If When it Rains it Pours, This Must be a Downpour

Ok, now we are down to no vehicles. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Safari won't start, the Sunrunner has no brakes (found the broken brake line though so I can fix it), but the Mazda Protege was still working.



Well, my wife got back from what she was doing at about 2:30. I got my stuff and headed out to visit. The first place I stopped was at a nursing home where a member of the congregation I serve lives. She is not in good health, and has been pretty much none responsive except to groan or other noises like that for months now. Usually the visit is fairly short with me talking, reading some scripture, and praying. After the visit I got out to the Mazda, turned the key, and nothing happened. Well, the various indicator lights came on, and the radio played, but the engine didn't turn over. I tried again. Still nothing. Tried one more time. Still nothing. I popped the hood, noticed the oil was low, topped it off just in case that was the cause. Tried again. Nothing. Called CAA, and waited 45 minutes. Got a tow to the place we trust to do the work on our car, and left it there. Walked home (in shoes that really were not meant for walking so my heal is all blistered and sore, and tried the van again which had the battery charging for quite a while. Still won't start.



So now we have three vehicles, none of which I can use. We have a Sunrunner that has a broken brake line, so I can't drive it without brakes. We have a van that will crank but not start, and we have a car that will not even turn over. Needless to say, this is not what I expected for the day. I will have to see about finding precisely where the brake line is broken, so I can bicycle to the parts place and get another one. Once that is fixed at least I can get around. Then I will have to see what is up with the van. I am asking around for idea, hopefully someone has one that get get it going again. And, I will wait to hear from the mechanic about the Mazda. I think I will let him fix it.





Technorati Tags: cars, breakdowns, frustration

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Yahoo or Google

Since switching my blog over to Blogger, I have been checking my stats to see where people are coming from. Most come either through bookmarks or links on other pages, or through the comments I make on other blogs. So far no one has come through search engine. Because of that, I have been doing searches on Google for my blog posts, and they have not shown up. Today I decided to try Yahoo. Amazingly, the topic I searched for showed up. Check out this screen capture.





So it seems that Yahoo was quicker at adding my blog to their database than Google was. I find that strange since Google owns Blogger, but for now, they still don't seem to know I exist.

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Looking into the Womb 2

Check out this video on MSNBC. It shows more footage from the National Geographic special that I mentioned here.

Seeing these images shows the lie of abortionists that before birth babies are only tissue. These babies in the womb play and interact. They are babies that are not yet born, but they are most certainly not less than any one who is born. I cannot imagine that this is the sort of video those who want abortion on demand want people to see, but I do believe it is the sort of thing that people need to see.

HT: Denny Burk

Here is the National Geographic promotional piece.

Vehicle Trouble

It seems that when is rains it pours. Tuesday I was heading out to a meeting about an 1.5 hour drive away from home. I filled up the Sunrunner at the local gas station, and as I was pulling out I noticed the brakes were barely working. I drove carefully home, and instead took the Safari realizing that I will need to fix the brakes before going anywhere with the Sunrunner.



Today, I head out to do some visiting, and try to start our Safari. It would crank, but not start. I tried several times with no success. Then I figured that the Sunrunner was right beside it, I could jump start it from there. Well that didn't work either. I hooked the battery charger up to the Safari, and it registered a low battery on its gauge, so I guess that mean the battery we bought less than a year back is either not holding charge, or that something in the van is drawing power from it to pull it down enough to not be able to start the van.



Since the van will turn over, I am wondering if perhaps it needs a new rotor, cap and plugs. We had a similar problem about a week ago. I figured I had drained the battery enough because I had left my inverter plugged in, and the accessory outlets on the van don't turn off when you turn off the engine. However, once the battery was charged, the van started and ran. I even took it to my meeting on Tuesday with no problems with starting it. So I am starting to wonder.



Anyway, that leaves us with one vehicle, and that means I am stuck at home until Annette gets done with what she is doing.



On the positive side, I think I have found the brake problem. It looks like I have a leaking brake line on the front passenger side. I will have to do some more exploring to fine exactly where though. What it looks like is that the metal line on that side has been damaged, but that was me looking while I was trying to jump start the van while in my work clothes. Not really the best way to look.





Technorati Tags: car problems

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Test of the "Proformacing" extention

On Jollyblogger I found a list of interesting Firefox plugins. Proformancing is one that allows you to blog while browsing with Firefox. Basically their is a small icon on the bottom of the Firefox window that you can click and it will pull up an editor. At the same time the web-page you were looking at is still there, so if you are blogging about something on it, it is available right in front of you. It looked good to me, and I have installed it. This is my first post using it.

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Zeal For God, Can it Save?

Romans 10:1-4 (ESV)
[1] Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. [2] I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. [3] For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. [4] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Often people will say that because a person is zealous or rigorous or hard working for God, that they must be going to heaven. The most obvious example of this sort of thinking is Mother Theresa. They look at all the things she did for the orphans and needy in India. They see that she did it because of God, and they assume that she has now gone to heaven. They never ask any other questions, only say look at her zeal for God.

Do you see the thinking going on here? Those who are zealous for God, who work hard for God, must be going to heaven. However, is that really the case? Does working hard and giving up much for God mean that automatically a person goes to heaven? I would say that the clear answer in the Bible is, "No."

I say that because of verses like the ones we just read. There Paul is speaking about the Jews, his own people by genetic birth. His great desire is that they would be saved. That is, that they would be set free from their sins, and be made right with God. I'm sure there are many reasons behind that desire. They are his own people group and so he has a closer connection to them. They are the ones who God made the covenant with at Mt Sinai. They are the ones from whom Jesus traces his earthly decent. They are the ones through whom God gave his word in the law and the prophets. But, notice that because this is Paul's desire, that they would be saved, it means that at least some and very likely many of them are not saved.

What is important to our thought about those who are zealous for God is in the next sentence. After saying that his desire is that they would be saved, implying that many of them are not, we read, "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge."

The Jews were zealous for God. They, for the most part, worked very hard to live for him. Among the Pharisees there was a great zeal for God leading to a whole oral tradition that was meant to keep people far away from breaking the commands of God. Yet, the implication of the previous sentence is that in spite of all this, for the most part they are not saved. That would point to zeal for God not being enough to save a person. They had zeal. They worked hard. But, they were not saved.

The reason given here is that their zeal was "not according to knowledge." That is, they were not zealous for God in the way they should have been. For that matter, they should have known better.

This is expanded in the next verse, "For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." The lack of knowledge they exhibited in their zeal for God, was that through that zeal they had for God, they were trying to establish their own righteousness. This was not, and for that matter is not, what God desires. The knowledge they were ignorant of was that there is a righteousness that comes from God. Instead of seeking to be found righteous in that righteousness from God, they sought to be righteous on their own, zealously striving to do good.

Yes, they wanted to serve God. Yes, they wanted to keep his commands. Yes, they believed God is real and wants his people to be holy. But, where they went wrong, and why they were not saved, was because they were trying to be righteous in themselves. They were trying to make themselves acceptable or worthy before God.

In doing this they missed the very thing God had revealed in the scriptures. Abraham was not made acceptable by his good works, but as is pointed out in Chapter 4 of Romans, "For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."" (Romans 4:3) The scriptures given to the Jews did not set out a way of making oneself righteous before God by zealous good works, but taught that one was counted or declared righteous by trusting in God and the righteousness that comes from him. That is why they were zealous, but not according to knowledge.

With the coming of Christ this has been made even more clear. As the final sentence reminds the us, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." That is, Christ makes the truth of this clear. He shows in his perfect sinless life that, as the scriptures teach, only perfection will be accepted by God. He shows in his suffering and death what striving after righteousness in our own power, no matter how zealous for God we may be, results in, death and facing the infinite punishment our sins against an infinite God deserve. As was stated earlier in this letter, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is only by trusting in Jesus Christ that a person is made right, righteous before God. There is no other way. Because not only does he show that our zealous activity for God is not enough to save us, be he provides the perfect righteousness, the righteousness from God, that we need. He gives it to all who believe in him.

So, back to the original question, can a person be zealous for God yet still be lost? The answer is clearly that they can. They can believe that God is. They can work to please him. They can strive to do good and resist evil. They can do all this, yet still not be saved, because they are not trusting in Christ, but in their works.

This is sobering, because I know there is a constant tendency for me to want to trust the good things I do, to forget that they don't earn anything with God because no matter how good they may be, they are not perfect. Only Christ was perfect in his obedience. There is that constant tendency in all of us. I am sure you see it in yourself as well. But, zealous as you may be, it will not save you.

Instead, the call of this passage is to trust in Christ, not in your own imperfect attempts at righteousness. Trust in his perfect obedience which is counted to you when you trust in him. Trust in his suffering and death that satisfied the wrath of God against you and paid the price your sins deserved. Trust in his resurrection and ascension that show what he did was accepted by God and which guarantees, if you trust in him, that you will be raised up as well.

No matter how zealous for God you may be, if you neglect faith you are lost.

Dr. Mohler out of Hospital

At Al Mohler's blog, it has been announced that he was released from the hospital. Thank be to God.

This is why Politicians Shouldn't Sing, and Singers Shouldn't Try To Be Polititians

I came across this at Biblical Christianity, and although I know nothing of Senator John McCain the point is clear. I just wish more people would understand just because a person can act or sing or whatever, does not mean they know anything about leading a country.

Dead to the Law

Romans 7:4-6
4Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

As I was reading this morning in Romans, I was following Paul's line of thought and this stuck out to me. I'm not exactly sure why, but it did.

The "likewise" at the beginning of verse 4 looks back at the previous statements where he speaks of how a woman who is married is set free from the law of marriage when her husband dies so she is free to marry another. If she were to have relations with another while her husband was still alive she would be an adulteress, but once he is dead, she is free to marry another. "Likewise," Paul points out, people who are joined to Christ have died to the law through him.

See what is written again, "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." If you or I believe in Jesus Christ, we have died to the law through him. As he died, those who belong to him died as well. When a person dies, their legal obligations in life cease. So also, those who die with Christ, die to the legal obligations of the law.

What are these obligations? They certainly are not the one that have to do with how we are to live. It is not like are now allowed to do whatever we want even if it is considered sin by the law. I say that is the case because to do so would be to live like we did before being joined to Christ. As verse 5 points out, "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death." Before dying with Christ, we were living our sinful passions. Even more than that, the end of verse 4 shows that the purpose of this death to the law, is that by belonging to another, that is to the risen Jesus Christ, we might bear fruit to God. That is, that we might live as God desires his people to live, not in sinful passions, but in holiness.

So what are these obligations? It seems to me that the obligations of the law that those who believe are freed from, are those that require that we face the punishment our sins deserve. The obligations that to live we must keep the law perfectly, or we will face the punishment of not only death in this life, but eternal death, another way of saying eternal punishment for our disobedience and high treason against the infinite God.

Thanks be to God, for those who believe, those obligations of the law have been removed in Christ, so we can now live in him. That means we are no longer under the power of our sinful passions, we are no longer captive to them, but are now freed to live by the power of the Spirit in such a way that we bear fruit for God.

The practical application for this is that if you have real faith in Jesus Christ, you can now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, live in a way that says no to sin and yes to how God calls us to live in the Bible. Sin and the passions that are stirred up in you by sin when you are told you cannot do something by the law, no longer has the upper hand. Now you, if you believe, belong to Christ. You can say no to sin, not because you are stronger, but because Christ is in you by the Spirit who makes you able to do what is right for God.

And People Wonder Why I Distrust The Mainstream Media

Read this report and the things it links, and you will start to understand why I think more and more the mainstream media is not just stretching the truth, but outright lying to people. I don't know where quality journalism went, but it certainly seems to be gone today.

Great Love of God for a Messed up Sinner

Romans 5:6-11 ESV
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

I was reading this today in my devotions. This is one of those sections of Romans that a I could consider and meditate on for hours and probably not plumb the depths of what is being said here.

It speaks of who I was outside of Christ. I was weak, ungodly, a sinner, under the wrath of God, and an enemy of God. Too often I forget that who I am in myself is all these things. That is who I was before I was called to Christ, and that is who I would still be if I was not joined to him through faith.

But, for that weak person, that ungodly person, that sinner, that person under the wrath of God, that enemy of God who would on his own have no care for God at all, Christ died. He laid down his life for me and for all who believe that I and they could be removed from what we were, and joined to what he is. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." What a wonderful truth, but as John Piper is want to point out, this truth is not phrased in the past tense, but in the present. God did not just show his love (past tense), but he shows his love, even today, present continuous tense.

If I want to know the love of God; if you want to know the love of God, look to the cross of Jesus Christ. There you will find that there is more than enough done that its effects and power extend all the way to today. When I get down and wonder if God loves me, I need to remember to look to Christ dying for me while I was a sinner.

Finally, as I looked at this, consider it, meditate upon it, I am given this further great hope. For since when I was a totally messed up enemy of God I was made right, reconciled with God through the death of his Son, what does that mean for now? Now that I have been reconciled. Now that I have through faith been brought to peace with God through Jesus Christ's death (Romans 5:1). Now that Jesus Christ is no longer dead, but alive and in heaven and seated at the right hand of God. What does that mean? Does is not mean that I, and all who are reconciled through his death even though we were still enemies, sinners, weak and under the wrath of God, will now be saved completely.

If you are like me, there are times when you despair. You look at your life, and see how sin still seems to clutch to you in so many areas. You see that no sooner do you deal with one sin by the grace of God, than another two come bubbling up to the surface that you never saw in the first place. How will you ever be saved? If you trust in Jesus think on this for a moment. If he died to reconcile you while you were still a sinner so that now you have peace with God through him, will he not, now that he is alive, save you all the way. It makes me think of Paul's letter to the Philippians where he wrote, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." When God showed his love while you and I were still sinners, now that he has brought you and I to peace, will he not save us all the way.

Finally, the most amazing thing is this, we rejoice in God through Jesus. We exult in Him. We praise Him. We take pride in Him. We boast in Him. This is something we do now. When you and I start to realize who we were when Christ died for us, and who he has made us, and how he will save us to the very end, when we really realize this, it moves us to boast in God. It moves us to tell other people about how great God is through Jesus Christ who has reconciled us to him.

I don't know about you, but I don't find I do that enough. I think the reason is that I do not always have as much of an understanding of what exactly God has given me through Jesus Christ as I should have. It is so easy to start to either focus on the remaining sin in my life, or to focus on the world around me, and not to focus on the love of God in Christ. That is why I started by saying that I could consider and meditate on this passage for hours, and not plumb the depths of it. For God loved me, Christ died for me, when I was not in any way worth dying for. That is grace. It is undeserved to the uttermost. But, it is in this that we find God showing his love to you and me and all who believe. Oh what amazing love.

Go and worship with God's people tomorrow boasting in your great God and Saviour.

Urgent Prayer Request -- Updated

This was posted by Justin Taylor at Ref 21:

Posted on AlbertMohler.com:

Dr. Mohler's health has sustained a setback. Over the past 36 hours Dr. Mohler has suffered from unrelenting pain. This unusual degree of pain signaled concern for the attending physicians and prompted additional tests this afternoon. In the past hour these tests have revealed that Dr. Mohler is suffering from pulmonary emboli in both lungs. His condition is quite serious and he has been moved to the intensive care unit of Baptist East Hospital in Louisville, KY for immediate treatment.

Please make this a matter of urgent prayer. Thank you once again for your concern and support during these days.

From WebMD: "Pulmonary embolism (PE) is an extremely common and highly lethal condition that is a leading cause of death in all age groups. A good clinician actively seeks the diagnosis as soon as any suspicion of PE whatsoever is warranted, because prompt diagnosis and treatment can dramatically reduce the mortality rate and morbidity of the disease."

When Annette's dad went through this the doctors did not say much, but when it was all over they told of how they thought at the time he would die. The mortality rate on this is quite high, although the longer a person lives once it is detected, the better the odds that they will recover.

I echo the call given here and at Al Mohler's blog, pray for him and his family during this time.

Update: An update on Al Mohler's blog reports that Dr. Mohler is responding well to treatment, and was even able to discuss a book with Dr. Moore when he came to visit.

Petition Update

The petition calling for Pat Robertson to apologize for his presumptuous so called prophecies is now up to over 300 signatures. Again I encourage those who read this to go over there, read the petition, and if you agree to sign it. If you have a blog post the link there, and if you know of others who would like to sign, by all means direct them there. The hope is to get at least 1000 signatures by next Wednesday. More would be better.

Some of you may wonder what difference it would make to a person who says God is telling them this stuff to have fellow believers sign something like this. Pat may ignore it, but at the very least it shows that he is not the spokesman for Christianity, and his so called prophecies that don't come true are nothing of the sort.

Looking into the Womb

Melinda over at Stand to Reason posted this link of a National Geographic special on multiple birth using what they call 4D scans to produce images from inside the womb. Looking at the images they have produced it is amazing to think than anyone could see them and think that an unborn baby is anything less than that. It is not merely some tissue any more than you and I are only some tissue. Being able to see this reminds me of the words in Psalm 139,

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

Update on McD's and Kidzworld

Back in May following a post on Pyromaniacs speaking about Kidzworld which was heavily sponsored by McDonalds, and concerns with the content of that site, I posted this.

I recently wondered if that sponsorship had continued, so I returned to Kidzworld, and found to my amazement, that I could not find a McDonald's advertisement. I did a bit of searching, and still couldn't. From what I can see, surprising as it is, McDonalds has done the right thing. It is good to see it when that happens.

Pat Robertson Petition

Over the past several years Pat Robertson has made various prophetic predictions on his 700 Club broadcast claiming that God was telling him that they were going to happen. However, while some have, others have not. Check out this article to read more about it. You can also check out this video.

God said in Deuteronomy 18:22, "when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him." Seeing as what Pat Robertson has predicted has not come to pass, and seeing as he himself says, "Sometimes I miss." he has been shown to be at the least presumptuous and by definition a false prophet.

If you agree, join in calling him to public repentance by signing this online petition.

To brother Robertson, please repent of what you have been doing for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

Is "Balance" possible

Over at Pyromaniacs, Phil Johnson has an excellent post concerning the attempt by many to walk the line of balance theologically. The usual places this is found were mentioned, that is, trying to find a middle line between legalism and license or a middle area between Calvinism and Arminianism. He points out that there is danger in taking this sort of approach.

As I was reading the first thing that came to my mind is the current "Dialog on Homosexuality" in the RCA. I guess is shows how big the problems are in the RCA when we seem to think that dialog will bring us to some sort of middle ground. I don't see it happening, and if it does, I cannot imagine many of the people I know who are currently in the RCA staying in the RCA. There is not place of balance in this discussion. My prayer is that as a denomination God helps us realize that, turning us back to him more fully.

Welcome to my blog's new home

Welcome to the new home of Kerussomen Christon Estauronmenon. As you can see I have moved all the posts from my Livejournal blog here, and over the next while I will be working on customizing things even more. I hope you will enjoy the new setting.

Apparently Messy is Good

It seems that all my failed attempts to keep my desk tidy are not the way to go. Messy is now apparently good. See here. I guess I should capitalize on this before the research shows the opposite.

If you are having a hard day at work, watch this and realize you are not alone

This is one of those videos that make you feel sorry for the person, and at the same time make you laugh. He was certainly having a hard day. Here is an interview with more information.

Look up. Look waaaay up, and I'll call Rusty.

For those of you who are old enough to remember this phrase, it will remind you of the children's show The Friendly Giant. It was one of those shows that I always enjoyed watching as a child, and thinking back it not only introduced me to many books, but also to various types of music. Having said that, this post has nothing to do with it. Instead it has to do with looking up to the sky at night to see the various constellations. I don't know how many of you have done this. I was always somewhat interested in it, but it was not until I took an astronomy course in University that I really got hooked. For several years I would look at my star charts and try to find various constellations. However, during my seminary years I didn't have time to do this, and now I find that I have forgotten much of what I had learned. Internet to the rescue. At this site you will find a free document entitled What's Up 2007: 365 Days of Skywatching. If you want to know more about what you can see each night through this coming year, have a look. A brief warning though, it is 410 pages long so you might not want to print off the whole thing.

Two Calls to Pray

Today two calls to prayer were sent out into the blog-sphere. The first, which seems less dangerous is for Dr. Al Mohler. At his blog the following is posted: Dr. Albert Mohler is recovering at Louisville's Baptist East hospital following abdominal surgery. Dr. Mohler was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday after experiencing abdominal pain. During a three-hour procedure, surgeons removed scar tissue from a 1980s operation. Dr. Mohler is expected to be released from the hospital next week and will continue his recovery at home. Dr. Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology and Senior VP for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, will host The Albert Mohler radio program until he is able to return to the air. Dr. Mohler's blog and commentary posts will resume as soon as he is able. Please join the Southern Seminary community in praying for Dr. Mohler's quick and total recovery. The second, which seems much more concerning is that of Dr. James Kennedy. On Reformation 21 Rick Phillips posted the following: Please pray for Dr. D. James Kennedy, his wife and daughter, and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. Dr. Kennedy is in grave condition following a heart attack last evening. Jim's health has deteriorated markedly in the last several months, and he has manfully continued his ministry to the best of his ability. During all my interactions with him even during this trying time, he has exhibited his characteristic good cheer, charm, and force of mind. Along with being a man with great vision for the kingdom of Christ, Jim Kennedy is a true Christian gentleman. Please pray for God to restore him to full health and give him grace as his situation should require. He posted a further update here. Although these are widely different situations, both carry with them struggle and danger. Please pray for these men as they go through these bitter providences, that in them God's grace may be shown to be sufficient and that his power may be made perfect in their weakness. To God be the glory.

Seriously Merry Christmas

Since I have posted the rather tongue in cheek Merry Christmas for those who are 24 fans, I wanted to post a more serious Christmas greeting. As we worshiped today we remembered together the amazing truth that the Son of God came from the glories of heaven, not grasping the equality to God that is his, but rather pouring himself out into a human being born to an unwed mother and laid in a manger because there was not room in the inn. It is the glory of God with us, come to save us, and who would humbly and obediently go to death, even the shameful death on the cross. With that in mind, a blessed Christmas to all of you. Enjoy. HT: Denny Burk

Merry Christmas (Especially for you 24 fans)

I am not a huge fan of 24, probably because I have not watched enough of it to be able to follow the plot line without going back. The few times I have watched it, it has looked like the sort of show I could get into if I had the time to devote to catching up. Sadly, I don't, but I can still recognize good parody. :) So to everyone, a Merry CHRISTmas, and enjoy HT: Biblical Christianity

Tis the Season For Lists

It seems that as we come to the end of any given year, we are surrounded by various lists. To add to that, here is a list of the geekiest animals ever. Click Here

Christmas Lights

Have you ever wondered where those Christmas lights you put up came from? Well, here is an interesting video about how those made in China Christmas lights are put together. For more information check out Lights of Christmas HT: Random Responses

George Street

The more I consider it, the more I think we make evangelism much too difficult. The thinking today is that one must do so many different things to successfully lead people to Christ. Yet, if the word of God is true, the success in evangelism is in his hands not ours. What we are called to do is as clearly and politely as we can present the gospel to people. Maybe we will not see the results ourselves, but God said his word will not return to him void, but will accomplish what he desires. As a reminder of that I link you over to this audio account of a faithful little man as a reminder that God works as his people are faithful in presenting the message of Jesus Christ. More audio lessons can be found at Way of the Master

Women Talk More Than Men

Like this is a surprise. For years it has been denied, but now the research has come back and found that women talk 3 times more on average than men. For more information, check out this article.

Interesting Contest

I heard about this contest from Biblical Christianity If I win I will be sure to blog about it.

Gift Exchanges?

Thankfully I seem to be past this point in my life, but I am sure that some of you are still involved in those group/office gift exchanges. You know the ones where everyone is supposed to purchase a gift in a certain value range, wrap it and put it under the tree. Then everyone draws a number and based on that picks a gift. The next person can either take that unwrapped gift or get one from under the tree. I always seemed to end up with something that no one else wanted, but another blogger has some good suggestions and warning on gifts for that sort of exchange. See Here

Cat QuizCat Quiz

HT: Annette

What breed of cat are you? Your Result: British Shorthair "Meow. I said meow! Where's my food?" All we ever hear about British cats in published material is that they're loyal and good hunters. But we British cat owners know that as house cats, you are quite useless, except maybe as very heavy heating pads. You are greedy, demanding, and narcissistic. Nevertheless, you are irresistible, so we end up worshiping you despite your obvious flaws of character.
Exotic Longhair
Savannah
Ragdoll
Siamese
Scottish Fold
Sphynx
Devon Rex
What breed of cat are you? Take More Quizzes

Advent Wreaths

As has been the practice in Reformed (RCA) and Christian Reformed (CRCNA) churches from the time I was a small child and before, our church uses an advent wreath to celebrate the season of advent and Christmas. I never really thought about it until several years back when I was searching for better advent readings than the ones the RCA had that year, and I found the pagan roots of this practice. Now, I have to say, this was an Internet article, so it would need more research on my part to verify the information found in it. Regardless of that, it made me start to consider whether this practice is something we should do in light of the regulative principal of worship. At first glance it may not seem that either of these denominations take this principal seriously in their practice. However, on look to the Heidelberg Catechism as it discusses the second commandment and you find the following:

Q & A 96

Q. What is God's will for us
in the second commandment?

A. That we in no way make any image of God
nor worship him in any other way
than he has commanded in his Word.

Notice the second part of this explanation of this commandment says that we should not worship God, "in any other way that he has commanded in his Word." That would mean that the official understanding of our standards is not that of, everything is permissible as long as God has not prohibited it, but rather, we can and should only do the things God commanded be done in worship. We officially believe the scriptures teach the regulative principle. I am still on the fence if I totally agree with the regulative principle, but I do find I am leaning more and more in that direction. That leads to my questions. First, how did two denominations that both believed in the regulative principle seem to abandon it and add things like advent wreaths? Second, what do those who read thing about the permissibility of advent wreaths based on the teaching of scripture. I know some of you simply like them, my question is not one of like of dislike, but are we wrong based on what the Bible teaches us to use them in worship? EDIT December 9, 2006 For more information and discussion on this topic see here and here at Challies Dot Com.

I am Still Here

It has been a long time since I have posted anything. Part of that is because I was on vacation (no Internet connection in Algonquin Provincial Park). The other part is that I have been ill with some nasty intestinal ailment that has hit everyone in our family. It started with Justin halfway through my vacation. I returned from Algonquin to a very sick boy and a rather frazzled wife. He seemed to get better by that Monday, so we proceeded with our plans for the second week of my vacation leaving Justin with his grandma and going to Toronto to visit friends and go to the Royal Winter fair. By that Monday evening, Annette was throwing up, with all the symptoms of what Justin had. By Tuesday morning, I had joined her, and we had found out that Justin was still sick (so this was not some one day thing). We decided to head home, and spent that week and the next (last week) feeling ill and weak and completely exhausted. The worst part of it, was that you would start to feel fine, start doing normal things (like work since last week I was officially back from vacation) and then with no warning you would feel horrible again. I am pretty sure I am over it now, but I also feel very behind in my work stuff. Last week was far from productive, and December, with all its busyness is coming. So far this week I have not had one of those relapses, although I don't have all my energy back either. It is because of all that that I have not been posting in the last while. Now that I am feeling more like myself, I hope to get back to things, but I need to catch up on work first.

Sermons back on line

After a series of problems that came about because of changing my firewall software, the sermon hosting should be up and running again. Sermons from Bethel Exeter

What Can They Change With Photoshop

One of the things that is often forgotten today is the amazing power that advertisers have to change the images they use. There has always been the use of airbrushes in the past, but now with photoshop the power to change an image has gone far beyond what was possible before. Check out this video of how much images can be changed.

A Crazy World

I was reading the latest e-mail from Slashdot.com and they had a link to a CNN story reporting on how a school has banned the game tag at recess. Once again the paranoia over lawsuits, and the strange idea that children should never be involved in anything rough and tumble have prevailed. I always enjoyed tag as a child, but I guess while the schools out there are promulgating a secular, postmodern, godless world-view, we can at least be sure that no child will ever run into another child and cause them to fall down or skin their knees/elbows/hands or anything else for that matter.

Next Great Awakening

On the Ref21 blog Philip Ryken posted a very thought provoking quote by David Gelernter about where the next great awakening may start. Check it out

Videos

If you have been having trouble viewing the videos that I have posted, there is a good reason. Apparently there is currently a problem with Livejournal and a few different video hosting sites including photobucket. Since I use photobucket, the videos will not be visible until this problem is corrected. Simply know that they are looking into it.

Radical Right Wing? So the federal Liberal claim.

Apparently Christians who are part of organizations like Focus on the Family, are now considered to be part of "Radical Right Wing Groups" according to the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The article talking about this can be found here. I have to say that if these jokers get back in power it will be a difficult time for Christians in this country. I encourage all Christians here in Canada to write letters to your MP concerning this, and to spread this around so that people are aware of the views of the Liberal Party of Canada.

More on Brakes

Well, I seem to be having a problem that I can't nail down. I did the front brakes, replaced both calipers, pads and rotors. Took it out for a test drive and all seemed well except the rear brakes were making horrible noises. I did the rear brakes replacing both drums, shoes and springs. Now when I brake, I get a repeating thumping noise that slows down as the vehicle slows down. I'm not sure what the cause is. At first, since I didn't notice it when I had done the front brakes, I figured it was the rear brakes not being quite adjusted even though it felt and sounded like the noise was coming from the front drivers side. Checked the rear brakes again to make sure everything was the way it should be. Took it out for a drive still heard and felt the thumping. Decided to do the drive by test with my wife to see where the noise was coming from. She heard it from the front drivers side. So, I pulled that side apart, but everything looks good. It could be a defective rotor, so I may just get it replaced, but then again, it could be a defective caliper, or something I else I am overlooking. If anyone who is experienced with brakes reads this, suggestions are always appreciated.

Sermon Series on James

I have been regularly adding streaming mp3s of the sermon series we are going through at Bethel. The last two sermons are: It Isn't Nothing, It Is War -- James 4:1-10 (Part 1) and He Gives More Grace -- James 4:1-10 (Part 2) The whole series can be found here.

Will The Youth Stay?

Here is an interesting article discussing a current concern in evangelical circles that only 4% of the teens will remain in the church when they grow up. I'm not sure how true the numbers are, but I debate some of the approaches I have seen that are attempting to keep the youth. If we think that we can do so by putting on a better 'show' than the world or by providing things like rock climbing walls, I think that it is doomed to fail because the world will always do that better. Those may be tools to get them in a place where you can teach them, but too often the teachings I have seen in those settings are mere moralism, not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Too often the attempt is to inculcate Christian 'values' without realizing that the problem is one of world-view. I am still thinking of this, and having few teens in our congregation due to a church split that happened long before I arrived on scene, I am far from an expert, but, I do that the word of God seriously when it teaches that faith comes from hearing the word of God preached. That faith bring a change in world-view so one is no longer modern or post-modern or whatever else, but Christian in their world-view. I am rambling, and the brakes of our car are calling. I will have to re-read this and think more to clarify things.

Brake Jobs

I am quite pleased with myself. I did the front brakes on my wife's Mazda Protege. I always thought that brakes were something really difficult to fix. But, compared to putting a computer together, it is no more difficult. In fact, it actually easier. There are only two springs, two pins, two bolts, two pads and one rotor. Now the front brakes work wonderfully, but the rear not so much. Now that the front brakes are quiet you can hear the rear drum brakes making lots of noise. I pulled them apart, and found that they are disparately in need of repair, so that is the next thing on my list. My hopes are, that although they are more complicated, they will be as quick to do as the front brakes. I have the parts on order, and they should be in tomorrow. I have the car jacked up and the drums off, so I am ready to go tomorrow.

Eight Reasons For Not Sharing Your Faith?

Recently I have been preaching to remind people of the great good news of the gospel that we have been given to share. I have done this first to remind them of that good news because it is easy to forget it over time and not live in it's joy as we should. The second reason is to seek to move them to actually get involved with unbelievers by realizing the power of the good news of Jesus Christ lies not in them, or even in their fine words and arguments to the truth of the gospel, but in God. I want them and myself to realize that the power of God is active in the message of the cross, so we can be freed to speak it not depending on ourselves, but on God to work through it by the Holy Spirit. In that line of thought I stumbled upon this video posted by the people at The Rebelution speaking of eight reasons the main character in this short video does not share his faith with others. Enjoy.

One Sermon A Week?

I stumbled on to this post on The World From Our Window blog. In it Ken Fields gives some very good reasons for a pastor with a family to only preach one sermon a week. I don't know if I agree with him completely, but as Justin grows I find that he want to play more, and often I need to keep working to get both sermons done for Sunday. After a while this gets to be a fairly grueling schedule, and I don't get all the work into a sermon that I know I should. By that I mean I start to cut corners, simply to get the sermon finished. With that in mind I have a tendency to agree with him. Yet, I know I could do more than 4 sermons a month, but doing 8 in a typical month becomes mentally challenging. Add the special services (which thankfully my board of Elders will often cut out other services so the preaching load doesn't go up too much) such as Christmas and our practice of doing a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day service, and it can quickly make sermon prep something that disappears for the need to have the sermons done. Not to mention making it easy to neglect family time completely. I know some pastors who have on evening a month off, and others who have something like that and get off a whole Sunday when there are 5 Sunday's in a month. Something like that certainly helps to deal with things like this. At the very least this has got me thinking about what is best for those I am called to preach to, my family, and myself.

Flash Drives Are Great . . . But

Today was one of those days. I woke up, having not slept very well, with a fuzzy head. Not really a headache, but just mentally tired. I figured it would not be a particularly productive day, but I set to work none the less. I did the editing for the upcoming broadcast of our worship service, and got that rendering. Got the order of worship all laid out, hymns picked and announcements written. I even had several pages done on my sermon. Thankfully it was only the sermon and bulletin information saved on the flash drive, because about 4pm my darling son decided that he should push my laptop off the table where I had set it so I could put his sweater on so he could go for a walk with his mom. It landed on the flash drive bending it over. That in itself would not have been fatal, but in bending it over one of the small components that is surface mounted right near the plug end was pushed off the board of the flash drive. So now I have a flash drive with quite a lot of information that will not work. I did try re-attaching the part in hopes that I could get it to run long enough to get the data off of it, but I put in on backwards and while the drive was recognized, it gave an error. So, I tried to switch things around, only to break off what little bit of connection was left. I figure that pretty much does it for that drive. At least it was only a $40 flash drive, and not my $900 laptop. The information is not irreplaceable as all the stuff I also have as hard-copies except for the stuff I had been working on today. On the positive side, I got some work in with my soldering iron, and found my hand is getting better at that :)

Excellent Statement on the Biblical Roles of Men and Women

Annette found this excellent statement on the role of men and women as taught in Scripture. It is balanced and seems to seek to reflect the Bible's teaching on these topics. Check it out.

To View Videos

I heard from my wife that some of her friends were having problems viewing the videos I have posted. They both use Internet Explorer. Other than my constant suggestion to people that they should switch to Firefox the fix for this problem (if you are facing it) is to get the newest flash player. You can download it from Adobe here. I hope that helps people out.

Toronto Sola Scriptura Conference Blogger Get Together

Carla Rolfe has suggested that at the Toronto Sola Scriptura conference, that various bloggers try to get together. Early on my wife Annette and I chimed in that we would be there, and now Tim Challies has announced it in his blog as well. If you are interested, it would be great to have you come out.

Don't Waste Your Life

If you want an excellent book written by one of my favorite authors, John Piper, absolutely free, go to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to get one. I particularly encourage those who read this blog who are interested in what Christianity is all about, and why following Jesus is not wasting your life to take advantage of this.

One More Justin Video

I know some of you might be finding this uninteresting, but what can I say, I am a proud daddy. One of the things my wife does is dog sit. This past weekend we were dog sitting an English Setter by the name of Spirit. She is great with kids, and Justin very quickly discovered that. Here are several videos edited together of him and Spirit.

Some more videos of Justin from our last vacation

While we were camping there we a few rainy days, and Justin discovered the joys of mud puddles with a little encouragement from his mom. He also had fun running back and forth looking at the turkeys at the CNE agricultural pavilion. And finally we have Justin at the CNE petting zoo. And after a long day of seeing exciting things . . .

Videos of my boy

Here are some videos taken with my digital camera of my son Justin. This first one was taken when we were camping in July. My mother was dog sitting, and we came over to visit as where she was dog sitting had a pool. The dog named Wiley is a friend of our dog Riley since they were both puppies, and he is great with kids--much better than Justin. Well, Justin realized this very quickly how fun Wiley is. Here is the result. The next video is from the same trip, but at our campsite. Justin discovered that he could sit in Sassy's food dish when it was empty. Here is the result. Finally, from our most recent trip here is a video of Justin at the Seal enclosure in the Toronto Zoo. Part of me wishes I had my good video camera with me for these scenes, but I am very happy we have these memories stored even if the quality is not what I might like. Enjoy!

I'm Back

I have returned from our week away. Of course you probably noticed that already with the previous post :) The time away was great. It was an opportunity to recharge my batteries through rest and reading. During the time away I read Hitting The Bullseye by Paul D. Borden and Outgrowing the Ingrown Church by C. John Miller. Both books deal with church growth, but they are as different as night and day. Paul Borden takes a very business like approach to the problem of shrinking churches, and while what he states as being his reasons for wanting the church to grow are biblical, I could not help but question whether the way he encourages it to be done is the correct one. It seems like the pragmatic approach. It certainly has been effective in his own setting of the American Baptist Church. But, it seems to be very mercenary and lacking in taking a whole biblical approach. This is not to say that he did not have some good points. His understanding that the local church is the fundamental unit for church growth is right on and very biblical. His view that higher judicatories exist primarily to strengthen the local church in fulfilling the great commission is also right on. It is something that the RCA should take seriously in considering out 10 year goal. At least here in Canada, we send lots of money to the US end of the RCA, and see little or none of it back to our local congregations. I wonder what it would be like if the GS cut all those various groups and offices that we are supporting that have nothing to do with the 10 year goal, and put that money into directly assisting the churches in fulfilling the great commission. Better yet, let the local church keep the money and use it to minister the gospel in their local setting. Having said that, reading Paul Borden did not encourage me, or even really challenge me in my own walk of faith. On the other hand Outgrowing the Ingrown Church was a whole other situation. In is John Miller constantly went back to scripture to exhort, encourage, and correct the things that have gone wrong in congregation that have become ingrown. As I read it I was many times moved to repent of having become as ingrown as the congregation I pastor. I was challenged again and again to come to a full understanding of the gospel promises found in scripture that are fulfilled in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in all those who believe. I was made aware again and again that the many ways that I, like the congregation I serve, have become more and more ingrown. I was also reminded that it a lack of faith in the power of the gospel that lies at the heart of this inward focus. This book is one that I would recommend to others, and which I want to read again taking more time, so that I can work through what I need to do to live as a gospel minister. As I do so, I will hopefully post my thoughts as I go through it.

Cartoon

What cartoon are you? American Dad

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Camping at a New Place

Today we head out for a much needed week off. I don't know what it was about this summer, but I have been very close to burn out a few times. Perhaps it is the emotions of the second miscarriage we have went through as a couple along with various concerns of the church, but I am completely done. I am really looking forward to getting away for a while, and I hope it will help recharge my emotional and spiritual energy. We will be camping at Glen Rouge Campground. It is a campground in Toronto. After doing some asking around, it seemed like it would be nice, and our hope is to do some day tripping in Toronto (CNE, visit friends, maybe the zoo and/or a museum) so its location is excellent as it is walking distance to the Toronto Bus system. Now hopefully, we did not make the wrong choice. I will tell you when we return.

Canadian Funded Media Twists Words of Prime Minister

I found this following video linked from Grey In Black and White, and it is yet another example of the problem with media today and how easily they can edit what is said to spin it to mean what they want, not what really happened. As a former film student, I have always been facinated by how editing of video and how the clips are put together can completely change the message being given. Watch and learn how important it is to think carefully about what it being presented in the news. http://www.youtube.com/v/bDw5a0_iFBk

Eucharistic Theology

No surprise here. Ok, I was surprised that it called me a Nestorian, but then the questions don't allow for the permanent union of Christ's two natures, while at the same time recognizing that his body is human and thus limited as to time and space while in his divinity he is ubiquitous. Edit: I removed the Nestorian part. (HT: Ars Theologica )

You scored as Calvin. You are John Calvin. You believe only those who have faith are united to Christ, who is present spiritually, yet you call this "Real." Calvin 100% Zwingli 94% Luther 13% Catholic 0% Unitarian 0% Eucharistic theology created with QuizFarm.com

Please Pray

Saturday we received a call from Annette's mom, that one of her second cousins died in a farm accident, he was only 12 years old. For more information look here and here. Prayers for that family as they go through this difficult time would be appreciated. The funeral is on Wednesday.

Browser Stats

"I was looking a the visitor stats on my blog, and one of them is what browsers people are using. I find it very interesting that 52% of the people who view my blog are using Firefox. I actually expected that the majority would be Internet Explorer, but I guess the word is getting out on how nice Firefox is. Having said that, these values are probably influenced by my advocating the use of Firefox to my friends and relatives who probably make up much of the readership on my blog.
Percent Browser Name Version
52 52.00% Firefox 1.5.0
36 36.00% MSIE 6.0
10 10.00% Safari 1.2
1 1.00% MSIE 7.0
1 1.00% Konqueror 3.4"

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (ESV) Thanksgiving 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As is found in the beginning of virtually all Paul's letter, here following the opening greeting we find a section of thanksgiving. In light of the problems that will be found in the Corinthian church in the rest of this letter, it may see surprising how thankful Paul was. He writes that he gives, "thanks to God always" for them. In spite of the sin that is allowed to run rampant in that church, the divisions between its members over incorrect things, their questioning of Paul's apostolic authority, and several other things, Paul still thanks God for them, not just sometimes, but always. Notice however, that Paul's thanksgiving to God for them is based firmly in what God has done in the Corinthians. It is because of the gifts of grace given by God in Jesus Christ to them, that Paul is able to thank God for them. For, that grace of God in Christ given to them, is a confirmation of the testimony about Christ that they have received. It is evidence that God is working in them and through them to make them more and more his people. Paul first pointed to the fact that God in his gifts to them enriches them in all ways, however, there are specific gifts in mind here as well. The grace that God has given in Christ is that he had enriched the Corinthians in Christ, "in all speech and all knowledge." The first enrichment is in all speech or logos. Although most English translations translate this as "speech," as Gordon Fee points out in his commentary, this word is used throughout 1 Corinthians in the context of spiritual utterance. At the very least the speech here is not merely the controlled tongue that James speaks of in James 1:26, but also has something to do with words of edification that teach spiritual truths. This is something that Paul will return to in the letter The second specific gifts is that of knowledge or gnosis. Again this is probably speaking of knowledge given by the Spirit of God, and again Paul will return to it in this letter. In both cases, although Paul is thankful to God for the Corinthians for these gifts, they are also things that are part of the problem in Corinth. These gifts that Paul repeatedly points out here are given in Christ, had become points of pride and stumbling in the Corinthian church. In spite of that, Paul is still thankful to God for them. That catches me short, for I wonder how often am I thankful to God for the people of God I know or minister to when they take the gifts they have in Christ, and misuse them, making them points of pride or division? Yet, here we see Paul was thankful for them. Yes, he will go on and correct the abuses, but he does not let that abuse remove the great truth that these people are God's people in Christ. That in Christ they have been given everything they need, even though they don't always use it the way they should. They too are people who are looking and waiting for the return of Christ. Paul then ends pointing out that since the grace of God was given to them in Christ and that they had been enriched in every way in Christ, that it is he who did this who will also keep them strong to the end so they will be blameless on the day of our Lord. There were problems in the Corinthian church, but Paul knows that God will not abandon his people. Those things need to be cleaned up, but God who gave the gifts in Christ, will also work in them to make them blameless. "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul has such confidence in the effective working of God in his people, the he reminds the Corinthians that God is faithful. If he has done what he has done among them in his Son Jesus Christ, he will not leave them. No he will strengthen them. Again, this is a reminder I need. Often it seems that in my own life and ministry I am weak and unable to do the task set before me. While some of that is incorrect expectations both from myself and my congregation, I believe most of it is my own weakness that requires God's strengthening to keep me blameless. The reminder of God's faithfulness to complete what he has started, encourages me in those times when I am wondering if I can go on, or if my ministry is of any use at all. It strengthens me to know that when I am weak and helpless, God will strengthen me.

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

1 Corinthians 1:1-3 (ESV) Greeting 1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I am hoping to try something a little different in my personal Bible study and blog. For the last several years I have been reading through my Bible in it entirety using various Bible reading plans. I have found that to be of great value to me, but often I would like to take some more time on a specific book in the Bible and spend time considering and meditating on it in depth. So after some consideration, I thought I might do that with 1 Corinthians. I considered doing Acts, but for some reason 1 Corinthians seems more appropriate. With that in mind, I hope to post my thoughts on various passages as I work my way through. Whether you find them helpful or not, or even insightful at all, I will try to post them. As I considered these opening verses in this letter, the first thing that struck me was in verse 2 the phrase, "to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" What struck me was the repeated use of words that point to holiness. Those who are sanctified are those who are set aside as holy to God. The saints are the holy ones. As I considered what I know of the Corinthian situation--the well known wickedness of the city of Corinth itself, the sin in the congregation of the Corinthians seen in things like the sexually immorality of a man having his father's wife, the divisions among the congregation with some following Paul, some Apollos, some Cepheus, and things like that--this reminder of the calling of the people to be holy ones and their being sanctified in Christ seems very appropriate. The Corinthians needed that reminder that holiness is basic to the call and working of God in their life in Christ. In today's world, where wickedness is found on all sides, where sex is flaunted and used to sell, where coveting is encouraged by the advertising industry to sell more product, where people seek to design their own definitions of what is right and wrong, where millions of unborn babies are put to death, and the list goes on; this word is needed. I need it, because I can very easily start to forget the importance of holiness. Not forgetting in an intellectual manner, but in a practical one. I need to be encouraged by these words to realize that God's working in me in Christ is to sanctify me and call me to be a holy one, so that I seek to live that calling in my day to day life, fleeing from temptation and striving to live as God has called me in love for him. Since it is God who calls me and all those who are his to this, I think that implies that for us to live it out can only be done by his enabling. In ourselves we do not have what is needed, but in Christ we are sanctified. So, for us to live sanctified lives requires living in Christ every day, abiding in him as he called us to do. It is only in him and from him that the reality of this will ever work its way out in the day to day living of life as one called to be a saint.

A Rather Interesting Use of Treadmills.

Found this linked at Challais and thought it was a rather interesting use of treadmills http://www.youtube.com/v/pv5zWaTEVkI

Looks Like We Have Some Work To Do

I found this as I was browsing through some other blogs (HT: Ian Clary). As a parent who is hoping to home school our child, this approach intrigues me. It also makes me realize that I should have learned Latin long ago, and better start learning it now :) http://www.youtube.com/v/2ObBhU7XT-U

Israel and Lebanon

As I have watched thing progress in that horrible situation in the Middle East, I keep wondering how I should respond. My views on Israel as well stated in this open statement. I also believe Israel has some right and responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorists. On the other side we find Hezbollah and their armament and terrorist activity. I in no way want to seem to endorse what they do. Yet, at the same time it seems Israel is not merely attacking Hezbollah, but also Lebanon and the citizens who have nothing to do with the terrorism. As I considered it, and listened to the many people raking Israel over the coals for what they are doing, I wondered how would people here respond? I know this is not a likely scenario, but imagine if you will that a terrorist organization against Canada was located in the US. They were building up arms there, and at the same time were supporting various terrorist activities in Canada. They also, from those arms they have built up, shot rockets across the border at Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Hamilton, Windsor and various other cities. If that were going on, how long would most Canadians wait before they started to demand that our government do something? I highly doubt it would be very long, and I highly doubt that the response would be to demand a ceasefire. I guess the same goes for Hezbollah. If someone came in and made a new country in land that our fore bearers had lived on for generations, I am sure we would be less than impressed. Being dispossessed and moved off as has happened there would certainly be something that would also raise our anger. It is things like that which lie behind what they do. Now don't misunderstand me here. I don't think either side is in the right. Both have done things that are reprehensible. Yet, into that situation we have these political pundits who say we should call for a ceasefire. All well and good, but at the same time it is sort of pie in the sky. Hezbollah will not be satisfied until Israel is gone, and Israel will not be satisfied until they believe Hezbollah is sufficiently disarmed. Neither side is being "measured" in what they do, and trying to get into their minds a little makes me wonder if we in our comfortable, secure homes can understand what is going on there. I know I can't. At that same time I know that any ceasefire will only be putting off of hostilities until one side or the other decides that they don't feel secure or effective any longer. Finally, all this reminds me, that the only lasting peace is one in which the walls of division are removed with the two people becoming one people. That will only happen when people are truly united in Christ, so my prayer is that in this situation, people who truly follow Christ will show that he is the Prince of peace who breaks down the wall of division to build one new people to the praise and glory of God.

Chicken pox

It had to happen sooner or later, but Justin has chicken pox. Annette noticed the first spot yesterday, and today he has several more on his back. She took him in to see the doctor, and with one look he said, "Yup, its chick pox." So now we have a little boy who will start to get very itchy. I hope he doesn't get it as bad as I did. Of course I was 25 at the time, but I was very sick with a high fever. It was miserable, and frankly the itching was the least of my concerns when I had them. At least this is now out of the way for him.

It Must Be All The Robert Ludlum Novels I Have Been Reading

Hit Counter

Because I wonder how many people actually view my blog, I thought I would add a web-counter. After a little research I discovered how to do it, and there it is at the top of the page. It was easier than I thought it would be, and now I will know if people are reading, or at least how many :)

Not The Vacation We Wanted

Today we arrived home from our week off. The weather was good, all be it, hot. The camping was lots of fun for Justin with lots of things to discover and get really dirty doing it. However, for myself and Annette, it was not what we had hoped for. Although we had not told anyone (some had guessed) Annette was pregnant. This was her third pregnancy, the first ended in a miscarriage, and the second in our wonderful boy Justin. We hoped that this would be the time for a brother or sister for Justin as we are now both in our 40's (I just turned 40 on Sunday), but that was not what was in the providence of God. On Monday the 10th, Annette told me she was spotting, and by the middle of the week we had lost the baby. Although it was only 2-3 months into the pregnancy, the loss is no less. Annette picked the name Angelina for our unborn baby. Rather than being restful, this vacation turned into a very tiring emotional stretch that left both of us drained. It was good to be together through this, and not have to work. I worked the last time and paid for it in being completely drained emotionally and from that physically for months afterward. This time I had the time to work through things a little, but it was not the vacation either of us wanted.

At Least Some of my Hardware is Working Again

Although my video editing computer is still off-line (pretty much sure it is an overheated and cooked CPU) I have fixed the other piece of hardware that has been causing me problems, that is, my laser printer. It is a Samsung ML-1210 and has served printing sermons, agendas, letters, and a whole host of work related printing for the last 4-5 years. However, recently it has had problems feeding the printer. After some research I found that the paper feed wheel tends to dry up and get glazed over, so since the printer had stopped feeding paper at all, I decided to take it apart. It was actually quite easy to do. I opened it up, took out the paper feed wheel out and used some sandpaper to remove the glazing. Boy was it glazed and cracked. Then I cleaned the rubber wheel up with some cleaner, and put everything together. Other than one piece that I cannot figure out where it goes (a solid rubber cylinder that seemed to have no mounting point that fell off in my hand when I removed one of the parts) it is all back together, and everything works. It feeds paper again and prints just fine. Now I can print my sermons out on the printer I prefer. I am glad God has given me the ability to do things like this.

My Boy At One

It has been a year (a year and day to be exact) since Justin was born. I find that hard to believe. It certainly doesn't seem like a year, but it seems each day Justin gets bigger and bigger. He is starting to walk. I have seen him walk from one item of furniture to another in the living room, about five or six steps; and Annette has seen him walk across the kitchen. He will stand up on his own now without holding on to any furniture, and stand there waving whatever toy he happens to have in his hand. Come Saturday we will be celebrating his birthday, but to celebrate the day, here is a picture taken yesterday, his birthday, as he was eating lunch.

Video Computer Died

Well today we had to go out and run some errands. While we were out I thought I would download the video for our TV broadcast on to the computer we use for our editing. I started it up, and off we went. When we arrived back, the computer screen was blank and the computer was making a weird noise. I turned it off and back on again, and the same thing happened. So I opened it up and the problem became very apparent, the cpu cooling fan had stopped so the Athlon XP 2100 processor is now toast (sort of literally.) It is totally burned out. That means at the moment we don't have a video editing computer, which is a problem since we have a broadcast coming up this Sunday. After some thinking, I decided to take out the hard drive that has the raw video on it and put it on another much slower computer on our home network. That would allow me to copy the video file (if it was downloaded before the computer died) to my laptop (the only other fast computer we have which has a DVD writer) and do my editing on it. I did that, and after some trouble found that the video file was there. Now to copy a 16 Gigabyte file over a network connection. This is not a fast process. It will work for now, but I think I need to find a way to get my video computer back up and running. I figure since AMD has stopped making the Athlon XP processors a long time back, to do so will probably require purchasing a new motherboard, processor and ram (my current machine used SDRAM not the DDR ram that most current motherboards use.) Best case situation is probably about $200 before taxes. If editing works well on the laptop I could go a much less expensive route and purchase a firewire card for it. That would allow me to do all my editing on the laptop from taking the digital video off the tape to writing it back to DVD or videotape. Cost wise, the second option is much preferable. I guess I have some decisions to make.

RCA lack of stand on abortion

I once again read through the report of the commission on theology to the GS of 1984 entitled, "Moral and Spiritual Issued Raise by the Practice of Abortion." As I read it, I found I was simply made angry at its double speak. While it has a strong point, speaking the the need of strong covenant community, it does not actually address the moral issues of abortion. Instead as it draws to a close it states the following, Communally acceptable guidelines for the option of abortion will be available in such cases as early-teen pregnancies, incest, rape, life-threatening or health-threatening circumstances for the mother, or the high probability of a seriously defective child. In a covenantal community, however, many of these situations which otherwise would encourage abortion, should be less prevalent. The community will participate in, and accept responsibility for, birth decisions and abortion decisions if any. There will be frequent community experience of common prayer and common forgiveness. As I read that, and re-read that, I realized that our official statement to the world is that we see the real possibility of abortion for a whole host of reasons including a "high probability of a seriously defective child." All this flies in the face of the fact that all human beings are in the image and likeness of God, even those who has sever handicaps. Not to mention the number of times that I have had a couple come to me with the doctor saying that the ultrasound showed their baby would have a serious defect, only to have a healthy baby born. Not to mention those who have been born with a serious physical or mental problem, who are some of the most amazing babies that testify to the grace of God in the lives of his people. Such a stand, or lack of it, in my mind is yet another place were we have decided to abandon following our Lord and trusting his providence so that we can compromise with the world's view of things.

Started Pod-casting

In an attempt to keep up with technology, I have started to pod-cast the messages of our Sunday services. The podcasts are still in the formative stage, and will probably be plagued by problems as I work to incorporate all the aspects of a pod-cast to the feed. If you are interested check out Messages From Bethel Exeter

General Synod 2006

Another General Synod (GS) has come and gone. From the reports I have heard so far, I cannot say that I consider this a positive GS. The positive thing that I heard of was that the attitudes of the delegates was supposedly quite good. However, the that being said, the things that are important for the denominations ability to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, were not. The overtures dealing with the 3 year dialog on homosexuality were all turned down. There was some hope when GS voted against the recommendation by the advisory committee on the overture from Classis Ontario which called for the dialog to be clearly defined as dealing with how to minister to those struggling with homosexuality rather than dealing with whether it is sinful. However, simply voting down the recommendation does not mean the overture is accepted. When a friendly motion to that overture that was even more open in its statement was presented it was voted down. I cannot remember the wording of the final motion that was made on this, but I cannot say I was happy with it. I will try to get the actual text and comment on it more, but my take on it was that it still leaves open the door to trying to maintain unity with people who do the exegetical gymnastics needed to say that homosexual behavior is acceptable in certain settings. To say that is to strike to the heart of the good news that Jesus has not only faced the punishment our sins deserve, but that he has also set those who believe in him free from their bondage to sin because it still gives sin the upper hand. I don't know where this will lead, but I can't imagine it would be to a good place. The other overture that was basically buried was one from Classis California which called for severing our ties with the United Church of Christ in the USA. That denomination not only has a policy that encourages churches to accept and ordain practicing homosexuals, bisexuals, etc; but they also have in their fellowship several congregations that are Unitarian Universalists. This overture was declared out of order by the president of the GS because Classis California has not paid their entire assessments. This is not to say that I would have expected this overture to pass as similar ones have come in previous GS meetings and have not been supported. The final concern I have is the fact that the GS, unlike previous years, decided that the Lord's Day really isn't that important, so to cut the meeting length shorter by one day, they decided to do business on Sunday. As a person who is becoming more and more convinced that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, I doubt that such a move pleases God, nor will it be blessed by God. Even if Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath, it is a day that has been set aside for the worship of God through Christ. By making it into yet another business day, even when it is church business, removes what sets it apart. Once again we have all this talk about seeking to have the denomination grow, but we continue to think that we can have real growth while being in disobedience to God. To think that is not only arrogant, it is dead wrong.

Dry Bones

I found this great quote from Matthew Henry as I was researching my Sunday sermon on Ezekiel 37:1-14. Here he is talking about how the Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones. But we call in vain, still they are dead, still they are very dry; we must therefore be earnest with God in prayer for the working of the Spirit with the word: Come, O breath! and breathe upon them. God's grace can save souls without our preaching, but our preaching cannot save them without God's grace, and that grace must be sought by prayer. Note, Ministers must faithfully and diligently use the means of grace, even with those that there seems little probability of gaining upon. To prophesy upon dry bones seems as great a penance as to water a dry stick; and yet, whether they will hear or forbear, we must discharge our trust, must prophesy as we are commanded, in the name of him who raises the dead and is the fountain of life.