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By Dan | July 26, 2008
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I thought I’d at least post a few brief words on our family. Jess and I have been working towards becoming foster parents for quite some time as many of you know and we’re happy to say that just over a week ago we received our first placements.
We have a foster daughter, Jaime (2 1/2 yrs old) and a foster son, Timothy (4 mo. old). They are brother and sister and are doing well transitioning into our home. We’re thoroughly exhausted, but our family is also making the transition. Jaime is a sweet little girl and enjoying playing with Reuel. Timmy is also a cutie and it’s been fun having a little baby again (he doesn’t sleep through the night, but he’s not as bad as Reuel was at that age at least!)
We appreciate all your prayers as we continue to care for these children. We’re not really sure at this point how long they’ll be with us, but will enjoy them as long as we have them.
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Saturday Thoughts on Prayer
By Dan | July 26, 2008
I love reading Old Testament stories that make you think a little. Not long ago I made some comments on the story of Balaam and the donkey, probing what was really going on that caused so much trouble there. Recently, I was reading another Old Testament story, that of the Israelites as they encountered the people of Gibeon (Jos. 8:3-21). It’s a great story where the Gibeonites hear how the Hebrews are beating the pants off of everybody as they come to the Promised Land. They know they’re next in line, so they cook up a scheme. They put on old clothes, gather old food, and present themselves to the Israelites saying that they’ve just gotten done with a long journey from their native land and would like to make peace. They present themselves as servants, if only the Hebrews will spare them.
This sounds good to Joshua and the people, since it avoids future conflict and they assume this is a safe deal to make. After all, God said not to make peace with dwellers in Canaan, but after looking at these people, they assume that they must indeed be from a far away land.
Oops. There’s that word twice in the last paragraph- “assume”. Read the rest of this entry »
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Friday Fun Links
By John | July 25, 2008
**Newsflash**
Contrary to popular belief, pastors do NOT only work 1 day a week.
In fact, pastors only get 1 day off each week - if they have the discipline to choose to take it off.
I’m kind of bummed - Friday normally is my 1 day off, but I’ve got to get a lot of stuff done today. I feel bad for my family most of all, since they count on having this one day each week to be all together. I’ve got to figure out how to make it up to them…
Anyway, there have been some thought-provoking posts this week in the blogs I frequent. Here’s a great list:
- Please take 6 minutes to see what life is like for our soldiers over in Iraq. From the New York Times, here is a stunning narrated photojournal of one unit’s search to find 3 missing American soldiers.
- The writer of Stuff Christians Like talks about his journey back to faith. If you wonder how to reach out to people you love who have fallen away from Christianity,
Topics: So much Fun | No Comments »
Reading the News Through the Lens of Faith- 12- Economic Downturns and Faith
By Dan | July 24, 2008
As I was glancing through news stories the last couple of days, I decided it wasn’t necessary to link to a particular story for this topic. The economic problems we face as a nation right now can be seen in so many stories in the headlines, that a single link hardly covers the issue. And by the time you read this post there will likely be a new story taking center stage over whatever I’d link to anyway. So just pull up www.msn.com or whatever your favorite news site is and glance at the headlines.
Ok, so we’re facing serious economic problems in our country- that much is obvious, but how do you react to this as a Christian?
First, think about it all understanding that God is in control.
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Sharing Faith- Pt 2- Fear of Ridicule, I don’t want to be called “intolerant”
By Dan | July 23, 2008
One of the greatest fears associated with sharing faith has to be some form of persecution. Now most people in today’s United States aren’t all that afraid of being jailed or hurt, but there is plenty of fear of ridicule.
In sharing your faith with a non-Christian there is the chance the person with whom you’re sharing will see you as judgmental. After all, most people, including Christians, believe that a person can be saved through many different paths. Many people don’t even believe in hell anymore. To share your faith, indicates that a person might be in some type of danger if they don’t convert and this can be viewed as the greatest sin of all- intolerance.
And we know what happens if we’re viewed as intolerant. We then get lumped into those crazy Christians for whom there is so much ridicule. And much of it is really rough and mean-spirited. Just glance through the comments in this online discussion or check this one out too.
So what’s a Christian to do? Well first of all, slow down.
Topics: Sharing Faith | No Comments »
In a Pit with a Lion 5
By John | July 22, 2008
For the next few weeks we’ll be using Mark Batterson’s “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” to help us stimulate a conversation about God-given opportunities in our lives. He blogs at: evotional.com
What’s on your to-do list today?
Whether you use Outlook Calendars, a Franklin-Covey planner, a piece of scrap paper, or just your good ole’ noggin, you’ve got to plan your day out. As an adult - there’s no way around it! There are deadlines to meet at work, schedules to coordinate at home, and lots of personal time to fit in between all of those. Certain things have to get done at certain times.
What about uncertainty?
Isn’t life uncertain? Sure, we plan our day in order to be efficient - to get things done the best way we know how. But does the day ever turn out as efficient as it could have been? Circumstances happen that throw everything off. You’re at the grocery store, almost done shopping when you hear, “Oh, hi **your name here**”. You turn around and see Read the rest of this entry »
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iQuestion of the Week
By John | July 21, 2008
I mentioned last Friday that there was a pretty good story for the reason why I missed posting the Friday Fun links on July 11.
Here’s the summary of that story, in visual form:
Here’s the wordy version (with a gratuitous Jesus reference just for fun).
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Question of the Week | 4 Comments »
Saturday Thoughts on the Faith of Children
By Dan | July 19, 2008
I don’t think there is any greater joy in this world than that of observing the faith of children. I love reading Bible stories to my son Reuel and listening to him fill in words that I leave out. I love seeing him fold his hands and pray every night, especially the addtional, “God bless . . .”es that he adds after I’m done suggesting names. Last night it was a joy to do family devotions and see our new little foster daughter also join in, doing the motions to “Little Visits with God”.
While I know that God calls us to this kind of faith it is so difficult to capture. I was reading the story of the fall of Jericho this morning early (Jos. 6) and this is actually the same story I’ve been reading to Reuel in his bed this week too, so it’s been really floating around a lot for me. Yet I just can’t quite imagine what it was like for the Israelites. They’re marching around a city and expecting God to perform a miracle on the 7th day. Now I know they’d just seen a miracle as they crossed the Jordan, but it still gives me the shivers to think about the kind of childlike trust they had even though they were adults. The story doesn’t phase Reuel either. Of course the walls of Jericho fell.
God grant us all that childlike trust no matter what challenges we are facing.
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Friday Fun Day
By John | July 18, 2008
O.K. So I missed last week’s Friday Fun Day links post. I’ve got a good story -but I’m waiting until Monday to tell it. Until then, enjoy some of the best links I’ve put up in a while…
Wordle is awesome. It can take all the words on a blog or website and put them in a ‘word cloud’. I think it’s artistic - but I also think that He-man, in its day (before She-Ra diluted the character base), was artistic. Below is the wordle for Faith Emergence. I think the message of this blog is loud & clear - what do you think?
Here’s a video from Creative Worship Tour that features Scott Hodge and a bald mute. No jokin’. btw: that bald mute thing was meant in the best way possible… Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: So much Fun | No Comments »
Reading the News Through the Lens of Faith- 11- Archaelogy and Faith “Gabriel’s Revelation”
By Dan | July 17, 2008
The latest archaeological discovery to hit the headlines and draw both interest and skepticism from Christians is a stone tablet called “Gabriel’s Revelation”. It’s from Jewish sources and while much of the text is difficult to translate or entirely unreadable some are putting forward translations that talk about a suffering and resurrected Messiah. Given dates for this tablet that place its creation just before Jesus’ time, what are the implications for Christians?
Well, the above article does a great job of summarizing the details of this find and what is most important. Namely, this discovery like all the other archaeological finds (both the true ones and the frauds), do not change faith. We put our faith in Christ and in his Word. Archaeology is fun and interesting and helps us understand Christ and his Word, but it will never prove it. At the same time, it will never actually shake it either. Since the Scriptures are true, no find will truly undermine the Bible. I encourage you to read more and enjoy the current debate. I love this stuff!
Any other thoughts on archaelogy and faith? What was your reaction to the “Lost Tomb of Jesus”, “Gospel of Judas”, James, brother of Jesus, sarcophagus, etc? What finds have most fascinated you?
Topics: News Through Faith | 2 Comments »