Mental Musings

I would really like to go to the Support Chick-fil-A event tomorrow, but after surgery yesterday I am not sure I will be able. Many people will probably stay away because of the crowds, but I encourage you to wait through the crowds in order to help send an important message to the media. This event scheduled for Wednesday, August 1, was not started by Chick-fil-A, but by Governor Mike Huckabee. The reason you should suffer through incredibly long lines tomorrow is so that the overwhelming crowds attending Chick-fil-A will make the news and show Hollywood, politicians, and the mainstream press just how many Americans support Traditional Marriage and the freedom of any business to have an opinion that differs from the rest of the corporate pack. Most businesses in this country support gay and lesbian marriages. I seriously doubt it is because they truly care about the rights of this small percentage of our population. More than likely it is because they have been cowered into subm

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers” 1 Thessalonians 1:2 (NIV) What a week this has been. I am thankful to everyone who has been there to help us out during this trying week. If someone had asked me last Sunday how I was feeling, I would have said, “Fine.” The truth is that I was tired and had a sore throat and sore ear that I thought was the beginning of another sinus infection. But I wasn’t going to boor people with such mundane details of my health. I did feel grumpy and, in fact, got easily angered with my boys over the littlest things. Monday I went to work and trudged my way through the important details of ministry preparation (worship planning, contacting volunteers, lining up sound checks, preparing for rehearsals, etc.). Monday evening we went to watch The Dark Knight Rises and I mentioned to my wife that I had a lot of soreness under my ribcage. That evening I could not sleep because the left side of my face started

Stuck between two countries with nowhere to go. It sounds like something that could only happen to Lucille Ball on her European vacation. But unlike the comedy sitcom, there is little humor to be found when you come face to face with the impenetrable Border Patrol. Wendy and I found ourselves in just such a predicament in 1995 as we attempted to return to our apartment in Jordan from a vacation to Israel. The whole problem stemmed from the lack of communication skills between two “peaceful” countries as we discovered that it is virtually impossible for two countries to communicate between different time zones. Unlike in the Americas where most countries change time for Daylight Savings at the same time for most states and provinces, the Middle Eastern countries must assert their independence over even this part of culture. Israel ended daylight savings on the first Sunday of September, but Jordan did not do so until the third Wednesday of September…seventeen days later. So

Read 1 Chronicles 29:1-13 When God’s people were challenged to give toward the building of the Temple of God, they gave sacrificially. I checked Monex to get the current gold and silver costs to use as a comparison: gold is currently selling for $1583.00 per ounce and silver is selling for $27.27 per ounce. The following items were given for the building of the Temple... David gave – 110 tons of gold, 260 tons of silver, and various amounts of bronze, iron, wood and precious jewels. The modern cost just for the gold would be $5,572,160,000, the silver would be $226,886,400, and the other items would probably equal more than $10 million dollars. The people gave – 190 tons 185 pounds of gold, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, 3,750 tons of iron, and precious jewels. The modern cost just for the gold would be $9,634,011,360, the silver would be $327,240,000, and the other items would probably equal more than $20 million. That is a total one-day offering of aroun

A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40 (NIV) Numerous times throughout my life I have been asked to name the people who have made the biggest impact on my life. My response to that question indicates numerous things about me: that I am connected to my family, that I have a strong moral background, that I have had training and education in my specific field of work, that my interests are varied, and that I had ministry mentors. As Jesus taught, those who have influenced our lives have a huge impact on who we become. That is precisely why it is so important for us to fully understand the training and influences of Barack Obama. He was never vetted prior to or during the last election, but this time people are actually beginning to heed the previous warnings that the mainstream media told us were merely the rantings of lunatics on the fringe of society. Look at those who have influenced Obama the most. Obam

In the small book of Titus, chapter two, we read Paul’s instructions to Titus concerning what he should teach various groups in the churches of Crete: “You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” Titus 2:1-5 (NIV) Titus was one of the younger men that Paul enlisted to help in his ministry—Timothy and Epaphroditus were others. In this letter, as in his letter to Timothy, Paul was concerned that Titus would have some difficulties because of his age, but Paul entrusted his young associate with the

There are many who believe that ObamaCare will give them free medical insurance. Perhaps this is because they do not understand the secret of ObamaCare. Some aspects of ObamaCare have already come into effect. For instance, insurance companies now cover dependents until they are 25 years of age. That is the reason that insurance rates have gone up by an average of 25% during the past two years. Once ObamaCare becomes fully implemented in 2014, insurance rates will skyrocket. Some predict they will double or even triple. But how can that be if ObamaCare guarantees medical insurance for everyone? Let me try to explain this in a very simple way… Businesses exist for one purpose: to make a profit. Steve Jobs, if he was alive today and was to be honest about it, would not tell you that he worked all those years from a garage so that he could help you get insurance. All businesses get started because somebody has a product or a service that they believe others will pay to get

About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 (NIV) An English professor wrote these words “A woman without her man is nothing" on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly. All of the males in the class wrote: "A woman, without her man, is nothing." All the females in the class wrote: "A woman: without her, man is nothing." Punctuation is powerful! Without the correct punctuation, each person is open to interpret the sentence in the way that they choose. The same thing is often done with Scripture. When we open the Bible and pick and choose what we want to read, we can interpret the Scripture in many different ways. A man once was trying to decide what God wanted him to do. He prayed and asked God for direction and decided to flip open his Bible to a verse to see if God would answer his prayer. He flipped open his

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) I have never been very comfortable in shoes. It really doesn’t matter whether they have great arch support, ultra extreme amounts of cushioning, or how much they cost. The first thing I do when I arrive home is take off my shoes and stretch my once imprisoned feet by bending them at the arches and wiggling my toes. I then remove my socks and begin to feel my feet relax as the fresh air washes over my tingling, sometimes sweaty, toes. Pretty picture, I know. It must be the right thing to do. A billion Chinese could not be wrong. My mother could not be wrong. After all, she was the one who always told me to, “Take off your dirty shoes before you come in here. I just finished mopping this floor and I don’t want mud tracked all over my clean house.” It became a normal ritual around our house to put the dozen or so shoes away before company was expected. My mother didn’t want dirty f

Statistics from the American War Library list the following American casualties in wars during the past 236 years [NOTE: wounded in this case means permanently wounded]: Revolutionary War – 25,324 killed & 8445 wounded Indian Wars – 6125 killed & 2126 wounded War of 1812 – 2260 killed & 4505 wounded Texas War of Independence – 704 killed & 138 wounded Mexican War – 13, 283 killed & 32 wounded Civil War – 562,130 killed & 418,206 wounded Spanish American War – 2893 killed & 1637 wounded Philippines War – 4273 killed & 2840 wounded World War I – 116,708 killed & 204,002 wounded World War II – 408,306 killed & 670,846 wounded Korean War – 54,246 killed & 103, 284 wounded Vietnam War – 58,219 killed & 153,356 wounded Persian Gulf War/Dessert Storm – 511 killed & 824 wounded Operation Endure Freedom – 1985 killed & 15,322 wounded Operation Iraqi Freedom – 4486 killed & 32,227 wounded In the 75 incursions (