Well, after installing and working with WordPress >2.0 on several other people’s websites, I finally upgraded mine from WordPress 1.5.2 to the latest and greatest - WordPress 2.3.1 . Yeah!! I am so happy. I just finally got sick of all the comment spam that I was getting (they didn’t show up on the site because I have to approve all comments before they go live here). Today, I had 20 comment spams before lunch. I got fed up so I upgraded.

I didn’t even have an upgrade plan - I just downloaded the zip, unpacked it, deleted the files they told me to, uploaded the new ones, and ran the upgrade script for my database. I know, I should have backed up but it was a last minute thing anyways.

Well, it looks like the site on the whole is in good shape with the upgrade. And that was a big upgrade too so I really thought more things should have been broken but for the most part things are working.

I just gotta fix my blogroll and I think there may be a couple of other things but I just have to find them. I also need to update my theme (what makes this site look and feel the way that it does). Let me know if there’s something the matter with my site - I’d sure appreciate it!

Well, I’m back on the road again this next week. Should be able to do some posts from where I’m going and the best part of it - Alex and Krista get to go with me. I’ll try and get some good pictures in too.

Yes, we’ve been zapped. No, it doesn’t mean I’ve had an electrical shock. I’ve now created a new background (with our lovely faces) for people’s mobile phones using a new website that is in beta called GotZapp.com It really cool as this site allows you to create different graphics for your mobile phone. In our case, if you want to pray for us but keep forgetting - just load our Zapp (you can find it here) to your cell phone, mobile phone, or “Handy” (as they call them in Germany) and every time you use your phone, you’ll be reminded to pray for us.

In an effort to draw more people here (other that all of you who are searching for better ways to grow roses), I have signed up with the free service called BlogRush. I’m just testing it out right now so we’ll see how it goes. For everyone that hits my website, my website feed is then shown up in somebody else’s blog inside the BlogRush box (as seen to the lower right) that is a part of a similar category. Then there’s a little bit of a pyramid scheme where if I refer people to using BlogRush on their blogs, then I (as well as the owner of the blog) get shows on the BlogRush. And then their referrals and their referrals, and so on and so one. Well, you get the picture.

If you are interested in using BlogRush, then click on this link

We use technology to spread the Gospel and help build the church in Europe. Watch this video (about 6 Minutes long) to understand why technology is such a great method for telling about an unchanging God.

The saying goes something along these lines - “If you provide a man with a fish, then he is fed for a day but teach a man to fish then he is fed for a lifetime.” There are many in this world who are visionaries. They know how to provide for their families but are unable to find the financial resources to see their visions out. Are they needing thousands of dollars to do it? No. On average, they just need $650 whether its to buy vegetables to resell in the markets of Togo or supplies for a restaurant in Nigeria or children’s shoes in Bolivia . In our Western mind set, this is not very much money but because of a method called “Microfinancing” and a website called Kiva (which means “Unity” in Swahili), its easy for anyone in the world with a little bit of pocket change (as little as $25) to invest in one of these businesses. Yes, I said “INVEST” - not give away but to be an investor in these businesses. With enough $25 (or more) investments, whole country economies can be changed.

So check it out at Kiva.org and read the Yahoo article about its founders.

For me, this is a great way that “out of the box” thinking and technology, specifically the web, can be used to better mankind.

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’ (Matthew 25:37 NIV)