Archive for February, 2006
An Unexpected Lesson…
February 26th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Devotions / Bible Studies, My Life
It’s always interesting to me how God uses certain things unexpectedly to teach us…
This morning during worship, my one year old daughter, Jenna, fell asleep in my arms as we were singing worship songs. I don’t know what it was about the moment, but as I was singing praise to our heavenly Father while looking down at my little girl sleeping peacefully in my arms, I couldn’t help but be overcome by the thought that God offers the same for us… to wrap his arms around us and hold us tight, allowing all of the concerns of the world to fade away as we simply trust Him, love Him, enjoy the warmth of His embrace, and allow Him to shower us with His love. The problem is, we’re often like the restless, busy child… interested more in doing what we want to do, going where we want to go… trying to wriggle out of the arms of our Father.
So… are you missing out on the peace of being held? Do you struggle against God, or do you let Him have control of your life and experience the joy of his comforting embrace?
If you know God, and have entrusted your life to Him… you’ll know that we’ve all been there (probably more often than we’d like to admit), and that we could all use a little life lesson from a one year old every now and then. If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, won’t you allow yourself to trust God today, and experience love like you’ve never felt before?
Yes, I’m a Proud Daddy…
February 25th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Pictures
Okay, I know it’s about time that I offset some of that ugliness you see in the left sidebar with something cute, so here’s the latest picture of my kids… Jeffrey and Jenna.
Yes, they’re as rambunctious and ornery as they are cute… but they’re great kids. Nancy and I have MUCH to be thankful for.
It Starts…
February 24th, 2006 | 1 Comment | Posted in » In the News...
Well, the fight to overturn Roe vs. Wade starts today, as South Dakota approves abortion ban (MSNBC). I hope it works, but I really don’t have a lot of faith in our legal system to make the right call on this. I pray that God is in this effort…
Anyway, the article above is pretty short, but there was one quote from a “pro-choice” (I detest that term) activist that really irritates me…
Opponents of the bill argued that abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a women’s health.
If a woman who is raped becomes pregnant, the rapist would have the same rights to the child as the mother, said Krista Heeren-Graber, executive director of the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault.
“The idea the rapist could be in the child’s life … makes the woman very, very fearful. Sometimes they need to have choice,” Heeren-Graber said.
Where’s the logic in that? If a woman suffers a horrible crime and becomes pregnant as a result, it’s okay to kill the child that results? Come on now… if the issue is parental rights, there are ways around that problem (it’s common sense, rapists shouldn’t have parental rights for kids resulting from their crime… probably questionable if they should have any parental rights whatsoever, actually). If the issue is pain to the victim… will killing the child really result in any less pain? Seems to me that would make it worse… not only would the woman suffer from the attack, but then she suffers from her decision to terminate another’s life. And if she couldn’t bear to raise the child… why not give someone else the joy of adopting it?
Anyway, I’m not saying this is an easy issue at all… but there are MUCH better things than ending a human life because the circumstances are hard.
What About These Guys?
February 24th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues
This is a great post… “What About These Guys?”
Really puts this whole debate over private prayer languages and baptismal requirements in perspective, huh?
The “Rudy” of High School Basketball…
February 23rd, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » In the News...
Ever seen the movie Rudy? You know, the true story of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, the undersized kid with big dreams of playing football at Notre Dame? Think about the same kind of thing, except involving an autistic kid and high school basketball.
Yes… it happened at Athena High School (in New York). Not only did they let their autistic team manager (Jason McElwain) play in his team’s final home basketball game… but he scored 20 points in four minutes, sending the entire crowd into a frenzy, and ending up being carried off the court on the shoulders of his teammates!
I love things like this… almost makes me tear up.
Anyway, here’s the story on MSNBC… Autistic High School Team Manager Steals the Show.
SBC Younger Leaders Meeting — June 12th!
February 22nd, 2006 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Upcoming Events
I meant to post this a couple days back, but have been away from the blog for a bit and hadn’t gotten to it.
Marty Duren has announced that the second SBC Younger Leaders meeting will be held in Greensboro, NC, in conjunction with the 2006 SBC annual meeting. The meeting will be held in the War Memorial Auditorium on Monday night, June 12th, at 9:30 PM. The auditorium seats about 2,000 people, and will be available for a full two hours (the program is only 45 minutes long, so there will be plenty of time to fellowship afterwards).
I’m excited about this… not only will this be my first convention meeting (which is cool in and of itself), but the chance to worship and fellowship with other young Baptists? I can hardly wait!
I DEFINITELY need to finalize my travel plans…
Undignified
February 22nd, 2006 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Song of the Day
Just purchased a new CD this weekend… a Matt Redman worship CD, featuring Blessed be the Name and others. I have to say, I’m really enjoying “Undignified”…
Here’s some of the lyrics:
I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King
Nothing Lord is hindering the passion in my soul.
I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King
Nothing Lord is hindering the passion in my soul.and I’ll become even more undignified than this
(some would say its foolishness)
but I’ll become even more undignified than this
gonna leave my pride by the sideand I’ll become even more undignified than this.
What a message (not to mention the GREAT music)!
Think about it… when you worship our Lord… what are you worried about? How lifting your hands might be seen by others? How falling on your knees might make you look? How dancing might bring the scorn of some of our more traditional Christian friends? That you might, as Matt’s song says, look undignified?
I’d like to think that all of us would say no… that we never worry about what others think when offering our worship. The sad fact is that all of us do from time to time (if not ALL the time). But it begs the question… if you hold back because of what others might think, are you giving God everything He deserves from your worship? Are YOU missing out on the joy of pure worship as a result?
Things to think about.
Baptist Press Coverage of Tom Hatley’s Statements
February 16th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues
Here are the links to today’s Baptist Press coverage of Tom Hatley’s statements regarding the Wade Burleson removal controversy….
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22668 (basically an interview with Tom over issues)
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22669 (contains Tom’s full statement regarding the matter)
After reading these, I really don’t feel I’ve learned much more about the situation, except that the trustees are apparently establishing a new committee to address internal conflict and accountability to each other (note: I thought our trustees’ primary accountability was to the SBC!), but that’s about all the new news I found there.
Conflicting Information…
February 16th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues
Okay, I’ve taken a bit of time to review both the updated article in the Texan and Wade’s response to events of yesterday (the article and his conversation with Tom Hatley). One thing stands out… conflicting information.
The big difference I see is over “inaccuracies” in the Texan article about internal discipline by the board of trustees.
Wade’s post today (“And Now You Know, The Rest of the Story”) states:
I needed to ask Tom three questions. I did, and I appreciate the clarification I received from him.
(Question 1). Is the statement in Tammi’s article as follows, “IMB trustee chairman Thomas Hatley of Rogers, Ark., told the Southern Baptist TEXAN the committee determined the matter of disciplining a trustee could be handled internally,” a misquote of what you actually said? (Update: 4:30 Central Time February 16th, 2006. The above sentence has been changed by the Texan).
I discovered that Tom did not mean to imply that the Board would discipline me, and that if I read the article carefully, I would notice the sentence was not in quotations. In other words, this was the reporter’s words, not his. In no way was he referrring to me specifically. I thanked Tom for this explanation, and I told him that people reading the article, including Baptist editors nationwide were adding a subtitle that said, “Trustees to seek discipline internally” and made it sound like the Board would seek discipline behind closed doors. I would never agree to that because this public matter now needed to be addressed publicly.
The Texan article (“Executive committee of IMB trustees propose withdrawing motion for SBC to remove Burleson; preferring internal discipline approach”) states:
Burleson claimed that based on a Feb. 15 conversation with Hatley, the TEXAN account first released Feb. 13 was inaccurate in regard to how the board might handle his case internally. Hatley, however, confirmed to the TEXAN that he was quoted accurately, clarifying only that a decision to handle the matter internally was not driven simply by a desire to discipline Burleson.
Interesting, huh? Appears to me that Tom is either being misunderstood by Wade or the Texan (or both), or worse… that he’s telling two different stories. Perhaps just as sinister a thought is that the Texan could be lacking in journalistic integrity (based on the change in the wording of the article by the Texan).
I’ll have to look over the Baptist Press Stories in a bit to find out if any further information clarifying this issue can be found there (I just noticed their current top two stories are in regard to this matter).
Updated Article in the Texan
February 16th, 2006 | No Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues
The original article discussing the IMB Trustee Executive Committee’s decision to rescind action to remove Wade Burleson as a trustee has been updated. Here’s the link: Executive committee of IMB trustees propose withdrawing motion for SBC to remove Burleson; preferring internal discipline approach.
From a cursory review, it doesn’t appear that much has changed in the article. When I have a chance to review it further, I’ll add some more comments.
(STILL waiting on Tom Hatley’s official statement on the matter, supposedly forthcoming yet today in the Baptist Press News.)
