Mean Me Up, Scotty – The Melheimian Sabbatiblog.

What is meaning?  Scott Ness gives an answer to this question here that is very thought provoking…

Op-Ed Columnist – The Gospel of Wealth – NYTimes.com.

Pastor David Platt is quoted in this article several times, and here is one quote that made me say Amen: “When we gather in our church building to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead, we may be worshipping ourselves.”

We are doing prosperity and not what the Gospel has called us to, denying oneself and taking up your cross and following Jesus…

Who is with me?

Seth Godin Gives Up on Traditional Book Publishing.

Interesting. Have we really come to the electronic age for all things?

I really like holding a book in my hands…

Outside the Lines: The story of the unlikely friendship between Jacob Bainter and Bill Hansbury – ESPN.

What a great story of God and how we can all be a beacon of hope in this world…

People say and do things all the time. Things we understand, and things we may not. Things we appreciate and things we may not. Things we ask for and things we do not request.

But how many times do we understand why someone does what they do? We say we know people and therefore we can deduce or know what their motivation is. We can know why they did what they did. But can we really know the reason why someone did something, unless they tell us. Oh well they might give us the reason we want to hear. So then we are still more powerful than they are and know their motivations better than they do.

Now don’t get me wrong. People break the 8th commandment all the time (do not bear false witness), but who are we really to presume to know someone elses motivation? Who are we to tell some one they are wrong?

This arguement can really easily swing the other way, as if we see a sister or brother who is willfully breaking a law, or willfully sinning, who are we not to inform them? We have to in love accept people where they are and trust their motivation is good and we have to be ready to admonish sin in their lives.

This brings us to a wonderful question of what is sin? We all sin, we all do it, and for as many of us there are, we could have that many definitions of sin. But what does the Bible say sin is? Is it anything that seperates us from God? Is it a list of codes we have to keep, becuase Jesus did not keep the list of codes, but broke the law to fullfill the law. So there is my question for discussion, what is sin?

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I find it amazing the things we will go through in order to go to seminars.

Today I am traveling to Columbus, OH for several different things this week. Yet as I type this my 2 oldest girls are at school. Today is the first day of school and I missed it. Now we can justify it by saying it is not there first day of Kindergarten, but it is still their first day of 2nd and 4th grade. I missed it to go away for continueing education, for business.

It may not sound like much, but I am the only father (earthly) these girls will ever have and I missed their first day, and will miss the whole first week…

What do we do, that no one else can? Being a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a daughter, a sister, a wife… These are things no one else can do, and these need to be priorities, not the rest of life that someone else can do. Live into your relationships and love you life, not missing the priorities.

And to my oldest 2 daughters, I’m sorry I missed your first week of school. I love you and I’m praying for you. I miss you already!

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Walking 1,000 Miles in the Footsteps of Martin Luther, From Erfurt, Germany to Rome, and Thinking About the Reformation. – WSJ.com.

Great Article about the upcoming  celebration of Luther nailing the 95 Thesis to the door of Wittenberg.  MAybe we can all learn something and understand our faith and relationship with Christ and each other a little more clearly…

Isn’t it funny?  The way we use words, and the things we say, and the way that they are heard, or said to others?

Actually no it is not funny, it is scary the way things are said that people said and the way people hear what is said.  I am as guilty of it, hearing someone say something and hearing the exact opposite of what they ment, but that is what I heard, so that is what they said.  I wonder if there is a way for us to get over this notion and way that we exist, or is it such a part of us, that we can not get beyond it.

Words are ment to help us communicate, but it seems at times they are the very thing that keeps us from communicating.  They are the things that get in the way of our message actually being heard.

Is that why Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  To shock them with breaking of the Law, so they would listen to his words?  But in doing that did they hear what he said, or were they concentrating so hard on what he did that they could not possibly hear what he said?  The kindest word, can be taken the wrong way and seen as the most ruthless attack…

I pray that we can be united as the Body of Christ.  One Body, fed and nourished by the lord, and that our words might be heard they way they are ment.  This means we all have to listen to what is being said, and not for what we want to hear. This means we have to allow the other a view into our innermost self, and let down any guards.  Not attacking or with holding, but being honest, and open.  God has called us to live together in community and we will be together for all eternity, so lets try to break down these barriers…