Back with an update
So, I’ve been away for a while. Whatever. Life happens. Anyhow, I’m back with an update. An update to the latest version of WordPress to be precise. Hopefully I’ll be posting more frequently now.
By the way, I had a thought about my last post. See, I was talking to a buddy yesterday and he said he was feeling tension about the idea that God knows who He will save and does all that is required to save them Himself. My friend said it seemed like there was something he had done on his own to be saved.
I know what that feels like. I felt that very way the first time I encountered a person who believed that God does it all. Anyhow when I saw the title of my last post I thought of a little ditty.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And something extra of my own
To complete the blood of Jesus.
Just a thought.
Nothing but the Blood
I’ve always thought it was cool that Paul told the Corinthians that he was determined to know nothing among them but Christ and Him crucified and he told the elders in Ephesus that he was innocent of their blood because he did not shrink from proclaiming to them the whole counsel of God. We must conclude that unless Paul is guilty of the blood of the Corinthians, it is possible to proclaim the whole council of God while knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Think about it. It works out.
Pretty amazing if you think about it. These two passages taken together tell us that every page of the Bible is about Jesus. All good theology, if it is faithful to the message of the Bible is about Jesus. All good preaching comes back to Jesus. In the story of the Bible, in the story of the Church, in the story of our lives, there is Christ and there is the irrelevant.
One Ring to Bring Them All, And in the Darkness Bind Them?
Stumbled upon a cool quote the other day. Some fellow called Dawson Trotman. Apparently he founded the navigators. Bully. The quote is “Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and the fingertips.”
I really liked it because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between our actions and our beliefs. The fact that our actions are shaped by our beliefs is sort of worn out and tired from its being much repeated, but what about the fact that our thoughts are shaped by our actions. Read the rest of this entry »
My Most Recent Sermon
Well, the audio software crashed 20 minute into my sermon, so all we have is the first third. I hope y’all enjoy it. I sound much more confident, although I was much more nervous about this sermon than any of my others. Money is always difficult to talk about.
The passage that fell to me was 1 Corinthians 9:1-18. Read the rest of this entry »
who keeps track of all this anyhow?
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous on June 21, 2007
Gotta love Wikipedia. Look at the article entitled death growl. You’ll notice that the death growl is frequently employed in a genre of music known as goregrind. What is goregrind you ask? Perhaps you know it by its other moniker, grindgore. If you read its article, you’ll discover that it is a subgenre of grindcore, which in turn is an evolution of crust punk, which itself is an extreme evolution of anarcho-punk, which in turn is a faction of the larger punk subculture. Which leads to the question of the day, Who keeps track of all this anyhow?
Seems pretty sunny in Scotia today…
So, I’ve been studying Greek. I was looking at verse 5 of John 1. The word σκοτια (skotia) appears in that verse and means ‘darkness.’ This really explains a lot about Pacific Lumber’s company town down in Southern Humboldt. :p
Hopefully there aren’t any Scotia locals in the audience today. But, seriously, I wonder where Scotia got it’s name. I think the Romans called the territories of Ireland and Scotland ‘Scotia.’ Maybe that’s where it came from?
Anyhow, it was a pretty amazing verse. It says the Life was the Light of men and in the darkness it is shining, but the darkness has not laid hold of it. The other interesting word is κατελαβεν (katelaben). This is to grasp or cling or lay hold. It’s interesting because it is the word at play in the famous kenosis passage in Philippians 2 that I’ve been writing about in other posts.
Jesus Didn’t Quit His Day Job
I was recently blown away by Hebrews 1.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
There are a ton of amazing things in that passage. Two in particular jumped out. It said Jesus upholds the universe Read the rest of this entry »
35 Reasons Not to Sin
I read this the other day and it blessed me.
35 Reasons Not To Sin
1. Because a little sin leads to more sin.
2. Because my sin invites the discipline of God.
3. Because the time spent in sin is forever wasted.
4. Because my sin never pleases but always grieves God who loves me.
5. Because my sin places a greater burden on my spiritual leaders.
6. Because in time my sin always brings heaviness to my heart. Read the rest of this entry »
Do What to Santa Claus?
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous, School on May 18, 2007
Ok, I’m a little embarrassed to put this up here, but it’s just golden. A buddy of mine dug this up from who knows where. Someone we went to high school with must have had it laying around and someone digitized it.
Me and a couple buddies were in an aquatics class during my Junior year. We thought it would be a pretty easy A because we were swimmers and polo players. We lived in the water already. How hard could it be? We were right, except for one unit of the class, synchronized swimming. How could we maintain our adolescent sense of masculinity and compose a synchronized swimming routine? Here’s the result.
I think we took at least one of the shirts out of the lost & found in the locker rooms. If I remember we composed the whole routine the night before and it was nothing but each of the required movements one after the other. We added in a Hungarian drill from polo and then we did a throw to show off the treading water skills. The fellas threw me completely out of the water without touching bottom. The camerawork really falters at that point, but it was a pretty sweet little maneuver. Click on the image to see the full video.
Mom Passed the Texas Bar Exam!
Posted by G.T. in Miscellaneous on May 3, 2007
WOW! I’m pretty excited for my mom. She just got the list of candidates who passed the Texas state bar exam. She passed! It was a gruelling process of studying and she put a lot of time into it. She’s incredibly bright. I didn’t really have any doubt.