bugs worked out on the server change. Whew, that took awhile and for a minute there I was afraid I'd hosed it. Never fear, just keep plugging away.
It'll probably be awhile before everyone clears their browser cache, so I'll lose a few viewers at first. Finally back up to the 3,000 mark; the switch to the Joomla platform killed me, took away about half of the daily unique visitors. Now to build it back to four and beyond!
The folks at godaddy were super in their support and turnaround, no complaints at all about them.
Two sites up and running, only 7 more to go. The new server is so much faster and flexible. I'm running Fedora core 7 and most of the latest versions of server side software. Looking at Ruby on Rails now.
But, the hardest part is behind me, I've got a ton of overhead to spare and am all set and ready to roll.
While reading Fulton J. Sheen's Peace of Soul , I ran across a fascinating description of sin and how it overtakes a person. So fascinating that I took the time to type in a rather long section of it. This line caught my eye and made me pay attention:
It is a fact of human experience that the more experience we have with sin - our own sin - the less we are conscious of it.
That is so, so very true. It is precisely the reason that we find ourselves traveling down the wrong path at some point in time. We take little steps and desensitize ourselves to truth, causing us to become trapped further and further in sin. He continues later with this:
Kierkegaard, with his usual penetration, has pointed out there is a despair that humans do not easily understand. It prevails in the sinner who sets himself against God, who wants to be his own god and lawgiver and, hence, to be more than his or any one's nature can permit. He wants desperately to be himself (to possess a fullness of being the like of which is only God's) and as desperately not to be himself (not to be the finite creature that he cannot help knowing that he is, however much he may try to conceal this fact from his own consciousness).
That is the inner struggle that we all face. As Paul says in Romans 7, there is only one way to overcome this - through Christ. He continues:
ride to the plantation! The thermometer at the trailer read 41° but I thought, aw, I can handle it. Whew. My legs are thawing out right now.
But it was well worth it to see the sun start to peek over the bay. Jet trails were slowly lit by color changes, making it appear as if God were painting with brush-strokes. The color gradually moved to the clouds to the west, painting them orange as it moved. And the open sky was a very bright blue today. Great stuff.
Had an interesting day at church Sunday. Class was pretty good, the guys seemed interested in the subject, which was restoration. We talked about why Christians sometimes have a hard time making it back to church after they have fallen and our responsibility to lift them up as Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1-2.
And I had a joyous time singing. But then....well, let's just say I'm not a fan of celebrity testimony. We had Don Piper speaking, the guy that authored 90 Minutes in Heaven. Claims he died and went to heaven, then came back to life an hour and a half later. Now, I don't know if that is true or not true but I do know that no human can tell the same story for almost twenty years without embellishing it and becoming bored with it.
It was just empty, devoid of any emotion or teaching. It's a story now and he tries to tell it with passion. It's sorta like a rock band playing a hit song their whole career.
The worst thing was the commercialism. Our pastor changed his stance on selling stuff in the church about 10 years ago, prior to that no one was allowed to turn the church into a marketplace. I wish he would go back to the old policy because this was just sickening.
A large table full of books (he's authored 3 now) and then he sat at another table signing the books after people purchased them. I envisioned imitating Christ and turning the damn things over.
When did it become necessary to bring celebrities in to fill the pews. And full they were, two services in the morning and one in the evening.
Amazing what would happen if people came out like that to a Bible study. The world would change.
Interesting that today's reading focused upon maturity.
So let us go on to grown-up teaching. Let us not go back over the beginning lessons we learned about Christ.
Hebrews 6:1
I like the story of the little boy who fell out of bed. When his Mom asked him what happened, he answered, “I don’t know. I guess I stayed too close to where I got in.”
Easy to do the same with our faith. It’s tempting just to stay where we got in and never move.
Pick a time in the not-too-distant past. A year or two ago. Now ask yourself a few questions. How does your prayer life today compare with then? How about your giving? Have both the amount and the joy increased? What about your church loyalty? Can you tell you’ve grown? And Bible study? Are you learning to learn? …
Don’t make the mistake of the little boy. Don’t stay too close to where you got in. It’s risky resting on the edge.
Lucado, M., & Gibbs, T. A. (2000). Grace for the moment : Inspirational thoughts for each day of the year (66). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.
One of the things you see leading a Sunday School class is that a large portion of people that come to church on a regular basis never grow in their faith. They remain at the same level of knowledge that they had when they first entered the faith? How is this possible? It would seem that just sitting in the pews would impart some level of knowledge but I don't see it.
To mature in the faith, you have to be an active, not a passive, participant. I often tell my guys that it takes balance. Prayer, Bible study and corporate worship need to be somewhat balanced. Sure, at any one point in our lives, we will most likely focus more on one than the others. But on the whole, if a Christian does not partake of all three, they will not grow into the mature person that they could have.
Your prayers reveal the level of your spiritual maturity.
As we come to our study of godliness in Philippians 1:9–11, we note that this passage is a prayer. Typically, Paul’s prayers reflected his concern that his readers mature spiritually. That is impossible without prayer, because spiritual growth depends on the Holy Spirit’s power, which is tapped through prayer.
Prayer is so vital that Jesus instructed His disciples to pray “at all times” (Luke 18:1). Paul commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Peter said we should be “of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).
Scripture gives many other commands to pray, but the true test of your spirituality is your compulsion to pray, not simply your obedience to commands. As a Christian you exist in a spiritual realm in which prayer is as natural as breathing is in the natural realm. Just as atmospheric pressure exerts force on your lungs, compelling you to breathe, so your spiritual environment compels you to pray. Resisting either brings devastating results.
The more you see life through God’s eyes, the more you are driven to pray. In that sense your prayers reveal the level of your spiritual maturity. Paul prayed with urgency day and night because he shared God’s love for His people and His concern for their spiritual maturity.
Examine your own prayers. Do you pray from a sense of duty, or are you compelled to pray? Do you pray infrequently or briefly? Do your prayers center on your own needs or the needs of others? Do you pray for the spiritual maturity of others? Those important questions indicate the level of your spiritual maturity and give guidelines for making any needed changes in your pattern of prayer.
MacArthur, J. (1993). Drawing near. Includes indexes. (February 18). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.
We discussed the difference between spirituality and maturity in class yesterday. They are two very different subjects but we tend to lump them together as one. Maturity can only be gained through prayer, meditation and study of God's word. Spirituality is imparted to us upon acceptance of Christ and we are either living spiritually or we are living in the flesh. Most of us go back and forth between the two but as we mature, the ratio becomes skewed to the spiritual side more and more.
and watching Elton John on Youtube singing Tonight off the album Blue Moves. The album didn't sell well but it is probably my favorite of all of his albums. The style is just a little bit different from his other albums and his popularity was waning. But I liked it!
Valentine's Day was great! SU and I made it to the remote and had the special. Frank is always proud of it, he gets lobsters flown in and combines that with shrimp brochette and combo fajitas. It isn't bad, actually pretty good, but let's face it - lobster isn't all that easy to cook correctly. This year it was a bit underdone and chewy, last year little overcooked and dry. But, he tries. The place was packed and SU was her normal awesome self. Life is good.
The crowning attribute of Christ was this: his heart was spiritual. His thoughts reflected his intimate relationship with the Father. “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” he stated (John 14:11).…
Jesus took his instructions from God. It was his habit to go to worship (Luke 4:16). It was his practice to memorize Scripture (Luke 4:4). Luke says Jesus “often slipped away to be alone so he could pray” (Luke 5:16). His times of prayer guided him. He once returned from prayer and announced it was time to move to another city (Mark 1:38). Another time of prayer resulted in the selection of the disciples (Luke 6:12–13). Jesus was led by an unseen hand.…
The heart of Jesus was spiritual.
Lucado, M., & Gibbs, T. A. (2000). Grace for the moment : Inspirational thoughts for each day of the year (62). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.
Nelda Wells Spears, one of Travis County’s top election
officials, confirmed Thursday that she supports Republican-sponsored
legislation that would require people to prove their citizenship when
they register to vote.
That’s right, she supports the idea that people should be citizens
when they vote. Oh, the horror. At least to Glen Maxey, long time Dem
gadfly in Austin.
“It is shocking that a Democratic elected official would
side with Republicans on this attack on our voting rights and is
another reason we need change at the Travis County tax office,”
according to an e-mail from Maxey.
Yikes! Glad you made it. Thought I'd wander over here and look around. Too
strange OY. :>)
Too funny...I know it would be worth a call!!
Whoa now! so YOU get to change the oil, but you won't teach me how to do it?!
Not cool.
Ready for "later"...and the rest of the story
what a wonderful world we could have if ALL of us who say we are Christians
became Christlik...
Thank you so much for the listning and the kind words. I am very blessed to have
this outlet...
Sure. I tried to tell him that he needs a way to contact him from his Reverb
Nation site but...
Will you tell Bil I think he sounds great, and I'm glad we are still gifted with
his presenc...
I thought you must be taking a break. It sounds like it was a busy break. It's
great reading...
Welcome back..