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Christianity, church, and love.

There is something that has been bothering me for several years. And it relates to a topic that is rather uncomfortable for some: Religion.

First off, as some of you know, I am a Christian. I believe in a God that died on the cross and rose again for our sins. A God that loves us no matter what we have done. Whether people like us or not, whether we ourselves like who we are, God welcomes us all with open arms.

It is normal for people to question the existence of God. In fact, I would even say that it is common. Life sways us in many directions, sometimes making us ask, “If God really does exist, why did this happen?” Whether a close family member died, whether there is a rift in a relationship, maybe getting heartbroken by someone that you thought was close to you and would be by your side.

Where does this post stem from, you may ask? Well… it’s been building up for awhile. I’ve wanted to post about it but keep putting it off. So let’s start from the beginning!!!

I became a Christian when I was very young, and I have been plugged into a church since… well… really since as early as I can remember. For about 14 years, my family had been part of the same church. We built some relationships in this church (not really a lot, but a few) that I would say, somewhat kept us there. We knew almost everyone, so starting over would have been hard.

This church we were a part of had a problem with sin. Don’t misunderstand me. Sin is bad. But there is more to Christianity than sin, such as forgiveness from God. However, this church could not get sin out of their minds. There were two ultimate sins according to their doctrine. These would be sex before marriage and homosexuality. Again, don’t misunderstand me. These are sins, but, what makes these sins worse than another? What makes these worse than killing someone, stealing something, or cussing someone out on the street?

My God forgives all sins, and He doesn’t rate them according to magnitude. The level of sin is a man-made figment. All sins are bad. But they are also forgivable. What is the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins? He didn’t say, “Hey, I’ll forgive these specific sins, but DANG not those!” No! Instead, He died on the cross forgiving ALL people of ALL their sins, as long as they believe in Him.

So, this church we were a part of was kicking out people for being homosexuals, for having sex with people before marriage, along with a few other things. People in the church were used to it, though. It wasn’t anything new. I think the part I hate most about them kicking out people was the fact they would say, “We are handing so and so to Satan”. Wow. So, let me get this straight… apparently, you are all so much better than them, that you can basically ruin any chance of a witness to these people ever happening again? All because the church should be a place without sin? Guess what. Everyone is struggling with something. And your sins are just as bad as theirs.

Now as bad as this whole experience was, some good things came of it. For one, my entire family had an opportunity to witness to people in the form of playing instruments and being a major part in the worship team. My sister and I were also very involved in our church’s youth band as well. Through our ministry, we were able to impact people and witness to them. People were also a huge encouragement to me, and they helped to grow my faith in God, as well. So, even though the situation was crappy, some good things still came out of it.

Finally, it got so bad that the leadership in this church ended up attempting to remove the head pastor, for a mistake that his son had done. At this point, my family had absolutely had it, and left the church.

Christianity shouldn’t be a religion that is based on man-made rules. It should instead be based on God’s word. The church should be a place where sinners learn more about God. In Mark 2:17, it says, “And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Even when you are a Christian, you will still sin. It is inevitable, and it is our nature. We need people around us that will help us to be encouraged. Not by running away from the person or forcing them away, but instead, by God working inside of the person through us. God can even work through unbelievers as well to help us and encourage us.

Now, going back to doubting God’s existence. I’ll be honest. I doubt every now and then. How could God let so many bad things happen, and just stand by, idle? But then, I look around. I see all the friends I’ve made since leaving Indiana, the new job opportunities, my lifelong dream of owning a car, and so many other things. God has to exist! But not the kind of god that only forgives specific sins. A God that loves everyone and forgives all sins.

So, what is my purpose for writing this you may ask? Honestly… great question. I guess, be careful with the church you worship at. Make sure that it is founded on God’s Word, and not a man-made doctrine. Also, just love each other. I don’t care if someone is a homosexual, I don’t care if someone has sex if they aren’t married. How can we be a good witness to someone if we close ourselves off from the world or push them away? Everyone needs witnessed to, and everyone deserves to be loved and know of a loving savior that is willing to forgive them of their sin, if only they ask Him.

Life pushes us down enough, and there are too many people around us that put us down, belittle us, and make us feel worthless or dumb. Let’s be the kinds of people that build one another up.

Thank you all, and love you all.
Isaac


New Car and WHAT?!

I BOUGHT A CAR!
After years and years of searching for something good, in my price-range, I have finally found it! Welcome my girl, Tempest, to the family!

She is a 2008 Hyundai Tiburon GT. It’s got the 2.7L V6 with 172hp and 181 lb-ft of torque. It’s a fast little car, with decent gas mileage of 17 city and 24 highway.

Obviously, like all used cars, it needs a bit of work. But, hey! Nothing mechanical is wrong! I’ve only got to fix some cosmetic things. The engine is strong with a recent oil change (Today, actually. XD) and new front tires as of yesterday!

And that brings us to the main point of writing this post:
I GOT THE JOB FOR GEEK SQUAD!
I am now an official Consultation Agent! Meaning, that I will be the person that diagnoses the problems for people’s computers and other electronics. I start on Friday and can not wait!!!

Finally, you may have noticed some changes with the website.
I’m trying to keep it updated with all new pictures, descriptions, and the overall look to it. To all the people that still read this website, thank you. It feels good to be able to post my feelings on my own personal website for other people to read, if they are interested!

Till next time.


Site and life updates!

It only took me about a year, but hey!!! The link for mods are actually on the download page, instead of redirecting to GOM’s dead website!!!
In the recovery process, I couldn’t manage to find two of my old rims, but hey. You aren’t really missing anything other than very early conversions that were rather ugly. πŸ˜‚

In the coming weeks, I want to work on several more site updates that change the look a bit. The white is a bit basic, and I would love to give it some sort of creativity to the website, instead of the current blandness.

As for life, well… IT’S PRETTY DANG GOOD! It’s awesome, because just a couple weeks ago, the Geek Squad manager at Best Buy approached me and asked if I would like to apply for a Geek Squad position. Apparently, he NEVER does that to anyone, but he loved my performance, and said that he thinks I am a perfect fit for it! It’s a higher paying position, and I think I may enjoy it a bit better than on the sales floor.

Don’t get me wrong. I love working the sales floor. Meeting people on a daily basis is amazing, and I LOVE directing them to the product that best fits their needs…
But………
Geek Squad does the same thing! XD Except instead of managing a whole department, we just have to deal with the people that come to us, along with daily tasks. Plus, it’s a higher paying job as well! I never choose a job based on pay. I could be paid like $7.50 an hour like I used to be, and be 100% ok with that, as long as I am enjoying what I am doing.

It’s funny, because ever since I started working here, I’ve been helping people figure out how to fix their computers anyway. Now, I would be doing the exact same thing, but not have to worry about hitting the huge hourly goal we have every month!

My interview was on Saturday of last week, and went amazing. It was one of the most laid back interviews I’ve had, right next to the interview for being a pizza maker at my old job, Papa Murphy’s. During the interview, I was just myself; answering questions, and even asking some of my own. The manager and me even laughed at certain points in the interview as well.

I’m super hyped, and can’t wait to see if I get it! I should know next week, so stay posted!!!


Life Recently

ALRIGHT! Since I haven’t used this website in like, forever, time for some personal posts!

Life recently… well… it’s been life.

Several months ago, I quit my job at a supermarket here in Florida called Publix. I had worked there for *I think* 6 months??? It was a pretty significant amount of time. Anyhow, the reason I left is mainly management. I gave my heart and my soul as a stocker, stayed super late to help clean floors, and consistently helped customers, no matter what I was doing, which is the Publix way, even though people would like to tell you otherwise.

Anyway, back on track. XD
The longer I worked there, the more I could see that management wasn’t looking too fondly on me. The only reason I can think as to why, is because I made sure that my coworkers were good and if they needed help, I would be there. Management started introducing more of a “one person an aisle” type thing, where one person worked a certain aisle, and working alongside with coworkers would no longer be a thing. Thankfully, they didn’t really implement this till I left.

Now I do need to explain my own personality, that way you can know where I am coming from. I’m a social guy. I need to be able to talk to someone, or else I’ll drive myself insane. Everyone in the store liked, me, except my two managers at the time. Management, however, didn’t care that I needed to work alongside with people, and instead started forcing away relationships between coworkers, in an attempt to “make work faster” even though, for people like me, it will make some people work slower.

So, long story short, I got an awful review from the grocery assistant manager, telling me that I didn’t work hard enough. Because of how low he made all of my scores, I would not be getting a raise. So, I tried to go over his head and speak with the main grocery manager and see if we could resolve this.

The main grocery manager let me meet with him, but brought the assistant manager in as well, which immediately put me on edge. However, I aired what was bothering me about how my review was unfair. The assistant manager kept rebutting everything I was saying, then the main manager spoke. In my main manager’s exact words, I was “Giving only 70 percent of what I could give to Publix”, was bringing other people’s work ethic down, and didn’t talk to customers, even though EVERYONE in my department said I talked to customers the most out of everyone!

That same day I gave my two weeks notice, and haven’t looked back. I needed a job that I am valued at, and Publix was not it. My friends at the time, would sometimes say that I should blame myself instead of management, but… no. It wasn’t my fault. It’s the way that my Publix managers were, and I am so glad to be out of there.

I am now working at Best Buy in the computer section! I love it SOOO much more than I did at Publix! I’m constantly able to talk to customers, coworkers, and have fun, without any problems from management. I am known as one of the nicest people in the store, and a few people say that I am the best person in the computer department! (Now whether that is true or not… ehh… but, I do my best to have lots of fun, and to make it so customers do as well. πŸ˜‰ )

Within the past several months, I’ve made some incredible friendships, and strengthened some old ones, but I’ve also lost a few as well. There have been a few people at Publix that I have distanced myself away from a bit, but I have made plenty new ones! πŸ˜€

Thanks for reading! I don’t post on here much, but I have needed to vent my feelings recently, so there ya are!

The goal is to post a bit more personal stuff in the recent weeks, so don’t be too surprised if ya see some personal stuffs!

Have an epic day / night!

Isaac


The End of an Era, but the Beginning of a New One

Enjoy my huge ramblings. XD

So, it has happened.
The GOM website has gone offline, and will not likely be back.
Mr. Singh’s, the site owner of GOM, data server he was using corrupted and deleted all of the files that had been on there for many years.
I do hope that the website comes back. I know that there is another admin of GOM that is willing to start it all over, but whether the idea comes true remains to be seen.
HOWEVER, GOM LIVES ON IN THE DISCORD GROUP WE CREATED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO.
Click this link in order to join! https://discord.gg/fDtEXb2
We have all of the sections we used to have on GOM, including some of our downloads.
When people find time, they put up links to cars and stick them in the pertaining download category.
GOM has been a huge part of my life, especially for the last 3 years.
The community was, and continues to be the most awesome, least toxic, and encouraging forum I have ever been apart of.
I joined in early 2015, after just being a browser of the website since 2014.
After joining, I posted some super crappy mods, but the community didn’t mind.
The kindness of everyone made me dedicate a HUGE amount of time to the game, especially for being in High School.
After only being on the website for a few months, the main administrator, Defiant, upgraded me to the role of “Helpful Member”.
If I am remembering right, there was only one other guy that was in this role.
Having an upgraded role was awesome to me, especially for being only 15. I was super psyched, and did everything I could to be as nice to everyone as I possibly could. (As I always try to be. πŸ™‚ )
After a few more months of helping people out, attempting to get better at my mods, and validating pages onto GOM, I got promoted once again, this time to the role of “Moderator”.
Again, I was super excited, as I am sure anyone would be. Haha!
After several more months, Defiant finally promoted me to “Content Admin” of the website, allowing me to have almost full control of the interface.
While in this role, I refreshed old download links, edited old pages to be more modern, deleted spam messages, etc…
I do miss the website very much. LOL
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some people may ask, “Fireful0, why didn’t you join VStanced AND GOM back in 2015, or up until lately?”
This is my answer:
GOM was, and seems to be a much more professional kind of website. It was dedicated to more of the modding scene, and almost every single active topic to be seen was a WIP thread. GOM had a very clean community, with very little swearing, and more of a camaraderie around the entire website.
I used to be VERY anti VStanced up until recently. This was mainly due to certain key members from VStanced come onto my WIP thread, or even in my PMs, dissing my mods. One of the main ones that has stuck with me, is when one of the members came into my PMs after I had received the original 3d for Fled’s Chrysler V8 Pack. I was psyched about starting learning 3d and had all kinds of ideas with where I could take the mod, but one guy that had not posted on GOM in 2 years, comes in my PMs and tells me I should not even touch it, as I would mess it up, and it wouldn’t live up to the version Fled made. He finished with telling me to give him the 3d so he could work on it.
So, for a large amount of time, I had personal feelings against VStanced.
However, I have put my personal feelings aside, and realize that they are doing the same thing GOM is: Keeping SLRR alive.

Thanks for reading this far!
In the coming days I will fix the mod links in the Download section of this website, as I realize that they are all dead currently.

Have an incredible day / night, and don’t forget to join GOM’s Discord!
#GOM4LIFE


G35 and Torino Updates

Hey everybody!!!
Hard to find the time to do any SLRR modifications, especially when I am working a 30 hour a week job with college on the side.
BUT! I was able to get some updates done!
G35 is coming along quite nicely. Shocks are correctly placed so that they look normal from the engine bay POV.
Still have to work out a few diescrepencies here and there, with some 3d problems, but overall, I would say we are closer to a final release.
Also, as yall probably already know, G37 conversion parts and such will not be included.
Along with that, the Torino chassis 3d is coming together quite well!
Have to fix a couple mesh holes, but then the chassis will be done!
Until next time, my peeps!


Updates.

G35 is getting some major updates.
These will include a widebody, updated enginebay, and a cabrio version.
(Special thanks to ah uea / ownzzgames. Great dude doing incredible 3d work)
Also, continuing to work on the Torino. Have a friend working on the scripting errors.
Thanks JF1!


Person stealing my mods, along with many others

Hello everyone!
Recently it has been brought to my attention that there is a dude called ∴ Sβ€’Hβ€’Ξ›β€’Dβ€’E ∴ on steam who is stealing mine and many other people’s mods. A link to his user account.
99% of his uploads are other people’s works. He gives no credit at all and claims that he will take them down if the author complains. I wrote him requesting he take mine and some others down, he responded with,
I dont know who you are and havent stolen a thing from you. Your “mods” do not have a copyright on them because theyre based off of copyrighted real life items, which is against the law.

Do you have proper permission from the car manufacturers and others to upload their logos, cars, models? THAT is stealing.

If youre really that mad about this, then i will let my lawyers know a case may be incoming. Your mods were not copyrighted. That is fair use.

It isn’t fair use if he has not asked permission or even given credit. The mods that I and many others create take a ton of time. He has stolen my 1967 Coronet, my Muscle Rim Pack, and my pride and joy, the Chrysler V8 Pack REDO V4.

Let’s all stand against this. Commenting on the mods will be the best way to get this handled and the mods we made taken down from the Steam Workshop. Me and others have tried PMing him, but he won’t give in. Maybe by posting public comments on his mod, he will get the mods that we worked our butts off of the workshop.

Thank you all for your continued support.


Gran Torino update

Alrighty!
Gran Torino is coming along quite nicely!
After A TON of 3d work, I finally got the 1972 Torino hood installed on the 1975 Torino.
It took forever, but I really like the way it turned out.
ALSO! I put some drag side exit exhaust pipes inside the mod, also!
Now, you all are probably wondering about the Infiniti G35.
It will be replaced soon! I gave it to a friend to work the kinks out of it, and it is looking good!
In fact, I believe he may be very close to finished!

Anyhow, thank you so much for all of your support, people!
Not sure how many people look at OperationStation anymore, which is all my fault, as I don’t post as much here as I should.
But to the people who stumble across this webpage. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Anyhow! SOME PICS!