Friday, May 21, 2004
RECOVERY BEGAN
5-21-04
THANKS for your prayers and concern.
I have learned MUCH about identity theft and how to recover in 24 hours.
I have been told that those to steal personal information use it mostly for 30 to 90 days.
Then they may lay low for a year or better.
Tonight I talked with a friend that works at a credit-reporting agency with such matters.
Based on her recommendation I will be requesting a seven-year fraud alert on my credit reports.
Different sources have said that I need to keep a detailed dairy.
This has already cost me much time and energy.
I do not want the enemy to overly distract me or drain me.
So I have begun another blog to share my dairy and indirectly request prayers.
http://www.xanga.com/Fraud_Blog
There are already many links from that blog to related matters.
Hopefully you will never need to go through this.
But someone you know may need such education later.
John 10:28 PM
HUGE STEP FORWARD
5-21-04
At LONG last I have some SHORT audio messages on the web.
It has been a LONG and HARD road to get to this place.
There will be MANY improvements in the months to come.
FINALLY the hardware, software and technical processes lined up.
Let me know what you think.
Here is the link http://audioovertheweb.blogspot.com/
John 1:56 AM
Thursday, May 20, 2004
BEWARE of SPOOF emails
5-20-04
I JUST got tricked.
I was sent an email asking for information to verify my eBay and PayPal accounts.
They threatened to limit access if I did not do this within 5 days.
I am going to link donations from the new website to PayPal.
The form seemed to ask for far too much information.
I was suspicious.
I examined it from many directions.
I went to the eBay site and searched for verification of this need.
When I had followed the directions to verify sensitive data they did not confirm.
It said they would confirm.
Then I looked again on eBay and found the fraud tutorial.
SHORTLY afterward I found the following link warning about spoof emails.
http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial/index.html
I felt very angry.
The words out of my mouth were not godly.
I was mad at myself.
Part of me knew better.
I IMMEDIATELY canceled my debit card and they are reissuing one.
I will change the bank account tomorrow.
I changed the passwords on eBay and PayPal.
During the coming weeks I will need to inform various vendors online.
I pay nearly all my bills online.
I am not a rich man.
But I cannot afford to loose my funds to an electronic thief.
May my error serve as a warning to you.
If in doubt do not send financial data.
Just now I am remembering the warning when I signed up with PayPal years ago.
They said they never ask for such data.
The Internet has wonderful potential for good or evil.
May God use us to maximize the good and minimize the evil.
John 10:24 PM
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Valley Letter
5-19-04
This is a letter from the current valley.
I have passed through many valleys before.
I will pass through many valleys in the future.
Valleys are not bad.
Like trials and suffering, valleys come with the pilgrim path.
It is best to learn lessons quickly and then earnestly commit to apply them.
And I have learned the hard way that it is wise to ask for prayer sooner than later.
The symptoms of this valley are financial pressures, like most of my valleys.
Other pilgrims have valleys related to their health, children, job or marriage.
I got into this valley by a particular route.
It is important to recall the history instead of reacting to the symptoms.
The last time I was actively making face-to-face presentations they were too rambling.
They took 30 minutes and never got to any point of conclusion
The friends I showed it to did not get the Big Picture quickly.
They could not see how they might become part of the biblical solution.
If I could not convey this to friends, then it would be tough to convey it to wealthy donors.
So I went back and took the whole thing apart.
I put together a wide and shallow outline.
The current phase is creating diagrams and developing the threads as summaries.
This has been more difficult and time consuming than I had expected.
Meanwhile the bills keep coming.
The donation income has been very small.
So the pressure keeps increasing.
THANKFULLY
Thankfully God has provided me with wonderful members of the board of directors.
They know about the internal and external struggles.
Thankfully God has provided me with supportive friends and accountability partners.
I am alone and I do not feel isolated.
Thankfully God has provided many intercessors.
Over and over I can bear witness to the internal and external answers to prayers.
Thankfully God has laid a large theological foundation so I am not disoriented.
Often when circumstances and feelings are swirling, my theology gives stable anchors.
Thankfully God has provided a large group that receive these emails.
I can quickly and economically request prayers.
Thankfully God has taught me to be open honest and real when I share.
That macho tendency to hide your weakness and feelings just blocks the love and truth.
Thankfully God has taught me how to write over the years.
Much practice has improved my output and it is on a blog to bless others later.
LESSONS LEARNED
I have learned to take special care of my health.
When the cash flow is thin then it is tempting to cut back on nutritional suppliants.
But I have often spent more money on junk food in an attempt to get my energy level up.
Sugar and caffeine are not food groups, regardless of the spending habits of Americans.
I need to be wise and use moderation in this area.
But zero supplements is not an option for the kinds of stress I face.
I have learned to SLICE up the monstrous projects into bite size units.
Then I line up the units into suitable categories with relative priorities.
With prayer and persistent actions the monstrous projects are not as overwhelming.
This is an application of the saying about eating an elephant one bite at a time.
I have learned to choose to recognize God blessings and give Him thanks.
There are many tiny blessing in everyday life.
This reminds me that God is not cold, impersonal and harsh.
My Jesus is warm, personal and loving.
My Jesus is right here, right now with perfect love for me.
I have learned again to just tell the truth about how I am feeling to my trusted friends.
Stuffing and hiding feelings does not cause them to go away.
They come back sooner than later.
I have learned that being absolutely candid with God in prayer is the best route.
I can never fool God, so why try?
He knows my thoughts, feelings, circumstances, histories, hopes, fears, etc.
Prayer is necessary, important and commanded.
It is okay to express my real doubts, angers, worries and frustrations to God.
He is not shocked or offended.
But I need to keep pressing in until the faith victory that will eventually come.
It is biblically wrong to blame or complain.
It is also biblically wrong to play religious games during prayer.
I have learned to use DVDs throughout the week for mental and emotional breaks.
Netflix www.netflix.com offers more than 20,000 DVDs.
They mail them to me.
I watch them when it suits my schedule and mail them back.
I can have three out at a time.
This is so much better than the what I found on commercial TV.
It was that was taking my time in exchange for disappointment.
These DVDs help my emotional health.
I unwind when I see nature shows, documentaries and good movies.
I have learned that I can cast ALL my cares on Jesus.
He takes the big cares, small cares and ugly cares.
When I run out of gas I can just give up and totally quit, even many times a day or night.
He gives peace, rest and comfort.
He restores my strength.
I do not need to be driven from the flesh.
Jesus gives the motivation from the Spirit.
CONFIRMATIONS
God has used this journey through this particular valley to confirm various things.
The board of directors are each wonderful people that I can share my whole heart with.
God has ways to getting groceries and meals to me that defy the cash flow.
There is NOTHING more important than trusting and obeying the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus will stretch my faith as He purifies and perfects it.
God has given me a personality and spiritual gifts that match the calling on my life.
The news items indicate that our society needs the Bible and Jesus more every day.
Every week I observe another example of how the ministry will solve a perplexing problem.
When the Blueprint for the ministry is presented then the wealthy Christian will give generously.
The Blueprint is a dynamic document that God will keep changing.
This valley will end someday and the lessons will last.
John 8:40 PM
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
TUESDAY BRIEFING from John S. Oliver on May 18, 2004
BLESSINGS
ALL glory to God in Jesus Name!
May you watch and pray.
May you live a life worthy of your calling.
May you fear God and keep His commandments.
Amen?
COMPLETED
· Sleep quality is improving.
· Clutch was serviced by a neighbor for free and it is working better.
· 3 of 15 hrs this week has been invested on the presentation
· Bought roll of brown kraft paper so I can sketch out the Big Picture on a large scroll. Then show just the high points when in person.
· Today God used two previous donors to meet important needs.
· Won and lost battles with frustration and depression.
· During these difficult days God is refining my faith in Him.
· Jesus is again meeting my needs but not all my wants.
· Projects and tasks have been put on several tablets. I am now able to keep better organized. May God use and improve this system that I believe He led me to begin.
CURRENT
· Twice faxed paperwork to get Employer Identification Number (EIN). No reply yet. Will apply online. This is needed to open the bank account for the ministry.
· Summary diagrams have been slipping through my fingers like greased pigs. I get close then zip. Doing diagrams has been easy previously. Please pray for wisdom and grace about this.
· The comprehensive outline was like a mile wide and an inch deep. The threads will take those key parts one foot deep. This is about getting key concepts into one page and/or three minutes online. Thankfully there has been some progress with those.
· I have been asking prayers for God encourage me. Only He can reach the secret places in my soul where my motivation has been lacking. The Bible says that He is the God of all hope.
· Been working on the mission statement for the ministry. This can serve as a major organizational and summarizing unit. Pray for clarity.
UPCOMING
· Auto inspection and registration coming due this month. May they go smoothly and inexpensively.
· Important days for abiding in the True Vine and have productivity in the ZONE are this Thursday and Saturday. May there be more than 15 hours and valuable headway on key projects.
· God is using the pressure of the bills to keep me pointed to face my fears related to face-to-face fund raising.
· Soon I will need to raise the funds for the software to make the new Mind Maps. The company is Mind Jet and the price is 299. www.mindjet.com
· My morning prayer times could be a little longer and deeper.
RESOURCES
Take a visual tour of Chernobyl area http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
Another small but wonderful ministry in DFW http://soupmobile.org/home.html
Royalty free photos www.sxc.hu
Another way to present the Powers of Ten http://www.wordwizz.com
If you wish to unsubscribe then just let me know by reply email.
John 11:40 PM
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