When I was born my dad had already joined the Iraqi army so I really didn’t see him much. He actually joined the army one year after he got married at the age of twenty five and left the army in his late thirty’s. Back home men are forced to join the army; they fought and died for a cause they didn’t believe in, against a neighboring country they did not consider an enemy, in support of a president they did not elect. My dad had a vacation of around seven days every forty five days, so when he came home he didn’t want to shave because in the army they are forced to wake up at 5 am and shave every morning, so he just wanted a break from it! Needless to say I didn’t know who my dad was! I actually didn’t know what the word “Dad” meant!… read more
Monthly Archives: December 2011
I want to change lives! I want to make the world a better place. I don’t know who you are, what kind of person you are, or what you’re trying to get out of life, but If you’re the same as everyone else, you’re probably just trying to find your way through life. Maybe you’re trying to be unique, to be noticed. Maybe you’ve been striving for the approvals of others far too long and you’ve never found it. Maybe you’ve been hiding behind a mask so long that you’ve forgotten who you really are, maybe you just feel lost in this huge world, maybe you’re feeling alone or maybe you just feel invisible. That’s not really who you are, you were built for so much more! You’re beautiful, strong, courageous, loving, and yes, you are unique. Even if these things are hidden deep down, they’re there. And that’s all… read more
One hot summer afternoon in Iraq I was walking with my best friend from the neighborhood; we were both in our early teens. He told me that he wants to be a doctor. I thought it was kind of an unrealistic goal since he wasn’t a straight A student so I asked him why he wanted to be a doctor. He told me that his dad was motivating him to finish school and to do his best. I knew my friend’s dad worked long hours, from early morning until afternoon, as construction worker then worked as a taxi driver until late evening or night. Then he continued telling me that when his dad was a teenager his grandparents never told his dad to finish school so his dad doesn’t want the same thing to happen to him. I remember making a mental note to the like, “You have to change;… read more
Digital Painting in Photoshop Ep.16 – Masks and Selections : This tutorial will cover the basics of painting with Masks and Selections, you should look at Episode 11, that covers Line Art before looking at this, so you get a good understanding of what we are doing. 1. Making Lineart/Inks 2. Creating Masks 3. Creating Custom Patterns 4. Laying in Patterns 5. Painting in Selections Digital Painting in Photoshop Ep.16 – Masks and Selections [sociallocker] [/sociallocker]
There is something about Christmas colors that just cheer me up. This capture was taken at my youngest uncle’s house. He is married to this wonderful godly woman—the godliest person I know. It doesn’t take you long after you meet her to realize she is a very special person. When we have a family gathering she probably does 99% of the serving! When you meet her you will realize all her day is spent with her loving others, serving them, giving them gifts, encouraging them, comforting them, praying for them, and building them up. You know, they say behind every great man there is a woman: she has truly built my uncle up spiritually and any other good way. At her old church she was nicknamed “God’s faithful daughterâ€. My uncle is a believer too and he is an awesome, loving and funny man. She loves the fact he makes… read more
I have this pack of cheap ball pens, but I’ve kept only one in my drawer in case I need a pen. First time I tried to use it it was leaking a bit so I just rubbed the tip on a piece of paper and used it. Second time it was a bit of too much of a leak for me to use it so I put the cap back on it, and returned it in my drawer and got out another pen and used that pen. I did the same for the next few times I needed to use that leaking pen. Finally when I tried to use it the leak was so bad that I didn’t even consider keeping it, I thought, “Why am I bothering with this cheap and useless pen when I have so many others that work perfectly fine?†So I broke the pen,… read more
I wouldn’t wish Trichotillomania to my worst enemies. I am afraid if I get married I will pass the genes to my children because Trichotillomania is genetic, it is classified as an impulse control disorder by DSM-IV, it is the compulsive urge to pull out one’s own hair leading to noticeable hair loss. For most of my life I had considered it to be a curse—or at least something I wouldn’t want in my life. But sometimes when I think about it I wonder if God has a purpose in it—a higher purpose than just “to torture meâ€. You see, Trichotillomania really lowered my self-confidence due to my low self-image. It is not easy for a young man to be confident when he can’t even control his fingers so not to pull his own hair. It is not easy for a young man to be confident when he feel embarrassed… read more
I found an article written by the “Script Howard News Service” with the following heading: “Bush is of Two minds, One is Wrong.” As I read on I notice they say: “When it comes to science, President Bush is of two minds, one of which is wrong.” “Concerning the space shuttle program, he defers to the views of experts.” “In a conversation with Texas reporters, he said that ‘the experts at NASA’ will determine whether the shuttle should be retired before 2010.” “But when it comes to science education, he unfortunately sees no need for experts. Answering a question about evolution vs. intelligent design, he said it was a question for local school districts, but he felt ‘both sides ought to be properly taught.’” And he added, ‘so people can understand what the debate is all about.” “But among experts, there is no debate worth mentioning. The theory of evolution… read more
My family always wanted to leave Iraq. My mother dreamt of living in Europe, North America, or Australia since she was a teenager. My dad also wanted to leave since he was a teenager. But we couldn’t leave until 1998 when I was 15 years old. We spent a year in Jordan and my sister, who is 2 years older than me, and I both accepted Christ in our lives there. I think being Roman Catholic teens, having our first communion a couple of years earlier, left us with a lot of questions and very few answers (if any). My sister, being a very social person, got first interested in knowing Christ as a Savior through going to church in Amman, Jordan. There was a pastor there who was teaching about Christ as a Savior and how trusting in Him can change our lives, gives us eternal life, and that… read more
Dr. Charles Stanley once said something to the like, “Keep a journal of God’s faithfulness because a day is going to come when you will need to look back and hold on to God’s faithful nature and be strengthened through the trial.†So this writing is not for you—it is for me. It has taking me a month to write it, mainly because it was hard to write about something I don’t feel, and may not even believe. But I had forced myself to write it hoping there is a good outcome from it. What you are looking at in this photo is King College Road: this is the “engineering street†that every student must walk to go to their classes because the engineering buildings are at its right and left. Sometimes when I walk through St. George campus I wonder to myself, “How did I get… read more
The simplest conceivable life form has about 600 protein molecules. The chance that even a SINGLE molecule could form by chance arrangement of the sequence of the amino acids in it would be between 10^450 and 10^600, depending on whose data you study. How many INCHES LONG do you suppose it is from one end of the universe to the other, at least with our present astronomical knowledge? Can you guess? It is about 10^28! That seems a small number, but consider that the distance is in INCHES. And to form ONE molecule the probabilities are from 10^450 to 10^600? How outrageous does the data have to get before it becomes laughable? Remember that the theory of evolution says that this happened not once, but again and again and again. It seems apparent to me that we are dealing not only with a ridiculous theory, but with a sick theory,… read more
Personally, I’ve found a peace that I haven’t had for a long time. For nearly the whole summer I have been struggling through my salvation. After I began to really take the Bible seriously, I went through an intense season of examining my life to see if I was on the right path. It wasn’t necessarily a fun time but I learned a lot of valuable things such as perseverance and I grew in knowledge. During the past few weeks things became more intense, prayer became more intense, and now God has granted me peace about it. I think that most of it came from a deeper understanding of the Spirit. I wasn’t sure if I had it before, now I’m certain. For those of you who don’t know, I live in a place called Cranbrook. Right now God is really moving here, it’s really cool to see and I’m… read more
You must be logged in to post a comment.