cara and let her know I was safe. It wasn't five minutes later they gave us the all clear and were letting people go back up. That felt way too fast for me, so I stayed around in the basement for a while. One of the buildings security officers had a weather radio and I heard mentions of Moore and headed towards Santa Fe, then I moved to the lobby of the bank, there they had a tv at each end one playing channel 9 and one playing channel 4. They were showing where Newcastle had just been hit by the storm, so I stayed around for a bit and then I began to see the reports of it hitting Moore. I was trying to contact some other friends to make sure that they were ok, and to let them know that we were ok. Cara was in Mustang and I was up on Northwest Expressway. Then I heard the words, 19th and Santa Fe, I had this gut reaction that this was it. My home was gone!

Honestly I wasn't frantic at this point, I had not yet heard how big it was, five blocks away might have been enough. Later when I spoke to my wife she was holding out hope that maybe we got lucky and it missed our home. Later that evening my wife received a call from a young lady named Lacey. Lacey had found Keagan’s iPhone; my old 3G that he uses as an iPod, she called the first number listed which was Cara’s and was relieved to learn that we were not in the home, so no one was injured. But now my wife and I knew that our home had been destroyed. As we were on our way to Chickasha to stay the night with some family one of the guys that I work with, who also lives in Moore called me. He and his wife were safe as well, they walked what was probably several miles over to look at my house for me. I could hear the devastation in his voice, he paused and didn't want to say anything, so I said that I already knew. Then he let it out, I’m sorry man its gone, “there is nothing there taller than I am.” Those words stuck with me like bricks in my stomach, it was strange to hear but I knew that it was true. So here comes the amazing part! My family and I are all completely safe! Not a scratch on us, we were both in completely separate areas we weren't even in Moore. 

My wife has been toying with the idea of homeschooling for probably a couple of years now, but I really didn’t want to. I thought that it would be too expensive, too hard, and way too stressful. Besides our kid needed to be socialized right? Boy was I wrong, completely and utterly WRONG! On Sunday February 10th at around 10:30-10:45 am we were where we usually are at that time, at Lifechurch.tv South OKC campus listening to Pastor Craig Groeschel. Only this time he was talking straight to me, directly to me, maybe even only me. He spoke about how he and his wife Amy decided that God was leading them to homeschool their children, and the struggles that he had with it. Seriously this can’t be real how does he know what I am thinking. So after he explained some details about their situation I thought ok then if he has had some of the same concerns that I have had and look at his kids now and how God has taken care of them, then maybe I should trust God too. So directly after that service I agreed with my wife and I told her that she was right and that we should homeschool our children. So on spring break of 2013 we pulled our two children Keagan and Kate out of the Plaza Towers public school. Yes you read that correctly our children had attended the Plaza Towers public school one of the two schools that was hit by the tornado on May 20th 2013. If it wasn’t for God using Craig's own example to speak to my heart then my Son Keagan would have been in the Plaza Towers school building during the tornado. Also if it had not been for God letting me actually pay attention to the tornado warnings and advise my wife to go to a friends house then my family my not have survived the storm. So yes I may have lost my house to a tornado but God had orchestrated the saving of my family since February 10th 2013, and probably even before that, at least on my wife’s end (she listens better than I do). 

So where is God in all of this tragedy, you may ask? God is in the small miracles that have occurred. He is in the details of exact locations and timing. He is in the small gut reactions and the I think I should do this thoughts. He is the protector in the case where the people across the street from my house rode out the storm in their bathtub. He is the rescuer, because our dog survived the storm and she was found three days later hiding in a truck that was smashed and turned on it's side. God is in the small stillness where he sends the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts, if we would only listen.

 “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:12

So we know that God is in the small things, the things that matter to us. He takes the tragedy and works it to do us good, not harm.

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God...” Romans 8:28

To borrow from Craig's message again tonight, God is close.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

So to those of you who doubt that God is good and faithful, I pray for you that he would reveal himself to you. And to those of you who believe please rejoice with me! My Family is ALIVE!!

“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:6-9

--Matt Yakel

[mattyakel]

My wife's blog which I revamped with new graphics today.

[mattyakel]

I had a creative thought yesterday, after some strangely short blues. (because, typically when that happens it lasts longer than for me.) I think the Young Oceans helped, they have great lyrics. Anyway got this thought in my head for a photoshop design, I know it's been a while since that happened to me right? So I sat down to whip this out but kids were hollering (well screaming and taking turns punching each other, to be exact) and dinner was being flung every where. But I had my coffee in one hand, mouse in the other, and a thought in my head; so nothing could stop me... Ok so I had to stop help my amazing wife Cara put the kids in bed. Needless to say my creativity dwindled as quick as my coffee did, so my AMAZING designed turned out to be mediocre at best. So tonight after an amazing LifeGroup it came back, morphed but way better. I started with an HD desktop background for my iMac and ended up with an iPhone background instead, but I really think that sometimes smaller is better. Anyway download it if you want. Enjoy, let me know if you like it.

[mattyakel]

This is still probably my favorite, the light was amazing that day.

[mattyakel]

Into the Abyss... (ok so maybe that's dramatic)

The drama runs a little deep in our family, at least with my kids. (and my wife thinks it does with me too.) Well 2012 has been a ride so far and it's barley off the ground. Things have been pretty crazy for us, I was laid off from my job at the end of January or the beginning of February (however you want to look at it). My Beautiful wife posted her thoughts on her blog, which pretty much sums it up so ill let you read the details there. It's just been crazy that with a loss of a job things for our lives have gotten so much clearer rather than horrible. God is so good, (all the time). So in short I feel that God is setting out on a journey and we're being called to follow him I don't know where it will end but I do know that it begins right here right now.

This song seems to sum it up nicely. "Set Your Sails"

Better be gone It’s half past eleven now Get onto the deck You better get on It’s half past eleven now Fairly well, we can tell Nothing but moving will do And it will be alright   Hey, hey, hey, the night is waiting for you Take a picture of the silver moon Oh, oh, oh, she will be shining for you On your journey home   Better be gone So find your pocket watch And all of your hope now The hour is long Before I try to say too much Fair thee well ‘cause we can tell Nothing but courage will do And it will be alright   Set your sails upon The mighty winds of May Set your sails upon the hope Of June Set your sails upon the air of Warm July Set your course for Heaven’s shore

[mattyakel]

Here's an iPhone Background that I made. This photo was taken with my iPhone 4S then edited with PS CS4 feel free to use it if you want, let me know what you think.

[mattyakel]

Step Lively Matey - There be Pirates afoot!

So my discussion post for this week at school was pretty interesting. It was over the ethical views and dilemma of software piracy. Here is the post and my response. 

What is software piracy? When software gets copied without permission from the copyright holder. This means  that the copyright holder, usually the one who makes the software, will not get any  reward for his/hers product. It is illegal to infringe the copyright law and can result in  imprisonment and/or fines.  Forty-one percent of the software installed on personal computers worldwide was pirated  in 2008, a three percentage point increase from 38 percent in 2007. During 2008, losses due to  piracy increased 11 percent $53 billion.  At 20 percent, the United States had one of the lowest piracy rate of all countries studied. Despite the low percentage, the United States ranked first worldwide in software losses due to piracy at $9.1 billion.

A 2008 study predicted that lowering PC software piracy by 10 points over four years would create 600,000 additional new jobs worldwide (www.bsa.org/idcstudy).

Piracy is not limited to software; it also includes movies, music, and eBooks. Explain your personal feeling on when software piracy is ethical and when it is unethical. Also give personal experiences with software piracy. After discussing your views on software piracy, you are required to reply to two other students' posts on the topic.

And here is my post for the week. Just thought that you might want to check it out. 

First off Wow, I didn't know that the numbers were that high on piracy! I knew it was a lot but WOW! It would be great to see more people legally license their software and in turn create more jobs. I also think that the prices are definitely too high. It is good to see that Apple has lowered the price of their new OS and that the license is more generious. I think that they are headed in the right direction to help prevent piracy.       I firmly believe that open source is a really great alternative. There is a ton of pressure on Schools, City, State, and Government entities for budget cuts. They can't afford to pay the high licensing fees for this software that they "have to have" in order to do their jobs. I think that the piracy issue is in part due to ignorance and part due to the fact that people don't care or do not view it as theft. It's easy to do so that deems it "ok" in their mind. The first computer that I built (when I didn't know what I was doing) had a pirated copy of Windows XP. A friend of mine just loaded it on there for me. When he first helped me out with that computer I truly didn't understand that it was in breach of license and was considered stealing from Microsoft. Later that computer got reloaded to an Ubuntu desktop. My wife is an english teacher at the local college, she uses NeoOffice on her MackBook instead of purchasing a copy of OfficeMac for $149 the NeoOffice works great it has had a couple of hiccups but patches were released pretty quickly. I do think that it was kind of cynical for Microsoft to force new licensing fees by changing from .doc to .docx, I think things like that just encourage piracy.         Some of the customers that I have at my job don't understand why they have to pay an additional $150-$300 to be able to type a document on the new laptop they just bought for $600-$700. I was repairing a laptop for a customer and informed her we may nee to reinstall her OS and that she would need her license information in order to reinstall her Microsoft Office. She siad that she didn't have it that the Microsoft office was just on there. I have also witnessed a scenario where a Sheriff's office had a server that was required by the state for document submissions, where the software company was ripping them off and Microsoft. Their server crashed and our company sold them new hardware. They software company does not support Server 2008 so we could not legally license their new Server for them that software company had us install Server 2003 with a key that they gave us, which was not previously licensed to the sheriff's office. So in order for this software company to save money an not forward develop their applications for Server 2008 they have just decided to pirate Server 2003 for their new installs.       I don't think that piracy is ethical, I do think that the licensing is a little to restrictive in certain areas, like OEM, if your motherboard goes out and you have to replace it with a different model or different manufacture then you shouldn't have to pay again to license your OS. As far as movies go I do have my DVDs that I own copied to a library so that I can watch them back via my AppleTV. I know that technically that is in breach of license of DVD but If I have already paid for the DVD then shouldn't I be able to play it back where I choose. Does anyone view this as piracy? I have read a little about the FairPlay act but I don't know if this fall under that.

[mattyakel]

Here is a photo of my grandpa Ed. It was probably taken between 1956 & 1958. I never got to meet him he passed away in 1959. My Dad was five years old when he died. I've never really thought about it too much, but looking at these old photos last night made me wonder what things would be like if he was still here. Anyway my enjoyment of photography has been dormant for a while now and these old photos are bringing it back. I really want to go take some photos again. 

[mattyakel]

Monday - Friday vs. Saturday

So apparently it's really hard for Keagan to wakeup before 8am Monday thru Friday. There is usually weeping & gnashing of teeth (of biblical proportion). When I say “Put on your socks.” I might as well be asking him to cut off his foot. But come Saturday morning he's usually in our room waking me up at 7:30 or occasionally earlier and I have too fight em off or get up and get breakfast in my zombified state. So I'm just wondering what's the deal with that. Do all kids do this? And where do they learn it? How do they magically know that it's Saturday?

[mattyakel]

I am so thankful for Friday's. Friday's are my short days at work, God has bless me with a wonderful job so that I can spend time with the family that he has given me. Last year at this time I was recovering from hernia surgery and dreading going back to my job that kept me away from the people that God has entrusted to me. I make probably about $10k yr less at my job now but one main thing that I have learned is that quality of life is not defined by money or possessions. Now I am probably too much like everyone else cause I have times where I want all the things (that don't matter) and I loose sight of what is really important; my family, and start thinking I need more $$$$. But then it seems like God always reminds me of what's important with the things that come out in photos like these.

[mattyakel]

Got Keagans Christmas lights put up in his room this evening, made home clean his room first; you'd have thought that we made him cut off his leg, but after all the trauma that he endured we got his lights up, and then he was jumping up & down all over the place.

[mattyakel]

Sword vs. Cross

Ok so I am guilty I have a tendency to want to get back at people because as everyone on planet earth knows, “I am the most important person ever, and what i think is right.” You better not cut in line in front of me. You better not cut me off on the highway. Or I'll... (get really mad). So this is what I got slapped with Sunday morning. These are my notes so you can listen to it here if you want. 

An Invitation to life in the Kingdom Matt 5:3-12 1. When the law said pick up a sword, Love says pick up the cross.  John 18:36 - Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." 2. Jesus has not given us what we deserve (the sword) he has given us grace (the cross).  3. 381-382 Constantine mandated that the official religion is Christianity, the next year the first person was murdered in the name of Christ.  Matt 26:52 - Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword." Matt 5:38,39 - "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' " But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." 4. People are changed inwardly and permanently by the cross, not the sword. The cross opens people up, the sword shuts people down.  5. 3 Types of Sword Bearers.  a. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your worth.  b. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your possessions.  c. Sword-bearers who take a swing at your time, energy, dignity Matt 5:40-42 - "And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you." 6. This text is not saying that you have to roll over and take everything. This is not saying that if you are in an abusive relationship that is doing you physical harm to stay in it, this would be unwise.  7. The focus of this passage is to lay the sword of retaliation down, let God deal with the other person. Don't continue the cycle of brokenness.  1 Peter 2:21-23 - For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Wow I know that I am so guilty of forgetting what has been done for me. I know that I need to remember to extend the cross to others, but sometimes I just don't quite make it there. Hopefully these study notes will be a reminder for me.  All scripture taken from: English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

[mattyakel]

firstPost

So I just got signed up let's see how much I'll use this.

[mattyakel]

You are No One's Rival

Here's my journal entry from today just thought that I'd share it with anyone who'd care to read it. 12.28.09 O Lord,

I am at the point right now; right here in the coffee shop on Monday @ 4:35p listening to "Unthought Known" by Pearl Jam (from Backspacer), that I am struck with the immense fact that we live in such a fallen world that things truly to the core are longing to be the way that You made them. Things are not bad--or were not originally made evil. You made all things good, "very good" but they are deep down to the foundation cracked and marred, misinterpreted by us. We are truly image bearers of you. You alone made us, made us to mirror You in creativity, love, glory, so that You alone would be glorified by our mere existence. The simple fact that we: live, breathe, laugh, love, cry, scream, sweat, work, whisper, talk, eat, give, take, run, walk, crawl, is the crowning jewel on the most glorious of all Your creations. This speaks volumes about You, Your might & Your worth, it is truly all about You. The fact that we exist is about You, You alone make the sun shine. There is none to rival You. You alone are: Might, Power, Strength. How do we miss this so well, it's right in front of us, the very air that we breathe is such proof of You. Molecules, Science, Chemistry they are all the evidences of the ways that You work, and in Your image we work to try to figure out the things that You speak into existence. O Lord forgive me for missing it so deeply, forsaking what's right in front of me, as if this was all about me. How could I so greatly miss the obvious? I miss it down to my core. But there You are working to restore what we broke. There you are putting right the things that went wrong. How the very essence of creation longs for You, it reflects You. You are so great, not in the very small great that I use all the time like: "Oh those shoes are great." , but in the earth shattering, millions of stars in the sky, how I feel so small standing on top of the mountain, kind of Great. Oh how sad it is that I am so flawed that I am so amused by such passionless things as: technology, computers, busyness, big houses, new cars, and all the gadgets and toys that we ourselves make. We choose the finite over the infinite time after time. You-the infinite chase us down with such perseverance, such purpose. We are so quaint to miss it time after time. You have given such evidences that you'd think it'd be easy for me to see. Coffee, music, art, love, sex, children, family, wine, food, friendships, the very time that I waste not looking for You. There should be nothing left to intrigue me but You. All these things that I enjoy are but gifts You've given to show the glory and majestic power of You.

So back to the song, I think the lyrics of this song were unexpected but very telling for me today.

All the thoughts you never see You are always thinking Brain is wide, the brain is deep Oh, are you sinking? Feel the path of every day Which road you taking? Breathing hard, making hay Yeah, this is living Look for love in evidence That you're worth keeping Swallowed whole in negatives It's so sad and sickening Feel the air up above Oh, pool of blue sky Fill the air up with love All black with starlight Feel the sky blanket you With gems and rhinestones!!! See the path cut by the moon For you to walk on For you to walk on... Nothing left, nothing left Nothing there, nothing here... Nothing left, nothing left Nothing there, nothing left... Nothing left, nothing left Nothing there, nothing here... See the path cut by the moon For you to walk on See the waves on distant shores Awaiting your arrival Dream the dreams of other men You'll be no one's rival Dream the dreams of others then You will be no one's rival You will be no one's rival... A distant time, a distant space That's where we're living A distant time, a distant place So what ya giving? What ya giving?

[mattyakel]

iMac Hard Drive Upgrade

Ok so this is not usually a Tech blog but since I am such a Tech person this is what I been up to lately. I thought that the Hard Drive in my iMac died I was using it and it just froze up one day, so I had to hold the power button to a manual shutdown. (I'm sure all my Windows user friends are saying "see told you...") And to my dismay when I pressed the power button again it sat there for the longest time. It finally read the boot sector off my USB backup drive this is the one I use. When it booted my internal hard drive was missing so I thought great it's dead. So I took my iMac to the Apple Store in Tulsa and they said it would be $279 for the replacement drive & $85 labor. +tax = $395, so I freaked out a little & decided not to part with my life savings. We went around the mall a bit & let the kids play at the little playground thing they have. I text Brent Albert & told him that it was going to be almost $400 & he told me about ifixit.com, I had never heard of them before. (Their amazing by the way) So I decided i'd give it a shot try to fix it myself, which I have now successfully done. I got a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green drive from Newegg. I got the tools I needed from ifixit so this whole process only cost me about $120 (and the Apple drive was going to be 640GB not 1TB) I pretty much followed the ifixit "iMac Hard Drive Replacement Guide" to the letter and they were right on. It is definitely not for a novice but to the average tech-ie it's a nice challenge. Here's my proof (along with the fact that my iMac still works) prepped & ready to go. remove the RAM door first. (it's just 1 Phillips screw) It's not as hard to pull off with the suction cups as I thought There are 12 of these Torx T8 screws the 4 on the bottom are longer than the rest. I flipped the bezel straight up it's still connected to the mic. you have to remove some tape to take it apart. with the bezel off there are 8 Torx T8 screws 4 each side of the LCD. next disconnect the LCD temp plug. next remove the 2 Torx T6 screws on the LCD data cable then disconnect the LCD data cable pickup the Left side of the LCD fist. there are 4 cables on the rigth you have to disconnect first 2 bottom 2 top I labeled mine A,B,C,D There is a tiny black dot on the front so you can reconnect them properly next disconnect the HD temp sensor cable the handle is not too hard but it takes a firm grip remove the handle & move it to the new drive move the HD temp sensor bracket to the new drive also move the posts on the other side of the drive then place the HD temp senor back in the bracket the SATA power & data cables are standard then just reassemble and VOILA!! your done. For me it was fun & a little nerve racking especially when I dropped a tiny screw down into the rest of the innards, luckily I only had to move a fan to get it out. If you have an iMac and want to give it a storage boost this is definitely the way to go. If you want some help or some pointers let me know. Have fun & don't be scared, but do watch for dust when putting the glass back over the LCD. Matt

[mattyakel]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Let's just start with this so that I don't lose my train of thought, cause I do that fairly quickly.

"Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." -Psalm 51:10

This is from Psalm 51. I know a lot of you just checked out: "Oh, he's quoting the Bible-so boring and dull." -- I know you're thinking it. But hopefully you haven't clicked away to go search for iPods or Christmas presents on Google™ yet. Seriously, take a second and think about this. I'll preface it for you. Ok David the king of the country is writing this, but he is writing it directly after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. She was out taking a bath (yeah that means she was naked, guys) and he was on the roof, where he should never have been in the first place because the army is out in a war & he should have been leading them...he's the king remember? Not only that, he then sent her husband to the front lines of this war so that he would get killed (which he did). So now he's sitting in his palace after he's knocked up this woman and killed her husband having someone play him harp music with the servants using those big leafy things to fan him, ok so maybe the leafy part's a stretch. Ok I know you're thinking what a jerk; I'd like to teach him a lesson or let's put him on the front lines of the battle. Which is what I'd think too. But back to the two wrongs don't make a right part. So Nathan the prophet (a messenger from God) hears about it, comes to the palace, and confronts David -- basically tells him what a sack of trash he's being-- and David finally admits it & he's truly sorry for what he has done so he sits down and writes the above. Now when I blow it big time I know that my response is not to immediately sit down and beg for God's mercy. It's usually run and hide for as long as I can until I've done my "time" and then I'll wander back to God with my tail tucked and take my punishment right? Wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right, so a sinful response to sin is just a bigger mess. It'd be like if one of my kids wet the bed and I go in there and see it but instead of cleaning it up I just pull the covers up and hide it. Later it's going to stink pretty bad, huh? In the same way, a sinful response to sin stinks pretty bad. I should have the same response as David did to all of my mess ups. Instead of running and hiding I should go to God and tell him I've messed it up and ask for his help. The same way my son comes to me and tells me he's had an accident and there's a mess. I don't beat him down & rub his nose in it. I love my son so I go in and clean it up for him. David is crying out to God help me! Clean up this mess I've made. Make it right so that you'll be honored. You can go read on the rest of the chapter (Psalm 51) where David talks about how he's messed it up, and how he's asking God for help. If you want to read the whole story, which is probably equivalent to a lot of rated R movies movies out there, then you can go read 2 Samuel chapters 11 & 12. You can even read it online if you want. All scripture taken from: English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.