Google Alerts

Have you heard of Google Alerts? If you haven’t, it’s something you might want to check out.

Google Alerts is a service that allows you to receive Google search results by email. This is especially useful if you want to follow a specific current event. Each day you get an email with links to search results that have been discovered by the mighty Google search engine.

For example, I want to catch all the news on Iowa State athletics, so I set up an alert with the terms “Iowa State” and “Cyclones”. You can get results as they are discovered, or receive them in a daily digest. You get results from news sites, blogs and regular web sites. It’s a great way to keep up on current events of interest to you!

www.google.com/alerts

Journey Through the Bible (Ephesians 4)

I plan to share each week what I’m learning as I journey through the Bible. Currently, I’m studying Ephesians.

Ephesians Chapter 4:
* Believers must be willing to carry the load without expecting reward, thanks or return.
* When we are together with other people, our pride can raise up. But not when we are humble, gentle and patient.
* Humility is not seeing yourself as less important, but seeing others as more important.
* Unity takes diligence.
* God has given every person a spiritual gift (4:7).
* Leadership in the church means equipping God’s people for ministry. (4: 11-12)
* The mark of an immature church is that the people are selfish and easily influenced by circumstances.
* Living the Christian life is a process…a process that transforms our desire to follow Jesus instead of rebelling against Him.
* Being a “good person” isn’t about trying, it’s about trusting Jesus. We don’t have the ability to be good on our own.
* Unbelievers don’t care about right or wrong. Believers do care about right or wrong.
* Believers must:
1) be involved in activities that renew their minds. (Philippians 4:8-9)
2) desire to pattern themselves after God, not the world. (Romans 12:2)
3) study and apply God’s word so that it changes their behavior from within. (2 Timothy 3:15-16)
* Giving is at the heart of Christianity.

A good read

I discovered a cool web site that allows you to keep a virtual bookshelf of books you’ve read or are reading. The site also allows all users to rank books and to write reviews. Here’s my virtual bookshelf:

If you join goodreads.com, please send a friend request to vhost!

My favorite game

The next installment of Call of Duty comes out in November 2008. Here’s the trailer for “Call Of Duty: World At War”

Our first post

I published my first blog in 2002.

That first attempt at blogging didn’t even last a year, and although I’ve blogged some since then in a private setting, I’m going to give the whole blog thing another try. I don’t expect I’ll post a lot, but at least I’ll have a permanent place to do this when I get “in the mood.”