HARMLESS THOUGHTS

I just finished reading Killing Calvinism: How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside . I found the title of this book to be alluring.  It snatched my attention from the first time that I heard of it.  It was on my watch list for books that I was hoping would go on sale eventually.  Strangely enough, when it did go on sale, it wasn't me that purchased it, but it was my wife who purchased this book. She saw it on the when she was browsing through the Kindle books and decided to pick it up.  I was surprised to see it listed with my books, but quickly started to read it. Like I said, the title of this book is what drew me in, but what kept me reading was the openness and honesty of the author.  From the subtitle, How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside , I could tell that this book was going to deal with the reality of people's reaction to, what is popularly called, Calvinism, and the difficulty of relaying that truth to others. The...

Click to Read The new Nine Marks eJournal for November/December is covering the topic of Lay Elders.  I am looking forward to reading through this edition.  I always find their work to be both enlightening and encouraging. I noticed that it was titled, "... part 1" so I am hoping for more on this topic.  As I looked through the table of contents, I didn't find anything about my situation exactly.  It is mostly geared toward elders in the church who are also holding down a full-time job.  That is me, but the journal isn't really dealing with Lay Elders who are the only Elder in their church. It still sounds really interesting with articles titled: A Job Description for Lay Elders How Much Time Can a Lay Elder Give to Ministry? Raising Up Elders: Three Areas to Address Raising Up Elders: Four Foundational Principles Four Ways to Equip New Elders Besetting Sins of Lay Elders How Pastor Mark Passes Out Authority They have a printable pdf version...

I finished listening to Christian Audio's version of  Seeing Through The Fog: Hope When Your World Falls Apart , by Ed Dobson about two weeks ago, but I have been really busy and didn't have time to post a review. This was a very interesting book.  It is sort of a memoir of Ed Dobson's after he found out that he had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.  ALS is a debilitating disease. As it progresses, more and more muscles lose their ability to work. This eventually leads to more and more important muscle groups ceasing to function, which eventually causes death.  ALS is, as far as I know, an incurable disease. In this book, Ed Dobson shares his struggles and thoughts on the disease and on struggling in general.  It was a very honest book.  It was easy to listen to, and you could sense the author's desire to be as transparent as possible.  He shared his ups and downs, the highs and lows.  His honesty was refreshing and enco...

I love to change my desktop background on my computer every so often.  I used to post my backgrounds on the blog, but fell out of the habit.  Thought I would pick this habit back up, I am not ready for my blog do die! Here is December's background... via 22 Words .  A little bit of a retro poster that goes along with my love of books.

Every once in a while I will be reading a book or listening to a speaker and I will hear a phrase that cuts me to the quick.  This morning I was listening to the Christian Audio version of Paul Tripp's new book, Dangerous Calling .  It was already challenging me with the openness of the author, but then he said something that stuck in my mind the rest of the ride.  He said that a Pastor's... "... preparation will regularly kidnap their devotional time." Whoa.  Absolutely guilty here.  I have even purposely done that. My excuse has usually come in the form of understanding that a Pastor's preaching should flow from their devotional time.  I don't necessarily think that my devotions should stand as a completely seperate entity, but I will quite often feel that I've spent some personal time with my creator if I have been studying for a sermon. Quite frankly, it is not the same thing. I only have the audio version right now, through Christian...

From the Desiring God Blog : On January 4, 2011, on Twitter, Pastor John wrote:  Marriage. The roots are deep. The covenant is solid. The love is sweet. Life is hard. And God is good .  The quote is a rewrite of what Pastor John wrote in 2003 to Noël in the preface to his book Desiring God .  But when the quote appeared on Twitter in 2011, a woman named Patty Hurtarte copied it into her journal with no immediate purpose for it. But almost two years later she returned to the quote, used her artistic skill to turn it into a design, framed it and gifted her illustration to her pastor and his wife, Joshua and Shannon Harris . I found these words felt especially profound after my Ordination Ceremony this weekend.  My wife has been with me every step of the way.  She makes everything special. Here is that design:

I made it into the Maranatha Baptist Bible College Catalog! I am on page 95 of the catalog.  I am in the Math Education section. I knew that they were thinking about putting me in there, but I hadn't heard whether or not they had actually done it.  I sent them my "teacher photo" from the school. Click this picture to read my little write-up.  (Or you can click here to look at the education section of the school's catalog and scroll down to page 95.)