I am reading a book called “Lord, Save Me From Your Followers” by Dan Merchant. I’m just into it, but it is an interesting read so far. The basic premise is how Christians in America have gotten so far away from the message of the gospel that when asked on the street what [...]
Archive for May, 2008
“Lord, Save Me From Your Followers”
Posted in The Gospel on May 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »
What I Did Last Summer
Posted in The Gospel on May 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Fam and I will be taking a little vacation the week of July 4th and it got me nostalgic for last summer. Here’s a little trip down amnesia lane.
Keller’s “The Gospel in All It’s Forms”
Posted in The Gospel on May 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Tim Keller’s article, “The Gospel in All its Forms” from the newest issue of Leadership Journal, is now online.
What Didn’t Make the Sermon: “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As I looked at the clock this morning during the sermon and it said, “11:40”, I knew I could not open this can of worms. Oh well, there will be other opportunities. The cool thing about blogging is that I can write what I could not preach because of time restraints.
Jesus says in John [...]
Jack and Howie
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I think it is very important to give your children haircuts that the Hollywood celebrities have. It really sets then up for a healthy self-esteem. For example, we have given Jack the “Howie” haircut. If you don’t know who Howie is, then shame on you. Howie is, of course, the brother of David Spade’s character [...]
The Graves End Podcast
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My good friend, Tim Melton, just started a new podcast called “The GravesEnd Podcast”. Tim is Assistant Pastor at Surfside PCA in Myrtle Beach. In this first podcast, Tim and the Youth Pastor at Surfside, Justin Woodall, discuss a song they heard while eating wings at Beef-O-Brady’s called, “Handlebars” by Flobots. You can listen to [...]
The Way Things Should’ve Been
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Because God is a good God, does that mean that everything in my life should be easy? Should I be able to hit the “Easy” button like those Staples commercials? Should my life as a follower of Jesus look like the life that guys like Joel Osteen promise my life should look like? My self-centered [...]
Brian Regan Friday
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Start your weekend off by watching a little stand-up by Brian Regan. Very funny and clean.
We’re Home!
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s almost 10:00, Tuesday night and we are in a sea of balloons and toys. Luke is wearing his new Spiderman suit (notice how he is casting his web). Our friend, Kelly Stepp, decorated our home with balloons, signs, toys, and flowers. Very cool. I’ll keep this post short because we are pretty wiped. Thank [...]
A Smile from Luke and Tombstone
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a smile from Luke, but he is more himself today. I tell you what this kid is resilient. He’s kinda like Rudy. I am amazed at how quickly Luke is adjusting after major surgery (and so are the doctors). Luke is doing a lot better today. When Jack and [...]
Humbled and Grateful
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
You know, grace is hard. We are so humbled and grateful for all of you. Thank you for your prayers, your gifts (balloons, toys, cards, gas and food money), and your visits (especially the conference call from the kids of Creative Beginnings Preschool!). I can’t tell you how much all of that means to our [...]
I Need Me a Little Tim Keller
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
A lot of my time this past week at the hospital has been spent reading. I’ve been reading a biography on Jonathan Edwards and it has reminded me that one of my favorite living preachers is Tim Keller. Keller is a mix of Jonathan Edwards, C.S.Lewis and Martin Luther. If you haven’t listened to Keller [...]
A Mother’s Love
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s now Saturday morning and we are all (Me, Amy, Luke,Aunt Melissa, Nanna, and Poppa) watching Cars. Luke had a good night. His Aunt Melissa stayed with him and Amy and I had a much needed night at a hotel 5 minutes away from the hospital. We laid in bed and watched Lost.
Luke is awake [...]
Luke Out of Sugery
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s been a long day (and week) of waiting, but we are finally out of surgery. They took Luke into surgery around 3:00 today and he just got out of recovery (it’s now 6:45). The surgery went very well. The surgeon said that they got him mostly cleaned out of stool (I think there was [...]
Luke Having Surgery Friday
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Friday (tomorrow or today depending when you read this) at around 1:00 pm, Luke will have an ileostomy. Scott and I are at peace about this and believe that this is part of the Lord’s plan for Luke and our family. They will go in and close off his colon or large intestine and reroute [...]
Heading Towards Surgery…
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This is Amy. Everything is going okay so far. It does look like we are heading towards surgery on Friday. He will either have an ileostomy or a colostomy. The surgery lasts about 2 hours and we will be here into next week. Luke is really ready to go home and so are we. Please [...]
I Need Me a Little “Flight of the Conchords”
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It’s now day 6 in our journey to Winston with Luke. I don’t know about you, but I need me a little Flight of the Conchords to get me over the hump as we get closer to surgery. Watch this clip for a little respite from my mates from New Zealand.
Waiting on the Doc…
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We are still here in Winston at Brenner’s Children’s Hospital. Earlier today, Luke had a rectal exam to see if he will need a colonoscopy (yeah, I know, too much information). Under those kind of circumstances, Luke is doing ok (although, he is getting tired of having tubes poked into his body). His preschool [...]
Update on Luke
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today was a good day. The “go lightly” treatment is slow going, but the Dr. is hopeful that he and his team will be able to come to a resolution for Luke. We were shown an x-ray of Luke’s abdomen and his colon is very swollen. It looked like a balloon filled with air and [...]
Luke, Woody, and the Uniqueness of Grace
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Luke is doing OK. It was a long night. He has vomiting quite a lot in response to the meds that they are giving him (see that ugly looking tube in his nose?). My parents have graciously given us two nights at the Hampton Inn here in Winston, so Amy is there right now resting [...]
A Rough Night for Luke
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The picture above was taken in our hospital room tonight before the real fun began. It’s now 9:56 pm and things have finally settled down. We are all watching Star Wars right now. As we anticipated, when the doc took a first glance at Luke’s tummy, he knew something wasn’t right and decided to admit [...]
Pray for Luke
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Tomorrow we head out for Winston for Luke’s appointment at Baptist Hospital, home of Wake Forest Medical. Pray for Luke’s mind, body, and spirit. His mind and body seem to be the most affected by his condition. His heart is so tender, but pray anyway for what God is doing in his heart. We will [...]
Christian Sub-culture
Posted in The Gospel on May 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
** Disclaimer: This post may offend some Christians. **
Over the past 30 years, Christians have been trying, and succeeding to a point, to keep up with the current American culture. Well, keeping up with the culture isn’t entirely true. Christians have actually started their own sub-culture. Christians have their own music (“A friend is forever [...]
The Church of “O”
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My good friend and fellow pastor, Tim Melton, has a thoughtful post about Oprah. Many have called her the “High Priestess” of our culture and Tim writes an analysis of a video that has been circulating the net. Read his post by clicking here.
Man’s Chief End
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“Do you know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world, to not know why you’re here.” – Elijah Price, Unbreakable
The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is, “What is the chief end of man?”
Answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
John [...]
The “One-Upper”
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
One of the ways that we attempt to gain our own righteousness apart from Christ is to build our identities on our reputation. We become “approval sucks” or in this case, “one-uppers”and we crave for people to know how good we are, how much money we have, how right we are, etc. Living this way [...]
Cosby and Parenting
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I had lunch with a friend and father today and our conversation turned to how to parent your teenager and the choices they make. Our conversation turned to Bill Cosby and his classic take on how to teach your teen the responsibilities of managing their money.
“Gary on the kickdrum.”
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Great scene from one of the best character actors in the biz (John Michael Higgins).
How Can Art Transform Culture?
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Grace Foothills has a high view of the arts in its various forms. Because we are made in the image of God and He is a creative God, we are therefore made to be creative and to make beauty out of chaos. Watch this short clip on how art and the gospel can transform culture.
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Keller Speaks at Google
Posted in The Gospel on May 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Tim Keller is currently on a book tour for “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”. Last week, he was in Charlotte where my good friend, Bob Mackey, went and got my book autographed for me. Keller spoke at Google in California.
