What Is A Blog???

What's a blog?

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space.
A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links.
Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them,
in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an
ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can
read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you.

Or not.

Churches, Christians & Other Hang-ups

With today's technology, we can tape a TV program and
fast-forward past the commercials to get to the program.
With the sorry state of a lot of shows today, it might be
smarter to fast forward past the program and just watch
the commercials. A lot of them are more entertaining than
the show they're part of! There's one I've seen recently
that's a little strange, but I sure do remember it. It's
advertising a particular pain reliever. They start their
fairly annoying advertisement for the product and then
suddenly interrupt it for this one aggravated person looking
at the camera. They've got this great line, addressed to
the company whose product is being advertised: "I hate
your commercials - but I love your product!"

I have to be brutally honest with you about this Christian
thing. A lot of people really don't like our commercials. The
advertisements for Jesus are the people who claim to follow
Him - like me; the churches and organizations that claim to
operate in His name. And it may be that your experiences
with Christians and Christianity have caused you to say,
"I hate your commercials." There are many bright and
attractive representatives of Jesus, but there are also a
lot who don't represent Him very well.


HEAR!!!

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Three Sides To The Story

The most often visited Internet site of the summer of 2001
was reported to be one offering an interview with God. Written
by an American Sunday school teacher, the website offered an
imaginary question-and-answer session with God. One question
was, "What surprises you most about humankind?" The answer
was, "That they get bored with childhood. They rush to grow up
and then long to be children again. That they lose their health to
make money and then lose their money to restore their health."

An online measuring agency counted an amazing 2.4 million visitors
in June alone. The site claimed that six million people around the
world had logged on since the end of May 2001, and all this without
advertising!

It seems we are still longing for a divine conversation to answer
our cry. We are still looking for answers to the basic questions
about life and human nature. We are still seeking the other side
of the story. We are not merely biochemical machines composed
of billions of atoms. There is more to us than the sum of our parts,
and we are not just advanced mammals that happen to walk on
two legs.


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The Dam That's Holding Back The Flood

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Lake Cumberland is a nice place to go in central Tennessee.
It's not a nice place to have come to you. And that's what the
Army Corps of Engineers has been concerned about. The Wolf
Creek Dam holds back millions of gallons of water from Nashville
and other communities along the Cumberland River. And the Army
engineers have expressed some growing concerns about a possible
dam break. They said a break could kill many residents and cause
over three billion dollars in damage. A Corps spokesman said that
failure of the dam wasn't imminent but that evacuation plans would
be a good idea. They're lowering the water level in the lake and
they're trying to fortify the dam, because that dam is all that stands
between a lot of lives and a major disaster.


LISTEN!!!

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A Baby's Cry

Eleven years ago, when U.S. senators were in the midst
of a fierce debate over partial-birth abortion, the proceedings
were abruptly interrupted by a baby's cry.

I was there that day and will never forget that electrifying
moment, a reminder of what we were fighting for: nothing
less than the lives of innocent babies...


LISTEN!!!

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Faith Imitates Art

Even art devoid of intentional Christian imagery
can have spiritually transformative effects.


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The Virginia Tech Massacre

Who among us is not grieving with the families of those
who died at Virginia Tech this week? We mourn with
them and pray for the families of the victims and for
the victims who survived.

Investigators are still seeking answers as to why this
terrible crime was committed. And many of those watching
events unfold are likely asking this very question on a
spiritual level. That is, why did God allow this slaughter
to happen? If He had the power to stop it, why didn't He?

It is a question that has caused many to doubt God's
existence—or His goodness, or His power. It did with
a friend of mine, a journalist named Lee Strobel.

Lee was an atheist when he decided to examine the
historical evidence regarding the existence of God.
His journey led to a vibrant faith in Christ. But Lee
still struggled with the questions that seemed to have
no logical answer—such as why a loving God would
allow someone to murder thirty-two people at a
Virginia university.


LISTEN!!!

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Think On These Things

You may be good at controlling your finances, your career,
maybe even other people, but chances are you struggle
with controlling your own thought life. We might have
expected our thoughts to be the easiest of all things
to control, but there are times when taming the national
debt seems easier than steering one's own mind to where
it needs to be. The Bible sets a very high standard by
recommending that we "take every thought captive"
to make it obedient to Christ. Every thought.


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The Most Surprised People In Hell

When you have a commercial flight to catch at a major airport,
it's important to pay attention. There are so many flights, so many
gates, so many people, and there's only one plane you want to board;
the one that's going to your destination. I guess folks must have made
mistakes over the years. That must be the reason the boarding agent
or flight attendant gets on the plane and often says something like this:
"This is a destination check. You're on Flight 88 to Atlanta. If Atlanta
is not your destination today, this would be a good time for you to deplane."
Yeah, I guess. In other words, this buggy isn't going where you want to end up!


LISTEN!!!

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Minding Our Media

Is it possible to "keep your heart with all vigilance"
when it comes to our entertainment choices?


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When A Planet Becomes Your Sun

You are probably a believer in heliocentricity, right?
Now that is not a new denomination. It just means
that the sun is the center of our solar system and
all the planets, including this little tennis ball we
live on, are revolving around the sun. We do sound
a little confused about this sometimes, like when
we say, "Isn't that a beautiful sunset?" Actually,
the sun isn't going anywhere; we're the ones who
are moving. But who wants to go for a romantic
walk to watch a beautiful earthset?

Well, apparently, not everyone's got this orbit thing
straight. The American Scientific Association did
a survey a few years ago and they found that 21
percent of Americans surveyed thought the sun
orbited around the earth, and seven percent said
they didn't know...


LISTEN!!!

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Starting From An Empty Tomb

In the book The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin
observes, "It is obvious that the story of the empty tomb cannot
be fitted into our contemporary worldview, or indeed into any
worldview except one of which it is the starting point."

You can't have Buddha and an empty tomb; you can't have
Western Imperialism and an empty tomb; you can't have an
innocuous Jesus and an empty tomb. Many have tried to fit
these things together as a puzzle, but the power of the empty
tomb repels anything that competes with it.


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Why Good Friday?

I remember the precise moment I first made the realization.
One of my three daughters was a freshman in high school —
and she was in that give-me-money-and-no-one-gets-hurt
stage of adolescence. You know, the sullen sneer, the flick of
the hair, the disdain that asked if we could PUHLEESE get a
less embarrassing car. One Saturday, she walked down the
stairs, made some pronouncement that should have made
us bolt out of our chairs, salute, and run to fulfill her wishes.
Silly us. We didn't.

More than once I thought my wife and I should be done with
the charade and simply don maid and butler outfits. My wife's
voice is now in my ear reminding me to say that our three girls
may have had their moments but most of the time they were
(and are) wonderful human beings and a lot of fun. What's not
to love? They are so adorable.

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*Please see "comments" for
additional pertinent & germane
information.

More Than Words

As we might expect, He spends His last hours on
earth with His closest companions. Yet unlike a man
approaching His violent death, He celebrates with
them and tenderly washes His friends' feet--even
the soiled feet of the one who would betray Him.
He speaks of His coming death, yet inconceivably,
His words are filled with life, hope, and comfort.


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Waiting For Spring

I have always found the season of spring a sobering time of year.
The world around me is in full bloom; all traces of winter are fading.
Like the thawing of a frozen Narnia, the promise of rebirth abounds.
And there is something about it that jars me into reflection every time.

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How To Win The Culture War

Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper puts it,
"There is not a square inch in the whole
domain of our human existence over which
Christ . . . does not cry: 'Mine!'" That includes
politics.


LISTEN!!!

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Why Capitalism Needs Christianity

Last week, electronics retailer Circuit City announced that it was
laying off 3400 employees.

What made these particular layoffs noteworthy was not their size
but, instead, Circuit City's stated reasons. They had "nothing to
do with [employees'] skills or whether they were a good worker
or not." Instead, "it was a function of their salary relative to the
market."

In other words, Circuit City was laying them off so it could replace
them with people who make less. Rotten!

HEAR!!!

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