GIVEAWAY...a detour from the alphabet posts.

As I am restarting my blogging [again] after about seven months away, I need to entice my readers to return and frequent my blog [again]...and hopefully attract new readers. Words from DUG is a Christian blog. While I may not always discuss faith-based topics, my faith will be the main focus of this blog. Hopefully I can learn something. Hopefully I can teach you something. Hopefully you can teach me something. Either way, hopefully you enjoy reading and commenting on what I decide to share.

Now....

Do you like chocolate, strawberries, pound cake, bananas, pretzels? Do you like cheese, broccoli, breads, steak cubes, apples? Do you like fondue? Would you love to have this adorable, heart-shaped fondue set (napkin not included).

Here is how you could possibly nab it:

1. Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect by scrolling down slightly on the right and clicking to join my followers. Post a comment telling me that you did this.

2. Follow this blog's Facebook page. Post a comment telling me that you did this.

3. Follow this blog via NetworkedBlogs. This makes it easier to know when I post because a notice will show right on your Facebook News Feed. Post a comment telling me that you did this.

4. Refer friends. When they follow this blog, ask them to comment on this post to let me know that you referred them.

5. Browse around and post a comment here to tell me one entry that you like on this blog. Of course, be encouraged to post as often as you would like on any other posts, as well!

Here is the fine print, even though it is the same size print:

When I get up to 100 followers at each of numbers 1, 2, and 3, then I will give away the gift above (or sooner if I choose, but that is not likely). Starting with the first commented posted, the comments will be numbered one through ?, and I will use random.org to determine the winner. The winner will be posted here on the blog. If the prize is not claimed within seventy-two hours, then I will choose a different winner the same way, and so on until the fondue set has been claimed. I will only ship the fondue set to an address in continental USA.

L = Letterboxing

Yes, I skipped K, but I can go back to it later, right? Since more and more people have been asking, I figured that it was probably about time to add a post to my little blog about letterboxing. That is right. You know that you have been wondering. Now you will hopefully get your curiosities satisfied so that you do not wind up like the proverbial cat.

World English Dictionary

letterboxing (ˈlɛtəˌbɒksɪŋ)
— n
1.	a method of formatting film that enables all of a wide-screen film to be transmitted on a television screen, resulting in a blankstrip of screen above and below the picture
2.	a type of treasure hunt in which a box, known as a letterbox ,is hidden in a remote rural location and clues are provided as to its whereabouts

Sooo...we will go with the second definition today.

There are so many fun and fantastic aspects to letterboxing, but the gist of it is that it is a scavenger hunt. What I enjoy about letterboxing that it is something that I can do with my guys. It is family-friendly and a good activity for any age. It gets us outside in the fresh air. It gets us exercising. It gets us thinking and puzzle solving. It gets us doing something together.

Are you still with me? Do you think that you might like to give letterboxing a whirl?

To play, you would need your own "signature" stamp, a journal, an ink pad, and a pen. Oh, and you will need a trail name. Your trail name can be whatever you choose. Some people choose a name indicative of a hobby or a twist on their real name or something else.

Clues can usually be found on the internet, though some are word of mouth (WOM). We mostly use AtlasQuest, yet there are also other letterboxing web sites. Here is how it works:

1. Get a clue. (Yes, I told you to get a clue.)

2. Follow the clue, and find the location to which it takes you.

3. When you get to the end of the clue, you will hopefully find a letterbox.

4. When you find the letterbox, there should be a rubber stamp and a logbook inside of it.

5. Stamp your signature stamp into the logbook to indicate that you were there. Some people put the date and the city and state from which they traveled to find the box (even if it is in your own town). It is neat to look through a logbook and see from here people have come.

6. Take the stamp from the letterbox and stamp it into your journal. To me this is like collecting passport stamps of all of the letterboxes that you have visited. Some people like to write next to the stamped image in their journal the name of the stamp, the person who planted it, the date they found it, or any number of other things. It is your journal, so you can write or not write what you choose.

7. Pack the stamp and logbook back into the secure, hopefully weather-safe container, and re-hide it exactly where you found it. If you can, hide it better than you found it.

This may seem like a lot, yet that is simply because I have attempted to walk you through finding a box with as many details as I think will help you understand. In reality, once you find a box, the process of numbers 4-7 might take you about three minutes.

HOWEVER, there is one thing that I have not yet mentioned. Letterboxing is a fun past time, and it can bring joy and adventure to your personal or family activities. What you do not want to do, though, is ruin it for the next person who goes to look for the box after you. With that in mind, it is important to be stealthy when you are hunting and retrieving a letterbox. The idea is to not let people who might be around you see or know what you are doing.

People who do not know what letterboxing is simply would not understand why you are digging behind that trash can or burrowing through the leaves at the park or sneaking off on some clandestine mission with someone else's wife.

In addition to the thrill of the hunt, this obsession...err...addiction...umm...hobby has given us so much more. Letterboxing has taken us to some beautiful places that we did not know existed and may never has seen otherwise. We have been to some events where we have met some super people. We have made some friends that, chances are, we would not have met outside of letterboxing.

Plus, part of the fun of this surreptitious hobby is that you get to be part of a sort of secret society, and doesn't that make you feel special?

J = John

Sometimes it is interesting to look deeper into a person, their purpose, and they journey. Today I am sharing a bit more about John the Baptist. Lisa and Mikel guessed that my "J" blog entry would be about Jesus, and they are partly correct. What I want to discuss today is John's role in the birth and the life of Jesus. To some of you, this will probably be review, yet I hope that some of my readers will learn even a small new thing about John the Baptist.

Elizabeth was a socially respectable, Jewish woman from a family of priests. Elizabeth and her husband, Zachariah (or Zacharias) prayed for years for a son or daughter, yet it seemed that Elizabeth was barren, and they grew old without being blessed with a child.

Zachariah, being a descendant of Aaron, spent his life in the priesthood. The two loved God and lived to please him. Even though they did not have any children, Elizabeth and Zachariah served God faithfully because they believed that He knew best.

How do you feel when you beg God for something for so long, and you do not seem to get what you want no matter how much you ask?

They thought often of the promise that God had given to the Jews died many years before that someday God would send a Savior to the world, a son of David.

At that place and time, the priests did not always work in the temple. They took turns, so to speak. When it was Zachariah’s time to serve, he left his home in Judah and went to Jerusalem. His duty at the time we are discussing now was to burn incense on the golden altar, in the holy place. This was the first room in the temple where only priests might enter.

One day while Zachariah was offering the incense, there appeared an angel on the right side of the altar. The angel was watching Zachariah, and he had never seen an angel before. Zacharaiah was afraid.

How would you feel if an angel was suddenly there with you? Do you think that you would know it was an angel?

Luke 1: 13-24
¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

Elizabeth had a young cousin named Mary. During Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, Mary came to visit her and shared her own news of pregnancy.

Luke 1:39-45
³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

It was to Elizabeth that Mary sang her song of praise. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months.

Have you ever been so grateful to God for Him including you in His plan that you actually sang out your praises?

Around the time that Mary returned to her home, Elizabeth, in her old age, gave birth to a son.

During the time of Zachariah’s silence, he wrote on a tablet to tell people things that he could not speak. His writing tablet may have been a small slate which could be erased and reused, or it may have been wooden. As far as I can find, we do not know for sure.

Luke 1:59-60
⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child*, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

The townspeople would not take Elizabeth’s word for it.

Why do you think they did not believe her?

Luke 1:61-66
⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

*Genesis 17:11, Leviticus 12:3

John grew up and became strong in spirit. He lived in the wilderness until the word of God came to him. Then he went into all of the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 3 refers us back to the words of Isaiah, the prophet (Isaiah 40):
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Malachi 3:1 also foretells of the coming of John the Baptist:
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

John preached to many people. Even tax collectors and soldiers came to be baptized and asked him what they should do. His teachers were so good, and people wondered if John might be the Messiah.

Luke 3:16
“John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Matthew 3:13-15
¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶ And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Mark 1:9-11
⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰ And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Luke 3:21-22
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

John 1:32-34
³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Why was Jesus baptized? Why was Jesus’ baptism important?

The story of John the Baptist continues, leading up to his imprisonment and beheading by King Herod. My intention for today was to focus on the story leading up to his birth and how he paved the way for Jesus, his own kin, which was the incredible purpose for which God gave him to Zachariah and Elizabeth, who so loved the Lord themselves.

Did we leave off with I for Ichthus?

J will be heading your way soon!

Can you guess what it will be? If you comment at the blog with the correct answer first, then I will send you a giftee.

-Dug...getting back in the game.

Family Movie Night Saturday

When the opportunity to preview this movie presented itself, I immediately accepted because I had seen the movie advertised and was interested in watching it. Since we do not have cable, I might not have been able to watch "Field of Vision" otherwise.

Starting out, the movie is like many others: kinds, parents, school. Then the story starts building when a new boy starts school at the high school. There are several stories happening at once that are all brought to a point where they fit together at the end. I like when movies are like that, when all of the sudden, in the last five or ten minutes, everything makes sense.

There were three main child characters in this movie, and I thought that every one of them fit their part and did a fantastic job. If the quarterback was someone that we knew in real life, he would be an excellent role model for our son. It also tickled my funny bone to see Corky Sherwood Forest as the mom/guidance counselor.

There are several good lessons in this movie without them being overly-pointed-out lessons. Doing the right thing, no matter what the cost, is not easy for adults, let alone for children. Bullying is something that more of our children endure than we may realize. What other lessons will you see? You can find out on Saturday.

My only "off" view of this movie is that in the real world, we do not have a camera to give us clues and put together pieces for us. It was creative and neat how the writers did that, and it would be handy to have one if they were real. However, it takes away a bit of the reality of the movie's situations.

For more reviews and information, check out the following links.

Website: http://www.familymovienight.com/field-of-vision/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/familymovienight

Mom's for Family TV: http://www.moms4familytv.com/

Dove Foundation Review: http://www.dove.org/reviewpopup.asp?Unique_ID=883

My opinion? If I were to grade this movie, I would give it a B+. It is a good movie. I encourage anyone who has or knows or is a child to watch this movie when it airs on Saturday, June 10th, at 8:00 EST/7:00 CST on NBC. Make plans with your family, invite some friends, gather some snacks, and plan to have a Family Movie Night this weekend!

"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

G = Giveaway Winner!

We had a fantastic giveaway in April, and now we have an [hopefully] excited winner!

I do not know how to show the Random.org True Random Number Generator here, but the number that was chosen from 1 to 29 was 25. The 25th comment was posted by Shasta.

Shasta said...

Following you via GFC

April 30, 2011 10:57 PM

Shasta, please email Miranda, the Scentsy Consultant, with your name, address and telephone number at graham_miranda@hotmail.com within forty-eight hours to claim your prize.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated, and Miranda will have a special treat for any one of you who would like to host a Scentsy Catalog Party and get some free goodies for yourself!

I = Ichthus

You may know it as the Jesus fish. You have seen it on vehicles, on clothes, on jewelry, on business advertisements, and possibly many more places. Do you really know what it is, though?

ψάρια (ikhthýs) is a Greek word meaning "fish." You may know that fish are a prevalent thing in the Bible, both actual fish and fish used as a metaphor. Some say that the Greek word in capital letters is ΙΧΘΥΣ, which can also be used as an acronym meaning, "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."

I found the following explanation here.

• Iesous (Iasoos) is Jesus. The first letter is ‘iota’, Ιησους.
• Xristos (Christos) is Christ. The first letter is ‘chi’, Χριστóς.
• Theou (Theou) is God. The first letter is ‘theta’, Θεοῦ.
• Yios (Huios) is Son. The first letter is ‘upsilon’, Υἱός.
• Sotare (Sotare) is Savior. The first letter is sigma’, Σωτήρ.

Today many Christians display this symbol as a proclamation that they are followers of Christ. Additionally, some display it as reminders that Jesus calls us to be fishers of men, to share Christ with others.

I have read several places that this symbol was originated in the first and second centuries when Christians were being commonly persecuted, tortured, and put to death during the reign of Roman emperors that despised them, possibly starting with Nero, under whose reign both Peter and Paul are thought to have perished.

How did this symbol come to be? It is said that when two people met, one of them might casually draw an arc in the sand or dirt with their toe. If the other person was also a Christian, they would just as casually draw another arc with their toe, thus creating the fish symbol. If that was done, then both people know that they were safe to acknowledge that they were Christians and talk freely amongst themselves.

If you are curious to know more about the ichthus (or ichthys), I encourage you to research it. So many every day things have such interesting backgrounds about which we could learn so much if we want to!

Oh, and for a neat bonus, I discovered the ichthus wheel. When you combine the Greek letters of ΙΧΘΥΣ, they make a six-spoked wheel. Apparently, this symbol can sometimes be seen with the ichthus and the Greek letters.