Mission Mondays

Read the Stepchilds post "Taking Advantage".

Phun Phridays

click->ENJOY!!!

Worship

I just began reading Skip Ryans book "Worship:Beholding the beauty of the Lord," last night and it really struck me, though I already knew and understood it but had never put words to it, that all beauty points to the Lord.

I love to read Tim Challies. Today he reviewed the book "Can we rock the gospel?". I think that his assessment of the book was right on. What really struck me was where Tim quoted John Blanchard and Dan Lucarini when they stated, "worship is characterized by reverence, modesty and humility, and has nothing that even remotely aims at our pleasure and entertainment."??!! I agree that reverence, modesty and humility are important parts of worship. However what about joy, excitement, praise etc...?

I know that when I am worshipping the Lord and am doing so in a "reverent, modest and humble" manner, joy rises up inside of me as a result of knowing that He loves me, that makes me excited to know that I have access to Him, which makes me want to praise Him. I can definitley say that I find worshipping the Lord the most pleasurable experience there is.

I quote John Piper, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." Amen

Wednesdays Word of Encouragement

One evening early in my recovery my friend Steve Estes crossed the room to stir the fire in the fireplace. He reminded me, "Joni, what is happening to you will advance God's cause! Paul had his prison chains; you have your chair. You can rejoice in suffering because He is allowing you to suffer on His behalf. You are given, in this battle, the privilege 'not only to believe on Him , but also to suffer for him'". (Philippians 1:29).

It was exciting to think that what had happened to me could indeed serve to advance the gospel (Philippians 1:12). I began to share my faith with more people in a positive context, and I saw that the Word of God could not be bound and chained, even if I was.

Joni Eareckson Tada

Puritan writers

The way to be eased is not struggling with it, but meekly to bear it.

There is a fable, but it has its moral for this purpose. A certain ass, laded with salt, fell into a river, and after he had risen, found his burden lighter, for the moisture had made it melt away; whereupon he would ever after lie down in the water as he traveled with his burden, and so ease himself. His owner perceiving this craft , after laded him with Wool. The ass purposing to ease himself, as before, laid himself down in the water, and thinking to have ease, rising again to feel his weight, found it heavier.

—Richard Stock

A Really Cool Find

Before I begin I would like to describe the area where I live. I live in Glen Rose, which is the county seat for Somervell county. Glen Rose is famous for the Dinosaur State Park which is a only few miles from town and is located on the Paluxy River.

I was walking with a friend of mine down a dry creek bed here in Somervell county (keep in mind that the creek beds here in Somerville county are usually solid rock) and found...this is not a joke.....a stick that was impressed into the creekbed. The rock apparently was at one time mud which hardened into solid rock. The stick however was not petrified. It looked like one long piece of charcoal.

If you know anyone who is a creation scientist or the like, please ask them to respond to this post and I will be glad to direct them to this stick.

I have already emailed and left a voice mail with several creation scientists but have not heard back from them. So tell your freinds to hurry if they are interested.

Gods Goal XII

God's Goal in redemptive history Part XII

Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi prophesied after Israel's return from exile, representing the latest writings in the Old Testament period. Each reflects a conviction that God's goal after the exile is still his own glory.

Zechariah prophesied concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem: "I will be the glory within her" (Zechariah 2:5).

Haggai made the same point: "Build the house that I may appear in my glory" (Haggai 1:8).

Malachi criticized the wicked priests in the new temple: They "do not lay it to heart to give glory to my name" (Malachi 2:2).

Phun Phridays

Hyper Calvinist

Puritan Boy

Tim Presson of Redeemer Church in Fort Worth is in the running for Puritan Boy over on PURGATORIO.

If you know Tim and would like to vote for him click here.

A whole bunch of folks

300,000,000

"As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the Earth and increase upon it."

When I was born in 1968 the population of the United States was somewhere just above 200,000,000 people. As of sometime next week (The U.S. Census Bureau projects the 300 million population landmark will be reached Tuesday at 5:46 a.m.), We will see the population of the U.S. top 300,000,000. I will (God willing) see the population roll over once more by an addtional 100,000,000 in 2040.

Watch the countdown.

Read this "Utah news" article concerning the population change.

"Before The Next Teardrop Falls"

When I read where Pastor Brent was directing his readers in "The Weekly Town Crier" to read a post that I had written earlier this week, it made me ask my self why I did'nt refrence Freddy Fender as one of the great Texas music artists.

Freddy Fender wrote and recorded two of my all time favorite country songs, "Before the next tear drop falls" and "Wasted days and wasted nights". He had several other big hits but none that touched these two as far as Im concerned.

Those two songs always take me back to my childhood when I was living in Hamilton, Texas. I can vividly remember sitting in front of our new cabinet stereo system (which had a state of the art AM/FM radio, a turn table and an 8 track player), listening to my dads 8 track of "Before the next teardrop falls."

Mr Fender was a man of great wit. He once told a Washington Post reporter "Whenever I run into prejudice, "I smile and feel sorry for them, and I say to myself, `There's one more argument for birth control.'"

Im sadden to know and to say that today, Mr Fender passed away at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was truly one of the greatest Texas performers of all time.

Here is his web site and here are several other sites that you may want to visit...here, here and here.

Home of the Armadillo

The Donkey— Presidential candidate Andrew Jackson was the first Democrat ever to be associated with the donkey symbol. His opponents during the election of 1828 tried to label him a "jackass" for his populist beliefs and slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson was entertained by the notion and ended up using it to his advantage on his campaign posters.
But cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with making the donkey the recognized symbol of the Democratic Party. It first appeared in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly in 1870, and was supposed to represent an anti-Civil War faction. But the public was immediately taken by it and by 1880 it had already become the unofficial symbol of the party.

The Elephant— Political cartoonist Thomas Nast was also responsible for the Republican Party elephant. In a cartoon that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1874, Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin, scaring away all the animals at the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled "The Republican Vote." That's all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican Party.

The above info came from http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/donkey-elephant.html

The Armadillo-Pastor Brent Thomas was responsible for the Redneck Party Armadillo.
Living in the great state of Texas created a soft spot in his heart for the beloved state animal of Texas. So he combined the elephant of the Republican party with the donkey of the Democratic party and came up with the symbol for the Redneck Party.

In the short two year period of living "Deep in the Heart of Texas", he became a huge fan of Gary P. Nunn's "London Homesick Blues" (from which his deep love for the armadillo grew) and then began listening to various other Texas music artists over his once beloved jazz.

Pascal

It is the heart that perceives God and not the reason.
Blaise Pascal

North Korea

Father please give President Bush wisdom in the decisions that he will be making over the next few days/months concerning what is taking place in North Korea. May You make him sensitive to what your will for him, our country and the world is. May You bless him with patience so that his decisions will be ones that are well thought out. May his responses be ones that are prayerfully made.

May You be glorified in all of this and may this be the spark that causes a wild fire to burn through North East Asia igniting the hearts of the unreached for you.
Amen

Still Reveling :)

Don't Mess With Texas!



In 1969 Led Zepplin recorded their concert at the International Pop Festival. The title of this concert and album was "Don't Mess With Texas".

Below is a list of songs that were on that album with comments on how each song was prophetic.

Don't Mess With Texas
Label: Oh Boy-...not again! What the OU fans were saying at 5:38 p.m
International Pop Festival-Yes this WAS a Pop Festival...a pop in the mouth festival!!
Disc Times: 62min-actually it was 60 minutes of football...2 minutes were of Coach Stoops whining about replays.

Track Title
1 Sweet Baby (A song dedicated to Coach Stoopes)
2 I Can't Quit You Baby (What the Sooners were thinking Sunday morning)
3 Dazed And Confused (How the Sooners felt Saturday evening)
4 You Shook Me (What A.D. was saying about the D line of the Horns)

5 How Many More Times (What the Sooner fans were saying Saturday evening)
6 Bye Bye Baby (What the Longhorns said to Coach Stoops Saturday evening)
7 Communication Breakdown (What the Sooner coaching staff was saying Saturday evening)

Now that I have gotten a laugh (at least from myself) out of this at the expense of Stoops and Co., I would like to say that I really do like and respect Coach Stoops. Contrary to popular opinion, he IS a man of integrity. If I were a college coach he IS THE coach that I would want to coach under.
I also would like to state that I respect the O.U. players. After all they ARE almost ALL Texas boys...I can't disown them just because they made a bad decision to move North of the border.

Even Willie recomends this album!!!

I FEEL GOOD...DUNUNUNA

28-10

80,000

SIGNS HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO BE PLACED IN FRONT OF EACH PARKING PLACE AT THE COTTON BOWL SINCE WE HAVE TAKEN IT BACK!!!

WOO HOO HOOK EM HORNS!!!

READ ABOUT IT HERE

Breakfast of the Heart

He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it, hath already committed breakfast in his heart.
C.S. Lewis

Gods Goal XI

Gods Goal Part XI

Exile and Promised Restoration
Finally, in about 587 B.C., Jerusalem fell to the invading Babylonians (the Northern Kingdom had gone into exile with the Assyrians in 722 B.C.). The people of Judah are deported to Babylon. It looks like God may be through with his people Israel. But if so, what about his holy name, for which he has been so jealous over the centuries? We soon discover God is not finished with his people, but will again be merciful. And again, as Isaiah makes clear, God's purposes are the same as always:

For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48 :9-11)

Similarly, Ezekiel, who prophesied during the Babylonian exile, tells of God's merciful restoration and why he will perform it.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes . . . It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God; let that be known to you Be ashamed and confounded for your sins, O house of Israel. (Ezekiel 36:22-23,32)

Salvation is not a ground for boasting of our worth to God. It is an occasion for self-abasement and joy in the glorious grace of God on our behalf-a grace which never depends on our distinctives but flows from God's overwhelming concern to magnify his own glory on behalf of his people.