Gordon's WebLog

In the gospels we read that on the day of his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples and showed them the marks of his love, those marks engraved on his hands and feet and in his side.

Then, while reminding them of what he had said before he died, he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, telling them "This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sis will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem."

He opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures (Lukc c 24 v 45).

I wonder. Why didn't Jesus do this earlier? Why didn't Jesus open their minds to understand the scriptures and then explain it to them before he died?

Surely it would have made it easier for them - easier for them to believe in him, easier for them to follow him, easier for them to accept the miracle of his resurrection. Surely everything could have gone so much better during the days of his ministry if his disciples had understood the scriptures at that time.

But they didn't understand. Instead, throughout the gospels we see the disciples stumbling along, and we see Jesus rebuking them and teaching them over and over again what the right way is.

So, why did Jesus wait to open their minds so that they could understand the scriptures and thereby understand him?

I think that the answer lies in the fact that the disciples had to experience the reality of his death and resurrection before they could really understand the Bible. Their hearts and minds could not be opened, they could not possibly understand, until they were prepared for it by all they had heard, seen, and felt with Jesus.

An executive, during a trip to America visited the Grand Canyon. He purchased guide books which he showed to his family on his return. His family studied the guide books until they almost knew them off by heart. However, they did not really know the Grand Canyon; they were not prepared for the wonder of it, they did not understand how it had been formed over millions of years, for they had never actually experienced the awesome grandeur of the place for themselves.

I think that many people today are in the same situation, they know the scriptures, but they do not understand them. They do not understand them because they are passive concerning the Word of God, they fail to link their experiences to it and allow the experiences and the prophecies in it to link to them. They haven't entered into the wholeness of the message. Rather, some parts they have accepted, and other parts they have rejected or ignored without ever considering the connections between the parts.

Indeed - a lot of us are like the disciples before Easter Sunday. We shrink away from much of what Jesus says - we don't want to hear about carrying the burdens of others, we don't want to hear about suffering for love, we don't want to hear about giving up family and home for the sake of the gospel, nor do we want to hear about how good people, people like Jesus, have to die before they can become fully alive.

This message from scripture is not good news to us, just as it was not good news to the disciples. We can't see how or why it might be important for us. Rather, for us, as for the disciples, good news, welcome news consists of hearing about the glory to be given the faithful, of hearing how the righteous will be given power, the humble given the earth, and the poor in Spirit the kingdom of heaven.

But - my friends - without the one there cannot be the other. We can't have the earth unless we carry the burdens of others. We can't have the Kingdom of heaven without the willingness to put God before our own desires, our own families. We can't have power without the willingness to suffer, and we can't have glory without the willingness to die.

Until we understand that, until our minds are opened to see the links between what we are now and what we will be later, between what we experience now and what we will experience later, until we see the links between death and resurrection, the scriptures are a closed book.

This is why Jesus did not open the minds of the disciples so that they could understand the scriptures before his resurrection.

Until Jesus rose the disciples did not have the experience they needed to have open minds. Until He rose the link between death and resurrection existed in their minds only as an unpleasant idea - it certainly was not there as a glorious reality.

Friends - Jesus' life, death and resurrection is the link between our experience and the message of the scriptures. He is the link that can open our minds, so that we might understand the scriptures, and indeed so that we might understand our own lives.

On the first Easter Sunday Jesus did not give his disciples special knowledge so that they could understand the scriptures. What he did was to open their minds, he reminded them of what they had experienced with him, and of what they were even then experiencing with him, and he pointed to the scriptures which spoke of that experience. He made the connections for them:

He said - "This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations".

My friends, we understand the scriptures and their message when we know both Jesus' death and his resurrection - both in our faith about him and in our faith with him inside our lives.

A Jesuit Priest once related this children's fairy story.

A couple was in a gift shop looking for something to give their daughter for her birthday. Suddenly the mother spotted a beautiful teacup.

"Look at this lovely cup", she said to her husband. He picked it up and said, "You're right! This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen."

At that point something remarkable happened - something that could only happen in a children's fairy story. The teacup said "Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn't always beautiful."

Instead of being surprised that the cup could talk, the couple asked it, "What do you mean when you say you weren't always beautiful?"

"Well", said the teacup, "once I was just an ugly, soggy lump of clay. But one day some man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy I couldn't see straight. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried.

"But the man with the wet hands said, 'Not Yet!' Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally he did stop. But then he did something much worse. He put me into a furnace. I got hotter and hotter until I couldn't stand it. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally when I thought I was going to burn up the man took me out of the furnace. Then a lady began to paint me. The fumes got so bad that they made me feel sick.

"Stop, stop!', I cried. 'Not Yet!' said the lady.

"Finally she did stop. But then she gave me back to the man again and he put me back into that awful furnace. This time it was hotter than before. 'Stop! Stop!', I cried. But the man said 'Not Yet'.

"Finally he took me out of the furnace and let me cool. When I was completely cool a pretty lady put me on this shelf next to this mirror.

"When I looked at myself in the mirror, I was amazed. I could not believe what I saw. I was no longer ugly, soggy and dirty. I was beautiful, firm and clean. I cried for joy. It was then I realized that all the pain was worthwhile. Without it I would still be an ugly, soggy lump of wet clay. It was then that all the pain took on meaning for me - it had passed - but the beauty it brought has remained."

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand" says Jesus.

We are now children of God. What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Jesus waited before he opened the minds of his disciples because he could do nothing else, for the story was not complete until his resurrection occurred. The disciples could not understand the scriptures until they witnessed the fact that he rose from the dead.

We too, like the first disciples, cannot understand the scriptures until our minds have been opened by our experience with him, and by our faith in his resurrection.

Without believing in Jesus and the fact that he both died and rose for us we are like the people who studied the Grand Canyon, we can know a lot about him, but never understand him or experience all that he has in store for us.

A final illustration - one told about a recent convert to the Christian faith who was asked by one of his unbelieving friends about Jesus.

The friend said to him: "I hear you have become a Christian." "Yes", said the convert.

"Then you must know a great deal about Christ", said the friend, "tell me, what country was he born in?" "I don't know", replied the convert.

"Well then, what was his age when he died?" asked the friend. "I don't know", replied the convert.

"Well, can you tell me how many sermons he preached? Or how he was born, or how he did miracles, or how he was raised from the dead?" asked the friend. "I don't know" responded the convert.

"You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be a Christian", said the friend. "You are right," replied the convert, "I am ashamed of how little I know - but this much I do know. Three years ago I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was falling to pieces. My wife and children would dread my return home each evening. I was desperate. I gave my heart to God. Now I have given up booze, we are out of debt, and my wife and I are in love once more. All this Christ has done for me. This much I know".

We can know the biography of Jesus that is found in the scriptures, - we can explore the laws that are written down, and debate the reasons for why this or that happened, - we can gain all kinds of knowledge about scripture, but none of it will give us the understanding that God wants us to have.

If we would understand what the scriptures are really all about, then we must not only open them, we must allow Jesus to open our minds - by placing our trust in him, in the one to whom the scriptures point.

Then, like the visitor to the Grand Canyon, like the clay in the hands of the potter, like the convert to the faith whose life changed,

we will truly understand, and we will praise God for it, and for the life he has given us.

He opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures.

For many years the company that I work for has been using McAfee anti virus software and a system called EpoOrechestrator to deliver daily virus definitions files to networked computers and laptops. In addition our main domain controllers use Symantec anti virus software.

In recent weeks we have been investigating alternative software and a decision was taken to replace McAfee with Sophos - the main advantage being that whereas McAfee relied on individual computers to request definition files (once per day) Sophos is able to push the files out to all connected machines.

April 25th 2006 saw the installation of Sophos on our network. The first problem was that the enterprise management suite would not run on the server that had been allocated so the server had to be upgraded to Windows 2000 together with various service packs and a new network card driver.

Whilst this was taking place all the local computers were visited and the McAfee software uninstalled. This was, of course, a necessary step as it is not a good idea to have more than one anti virus suite running on a machine, and in addition, whilst Sophos was able to be installed, it was not able to be activated.

Once that had been finished the enterprise management suite was installed with very little difficulty and various installation programs for several operating systems were downloaded from the Sophos site.

Then the big moment arrived when it was set to discover networked computers and actually install the client software on each of them.

After about half an hour quite a few of the machines received and activated the remotely installed client software - without any intervention on the part of the administrator or the user. Even machine at another of our offices on the domain were able to be configured remotely.

Of course, there are always difficulties in the networked installation of any new software, and Sophos is no exception. Whilst quite happy to install software on Windows NT/2000/XP, it resolutely refused to install on earlier windows operating systems, which needed manual installation. The same applied to our remote laptop users who were sent CDs containing the installation program together with instructions and access passwords so that they could either update from our network server or from the Sophos web site direct.

One major problem was that Sophos tried to install itself onto the domain controllers which use Symantec. This caused our server monitoring software to generate hundreds of warning messages, until remedial action was taken - still, at least it showed that the monitoring service was working.

As I write this the system is still in its early days, but so far all seems good.

For some time I have been trying to find a reasonable search facility for this site.

I have tried Google.COM but it wants to search my whole domain rather than just my blog folder.

I thought I had found one at ApolloFind.COM but I can't seem to get it configured correctly.

Finally I settled on Picosearch.COM. The only disadvantage of this is that I have to log onto their web site and manually re-index my site.

Want to hide your email link from spammers on your web page or blog ?

Follow this link for a great solution.

Enter your email address, your link text and then copy and paste the resulting code into your page.

Simple but very effective.

I have somewhat adapted the template port by Anislie Johnson, and added a small amount of css from andreas04 (the orange backgrounds to the post headers), and I think it looks quite good.

Oh, and MOST important, I have added a print-preview css file, basically the site css file with most elements marked as "display:none;" and all colours changed to black.. It looks good.

Here is a screen shot.
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When we look at the cross it is easy for us to become preoccupied with the details of the agony and the bloodshed, the mocking crowd and the darkened skies. And whilst we should never forget what was done to Jesus the significance of the cross lies, not in what men did to Christ, but what Christ did for men.

But was it really necessary for Christ to go through all that torment ? Was it really necessary for him to suffer abandonment by his friends ? Was it really necessary for the people to turn against him, shrieking for his blood ? Was it really necessary for him to be rejected by the religious leaders of the day ? Was it really necessary for him to be betrayed by one of his very own disciples ? Was it really necessary for him to die in such an ignominious way ?

Yes, it most certainly was necessary. And I say that, not on my own authority, but on the authority of the revealed word of God as found in the bible. Yes, it was necessary for Christ to suffer all those terrible things, for only by suffering could he enter into his glory.

1) The cross was necessary to reveal God's evaluation of human life.

In Christ's day life was held very cheaply. Unwanted children simply disappeared, a slave could be killed by his master and no questions were asked. Despots like Emperor Nero lit their gardens with human torches.

But life is NOT cheap. In God's eye life is supremely valuable. The death of Christ demonstrates this, for God was even willing for his own son to die to save it.

2) The cross was necessary to reveal the very essence of God's character.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins" says the write of John's gospel, and Paul tells us that "God commendeth himself to us in that, whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

The cross reveals God, not as a vengeful God, nor as a despotic ruler, but as a God who was willing to die for his children, as a loving shepherd taking the trail of suffering and death to find the lost sheep.

3) The cross was necessary to reveal God's estimate of sin.

Only when we look at the love displayed on the cross can we begin to imagine how truly terrible sin is in God's eye. Sin that takes a sinless Jesus strips him, beats him, mocks him, pierces his hands and feet with nails, and then sits at the soot of the cross mocking him in his death agonies. THAT is how terrible sin is.

YES, it is certain that Jesus could have avoided the confrontation with the chief priests, he could easily have run away from the imminent trail and crucifixion, but could we ever worship a God who was such a coward ? Could we ever entrust to a God like that our love and adoration ? NO, I say again NO.

We are only able to worship our God, we are only able to give to him our adoration, our praise, our lives, BECAUSE he showed how much he loved us by dieing for us.

There, on a cruel cross of wood, pierced by great nails through his hands and feet, the son of God died in agony to show how much God loved us. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that, whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life".

We can entrust our lives to the safekeeping of God simply because we know that, whatever befalls us, Jesus has trodden this earth before us. He has experienced all the trials and tribulations that we suffer. He knows how we feel, for he has experienced all the emotions that we experience. He understands our fears, for he went through all the horrors of loneliness that we suffer.

The cross was NOT an accident of history, it was NOT an afterthought on the part of God. It was God's plan right from the dawn of history. When mankind slipped into sin God was ready, his plan was already made. The cross was conceived and formulated in the heart and mind of a loving God. It was to be a symbol of our resistance and rebellion, but it was also to be a symbol of God's love and care.

We will never fully understand the mystery of the cross, but we will not go far wrong if we remember that GOD did it. The cross was the result of the treachery of Judas, of the blindness and jealousy of the high priests, of the human fears of the Roman governor, yest it was GOD'S work.

It is only when we see God, in his mercy, taking our place that we see ourselves as we are, in all our poverty and nakedness, our sinfulness and wickedness.

The cross stands with open arms to welcome every sinful soul. It is the door through which the father welcomes the prodigal back into the family and home.

On the cross love goes beyond all human reason. On the cross love convinces beyond all argument. On the cross love brings home the truth to us until, all doubts and questions silenced, we only want to worship and adore.

Anti Virus protection is essential for all computer users, particularly id they use email of Internet access.

With hundreds of new viruses and Trojans being found every month, the very best defense against them is particularly important.

However, there are many suppliers of Anti Virus software, so which should a person choose ?

Here is a link to a web site that seeks to help people chose the best. Comparison charts and links to the various suppliers are available.

Check it out. Get protected !

We have all, no doubt, had a quick look at a css file and quickly shut it as it seems to be miles and miles long.

Well, here is a link to a utility that will compress css files so that each element is placed on one line rather than several.

It can also strip out comments and multiple spaces, thus reducing the file size and thus the download time of the file.

Try it out. You will find it is very useful.

21st April 2006.

We wish a very happy 80th birthday to Queen Elizabeth II.

Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, Elizabeth was proclaimed queen on February 6, 1952, after the death of her father.

It is reported by the BBC that among the birthday messages was a special visual tribute from 500 crew members of the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, who lined up in formation to spell out 'Happy 80th', and the Queen thanked the (unbelievable) 40,000 or so people who had sent her cards and e-mails, saying they had helped make the day a "special one".

Yes, the JAVA run-time environment is needed to run TAMB otherwise the application will not start.

Download link for JAVA is HERE 

Download and run the installer. When complete, close the browser, re-open it at the above link and verify the installation. Then run TAMB.

Illustration at the end of the page.

NOTE. There is also a TAMB port by Ainslie Johnson which is used on this TAMB blog site.

New Features:

A new horizontal menu that will support multiple levels of sub-pages.

Parent page and current page highlighting.

Now features 14 different colours to select from.

Colour coded links to match the header colour.

The new horizontal menu is controlled by the WP-PagesNav plug-in by Adi Sieker that has been modified and inserted into the theme functions file. The plug-in is coded into the theme because the menu just won’t work without it and it seemed to be an easier option for the end user than having to download and install the plug-in separately.

Download it here 

We are happy to announce that Etomite Prelude Final is now available for download from the website... SourceForge is where all future downloads will be located.

Any available add-in's will be avilable either on the eto site or on SourceForge, depending on whether they are considered official add-in's to the core Etomite code base.

There is now a README file in the root directory of the install and everyone is urged to read it in full before attempting either a new installation or an upgrade. Any additional helpful hints will be posted here in the forums.

The site_content table now has one additional data field, named authenticate, which provides visitor authentication as explained below. Anyone who has been following along in the forums is also aware that many new features have been added into this release which address authentication of visitors and/or users from the website side of a site. This means that you can now create custom interfaces which can be used to limit access to certain areas of your website. You can also create custom data management interfaces in an effort to buffer end users from having to deal with the entire Eromite Manager interface itself. We know that this is an area of interest for several developers and are currently working on a tutorial which addresses a variety of possible scenarios which will be available in the very near future.

Due to size constraints of the code base only the TinyMCE editor has been included in the download packages. Both FCKeditor and Xinha will also be made available as add-in's and should work without major adjustments by simply uploading the packages into the manager/media/ directory of your Etomite installation. Once installed, Etomite will recognize that the packages have been installed and will display them as editor options within the Etomite configuration panels.

For support issues we will be setting up a separate forum for the final release. Please make use of this specific forum for any core code base related issues. Other general support issues should be addressed in their appropriate forum threads as usual. Every effort has been made to test this release on multiple server platforms and no major bugs are known to exist at this time. But, as with all projects, at least several issues are bound to arise as installations and upgrades are performed. All such issues will be addressed in as timely a fashion as time allows. We will also be supplying a more in-depth listing of all of the newly added features which have been included in this release as well as examples of how to use them in practical application.

The vast number of changes and additions, although maybe not visible on the surface, were well worth the delays in making this release public.

Enjoy, Ralph & Dean

p.s. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support of the Etomite CMS Project and special thanks go out to those of you who have endured through being guniea pigs (lab rats) during final testing. Also, if you wish to remove your account from the forums, log in and change your email address to a non-existant one, and the board will automatically delete your account in 7-10 days.

Etomite Statistics
>Registered Users: 1665
>Total Posts: 30240
>Busiest Time: 535 users were online on 7th June 2005 - 11:57 AM

Illustration at the end of the page.

Many thanks to Martin Mihalev for the smashing Rusty template.

Just a little bit different. Great use of colours and graphics, fast to load.

It really is SUPERB ! Well done Martin.

Here are instructions for a new installation or an upgrade to an existing version.

Download it here 

Etomite Content Management System. Release 0.6.1 (Prelude) Final. April 12, 2006

The following information is intended to be used as a reference when performing both new package installations or upgrades from previous releases. Please read this entire document before proceeding further. Following the directions below will greatly reduce the need to visit the forums for support help. Should you require additional help, however, simply visit the Etomite forums and perform several site searches based on keywords related to the problems you are encountering. Do not open a new topic if there is even a remote possibility that someone else may have already experienced the same problems as this would only serve to further fragment the knowledgebase.

NEW INSTALLATIONS:

The following sections have been copied directly from the Etomite documentation. Please read them fully before proceeding.

Installation Guide

Introduction

This document will help you getting Etomite up and running. You should know a little about *nix style file permissions to get Etomite running. This document only applies to fresh installations of Etomite 0.6 or higher!

Upgrading an existing version?

If you're upgrading an existing version of Etomite, follow the steps outlined in this document, and once you run the installer, be sure to choose the upgrade option. During the upgrade, your site will not be available for visitors! Be sure to make a back-up of manager/includes/config.inc.php (although this isn't required, it's always handy `just in case`) and once you've finished upgrading be sure to check the Etomite configuration!

NOTE-

Currently there is no updater to update to version 0.6.1 from 0.5.3. All installations will be fresh.

Download and upload

Download Etomite from the download section, unpack the zip file and upload all the files to your web space, making sure the directory structure stays intact. As of version 0.5, you can install Etomite in subdirectories of your website. We'll call the location you install Etomite 'path_to_etomite. If you're upgrading, also upload the config.inc.php and settings.inc.php backups you made – upload these to the path_to_etomite/manager/includes directory.

File Permissions

Use your FTP client or a control panel to ensure the following are writable by PHP (chmod 777):

path_to_etomite/manager/includes/config.inc.php

path_to_etomite/assets/cache (See Note Below)

path_to_etomite/assets/images

path_to_etomite/assets/export

Note: All files within the path_to_etomite/assets/cache directory should also have full permissions (chmod 777). The majority of installation problems are a direct result of not having the permissions of these files set properly.

After your config.inc.php file has been written, you may wish to modify the permissions to read only as this will not need to change unless your server or database changes.

.htaccess and Mod-Rewrite

Make sure that your Apache configuration file (httpd.conf) is set to allow overrides and that Mod-Rewrite is installed. This will allow you to take advantage of Friendly URLs in Etomite 0.6 and above.

Prepare MySQL

The Etomite installer needs a database to write the site to, and it will attempt to create one for you. However, your host may not allow the creation of databases from PHP scripts, and the installer may fail (without warning) if it attempts to create a database when it's not allowed to. To combat this either:

* Create a new database for Etomite from your control panel or MySQL administration tool (best option)

* Make sure you're allowed to create databases from PHP scripts

* Use an existing database

Once you've set up an empty database or have a database ready, you can run the installer.

Run the installer

You can now run the installer which is located at path_to_etomite/install. Follow all the instructions, and the installer should run fine. If you're installing Etomite into a database which already contains an Etomite site, be sure to choose a different table prefix than the existing Etomite tables. You can specify a table prefix during the installation.

Delete the installer

To be on the safe side, it's best to delete the installer (path_to_etomite/install/) folder after you've finished installing Etomite.

Login

After installing Etomite, browse to the directory you installed Etomite in. If everything goes well, you should see a basic stock-out-of-the-box Etomite site ready to configure.

Configure

When you first login to Etomite, you will be taken to the configuration settings. Review these settings and make necessary changes (like site name). Use the Save button at the top of the page to save the settings, and your Etomite site is ready to launch. This step is a must. Before you save your settings for the first time, the settings are NOT in the database at all and your site will note work! You can then launch your site by choosing the Launch Site link in the Site section of the admin menu (top left of screen in manager). Alternatively, you can just point your browser to the URL for your site.

You can come back to the configuration setting at any later point to make other changes such as how you want your URLs to be handled/rewritten. Test the changes after you make them to ensure that the new behavior or setting acts the way you thought it would.

END

UPGRADING FROM EARLIER RELEASES

Although some of the changes may seem minor they could cause production sites to become non-functional if steps are overlooked. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED...!!!

Before you begin

It is always a good idea to perform a backup of your system prior to performing any major upgrades, and this release should be considered a major upgrade to existing installations. A complete backup of your database should be performed along with a backup of the entire code base. It is better to be safe than sorry...

What files need to be replaced?

Due to the vast number of changes to the code base it recommended that ALL existing source code be replaced with the newer code provided in this release.

What doesn't need to be replaced?

Several directories have had few or no changes and can be left in their original state. These directories are assets/images/, assets/export/, and assets/site/. As an option you could simply replace all files and then retrieve any previously modified files from your backup copy.

What changes do I need to make before performing the upgrade?

* Delete your sites assets/cache/etomiteCache.idx.php (etomiteCache.idx for those upgrading from Etomite 0.6 Heliades).

* Delete ALL assets/cache/docid_*.etoCache files.

* The configuration file has changed so have your manager/includes/config.inc.php settings available for editing purposes later in the upgrade.

What won't be changed or replaced by the upgrade?

None of your existing Etomite resources (Chunks, Documents, Keywords, Snippets, and Templates) will be replaced, nor will any new resources be added. All new resources, which are installed during a new installation, will be made available through Etomite.org as optional additions to your existing site(s). You will be required to modify the site_content table as will be discussed next, however.

Okay, how do I modify my site_content table?

There are two preferred methods for modifying the site_content table - pick the one which suits your needs. The first method is to use phpMyAdmin, or your favorite MySQL administration utility, to run the code listed in the assets/docs/dbchanges.txt file after editing it as documented within that file. The second method is to run the install/alter_site_content.php script from within your browser. This script can be run either before or after all other files have been uploaded. This script requires a properly configured manager/includes/config.inc.php file which can either be the original file or the new one described by the installer. Note that the installer doesn't actually create the file - it only provides an example of what the new configuration file should look like. There is a file in the new code base that is intended to be used to create your new file. The best method would be to edit manager/includes/config.inc_generic.php to contain your database settings and then save it as manager/includes/config.inc.php prior to running the database modification script.

All of the steps above have been completed, now what?

Next you need to log into your Etomite Manager, verify your site configuration settings, save the settings, and clear your sites cache. You should now be able to access you website, as well as work with the Etomite manager, without further modifications.

Good Luck...

END

Friendly URLs

This guide will help you getting Etomite up and running. You should know a little about *nix style file permissions to get Etomite running. This document only applies to fresh installations of Etomite 0.5 or higher!

Prerequisites:

Knowledge on how to use .htaccess files, Etomite must be running on the Apache web server, mod_rewrite must be enabled

What are Friendly URLs?

Search engines generally have a difficult time spidering pages with filenames such as index.php ?id=123. To combat this, we'll use Apache's mod_rewrite functionality to transform those ugly URLs into nice URLs such as p123.html, home or even home.html. To do this we need to write two .htaccess files, and change a couple of settings in Etomite.

.htaccess files

We'll need two .htaccess files, one in the main Etomite folder, and one in the manager folder. In the first one, we'll tell Apache to use the RewriteEngine, and how to use it, and in the second, we'll tell Apache not to use it. We do this to stop the manager from being broken by the RewriteEngine.

The first file, to be placed in the main Etomite folder, needs to contain the following:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?q=$1 [L,QSA]

In the first line, we tell Apache we want to use the RewriteEngine. The second and third lines set some conditions, and the last line tells Apache how to rewrite URLs.

Basically we're telling Apache to take everything between the 'p' and the '.html' and append it to the URL 'index.php ?id=', and then to send that file to the client. The [QSA] tells Apache to append the query string to the new URL.

The second .htaccess file, located in the manager folder contains only one line:

RewriteEngine Off

This tells Apache not to apply any rewriting rules in the manager folder.

To add these values, I've included two ht.access files in the Etomite distribution for 0.5.1. Rename them to .htaccess using your FTP program, or copy the values contained in the ht.access files to your existing .htaccess files.

Configuring Etomite

Now we need to tell Etomite to use Friendly URLs. To do this, in the Etomite manager, go to Etomite configuration in the Administration menu. There you will see three options for Friendly URLs:

First, set 'Use friendly URLs' to 'Yes'. Then, specify your can prefix and suffix, but lets leave them as they are for now. Save the settings.

That's it! Open your site, and hover your mouse over a link in your page. If everything's working properly, you should see links like 'p123.html' instead of 'index.php?id=123'. Clicking on one of the links should open the correct page.

Using different prefixes and suffixes

You might want to use different prefixes and suffixes than the default ones. Let's assume you want to have your URL's look like this: 'content123.xml'. Simply update the Etomite configuration to reflect these changes: set the prefix to 'content' and the suffix to '.xml'. All done! You can even leave the prefix empty, and access pages like '123.xml'.

Using Aliases

Etomite 0.5.2 introduces aliases. You can assign an alias to a document, such as `home`, and use that as URI: yoursite/home will point to the page you aliased. Make sure you don't give more than one document the same alias, and that the alias is not the name of an existing folder. You can combine aliases and prefixes and suffixes for even more URL options: /home.html will point to the document with alias `home`. You can even access documents by just typing their ID!

Friendly URL types

To sum up, we have the following ways of accessing your content:

* yourdomain.com/index.php? id=123

* yourdomain.com/p123.html

* yourdomain.com/home

* yourdomain.com/home.html

* yourdomain.com/123

END

NOTE. Maps are at the foot of the page.

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Anstey is situated some 3 miles west of Leicester and 6 miles east of the M1 motorway and is well sign-posted on all approaches.

From the M1 junction 22 take the A50 and proceed towards Leicester. At the Glenfield roundabout (just before County Hall) turn left towards Anstey.

From Leicester take the A50 towards the M1 motorway and at the Glenfield roundabout (just after County Hall) turn right towards Anstey.

The Methodist church is situated on the corner of Cropston Road just off the roundabout on the B5328, Cropston Road, in the centre of the village.

Parking is unavailable at the church itself, but a free public car park is situated behind shops on the North side of the roundabout.

NOTE. Illustrations are at the foot of the page.

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Methodism was founded by John Wesley (Fig 1) born 1703, the son of a Lincolnshire rector. Wesley studied at Oxford and was ordained as a clergyman of the Church of England in 1725. Whilst at Oxford, Wesley and his friends undertook to be diligent and methodical in their Christian devotions and this earned them the nickname 'Methodists'.

Wesley began his preaching in churches but soon found that his zealous style met with the disapproval of both clergy and congregation alike. Together with brother Charles he began preaching in the open air - taking the message of Salvation to the people.

At first the followers of Wesley still retained their membership of the Church of England, where they received the Sacrament of Holy Communion, but they also attended weekly 'Class Meetings' run by the Methodists. However, when Wesley began ordaining his own ministers, it soon became abundantly clear that the Church of England and the Methodists would go their own separate ways. John Wesley died in 1791, but by that time Methodism had grown to such an extent that its future was assured.

Methodism had reached Anstey by the year 1797, for in that year a small chapel (Fig 2) was built in Groby Road. The chapel, which served Methodism for a hundred years, has long since disappeared and its site is now occupied by three terraced houses opposite the junction with Falcon Road.

The early years of the church saw a constant struggle to continue its work and maintain levels of membership. By 1875 there were only six members. This grew to seventeen, following the efforts of a Mr Thomas Bale to convert the wayward inhabitants of Anstey, but numbers soon declined again and concern was expressed that a mission outreach to the villagers must be an ongoing cause.

As the 19th Century drew to its close the Wesleyan Church (to distinguish it from the other Methodist sects which had sprung up during the years that followed Wesley's death) had grown in numbers in this area and a fervour for building new churches served to increase numbers still further - as well as to plunge churches deeper into debt! Locally a piece of land in Bradgate Road was purchased in July 1892 and foundation stones for the new church were laid on Whit Monday, 3rd June 1895. The church (Fig 3) was opened on 19th September of that year and the old Groby Road church sold.

A village mission in March 1902 saw twenty young people pledge their lives to Christ and the Wesleyans could now boast a membership of 26 adults and 27 juniors. Less successful, however, were attempts to clear the debt created by their new building and not until 1931 (largely due to the untiring efforts of the Murphy family) was the debt finally cleared.

The following year the various branches of the Methodist Church nationally had combined by an Act of Union - but this had little effect on the two Anstey churches who continued to worship as separate congregations in their respective premises. The Cropston Road society was always the stronger of the two and its numbers increased as the Wesleyans' declined. The struggle was finally given up in 1941 when, following a final service on Sunday 28th September, the former Wesleyan congregation joined that of Cropston Road.

We must now go back a couple of hundred years to look at the origins of Primitive Methodism and the history of the Cropston Road church.

Taking their lead from the enigmatic and eccentric American Methodist evangelist Lorenzo Dow (Fig 4), who came to England in 1807, Hugh Bourne and William Clowes (Fig 5) organised that same year a phenomenally successful open-air meeting on Mow Cop, on the borders of Staffordshire and Cheshire. Thus began the movement which became known as Primitive Methodism - 'primitive' in the sense that it sought to revive the primitive (or early) roots of Methodism by returning to the fervour and methods (especially with respect to outdoor preaching) employed by Wesley and his followers. This new Methodist sect fired the imagination of the man in the street. By taking the message of Salvation out to where it was needed it brought a 'breath of fresh air' in every sense!

Though founded on open-air preaching, the Wesleyan Church had become a building-based society and overlooking its own origins, it frowned upon these new 'Camp Meeting Methodists'. As Wesley had eventually severed ties with the Church of England, so it was that in 1811 the Primitive Methodists became a church in their own right.

The Primitive Methodists - or 'Ranters' as they were also known - seem to have fitted the mood of the times and their new sect spread like wildfire, reaching Loughborough by the year 1818. From there it quickly spread to Anstey and a Primitive Methodist society was soon worshipping in a small framework-knitters' workshop behind cottages in Cropston Road - not a stone's throw from our present church. Open-air missioning was still the order of the day and there were many occasions when the Primitive Methodists whipped up enthusiasm (and increased their numbers!) by marching through the village and inviting others to join them in giving their lives to Christ. In September 1818, on his third and final trip to England, Lorenzo Dow visited - amongst other places - Sileby, Ratby and Anstey. We can only imagine what effects this charismatic preacher had on the folk of these villages.

In June 1840 the Primitive Methodists purchased two adjoining pieces of land on Cropston Road (opposite the present church premises) and there they built their first chapel. By April 1871 the Cropston Road society had grown to such an extent that larger premises were needed. A Mr Kerridge of Wisbech was commissioned to draw up plans for a new church and work on its building commenced in July.

The church continued to thrive and in 1882 the building was enlarged (Fig 6). In that form it served Anstey Methodists for another 88 years until its closure in 1970. It was demolished three years later and the land sold.

Since the closure of the former Primitive Methodist Chapel, Anstey Methodists have continued to worship in their Sunday School premises (erected 1892) and also, for a time, at the United Reformed and Parish churches. In 1980 a new Worship Area was created on the upper floor of the Sunday School building - serving Sunday evening services until 1988 when the entire Sunday School premises were altered internally to furnish the present arrangement of downstairs church and upstairs schoolrooms (Fig 7).

The work of Anstey Methodist Church - amongst young and old alike - continues and is as successful now as it has ever been. Long may it continue to be so!

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Fig 1. John Wesley.

Fig 2. Groby Road Chapel 1797.

Fig 3. Groby Road Chapel 1895.

Fig 4. Lorenzo Dow.

Fig 5. Hugh Bourne & William Clowes.

Fig 6. Cropston Road Chapel 1882.

Fig 7. Our present church building.

NOTE. Picture of our church is at the foot of the page.

We are a medium sized Methodist Church serving God and the people of Anstey and its surrounding area.

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Both our hearts and our Church doors are open to everyone.

Our building, with its modernised interior, is used nearly every day of the week as we seek to offer the love of Jesus to all people The church is fitted with an induction loop for hearing aids and has full wheelchair access.

A healthy Christian community is one in which people know that they are loved, visitors are welcome, and young an old alike are valued and feel safe.

The care that churches offer, both in times of crisis and in everyday life, is an active proclamation of God's love in Christ for the whole world.

A most warm welcome is extended to everyone to join us at Anstey Methodist Church.

Illustration at the end of the page.

Yet another template theme by Andreas Viklund which has been "WorPressed" and "Widgetized".

Lovely colour scheme, with left hand contyent and 2 righ hand sidebars. A really splendid theme.

Have just come accross a splendid plugin to enable uploading/editing and inserting graphics into WordPress posts. It really is great

The ImageManager plugin for WordPress and this configuration tool are licensed under the MIT License, Copyright 2006 Per Soderlind

Have just come accross a splendid plugin to enable uploading/editing and inserting graphics into WordPress posts. It really is great

The ImageManager plugin for WordPress and this configuration tool are licensed under the MIT License, Copyright 2006 Per Soderlind

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to many of his friends. Some in Jerusalem, others further afield. However some were so disheartened at the recent events that they left the city to return to their homes.

Two of these people lived in Emmaus. Sadly they returned home, not realizing that the greatest event in history had just happened, and the friends were walking away from it - turning their backs on it.

Mark c 16

Go prepared - They brought sweet spices, were willing to spend as well as go (v1)

Go early - They were in earnest, and went just as soon as the Sabbath was past (v2)

Go on - Even if there were a stone in the way, and it was “great”, they went right on to the insurmountable obstacle (v3)

Go in - Obstacle gone, they go in, and instead of a sad service they receive a joyous command (v5)

Go tell others - How many Christians have found this true: a sad service to perform, big difficulties in the way, going on to them and finding them rolled away, and instead of a sad duty, a joyous experience with a risen Lord (v7,10)

Because he is all-wise and all-knowing, God’s answers will always be the right ones.

Because he is all-powerful, he is in control of things.

Because he is truth, his promises can always be trusted.

Because he is love, he is full of compassion and responds to our prayers with mercy and grace.

Because he is eternal, he sees all things at a glance, he takes note of all the variables, and he answers when the time is right and the circumstances are right.

Avoid riding in cars because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.

Do not stay at home because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.

Avoid walking on streets or footpaths because 14% of accidents occur to pedestrians.

Avoid travelling by air, rail or water because 16% of accidents involve these forms of transport.

Of the remaining 33%, 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals so, above all else, avoid hospitals.

You will be pleased to learn that only 0.001% of all deaths occur during worship services in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders. Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any given point in time is at church! Bible study is safe too. The percentage of deaths during Bible study is even less!

For safety's sake - attend church and read your Bible. It could save your life !

(With acknowledgments to Nuthall Methodist Church, from whose magazine this article was "lifted")

Seen in our church magazine

The computer swallowed grandma,

Yes, honestly, it's true.

She pressed 'control'and 'enter'

And disappeared from view.

It devoured her completely.

The thought just makes me squirm.

She must have caught a virus,

Or been eaten by a worm.

I've searched through the recycle bin,

And files of every kind:

I've even used the Internet,

But nothing did I find.

In desperation, I asked Jeeves

My searches to refine.

The reply from him was negative,

Not a thing was found 'online'.

So, if inside your 'Inbox'

My Grandma you should see,

Please 'Copy', 'Scan' and 'Paste' her

And send her back to me!

The Author, like Grandma, has been swallowed by the computer!