Funny Article

This article made me laugh.

For a different approach to the Global Warming hype, read Michael Crighton's State of Fear.

New King on the Block

Being a basketball nut, I like to keep track of important games. And tonight was a pretty important game, I guess. (hmmm...I think that's an understatement).

Anyway, the most incredible thing about the Miami Heat winning the series isn't that Dallas choked 4 games-in-a-row, but that Dwayne Wade became one of the top two NBA stars in the course of a week. He now sits in a throne next to LeBron James, with Kobe, McGrady and Dirk being their jokers.

Welcome to the top, Wade. You were amazing and deserve the title.

Jesus Had No Penis

Now before you read that heading and call my wife to have her pull the plug on my computer, you must know that I'm only referencing what one denomination is saying. I'm merely paraphrasing the possibly-soon-to-be-adopted policy within the Presbyterian USA denomination allowing local congregations the option of stripping any language of the Trinity of male-gender references. Instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the triune Godhead could even be referred to as "Mother, Child and Womb."

Many churches are dangerously promoting a low-view of scripture, which elevates the authority of man's thoughts and feelings over that of God and his Holy Revelation in and of the Word, Jesus Christ. If anyone starts whining about their feelings being hurt or a socially imposed lack of self-esteem, these churches will dump loads of perceived grace while starving people of truth. Ever been in Wal-Mart and seen a child who's been given every toy and treat but no boundaries or discipline? The kids are bratty, spoiled, and still have low self-esteem.

John 1 says that Jesus came full of grace and truth. And it was Jesus who took on the titles Son of God, Son of Man, Prince of Peace, and King of the Jews. He addressed God as Father and referred to Him as such. Jesus' language never foreshadowed a gender-neutral translation of the scriptures, but clearly used masculine pronouns when referring to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Did Jesus take on the names Child of God, Beautiful Person of Man, Princess Pony or Queen of the Desert? The Presbyterians might was well write "Wonder Woman" on the tag in the back of all Jesus' undies.

Here is what I'm not saying: I am not saying God hates women. I am not saying that God loves women any less than men. I'm not saying men should in any way be elevated above women. What I am saying is that while men and women are equals, God differentiates between roles. And when choosing what role to reveal himself in, He chose to identify Himself as a man, penis and all.

I guess it's no surprise that the PCUSA is not only dealing with the revelation of God Himself, but also as He chose to reveal Himself in the marriage between a man and woman -- they are also currently voting on a policy to allow congregations the right to ordain gay ministers.

God wrote a pretty long personal ad. We should read it as if He really wants to be who He said He is. Let's pray for the leaders of the PCUSA to surrender to God and His revelation of Himself.

Latest Evil Nemesis

Katie and I try often to get to the beach at Golden Gardens so we can watch the sunset together. It's a good thing we bring cards to play or books to read, because the last 3-4 times when we get there we see pretty clear skies accept for a huge, lone cloud mass that sits off in the West hiding the sun's path beyond the horizon. But, I have to tell you, there are some amazing shades of grey I've never noticed before.

End of an Era

Every Wednesday morning I teach a Bible study at New Vision, a Christian recovery house for drug and alcohol users. I have the best time there seeing men go from apathetic to eager disciples. Each week we are all amazed by what God shows us in His word as we study together.

While I am teaching, the core of what I do is teach a Bible study method so the guys know how to read their own Bibles correctly. We use a book of the Bible to be our training ground, each week taking the next short section that comes along.

Today we are finishing the book of Luke, which has taken us roughly two years to complete. Phew! It's been great. I love Luke as a writer and can't scour through Luke/Acts enough.

Prayer Request for Wisdom and Vision

Tomorrow Jim (my regional superitendant) and I are making an initial presentation to a Strategy Committee about how to begin a church planting multiplication system. This includes how to recruit, assess, train and deploy potential church planters, how much money we need to finance each of these new church planters and their plants, and how our existing churches and new churches will be networked together to continue supporting one another while strategically planting more churches.

Please pray that today would be an inspired day of planning. This proposal has HUGE implications. Thanks.

Potlucks Are My Friends

So, I love potlucks! Everyone prepares the very best of what they can make, which is a great showing for some, and otherwise a prayer concern for others. Some folks should just keep to boiling romen noodles.

But the best part of potlucks is hanging out with people. Today we had a potluck after church, both with old and new faces. And as if that wasn't great enough, Granny and Papa hosted. Now, many of you may have never met Granny and Papa, nor have you had the opportunity of visiting their home (which could double as a museum for the eclectic). They are the type of grandparents that are more like friends you can hangout with than merely title-holders in the family tree. Granny does her very best to make everyone happy and full, and as can be seen in the picture, she just as the cutest way of being a sweet Granny.

The only drawback was that Katie wasn't able to come cause she was at a bridal shower. But she just got home and I'm going to leave my blogging to go spend time with her... (like all of you husbands reading my blog instead of spending time with your wives should be doing!)

Road Trip

We couldn't let the Marlows do all the driving (Seattle to Dallas in 3 days). So off to Spokane we went for my cousin, Katie's, wedding. Ahhh, the beautiful town of Spokane. I can't believe this place actually hosted a World's Fair, but it's true.

I have fond memories of Spokane. We used to play in the STATE "B" basketball tournament in high school here at the old Spokane Coliseum. Good times.

Tonight we're staying with my parents in a hotel room...better than just sleeping in the car, but hopefully Katie can sleep through Dad's snoring. We played cards for a while, and thankfully I didn't lose my temper besides coming in next to last. Earlier in the evening we listened to Uncle Linden tell stories of his missionary life in Mexico...very inspirational since they were planting churches there -- even had his life threatened on several occasions and almost got stoned to death...crazy stuff!

Baby Pictures

Here are more adorable (if you can make him out) shots of our baby boy. I will try to post video soon.

Granny loses another $100

Every time one of her grandsons has a wife who's pregnant, Granny places $100 bets regarding the sex of the child. So far she is 0-for-3. Granny bet me a hundred dollars our child would be a girl. Make that 0-for-4...She owes me a hundred dollars.

We went and had an ultrasound done today, and the picture proves WE ARE HAVING A BOY! This view is of the legs, butt, and special anatomy setting him apart (circled). More pictures and video to come soon.

Wild Beast

Katie and I were leaving the house this morning. She opened the door. Suddenly she was screaming her head off and slamming the door. I didn't know if there was a man with a knife or a pig head on the front porch or something. "There's something on the door," she said excitedly.

I opened the door slow to find what looked like a small bat attached to the bottom of it. It looked freaky! But we realized that it was only a moth the size of a small bird. Since it was a moth that could easily suck our faces off, we shimmied a broom out and knocked it away before exiting.

After returning home, we found him in our jasmine plant and snapped some pictures of the wild beast that almost killed us.

Neighbothood Spy - Part 1

I've decided to begin a new column on my blog: Neighborhood Spy. I feel a little like a Desparate Housewife admitting this, but I LOVE to look out of our house's windows to watch what the rest of the neighborhood is doing. People are weird, and weird tends to be interesting. Since it's not as fun if I don't share this information -- and since Katie is probably tired of being the only one to hear my stories -- I'm going to post them here for the rest of the world to read.

I'm going to name this one "Finders-Keepers."

The other day I heard this strange, erratic beeping noise. With it's irregular pattern, I immediately ruled out the possibility of it being another one of those cars-that-would-never-in-a-million-years-need-a-car-alarm situations. My guess was that this was something much more serious, and I was right.

I peered out the window to find a man feverishly digging in the grass in an area just beside our parking lot. A few moments later he popped to his feet and re-engaged the lawn with his metel detector.

With such a device you would expect an old man in sweatpants or something. But no, this was an artsy looking twentysomething probably trying to find treasure to pay for college. He would wave what looked like a UFO fastened to the end of a stick over the ground, with the beeping sound intensifying until he located a precise location of an unearthed valuable.

(remember how choice a cleanly-removed pop can pull tab was in Jr. High? I recall dudes even making necklaces full of those. Maybe this guy might be as lucky to find one without needing the talent to remove it himself!)

After finding the exact point, he immediately flopped to his hands and knees, frantically digging with a little garden spade. He would eventually find the treasure, brush it off, and hold it carefully in the sunlight to examine its immense worth.

When I ran to grab the camera, he was gone.

The next day Katie walked into the room. "There's some guy digging holes in the grass outside," she exclaimed.

"He's back!" I shouted as a snagged the camera. And, as the picture bears witness, I photographed the Treasure Hunter on his way home from another secret and suspenseful day of finders-keepers.