Yesterday was payday and I was more than ready to purchase the Bible! I waited to purchase it though, because my co-worker said that he might be able to get me a better deal (remember, the MSRP for this Bible is $229.99). Having looked at the Bible just last week, I figured anything better than Amazon’s $160.99 list price would be a steal. Well, the deal got better when I noticed that Amazon had lowered the price to $144.99 (the price I had originally seen it for last year), which meant that I could do overnight shipping and still pay no more than the price I had told Robin about last week. Unfortunately my co-worker wasn’t able to get a better deal, so I immediatley went to Amazon.com and purchased the Bible with overnight shipping. The funny thing, in waiting for my tracking number, I went back to the product page to look at the pictures again, and I realized that the price had jumped back up to $160.99 immediately after my purchase. What?! Wow! All I can say is that God was looking out for me.

Moving on, the Bible showed up today! It was delivered around 2:00 PM @ the office, since I figured it’d show up a little faster if I had it delivered to the office, instead of the house. I was so giddy! In true blogger fashion, I even did a bit of an unboxing, taking pictures as I opened it up.

As I looked at the Bible, I had imagined it being bigger than what it looked like in person. I had my MacArthur Study Bible with me for comparison, and it was only about a half-inch wider than the MacArthur. Truly, not bad, as it fits my rather large hands well. As far as the feel, I was surprised that the leather felt so soft and pliable. I had been so used to rigid leather Bibles that I was completley taken aback; even still, it felt completely natural and smooth in my hands.

I’ve already started the process of copying over all of my highlighting that I had done in the MacArthur, and I’m looking forward to digging in and starting to take notes. This is really going to be a Bible that I cherish.

Click here to take a look at all of the pictures from the unboxing, and also get a glimpse at a part of my desk @ work. By the way, in case you’re wondering, I was @ Logos’ Twitter page on my laptop; and, yes, that’s a Logos stick on my laptop (I have a larger one on the lid too).

Also, a big thanks to the Bible Design Blog for their convincing review, which put the purchase over the top, going from a maybe to a definite yes!

For the most part, just about all of the people I know and “hang out” with online are Calvinists, many of whom are pretty hardcore. Most days that isn’t a problem for me because they’re my brethren. But, there are other days where I feel totally alone because I don’t have anyone online who shares my same theological views. So, a lot of times I end up getting into a theological discussion and find myself trying to discuss Scripture with my many Calvinist friends who are able to back each other up (and quite frequently I might add), while I have no one in my corner who shares my theological views to help me out. Many times it leaves me feeling overwhelmed and out of place, leaving me wondering why I started or joined a discussion in the first place.

It is definitely frustrating, but I try not to let it get me down. The only thing that ends up happening is that I become pretty quiet online and choose not to discuss theology as in-depth as I would like to. I do wonder, though, what it’d be like to not be on this island all alone and to have a tag team partner of sorts.

In the meantime, I will just keep praying, studying, and learning, while I man my island.

As I was talking to Robin, I remembered that Cambridge wide margin Bible that I had originally wanted to purchase a while back. The more I think about that Bible, the more I think that it’s the Bible I need. So, I decided to do a bit more research on it and stumbled across the Bible Design Blog (not a new site to me, but not one that I read often) and they had written a few articles concerning wide margin Bibles, including a review of the Bible I intend to purchase. As I read his justification for wide margin Bibles, there was one thing he said in particular that really sparked my interest and made the light turn on. He said:

The wide margin Bible is the thinking man’s Study Bible. Like the Study Bible, it is full of notes, outlines and annotations. Unlike the Study Bible, it doesn’t come with them. Instead, you make the notes yourself. That way, they’re the result of your study, not someone else’s. Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing against store-bought Study Bibles. It’s just that the one you make yourself is better. Sure, it demands more of you, but over time it gives more back.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement! In part, that’s the entire reason why I want a wide margin Bible. I’m tired of having a Bible that is full of someone else’s notes, and I want to be able to annotate my own Bible as I study. The only way for me to do that is to have a wide margin Bible. Plus, it makes sense that if i’m going to be taking the time to do that in my Bible, then I should spend the money to make sure that it’s a quality Bible that is going to withstand writing and a lot of handling; I want a Bible that will be with me for years. That also brings up something else he said, this time from his review of the Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible (NASB):

Suffice it to say that the wide margin Bible is a great tool for students and teachers of Scripture. You use it and bond with it in a way that wouldn’t be true of most other editions. Misplace a fine Bible bound in goatskin and, alas, how sad. Can’t find your old standby, well-worn from reading? Good excuse to buy a new one. But lose the wide margin you’ve committed ten years of notes and outlines to … well, that’s a catastrophe.

Again, I have to say that I completely agree. I can see that in my own pattern of purchasing Bibles. I don’t have a vested interest in any of the Bibles I own because the only method I have to make them my own is highlighting & underlining, which I can just as easily do in any Bible. But, when it comes time to own a Bible where I’m putting in my own notes & thoughts, it becomes that much more valuable to me, and all the more irreplacable. Think about it; I spent about $60-70 on my MacArthur Study Bible and it’s a great Bible, but I’m not that attached to it because I’ve tried to replace it several times over time with something “better.” Yet, if you purchase a quality Bible that you can make your own, you’re investing more than just money into it, but a part of you. I think that’s all the justification I need to finally get this Bible. The plan is to hopefully swing it so that I can purchase it as my Father’s Day gift. Then I think I’ll be set, aside from maybe purchasing a Pitt Minion to have as an everyday Bible for when I don’t plan on taking notes. I think that’ll work…

Honestly, it’s been quite a while since I’ve heard anything that I would deem classic, but I guess that’s just me.

That’s all I have. Carry on.

It’s not that I’ve never heard of Drupal, but it was always one of those CMSes that had a pretty high learning curve and I wasn’t able to figure out quickly. The more I work with Joomla though, I see that it is more of a “designer’s” CMS for people who want to get stuff up quickly & easily; whereas Drupal is more of the developer’s CMS and is a lot more flexible from that standpoint. Another important thing is GPL; even though both are open source applications, there are many plugins & extensions for Joomla that you have to pay for, but everything in Drupal is free & completely GPL (as far as I can tell & from what I’ve been told). That makes a world of difference to know that you don’t have to pay to get a particular feature added to your site.

With all of that in mind, I’m playing with Drupal on WAMP (Windows-Apache-MySQL-PHP) locally, and I even picked up Using Drupal from Barnes & Noble last night so that I could quickly get myself up to speed. I think the best part is that I know enough to get dive in without much problem and shouldn’t have much issue converting my current design over to Drupal. Either way, we shall see what happens.

After doing a bit of study, I purchased a 17” Dell Studio notebook for $750, which trumps my previous laptop in every way possible (which I paid $1200 for back in 2007). I also picked up an extra AC adapter (so I could leave one at my desk, and then have a separate one for travel/work).

So, onto the lessons learned. Having recently purchased a new hard drive & experimenting with Windows 7 on my previous laptop, I had become pretty proficient in backing up my data, so that was all set and ready to go. I had data backed up on my external USB and anything else ready to go to transfer over the network from the old laptop.

I start setting up the new computer, installing software & migrating data. I get everything just about done, and decide to play some music while I finish up a few last minute installs & migrations. It’s when that happens that I notice that there appears to be something wrong with my speakers, as there’s a terrible crackling sound coming from the left speaker. This is terrible! I’ve got a defective computer, and I didn’t know until I had spent nearly 8-12 hours moving data. I debug as best I can and ultimately decide that it’s a hardware issue that cannot be rectified by updating drivers or new software. What a bummer! I call BestBuy and see what my options were, considering I had just taken the time to move ALL of my data over to this new machine. They tell me to bring it in & they’ll replace it & possibly just swap the hard drive from the defective one to the new one.

I package everything up & get to BestBuy, prove that it’s defective (pretty easily I might add). But then they tell me that they really don’t want to swap the hard drive (just in case it was part of the problem), and tell me that I can still do it, but they’d have to charge me for it. Even though I had quite a bit of personal data on there, I left it in the Lord’s hands that they’d wipe the drive clean, and just opted to take the new notebook and do the whole process over again. I had the kids with me, and they were acting up, so that was really my only option without coming out of more money when I didn’t feel like I should have to given the machine was defective.

After I get home & get the machine past all of the default setup stuff, I immediately took a cue from my previous experience and test the audio (cranking it up to the max), as well as testing all the other items. After I was sure this one checked out, I continued to migrate all of my data & reinstall my software. Surprisingly enough, it only took me about 4-5 hours the second time around, probably because I had a better idea of what I needed and where stuff was in my backups. So, I had the computer 95% done by Sunday morning, ready for church; I saved the remainder for Sunday evening, since I wouldn’t need it until Monday.

It was definitely a relief to have a working machine, other than almost having another scare with the audio this morning. I noticed that there was some popping/static while listening via my headphones. Since I knew it wasn’t likely to be hardware, I updated all of the major drivers (audio, video, chipset, wireless, and BIOS), which apparently fixed my issue. As of now, I only have a minor problem with one application in particular, but luckily enough it’s not dire because I’m able to do similar work in another program.

That being said, I’m enjoying the new machine and pray that it holds up and does everything I need for years to come for both work & ministry/study. The main lessons learned in this: 1) keep usable backups, and 2) test everything on a new computer to make sure it works before taking the time to put all of your data on it.

I understand promotion and all of that, but at what point does it become falsehood? Is it really “highly anticipated” if only a few people are anticipating it? I don’t know. Just another one of my gripes with the Christian hip-hop scene. It’s stuff like this that makes me unsubscribe from just about everyone’s email list and avoid message boards; I’m tired of the hype.

When I think of highly anticipated albums/artists, I think of two in particular, at least recently: Zane One & John Wells (aka the Tonic). Both had albums in the works years ago and weren’t able to release them for whatever reason, and fans have been patiently waiting for years, literally. Then both of them drop their albums in the same month. Now that, my friends, is highly anticipated.

For everyone else, please tone it down. Thank you. Rant done!

Okay, let’s keep it moving. Life goes on; there are more important things to be concerned with. But again, go heels!

That brings me to today. After keeping in touch with my friend AppleJaxx and recently reviewing his mixtape, he brought up Tonex. He had mentioned how much he had grown since the whole Naked Truth ordeal and that he’d been working on some new music reminiscent of the Pronounced Toe-Nay days. Still leery about the whole situation and wanting to stick to my guns as far as my reasons for not listening to him, I agreed to contact Tonex and attempt to review his latest release Unspoken, swallowing any crow that I needed to in the process. I didn’t get a response, but AppleJaxx hit me up with the album anyway, so, here’s my review of Tonex’s latest release Unspoken.

When “Fiyah” came on, I immediately got an idea for what kind of album this was going to be; I knew it was going to multi-faceted, both light & heavy. Even though the opening track is a bit pointless and nonsensical, it proved to be just the thing I needed to keep me listening and moving forward with the remaining tracks. After getting through “Bring It,” another fairly light track, I found myself ready to get into the more serious part of the album, given that the first two didn’t really seem to fit with the cover art or even the concept of Unspoken.

“Joy” came up next, which turned out to be a lighthearted R&B/pop track. I found myself liking the song and humming along; the only thing that keeps me scratching my head is that I can’t really tell if he’s talking about God/Jesus or someone else, and if he is talking about Jesus, then I have a problem with the four-leaf clover reference (i.e. a “good luck” charm). That aside, I liked the song and made me feel like the album was finally moving in a positive direction. “Glor3x” came up next, as the album seemed to be switching gears a bit and going towards the gospel/worship type tracks. This song was a bit hit & miss for me; I found myself enjoying the hook, but thought that his voice on the verses was a bit on the whiny & annoying side, which, depending on my mood, can be tolerable or terribly bad. One way or another, the song made its point and put the focus where it needed to be, on God.

Next up was “Bl3nd,” a recycled song from the O’ryn Project some years back. Even though this is a song that has been around since I started listening to Tonex, it seemed fitting and appropriate given the circumstances. It’s one of those songs that says that he’s getting back to what he once was. Honestly, it was songs like this that made me become a fan of his music. The only negative is with this following “Glor3x” I was left wondering how many twists & turns this album was going to make, as it seemed to hop from one style to the next from track to track. About the only consistency is the tempo & speed of the songs, which is more on the slower side. “Cool With U” comes in at track 6, and is another R&B type song that speaks about not doing something if it’s not cool with God; this is probably one of my favorites on the album. It’s really a message that a lot of believers need to take to heart.

The title track “Unspoken” comes right in the middle of the album and it’s a rather interesting song. Even with it’s laid back tempo, it’s a very churchy type of song that speaks about needing prayer over unspoken requests and beseeching the brethren for prayer. In a lot of ways I really liked this song, but I probably could’ve done without some of the “Christianese” that’s used in the song, which again is more personal preference than anything. Overall, this song is solid. I also had problems with the Christianese on the subsequent track “Again?,” as it seemed to be a bit more prominent; it’s definitely talk that you’d hear in the more charismatic circles.

Keeping things moving, “Love Me 4 Me” seemed a bit out of place given the previous handful of tracks, having a lighter R&B/love song following deeper spiritual songs. In many respects, given the flavor of the album, this song almost seems totally out of place with the rest of the content and doesn’t fit. I still liked the song and found myself putting it on repeat a few times. I wonder if it may have been better served as a bonus track at the end of the album or following “Joy.”

The final four tracks are where Tonex steps into his futuristic Nureau style of music. First up is “When I Call,” which is an electronic and dance flavored song that puts a new & refreshing spin on the concept & songs that talk about God answering when we call upon Him. The song is very upbeat, and given my recent musical tastes, it was a very pleasant addition to the album. “Sneeze” is another that is more on the futuristic side blended with a bit of UK pop that takes a play on the 2 Kings 4 account of Elisha and the young lad who had died and was resurrected. I wonder how much of the song is personal experience and how much is creative liberty taken with the story. Given that it’s Tonex, who knows?! “Wired” fits perfectly into the Nureau mold and leads right into the closing track, “F@ce Down.” This is another one of those tracks with some verbiage that I could have done without, but the concept of staying before the Lord in prayer is another one of those concepts that we all need to lay hold of.

Overall, I have some mixed feelings about the album. As I noted, many times, the album seemed difficult to follow and seemed to lack direction in the ordering of the songs. One minute you’re listening to pop music, the next minute you’re given some worshipful music and ready to worship some more, but end up getting hit with some R&B, which gets followed by dance/club music. Taken individually, the songs are great and are pleasant to listen to, but it seems to be a bit of hodgepodge when taken as a collective. Another point I made was the use of a good bit of Christianese in a handful of songs; I understand that it’s a part of his background, but it was one of those things that almost turned me off from giving the album the chance it deserved. Some of it is a bit flaky scripturally, in my opinion, and is highly charismatic, but I get the overall concept behind the songs, so I glanced over it. Those bits aside, I thought it was a good and enjoyable album. It was nice to be able to listen to Tonex again and be reminded of why I enjoyed his music so much. I’ll definitely keep this project around and give it the occasional listen.

As for me, I hope this review shows some goodwill and reconciliation on my part, and for any negative comments I may have. I don’t regret the decision to toss the music I did, but that’s no reason to break fellowship with a brother. I’ve even eaten a good bit of crow in even agreeing to listen to the album, and much more in writing this review. I’m a more humble man for it, and I understand God’s grace all the more. May the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of us. Amen.

A few weeks ago (I think) I accepted an invitation from a guy I knew from high school. Didn’t think anything of it other than having another high school acquaintance in my list. Well, this morning I get to work and I have a message from this guy; he’s completely sharing his heart with me and seeking a bit of spiritual advice. It caught me completely off guard because we weren’t close in school and hadn’t seen each other since high school over 9 years ago. Yet, even with that, he scoped out my profile, saw my walk with the Lord and felt that he could confide in me. Wow!

Needless to say, I hooked him up on his request and will now keep him and his family in my prayers as they continue to grow in their walk with the Lord. It’s just awesome how God can take the most ordinary and everyday things and turn them into ministry opportunities. I thank God for the open door and for allowing me to be prepared with a response. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

As far as what I did see, I noticed that there is a big difference between being just a rapper and being a true emcee who can get the crowd motivated. Just the crowd interaction alone speaks volumes over someone who justs gets on the stage and raps. But the main thing I noticed is how heavy the prosperity theology is influencing this region; most of the local acts are heavy into it and it shows in their rhymes and presentation. It grieves my heart. I even got a flier about a church that has hip-hop Sundays, and on the flip side talking about the actual ministry, they were talking about coming and growing in “wisdom, health, and prosperity.” I really wish that people would quit ripping verses and passages out of context and using them for their own purposes, even under the guise of ministry.

That aside, it was good to meet online buddies I’ve known for years, including Sketch the Journalist. Glad to see Syntax represent, and just have a good outing with the entire family.

Fyi, word on the street is that we’re confirmed again for next year, but with a bigger venue because we had so many people show.

Overall, I’m still encouraged and taking it day by day. The Lord is blessing and I’m feeling better equipped to teach His word. But don’t stop praying for me, I still need all the prayer I can get.

After that, I started to get my juices flowing and even edited the code of a plugin to make it work more like I wanted to. I actually did that with 2 or 3 plugins (it pays to know PHP). I was in such a groove that I even wrote my own plugin tonight which alleviated a rather minor annoyance of mine (will post it for download later).

After that breakthrough, things seem to be rolling along rather smoothly and I think the new site is going to be very nice. There are a few more things I need to figure out, but nothing too major. I will work a little more tonight and call it a night. Just wanted to share the good news.

Tonight I hit a major road block and it’s literally causing me mounds of frustration. With the system I’m on now (Movable Type), once you get it setup, things just work like they should; but, the design isn’t flexible or easily changed, at least not without first having some web design & coding experience. The system I’m switching to, theoretically, should make things easier to manage in terms of the website. And things were going find until the point I’m at now. Come to find out, there are some things I didn’t take into consideration (thought they’d be a given) and now it’s giving me cause for concern. In order to get things to work right, I either have to come up with some cash and buy more plugins (which I’d rather not do), go without and just suck it up, or simply stick with the platform I have now and don’t even bother making the changes.

The way I feel right now, I almost want to just throw in the towel and say forget the money I’ve invested and keep what I have. But I don’t want to do that, given the time & money I’ve put into it. Then at the same time, I don’t want to put more money into it, especially if I don’t have a 100% guarantee that it’ll do what I need it to do (plugins are buggy sometimes).

Oh well, I just felt like venting. I’m going to lay down and get ready for bed. Maybe tomorrow will bring with it some fresh ideas. Goodnight world.

As for the event itself, it was great talking to the men and just enjoying the company of one another. After the food, which was delicious, Pastor Bob picked out a few men and had them share their prayer requests, and after each one another man took those requests before the Lord on their behalf. After doing that for a half hour or so, we then got a devotional & encouraging word from one of our elder statesmen, John Miller, a retired pastor. I definitely left encouraged. After a closing prayer, we closed & departed our separate ways.

I can’t wait until our next one, whenever it is!

A part of this hit me yesterday when my wife & I agreed to renew our lease for another two years (instead of just doing it for a year, as we had done before). In previous years I was slow to want to make a commitment for that long because I really wasn’t sure where we’d be at that point in time. When I looked at my ministry training, though, I didn’t have a second thought about renewing our lease for two years. You see, at the very least, I know I have at least two years left (this year & next) for my ministry training. At most, I know I will have made it through my requisite three years of Greek and two years of Hebrew (if all goes as planned). Hopefully by that time, I’ll also be that much closer to being prepared for ordination and ministry.

It was with the renewal of our lease that I really got to thinking about things. On the one hand, I’m totally anxious to see these next two years fly by so I can be that much closer to ordination and what will come with that. But, at the same time, I’m enjoying where I’m at right now, realizing that I still have much to learn and I don’t want to rush through any of it. I’m reminded of k-Drama’s song "I Anticipate Tomorrow" (from BoomBaptism) that speaks of stopping the desire to look for the next moment and to start living & enjoying the "now" moments, even if they are a little dry or uneventful.

It’s when I think about the now that I’m really appreciative of where the Lord has me. I’m studying and learning from great men of God. My pastor has been a wonderful blessing in my life, and the willingness of my Greek & Hebrew teachers to teach has been heartwarming. These are men that truly love the Lord and give of their time without looking for anything in return, other than seeing Christ glorified and new Timothy & Titus’ raised up. Last night’s Greek class was fun because I actually felt like I was understanding the material and "getting it." Even with my study of Daniel & Revelation, I’m enjoying going through those books and getting grounded in what I believe. As I read the text, I’m excited & overjoyed to be reading it, even the difficult passages; then, when I tie it altogether with Pastor Bob’s sermons & notes, it makes it that much more enjoyable. Sure, I’d love to just rush through it, but I’m enjoying the slowed down pace that I’ve forced myself to take (which is still a lot faster than the pace at which it was taught @ the church). Throw on top of that my personal studies in 1 Thessalonians and a study on δουλος and I’m pretty content with where I am.

Sure, I’d love to be further along in life & ministry, but I can’t think of a better position to be in while on my "Expository Journey." I’m studying under faithful men, I’m enjoying studying the Scripture on my own, my library is ever increasing, my scriptural/doctrinal competency is growing, and life is just good. Even with all of the added angelic conflict that has come as a result, my joy remains in the Lord and I’m happy to be a δουλος του Ἰσου Χριστου (slave of Jesus Christ).

For a long while now, I had been contemplating the idea of purchasing this domain name, but never did it. There was really no reason behind it, I just didn’t do it. For the longest time, my blog had been housed at UrbanWordz.com, but I let that domain go well over a year ago, after I decided to consolidate my website, blog & photos under a single domain, TrailblazinMinistries.com. That was working very well because it made my blog & thoughts a visible part of the ministry website, and it gave people an opportunity to view pictures of my family and so on. I was enjoying that, but I decided that it was time for a change, hence the change.

Seeing how I’m with Dreamhost, and have been for a few years now, they allow me to register/renew a domain every year. I owned a domain for testing that I wasn’t using anymore, so I decided to go ahead and register this domain. With that, I decided to separate the blog & family photos from the ministry website, and keep them as two separate entities. That’s not to say that my life isn’t ministry, but having a blog apart from the main site gives me the freedom & flexibility to toy around with designs, and other things. Along with the change in domains, I’ve also decided to drop Movable Type and switch to Wordpress, since all I plan on doing is simple blogging over here. Plus, given the fact that a lot of the apps I use are written in PHP, it only made sense to use a platform that was compatible (as opposed to CGI/Perl).

That’s about it. Enjoy the new location & look. It’s still under construction, as I learn my way around Wordpress, so look for things to change here & there. Also, be on the lookout for a change on the Trailblazin Ministries side of things in the coming weeks. God bless!

When I turned 18, I really didn’t have a clue of where I’d be ten years from that point. I figured that I would have graduated college with a degree in computer science, be working for some company like Microsoft, maybe be married, possibly have a kid or two, own my own home, and so on. Well, it’s nine years since then and I can’t help but look back and reflect. College? I didn’t finish, but I don’t feel the least bit concerned about it, and don’t have the desire to finish at this point (for what? put myself in more debt to make a few more dollars, maybe?!). Even without the computer science degree, I’m working for a software company, and a Christian one at that, which I find to be totally cool. Seriously, after only two years on the job, I’ve become the head of my department; I never saw that coming. I’m married to a gorgeous wife, who’s a believer, and I have three lovely children. I have the family that only God could’ve given me, that’s for sure. The house? Well, I owned a house for two years before moving to Texas, where we’re renting a brand new (bigger) home, so no complaints there. As far as goals go, I’d say that I met, if not exceeded, all of my expectations.

Furthermore, my two birthdays in Texas have been particularly interesting. Last year it was on a Sunday and I spent the entire day in church (morning service, Greek in the afternoon, and then evening services), and I didn’t have any problem with that at all. I was happy to squeeze in lunch with Robin & the kids after service & before the next. This year was much the same way. I had a full day of work (didn’t leave the office until 6:30) and then went from the office right to my Greek class & Hebrew study hall. I didn’t get home until a few minutes before 10pm. Again, I was content with meeting Robin & the kids for lunch (at Red Robin) as a means of celebrating my birthday. Sure, I wished I had taken the day off of work (but had a project due, so I couldn’t), but I wouldn’t have been anywhere else that night. What better way to spend my birthday than being about my Father’s business? The past two birthdays have definitely shown a shift in my priorities and what I find to be important.

I’m looking forward to another year of the Lord’s blessings, both through success and trials. The one thing I do know, I’m in for a lot more growth & stretching, and I’m ready for it. It feels good to be 27 & in the Lord!

First and foremost, the best part about purchasing this device is that it didn’t require me to change my plan, other than adding data service. Robin & I already had unlimited texting on our accounting, so I was able to simply add the $24.99/mo data plan without affecting our texting plan. As far as the initial purchase is concerned, the only issue I had upfront was that the data plan didn’t get properly added to my account at Wal-Mart and ended up having to call T-Mobile customer service when I got home to get it added. That was a minor hassle, and a one time event, so no complaints there.

After getting the phone charged and the 3G service working, the phone did its thing in syncing my hosted Google account (larosa@trailblazinministries.com), bringing over my contacts, email, and calendar without any issue. I double checked and everything looked good, especially with my contacts. From there, I hit the Android Marketplace and started to download some applications for the device, so that I could start getting some good use out of it. Given that Google doesn’t natively have a tasks app (yet) and are just getting around to implementing it in Gmail, one of the first things I downloaded was a tasks/to do list application. At first I tried Tag ToDo, but that didn’t work out too well; it was a bit too simple. So, I ended up settling on TooDo, which seems to fit my workflow and needs a lot better. Once I settled on the tasks app, I spent a little while configuring it and porting (manually) all of the tasks that I needed to complete. Other than what came preinstalled, that was the only application that I really needed for productivity’s sake.

A few of the other apps I downloaded included: SMS Popup (an app that shows a pop-up when a new text comes, instead of the standard alert), Bank of America, Note pad, ShopSavvy (which scans barcodes & looks for prices online), Toggle Settings (a quick app to change the phone’s mode, i.e. turning the ringer to vibrate or turning Wi-Fi off/on), the Weather Channel, and a few games (Sudoku, Blackjack, Maths Workout, Chess & Tic-Tac-Toe). I also downloaded a Facebook application (which replicates the iPhone browser view of Facebook) and CadreBible, a Bible software application. So far, the only thing that I feel like I’m missing is having my Google Reader in its own app, but since that’s not available in hosted Google, I’m not surprised; either way, I can still view it from the browser.

Once I found all the apps I wanted, I took some time to customize the home screen so that my most important apps were always quickly available (i.e. TooDo, Toggle Settings, Contacts, Mail, Weather, etc.), then with my games & other items on one of the other screens.

In terms of usage, this phone isn’t much different than how I used my T-Mobile Dash, other than how certain things operate. Given my knowledge of tech, I didn’t bother reading the manual and felt right at home using the device. The only thing I had to really figure out was how to scroll the window, but once I figured that out, the device was super easy to use. About the only complaint I have with the device itself is when it locks itself (after timing out) and then I have to go through the process of unlocking the phone to get back to what I need, especially while on a call. Granted, I have a pattern set to unlock the phone for security reasons, but it can be annoying at times. I may end up delaying the timeout past 1 minute & see if that changes things (hopefully without negatively affecting my battery life too much).

Given my schedule, I haven’t had too much time to “play” with the phone, but I have given most of the features a try, including the Google Maps, which became invaluable just the other day. I had to take Ryan to Awana for the first time and I had never been to the church where it’s held, so I used Google Maps to chart out my course. Well, I ended up missing my turn and used the GPS to pinpoint my location and then find my way back. It was totally a lifesaver that night! Other than the Google stuff, this is really no different than any other smartphone, which is a good thing for me, as it’s very consumer friendly.

The last thing I want to note is the accessories, which I wasn’t all too pleased with. The one I purchased came with all the new stuff (1GB SD card, headphone adapter, etc.), but it really didn’t impress me that much. given that the adapter/headphones are supposed to double as your headset, I found the headphone cord way too long to be useful for that purpose (because it leaves the mic hanging too low). I haven’t even bothered trying it yet because I didn’t feel like messing with it to get it to be the length I needed. Instead, I purchased a Jawbone 2 bluetooth headset, which should be here Monday, so that I don’t have to worry about wires at all. The other complaint is the case that comes with the phone. Granted, it’s a nice case & all, but there’s no belt clip or loop, so users are forced to stick it in their pocket or a bag when traveling. I tried that for the first few days, but found the phone to be too bulky, even in my roomier jeans. I eventually settled on using the case that came with my Dash (the G1 amazingly fit in it, albeit very snug) so that I could continue carrying my phone on my hip. The only concern I had with that was the magnetic closure, as I had read in some Android forums that magnetic case closures can screw with the compass. I figured I’d live with that for now until I’m able to find a better case, seeing how I couldn’t tolerate the standard case that came with the phone.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my purchase and very glad that I made it. It’s made things a lot easier to work with, especially now that I don’t have to worry about having a lot of my data in multiple locations (i.e. my calendar & tasks). I look forward to seeing what they come out with next, and I think I’ll be using this device for a long time to come. For a first generation OS, this is a very solid and stable device and I’m pleased to be a part of the android community & movement.

I used that device until I upgraded to the T-Mobile Dash, a Windows Mobile device, in February 2007. It was at that time that I moved to Texas and decided it was time to invest in a smartphone with more storage and capability. I had wanted to get a Palm Treo to remain with the PalmOS, but T-Mobile didn’t carry them, and the carriers that did wanted a hefty security deposit. With that in mind I opted to go the WinMobile route with the Dash and take my chances. Again, I was very pleased with its capabilities and especially enjoyed having the full keyboard on which to type. I made good use of it, purchasing software as needed, getting to the point where I had all the functionality that I had in my Z22, and then some. I was able to connect via Wi-Fi, removing the need for a data plan, and rocked that device until a week ago today.

It was last Friday, just one week ago, that I decided to go to Wal-Mart and purchase the T-Mobile G1 aka the Google Phone. I had been pondering the purchase since its initial release back in September/October of last year, but hadn’t fully made up my mind on the matter. Then my pastor got one, along with a few co-workers, so I decided to do my research and read just about everything I could to see if this was the device for me. I read all of the positive reviews, and most of them didn’t sway me one way or the other. I was particularly interested in the negative reviews and their feedback, to which I was unable to find anything that would hinder me from enjoying & using the phone.

In deciding to make the purchase, there were a few things about the phone that really piqued my interest. First, I really liked the touch screen. When I moved to the T-Mobile Dash, that was one of the things that I really missed about the Z22; I missed having the touch screen, with or without the stylus. So, having that capability again, would really prove to be beneficial because I knew just how useful it was to me. I also liked the fact that it still had a full keyboard (that hides away), which was a major asset with my Dash. Combining the touch screen with a full QWERTY keyboard gave me the best of both worlds. The next thing was the open source factor. I really enjoyed the fact that the G1 was an “open” device and one that could be actively developed on (not that I’d be doing any development). Having that option leaves the door wide open for a world of possibilities and future enhancements. Plus, I didn’t want to be tied down to Windows, as much as I appreciated their mobile OS. The final thing that really caught my attention was the syncing with Google. You see, I use a hosted Google Apps account for Trailblazin Ministries, which includes my mail, contacts, & calendar, so having those seamlessly sync with my phone was an added benefit. I never really liked syncing my Dash to my PC (only did when I absolutely needed to), so never having to sync the G1 with my computer, while still keeping my data synced, is the best thing possible for me. It’ll stay synced without me even having to think about it.

So, in anticipation of buying the device, I went into my Gmail and completely organized my contacts, merging emails, adding phone numbers from my phonebook, and so on so that it would be 100% ready to sync with my phone when I got it. I had read about horror stories with people spending days trying to reorganize their contacts after buying their G1, so I wanted to be prepared for a super easy experience, plus it was something I needed to do anyway. Even in doing that, I still wasn’t absolutely sure that I wanted to spend the money to buy a new phone, considering I thought I’d have to pay full price ($400). After finding out that I qualified for a discount & could get it for $179.99 (being a customer in good standing for 2 years @ T-Mobile), I still wasn’t convinced that I needed a new phone.

It wasn’t until my wife expressed interest in having a phone with a keyboard (for texting purposes) that we decided together to go ahead and make the purchase (with her inheriting my Dash). So, after getting the necessary funds, I went to Wal-Mart and made the purchase. So, now I’m the proud owner of a new T-Mobile G1 (black).

In the next part of this entry, I’ll talk more about the device itself and my experience with it. Until then, God bless!

After writing that piece on stewardship a few days ago, I really took time to sit down and think through things. I talked with Robin and discussed where we were, how we planned on wisely using our tax return, and so forth. The more I thought about it, I just couldn’t bring myself to break down and spend $160 for a Bible, even if it’s the one that was formatted exactly like I wanted it to be. True, the Word of God is priceless, but when you can buy a paperback Bible for less than $5, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to put that kind of money into one. With many hours spent in thought, I ultimately decided that I wasn’t going to spend that much money on a Bible when my MacArthur Study Bible was still in great working order (study notes aside).

So, that’s where I stood, I wasn’t going to buy that wide-margin Bible, and I wasn’t going to look at buying another. Then I went out with the family today to run some errands. I had promised Robin a new dining room table with our tax return, so we went and purchased that (to be delivered in 2-3 weeks). The day was supposed to be spent visiting different furniture stores to find the right table, but we found the perfect one at the first store we visited, which meant we had the rest of the afternoon to do some other shopping as we made our way back home.

I decided to ask Robin to stop by Family Christian so that we could look around; they had a necklace she wanted to get for her mom (wasn’t in stock) and I wanted to get a copy of Fireproof. Generally when I walk into Family Christian, or any Christian store for that matter, I make a B line for the Bibles. Well, today I happened to spot a centennial anniversary edition of the Scofield study Bible. I’d been wanting to buy a Scofield just to have in my library (yes, I already own a digital copy in WORDsearch), but I never bought one because no one every had the NASB in stock. So, it just happened to be my luck and this copy was NASB, and the last one on the shelf. I debated for a minute and decided to crack it open (luckily it wasn’t wrapped in plastic, cuz if it is, I leave it alone). I flipped through the pages (thumb-indexed, nice!) and saw that the notes were sparse and didn’t overpower the Scripture in any way, that’s just what I was looking for. The cross references were in the margin, which wasn’t that big of a deal and the price was right (regular price $79.99 on sale for $49.99). So, I decided to buy it and let it become my Bible of choice for everyday use, replacing my MacArthur.

Knowing that this isn’t a top of the line Bible, although pretty high quality, I wanted to make sure I took care of it. You know, throwing a bare Bible into a book bag isn’t always the nicest environment for keeping a Bible looking nice. So, I opted to find a Bible cover to put this new Bible in; which is funny because I hadn’t owned one in years because I had always enjoyed looking at the leather and the way it felt in my hands. Anyway, I found a nice one for $20 that had the names of Jesus written on the front. I picked it up, gave it a look over and determined that it was large enough to fit my Bible, so I opted to get it.

Once I got both of them home, I was pretty impressed and pleased with my new purchase. I now have a Bible that is of good quality and a sturdy means of keeping it well protected, especially when putting it into my book bag for carrying around.

In making this purchase, there is one thing that I wanted to comment on. It amazes me just how much Christian bookstores sometimes mark up their items. Remember, I said that the sticker on the Bible had the Scofield listed at $79.99, which I thought was a fair price, and a steal at $49.99. Well, when I got ready to write this entry and find an image of the Bible, you wouldn’t believe that the MSRP for this Bible (the exact one I just purchased) is $49.99. That means the bookstore marked it up $30 above MSRP and were touting it as a “sale” when selling it at MSRP, when that should be its regular price. That just bugged me a bit, and these stores wonder why they’re losing out to online retailers and chain bookstores. If I wasn’t in the buying mood and wanted to do some comparison shopping, I would have been appalled at seeing the marked up value. Either way, $70 for a Bible & cover isn’t bad when you compare it to the $160 I was looking to spend on that other Bible.

That aside, I’m happy with my purchase and I look forward to using it. And being a centennial edition makes me feel good, especially given my pastor’s recent emphasis on remembering our doctrinal heritage. It’s good to know that this Bible will always be a reminder of Dr. Scofield’s original 1909 edition of the Scofield reference Bible. Now, to dig back into my 1 Thessalonians study…

Recently though, I’ve given some thought to some new purchases I want to make, such as the Bible I’d mentioned before and a few other items, including upgrading some software and purchasing a new smartphone. Given the current state of the economy, along with a desire to be a good steward of my finances, I’ve really been trying to gauge whether or not these are legitimate purchases of need or if they’re merely wants that won’t provide much usefulness. In writing this out, I’m hoping that it’ll provide further clarity for me, as well as provide you, the reader, with a lesson in stewardship & decision making.

Let’s start with the Bible. As I’ve said many times before, I currently own a MacArthur Study Bible (NASB) and I’m pleased with it, minus the excessive footnotes at times. Other than the footnotes, the only other drawback is that there is quite obviously no room for me to take my own notes. Plus, I want to train myself to not rely on "study notes," but to work through the text myself first. Either way, I decided that I wanted a wide margin cross reference Bible. I narrowed it down to a Bible that retails for $230 (roughly $160 on Amazon.com). The question is: do I really need to spend $160 on a Bible? Can’t I find something cheaper? To be frank, I’m pretty particular in what I’m looking for in a Bible and how I want the text (and cross references) to be laid out, and this is the only wide margin Bible that does it the way I want. All the cheaper ones are "flawed" in at least one way that’s significant enough for me to not want to purchase it. So now the question becomes, will I really be taking that many notes to necessitate the wide margins? Honestly, that’s a question I’m still working my way through, but it’s my desire to jot down more notes in the print Bible as I read/study, so that I can have them handy by chance I don’t have my computer & software handy. Is it a need? Not really, but it would be nice; although, I can continue getting along just fine with the Bible I currently own.

The next item that I have my eye on is upgrading my smartphone from the T-Mobile Dash to the G1 (aka Google phone). Over the past few days I’ve done my research, and given how much I currently use Google (hosted email for TM, calendar, etc.) it would be nice to have a phone that integrates nicely with all of that. Plus, throw in the fact that I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for two years and can get it for the upgrade/new customer price (half off), it seems like a pretty good purchase. The main drawback is that it’ll require me to add a $20-25/month data plan to my account. Over the course of a year, that’s a pretty good chunk of change (roughly $300) just to have Internet access on my phone. Granted, there’s nothing wrong with my current phone (and I don’t even use a data plan with it), but Robin has expressed the desire for owning a phone with a qwerty keyboard, so it’s the perfect opportunity to upgrade. I don’t want that to be an excuse, though, for spending $180 for a new phone and giving my carrier an extra $300/year. Again, it’s a matter of need versus want. Do I need the new phone? Obviously, no. Do I need the features? Not really, I have most in my current phone in one form or another. So, the question comes down to this: what benefit will come from owning this phone over my current one? That’s the question that I have to ask myself; and, just like the last item, it’s one that I’m still mulling over.

So, is there anything that can be justified as a need on my part? How about that software upgrade? Now that’s something that I can legitimately say is a need. As I’m training for ministry, there are some purchases that will be necessitated, and one of those comes in the form of expanding my digital library. This is a purchase I’ve been planning for some time, but it’s one that always makes me weary because of its price tag ($800+). Sure, I have the option to do a payment plan, but I’ve learned through experience that if I have the ability to pay for something upfront without creating a lingering bill that I need to go that route. But, I just have a hard time convincing myself that spending that much money is worth the price (even though I know it is when compared with its print equivalent). Unlike the wants above, the need is there because I know that these resources are something that I’ll use for the remainder of my life as I continue in the work of the Lord, and they’ll continue to be with me even as the software gets upgraded in the future. There’s no question that I’ll be buying this (if not now, then some point in the future), but the question is stewardship of finances and knowing what I can afford, especially having a family to care for (can’t be selfish).

As I take a step back and look at the larger picture, I have to be faithful with my finances and look at what is going to bring the most glory to Jesus Christ. The software is a no brainer. The Bible? Well, I have a Bible that’s in good shape, and if I purchase this new one, it frees the MacArthur SB to be a blessing for someone who has need of one. How about the phone? That one is clearly a want in all ways, although there’s nothing wrong with wants and fulfilling them every once & a while. Sure, it’ll help keep me organized & centralized (I’d love the fact of not having to ever sync with a PC), but I can do that well enough with what I already have. For that, it’ll be a matter of whether I decide it’s worth splurging on and being committed to the addition to my monthly bill. As with all things, I’ll continue to take it to the Lord in prayer, and then walk in faith with whatever decision I make, asking the Lord to keep me from making an unwise decision.

Stewardship… yeah, it’s not always fun, but entirely necessary.

A few weeks ago, in December sometime, a friend of mine was having a discussion after church with one of the ordained pastors over this very topic. Since it was getting late, they agreed to discuss it over email, which I happened to be CC’ed on, and got to watch the entire discourse. Well, around the same time one of the TM forum members was posting a topic discussing Calvinism versus Arminianism, a carryover from a debate he had had elsewhere. So, it has been pretty close to home, so I figured I’d briefly share some thoughts concerning the subject (hoping to not start a debate in the process).

In gauging the discussions that I’ve seen online, it seems that one of the major hot button issues is the sovereignty of God. From the Reformed (Calvinist) side of things, there is a major push that God is completely in control of the salvific experience, to the point of choosing some for salvation and dooming others to hell, with them having no say in the matter. On the other hand, the opposing view tries to take God’s sovereignty completely out of the picture, saying that salvation is all about man’s free will and that God’s sovereignty doesn’t play much part at all. The more I study it, I have a hard time believing that either side is balanced in its view. On both sides, each is able to find Bible passages that fit into their view, but from what I’ve seen, neither handles the other’s passages very well.

As I grew up in church, this was never much of a discussion. We were taught to get saved, live like a Christian, that we couldn’t lose our salvation, and that was the extent of it; there really wasn’t a depth to theology and studying the Bible. So, when I left my church back in North Carolina, one of the first things I studied was the doctrine of salvation. I almost immediately rejected Arminianism because I knew that I didn’t agree with their beliefs. So, that left Calvinism for me to study. I bought several books on the subject and read them cover to cover, and I even discussed the subject with many who held to these doctrines. All of that went well, but there were passages that I was never able to adequately resolve in studying that point of view. The idea of Limited Atonement was one of them because it ignored the plain reading of texts like John 3:16 and 1 Timothy 2:3-6 to name a couple. It was things like that, as well as passages showing man’s role in salvation that led me to believe that there had to be something more biblically balanced than what the doctrines of grace teach.

The more I studied things, I couldn’t help but notice a difference between total depravity and total inability. In just about everything I studied from the Calvinist side of things, everything was taken to the point that man is unable to respond to the grace of God, unable to do anything related to the gospel unless God first makes it happen, including man’s belief in the gospel. Hence total inability, there is absolutely nothing that man can do to save himself. Though, this is not the same as total depravity which is the fact that man’s nature and faculties are corrupted by the sin nature. As a result, there’s nothing we can do to earn or deserve eternal life on our own merit. With that, God does indeed draw all men (John 12:32; Titus 2:11), and man is able to receive and respond to the grace of God (Matthew 23:37; John 5:24-25; Ephesians 2:8-9). The main difference is that man is a free moral agent that is vested with the responsibility to respond to God’s grace when it is presented to Him (John 1:1-9; 3:16-17). Even though man is depraved, he can still respond to God’s grace and come to Christ and is called to do so (Revelation 22:17). This is a very important distinction to make because Reformed theology hinges on this point. If man is completely unable to do anything, then of course God is forced to do everything concerning salvation, therefore you end up with the extreme view of God’s sovereignty.

But man having a responsibility in salvific experience does not negate God’s sovereignty, not in any way. God was still sovereign when He allowed Satan to fall & rebel, was He not? That’s beside the point, so let’s continue. With total depravity in view, it’s obvious that man cannot merit eternal life, nor can he merit God’s grace. So, yes, election is totally an act of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:4-6), but man is still given a responsibility. Man’s response to God’s grace is to simply believe. The Bible teaches both God’s sovereignty in choosing men for salvation and man’s responsibility to believe. The Bible tells us that God desires for all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4) and that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). Furthermore, the gospel is a whosoever message, stating that whoever believes in Jesus can have eternal life (John 3:16). Also, with the whole issue of predestination & foreknowledge, the Bible places foreknowledge before predestination (Romans 8:28-30). Nevertheless, those that go to hell go because they chose to reject God’s grace, not because of an inability to respond to it. You see, the problem with total inability is that it says that man is unable to do anything, including believe; yet, the imperative when the gospel is given is always "believe." In other words, the person has the choice whether to believe or deny the offer of salvation. If this were not the case, why would the god of this world be working to blind the minds of the unbelieving if they couldn’t believe anyway without the help of God (2 Corinthians 4:4)? Furthermore, in Paul’s speech at the Areopagus, he even states that God desires for man to seek after God, even to the point of groping Him out and finding Him (Acts 17:27); if we couldn’t seek God, then why are we told that it’s part of God’s reason for making us?

What makes this all the more reasonable is God’s common grace. God gives us everything we need in order to seek after Him, but it’s our choice whether we choose to do so. Passages like Matthew 5:45; Titus 2:11; and Romans 1 all give us a glimpse at the common grace of God, showing how He is impartial to all men. Although circumstances may be different, all receive an equal opportunity at receiving salvation. Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus Christ came to die for all men, not just a specific few; one passage to support this is 1 John 2:2, which is written to believers, and states that He didn’t just die for Christians only, but for the whole world. Other passages would include 1 Timothy 2:3-6 and Hebrews 2:9. The problem is that some choose
not to believe (John 5:40), but those that do believe are saved by grace through their faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8, 9) and are immediately made alive spiritually. Yes, Christ’s death was sufficient for all, but only efficient or effective for those who choose to take advantage of it.

From what I see in Scripture, I see God’s sovereignty in that He has executed a perfect plan from Alpha to Omega that includes sinful man and all of his decisions for good or bad, and I also see man’s responsibility to respond to the grace offered by God. Nowhere in Scripture do I see someone who is "made" to believe in Christ; instead, I always see people who are confronted with the truth and then choose to believe. All throughout the gospels we see examples of those who followed Jesus and witnessed His miracles and still chose to not believe in Him as Messiah, while there were others who believed wholeheartedly. The same holds true in Acts and the rest of Scripture. You have some who deny the truth while others accept it, but for each individual the choice was wholly theirs.

That’s what I believe and what I teach. I’m not here to debate it with anyone, although I will examine the Scriptures with my brethren. Indeed iron does sharpen iron, and we can all stand to learn from the Word of Truth, myself included. In terms of this discussion, I will keep comments moderated because, as I stated, this is not something I choose to debate, at least not at this time; I just wanted to share my observations on a prevalent topic. If you desire to debate the topic, there are many other avenues where that can take place and is better suited.

Grace and peace.

That aside, the rest of the day went very well. I think the best part was the Pastor’s Ministry Workshop. We’re discussing the Plan of God and tonight the subject was primarily focused on the humanity of Jesus Christ. That was some interesting discussion and really brought out a lot of doctrinal details that a lot of Christians don’t spend too much time thinking about. I even spent a few minutes after class talking to Pastor Bob about things that we didn’t have time to discuss in class.

The events of the day have me in a good mood though, although I’m not sure why. Of course, I’m amazed at the depth of Scripture and all that the Lord has done, but in general I just feel good without really having a reason. Either way, the upcoming week should be good. The new year of language courses start, as I’m taking 2nd year Greek on Tuesday nights & 1st year Hebrew on Thursday nights (with midweek service sandwiched between on Wednesdays). I’m really looking forward to those because if I can get through those two classes this year, I should be able to feel really confident about my ministry training and the progress I’m making, especially if I can handle Greek & Hebrew simultaneously.

I also feel pretty good about work this week, for whatever reason. I’ve got another Bible (interlinear) that I’m working on, which should be finished sometime this week. It’s come together pretty quickly, and it should be a nice product for the customers to have in hand.

Last but not least, I got Windows 7 32-bit beta installed this weekend and everything seems to be going smoothly. My computer didn’t blow up, so things must be going good.

With that, I’m going to vibe out to some jazz as I get ready for bed and anticipate a new day, Lord willing. Shalom!

Before that, though, I did some cleaning up by pruning some old users from the forum. The community forum had well over 500 registered members to its name, but only a small percentage (and I do mean small) of them actually log in & participate on the forums. I really didn’t mind this too much until I decided to send out a mass email via the forum and got a significant amount of bounced emails. So, I went in and removed all of the accounts with invalid email addresses. After that, I decided to do more cleaning, eventually getting to the point where I deleted everyone who had never logged in or hadn’t logged in at all in 2008. That brought the final number of registered users down to 60 or so, down from 500+. My goal in doing that was to have the forum reflect a more accurate user base, having only those who are active participants.

After completing that task, I moved on to the Steps DTM portion of the site, since I knew I had a new class coming in this month. I wanted to rearrange the classes a bit and finish publishing the later lessons. This actually worked out well because I used some material that I had just gotten in the past few weeks as part of one of the lessons; it seems that was the missing piece all along. In a matter of a couple hours I had that job completed. I celebrated that victory by emailing all of the new Steps disciples of their acceptance and getting them all setup for the course of study.

Then there’s the whole bookstore thing, which you can read about in the news section of the main site. That was a few hours of work, but well worth it. It’s nice to know that people can now purchase physical copies of my writings if they so choose.

To round things out, I also helped Garrett & George get setup for their upcoming devotion series, and welcomed aboard a new album reviewer. All in all, I’d say that we’re ready for 2009; I just need to get on the ball and start cranking out these 1 Thessalonians devotions, but that will come in due time. I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for this year, and I’m going to do my best to rejoice in every single day.

Robin mostly got gift cards & cash for gifts (minus the gifts I got her, and a few items of clothing); she was excited about that, knowing that she can go to the stores and get exactly what she wants. As for me, my gift from Robin was Vintage Hughes, a collection of poems & writings from Langston Hughes, my favorite poet. He was one of the reasons that I enjoyed poetry so much when I was younger; maybe reading this collection will help spark that flame again. My parents and in-laws got me clothes this year. My in-laws got me a shirt, tie & pants from the Men’s Wearhouse (with alterations included); and, my parents got me a suit, a shirt, tie & pants, and a casual outfit. I was glad to see those gifts. It’s been forever since I’ve owned a suit, and my wedding suit is too dressy to wear casually (if it even fits, as that was probably about 30+ pounds ago LOL). Either way, this is a great time to be receiving these gifts. With my training as a pastor, I know that I’m going to have to start preaching more, even at other churches, which is going to require me to dress up and/or wear a suit. So, it’ll be good to have those ready whenever the time comes.

After the morning festivities, the rest of the day was pretty much business as usual. I showed Ryan how to work his PSP and how to play & save his games. Then I setup all the play sets (the Bat Cave for Ramiah & a doll house for Leila) and other toys so that they could spend the rest of the day playing. It was fun to watch them play with their new toys, except for the (many) times where they were fighting because they didn’t want the other siblings to play with or even touch their new stuff. That’s really nothing new around these parts, but it’s always multiplied when new items are thrown into the mix.

Outside of that and Robin throwing down on a delicious dinner meal, the day was very laid back & relaxing. It was as pleasant and as warm (literally) a Christmas as we could’ve imagined. I really think that everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the kids. But now it’s time to rest and see if I can get rid of this headache as I put my feet up & listen to some Eric Darius on the sax.

Tonight, I spent a few hours studying 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and I’m surprised at the wealth of information that I’ve found in preparing the detailed outline for the opening greeting. In all the work I put in tonight, I didn’t get any further than "Paul, Silvanus and Timothy." In studying this part of the verse I was able to put together a six point outline, with sub points underneath most of the main points. One of the more interesting points that I found is that 1st & 2nd Thessalonians are the only two Pauline epistles that don’t contain any kind of personal elaboration such as "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus." And that’s just one of the things that I was able to discover in my studies. What’s more, what I’m finding in the rest of the verse is just as exciting. There’s even a text criticism issue at the end of the verse!

All of this really has me excited! When I first looked at this epistle, I thought it was a pretty simple book, especially the first three chapters; but, now that I’m studying it in-depth, it’s renewing my passion for studying the Word all over again. I wonder how I’ll get any work done, given that I spent three hours studying the names of the senders. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the first chapter outlined and finished by the end of the year so that I can get it to my pastor for review and to be ready to teach it at Austin Bible Church when my time comes. Plus, I need to be ready to teach it here come the beginning of the year.

I’m looking forward to diving back into this text tomorrow night! Until then, grace & peace!

Why spiritual gifts? Well, after surveying things on the website, I felt that this is an appropriate doctrinal study to undertake. There has been a lot of discussion on spiritual gifts on the message board, as well as a seeming misunderstanding between gifts, talents, and ministries, and so on. With that in mind, I also feel that after learning the basics it’s important for a believer to find out what their spiritual gift is so that they can begin employing it for spiritual service. So, taken together, it was quite obvious that this is the next study that I needed to do.

There are a few things I plan to cover over the course of this study, which will happen in several parts. Some of the things I’ll cover will include: the origin of spiritual gifts, a definition of all twenty (20) spiritual gifts, scriptural use of each gift, cessation of particular gifts, the purpose of spiritual gifts, and how to discover your spiritual gift. The one thing I will note, that in discovering your spiritual gift, it doesn’t involve taking a test or filling out a survey.

I’m not sure when the first study part of the study will be up on the website, but it’ll likely be some time during the first quarter of 2009, Lord willing & rapture pending. So, until that time, keep me in prayer as I undertake this study, and pray that the Lord would open my mind to understand & correctly divide the Word of Truth so that I can teach it to His people.

Let me qualify what I mean by that statement. When I listen to holy hip-hop music, it’s pretty easy to spot the artists that come from a prosperity theological background; it’s also pretty easy to spot those who are Reformed/Calvinists in their theology. And the more I listen to the music I own and review, it’s pretty obvious that a lot of the music that’s coming out, especially in the more preaching/teaching rap, is coming from this (reformed) belief system. So, I’ve been wondering to myself, where are the cats spitting doctrine who are doctrinal and dispensational in their theology? Why don’t we hear a lot (if anything) from this side?

On the one hand, I don’t really care; but on the other, I do wonder where these kinds of artists are. I enjoy listening to my shai linnes and Christcentrics, but there are so many times that I can listen to tracks like "TULIP" and "Mission Accomplished" or an album heavy in Covenant Theology like Voice’s The Process of the Pardon without wanting to stand up and object to the doctrine that’s coming through my speakers. Don’t get me wrong, I love these artists and will continue listening to them and purchase their music. I’m just curious to know where my likeminded brethren are at on the mic, that’s all. For all I know, they could be in my collection and not spitting the heavily theological rhymes or only covering material to a point where it doesn’t get into the "sticky" or dividing doctrines. Who knows.

I don’t have any point in saying this. It’s late and I’m up after taking a long nap after work, so I figured I’d share what’s on my mind. It’s just a thought; nothing more, nothing less…