Head-dibs

Here are five easy ways to beat writer's block . Number 4 looks fun! Looking for a good movie? "That's What I Am" is a new release starring Ed Harris.  This is the story of a 12-year-old boy who "is convinced he's been pushed toward social suicide when his teacher pairs him up for a project with the school's biggest reject. But the boys form an unexpected bond when bullies turn their attention to an unlikely target." Netflix has it on Instant. Creativity--the sure sign we are made in God's image:

Recently I read of Ci, a Border Collie that has developed a fear of sheep. Imagine! A sheepdog afraid of sheep! The only way the shepherd is able to keep the flock from getting the upper-hand (stamping their feet and ganging up) is to get behind the herd with dog, call the sheep, and when the sheep approach, the dog runs off in the direction the shepherd actually wants to go! Now imagine a pastor that is driven by his congregation--flock-driven, if you will. Not hard to do, is it? Sadly this is the condition of many churches today, with ovinophobic leaders. This is not leadership at all—and the congregation becomes not-sheep, but . . . well, I’m not sure what they are, but they are not sheep. The Apostle Paul regards the Ephesians in a special way—he gushes with gratitude for this church. He says in his prayer concerning them, “ For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks ...

You’ve heard the saying, “Prayer changes things.” How often we fail to recognize that we are first changed by prayer! Followers of Christ are changed at that initial prayer when we cry out for mercy because of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ—we are able to call Him Father! What gratitude and love we express when every time we pray we say, “Father . . .” Yet over the course of time, we sanctify a period of utterances with “Father . . .” or “God . . .” or “Lord . . .” and fail to remember the person we are addressing. “Fatherwecomebeforeyounow . . .” “Godpleaseblessourfood,amen.” “Lordhelpthismeetingtoendquickly.” What is right is that He is our Father, our God, our Lord and He should be addressed as such, but what is not right is that we forget the weight of those titles. Yes, He is our Creator and there should be gratitude for life, but He has reconciled us through Christ and He is our Father—we are His children. He is our God, The Supreme focus of worship throu...

Our daughter is getting married in a few days, so here are some wedding cakes that are hard to believe! "Camera toss photography is a relatively unknown technique, but its title alone is a good explanation of the photography technique. There are people out there that create beautiful images by throwing their expensive cameras in the air with the shutter open." Builders find rare underground stream while working on railway station; geologists say it is largest underground river found in Israel.    Don't know what he did, but I wonder if the police offered him a job? 29 Ways to Stay Creative:

Ephesians is decorated with sparkling jewels of Christ. The first chapter alone mentions Christ directly or indirectly at least 18 times in the first 14 verses. Everything is summed in Christ and He is the object of our inheritance. My grandparents did not have much money, so they did what they could in preparing for birthdays and Christmas by visiting garage sales. I did not catch on to their pattern of shopping until I was much older, and felt rather embarrassed—yet each birthday and Christmas, they lavished gifts on us grandchildren. They did what they could within their means as an expression of love—and they prepared all year long for 15 minutes of childish delight. God’s loving gift of grace in Christ Jesus is not second-hand, and it includes a present as well as a future reality. “ In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will ” (Ephesians 1:11). He gave Himself as payment in ...

When we read through Ephesians 1:3-14 we find the Apostle Paul highlighting three aspects of salvation: God’s work in the past (1:3-6); God’s work in the present (1:6-11) and God’s work in the future (1:12-14). Salvation (as we use the term) is not limited to mere hell-fire rescue. This was God’s plan since before the creation of the world that through Jesus Christ we can be free from the power of sin and enjoy a restored relationship with Him as we await the final reconciliation to Him, when we see Him face to face. The riches of God’s grace ais seen in the fact that we are made His children. Certainly we are His children by virtue of creation, but because we broke His moral law, we are separated from Him. Through the gift of His Son, we can turn from our sin and be made what we were not already—sons by adoption. Why does He do this? Because He is kind (Eph. 1:3,5). “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of...

Haldor Lillenas in 1918 penned the choral piece, “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” a song that many enjoy singing still today. The chorus is true jubilation of rolling, climbing, sparkling and decorated with lilting soprano in a descant joy, all culminating at the pinnacle, the name of Jesus. Here is an enjoyable arrangement: The grace of God in Christ Jesus is so magnificent and so glorious, but why do we have such a difficult time expressing it? The Bible says plainly that the gospel is, “ is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes ” (Romans 1:16). Those who have turned from their sins to God by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus have experienced this marvelous grace—it is truly good news—yet we can’t seem to communicate it to others. The reasons may be many, but they are not good reasons. The Christian can’t claim ignorance of the gospel—how did one come to Christ to begin with? The Christian can’t claim fear—we are to die to self and live in Christ...

Exodus 31 is turning out to be an inspiring passage of study around this Father’s Day, for here we find some leadership examples in two men specifically chosen and empowered by God for a specific task. Included with these men are the names of their fathers about whom not much is known, but we may infer a great deal from them by virtue of their just being mentioned. Their names remain timeless for a reason. Hur is Bazalel’s grandfather and has served as an assistant to Moses and Aaron. His name can be given two meanings by virtue of translation. First, there is the noun, “hole/hollow/a depression.” Now there is a difference in what is meant by “hole:” there is the hole of a cobra (Isaiah 11:8) or an underground prison (Isaiah 42:22) and there is a valley-kind-of-“hole,” such as the depressed place between two hills, like Gilead (Numbers 33:32). These are secondary definitions. The root word is a verb which means, “by or grow white, pale.” Here in this passage it is used as a proper ma...

If pictures of the space shuttle, taken from space, are snapped from the space station and pictures of the space station are snapped from the shuttle, how can there be a picture of both the shuttle and the station together , taken from space? Ah, yes!  The Solar Powered Rocking Sun Lounger ! The 'soft rocker' is a solar powered outdoor rocking lounger whereby you can relax and recharge your electronics. Do you know what Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Dr. Robertson McQuilkin had (and did not have) in common?  George Berkin makes one clear observation . ht: my son Gumball Wars from Scott Thierauf on Vimeo .

We read in Exodus 31 that Bezalel's father was Uri, whose name literally means “my light.” A loose translation would be, “fiery light.” This is the same word used in Psalm 27:1 when the psalmist wrote, " The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? " Exodus 37:17-24 contains a partial record of all that Bazalel made for the tabernacle, and the list includes the lamp stand, described in meticulous detail. Exodus 25 tells this piece is to be made of what amount to over 90 pounds of beaten gold; that is, nothing is to be melted and poured into a mould, but formed by hand. While some translate this piece as “candlestick,” it was not a light-giver in the same sense as a candle (which melt away as they give light). This was a receptacle for oil, to be burned in the light-giving. The imagery here is rich, and deep, starting with the understanding that the oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The Scr...

When we come across passages such as Exodus 31:1-11 there is a tendency to survey the names, decide that we can’t pronounce them, and conclude there is no redeeming quality in passages such as these. We move on to something with more action, more adventure. We fail to remember this is God's Word, His special revelation to us. The New Testament reminds us that God's Word is inspired. This means there is value, even in passages such as this. Here in Exodus 31, God chose for himself workers whose sole responsibility was to take that which is in the heavens and deliver it to the people. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had already moved through Egypt killing the first born in that final plague while simultaneously preventing the Destroyer from coming in (literally dwelling with the people that night). This same God is going to dwell in their midst. Scary thought, huh? Now, God was going to make a way through these men for His people to enjoy Him now that He had delivered His ...

Say them "with confidence!"

Manvotional: Facing the Mistakes of Life .  William George Jordan shares thoughts on those growing pains of wisdom. Midnight's Solar Eclipse.  On June 1, the shadow of the New Moon was cast across a land of the midnight Sun in this year's second partial solar eclipse . This color chart demonstrates how men and women "see" color.  And they got it right! Keep your eye on the ball!

Thomas Brookes (1608 - 1680) answers the objection, "But there are worse people than me!" "Whatever evil you behold in other men's practices, realize that you have the same evil in your own nature.  There is the seed of all sins, of the vilest and worst of sins—in the best of men. When you see a drunkard—you may see the seed of that sin in your own nature. When you see an immoral man—you may see the seeds of immorality in your own nature. If you are not as wicked as others—it is not because of the goodness of your nature—but from the riches of God's grace! Remember this—there is not a worse nature in hell than that which is in you, and it would manifest itself accordingly—if the Lord did not restrain it! There was one who was a long time tempted to three horrid sins: to be drunk, to lie with his mother, and to murder his father. Being a long time followed with these horrid temptations, at last he thought to get rid of them, by yielding to what he judged the l...

"The only time we fail in evangelism (presuming it is done biblically) is when we fail to evangelize."  Tony Miano passes along " The Encouragement of Discarded Gospel Tracts ." Fireworks, Lightening and a Comet .  God displays his marvelous handiwork while we marvel at the little things. When I saw this Dirt Artist , I could only imagine what "Pig Pen" (Peanuts cartoon character) grew up to be. And finally, some advise on writing short stories: 

Question: Genesis 1:29 God said, “ Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you .” This is followed by Genesis 2:16 where God says, “ The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely .” Then in Genesis 2:17, God forbids eating saying, “ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die ." So which is it: may Adam eat from any tree, or not? Answer: I remember visiting my grandmother through the summers and especially looked forward to all those wonderful things that came from her kitchen. As long as I had permission, I could eat anything—but there was one thing I could not eat. Right in the middle of the table was a bowl of fruit. I could not eat that, and it was not because I did not have her permission. It was because it was not edible fruit—it ...