Securing Your Web Browser Passwords

Having passwords automatically saved and filled in makes things MUCH simpler, especially for those who have multiple accounts, referencing multiple passwords. Of course we have all sat through the corporate PowerPoints on password security, and have all had that geeky nephew who hacked onto a neighbors internet just by knowing the name of their dog (another bad password). So beyond not making passwords really obvious, or even writing them on a post-it…did you ever consider how those passwords in your browser are stored? Unfortunately, they are much less secure than you probably thought…try this: If you are using Firefox on Windows, go to “Tools:Options” and an options dialoge window will appear. (If you’re on a OSX, same thing, just “FireFox:Preferences” from the Apple Menu Bar) From there, select the Security Tab along the top.

Notice the button that says “Saved Passwords”? If you click on this button, all of the accounts for which you have saved passwords will appear. From that dialogue, you can even click the “Show Passwords” button to reveal ALL of your saved passwords, for ALL of your accounts!

Crazy right? If its that easy to see these makes you think twice about storing your passwords, especially if there is the possibility of having anyone else use this machine! Not all is lost…notice however that there is whats called a Master Password. A Master Password is used to protect sensitive data like site passwords. If you create a Master Password, you will be asked to enter it once per session when Firefox retrieves saved information protected by that password. This way, YES, Firefox can store your passwords, and you dont have to worry so much about them being available in plain view. As a general rule of thumb, I would also caution you on storing bank passwords, and anything related to your SSN on any browser storage. If you are REALLY interested in taking password security to the next level, I would look at something like KeePass; a free password management tool that will encrypt your passwords for you, and even allow you to set up keyfiles that must be used to unlock the password “safe”.

In Summary, use a strong Master Password that you can remember so Firefox will protect your passwords, and feel more comfortable about the way your browser stores and uses your passwords.

Keeping the BP Disaster in Perspective

I was watching the news recently, listening to several stations continue to report on the BP oil-spill-disaster, showing countless pictures of oil covered critters, and diagrams with plums of oil filling up most of the gulf. Reporters over and over indicated that this event was the worst industrial disaster the world had ever seen. Reactions from many have been to consider boycotting BP filling stations, and donating money/time to the efforts to cleanup the animals, and the coast affected by the tragedy. Enraged by the greed of BP Execs and many engineers who “overlooked” certain warning signs focusing on a bottom line profit, many are calling for the BP execs to be tried in court, and held responsible for their actions. But is this really the worst case of greed and negligence the world has ever seen? Are these BP teams who are seeking profit really guilty of the worst case of disaster capitalism the world has seen?

In December of 1984 a Union Carbide (now owned by Dow Chemical) pesticide plant exploded in Bhopal killing over 5,000 people, and leaving over 120,000 others with a need for lifelong care. After the disaster, Union Carbide settled with the Indian government for $470 million….$350 million of which was the insurance sum…meaning that most of the victims got less than $1000 dollars each. When Dow purchased Union Carbide in 2001, there was finally hope that victims from the Bhopal incident when Dow announced that it would promptly “compensate victims of Union Carbide’s past negligence”. Dow promptly paid over $2 billion to… 14 asbestos plaintiffs in Texas, doing nothing for the victims who were continuing to suffer in Bhopal. Worse still, some 25 years AFTER the incident, some 390 tons of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UC plant CONTINUE to leak into the groundwater of the region affecting thousands of residents that depend on it. Not only was the area not cleaned up, and not only were the victims not taken care of, but the incident has continued to affect generations beyond the explosion due to the lack of concern for taking care of the area.

The BP incident in the gulf is terrible. The beauty and wildlife of that region have been destroyed, and may likely be affected for several generations to come…but looking at the numbers from the explosion itself, of the 126 oil workers who were on board the BP oil rig… 11 people went missing, and an additional 8 were critically injured. So well say that 19 people were DIRECTLY affected from the explosion of the rig… that is .000152% of the number of people who were affected by what happened in Bhopal.

A valid argument would say that as of now, we cant tell definitely how many people may be impacted by eating fish from the contaminated area, or drinking water from that area in the gulf. Very true. It’s also very difficult to compare the disasters based on the value of human life alone, when so many animals, and so much of the ocean has been destroyed by this disaster. But this is also not the first time we have seen greed take precedence over the value of the environment, and especially over the value of human lives. I don’t write all of this to say, “Get over the BP thing” or to try to say it isn’t that bad. I hate that animals are getting sick, I hate that the once beautiful coastline is being destroyed, and I hate that oil continues to leak into the ocean. I am saying that I believe we need some perspective on what is going on here, and we need to recognize that we have the opportunity to do something about it. Daily we have the opportunity to cast our vote for corporate accountability, greed, and/or negligence. With every dollar you spend, you are casting your vote…buying from a company that has ethical standards, and supporting what they do. BP is obviously not the first company to ever cut corners to lower costs and increase profits at the cost of the environment and human lives. Many of the products we purchase every day are made in less than savory environments for people working for well under what we would consider a fair days wage.

Should BP be held accountable for what went on? Definitely, but hopefully this will also serve as a wakeup call that above huge profits, the preservation of human lives, and the care for the environment deserve a value on a company’s spreadsheet. So vote. Do your homework; try buying a product that might be slightly more expensive if you recognize that the company’s values are in line with your own. Don’t let BP off the hook, we can’t let this be another Bhopal…Encourage social and environmental responsibility with the way you spend your $$.

Why you SHOULDN’T get an iPhone 4

Apple released today their newest update to the iPhone line, the iPhone 4. With the iPhone 4G come exciting new features such as a front facing camera, the ability to record high definition video, and the ability to take 5MP pictures. The phone’s new iPhone 4OS also supports the ability to do video chatting from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4, as well as multi-tasking capabilities. The phone also features a trendy new design that seems to be similar to that of the current MacBook Pro offerings.

So, why not get it? The only features that REALLY stand out as being major changes from previous versions include the updated Camera, the front facing camera, and of course the new Apple A4 processor. The screen resolution is also said to have a great improvement. Cool right? but that also means having to sign away your soul to AT&T who is at best a poor cell phone service provider. While they claim coverage all over the nation, AT&T 3G coverage is only in MAJOR markets, and includes less than 30% of the US. In addition, AT&T has recently changed their data plan offerings to have a $15/200MB per month version, and a $25/2GB version….completely eliminating their unlimited data offering. While these price points may SAVE some iPhone users money, they also come with the risk of potentially going overboard, and being hit with data-plan overages…especially for those users who dont use Wi-Fi or aren’t “tech-savy” enough to really control how/when their phone is checking for new email in the backgroud.

My proposal is this…in the beginning of September for the last 3 years (September 5, 2007, September 9, 2008, and September 9, 2009) Apple has introduced a new version of the iPod touch (Currently on the 3rd generation). Here is how Apple’s product offerings work: Each summer, they have a promotion that offers a free iPod touch with the purchase of any new Apple laptop. This allows them to clear out inventory, so they can release a NEW iPod touch once the promotion has ended. While the current iPod touch doesn’t have a camera, I would be willing to bet that the newest version of the iPod touch will include not only a back, but also a front facing camera allowing it to have “Face Time” video chatting capabilities with other iPod touches, as well as other iPhone 4 devices. The iPod touch does not require being tied down with the lackluster service of AT&T, and still allows users to use most all of the apps hosted in the Apple app store. I would suspect that the newest iPod touches would also carry the same design, as well as new and improved screen offered by the new iPhone 4. Bottom line, if my contract were up with my current carrier…I would wait until late September to see what Apple will roll out in their iPod line before jumping on the iPhone 4 and having to sign another 2-year contract with AT&T.

A better alternative: Wait for the iPod touch, and look at an Android phone on either Verizon or T-Mobile…that way you will get the best of both worlds.

Life Through an iPhone

My family and friends often ask me about my traveling, and about my life since we live on opposite sides of the country. I have never been one to post lots of pictures, mainly because I have never really taken the time to label, and organize all of them. Anyway, in most all events within the last 1.5 years, I HAVE had my iPhone with me, and I have taken pictures on it. The following is 600+ photos of the last few years of my life. Now no one can say I wasnt showing any pictures

When Reason Runs Out

I have a particular pattern of reason that I apply to almost any decision or stressful situation. I’ve spent time analyzing that pattern, and seeing why it has often left me with the same result, even though I sometimes feel like it isn’t work. For example, not too long ago I bought a car. Anytime I intend to make a major purchase like this, I thoroughly evaluate all potential sides of the decision. Is this something I need? Will this be something that will last long? Is this the best price? What are my alternatives to spending this amount of money on this particular item? The list goes on.
After taking some time to ask those seemingly tedious questions, I start to seek the council of another. This sometimes comes in the form of a friend or family member, but can also be done researching online. What do people think about this product? What are the positives and negatives to ownership? What do those close to me think about my reasoning for buying this? Do they agree with me that this is a sound decision? And then more research.

When I feel like I have narrowed down my options, done my homework, and talked to people around me, that’s when I feel like I’m ready to kick the proverbial tires. In the example of a car, go take a look at it, maybe take it for a drive, even have a mechanic take a look at the vehicle for a more professional opinion. Once everything comes up ok, I make my decision and pray I did the right thing.

By most accounts, my reason and logic for making a decision seems well thought out. My steps seem clearly planned, there is plenty of room for those “red flags” both during research, and through the council of others that can always say “this is not a good idea”. What happens, however, when we take this approach in other areas of our life…like when things don’t exactly go our way?

Turns out I’m not the only one who hasn’t exactly gotten his way. The book for Job recants the story of a man name Job as his life is literally flipped upside down. The main reason the book is of interest though, is because of the dialogue between Job, his friends, and God. Backing up, in the beginning of Job, Job loses his servants, his land, his livestock, his camels, and all of his kids.  Job then is afflicted with painful sores covering his body. Towards the beginning of the story, Job sticks up for God, saying, “If we can accept the good from God, we have to be able to accept the bad”. As time passes, the book covers conversations had between Job and his three friends. In Job 10, Job begins to question God. “I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me.  Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?”

I can’t help but read that, and feel like I have been there. I haven’t lost everything I own, or had my entire family die, but we have all had those situations where we have to ask God why haven’t we? “God, why? Why did he/she die? Why this burden? Why this pain? Why don’t I feel like I am going to get through this? God I’m not sure I can make it.”

We come to that point of desperation, where we feel like things can’t possibly work out; we find ourselves at the end of ourselves. See, I DO apply the same methodology to my problems that I apply to my purchases.  I start off with those haunting questions that now turn inward, asking, “What’s this going to cost your life? How does this event impact YOUR plans? How could I have been prepared for this?” And just like with my purchase, I move straight into talking to people. “What’s your advice? Has this happened to you? Do you have any experience here? Any console for my situation?” We quickly find ourselves burdened by these seemingly overwhelming circumstances. Unable to make sense of it all; unable to answer the “why?” at the end of all reasoning.

In my pattern of decision making, notice I mentioned that I make the purchase, and “pray I did the right thing”. Seems to be how we approach problems too huh? When we can’t reason, when someone doesn’t have the quick answer, when the cancer has spread, when the child passes away, when the spouse is gone, we turn and ask “Why God?”

We don’t hear from God for a majority of the story in Job. In the beginning we hear about his dialogue with Satan, but after that God remains out of the picture until Chapter 38! When God answers, it’s interesting that He doesn’t directly reference Jobs troubles, or even the reason Job was suffering. Instead, he questions Job! Job 38:3 “Brace yourself like a man; I will questions you, and you shall answer me”. God proceed to pummel Job with questions that Job obviously has no answer for. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?”, “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?”, “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?”. But what was God getting at?

Though he didn’t answer to Job’s pains directly, I think his message to Job was clear. This isn’t about YOU. This is MY story and you are playing a part in it. I am in control. To quote Donald Miller, from his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, “[God speaks] as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means YOU matter, and you can create within it, as I have created you.” The story of God’s redemption, and of his love, means that as his followers, we have the honor to play a roll in that story. Will there be plot twists, and things we don’t see coming? Without a doubt, but God reminds us in Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”” God never promised us an untroubled life, but what he does give us is hope, and hope will not disappoint. Romans 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

I don’t know where this hits you today, for me, it reminds me that my decision-making process needs some fine tuning. My reliance on God can’t just be an afterthought once my decision has been made or a last ditch effort when problems arise. May I seek first the Kingdom of God for wisdom and discernment in any situation, and may the results of my problems and decisions be reflectant of God in my life. May God give you comfort where you are, and may you seek him in your time of need.

Useful Tech: Dropbox

Anyone with multiple computers, or even computing locations, has run into this issue. You are working on a file on your laptop, then later, log on to your home PC to continue working, only to remember that the file is actually still on your laptop. One way to handle that situation, is to carry around a USB thumb drive, and plug it into every machine that you are working on to make sure you are always copying over the new files. This works alright, however if for any reason you forget your USB drive, you are pretty much out of luck. I would suggest using an online tool called “Dropbox”. With Dropbox, its like having, (as the company describes it) a “magic pocket” that you can access anywhere. Have files that you are consistently accessing and modifying? Store them using drop box, and have them automatically sync to all computers you frequently use. An example: Working in the IT field means TONS of passwords that you have to memorize….employee benefits login, server logins, PC logins, IT support, etc…remembering all of those passwords and usernames can be a bit of a pain. Obviously I dont want to use the same password everywhere, so I use a tool called KeePass Password safe (I will describe that software in a future post). The KeePass password safe allows me to securely store my passwords and login information into an encrypted file. Here’s the thing, sometimes I need to access those passwords at home…going further, often times even at home, I sign up for new services, and new accounts, and need to keep track of those new passwords, needing to modify my KeePass password file. With the use of DropBox, I create a folder on each of my machines, and install the DropBox software. DropBox will automatically sync the files in my online DropBox with each of my PC’s where I have the software installed.

In addition to automatically syncing my files for me, DropBox can also be used to access the files from a PC that DOESN’T have DropBox software. Lets say I am going on a trip, and I have all of my itinerary and flight information stored in my DropBox…no matter what computer I am on, I can log-in to DropBox.com, connect to my box, and access my files. Even better, I can publicly share certain files or folders in my DropBox with others. So if I need to have a co-worker access a file, or I wanted to share a video with friends and family, I could create a DropBox link to that file, and allow them to access it without ever installing the DropBox software.

I strongly suggest at least testing out DropBox…it has a lot of very nice features, and the best part of all…its free!* (I put the Astrix because the free version of drop box is limited to 2GB…which should be more than enough for normal use…however they do have price plans that allow for additional online storage) The DropBox software is available for both Mac and PC…and even allows you to sync files between the two.

Trade Secret: Kiwi Leather Lotion

As anyone who knows me well can tell you, it turns out that since sometime in middle school, I have always had a lot of shoes. After graduating college, this habit unfortunately got worse rather than better. My closet is full, as well as a large shelving unit in my room. At some time though, I realized that I cant wear basketball shoes every day of my life, and because of this work thing that gets in the way of me playing basketball, I do have to own some dress shoes. My initial approach was to spend very little on dress shoes, as to have more money to burn on basketball shoes; a poor decision. Cheap shoes fall apart quickly, look very cheap, and are very rarely actually comfortable.

In an effort to be a grown-up, I decided to actually invest in some nice leather shoes that I expect to last me longer than 3 months. Part of the ownership of this type of shoe, is caring for it. The product that I have recently found to help me do that is Kiwi’s Leather Lotion. (No my blog isnt turning into a commercial, I just was motivated to write about this after using it.) Kiwi’s Leather Lotion can be applied to any color leather shoes (I probably wouldnt put it on white) and is used to give the leather that healthy glow, allowing it to last longer, and continue to repel water. I purchased the leather lotion only after thinking I had completely ruined my shoes by wearing them in a recent New York City downpoor. Covered in dirty water, street salt, and who knows what, they didnt exactly look that great. After cleaning them off, and applying some of the Kiwi leather lotion however, I was able to revive the shoes to their original condition….and frankly the leather looks better now than it did upon original purchase.

I would probably suggest using the leather lotion in combination with mink oil or another type of water repellent that can be used on shoes. That said, I would shoot for “lotion-ing” them once a month with typical wear patterns. The lotion helps to reduce leather cracking and dryness, and also helps to prevent creasing in the shoes from normal wear. I purchased my bottle at Target for $4.99 I believe; definitely worth checking out.

Smart Money Purchasing: Bing

The holiday season is over for awhile. Christmas leads into New Years, which leads quickly to MLK Day, Valentines Day, and the girlfriend’s birthday…. needless to say, an expensive stretch of 3 months for me. That said, all signs point to me being completely broke right now, ditching any savings goals I had for the New Year, and just trying to stay afloat. I’m on track with my savings, and I spent less this year than years before, while still giving my family more gifts. How? Bing.com.

Bing’s cashback program saved me roughly $300 over the past few months…and I can’t help but feel like I need to share exactly how I did it. To start, head over to www.bing.com/cashback and create a new account. If you have a windows Live ID you may use that…but I suggest just creating a new account so you know you are signed up…link that account with your email address, and it will send you a confirmation message to let you know you are “in”. Afterwards, whenever you plan on making a large purchase, or any purchase for that matter, do a search on Bing.com before you buy anywhere else. At the top of the search results for bing, you will see several “ad suggestions”, some with a gold coin next to them that says “bing cashback”. Those links indicate that the associated site is a partner of bing.com, and offers customers a specific cashback percentage by coming through the bing.com link. When you click the link, Bing will bring up a window asking you to sign in to your Bing account (confirming it’s actually you) and then pass you along to the site that is selling whatever you are trying to buy. Complete your purchase, and within a matter of a few days (sometimes within a few hours depending on the retailer) you will receive a message that you have received cashback from Bing.

Now the percentage that you receive from a retailer can vary greatly day to day, and retailer to retailer. For instance, remember Black Friday? When people sleep outside of stores, nearly kill one another, and buy “hot” items at “hot” prices? This year, I decided to forgo sleeping in a tent outside of a Wal-Mart with hopes of buying an HDTV, but just ending up with a copy of High School Musical 3. This year, I slept in, and got on bing.com later in the afternoon. I did all of my Christmas shopping in one day, from the comfort of my computer chair. Dell had 20% cashback through Bing. 20%!!! That’s on top of any other promotions that Dell was offering. For instance, I bought an Xbox 360 Elite from Dell who was also running a $50 off promotion. The original price was $299.99 minus the $50 promotion from dell takes the price to $269.99 after tax. Bing cashback was 20%, so that saved me an additional $54…and the item had free shipping. So for $215.99 after tax/shipping/etc I purchased an Xbox 360 elite that was selling on black Friday sales for $260 at the cheapest (and that was after an in-store gift card at Target). In addition to just doing a search on Bing for cashback items, if you go to www.bing.com/cashback, you can search through cashback retailers specifically, and compare prices for the cheapest price on any given item. Another example use is for drugstore purchases. Two websites that often have a high bing cashback percentage is drugstore.com and visiondirect.com. Its purchases that you need to make anyway, might as well save some money. Recently I purchased a years worth of contact lenses through Vision direct. With bing cashback at 25%, $90 contributed from my insurance, and a mail in rebate for the contact lenses, I am actually being PAID to wear Acuvue contacts right now. I came out something like $25 ahead when purchasing my contacts because I was able to use bing.com in combination with a mail in rebate.

But how do I get my cash? Now as far as actually getting the cashback, when you log in to your cashback account via bing.com/cashback, you will be able to see the current status of all of your cashback transactions. The way this works, its Microsoft holds the money for 60 days (just to make sure you don’t cancel your order, try to do returns, etc.). After 60 days, the money is added to your cashback account, and then can be deposited into a PayPal account, checking/savings account, or can be sent out as a check. Bing will automatically send your reminders when your cashback has “accrued” and you can then decide what you want to do with the money.

I strongly suggest at least checking out the Bing cashback system. Sometimes, yes, you may find cheaper prices elsewhere, but for a majority of my recent purchases, I was able to use bing.com to find the best price AND get cashback for my gift/personal purchases.

(Note: This blog nor myself personally or financially, is tied to Microsoft, Bing, or any subsidiary. This information is provided from the basis of my own experience, and I have no financial interest or incentive to promote this product)

New New Years Resolutions Pt 1

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals…while at the end of the year only 12% had actually achieved their goals. That being said, most likely, you or someone close to you has already ditched their New Years resolution. Thus, I propose to not make resolutions until the middle-to-end of January. It gives me a good amount of time to feel things out, see where I want to take things this year, and see what other people have started failing miserably at.  This technique also allows me to dismiss myself from conversations dealing with topics like “What’s your resolution this year?” and “You know what you should try and do next year?” With this release from such conversations, I never end up looking like a failure statistic, and I never have to worry about anyone holding me accountable to my goals.  In addition, anything big I DO accomplish during the year sounds even better because it was IN ADDITION to normal yearly goals. I’m all about capitalizing on maximum success.  Keeping my goals a secret keeps things exciting for those around me, and never lets failures in my life receive much attention. Haha. That being said, I would like to share some very realistic, and very practical goals for the New Year.  The kind of stuff that is good to take a look at with fresh eyes in the beginning of any new year, and can serve as a great motivator for actually creating and knocking a few things off the ol’ list. Some of this stuff is coming from my list of “I’ll get to it eventually” some of it is coming from the Micah Smith-investments-in-future-success-list.

Backup/Cleanup Your Computer

I work in IT for a living, and many people ask why I don’t share more “tips & tricks” related to information technology on my blog…well to be honest, I do it all day, so writing about it afterwards has never been all that appealing. That said, I think that a clean computer is a happy computer. Many spyware/virus related issues can be quickly and easily solved with the use of virus protection. For that, I suggest AVG Free (http://www.avg.com/us-en/download) The AVG Free edition provides what I would consider above average virus protection, as well as a link scanner that will display in web search results indicating pages that may or may not be safe; Very helpful in keeping your computer clean. Unless you are downloading copious amounts of illegal materials, I would suggest that AVG is all the protection one would need. I recommend setting AVG to run once or twice per week at a set schedule so you know your computer is always protected. It will also automatically update itself with new virus definitions so you never have to worry about your protection being out of date.

In addition to clearing out viruses, I recommend weekly backups of your irreplaceable documents to an external hard drive. This external drive would be best of being stored in a fireproof box, that is then wrapped in Atom Bomb grade steel and then weekly duplicated to an offsite location just in case your home becomes the target of a mis-guided missile.  Joking aside, I do recommend backing things up to an external usb hard drive at a weekly basis. This way even if your computer takes a dump on you, the stuff that you REALLY need, will still be backed up someplace else.  Programs for the most part can always be re-installed, but self created resumes, pictures, and other personal files may not always be as easy to replace if not backed up. Because I am lazy, I don’t want to handle the backups myself, so I suggest letting that process be automated as well by using a free tool called SyncBack for Windows (http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/) You can set it up to run at specific intervals (again, the 1 to 2 times a week rule works well) and you choose exactly what folders to back up and where to throw them. Investing in a 500GB external drive is great for normal PC users because it has plenty of space to back EVERYTHING up. Set it to copy your entire “My Documents” directory and let it go. The first time it runs through, it will most likely take awhile copying all the files. I would just start it before bed, and let it go overnight. After the initial data transfer, all subsequent transfers should be pretty quick only copying over those newly created or newly updated files. On the OSX side of things, I would suggest buying an Iomega external drive as they come with EMC’s Retrospect software (which is great for backing things up), or possibly looking at purchasing the Super Flexible File Synchronizer (http://www.superflexible.com/mac.htm). It offers similar functionality to that of Syncback, but however does carry a cost for the software. Optionally if you are on a newer flavor of OSX, you could try using Time Machine to back up your entire system, however I have for the most part found this to be slight overkill for me.

I don’t like to be overwhelmed with tasks, and neither does anyone else. I will be adding to my list of “New New Resolutions” in the next coming weeks leading up to the end of February where it just becomes too late to create new resolutions. Start the New Year off right by making sure to clean up/back up your computer, because remember: A clean computer is a happy computer.

Anticipation for the King

Christmas is upon us, and this is the time of year when remembering what Christmas is all about. That’s right, Christmas Day Basketball games. In anticipation for the King, the Los Angeles Lakers solicitously wait for Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to make their way to the Staples center for a likely exciting matchup. The Black Mamba (Kobe Bryant) has been playing especially well recently, even with the news of a broken finger on his non shooting hand….

They saw a bright and shining star, shining in the eastern sky...

Haha I really can’t write an entire blog post this close to Christmas about a “King” and talk about Lebron James and Kobe Bryant the whole time. I also can’t write a very typical blog post that is probably on 90% of blogs talking about the “real meaning of Christmas”. You see, every year right around/right before Christmas, I say to myself “I want this year to be different.” I don’t want to get caught up in who wants what, how much he spent on her, and the endless competition of trying to buy better and better stuff. And just as frequently, every year I find myself realizing that after much introspection, I had yet again “missed it”. I too became guilty of making the holiday all about what I want to buy vs. what I want to return. So last night, I sat up in my bed thinking about how I could make this year different. How I could not fall into the easy path of being caught up in stuff, and how I could look back at this holiday season saying “I got it, this was what Christmas is all about”. So, I had to start at the most logical place: “What is Christmas all about?” Now I think as many people probably know, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To say that so simply, rapes the story. The “Christmas Story” involves some of the most unlikely characters taking part in incredible events that ultimately affects us still today.

It’s really the story of a 14 year old girl who gets pregnant while engaged to be married to the love of her life. It’s the 14 year old virgin having to tell her fiancé that she is pregnant and that the baby isn’t his, and it really isn’t anyone’s; that she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18). It’s the story of her teenage husband making the decision to respect her enough to break their engagement privately to not disrespect her (the loss of virginity to an unmarried woman was a HUGE deal and would have meant serious ridicule and condemnation for a woman) or disgrace her publicly. It’s the story of that same boy being visited by an angel in his dream and staying with that girl even though the baby wasn’t his, and even though they weren’t married. Its the story that answers the questions surrounding YEARS of prophecy surrounding a promised savior. So, in establishing that the events that we celebrate aren’t necessarily always well displayed by our Precious Moments figurines, where do we come in? Well for starters, as it turns out, the 14 year old girl wasn’t lying; she gave birth to a baby that ended up really being God fully in the form of a man. That child’s life, death, and resurrection serve as our only chance at a right standing with God and opportunity to live with him in eternity.

Ok, but what does that mean to us when we are going to holiday parties, buying gifts for loved ones, and potentially being caught up in consumer gluttony? Factually, it makes sense for me to recognize the story of the birth of Christ, but how do I practically live out my recognition of that story in the events surrounding the celebration of Christmas? I think this is where I have normally missed it. I can recognize the story as true, and even be taken back by how amazing it must have been for the very unlikely cast to receive such an amazing gift, but I think it normally stops there, and goes straight into me looking at buying new shoes online or seeking out the expansion of my watch collection. So how do I make the connect? Well I guess I’m not really sure. If I knew, I probably would have done it awhile ago so I wouldn’t live each year thinking that I had someone “missed it”. The economy has been tough this year, job loses have affected most all families, and Christmas may not be what it has been in the past for those with family members in the active military. But that is ok. It’s ok that things aren’t what they were last year. It’s ok that people have gotten older, and maybe a little rounder. It’s ok that we may or may not have faced hardships this year. I want Christmas to be about celebrating the story of a birth with crazy circumstances with the people I love. I don’t want to be caught up in stuff; what I have, what I don’t have, or what I want. I want to take the time to enjoy the moments I have, with the people I care about. Christmas is about more than just spending time with family, its recognizing that we may not have next year, and we know that no matter what, next year wont be the same, so enjoy and savor the moments of this year, while celebrating the birth of our savior.

Don’t miss this year; there won’t be another one exactly like it. Take the time to enjoy that odd relative. Listen to those around you, comfort those who have had a rough year, don’t make the holiday all about you. Be the hands and feet of Christ to those who may not know him. Be the first to forgive, the first to listen, the first to comfort, the first to give thanks, and the last to leave…unless they are out of Chex-Mix, then it’s ok to bolt.