Washed white....like snow

I think the butchering and humiliation of Christ on a stake outside Jerusalem is all that is needed for the cleansing of sin.

In fact nothing we can manufacture, conjure, pray for, attempt to emote, punish ourselves with or resolve to restitute, will ever come close to adding to or taking away from a bloody roman cross.
It is God's work...not ours.
To attempt to add anything but faith...opens Pandora's box.
Repentance in whatever form is the gift of God....as is freedom from the gnawing terror of a life wasted, spoiled, dragged through the muck and mire.
You are blessed if you can once again sleep in peace from a ravaged conscience.
In fact peace is the gift of grace...the evidence that repentance has moved through the heart and mind.
The closer you get to the Sun the more blind you get.
Grace erases more than it reminds...because in the end...you are still thinking about...you.
It's His blood that washes us white as snow....

*pic by Pixini Stock

The cry of blood....

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" He said, "What have you done?" The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground." -Genesis 4:9-10

I've been wrestling in my spirit with a sound, a haunting, distant murmur that stands behind most of the daily noise. It's been growing louder in the subterranean places of my inner life...down where spirt and mind, heart and conscience seem to poke at each other. Like tv static...I can't shake it, even when I change the channel. It's been gnawing on my American consumeristic tendencies like a dog hungrily chews a gristly bone. I've been dodging names, places, stories, new articles, situations, tragedies and people who might call me...brother. At the same time I've been staring like a passerby, at a bloody accident. I'm curious, even sad or shocked but in a way that only lasts until the light turns green. It has been to easy to move on.

I am getting cornered by Justice....and she won't let me excuse myself, justify myself, convince myself of my innocence any longer.

""If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13

I'm feeling the weight of this verse and it's feeling like I am kicking against the goads...my lifestyle, my goods, my shopping, my stuff...the tags on my clothes and the imprinted "Made in...." stand in judgment against me. I'm burning in the rust of my things...and it's not going away.

As a believer, as an American...as a pastor...there has to be a greater response than tears.


Puddle of blood pic by Edward Sudentas'
Child pic by Kevin Carter

Just imagine...

Go watch this short video...its will inspire you.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old.

The gift of life....

A view inside the womb...amazing.

When do you know if you are pregnant...?

Being born again is a strange mystery indeed. After the message on Sunday, I invited people to respond to the gospel and to repent of their sins, surrender their lives to Jesus and invite Him to dwell within them by His spirit. Two people responded. This week one of them ended up being escorted out of a local hospital after violently threatening a woman...the other attended a youth rally and spent the night in worship and prayer at the altar. The pregnancy of spirit isn't always so pronounced, dramatic or evident...maybe there has been conception and new life has started, but the evidence of that new life grows and grows until it is born. Sometimes we look on the outside and see nothing but inwardly something has taken root that will increase and take over. Having a fertile pulpit results in life taking hold, spreading, implanting, watering, stirring up, creating desire, awakening appetite, thawing frozen minds or hearts and shinning light in dark places. You just preach the Word of God and watch what happens...sometimes things are not always as they seem.

It reminded me of this quote from CS Lewis:

"The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 per cent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name; some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it….Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth many have been in this position. And always, of course, there are a great many people who are just confused in mind and have a lot of inconsistent beliefs all jumbled up together. Consequently, it is not much use trying to make judgments about Christians and non Christians in the mass. It is some use comparing cats and dogs, or even men and women, in the mass, because there one knows definitely which is which. Also, an animal does not turn (either slowly or suddenly) from a dog into a cat. But when we are comparing Christians in general with non-Christians in general, we are usually not thinking of real people whom we know at all, but only two vague ideas which we have got reading novels and newspapers. If you want to compare the bad Christian and the good Atheist, you must think about two real specimens whom you have actually met. Unless we come down to brass tacks in that way, we shall only be wasting time." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Chapter 10, “Nice People or New Men.”

He just makes me laugh...

Ruff...ruff...ru...rrrrrrr....

Get In Here Ministries....

I don't know what to say...

Zero...for the Heroes season opener.

Well...I guess with the new Villains theme, I should of expected a more darker Heroes, but I was shocked by last nights season opener. More heads getting cut open, brains poked at, heads lopped off, Women in their underwear, men getting it on with the ladies, full on sexual romping going on, strange God, prayer and messiahish stuff. The picture above is obviously a sun being eclipsed..not a sun emerging this season.

It was a barrage of disturbing visual assaults that left me pining for the good old days of Gilligan's Island...sure there was Ginger in her sexy dresses but she was never manhandled in the coconut hut by a sweaty, horny manamial of a professor. I can't imagine what will be allowed on tv when my kids have kids...it's getting raunchier, darker, creepier and flat out more and more ungodly. I think I'm pulling the plug on this one.

Plus...I thought it was boring, tired and unoriginal from a writing standpoint.

Update on Mustard Seed Ministries...

These wonderful peeps of Mustard Seed Ministries, camped out with us in our neighborhood for a few weeks this summer. I love their story, their hearts and their work. They are a prophetic challenge to the middle class status quo. Many people talk about what they "feel" but few actually walk it out. It's refreshing to see real people doing real ministry in ways that are both simple and practical and at the same time...radical. You might not be called to leave it all for the gospel...but I think we all could agree we are called to obey the gospel right where we are. My prayers are towards you Mustard Seed...God bless you as you hammer out the hard things, the deep things and the simple things. You are an inspiration. You are loved in Spokane.

Abortion survivor and Obama

So Obama came out with a rebuttal add:After viewing both adds I went to the actual remarks Obama made on the floor of the Illinois State Senate, you can read them on page 86 of this senate record"> I found his argument and the language he used to be very disturbing to me. You can get more information concerning the issue here.

Caesars, Empires, saviors and salvation's...

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” -Benjamin Franklin

The below quote is described as the "Tytler’s Cycle" and though slightly formulaic to me, does resemble a similar pattern found in the bible in regards to the cyclical nature of Israel experience with good and bad kings. I question the statement that 200 years is applicable to most civilizations...200 years is peanuts when it comes to most civilizations, now maybe it relates to governments, possibly.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." -Supposedly attributed to Alexander Tyler but it's questionable and probably unreliable.

I think that we are prone to look to Caesars and Empires for our saviors & salvation today. Like the Jews in Acts 18, we scramble to Rome or other government's Judgment Seats to solve our problems or to try to enforce our religious agenda's or values. We desperately need leaders in Government that can reflect the wisdom of the Roman Proconsul Gallio, who knew that there needs to be a sharp division between matters of religion and consciences and the legislation and sword of Government. When religion weds The judgment Seat of government and faith...the sword is not to far behind....and I think it's economics that unbuckle the sheath.

Just some ruminations from my sermon this morning on Acts 18.

Anywhere...but here.

I’m standing at the crossroads,
with my thumb in the air,
just hoping to get,
anywhere...but here.

I’m finding there’s no footsteps out of this place.

I’m looking for angels, searching for faces,
Clinging to a few dog-eared books and quickly packed suitcases.
Hands in the air, whispering prayers,
to get anywhere...but here.

“His way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters,
and his footsteps are not known” -David (Psalms 77)

The way and work and people of the Spirit was described by Jesus as similar to wind. There is a sailing nature to living by the Spirit. It's not a life without anchor, or compass or navigational charts. It's not a aimless, purposeless or pointless meandering but a disciplined abandonment to chasing the Wild Goose as the old Celtic Christians use to talk about. This is a path of mystery...a walk of openness and humility. To always be growing, always moving and always rooted...like an old tree that drinks waters and bears fruit...the older it gets, the more it sends it's new life abroad and drops fruit below. It is reproducing and becoming something great in its unmovablness and in its recreation. This is true of walking in Jesus.

Never content and yet, always at peace.

Fringe

Fringe is a new FOX show that's co-created by one of the men behind LOST. It's a mix of X-files(without the aliens)CSI and some low grade horror movies with a SCIFI flavor. It's a PG-13ish show, but closer to R in my opinion, some of the scenes are gruesome and have a slight serial killer/horror feel to them. I am not a fan of CSI, or X-Files or Horror....so why did this show grab me? It's the SCIFI angle that I am a sucker for. It's the Pseudo-science or "Fringe" science twist in this show that massages my ober nerdishness love for test tubes, cyber punk, Frankenstein type spookiness.I'm never a fan of serial killer anything, and even though this has an edge of that in it, I'm hooked because they have stuff like: immersion tanks, retina imaging retrieval, brain to brain subconscious communication and dream travel, transparent skin virus, rapid growth and anti-aging bio-molecular subplots...and..and...well, you get my point...I'm a nerd. If you are not a fan of any of the shows I've mentioned and the type of story lines they contain...stay away, and remember its not a kids show or...one you should watch while eating.

Single issue voter....?

This article is one of the best arguments for making abortion one of the leading, if not the leading issue for determining who to vote for in the next election. I found the logic in the article almost unescapable...good stuff to wrestle with. I know that most people who read this blog probably already have all these issues figured out for themselves but remember we are also supposed to engage the mind and hearts of those around us. I need to have good answers to thoughts, opinions, arguments and opposing views...I just can't spout off religious bumper sticker remarks or some other intolerant sounding close ended conversation statements. I need to speak the truth, but I must also work at "reasoning" with those who we are seeking to convince.

School teachers....

After being interviewed by the school administration, the teaching prospect said: 'Let me see if I've got this right: 'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride. 'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job. You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the state exams. 'You want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card. 'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

You want me to do all this,....... and then you tell me.................
'I CAN'T PRAY?'

I'm really thinking...

Honda Shadow/Spirit 750 (VT750C28)

Unwanted pregnancies...unwanted children...?

"There are unwanted pregnancies, but there is no such thing as an unwanted child. While certain people may not want them, not only does God want them, but other people desperately want them. Nearly 1.3 million American families want to adopt, some so badly that the scarcity of adoptable babies is a source of major depression. There’s such a demand for babies that a black market has developed where babies are sold for as much as $50,000. Not just “normal” babies are wanted; many people request special-needs babies, including those with Down syndrome and spina bifida. Many children who are at first unwanted by their mothers are very much wanted later in the pregnancy, and even more at birth. Unfortunately, many women who would have wanted the child by their sixth month of pregnancy get an abortion in their third month. Furthermore, many children wanted at birth are not wanted when they are crying at 2:00 A.M. six weeks later. Shall whether or not the parents want the baby still deter mine whether she deserves to live? If that’s a legitimate standard before birth, why not after? The problem of unwantedness is a good argument for wanting children. But it’s a poor argument for killing them." -Randy Alcorn

What are we really doing about abortion?

"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!" -Mother Teresa

"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. " -Mother Teresa

I was recently confronted with a situation where a refugee woman was thinking seriously, thanks to the more than willing medical establishment, to choose to abort her child. In fact, a man who said he was from Planned Parenthood even came to the woman's home when she had not shown up for a follow up appointment....I guess they REALLY want your business these days! Of course when called, Plan Parenthood denied that they sent anyone to the house of a refugee woman. When I found out this woman was going to have her child killed, I had to make a choice...would I be willing to step up and offer to take that child? I had to wrestle with all the issue that a baby presents surrounding our personal world and the changes that a baby would require.

It's easy to pontificate and pound the pulpit from a distance...its quite another thing to actually do something about the problem. I think the issue of abortion gets reduced by our inaction, to a mere ideological debate. Until the pro-life platform becomes more than words and votes, our arguments seem weak and close to hypocrisy.

Thankfully, the refugee had a change of heart and has decided to keep the baby.

Priceless...

This made me laugh out loud...now, it is SNL so it's got a few blue collarisms....but these ladies have mastered the Palin and Clinton impersonations.

My preciousssssssssss....

I finally was able to switch to the Apple iphone and I'm oh, so very, very, very pleased by all its geeky loveliness. There isn't anything to compare it with in regards to cell phones in my humble opinion. I'm so grateful for being liberated from the evil pc empire two years ago and for the glee filled, lush romps through the cybernetic lah-lah land that is now my technological euphoric existence.

Get out of your cage...

Mark Driscoll: 18 points which he says are “obstacles to effective evangelism”. The mission of the gospel is at stake...it's time to empower young leaders to unlock the cages they have imprisoned themselves within or allowed others to hold them in. We need to honor our founders...but honor our futures as well.

The church for YOU....

Abortion doctors are afraid of her too...

"From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys...sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a special love....To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House." -Alaskan Governor, Sarah Palin

Published reports in Canada say about 9 out of 10 women given a diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate the pregnancy through abortion. And some in the medical field are afraid that Sarah Palin's example will influence women to choose to not abort their Down Syndrom Children...read it here.

Sunday fever....

The evils of getting jiggy with it.

sweet....

I only recently watched the latest edition of the Bond series...simply because I was burnt out on the series. I felt it had become gaudy, cartoonish and tired. But I'm a believer again...this is proof that a old thing can be made into a new thing. I felt the Casino Royale was the best Bond movie so far and this one looks as good.

Should I go...or should I stay...now?

Find out how many "nations" are in your town....at this site. Pretty cool.

Orphans vs. American Dream

America has nearly 115,000 orphaned kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Some wonder how this is possible in a country with Christian families. Surely, there are 115,000 missional families in America, right? Missional families, for example, embrace the redemptive mission of God and practice "true religion" in their local communities (James 1:27). Missional Christians in America could eliminate the foster care system tomorrow if we would stop "shootin' up" with the American Dream (heroine) in order to get high on a lame life lived for the sake of comfort and ease. -Dr. Anthony Bradley

Not sure what we will say to Jesus about this one...

Hope in scorched places...

"And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like the midday. And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11

It amazes me that in a season of focus on "revival" in some corners of the church that put such an empahsis on healing, that we don't hear more teaching on these promises in scripture. In fact, I read that only 20% of America’s pastors speak about poverty. If you read the above passage slowly and really let the promises in it sink down into the soil of your heart, you can draw up delicious nectar of promise in them for prayer. There is such hope contained in them, especially for the sick and diseased. Maybe if us leaders and our churches we're more engaged in the work God called them to be involved in...we would see more healing break out among us? I mean it is a promise right?

I prayed with the depressed and the sick, the weary and the downcast yesterday in and among our services...I am convinced that these promises and practices are desperately needed. As I waded chest deep into these verse today...I found myself more excited than ever to be engaged in expanding this kind of work in our neighborhood and church. Because the promise of seeing our "desires being satisfied in scorched places" is huge. We are working in "scorched places". People are scorched by sin, sickness and the plagues of purposeless lives spent on soul numbing activities. There are zombies sitting in our churches and walking about our streets, in a daze of slumber, cold, indifferent, drained of life. To many Inner streams of living water have dried up into crusty, dusty riverbeds; testimonies to a time past, when living waters flowed in abundance.

But God is unleashing rivers again.
Justice is going to roll down like a rushing, cleansing river of reviving life.
Great clouds of mercy and compassion will call for torrents of spirit enlivening, drenching rain.
Hard soul ground is going to soften under loves warming touch.
Parched revival chasing, throats are going to gulp down streams of replenishing life at the trough of service.
Brittle, weak, aging religious bones are going to renew, strengthen and be empowered with youthfulness.
Sicknesses and diseases are going to vanish in the kitchen as soups and breads are being prepared for hungry people.
Depression is going to break, like a slow coming dawn...in the midst of slipping a coat on a little child.
Heart embers long cooled, are going to be stirred up from seeing the sparkle in the eyes of those who have been loved and cared for. Hugs from grateful refugees are going to resuscitate dying spiritual lives.

We are going to drink from streams of water...that won't dry up.
That's something to get excited about!

(Photo: Denis Gontero)

38 years old...

This is what I got from my son Christian on my 38th birthday.

Zap......!

A little better than it used to be...

Benched from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

A powerful dream...

"Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was-the Cry of the Blood..." -Amy Carmichael, Read the whole dream here.

McCain...

Good Job McCain! Solid speech, substantive, clear, full of conviction and moving. Tough Stuff that man is.
But I was also impressed with Cindy McCain...not her speech or her delivery, but her life. Any lady who adopts a girl out of a Mother Teresa minstry...gets a lot of cred in my book. Plus she looks pretty swell for 54!

Obama and Abortion...

I am not a one issue voter, but I am seriously wrestling with Obama's positions and record on the issue of abortion and contraception:

In his write-in response to a 1998 survey, Obama stated his abortion position as: "Abortions should be legally available in accordance with Roe v. Wade." While serving in the Illinois Senate, Obama received a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights. Since his election to the United States Senate Obama has maintained a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood (as of 2007) and NARAL (as of 2005). Obama opposed the Induced Infant Liability Act. Obama is reported to have opposed it because of technical language that might have interfered with a woman's right to choose and because Illinois law already required medical care in such situations, even though the third version of this bill contained explicit language affirming Roe vs. Wade.

Obama voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, saying "I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy." Obama voted against a bill that made it a federal crime for anyone other than a parent to accompany a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion. The bill was signed into law by President Bush in 2005. Obama has, however, expressed support of bans on late-term abortions, provided they include exemptions for the life or health of a mother. Obama voted for a $100 million education initiative to reduce teen pregnancy and provide contraceptives to young people.

These heels were made for walking...

Here is Sarah Palin's speech if you didn't get a chance to hear one of the most politically feisty speeches in a long time. It was a bit more sarcastic than I wished but, I still loved it. I thought Rudy's speech was the best he has given too. I can't wait to see how Mrs. Palin does in the debates, I hope she is as competent, poised, eloquent and down to earth in a toe to toe scrap with her and McCain's opponents. This was the first speech that has moved me to think about actually donating to a political party or campaign in a long time. I think Palin's speech, her story, values and abilities have brought me far closer to a decision on who I will vote for in the fall. I still want to see these candidates on the stage, dueling it out. Preaching to the choir is great, but I want to see them in the octagon...and I hope to see some of those high heels getting used!

Why planting new churches in our city matters...

Why should churches plant more churches?
There are some really good reasons explained...here.

ugh...

Jesus is good news...for women.

This makes me sick...thank God for Jesus and the good news that He brings, especially for women. I pray this kind of blight gets scrubbed off the planet. This is where "culture" can be sick, twisted and perpetuates the acts of neanderthals.

Robota...

Robota I saw this book at Hastings, and decided I am going to take a shot and read it. The art in the book sold me, great look and interesting plot. It's creator worked on the recent Star Warts films, I think Episode 1 & 2. The link is to a short animated video that gives you and intro to the story...impressive.

Clone Wars...

LeeElla and I, took Micah, my 8 year old to see the new animated Star Wars movie "Clone Wars" on Friday. We enjoyed it, not sure if its a must see on the big screen but if you are a fan of the series, I think it's something worth seeing. I was disappointed that it wasn't more creative; I thought they would have been able to do a lot more with the freedom of animation, but all in all, it was fun.

Spiritual lust...

"Spiritual lust occurs when Christians in their desire to know God violate the design He created by which we can know Him, grow in Him, and develop intimacy with Him. In the desire to know God, people inflamed by spiritual lust can instead find themselves drawn away from God because they violated His means of approaching Him. They become moths drawn to a flame, plunging down the pathway toward strange fire. Spiritual lust is a kind of addictive behavior because it will drink whatever it can find to feed the thirst. A little or a lot, it doesn’t matter. Nor does the quality of the spiritual experience or its rightness in the eyes of God. Spiritual lust makes demands that must be filled, no matter the expense." Read the whole article at Cerulean Sanctum.

I finished teaching through the book of Colossians Sunday and now I am working on trying to put together a series of messages that will bring some Biblical clarity for belief and practice in regards to Pneumatology. A theological term regarding the study of the Holy Spirit, His person, works, relation to the Father and Son, relation to man, ministry in salvation and sanctification, conviction, and indwelling.

We might go through the Corinthian letters or just focus on some key issues, I am not sure yet. I long to celebrate and navigate the Bibles position and our churches practice in relationship to the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible teaches these are subjects that are vital for healthy Christian lives and churches but require a commitment to hear and obey the Word. We can't be led by the current fades, shenanigans and fascinations of the next big wave that barrels down the well worn revival pike. With the recent Lakeland Fl revival and Todd Bentley stuff, it's easy to want to steer clear of any association with Charismatic beliefs. But I believe that would be a tactic of the enemy. The abuses and misuses of others shouldn't cause us to abandon truth but dig deeper into it; to find what the scriptures truly say about the subjects and how the Word of God would teach us to live in light of that revealed truth. We are not to be driven by fear but wisdom.

The Son of Rambow

One of the best movies, I've seen this year. A coming of age movie for boys. It deals with faith, friendship, fears and the amazing minds and hearts of young adolescent boys. Coming from a family that has film makers in it, I have a special place in my heart for this movie.