Online theology

Want to take a full theology course for free and hear it in words you can understand? Dr. Wayne Grudem has put the lessons for his Christian Essentials course online. It might be worth a listen.

New Prolife Strategy

Prolife advocates have begun to adopt a new strategy whereby they focus more on the supposed effects of an abortion on the mother rather than on the moral implications of killing the fetus. Frances Beckwith explains why this is shaky ground for prolifers and fails to really address the problem of abortion.

Happiness

Do you want to be a happier person? You might need to change the way you’re thinking. Betsy Hart explains.

Nothing to say.

I don’t really have anything important to say. I just haven’t blogged on here for a while. I have been posting more recently at http://www.xanga.com/sumpteretc. Of course, I didn’t really have anything important to say there, either.

We are going to Baguio tomorrow. We need to file an annual report with immigration. I think (hope) that just means paying a few bucks and walking out.

A baloney sandwich

My dad just sent me this in an e-mail. Maybe you’ve read it before. If not, enjoy.

 

A Baloney Sandwich

Bob Benson

 

Do you remember when they had old-fashioned Sunday School picnics?

I do.  As I recall, it was back in the “olden days,” as my kids

say, back before they had air-conditioning.

 

They said, “We’ll all meet at Sycamore Lodge in Shelby Park at 4:30

on Saturday.  You bring your supper and we’ll furnish the iced

tea.”

 

But if you were like me, you came home at the last minute.  When

you got ready to pack your picnic, all you could find in your

refrigerator was one dried up piece of baloney and just enough

mustard in the bottom of the jar so that you got it all over your

knuckles trying to get to it.  And just two slices of stale bread

to go with it.  So you made your baloney sandwich and wrapped it in

an old brown bag and went to the picnic.

 

When it came time to eat, you sat at the end of the table and

spread out your sandwich.  But the folks who sat next to you

brought a feast.  The lady was a good cook and she worked hard all

day to get ready for the picnic. And she had fried chicken, and

baked beans, and potato salad, and homemade rolls, and sliced

tomatoes, and pickles, and olives, and celery.  And two big

homemade chocolate pies to top it off.  That’s what they spread out

there next to you while you sat with your baloney sandwich.

 

But they said to you, “Why don’t we just put it all together?”

 

“No, I couldn’t do that.  I couldn’t even think of it, ” you

murmured in embarrassment, with one eye on the chicken.

 

“Oh, come on, there’s plenty of chicken and plenty of pie and

plenty of everything.   And we just love baloney sandwiches.  Let’s

just put it all together.”

 

And so you did and there you sat, eating like a king when you came

as a pauper.

 

One day, it dawned on me that God had been saying that sort of

thing to me.  “Why don’t you take what you have and what you are,

and I will take what I have and what I am, and we’ll share it

together.”  I began to see that when I put what I had and was and

am and hope to be with what He is, I stumbled upon the bargain of

a lifetime.

 

I get to thinking sometimes, thinking of me sharing with God.  When

I think of how little I bring, and how much He brings and invites

me to share, I know that I should be shouting to the housetops, but

I am so filled with awe and wonder that I can hardly speak.  I know

I don’t have enough love or faith or grace or mercy or wisdom, but

He does.  He has all of those things in abundance and He says,

“Let’s just put it all together.”

 

Consecration, denial, sacrifice, commitment, crosses were all kind

of hard words to me, until I saw them in the light of sharing.  It

isn’t just a case of me kicking in what I have because God is the

biggest kid in the neighborhood and He wants it all for Himself.

He is saying, “Everything that I possess is available to you.

Everything I am and can be to a person, I will be to you.”

 

When I think about it like that , it really amuses me to see

somebody running along through life hanging on to their dumb bag

with the stale baloney sandwich in it saying, “God’s not going to

get my sandwich! no, siree, this is mine!”  Did you ever see

somebody like that – so needy- just about half starved to death yet

hanging on for dear life.  It’s not that God needs your sandwich.

The fact is, you need His chicken.

 

Well, go ahead – eat your baloney sandwich, as long as you can.

But when you can’t stand its tastelessness or drabness any longer;

when you get so tired of running your own life by yourself and

doing it your way and figuring out all the answers with no one to

help; when trying to accumulate, hold, grasp, and keep everything

together in your own strength gets to be too big a load; when you

begin to realize that by yourself you’re never going to fulfill

your dreams, I hope you’ll remember that it doesn’t have to be that

way.

 

You have been invited to something better, you know.  You have been

invited to share in the very being of God (II Peter 1:4).

 

Author –  Bob Benson, See You At the House

 

 

Achievement

God’s Plan

Luke 2:1 – 5 (ESV) ¹In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  ²This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  ³And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,  ⁵to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 

The Messiah was supposed to be born in Bethlehem, according to the prophecies, but Mary and Joseph had no plan to go to Bethlehem. The baby was just going to have to be born in Nazareth. But then Augustus declared that there was going to be a census, and the couple would have to go to Bethlehem after all. Did God make Augustus issue that decree? Or did God know that the decree was going to be issued and that was part of the “fullness of time”? Either way, we see that God is able to manipulate our circumstances to work out His plan in our lives. Even those things we might see as obstacles or enemies are putty in God’s hand as He carries out the purpose and aims He has for our good and His glory.

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn’t rule you. When it’s playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it’s hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest – encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

A Change of Plans

Matthew 1:20 – 25 (ESV) ²⁰But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  ²¹She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ²³    “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,     and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).  ²⁴When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,  ²⁵but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

When Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant, he thought he only had two options. He could quietly divorce her, or he could have her stoned. And he began making his plan for divorce. But he hadn’t even considered a third option, which was marrying Mary anyhow. It took an angel of the Lord to show him that there was another choice, although it might have seemed the scariest of the three. Sometimes, we feel that we only have limited options in our lives, but God may be trying to show us that there is another choice, even though it doesn’t seem like a very good choice in our eyes.

You have to admire Joseph for his obedience. He knew the consequences of choosing to marry Mary. He knew how hard it was going to be to see the scorn in the eyes of his friends and family–the guy who married the whore. What good would it do to tell them about the angel? They would only think, “Poor deluded Joseph and his immoral wife.” But Joseph obeyed, and he got the privilege of helping to bring up God’s Son–God with us.

God’s Good Gifts

Luke 1:46 – 56 (ESV) ⁴⁶And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸    for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.     For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; ⁴⁹    for he who is mighty has done great things for me,     and holy is his name. ⁵⁰    And his mercy is for those who fear him     from generation to generation. ⁵¹    He has shown strength with his arm;     he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; ⁵²    he has brought down the mighty from their thrones     and exalted those of humble estate; ⁵³    he has filled the hungry with good things,     and the rich he has sent empty away. ⁵⁴    He has helped his servant Israel,     in remembrance of his mercy, ⁵⁵    as he spoke to our fathers,     to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” ⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

When God blesses us with good gifts or talents, we often respond in one of two incorrect ways. The first is to take credit for those gifts, as though they were our own. Rather than seeing ourselves as managers, we assume the role of owners. We fail to give credit to God for His blessing but set about using our gifts in whatever way we see fit. The second incorrect response is to deny the existence of the gift. Whether through a show of false modesty or a genuine lack of self-confidence, we act as though the gift was never given to us at all.

In her Magnificat, Mary seems to avoid both of these pitfalls. Obviously the theme of her song is about God’s greatness and goodness. Mary doesn’t suffer under the illusion that it is something great about herself that has made her God’s choice. She remembers that she is just a humble servant, one of the “hungry.” Yet, she doesn’t fall to the other extreme. She points out that “from now on all generations will call me blessed.” She understands that she too has a vital role in God’s plan, and she accepts that gift with a “happy humility.” Mary walks the tightrope of celebrating God’s goodness in her life without either becoming proud or denying that goodness.

I hope that I can learn to accept God’s gifts as He gives them to me. When I discover a blessing that He has given, I need to celebrate it, not deny it. And I need to remember that it is, after all, an investment that God has made in me, not something that I have in and of myself.

Willing Obedience

Luke 1:34 – 38 (ESV) ³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.  ³⁶And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.  ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.”  ³⁸And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

What kind of courage must it have taken for Mary to say, “Let it be to me according to your word”? Sure, we can look at it in retrospect and see that it all worked out pretty well for her. But how could she have anticipated that? To her, saying “yes” meant that she might become unmarriable. It meant that her own family might throw her out. It meant that she might be forced into a life of begging or prostitution. She had no way of knowing what the outcome of her decision might be. She just knew God was asking her to do something, and she chose to trust Him with the details . . . sight unseen.