To Mommy & "Dabby"


A mother is forever
A mother always cares
A mother is forgiving in every little way

Mothers are kind; they add a sweetness to your life

A mother is for loving
A mother always shares
A mother loves her children and husband all the way!

But most important...
A mother loves Jesus Christ more than anything!

A mother is a gift from God and she always cares!

I would love to take credit for that one, but I cannot.  This beautiful poem was left on my wife's pillow last night by our daughter, Kyra Faith.  Needless to say, we cried, and we thanked our God for His amazing grace in the life of an 11 year old little girl.

I got a card as well.  

You help me when I'm hurt!
You forgive me when I disobey!
You make our date days the best!
I love you "Dabby"!

Each statement had a picture beneath it.  Just what I needed after a rough day.  I simply love being "the best 'Dabby' in the world" to my little girl. (When Kyra was really young, she couldn't say Daddy - she said "Dabby"...it stuck, and I love it!)



Invest 33 minutes!



"Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose!"

Glad to see Friday Night Lights get some love! Simply one of the best shows to ever appear on television.  The acting and the writing were second to none.  Why do all the great shows get cancelled?  Anyway, congrats "Coach Taylor".







Already Dead?

Pat Robertson’s cruel answer to a question regarding a man having an affair was that if he’s going to do anything, he should divorce his wife who has Alzheimer’s. When asked by his co-host about marriage vows till death do us part, Pat Robertson said that essentially, since she already had Alzheimer’s, the wife was already dead.  Already dead?  The sheer stupidity of that answer is shocking.  
A better, biblical response is given by another Robertson...

So how should we respond to Pat Robertson?
When Christian leaders, who someone has no private access to, make public statements that aren't minor or secondary errors but which undercut something as basic as the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, it is not only appropriate but necessary to speak up.
The "judge not, just pray" approach some have advocated in the comments sounds virtuous. But in fact either what Pat Robertson said—heard now by 10s of millions of people in the network prime time news broadcasts—was true or it was not. It was either important or not. If it dishonored Christ, then my first obligation is to defend the truth of Jesus, not to defend the man who spoke a cruel and terrible untruth.
I am all for praying for Pat Robertson, and I have prayed for him. I have also prayed for those around him that they will step up and correct him and refuse to go along with this and other unbiblical statements he makes, even if it means losing their jobs. This is the loving thing to do for everyone, including Pat, because as Jesus said “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36).
To not speak up against what Robertson falsely spoke as a so-called representative of Christ would be, in my opinion, moral cowardice. I speak against a brother's words only with great sadness, but the alternative of silence is unacceptable, because silence connotes approval. And if by our silence we approve of the notion of a man divorcing his wife because she becomes mentally disabled, then God help the church.
Christians who care little about keeping sacred vows "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part" have nothing to offer the world or each other.


Angry Calvinists?


“When we Calvinists are ungracious, unnecessarily combative, proud, and arrogant, we are not being true Calvinists. We are posers.”
Ed Stetzer interviews Joe Thorn on the topic of “Angry Calvinists”.  It is a good read for all who love the doctrines of grace.  Come to think of it; it is a good read for “Anti-Calvinists” as well.  There are, after all, some equally “Angry Anti(s)” out there as well...but that’s another post for another day!
Are you still here?  Click the link, it’s ok...go ahead...click it.


What is Beautiful?



















What is beautiful to Jesus won’t make the cover of Vogue.
Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. - 1 Peter 3:4
Beauty has a cost. Between potion for wrinkles, serum for age spots and cream for gray hair, my cart runneth over with beauty products I can’t afford. Inner beauty has a cost also. As I get older and the battle for beauty becomes pronounced, I find myself asking questions about beauty. What does it mean to be beautiful? Who defines beautiful?

Redefine Beauty
Men, what is beautiful to you? At what point does a pretty lady that catches your eye become old or worn enough to lose that label? Husbands, is your wife becoming more beautiful to you as you see her emulate Jesus? Beauty does not begin and end with mere age, dress, or ability to appeal to the senses.
“A heart made alive by Jesus is a beautiful thing indeed.”
Consider the woman who is, in her beauty, more like Jesus than a Cover Girl.  If God lovingly instructs women to beautify themselves from the inside out, you certainly should consider a woman’s beauty as originating and emanating from her heart.  A heart made alive by Jesus is a beautiful thing indeed. 







HT / Z

The Sermon On the Mount







HT / JT

In My Seat



Slow Down...Stop and Think...Behold


There is something about moments that I'm sure we're meant to wonder over.  Not wonder as in, "what's going on" so much as wonder as in, "WOW!"  Today, I dropped my son off for his first day of High School.  To fully appreciate this fact, you need to know that he has been home-schooled since the second grade.  
I am not quite sure what I'm feeling right now.
But, one thing I keep coming back to is the gospel.  In my concern, Jesus loves me...wow!  That fact, is enough to bring me to worship - to simply allow worry to fade and to trust the Saviour.

What do you do in the moments?  Where do you turn? Whom do you trust?  Take the time to slow down, to stop and think, to "behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God."  How often we hear these words of Scripture and simply just fly over them...
“In order for Jesus to suffer and die,
He had to plan way ahead of time
because he couldn’t die.
Immortal, He didn’t have a body
And yet he wanted to die.
For you.
So, He planned the whole thing
by clothing himself with a body,
so that He could get hungry
and get weary
and have sore feet.
The incarnation of Jesus is the preparation
of nerve endings
for the nails,
the preparation of a brow
or thorns pressed through.
He needed to have a broad back
so that there was a place
for the whips.
He needed to have feet
so that there was a place
for spikes.
He needed to have a side
so that there was a place
for the sword to go in. 
He needed to have fleshy cheeks
so that Judas would have a place to kiss
and there would be a place for the spit
to run down that the soldiers put on him. 
He needed a brain and a spinal column
with no vinegar and no gall,
so that the exquisiteness of the pain
could be fully felt."

"So I plead with you, when you’re reading the Bible and you read texts like: “He loved you and gave himself for you,” you wouldn’t go too fast over it. Linger, linger, linger, and plead with Jesus that your eyes would be opened."

(from the end of song by Json based on a sermon by John Piper)