Defying Evolution

Hey, if you can turn give me evidence for micro-evolution and say it proves macro-evolution, I can show you a bunny chasing a snake and tell you you're all wet.

rabbit vs snake.wmv

Jamie Foxx and Miley Cyrus

SO recently Jamie Foxx had this to say about Miley Cyrus:

On an episode of his weekly radio show “The Foxxhole,” Foxx for launched a crude attack on the teen sensation saying, "Make a sex tape and grow up!" Other guests in the background can be heard saying "Be like Britney Spears and do some heroin. Be like Lindsay Lohan and start seeing a lesbian...get some crack in your pipe. Now that's what I want."

Well, Miley's father didn't think any of that was funny, and brought up a very good point when he said, "Quite frankly, I think if I said those things about his daughter he might not find it so comedic.”

Well, the other night Mr. Foxx was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and he offered this: "I apologize for what I said. I didn't mean it maliciously. You know I'm a comedian. You know my heart."

Yes Mr. Foxx. I know your heart. It's very clear that your heart allows you do to anything for money.

I'm upset because I think Mr. Foxx is a very talented actor and I'm looking forward to his upcoming movie "The Soloist". I really want to like this guy, but sometimes he makes it very difficult.

I wonder if that's what God thinks about me?

Be As You Are?

There is a car in our parking lot here at work which has a bumper sticker that says "Be As You Are". The first time I saw it, I laughed out of incredulity. My first thought was...what if you're an *******? (Sorry, just being honest) Some people just are just not nice.

Anyway, a song just came on Pandora by some artist with the first name Ingrid and an album entitled "Be OK", and I had the same incredulous response. Seriously? Is that all there is to it? Do these people really think that if we just act as we feel, or will ourselves to be okay, everything is going to be okay? Really? No wonder Obama is President.

I'm reminded of a comment from Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp when he was being confronted by the Earp women. One of them wanted to know if the wives ever counted more than the brothers when it came to making decisions and his answer was:

"No, Bessie, you don't.
Wives come and go,
that's the plain truth of it. They run off.
They die."

I know the wives certainly didn't appreciate the answer, and there's a bit in the Bible which discusses cleaving to your spouse which makes his answer less than Biblical, but nonetheless, the man was on to something when he talked about the strength and importance of family.

People die. Pets die. Money is lost and stolen. Cars get wrecked. Limbs get broken. The cable goes out. People serve you Miracle Whip when you ask for mayonnaise.

I hate to cite a colloquialism which contains more profanity, but "you know what" happens. And it happens all the time. It never ends. Sometimes it's like an avalanche and sometimes it's a rip tide.

What do you depend on when it happens? Who do you turn to? Where do you run?

I'll tell you one thing, "being as you are" isn't going to help.

Willing it all to "be okay" isn't going to get you anywhere either.

The truth is that this life is FULL OF PAIN.

Death is inevitable, and the older you get, the more loved ones you have to miss, and we start missing some way too early.

You can be as you are as much as you want to, but every person has a limit, and when that avalanche hits or the rip tide pulls you under and you can't manage to find a way to get a breath....being as you are is going to mean you are going to be pretty miserable.

Willing yourself to be OK? Please. There comes a time in every man's life when they simply run out of will. Biting into a burger and expecting mayo but getting Miracle Whip will do that to a person.

I'll tell you what. Next time you go through some tragedy, give me a call and I'll tell you to "Be as you are!", or maybe just to "Be OK". See how that works out.

What bugs me most is that the "Be OK" people consider themselves enlightened and consider that believing in Jesus Christ as the Risen Savior is believing in something archaic and outdated. It disturbs me that the "Be As You Are" crowd think that Christians are simple minded.

Here's the thing. I've lived through the blizzards. I've been sucked under by the rip tides. And unlike the picture which the "Be As You Are" crowd espouses about simple-minded Christians, I didn't gleefully chalk it up to "God's will" and walk around with a smile on my face.

I've cried rivers of tears. I've been so empty inside, so broken, so downright all done, that I've asked God to either return or just allow me to die. I've shaken my fist at him in anger on more than one occasion.

And today, I love Him so much. And more importantly, I KNOW that He loves me.

I am thankful, yes, thankful for all of it, and even more, I can see how each and every valley has shaped my life and made me a better person.

So when the "Be As You Are" crowd says I am filled with hate because I think homosexuality is a sin, I attribute it to principle.

When they label my opposition to abortion "religious foolishness", I know that it is based in love for the gift of life.

And when they tell me I am behind the times because we home-school, and the girls aren't allowed to date, and I have a curfew for my sister who is in her early 20's, I know that I am protecting my family.

How can being principled, loving life and providing and protecting my family make me a bad person?

The unfortunate thing is that they're so sure they're right that they won't even discuss it.


So keep on "being as you are" and "willing yourself to be okay" if that's your gig. And keep on thinking you're enlightened because you're not "saddled" with the burden of religion. And when the next blizzard comes and you're blown over by the storm, you'll have some really catchy and well intended phrases to rely upon to get you through it.

But in the middle of a storm, a positive outlook is going to leave you flat on your face. There is no philosophy, no person, no mantra that can even begin to compare to having a personal relationship with God, KNOWING that He loves you, and that He is control of everything.

He loves us and He is in control of everything. That is the only concrete thing you can ever rely upon to get you through.

I often wonder how people can get through the valleys NOT knowing that. And you know what? It's my experience that most never get through whole.

Our world is full of people with excuses for what happened to make them the way they are, and excuses for why they have an exemption from some of the most basic standards of human behavior, and now even those with reasons why there are no basic standards. Without fail, all of those excuses are rooted in a valley or a storm.

In contrast, genuine Christians will tell you how the valleys and storms they endured made them stronger and better people. They will witness to you how God worked through their weakness and their pain to bring them peace and joy.

They will testify that there is a God, and that they have a personal relationship with Him. There are millions of people alive right now that can do that, and there have been countless others who could have throughout the history of time.

Discounting all of that evidence and eye-witness testimony, that's foolish.

If you don't believe as I believe but you're interested in open and genuine two-way discussion, send me an email and I'll share my testimony.

Not my story. My testimony.

It's fact.

Voddie Baucham Sermons

I added a new addition to the "Links" segment on the right. If you are a Christian and you don't know who Voddie Baucham is, it's high time you "met" the man. You can do just that by following the link below to a site with a number of different audio and video presentations of some of his sermons.

Coulter: Guns vs Teenage Sex

No wonder the liberals hate Anne Coulter, time after time she makes them look like fools with simple logic like the following:

It's something in liberals' DNA: They think they can pass a law eliminating guns and nuclear weapons, but teenagers having sex is completely beyond our control.

See what happens when you think.

Top 10 Moments:Waiting

Amy is a big John Mayer fan.

Last night we were driving home after the AWANA Grand Prix and a trip to Friendly's and this song came on.

I had had a long day and was TIRED.

Then Amy sang lead and the girls chimed in from the back seat with the backup "Waiting" parts.

Top 10 moment of my life.

Then I found this video to the song. Check it out.

Jib Jab:Election 2008

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Obama:Change We Can Make Believe In (Part 1)

It seems to me that in the following Obama admits that he lied for votes in the primaries, and that it's okay, because as he notes, politicians always do that.

If he's just doing what politicians do, then how exactly is he changing anything?

Mr Obama recently hinted to Fortune magazine that his strong anti-free trade rhetoric during the primaries may not be reflected in his actual trade policy should he become president.

His remarks are a neat summation of the pressures and temptations that lead politicians to shift their positions during the process of running for office.

"Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he said.

"Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself."

The Ten Lepers and Thankfulness

I taught a lesson tonight in VBS based on the ten lepers of Luke 17: 11-19.

11Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy^[a]met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

14When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

15One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

I think that when most of us hear this story, we have a tendency to think about whether or not we would have gone back and thanked Jesus, and that most of us would like to believe that we might have. I'm a stats guy though, and I think when we're honest with ourselves, we know that we probably would have behaved as the other nine.


Honestly though, I think trying to analyze the story in those terms isn't most effective. I think we're better off looking at the story in light of the fact that there were ten opportunities for Jesus to be thanked, and only one opportunity was seized.

For instance, how many of us can honestly reflect on the recent past and ten things we've been blessed with and say that we've thanked God for all ten? I can't. Maybe it's more than one, but it's a far cry from ten.

We Are Not The Center of the World (Acts 1:8)

I just heard something that I found very insightful, and it struck me as insightful because I've been thinking about Acts 1:8 all wrong.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. - Acts 1:8

Now, like many of my brothers and sisters here in America, I have always interpreted this passage to mean that we had a job to go forth and evangelize the world so that "the ends of the earth" can have a chance to hear the Gospel.

Here's the thing though. We are the "ends of the earth". The problem I've had, and perhaps many of you have had as well, is that I read that passage and wrongly ascribe to myself the position of being in the middle. That's wrong. The point of origin is not America. The point of origin is the Middle East. And from that frame of reference, WE are then the "ends of the earth."

This is not to say that we should stop going forth and spreading the Gospel, or that we shouldn't support our missionaries. No, not at all. I just had an insight that there is perhaps more work already accomplished in bringing the Gospel to the world than I thought that there was.