Thursday, April 24, 2008

Baby got BITE!!!!


You know its funny that this little kid would stick his finger back in Charlie's mouth after he had already bit him once. Obviously, the first time didn't really affect him so much. However, when he stuck his little finger in Charlie's mouth that second time he got a little more than he bargained for. 
Sin works the same way sometimes. There are times that we choose to indulge in sinful acts and there are seemingly no consequences of that action, which leads us back to that same indulgence. However, the second time will prove to be a different experience. Sure, it may be fun at the beginning, but inevitably there is pain that follows. Now, I understand that this little kid's ability to reason through decisions may not be mature, but ours are. In a spiritual sense, if it looks like there's potential for pain, than turn away and never give it a chance to prove itself of its appearance. Look at it this way, sin is a mouth that has vicious teeth; what do you think would happen if you stuck your finger in it?


Friday, April 11, 2008

Little Drummer boy

Whether you're a music lover or not I think this little clip will stimulate your mind for a while. Keep in  mind that this little boy is about 12 years and allow yourself to get impressed. I know its not that spiritual but, entertaining none-the-less. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Tolerance in the Church

Do we tolerate too much in the Church today? Does the Biblical description of the New Testament Church portray it as one who sweeps sin under the rug or as a Church that deals with sin through discipline and confrontation? I know that its not popular these days to confront the issue of sin when it is running rampant throughout the body of Christ, but does that excuse us from doing it? The Bible makes no exceptions when it tells us to deal with sin in the body. Sure we can preach it from the pulpit, but thats not really singling anyone out now is it. If you didn't realize, the Bible is offensive and calls for sinners to repent. Its one thing to allow a non-christian, that has a loose lifestyle,  to attend a worship service and not confront them, but its another issue to treat a "member" of the church the same way. Unfortunately, we've become dangerously tolerant of sin. Maybe its because we're calloused towards it in our own lives or maybe its because we want to leave it to someone else like the pastor or other ministers in the church. Churches in America would look a great deal different today if we followed the Matthew 18 model of church discipline. What would it look like and how would it affect us to actually call an unrepentant sinner to repentance? What would be the outcome of going to your brother and sister in Christ to tell them, in love, that they are in sin and need to repent and move on? Well, it would look like the Bible's description of a Church. There are churches now that are allowing homosexuals to be the pastors of their Churches. What a dangerously audacious notion that directly defies the word of God. Below is an interview with Al Mohler (president of Southern Seminary) and some homosexual leaders of other churches. Please watch and consider the position that we are in as the Church today.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

In honor of April Fools!!!

For those of you who haven't heard the story yet, allow me to impart what might have been one of the best pranks every pulled. 
The clown you see in this picture, as horrific as it might be, is the clown that was pretty much the culmination to an eventful day in the life of seminary apartment highjinks. Let me start from the beginning. My former beloved roommates during Seminary were Ben Adkison and Stephen Burks. Well, Stephen, as fun as he was to live with, was most definitely the instigator of the roommates. Naturally, he that instigates shall receive the consequences and repercussions of his actions. One particular Saturday Stephen was planning to head out of town for the day to visit his girlfriend (now his wife) and be back that night some time. Ben had the great idea of painting Stephen's room pink when he left that morning. What a great idea!!!! I exclaimed. So, we bought some HOT PINK paint, cleared his room of all furniture and called the friends. You see, everyone wanted to get Stephen back for something. Its always good to see a jokester get joked. Anyway, Stephen left and the painting began. It didn't take us long and we were done, but something was still missing. So we painting unicorns on his walls. We also painted lace around his window seals and other things you might see in a little girls room. Once that, among other ideas, were done, we were still missing something. 
We decided to call up a friend of ours who happened to be an artist. She came over and said what would like me to paint. Well, imagine our little brains going into over drive just thinking of what we could put on his wall. Then it came to us. STEPHEN HATES CLOWNS, so what better to put on his wall. Anyway, we told her what we wanted and what you see above this text is the clown that Jennifer painted. Pretty neat huh? Well, we laughed, took pictures and opened our home to many observers having heard the word until finally, it was time for Stephen to arrive. Well, lets just say that Stephen had a hard time sleeping in his room for a while. I would honestly hear him across rooms at night talking to himself. Finally, I asked him who he was talking to at night. He said the clown. The only way for him to get over his fear was to threaten the clown every night before he went to sleep. Hope you enjoyed it. If you've heard of other good pranks, please let me know. 


Text Messaging.....Mental Illness?


Recently, I was given some extremely interesting news concerning text messaging. In short,  addiction to text messaging could be linked to a mental disorder according to the American Journal  Psychiatry. The article was written by Dr. Jerald Block who says that there are a number of  symptoms that could be indications of mental illness. One of these symptoms is going into withdrawals when you cannot access your phone. Another is an increased need for better equipment/phone. The list continues but you kind of see where this is leading. You do realize if this is actually true than we have a student ministry comprised of mental problems. I feel confident in the fact that I do not fall into the mental illness category because, although I text the students, I feel absolutely no withdrawals if I don't text. However, I don't believe the same can be said for others who shall remain nameless. 
According to a report called "Media and Communication" they found that the avg. student in Australia ranging from the age of 15-17 spends 30 minutes a day texting. Wow... I believe that's considerably low compared to our wonderful students who consider texting to be the equivalent to life-support. Of course I'm just kidding around with you guys, but you've got to admit that it does stir up some interest. If you're interested in seeing a video concerning text messaging please go to 
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/03/28/news.harlow.wierdbiz.cnnmoney. I believe you'll find it interesting. So, the question is posed. Do think addiction to texting could be a mental illness. In my opinion where do you draw the line? If addiction to texting is a mental illness than is addiction to caffeine a mental illness as well? It would seem that taking that stance would mean that any addiction could be labeled a mental illness.  I would love to here your thoughts.