HARMLESS THOUGHTS

"Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee." --St. Augustine Some people look at the Bible and Christianity as a whole and see rules and restrictions. They see barriers to their own personal happiness. They see walls and fences blocking them in. They want out so bad that it hurts. And many do "get out." They break free from God. And find themselves enslaved by sin. Many don't ever recognize their position, their enslavement. They flounder around in sin and degradation, never realizing that true freedom can only be found in Him. And with that freedom from sin, their is true joy to be found. "God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we, as well as He, can in divine communion, enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile." --A.W. Tozer Check out the book, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.

It's not very nice. And it isn't true at all. but here it is... The Blog Song (Ode to a Math Teacher) Check out this students other songs at Jared Zachary

Two really cool things that will probably mean nothing to you, but were significant to me... It is very handy to have a brother-in-law that is a computer guy. (I will make note here that I do not feel he is altogether a "computer geek" because he is highly social and that does not tend to fall into your usual geekness personality traits)...you know what I mean....but regardless, techno-whatever is his career. ANYWAY, I'm blogging right now from my bed!!!! AH! I love it! I am usually anti-computers for lots of reasons I won't bother you with but this is right up my alley! A t.v., a glass of juice, my bed and my sweetie niece....and blogger access...this is the life. Now I just have to figure out how to make it mine! It's so cool. Number 2 cool thing...I do this silly thing every year. When I get ready to pack up my coats and jackets for the winter, I usually put a 5 dollar bill in one of the pockets so I can get a little surprise when I put it back ...

I am blogging about a block away from the Bob Jones University Campus, in Greenville, SC. I am staying with my sister Amanda tonight. In the morning we are going to go to an IHOP for breakfast. I am getting hungry already, just thinking about it. I am also hoping to play a little euchre tomorrow. I know my wife doesn't like it that much, but I do love a good game of euchre, and I think that she loves me enough to play a game or two. I hope that all of my students had a good day today, even though I wasn't there to teach them! Oh well, they probably learnt more without me... Talk to all of you later!

By the way, I failed to mention that I am blogging from the South! It is much warmer and every restaurant automatically serves sweet tea.

I am always intrigued by the differences in opinions among believers. There are some things that will always be "controversial." But there are other things that should not be controversial at all. For example, I know that in some Christian circles going to movies is an automatic no-no, no matter what the movie is. To step foot in a theatre would be a grievous sin! But with the release of The Passion , this standard has been questioned. And maybe rightly so. Those in that circle usually use the "we can't support the movie industry" reason to not go to any movies. But then they go home and purchase cable, and rent movies, just showing a hypocritical belief system. Many youth and young adults have seen right through this hypocritical belief system and gone to the other extreme. Now we have a whole generation that pours pretty much anything that they want into their brains, without a question asked. In the case of movies, we should be challenged...

The Friday Five If you... 1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve? I think that I would probably serve Mexican food. I love tacos and burritos and enchiladas, etc. Hmmm... I am getting hungry just thinking about it. The meat, the cheese, the tomatoes and salsa. All of the sour cream and chips... Ok, next question. 2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell? Probably a book store. I would love to run the counter, and just sit there and read. I would probably have a wide variety of books. Lots of Christian books and lots of children's books. I would also like to have a row of classic books. And there would definitely be a coffee shop. (With free coffee for me.) My guess is that my shop would be next to a Krispy Kreme ! Oh, now that I think about it, I think that I might want to change restaurants... 3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be? My first choice would be a compilation of lessons that I have taug...

Gam zeh ya'avor (Hebrew) "This Too Shall Pass" Welcome!  According to Google Analytics, this is by far the most visited post that I have ever written.  If someone comes here from a search engine, most of the time they are looking for " this too shall pass quote " or simply " this too shall pass " on Google or one of the other search engines. I am sure that most of the time visitors are looking for the originations of this quote, but I have to wonder, why is this quote on people's minds? Why are they pondering the passing of events?   Here is my thought: It is probably because most of us have realized that the adult life is much harder than we ever imagined it to be. There is more pain and more sorrow than we had ever imagined as children, but we have learned that time keeps ticking. And as time continues to flow things pass. In fact, even the really big things and the really hard things will still pass. If you are here because you are thinking ...

Update: Check out the updated version of this post by CLICKING HERE . Also click here for some other stuff . Every Wednesday morning, I have a Bible Study with some of the Junior boys. The regular attendees are Adam J., Paul, Jared, and Adam B. I love these guys, and I really want to see them grow. Currently we are studying a book called The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It is a really good book, and very challenging. It breaks things down, so they are not so overwhelming. And it builds logically. I love it when a book builds logically. When it starts off slow, with some general truths. It gradually progresses through some systematic steps, while keeping your attention. And then by the end of the book, you are chewing on some real meaty stuff, and you didn't even notice the increase in complexity. For example, the first sentence, no... the first paragraph of the book is, "It is not about you." What a way to start! We just finished chapters 4 through 6, and these...

from Dwayne Hoskins , a fellow teacher Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. amzanig huh? Dawyne Hiksons

What is this all about? I mean, "Fear the Lord"?!? C'mon, that's something for those old-school fundamentalists, right? God is our friend. He is loving and kind. We have no need to fear Him. He is our good shepherd, our counselor, our comforter, our prince of peace. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Even though God loves us, we are also commanded to fear him. Eccl. 12:13 says, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." This Fear of God is one of our core duties as human beings. But it is not only commanded, it is encouraged because of God's love for us. Isaiah 33:6 says, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure." His love for us knows that our best is to fear Him. We are unholy, unrighteous, ungodly people. And we have offended...

For some new inspiration, I have decided to do the friday five Each week this website posts 5 questions and you have to answer them as best as you can. Then you can leave a comment on that website, and others can look at your answers. I don't know if I am going to do that part, but I will answer the questions. 1. What was the last song you heard? The New Earth by John Michael Talbot . I was listening to him this morning after I did my devotions, and while I was starting to work. That was the last song before I turned the music off. 2. What were the last two movies you saw? Hmmm... Probably Ice Age on DVD, and Finding Nemo. (Can you tell that I am a Dad?!? Oh well, just keep swimming, swimming...) 3. What were the last three things you purchased? I don't ever have any money. I am having difficulty trying to remember the last 3 things that I purchased. I know that I bought some McDonald's with the family two days ago. I seem to remember buying...

Great! You know, you teach your children to share, and then they do. The illness that Samuel had , has now been passed on to Josiah! I am on my way home to take him to the miracle worker, Dr. James Thomas.

"I Confess..." do you really? In the New Testament there are basically two greek words that are translated confess . Both of them mean approximately the same thing. One of the words is Homologeo . One of the key ideas that this word is conveying is to say the same thing . It comes from two greek words in combination, so it means literally same -- words . When we confess our sin to God, we are saying the same thing about our sin as he is. An example of this is in I John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." John is telling us to say the same thing about our sins. If we do this, God will be faithful to his promises. Another example of this word is found in Matthew 10:32 - "Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven." We need to be saying the same thing about Jesus whether alone, or...

I have been reading several books. I read a little of each one each week. The books that I am currently reading are listed on the right side of this page. One of those books is The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. And even though it was written quite awhile ago, I have found it to still be quite practical, and relevant for today. Just recently I was reading a chapter called "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing" which is the same chapter that I did a post called the treasure in the field . (If you check the dates on these posts, you can see how slow I am reading this book.) This whole chapter is about how you can't pursue God and other things. It is very convicting. He pleads with us to renounce all other things and pursue God. Through the process, he brings up the idea of testing, an idea that is familiar to all of us, and he makes these statements: "If we would indeed know God in growing intimacy, we must go this way of renunciation. And if we are ...

She's awesome! Yesterday while I was at work she moved all of our stuff to the basement apt. that we are going to live in! Those of you that know me, know that I work for a moving company during the summers. And if there is anything that I enjoy doing it is moving stuff. (weird, I know!) So I was expecting all day to have to go home and move a bunch of stuff. But that just wasn't the case. She had moved all of the stuff except a couple of big things to the basement. The really cool thing is that she did all of this with the kids. I just can't figure it out. When I watch the kids by myself, I can hardly get anything done. After I have been watching them the house is usually a wreck, toys everywhere, food stuck to their faces, etc. But after she has been with them, the house is usually in more order, they are usually neat, and their is a meal waiting for me. And yesterday, on top of all that other stuff, our entire living space was rearranged! Amazing!

I just updated the "look" of my school website. It isn't really anything to brag about, but it is different. Take a look at it and tell me what you think! It is my harmless homepage !

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? - Eccl. 2:24-25 I read this verse this morning and I just thought to myself, "that is so true!" I mean really. What else is there to do here except eat and work. Ultimately it will boil down to that. Especially the older you get. It seems that there is less and less time to play, and all that is left is work. Work to bring home the bacon. Work to cook the bacon. Work to feed the kids the bacon. Work to store the unused bacon. Work to clean the bacon-dirtied dishes. Work to take care of the bacon-eating kids and to put the bacon-eating kids to bed. It even seems like it is work to take those mini-vacations, and those short trips home to see the grand-parents. Relationships are work. Godly friendships are work. A Great Marriage is work. So what is there to do besides eat your ...

Last Friday was my wife's birthday. And being her 30th birthday, I really wanted to make it special. Now, I know what special means for me, but for her it is a slightly different story. She loves the party. The get-together. The social event. So I began to plan. At first I didn't think that I was going to be able to pull it together. I am not much of a party-planner. But then I called upon her good friend, Julie, a.k.a. the youth Pastor's Wife. Everybody that was going to go to the party was going to rsvp to Julie, and she would then tell them what to bring. Nicole also volunteered to help by organizing the child care. And I convinced my good friend Jonathan to pick up the tables and chairs for me. Things were going good. The day of the party came and I left the school to go buy some last minute items. Because of the traffic it took me longer than I anticipated. I made it home about 20 minutes later than I expected. I called the babysitter and asked her to pic...