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.