"You're outnumbered!"

That's what my good friend, Jim Pickard, said when he heard that we now have daughter #2!
What a marvelous blessing God has given us. Things went very well with the birth (water birth if you're interested) and we're all safely home now.

Stats:
Name: Rosemary Elise Hastings (a.k.a. Rosie)
Born: 30 Nov 2005 00:38
Height: 19"
Weight: 7lb 4oz

Pics:

Before I die, I want to...

    We are all looking forward to something - the weekend, the next paycheck, the next vacation, the "big game", a new baby, etc... - we are all looking! But are we looking for the right things? Are we seeking what we should?

Consider Simeon:

    Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

    And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Luke 2:25-35 (ESV)

    Simeon was a good man, but he wasn't satisfied with what he had seen and done - he was looking for something else. Simeon wanted "the consolation of Israel" - the fulfillment of God's final promise to Abraham. Being Moved by the spirit, he went to the temple and found just that fulfillment - Jesus!
    How did he react? Without excitement - as if you've just received the next issue of the daily newspaper that has been delivered for years? Did he say, "Oh, it's you. Alright then"? No! He was excited that he had found the messiah!
    More than anything else in this world he wanted to see the fulfillment of God's promise before he died. He wanted to know that the savior of the world had come.
    Just as excited as Simeon was, Joseph and Mary were a little bewildered at the proclamation that their son would turn the world upside down. But that is exactly what God wants - the world turned upside down.
    The world thinks a life steeped in sin is "right side up." The only way to change the world is to change the individuals in the world - just as you have to turn a box filled with packing peanuts over to empty every last one of them, we have to be turned upside down to shake all of the sin out of our lives. Jesus died so that you and I can have sin removed from our lives and start a new life for Him - different from the world.
    How have you reacted to the knowledge of Jesus? Are you extremely excited to realize that He is the answer and that He died for you? Has He turned your life upside down? Or have you just been knocked on your side allowing some of the peanuts to fall out but still keeping many inside?
    What are you waiting to do before you die? Is it your goal to have a relationship with God? We have no guarantee of another day so don't wait! Get excited about Jesus, be obedient, and turn your life upside down today!

Propitiation - I now begin to understand the wrath of God

This is a little long, but please read it all and let me know what you think.

I recently was reading through Lamentations and came across this verse:

Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?

I pondered this for a while and came up with some thoughts using Lamentations 3:25-39, Romans 3:21-26, and Romans 6:15-23. The gist of the lesson boiled down to two main ideas:

1. When I choose to sin, how can I possibly feel justified in complaining about the painful consequences of my reckless self-indulgence?
2. When I sin and God allows me to continue in this life – though, justly, I should be struck dead – why am I motivated to rail against God rather than thanking Him for allowing the opportunity to humble myself and correct my life?

To get to the topic of this post, we need to consider Romans 3:25 which speaks of the propitiation that God has offered. What is “propitiation”? To propitiate is to “gain or regain the favor or goodwill of: appease, conciliate.” The clear implication is that something has been done to anger one to whom an act of propitiation needs to be offered. Speaking about God and I, that “something” is sin. And, really, “anger” isn't a strong enough word – God is full of wrath and indignation because of my sin!

Why is God so full of wrath because I've decided to sin? God can have nothing to do with darkness/impurity/sin, so sin clearly separates God and I. I think that is more of a cause of heartbreak or disappointment to God than anger. The answer to where God's wrath comes from is the means by which propitiation is made – the blood of Jesus. Jesus had to die for my sins to be washed away and the relationship with God to be restored. When I sin, I declare the following to God: “I don't care about Jesus nor His sacrifice for me.” I think we all understand that at a superficial level.

I would not have been able to fully comprehend this until two and half years ago. That is when this little bit of pure joy came into my life. When Willow was born, a new way of looking at the world was revealed to me. I want nothing bad to happen to her. I know that she will have her scrapes and scratches and the scars to attest, but I want to do all that I can to take care of her because I love her so much. Even considering something harming her – let alone taking her life – makes me feel like I've just fallen off a cliff and brings tears to my eyes.

Imagine that this situation arose – you have some medical condition or something that no one is able to fix. You're going to lose your life if you don't find a remedy. Somehow, it is discovered that the only way for you to be cured is by something Willow can offer. In order for this to happen, though, Willow would have to die. This is stretching things, but imagine that I actually allow her to die for you. Try to appreciate the thought and turmoil that would have to go into that kind of decision.

Next, imagine that all goes well with your procedure and you are in perfect health. Would you be grateful? Would you show appreciation for what has happened so that you can enjoy your life? Of course not! You would continue living your life exactly as if nothing had happened. Not only that, but you would go out of your way to ignore that any gift had been given you.

Then, try to imagine my reaction. I would beat you nearly senseless all day long for as long as I had strength. I would make your life such a tortured, painful mess that you would beg and plead for me to end it all. There would be absolutely no bounds to the amount of pain that I would enjoy inflicting upon you. My retribution would be unceasing. My wrath would have no limits.

That is how God must feel when I sin. He gave His son's life for me, and I act as if nothing happened. Think about that the next time you're tempted to neglect an opportunity God has blessed you with to share His message or you are about to succumb to some tempting pleasure.

Spare yourself from God's wrath and you will have no reason to complain about anything.

If this is real, it says a lot.

I don't approve of all of the language in the documentary "Super Size Me" but the content was phenomenal. It chronicled some of the more disgusting facts about fast food - in general - and McDonalds - specifically. I heard about McD's being the largest consumer of cow eyeballs, but found that to be false. Really, it's not good stuff.

Then, this picture was sent by a friend from work. If it's not doctored, this has to be one of the worst combinations of advertising I've ever seen, but I really like it.

A call to action!

One of the most commonly quoted phrases from the new testament epistles (in my estimation) is "contend earnestly for the faith." I decided to sit down and read Jude to discover what exactly the text was discussing. In so doing, I discovered a few good lessons.

1. The call to action is for all who claim to be christians
We all have a duty to stand against ungodliness in all of its forms (vs 3,4)
2. Our greatest foes are not those on the outside, but those amongst us
Some of the most violent and destructive attacks that we may ever face will come from those who call themselves Christians rather than from without. Jude warns of those who crept in and are looking to pervert the grace of God. (vs 4)
3. God judges those who reject Him
The Israelites rescued from Egyptian bondage were cursed to wander for 40 years (until the whiners died) and missed the promised land. Sodom and Gomorrah were obliterated for their utter wickedness (not exclusively only for, but including homosexuality). These are to be an example because if it happened to them, it can happen to us! (vs 5-7)
4. Selfish disregard for God's commands is folly
Three examples are given: Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Cain disobeyed God by selfishly holding back and not giving God his best. Balaam let selfishness and greed motivate him to go against God's command and was rebuked by his donkey! (Numbers 22) Korah selfishly desired more power and authority and was swallowed by the earth along with his family. Those who stood with him were consumed by fire (Numbers 16) (vs 8-11)
5. Ungodliness makes one worthless
Waterless clouds, fruitless trees, wildly crashing waves, stars wandering aimlessly toward the darkness - all are not fulfilling their intended purpose. People who fight against God are operating contrary to the very reason we are created - to worship and offer our adoration to God! (vs 12,13)
6. Judgment is coming for those who contend against God
God is coming to execute judgement against the grumblers who follow their selfish desires.
7. How do we face this opposition?
Build your faith, pray, keep yourself in the love of God, look for the mercy of Christ, share the mercy of Christ with others, share the gospel message with those who are lost, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner." (vs 20-23)
8. Get on the winning team!
It is only with Christ's strength that we can keep from stumbling and we know that He will win.

Are you contending for the faith? Are you active like you should be?
I know I'm not doing as well as I should, but we all need to acknowledge that and push to be contending more earnestly!

A great blessing

Dan, Mark, and others have the tremendous blessing of being able to deliver a truly mind blowing amount of goods and money to assisst brethren in the south that have been affected by hurricane Katrina. They're down there finally and are getting to work helping repair some of the damage from fallen trees to a couple of meeting houses as well as homes of some of the brethren there.

Please keep them and their families whom they are away from in your prayers.

Remember to count your blessings, too. We truly are blessed to the point of overflowing every day, but we far too often take the complete richness of God's blessings for granted.

slacker...

I've been a blogging slacker. I'll attempt to post more regularly.

Temporal, Physical Equality is an Illusion

I hope you'll agree that we are - without exception - wholly equal in God's eyes. All have sinned and have no hope of living in a way that would merit salvation.

Many in the world seek to create temporal equality where everyone has the same good things to enjoy. This was tried, and failed. More recently, it has also failed but rather than utter dissolution, it has evolved to allow tenets contrary to what was originally intended.

In Matt's blog, he referenced this story - "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. It's very short, so if you are unfamiliar with it, then you should read it!

The feel of this story very much reminds me of Animal Farm by Orwell (another must read - one of the handful of "classics" that I enjoyed!).

Basically, there are two main thoughts:

1. When "everyone" is "equal," there will always be some who are "more equal" than others. Complete, temporal equality is purely illusory. There will always - of necessity - need to be an unfettered governing body that must regulate all of the "others."
2. In order for equality to exist, it is not possible (some may argue only "not practical") to bring everyone up to a certain "good" level, rather, everyone must be lowered to the lowest common denominator. This is where wealth re-distribution schemes come into play (IRS & Welfare/Social Security is a limited example in the U.S. of A.). As Jesus said, "you always have the poor with you" so any attempt to change the poor into something else is futile exercise at best.

Please feel free to comment (supply a name and select the "other" radio button), especially if you disagree!

I stand in awe of God's creation

I have the blessing of being able to take a business trip in early October. The upside is that it's further west than I've ever been. The minor downside is that it'll be in LasVegas and with Stacey being quite pregnant and bringing Willow along, we probably won't get to go to far off the beaten path and experience a lot of that beauty.

In lieu of that, some friends recently went out west and did the whole nature trip thing. Go check out Will's blog for a great description and a couple of amazing (and I don't use that word lightly) pictures!

Book Review: God and the Astronomers

The following is my review of the book, God and the Astronomers by Robert Jastrow.

"When a scientist writes about God, his colleagues assume that he is over the hill or going bonkers." That is the beginning of a brief book about some observations/discoveries in the world of Astronomy written by a professed agnostic.

My initial interest in this book was two fold - 1. obviously the spiritual perspective was of concern. 2. Modern mathematics (esp. calculus and successive realms of study) are very firmly rooted in astronomy or come from those who had a strong inclination for both areas of discussion. In addition to these two items, we are currently involved in a study of apologetics in one of our sunday morning classes and I wondered what light this might shed on some of our discussions.

On the latter two fronts, this book was fairly informative. The former point was really only addressed (to any real intellectual level) in two "appendices" by commentators who wished to share a few thoughts based on the data layed out in the heart of this book.

The majority of the text looks at a brief history of astronomy and its connections both with the spiritual and arcane. Both Newton and Leibniz are cited as having great interest and making advances in astronomy while simultaneously involving themselves in investigations of the spiritual construction of the universe and how we relate to God and devoting attention to alchemy and astrology. Throughout history, it has been rare that one would look to the stars and not be prompted to think of a higher being (primarily God, lately "extra terrestrial life"). Just as biologists look to explain the origins of life, Astronomers frequently have studied what is transpiring in our universe. This resulted in theories proposed early in the 20th century (or at the end of the 19th) that caused much debate (especially with physicists such as Einstein) that pointed to the universe having an absolute beginning. With progressing technology, these theories have been all but codified and are accepted almost universally in both astronomical and physics circles. The only remaining point of contention is whether the "big bang" was an absolute beginning or a relative beginning.

Those in the absolute camp propose God as the prime cause. In the relative camp, the suggestion proposed is that the universe is constantly expanding, then contracting upon itself (explosion and implosion) over a great period of time. This view holds that we are simply in the midst of this process repeating itself over and over.

Also, descriptions (moderately technical, but not beyond anyone who completed a few intermediate high school science courses) of the varying methods of investigation and their progressive refinement are offered. This lends credence to the claims that are put forth in a clearly understandable way.

That is the meat of the book in a nutshell.

The main problem that I have is that the idea is proposed that the universe is ~10-15 billion years old and the earth is about 4.3 billion. Included in this assumption is that general evolution IS an accepted fact. God created Adam complete and fully developed. Why should we not believe that He created the heavens in a similar state (with light from stars billions of miles away already brightening our night time sky)? The answer is a simple one, in my mind.

What I found most interesting were a few of the quotes contributed at the end of the book of which I will share a few here.
This first set of quotes are by Dr. John A. O'Keefe of NASA (a catholic by profession).
On the question of our universe as happenstance or intention:

"We are, by astronomical standards, a pamered, cossetted, cherished group of creatures; our Darwinian claim to have done it all ourselves is as ridiculous and as charming as a baby's brave efforts to stand on his own feet and refuse his mother's hand. If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the Universe was created for man to live in."(p118)

The impact of some of these advances in regarding the universe:

"...I think that the confirmation that the Universe was created at a dfinite time in the past, and that we see no reasonable prospect of explaining the Creation in natural terms, will be seen by many people as a starting-point for faith."(p119)

From Professor Steven T. Katz, Department of Religion, Cornell University (jew)
On the independence from observation of the beginning:

"...the notion of creation does not properly belong to the scientific vocabulary, which deals in causal connections and is premised on the assumption that causality operates everywhwere and over everything. Whether or not the Big Bang cosmology complements or parallels the Genesis account, it does reinforce an overriding consideration: to talk of creation is to point to another category of reality, requiring at least an openness to other than narrolwy scientific questions, and even more important, an openness to other than narrowly positivistic answers."(p133)

On evolution's failure to define the "why" of things:

"The basis for disagreement is not the conflict of evolution with a literal reading of Genesis, but rather the evolutionist's denial of teleology, i.e., the denial of purpose in and through nature, and purposeful movement in and through history, toward some end or goal. While evolution argues for the random, purposeless nature of natural selection, this argument only describes specific events, whether mutations or reproductions, within history and nature. It does not offer evidence for or against the purposeful ordering of nature and history as wholes."(p137)

Why this all boils down to "faith" on both sides:

"We must, however, recognize that teleology is a metaphysical concept whose ultimate reality cannot be affirmed or denied on the basis of empirical or scientific evidence. Despite scientific claims to the contrary, the destiny or meaning of the human race, and of the cosmic order, cannot be ascertained by a study of discrete biological or historical events. It is no more logical to argue the world has no ultimate cause or purpose than to argue that it does - in both cases the empirical or scientific evidence for deciding the matter is inadequate."(p138)

Consequently, we will never be able to "prove God" (theory, prop. 1, prop. 2, prop. 3, Q.E.D.). But with the beauty and power we see as we examine the universe and the world around us, it is difficult to draw another conclusion than that there IS a God and that He put all of this together.

Overall, if you're not terribly interested in astronomy, this will be quite a dry read (though a relatively quick one). My final suggestion is to get it from the library (as I did), read through it, and if you find it to be a valuable reference, buy it used.

ESV: divorce - God's view is unchanging

In this recent post on the ESV blog, they mention their translation of Malachi 2:16 as it differs from most other translations (NIV/KJV/NASB).

Some of the thoughts seem to make sense on one level, but does that invalidate the thought conveyed by the more "traditional" translation. Just because the bible (in the ESV) doesn't explicitly state that God hates divorce, isn't that the thrust of other passages?

Deuteronomy 24:1-4

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

God sets out some of the laws the Israelites were to follow regarding this subject and this expresses the grave nature of such a decision. Were I eugene peterson, I might word it thusly:

You better be 100% sure that you don't want anything to do with this woman anymore. If you make up some excuse about her purity and she marries some other guy - forget about her! She's off limits. If you try and take her back, God detests that foolishness!

Jesus takes things a step further (or back a few steps, as I prefer to regard it) in Matthew 19:3-9:

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Far too often, christians today get caught up in looking for an acceptable cause for divorce and remarriage and they totally miss the point of Jesus' answer in this passage. The question is - "Can a man get a divorce for any reason." Jesus answers - "No."

He goes further in saying that this law which was from the beginning is that one man and one woman are to leave the families they grew up with, become united in their new family and to not break this covenantal bond. It is only because of the hardness of the hearts of the Israelite nation that Moses (interestingly, not God - at least explicitly) allowed divorce, but God never intended to be this way!

Since I am not a Hebrew scholar (i'm stuck with contemporary languages like French, German, and some Italian and Gaelic) I can't comment on the technical and qualitative accuracy of the ESV translation over the others. I will say this in closing: That passage (in the ESV) still teaches God's disdain for divorce even though it isn't expressly stated. Further, it illustrates the type of heart one must have to participate in such an action.

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I realize that I have not addressed all areas of the typical MDR debate, but that wasn't my intention. I will add as an aside that Jesus does offer an exception in that when a spouse breaks their vows of fidelity the other would be approved to remarry, but Jesus still holds to the fact that God does NOT WANT divorce, period.

Fire away!

Follow up to "Complete Devotion Required"

In yesterday's post, I went over some points about how it is imperative that we devote ourselves to God with every ounce of our being.

Well, in the context of the sermon I shared on that topic, I mentioned a few songs that I have questions/problems with. I seriously upset some folks. So, I stood up the next sunday and reminded everyone that my intention wasn't to hurt feelings or cause confusion, rather to admonish folks to think about what they're singing. I also stated that I didn't know that I could bind what I thought about those songs on anyone, but I do have questions.

I thought - for fun - I'd post those songs with my reasons and a few others. If you have some (Ward already chimed in with one - i'll spell it out below for those who haven't read the comments), post them in the comments section! And, if you disagree with me, give me a reason (and just so you know - if "we've always sung that" is your reason, then go give yourself a swirly!).

Questionable Songs (or parts thereof):
1. 10,000 Angels - Verse 3 is what I have a problem with. Quoting Jesus with "Woman, behold thy son." is taking it out of context and makes it sound like "Look at me!" not John as the scripture expresses.
2. Jesus, Rose of Sharon - After looking into this further, my objection isn't quite as solidly founded as I first thought, but I still don't care for it. My thought was that this phrase is attributed to the bride in the song of solomon. The TNIV agrees with this as does the NASB. John wesley is the only readily available commentator that I can find who believes ch 2:1 is the groom speaking. Everyone else (that I have found so far) expresses this as the bride speaking (lowly & lovely in contrast to the high & noble trees from 2:3) of herself. Though it isn't a strict parallel, we (the church) are Christ's bride, therefore HE should not be compared to the rose.
3. Lily of the Valley - Same thought as above, except for the Lily. I have less of a problem with this one because it is not so dependant on the whole metaphor as the preceeding.
4. Mansion over the Hilltop - "I want a gold one, that's silver lined" sounds a little on the greedy side to me. Jesus promised us a "dwelling" ("mansions" in the KJV isn't the best translation) not a palatial estate. In general I can sing this song, I just don't know that it's the best choice.
5. The Old Rugged Cross - (let the flames begin!) I don't know that I even need to spell out my reasons to get yelled at. I have an outline expressing why this isn't an accurate representation of what Paul spoke of in Galatians (and will gladly email that to any that wish to read it). We have no biblical teaching that expresses the concept of exchanging the cross (or even what it represents) for eternal life. Jesus does that for me. Yes, it sounds symbolic in its language, but really it elevates the cross to a higher position of esteem than God has placed it. This song is - to me - the new testament Nehushtan.
6. Come share the Lord - "no one is a stranger here"? That doesn't sound right to me! Any who are faithfully serving God should be part of the family, but any who decides to wallow in the filthy pits of sin (and no, Dennis, there isn't any "lovely filth" down there!) are strangers! This sounds remarkably calvinistic to me.

There are sure to be others (especially some of the more "contemporary" ones), but I'm drawing a blank right now. One other that was mentioned was - My Hope is Built (The Solid Rock).
"Imputed Righteousness" from verse four was the assertion, and looking at the words my take is that the thought is that living in Jesus (dressed in His righteousness) is what indemnifies us (faultless to stand). Though, I could easily see that this could be understood to imply no need for a trial with Jesus as our advocate which is exactly what we DO need.

That's it for now - fire away or add more fuel as you see fit!

Complete devotion is required

I gave a lesson about our singing in worship last week (and was soundly rebuked for mentioning some "traditional" songs that we probably shouldn't be singing - similar, but not nearly as discouraging as what Ward endured) and it lead me to a personal revelation.

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 22 Jesus is "tested" by a lawyer who tries to trip Jesus up by getting Him to admit that one command is more important than another. Of course, Jesus answers in a way which should have soundly humbled the lawyer. His response was as follows (from verse 37):

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

What struck me were Jesus' expression of the devotion we are to show our Heavenly Father, Lord, and God. Jesus said that we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. I have always known that to be representative of complete devotion to God, but I hadn't really broken it down like this. What Jesus is talking about is being completely wrapped up in God in our emotions, spirit, and intellect. If I leave out any of these pieces, I'm cheating God. I am sinning if I don't allow myself to be completely entralled in all of these aspects of my life.

From what I have seen, the Lord's church today clings to the intellectual side (sometimes not even that so much) and neglects the spirit and abhors the emotional aspect. Not any of the three should be regarded as more important than the other. So, those who focus solely on the emotional side (as Paul spoke of in Romans 10) and neglect the intellectual aspects are wrong just as those who are "all head and no heart" are wrong.

I know I personally need to be more involved in my heart and spirit as I live for God. I believe that the intellectual approach is the soundest approach for convincing and converting the lost to the Lord's body (emotional & spiritual appeals are too subjective), but if we have someone visit with our congregation and see an absence of emotional, spiritual devotion to God, all of the reasoned arguments in the world aren't going to convince that sinner that we are practicing new testament christianity - because we AREN'T if we don't have the total devotion.

God wants all of me. He wants all of you. Where do you need to improve? What suggestions can you offer for drawing closer to God with my whole being?

New personal record!

I played disc golf at the belmont course last night and scored a new personal best - 3 under par!

As addicted as Jason is to Madden '06, I think I'm worse with disc golf, it's just not as easy access!


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Make sure you read the fair tax book!

Must Read Book! (the fairtax book)

If you are an american taxpayer (or will at some point be one, or married to one), you must read this book:

I'm only halfway through, but am thoroughly convinced that everyone in america needs to read this.

It details the history of the income tax in America, what the problems inherent to this system are and simply describes the solution.

Some important notes from the first half:

1. Number two of Karl Marx's 10 step process for creating a communist society is "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax" (number 10 is "free education for all children in public schools" but that's another post).
2. The 16th amendment to the Constitution of the United States technically violates the 4th amendment (16th - making forced seizure of an individual's income [up to 100%] legal, 4th - right to be free from illegal search/seizure of property). The IRS has the right to do things that judges would never allow a local police department from doing
3. Each year, the government collects nearly $1.5 trillion ($1,500,000,000,000 if you need to see the zeroes) in income taxes. Collectively, our nation spends roughly $500 billion ($500,000,000,000) in maintaining compliance with the current tax laws.
4. It has also been calculated that in 2002 individuals, non-profits and businesses spent a combined 5.8 billion hours complying with tax code. That translates to 8,700 people's entire lives if they live to about 70 years old. Another way of looking at it is that for a 40 hour work week with a couple of weeks of vacation a year, this would be 2.7 million full time jobs. That is a tremendous amount of wasted time that isn't necessary!

A brief summary of the pending legislation (H.R. 25 and S.25 for the House and Senate, respetively):

1. Abolish the individual, corporate, and business income taxes, capital gains, social security, and medicare taxes.
2. This will lead to an overall reduction in the cost of consumer goods because there is an "embedded tax" of roughly 22% for most retail/service goods. By "embedded tax" the authors describe the costs that all individuals in the supply chain have to pad into their cost of doing business.
3. There will be - as proposed in the bills - a 23% national retail sales tax added. For most purchases, this translates to only paying a few pennies more than the previous price after the embedded taxes are removed and the market adjusts prices.
4. This also is a boost overall, because you take home EVERY PENNY you make. There is NO withholding of taxes (from a federal perspective).
5. In addition to that, there is the concept of a "prebate." For a given family size, the amount of expenses for life essentials is estimated and the tax on those goods (food and other things necessary for existence) is calculated (based on some poverty level indicators). That is divided into 12 and every month, consumers get a check or debit card that has that balance at the beginning of the month which one can then use to purchase such goods.

I need to keep reading for more info, but some of the predicted side effects are just short of revolutionary.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE read this book. Buy it, get it from the library, borrow someone else's copy - but read it!

Then, get in touch with your congressmen and let them know that you support this!
If you have more questions, go to the Americans for Fair Taxation website.

I found my old friends!

Once upon a time, there used to be a crew (and quite motley they were) that ran around after meeting sunday nights, and spent time together on weekends and the like. We'll, I found a few of them on pleonast:
The collier clan (in chronological order) : Josh, Jessi, Allison
and Angela "Red" Moore

I'm so glad I found them!

And to Josh and Terra - Congratulations on the impending baby!

What book of the bible are you?

I'm Romans -

You have insight on what it means to turn your life around and try to live for God.
You really want people to understand the deeper things of God, but have a tendency to come across as pushy and prideful…and at times, maybe you are. But you know your weakness and work hard at trying to temper it with grace and compassion.

So, I guess that's it - what about you?

Thanks to Jason for pointing this little thing out!

If you had any doubts before...

... you will hereafter be disabused of them.
I am not - repeat NOT - a democrat. That isn't to say that I'm a staunch republican either. I would most closely align with the libertarian view of government, but frequently vote republican due to the issues and the candidates running races where I have the opportunity to participate.

I'm all for the fair tax movement (you should be, too!). I firmly believe that we should abolish social security (it had a limited purpose at one time, but has imploded and is taking our nation with it). I'm also very much in favor of private gun ownership (I just don't have the money right now, else I'd have one along with a concealed carry permit).

Near the top of the list of ideals/groups that should be abolished, the ACLU is a prime candidate. I can only guess that they are behind this current NCAA foolishness (thanks to Ward for pointing this out). Miami University (of Ohio) went through this some time ago and they are no longer the redskins, they're the "Redhawks" now. Well, isn't that just precious. Should we change the name of the town, or the river because they're named after the miami indians after all.

There are two great quotes from the article that I would like to share:

"I think it's offensive to native Americans ... the Seminole Indian tribe who support the traditions of FSU," Bush said on his way into a Cabinet meeting. "I think they insult those people by telling them, 'No, no, you're not smart enough to understand this. You should be feeling really horrible about this.' It's ridiculous."

This is a very succinct summary of what is wrong with the general democrat mentality today - you aren't smart enough to handle your (money/healthcare/parenting/etc...) so we'll start a huge bureaucracy to handle it.

If they (NCAA/ACLU/Democrats) want to fix something, they should heed this quote from Governor Bush:

"You know what they ought to be worried about? The graduation rates of most college athletes," the second-term Florida governor said. "Maybe if they had some suggestions on that, that universities could apply and could implement, they could be doing a service to all of us."

I'll end my rant there. Please, for the love of all that is good, stop voting for these people!

I want one!

I just read this post at the ESV blog, and totally want one. I love the concept of interlinear bibles, and a "reverse interlinear" just sounds so cool! Instead of the greek being the main part and transliterating that into english, this takes the text as translated and matches the greek text that was used for translation as well as the closest transliteration of the greek word. So, it's really a very interesting take on the whole concept. You get the interlinear (greek + choppy english) plus the readable text as the thread to tie it all together.

This is definitely going on my amazon wishlist (^_^)

Prayers, Please!

A good friend wrote that his son, Noah, had a seizure Sunday night. He posted some commentary as a result of the experience that I'll point you to, it is definitely worth reading. I can only marginally share the suffering from when Willow had what turned out to be a horrendous kidney infection at the age of 3 months. With her insane fever and the hours in the emergency room... man, that's not a good experience. Thankfully, God has taken care of us and she is completely whole (she shouldn't have grown out of her UT [urniary tract] reflux until she was 10, and that would only be 16% probable!).

Well, keep them in your prayers as they'll be going for some further tests tomorrow morning.

Make sure you hug the one's you love today!

The results are in!

Well, I didn't make my goal, but I did set a new personal record - 31:00.
So, that's 1:12 better than the last one. I'm intending to run again next friday and maybe I can shave another minute or so off of that since I know what I'm getting into this time (the course was much less flat than I expected).

I've actually completed my powerpoint and outline (not in that order) for tomorrow, so I get the rest of the night to study for our apologetics class tomorrow morning!

Big race tonight!

I'm going to be running my 4th race ("blazin' hot") of the season tonight! Yes, it's only a 5k (3 miles) but my goal is to eventually run a 15k by next year (or at LEAST a 10k). And, no, I'm not as fast as I used to be. I used to be able to do 3 miles in 15-16 minutes - but I weighed about 60 pounds less than I do now (80 less than back in April when I started running again!). So, my goal for this race is to break the 30 minute mark. I've done it in some practicing lately, but have only done 32:12 (memorial day) this year. I'll post a follow up when I get the results.

I survived!

Well, I survived the weekend!
I'll post some excerpts from the two lessons I preached sunday later. The funeral went well... or, I suppose it did. It's always sad to me when funerals have very low attendance. There were maybe 50 people there monday morning and it's just sad. The bible study went well last night, too. Dee has a good heart (i think) and wants to do the right things for the right reasons, but she has a lot of questions and she thinks that she needs to have at least some of them answered before making this committment. On one hand, it's good that she considers this seriously, on the other hand, I need to help convey HOW serious this is!

I have a prayer request: a good friend, Kristi Tustin, from the columbus ohio area just had a miscarraige. I can only imagine what she and Eric are going through right now, but please keep them in your prayers.

On a positive totally secular note - I played my first "zero" game of disc golf sunday evening. By "zero" I mean I came in totally on par (one or two holes over, one or two under). The earlier games had all been +12 or worse!

I'm afraid I'm hooked on disc golf!

Big weekend

Well, I'm doing a lot this weekend, so I probably won't be posting anything until monday. Here's the rundown:
Saturday - study/clean/play with Willow
Sunday - Two sermons (I'll post summaries later), a viewing (for a funeral), and HOPEFULLY disc golf (I just finally got a putter and picked up a couple of new used discs I'd like to try!).
Monday - Preaching my first funeral, work, bible study with a lady who is VERY close to devoting herself to God (PRAY FOR THIS ONE, PLEASE!)

On top of all of that, I just got the new harry potter from the library, so I'll probably be reading that some, too. And, we're very close to finishing the season of "Lost" so we may watch a bit of that this weekend (most likely tonight if any).

I hope God is taking care of you all well.

What do you speak?

A friend had his results posted, so i thought I'd share mine.

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Pictures of the New baby!

Ok, I'm posting a couple of shots we got from the ultrasound last week, and don't ask - we don't know whether we will have another girl or a boy this time.

pic1: "lips"



pic2: traditional profile shot



pic 3: bizarre new GE 4d shot. I think this looks a little odd, too, but some of the other 20 week shots out there are even creepier.

Movie Review - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

We had a work day at the meeting house saturday morning, so we already asked Stacey's parents to watch Willow. Having not been on a "date" since our 5 year anniversary (22 April 2005) Stacey asked if she could just spend the night. So, we were able to go on a date for our 63 month anniversary!

We both like Tim Burton films, and we like Johnny Depp in his films so we thought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a sure winner!

I haven't actually read the original, but I have heard that this movie is much closer to the original text (Roald Dahl's daughter had producer credit, so I believe this to be true). That being said, this isn't a movie I would take a small child to. It is much darker than the 70's film (surprised? Then you haven't seen Tim Burton flicks before!). That being said, there were some things I liked better. Depp's Wonka wasn't so "paternal" and was very much not distraught when the children who didn't listen fell victim to their own selfish indulgence. There also wasn't the pretense of the "slugworth deal" to provide a true test of an "honest heart." Basically, there is one kid left, and he is the defacto winner. This is where the story takes a very good turn. I'll leave the results for you to discover if you desire to see this (it is at least worth a rental!).

The main thing I didn't like about this (as compared to the older film) is that while the music was much more enjoyable, a few of the "morality songs" were not readily understandable due to the harshness of the music.

Ultimately, this is a very entertaining, extremely well thought out and executed and visually appealing movie. The themes of selfishness & self-indulgence leading to personal destruction and the importance of strong , close family ties are lessons that aren't expressed enough in today's culture.


I would recommend this for your kids who are in the 10-12 range or older.

Challenges in Evangelism

I don't expect this to be a very deep post, but I'm going to solicit some suggestions and/or raise these items up for your consideration, at least.

At Higher Ground this year, I believe it was Mr. Ward who said that the church is intended to be a converting machine and - for many reasons - what should be a well oiled mechanism, it is very much in need of an overhaul. By that, I don't mean switching to "new" things to draw people, rather getting back to things that we (collectively) have let fall into history.

I regularly listen to a few different baptist "pastors" expound the ideals of christian living. Stacey mentioned a very good lesson she heard on parenting, and we purchased the mp3. He is way off on pushing the idea of "total depravity" but some of his other points were very sound (too much emphasis on the "loving God" and not the "God of purity," too much of the "God is my friend" and not enough of the "Wrathful God of judgement"). One obvious contradiction is that he presented that children are born with the "inherited sin of Adam" but until they're old enough to believe, they can't be saved (of course this contradicts some other calvinist points, but that's another discussion) so the very children that Jesus tells us to be like will burn in Hell because they can't choose to follow Christ (!) That doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

What I was thinking is that some of his principles for training our children should be applied in general evangelism. I am really convinced that the reason we aren't helping grow the body of Christ is because:

1. Our culture has watered down/misunderstood sin.
2. We haven't helped people understand the severity of sin and its consequences.

So, what do you think? I'm going to list a couple of "groups" of folks we might focus on teaching/studying with and look for suggestions on how to best approach any of the individual or collective groups.

1. Our Children
2. Irreligious (those who do not actively practice/espouse any particular belief)
3. "christian" folk
4. Non-"christian" religious folk (muslim,hindi,buddhist, etc...)
5. New converts (I think this is one of the biggest areas where we drop the ball!)

Tomorrow is the big day... (EDIT)

<>I was REALLY tired when I wrote this last night (tuesday) and somehow forgot that today is Wednesday, NOT Thursday (when the ultrasound is actually going to occur). That should resolve the unitentional misinformation I supplied! < /EDIT >

...where we don't find out what we're having!
We're going to get the standard 20 week ultrasound tomorrow. That is cool in and of itself, but what is EXTRA cool is that we get one of the newer GE 4d ultrasounds. I'm hoping to take some stills from the video we get and post them here... probably tomorrow night, but definitely in the next couple of days.

And, of course, every day that one gets to be with brethren, swim and play free pinball is a wonderful day. We're all wiped out, so we'll probably just be watching some of the Lost episodes that the wonderful Mr. Bram Cohen enables me to see.

What is hurting God's people? - My responses

Jason asked the following question:
What is hurting God’s people right now?
Well, here are a couple of things that I've been thinking about lately to answer his question:

1. We rob God in our offerings - Malachi 3:8-10 - time, money, service, love, devotion - consequently, we don't fully experience the depth of His blessings (or we don't recognize them) and we, therefore, neglect to serve Him more.
2. Apathy - "someone will get it done" and that thought is only by those that even care if something ever gets done. Not caring is one of the most detrimental attitudes in the church today. This is probably - aside from persistent, intentional wickedness - the most antithetical (to the very essence of living "like Christ")attitude that a christian could exhibit.
3. Lack of faith/grounding - so many christians are "hereditary" and, therefore, not well grounded because they've never questioned/studied biblical questions for themselves. If there is no true, personal faith then there is no conviction and no action. So, we have meeting halls full of spiritual babes who believe they're much more mature than they actually are.
4. Lack of repentance/understanding sin - i think we've preached (and heard from the denominational world) too much about God's love, and neglected his holiness/purity. Sin is disgusting. Sin separates me from God. I have to remove sin as far from myself as possible, not see how close I can get without falling in (and then of course jumping right over that edge!).
5. Lack of trust for brethren - we don't have the close relationships that we should have with each other. This leads to all sorts of problems. A major problem is that we can't/won't ask for help. If we can't ask someone to help mow our lawn when we're sick, or fix something that we don't know how, how can we confess our sins to each other and expect real support?

That's just my take on the question. What do you think? Feel free to comment on my thoughts or on the original question yourself.

Break the cycle!

Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do know history are doome d to watch it being repeated.

It seems like no matter how hard we try in the world we live that our influence has very little impact. I'm afraid that we let this happen in the church today, too. If more in the church would really understand the above thought, then there would be teaching of those who are younger and/or new in the faith. We didn't have enough teaching from some point about spreading the gospel, instead we have been taught how to debate, write articles, and rip our brethren (in other congregations!) who don't agree with us 100% to pieces! When did it become alright to totally ignore the commands of God and change our perspective from looking to the world "to seek and save the lost" to "make him[a new convert] twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

My uncle (one of our elders) said this last night - "lead, follow, or get out of the way!" If we see something going on that shouldn't, or something that needs to get done that isn't and no one else is stepping up to the plate, then I MUST do something about it. We are ridiculously lacking in evangelism today. We need to look at history and do something about it so that we don't repeat it, nor sit idly by and watch it being repeated!

So, get out there and do something to spread God's message today!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm going to be putting together some short articles (one page type things) that we're going to put on one side of a sheet, and a little bit about us (our congregation) on the other side and distribute those to the community. I think I'll try and post the articles here, otherwise, shoot me an email and I'd be happy to send the text your way.

I Love my wife (last post for today!)

God has blessed me with a wonderful woman.
She bought some clothes that I'd needed at a great sale price today. She cleaned the house. She made a good dinner of beef and potatoes. She made cookies for me. Then, to top it all off... well, I need to give some back story:

My lawnmower has been flaky and I haven't had time to deal with it for a couple of days. After some dis/assembly my dad suggested that i might have some water in the line. So, i start to unscrew the drain plug and try to bleed off the water. After a little bit, I gave it another try and still it wouldn't run. I saw an old stainless steel bowl (~3-4 cups size, a good double portion cereal bowl - i'm sure most of you guys know what I'm talking about), so I decided to drain the rest of the tank into this bowl. So, i have about 2+ cups of gasoline with some quantity of water sitting next to me and I further disassemble the carburetor and am checking things out and she says something along the lines of the following - "well, i've been married to you for too long because I want to see that gasoline burn up." I had the same thought, but didn't mention it because I didn't think she'd let me. Well, she went inside and got some matches!!
I LOVE MY WIFE!
So, we got it set on fire... it wasn't the *boom* we'd expected, but it was a nice strong flame for a few minutes (i should've taken a picture but just was too entralled by the flame).

On a side note, Willow is 100% my daughter - after the flame went out, she said "more papa, more. do it again."

What a great end to a day!

A bunch of wild animals

Galatians 5:13-16 reads:

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

I found some very interesting thoughs in Robertson's word pictures about verse 15 that I thought I would share.

Paul is encouraging the brethren to leave behind the bondage of fleshly rituals and not focus on such things, but to sincerely love each other because that is the summation of God's will for us. In stark contrast is the common practice of biting and devouring each other. That phrase was commonly applied to wild animals or angry dogs in their approach to whatever "meal" they might have. The "consumed by" phrase is like the picture of two snakes swallowing each other's tails where they are both wholly consumed. So, when we're "introverted" and looking at each other to find fault rather than focusing outwardly to find those that need to hear God's message, we're like a bunch of wild animals tearing up a carcass. The end result is that - though we aren't literally consumed (and digested) - we are so caught up in the fighting that we are completely worthless for carrying out the work that God has for us to do.

So, don't devour each other, instead hunger for God's righteousness and seek to be filled by serving Him!

Sorrow, Love and Disc Golf

Yesterday was a good preaching day. I gave a textual sermon from 2 Corinthians 7:5-13 (ESV,TNIV) about Godly Sorrow and it's role in repentance (our scripture readings this month are all about repentance and I'll be summarizing with a lesson at the end of the month describing our dependence on repentance in order to enjoy fellowship). The topical sermon was around the idea of "Do I really love..." looking at my enemy, my neighbor and my brethren. Summarizing the points, they all show how we love God, and that if we don't want to love/spend time with our brethren here, why would we want to go to heaven?!?

Let me know if you'd like to see the text of any of these either in outline or presentation format.

On a recreational note, I went out for my 3rd round of disc golf. It's not quite the workout that running is, but it's more enjoyable in that I get to have some good discussions and grow closer to the brothers that I play with. And I improved significantly over my 2nd game (16 over par instead of more than 28 over - i really lost track on that game, so it might have been more than 28!).

Interesting book...

I'm reading a book called "How to read the bible for all its worth" right now. It's very clearly slanted to the calvinistic/pre-millenial view of the bible, but it has some very interesting principles. Primarily, it emphasizes looking at two areas in any bible study: exegesis & hermeneutics. This boils down to looking at the history, cultural context and message to the original audience and then looking at what messages/lessons/commands we can apply today. I've been moving in this direction in my personal study in the last year or so while not realizing how exactly to express the thought. One other benefit of the text is that they offer their outlines of some books or chapters that have let me look at things from a slightly different perspective.
The other interesting feature of this book is that it looks at how to study the different types of writing in the bible - epistles, narrative (though I think they omit the "historical" intentionally, and to their detriment), Acts (they regard as a special narrative), the gospels, etc... (the gospels chapter is where I am right now).
Overall, I think this might be worth purchasing (i currently have it from the library), if for no other reason than to read some of the scriptural arguments that a calvinist might use to defend their loose interpretation of scripture.

The Lamb and The Lion

I just finished reading this text by Graeme Goldsworthy.
I have not really studied the book of Revelation in any great detail before, but was recommended this book for its interesting take. The whole title is "The Lamb and the Lion: The Gospel in revelation."

This really shows that this book isn't just some out-of-place addendum to the scripture, but that it really fits into the overall message of the bible - God's plan for salvation of mankind!

The author doesn't dive deeply into the symbolic meaning of every description of every verse, but gives a good comparison with imagery that is repeated from the Old Testament to give a better view on how those in the early church would have understood the message of this book. One other plus is that he is what he refers to as "amillennial" - he doesn't hold to the premillennial view of most of the religious world today.

If you're curious about Revelation and would like to have a good introduction to the book, this is a good one to pick up.

Save the Princess!

I found this pretty cool little flash game this morning.

Check it out... it's a good way to kill some time.

Higher Ground 2005 audio coming soon!

I don't know about Jason's progress, but I finally chose the path of least resistance. I was going to edit each file individually, but after playing with the first, I discovered it wasn't too productive.

So, I wrote a little script and am letting the wonders of linux & a 64bit processor work for me. The files are taking about 30s to convert from wav to a vbr mp3 with an average bitrate of 112k/s - very good when considering the quality of the source.

My thought is that, next year, I'll bypass some of the confusion by bringing a real microphone (already have one) and my laptop to the studies and just record them straight. If I convert as the days go by (my laptop IS slower than my desktop) I should probably be able to have some cds to handout on saturday morning!

...that is just so sweet!
In the time it took to write this, they're all done!

Meditations with Jason

Jason is working on an idea to meditate on a scripture for the week to better apply it in our lives.
I'm all for this. I started putting up a "memory" verse on the white board behind my monitor at work and I think I'm going to add Jason's too.

I'm going to add a link to his entry each week as well as include the text of the verse for reference. If no one is reading this, then at least I get the exercise of typing it to help it stick in my head.

To Jason - Good on ya, mate! Thanks for pulling this together!

Verse for the week:
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (ESV)

hoorah! someone knows my blog exists!

Well, everyone else seems to be griping that they don't like this thing, but I like the fact that someone knows my blog exists!
On one level, I totally agree, it's like the email spam survery foolishness that most teenagers or females (or both) pass around, but I figured I'd fill it out.

One note first - ran my third 5k saturday morning. I didn't do spectacularly (32:20) but hey, most guys running weigh 145, not 230.

So, degarmo passed it to me, from Jason, from Nathan. There's are all about books, but since I like music, too, I'm going to include that as an addendum and a reference to the "original."

Books
1. Total books on my shelves - currently about 25 (most of mine are in storage - i probably have about 400 split between biblical resources, some fiction, language (italian, irish, german, french, etc...) and mathematics).
2. The last book I bought - I, too, took part in the outlet insanity in Gatlinburg and bought 3:
Then Sings my Soul, vol. 2 - Morgan
Old Testament Prophetic Books - Bullock
The Tentmaking Pastor - Bickers

3. Book I'm reading right now:
The Dangerous Duty of Delight - Piper
The Lion & the Lamb - Goldsworthy

4. Books I read a lot or mean a lot to me:
Bible (NASB, but considering the ESV)
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Word Pictures of the New Testament - Robertson
Tons of other stuff... I just don't have as much time anymore.

5. Last books I've read:
Bible As History
Incendiary Fellowship - Elton Trueblood
Blender 2.3 Official Guide

6. books that should never have been written:
Anything by Stephen King
Anything by Anne Rice

Music:
1. Total MP3s - 28.7G on the hard drive, probably another 15G archived.
2. Last CD bought - "Happy" by Matthew West
3. Next songs in playlist -
Coldplay - Shiver (live acoustic)
Frente! - Accidently Kelly Street
Weezer - Death and Destruction
Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
Save Ferris - Under 21
4. Songs I listen to a lot/mean a lot to me -
Thomas' Song
Hosanna
Be Still My Soul
Secular at This link
5. Songs which should never have been recorded -
Most Britney Spearsish stuff
Most Gangsta Rap stuff (though I love the music and beat, the words are horrendous)
Yanni, John Tesh, Kenny G and their ilk

Passing this baton to - NO ONE. Everyone I know who has a blog has already done this silliness!

Interesting Question

A good friend from church posed a question based on some reading he had done. The reading comes from a "narrated" bible which looks to put things in chronological order. He came across the last week of Jesus and found an interesting thought.
Typically, we think of (or it has been taught) that Jesus ate the passover feast with His disciples on Thursday night before being crucified later that evening.
This new (to me) assertion is that Jesus actually ate this meal on Wednesday night. A few of the reasons are as follows:

• Jesus rising on sunday after being crucified thursday night (friday by the Jewish reckoning) is not three days and nights after His death.
• John 14:29 - The disciples reckoned the Passover to be the next night.
• Jesus - symbolizing the passover lamb - entered the city on the 10th of the month, and was crucifed on the 14th (the day of preparation for the passover) just as the passover lamb was to be prepared.

This is all pretty new to me, but it seems to make some sense.

So, any thoughts out there? Did this guy get it right? Does it matter? Where is he off base if he isn't correct?

I'd love to get some comments on this one!

"Thank you, God, for..."

Paul states in Romans 10:1-3 the following:

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. (ESV)

There are many in the "christian" world today who are very sincere and convicted in their service to God, but they don't have the knowledge to properly direct that zeal. With that in mind, many in the Lord's church today could learn some lessons from our denominational friends. I was listening to a broadcast(wma rm) yesterday on the way to work that prompted the title for this entry.

One of his points is that we need to consciously thank God more for all that He does for us - but to do it explicitly and specifically! The more I thank God, the more I'm thinking of Him, the more I'm serving Him, the better I glorify Him!

A very short list of things I'm thankful for:

• Thank you, God, for Jesus, His example of purity and devotion, and His sacrifice for me.
• Thank you, God, for my wonderful, supportive wife, Stacey.
• Thank you, God, for my beautiful daughter, Willow.
• Thank you, God, for allowing Stacey to become pregnant again.
• Thank you, God, for my job that allows me to take care of my family so well.
• Thank you, God, for your word that guides me when I listen.
• Thank you, God, for all of the good friends that you've blessed me with.
• Thank you, God, for Mark, Dan DeG., Daniel M., Jason and all of my other friends who push me to excel still more.

I think if we devote ourselves more to specifically thanking God all day long, we'll be - very simply - better servants of His.

Many updates...

First - the savetoby.com thing was a hoax
Secondly - We just returned from a marvelous and uplifting week in Tennessee. The theme of this "retreat" was "Higher Ground." Basically, it was a week of a bunch of youngish christians praising God, working to get to the core of their walk with God to grow closer to him and encouraging each other to be better each day. This was such a wonderful opportunity. I'm working to make much application from the good lessons that were learned and am very much looking forward to being with everyone next year - or being with them in heaven if God decides that time comes first!
Third - I was introduced to a great translation this week - the English Standard Version (ESV). There is a lot to this, and that website has some great features. I think I'm going to look at getting a copy of this for reading if nothing else.
Fourth - I don't know if I mentioned this already or not, but we're going to have another baby sometime in late November/early December. That is a wonderful blessing from God!

Finally - Read, understand and use this passage to give God more glory each day!

Psalm 29
1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over many waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace! (ESV)

5 years + answered prayers + bunnies as income/food

Yesterday was our 5 year anniversary! It's so hard to believe that it's been that long. We left Willow with Stacey's parents (our first night away from her) and things went well (mostly!). We had a great time just getting to spend time together in Columbus and enjoy some expensive (but worth it!) excellent food. If you haven't stayed at one before, you need to make sure you stay at the homewood suites chain (by Hilton). It was nicer than the crowne plaza in NYC, and their included breakfast was excellent! The sausage gravy was some of the best I've ever had!

Prayers have been answered - a good friend of ours (Vicki Foster) has cancer pretty badly. Well, they did some surgery thursday to clean some things out and when they looked, there were no visible signs of cancer. So, the prayers and treatment have been going well.

One last thing -
I have to find a rabbit. This guy has made nearly $25k so far by threatening to kill this bunny and eat it. That's just crazy!

Bearing each other's burdens

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

The two big lessons from this verse are:
1. I need not tell the world about all of my problems/weaknesses/sins, but if I don't tell someone, I can't expect help. When we look to each other for support, encouragement, admonition we're better equipped to deal with all that this life throws before us.
2. Prayer is effective! Maybe I can't do a lot to help others out, but I can pray. Also, this isn't talking about a righteous man - the only two I can think of to fit that bill are Jesus and Enoch. This is for those people who are seeking righteousness. If I have the desire for God's righteousness that I should, then I can be assured that God will answer my prayers.
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This blogger thing is great!
I spent a little time tweaking the look of this page and it's quite enjoyable. I've added a bit on the side that shows recent songs I've been listening to. I don't think it's exactly working yet, but it's a combination of these two sites: audioscrobbler and rss digest.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow - I'm taking a half day off from work, Willow is going to spend the night with my parents for the first time and Stacey and I are going to Columbus for our 5 year anniversary! It's just a little overnight thing, but since she's pregnant again, we most likely won't be going away to do anything for our anniversary next year!

Welcome to my world!

Thanks for stopping by and checking this out!

I'm hoping to add a few notes about what is going on in my world each day... things I've found interesting, things I'm studying, great webpages/recipes/resources, inspirational verses, etc...

The last one is why I've chosen the name that I did for this blog - Overflowing Every Day.
I'm so blessed with all of the wonderful gifts that God has given in my life that I want to make the effort to write them down here so I can keep them in my head and maybe help someone else out, too.

So, I'm going to try and keep this in the forefront of my mind and share - with whomever chooses to read - about how I am overflowing every day with God's graciousness.

Thanks for listening, and I hope this is informative and interesting!