HARMLESS THOUGHTS

I think God wants me to pray. I could have known this when Jesus told the parable about how we "ought always to pray and never lose heart."  Or what about when Paul says that we should "pray without ceasing." I could have picked it up from Paul as he was giving young Timothy some teaching about how we should be making all sorts of prayers for all sorts of people.  He later tells Timothy that the men (especially) should pray everywhere. I could have learned it from any of those passages, or a dozen others like them, but I didn't.  I learn most everything the hard way.  Through trials. It is through difficulties and challenges that I turn to God most diligently.  I wish it wasn't so... I really do, but I know that it is. Life has been fairly smooth for awhile now, but God has recently allowed me to face a couple of minor challenges.  These things have left me realizing, more than ever, the necessity of prayer in the Christian's life.  It is so ...

This is blog post number One Thousand Five Hundred One. I didn't realize I had posted so many times to this blog.  I started this blog September 2003, which means I have blogged, somewhat consistently for 9 years.  I can't even believe that blogging has been around that long.  It still seems like such a new thing to me. While I've been on this blog, I've lived in Indiana, South Carolina, and Illinois. I've taught at Faith Baptist Christian School of Lafayette, IN, Shannon Forest Christian School in Greenville, SC, Mauldin High School in Mauldin, SC, Blue Ridge Christian Academy in Landrum, SC, and Georgetown Ridge Farm High School and Mary Miller Junior High in Georgetown, IL. In addition to teaching, I've been a truck driver at three different moving companies.  I've traveled as far north as Connecticut and as far south as Miami.  I've also been a janitor and a pastor (which are surprisingly  similar) since I started blogging.  I've ...

This is a prayer for Edgewood Baptist Church , that was adapted from Psalm 27.  Feel free to pray this for us or for your own Church. The Lord is our Light and our Salvation. Who or what is there that we would fear? The Lord is the Stronghold of Edgewood Baptist Church. Is there anyone or anything that could cause us to be afraid? When Satan tries to discourage us. because of his desire to consume this Church, He may bring all manner of enemy against us. So much so that it will feel like an army in battle array against this Church. But We will be confident! And our hearts will not fear!  There is one thing that we are asking of you, Lord. Just one thing that we are seeking after. Our desire is your presence in this Church. We pray that this will truly be the house of the Lord, That we may live in your presence, not just today, but every day. We don’t want to miss your beauty or the beauty of your Gospel! May we come here to gaze upon it all the days of our lives....

I just finished the Christian Audio version of The Hole in our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung and read by Adam Verner. The full title of the book is The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness . The Amazon.com Description: The “hole in our holiness” is that evangelicals don’t look particularly holy, and, despite the flood of gospel-centered discussions, there seems to be a greater focus on personal depravity than on the pursuit of holiness. Looking to right the balances, Kevin DeYoung presents a popular-level treatment of sanctification and union with Christ, helping readers to see what matters most—being like Jesus. He shows how one can be like Christ in being joined to Christ. The market is ready for DeYoung’s timely book, ready to avoid legalism and ambivalence, and they are ready for someone to articulate the inextricable relationship between grace and holiness. I absolutely agree with the basis of this book. In my own circles of fr...

This image is from NASA's Image of the Day website.  Here is part of the description: Visible from space, a smoke plume rises from the Manhattan area after two planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center. This photo was taken of metropolitan New York City (and other parts of New York as well as New Jersey) the morning of September 11, 2001. Click on through to read the rest.   click here

Earlier in the year our church covered the book What is a Healthy Church?  The longer version of that material is found the the book called the Nine Marks of a Healthy Church  by Mark Dever. To prepare for the Wednesday night teaching, I read through this book to help me prepare. I was drawn to this book because I am the Pastor at a very small church.  And when you are the pastor of a very small church, you find yourself constantly questioning your own abilities and measuring your effectiveness by the number of people in the room.  I mean, surely if I was doing what God wanted me to do, then this church would grow... Right? Wrong. There are many cases in the Bible of Men doing exactly what God wanted them to do, and their lives weren't marked by popular success.  Noah didn't have one convert believe in his message of judgment.  Isaiah's message was that people weren't going to believe it.  And Jesus was eventually abandoned by all of his follower...

About a month ago I finished reading The Expository Genius of John Calvin  by Steven J. Lawson.  I had read another book about Calvin about a month before this, but I was especially intrigued by the focus of this book.  I was also intrigued by the low price when I purchased the Kindle edition.  (I think it was in the free section for about a week.) Knowing that, it doesn't mean as much if I say that it was a worthwhile purchase.  Let's pretend that it was regular price at the time... "It was a worthwhile purchase!"  Did the pretending help? OK, OK, let me just say that it was a really good book.  It was easy to read and covered aspects of Calvin's life and ministry that I hadn't heard of before.  I appreciated the examples that this book shared from different messages that Calvin preached.  The book was well researched and the examples demonstrated the points the author was making as to the methods of Calvin's sermons. It was interesti...

My family was featured in our local news paper, The Commercial News , over the summer. I've hesitated mention this on the blog because it felt a little too much like self-promotion. I don't want to do things that make me look good.  I want to do things that make Christ look good.  When I originally said yes to this interview, I simply wanted the end result to lift up Christ.  When I first read the final result, I felt that, to some degree, that was accomplished. So, I am sharing this now for that same reason. My secondary motivation for saying yes to the interview was the potential of getting the name of our church out there.  I love my church and I am totally content with the people who are there and completely satisfied with God having full control over the growth of this Church.  But I love people and I want them to come to our church! I really believe that our core group of people at Edgewood Baptist Church have a genuine desire to do things God...

It happened in one week. I've always felt like such a kid, and I've always felt like I was on the younger side of life.  But then in one week it all faded. On Monday, August 27th, I turned 40.  That's a big number to an actual young person.  I'm sure I could ask some real old people and they would tell me, "... Aw!  You're just a young pup!"  I think their perspective is just a bit skewed though. The 40 by itself wouldn't have done it, but at the end of the same week I received a prescription for cholesterol medication.  I've had high cholesterol for a while, and even though I've worked really hard at getting it down with diet and exercise ... since I've done next to nothing to remedy the problem through diet and exercise, the doctor felt like it was necessary to put me on some meds.  It was really high though.  triglycerides through the roof.  My blood was basically lard. So this double blow of oldness has hit me.  I a...