...Christ did not appoint professors, but followers. If Christianity ... is not reduplicated in the life of the person expounding it, then he does not expound Christianity, for Christianity is a message about living and can only be expounded by being realized in men's lives.
From Kierkegaard's Diary, ed. Peter P. Rohde, trans. Gerda M. Anderson (New York: Philosophical Library, 1960), 141 (1848)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a picture of Pastor Derik Durham of Mount Salem (on right) and his Deacon Kyle (on left) who spent all of their Saturday helping us get loaded. Thanks guys!
And, of course, thanks to both our families for all of the amazing support and encouragement; my dad and brother Lee helping unload. Mike and Wendell meeting me at 2 o'clock Saturday morning to unload the first load. Breakfast at Cracker Barrel was a blast!
I especially want to thank all the other brothers and sisters in the Lord who have prayed and reached out in very practical and substantial ways during this difficult time. Your outpouring of love and material support has been a reminder of God's love and concern. God places His Church, His People to be a visible and physical witness to the reality of God's grace in Christ Jesus --- All of you have been just that! May the Lord repay you for all of your kindness.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Crowded Path To Leadership
"There will always be more people willing to do ‘great’ things for God than there are people willing to do the little things. The race to be a leader is crowded, but the field is wide open for those willing to be servants." - Rick Warren
Traveling Mercies
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
A Right View of God --- Prayer Guide
Prayer Guide – A Right View Of God – December 10, 2008
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Wednesday, December 03, 2008
“I have been so blessed to be here that at times I think I will burst!”
Kissing Retirement Goodbye
By John EnsorDecember 3, 2008
John Ensor is the Executive Director of Urban Initiatives forHeartbeat International and author of The Great Work of the Gospel.
* * *
I kissed retirement goodbye—at least the kind traditionally planned for in America. My mother has finally persuaded me that there are better things to do when I reach her age.
In August, I wrote about caring for family with end-of-life challenges. My mother, at 78, started to go blind while on a mission trip to Mongolia. Her sight was saved through high-dose steroids, which tripped other health concerns which were compounded by the discovery of breast cancer.
The subsequent surgery left her fragile. She fell and added injury to sickness and disease. We gathered with her in August to discuss how to care for her as she enters what I call “the frowning years.”
Ecclesiastes calls them plainly “the evil days” when
the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. (12:1-5)
The point of this description is to “remember your creator in the days of your youth” (12:1). I take this to mean:
Taste and see the goodness of God while all your senses are in full function, and your strength is still intact.
Savor him while you can—before your teeth fall out (the grinders cease) and your eyes fail (the windows are dimmed) and your bones ache with every move (the grasshopper drags itself along); before the fears of dying assail you and sap your strength and try your faith one last time before they are swallowed up in victory.
Evidently, at 78, my mother is still in the days of her youth. Since August, she has prayed and fought for her health.
Last week she left for Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. She joined a team of trainers for a Leadership Development Conference in which 90 teachers from around the country took their school vacation week to learn to study and teach the Bible through an inductive-study method. Seven more teachers planned on being there.
But my mother writes, “They did not get here because their charter bus was ambushed by robbers and the driver was killed.”
In spite of such things, she writes of the thrill of watching teachers learn to read out of the Bible its unsearchable riches rather than read into it preconceived notions.
She concludes, “I have been so blessed to be here that at times I think I will burst!” Evidently, she intends to die with her mission boots on as she faces down those “frowning years.”
© Desiring God
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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Satan's Stomping Ground
Hard hearts give Satan sure footing. They are his stomping ground. Soft, tender and maleable hearts which are given to the Lord become like quicksand to Satan. And, without sure footing the Devil will seek another hard place on which to make his stand.
Friday, November 28, 2008
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