If you zoom out far enough....

Having fun with photoshop.

Who Is a God Like Unto Thee?

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

- Micah 7:18-19

I'm Back...

It's hard to believe that I have barely posted anything the last two weeks, but I have also been out and about most of the time. There have been families to move, children to babysit, projects to do, families to visit, company to host, and a conference to work. Well, most of that is not recorded on film, but I did take some pictures of the Metarko's move in.

 Mr. Metarko's new home here in NC.

Three big pods to unload.

The Hope Baptist Moving Crew.

Record time of 53 minutes to unload all pods. No items broken in the process!

We even helped them set up house. Pretty nice!

So that's one move in down. We had one earlier that week, and one the next week and we have a whole list of people on the slate to move in the next couple months. So the Hope Team will have plenty of practice before we go professional! I think I should become a Realtor. I could have a nice business with all the people moving.

One last picture from the move - the Herrin's son trying to keep the van from rolling down the drive.... Push man, push!

And this is called vision. My prayer is that this overgrown place will be mine one day, debt free, if the Lord should so desire. You couldn't ask for a better location, it would be great for blessing people, and the neighbors are incredible. If you would like to make a charitable donation to the good cause of reclaiming this house from the bank who owns it, let me know.... :-)

Under all those weeds, there is really a lot of potential... and ticks. Scores of them. In fact, probably more than the population of Wake Forest. :-P

The weeds actually aren't two high around the back door.

Well, that's all. Until next time... Adios!

Wall Street Journal - Making Christianity Cool Doesn't Work

"If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real.

"If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same."

 - Brett McCracken, The Perils of 'Wannabe Cool' Christianity, The Wall Street Journal

JOHN SUTCLIFF, "THE PRAYER CALL OF 1784"

Upon a motion being made to the ministers and messengers of the associate Baptist churches assembled at Nottingham, respecting meetings for prayer, to bewail the low estate of religion, and earnestly implore a revival of our churches, and of the general cause of our Redeemer, and for that end to wrestle with God for the effusion of his Holy Spirit, which alone can produce the blessed effect, it was unanimously RESOLVED, to recommend to all our churches and congregations, the spending of one hour in this important exercise, on the first Monday in every calendar month.

We hereby solemnly exhort all the churches in our connection, to engage heartily and perseveringly in the prosecution of this plan. And as it may be well to endeavour to keep the same hour, as a token of our unity herein, it is supposed the following scheme may suit many congregations, viz. to meet on the first Monday evening in May, June, and July, from 8 to 9. In Aug. from 7 to 8. Sept. and Oct. from 6 to 7. Nov. Dec. Jan. and Feb. from 5 to 6. March, from 6 to 7; and April, from 7 to 8. Nevertheless if this hour, or even the particular evening, should not suit in particular places, we wish our brethren to fix on one more convenient to themselves.

We hope also, that as many of our brethren who live at a distance from our places of worship may not be able to attend there, that as many as are conveniently situated in a village or neighbourhood, will unite in small societies at the same time. And if any single individual should be so situated as not to be able to attend to this duty in society with others, let him retire at the appointed hour, to unite the breath of prayer in private with those who are thus engaged in a more public manner.

The grand object of prayer is to be that the Holy Spirit may be poured down on our ministers and churches, that sinners may be converted, the saints edified, the interest of religion revived, and the name of God glorified. At the same time, remember, we trust you will not confine your requests to your own societies [i.e. churches]; or to your own immediate connection [i.e. denomination]; let the whole interest of the Redeemer be affectionately remembered, and the spread of the gospel to the most distant parts of the habitable globe be the object of your most fervent requests. We shall rejoice if any other Christian societies of our own or other denominations will unite with us, and do now invite them most cordially to join heart and hand in the attempt.

Who can tell what the consequences of such an united effort in prayer may be! Let us plead with God the many gracious promises of His Word, which relate to the future success of His gospel. He has said, “I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them, I will increase them with men like a flock.” Ezek. xxxvi.37. Surely we have love enough for Zion to set apart one hour at a time, twelve times in a year, to seek her welfare.

Attached to John Ryland, Jr., The Nature, Evidences, and Advantages, of Humility (Circular Letter of the Northamptonshire Association, 1784), 12.

The Answer Is....

Earlier, I posted a question about an amazing little animal. This animal is able to withstand extremes from boiling to near absolute zero, mountaintops to ocean trenches, the vacuum of space to 6 times the pressure of the deepest ocean trench. The question is, what is it?

The answer:

Water Bear

I was unable to find a free for use picture so you can go here to read about this amazing little creature.

We serve such an amazing Creator! While the little water bear is an amazing animal, consider man, made in the image of Almighty God. 

Psalm 8:3-9, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

Taking a Stand in Education - Public School Principal Steps Down

A friend of mine, Mike Metarko, recently wrote an article for Chalcedon's Faith for All of Life, called "America's Trojan Horse: Public Education." Mike has recently quit his job as a public school principal after coming to a realization that public education was wrong from its foundations. The Trojan horse needs to be destroyed, not repaired. It needs to be destroyed before it destroys us. The following is Mike's resignation letter. Praise the Lord for the stand he was willing to take.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with strong conviction that I write this letter as my formal resignation effective Thursday, July 1, 2010 from my position as Principal of Hanover Elementary School, where I have devoted the last five of my 14 years in the Bethlehem Area School District. Though there is no job at present to which I will be going, God has clearly persuaded me through His Word and through my research into the foundations of our educational system that I must end my career in public education.

For the last fourteen years, I have worked diligently to be the “salt and light” spoken of in Matthew 5:13, but I have realized that while I am plugging up pinholes in the dike that holds back the tumultuous waters of public education, the improperly laid foundation has been eroding beneath our feet. God states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7a). This means that neither God nor moral character can be separated from true education; in fact, the glorification of God and the building of Biblical moral character must be the basis of true education. In the words of Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, “We profess to be republicans [in form of government], and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible. For this Divine Book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.”

But what have we done? We have thrown God, Bibles and prayer out of our schools based upon an inaccurate interpretation of the “Separation clause”, while openly proselytizing the religion of Secular Humanism (Smith v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, Ala). We have divorced morality from education and focused only on what special interest groups perceive as the “right” content knowledge. We manage the masses at the expense of the individual. As with most educators in the system, I have been sincere in my efforts to apply the doctrines of those we call the founding fathers of education, but I have realized that I have been sincerely wrong. My research into the real philosophies and beliefs behind men such as Rousseau, Dewey, Hall, etc. has opened my eyes. I am now aware that not only have I not been working for God, I have been working in complete opposition to Him. I mistakenly thought I was on neutral ground: there is no neutral territory.

That said; let me assure you that my argument is not against those I have worked with for the past 14 years. I have a love for my colleagues and friends; most are wonderful teachers of a curriculum they have been given, most truly love the children and will do anything for them, most sincerely try to improve our children, our city, our nation. But we have all taken our eye off the mark of what the chief end of man is. The nation’s statist system of public education is the real issue.

The Bible is overwhelmingly clear in that the primary responsibility in educating a child rests with the parents (Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6:4, etc.). We need parents to be parents once again, families to be families once again, fathers to be the father and leader, mothers to be the mother and nurturer. It does not “take a village to raise a child”; it takes a family entrusted with the Word of God. Our children are not to be wards of the State; on the contrary, they are creations of a God of love, justice, and redemption who loves us so much He sent Christ to die for us so that if we believe in Him and profess Him as Lord and Savior, He will grant us eternal life. He does not need us, but we need Him. He has given us the roadmap to life and to education: the Bible. I pray that He may manifest Himself in your life as he has clearly done so in mine.

Respectfully,
Michael J. Metarko

It is the father's place to train his children according to Deuteronomy 6. The most basic and fundamental propositions of the public school system are contrary to God and His Word for they deny the basic spheres of jurisdiction set up by God as well as the authority of Scripture. As Christians, we are not to reform the systems that the world produces in opposition to the Word, but rather seek their overthrow. We don't want the Bible back in the public school, we want the children back in their homes to be trained and discipled by their parents in the Word of God. We want the public schools to be emptied and closed for government has no place in the education and training of children. Public schools are inherently anti-God and they cannot be reformed.

29,000 miles!

I don't have a whole lot to say tonight mostly because I know if I thought about it, I would be here too long. So in light of the time:

Less than 1000 miles till I have 30,000 miles on that thing. It currently is at 29,283.4. If I can squeak a 700 mile trip in before October, I will have put on 30,000 miles in less than two years. I think the Life of Washington Tour that I will be on, Lord willing, will put me over the edge.

Unfortunately, it doesn't include my trips to Texas, New Mexico/Nebraska, Colorado, Sections of the Road Trip, Mount Vernon, Orlando, Boston, New Orleans to Indiana to Raleigh, Raleigh to Indiana to Colorado, the Shenandoah Valley tour, and probably a few other trips I have taken. If I added these 10 trips in, I would be well over the 30,000 and maybe over 40,000 miles on there. It's too bad I don't have a built in odometer!

Praising the Lord for safety along this amazing journey.... signing out.

Man Abased and God Exalted

We want nothing but to behold the glory of God and to see Him exalted by all, and everywhere, to be happy. When I read the descriptions of the heavenly world, I see nothing so prominent as these two great truths: Man abased and God exalted….Behold! ‘what hath God wrought?’ – Gardiner Spring, quoted by Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858, p. 345