Link Dump -- September 27th

Been a little sparse on posting. Focus has been in other directions but I have a few drafts and ideas in the works. Here are some good posts ...

Pilgrim or tourist?
The Dumbing Down of Youth Ministry
Understanding Islam
The Gospel According to Islam
A Smaller List of Helpful Books for the Young Christian
My Two Cents - a great breakdown of what's going on at Notre Dame
Ultimate Frugality: Free Admission To U.S. National Parks And Recreation Areas This Saturday.
Can We Just Go Home?
Teach Your Kids About Money - Part 01
Ask a Fundamentalist Christian (The Responses)
Cubs to Address Shoddy Field Before Playoffs
The LifeWay Research Alcohol Study is Up: Click the Graphic
10 Things an Effective Church Website can do for You
7 Ways to Beat the Buffet
The Top Twenty Starship Captains

Day Off Blog

Trying to keep my disciplines up has been rough the past month or so. I am determined to do so as much possible. My day off/ sabbath/ what ever you might want to call it is one of those things.
With my schedule, Sunday is not the best of days to have "off" usually. Due to some illness at work it has been what works out for the past couple of weeks. Yesterday was my day off (actually going through until 11 tonight). Here's how I spent it:

• SS/ Worship
• lunch with my family at Cici's. A family from church was there as well and joined us.
• watched parts of the Colts game, the NASCAR race, and other football between snoozes of a nap.
• read for a while
• watched the Bears game -- I fell asleep in the 3rd quarter(I didn't miss much)
• working at the church
• this afternoon I will be seeing what I need to do to get the basketball pole in our driveway functional. Whoever put it in has the pole set where the rim will actually be at 11 feet.
• I'll also try and knock out some more reading this evening as well.

Nothing fancy; just trying to keep myself on a routine of down time (at least somewhat)

Notre Dame's fourth quarter comeback

It's time to wake up the echoes and send Sparty home cryin'.

Link Dump - September 22nd

BBQ Foods: Kentucky Burgoo - this might require a roadtrip at some point...
Considering the Qur’an
A Small List of Good Books we need to be reading more
Ultimate Frugality - Ten New Ways For You To Save Money.
Why Church Workers are Prime Candidates as Porn Addicts
Los Angeles Police Department officer Joey Getherall gridiron hero becomes a real life hero
"God Wants to Give Us Nice Things"
Are Church Plants the most Effective form of Evangelism?
Self-taught MBA
This Is Not the World's Greatest Dad No Matter What His Shirt Says
8 Marks of a Disciple
What If You Spent One Year Following Every Rule in the Bible?
and...scene. Interesting info on the departure of the ND quarterback Demetrius Jones
Yuck!
Popular Mechanics 25 Skills Every Man Should Know I've 22 (maybe 23) of these down

John Piper - Test Yourself: Football or Christ?

I actually saw a woman on TV tonight say that she was glad that God healed her from cancer because she was not ready to leave her family/ husband yet. What does that say about us????

Link Dump -- September 18th

I have recently spent some time cleaning up my feed reader. I also have added some new content. This is one of the things that I like so much about the blogosphere and feed readers. You can keep fresh things that speak to you and move on from old stuff. Many favorites remain. I have overall about 7 less feeds right now. Here are some good recent posts.

Amish Pentecostals?
Welcome to Jerkville, Population Me
10 Tips to Read More and Read Better -- we all could stand to be come better readers
Total Depravity of Man….Chapter and Verse
CONFESSIONS OF A HAPPY PASTOR: 5 Attitudes I will Not Tolerate
HOUSTON NUTT: PICTURE, 1000 WORDS, ETC. made me laugh...
Ex-ND QB says Weis reason for abrupt departure , uh yeah right...
Baptism, Church Membership, and Graduation sometimes the Church cannot get out of it's own way
Lack of Leadership is Costly a great response to the current ND football season
May God Bless You With Discomfort
Divorce Isn’t That Big a Thing for Many Pastors These Days…
Rebuilding Your Credit Report – Part I
First look at Prince Caspian really stinks we have to wait 6 more months than planned, hope it's worth it.

Book #17 -- The Listener by Terri Blackstock

I was at the Library yesterday afternoon and just happened across this book. I was skimming through the inspirational fiction area and found it. I have become a fan of Blackstock, having now read I believe 10 of her books. I had never seen or heard of this one and found it different than her usual murder/ mystery/ thriller books.

At about 160 pages it is a fairly quick read. I started when I got home and finished on my break tonight at work. It had part to do with the size and ease of the book as well as the story that pulled the reader in.

It is the story of a man named Sam who receives a gift from God. He is able to audibly hear the deepest needs of people's souls. What happens next is an inspiration and motivation to spread the good news of Jesus to anyone who needs it, that just happens to be everyone. I will not repeat specific stories from the book due to the spoiler factor.

While some portions of the book seem a bit forced and definitely fiction filled, I took some powerful messages away from the story. We need to remember that it is every Christian's job to share about Jesus, no exceptions. Also the best way to reach people is to recognize the needs that a present in their lives and start by addressing those. When people have their needs met they are very receptive to what God has for them. No major epiphanies here, just a new way to reinforce the truth.

This story shows what could happen if an individual and a group of believers would crawl over and out of the walls of the church to engage people where they are at. Definitely a worthwhile read and a challenge to action. What would you hear of you could hear what God hears? How would you respond?

Praise You In This Storm - Casting Crowns

Whe this song was released I thought that it was amazing and what a powerful message to so many who have gone through so many tough things. I really have a newfound appreciation and greatfulness for this song in the past month.
This video is spot on!

Link Dump -- September 16th

Interesting Interview With The Florida QB
Same As It Ever Was, Same As It Ever Was… perspective on the war between the Calvinist amd Armenian camps
Benny Hinn Bible Code??
Church from a Visitor's Perspective 1st of a 9 part series
Is your church a coalition or congregation?
Hello, I’m a Single Mother and I’m Coming to Your Church Tomorrow
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam
Speechless brutal honesty about the ND loss as well as hopefulness that all die hard fans should share
John MacArthur, Doug Pagitt, and Yoga
The Missing Kicker Formation.... a cool tribute, ven if you don't like USC
Sometimes When You Give, You Will Also Recieve... another perspective on the Kevin Everett tragic injury
Who is Consuming Whom?
Top 10 TV news events

The Day the world changed -- part 4

This blessing seems a bit odd in some ways. It has however provided us insight to God's grace and a sense of relief. That is the fact that as this amazingly horrible crash occurred, no other people or property were damaged, injured, or worse.
We may never have complete insight into what actually happened in those last moments but we have been able to put together that for some reason dad's van was travelling at a high rate of speed in the center of a 4 lane road. As he approached the area where the road curves, which so happens to be right at an intersection, he continued on straight. His path took him across a lane of traffic, over a curb, along an embankment with about a 30 degree slope, past a tree and several utility poles, across a side street with an oncoming carload of teens and finally into a loading dock.
The list of might haves, could haves and what ifs in this thing is amazing. There were so many vehicles on the road at 12:30 on a Saturday, yet not one was damaged. When the van left the road and crossed the curb it went straight rather than into a furniture store where a woman sat behind her desk. The van did not roll on the embankment. It missed the tree and poles, only grazing a support wire. The teens saw the van coming and stopped to let it pass. The van hit a concrete wall and did not go into/ through the warehouse where there were people working inside.
This brings us circled around to the subject of coincidence... I cannot bring myself to believe how one could chalk all of these things up to mere chance. As much of a painful thing this has been, we have been buffered by the knowledge that no other families had to go through this and that there is minimal follow up insurance wise because of what or what did not happen. All of these things do not lead us to jump for joy, rather to nod in thankfulness to a Father who cares.