Life in General

Where’s Our Focus?

~ Joe ~ 1 Comment

An alarm.
A splash of water.
A brush through the hair.
A cup to wake up.
A drive.
Catching up with friends.
ToDo lists.
Meetings.
Herding cats.
Phone calls.
Eventually getting some work done.
Another drive.
The wind down.
Family/personal time.
A different ToDo list, maybe.
Running errands.
The second wind down.
Falling asleep way too early.

And repeat…

Although the above is a highly generalized version of our day, it does show how they can be filled with many things to do. Unfortunately, it’s easy to loose focus on eternal things when we live like that for days, weeks, months and years on end. If we’re not careful, we’ll find ourselves thinking more like an unbeliever than a child of God. So let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say about this topic to help us retain our focus.

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Got Hypocrisy?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Wired.com had a “Green” eco-friendly article up the other day entitled, American Consumers Not As Enlightened As You Think. Although the article reported survey results and expert opinions regarding the automobile purchases of American consumers, I think the first two paragraphs capture the heart of the article nicely.

Hybrids? Pfft. Clean diesel? Who cares. Americans want cars with iPod integration, photochromic glass and capless fueling systems – whatever the hell those are.

Give people a choice between a fuel-sipper with a map in the glove box and a gas guzzler with in-dash navigation and most of them are going home in the car that tells them how to get there, according to a “snapshot” survey by MyRide.com.

The great thing about this article is that it’s true! Although the mainstream media purports that Americans are converting to “green lifestyles” and leaving behind their misguided fossil fuel habits, their purchasing decisions show the contrary.

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Where does your "energy" come from?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

FOXNews.com had an article posted yesterday entitled, “Energy Drinks – Do You Drink Them?” It was an interesting article from the “Whole Food And More” blog.

Although some people may drink energy drinks to keep them active and alert, I’d say the drinks are more about an energetic rush mixed with two parts of flavor and a pinch of social status.

Have any of you had an energy drink lately? There’s several (270+) to choose from.

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We Must Hear Worthily

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

A.W. Tozer wrote an insightful piece entitled “We Must Hear Worthily” (part of his book The Root of the Righteous) in which he says:

It is carelessly assumed by most persons that when a preacher pronounces a message of truth and his words fall upon the ears of his listeners there has been a bona fide act of hearing on their part. They are assumed to have been instructed because they have listened to the Word of God. But it does not follow.

This is very true. How many times can each of us say we’ve sat and listened to sermons and yet don’t recall even the last the we heard; much less say that we were truly taught something that changed the way we live our day-to-day lives?

Now that’s not to say that every sermon has had no impact on our lives because some have! But what is the difference? Assuming that both sermons are taken from the Word of God, what makes one sermon a life impacting teaching and another just another forgotten preaching?

Some would say the difference is all on the part of the preacher; the way he delivers the message; the illustrations he uses in the message; the amount of emotion or humor that is involved; and so on. But I believe there is another element we need to consider…that being the hearer.

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I second that!

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Floating Axhead has a wonderful article called The Wal-Mart Way which does a great job of explaining how the modern church has tried to market itself and failed. The article mentions Wal-Mart’s new slogan of “Save Money. Live Better.” and compares it to the slogan of “Find God. Live Better.” that so many churches have slowly adopted. I fully agree with the article and appreciate Floating Axhead’s candidness on the topic.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Sam Walton may be right in saying, “There’s only one boss. The customer.” but that’s not how the church, the Body of Christ is organized and operated. The customer mindset may be fine for business but it’s not for church. In fact, I believe one of the biggest problems with church today is that people have brought the customer mindset into it. We believe that we are customers and the church is there to entertain us! And when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. People drive up and park there cars in large parking lots, walk into the building (which very rarely has a cross on it anymore), are greeted with warm hands and smiling faces, find a cushioned seat somewhere in the auditorium, and then…the music begins! They’ll have people welcome them from the platform and hand out “up coming events” literature to them. There will be musical numbers sung by the choir and soloists, and eventually, the main attraction — an eloquently delivered message from the minister. This whole time the “customer” has had to put forth no effort except for maybe dropping some money in the offering plate as it passes by. And many of them will only drop in as much as they think the show is worth!

Is this a picture of every church. Absolutely NOT!!! Is it a picture of your church? I hope not. But I know it is for many people.

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What Race are You Running?

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

A simple scan down yesterday’s listing of the FOXNews RSS feeds reveals there was:
1 story about a parrot that could speak English
2 stories regarding pop/tv stars
3 stories about scientific/technical achievements
6 stories about politics/economics
7 stories regarding death/killing/kidnapping
7 stories about war issues
8 stories covering sex acts/sex crimes

Not necessarily uplifting news! But I think Kathy Griffin’s story truly showed the pulse of our society. I’ve included a few snippets of the story below.

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Walk Through Philippians 3

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

Once in a while I like to take a “walk” through a chapter of the Bible. The goal is twofold: 1) it helps me keep individual verses within their proper context and 2) it allows the Word of God to speak into my life in a deeper way. I pray that as you walk through Philippians chapter 3 that God will reveal new insights to you regarding His Word, that He will ask you questions that delve deep into your core, and that He will cause a holy change to occur in your life and mine.

(When reading a “walk through” please note that my comments, thoughts, and questions are indented and the Bible text is not.)

Philippians 3 (NIV)
No Confidence in the Flesh
1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:7 to stay from vain repetition but here Paul is repeating to the Philippian’s a teaching he already gave them. Paul says it is a safeguard to them; so we can see that one thing worth repeating is the Word of God in the form of teaching and instruction. We can never get too much teaching from the God’s Word!

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Pits, Peaks, and Plateaus

~ Joe ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday, FOXNews.com had an article that covered a forum where the three leading Democratic presidential candidates talked about faith and values. One of the presidential candidates was Hillary Clinton who gets an “A” for effort regarding her talk on faith.

She had a few admirable statements, such as:

  • She probably could not have gotten through her marital troubles without relying on her faith in God.
  • “I am very grateful that I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought.”
  • “I’m not sure I would have gotten through it without my faith.”
  • She was sustained by the prayers of others.

One of her last comments was, “At those moments in time when you are tested, it is absolutely essential that you be grounded in your faith,” and I think this statement is typical of most Americans. In fact, I think it exemplifies the status of American faith in God.

Although Clinton’s statement is definitely true, I think it’s almost more important to be grounded in your faith during the non-testing times.

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Being a Light

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

CNN.com posed a story 6:08 p.m. EST, December 19, 2006 entitled, “Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex.” Following are some excerpts from the story:

NEW YORK (AP) — More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.

“This is reality-check research,” said the study’s author, Lawrence Finer. “Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades.”

Finer is a research director at the Guttmacher Institute, a private New York-based think tank that studies sexual and reproductive issues and which disagrees with government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports.

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