The Writing on the Wall

First of all you have to understand a little about my family background. My mother's mom and dad had 6 kids, my mom was the 2nd youngest of the 4 girls and when she was 9 years old contracted polio. My grandfather took that personally because it was at his protest she didn't receive the vaccination. I don't know why he protested, as it wasn't a religious conviction they ever held to avoid medical attention. But despite his guilt and all their prayers, the consequences of that choice remained -- my mom was in the hospital with polio, and her fever would not break. It got so bad that the doctors told my grandparents that if the fever didn't break then when they came in the next morning they would see their daughter in the iron lung. They went home and got on their knees and prayed. They committed my mom to the Lord and His service and themselves to His service. When they came back the next morning, my mom was not in the iron lung. The doctor told them that it didn't make any sense but at X time her fever broke and she came out of it. They knew why, because it was that exact time that they prayed.

From that time on, they worked tirelessly for the Lord. Her dedication to the Lord's service was largely due to that experience with my mom. They gave themselves to God that night, themselves and their daughter. It was because of that commitment that my mom later gave herself to His service. When she graduated high school she attended Detroit Bible College and studied to get her BS in Religious Education, and it was there that she met my dad.

more to come later,

Posted by Hailstorm at 12:23 PM | Permalink

ok, so I tried to login the other day and I couldn't remember the address to get to the login. Thanks to my brother, I was able to get it. Then I tried to login and it told me I was using an invalid login.

I tried every username and password combination I use to no avail, so I submitted my problem to movable type for assistance.

Then I try to login in again just for kicks... you guessed it! It worked. Now I feel like an idiot because I used the same login I tried like a million times and it never worked.

sometimes, I just don't understand.

Posted by Hailstorm at 04:35 PM | Permalink

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!!!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY BRO!!!!!!

can't believe its snowing on easter, not on chrismas, on easter!!!

Posted by Hailstorm at 08:57 AM | Permalink

Just a few days ago, was the 7th anniversary of one of my earliest heroes' death.

I was just a wee lil' lad when I first heard of my cousin Randy and his expertise in the Asian martial arts. Randy had a passion for the martial arts and a discipline that led to mastery. throughout his life he made choices that were not the best, but in the end God got a hold of his heart and Randy again became one of my heroes as he battled for 5 years a heart defect, leading into lung problems, leading still into kidney failure. He never gave up, and through it all he gave credit to the Lord for his strength. I didn't have a lot of time to get to know Randy, but I treasure the time I had and I continue the legacy of Godliness and involvement in the martial arts that he in part inspired.

I wish that I had the elequance to put into words something that truly conveys my thoughts on Randy and the effect that he has had upon my life. For ever and always he shall remain as one of my earliest heroes. This is for you Randy ;)

When I was 5 years old, two very important events happened in my life. The first was that I heard the call upon my life to be saved. I understood that I was a sinner and as such not able to pay the penalty for my own wrongdoings. I needed a paladin, a stand-in, to do the work for me. Jesus was that warrior, yet knowing all of this I stood fast in my stubborn resistance to act upon what I knew for two reasons: fear of being in the public eye, and fear of water. Fear ruled my life for two long years of conviction and the struggle for my soul waged heavy upon my heart. Until the day came, December 4th, 1988, the last day of an outdoor tent revival. It was a Sunday, sun shining and warm. I could tell you what I wore and exactly where I sat that morning. The pastor preached, I don't know what he preached about because I was listening to a different voice - the voice of God. He was telling me that I would someday die and go to hell if I didn't go forward right then and submit my life to Him. I didn't wait any longer, I left my seat and came forward, with my father following me and with my pastor and my father I prayed to accept Christ in my heart as Lord of my life. That day changed my life forever, and I have never regretted it.

The other important event that happened to me at 5 was of a different nature. I fell in love. Not with a person, but with a thing, an art form. I saw for the first time in my life, martial arts demonstrated and I knew that I would someday do this thing. It consumed my mind, and yet I had no avenue of pursuing it - till I was 18 years old. That didn't stop me; I practiced what I could learn on my own and read anything I could get my hands on about the martial arts. And that is where Randy came into the story. He was a black belt already at that time, and my mom would tell me about this cousin I had named Randy who was really good at what he did. I had never met him, nor would I till I was nearly 20 years old, but his exploits and his passion inspired me as a young child to pursue my dream of learning the martial arts some day.

The day came, and I was given the opportunity to learn, but not until God made it clear to me that I was not given this chance for my own passion, but for His purpose. I was to use it to glorify His Name. A task that Randy eventually came to understand as well. You see, Randy eventually came to know God in the same role as I did, as Lord and Savior. And it was the strength of that relationship that gave Randy the ability to once again inspire me to be my best for my God. I remember, the moment I had wanted to experience for my whole life finally came...an opportunity to talk with Randy as a fellow martial artist and believer about our two most important passions. It was short, for at this time Randy was in a battle for his life. But it was good, and we connected quickly because we shared the same passions, first for God and second for the martial arts.

Now I am a second degree black sash, teaching as a ministry of my church, seeking to reach a group of people who might not otherwise be reached, and I look back to how I came here and the moments that shaped my life and I see Randy. Who knew? What a legacy?! And I am proud to bear it.

What kind of heroes have shaped your life? What kind of Legacy do you carry on?

Posted by Hailstorm at 07:21 PM | Permalink

I made it back safely,

no jet lag.

thank you for all the people who were praying for me.

Posted by Hailstorm at 04:46 AM | Permalink

has new look!

check it out!

www.kingdomwarrior.org

Posted by Hailstorm at 08:19 AM | Permalink

I don't like doing this normally, but I am going to do it anyway:

I am going to Romania in November (5-15) for a mission trip.

I will be doing demonstrations, speaking, teaching, and other such stuff with kung fu.

I need money.

the trip costs $1700 and I will also need money for related things I will need to take with me and for things I will need while there.

Any one who would be willing to make donations of any size can email me here

Posted by Hailstorm at 05:50 PM | Permalink

I finally have twitter

www.twitter.com/hailstorm

let me know if you do it too!

still not very good with it yet, but hey that is almost obligitory for a non-techy like myself.

:)

Posted by Hailstorm at 06:51 AM | Permalink

I was asked to give pros and cons of homeschooling vs public by one of my students.

I began by listing the 10 top reasons I could think of for why homeschooling is good when done right.

I need others to provide feedback, am I nailing it or way out in left field? Homeschoolers oppinion prefered, and I am not interested in a debate, however I am willing to hear your thoughts.

thanks!!

10 pros of homeschooling done right:

1: more one on one attention for student, studies show that this method has greater success rate at producing real learning.

2: builds stronger bond between parent and children.

3: fulfills mandate to parents to be the primary teachers/mentors of children.

4: allows parent a fuller ability to oversee what the child is learning and tailor the curriculem and learning style/pace to each child.

5: teaches the child to be self-disciplined, self-managed, and self-learning; three characteristics that allow that individual to stand head and shoulders above his peers from both public and private educational systems.

6: produces a child who is confident in his intellect, confident in his identity, and confident in his ability to deal with life.

7: produces stronger bonds between siblings and builds ability to interact respectfully with people of all ages.

8: statistically, produces children with higher maturity than either public or private school backgrounds, thus more ready to deal with adulthood.

9: contrary to popular oppinion, teaches the child how to socialize better and more appropriately.

10: builds an attitude of learning that is always on, unlike public/private school students who typically baulk at the idea of thinking outside of school hours.

Posted by Hailstorm at 07:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Hero burried

Posted by Hailstorm at 08:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

it is out on DVD, produced by a church, a Christian movie, high quality, available at Wal-Mart stores across the country.

Come on Christians, let's support something that was done well, from one of our own. This is how we redeem the culture.

Posted by Hailstorm at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

hands down, no doubt.

Facing the Giants, if you haven't seen it, you need to. If you don't own it, go out right now and buy it. If you haven't shown it to your friends, then you need to do that too.

Posted by Hailstorm at 02:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I am back, due to circumstances outside of our control my site was down for a few weeks.

much thanks to all those who worked so hard to restore things to normal.

Posted by Hailstorm at 11:13 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

圣诞快乐

Shangdan Kuaile

Merry Christmas everyone

Posted by Hailstorm at 04:26 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

three years ago I was standing in line to see LOTR 3, dec. 17 11:55 and my elder brother Jason forgot to tell me, so we are standing in line and I am telling a friend of mine that my sister in law is in the hospital due any day to give birth to her 5th child. Yep, Jason turns around and tells me that "oh yeah, Julie gave birth yesterday."

I am always the last to hear anything in my family.

Posted by Hailstorm at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I found a friend of mine who introduced himself with a series of paragraphs that used some really exceptional alliteration, one of my favorite tools in writing. I found myself inspired and as I began to comment on it in his comments I found this was my response:

Ni hao bu hao my brother.

Your use of alliteration as always is awesome, actually achieving an impressive arsenal of arching alliterations using an impressive array of letters to assemble an absolutely accurate as well as an articulate avenue of displaying your aptitude and artistic attitude. You have assembled quite the anthology while at the same time avoiding assanine accusations of any adult around. Assuredly, this author is assurting before this whole assembly that a more amplified archetype of alliterations could not be assembled without assiduous attention to the archaic as well as archane accumulation of ancient and likely accruing unneeded articles, adjectives, and adverbs simply to achieve an account that is more abundent in alliterations; which, as all are apparently aware of would be simply aberrent, the author of this comment not abhoring the idea assumes the achieving of such an ideal an acceptable and wholly adequate endeavor to be attempted by none other than the author of this article in A. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to apply myself to the assignment and thus assure myself of the actual aptitude of the author to analyse and actually see if the ace's ability was askew at all. And in conclusion, as the audience assembled to analyse this article is assuredly aching in the action above articulated, the aged are even accruing an ashy appearence. I apologize, and ask ever so appropriately for my leave.

as always, Go with God my friend.

overall, an A +

:)

you can read his introduction here

Posted by Hailstorm at 04:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that's right, today is my 25th Birthday!!!! A quarter of a century old...woh, that sounds old!

Posted by Hailstorm at 02:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I just wanted to take the time to wish all my readers a very happy thanksgiving. Be safe, and enjoy the holiday!

Posted by Hailstorm at 11:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.
- Norman Douglas

Where facts are few, experts are many.
- Donald R. Gannon

Posted by Hailstorm at 12:04 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, here is the picture: I go to StL for a weekend, and all of a sudden, my car decides now is a nice time to get all hot about it, litterally. It starts overheating, so I take it in, with promise of a short term loan from my brother, to get fixed.

Not so easy, its gonna cost me $1300 approx. to fix all that's wrong with it! Now, if I postponed the least priority and fixed the high priority, I could fix it for about $730 but still, that's a lot of money. Especially when I have about a buck fifty to my name and no ship coming in soon.

It's gonna be fun to see how God takes care of this one, that's for sure. Meanwhile, I am missing work, and in StL with nothing to do. Fun!!!!!! :(

ADENDUM:

So I figure I am already here longer than expected, and I am out of clean clothes. I put a load of clothes in the washer, and while I am doing so, a loud obnoxious bell starts going off in the hallway.

I am thinking, "what is this?" So I walk up to the bell, and read it: FIRE BELL. ohh, boy. I run into the apartment, put my shoes w/o socks on and grab my keys and phone and run outside. I get outside. I am all by myself, I see no smoke no fire. So I walk around the building, see nothing. So I go back inside, thinking I misunderstood the meaning of the bell. I do a walk through my apartment looking for someone, I tried to call the office, but couldn't get through. While on the second floor, I hear a fire truck pull up, and run back downstairs. Sure enough, that was the fire alarm. But there didn't seem to be a fire. so they all went home.

and then, after everybody left, it went off again. I think the alarm is busted.

fun filled exciting day so far.

Posted by Hailstorm at 02:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My brother finally was able to get my weblog going. It looks a lot different, but I can get used to that. More to come later.

Posted by Administrator at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)