Good reading

Yesterday over at the Evangelical Outpost, Joe posted kind of a "best of" list of his 33 Things lists. If you have some time check it out. There are a lot of fascinating links there. I especially enjoyed the test of the five second rule.

Happy reading.

Quickie

Thanksgiving was good. Its so nice to be able to be with family, for whom I am extremely thankful. The food was superb. The Cowboys won. It wasn't hot. Good stuff. I am very blessed and have a loooooong list of things for which I am truly thankful.

I am totally bummed out that UT lost to a & m again this year.

This week is jam packed already. Lots to do at work, JT is sick, lots to do at home, so TTFN!

Got Turkey?

So this past Thursday we had a traditional Thanksgiving lunch at Jonathan's school. Saturday we had Thanksgiving with Kris' family at Fort Parker State Park. Sunday night was the annual Thanksgiving banquet at church. That's three turkey dinners in four days and another one coming up this week.

Cool! A lot of y'all don't like turkey and once a year is enough for you, but I love pretty much everything about a traditional holiday meal. The only thing I skip is the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. I even like turkey sandwiches with the leftovers.

So thank God for turkey and dressing and everything else that we consider a holiday meal and all the excuses we have to eat it this time of year.

Now, here's a totally unrelated thought of the day for you: If time were a currency, how much of yours would you be spending on that which is eternal?

What do you think?

Were Adam and Eve created with immune systems? If not, why not? If so, why so?

What do you think?

Sadly ironic

Yesterday I mentioned that there are some sad ironies in our land that stem from, or at least go along with, what I perceive to be unreasonable thinking. I guess the one that is most obvious to me is the disdain that our nation has developed for the church (by 'the church' I mean all Christians).


For centuries the church has been doing good things like building and operating schools, universities, hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, soup kitchens, rehabilitation centers, food pantries, etc. Christians have long served this country as statesmen and in the military. I will readily admit that the church does not always do good, as with the inquisition, and blowing up abortion clinics, and heckling at the funerals of honorable soldiers who gave their lives for our country, etc. These things are wrong and stupid. However, reason has become so clouded by fear and prejudice that we see only the bad, not the good. We can't see the forest for the trees and now, in a sadly ironic twist, the church has become the enemy of many.


Isn't it also sadly ironic that our intellectual pride has allowed us to cast off the traditional values of our nation. We have reasoned that the Bible is just great literature rather than God's word to be obeyed. And as mentioned yesterday we have reasoned away the concept of sin so that now the worst thing someone can do is to speak out against sin (unless you are speaking out against someone speaking out against sin). The country is going to Hell and people are mad at Christians for it. We've returned to the days of Judges when each one did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6). We deserve the judgement of God as much as any nation has.

The most sadly ironic thing may be that even though we deserve the judgement of God, Jesus Christ, the God-man, has taken this judgement upon himself for us, yet we have written him off as a mere teacher or prophet. We have reasoned away the Savior.

How does one reason with the unreasonable?

When my oldest son was about 3 I started trying to reason with him about his behavior. You know, trying to help him see the logical reasons why he should obey his parents and why he should not do things like hang on the garage door while it is opening, or run across the street without looking, or diving in the shallow end, etc. I soon realized that logic was completely lost on him. Apparently three year olds just can't grasp even the simplest syllogism.

Well, I'm still working on him. I figure he will eventually start to grasp reasonable arguments. Meanwhile though, for his own good, Kris and I have to try to manage his behavior with positive and negative consequences.

It works okay on kids but what about unreasonable big people. Like, how can we convince someone who thinks they will go to heaven by flying a plane into a building full of people that this makes no sense? How can we convince someone whose mental framework has no concept of sin that they need salvation from sin? How can we convince someone who thinks that planet earth is an organism that the people who live here are actually more important than the planet?

Friends, if you are interested in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the people in your world, this is what you are up against in the 21st century.

The unreasonableness (is that a word?) prevalent in society has also lead to a lot of sad ironies in this country. More on that tomorrow...maybe

In Celebration

This is the eve of a very important national holiday here in Texas. Tomorrow is the opening day of the general whitetail deer hunting season! If you are not a hunter you just can't grasp the excitement and anticipation building in the hearts and minds of those going to the deer woods this weekend.

Here's to all of you who are headed out for a sporting, ethical, legal hunt. May the good Lord bless you with a safe trip. May the beauty and wonder of nature declare to you His glory! May the new season dawn brisk and wondrous. May the game always be upwind. May the snakes and ticks avoid you. May the fellowship in camp be sweet. May you see the antlered one. May your drag be short. May your trip be a success whether you kill anything or not.