Why there is less Bible reading-

The 23rd Channel

The TV is my shepherd I shall not want,
It makes me lie down on the sofa,

It leads me away from the scriptures,
It damages my soul.

It leads me in the path of sex and
violence for the sponsor's sake.

Yea, though I walk in the shadow
of my Christian responsibilities,
there will be no interruption
for the TV is with me,

It's cable and remote control,
they comfort me,

It prepares a commercial before me in
the presence of my worldliness.

It anoints my head with humanism,
my coveting runneth over,

Surely laziness and ignorance shall
follow me all the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in my house
watching TV forever.

~Author Unknown~

Coffee again helps in life-

Another good coffee illustration concerning life and how we approach it:

http://cfnistudent.blogspot.com/2006/08/when-facing-adversity-remember-carrot.html

check it out- thanks Dawn

Overestimated Importance!

Recently, a large mega church hired several cannibals to increase their diversity, "You are all part of our team now," said the Staff Pastor during the welcoming briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any employees."

The cannibals promised they would not.

Four weeks later their Staff Pastor remarked, "You're all working very hard and I'm satisfied with your work. We have noticed a marked increase in the whole staff's performance. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?"

The cannibals all shook their heads, "No."

After the Staff Pastor left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others, "Which one of you idiots ate the secretary?" A hand rose hesitantly. "You fool!" the leader continued. "For four weeks we've been eating Pastors and no one noticed anything."

"But NOOOooo, you had to go and eat someone who actually does something."

Say together now- "I love Pastor David" (BTW, I am having knee surgery tomorrow and would appreciate your prayers- will blog about it later.-Pastor David)

The Dead Church!?!

A new Pastor in a small Oklahoma town spent the first four days making personal visits to each of the members, inviting them to come to his first services.

The following Sunday the church was all but empty.

Accordingly, the Pastor placed a notice in the local newspapers, stating that, because the church was dead, it was everyone’s duty to give it a decent Christian burial.

The funeral would be held the following Sunday afternoon, the notice said.

Morbidly curious, a large crowd turned out for the funeral. In front of the pulpit, they saw a closed coffin, smothered in flowers. After the Pastor delivered the eulogy, he opened the coffin and invited his congregation to come forward and pay their final respects to their dead church.

Filled with curiosity as to what would represent the corpse of a "dead church," all the people eagerly lined up to look in the coffin. Each "mourner" peeped into the coffin then quickly turned away with a guilty, sheepish look.

In the coffin, tilted at the correct angle, was a large mirror.

God brews the coffee, not the cups!

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

"Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it's just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups...and then began eyeing each other's cups.

"Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups . . . enjoy your coffee.

Vacation = Great Relaxation

One reason we always go to Perdido Key is the beauty of the sugar white beaches and relaxation! It is here that I find I can relax the quickest. Chill, vegg, relax- that's what vacation is supposed to be - right?

This year was no exception to the above rule. The weather was perfect with just one rain that drove us from the beach. We enjoyed every minute of it.

We visited the Original Oyster House restaurant in Gulf Shores (pic below, click on pics for larger images), and the Shrimp Basket. We also cooked some outstanding dishes such as Shrimp and Cheese Grits and Spicy Tilapia. We have great chefs in our family!We also had a visit with a dear friend, Sandy Carter. I had emailed her that we would be there about the time she was setting up household in Pensacola. She didn't get it, but called one morning on my cell to let us know her new home number. I told her where we were. She said she was just 2 miles from there and we invited her to have breakfast with us. Debi fixed her delicious Caramel Pancakes. We had a great visit and got to see her house plus daughters Rachel and Anna. Sandy will be dividing her time between there and Nicaragua. She is a great woman of God with a dynamic work in Nicaragua!So, that is how we spent our vacation- we are home now and back to the wonderful Saints at Vine Fellowship.

A great big thanks of apprecation to a wonderful staff who took care of everything and preached in my absence. I am a blessed man!

Too good to pass up-

Click here for other 'conservative' cartoons--

Why I take Vacations-

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you. (thanks Dawn for the quote)

Also, I had a friend who was stirring me to work hard, play less, and don't rest say this, "The Devil never takes a vacation!" To which I responded, "Yeah, and if I don't I will become just like him!"

So now you know why I take vacations, so that I won't be like either of these statements.

Oops, you say it's too late? Aaaaaaaagh! Help me Jesus!

Family Vacation Time - 2006

This past Sunday I finished my series on Desperate Households with a mini series on Desperate Parenting. It was a two part series with the first directed to teens and their parents on how to avoid the pits of life (taken from Joseph's life).

The second part was about keys to successful parenting. One such key is spending time with your children. Discovering their natural bent in order to help direct them in life.

We have always taken a family vacation, before we had children and every year since! Even now that Ryan is married to a wonderful woman, Charity, they join us. This year will be no exception.

We leave on Saturday heading for the Pensacola, FL, area, Perdido Key to be exact. We will stay in the same condo where we stayed last year.

It is always an enjoyable time of getting away, relaxing, eating some good fresh seafood, and enjoying the company of our children. God is so very good to us. Probably won't blog until I return. See ya then. God Bless!

Please go away Tropical Storm Chris! He did!!!

Mel Gibson on Seeking Forgiveness!

We were all stunned with the reports of Mel Gibson's drunken display of denigrating anger. His abuse of a police officer. His use of the f word. His remarks about the Jews.


Yep, he did it. No doubt.

He's guilty!

But what I do admire about it all is his publicly asking for forgiveness. Read this statement.

August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God's child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I am not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

What I like about this statement is it is the proper way to seek forgiveness:
1. He humbled himself- a broken and contrite spirit
2. He acknowledged his sin- it was a sin and he says so
3. He took ownership of it- it was his and his alone - didn't blame someone else
4. He asked for forgiveness- didn't say 'sorry if'- acknowledge he did and asked forgiveness
5. He sought restoration- sought to be reconciled with those he offended

Forgiveness 101- we should follow his example of how to seek forgiveness should we do a big piece of stupid.