A passage not related to Christmas but one that has a message this season ….
Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
At Christmas we worry about many things -- food preparations, gifts, decorations, etc ... all that has its place but we need to understand a line needs to be drawn and a declaration made that says ....
I'm not going to let anything that will ultimately mean nothing keep me from experiencing what means everything!!
Only one thing is needed .... the PRESENCE of JESUS this Christmas!!
You will enjoy watching this video highlight of the Broncos/Bears game from last Sunday and enjoy listening to Tim as the game progresses.
Absolutely Fantastic.
First Half:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d8250f44d/Sound-FX-Tim-Tebow
Second Half:
http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d825100af/Sound-FX-Tim-Tebow-s-comeback
by: Grace Driscol
Read entire blog post HERE.
Are the holidays a stressful time for you, or do you look forward to them? Are you concerned with having enough time and money to shop, or do you have a plan and budget? Are the decorations another hassle to deal with, or do you love the festive look and include the kids in the activity?
I came up with a list of four things not to do this Christmas, with God's help:
1. Don’t be a Scrooge.
2. Don’t forget to give generously…and to receive graciously.
3. Don’t hold on to the past.
4. Don’t forget Jesus.
Enjoy Christmas this year! Thankfully Jesus is helping me do that more and more every year—which is a wonderful Christmas gift.
Wildlife photographer Markus Varesvuo snapped this amazing picture of a herring gull attacking an eagle. Gulls often join together to drive predators away from breeding grounds, but sometimes solitary gulls do the dirty work, too. For the greatest impact, they swoop in from above and behind a bird of prey.
This four-part prayer (blog post by JD Greear) confronts us with the reality of God’s gift-righteousness and love:
1.“In Christ, there is nothing I could do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less.”
Pray about this “gift righteousness” of the gospel - 2 Corinthains 5:21 - and go to war against the incipient works-righteousness hardwired into our hearts.
2.“Your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”
Pray about this value of God’s presence in our lives. It’s one thing to know that Jesus is your possession; it’s another for that approval to have such weightiness in our hearts that our captivity to other idols is snapped.
3.“As you have been to me, so I will be to others.”
Pray about and consider the extravagant generosity of God toward us. His generosity toward us leads us to radical generosity toward others.
4.“As I pray, I’ll measure your compassion by the cross and your power by the resurrection.”
Pray that God would help you view the world through the lens of the gospel. Seeing the compassion and power of God revealed in the gospel produces bold, audacious faith in our hearts.
Introducing the First 25 Planters for the Launch Network
Here’s a list of the church planters Launch will have assessed, trained and resourced. Some of these churches have already started. Others will start in the coming months.
Exciting to see what God is doing through Bryant (our son) and Heather (our daugther-in-law) as they follow God's call to plant a church - The Exchange - in Pearl, MS. You can get up to date news by following The Exchange blog or The Exchange on Twitter.
By William J. Bennett, CNN Contributor
(CNN) -- For the first time in history, women are better educated, more ambitious and arguably more successful than men.
Now, society has rightly celebrated the ascension of one sex. We said, "You go girl," and they went. We celebrate the ascension of women but what will we do about what appears to be the very real decline of the other sex?
The data does not bode well for men. In 1970, men earned 60% of all college degrees. In 1980, the figure fell to 50%, by 2006 it was 43%. Women now surpass men in college degrees by almost three to two. Women's earnings grew 44% in real dollars from 1970 to 2007, compared with 6% growth for men.
In 1950, 5% of men at the prime working age were unemployed. As of last year, 20% were not working, the highest ever recorded. Men still maintain a majority of the highest paid and most powerful occupations, but women are catching them and will soon be passing them if this trend continues.
The warning signs for men stretch far beyond their wallets. Men are more distant from a family or their children then they have ever been. The out-of-wedlock birthrate is more than 40% in America. In 1960, only 11% of children in the U.S. lived apart from their fathers. In 2010, that share had risen to 27%. Men are also less religious than ever before. According to Gallup polling, 39% of men reported attending church regularly in 2010, compared to 47% of women.
If you don't believe the numbers, just ask young women about men today. You will find them talking about prolonged adolescence and men who refuse to grow up. I've heard too many young women asking, "Where are the decent single men?" There is a maturity deficit among men out there, and men are falling behind.
This decline in founding virtues -- work, marriage, and religion -- has caught the eye of social commentators from all corners. In her seminal article, "The End of Men," Hanna Rosin unearthed the unprecedented role reversal that is taking place today. "Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed," writes Rosin. The changes in modern labor -- from backs to brains -- have catapulted women to the top of the work force, leaving men in their dust.
Man's response has been pathetic. Today, 18-to- 34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to- 17-year-old boys. While women are graduating college and finding good jobs, too many men are not going to work, not getting married and not raising families. Women are beginning to take the place of men in many ways. This has led some to ask: do we even need men?
So what's wrong? Increasingly, the messages to boys about what it means to be a man are confusing. The machismo of the street gang calls out with a swagger. Video games, television and music offer dubious lessons to boys who have been abandoned by their fathers. Some coaches and drill sergeants bark, "What kind of man are you?" but don't explain.
Movies are filled with stories of men who refuse to grow up and refuse to take responsibility in relationships. Men, some obsessed with sex, treat women as toys to be discarded when things get complicated. Through all these different and conflicting signals, our boys must decipher what it means to be a man, and for many of them it is harder to figure out.
For boys to become men, they need to be guided through advice, habit, instruction, example and correction. It is true in all ages. Someone once characterized the two essential questions Plato posed as: Who teaches the children, and what do we teach them? Each generation of men and women have an obligation to teach the younger males (and females of course) coming behind them. William Wordsworth said, "What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how." When they fail in that obligation, trouble surely follows.
We need to respond to this culture that sends confusing signals to young men, a culture that is agnostic about what it wants men to be, with a clear and achievable notion of manhood.
The Founding Fathers believed, and the evidence still shows, that industriousness, marriage and religion are a very important basis for male empowerment and achievement. We may need to say to a number of our twenty-something men, "Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married." It's time for men to man up.