Anyone want to buy this book for me?

I don't normally like to beg, but this book really interests me.

I've been using the Khan Academy in my math classes for about 2 1/2 years.  I've seen it grow and change over that time, and it keeps getting better.  I would like to use it more, but trying to figure out how to incorporate it, isn't always as easy. (I have a Khan Academy setup page on our new School Staff page.  Click here.)

Most teachers have limited time with their students.  We are always wanting more time, especially in math.  We can't always depend on students doing homework at home, so I've relied more and more on class time to help my students get their needed practice with a new concept.  The Khan Academy has been great for reviewing those basic concepts, the ones I don't have time for in class because I need them to practice the new concepts, but I feel like I could incorporate it even more.

The Khan Academy even has several RTI (Response To Intervention) possibilities for our school.  I am going to be the RTI coach at the High School We are going to use AIMS web, but the Khan Academy provides a secondary point of data gathering in order to find those students who are most at risk in a certain topic of math.

Anyway, I don't like to beg, but we are a poor school district (partly because the State of Illinois doesn't make it's payments to our school), and I am a poor school teacher who can't justify a  book purchase of more than $0.99 right now.  So, even though I don't normally beg, I just thought there might be someone out there with a heart for Teachers, a heart for Education, or a heart for Georgetown, IL (or maybe even a heart for the Matt Harmlesses of the world) that might feel motivated to buy me a book!

No pressure.  I am mostly kidding.  But if someone bought me this book, I am not saying that wouldn't be awesome!

Free Audio Book from Christian Audio

Every month Christian Audio has a free download for the month.  There have been several really good ones that I have downloaded over the past couple of years.  The free book for October 2012 is extremely timely though, so I would like to point all of you there.

The book?  How Should Christians Vote by Tony Evans.

I've always enjoyed Tony Evans on the radio.  I've never read anything that he has written, but he has always seemed quite sound in his teaching.  I haven't listened to this book yet, but I am willing to give it a try.

If you download this book, let me know what you think.  I am currently listening to another one, so I probaly won't get to this one for another week or so.

Atrocious

John Calvin, commenting on Exodus 21:22-25:

The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being (homo), and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.

[HT: Kevin DeYoung]

For me, abortion is not a political issue.  It is a life or death issue.  It is also a personal issue.  I can't agree with John Calvin more.

Read Also:
Three
Moral Vote
Four
Decisions Made in a Pickup Truck
15 Pro-Life Truths to Speak (by John Piper)

Don't Waste Your Sports - Book Review

I just finished the Christian Audio version of Don't Waste Your Sports by C.J. Mahaney.  It was free on Christian Audio for a short time.  I love free, so I couldn't help but snag this book.

Don't Waste Your Sports was a short book.  Some of the chapters were only about 6 minutes long in the audio version.  The whole book took less than an hour to listen to.  That was OK though, the book was very to the point.  And, quite frankly, it is about sports, with the hope that athletes will read it.  So, not trying to be mean, but a short book might have been the best choice.

I really enjoyed this book.  I am not a huge sports fan, so I have always been keenly aware of some of the negative aspects of sports.  Not being a good athlete myself, has also increased my sensitivity to the pride that reigns supreme in many good athletes. It was refreshing to hear many of those issues addressed directly in this book.

I have to add, though, that because of my negative attitude, it has caused me to miss some of the more positive aspects of sports. This book was very helpful in assisting me in seeing the redeemable points in  sports, thinking ultimately about the Glory of God in the midst of sports.

If you are an athlete (or not) or a coach or an athletic director or a parent, I would like to recommend this book.

This Will of Mine

I have been reading, on a weekly basis, The Hidden Life of Prayer by David McIntyre. I have also been sharing some of what I have been learning with my church on Wednesday night prayer meetings.

Near the end of Chapter 3, titled The Direction of the Mind, there was a poem that I felt.  Do you know what I mean by that?  I mean, really feeling a poem.  You feel it down deep because you have experienced what the author is describing.  I may not have actually written those exact words, but it felt like I did.

I don't know if the poem had a title or not.  I am also not really sure who actually wrote it.  It is simply sitting at the end of a section about honesty in prayer.  Not only being open and honest before God, but also willing to hear the honesty from God as He might bring things to mind while you are praying.  Things you might have to deal with.

I want to continue to give you the background to this bit of writing, but instead, I am just going to share it with you:

Lord, here I hold within my trembling hand,

This will of mine - a thing which seemeth small;

And only Thou, O Christ, canst understand

How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all. 

It hath been wet with tears, and stained with sighs

Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none;

Now, from Thy footstool where it prostrate lies

The prayer ascendeth, Let Thy will be done.

I've been there.  Had my will, my wants, my dreams, clenched firmly in my grip. I am sure to most, it wouldn't have seemed like much, but Christ knew.  He knew that to yield this to Him was yielding everything.  To finally release, lay it at His feet and say, "Lord, whatever you want.  Even that."  Those were hard words.

I urge you.  I plead with you, if you are reading this blog, to begin your prayers with a heart that is willing to give your all, to yield to the will of God.

Pray

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 important that John Bunyan said, "If thou art not a praying man, thou art not a Christian."

So, I have been praying.  Praying more than ever.  Getting up early to pray. Turning my headphones off while I am running, so I can pray.  Praying on the bus in the morning.  Praying on my walk to school.  Praying during the day for the kids.

I have been reading books on prayer and prayer books.  Anything I can do to assist my growth in prayer.

This morning, after the bus dropped me off and I was heading to school, I was praying while I was walking.  It lasted for a few moments, then I started to get distracted.  Just as my mind was leaving that state of prayer, I looked up and saw this sight.

Like I said, I could have known the importance of prayer from many different sources.  In the end though, God is graciously bringing these reminders into my life.  And I praise him for it.

If you are not a praying person, then I challenge you to be.  Get on your knees this week.  Pray.  Cry out to God.  Pray for your family and your friends.  Get a prayer book and pray through those prayers.  Pray through the Psalms.  Write your own prayers. Just Pray.

Post Number 1501

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 made good money, bad money and no money.

I've seen my children go from tiny to one of them being as tall as me.  We've encountered black widow spiders, scorpions, and poisonous snakes.  One of my children had an encounter with a small hatchet.  Shortly after that I had an encounter with a sharp piece of metal.

I've seen my wife suffer through the loss of two babies.

I've owned and sold hairless cats.  I had a dog and had to give up that dog.

I've lived in 7 different houses since I started this blog.  I've owned a few different vehicles and had to repair more than one of them.  I've blogged about replacing the fuel pump in the same vehicle on two different occasions.

This blog started at a time when my marriage was barely hanging on.  Since then, I've seen our marriage grow to a deeper depth of love and commitment than I knew existed when I typed my first post.

I had just turned 31 when I started blogging.  Now I am 40 years old and have high cholesterol.

If I was really an ambitious blogger, I would put links up for each of these stories.  But I am not an ambitious blogger, I just like to get on here when it crosses my mind or when I finish a book.

Two other bloggers that I started following from the very beginning and have kept up with since then are Rodney Olsen and Rick Boyne, both brothers in Christ.  I appreciate both of their blogs and always enjoy reading what is going on in their lives.

Well, there it is.  One Thousand Five Hundred One posts.