"The Rev. Jim Siegel of Round Rock usually starts his discussion with teens by asking them what they think they can wear all the time that will protect them from pregnancies and STDs. 'The usual answer from them is a condom,' he said. 'We say, 'No, it's actually your pants.' " (from the July 14 edition of the Austin-American Statesman. I was in the Caribbean when this story went to print, so I'm featuring it this week. Jim is our minister to students at Hillcrest.)
Randall James is the Texas Banking Commissioner and a member at Hillcrest. He was featured on local news channels last week, calming fears of banking instability. Pray for Randall during this stressful time.
“My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? . . . Take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.” (Ray Ortlund, “Truly Reformed”)
“Girls Gone Wild?” Not in these families, according to the NY Times.
“Murphy’s Law” was coined by a Baylor alum. Who knew?
5 Creative Ways to Teach Your Kids About Faith
“Democrat Barack Obama may have wanted to sound reasonable on the issue of abortion during a recent interview with Relevant Magazine, but legal experts say his statements conflict with both his current positions and his past actions on the issue. The interview with the Christian magazine has caused a stir in both the pro-choice community -- which has expressed concern about the interview -- and the pro-life community, which has responded by saying Obama is being (to put it mildly) disingenuous.” (Michael Foust)
The Steven Segal Emotion Chart.
“John Lennon famously claimed the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, even predicting that Christianity would ‘vanish and shrink.’ But 28 years after his death, in an interview being broadcast for the first time, he claims that on the contrary, he hoped to encourage people to focus on the Christian faith.” (From “Bigger than Jesus? The Beatles were a Christian band” in London’s Telegraph).
You can’t tell me that an Aussie editor didn’t have a little fun with this headline: “Mormons Make Missionary Position Clear.”
London’s Independent writes: “Christian protests may leave Philip Pullman's trilogy as one of a kind.” Protesters tanked the trilogy? Nah. How about the real reason: few cared to see the film. I thought the film was well done, but it failed at the box office. Had it sold tickets, no amount of protest would have stopped the trilogy from being completed. My take on the book series on the eve of the film premier here and here.
“Are you tired of country music stations that play a treasure one minute and trash the next? Or how about artists who try to cover all the bases on morally inconsistent CDs? Frustrating, isn't it? Fortunately, we now live in an era of digital downloads that lets us feast our ears on a hearty helping of homegrown values à la carte. To get you started, here's a playlist of 20 country songs you can feel good about” (Read “Pedal-Steel Progress”).
“He just transformed in amazing ways,” [Lee] Strobel says [of Evel Knievel, the motorcycle daredevil who died in November 2007. Knievel says Strobel’s book The Case for Christ was instrumental in his conversion from atheism to Christianity]. “I know his last interview was with a macho men's magazine, and he broke down crying, talking about his newfound relationship with Christ. He was so grateful. He knew he had lived a very immoral life and regretted that. He told me many times how he wished he could live his life over for God, and yet God reached down in his last days and dragged him into the kingdom. He was so overwhelmed by God's grace. Here was this macho daredevil who became this humble, loving, and sincere follower of Jesus. It was an amazing thing to behold.” (story)
God Is Not Dead Yet. How current philosophers argue for his existence. And check out the recommended reading list from this article.
Budgeting for Lazy People: Follow the advice from The Motley Fool.
No comments:
Post a Comment