Worship

I recently received the following email from Mark Nenadov:This is also an excerpt from "Pulpit Crimes" by James White in the "Entertainment Without a License" chapter. I think these questions are a great starting point in examining our motivations and attitudes regarding worship, both individually and communally. (I've changed the format so each question gets a separate line)

God bless,
~Mark

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The real issue in the scenario with which I began is this: why?

Why do we do what we do?

What is our ultimate goal?

Why do we dress as we dress?

Why do we allot time as we do in our services?

Why do we preach as we preach?

Why do we sing, and why do we sing in the way we do?

Do we care about what this world will think of our activities?

Where is God in all of this?

Do we seek to meet Him in His truth, begging the Spirit to use the word to reveal to us the depths of our own hearts so that we may be changed and made better servants of His?

Do we think He is lucky to have us around, or do we tremble at the thought of approaching Him, not out of fear of retribution or wrath (being in Christ), but because we stand in awe of His glory, His power, His condescension, His grace?

Are we more concerned about making a misstep in our performance for the audience, or about the purity of the motives of our hearts before God with whom we have to do?

These are the questions that separate worship from entertainment.It was good for me. Great questions. Challenging.

Miscalculations...on a world scale.

The Most Boneheaded Miscalculation Of All Time

Bill Bonner - Wed 25 Jun, 2008

Americans are on the losing end of the “biggest transfer of wealth in history,”

"Terrorism will be reduced...weapons of mass murder will be limited, people will be safer around the world, human rights and democracy will be unleashed in the Middle East, and the fragile outlook for world prosperity will be improved... The uncertainty tax on world growth will be lowered too, as will the energy tax from temporarily spiking oil prices."

This was Larry Kudlow writing in March, 2003.

The spike in oil prices he described took place on March 12th, 2003, pushing the price of a barrel of crude all the way up to $37.83 and the price of a gallon of gasoline to $1.72. Yesterday, oil closed at $137 and gas sells for $4.06.

But Kudlow was hardly alone in his hallucinations...Rest of the article is here.

What uncertain times we live in. I'm thankful we serve a Sovereign God who, at this moment, is seated on His throne. He's not pacing. He's not fretting. He's not wondering what He's going to do next. He is in complete and total control.

May many more come to rest in His arms.

A Win for the Constitution

MSNBC and NBC News

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.

The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said.

The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.

Rotating Skyscraper

It's mind boggling, the things that man can conceive and construct.

Architect Dr. David Fisher unveiled the Dynamic Tower, the world's first building in motion. The rotate skyscrapers, which are planned worldwide, have floors which rotate independently to create a building that constantly changes shape. (June 24)Is it the skyscraper of the future? Or just a "pie in the sky" idea? Italian architect David Fisher unveiled in New York the design for what he's calling the world's first "building in motion." It's an 80-story residential tower with revolving floors, ostensibly set for construction in Dubai this fall. ((David Fisher, Architect)) "It's the first building that is dynamic, changing its' shape. You can adjust the shape any given moment." Fisher says he is also slated to build one of the "dynamic" buildings in Moscow, and, he hopes, New York City. He says the buildings also double as power generators: wind turbines on every floor will provide power. "Wind has a very negative affect on skyscrapers we all know. So I say 'why do we want to fight the wind?' Why don't we use the wind, to our own benefit? The Dubai condos are going for three-thousand dollars a square foot. Lifts will allow penthouse residents to park their cars right in their apartments. Fisher says the building parts will be prefabricated in a factory in Italy then assembled at the final location. The architect says he'd like to have the Dubai building ready to live in by 2010. Ted Shaffrey, The Associated Press, New York

Freedom?

Birthday weekend

My wonderful wife surprised me with a great relaxing weekend. Unbeknown to me, she invited Joe and Lindsey Knochel over for the weekend.

We had Knapp Birthday's Friday night and she was ready to go pretty early, but on the way home she said Heidi Snyder wanted her to stop by and pick some "stuff" up. When we got to Snyder's the Knochels were there to surprise me. Kenton, Joe, and I went and did some fishing Sat. morning. The weather was gorgeous. Then we went and ate some breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We went swimming at Heidi Snyder's cousin's (dog's brother's uncle) pool, relaxed a little before supper, and then had an amazing meal. My wife bought steaks, and made baked potatoes and green beans and croissant roles. Pretty much my favorite meal. We topped it all off with a homemade strawberry pie w/graham cracker crust , which was amazing!

So yeah, I'm 27 now. I gained a whole year in one day. Saturday I was 26, and just like that, Sunday I'm 27.

yeah well.

We're starting to get the ball rolling on fixing up the house we're moving into. We close on our home on July 7th, and it's sneaking up on us fast. My wife has all the paint picked out. We need to fix some plaster cracks before we paint. We're getting new countertops in the kitchen, buying a fridge and a microwave, installing a new mirror/light in the bathroom, putting a carpet remnant in the basement, installing new switch/receptacle covers, and various other winklebits (and yes, I just made that word up).

We're very thankful for our parents' willingness to help us out. They've been super supportive through this.

God is good.

Sandbagging

I went to Taylor earlier Tuesday morning and stayed until late Wednesday night volunteering on the levee work their doing.

I am now the sorest I can ever remember being. Ever.

My 27 hours of work was split pretty evenly between repairing the water chutes on the sand levee and sandbagging on the dirt levee.

I managed to lose 6 lbs in two days.

Right now my body hates me and I may be getting sick.

It was a great testimony to God's power and sovereignty. The river is so powerful. It dwarfs our human strength. Watch a few hundred people scurry around on miles and miles of levee doing their best - it reminded me of how ants look when you see them building a mound of sand. I had to wonder what we look like to God. What our creator thought of it all. He created a perfect creation and the more we tinker with it the more we seem to mess up.

God is good.

Changes

Well, Hiedi & I accepted an offer on our condo. It's a weird feeling. We're both really happy with what we got out of it (provided everything goes through), but it's still a big change, and change is rarely easy - at least not for me.

We're going to be moving into a 3 bedroom ranch that's about 10 minutes north of Morton. Mom & Dad Pfaffmann own it and are renting it to us. It could use a little TLC and Heidi & I are excited to get to do some "fix-up" projects. :-)

We have mixed emotions about the selling and moving, but we both believe it's a Biblically wise decision for us. We were motivated strongly by the Crown Financial Bible Study we went through with a small group from Washington. The Biblical passages regarding debt and good stewardship convicted both of us to strive to be better stewards of what we've been given.

Now the challenge will be to not spend the money we're saving by moving on a nicer lifestyle. We're thankful for the accountability of the Word and of each other. God has been incredibly faithful through this whole process, and we're very thankful for the advice of our family and friends.