Abortion as Hollywood's mission

So Tracy and I have gotten hooked on the TV show Private Practice. For those of you that don't know about the show, it is a spin off of Gray's Anatomoy, but in my opinion the show is nothing like Gray's. While Tracy and I were on vacation we got behind on several of the shows that we like to watch, one of those was Private Practice. For some reason our DVR didn't record one of the episodes and we were going to try and watch it on hulu.com but for some reason my computer is having issues and wouldn't stream the video well enough to make it watchable. Anyway, that has very little to do with my post. Last night we decided to try and get caught up a little bit with Private Practice, so we watched an episode that was several weeks old. And this is what my post is about.

In this episode of Private practice there is a debate about Abortion. It seemed like, to me, that this show was almost pushing abortion on the American Public. At one point one of the doctors said, "I had an abortion and I am not ashamed of it." They seemed to make it out to be just an easy thing to do. The debate had little to do with when life begins and more to do with whether or not it was the "right" decision for that person at that time. It was a very relativistic argument and one that I had some big problems - Not only were the promoting abortion, but they were also pushing this relativistic mindset, that what is good for you may not be good for me. They totally ignored any Moral Absolutes.

So here is my big issue - Hollywood, and the Far Left Liberals seem to continuously pushing the fact that Christians should not be pushing their beliefs or ideas on others. It seems to me that now they are doing the exact thing that they have criticized Christians for. They are PUSHING their ideas on abortion off on the general public, while at the same time criticizing us for doing that same thing. They continuously say that Christians are too closed minded, while at the same time they stick their fingers in their ears and ignore any other viewpoint. While they are out there preaching TOLERANCE, they are increasing INTOLERANT of Christians, the Church or anything that represents any Moral Absolutes.

Just my $.02

Let me know what you think!

Rod Blogojevich arrested

Here's the Story in case you haven't read it
Rod Blogojevich

I wish I could say that this really surprised me, but having lived in Illinois for most of my life, I must say it didn't. It is a known fact throughout Illinois that Chicago politicians are crooked. It is also interesting to me that so many of the Governors of Illinois are so corrupt.

More and more I have become aware of the fact that our political system in America is corrupt. I am constantly in doubt as to whether ANY politicians are actually honest. What ever happened to political offices being an office of public SERVICE. Instead it seems like everyone is out for their own gain now. I might be mistaken on this, but I don't think I am - I believe that many of the political offices held today, at one time, were volunteer. It wasn't meant to be a status symbol, but instead was a way of giving back to the country. This is deeply lost in our country today.

I guess this gives us another reason to pray for our government. They are tempted on so many levels, we need to continually lift them up in prayer.

Coffee

Well I haven't posted in a while, and I thought this was a good subject for me to post about.

I have recently begun drinking coffee. I have never been a coffee drinker. I drank a little of it a few years ago, but haven't really been craving it. What prompted me to start drinking was two-fold.

1. I was at the office one morning last week and really wanted something to drink other than bottled water. I went to the kitchen and there really wasn't much there except coffee. So I decided to go ahead and fix a pot. I put 3 creamers and 3 packs of sugar in a cup and then poured the coffee. It tasted ok, better than I usually make, so I drank it.

2. I also have realized that I am living in a coffee world, so I am conforming. Maybe it's peer pressure, maybe it is the fact that many places I go the only hot thing to drink is coffee. On cold days it is nice to have something hot to drink, so coffee will fit the bill.

To some, the coffee I drink is sissy coffee. I can't drink it black. I don't know how anyone can handle that flavor. It is terrible. BUT, with some cream and sugar it tastes ok. Someone said the other day, "So you drink some a little bit of coffee with your cream." That is pretty much the case, I drink it with a lot of cream and a lot of sugar.

So now I am officially a coffee drinker. Life will never be the same again.

The Way of the Master - a failed Read

So, I have been attempting to The Way of the Master by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. The book along with some other materials were given to me by a young person in our church. I managed to read about 9 of the bizzilion chapters in this book and had to call it quits.
I have read several evangelism over the years and have never run into a book quite like this one. Most, if not all of the books I have read on evangelism have been written from the standpoint of being one of many effective ways to share the gospel. Unfortunately this book and the teaching that goes with it arrogantly claim to be the only Biblical way to lead someone to Christ.
I am also a person that believes very strongly that in the current culture of the United States, evangelism happens best when it happens within the context of a relationship. Study after study reveals that the majority of lasting decisions for Christ happen because someone had a relationship with them first. This book, on the other hand completely ignores a relational aspect to evangelism, resorting instead to a confrontational presentation of "the Law" that only puts someone on the defensive.
I could really write forever about everything I disagree with about this book, but I will just leave it at the fact that I couldn't even finish it.
By the way, I truly believe that the way Jesus shared faith was that he assessed his culture and used the method that worked best in each setting.
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Obama Endorsed by Powell because....

Ok, so I have tried my best to keep politics out of this blog, but with the presidential campaign coming to a close very quickly, I am finding it harder and harder to do. So, instead I will just yield to what is on my mind at this moment.

As most probably know by now, General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president this past week. I managed to watch some of the interview on Sunday and really found it quite disturbing. Colin Powell said that his endorsement wasn't based on race. He said he wasn't endorsing Obama because they were both black. I absolutely believe him. Based on the fact that it took him so long to endorse him and that he could have done this long ago, I don't believe it was racially motivated. What I did find disturbing was this line from Powell:

"And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire...he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president."

Because of his ability to inspire??? Is that really a qualification to be the president? Is that really a reason to vote for someone. If that is a good reason that means that some of the WORST people on the face of the earth would be good presidents. I am not going to mention names because someone is determined to take it out of context - what I am saying is that some of the absolutely HORRIBLE people that have been on this earth have been able to inspire people. To me, that is NOT a reason to vote for someone and it never will be.

We need to vote for someone because they share our ideals and viewpoints. It has to be based on the fact that we agree with the direction that they would take this country and that they have the EXPERIENCE needed to lead.

In all I really lost a lot of respect for Colin Powell. I used to hold him in high regard thinking that he was a very respectable person. The loss of respect is not due to the fact that he endorsed Obama. He could have endorsed anyone and that would not have changed my opinion. As a matter of fact I could have had a lot ore respect for Powell had he made this decision with some valid arguments for supporting Obama. What made me lose respect for him was this statement, and some others that he made in his interview. I heard someone say the other day that he is doing this to "repair his image with the media". If that is the case, I truly feel sorry for Powell that he would have to take this measure just to make himself look good.

McCain as VP????

This video is hilarious. It is from a rally with Joe Biden. The person introducing Joe Biden makes a terrible blunder.

A "Townhall" debate???

Ok, so I have made it a point to avoid political stuff in my blog, and this is the first time that I am going to bend that rule a little. While it will be a little political, it will also be objective (I think).

So, I wasted about 90 minutes of my life tonight. I watched what was supposed to be a "Townhall" style debate. This was ANYTHING but a "Townhall" style debate. Actually it was very much like any other debate. Perhaps they shouldn't have screened the questions first. They should have simply let people ask questions from the audience until the time was up. I think that would have been a much more effective debate, and also would have been more enlightening on who each candidate was. As it was, we got a whole bunch of Republican and Democratic talking points. It was the same old stuff we have been hearing for the last several months. Not much has changed.

As I said I was going to be objective, here is the objective part. It was a tie. I know that FoxNews (my favorite news channel) will probably call it barely a McCain win, and all the other cable news stations will call it for Obama, but I really feel like it was a draw. I really wanted McCain to win - but there was nothing in that debate that made me think that. There was also nothing in the debate that made me think that Obama won, so I have to say it was a tie. This actually really means it was a win for Obama because McCain needed a big win.

I have some problems with both of their policies

Obama wants to socialize medicine. He wants the U.S. government to be the insurance company for millions of Americans. He says that those with insurance can keep their current insurance and those that don't have insurance will be able to get affordable insurance just like the senators have. What happens when millions of Americans and businesses everywhere figure out that the government plan is cheaper than their plan? Here is what will happen - they will all switch to the government plan and bankrupt our government. It will also put hundreds of thousands of insurance agents, representatives, and other insurance workers OUT OF A JOB, when their insurance company has to close due to lack of business.

McCain wants the U.S. government to buy up all these bad mortgages. It is going to cost a lot, as he said. McCain also says that it is needed. My problem with all of this is - When does personal responsibility begin to play a role again? Why is it that the tax payers of this country have to pay for the stupid decisions of the few? I have said it other times - there are some people that were the victims of predatory lending, and others that have lost their job and because of this are losing their home. That is the tragedy of this all, but that still doesn't take away the responsibility that each person has to manage their finances, and to be informed when they sign on a dotted line.

So there is my objective point of view. I wish all the media had an objective point of view - but as we all know they have a favorite candidate, and they want to paint the opposition in a negative light.

Goodnight - I am going to try and salvage the rest of my evening since I wasted 90 minutes.

Emmy Awards - Josh Grobin's performance

Ok, so I am in the middle of watching the 60th Emmy Awards and watched Josh Grobin (sp?) sing. I have to say that was the worst waste of time I have ever sat through. It ranks right up there with watching A.I. That was actually quite painful and I hope I never have to watch something like that again. I have heard Josh Grobin perform before, and to tell the truth I have never been really that impressed, but this absolutely takes the cake. I don't know if it was done because the producers of the Emmy awards asked him to perform this, or if it was his idea, but either way it was BAD. If you didn't get the chance to take part in this painful experience, I encourage you to go to youtube and endure through the worst 5 minutes of your life. You will be stronger for it because you persevered.
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When will the bleeding end?

I typically write in my blog about ministry related items, with the occasional non-ministry item here and there. This is one of those non-ministry related items, although I think it has some ministry implications.

If you have been paying attention at all to just about ANY media lately I am sure you are reading about the economic downturn that we are in. Just less than a year ago it seemed like our economy was BOOMING. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was over 14,000 and it seemed like everyone had a house and a job. But this last year has been disastrous. The Dow is down under 11,000 - it lost 504.48 points on Monday, had a little gain on Tuesday, but is down another 363.46 as of this writing (Wednesday). We have seen the failure of many banks, we have seen the Federal Government bail out Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and now AIG, while leaving others to simply fail. We are seeing people losing their homes at a record pace, and the unemployment going up at a steady rate.

So when will the bleeding end??? It is like when you cut yourself and the wound bleeds and bleeds and bleeds and it seems like it is never going to end. The economy is going through that right now, and all we can do is hold on.

It seems like there are certain political figures that want to blame this on the current Government administration. They seem to want to pin this on the government and say that it is their fault that we are going through all this. They then have a list of all the things the government should have done to prevent it. When it comes down to it, the government is not responsible for this downturn - the Greedy American Public IS!!!

For too long we have said, I want more, more, more. We have turned to credit to try to satisfy our desires. We want a bigger house, so we go and get a loan for that bigger house. We want a better, nicer car, so we go and get a loan for that. We then find out that our funds run out before the end of the month, well we have credit cards to take care of that, and eventually we can't even pay our bills. Now I know that some people out there were the victims of predatory lending, and I really feel bad for them, and I feel bad for the people who have been laid off of work and lost their house or car. But, for the vast majority of people they simply got greedy, and now are paying the consequences for that greed.

The greed goes beyond just the common person and into the corporate world, where corporate greed has caused many of these banks to fail. For goodness sake, there are CEOs out there making hundreds of millions of dollars while the company they are in charge of is filing bankruptcy. There has to be something wrong with that.

In all, like I said it all goes back to the fact that Americans have become VERY greedy.

I love reading the book of Ecclesiastes - the writer of Ecclesiastes, probably King Solomon said this, "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless."

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:10 and said, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

It isn't our money that has caused the problem for the U.S. economy. It is our greed for MORE. Once again scripture proves itself right - when you get greedy (love of money) you open yourself up to all kinds of trouble.

So America, we go through another great economic downturn - will we ever learn to be content because Greed destroys.

A couple EYE opening reads

I just finished reading "They Like Jesus but not the Church" by Dan Kimball. I actually have just a short bit of reading to do in the book, which is an appendix where Dan answers some questions that critics of the book may have. This book, along with "UnChristian" by Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons really confirmed many of the thoughts that I have had over time. The primary one being that the most effective form of evangelism is through relationships.

I think it was John Maxwell that once said, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." I think this really sums up a good portion of what these books are about, or at the very least the portion of these books that spoke to me the most.


Both of these books cover similar material, but they come at it from a very different way. UnChristian comes to their conclusions based on a great amount of polling research done by the Barna Group, while They Like Jesus comes to these conclusions based on conversations with non-Christian people. Regardless of how they came to their conclusions, they came to basically the same conclusions. Through their research they found that by and large people have a negative opinion of Christians. These opinions can only REALLY be changed through relationships.

It is through these relationships that as Christians we begin to build trust with those that have a negative opinion of us. It is through that trust that we then have the opportunity to introduce them to Jesus Christ.

So anyway, if you don't have anything else to read, I would encourage reading both these books. As I said, they come from a completely different angle, and so both of them kind of work together to give the whole picture.

High School Football

The High School Football season starts this Friday and with it comes one of the greatest ministry opportunities that I have been able to be a part of. Every game day we get the opportunity to have all the football players and cheerleaders at the church to feed them breakfast.

We feed the team a variety of breakfast foods, each week being a different, but equally tasty meal. We usually have pancakes, french toast, breakfast burritos, and of course the now famous Burkette Biscuits and Gravy.

The breakfast is hosted by our church, but it is not just our church that makes the breakfast for the football players. The Pastor of the local Southern Baptist church helps out, the photographer for the local newspaper helps, and even the coaches for the football team get up extra early to come and assist in making breakfast for the football players.

I say this is one of the greatest ministry opportunities that I have been able to be a part of because really it is just that. Through this ministry we get the chance to show many of the High School students that we care about them. We get to take a moment every Friday morning to invest a little into their lives. We get to begin to build relationships with the football players, the cheerleaders and the coaches.

Because the only "church" type of thing we do is pray for the meal, some may say - well you aren't giving them the gospel or you are not telling them about Christ. It may be true that through our mouth we are not preaching to them, but through our lives and through the fact that we love and care for these kids - we are preaching to them.

Along with the breakfast, the football season also allows me the opportunity to pray with the team before they take the field on every home game. I have become the unofficial team chaplain. I greatly enjoy this opportunity as I get to lead the team in the Lord's Prayer and then offer up a prayer for them before they go out and play.

It is my hope that through these somewhat small, but significant ministries seeds will be planted in these kids lives and we will see the fruit of our labor when these kids remember what the church did for them later in life.

Wild Goose Chase - My Review

Just a few short weeks ago Mark Batterson posted to his blog the chance for fellow bloggers to get a copy of his newest book, Wild Goose Chase, to review via their blog. Seeing that I love to get free books, I jumped on the opportunity and was fortunate enough to have the chance to read this wonderful book, Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, and be able to review it. This book has been an inspiring book for me on many levels.

In Wild Good Chase, Mark lays out what it is like to pursue the Spirit's leading. He likens it to Chasing a Wild Goose, and while pursuing the Spirit's leading is not futile (like chasing a wild goose) it is similar in the fact that, just as chasing a wild goose, you never know where the Spirit is going to take you. The subtitle to the book, Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God, accurately describes what Mark is writing about and accomplishes in this book.

There are so many deep insightful points to this book, that to mention them all would take several pages, but one of the strong statement that stuck out to me is when Mark says, "I don't think the date of death is necessarily the date carved on your tombstone. Most people die long before that. And in the same sense, most people don't start living until long after the date stamped on their birth certificate." This premise sets the tone for the book. He says, “Real life and real adventure begin the moment you …begin chasing the Wild Goose.” This spoke volumes to me in the fact that sometimes in life, as long as we are pursuing God’s will, we are just along for the ride. It reminds me of times where our family would pile in the car, and as a kid I would ask, “Where are we going?” and my dad would answer, “Somewhere.” As long as we seek after what God has for us, we may not know where were are going to end up, but we know it is going to be great, and this is the main theme of this book.

Throughout the book Mark adds stories from his own personal life, along with stories directly from the pages of Scripture to illustrate his message. This personal touch, along with the message directly from the Word of God adds a great element to keeping you engaged in the book.

In all I thought this book was a great read. For many other reviewers of Wild Goose Chase, they have read it in one sitting. Personally I have NEVER done that with a book, and this one was no different, but I did find putting it down a little hard at times. My suggestion – buy it, read it and find out what it is like to chase a wild goose.

You can purchase Wild Goose Chase at
Amazon.com
Christian Book Distributors

Also, once you have purchased the book check out www.chasethegoose.com where you can download Mark's 10 Steps to Setting Life Goals.

Simple Church - the book and the thoughts that come with it.

I am currently reading Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. This book has really gotten me thinking. How many churches out there are truly being intentional about their discipleship program? and How many churches are just expecting Discipleship to happen? It has also gotten me thinking about the process that we have as a church. It is hard to actually come to the realization that for too long we have just been hoping that discipleship happens. We have just been expecting that people will kind of figure it out on their own, instead of having a simple process to lead people into a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. I have not finished the book yet, but as I have been reading it - the thoughts of what we can do, how we can change, and where we need to go keep running through my mind. I know that this taking this on is going to mean a lot of changes and even a lot of sacrifice, but in order to lead people into that deeper, more meaningful, and more committed relationship that we are all looking for - it just may be worth it.

China wins Women's Gymnastics (but did they cheat)

So as I said in my last post, I am pretty much hooked on the Olympics. Tonight was the Women's Team Gymnastics competition. It was an interesting competition where you couldn't really be sure who was going to win until the final apparatus (floor exercise). Our ladies did extremely well up until the floor exercise and it really seemed like they sort of fell apart. I am proud of the accomplishments they made even through the adversity of having 2 injured teammates. Sean Johnson really seemed rock steady until the very end. I am sure she will be a strong competitor in the All Around competition.

All of this begs the question though - are the Chinese Gymnastics athletes at least 16 years old??? They sure don't look like any 16 year old that I have seen around. I have seen elementary kids that look older than most of those girls. I know that their "passport" claims they are over 16 but documents can be fabricated. I really hope the International Olympic Committee looks into this. It would really be a shame if China was cheating on their home turf.

What do you think???
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Olympics

Well the Olympics are well under way, and I am excited. I love it when the Olympics are going on. It is even greater since they moved the Olympics to where the Summer and Winter Olympics alternate every 2 years instead of having to wait 4 years for Olympics. I can't say it enough, I LOVE THE OLYMPICS. So, yesterday (Saturday) we watched Olympics ALL DAY LONG. It was great. We have a DVR with DirecTV so we can record all the Olympics and watch them. We found ourselves flipping the TV back and forth from NBC to MSNBC. We could rewind and watched what we missed. It was GREAT. This evening - MORE OLYMPICS. I can't wait to see what our athletes can do. Will we win the medal race again this year? Who knows, but it will be cool if we do. Well I hope you enjoy the Olympics, and if you are one of the 2 or 3 people that actually read this Blog, leave me a comment and tell me what is your favorite Olympic Sport.

Vacation Bible School - 2008

SO, we are in the middle of our 2008 Vacation Bible School, and things are going great. We have had over 100 kids the last two nights. This is great to have this many kids coming to VBS, but it also puts a great strain on our resources and volunteers as we try and deal with very large groups of kids. But overall this VBS is going great. We are raising money for Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge. For those that don't know it is an Assemblies of God program that provides ministry tools and resources to missionaries around the world. Basically the money we raise will be able to make sure kids around the world can have programs like VBS where they are. The kids are really getting excited about this as we are making it a Boys VS Girls Contest. As of last night (wed) the girls were winning, but barely. We are not sure of the money count - and it really would take too much to count all the money, so we are doing it by weight, and just a guess is that the Girls bucket weighs slightly more than the boys right now. We will all find out on Friday who wins.

Overall VBS this year is going great and we are excited about the impact that is being made on over 100 kids each night. FUN, FUN, FUN.

God is AWESOME!

The First Church of Second Life (a response)

I just read this blog post from Out of Ur called The First Church of Second Life.  I have recently been intrigued by Second Life as it seems to be gaining in popularity and being mentioned more and more as the new and upcoming way to Social Network.  I created my own Second Life user with the name of Brit Quandry to check out exactly what Second Life was all about.  

Here is kind of my thoughts about the whole Second Life program.  I personally found it kind of creepy.  For one, I couldn't use my real name - now I know for many people this is actually a positive for them because they can become something different in their "second life" than they are in their first life, but that leads me to the second reason that I find it creepy.  I think it is creepy because people who don't like who they are in their first life end up with their alter egos in Second Life.  They can do the things that they only wish they could do in their real life.  If they secretly want to be a stripper - that is available to them in Second Life. If they secretly want to sell drugs - just do it on Second Life. My point is that Seconf Life seems to be a way for people to escape reality, which I don't think is necessarily a good thing.

Now I do want to say something positive that can come out of Second Life. I think that almost any of the Social Networking sites, whether that be Myspace, Facebook, or Second Life allow the minster to see into peoples lives and see the needs and struggled that they may not see in the course of the noemal day. People seem to be more open to sharing their personal life over the internet through a social networking site than they are through other means of communication. I think this gives the minister, whether that be the pastor of thr church or youth pastor or even children's pastor an avenue to minister to someone's needs more effectively because the need is known, rather than just guessing. So while Second life seems to me to have some real creepy qualities, I also see the value in it as a ministry, I truly hope and pray that those churches and ministries that are utilizing Second Life can be effective in ministering in cyberspace.

The Return of Internet

As I said yesterday, our internet had been down for a couple days. I go to the point of frustration as this had been a common occurrence with our internet provider. Here was the rub. The internet provider we had was providing us free internet in exchange for using our facility for a wireless signal tower. So now I have decided to sever the contract and instead am signed up and paying for DSL internet. It is much more reliable and faster. AND so NOW I am reconnected to the world out there and hopefully will not be disconnected again for quite some time.

Now to catch up on how the world has changed in 3 days.

Without Internet

Well we have been without internet at the church and at home now for almost 3 days. You may be wondering how I am writing this blog post without internet, all I can say is a Blackberry is a wonderful thing. Anyway, throughout this time without internet there is something I have come to realize - not having the internet is like not having a car. You don't really realize how much your life revolves around it until you don't have it. For example, I really would like to do some research on Sunday School curriculum where the kids and adults are all learning the same thing. The problem is, without the internet I really can't look these things up. It really makes me wonder what people did 15 - 20 years ago when they wanted to do some research. I guess that people went to a library or something, but that doesn't seem to be as useful as it once was. This could be a reason why we are seeing the world change at a more rapid pace than ever before. Now instead of waiting months or years to find out what the new wave of thinking is by reading a book, it is now immediately at your finger tips on the World Wide Web. When someone figures out something new, or has a new idea and they mention it on the web it is available for everyone within a matter of seconds. Even those with a rudimentary knowledge of the Internet can find out what people are doing all over the world and whether or not it is beneficial to them. This has great impact for ministry because as ministers we need to, at the very least, know about these trends and possibly even utilize some of this within our own Ministry area.

So here I sit without internet, trying my best to surf the web on a cell phone - and boy can that be painful.
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Jewish Rabbi Visit

So the last two days we had a special guest speaker. He is a Rabbi at a Messianic Jewish Congregation in Phoenix and also a staff Evangelist for Jewish Voice Ministries International. I invited him to come to speak to us about our Jewish heritage as Christians and on how Israel plays a role in the end times. What we got was that and so much more.

Saturday Rabbi Jack (that's his name) shared with us how Christianity wouldn't exist were it not for the Jews. Then he talked to us about prophecy and showed us various prophecies in the scripture and where they had been fulfilled. He also showed us some prophecies that were being fulfilled in our own time. The biggest point - That Christ is coming back soon, we need to be ready for his coming and urgently tell others that they may prepare themselves for his return.
Rabbi Jack returned on Sunday to teach us about The Ancient Jewish Wedding and how it was symbolic of Christ's return for his bride (the church). This somewhat simple comparison was something that I had never heard before. It was eye opening that the similarities are so obvious yet many, even most Christians have never heard it before. Anytime we get to see a glimpse of what Christ's return is going to be like, even if only in a symbolic way, it is truly exciting. Again the main point - Be Ready.

We never will know the time when Christ will return for his church. Scripture tells us that no man knows the day or time of his appearing. Only the Father knows. What we do know is that his return is always getting closer. It could be tomorrow, or the next day, next week, next month, next year. We never know - :e could return as you are reading this blog. What we do know is that he is coming and when he does we need to be ready for his appearing. We don't want to be caught unprepared like is told in the parable of the 10 Virgins. 5 of them were foolish and did not take extra oil for their lamps. When the bridegroom arrived, the foolish ones did not have enough oil. They had to go buy some more oil and missed the coming of the bridegroom. Christ is the bridegroom, let us not find ourselves unprepared when he returns for his bride.
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Saying Goodbye to our Friends from the Congo

Over the course of the last 10 weeks our church has been privileged with the influx of over 15 men and women from the Congo. They have been here working with Freeport-McMoran training to go back to the Congo to the mine there. While they have been with us they have brought a fresh spirit of excitement to our church. They ministered to us in so many ways. On two occasions they took the stage and sang several worship songs from their churches in Africa. They sang in Swahili, French and English. It has truly been a blessing to have them with us.
Today I had to say goodbye to them for the final time. They were due to leave for Tucson this evening and then board an airplane for a 22 hour flight back home. We, as a church, and I personally are going to miss them tremendously. We will never forget the blessing that they have been to us. I told them before they left that if I don't see them again on this side of Heaven, I will definitely be looking for them on the other side.
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Another American Company selling out to foreigners

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25253126/

Now I am not a drinker. I don't drink beer, wine or any other alcoholic beverage. You might say I am a 'tea-totaler'. Even though I don't drink, I do find it somewhat disturbing to find out that another American business may possibly be selling out to a foreign business. It seems like one by one all of our american businesses are selling out. It gets harder and harder everyday to find things that are truly American Made. There are many items that may be made here but the money is going to pad the pockets of people overseas. We wonder why our economy is in the tank when so much of our money gets sent out of the U.S.A. So anyway, while I could really care less about the Beer industry, it does sadden me to see another business possibly sell out, especially one that has been around as long as Anheiser-Busch.
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