Kevin Matthews's Open Salon Blog

God's Plan B

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:03:02 -0400

I am born again into God's family. I am going to be saved from being punished for sinning. It's called salvation. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

The Holy Bible; God's word to us has two main parts - the Old and the New Testament. Testament means "covenant" or "agreement". The Old Testament was the first agreement between God and his most loved creation: man. The story about Noah and the flood is about God's anger and despair. Later is the record of God allowing Jerusalem to be destroyed and in 586 BC the nation of Israel was carried off to captivity to Babylon because they: the Jews - God's own people, failed to teach the world Monotheism - that there is one God. Some of the words in the Old Testament are prophesy. The word prophesy means "To predict"

Jesus Christ is God's plan B. The birth, life and death of Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament. Jesus' name means "He who saves." Jesus is God's only begotten son. Jesus' conception was a miracle. God is His Father and A virgin Jew, Mary, is His mother. Jesus is a human being and He is the second person of the trinity of God: the Son. Jesus referred to himself as an human many times. His story is recorded in the first four books of the New Testament.

Human nature is a fallen nature. All humans share the experience of making wrong choices. We all share in a common humanity - we all have sinned. Jesus is the only person who did not. God is holy meaning nothing evil or sinful can please him. God demands justice. But instead of punishing us, He punished His son Jesus Christ. Jesus was a perfect sacrafice because though He could've sinned, He did not. Jesus was killed and within three days he rose from the dead. I believe Jesus will always be human.

What God did through Jesus is like you spending thousands of dollars restoring your MG. It took thirty years to do and now it's perfect. Then one day I do something really, really bad and you are deeply hurt and furrious, you also know that I knew better. So I deserved to be punished. But instead of punishing me you destroy your perfect car as you beat it with a sledge-hammer, cut it to pieces with your chain-saw, pour gas on it, light it and watch your car burn until there is no way it can be restored again. So as the process unfolds all of your wrath toward me is totally released; then you don't need to punish me.

God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If you admitt you are a sinner, believe Jesus' shed blood and death on the cross has washed away your sins, confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord", believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead and call upon His name, you will be saved.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

p.s. There is talk whether or not God loves us and whether or not He punishes. God loved us and He has punished. He loves me. I wonder if God made a mistake when He created Man. He won't make another mistake, I'm sure. There will be no Plan C. Let's assume God exists and the Bible is God's message to us. Let's say that the stories in the Old Testament are only stories. Why did God tell us them then? God wants us to know what He is capable of. What if God feels like man is going in the wrong direction and is planning an end of the world? He is capable of bringing that. I believe He will. So whether or not the stories really happened or not is not relevant.

The other day I heard an interview about the problems with the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The fact is that they are four accounts told from four points of view. They don't contradict eachother. One of the points is what the sign said on the cross. All you have to do is combine the books - the sign said "This is Jesus of Nazarith, The King of the Jews", for an example. The point was made that Jesus had different personalities depending on which book you are reading. The answer is simple. Jesus was everything written about Him.

There is also the great probabilty the Bible has been messed with over the years. Things added and things omitted. But it's all we have. There is so much information in the Bible that if you read it all the way through, God will speak to you.

The Joy of Rubber Powered Free Flight Model Airplanes

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:03:03 -0500

About four years ago I decided I was going to build a balsa wood rubber powered model airplane. It's wings span was 24" if I remember correctly, it was a bi-plane. I fussed and fused with it after I got done with the designing and then the construction trying to get it to fly. I thought if something like this had a wing, stabilizer, rudder and a power source it would fly. Boy was I wrong. I thought a good flight would be from my door, across the small parking lot and to the side walk.

Then I got my computer. I searched and searched the web for information on airplane design. I bought a book on airplane design but being terrible at math I didn't understand most of it. But I learned a lot from the pictures, graphs and diagrams. I set out to design, build and fly a successful rubber powered free flight model airplane.

The free flight class of model airplanes are the planes without control surfaces. Onced launched by the "pilot" they are on their own. And a "model" airplane is any design which isn't a real airplane flown by a passenger pilot. They come in a lot of sizes from wing spans of a few inches to several feet. The larger planes require a lot of rubber for power.

On the web I discovered flight times of more than thirty minutes and I was floored. I set out to build a plane according to one of the competition class specifications with an 18" wing span. Once I "trimmed" it - setting the power off glide so it glided in a slightly downward angle after a gentile toss, I took it out to the large field a short walk away to try it. It crashed and the stick fuselage broke; some of the smaller models have only a "stick" for a fuselage ( body ). I still really didn't know much. Some of the guys at the free flight forum I visit were frustrated with me because I wouldn't take their advice.

I rebuilt it with a stronger fuselage and took it out to fly. It flew and as I was standing there watching I wondered "When is this thing going to land?" There is something wonderfull about a hunk of wood defying gravaty for an extended moment in time.

I have built a lot of planes since. Some are from kits, some self designed and built from scratch and some I've modified from an existing design. I now know more about what is needed.

If you're thinking about trying this out, honestly, there are kits out there which require a lot of modifications before they will fly. There are outdoor duration models, indoor and indoor duration, scale planes which are a copies of real airplanes and everything else you can think of.

Though I've made several kit planes, I succeeded in designing, building and flying planes of my own and what a thrill it is when I take them out to fly. I think not everyone wants to do their own from scratch design and build. I'm one who does but half of the 50 or so planes I'm made have been failures; some of those were due to poor construction ( way too light ) and some poor design. You would think that the lighter a plane is then the better it will fly. That's true but it has to be able to withstand the stress of a tightly wound rubber motor and it has to land without breaking. But this is my cup of tea.

So now I'm taking a break soon and am going to build proven designs from kits. It's still fun.

Free Flight Model Airplane Competition Part Two

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 00:03:59 -0500

Okay, I'm a competition nay sayer. I was taught in college that cooperation is better than competition. I'm sure that competition in free flight is all in good fun for those who take the hobby seriously and have for many years. The truth is that after about four years of building free flight airplanes I decided I wanted to build and enter a plane for competition. I spent hours on the plane over weeks. One decal had a crummy air bubble which ruined the whole thing because nearly half of the judging points are based on appearance. So I withdrew my entry. The problem wasn't with my building abilities, it was with the quality of the kit's decals. I even spent close to $10. on "decal solvent solution" which was supposed to make these decals go on right. It didn't work. It didn't work in the test I made and it didn't work with the real application. I should have known. I've tried to use the kit in question's decals before. The whole point of this competition was we had to build this company's kit which has bad decals. I would have had a nice looking plane if I would have listened to that small voice telling me, near the end of the build, "Forget it, the decals won't work and you've got a great looking airplane and forget about competing!" Everyone want's to win in life and be the best but no one cares about the loser. Now I have a great airplane I can't stand to look at because the one decal I put on has an air bubble.

Lonelyness

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 22:03:47 -0500

I guess we all find ourselves alone sometimes in our lives. Sometimes we choose to be alone and sometimes not. I'm concerned about what everyone's quality of life is while they are alone. Whether it is peacefull or turbulent. We all need people in our life. But are people relationships an escape from lonelyness? It's alright to feel lonely. But how do we cope with our aloneness? Are we happy?

Happyness can solve a lot of problems in life. Sometimes we have problems with even our closest friends. Living alone can help a person discover themselves, what's inside the heart.

Aloneness as a choice can open doors. We look for things to do. We look at ourselves. We think about the things we really want to do, our dreams. But the problem of trying to escape lonelyness can lead us away from true happyness, the kind of happyness where we accept ourselves and like ourselves.

We can't live without others though. Lonelyness can help us to remember the happiest moments of our lives and who was with us. Just spending time with someone as an escape from a fear of lonelyness can be really awfull, though. Where does that fear come from? What are we afraid we will find about ourselves if we are alone?

Lonelyness isn't bad. It is there alone where we can discover ourselves. There we can begin to make changes. We can discover the solutions to problems. Even if we have nothing to do we find ourselves examining our past and accepting it and ourselves.

With God we are truely never alone. My relationship with God is the most important thing I have. God loves me. Next is my relationship with myself. Next is my relationship with those who were there in my life at the happiest moments and there at turning points. Old friends who found a relationship with God I've found to be the ones who care and love the most. Lonelyness leads me to a place in my heart to know I'm needed by those in my past and then to let them know I love them and I'm okay. It can be very rewarding when an old friend finds you after a lot of time has past and an old relationship is started over again as you find eachother again.

But if I wasn't feeling lonely then would I even care about an old friend? Would I have the time to? Probably not much. Even when there are no words thinking about someone who loves you is great therapy.

Free Flight Model Airplane Competition

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:03:27 -0500

The hobby called Free Flight model airplane design, building and flying seems to have gone too far toward competition. Most of the airplanes are made out of balsa wood and covered with tissue. They can take fifty hours to make and can be very fragile "toys". The Free Flight title is due to the fact that the rubber powered flights are unassisted. The airplane is on it's own once launched either off of the ground or hand launched. There are usually no moving control surfaces. What control surfaces there may be are not adjusted from the pilot after launch. The plane must survive the initial power burst, the climb, the cruise, the glide and then the landing. It's no wonder why the Free Flight model airplane hobby is challenging and exciting.

There is a lot that goes into these model airplanes. The physics involved with each different design must be taken into account. I've designed airplanes which fly well but don't fit into any competition class. That just doesn't make any sense to me.

The problem is competition. There are several organized Free Flight competitions each year which include several different classes of model airplanes. It's a little like having Indy race cars, stock cars, dragsters and midgits all at the same place but not competing outside their class. When I am designing and then building a plane to compete with, the competition aspect almost always takes the fun out of the process. There are so many rules. For example the plane has to weigh so much. The propellor has to be so big. The rubber motor can't be any larger than a given size. The wing area has to be so much. I understand that the rules are there to level the playing field but you would think that in each class the idea would be to make a plane to fly the longest, and that is the case but it seems that all the planes in each competition class are more alike than they are different.

I've built planes from kits and origional designs from scratch. There are kits available which have been designed to fit into a given specific competition class. And there are a lot of those. Where is the fun in doing that? How about letting innovation have it's place.