HARMLESS THOUGHTS

I heard about something on the radio last night, but just couldn't believe it. So, this morning, first thing, I did a little google search, and sure enough, there it was. It seems that the Oxford Junior Dictionary has dropped several words from the dictionary.   I am not going to attempt to repeat the entire article I read, the writer at the Christian Post did a great job of summarizing the story (go figure, a professional writer).  Instead, I will give you a taste, and then point you in the direction of the full article. Some of the words that were dropped: "bishop," "chapel," "disciple," "minister," "sin," and "devil" Some of the words that were added: "blog," "biodegradable," "MP3 player," "democratic," and "celebrity" As much as I like to blog, should it really replace "disciple"?!? Here is another little clip from the article: The decision by OUP to discont...

Great video from Rick Boyne... Upside Down from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo . HT: Boyne Blog

I have had a few thoughts bouncing around in my head lately. I haven't had time to "flesh them out" but I keep coming back to them. Here is the first thought. Let me know what you think. Sacrifice is not measured by how much you give, but by how much you have left over. This one came to me a little while back. It is based in the story of the Widow's offering. Here is that story, found in Mark 12:41-44: And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on. (ESV) I don't have the time, or the energy, to develop t...

Great perspective on this controversy. Love the logic. [HT: Mmmm, That's Good Coffee ]

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. ~Emily Dickinson

I have a slightly new "look" for my blog.  I am not completely satisfied with it, but it is sufficient for now.  I swithched to the three column layout.  I'm not sure if I like it, but I had too much on the one sidebar. I also added the third column to my Twenty Seven blog.  Then on that blog and on my  Let Me Not Wander  blog I am trying to incorporate the new Google Friend connect .   So, if you haven't stopped by in a while because you are just skimming past me in your feed reader, stop by and let me know what you think of the new look.

Can I touch the hem of his garment? Wow.  Just in time for the Christmas Season, we get to see what Christmas is really all about.  It's about hope and the promise of change.  It is about the "Son of Promise" and the "Child of Hope" finally coming to us in our time of greatest need. Rush the aisles this holiday season and pick one of these up for your children.  May they treasure it all of their days. And for you, maybe you should pick up one of his books... Words that were actually penned by this Great man. To be honest now.  I don't know if I have ever seen anything scarier in my life.  I thought it was a joke when my mom told me about it, so I had to go online to see for myself.  If you don't believe me, here is a link to the Amazon page:   Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope

Just a short morning post for the diet today... I have found that a great snack to have is sugar-free jello (one cup) with a spoon of sugar-free cool whip.  It tastes really good (maybe, I am speaking in a dieting state), and it is almost like eating nothing.  The nice thing is that it satisfies that little craving. Another snack that I have come to enjoy  is a spoon of natural peanut butter, whith a sprinkle of Splenda.  It tastes a little like a peanut butter cup. I weighed myself this morning and I came in at a whopping 186 lbs.

I didn't give an update on day 5 because... well... I messed up.  One of my students had a birthday, brought me a cupcake, and I didn't even remember until after I was done that I was on a diet.  I have to say, it was a great cupcake.  The truth is, I was wondering the whole time why it was tasting so good. Even though that happened, I weighed myself this morning and i weighed in at 189 lbs.  Since I weighed 194 on Tuesday (or was it Monday?) that means that I have lost 5 lbs. ! I am feeling pretty good about that.

I teach a 9th and 10th grade Bible class.  We are currently studying the book  of Proverbs, but I try to throw other thoughts and ideas into the class.  One common theme that I hit on from time to time is the idea of service .  I believe that serving others is so important, but it often gets over looked or misunderstood.   To help my guys I like to give them opportunities to serve.  Usually it is some mundane little task that involves cleaning, but yesterday I set them to work teaching.  They each had a different grade that they were going to "substitute" as the Bible teacher for that grade. They loved it.  The elementary teachers loved it.  I loved it.  It was great!  Unintentionally it was on a day when there was a tour going around the school... They loved it too. Here are some pictures that I snapped with my camera phone.  I didn't want to disturb them, so they are mostly through windows and around corners, but it was heart-warming to watch.

I got an e-mail a little while back from a site called the Chapeau Blog Awards .  Never heard of it before, but I gave it a glance. I didn't think much about it for a while, but then one day I got another e-mail inviting me to look at their BlogOh!Pedia page .  I really like the idea of a list of terms for bloggers.  It is fun to look at, as a blogger, so I couldn't help myself... I had to submit a couple of terms.  After a long time of searching through my vast knowledge of blogging (maybe 3 minutes), I came up with two terms. Here are the two terms that I coined: Blugh  - That feeling that you get when you haven’t blogged in a couple of days and you are sitting in front of you computer with your hands on the keyboard… but nothing is happening. (Obviously I coined this term because I experience this phenomenon all of the time.) Conspirablog -  A blog, with its small but devoted core group of readers, that is devoted to various conspiracy theories or “sightings” (If you know me...

I weighed myself this morning and I have already lost 2 lbs.  I am feeling pretty good about that.

I have seen these slide shows before, but this one is the best one I've seen. [ht: Rodney Olsen ]

I made it through the second day of my diet.  Other than being hungry all of the time, I'm alright.  Breakfast was eggs and turkey bacon.  Lunch was a salad again.  Dinner was chili!  The chili tasted really good tonight, even though I didn't have any crackers. Should I start posting weight loss? Sure.  Since I forgot to weigh myself on Sunday, I will do a weigh-in tonight, and then do a follow up later this week.

We just started a no (low) carb diet, so I thought that I would journal my way through it.  The last time I went on this diet, I lost 10 lbs in the first week.  And that is what I am shooting for.  I just want a jumpstart on my weight.   Today was the first day, and it wasn't so bad.  Omlette for breakfast, salad for lunch, and leftover fajita meat for supper.  I love breads, so I am missing that, but barely.  Here is a picture of my lunch, just because of what my wife wrote on the plastic bag.  I thought that was hilarious. The biggest challenge come for me at night.  Supper is over.  The kids are in bed.  I am winding down.  Then it hits:  the stomach starts calling me.  My nighttime savior is coffee.  Just a little cream and a packet of splenda curbs the appetite but I don't consume any carbs!

I just wanted to pass this along from my wife.  It is from Steven Curtis Chapman's website.  It says: Whether you voted for him & love him, or you’ve disagreed with all his policies and dislike him... Could we all agree on this? We owe President Bush a sincere thank you. As the historic Inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama approaches, StevenCurtisChapman.com pauses to thank our outgoing President for his service to our great country. This Thanksgiving weekend, we hope you’ll enjoy a new song by Steven written in President Bush’s honor. Please click on the site and listen to the song.

The Josephson Institute did The Ethics of American Youth Survey, and the results are in!  You can read the full article here , but let me give you a couple of highlights. There were 29, 760 high school students surveyed. 35% of the boys and 26% of the girls (30% overall) admitted to stealing from a store this last year. 42% said that they sometimes lie to save money. 64% said they cheated on a test this last year (38% did so two or more times) You might think that those numbers sound bad, but get this: More than 26% said that they lied on one or two questions on the survey (The site states, "Experts agree that dishonesty on a survey is an attempt to conceal misconduct.") And the best part (or maybe the scariest part): 93% said that they were satisfied with their personal ethics and character There is so much that I would like to say about this article.  I would love to discuss how I am not surprised.  I would love to take a few paragraphs  to talk about how it is getting this...

I just thought I would start of my week with a good quote. "Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom." Charles H. Spurgeon I say it is a good quote, but as I copied and pasted it, I have to admit that I felt that little twang inside of me that said, "Listen to what you read,  You Fool!" I have spent a long time in Christian School, in Church, in Bible Colleges, and now as a Bible teacher.  In all of that time I have learned quite a bit about the Bible.  I, in no way, consider myself a true Bible Scholar, but I have definitely become a true Bible student.  I have a regular flow of Bible knowledge coming at me, and I try to take it all in...  The question on the table, though, is, "Do I have a right use of that knowledge?" I am not going to seek to answer that question...