My Plate is Full!

Greetings to one and all! Looks like I failed, once again to keep posting regularly. But enough of that. On to the news......Today, I'm supposed to move into my apartment. I've been putting it off all day because I don't have anyone to help. I'll get it done eventually. School starts Monday:-\ It shouldn't be all bad. My semester shouldn't be all that difficult. I'll be taking Computer Science 211-Data Structures & Implementations, Math 172-Calculus II, Music 280-Symphonic Band, Political Science 207-State & Local Gov. (I've been putting it off as long as I could), and Physics 306-Basic Astronomy (GPA booster, hopefully:)).

However, I did hear from the Army last week. 1SG Miller informed me that I have a consult date in Houston next Wed., but I have to stay overnight Tues. in a 4-star hotel ( rats;) ). The doctor consult shouldn't be a problem at all and if everything goes as planned, I'll be signing my contract and swearing in the same day, Wed. I'm a little nervous and a little excited. I'm nervous about finally going through with my decision ( which was not taken lightly and was made with much prayer), which was a decision that couldn't actually be gone through with until the 100 year-old doctors at MEPS said I could. But, I'm also excited about finally being able to do my part and wearing the uniform of a soldier, among other things. Things still could go wrong, though. So prayers would be much appreciated.

On top of all that, I turn 21 the next day, Thursday, August 31. Since I'm gonna be in College Station at the time, looks like pizza and a movie to celebrate:) So, it looks like an eventful week, to say the least, moving in, starting school, signing up with the Army, turning 21 all in the same week. But what can I say? ces't la vie université!

True Tech Support Conversations

The following are true stories. For those of you who've have asked me in the past about some of the stupid questions we get at the Texas A&M University Student Computing Center, this should give you an idea:


Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?

Female customer: A white one...



=================================

Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Tech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No , wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's
still on my desk... sorry....

=================================

Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of
the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

=================================



Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.
Tech support: Would you click on "start" for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm
not Bill Gates.

=================================

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print.
Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the
printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still
says he can't find it...



=================================



Customer: I have problems printing in red...
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah....................thank you.


=================================

Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.

=================================



Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer:! OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there
another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah...that one does
work...

=================================



Tech support: Your password is the small letter "a" as in apple,
a capital letter V as in Victor, the number 7.
Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters ?

=================================

Customer: I can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars.

=================================

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape.
Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer.

=================================

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen
saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

=================================

Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do
I get the circle around it?

=================================

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with
her printer.
Tech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: "No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good
point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and
his printer is working fine."

=================================

And last but not least...

Tech support: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys
at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the
screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: I don 't have a P.
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: What do you mean?
Tech support: "P".....on your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT

“Motherhood by choice, not by chance.”

The following is a very good article written by my Uncle Jesse Roberts, Jr. on abortion in a newsletter he puts out as pastor of Flat Shoals Primitive Baptist Church in Stockbridge, GA:

“Motherhood by choice, not by chance.” That is what the bumper sticker read in the grocery store parking lot. Obviously, the car’s owner meant to convey the message that he or she believed in abortion on demand, and I suppose the owner achieved his or her objective. I began to consider what the words actually said. Motherhood was not the subject under consideration. There have been many “mothers” in Israel who have not borne the children they mothered. Sister Ann Hunt was a mother in Israel to my oldest daughter. Although she bore three children, Jessica was not one of them, but Sister Ann was a mother to her, as Sister Gussie Cawthon, her mother, has been a mother to me. Childbirth was the subject under consideration. There is a great difference between bearing a child and being a mother.

Today’s proponents of “abortion on demand” would try to blur the distinction between childbirth and motherhood. They have used this tactic before. Do you remember that the Supreme Court’s great question in 1973, when it wrote the opinion in Roe v. Wade, was whether (human) life began at conception or some time later? That court determined that abortion should be legal, available, and safe in the first trimester of pregnancy. The assumption was that “humanity” did not begin until after the third month of gestation. The Court reasoned that if it determined that (human) life began earlier or later, it would adjust the time period accordingly. It may be a surprise to some who read this letter, but the re-visitation has not happened. In fact, as several “right-wing evangelical” Christians (whoever they are) predicted, this opinion became a slippery slope to such an extent that now partial-birth abortion at seven, eight, or nine months, is regularly performed, and NARAL and other “right to choice” groups have said that the discussion must change: the question, they say, should not be, “When does life begin?” but rather, “Doesn’t a woman have a right to privacy?”

I’m a fairly simple person. When God inspired David to write, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” (Ps. 139:13-16) I believe that this scripture proves that at conception he was human. When God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations,” (Jer. 1:5) I’m certain that Jeremiah was human at conception. Certainly, before he was born, Jeremiah was human, because he had already experienced the new birth. In order to experience the new birth, he must have first been human. (John 3:5-7) A human cannot be alive spiritually before he is alive naturally. David, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist all apparently experienced the new birth before the ninth month of gestation. Therefore, as a “fetus,” they were human.

Does a woman have a right to choose whether or not she should kill her child? “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” (Ps. 127:3) One may say, “Yes, but I wasn’t ready to be a mother.” My wife and I are raising a child that fit that circumstance. As confused as my daughter was about to many issues related to her rebellion to God’s word and subsequent pregnancy, I am thankful that God sustained her through her ordeal, although she received bad advice from Christians who suggested that she should have an abortion. She chose to bear the child. She felt that having an abortion would add sin to sin.

The fruit of her womb has been a blessing for Susan and me. We sometimes complain about being too old to raise a child, but God gives more grace. In spite of all the difficulties we encounter on a daily basis, he is the joy of our old age.

Motherhood by choice? No! God calls women to be mothers, and He equips them to rise to the calling. Childbirth by choice? No! God has designed that childbirth is by His decree. Conception by choice? No! God has, as He pleases, prevented or allowed conception at His pleasure.

I have not had the opportunity to tell the person that owns the bumper sticker that motherhood, childbirth, and conception are not by chance, but by the decree of God. Perhaps you can tell them for me.

Your servant in Christ,
Jesse M. Roberts, Jr