David Westerfield

When we hear the word law, many of us instinctively tense up. We think of rules, judgment, or even failure. The very word can stir up shame for the things we’ve done or left undone—or pride for the things we think we’ve done well. But when John Calvin wrote about the law of God, he invited believers to see something far deeper and more beautiful: that the law, rightly understood, is a gift of grace.

In The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book II, Chapter 7), Calvin describes three distinct “uses” of the law. Each has a purpose, and each reveals something about God and about us.

Let’s walk through them together.

Was It All Worth It?

By David Westerfield

On September 11, 2023

In Politics, Security, Terrorism, War

A sobering assessment by @seanmdav of post-9/11 actions by the US government in response to that fateful day. https://thefederalist.com/2023/09/11/was-9-11-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-american-empire/

There was a time after 9/11 I was all about those actions: the War on Terror, the Patriot Act, and so on, justifying every aspect, annoyingly so I might add. My brother fought in both theatres. In Iraq twice. It had to mean something, in light of 9/11, but also for our soldiers’ sacrifices.

Protected: Falcon Install

By David Westerfield

On July 27, 2023

In Uncategorised

The Risk of Grace

By David Westerfield

On January 18, 2022

In Theology

To Love is to Expose Yourself to Pain.

(Banner photo credit: Dark Winter Days by Inge Bovens)

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
Romans 2:4

Why is it that if God’s kindness, patience and forbearance leads us to repentance from our sin to embrace Christ, we don’t assume the same posture and manner when dealing with others with whom we see falling? Whether it’s our own children, a friend who is wandering, or a relative who pains you with their bad choices leading to a ruined life, or for me as an elder, a congregant/parishioner who is straying from the gospel or at least a life centered upon Christ? Why would we think that anything other than grace and kindness and love and a posture of humility will do when dealing with others in these states of wandering from the truth?

Sanctity of Life Sunday and MLK Day – A Prayer

By David Westerfield

On January 16, 2022

In Prayer

Lord God, You have created us in Your image, to reflect You in the world and ultimately bring about Your glory and praise and worth. And yet because of our sin, we have marred and distorted that image so greatly, we fall short of Your glory daily and are subject to Your wise justice and resulting judgment for how we have turned from You and treat our fellow humans. For all the ways we’ve fallen short, have mercy upon us, as we know You are ready and willing to do. Thank You Jesus for Your perfect law keeping in our behalf, Your sacrifice on the cross in our place and Your glorious resurrection for us, that we would behold Your face in glory forever and be satisfied for all eternity.

Log4J Examples in the Wild

By David Westerfield

On December 20, 2021

In Security, Technology

Using my honeypot server, I’ve been able to capture some examples of Log4J attempts against it. What this is showing is that the ModSecurity rules in place, at least in this subset of anecdotal examples, are able to block the various attempts, up to this point.

Setting up ModSecurity with NGINX and Log4J rules: https://davidwesterfield.net/2021/12/log4j-and-modsecurity/

Setting up ModSecurity with Apache and Log4J rules: https://davidwesterfield.net/2021/12/log4j-apache-and-modsecurity/

Log4J, Apache and ModSecurity

By David Westerfield

On December 18, 2021

In Security, Technology

(I’ll be updating this post as more rules are available to stop new vulnerabilities.)

Credit to Christian Folini at coreruleset.org for providing the rule.

A major vulnerability has been discovered in Java web apps basic logging function called Log4J/Log4Shell. The best remedy for this is to update Log4j itself, or update the web app platform running Log4j with a newer version provided by the vendor. But that may take a while in many instances to fully implement.

Log4J, NGINX and ModSecurity

By David Westerfield

On December 17, 2021

In Security, Technology

(I’ll be updating this post as more rules are available to stop new vulnerabilities.)

Credit to Christian Folini at coreruleset.org for providing the rule.

A major vulnerability has been discovered in Java web apps basic logging function called Log4J/Log4Shell. The best remedy for this is to update Log4j itself, or update the web app platform running Log4j with a newer version provided by the vendor. But that may take a while in many instances to fully implement.

EdgeRouter: End of the Road Ultimate Reset

By David Westerfield

On November 5, 2021

In Technology

I have a spare EdgeRouter 4 that was bricked but still appears operational, probably just having some sort of a boot error that I can’t see. I’ve been hunting for a more serious level factory reset guide and came across this (something I have yet to try): manual TFTP Recovery. Hope it helps if you’re stuck.

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018189493-EdgeRouter-Manual-TFTP-Recovery#7

(Archived): https://westerfunk.net/archives/technology/EdgeRouter%20TFTP%20Manual%20Recovery/