backpacking light

I read this article today in Backpacking Light and immediately the spiritual applications starting ringing in my ears. I urge you to stop trying to get all the latest gadgets and tools and focus on being prepared, in season and out of season, to share the Gospel by word and deed.

Check it out here.

-joe

roe v. wade...37 years and 55 million deaths

Roe v. Wade has killed more people than Stalin and Hitler. A lot more. Below are two videos...one to show the heinous nature of an abortion and the other to give hope for life.

We must stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.

This is from one of the first sonogrammed abortions, title Silent Scream. I encourage you to watch all 6 portions of the video their website here.

Here's the sonogram (part 3):

Here is a video of some folks who were encouraged to abort their son because he was diagnosed with Trisomy-18.

99 Balloons from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

-joe

1/18/10

Haiti's orphans may get to meet their parents soon

Sinner or saint?

Roe v. Wade at 37

Sobering thoughts on 1 Timothy

Football's 11 minutes

This made me laugh:
(HT: DeYoung)

-joe

mlk and my family

My family doesn't claim to be anything special, but with the welcoming of my new Honduran brother-in-law (who looks strikingly like MLK) we have come one step closer to the brotherhood of mankind that he talked so feverishly about.

I praise God that our family has not only embraced it but that it barely even registered a blip on our conscience. May God continue to be glorified in the interweaving of the races so that on that glorious day, at the resurrection of all, we will stand arm in arm and sing the glories of our Great Savior, Jesus Christ.



-joe

the coming weeks

Well, this weekend I plan on getting some blogs up and going. There will be several book reviews that are long overdue (months?) and a couple of free books in the mix.

I've also got some ideas that I've been floating around for a few weeks on a scratch pad that I think I'll work on tomorrow.

Pastor's conference is coming up and I'm pumped.

Have a good weekend,

-joe

1/15/10

With hundreds of unread blogs in my reader, it's unlikely I'll be able to weed through them efficiently. Instead I'm going to post several links for you to read and pray through on Haiti. May we take the Gospel of Christ boldly to a land that was broken spiritually and now physically.

Pray for Haiti

If you can, I urge you to donate to the Haitian relief effort

Was it punishment?...(It is rarely a good idea to speak on behalf of the unknown purposes of God.)

Will you remember Haiti tomorrow?

-joe

my apologies

It's strange how a person can get so busy with "work" at work that they have no time to blog...not one bit.

I'm still really busy at the store, but I thought I'd drop a note out on some things I've been pondering.

1. The unbelievable good grace of God in providing communities of believers to enrich the soul. The church I've started attending, Christ's Covenant, has been a much welcomed delight and I'm excited about getting more involved there. I'd heard about it through a few friends and have been stoked about the Christ-exalting nature of the pastors and people.

2. The dynamics of poverty, specifically how lifting someone out of poverty affects their relationships. (This was brought on by a book called My Beautiful Idol, which you should pick up if you get the chance.) How turning someone out of the system is much more difficult than we realize because of those relationships and how, without the grace of God through Christ, it creates a poorer poor and a richer rich and makes the gap increasingly wider between the two.

3. The pleasure of a simpler life. I've been without internet or TV for awhile now, and since my sister moved out last month I've had quite a bit more time to do...something? nothing? I've chosen to read both books and Scripture and to write. It has been much more enjoyable than flipping on the tube...but it took some getting used to. I recommend it.

That's it for now,

-joe

1/7/09

"Our God is not to be worshipped as one among many good and true beings, but as God alone; and his gospel is not to be preached as one of several systems, but as the one sole way of salvation." - C.H. Spurgeon (HT: Monergism)

Win In My Place Condemned He Stood or Word of Fire

Representative Stupak is awesome

Christ our righteousness

The Law of the Old Testament was a means of grace? I'd have to agree

(HT: Z)

-joe

1/6/09

Quote of the day:
"Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. . . . In their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification. . . . Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude." - Richard F. Lovelace (HT: RO)

Win free coffee from Dunkin' Donuts

A very powerful testimony on the devastating effects of abortion

Go here and read all the articles

Buy Ketchup in May

Something funny (and kinda stinky sweet)

The Proverbs 31 woman

And a funny video, watch it for the drum break:
(HT: Z)

-joe

psalm 1

Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

-joe

1/5/10

Quote of the day:
-----------------
"I ask people in member interviews, "Tell me about your relationship with unbelievers." And almost constantly, I hear, "I don't necessarily try to preach the gospel all the time. I just want my life to be my testimony. I just want to share my life with people." You know what, y'all? Our lives are a mess! And when we share our lives with people--without sharing the grace of God that rescues us--we're not doing anybody any good. We're not!" - Mike Cosper (HT: Rachel)
-----------------
Free book here

Abortion double-talk

Sometimes I have a big head and tiny arms

Sin boldy but beware the downward spiral

Homeschooled kids are smarter than me and you (you and me? you and I? us? we all?)

Happy Remonstrance

Stop with the medicine already

Something you should buy for me

-joe

matthew's begats

I think I've posted the song before (and probably linked to it several times) but this week "Matthew's Begats" really made Scripture become a little more readable for me.

I'm currently reading through 1 Chronicles and the first few chapters are a bit...cumbersome? They aren't even offical "begats" because it simply lists people, like this "Adam, Seth, Enosh; Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared; Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech; Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth." This could get old really quickly.

But, thankfully, I have nearly memorized Andrew Peterson's tune and I was able to pick my way through much of the text by trying to figure out the lineage of Jesus. It was much better.

My advice: learn to love this song so that you can better appreciate the begats (or the lists, if you will.)



-joe

1/4/09

An update on IMonk

Win a book from Noel Piper

Prayers of a hypocrite

If I had a rubber hose I would beat you....

Brit Hume

Living in garbage

This was encouraging

Decisional evangelism...is it good?

How to move a big library

New feature, quote of the day:

“Suppose, in the encounter between doctor and child [in an abortion], the child won half of the time, and killed the doctor in self-defense—something he would have every right to do. Very few doctors would perform abortions. They perform them now only because of their absolute power over a small, fragile, helpless victim.”—Stephen D. Schwarz (HT: JT)

Go to minute 4 of this video and be amazed by the ants...


-joe

because i'm unoriginal

You should just go read this.

-joe