Mr. Lincoln

Yesterday we spent some time with the President

I was thoroughly impressed with the life of this President.  His honesty, integrity, and dedication to a cause.  He is most definitely my favorite president.

I was also impressed with the quality of this museum, and the craftsmanship of the artists that created some of these statues.

If you live anywhere near Springfield, IL, you should swing by for a visit.  If you do, you just might get sucked into it like we did!

Spring Break

It's official.

At 8:00pm, Thursday evening, after the parent-teacher conferences were officially over... Spring Break started!  Two of my students decided to leave me a little sign on the white board.

As usual for me, my Spring Break will have plenty of Spring, but not too much Break.  I will finally get to devote some serious time to the house, especially because I was thinking about moving in at some point next week.

At the same time I would love to give some time to the planning of the Easter Service at Church.  I also need to work on my truck and my car.  And I was hoping to spend some good quality time with the kids.  Then, before I know what is happening, it will be time for school again.  I already have the chalkboard ready for the little buggers!

Tabs!

I just added an "About" page and a "Contact" page that show up as a tabs right under the title of this blog. This is another new feature that Blogger is offering.

If you would like to know more about how to create stand-alone pages in Blogger or what these pages are, then click here.

Blogger Template Designer

I finally tried out the Blogger Template Designer. It was easy to use, had great options, and it may have made my blog better! Well, I can't vouch for the content, but it looks nicer.

I chose a salt background because I am currently preaching though the Sermon on the Mount at Church. Here is a screen shot for all of you people reading through a reader.

Click on through and check it out...

Here is a little video for the template designer.

Interesting People

Finding people interesting...

This is so true, and so applicable in the school. Taking a moment and listening to a kid can mean SO much to them. Here is a short video adding to that thought:



[HT: The Blazing Center]

Self Righteousness

Josh Harris is posting some really good quotes today. This one is from J.C. Ryle:

"What is the true cause of self-righteousness? How is it that such a poor, weak, erring creature as man can ever dream of deserving anything at God's hands? It all arises from ignorance. The eyes of our understandings are naturally blinded. We see neither ourselves, nor our lives, nor God, nor the law of God, as we ought. Once let the light of grace shine into a man's heart, and the reign of self-righteousness is over. The roots of pride may remain, and often put forth bitter shoots. But the power of pride is broken when the Spirit comes into the heart, and shows the man himself, and God. The true Christian will never trust in his own goodness. He will say with St. Paul, 'I am the chief of sinners.'-- 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Tim. i. 15 ; Gal. vi. 14.)

- J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 (pp. 229).

[HT: Josh Harris]

a joyful noise!

I just read an interesting article on Christian Week, which I found via Tim Challies' weekly "A La Carte" post. It is by a guy names Michael Krahn and has to do with the affect that technology has had on singing in the church. Here is an excerpt:

I see a parallel between the lack of confidence in singing and the world of visual images in tabloid and fashion magazines. Photoshopped images create unrealistic body expectations. In the modern era of music autotuned recordings give us unrealistically perfect sounds.

The end goal of both processes is the same: the appearance of perfection. Whether we are trying to look as perfect as a picture we've seen or sound as perfect as a recording we've heard, we are destined to fail.

All of this has led to a crisis of confidence. Autotuned recordings have robbed average singers of confidence in the quality of their voices.

(read the rest of the article here)