Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Apparently Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith aren't just the first two African American coaches in the Super Bowl. More importantly to them they are also both believers in Jesus Christ and they want to share that faith with the world. They have set up a web site through Athletes in Action called Beyond the Ultimate. Check it out and pass it on. The Bears didn't win the Super Bowl but maybe a few more people will come to know Jesus, and honestly that sounds better to me.
The Bears winning the Super Bowl and more people knowing Jesus sounds like best case to me but God works in mysterious ways I guess.
published: 12:49 |
5 comment(s) |
Living In The Spirit |
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Sunday, December 24, 2006
I know about the war on Christmas. I hear the stories on the news broadcasts and read the articles on the internet and in the newspapers about the silly things people do. I read about the Christmas trees that get taken down from airports, and I hear about the "holiday" trees being sold at stores, and I hear about the manger scenes being taken down, and I live close to where the nativity movie wasn't allowed to be a sponsor of a Christmas holiday event, and I hear, and I see, and I read...
And I hear people complain about it. I understand the complaining to a degree; most of the time when I hear about or read about these things, I think about how silly, or petty, or just plain stupid they seem. But then I wonder if any of it really matters since none of it really affects the true reason for the season; which, of course is all the great Christmas television programming.
I'm just kidding... mostly. I love all the old 60's and 70's Christmas specials; Rudolph, Frosty, and Charlie Brown's Christmas specials have all found room on my Tivo. So have some of the typical Christmas movies like "A Christmas Story", "The Family Man", and "Scrooged". Today alone I watched "White Christmas", "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and the beginning of "It's a Wonderful Life". I loved every cheesy minute of it.
I'm not sure why I like this stuff so much, most of it is completely unrealistic. Take "The Grinch" for instance, here's the basic plot in case you don't know. The Grinch is a mean guy who hates Christmas, the people who celebrate it, and everything about it, so he sets out to ruin Christmas for everyone. He goes into the nearest town and steals all the gifts, decorations, and food for Christmas dinners. After taking all the stuff he thinks makes Christmas what it is, he waits to hear the sad cries of all the townspeople when they wake up in the morning. Except that when they wake up, the townspeople all get together and sing songs and celebrate Christmas anyway. The Grinch can't figure out how Christmas could have come even though he stole all the stuff, and the narrator describes his thoughts:
How could it be so?
It came without ribbons.
It came without tags.
It came without packages, boxes or bags.
He puzzled and puzzed until his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't thought of before.
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
Then, once he had a better understanding of the real meaning of Christmas, the Grinch's heart was filled and expanded and his life underwent a transformation.
Like I said, it's not very realistic. Maybe it would have been better if the townspeople had picketed, or sued, or gone on television and yelled a lot. Although in that version it would be hard to imagine the Grinch having his life turned around, it would have been more realistic, I guess.
I'm not worried about the so called War on Christmas because I know these things:
No matter what anyone does or says, Christmas is coming.
No matter what anyone does or says, Christ came, and that is the real meaning of Christmas.
No matter what anyone does or says, on Christmas day, I will rejoice because Christ has filled my heart and changed my life.
This Christmas I pray that we could keep the wars out of it, that we could share peace, whether you are celebrating or not, and I pray that you would know the transforming power of Christ's love for you.
Amen and Merry Christmas.
published: 12:27 |
8 comment(s) |
Challenging Status Quo |
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Monday, December 04, 2006
With all that is going on latelty I have been taking some time off of work and I am planning on taking some more time off as soon as my new daughter gets to come home from the hospital. That helps me to appreciate today's Dilbert cartoon. I'm not quite as stressed as the guy in the cartoon yet, but taking a week off sure does hurt when you're not getting paid for it.
published: 10:09 |
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General |
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Saturday, November 04, 2006
If Christians had given the traditional 10 percent tithe of their income to their churches in 2004, instead of the 2.56 percent that they actually gave, there would have been an additional $164 billion available, according to a report released in October called "The State of Church Giving through 2004." If the churches chose to funnel just $70-80 billion of that additional income to missions and humanitarian works, the basic needs of every person on the globe would be provide.
- Blurb found in the latest print edition of Relevant magazine
published: 02:41 |
11 comment(s) |
Challenging Status Quo |
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
"Religion is for people who are afraid to go to hell, whereas spirituality is for people like me who have been there."
-- Dave Mustaine, Lead Singer of Heavy Metal Band "Megadeth", Christian
I really find this to be an interesting quote, partly because it rings so true to me. I have always found it interesting that the people who seem the most "alive" in their faith, the people who seem overflowing with thankfulness and a willingness to do anything for God, are the people who either didn't start out in the church or who fell away for a time. I don't just mean questioning religion and skipping church for a few weeks, I mean going out and finding out what hell is all about: self. Drinking, drugs, sex, money, power, as much as you want whenever you want by whatever means necessary.
Do you know what I mean? Do you know people who have led crazy, immoral, hedonistic, self centered lifestyles then they hit bottom or get sick of trying to live with themselves and they become Christian, seemingly overnight. And when they do it's not enough to just go sit in a pew on Sunday, they are sold out to Jesus, so thankful that God saved them from themselves that they just want everyone to know. They are brutally honest too; they don't care if you know what kind of sickness and sin they have inside of them because it is just a testament to what God has saved them from.
Here's an interesting example. Everyone knows the song "Amazing Grace" but I never really gave it much thought until I rededicated my life to Christ. Now I can't listen to the song without being deeply touched and forced to stop and ponder the amazing and undeserved gift I have been given. "Surely", I've thought, "the person who wrote this song didn't start out a Christian. He must have known how much he needed to be forgiven." So was I surprised tonight when I finally checked and found out that the person who wrote the lyrics was the captain of a slave ship who then became saved and eventually went on to fight against slavery? Not even a little.
Sometimes I feel like I lose this energy, sometimes I get complacent and just settle in to ritual and repetitiveness. Sometimes I have to remind myself of all the things that God has done for me to avoid this tendency. I wonder what will happen when my children become adults, will they be able to have a full and practical understanding of God's grace and mercy that I do without having had to fall to depths I have? Will they go to church every Sunday and sing the songs and drop the envelop in the basket only because that is what they have done their whole lives, or will I be able to be an example to them, to teach them and help them to understand the true meaning of the things they are doing.
Heavenly Father, please help me to always remember who I am without you, help me remember what you have saved me from. Help me to fully understand your sacrifice for me and to always praise you for it. Lord, let me never get complacent and treat the things I do for you as mindless ritual. Help me to share the knowledge of your gift of grace and help others to avoid the stop in hell that I have had to make on the way to finding you. Fill me with your passion and use me for your purposes, whatever they may be.
published: 02:31 |
4 comment(s) |
Observations |
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Thursday, October 26, 2006
Have you read the Chuck Norris facts? So has Chuck Norris.
I think this may actually make Chuck Norris cooler, if that were possible. But does this mean that Chuck Norris hasn't really counted to infinity twice?
published: 01:23 |
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Just for Fun |
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Saturday, October 21, 2006
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
Exekiel 36:26-27
published: 12:36 |
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Scripture |
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Friday, October 20, 2006
Along with the redesign of the blog look and feel I've updated some links in the blogroll section. One of my most favorite new blogs in the list is the one titled "Donny's Ramblings: Diary of a FORMER Pornographer". Up until a short time ago Donny and his girlfriend made their living taking pictures of... well you know what pornographers do I guess.
A few weeks ago Donny got in contact with the pastors at XXXChurch.com who helped to lead him in a decision to accept Christ. Since then Donny has archived his old porn related posts and has started a series of posts on his experiences since his conversion. It is interesting to note the difference in the response between christians and people from the porn industry. It is also interesting to have a window into the proces of Donny being drawn into his new life and away from his old life inspite of having to leave behind his career, many friends, and possibly his girlfriend. The best part though is seeing hm grow and mature in his faith through the experience. I highly recommend you check it out.
published: 12:48 |
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General |
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Things have been a little crazy here this week. Amy started bleeding on Monday morning and the doctor sent her straight to the hospital. They have been monitoring the baby's heartbeat and checking Amy for signs of contractions but everything has been really good the whole time other than a few small cramps or contractions on Monday.
It is Wednesday night now and Amy and baby are still in the hospital but I am 90% sure they are going to get to come home tomorrow. Amy won't be able to go back to work though as the doctors want her on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. I am fully confident that everything is going to work out fine but I'll take any prayers you'd like to offer.
published: 11:47 |
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Family |
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Friday, October 13, 2006
I wanted to take the time to point out a new feature to everyone. In the left hand side bar, three sections down, there is a new section called "Classic Posts". I've been writing this blog on and off for almost three years exactly, and in all that time I've never done any sort of post retrospective. While working on the new template I had a chance to look back through all of the posts I've made and I found several that I am particularly fond of. The Classic Posts section in the sidebar contains links to these favorite posts. Here's a quick rundown.
Gently and Humbly
This post deals with two issues that are very important to me, how we deal with sin in ourself and how we deal with sin in others. It also discusses the issue of whether or not we can ever claim to be free from sin. Ok, that's three issues. That last one is probably the most important one to me because we as christians really come off looking as pompous jerks to the people we need to be ministering to when we get that one wrong. Not to mention that we call God a liar.
Fruit of the Self
I don't know how many times I've read Galatians 22 & 23 during a sermon or bible study without even noticing Galatians 19 - 21. It is great to want to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, but that's really just one side of the coin, isn't it?
What God Thinks of You
The posts that get the most traffic from the search engines are usually either about music or porn. This post is one of the few exceptions. Apparently there are many people trying to figure out where they stand with God. I think this is a good place to start finding out.
Perspective
This is one of my favorite posts mostly because it still helps me to put things into perspective when I read it.
Silver and gold
Silver and gold
I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold
Forgive Those Who Hurt Us?
Here is another area where I think we as christians often make mistakes. We are called to be loving, patient, gentile, and kind. We are not called to be doormats however. There are people who would pervert and twist those godly attributes and use them against us. This post begins to deal with how keep those people from abusing us without giving up on love and patience and the like.
Illegitimate Expectations
I think this is my favorite post of all time. It is written as a narrative story but it really is the result of God speaking directly to me about personal issues in my life. The result of God speaking to me was powerful in my life and I think this post illustrates that power and shares it with readers without going into the specifics of what I was dealing with. The great part of sharing it in a generic way is that people can apply it their own situations without having to filter out my "stuff". At least that is what I hope can happen.
Such As These
This post deals with another of my "pet" issues: relationships. I think that developing real and genuine relationships with other people is essential to a healthy christian walk. We sure do make up lots of excuses for avoiding it though.
Prayer of the Lost and Found and Prayer of a Sinner
When I first started this blog I intended it as an online prayer journal. These are my prayers to God about things that were on my mind and in my heart at the time. I still enjoy going back and reading them now. The blog evolved over time and I started to become more conscious of other people reading my posts as I wrote them, so these types of posts became both less effective and less frequent. I'm not opposed to posting more stuff like this but I won't post any more until it can be just about me and God, and not about what you think as you read them.
Introduction to Hosea
This post is really exactly what it says; it is a reprinting of the introduction to the book of Hosea as it appears in The Message version of the bible. It is so much more than an introduction though. It an extremely well written, biblically driven commentary on the over sexualization of our society and they way it has penetrated many of our lives. I think everyone should read it.
Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. These are all posts that are near and dear to my heart. I think that most of the posts I will make here in the future will not be of the same quality or significance as these posts but I hope to write some more that are.
published: 12:50 |
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General |
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