Building the BEST PC for Movie Edit Pro

I was asked today for some advice about building a PC to make the best use of Movie Edit Pro, and I took some time to write a kind of long-winded response. So I decided if it was good enough to write all this, I should share it in a blog:

I have an ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard. I think it's about 3 years old. However, I recently found out the guy that sold it to me really did me well because I was still able to install one of the new quad-core processors, the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0gHz, giving me a total of 12gHz of cpu power. Also, I've installed two 2-gig PC-2 6400 sticks of memory, for 4 gigs of RAM total, however, since I'm running WinXP 32-bit, it doesn't see any more than 3.5 gigs. Originally I had purchased 8 gigs, but after finding out the 3.5gig limitation, I returned two of the sticks. In my PC currently is a 750 gig SATA300 drive by Seagate. Unfortunately, it is already full. I learned fairly early that IDE hard drives, while functional, are not really ideal for video editing because the transfer speeds can't keep up in the long haul. Actually, SATA drives, even over USB2.0 buses, are faster still than IDE/UDMA600 drives. This isn't really all that noticeable on a regular Windows system to the average user, but once you start working with HD video files, like AVCHD/Blu-Ray or stuff like that, you'll see the difference. For a video card, I bought a PCI-Express16 ATI Radeon 4670 w/1gig of dedicated video RAM. I recommend either the ATI/DIAMOND brand or the eVGA brand. Both will surely give you incredible performance. Anything less than PCI-Express16 in a video card will buy you a serious bottleneck in editing. Virtually all the processing that happens during editing is done by the video card. During render times, it's more the CPU, editing times, it's the GPU. So make sure you have a TON of video ram and a killer GPU. SPEND THIS EXTRA MONEY.

I cannot stress enough how important stability is. If you're looking to overclock, you might do well to rethink your strategy, because there's nothing more frustrating than learning you don't have enough of a cooling setup and your system crashes while you have 4 hours of unsaved work on the screen. In my opinion, I feel it is best to start out with a motherboard that will support FIRST the highest-end CPU's available TODAY AND TOMORROW, and SECOND will also allow you to start out with a lower-end, more affordable CPU right now. This gives you both balance and budget. Then buy a CPU that does the best OUT-OF-THE-BOX performance you can afford. One of the things I learned about Movie Edit Pro is that it doesn't seem to take full advantage of my quad core. I can boost it up by using CTRL-ALT-DEL and right-clicking on the MovieEdit.exe process and jumping the priority up the "Realtime" or "Critical", but it still only uses about 29-33% of my processor power... I don't know what gives with that, as I've set the affinity to use all 4 CPU cores. Still, it runs circles around my old Core 2 Duo 2.4gHz processor. I am told 3 things about this:
1. The i7 processors work better with Movie Edit Pro 15 plus on 32-bit systems
2. Magix Video Pro X handles the Core 2 Quad processors better.
3. Windows 7 solves this problem.

Since I have none of the above, I can't verify this information. I'm also told that MEP doesn't like 64-bit Windows XP and I know it has problems using the 3D Text functions on Vista.

Let me come back to cooling for a minute. We all know fans make noise. If you're going to be doing any filming or recording of audio around the PC, try to make sure you spend a tiny bit of extra money (seriously, it might mean $10 difference) on quieter fans. Also try to use a case that offers MAXIMUM ventilation. This will reduce the need for bigger fans, and make for quicker escape routes for the heat. When it comes to rendering out your final video cut, your CPU fan will be fighting for its life, and you will surely hear it whirring up to full speed. And don't be too cheap to buy a decent fan. If you try to pinch a penny on this, you'll end up kicking yourself when you have to buy a new CPU because you turned it into a cinder chip.

For video cards, I chose the one I have because of expandability. Because I was thinking ahead, I bought the right motherboard, and now I can buy two of these video cards and have twice the rendering power. Many of the newer cards have some sort of built-in pairing ability. You'll need to be sure your motherboard supports it first, but after that, just get the best card you can afford that can take advantage of this feature. Start out buying ONE. In another year, that card will drop easily in half in price, so you should be able to find one cheap to pair it with on ebay or something.... come to think of it, I need to start shopping for that! LOL!

With all this being said, I should probably tell you that NOBODY I know has a system good enough for silky-smooth editing using Movie Edit Pro on a PC. All of us experience choppy video at times while editing. So don't get all bummed out when you spend all this time and money building the PC of your dreams only to find out MEP still "stutters" when you're watching the edits in the preview window. Your end product will still look amazing if you're using the program right.

Also don't be afraid to shop around for individual parts. If you do it right, you can save yourself a thousand dollars or more, especially if you take advantage of rebates that often come around for hard drives, memory, and motherboard/CPU combos. But be aware that price has to come SECOND to practicality. Start out buying the best motherboard you can afford for the job, and go from there.

-Bryce
http://www.newdepthmedia.com

Are You Ready To Stand?

From: cbfadamsjohn316
Date: 03/26/09

The Lord has called upon His Workers Today:

We need to finish the Work that God began in us, for we are free from this world and nothing and no one is gonna separate us!!!!...UNLESS we let it. But I know that through faith and been showed everything that we can do through Christ our Lord, we won't let Go of His Unchanging Hand.

Now that Tomorrow is Here, there are fifthy thousand fists in the sky swearing that no matter what, they will serve the Lord come rain, disasters, shine, oppressions whatever, nothing is gonna stop from spreading God's Word.

We need to pick up our cross and Go!

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble wilt revive me;...and thy right hand shall save me"Psalm 138:7

"My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,"saith the Lord Jer. 31:14

"With the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be mesured to you again"Luke 6:38

"Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you"Luke 24:49

"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" I Corinthians 15:49

Isaiah 62:2
And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name.

Protect yourself against the Conficker Worm "Virus" and others!

Step 1: Go to Microsoft.com and install this security patch, MS08-067 released in October 2008. Select the version of Windows you are running and select "Download" to get the patch. Save it to your desktop and double-click the item in the desktop when it is done downloading.

Step 2: Download Avast! FREE Antivirus and install it. Then use the instructions at: http://www.ahearttowitness.com/blog/2009/03/how-to-schedule-daily-virus-scans-using.php to schedule daily scans on your system.

Step 3: Follow the directions in BetaFlux's Avast! video to setup Avast! to run all internet traffic through Avast as a proxy.

Q: What's the difference between a "WORM" and a "VIRUS"?
A: A virus is usually a result of something you've done or obtained. Like Cousin Bob that comes over and gives you the flu. Bob means well, but he still got you sick. A worm sneaks in through any kind of hole it can find in your security. Despite your best efforts, it gets in. Like a catburglar with the bubonic plague.

How to Schedule Daily Virus Scans using Avast! Free Edition

This article applies ONLY to Microsoft Windows and Avast Antivirus. I performed this on Windows XP Home Edition, and your version of Windows may vary slightly or drastically from mine. I claim no responsibility for the use or misuse of this information and whatever consequences it may render on your machine or in your life.

That being said, I hope this helps:

1. Select "RUN..." from your start menu and type in "tasks".
2. Run the "Add Scheduled Task" item.
3. When the window comes up, click NEXT, then click "Browse" and go to "C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick". Selecte AshQUick and click "OPEN"
4. Schedule it to run daily. Click NEXT.
5. Select a good time to scan. I leave my PC running all day and night, so I just have it do maintainence when I'm asleep, like 3am or so. Once you're done, click NEXT.
6. If you're the type of person that has to LOG OUT of windows whenever you're not using it, type in your username and password (your username should already be typed in). If you stay logged in all the time, just click NEXT. In fact, either way, click NEXT.
7. On the next screen, check the box that says "Open advanced properties for this task when I click "Finish". Click FINISH. You might get a pop-up that says "Access denied" or something like that... ignore it, and click "OK".
8. Now you should be looking at the advanced settings window. Where it says "Run:" edit the contents of that field so that it reads:
"C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe" c:\
9. Again, if you're the kind of person like me who doesn't ever log out of Windows (see step 6 above), check the box that says "Run only if logged on"
10. Make sure the "Enabled" box is checked. Click OK

Enjoy a much more secure, safe computer.

-Bryce L. Tomlinson

This post can be republished ONLY with written permission from its author, Bryce L. Tomlinson

FAITH IS ALL YOU NEED.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -2 Peter 1:5-8(NIV)

Dear Friend;
In September,the United States treasury secretary Henry Paulson sold the biggest bailout plan to the congress. The biggest ever in the United States history,if not the world!The congressional leaders sat in “stunned silence”,as reported by The New York Times,as they were told that America was falling into an apocalyptic abyss if tax payers did not cough up to $700 billion to get the toxic mortgages off the banks books,the whole system could go down!Fast forward,America has just issued the historical $ 700 billion check but you will be rather astonished to learn,as some commentators say,”the stimulus plan is doomed to fail".President George Bush,Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke may all be grappling with the mechanics to grease the rusty economic machine into motion but your faith can fix everything in your life.

Your faith is a universal currency more stronger than the economy of the United States,China or any currency under heaven. It delivers the proceeds at the same rate in every nation on earth. It's only your faith that can overcome foreclosures and unbearable unemployment rates in a disturbed economy. Faith is never affected by depreciation,inflation or deflation ,it still has the same purchasing power or value in any environment anywhere on the earth. Clearly stated;without faith there is no future!As Peter put it,”....make every effort to add to your faith.....”.You do not add faith to anything,you add everything else to faith. This means prayers,speaking in tongues,going to church,tithing,praise and worship and all the others that are required of us to do must be added to faith for without faith it's impossible to please God.


Faith commits God's integrity and when God is committed all is done including seeing you through the tough economic times. With absolute faith,we are assured of absolute victory. Victory is a lifestyle to those in whom faith works. Almost 60 years ago,Sony Corporation faced very hard and harsh business times when it got an order to manufacture 100,000 transistor radios for Bulova on condition that they put the 'bulova trademark' on them. A condition that made the financially stressed Sony not to supply the order.In his 1986 autobiography,“Made in Japan”, one of the co-founders of Sony,Mr.Akio Morita said he envisioned where Sony was to be in 60 years and backed it with “active and absolute faith”.Today,Sony is not only the leading manufacturer of electronics,videos,communication,video game consoles and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets but also boasts of a total assets of $ 117.603 billion,a revenue of over $ 88.7 billion,a work force of 180,501 people and over 20 acquisitions.

These are no mean achievements of an “active and absolute faith” of a man am not sure was a believer even by the time of his death in 1999.Faith is what makes the journey of life a great success. If people who have faith in dreams,goals and self can bring forth results how much more you the child of God whose faith is rooted in Him?What you can accomplish only eternity can compute the magnitude. The situation you are in today could be the only test of faith you need to pass; “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”-James 1:2 Tests of faith are not meant to destroy you but to find out whether you are depending on yourself,other human beings or God. Every time you pass these tests,God ushers you into a new phase of life.

Promotions that even the devil has nothing to do about become synonymous with you!Just think about the attention Daniel commanded after coming out of the lion's den alive!When Satan desired to have Peter,look at what Jesus did,”"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."-Luke 22:31-32Jesus said,”...I have prayed for you,Simon,that your faith may not fail...” When your faith fails in any situation,you suffer defeat because faith is your strength against the enemy. It's my prayer that your faith fail not for that much needed financial breakthrough or healing!But what is faith?Join me next time as we answer this question and discover the mystery behind this all powerful spiritual force that every believer from the White House to the Ghetto needs.

Pastor Moses Tumwine can be reached via:tumwine5@aol.com

"Piracy is a Crime" vs. "Copy Protection is Theft"

by Bryce L. Tomlinson
November 26th, 2008

I'm sure you're asking yourself, "What kinda hocus-pocus title is that for a blog?!" As hard as it is for society today to acknowledge that their bootleg copies of Windows and Office, and other programs that perhaps we couldn't afford to buy for our home computers, are a criminal offense under modern law, it is even harder to consider that the very copy protection that is intended to prevent that theft could be theft itself. I'm not a lawyer. I don't pretend to know the fullest extent of law as it pertains to copyright infringement. But as a person who has been transformed by Christ to testify against the sins of software piracy, I have been faced with many challenges. One of those challenges has been the way that software companies make it as difficult as possible for legitimate software owners to remain legitimate.

Let's take for example the obvious: Windows. If you make significant changes to your hardware configuration, like changing the motherboard or the master hard drive, you will most likely be faced with Microsoft's Genuine Advantage software telling you that you're not running "Genuine Windows", because your copy of Windows is registered to another computer. Well, you gotta have Windows, right? So what do you do?

Another fine example might be Alcohol 120%, a CD/DVD recording program by Alcoholsoft. Again, if you change your configuration, even slightly, it thinks of your computer as a different computer. With Alcohol, their web site "allows" you to "unregister" your "old" computer and register your "new" computer. But this process is so complex, and truthfully, so inconsistent (really-half the time it just doesn't even work), it is very frustrating. To add to this, the same programming that makes this so-called protection possible, also makes it so that the underlying drivers that Alcohol requires very often will crash your computer with a "Blue Screen Of Death" (or BSOD) that could cause infinite reboot-loops and the eventual need for the average user to reinstall or "rescue" their operating system. Once you get the computer working again, you might think twice about installing Alcohol again, for fear it will irreparably crash your computer again, which begs the question, "Can someone please tell me again why I paid for this software?" True story. I bought Alcohol 120%. And I can't use it because I bought a bigger hard drive.

Or how about AI RoboForm, an awesome web password management program by Siber Systems? They will allow you to install this program 3 times before you have to pay again for a registration. In my house, I tinker. As some of you who have looked through the software page on AHeartToWitness.com already know, I install a lot of software, sometimes just to try the stuff out. This style of computing can sometimes require frequent reinstallations of the operating system. Every time you reinstall Windows, you've got to reinstall the programs. So it wasn't too long before I had used up all my 3 installations of RoboForm, and it's a program I've come to depend on. In fact, since Roboform encrypts all the passwords it stores, and I couldn't reinstall it, I couldn't even access the passwords that I had backed up. So what does one do?

Do these overkill approaches to copy protection amount to stealing? It can sometimes feel that way. Do your basic human, or "civil", rights extend to your computer? In most cases, sadly, you find the answer is a pompous "NO."

While my expertise is not necessarily in the "letter of the law," I do know one thing. No matter what copy protection you put on your program, if someone wants to copy or crack it, they just will. Sort of like putting "SEE ID" on your credit card, it's something that largely goes unchecked, and if someone wants to steal, they are gonna steal.

Game sites such as RealArcade and Reflexive have proven that you don't have to focus on copy protection to turn a massive profit. Cabel Sasser of Panic.com made the observation that when they released Coda, a web development tool for the Mac, a serial number was enough. He noted that once in a great while, you find a serial number that's had mass distribution on pirate sites, and you blacklist that one. Panic decided not to spend huge resources on copy protection at the expense of making users pull their hair out if they've decided to upgrade their Mac and need to reinstall the software. As a result, their users are loyal. And their profits are up.

In the end, elaborate copy protections like the ones used in Windows, Alcohol, and RoboForm eventually end up with one of three results: (1) The user has to buy another license, usually at the full original price tag, (2) The user stops using the software or (3) The user cracks the software so they can continue using it, essentially "criminalizing" a legal license holder.

So beyond asking hypothetical or unanswerable questions, we need practical solutions for the situations that we are in, right?

In the case of Microsoft, you have very few options but to buy another license. If you plan to continue using Windows, MS has a way of making it nearly impossible to get around their Genuine Advantage software, to the point where even if you did find a way to crack Windows' security measures, you will eventually be faced with another situation where you are told you're not running Genuine Windows, mostly when it's time to use Windows Update. In my house, I almost went broke buying copies of Windows for every computer I had. I have resolved that I will not be upgrading to Vista, mostly because of the overprotectiveness of the GA software. I will be making the slow transition to the Mac and to Linux.

It is bad enough that software pirates have long used the price of software as their primary excuse for stealing software. It is worse when that excuse becomes the truth. We don't need the situation exacerbated by software companies making you buy the software more than once on the same computer.

As for Alcohol, I have since found that there are many fully capable FREEWARE burning programs that will do the same or better job. They can be found on the software page at AHeartToWitness.com.

For RoboForm, I found out that version 4.6.8 is the last freeware version, and can also be found on the software page at AHeartToWitness.com.

For myself, I have found very few instances where there has not been some freeware alternative to software which I would have had to purchase, perhaps more than once. This is my way of "fighting the good fight". I'm personally tired of software companies using piracy as an excuse to "steal" from legal software consumers.

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This opinion, and this published material, is the copyrighted work and property of Bryce L. Tomlinson, and cannot be reprinted or redistributed without permission.

My Testimony - Part 1: Childhood

by Bryce L. Tomlinson

So you want to know something about me? First, you should know that I have hesitated to write my testimony. Part of the reason is that my intention for this site is to give GLORY to GOD, and declare that JESUS is LORD. Even so, I can see how it will be hard for one to see me as their brother in Christ if they don't know anything about me personally. So this is about me. The good and the bad. If you see something you don't like here, please know that I have been there, and done that. The Holy Spirit has done a lot in my life, and Jesus has told me that He is "making a new man" in me.

That being said, let's get on with it...

I grew up in Northeast Portland, Oregon, on 23rd Avenue, in a cool house, with a great family -- my Mom, Dad, and sister Felecia. We grew up poor, but Dad worked very hard and Mom was a wiz with the finances and in the kitchen. She could make $100 go all month, and a pound of beef fed us all week. Dad did all sorts of jobs to make ends meet, from drywall contracting to hauling wood to helping people build their fence, if needed. Whatever it was, he'd do it. One of the things that still touches me today is that sometimes dad would be out at a job, and he'd find a broken toy laying in the mud somewhere. He'd bring it home, and he'd fix it. And then he'd give it to me. It was humble, but I had some of the coolest toy trucks in the neighborhood, and I always had something for show-and-tell. I wanted to be just like my Dad. Smart and strong and able to fix anything.

My grandfather was what we would today call a "Mad Scientist." Literally. You know all those movies where you see the guy in his laboratory with the tubes and wires, and sparks flying everywhere? Well, that was pretty much him. Anything that there ever was to know about electronics, or science, or computers, he knew it. He'd be sitting at the kitchen table, making up the layout for a circuit board on this big light board using little strips and circles of electric tape. Then he'd take it down in the basement and etch it onto a silicon board in an acid bath. I'm not really sure how that worked, but I know he had a brain the size of a planet. Grampa had all the social skills of a block of wood, though. He was a very hard man. He taught my sister and I how to write programs for computers at a very early age. We were able to convert decimal to hexidecimal and program in machine code at age 9 and 7, respectively. I even learned how to program on those old punch-cards that you would push into the front of a "Teletype" machine (a sort of glorified wide-carriage typewriter with half a brain). Grampa taught me some stuff about electronics, but he didn't have the patience to teach me very much. He gave me books and told me to study hard. I did for a while, but I didn't live up to his expectations.

Around this same time, Mom and Dad were getting into someting called CB (or Citizen's Band) Radio. They could talk to people miles away for free on a radio just by pushing a microphone. Since telephones weren't flat rate yet, this was a big thing! And since lots of people were talking on the radio at the same time, they'd have conversations with all kinds of folks. Pretty soon, they'd want to meet those people, and so we'd go to these huge get-togethers at restaurants all over the place. Everyone would bring their kids, and all us kids would meet and play, or fight, whichever came first. Mom & Dad made several new friends, some of which are still hanging around today. While we were hanging out at one of our CB friend's houses, my sister and I would play with their kids, and Felecia and her new friends started drawing horses. I asked if I could join them, and most of the time, they would say no, since I was a boy, and they were all girls. But I watched anyway, and I learned how to draw horses. That was when I first learned how to draw.

My folks had met some other folks during our time being involved with CB radio, and I was introduced to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Our family became heavily involved in their activity, and we'd given up celebrating birthdays, mother's day, Christmas, and pretty much every fun thing we ever did. We stayed with it for some time, going to Kingdom Hall and studying The New World Translations Of The Holy Scriptures. One thing we were never taught about was God's grace. We were told that if you danced a certain way, God would kill you. If you talked a certain way, God would kill you. We were told supposedly "true" stories about modern-day people whom God had killed because of their racy behavior. Wow. This actually had me crying my eyes out right in church. There was never any talk about the deity of Christ. This God was not a God of forgiveness. It wasn't too much longer and my parents decided we would leave the Jehovah's Witnesses.

When I was in the 7th grade, Dad bought the family our first home computer, a Commodore Vic-20. He bought it for an outrageous price, from one of my friends' dads, who, it just so happens, was also another mad scientist. He'd built some sort of memory expansion board for it from an Odyssey video game console, which boosted the Vic's memory from a meek 3k to a COLOSSAL 32k! Anyway, with this in my hands, I learned the basics of the Commodore BASIC programming language. Some friends and I learned how to make video games on it, and I even wrote a BBS (Bulletin Board System) program for it -- I think I called it Odyssey, too. It didn't work very well, and it bothered my folks to have people calling the home phone all the time with their modems. I was also intrigued with the sounds that this computer could make, and I would write programs that would mimic music I'd heard in some of my video games.

Dad was working with a really nice guy named Bruce, and Bruce was a church-going man. Eventually, he introduced our family to his church. For a while, it seemed we went all the time. They were Lutherans. I remember that I loved going there. The people always treated me very nicely. However, my Mom and Dad weren't comfortable being the only white family there. It didn't seem to matter that much to me, and I was eventually baptized. But I did so without even knowing the real reason why I was supposed to be baptized. I didn't really understand anything about Jesus, and I just thought it was what I would do to fit in. These people seemed to have it together alright, and maybe I should just hang out with them more, right? Well, it wasn't long before my family stopped going, and I didn't find out anything about racial issues OR Jesus for a long time after that.

By this time, my teachers were concerned that I was not focusing on my work in school. I was always turning in my papers with doodles all over them, little drawings I'd thrown together on my assignments -- faces, aliens, computers and, of course, horses. Everywhere I went, I was drawing. When I was in outdoor school, other kids were hounding me to draw them stuff to send home with their letters or whatever. My folks, in an effort to both encourage my artwork and to take it out of the classroom, kept buying me art kits -- paint sets, pastels, canvas paper, charcoal, colored pens, etc. This did not sway me, since my favorite medium (even to this day!) was a pen & notebook paper.

When I was in the 8th grade, my grandfather called me up early in the morning, and told me to get up and get ready. He was coming over to pick me up, and we were going to go out and buy a Commodore 64 computer for me. He was sure that if he bought me a more serious computer, I could do more serious stuff with it, and cease with this silly video game nonsense. He was not a man of recreation. If you did anything, it should be useful. Fun was not useful to him. Again, I went on to do more creative things with this C64 than I could have ever done with my Vic-20. As time went on, I wrote several video games, and got my hands on some great drawing programs. Grampa was so disappointed, he quit trying to teach me anything, since it was obvious to him that I was not going to follow in his utilitarian footsteps.

I got more involved with the Commodore 64 scene, going to huge pizza parties where people would bring their entire computer setups, set them up at a table in a pizza parlor, and we'd soon have 200+ C64's around the room, all either playing video games, running demos or copying stuff. This copying business really had me hooked. I couldn't do much of it because I was stuck using a C2N data cassette deck. Everyone else used disk drives. And while they all had nice 1701 or 1702 monitors, I had a 22" color TV that weighed about as much as a Jeep. I was quite an eyesore at some of the parties. But alas, I strugged to fit in, and I still made a few friends. I gradually learned some computer hacking tricks that allowed me to put some of these disk-based games onto tape, and I was copying games with the rest of them, just at a much, much slower pace.

Now I was really into the graphics end of computers. I had gotten my hands on a copy of Koala Paint that used a mouse, and I started to draw color pictures of musicians, fantasy characters, cartoons, and more. At the same time, there came an emergence of Color 64 BBS's that came up all over Portland. Somehow I got my hands on a terminal program that would load off of tape, and started getting on these bulletin board systems. So here in the early stages of ONLINE activity, Commodore computers were at the forefront. You could use your modem to call out to any bulletin board in town, and post and read messages -- and what's more, on the Color 64 systems (as well as some other BBS software like Ivory and AA BBS) you could post and look at some amazing graphics made entirely with Commodore keyboard graphics.

This was all very exciting to me, because I wanted to get involved in all this online graphics stuff. However, we couldn't afford to buy a disk drive, and all the graphics programs that were made in that day required one. So I took my programming knowledge and put it to work. After several failed attempts to make a mainstream program that would make those nifty graphics, I had only succeeded in making a program that I could use. I could make my graphics with it, and I could get online with it, but nobody else would use it... ever. I had gone to great lengths to make it work on disk drives, but not having one to test it on, it had many problems. Still, it WAS the only program of its type that supported tape. Maybe some poor soul in Germany (where, by the way, everyone was stuck on tape for a long, long time!) would use it, right? Well, I wasn't sure what would happen, but I always said if I ever got my hands on a disk drive, I would be able to do much better than the competition.

Eventually, I got my first job, bussing tables at a restaurant called "The Alibi" over on Interstate Ave. I didn't last but about 2 weeks. After a while I got my second job, pumping gas at an Astro station on Interstate & Lombard. Again, it was short lived. However, I managed to save up enough money to get myself a higher speed modem and a DISK DRIVE! It wasn't long before I was off and running again at the keyboard, and all at once, I succeeded with a program I made called "Kaleidoscope." My friend Ken helped me bug test it (in fact, we grew to call him Captain Crash), and made some clip art for it, and after 4 versions, we succeeded in making the most downloaded program ever put up on Q-Link (which was the Commodore version of what is now known as AOL). It also became the program of choice worldwide for use in making Commodore keyboard graphics. We distributed it with another cute program, called "Kaleidoscope Animator" which would allow you to make animated messages using recorded cursor movements and such. Together, these two programs were the programs that sysops (or System Operators) used to make all their menus, logon and logoff screens (or splash screens as we'd call them today), and online games.

On a more serious note, by this time I was 17, and during a boating incident with my father, I had witnesed God's supernatural power. We were late coming back in to the boat ramp, and the tide had gone out. We were travelling upstream on the Sandy River, and Dad and I were stuck in a spot where the river bottlenecked into sort of a jet of water that blew out from under a bridge. We hit the bottom of the river, had broken a shear pin, and the prop was now just floating there at the end of the shaft. Dad threw out the anchor, wrapped it around a cleat and handed me the slack. He then went to the back of the boat to start working on the motor. I was holding the rope, but even in the shallow water, the current was bouncing the anchor along the bottom like so many pebbles. We were drifting rapidly downstream, with no way to control our direction. Rocks were everywhere, and we could impact at any time! I was terrified, and I started to pray. I asked God to please make the anchor stay, and that I would tell it to the world if he would make it so! As soon as I said "Amen," he did it. The anchor stuck. The boat twirled around at the end of the rope, and I looked to see where we were. Only a few feet away from us was a rock sticking about 3 feet up out of the water, and at the speed we'd been going, we'd have smashed a huge hole in the side of the boat. We went on to break 2 more shear pins, in exactly the same spot. Both times, the boat drifted a bit, and the anchor stuck immediately. And then, fed up, Dad let me drive the boat. He got up on the bow with a flashlight, and told me that if I could get us home, he'd let me drive any boat he ever got. We were on our last shear pin. This was it. With God at my side, and the immediate memory of what he'd just done, I did my best. We went right through under the bridge, and we made it all the way back to the ramp without further incident. This was a miracle, and one that I've never forgotten. However, without any further guidance in my family regarding God and all things spiritual, I didn't follow through and seek Jesus. I just knew that God existed. Well, pretty much. I was still hard-headed.

I had become pretty heavily involved in those pizza parties. I was busily promoting my program, showing it off to lots of people, and at the same time copying games, utility and office programs, even copy programs themselves, and pretty much everything. I was a software pirate. Big time. I had gotten involved with people who were bringing stuff in from overseas and I was bringing software to these parties that nobody in these parts had ever seen before. It wasn't long before I had amassed a collection of thousands of floppy disks, many of which I would never use. I would just copy stuff so that I would have more than anyone else. It didn't matter what it was. And I was the guy you came to if you needed something. I felt like I ruled the world. And when you're 17, you pretty much wanna rule the world. That was me. I was pretty sure I'd found where I belonged. Deep in the piracy scene.

During this time, I had dropped out of public school. I had become quite the obnoxious jerk by this time, and my mouth got me into trouble with some of the local gang members in my school. I said just the wrong thing at just the wrong time, and the next thing I knew, they were ready to throw me down the long concrete stairs on the back side of Madison High School. If you've seen these steps, you know that I probably would not have lived to tell about it. The tardy bell had already rung for first period, and the grumpiest librarian I'd ever met in my life came out and started yelling about how everyone was late to class -- I bolted into the library, and there I stayed. I managed to convince the school that I was sick, and when Mom came and picked me up, I told her I was never coming back. She freaked out. We had no idea what I was going to do, but we had to act fast, because I was failing all my classes, except Graphic Production and Graphic Arts. So we started home schooling. Mom got involved with a Christian family down the street, and we started the Alpha-Omega cirriculum. We found out that I was not failing in public school -- my public school was failing me. I was ready to work at a much higher pace, and my school was not able to accommodate that. My math class alone had over 40 kids in it. There's not a lot of room for individuality in that realm. So now that I was in home school, the first time I got tested I proved to be scoring in the top 1% of my age group, working well ahead of my grade level.

As far as my social life went, I was juggling my life as a computer junkie with my life as a so-called Christian student. Some of my school friends knew that I was into computers, and on some rare occasions we'd get together and play video games. I think back now and understand why my friends' parents kept them away from the games for the most part. Partly, they must've known that it would grow to be a distraction away from their Christian studies. But I'm sure now that they were aware of the eternal consequences of the path I was following with computers. I was going to class in the day with my friends, and then going to these pirating parties by night, sometimes going to sleepovers with my computer buddies, or working my eyeballs into a salty sweat in the wee hours of the evening downloading games and such from the BBS's. Now I was the Graphics Op (Operator) for several of the bulletin boards around town, and so was my friend Ken (or Captain Kenby back then). Back in this day, I remember I was on "The Cop Shop" "Oregon Eagle," "Crystal Palace," and "The Lord's BBS."

I continued in my home schooling. While I was going to class with the kids down the street, I was also going to their family church. I took on some of the Christian traits that they talked about, and even got baptized again. This alone was proof that I really didn't understand anything about the faith that I was professing. It was like it was being told to me on an almost daily basis, but I just didn't get it. But I sure thought I did. I still knew nothing about why Jesus died for us, and what grace and mercy are all about, and I was a long way off from knowing the Holy Spirit. But I kept on with the schooling, even after the Christian family down the street had left. I eventually got my G.E.D. and graduated with my class in 1988. And again, I left the church.

I had a job working as a box boy at the local Sentry market on 33rd Ave. It wasn't too long before I was working 40+ hours a week, and became both head box boy and employee of the month for several months running. I worked my tail off, and for a lot less money than anyone would do it for nowadays. But it supported my computer habits. I was pretty much able to buy any of the toys I'd wanted for so long. I got a RAM Expander, a Super Snapshot cracking cartridge, a bunch of disk drives, a 1702 monitor, and lots of other stuff that littered my desk for almost a decade.

In 1988, I turned 18, and I moved out of my parents' house, and into an apartment in Southeast Portland with a coworker, Mike, at the Lloyd Center Orange Julius. I quickly became the night manager at the shop, and was able to upgrade to a Commodore 128 computer. So now we had the C64 sitting out in the kitchen where the whole household could use it, and the 128 set up in my bedroom. I had a "Snoopy" bank in my room where I was putting cash aside to buy an Amiga computer. I had played with Amigas at one of the software stores in Clackamas, and at a friend's house, and I was sure it would rocket me to new heights.

A friend of mine and I started a GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System) user group for Commodore Computers, called "geoMetrix". We built up a library of public domain and shareware software for the GEOS 64 and 128 operating systems, as well as a newsletter that ended up with more than 300 subscribers. At some point, a magazine editor who considered us to be "competition" began selling cheap, shrunk down photocopies of our 20-40 page newsletters overseas. While that didn't go on for very long, it opened up a new market when one of the subscribers to the "pirated" newsletter found our address in one of the screenshots used for a software article.

That user group needed a local place to meet. Since we were all used to pizza parties by this time, we got a deal with the local Pietro's Pizza parlor on 122nd & Stark. We would publish an advertisement for Pietro's every month, and they let us have a meeting there once a month, and they gave me a free pizza once a month. Roommate Mike was over 21, and he could get alcohol. We had a giant New Year's bash in our apartment, and I realized I would have access to alcohol on a regular basis, far from sneaking drinks out of my friend's dad's basement liquor cabinet while he was passed out drunk. It wasn't long before I had pizza and beer most mornings for breakfast.

To be continued...

Prayer Requests are NOW WORKING!

Yeah buddy! I can't believe I finally got it working, and I'm still not exactly sure how it works (Currently, it is technically beyond me!). But I can do all things through Jesus Christ!

Please share your prayer requests with our Prayer Team! Click HERE to access the prayer request form!

-BroBryce

PS: If anyone finds this useful, please let the folks at EPrayer know that they need some tutorials.

King James Version MP3 Bible in English - FREE DOWNLOAD

Okay, here it is... by the time you read this, you should be able to download the KJV English Bible in MP3 Audio for your listening pleasure!

Click here to see the Bible page (soon I will have it attached to the navigation bar at the top and bottom of the pages)

Soon it will include The Thru The Bible program and PDF versions of the Bible!

-Brother Bryce

Coming Soon - MP3 Bibles Hosted at A Heart To Witness!

Wow! A am amazed at how God has things planned! Check this out - I was on a web site where they said that they can no longer give their MP3 bible recordings away for free because it takes too much of their bandwidth. Evidently, the downloads were taking upward of 1 terabyte (1,000,000 megabytes) of bandwidth per month. As it turns out, AHTW is set up with 1.5 terabytes of bandwidth. Each version of the MP3 bible takes about 1.5 gigs of space, and we here have 150 gigs. We should be able to host a MULTITUDE of free Bibles in MANY languages and versions! Currently, my FTP program just finished uploading the book of Isaiah (English KJV) to our host, and next I will be uploading the "Thru The Bible" 5-year Bible Study by Dr. J. Vernon McGee. These are freely distributable, and once we get them online, I would encourage you to share them with as many people as possible, so as to SAVE SOULS in JESUS' HOLY NAME!!!! PRAISE GOD!

If you feel led to contribute to the costs of hosting these huge resources, Please click the "DONATE" button at the top of this page. Thank you very much and God Bless You!

-Brother Bryce

WISDOM: YOUR VICTORY OVER DEATH!

A Sermon by Pastor Moses Tumwine
Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 06:30 AM

"In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord's help but turned only to his physicians he died in the forty-first year of his reign.He was buried in the tomb he had carved out for himself in the City of David. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and fragrant ointments, and the people built a huge funeral fire in his honor" - 2 Chronicles 16:12-14(NLT)

It may be shocking for you to know that by the time you celebrate your 70th birthday, you will have survived 3.9 billion chances of dying! Simply put, knowingly or unknowingly; had it not been God on your side one out of the 56 million attempts per year by this enemy called death would have robbed you of your precious life. These figures, experts say, are factual but not infallible, until verified, will never become the truth!

The fact still holds, however, that many people are still dying around us, and many still alive are living in uncertainty and fear of being caught unawares by death.

Like King Asa who "was buried in the tomb he carved out for himself in the city of David," many are busy doing the most difficult thing: talking to their beloved ones about their death, and planning out the way they would want their funeral to look like! They are channeling their savings into funeral policies for their final arrangements before "need" arises. This is no easy task as an average traditional funeral in the United States may cost $4,600 in addition to $1,000 for flowers, obituary notices, acknowledgment cards, burial liners and special transportation burial can cost an additional $2,400.

Funeral arrangement is not a new concept even King Asa embraced it, this is another front on which spiritual values are under attack! This is an organized campaign to weaken the faith of God's people in the value of life. The world lives in great fear of death today, yet death no longer has power over you as a child of God! The disobedience of the first Adam brought sin and death thereof; while the death of the Second Adam-Jesus was the release of mankind. Jesus loves you too greatly to let your life go before your appointed time.

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command" -John 15:13-14

Jesus laid down his life for you to live, all you need is to tap into the wisdom of overpowering death whenever it knocks at the door of your life. Very simple; all you have to do is what Jesus commands! Until your days are fulfilled, death is a matter of choice. Not even the most dreaded accidents that rock the air, rail and road systems can kill you; you did not come by accident, you are not permitted to go by one in the name of Jesus Christ! God is committed to keeping you alive because He created you to meet a need, if you were not needed He would not have created you. That need is not met yet, how far have you advanced the kingdom for you to die now when the population of unbelievers is on the increase!

"If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body" -Phil 1: 22-24

Your choice should be to remain in the body so as to accomplish God's purpose and plans for your life. God's thoughts for you are "thoughts of peace,and not of evil,to give you an expected end"-Jeremiah 29:11

The pain and grief that comes with the death of a beloved one, is questionably beyond what God wants for you. Is the pain and the grief to those left behind the "expected end" according to God that repeatedly says "the end of a matter is better than its beginning thereof;..." I do not think so, friend!

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life"-John 6:63(KJV)

When you accept Jesus as your personal savior, the spirit becomes responsible over quickening your life. To "quicken" means "to come or return to life". The spirit has and will always return to life what the enemy has taken away to initiate death in your body. The spirit of God makes you to live above natural circumstances that go on rampage killing everybody around you. This explains why that illness will not kill your husband or why that accident did not take your life!

Your faith is the instrument with which you plug into this supreme reality, fear not. It's upon you to determine the duration of your stay on Earth not physicians or those that predict doom over your life.

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" -Deuteronomy 30:19(NLT)

Death is a choice that we ignorantly make because even God admonishes us to choose life. This is a very serious matter that the two principle witnesses are the heaven and the earth. This partially explains why when you die, you are kept in your grave on earth because its not time for you to heaven yet. Whichever way, you have to wait. Why then not make a choice to "remain in the flesh" since its more necessary or "more needful" as King James Version puts it! -Phil1:24

The word of God created you, it also take the same word to sustain you, to preserve you and to elongate your life. The word of God that you learn and apply is the wisdom that death hears about in rumors:

"Destruction and Death say,'Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.' God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells.." -Job 28:21-23

When you walk into this wisdom, death will too hear about your name through its rumor machine but it will never locate your physical address. Let your mouth confess the state of your heart formed by God's word, you will live as long as you want;

"From the fruit of his mouth a man's stomach is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." -Proverbs 18:20-21

Your authority over death starts with your thoughts, then your tongue. You can not spend more time thinking about the most qualified apothecaries in your city, cremation, flowers, the burial plot, the casket and the cost of the best grave makers at hand like king Asa did and speak death and expect to live even if your pastor and all the church elders lay hands on you. "For as a man thinketh in his heart, is he:..." -Proverbs 23:7

You will never die physically 'til you have died in your mind, God will never change your life beyond your thoughts. It's high time you renewed your mind over this death hokum that has become another god in the lives of even the elect. Therefore "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." -2 Corinthians 10:5

Start thinking about "... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" -Phil 4:8

Only your knowledge of the truth guarantees your freedom in the area of your bondage and absolutely nothing can tie you down. There's a place that death can not access and the only way to it is knowledge. Acquire knowledge and apply it!

"Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death�that is, the devil" -Heb 2:14

The death of Jesus disarmed Satan and Jesus empowered us to live. Jesus will never use that power in favor of the enemy other than you and I his friend. What you own you control, we have power to control death. Death no longer has power over you at all!

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where,O death,is your sting?" -1 Corinthians 15:55

Death lost its "sting" which means it has lost its "ability to get your life by deceitful means or trickery". And the grave has lost its victory because the victory of the grave depends on the deceitfulness of death, it obtains people's lives by tricks but only the knowledge transformed into wisdom traps it. Only the truth weakens this enemy force called death, whenever it speaks to you answer with God's word.

Friends, God says "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." -Psalm 91:16

All of us agree the life we have lived is not "long" enough for us to go now. Do not worry about your medical condition, this truth will make those tricks of the devil to vanish from your life in the name of Jesus Christ! May the unction under which I am writing this piece fall upon you. The Lord will preserve your life, your family and everybody you care about in the name of Jesus Christ! For it is He that "preserves the lives of those appointed to die." He shall do according to his word in the name of Jesus Christ!

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-Pastor Moses Tumwater has granted permission for this sermon to be reprinted here at A Heart To Witness. -

"I AM With Thee"

Insight from Cassandra Flores-Adams

Date: Monday, November 17, 2008 at 08:54 AM

Many things happen in our lives, some bad and some good, we wonder what is the purpose for all these things to happen? Why must we always struggle to keep focus on His Word? You know something, we are the ones who are making things hard for us, all we need to do is pray and ask God to lead us out and He will.

"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18

"I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst." John 6:35

"If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John 14:14

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." James 4:10

God has promised us an eternal life, believe it! God has promised never to leave nor forsake us, Don't Forsake Him! He has promised to always Lead, Guide, Enlighten; Don't put Him SECOND! God doesn't play 'Second Fiddle' Move down World, Jobs, Families, Self Life, etc GOD IS FIRST IN EVERYTHING!!!!

Isaiah 41:13
For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

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-Cassandra Flores-Adams has granted permission for this material to be reprinted here at A Heart To Witness. -

DIVINE DIRECTION:THE KEY TO PROFITABILITY.

A Sermon by Pastor Moses Tumwine
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 03:30PM

"You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore"-Psalms 16:11(Amplified Version)
The biggest problem of the world today is neither politics nor economics but lack of divine direction at both the leadership and individual levels. This explains why even the church or we the children of God are seemingly callow in the eyes of the world over which we are meant to be in charge and to command success that will attract the world to the church not vice-versa.
Divine direction is your heritage as a child of God but you must seek it to find it and when you do,you enjoy it. The psalmist said "you will show me the path of life." It's very vital for us to express our willingness to be shown that path. There is a path that God ordained for your Ministry,marriage,health,career,finances etc but disappointingly we prefer going the path that our ego, parents and friends show to us and we end up doing the wrong businesses,marrying the wrong partners and dying miserably!

All the answers to these challenges are obtainable in the presence of God which is our ultimate goal in prayer. Many a time when we do not seek direction from God we find ourselves being cajoled into temptations by the pressures of life because of our lack of access to His right hand where there are pleasures forevermore! When this happens,the results are very sure; a schizoid relationship with God and those that truly follow His direction. When you locate the path of your life, you enjoy fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. "THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters."-Psalms 23:1-2 When God leads you, you become outstanding in life. The shepherd always knows the best grazing fields whose pasture will satisfy the sheep, he takes them to green pastures, not deserts. Always advise friends not be in hurry to run away from Africa in search of "green pastures" elsewhere without being sure that where they are running to is where really God wants them to go.

Many are in the deserts of their lives not because the devil is tormenting them but lack of divine direction. Not even speaking in tongues can take the place of divine direction. For example if I did not know the way to the airport to catch my flight, the least thing I need is to close my eyes and speak in tongues, but somebody to give direction on how to get there. God leads us beside "still and restful waters" not troubled and restless marriages and businesses. Some people were not shaped or formed for business at all but have chosen to it out of social influence or personal choices. Others are in professions where their star will never shine even one day because they have not located the right path.

You can not spend all the days of your life like this, doing what looks good and correct, but not right! "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with ^[a]oil; my [brimming] cup runs over. Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place." -Psalms 23:5-6 Even when you are being led by God,the path of life is not free from enemies but with God the mighty Man of war on your side,who can fight against you and prevail. No wonder God promises to prepare a table for you before their very eyes. All those that are gossiping about you and ruining your marriage or bewitching you will see you getting blessed beyond measure in the name of Jesus Christ!And God does not stop there but He makes sure that "only goodness,mercy,and unfailing love shall follow..." all the days of your life, not some days!

God knows that without His direction your destiny is not secure. That's why He is committed to leading you in His ordained path which He knew "Before I formed thee in the belly,...".-Jeremiah 1:5 Does this not convince you that God knew the woman or man you would marry, the places to set your foot on, the businesses you would do and many other things before you came into being! When you allow God to lead you, He makes a leader out of you. Moses is a good example, as many times as you can count "And the Lord Said to Moses" appears in the Bible meaning Moses used to do according to the direction God was giving him. He was a stammerer but the journey could not continue before he finished giving direction even if it would take him eight hours to brief Aaron and the children of Israel.

A man that allows God to lead Him, God makes him a voice. I have met many braggarts whose names no one remembers anymore because their attitudes were not founded in God but their cognitive ability. "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way that you should go." -Isaiah 48:17 All the profit your life,job, marriage etc is meant to provide is in God's ordained path. "Ask....Seek....Knock" for Him to teach you according to this promise in Matthew 7:7. Only then shall you stop drawing circles around yourself in the name of working hard. Hard work devoid of God's direction is a waste of time for all is vanity! I see the Lord guiding you into your profitable path in the Name of Jesus Christ! Some of you had been written off but God is lifting you above your imagination. Keep seeking His guidance in prayer. He will be found sooner than you expected.

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-Pastor Moses Tumwater has granted permission for this sermon to be reprinted here at A Heart To Witness. -

More substance, more planning, more Jesus! Raise Your Expectations!

I was having a talk with my wife Julie the other day, and about the labor and blessings of this web site. We have been blessed to be able to witness to more than 100 unique people a day who visit this site. I handed a business card to someone, and they immediately asked me, "Is it supposed to be so... Christian-y?" to which I replied "Uh, yeah."

AHeartToWitness.com is now called home to roughly one thousand people per week. I was just looking at a blog I wrote on July 18th, 2007 (just over a year ago) noting a remarkable 54 visitors on one Saturday... And now I'm only surprised when we get over 200. As our beloved Pastor Steve has been telling us over and over these last couple of months, "Raise Your Expectations". So that's the plan.

When David took off Saul's armor, it wasn't JUST because it didn't fit (at that time, David was a little guy, pretty scrawny to be wearing big, buff Saul's shoulder pads & breastplate). It was because he knew if he beat down Goliath with all that armor on, it would do less to show God was the power on top of it all (I almost said "behind it all" but God is NEVER behind anything). David remembered how he killed a lion and a bear, something that he KNEW was not possible without God's power! So David picked up 5 smooth stones, and pegged Goliath with the first one. In essence, by taking off Saul's armor, David was telling the WORLD, "Raise Your Expectations". And because he had absolute faith, it was a slam dunk. He was guaranteed success.

We here at AHeartToWitness.com are raising our expectations.

As I told my wife, since we started this ministry, we've received almost zero financial support. From our measurements, the "donate" button has been pressed TWICE in the last 5 years, giving us a whopping $30 in donations.

I'm not telling you this to try to pry money out of you. What I am doing is putting faith in God, and not money, and I'm asking you to do the same.

Regardless of whether visitors can give or not, we are praying that they will be saved. That Christ will minister to souls through this web site and our examples, and that WE will BE examples. And that means staying Romans 12 citizens of Christ, holy and acceptable to God, so that our witness will not be tainted by our sins, or even the perception thereof. Not only that, but we will continue to support and dispense TOOLS to make this possible in your household, too!

About 3 years ago, as I recall, I told my wife that I had envisioned this web site to be a center of media, a lot of material... Pictures, music, video, articles, and more. And now, it has become that. Back then, I really didn't think I would be the one posting most of the material. I had always thought more people would try to come forward and contribute material to the web site (have you tried the Feedback Form?) So back then, I made that declaration, and now, I'm making another one.

We will press on. We will continue to run the race, with our eye on the prize (Jesus).

Technically speaking, this site has become more than I had imagined, but it's been done through the power of God, because I couldn't have done it myself. So here is the part where I take off Saul's armor. I am declaring now that this site will be technically beyond me. Completely beyond my skill set. It will be an EXPLOSIVE ministry tool for Jesus! If no person comes forth with better skills than I have, then God will perform it through my wife and myself. And if he doesn't, we will still press on!

Some of our immediate goals:
1. A Prayer Request form (eprayer php script) - if anyone knows MySQL enough to help me with this, please help! Prayer is not just -A- tool, it is -THE- tool!
2. Ministry store (Bibles, bumper/window stickers, t-shirts, mugs, keychains, etc)
3. Moderated Bulletin Board/Forum
4. Visitor-Submitted photo & art gallery (moderated, obviously)
5. Internet radio station

This is our declaration. I would say, "sit back and watch the fireworks," but it's much more fun to light them yourself.

-Brother Bryce

True Romance

I wonder if she knew you, my dear.
Laying awake at night, waiting out the end of the torrent
The flood of tears, the flood of harsh words spoken.
I wonder if she'd met you, my love.
I know that I'd hardly known her myself.
Hidden behind a shroud of silence and shallowness
Perhaps in fear that if the real her showed up,
She'd find herself more alone and helpless than she already was.
Someone should've introduced her to you, my dear.
Someone who knew that even though her body and mind were bruised,
And the only love she had truly known was in the pages
Of magazines about other people's lives,
She could've always counted on you, my love.
It is cliche, but if only I knew then what I know now.
You could've taught her how to walk on her sea of tears,
Even when she had long since become bent on drowning.
Now I know that there was someone who could have shown her True Romance,
If only she had met you, my love.
Though she left this world empty, she has left a bit of herself behind
Teaching others in their youth to handle things the way she did.
The legacy lives on.
And so does yours.
This time I will be more aware, more steadfast.
I will introduce her to you, my dear...
...Savior.

-Bryce L. Tomlinson, 10-13-2006

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Bryce L. Tomlinson's poetry is not to be considered affiliated with any organization or entity other than himself. Bryce L. Tomlinson's poetry is the sole property of its owner, Bryce L. Tomlinson, and is not to be sold for profit, though it can be borrowed with permission (if you ask with cherries on top).

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Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .

Thank you notes to GOD

There was a time I dwelt in darkness,
for I did not know the light.

There was a time I lived without faith,
for I lived with all hope lost.

There was a time I did not  love my self,
for I learned to live without love.

Time passed and I was content 
to sit  in darkness because
I was never shown your might.

But then you reached up and
beheld me in your light,
lifting me up, so that I could see.

You spoke to me in your 
many silent songs,
and gave my faith wings
to set me free.

How can you truly know what you lost
if you do not know it's gone?

You waited, you stayed, ever knowing, ever loving. 

Though I  had  lost Faith in my self
you  never lost Faith in me.

There was a time, I looked up and smiled
and was at peace... thank you.

-Shinar Stephens

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Shinar Stephens makes her contributory debut at A Heart To Witness with this poem, "Thank You Notes To GOD". She hopes to relate to those who have been lost at some time (which is basically all of us, right?). Please ask permission if you wish to republish this poem.

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Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .

Sometimes This Is What I am Thinking Of 

In spite of the rainy days 
God always comes through
Even though I wonder why he did it
His love for us never changes
Sometimes we all get mad
And make mistakes
But still Jesus was still always right there
When we repent and tell him sorry
Sometimes I want to cry
When I remember of how he died
For me and you so that we might have everlasting life
Sometimes I want to give my all
At times I feel it’s not my best
But I know in God’s eyes he’s smiling down on all of us
Showing us that we all done perfect 
Sometimes I want to just thank him
Because he’s so worthy
Sometimes I feel, feel so deeply of his love
That I just want to spread the news out to the whole wide world
That Jesus Christ is Lord of my life
And he loves you just as who you are
He takes you in, renews your soul
And makes you a right spirit
Just to read his word
And to do his will 
Sometimes that’s all that I am thinking of

~Shioni Smith
 

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Shioni Smith was very gracious when I asked her if I could reprint her poem, which has already recieved a lot of positive response. We are glad to have her contribution on ths page! Prasie God for you, Shi!

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Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .

CONTRADICTIONS

Life is full of contradictions.
We live to die,
We work to pay,
We play to keep sane.

Some believe, some don't.
If you don't believe,
then why are you here?

We create questions,
so we can have answers.
We create answers,
so we can have questions.

Why do we live in a world of
should haves & could haves?
Why not make our own reality?
Instead of being upset or unconscious.

Life is what we make of it.
So, what will you do with yours?

I now know that I was made to Love You!!

-Julie F. Tomlinson, 11-1-2006

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Julie F. Tomlinson's poetry is not to be considered affiliated with any organization or entity other than herself. Julie F. Tomlinson's poetry is the sole property of its owner, Julie F. Tomlinson, and is not to be sold for profit, though it can be borrowed with permission (if you ask with cherries on top).

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Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .

A REASON TO GO ON

When you feel there is nothing to live for,
Remember:
Your daughter's wedding day,
and she cries as she says,
"I wish mom were here with us."

When you despair, and lose all hope,
Remember:
Your first grandchild's birth,
and your only son says,
"Mom would have loved to be here."

When you are self-absorbed to the point
where you could destroy the gift of life you've been given,
Remember:
Your husband's face, streaming with an avalanche of tears,
as he imagines the rest of his life without you.

When there is nothing left inside, except an empty hole,
Remember:
The day your mom died,
and you weren't there to hold her lonely hand,
kiss her, and say goodbye.

Imagine THESE Realities:
An empty seat at the dinner table
Tearful Christmas mornings.
A garden, left untended.
Your familiar smells, gone.
Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren you will never meet, and they will never meet you.
The memory of you will fade, over time..........

This truly is "A Wonderful Life", and it would be "Sadder still to watch it die".
Remember that life is not just about today and the sadness that sometimes encompasses us.
There will be moments to treasure in our lives, even if we have to wait for them.
We do not belong to ourselves.
We were not put here to gratify ourselves.
We are here to touch others, and add to the quality
of other's lives.

-Felecia Walls, 8-8-2006

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Felecia R. Walls is the beloved sister of Bryce L. Tomlinson. This poem is published with the appreciated permission from its author.

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Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .

Lost Your Patience??
Remember God's!!!


There are times when I feel that I have lost all patience.
I start to get upset & complain about things that are going
on around me, I feel overwhelmed, then I stop and remember
God's Patience.

How often have I strayed from the path & purpose that He
has set before me? How often have I turned from His
outstretched hand, knowingly?!
Yet there He is despite my disobedience.
Thank you God for your persistent patience & love!!

When I start to feel as if my patience is dwindling, I now
stop and remember Yours. I then quickly remember that
my life is not my own but Yours, forever & always!!

When I try to reach out to people and they don't reach back,
I remember God's Patience!

God, thank you for always watching over me & being
Patient!!!

-Julie F. Tomlinson, 11-1-2006

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Julie F. Tomlinson's poetry is not to be considered affiliated with any organization or entity other than herself. Julie F. Tomlinson's poetry is the sole property of its owner, Julie F. Tomlinson, and is not to be sold for profit, though it can be borrowed with permission (if you ask with cherries on top).

Who else wants to make $2000 a month with these cool little crosses! .