A great idea, but how exactly do we do this?

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner — Do we cringe at the thought of sappy declarations of love, pink teddy bears and over-priced flowers? Or do we consider that this may be a prime opportunity to bring truth, love, forgiveness and joy into the relationships we have with those around us, particularly our immediate family? Sometimes we may find it is easier to reach out to strangers rather than to those who share our very own DNA. But, consider this…

• What if we loved out loud?
• What if we took a leap of faith and put ourselves out there?
• What if we reached out… first?

You are invited to do exactly that — love a family member out-loud this Valentine’s Day. Set a goal to connect– or re-connect — with a parent or immediate family member on a day that is ripe for meaningful expressions of love. Be intentional and take the time to convey a sincere, concise heartfelt message to a parent, parents, or other immediate family member. Humble yourself, give or ask for forgiveness, share how they have impacted you. By making a simple, deliberate and direct effort, you have the potential to impact the future trajectory of your relationship. Don’t underestimate the power of your words — for better or for worse — and make a commitment to share your love openly.

Of course, loving boldly can be scary – examples, stories, motivation and resources are attached.

• Valentines 2010 Details: The specific details, an approach, a framework, tangible ideas and resources to further facilitate your move to live and love boldly your immediate family. Intrigued? This is where to start.
• I Wish I Knew You Better by Stephanie: Transformed her relationship with her mom after asking herself, “Do I wish I knew my mom better?”
• Integrity – The Journey by Jason: Communicated to his father the message which had never been clearly told, “You ARE an amazing, loving, sacrificing, compassionate, and noble father’ to his father.”
• Daring to Love by Andrea: Persevered through heartache with tangible direction to begin the journey to a revitalized relationship with her farther.

Those who accept the challenge, let’s celebrate your admirable act of love on Feb. 19, 2010.
RSVP and details: http://www.pingg.com/rsvp/3g8wny38zx37w6jwc

Everything is more fun with friends – pass this on to your friends so that they are reminded to convey a sincere, concise heartfelt message to a parent, parents or other immediate family member.

For me, ultimately, this motivation comes only because of Christ’s outpouring of love for me. I am compelled to express, only in a small way, what Jesus has given me and offers to you – a life of fullness and joy.

I’m always available and my door is always open, if you ever need anything. Many blessings!

Not surprisingly, I’d love to go over there and help in whatever capacity I can. I have been blessed by so many others that I am compelled to do the same (not from a sense obligation or guilt) because love begets love. As I think of this idea of sacrifice, love and faith in light of what I’m currently studying (the Gospel of John) – other ideas begin to connect.

My Hope and Salvation (Jesus Christ) humbled himself as the Creator to become the created. He was deity who chose (for no good reason) to come as the most ordinary to relate to his beloved (all of us). Jesus said of his faithful forerunner, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matt 11:11). John fearlessly lived out his faith by fulfilling his calling – to proclaim repentance and the coming savior of the world, Jesus the Christ. His public calling for repentance angered the powerful – religious, noble and military – which led to his martyrdom only a little more than year after he began. Jesus faithfully obeyed God the Father for three years before humankind rejected his message and demanded a gruesome torture and death because his message was so contrary to our natural selfishness.

I thought of these ideas as I’m running up the final hill to my house the other morning. And, I asked myself, “If I go to Haiti, what opposition would I run into?” Most notably, I believe that my physical safety could be jeopardized and that well-meaning and caring people would advise against such an endeavor. Then, this verse (Phil 3:8) finally made sense (going from head to heart) – “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

For me, there are many things I want to believe and then there are the times when I realize that I actually do truly believe them. The ‘rubber meets the road’ (when life gets difficult and tragedies hit my relational life, financial situations and family members) is where the training is proven. So, that morning I honestly said to myself and God, “I consider it an extreme honor to die in the name of Christ (for I am entirely unworthy), if I can live out God’s call for my life even one day.”

For me, it’s hard to see a leader as somebody like Jesus.  I guess, I’m used to thinking of a leader as more of a powerful manager.  So, if I attempt to think of myself as a leader, I feel that it’s my responsibility to instill some sort of conformity of what is right across the board.  However, Andy Stanley states that the manager “manages to sameness” while the leader “leads into chaos” (Catalyst OneDay 2009). The disparity is apparent when I examine my actions and my convictions and conclude that they are not in concert. I strongly ascribe to beliefs that diversity is to be cherished and no two situations are the same and cannot be solved with the same approach.  Moreover, I am drawn to this believe so much because it requires continual dependence upon the Creator for direction as well as consistent submission that my own ideas are lame and entirely insufficient.  However, my actions dispel a counter message – one of conformity, performance and fear.

What is a leader then?  How does that play about?  What does that mean for me?  Today, I see that I need to embrace the following leadership characteristics:

• The leader serves: I must look to serve those whom God calls me to lead
• The leader is a cheerleader: I must celebrate the good (rather than condemning the bad)
• The leader does not change others: I must continually follow and point to Christ
• The leader is authentic: I must seek God’s revelation into my own heart and motives and His strength and wisdom to walk in faith

To conclude, “That is wonderful and inspiring.  What happens next – if anything?”  Rather than answer that question myself, I seek your response.  Enjoy the goodness!

Finally, I reflect on the influence of Jesus Christ:

Nearly two thousand years ago in an obscure village, a child was born of a peasant woman. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life.

His greatness has never been paralleled. He never wrote a book, yet all the libraries of the country could not hold the books that have been written about Him. He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs that all the songwriters combined. He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students. Every seventh day the wheels of commerce cease their turning and multitudes wind their way to worshiping assemblies to pay homage and respect to Him. The names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone, but the name of this man abounds more and more.

Along similar lines, we have been so brainwashed by our world with a feeling of entitlement, independence (maybe American independence is actually ripping us from what we need the most, dependence on the body of Christ), and arrogance that we don’t even realize it.  The Evil one has worked against the goodness in society for generations to where we see tendencies that move us away from God as actual traits that are godly.  We are so deceived.  “It’s natural, there are good reasons for this mentality, and it’s necessary to exist in this society” – I agree with all of these.  However, in the parable of the unmerciful servant, there is a king who forgives a servant, then a servant who doesn’t forgive.  Moral of the story – forgive when forgiven.  But, Rob Bell goes a step further and points out that maybe it’s not as simple as do X, but it’s a complete perception and society issue. Maybe our world and how it works may be against the God who created us and His design.  Take a gander for yourself.

Sermon: http://www.marshill.org/cart/download/062109.mp3

Scripture: Matt 18:21-35; http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2018:21-35;&version=31;

“If I stick with the accounting system, this guy is never going to pay me back.” ~ kings thoughts.

Somebody has to pay the debt.  The king pays the price, bears the cost, and dies to the system so that the servant may have a new life. [Sound something like Jesus?]

Forgiveness costs somebody.  When we decide to get revenge, we are essentially saying, “I’m not paying for this one.”

What if I chose to pay the cost when somebody sins against me?  What if I chose to say, “I’m not going to keep track of all of the wrongs or rights.”  What if I didn’t view the world as if there are scales with good on one side and evil on the other?  What if I saw the beauty of truth for what it really is – the face of God.

Follow this up with a few songs.

Passion – One Pure And Holy Passion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I17edLkBDCo

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

Dizmas – Redemption Passion Glory: Лаптоп Магазин лаптопhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zMdWgDYAE

This is redemption,
that you would die for me
And this is salvation,
that you would live in me
This is rejection,
that they would all hate me
And this is submission
that I would live holy

Hillsong – In Your Freedom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLJctSXX-fA

In Your freedom I will live
I offer devotion, I offer devotion

I’ve talked about this idea of “Love in Action” before (see http://www.jason1365.com/2007/03/11/love-in-action/), but recently I have been on the receiving end of the love.  It is completely mind-blowing to receive love through these friends; I am humbled because I do not deserve it, nor can I repay them for their expressed love through service and companionship.

Two passages from Scripture come to mind as I reflect on the blessings of relationship.  These passages have continued to resurface over the past couple of years.  I am compelled to let these permeate my lifestyle and being; however inept I am now.

John 13:34-35 – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

1 John 3:16-18 – This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

So, to you, friends, you do not know how your service releases the worry from the mind of my parents (in particular my dad).  Thank you, the following is for you.

You have demonstrated friendship in its fullness – your selfless acts are wonderfully humbling and fill hearts with hope and joy.  You are a true blessing.  To provide a little perspective on how your sacrifice reduce stress and bring joy, please read through a sample of how you have impacted the life of my dad.

Imagine you get up early in the morning to take care of the farm.  As you get up, your feet hit the dirty floor as you get dressed.  You get some milk from the fridge, but remember that you wanted to clean out the dust for months now.  You step outside and see the overgrown grass and heinously huge forsythia bush.  You dread another discussion about it and, even more, the work it will take to push it back.  You go to open the garage and see the uncut and un-split logs that have been sitting for many months – more work that needs to be done prepare for winter.  You glace at the untilled garden knowing that seeds need to go in the ground ASAP.  As you walk towards the main barn, you pass one barn full of monitors, old cattle feed, and lots of bags and think to yourself, “I need to clean that out before the time to spread fertilizer.”  As you reach the barn you look to your right and see the pile of rock that you need to use to fill in the holes in the driveway while remembering the old bags and other debris in the barn. Again, the burdens push down on your shoulders, “So many things to do, but I need to check on the cows right now.”  As you walk through the fields to tend to the cows you see a tree on the fence and many other trees down in the bull lot and think, “This is such a mess and will take forever to clean up, especially with my back problems – I’ll have to be careful and go even slower.  I can’t use this field for cows until this is fixed.”  You walk through some of the other pastures and see the more downed trees – what a mess, creating hassle for you and the cows(all the while knowing that good firewood is going to waste), “What a pity I can’t get all of these cleaned up.”  As you round your way back toward the house, you see that old barn in a pile knowing that it should get cleaned up so that the cows don’t get hurt or eat rusty nails.  You see a woodchuck run toward another building and remember seeing holes throughout the foundation of the building, “That building is going to collapse because of their darn holes.”  You walk past two dead trees that need to be cleaned up – in your own yard – “There is too much hard work to do everywhere.”  You look around and see the remnants of an old swimming pool and high grass – such an eye sore (not that the myriad of other things weren’t). You walk back toward the house door and see seven (count them, seven) squirrels in the tiny tree you were supposed to plant five months ago. Finally, you walk inside and remember you need to make special food for your wife and then make breakfast for yourself.

Pretend like this is just the first hour of your day, how motivated are you to do the actual pressing tasks of the day when you know that when you get those done, these other stresses are waiting patiently, however unrelenting, for you once you accomplish any other task.

Thank you for enduring the burdens of my parents.  You fulfill (see Galatians 6:2).

What does it look like to let go of the stresses of my life?  For me, I am left to wonder about life when circumstances, pain, and uncertainty hit close to home.  When this happens, how do I react?  First, I am frustrated at first that things are out of my control.  I then question God about what is going on – I want to understand; I want to feel like life (a.k.a. God) is fair.  Finally, my God reminds me who He is, His nature, and where I need to be.  It’s then up to me to make the decision as to how I will react.

This is my second audio-blog which was recorded on my drive home from the hospital after my mom’s surgery.  Enjoy the background music and the noise of the car ride for the 9:32 of this audio-blog.

Audio-blog: I trust you

This is my first audio-blog which was recorded on a long drive when I was visiting my mom as she was undergoing surgery.  If you are going to take the 14:19 to listen to this audio-blog, take the time to read through some of the passages of scripture and ideas that I’m going to wrestle with in this recording.  Please enjoy the background music and the noise of the car ride.

Verses:

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
• Matthew 6:33 – But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Ideas:

• Sin of commission: is to know something is wrong, and do it anyway; deliberate disobedience to the known will of God
• Sin of omission: sins of failing to do what we should have done
• Temped: being compelled to sin (to act in a way that not in complete alignment with the will and nature of God and His goodness)

Audio-blog: Beyond what you can bear

Setup your sandbox
I first created a sandbox by downloading a Fedora 10 virtual appliance (http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/#fedora10).  I then setup the Bugzilla environment with a simple command (see https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla:Linux_Distro_Installation).

yum install bugzilla httpd mysql-server phpmyadmin perl-CPAN

Now, if you want to get all of the basic add-ons, grab them by first running: /usr/share/bugzilla/checksetup.pl

Follow the instructions there to make sure you have all of the addons configured and database setup properly (e.g. /usr/bin/perl install-module.pl --all).

Start your servers: /etc/init.d/httpd start; /etc/init.d/mysqld start

Congrats.  Go to your server and make sure things are looking good (e.g. http://localhost).

Configuration Settings

Go ahead and configure Bugzilla parameters.  You will need to enable aliases and bug moving (for importing).  The aliases are only going to be used since I want to know the old bug # from the previous system.

Since that doesn’t install the latest version of Bugzilla, download the latest and overwrite the install /usr/share/bugzilla (latest stable release: http://www.bugzilla.org/download/#stable).  After downloading, run a command like:
tar xzvf bugzilla-3.2.2.tar.gz
/bin/cp -arf bugzilla-3.2.2./* /usr/share/bugzilla/


I’m going to wait on the actual upgrade of the DB until after the migration since the new version of Bugzilla has additional security features and I’m not sure if I’ll end up breaking some references between tables based on my import.  But, I wanted to have the latest version of importxml.pl since that has some updates for importing bugs.

Export the data to XML following the Bugzilla DTD

I exported from MS Access using the attached code.  Remember, you will need to install the MS DAO into your references (Tools >> References) when in the module editor.  Of course, you’ll have to modify your queries to produce the proper data for your custom system, but this should get well on your way.

Bugzilla XML export from MS Access utilizing VBScript: bugzilla-xml-export-from-ms-access-utilizing-vbscript.

Getting the data imported

Now, here is the tedious part.  You need to first have a bunch of data setup within Bugzilla so that the migration can go smoothly.  Otherwise, you’ll end up with a bunch of bugs in there that have no useful project, version, status, priority, severity, owner, etc.  You need to get all of this data and setup Bugzilla.  I recommend that you run some SELECT DISTINCT statements on your main data output query from MS Access to determine the other data you need to setup prior to import.

From those SELECT DISNTINCT statements, you can fill out this spreadsheet that I put together to manage the queries required to get the rest of the data setup.

Bugzilla setup SQL statements: Bugzilla Migration SQL.xls

Run the SQL statements using phpMyAdmin (http://localhost/phpMyAdmin).

Since, I don’t like Bugzilla’s severities, overwrite their severity table with the values I like (Bugzilla SQL status table overwrite).

You’ll need to define a default owner, product, component, etc.  Be sure do that the in administration parameters.

Before attempting to import into Bugzilla, I suggest that you take a DB snapshot so that when things don’t go well, you can easily get back to this initial state, add the missing data, and re-try the import.  Go to phpMyAdmin and do an ‘Export.”  Make sure that you ‘disable foreign key checks’ and include the ‘drop table’ statements.

Now attempt to import the XML file by using a command similar to the one below:

/usr/share/bugzilla/importxml.pl -v ~/bugzilla_migration.xml > ~/bugzilla_migration.log

Now check the ~/ bugzilla_migration.log for errors.  Look out for times when it says that it can’t locate the product, version, component, QAContact, status, priority, severity, etc.  Ignore errors with #PCDATA in them.

If you have errors to deal with, work through them by first restoring the bugs DB in phpMyAdmin.  Then add the proper lines into the Bugzilla excel spreadsheet and use the commands to add the missing values Bugzilla needed.  Re-import the file using the same commend.  Repeat this process each time until you only see #PCDATA errors in the file.

Congrats, you now have the data in Bugzilla.  Now, we’ll need to do some cleanup.

update longdescs set thetext = replace(thetext ,'at http://10.31.217.134/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?','in Legacy System with ');
update bugs_fulltext set comments = replace(comments,'at http://10.31.217.134/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?','in Legacy System with ');
update bugs_fulltext set comments_noprivate = replace(comments_noprivate,'at http://10.31.217.134/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?','in Legacy System with ');
update longdescs set thetext = replace(thetext ,'Unknown bug field "#PCDATA" encountered while moving bug\n   <#PCDATA></#PCDATA>\n','');
update bugs_fulltext set comments = replace(comments,'Unknown bug field "#PCDATA" encountered while moving bug\n   <#PCDATA></#PCDATA>\n','');
update bugs_fulltext set comments_noprivate = replace(comments_noprivate,'Unknown bug field "#PCDATA" encountered while moving bug\n   <#PCDATA></#PCDATA>\n','');
update longdescs as ut set thetext = replace(thetext ,'This bug was previously known as _bug_', CONCAT('This bug was known as bug ',IFNULL((select alias from bugs where bug_id = ut.bug_id),''), '.\nThis bug was #'));
update bugs_fulltext as ut set comments = replace(comments, 'This bug was previously known as _bug_', CONCAT('This bug was known as bug ',IFNULL((select alias from bugs where bug_id = ut.bug_id),''), '.\nThis bug was #'));
update bugs_fulltext  as ut set comments_noprivate = replace(comments_noprivate, 'This bug was previously known as _bug_', CONCAT('This bug was known as bug ',IFNULL((select alias from bugs where bug_id = ut.bug_id),''), '.\nThis bug was #'));

Final Bugzilla Setup

We need to do the final DB upgrade to Bugzilla 3.2.2.  So, run the following command: /usr/share/bugzilla/checksetup.pl

Now, log into Bugzilla and make sure that everything is looking good.  You probably want to run the Sanity Check and finish setting up all of the parameters.  Finally, you probably want to disable bug aliases and bug moving (unless you need them for another reason)

Custom fields in Bugzilla

There is one final thing that is very useful for my project.  It is custom multiple select fields.  I’m not sure why the Bugzilla team hasn’t incorporated these fields into the search filter, so we’ll have to tweak some of the Bugzilla code.

I’ve based the two attached files on this posting: http://www.nabble.com/Adding-Custom-Field-drop-downs-to-Advanced-Search-Page-td16304546.html#a19165732.

Files: Bugzilla modified query.cgi, Bugzilla modified formhtml.tmpl

If you are using Bugzilla 3.2.2, you can probably just overwrite the files with what I have here.  Please see the above for where to put the files.

After doing this, you’ll need to re-compile your templates by executing checksetup.pl again.  Now, you’ll be able to report and search by your custom fields multiple select fields.

/usr/share/bugzilla/checksetup.Bugzilla SQL status table overwritepl

Congrats, I hope this was helpful.  Now you’ll need to finish customizing Bugzilla.

One day a preacher came home and told his wife that two and a half people came to know Jesus Christ that day.  His wife was confused about what he meant by a half a person and asked if her husband implied that a couple and their small child accepted Christ.  He replied, “No, the two and a half people refer to the two children and one adult that chose to follow Christ.  For the two children have their entire life before them live for Christ’s glory whereas the adult has already wasted half of her life.”  Bareket went on to explain that it is much more difficult for an adult submit to Christ because the adult carried much baggage and believes many lies that must first be dispelled before he will be convinced of the truth of Christ.

Bareket focus on teaching the little children of Christ’s love.  He reiterated to me that the gospel is so simple and easy to grasp that it’s easier for children to accept than adults because the adults are confounded by its simplicity.  Children know they cannot understand everything and don’t need to; however, us adults think we are something greater and need to be able to understand all aspects of everything before we commit.  I’m just glad that we don’t live by this mentality for anything else in life – for we’d never commit to anything (name any risk – investments, projects, pursuing new ideas, etc., marriage, children, or our word).