Where Does Meat Come From?

Well, I wanted to blog before my three day weekend. As you have seen, we had revival this week. It ended last night and I enjoyed it. Tuesday night one of the Statler bothers was there to sing and last night Craig Morgan who is a pretty big country star sang. These are the benefits of moving close to Nashville.

I'm gonna be transparent and tell you that Jedidiah loves Spongebob. I know many Christian families would frown upon this. Anyhow, if you know the show you know that the restaurant called the Krusty Krab serves a sandwich called a Crabby Patty. Jedidiah calls it a burger. I tried to tell him that burgers come from cows and crabby patties come from crabs and chicken patties come from chickens. He got a shocked look on his face like this was the most appalling news he could have ever heard. He decided not to believe me and told me "Daddie, meat doesn't come from cows, it comes from McDonalds". Probably my new best friend is Dan Richard here in Dickson. His Dad and he own three McDonald's restaurants in the area. I told him this story and he loved it. He thinks Jedidiah is a pretty smart kid. The last time we saw him at the store in White Bluff he gave Jedidiah a package of McD's cookies. So, of course now Dan is a big hit with Jedidiah as well. Jedidiah runs up to him to say hi at church now. Have a great weekend, spring break is coming soon.

Got Spurgeon?: "I am a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy, but I am no debtor to His justice, for He will never accuse me of a debt already paid. Christ said, 'It is finished!' and by that He meant, that whatever His people owed was wiped away for ever from the book of remembrance...Consider how much you owe to His forgiving grace, that after ten thousand affronts He loves you as infinitely as ever."

Revival

Our church is having revival this week. Harold Hunter who is president of Trinity Seminary in Indiana is the evangelist. I'm not much on fire and brimstone so I was real sceptical but this guy is really good. He says it straight but in a non threatening tone. He is also hilarious. He tells lots of stories of people (mostly little old ladies) who have come up to him and said they didn't like his preaching. He treats them like Winston Churchill, a lady told him one time that if she was his wife she would poison his drink and he responded that if she was his wife he'd drink it. Well work and revival will keep me busy through Wednesday so have a great week.

Got Spurgeon?: "When Andrew went to find his bother, he little imagined how eminent Simon would become. Simon Peter was worth ten Andrews so far as we can gather from sacred history, and yet Andrew was instrumental in bringing him to Jesus. You may be very deficient in talent yourself, and yet you may be the means of drawing to Christ one who shall become eminent in grace and service. Ah! dear friend, you little know the possibilities which are in you."

Confession of Faith

Last night my Bible Study lesson focused on the 1644 London Baptist Confession of faith. In preparing for this lesson one thing that really surprised me is how many beliefs they laid out that many Baptists still hold to. You would expect as a new denomination forms that it would gradually develop its beliefs over time, but that was not the case. It is amazing how thorough these men were four hundred years ago to lay it out right the first time. Don't get me wrong, there were revisions of the document but the thoroughness is still astounding. I also learned the difference between a confession and a creed. Creeds are mandatory while confessions are voluntary. If I disagree with a creed I may be excommunicated but if I disagree with a confession there will probably be no punishment. Baptists are not a creedal people, they are sticklers on the fact that the only document that people should be held liable for is the Bible itself. It is interesting though that a fair number of Southern Baptist churches are requiring people to sign a statement that they agree totally with the Baptist Faith and Message to complete their membership. Confessions should be guides, not law because they are written by fallible men and are not inspired. Time to get off my soap box for today. Have a good one.

Got Spurgeon?: "Forgive your enemy, and you make Christ glad; distribute of your substance to the poor, and He rejoices; be the means of saving souls, and you give Him to see of the travail of His soul; proclaim His gospel, and you are a sweet savor unto Him; go among the ignorant and lift up the cross, and you have given Him honor."

Jedidiah's Uniform

Here is Jedidiah's individual basketball picture. It's a shame he doesn't like this sport because he looks pretty good in a uniform. Well, not much new going on today. I have to catch up in my online Nutrition class at school and I will be teaching my third lesson at church tonight on Baptist history. We've been having some great discussions. I got invited to go with a large church group to a Sunday School conference on March 14 so I am looking forward to that. Will write more later. Have a great day!


Got Spurgeon?: "And who are thus privileged to make the Savior glad? His church -- His people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we make Him glad? By our love."

Team Picture

We got our pictures back and here is my Above the Rim basketball team photo. The good looking guy in the striped shirt is me. On the back row from left to right is Jedidiah, Kiya, Connor, Rylie, Keelie and left to right on the front row is Jayden, Dalton, Matt and Justin. Kiya is the one Jedidiah has a problem keeping his hands off of. Matt and Justin make most of our team's baskets. Justin is a ballhog and mugger on defense. We only have two games left. Jedidiah has not enjoyed basketball and has begged me not to make him play anymore. I am not going to force him. I hope and think that he will really like soccer, which is coming up real soon. I'm sure you have your own interesting stories to tell about kids playing sports. Take care.

Got Spurgeon?: "The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the forgiven child of God."

Tower of Prayer Power

I mentioned a while back that our Sunday School department started a new prayer ministry. Trish is taking the prayer requests and praises and posting them on the department website. I have taken on putting the answered prayers onto mega blocks and then we are building a tower that will help people visualize how much God answers prayers in our department. Here is a picture of what we have so far since the beginning of 2009. This has been fun and I give each person their block so they can add it to the tower. I think this allows them to feel the power of prayer. I realized yesterday I chose a ministry that allows me to play with Lego's and I don't have to share them with anyone, its great. We had fun this weekend. I took Jedidiah bowling on Friday. He loved it and I only beat him by 10 points the first game. I rented a movie called "Chicken Little" for Jedidiah and he loved it because it had aliens as part of the story, he is addicted to aliens. On Saturday we drove around Nashville looking for potential new places to move to and then we came back to Dickson and went to a planetarium show. I really enjoy paying six dollars for Trish to take a nap. Jedidiah thinks its pretty cool to watch a movie on the ceiling and he liked the way they drew lines between stars to teach the constellations and star names and locations. He now knows what the winter circle is. Well, that's it for now. See ya later.

Got Spurgeon?: "God's people are doubly His children, they are His offspring by creation, and they are His sons by adoption in Christ."

Does Your Kid have a Webkinz?

Jedidiah got a Webkinz quite a while ago. He hasn't paid much attention to it until now. It is a stuffed animal that comes with a website to take care of it. As you can see, Jedidiah's is a pug. Jedi has gotten addicted to this website to the point that he cries until Trish stops doing taxes and lets him on to play. He feeds and walks the dog and then plays the arcade games. He was playing a game the other day shooting spaceships and he was real good. I thought it must be pretty easy so I tried it and was dead in 3 seconds. Jedi is also now officially a computer nerd and video gameaholic. At least most of the games are educational.

Got Spurgeon?: "Trouble is often the means whereby God delivers us. God knows that our backsliding will soon end in our destruction, and He in mercy sends the rod. We say, 'Lord, why is this?' not knowing that our trouble has been the means of delivering us from far greater evil."

Crazy Weekend

Well, this past weekend was not the greatest. Please pray for Trish's family because her Grandma (Ma Pearly) is in the hospital and not doing well. We drove down Friday and Trish took the all night shift staying in the room with her. Then she turned around and went back with Pam and April to see her Saturday early afternoon. I babysat the kids while they were gone. Jedidiah and Molly start out playing well together and that lasts about an hour. Then Molly started crying for April. After that they started fighting over toys. I'd much rather work a 12 hour day than watch kids. The good part was going out for sea food when they got back. I taught Jedidiah how to eat crawfish. The shrimp and clams were good too.

Sunday was a joy too. I had the pleasure of carting six loads of laundry to the laundry room. The weather was beautiful out so I made the best of it. Trish and I started a new tradition. When we drop Jedidiah off at children's choir we run to the coffee shop (Liquid Bean) where they have free wifi and play on the new laptop for the hour. Now it's back to work for the week. Hope everyone is doing well.


Got Spurgeon?: "It is said that in the land of Canaan, cities of refuge were so arranged, that any man might reach one of the them within half a day at the utmost. Even so the word of our salvation is near to us; Jesus is a present Savior, and the way to Him is short; it is but a simple renunciation of our own merit, and a laying hold of Jesus, to be our all in all. With regard to the roads to the city of refuge, we are told that they were strictly preserved, every river was bridged, and every obstruction removed, so that the man who fled might find and easy passage to the city. Once a year the elders went along the roads and saw to their order, so that nothing might impede the flight of any one, and cause him, through delay, to be overtaken and slain. How graciously do the promises of the gospel remove stumbling blocks from the way!"

I'm Way Too Old!

Our men's group meets the first Monday night of each month for an activity and Bible Study. Since football season is over now we tried something new last night. We played dodgeball. I quickly found out how old, fat and slow I have gotten. From this picture from our game you will see that we took it very seriously. It was a lot of fun and I think we should do more physical activities in the future. I vote for crab soccer. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing how many people show up to my first class Wednesday night. Stay tuned!

Got Spurgeon?: "But oh! if one were absent -- oh! if one of His chosen family should be cast away -- it would make an everlasting discord in the song of the redeemed, and cut the strings of the harps of paradise, so that music could never be extorted from them."

Ground Hog Day

On my way to work this morning Fox News broadcasted live the festivities of Groundhog Day. He saw his shadow so there will be six more weeks of winter. I'm sure the people in Kentucky are glad to here that. I grew up near Punxsutawney, PA so no matter where I live I like to hear about his prediction every Feb 2. I did learn something new. Punxsutawney Phil is 123 years old and he is the only one there has ever been because the Inner Circle of handlers feed him a juice cocktail that maintains his immortality. Isn't that fascinating? You never know what you will learn watching the news.

Well, the Steelers pulled it off last night. That was a great finish. I must admit I was torn over who to root for because I lived in Phoenix when the Cardinals moved there. We had a good super bowl party at church with lots of food. I hope everyone has a great week.

Got Spurgeon?: "You have no right to heaven in yourself: your right lies in Christ. If you are pardoned, it is through His blood; if you are justified, it is through His righteousness; if you are sanctified, it is because He is made of God unto your sanctification; if you shall be kept from falling, it will be because you are preserved in Christ Jesus; and if you are perfected at last, it will be because you are complete in Him."