Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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Yesterday, I had a great interview with a guy at UHG IT for a SharePoint position.  I had to reveal that I had some issues on my background that might cause some problems with my getting in.  Within 24 hours of doing so, I was informed late this afternoon that “Robert Half Technology would not be able to represent me on the UHG project OR the one at Lerner, that I interviewed for the day before (i.e. Monday).

I am, no doubt, extremely frustrated.

I was tempted to resort to destructive habits, but, God prevented me.

“Dear Lord, please do forgive my sins today.  I confess the ones I remember now silently to you . . . I know that you have forgiven me.  I receive your infinite grace and ask that your Holy Spirit would surround me with His comfort and joy.  Help me, Lord, to walk faithfully according to your will.  Your humble, imperfect servant.  In Jesus name, Amen.”

My Letter to My Heart Donor’s Family

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Ok, I’ve finally done it!  It’s been over two years now and I’ve finally written a letter to my heart donor’s family, letting them know how grateful I am for his or her generous donation.  I have not sent this out yet, because I would definitely like to know what others think.  Thanks!

Here it is:

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March 26, 2011,

To the family and friends of my most generous heart donor,

My name is Steven Berg and I am the incredibly grateful recipient of your loved one’s heart whose life was taken from you over 2 years’ ago in November 2008.  I apologize that I have allowed so much time to go by before reaching out to you, but I wanted to make sure I allowed enough time to pass before doing so.

First of all, I want to express my most sincere condolences for the loss of your loved one.  Although I don’t know the circumstances surrounding the events that led up to his or her death, I wanted you to know that because of the self-less generosity of your son or daughter, husband or wife, mother or father, sister or brother, aunt or uncle, cousin, niece or nephew, or even friend or neighbor, at least one life has been saved.  Because of him or her, not only did I get my own life back, but my 4-year-old son got his daddy back!

Secondly, even though I could never give back the life of the one you lost, I can only pay tribute to him or her through volunteering and becoming a serious advocate for organ donation and to raise awareness of it.

I am not necessarily expecting a response back from you, but please feel free to do so if you like.

Thank you again so much and God Bless!

Steven Berg

swberg@live.com

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/steveberg

My Apologies!

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Some of you may have been found things that I post on my blogs confusing, disconcerting, strange, or even disturbing.  Since I founded this blog, I’ve been treating it as my personal journal/diary which means, I just sometimes let the words and feelings I’m thinking or feeling at the time just come rolling out.  I haven’t figured out, yet, how to change the default setting in WordPress to be “Private,” so, I sometimes publish publicly by accident.

Thanks and God bless!

 

– Steven

Erik and Stacy Carney

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Erik and Stacy have surprisingly become fast and great friends!  They quickly became part of the, “I-Have-No-Idea-What-I-Would-Have-Done-Without-You” club!  (Membership in this club seems to have grown immensely and very, very quickly!)

I honestly don’t know what I would have done without their generous offers of help and even gifts.

The Carney’s themselves were in great need of help last year when their brand new, adorable, little baby boy, Tyler, suddenly started having seizures!  Check out Tyler’s CaringBridge site:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tylercarney/

Thanks and God Bless you guys!!!

My Defense for Jim Koenig

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The following is a response I wrote on an ongoing discussion my good friend and former roommate who prematurely had his life snuffed out last week.

Please read what I wrote and feel free to go to the site to offer your own thoughts.

Thanks and God bless!

– Steven Berg

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/farmington-mn/T050L2P8MM2TK7Q30

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Jimmy

I knew Jim (“Jimmy”), on a personal level.  He moved into my house last year and stayed there several months.  We became really good friends very easily and quickly.

There was absolutely NOTHING gay about Jim AT ALL!  If EVER that topic came up, he was totally disgusted by the thought of it.  (But not bigoted, either, by the way!) Plus, he LOVED kids and was always great with them!  They loved him too, and over SEVERAL years, too!  He had several nieces and nephews, whom I met several times. I can’t tell you how much their eyes lit up when they saw their “uncle Jimmy!”

Child molesters have a HISTORY of abuse.  I can’t state this categorically enough:

THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ANYWHERE THAT JAMES KOENIG EVER HAD ANY WEIRD OR UNNATURAL PROCLIVITIES WHATSOEVER!  (It’s astounding to me that I even have to defend him on this)

People are asking, ” WHY did he have to have his shirt off?”    The answer to that question is because Jim was simply very much into body building. It was his HOBBY!  People are NATURALLY proud of their personal successes, and love to show them off! Jimmy always ran around without his shirt on. No one ever thought anything weird about it at all!
I totally believe everything his mom said in the article. Mary was extremely proud of her son, who, except for this one fateful night, was definitely doing a great job of getting his life back in order.  James, like ALL of us, had his own demons, but there is not a single chance in hell that he WAS one himself!

People are asking why the girlfriend told Jim to leave, too.  If the press were actually being honest about this whole situation they would reveal the FACT that the killer:

1) had a STOCKPILE of guns in one of the rooms of his townhouse.  (And WHY does he have his 13-yr-old son there?????)

2) was previously forced to move out of his now ex-wife’s house who caught him trying to choke HER son (not his own).

3) had threatened another guy in the same way before (but, who DID have the sense enough to run away, unlike Jim.)

In my opinion, Jim’s girlfriend, whom I know as well, and who is Thomas’ [i.e. Jim’s murderer] neighbor, knew DAMN WELL that this drunken maniac (who cares whether he was crippled or not? He could still obviously ambulate around the house without a scooter), was DEADLY serious about killing poor, niave Jimmy who just simply should not have tried to call this idiot’s bluff.

I feel like I can read Jim’s mind as if I were there right now. I knew there was no chance he was going to leave that place and let this guy think that Jim was trying to molest his son!  Knowing Jim, it’s the most outrageous thing imaginable!  Jim wasn’t ANY kind of a pervert IN THE LEAST!

Again, everyone there was drunk and making some of the WORST decisions of their lives.
Jim Koenig was one of the best friends I ever had. He may have been a LOT of things, and suffered a lot from the consequences of his own poor, and stupid choices, but, I can GUARANTEE, as drunk as he was (and I had seen it many times myself), Jimmy would NEVER have hurt this guy!!  His only intent was to disarm the guy who, had a violent past, unlike Jimmy, who, I never saw lay a violent hand on anyone.
Jim’s life was not for naught. It was truly a privilege to have known him. He made us all laugh. He loved life to the fullest. He truly had a pure heart and, I think that must have been part of the reason he and his girlfriend (whom I know fairly well, too), reached out to this guy, Thomas by befriending him and providing some company. Jim truly left this earth a better place than when he came into it. For that, he deserves our love and respect. And, his family, our condolences and total support.
For photos of Jim see my Facebook photo album, which is open to everyone:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=288608&id=503791384

To express your condolences, please feel free to do so here on this online guestbook:
http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/startribune/guestbook.aspx?n=james-koenig&pid=148082639
PLEASE continue to pray for Jim’s family and friends who are NOW having to deal with defending Jim’s honor and these stupid negative and biased press reports.
Farewell, Jimmy!! It’s been over a week and it’s still so hard to believe you’re gone. I guess, now, it’s God’s turn to experience your side-splitting humor!
Cheers my brother!
Steven

Response to Matt Fenn’s, “Predestination and Voluntary Choice”

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The following is a response/rebuttal to my new good friend, Matt Fenn who is a former Jehovah’s Witness like myself.  He considers himself a Calvinist and has a blog much like mine.  His latest post, “Predestination and Voluntary Choice” was written on 11/20/2010.    Matt’s blog can be found at:   http://ponderingchrist.blogspot.com/

FROM all eternity God decreed all that should happen in time, and this He did freely and unalterably, consulting only His own wise and holy will.  Yet in so doing He does not become in any sense the author of sin, nor does He share responsibility for sin with sinners.  Neither, by reason of His decree, is the will of any creature whom He has made violated;

If all that happens, past, present, and future is DECREED by God, (in other words, DETERMINED by God such that God CREATED (or “AUTHORED”, (or, as Wayne Grudem describes it, has been “scripted” by God),  the irresistible desires within the agent such that no other choice is possible, then it’s obvious that GOD is the SOURCE/AUTHOR of that individual’s choice, whether it’s considered “sinful” or not. So, in what sense is God not the Ultimate source of Hitler’s choices or Osama bin Laden’s?

If one were to follow Calvinism out to its logical conclusion, then the apparent difference between “Good” and “Evil” is merely an  illusion, the same as what the Eastern Religions teach.  If God has decreed (i.e. “scripted” everything that happens,) then the biblical notion that God is incapable of even looking upon sin, much less being responsible for it, is laughable.

nor is the free working of second causes (Please define: “second causes”) put aside; rather is it established.  In all these matters the divine wisdom appears, as also does God’s power and faithfulness in effecting that which He has purposed. (1689 London Baptist Confession, 3.1)

Thus says the confession to which I and my church hold.  What this is saying is that God ordains (Please define: “ordains”) future events in such a way that our freedom (Please define “Freedom.”  If you’re going to say, “the ability to do what you WANT,” then I would ask, “What is the ULTIMATE source of the want?”  If your response to that is, “God”, then you, and all deterministic theists are inconsistent and wrong.  We are NOT free, and it is GOD who is ultimately cause of our choices, even the sinful ones.) and the working of secondary causes (e.g., laws of nature, free choice) are preserved. Theologians call this “concurrence.” (Please provide a reference here.  What theologian and what is the reference?) God’s sovereign will flows  (“flows”?  Who talks like that??”) concurrently with our free choices in such a way that our free choices always result in the carrying out of God’s will (by ‘free choices’ I mean that our choices are not coerced by outside influences).  (Romans 8:28; How would an Arminian disagree with this?)

I thought that it would be good to illustrate my view by way of example, and not just talking about it in theory.

Consider for a moment the Crucifixion of our Lord.

Notice how the Apostles talk about this event in their prayer to God:

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. (Acts 4:27-28 NIV) (Again, how would an Arminian disagree with this?)

And again in the Pentecost Sermon:

This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. (Acts 2:23 NIV)  (Again, how would an Arminian disagree with this?)

Jesus is described as “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8 NIV)  (Again, how would an Arminian disagree with this?)

So with that in mind consider this:

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” (John 19:31-37 NIV)

The question then is raised:

Were the soldiers acting upon their voluntary decision? Was it their own “free will” choice to not break Jesus legs? Yes to both. It was their free, non-compulsory choice to not break Jesus bones. They were not forced to do it. It was a decision that they made freely to not break his bones.  (AMEN, BROTHER!)

At the exact same time, in Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20 God foretold that not one of Jesus bones would be broken. Indeed, as it says in Acts, Jesus legs not being broken was “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge”. Indeed this was something that God’s “will had decided beforehand should happen.” While the soldiers did not break his bones because of their own free choice, while they were not forced or compelled to do so save by their own desires, they were at the same time, fulfilling God’s prearranged plan.

Put simply, it was God’s prearranged plan that not one of his bones would be broken. God also planned the free choice actions of the soldiers involved. At the same time the soldiers acted freely, because of their own choice, and not because they were forced from without or under any compulsion. Both ideas are equally true and we should not sacrifice one for the other but hold onto both. (Again, how would an Arminian disagree with this?)

This is more then just God “foreseeing” the future.   The phrases that say that this event took place “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge” and that God’s “will had decided beforehand should happen” clearly preclude any mere and abstract (Please define: “abstract”) foreknowledge and foretelling of the future.  What is in view here is clearly the predetermined plan of God coming to pass. “I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass” (Isaiah 48:3 NIV)  Prophecy isn’t just God’s ability to tell what’s going to happen, but it is God foretelling what he has planned to happen, and what he is going to do in history.

So to the question at hand:

Does God predestine everything or is man free? My answer is, “YES”.  (Again, “AMEN!”)

If you ask me how that can be I will respond:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” (Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV)

(You and I discussed this.  This verse is NOT an endorsement of your belief that God has two separate wills, one that is revealed, and another that is not only hidden, but also in CONTRADICTION to His “revealed” will!  This verse has NOTHING to do with God’s will at all.  It’s speaking to His knowledge and entire nature.)

Luda Balun

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  • Luda Balun – It’s been difficult for me to believe that my relatively new friend, Luda, is not an angel!  I’m convinced that God put her in my life to provide a bridge from a very dark period of my life to see a new bright horizon!  She has been relentless in her devotion to helping out those around her who are in need.  I haven’t known Luda for very long, but we have somewhat of a kindred spirit and are becoming fast friends.  She and her husband came here from Ukraine many years ago and started up their own cleaning business.  We met through another mutual friend, and she has been such an inspiration to me.  Whenever I have been in need whether financially, or for transportation she has been there to help out in ways that would make most other people’s jaw drop!  She has also so unselfishly devoted her time and hard work toward helping me get my old house cleared and cleaned out; even going over there behind my back and virtually leaving me with nothing left to do!  She has also been picking me up and bringing me to church on Sundays.  Mere words simply cannot express my gratitude for all that Luda has already done for me.”Thank you, Luda for being the person that you are!  I can really sense God’s love pouring out of you and I know He has a very special place in heaven reserved just for you!  God bless you, my friend!”
  • Jean Eason – I’m not even sure Jean and I have ever even met, but it was at some time this past September that Jean appeared as suggested friend on Facebook.  I knew who she was because she is a relatively well-known former Jehovah’s Witness who has appeared on several counter-cult programs.  In any event, due to the friend request we began dialogging and the topic of the upcoming Witnesses Now for Jesus convention held every October in New Ringgold, Pennsylvania came up.  Although the timing wasn’t the best (seeing as I was in the middle of moving out of my foreclosing house!), she took it upon herself to lead an effort to provide the means for me to travel to the convention and took care of making all of the arrangements for me while I was there.  It cost several hundreds of dollars (which, I know was shared amongst several others as well who have mostly remained anonymous to me!)I gave my testimony at this same convention back in 1993 (which I have included here as a separate page on my web log). It had been seven years since I had last attended.  That was the year I brought my then girlfriend who would then become my fiance two days later.  Those seven years were probably the worst of my life.  This years’ convention proved to be especially pivotal in my spiritual journey.  God finally removed the scales from my eyes and I found myself, for the first time in such a LOOOONG time, to just let go of an ugly, foul sack of guilt, shame, anger, bitterness, and even hatred that I had been ingesting chewing upon like a cow does its cud every day.  In its place, I was able to embrace God’s grace and forgiveness and gave me the ability to forgive those who have wronged me.  I realized those intense feelings of being “wronged” were not ever going to help me achieve my final goal, which is to have as close of a relationship with my son, Austin, as possible.

    I was also able to reunite with some great old friends that I hadn’t seen in such a long time and also made some more eternal friends.

    “Thank you, Jean and those whom you were able to rally together on my behalf.  You have no idea how your generous gift to me not only blessed me, but it also revived my love and passion for the Church, the Bride of Christ, whom I had become disenchanted with for far too long!

 

Tom Illg

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Tom Illg – I simply cannot say enough good things about my dear friend, Tom.  We first met in 2000 when the company I first worked for here in Minnesota was bought out by a larger consulting firm, Compuware.  As very committed conservatives who were strongly against people who believe killing unborn babies should be legal, we became fast friends.  It is to TOM’S credit that we have remained friends despite our separation from working together.  Tom has been SUCH a faithful, giving, and generous friend.He was there for me when I needed to discuss the pain I was going through because of the divorce and the totally unfair custody battle that resulted in my very young son from being deprived from having a  good relationship with his father.  He also paid for an old T-Mobile cell phone bill that I owed while I was in the hospital, and, since I’ve moved back to Minnesota, Tom has been a priceless friend in terms of helping me drive to the place where I go to see Austin, and most recently, helping me move from my old place to the new one.

“Thanks Tom!  You have been SUCH an inspiration to me.  The genuine love you have for your family that so much more exceeds you own career aspirations is so commendable!  In fact, it has been very convicting because I used to be so career-driven, myself but just refused to admit it.  You are ALWAYS there for your wife and your kids, who will NEVER EVER doubt your love for them.  Tom, whether or not you ever climb to the highest rung of the corporate ladder that you have the capability to do, I regard you as the true definition of success.  You HAVE achieved the American dream, because you have put your wife and children first above yourself.  God bless you, Tom!”

 

Kristin Benda

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Kristin Benda – Kristin, who VERY successfully ran a charity benefit for me in January of 2009 here in Minnesota when I was in Illinois and since I’ve moved back here, she has still remained a good friend and has helped me out whenever she can.  “Thanks, Kristin!”

Dinah Urban

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Dinah Urban – As strange as this might sound, Dinah is my real estate agent!  Not only is she the best Realtor in the world, she’s been such a good friend to me, too!  When I was still in Illinois recuperating, I found out that my tenants in my house in Burnsville had moved out.  The house was left abandoned and unattended.  I didn’t know who else to call but Dinah.  I looked her up on the internet and sent her an email.  Even though it had been ten years since I bought the house from her, she still remembered me!  We talked on the phone and I explained my situation.  I hadn’t seen the Burnsville house in two years and I asked her to go over to the house to check on it, which she did.  When I moved back to Minnesota, Dinah was often there to give me rides to places that I needed to go, even once picking me up from downtown Minneapolis during a violent thunderstorm to go back to Burnsville.Dinah worked very hard with me to explore the different options I had regarding the house, including doing a short sale.  That was the route I had prematurely decided on last year.  Dinah put so much effort into doing the short sale, but then when it became apparent that it was highly improbable that the bank, CitiMortgage would accept it, we realized it was all for naught.  I then decided to let the house go and asked Dinah to help me find another rent-to-own property.  She put some work into that too, but it didn’t take long to realize that that was going to be impractical since I still had so much on my plate to take care of, the last thing I needed was the burden of taking care of a house!