Author's posts
Dec 17
Prudence, balance, thought, and Christianity
http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/19/3-tips-for-a-more-civil-conversation-about-syrian-refugees/ Mollie Hemingway offers 3 suggestions regarding the Syrian refugee issue. The piece ends up looking at Christian beliefs – for good reason. She makes many good points, all of which I will not try to summarize here. One take-away (near the end of the article) is that the answer to the question “What should …
Dec 14
The Athenians & the Visigoths
The Athenians & the Visigoths speech written by Neil Postman (written as a graduation speech). Text: http://bit.ly/1lHh5y4 Audio: https://youtu.be/YtjjFmCxc8s Four quotes (there are many others) emphasis is mine: among their [Athenian] values none stood higher than that in all things one should strive for excellence. They believed in reason. They believed in beauty. They believed in moderation. And …
Dec 09
“I am a human being, not a human doing.”
How To Get Better Perspective (In Just 90 Seconds) “We consume; we don’t experience. We settle; we don’t savour. All of this means that we “do” productive. We should “be” productive.” In order to make this happen, you need to be aware and have focus. (What’s even more interesting is that you need to be …
Dec 06
Musical Communion Liturgy
Our Pastor, Dr. Howard White, has developed a musical communion liturgy in which he as the leader sings and the congregation also sings in response. It is set to popular Christmas tunes. See the attached. (It is the Sunday Bulletin, which happened to also be our musical presentation by our music groups.) Bulletin-December-6 -2015
Nov 30
Online Advent Calendar 2015
Online Advent Calendar 2015 (This appears to be from the Catholic church. I’m not Catholic, but the ideas are good.) It’s a Shape Christmas
Nov 29
Christmas Presence: Giving What We Need and Want Most by Charles Moore
I came across a very nice Christmas story, titled, Christmas Presence: Giving What We Need and Want Most. It is written by Charles Moore. Here is an Audio Recording of the story. (.m4a file) (On an iPad, you may need to download it.) The text of the story can be found at: http://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/holidays/christmas-readings/christmas-presence I know …
Nov 28
Missions Is Worth the Mess
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/missions-is-worth-the-mess Quotes: Because we believe in the “already,” we can more readily and joyfully accept the messiness of the “not yet.” —- The Scriptures tell me that: I have to lose my life in order to find it. (Matthew 16:25) I have to count the cost of serving him. (Luke 14:25–33) Success isn’t always what …
Nov 26
Embrace your holy desire for greatness one small act of service at a time
The truly great over-focus on serving. Many good points… https://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/the-race-to-insignificance-or-issues-of-greatness/
Nov 10
66 Books of the Bible – using symmetry to memorize
I’d like to eventually memorize the names of all 66 books of the Bible. (Update: I have now memorized the names. Additional mnemonics and memory devices are listed in the PDF below.) Here’s the structure: Old Testament: 17 + 5 + 17 (the 5 in the middle being the 5 poetry books) To break it down …
1 John 4:19
http://quoteseverlasting.com/quotations/category/c-s-lewis-2/