Bob Bedford

I'm helping my friends Bob and Linda Bedford with a blog for Bob while he is away on, as Bob puts it, "a short-term missions assignment" at a minimum security federal prison camp in Atlanta.

Bob has pretty amazing perspective on his circumstances. Check it out here...

What if Wesley was right?

I found this post interesting given my past experience in some small churches...

• Beyond the Boundaries

• Also this, What If Wesley Was Right?

Rain gutter book shelves

rain gutter book shelves
Originally uploaded by Lagomorph

Bookshelf idea coming soon to our house. What an idea!

Goodbye, Myspace.

I'm dumping my MySpace account. I've been getting increasingly annoyed with all the sexual spam/friend requests I'm hit with every time I log-in as well as all the other ads, etc.

I had heard of Facebook, which was originally a students only networking site but has now been opened so anyone can use it. I was reintroduced to Facebook recently by these posts on the LifeChurch.tv blog.

• What’s all this hype about Facebook? (Part 1)

• What’s all this hype about Facebook? (Part 2)

• What’s all this hype about Facebook? (Part 3)

The Facebook interface is so clean & simple and whatever is going on with your contacts is fed to you rather than you having to go to everyone's profiles. (No more of these crazy pages that won't fit on your screen or that have text too dark to read. Am I getting old?) Anyway, I'm giving it a couple days so my MySpace friends will hear where I went. Later.

Tickle me Elmo

Tammy's brother is tickling Cameron with his goatee.

YeeHaw!

Veritas Classical Academy

Tammy, who is the brains of this outfit, does not get enough play on this blog so I'm taking this opportunity to show off her work at "Veritas Classical Academy." We've been in the process of moving the kid's school into newly painted digs upstairs in what was the large playroom.

We've been in a rush to get it done before company arrives this weekend and the start of school on Labor Day (Tammy chooses to start for the year on a day I am home.)

ps. I hope you appreciate the school name. We agonized forever to come up with it.

Playing my Man

Watching the Watchtower

Tammy and I had the privilege last Sunday to have dinner at Dad's with a couple, Bill and Laura (Althaus) Lawrence, who are converted Jehovah's Witnesses. Laura was a 4th generation Witness and Bill became a Witness after he married Laura. They have been very active in ministry to people seeking to escape the Jehovah's Witnesses and have a moving testimony.

You can listen to their testimony at the Tower of Truth website. The actual link to the audio is... Click Here.

UPDATE:

Since posting this a few minutes ago, I have been doing more browsing of the Tower of Truth website. This is really a treasure trove for people who come in contact with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Worship Defined

Definition: Worship (Webster's Online Dictionary)

Noun

1. The activity of worshipping.

2. A feeling of profound love and admiration.

Verb

1. Love unquestioningly and uncritically.

2. Show religious devotion to, as of a deity; "Many Hindus worship Shiva".

3. Attend religious services; "They worship in the traditional manner".

---

Definition: Worship (Genesis 22:1-10)

Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you."

Abraham's worship was the most wrenching obedience of his life.

1 Samuel 15:22

Speechless

UPDATE: --->> The Link is under the "This"

This is really unbelievable...

What is worship about?

In the churches that I have been to, we sing well, the Bible is read, and Jesus is referenced, and we pray. And then there is the sermon, which is well crafted, and is creative and effectively presented. This message calls me to do something, to behave in way that is better than my current pattern. It is a morality call. Ethical and beneficial. I have been called to a better husband and father, to be a better Christian by reading my Bible, to be more caring toward my neighbor. All biblical themes, and all correct. But we didn't need God to do this. He could have been far away and we would not have noticed.

Now understand that I am not pointing fingers at the churches I have been to, I am wondering if we are any different at my church? Do we in worship pull the curtain back and show those who are there that Yahweh is present and active in our midst. Do we show them that this is not a presentation but an encounter with the living God? We are not called to be moral, we are called to be holy.

From Kent Anderson, thanks to the Margins for pointing me there.

You have got to be kidding me!

This is like two gallons of gas.

Truckin' Teeds

Tim and Sharron Teed were in Church Sunday.... In this photo with my business partner, Terri Russell.

Cameron with his favorite friend at church, the soundman, Mr. Steve.

Budding Entrepreneur

Chandler had his eye on this large Lego set and was able to sell enough bottled water at our mini-storage auction to purchase it.

Tammy and friends getting ready to take the kids choir on a bus trip to Burlington.

Dropping off Grandma

We're dropping off Tammy's Mom, Kathy, after an over-night visit with us. In the middle photo, Gabrielle is fighting to keep Cameron in the corner of the elevator where he can't poke the buttons.

Testing 1,2,3

I don't expect to rival Tim Calhoun in the MoBlogging deptartment, but we'll see.

Fat Christian vs. Fit Christian

I've been struggling recently with focusing on how my church is serving me and my family rather than how we our serving our church and community. I ran across this great comparison by Anna Meadows found here:

Fat Christians say…
“Why don’t you have this ministry at your church?”

Fit Christians say…
“Can I start a group that does this kind of ministry? Maybe there are other people who would like to join…”

Fat Christians…
…sit in the same pew each week, and rarely venture out of their circle of friends.

Fit Christians…
…find opportunities to change things up, and try to involve those on the outskirts.

Fat Christians focus…
…on how to better themselves.

Fit Christians focus…
…on those who don’t know Jesus.

Fat Christians do…
…what’s easy and safe.

Fit Christians do…
…what’s difficult and counterintuitive.

Fat Christians think…
…it’s all about them.

Fit Christians know…
…it’s all about HIM.

To all my blogging friends...

I enjoy reading all your blogs and my list of blogging friends has grown to the point that the only way I can keep track is by using the Google Reader.

Herein lies the rub. There are a few of you, such as you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you and you, who do not have the RSS feed enabled on your blog which means that your devoted readers have to remember to actually visit your site since your posts do not magically in our blog readers.

If you have any question about manage this small change to your blog settings please email me at w2wkb at yahoo dot com and I'll be happy to advise.

Ouch!

Getting Fed.