Verse of the Day

Consider this passage from Hebrews that I read last night:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10.19-25

If you feel that you are gifted in the area of encouragement, perhaps you could consider the last few verses as the foundation for your gift. And if this isn't your gift, then be encouraged in your faith and in your daily walk.

If you like pictures....

This month, The Library of Congress created a Flickr account and started uploading photos from their collections.  If you enjoy photography, or a colorful glimpse into the past, you might want to take a peek.  They've got some awesome WWII-era photos as well as some old baseball photos. 

Kudos to Kai

Kudos to soon-to-be Messiah grad Kai Kasiguran who got picked up by the Chicago Fire in today's MLS Supplemental Draft.  You can see the draft order here.

Sweet Victory*

*Special thanks to my roommate who helped make this victory possible.

Sanctity of Life Sunday

So on Sunday, Pastor Phil gave a message that was somewhat based on the fact that it was "Sanctity of Life Sunday."  What I thought was awesome was how he extended the message beyond the abortion epidemic.

He segued from abortion to Martin Luther King Jr's birthday.  How King talked about how all life was valuable, regardless of skin color or religion.  And it really struck me in regards to how we treat people.  I know that I can't say that I treat everyone like they have value.  You look at all the different ways we interact with people and you can't help but see all the missed opportunities.  Even it's just a smile to the person at the drive-thru window, it makes a difference.

 

So that was really the emphasis of the message.  ALL LIFE IS VALUABLE. People have value, regardless of their job title, past sins, color, economic status, sexual orientation, sports-team allegiances or musical tastes.  And it's imperative that we treat people that way.

 

If you care to listen to the sermon, you can download the mp3 here.

If you only read one blog entry today....

Read this one twice.

 

As some of you are aware, I am currently leading my small group in a study of the book "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges.  This past week, we discussed the role that discipline plays in a holy life.  And we discussed a few things that I believe is worth passing on to you, the blog-reading public.

 

First and foremost, the devil does not want us anywhere near the Word.  Whether it's Sunday church, or Bible study, or devos, he doesn't want us to have anything to do with that.  And he will do everything in his power to keep space between you and the Word.  He's very crafty and will use things that you don't expect.  Like busyness.  If you're familiar with the excuse "I have too much going on," then you know what I'm talking about.  Or maybe you're too tired, or maybe the kids aren't cooperating or you don't feel well.  All things that the enemy can use to keep you out of the Word.  And they're very benign.  But they work.

 

And that's where discipline really comes into play.  Discipline will help you to be able to forge through the obstacles that the devil tries to throw down in front of you.  Discipline means that you're never too busy to make time for the Word or for prayer.  The kids may not be cooperating, but you have a plan to work around their behavior.  You don't feel well, but you have the perseverence to push through.

 

I gave five keys to discipline and I don't recall all of them at the moment, but one of them was resolve.  If you're disciplined, you have to have firm resolve.  You will stumble.  But you've got to be able to jump right back up and keep on pursuing.  Lots of people stumble and don't have the stick-to-it-ivness to try again.  They call it a failure and call it a day.  But we can't be like that.  We also need to be willing to ask for help.  Whether it's from the Holy Spirit, or from friends, we have to be humble enough to realize that we can't do it on our own.

 

How do you practice discipline?

We're getting closer.....

One stop application pick-up and drop-off...



(you like how my camera added that "Happy Birthday" stuff without asking me?)

You know it's the first week of January....

when the Farm Show arrives. Yes, it's that time of year when farmers bring their livestock to the big city and the city folk come to take pictures of said livestock and to eat the various and wonderful foods native to the Commonwealth. Here's a few snaps of the scene..

Here's some goats waiting in the small arena for judging.



Here's a farm show tradition, the butter sculpture. What you see on the left is the front of the butter schoolbus.



And here's a sampling of the various foods available at the Farm Show. This is a potato doughnut with powdered sugar.

And it's coming to Harrisburg!

In an effort to explain - Health Care

I've made it no secret on the fact that I'm in Mike Huckabee's corner. My good friend recently posted about why he cannot support my guy. And I wanted to try to address his concerns. We start with a quote from Huckabee on health care...

"...We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes...It consumes about 17% of our gross domestic product, easily surpassing the few European nations where spending is close to 10% and far higher than any other country in the world..."

And my friend said:

After living in Germany I have seen universal health care work and he states right here that it is cheaper in Europe. The US has attempted to fix health care privately for too long. Maybe we should realize that our European friends might have figured something out.

So first I thought we might talk about what role the federal government plays in the role of it's citizens. Some people believe that the feds should be involved in all aspects of our lives. Some people believe that the states should have most of the power, with the feds providing a limited number of services. Everybody has different theories and ideas. Some think that education should be the responsibility of the state, not the Department of Education. Others think that murder should be something defined by the federal government. And some think that the federal government should also be responsible for healthcare.

Governor Huckabee is not one of those people. As you probably read on the health care issues page, he supports state and private resources for healthcare reform. I believe that the governor thinks that consumer-driven healthcare is more appropriate than socialized healthcare, and is more financialy feasible. There are roughly 300,000,000 people in the United States. The infastructure required to build a program for that many from the ground up would be staggering. I think that his hope is to encourage states to create programs that encourage preventative medicine made possible through state programs and I believe he would be willing to provide some assistance for those programs.

Thoughts?

Brusters is good People

So, one of the more popular ice cream joints in the greater Central Pennsylvania area is Bruster's. Conveinently enough, there is a location about ten minutes from my house. They have a website here. Friday afternoon, I swung by to pick up a scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip. Unfortunately, they did not have any. I settled for cinnamon ice cream, but I had an interesting conversation with the girl behind the counter. She said that she mixes up the flavors each day. She also said that you could request a certain flavor if you know you're going to be stopping by in the future.

So after I got home, I hit up the website and found the link to request a flavor. I shot them an email asking if I could have some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for Monday. About two hours later, I got a reply informing me that they would indeed have Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream available for me on Monday. Tonight, I swung by there (after the gym) and sure enough, my ice cream was there.



Kudos to my Bruster's for catering to my whims!! And they'll cater to your whims too! My next goal will be to see if they'll make a oatmeal cookie ice cream....

Hymn of the Moment

This song was originally written by German Jesuits and titled Shoenster Herr Jesu. You know it better as Fairest Lord Jesus. Consider the words..

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.
-translated by Joseph Seiss

Big Weekend in Seattle

My Redskins are playing the Seattle Seahawks. It's been a rough year for the 'Skins, but they seem to have persevered and are now playing some pretty decent football. It won't be easy, but I think they can handle the Seahawks. Hail!