Packing Up!

Yes, just letting you know, I haven't quit blogging, but very busy packing up the house. Two PODS arrived yesterday, and we are busy filling them up with our possessions. Our ETD (Estimated Time of Departure for those of you in Rio Linda), is this coming Sunday. We will no longer be residents of the great state of South Carolina.

We made a lot of friends here, and will miss all of them. Hopefully, we will still be able to keep in touch with many of them.

BTW, the picture is from our vacation last week. Some of the members of NCPC were gracious enough to let us use their beach house down at Edisto Island last week. We had a wonderful time! This picture is of me holding the boys, and keeping them from being swept out to sea. We went to the beach JUST to look for shells, but they had other ideas. They wanted to jump in the waves, so... we did!

Happy Birthday!

If I remember correctly, my brother should be 39 now! Happy Birthday. I hope it was a good one.

Hhm?

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The God of the Bible is a Strange God

I love what Michael Horton writes in his latest book, The Gospel-Driven Life. He writes:

The God of the Bible is a strange God-- not the kind of God we can manage, manipulate, accommodate, or domesticate to our familiar experience. We cannot find this God by looking within ourselves. His Word is not the same as our inner voice. He cannot be pared down to our size, measured by our speculations, experiences, or felt needs. Rather, he stands over against us, telling us how things actually are. When God actually confronts us, our speculations are exposed as idols, our experience judged as little more than a projection of ourselves, and our felt needs give way to more pressing needs that we did not even realize that we had. God confronts us, disorients us, and pulls us outside of our comfort zones. If we feel naked and ashamed, then it's a good sign that we are actually in the presence of the God of the Bible.

I wish that more Christians would spend time reading Horton's books. They are masterpieces of explanation when it comes to the Gospel of Christ.

Star Spangled Banner

Saw this on FB, and thought it was worth sharing. These little girls hit it perfectly. You might save it for the 4th of July as well.

Jewish Whassup!!!

Some ethnic humor for your pleasure. Yes, I know, not politically correct. But alas...


If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we are panty-wearing liberals.

Floating Around the Internet

I found this on Facebook, but's been floating around the internet and even on Neil Bortz's show. I think it's an excellent explanation of the differences between conservatives and liberals.

• If a conservative does not like guns, he does not buy one. If a liberal does not like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
• If a conservative is a vegetarian, he does not eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
• If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.
• If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.
• If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful. Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.
• If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.
• If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.
• If a conservative is a non-believer, he does not go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a foreign religion, of course!)
• If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.
• If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed. If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he’s in labor and then sues.
• If a conservative reads this, he’ll link to it so his friends can have a good laugh. A liberal will type in the url for the ACLU because he’s “offended”

Silly Dreams of Three Kings

The photographers and reporters kept asking how I felt about having lunch with Prince Charles and his wife, ahem... Margaret Thatcher. After all, Maggie was sitting right next to me, and Prince Charles was sitting on the other side of her. We were all eating lunch, and there were reporters and photographers every where asking all of us, there were more at the table, about how lucky we were to be eating with royalty.

I tried to tell them I had had lunch with royalty before. After all, turns out that Larry G., from my former church, was in line for the throne in... I think, Croatia. Yup, Larry G. was royalty in exile. But he had no intentions of heading back to Croatia to assume the throne at all. He was more dedicated to his wife, family, and Christ here in the states. So as far as he was concerned, he had all the royalty he needed.

Then there was the guy in seminary who was royalty as well. I only had lunch with him once, and I can't remember what country he was exiled from.

So having lunch with Prince Charles, and his wife, Maggie Thatcher, was an honor. But not the first time I had lunch with royalty. Maggie was being so nice. It was Maggie's decision that they had lunch with us, because she visited Joey in the hospital, he was sick, and fell in love with my boy. She wanted to make sure we had everything we needed to get through the ordeal. After all, allergies can be so... pesky.

The reporters droned on and on, about how privileged we were to eat with royalty. Finally, I brought up Christ. I told them that while this was an honor, and we were honored, (this was after Maggie and Prince C left), that it was nothing compared to the honor of knowing the True King, Jesus Christ and being known by Him. While all those kingdoms were important, they would one day all fade away, and be replaced by His Kingdom. It was far more important to be known by Christ, and to know Him, than to sit in all the palaces of this world. I was trying to explain this to one reporter when...

"GET UP!" Andy woke me up. Turns out, it was just a silly dream. Thank goodness for that. My hair was a mess and I didn't want all those pictures of me and Maggie being published since I had bed head.

Somebody is Wrong on Global Warming

I find this interesting. Foxnews has a story that scientist are now saying that all the ice in the arctic ocean will be gone within 20 years. Of course, this information is based in such a way that it meets the "consensus" expectations for those global warming alarmist. Read the story here.

The reason this is interesting is that Investor's Business Daily had an article showing that the ice was coming back, based on the last three decades of data. Notice the distinction. One article is based on actual facts, while the other just gives opinions about "certain" facts.

Here is part of the Foxnews report:

Scientists say evidence of melting Arctic ice is one of the clearest signs of global warming and it should send a warning to world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December for U.N. talks on a new climate treaty.

"The data supports the new consensus view — based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition — that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years," Wadhams said in a statement. "Much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years."

Notice that. The data supports the new consensus view. This looks like they set out to find data that supported the consensus view, instead of just looking at all the evidence. Kind of like someone saying, "we have a theory. The moon is made of green cheese. To support our theory, we found 100 scientists who believe that the moon is made of green cheese. Therefore, the data supports our new consensus view." Nothing like sound science to keep a the scare mongers in business.

Meanwhile the IBD writes:

It seems that ice at both poles hasn't been paying attention to the computer models. The National Snow and Ice Data Center released its summary of summer sea-ice conditions in the Arctic last week and reported a substantial expansion of "second-year ice" — ice thick enough to have persisted through two summers of seasonal melting.

According to the NSIDC, second-year ice this summer made up 32% of the total ice cover on the Arctic Ocean, compared with 21% in 2007 and 9% in 2008. Clearly, Arctic sea ice is not following the consensus touted by Gore and the warm-mongers.

This news coincides with a finding published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month by Marco Tedesco, a research scientist at the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology. He reported that ice melt on Antarctica was the lowest in three decades during the ice-melt season.

Each year, millions of square miles of sea ice melt and refreeze. The amount varies from season to season. Despite pictures taken in summer of floating polar bears, data reported by the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center at the beginning of this year showed global sea ice levels the same as they were in 1979, when satellite observations began.

IBD reports shows those who are actually looking at the data, and finding that it is not meeting up with the "consensus" view. Whenever you hear that word "consensus" concerning global warming, think envirowacko lobbyists.

Read the rest of the article here. BTW, the cartoon at the top was drawn because Al Gore refused to answer questions at a press conference he recently gave. They ended up shutting off the journalists microphone so he could not persist in his questioning. It was an "inconvenient press conference."

The Holy Spirit -- Judgment Reversed

I'm reading Sinclair B. Ferguson's book The Holy Spirit and have been captivated by it. Many are ready to acknowledge that of the Three Persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit seems to get the least amount of coverage. I've heard that over and over again. But it was not until I began to read Ferguson's book that I see what people mean when they make that statement.

The Holy Spirit is involved in every aspect of creation and salvation for those who belong to God. It's amazing to see His work. For instance, I read the section called Judgment Reversed last night and realized how much the Holy Spirit has to do with reversing man's bitter attempts at religion. If you recall the tower of Babel was man's attempt to approach God. In that account, God responds to man's attempt by confusing man's language. Man said, "let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." God responded by saying, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

He confused man's speech so that they could no longer understand one another. This kept man from making a name for themselves, because this is ultimately trying to achieve immortality and significance in their own strength. Only God can bring that about. This theme the nations all together arises again on the day of Pentecost. Only, instead of confusion for mankind, the gospel bring clarity. Acts 2:5-12

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. ⁷ Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ¹² So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

All the nations were gathered again, this time, they heard Peter and the Apostles speaking in their own tongues. Instead of bringing confusion, the Holy Spirit has brought coherence and understanding. Instead of the message of hope being limited to one nation, brought through Abraham (Genesis 12), now the message of hope goes to all the nations. The curse that was brought at Babel was broken by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Ferguson writes:

On the Day of Pentecost that new community became the sphere in which the eschatalogical (end times) reversal of the effects of sin began to appear in a reconciled people consisting of both Jew and Gentile, possessing one Lord, one faith and one baptism (Eph. 4:1ff), united by the Spirit.

The effects of Babel were thus arrested. Now the word of reconciliation will be preached in many languages, since the discipels have received the promised power of the Spirit to enable them to be witnesses to Christ all over the world (Luke 24:48, Acts 1:4).

In other words, the Holy Spirit will accomplish on behalf of the Triune God, what man tried to do at Babel, but could not do. The judgment on mankind was reversed by Christ's actions on the cross, and the Spirit being poured out on those who believe.

Now, instead of being kept at a distance as was the case under the Mosaic period, all who believe may know and understand being in the presence of God. The Spirit rests upon all who believe, not just the prophets. Therefore, we have been given a wonderful blessing, through the Third Person of the Trinity.

Texas A&M -- Oklahoma State

Well... the Aggies are playing the Oklahoma State Cowboys and ... I'm just not real hopeful after the Aggies loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks last week. The Aggies took their 3-0 record to Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, TX, and looked really good for about 8 minutes of the game. Then something happened. The Razorbacks started a blitz trend that wouldn't stop until the Aggies were well cornered, hoping the game would quickly end.

I really got tired of hearing, "And they are bringing the blitz!" At that point, you could count on QB Jerrod Johnson scrambling for his life. Therefore, I'm sure the Cowboys will review the game tape and realize that losing Dez Bryant isn't going to hurt them. Just blizt. Give your offense the ball, and wait for A&M to make a mistake.

The Cowboys are a 5-point favorite because of the loss of Dez Bryant. That is not enough for me to have any hope of A&M winning. Notice, they lose one of their most potential scorers, and become only a 5-point favorite? I just don't see that as being any kind of a problem for OSU given that Arkansas scored 47 points on our defense. My expectations: A&M 14, OSU 42!

Given that...my lovely bride and I found a wonderful Aggie sweatshirt yesterday that she was given several years ago. I quickly pointed out that she could now wear it. She declined. "Not until they start winning." My wife... is a fair-weather Aggie. Can't say that I blame her at this point.

More Nobel Prize Slop!

Just look at some of the headlines. ON the Drudge Report: "For what?" At Townhall.com, it reads: "Mockery: Obama Wins Peace Prize." At Mike's America: "White House Cover up of First Pooch Poop on Air Force One." OK, Mike hasn't posted on it yet. But I liked that headline.

At the TimesOnline: "absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize. Michael Binyon, who is writing the piece, goes on to say:

Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Just the fact that Jimmy Carter won the thing in 2002, and Al Gore won it in 2007 shows us what a joke that prize really is. Neither one of these men have done anything to bring peace to the world. What have they brought us? Well, for Carter: embarrassment that we elected such a man as president. Gore: more ridiculous speculation about our ability to destroy the planet. Remember, according to Gore, we only had 10 years left to live because of global warming. The same ridiculous claim Ted Danson made back in the 1980s. Hhm? We are still here!

Now... the silly award has gone to Obama for... what? The talk or speculation that he might, if he gets around to it, and everything goes his way, bring some sort of peace? The guy cannot even win Chicago the Olympic bid, much less bring peace on any real level.

This is a sinful and fallen world. Unfortunately there are only two ways to bring peace. One is with weapons, and then you have to have a war to bring it about. The other is through the means of the gospel, which those on the Left resoundly reject. In fact, if I'm honest, there are those on the right that resoundly reject the gospel as a means of peace as well.

But the point is that the peace these laureates have brought... well, is no peace at all. The award is a real joke.

BTW!!! This is my 1,000th post! I was going to do a post just on the fact that this is my 1,000th post, but my wife gave me grief about it. "You are blogging about blogging?" Well, yes! That is part of blogging. So I won't post on posting 1,000 blogs... just sort of amend another blog, like Congress amends so many of their bills. However, I will gladly post my 72 hours before I vote on it so the public can read it. Something Congress doesn't think is necessary.