I’ve been working on a online Bible correspondence course that can be done through email. I’ve just finished the workbook questions (based on the Correspondence Course), and have posed a preview here.
If you know of someone who would like to go through The Stranger, here is an excellent opportunity. But for now this needs to be viewed as a test and still under development. Contact me if you have questions.

John's comments from life.
Online Bible Correspondence Course
Some terminology
I’ve been thinking a bit about what we say. Our weather forecast usually says something like “There’s a 50% chance of rain today.” Or even “100% chance of rain.” Now, isn’t “100% chance” the same as saying “a definite possibility” or “it’s positively possible that it will rain today” or “we have an absolute possibility of rain”?
“50% chance of rain” now tuns into a half-of-a-chance of rain, but to me, a “50% chance” would be better spoken as 100% chance (which would be a 50/50 option.) So, if you’re sure it’s going to rain, how about a 200% chance?
So, next time you hear “100% chance of rain” wonder - does that mean it’s going to, or does that mean we now have a full CHANCE of rain.
Also, today we received our order of 1080 more tabernacle model sets. We were running low (actually bought 100 from another vender) as this has been a drawn out process. We found out last week that our shipment was sitting on the docs in LA since Jan 18 waiting on paperwork! Just goes to show that you need to get your paperwork in order for things like this (it was the shippers that was holding things up.) No worries, we should have enough stock for several months to come.
It was interesting when they did come in, because 2 skids were 7’ x 4’ x 7’. It was like a couple portable walls. Fun to move around w/ the forklift - and I managed not to run into anything too important!
Record-breaking snow
Well, we broke our annual snowfall record. From our local Spokane News station:
Posted: Feb 6, 2008 09:19 AM
Updated: Feb 6, 2008 09:19 AM
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP)—Weather watchers say a record has been broken in Coeur d’Alene.
Climatologist Cliff Harris says that as of 3 p.m. yesterday, 127 inches of snow had fallen in the northern Idaho city this season. That’s nearly three inches more than the old record of just over 124 inches, set in the winter of 1915-1916.
Harris predicts another 10 or 15 inches of snow could fall before spring comes. He says everyone is going to remember this winter for years to come.
The city’s normal snowfall is about 67 inches a year.
DrDyno.com has a new facelift
I’ve been working on helping a friend get his website a little more up to date. While it wasn’t a huge project, it’ll make Google easier to find things confined within. The original site was built in frames, and that didn’t lend itself to search engines. So hopefully it’ll be a little easier to find.
www.drdyno.com
Cleaning snow off my back porch
My neighbor took this photo as I was pulling the snow off my awning. It was getting rather heavy for this aluminum roof, and thought I better get it off some how. Mike let me borrow his kerosene heater (the big kind w/ a fan) and my neighbor Mike let me borrow his landscaping rake (cause mine is still in Canada somewhere.) The idea was to let the heat soften things enough for it to slide off by itself. However, Mike’s boat was close enough that if it did slide, it would fill his boat, so I did that by hand. The other side was getting loose, but never broke free as expected…but did get easier to get down.

Grandpa back in '39
Here’s a shot of my Grandpa’s basketball team from back in high-school days. I guess he would have been around 17 in this photo.

The past week's job
Just a quick look at some of the work going on up here in Northern Idaho. Actually further north is even worse. You can see where I got tired of clearing the *whole* driveway!
This is the house I’m house-sitting for the moment. The neighbors there work at GoodSeed as well.


dump run
I’ve always liked going to the dump. There’s just something to being able to get rid of your junk in such a convenient way.
Today I filled up my truck with pieces of Sheetrock, a shower and an assortment of demolition remnants. It was my first such endeavor with my new condo (and could well my the last!) The trip was uneventful, a real plus in today’s craze on recycling. *(Not that it’s bad, but can be overboard at times.)
I figure my heartfelt thanks to this rubbish pit was enhanced by the thought of what I would have to do to get rid of that debris if it wasn’t for the local dump. I’m very thankful I don’t have to figure that one out!
Answer to prayer!
Yesterday an anonymous donation came in, enough to pay for The Lamb in Portuguese, as well as The Interactive Edition of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. This is a very significant amount, for us anyway, of $46,000! I am very thankful for the generosity of whoever it was, as it now enables us to submit these jobs to be produced. However, there may be a small delay in getting these out, as there are a couple things in the works. One is a re-design of The Stranger cover - and if we want to use the new version on this Interactive edition or not. Another- is that it’s cheaper if we print The Lamb in German and Luxembourgish at the same time as the Portuguese, so we might delay a little to gather the rest of those funds (currently needing around $15,000 to finish that off.)
But all in all, it’s very encouraging to see these at least further down the track to coming about!
Expelled - new movie coming out
I recently received a link to a new movie, which looks like it might be one to go see…
Verizon Silence
How much work would you be able to get done in one week without your internet? That’s the question we were trying to deal with at work this week. Starting Monday, Verizon, our only DSL ISP in the area, decided to upgrade their service. Problem is that this required a new modem on our end, as the new service will not work with the old modem. I guess that’s not the problem—but that they didn’t tell us about it, nor send us a new modem. We tried to get a modem locally, but couldn’t. Also, when they mailed it, they did standard shipping, which was to take 3 days.
Well, we got up a couple dial up accounts to at lease be able to get email and process orders to hold us over, otherwise we would pretty well be stuck. It is amazing how dependent we have become on the Internet, and think that most people are the same way these days.
But all in all, our ISP might be called our IDP - internet disservice provider (as I couln’t find an antonym for provider.) That’s what you get with these big companies - they really don’t care about the little guy, because it doesn’t hurt their bottom line.
The good news is that our service should be 2x faster for the same price. But getting there sure is painful!
Approved!
Just found out today that I’m able to post some of my photos at photoshelter.com - a place for photographers to sell their images. I’m very thankful for this opportunity, and will hopefully be putting some of my favorites up for sale here soon! Here’s a link to my profile.
Oh, by the way, I’m in Canada for a couple three days.
Last time up Canfield, 2007
Today, after church, I headed up Canfield again. This is the 2,000 ft mountain right behind my house, so it’s close and handy, and free! We had some new snow this week, which made the trip more fun than last Sunday. Here are some photos I took on this trip…








Some thoughts on crusades.
Today I was handed a front page of a handout of a "Follow-up Counselor's Handbook" for people to use after a local crusade. Read through and see what you think:
So, where do we go from here? GoodSeed has some great tools to help communicate the message of the Bible in a way that makes incredible sense. In fact, I would recommend anybody to read through their materials, as well as teach others through the same. So, if you need a Bible Study, this is a good place to look.
Christmas cheer
