July 30, 2006
GodBlogCon moving to the fall
This is what happens when you fall behind by more than a week on your blog reading…
It appears GodBlogCon 2006 will not be held later this week, but is moving to some time in the fall, probably in the October time frame.
I don’t believe I normally have anything of significance going on in October. Hrmmmmmm. I wonder how many frequent flyer miles I need to get to southern California…
July 26, 2006
Preach Christ, and when necessary, use words
You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips. —Oliver Goldsmith
My constant prayer is to be able to do precisely this.
July 23, 2006
Server migration
We’re moving servers, thanks to the efforts of Jim, our sysadmin extraordinaire, so this site and its related entities will be unavailable for a while, beginning around 8 PM CST this evening.
July 22, 2006
Israel Update
If you’d like a first-person account of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel, and the Israeli response, head over to David Dolan’s site and subscribe to his e-mail list.
David is a Christian pastor and author who has been resident in Israel for many years. Last year, David spoke at our church, and even for someone like me, who has followed the Mideast conflict, and the region’s history, for many years, it was eye-opening.
July 17, 2006
Why pray?
One of the most frequent questions I have been asked during my years in the ministry goes something like this: “If God is all-good and all-knowing, and if He already knows what we need and want before we ask Him, why should we pray? Why doesn’t He just do it without our asking?”
Identity
Bill Lee is back to blogging:
How odd is it that people find it proper to define God any way they please when they would take great offense at anyone who dared to do the same to them.
There can be only one infinite being we would know as God. One can debate the existence of God if they like, but once the reality of His presence is realized there can be no rationale for the creature to make over the Creator to fit ones own comfortable idea of God.
July 16, 2006
Where do you get your rest?
I know Brent will agree we have some amazing kids on the Holland mission trip.
From Mish:
An observation God just gave me is that a culture will not slow down the human soul or take our spirit out of a vicious spin cycle. I know the only answer to rest is knowing the refuge of hope we have in Christ. Christ gave us access to God’s presence. This is peace. There is no other hope that will give you peace. That’s it. There’s not much more to the gospel, and the truth is simple. Christ gave up his rights on his life to give us the right to know God’s presence and character. What a peace and hope we have.
July 12, 2006
DecembeRadio
If you’re wondering where old-fashioned, guitar-driven rock has gone in Christian music, look no further than DecembeRadio. I read about these guys on a site I got to from another site which I got to from another site; a trail I have been unable to recreate from my browser’s history. I ended up at the band’s MySpace page, and was able to listen to a few songs from their then-upcoming album. (A band with a MySpace page? Scandalous, I know.)
The self-titled label debut has been out since the end of June, and it’s in heavy rotation in my playlists. The band’s hit, “Love Found Me (Love’s Got A Hold)”, is a free download on the iTunes Music Store, until next Tuesday, July 18th. (The link in the previous sentence will open in iTunes.)
Grab the free tune, check the other samples, and buy the album. These guys rock.
July 11, 2006
July 10, 2006
July 09, 2006
GodBlogCon 2006
Speaking of GodBlogCon, the second meeting of Godbloggers is taking place next month, August 3-5. As with the inaugural event last year, I will be unable to attend this year’s convention. The Godbloggers need to find another weekend to meet; this is my son’s birthday weekend, and I have family beginning to arrive on the 4th. Maybe next year!
I don’t know who was responsible for the GodBlogCon site redesign, but they did a fantastic job. Well done! (Any similarities between the color schemes of it and my own, still-in-beta redesign is purely coincidental. I didn’t see the new GodBlogCon site until yesterday.)
July 08, 2006
'Godblog' blasphemous?
At least in the opinion of one individual.
Granted, the post is directed at GodBlogCon, not at my site, but I suppose I’m still standing in this particular furnace.
John Mark Reynolds calls it:
[T]he term “Christian” itself was just this sort of pop pagan shorthand for the followers of the Nazarene. Christians did what the Godbloggers hope to do and took over the term for themselves. They sanctified the impiety of secular language making the sneer “little Christ” a term of honor. Surely we can do the same with the phrase Godblog with a little help from our normal friends, if they are not too delicate for the task?
[…]
It is amusing that this post charging blasphemy to those of us involved in GodBlog and attributing lots of other social attitudes having nothing to do with our actual beliefs came out on the day my breviary said was the traditional Western feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius … who in their own day were sniffed at for using the language of the people to try to communicate the Divine.
Bringing our best to our Friend
I hardly dare to speak of it, but this same great God, in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, became human. Think of it! The Word, the divine Reason, took on a body and lived in our midst. We saw Him. We could touch Him. We beheld His Glory! Though we cannot know God in His Essence we can approach the Incarnate God … a Savior who let little children come to Him when the disciples would have kept them away. Rationally He should not have paid attention to our very existence except to condemn our foolish rebellion, but loving us He became one of us to save us from our evil.
In an act of unimaginable elevation, this God-Man called His disciples His friends. He is willing to be my Friend … a Friend to a sinner. I don’t deserve, cannot earn it, almost feel like rebuking God for His Divine temerity in loving me, but can only accept it.
And glory in it! Jesus Christ is willing to be my Friend.
July 04, 2006
Everyone can have their own Independence Day
John Adams remarked in 1776, “The Revolution is complete. All that remains is a war.” He elaborated on a different occasion: “But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.”
[…]
It strikes me that the reverse can be said about the work of Jesus Christ. His work on the cross is finished, he has defeated the devil, sin, and the grave. In other words: The war is over. All that remains is the revolution! — the revolution of following Christ and serving in the cause of spreading his kingdom.
May you join the revolution!