Abiding in God

"Dual Citizens" - by Jason Stellman This book has the subtitle "Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet" which I found to be very intriguing. From the title, subtitle, and brief description of the book I found I thought the book would be about the seeming push-pull relationship between living on earth but living for Heaven. I was fairly wrong and disappointed. The book is divided into two sections. The first 7 chapters cover the worship aspect of Christianity and the last 7 chapters deal, somewhat generally, with life. I felt that seven chapters on church was a little much, partly stemming from some issues I had with his theology of church. The second half is definitely the best half, with chapters 9 and 11 being my favorites. The book doesn't always make sense in it's flow from chapter to chapter. I especially found it odd to end a book for Christians on a chapter detailing the assurance of salvation provided by the Holy Spirit. I thin...

"Dick van Dyke - My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business" by Dick van Dyke I was randomly typing names into the search engine at my library when I came across this book. I immediately requested it and picked it up a few days later. I love the Dick van Dyke Show - it's hilarious and such a classic. His sense of humor and his expressions of it are just fabulous. So I was eager to read this book. He gives some of his background and experiences growing up. One of my favorite parts was the mention of his time in the Air Force. The way he talked about his experiences made me think of Gomer Pyle - it was pretty amusing! He also documented his entry into stardom. He spent many years working from paycheck to paycheck and traveling the country before his talents were finally discovered and utilized. I really loved reading the parts about the filming of the Dick van Dyke Show. He talked about how everyone genuinely had a fabulous time working on the show together, and I ...

One of my goals for the new year is to read at least 2 books per month. Along with that, I thought it'd be nice for both my writing and analyzing/critical thinking skills to post a review of most of the books I read. So - here goes! "Ginger, My Story" by Ginger Rogers This book combines two things I've long been fascinated with - biographies and movie stars. One of my favorite things as a youth was to randomly wander the biography aisle at the library looking for new and interesting people to read about. Even today I often gravitate towards the biography sections in the bookstores. I found a sad thing though as I grew up. Biographies were no longer guaranteed to be wholesome and compelling. I started to realize that many people's lives weren't as "clean" as children's literature made them seem. After taking home books only to give them up in disgust a little ways into them, I started scanning books while still in the library. That led t...

I recently watched the documentary “ Divided ” by the Leclerc Brothers and promoted by the National Center for Family Integrated Churches. The following are some of my thoughts concerning this film. I’m going to start off with the concerns and disagreements I had with the film. I found parts of the film highly ironic and actually contradictory. It was stated and inferred several times throughout the film that the purpose of youth ministry was to draw kids’ hearts away from their parents and to usurp the parent’s role in raising and discipling their kids. What was ironic was that most of the youth pastors they interviewed said the exact opposite. They stated that it was their desire and intent to work alongside the parents and support and uphold what the parents are teaching. They didn’t want to take the parent’s roles or the parent’s place in these kid’s hearts. I’m surprised that such a blatant contradiction was allowed to remain in the film. ...

One of the ways I like to study the Bible is to take a passage or verse and try to dig in and pull it apart. I love it when preachers/teachers go back to the original Hebrew and Greek words because there is such depth and significance there that is sometimes lost in translation. I try to do that on my own as much as I'm able - which isn't a whole lot since I'm illiterate in both languages. Still, I do find some rewarding things by at least trying to dig deep. I like to go through a passage word by word with a word study book and dictionary to look up the definitions for each word and the grammatical construct of each word. Then, I like to re-write the passage in my own words based on what I've learned. Sometimes it ends up basically the same - but sometimes I discover "hidden treasures". The following verse is one I found some "hidden treasures" in. "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:...

In a day where compromise and "tolerance" reign - where absolutes and "only ways" are despised - where humanism is the way to go and man's opinions and preferences are "god" - we need to stand firm on truth and the authority of God's Word in all things and in all areas of life. Second, a high view of Scripture must accept the accuracy and inerrancy of the Bible. After all, if the Bible is God’s inspired Word in every part (meaning that He is the author), then it must also be truthful in every part (including passages regarding science and history) because He is a God of truth (cf.Titus 1:2; Heb 6:17-18). Thus, the Scriptures can be wholly trusted because they come from a God who can be wholly trusted. This means that Genesis should be believed when it states that the world was created in seven days. It means that Adam should be accepted as a real human being, that the Flood was a global event, that Sodom and Gomorrah were literally destroye...

Now, if I, a poor man, simply by prayer and faith, obtained, without asking any individual , the means for establishing and carrying on an Orphan House: there would be something which, with the Lord’s blessing, might be instrumental in strengthening the faith of the children of God, … but still the first and primary object of the work was (and still is), that God might be magnified by the fact, that the Orphans under my care are provided all they need, only by prayer and faith , without any one being asked by me or my fellow-labourers, whereby it may be seen, that God is FAITHFUL STILL, AND HEARS PRAYERS STILL. The above is a quote from George Mueller's autobiography "A Million and a Half in Answer to Prayer". (pg. 81 to be precise, emphasis is original) George Mueller was a man of great, abiding, unshakable faith in God. It amazes me how his faith remained so strong in the midst of all the many and varied trials his ministry went through. What a godly legacy he has le...