Commonplace

2011-04-07T08:54:00.002-04:00

‎"We would worry a lot less of what people thought of us if we realized how little they actually did."
— Unknown

2011-04-07T08:53:00.002-04:00

"Jesus relentlessly undermines all that is not God to make room for the God who has redeemed our hearts."
— Dan B. Allender and Tremper Longman III

2011-04-07T08:52:00.002-04:00

"Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant."
- Mitchell Kapor

Guilty Dog

2011-03-28T09:08:00.008-04:00

On Quitting

2011-02-16T04:54:00.000-05:00

Elisha's servant focused on the armies coming down the driveway and was overwhelmed. Elisha saw the armies of the Lord behind them in the spiritual realm. The king's armies were the servant's reality. The Lord's armies were Elisha's greater reality. The servant just needed to lift his eyes a little higher to see what the Lord was doing instead of focusing on what the king was doing.

I found this quote that just might help you:

Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
— Harriet Beecher Stowe

Featured Sunday Writer

2011-02-15T07:18:00.001-05:00

I have 13 devos in God's Word for Today (Spring) as the featured Sunday writer. Click on the link to order your copy.

Confusion

2011-02-07T09:31:00.002-05:00

We often attempt to think rather than obey our way out of confusion.
- Oswald Chambers

Quiz!

2011-02-02T13:33:00.002-05:00

Which is correct? Vote under comments.
1. I just snowblew the driveway.
2. I just snowblowed the driveway.
3. I just blew the snow from the driveway.
4. I gave up trying to say it right and just shoveled it.

Chilling Out

2011-02-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

2011-01-27T15:34:00.000-05:00

Great faith, like great strength in general, is revealed by the ease of its workings. Most of what we think we see as the struggle of faith is really the struggle to act as if we had faith when in fact we do not. — Dallas Willard

Are afternoon naps biblical?

2011-01-22T16:44:00.001-05:00

I wonder if this is a statement of fact or a validation for afternoon naps?

2 Samuel 4:5 So the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, departed and came to the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day while he was taking his midday rest.

Plucking your eye

2011-01-22T11:53:00.002-05:00

Matthew 5:29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

The eye is a gateway to the soul. Did Jesus mean the physical eye? Or was he dealing with the gateways to the soul? If we get sidetracked with the gruesomeness of tearing out an eye, we miss his point. He's saying get rid of the gateways that bring bad stuff into your life.

The "tearing out of the eye" is a drastic step that Jesus doesn't recommend unless it is causing a person to stumble. It is a prevention only when there is cause or weakness.

It is not a general command. He doesn't tell everyone to pluck out an eye as a means of preventing all temptation. There is an "if" involved.

The drastic measures are only for those who are stumbling.

So, if you can't watch cable TV without watching destructive things, get rid of it.

If you can't use the internet without going where you shouldn't, get rid of it.

Drastic measures are for drastic weaknesses. The plucked eye is not a symbol of superiority but a badge of weakness.

The Unknowns

2011-01-21T06:24:00.002-05:00

If you have to know everything that might happen before taking on a venture, you will never do anything. You plan the best you know how and then deal with the unknowns as they come.

2011-01-20T08:01:00.003-05:00

2011-01-19T06:56:00.001-05:00

Addiction

2011-01-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Addiction is a worship disorder. Something/someone wittingly/unwittingly takes the place in my heart reserved for Jesus. -Scotty Ward Smith

Guns

2011-01-17T06:57:00.001-05:00

If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat. - Unknown

2011-01-17T06:55:00.001-05:00

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011-01-17T06:46:00.000-05:00

Take up your cross!

2011-01-10T07:10:00.001-05:00

For a long time I wondered what Jesus meant by taking up my cross. After thinking about his cross, I determined that taking up my cross is carrying a burden for the benefit of others. I think this is to be distinguished from general inconveniences or struggles that I face. It is particular, focused solely on that which is helpful for someone else.

Light to See

2011-01-04T07:30:00.001-05:00

"What you need in the darkness of despair is not the changing of your circumstances but light to see the face of Jesus." - Dr. George O. Wood

This is funny!

2011-01-03T14:03:00.002-05:00

‎"My body used to be my temple, then I converted it into a shelter for homeless baked goods."
- Rex Huppke

Bonhoeffer

2010-12-29T08:30:00.003-05:00

I finished reading "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy"
by Eric Metaxas.

It was encouraging to read how many good people continued to flourish and stand by principle in spite of the rising tide of evil. Evil does have its limits; and goodness remains forever. But oh, in the meantime, what havoc evil can wreak. That in Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Flossenbürg such goodness could grow is a sign, that there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Risk and Cost

2010-12-29T08:21:00.001-05:00

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range costs of comfortable inaction. - J. F. Kennedy

Bonhoeffer

2010-12-18T04:56:00.009-05:00

"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Currently reading: "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy"
by Eric Metaxas
Excellent read! Half way through it.