Overflowing Every Day

What Is A Lamb?

2008-04-14T14:20:00.004-04:00

Spring is in full swing and we see signs of growth and renewal everywhere. Some of the most common pictures associated with spring are flowers and lambs. In God's word, there are many references and illustrations using sheep & lambs, but what do they mean? Our industrialized, division-of-labor-centric society has removed the meaning and, therefore, the power from many of the descriptive images found in the Bible. My family and I have been blessed with some insight due to the abandonment by its mother of a lamb that we were able to adopt. His name is Sammy. Because Sammy came into our lives, we have a better understanding of what a lamb is.

A lamb is LOVABLE

If Sammy was in his pen, he was always bleating for you. If he was out, he just wanted to be by you. Stacey told me when I went out to feed him late (instead of her) “Make sure you pet and cuddle him and let him nuzzle your neck.” This might sound slightly silly if you've never been in the situation. Consider Isaiah 40:10,11 the descriptive illustration is of the Lord with mighty arms tending the flock, gathering the lambs in His arms, holding them in His bosom. This is the picture God gave Israel to show how he cared for them. In II Samuel 12:3 A story was told to David to elicit a reaction – A man bought a lamb, she grew up with his children, she ate and drank from his food, she lay in his arms, and she was like a daughter to him. This rang true for David – as a shepherd, he may have acted the same or known others who did! It's just so easy to love a lamb!

A lamb is PLAYFUL

If you haven't seen a lamb run & jump, you're missing some pure fun. I was worried the first time I saw Sammy run - I thought he had been spooked. Later, I realized he was just trembling with excitement as he ran and kicked around the yard. This same picture is used in Psalm 114 to describe the earth trembling in God's presence as the psalmist compares the hills to a lamb! Even the hills - the very definition of stoic immobility - tremble for joy in the presence of the Lord!

A lamb is INNOCENT

Sammy would - if allowed - follow anyone anywhere. Lambs are easily led. Thinking of biblical images, the first passage that might come to mind is Luke 15:1-7 where the shepherd goes to seek the one sheep that has wandered off, because they so easily go astray. Jesus also portrays the innocence of lambs by contrasting them with wolves in Luke 10:3. He tells his disciples He is sending them out among the devious and crafty wolves of this world to innocently spread His message. God speaks through Hosea in Hosea 4:16 to show the difference between Israel's behavior with what God desired. He compared the effort of trying to instruct Israel to the task of feeding a stubborn heifer - surely a challenging task! Instead He would have them be a gentle lamb in pasture that happily and eagerly comes to be fed. Also, in Isaiah 53:7 the expression “like a lamb to the slaughter” is silent is used. This doesn't imply that a lamb's death march is in complete silence, rather - innocently - the lamb will go wherever it is led never suspecting anything. It doesn't resist because it doesn't realize what is happening.

A lamb is FRAGILE

A lamb is totally dependent for sustenance until it is weaned, and Sammy would call for food or company if we aren't with him. Again, the picture from Isaiah 40 is that of God carrying the lambs primarily because they need that care and attention. In I Samuel 17:34 David tells of the animals that came to steal the lambs that he would have to try and protect, because they are so helpless. Obviously a predator would choose a helpless lamb instead of a full grown sheep that might put up a fight. Jesus, in John 21:15, asks Peter if he Loves Him. We know Peter's response - Of course Lord, you know I Love you. Most remember “feed my sheep,” as Jesus' response, but the very first thing Jesus asks of Peter is “feed my lambs.” The weak are those that deserve the focus in providing care. A lamb needs a lot of care and attention.

A lamb is Pure

Above all else, lambs represent purity. Comparisons are often made using interchangable images of being as white as snow or like a lamb. Lambs really are white as snow! Stacey gave Sammy a bath and he was practically glowing! It would seem that it is because they are so innocent, so lovable, so DEAR and so visually clean that God set them as the sacrifice so often insisted upon in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. In 1 Peter 1:18,19, Peter reminds the readers that it is the lamb without spot that alone can be the sacrifice for sins. John the Baptist proclaimed in John 1:29 that Jesus is the lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world. This is exactly as revealed in Leviticus 4:1-32 as it is only a pure, perfect lamb that was acceptable for the sin offering.

Think about the picture that God portrays of the owner caring for his only lamb. Why was David so outraged that this one lamb was taken from the owner? Because the owner loved her like a daughter! What a sense of loss is portrayed in that story! Try for just a moment to imagine the grief associated with this loss. I spent most of the day Saturday thinking about this, because he was growing up with my daughters, we fed him with our own hands, we held him in our arms, we loved him. I thought of all of these things with tears in my eyes as I dug a grave because our little Sammy died Saturday morning.

We fully expected to have other animals slaughtered, but we allowed him into our hearts as our farm pet. We made the deal with ourselves that we would let ourselves become attached to a few farm pets so that, when it was time to slaughter those appointed for that end, we could more easily deal with it. We had idea that he would be gone so soon!

Think again about the label John the baptist proclaimed for Jesus – the Lamb of God. We, as 21st century, enlightened Americans instantly think of the requirements in Leviticus and stoically claim “Jesus is the lamb because that is what God required for forgiveness.” That is certainly a true statement. Unlike in David's story or Leviticus, this wasn't just some person's lamb – this is God's Lamb and God did nothing worthy of the death of His Lamb. But God allowed His Lamb to die, so that you and I don't have to – He was given as a gift for others. Don't neglect this gift! Unlike Sammy, Jesus doesn't remain buried. He rose to a new life to lead the way for us to follow. Think of the renewal symbolized by lambs, think of the rebirth of spring and rejoice that God has blessed us with the opportunity to follow Jesus in this. In Isaiah 40 God has given us the picture of loving His Lamb and He wants us to be conformed to the image of His lamb – His Son – because God wants us all to know His love as faithful lambs in His flock.

The Lord Upholds His Hand

2007-05-18T11:13:00.000-04:00

It's sad, but my oldest daughter is a little unsure in her footing and has the scraped knees to prove it. Our youngest daughter is the little daredevil and is constantly falling down. Because I don't want them to be hurt, and, even less do I want to hear them cry, I hold their hands when we're walking over rough terrain. Flat paved or concrete roads are less likely to cause an unsure step, but a fall there would produce a more severe injury.

Not one of us fathers want to see our children hurt. There are lessons to be learned from a small, controlled situation resulting in injury that could produce caution in a different circumstance, but that isn't what we want for our children every day. I don't want them to fall and scuff their knees, so I make them hold my hands and I hold their hands tightly. Regardless of how strong my grip is, or how much I want them to not fall, inevitably, they will stumble. If I have a firm hold of their hand, I can quickly pull them back up so the scrape isn't as bad or doesn't happen at all. They experience the shock of falling, but can, hopefully, avoid the worst of the consequences as they return to their feet.

Just as we don't want our children to stumble and be hurt, God doesn't want for us to fall. David puts it in this way in Psalm 37:23-24

23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when He delights in his way;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand. (ESV)

As tightly as I hold the hands of my girls and as much as I don't want them to fall, God's feeling for me is even stronger.

Just as my daughters won't fall if they keep their eyes on where they're going, we won't fall spiritually as long as we keep our eyes on the road ahead and the goal that lay before us. We will allow ourselves to be distracted and, at times, stumble. As long as we continue to hold our Father's hand, He'll guide and protect us.

Let us all look to keep our feet firmly planted on the path established by the Lord. Then we can rest in the assurance that, though we may stumble, we won't fall on our faces because the Lord is upholding our hands.

An Acts 2 Message to an Acts 17 audience

2007-03-28T14:20:00.000-04:00

The title is paraphrasing a thought by Ken Hamm as he addressed the audience at a local baptist college.

The basic idea is that in Acts 2, Peter preached to a bunch of Jews - people whom God had been preparing for this very day with his word delivered through many prophets. They needed very little description about God, His will, and His character. On the other hand, the crowd in Acts 17 was addressed for the very reason that they did not know YHWH - the Lord and Creator of all things. To reach that audience, a different approach had to be used.

Considering the state of our nation, this should be such a compelling thought. When one thinks about those we assemble with and the lack of understanding of God, it should be absolutely panic inducing.

So, do we have to change the message to make it fit the audience? Paul didn't seem to have an issue with that. He addressed those in Athens in Acts 17 much differently than he did the Jews he found meeting in synagogues.

Does that mean we leave things out to make it more "palatable"? It shouldn't, we just need to realize that the way we've "always done things" doesn't seem to be working. Sitting in the pews barely paying attention to sermons that are hardly worthy of such, sleeping or daydreaming through bible study, waiting for lost souls to come to our gospel meetings for some "revival" when most of the members don't even show up - these things don't seem to be working.

We need to consider our audience and present things in a way that is both clear and reasonable. Many of the tracts that might be sitting in your rack at the building are quite old and are almost certainly an Acts 2 message directed to the Acts 17 crowd.

To be effective, people need to be convicted of their sin and understand the penalty and the price that was paid so they might enjoy salvation. Exactly how to convey that message varies depending on where the listener comes from.

In years past, those who were considered to be part of the church of Christ were regarded as "walking bibles" (or so I've repeatedly heard). Today, one is hard pressed to find a reasonable response to a request for "where is that in the bible?" Biblical illiteracy is at epidemic proportions.

The only solution is to start at home. If we don't know God's word, how can we effectively share it with others? If we don't know God's word, why would we even care about sharing it with others?

Are you prepared to share the appropriate message with the audience God presents you with? If not, what are you going to do about it today?

How Sweet the Sound

2007-03-23T22:10:00.000-04:00

Not long ago, I told Stacey that I didn't want to sing "Amazing Grace" anymore. I have tired of the typical singing of the song - a dirge-like pace with little conviction nor care for the thoughts expressed by the words. Whenever I heard that number called, I'd roll my eyes as we prepared to spend about 10 minutes singing a few dozen words.

The next time I lead singing, I'm going to lead just that song with much thought and a more appropriate pace. I'll probably preface it with a few words of reflection about why we're singing these particular words.

Why the change? I just saw the movie of the same name with my wonderful wife and it has given me a new appreciation for those words.

If you read no further, do this - find what theater it is playing at and go give them your money. We need to support Enjoyable movies with an appreciation of moral character that are both entertaining and clean. Movies like this are worthy of both our attention and a piece of our entertainment budgets.

I wish I had my voice recorder as there were so many wonderful lines that bear further rumination. There were quite a few funny lines - especially at Parliament. But there were many convicting lines that the viewer with an honest heart will feel the sting as their own life is laid bare before such thoughts.

Some of the best thoughts carried the idea that settling for a procedural victory (i.e. "baby steps") is no victory at all - we must strive for a total, immediate triumph. Far too often, I think we fool ourselves in the church into believing the "small victories" are what is important in the grander scheme of things rather than putting aside our comfort and striving to win as many souls as possible for God.

Also, the gentle encouragement of Barbara who helped her husband regain the conviction to continue his mission and her steadfastness throughout the process is a great example of a supportive wife.

Really, there is too much good to be said for my feeble memory to cope with, so you'll just have to go see it for yourself.

Do it, and you won't regret it

Resting in His Arms

2007-01-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Rosemary wasn't a happy camper last night. Usually, when she wakes after we put her to bed for the night, Stacey goes to help her back to sleep.

Rosemary didn't feel well at all, so Stacey stayed home from Bible study with her so I could teach my last class of the quarter. Willow and I came home and Stacey finally took her turn putting Willow to bed. Rosie woke up and I went to try and put her back to sleep.

Was I in for a struggle! We rocked in the dark and I sang the usual songs I do to calm her down – “Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You,” “Prince of Peace, Control My Will,” and “Be Still My Soul”. She would fall asleep, I'd try to return her to the bed and she'd wake up again.

After some time of struggling, singing, and slumber another song came to mind - “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” As Rosemary lay sleeping in my arms, I was so thankful for that quiet time to just hold my beautiful daughter so that she could sleep in comfort.

When I thought of the fight she gave resisting sleep, I thought of the parallel in our spiritual lives. If we would just stop trying to come up with any excuse to not obey God's will and quietly submit to His service, the peace and rest we experience is inexplicable (Philippians 4:7).

Are you resting, safe, in the arms of Jesus, or do you still twist, squirm, and fight the loving embrace He offers shunning that perfect peace?

The words of Safe in the Arms of Jesus by Frances J. Crosby

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on His gentle breast;
There by His love o’ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels
Borne in a song to me,
Over the fields of glory,
Over the jasper sea.

Refrain:
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on His gentle breast;
There by His love o’ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe from corroding care,
Safe from the world’s temptations;
Sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow,
Free from my doubts and fears;
Only a few more trials,
Only a few more tears!

Jesus, my heart’s dear Refuge,
Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of Ages
Ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience,
Wait till the night is o’er;
Wait till I see the morning
Break on the golden shore.

Are You Worried?

2006-11-27T14:52:00.000-05:00

Stacey reminded me of a passage in Ezekiel when she asked a question from her recent readings that prompted a sermon. Here is the basic idea:

In Ezekiel 8, God shows Ezekiel the Israelites wanton disregard for God's commands and their whole-hearted embrace of idolatry. Each image/situation God exposes Ezekiel to - as bad as it seems - God basically says, "Oh, you think this is bad? Just wait." Finally, God declares that - without mercy - He will destroy these people.

In Ezekiel 9, instead of utter destruction, only those who have given themselves to the idolatry will be punished. Those who "sigh and groan over all the abominations" committed were to be marked, and, therefore, spared.

The Hebrew words translated "sigh and groan" convey the idea of an exasperated sigh or a reaction to pain as well as the idea of crying out or lamentation.

How many of us have this reaction to the sin we see all around in the world? More importantly, do we have this reaction to the complacency we see amongst brethren who feel showing up and paying a preacher to evangelize the community is all that God requires?

We need to have a lot more sighing and groaning, but if that's where it stops, we're not doing what is expected of us. Worrying does nothing useful. If you know there is something you're concerned about - in your neighborhood, your congregation, your family, or with yourself - don't worry about it, do something to fix it!

So, which is it going to be - apathy, hopeless hand-wringing, or serious concern that prompts action?

Are You The Weakest Link?

2006-11-16T20:53:00.000-05:00

Studying second Timothy for the class I'm teaching on Wednesday nights, I came across an interesting thought pertaining to the following passage from chapter 2:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

So, Paul is telling Timothy to tell others about God, Jesus, and what is expected of them, and then to enable them to pass those things along to others. I've glossed over this many times thinking it simply means that we must get down to spreading the word.

Jesus whole life was spent teaching others what God expected of them and then telling them to go home and tell others. His mission was to seek and save the lost.

By being obedient to the great commission and Paul's commands to Timothy, we're continuing the chain of faithful men who have served from the time of Jesus. Teaching is one of the few things that we can do that is the exact same thing Jesus did while He was here on this earth.

With such an exciting connection, it has a serious implication as well - if we're faithful, we're continuing the chain of delivering this message to those who need to hear it. If we don't do our job, we've broken the chain. We become the weakest link that renders any other thing we might do of little account.

This is terribly convicting as a preacher - it doesn't matter how many sermons I preach, or how eloquently I convey the words of God to an assembly of His people, if I don't take His message to the world as Jesus did I am the weakest link. If I don't offer convicting words to those that hear my lessons to prompt them to this service, too, then I'm encouraging others to abandon their service to God.

So, which will it be for you? Will you follow in Jesus footsteps and take the word to the lost, or will you be the weakest link in a nearly 2000 year chain of faithful service?

Picasa Web Albums

2006-08-18T21:22:00.000-04:00

I'm impressed yet again. Not only has google been super cool by hooking us Linux users up with Picasa, but they've come up with this web album thing that should be super easy for those of you on windows. If you click on the picture below, you'll be taken to the first album of our collection.

We went to newark last saturday to visit with the brethren there and praise God in song. Before hand, we stopped at Dawes Arboretum and took a few pictures. Granted, they're not the best, but They're pretty decent for a little p/s nikon. That'll have to do until I can get a D50 or - better yet - the new D80!

Enjoy the pictures!

Dawes Arboretum

Aug 12, 2006 - 22 Photos

The New Tower of Babel?

2006-07-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

I presented a lesson on Sunday based on the article I wrote for truth for today's youth. One of the points mentioned the fact that the 'net is a tremendous source of information and unless it's in a different character set (cyrillic, kanji, etc...) it really is breaking down communication barriers.

An older brother who is one of the exceptional (from my experience) seniors who is fairly 'net connected made a statement following the assembly that was pretty profound and a little disturbing. I don't remember the exact words that he used, but the idea is this: thinking of all of the connections we have, the barriers to communication are dropping and in some way, the internet/ISS/etc... are reminding him of the tower of Babel.

That got me thinking: So, language was made different for people when they were too tightly bound together, we're doing something similar with the 'net - for good and bad - what is our consequence going to be?

This is maybe just the paranoid part of me, but I think we are too much focused on the division of labor in our society and if something serious were to happen (low-yield nuke detonated a few dozen miles above the U.S. to set off an EMP that would effectively immobilize us) most folks wouldn't know how to make it without cell phones and computers (in everything from toasters, to most cars built after the mid 90's).

I think more of us need to spend some time in the heartland, visit with the DeVores, and stock up on supplies at lehmans.

Have a beautiful weekend (^_^)

Fishing - Jesus' Way

2006-07-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

    In our class yesterday morning, we were discussing Peter in Luke 5:1-11. One of the questions supplied was about Peter's work fishing that changed from going after men instead of aquatic life. Specifically, the direction of answers migrated to equipment and preparation.

    In the course of discussion, many people mentioned “bait” as a necessary ingredient for effective fishing which immediately made me think of two things.

    “Bait” is a deception – the goal of bait is to fool your intended quarry by offering something they want and wrapping that around something painful/bad/etc... When fishing for men, that is the exact opposite of what we are doing. In fact, the better analogy would be that we're helping remove the hook that Satan has snared them with by wrapping it in the temporary pleasures of sin

    When we think of today's fishing to explain the picture of what was going on in Jesus' day, we are completely missing the point. I don't even know if rod fishing was going on back then, but the fishing that is talked about is net fishing which is quite different

    Rod & Bait fishing is angling for a specific type of fish (discriminatory), net fishing catches anything that swims by (non-discriminatory). So, rod fishing is what most of “the church of Christ (non-denominational, non-institutional)” has done for at least the 20 years I've been paying attention. We go to neighborhoods where we're comfortable (if we go at all!) and talk to the pharisees of our day who feel that they lack nothing. Instead of casting our nets to spread the message to all who need to hear it – including those unfamiliar to us for whatever reason – we keep the message to ourselves!

    Perhaps the other problem with Rod fishing is that you can just cast your line out, sit down and wait – it's very passive! With net fishing, if you just leave your net out there all day, it'll become tangled or torn up and will be completely useless. It has to be actively used!

    If we are willing to engage ourselves and get down to work sharing the message in whatever community we have opportunity to do so (obeying what Jesus commands!), we will likely have the same problem that Peter and his associates did when they listened to Jesus – their nets were so full they nearly broke and it filled two boats to the point of nearly sinking them!

    Let's all get a plan together and get out sharing God's message today!

An inconvenient half-truth

2006-06-20T13:22:00.000-04:00

I'm most certainly not a fan of Albert Gore Jr.
When I learned about his film - "An inconvenient truth" I was terribly disgusted.

I've long been of the opinion that God created this world well and stably enough that - though we impact things on a small scale (polluting lake erie, introducing non-native animals where they shouldn't be, etc...) - we humans can't passively destroy the earth. So, the whole "global warming" thing is a bit out there. Many of the articles that I've read make strong assertions founded on tenuous observations.

Well, something good actually came from Canada (aside from the friends I have, of course)! There is an article about the number of scientists who soundly dismiss global warming and the FUD surrounding the same. Go check it out. I think I'm going to copy it off for posterity when they eventually take it offline.

With that in mind, I hope it's sunny where you are, so slather on some SPF30 and go enjoy the summertime!

News!! (pictures, too!!)

2006-03-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while, but there has been much activity of late.

As of monday (27 Mar 2006), Willow is 39.5" and 38 lbs (that's at 3 years and one month). Rosemary is 24.5" and 15 lbs at 4 months.
I finally broke the 30 minute mark in a 5k. I ran near Lebanon, Oh on March 18th and finished 3.1 miles in 29:40.
Probably the biggest news - we're Moving!!! A couple of friends from church are moving and we're buying their place. It's only 1.7 miles from the meeting house and just over 5 miles from my office. Please keep this process in your prayers - we haven't quite sold our house yet but we hope things will get sorted out there soon.
If you're in the area, we're having a meeting with Jack Smith April 2-9, so please come on out!

Here are the pics I promised:

Where'd all the good people go?

2006-01-25T13:08:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard of Jack Johnson, he's a surfer turned songwriter with some impressive guitar playing skills. I'm sure that there are a great many things that we would disagree on, but his song entitled "Good People" strikes a chord in today's media saturated environment. We are inundated with filth, disgusting images, and the promotion of sin on the so-called news, other tv shows, movies, radio, and print media.

I've included the lyrics below for your consideration.

You win it’s your show now
So what’s it going to be?
Because people will tune in
How many train wrecks do we need to see?
Before we lose touch
And we thought this was low
Well it’s bad, getting worse….

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We’ve got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that with a rattle a tat
Testing, one, two, man whatcha gonna do
Bad news misused, got too much to lose
Give me some truth now, who’s side are we on
Whatever you say
Turn on the boob tube, I’m in the mood to obey
So lead me astray
And by the way now…

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We’ve got heaps and heaps of what we sow

Sitting around feeling far away
So far away but I can feel the debris, can you feel it?
You interrupt me from a friendly conversation
To tell me how great it’s all going to be
You might notice some hesitation
Because its important to you, it’s not important to me
But way down by the edge of your whole reason
It’s beginning to show and I really want to know is…

Where’d all the good people go?
I’ve been changing channels and I don’t see them on the tv shows
Where’d all the good people go?
We got heaps and heaps of what we sow

They got this and that with a rattle a tat
Testing one, two man whatcha gonna do
Bad news misused give me some truth
You got too much to lose
Whose side are we on today, anyway
Okay, whatever you say
Wrong and resolute but in the mood to obey
Station to station desensitizing the nation
Going, going, gone

Dangerous Ideas - Parental Licensure

2006-01-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

I'm going to post a few of the items that I pulled out from edge.com's annual question: "What is your dangerous idea?"

I do not wholly agree with some of the arguments made with all of these items, but most of their conclusions are interesting and usually valid (to me).

This is the first I'll share. David Lykken proposes that - eventually - parental licensure in the U.S. will be inevitable. On some days, I wish it were already true (we have a relative that is a Social Security/Welfare leech) so that those who are incompetent enough to be unable to care for themselves were not allowed to propogate. I fully concede that the result of such limitations
could eventually preclude any given group (i.e. christians) from bearing children, but it is an interesting - though obviously dangerous - idea.

I look forward to hearing your comments.

Laws requiring parental licensure -David Lykken
I believe that, during my grandchildren's lifetimes, the U.S. Supreme Court will find a way to approve laws requiring parental licensure.

Traditional societies in which children are socialized collectively, the method to which our species is evolutionarily adapted, have very little crime. In the modern U.S., the proportion of fatherless children, living with unmarried mothers, currently some 10 million in all, has increased more than 400% since 1960 while the violent crime rate rose 500% by 1994, before dipping slightly due to a delayed but equal increase in the number of prison inmates (from 240,000 to 1.4 million.) In 1990, across the 50 States, the correlation between the violent crime rate and the proportion of illegitimate births was 0.70.

About 70% of incarcerated delinquents, of teen-age pregnancies, of adolescent runaways, involve (I think result from) fatherless rearing. Because these frightening curves continue to accelerate, I believe we must eventually confront the need for parental licensure — you can't keep that newborn unless you are 21, married and self-supporting — not just for society's safety but so those babies will have a chance for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

"You're outnumbered!"

2005-11-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-11-02T08:35:00.000-05:00

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

2005-10-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

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:

When I choose to sin, how can I possibly feel justified in complaining about the painful consequences of my reckless self-indulgence?
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.

2005-09-22T14:20:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-09-20T14:47:00.000-04:00

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

2005-09-08T13:51:00.001-04:00

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...

2005-09-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

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

Temporal, Physical Equality is an Illusion

2005-08-29T14:09:00.000-04:00

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:

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."
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

2005-08-26T09:48:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-23T12:11:00.000-04:00

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"

2005-08-17T13:28:00.000-04:00

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

2005-08-16T14:50:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-08-15T18:37:00.000-04:00

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)

2005-08-12T14:19:00.000-04:00

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:

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).
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
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.
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):

Abolish the individual, corporate, and business income taxes, capital gains, social security, and medicare taxes.
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.
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.
This also is a boost overall, because you take home EVERY PENNY you make. There is NO withholding of taxes (from a federal perspective).
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!

2005-08-12T10:43:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-08-11T10:28:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-08-10T13:53:00.000-04:00

... 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!

2005-08-09T15:42:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-08-09T15:30:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-08-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-08-05T09:42:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-08-02T14:55:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-29T19:40:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-07-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-07-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-25T19:39:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

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:

Our culture has watered down/misunderstood sin.
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.

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

Tomorrow is the big day... (EDIT)

2005-07-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

<>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

2005-07-18T11:16:00.000-04:00

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:

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.
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.
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.
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!).
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!

2005-07-14T09:42:00.000-04:00

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!)

2005-07-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-11T14:11:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-07-11T13:55:00.000-04:00

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

2005-07-05T14:21:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-30T09:22:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-28T21:22:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-28T08:55:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-06-25T22:35:00.000-04:00

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

2005-06-24T17:40:00.000-04:00

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..."

2005-06-23T09:21:00.000-04:00

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...

2005-06-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-23T19:23:00.000-04:00

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

2005-04-21T08:56:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-04-20T13:26:00.000-04:00

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!