Spaceship Art done using WINPLOT... You may remember that fine program from the movie TRON... Futuristic Zeppelin.  floating alien craft  spaceships dragonfly floating whimsical creatures invasion by aliens The "wingdings" above spell "gregvanderlaan.com" and give the picture an alien look... by combining winplot, Arcsoft, GIMP, Adobe, paint.net and my camera... all at the same time... I can do these drawings. butterfly and roses. Spaceships and Fairy Lights... 
a reflective heart shaped head...  paint.net tile reflection background cargo ship. golden jewelry  Buddha leaving the body. trippy art... spaceships floating over landscape just a goofy guy! 
My thoughts about GOD...I don't believe in GOD, but I MIGHT BE WRONG! One of the steps says that "I came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity". The Group Of Drunks (G. O. D.) that I joined in AA is clearly a power greater than myself. There are about 50 people that
attend meetings in Chico and their combined power is greater than mine. 50 people can easily lift an
automobile, but I cannot. 50 people can purchase an entire apartment building, but I cannot. The
power of MILLIONS of AA members worldwide is awesome... I listened to what those people said and
it worked. This Group Of Drunks has a place for people of ANY faith. Many people get upset when
they first join AA because they have had bad experiences with the PEOPLE from the Christian
Church. Do not be concerned. AA does not force any one brand name of God on anyone. Buddha,
KRSNA, GAIA, Native American, Allah, Thor, Ra, LSD, Yaweh, or "NONE OF THE ABOVE" are all
welcome. Relax and choose your own power. That step also specifically says the word "could". The
words in the steps were very carefully chosen. For example: If I buy a lottery ticket I COULD win
millions of dollars. It is very unlikely that it will happen, but it COULD. I came to believe that my sanity
COULD be restored. The future is unpredictable and it COULD happen. That was enough. I opened
my mind to the possibility and... My sanity was restored. Some unexplainable things have happened
to me. I went with a few of my AA buddies to a Christian / Native American Tent revival meeting. It
lasted for 5 days. One night we played the drums for hours and a song formed in my head.
Fortunately, I had my guitar with me and I was able to write down all the music and lyrics. The chorus
(awaken the giant within) just appeared in my mouth while we were beating the "father" drum. This
type of experience is extremely pleasing but rather standard. As a matter of fact, if you DON'T get a
spiritual experience when you are playing the drums, something is wrong. What happened the next
night is unexplainable. After listening to the preacher man and the music I went up to another
spiritual leader and complained to him that other people were having religious experiences but
nothing was happening to me. Other people were talking to spiritual leaders and then FALLING
RIGHT OVER. They called it being "slain by the spirit". He talked to me for a while and then blew air at
me with his mouth. I was knocked to the ground. Under normal circumstances, it would take two
strong men to knock me to the ground (or one with a baseball bat). This man did it with his breath.
Just a puff of air and down I went. I was aware of my surroundings and awake the whole time. This
event really happened. I can't explain it. I don't believe in GOD but I MIGHT BE WRONG ! Maybe GOD knocked me over. I believe that there COULD be a GOD. It is possible. It is extremely unlikely, but... So is the fact that we have LIFE here on planet Earth. There is no sign of life on Mars or the Moon or on any other planet that we can sense, but... here we are... Just Coincidence? Another unexplainable
thing that happened was that I gave my crack cocaine addiction to Jesus. While I was living in
Washington DC I smoked crack and became addicted. I went to a Baptist church and told the
minister about my problem and he suggested that I give my addiction to Jesus. One minister talked
to me in English while another talked to me in "tongues" and I asked Jesus to take my addiction. I
have not smoked cocaine since. That happened 20 years ago. It is ironic that these two events
happened to me in a Christian Church. I believe that Jesus was a man. A smart man, but just a man.
He has some GREAT ideas. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Moses had some
GREAT ideas, too. So did Spike Lee. "DO THE RIGHT THING". Brilliant! "Ram Dass" wrote a
wonderful book (REMEMBER, BE HERE NOW) but only a fool would think that Dr.. Richard Alpert
was the SON of GOD. I have taken communion at a Baptist church and was truly disappointed. I
drank the wine and ate the wafer and NOTHING HAPPENED. I have gone to other events hosted by
other religions but nothing happened there, either. I've played the drums with Buddhist Monks in
front of the White House in Washington DC while protesting the gulf war, I've visited a Hindu GURU
at an ashram in Virginia, chanted the HARE KRSNA for hours, but NOTHING ever happened. I was
raised in a home that believed in reality. Invisible "friends" were dismissed as silly superstitions.
Gods that could not be seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled were obviously nonexistent. We
believe that thunder is caused by static electric discharge, not THOR, the GOD OF THUNDER. We
believe in CAUSE and EFFECT. Science can explain almost everything. Science still needs to do
more basic research because we don't know everything yet. I'm sorry to report that the "tooth fairy"
is not real. The quarter that I found under my pillow after losing a baby tooth was placed there by my
dad. There is no Santa Claus. If it makes YOU feel good to believe in Allah or Jesus or V***GER (Star
Trek), go right ahead. Please don't kill me because I don't bow down towards Mecca. I've BEEN to OZ
and there is a WIZARD behind the curtain. He's just a man... |