Urbana
So a local missionary, Saul Cruz, in Mexico that our church has been supporting for the last 20 yrs will be one of the main speakers @
Urbana this week. A couple families from our church are going to assist him w/ booth setup and all. In addition, Rick Warren is another main speaker plus I heard there will be over 25,000 people there, mostly college students. This is one of those times that it'd be nice to be a college student again, few luggage, little responsbility, and go wherever even if it means overseas to serve God. Please pray for Urbana this week if you get a chance. Thanks!
Oh, and for the first time in a long while, no one has commented on my last post. Guess my regular contributors ate so much turkey that their fingers have become so fat to type:o)
Merry Christmas To All
Well, I've done the 1st half of my Xmas shopping online a couple wks back. I woke up and hit the stores @ 830AM Sat and got them all done by 1230PM. I prefer the Asian method better and that is you put cash in little red square envelopes and give them out on New Year's Day. This makes thinking of who likes what and from them exchange gifts back for whatever reasons. Needless to say, I'm happy I'm all done and so
Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night!
Something Odd
I was at a Xmas party and struck up a conversation w/ this really pretty gal. Anyway, by the end of the six hour party, I went for the gusto and asked her to marry me, mind you that I've never met her before. Then my friend overheard me and pulled me aside immediately telling me I'm crazy. Fortunately, that was only a dream I had the other night. I guess in the midst of 5 Xmas parties and 2 friends recently getting engaged, those events fostered my dream. It's a good thing I don't think that was a vision from God:o)
The Fruit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23)
I was reading this psg and noticed it says the fruit in the singular. So if you have peace but are proud, is that having the spirit? Tim Keller points out that if that's the case, then you have peace cuz you're proud of your accomplishments and therefore not real peace since your peace is dependent on accomplishments. Ouch, seems like I need to work on a few things myself.
For more from Tim Keller go to
Redeemer.com and this sermon is
How to Change.
Compassionate Conservatism
I was listening to NPR on the way home today, yes NPR's more on the liberal side, and was surprised to hear this story. It interviewed a professor from Syracuse U about giving and the conclusion was that Americans are the most generous in giving to charity. Then he went on to say that it's not the people who say they are giving and this group tend to be the liberals but those who are conservatives. He pointed that it has to do w/ their religious beliefs. A second point was that it's not the rich but the working poor who tend to give the most when it comes to ratio of giving to income.
An exerpt from this
aritcle:
"For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous members of American society. Although they usually give less to charity, they have nevertheless lambasted conservatives for their callousness in the face of social injustice." -----------------------------------
Conclusion:
1) Liberals will give lip service to get elected then freely spend your money.
2) Conservatives who are religious believe in something higher and have a responsibility to help others.
3) NPR can tell the truth at times.
Outrageous?
From this
msnbc article:
SALT LAKE CITY - The chief law enforcer in two Utah-Arizona border towns is accused of misconduct after writing a letter pledging love and allegiance to the leader of a polygamous sect, who was on the FBI's most wanted list at the time...."I love you and ... know that you have the right to rule in all aspects of my life," Fred Barlow wrote in the October 2005 letter to Warren Jeffs.This is one of the most perverse stories I've heard of, except for the one where a man made love to a dead animal. With the way things are going like legalizing gay marriages, i dunno why there's a law against polygamy, then this story just sums it all up, do whatever the hell you want and say whatever you want cuz this is a free country. Then I'm reminded of Sodom & Gomorrah where God's patience won't last forever.
Ecoli, Cali, & Taco Bell
From this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16089596/:
The scallions suspected in the E. coli outbreak linked to Taco Bell came from a Southern California grower, an official with the company that washed, chopped and packed them for the restaurant chain said Thursday.First there was the spinach from CA and now this. A friend of mine who was a manager there said the grade level for the meat was 2 levels below that in dog food. I think I'd rather starve in this case.
Second, if I was Pat Robertson, I'd say to my viewers that God is punishing Cali for the liberal state that it is w/ this. Of course, I'm not so I wouldn't. Now, now, before you think I'm bashing Pat, I want to be honest and show that we can point at our own mistakes as well.
Ladies & Gentlemen, the Duggars!
I've been thinking about what
BikeBubba said in the second to the last post and I found one family that fits BB's comments. Yes, the Duggars have 16 biological children in their Covenantal fam! So if every single Christian family does this, then the earth will indeed be filled with good.
My question is why aren't more doing so than just having the avg 2.5 kids? Maybe it's cuz they have a vacation home, a boat, a 5k sq ft house...
Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
At What Price?
Please go and see Jamie's blog
http://jamiehart.typepad.com/jamie What do you think? Dec 1 post on Rick Warren inviting Obama to speak at his 22,000 congregational church on his second annual conference for AIDS. For an extremely short written summary, Warren invited Barrak Obama to speak on AIDS to his church. Warren defends this by saying that Jesus loved and accepted everyone w/o approving of everything they did. Barrak is a Dem Senator who basically supports the normal Dem agenda.
Do you side w/ Warren on giving Obama the pulpit? At what lengths should we go to reach out to others? How much can we overlook?
Comment here tho so I'd get more hits:o)
A Christmas Story
Today @ church an announcement was made of a couple finally arriving home from Africa as they adopted a baby girl. This is a young couple in their mid 20's and it's not like they can't have kids either. In fact, I remember talking to them a year ago and they said before they have any kids of their own, they would like to adopt first. The couple's white as can be and the baby is from Ethiopia. What a way to show God's mercy and grace! Adopting someone totally unlike them as their own. It's stories like this that further reminds me of what Christmas is all about, the story of Jesus. Thanks be to God!
