Twittersphere

I've mentioned before that I along time ago established a Twitter account (awb330) to "follow" a few friends. A few months ago I decided to start tweeting. It provides an outlet, along with Facebook, to say a few things on my mind or to react to certain things I that observe. It's kinda like a lite version of the blog.

My criteria for following people is fairly simple. I need to be interested in what you are thinking/saying. I follow a few "big name" people but only if they share quotes. I don't care about where they are speaking or what they had for lunch (ha ha).

Here are some good sample tweets that meet my criteria:


From RickWarren (love him or not, he knows how to craft quotes):

God wants us to build our lives on his great purposes & promises, not petty rules.

Whenever God gives you a check in your gut,stop IMMEDIATELY! Dont just slow down, STOP & LISTEN! It's saved me many times.

Ps.46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" means sit down & shut up. You cant hear God if you're never quiet.

From Greg Boyd:

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (Ja.4:14). Life isn't a dress rehearsal. THIS IS IT!

From CSLewisDaily:

No one can settle how much we ought to give. The only safe rule is to give more than we can spare-C.S. Lewis

From Shane Clairborne:

Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.

Go and ask my enemies, or the poor, or my neighbor and if they say I am a Christian then I suppose I’m a Christian.

The great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor.

And finally from me, awb330:

My 100th tweet. Wow. I want to say something so profoud and witty, but here's all I can come up with: "I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat."

I'm Back! Hopefully

Sorry about my absence. I will try to do better. Now that I have finally mastered my new cell phone (see photo), things are getting a lot better!

This fall has been the busiest one I can recall; not complaining, just observing. I came out of the summer slowdown to resume all my normal church activities, along with two classes at Oakland City University. I usually only teach one, and I don’t ever plan to do two again. It’s too much, although I feel I am doing some of my best work there. In a lot of ways I feel like I’m on a mission field, and it’s only 20 minutes away.

Football and volleyball both ended over the weekend. I loved watching my kids play, but it took up almost every night through the week. That coupled with church meant hardly any evening time at home, and I really like/need evening time at home. After just two nights at home I am starting to feel renewed. Rebecca had a great end to her season. The team had not won many regular season games but managed to win two in the sectional. They finally fell in the final game. It was a great run. Ben’s football team showed improvement through the season but, in my opinion, needs a pretty big change in the whole system. We'll see what the off-season brings.

Probably foolishly I have been training hard for the Monumental Marathon. The foolish part involves the timing of being so busy with other stuff, but I did it anyway. I cranked out a lot of 50 mile weeks and managed to hold up well. I am very nervous about the marathon. I have run several of them, so I am not nervous about the distance. I am nervous about trying to qualify for Boston. I have to run 3.35.59 or better. That’s quite fast for an average-talented guy like me. It is going to take all that I have to do it. I am trying to work through my anxiety now. I have to trust my training. I did everything I was supposed to do. I am praying for success and good weather (low 50s or lower).

That’s enough for now! Thanks for your patience.

The other morning I was running over around where Fred and Evelyn live. As I ran along I saw this nail in the road. This nail interrupted my sermon preparation, which often takes place on a run. I was running for time, so I didn’t want to slow down or stop. I ran on by the nail in the road.

The little devil on one shoulder said, “It’s no big deal. Maybe an Amish buggy with steel wheels will hit it and knock it off the road.” The angel on the other shoulder said, “You really ought to go back and get that nail. What if Fred and Evelyn or Andy and Casey or maybe even Troy and Jamie run over it and have a flat tire?”

The debate continued for about a quarter of a mile, and then I turned around and went back and got the nail, partly because on Wednesday night we talked a little about this Scripture (James 4:17): Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

We all face this battle in our hearts and minds about doing good and doing bad. The minor struggle I mentioned above is just that — relatively minor. There are more major struggles that people face all the time.

A young man told me last week that he really wants to overcome his addiction to alcohol. He goes to AA and he fights hard. He’s even gone in liquor stores when he is strong, sober, and determined and begged them, “If I come back in here, please don’t sell me anything.” But in moments of weakness that comes from the pressures of life, he finds a way to find what he wants but knows that he should not have and does not need. He falls again. And again. And yet again.

Men (and women) battle internet pornography. Even though a man’s marriage is in danger of being destroyed because he’s been caught looking at porn, in moments of weakness, when alone, maybe late at night, he makes the fateful clicks of unfaithfulness, hating it even as he does it. He knows it’s so wrong, and he really doesn’t want to do it. Yet he does; click after click.

You ever say things like this?

“I don’t understand myself at all!”
“I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong.”
“I can’t help myself.”
“No matter which way I turn – I can’t make myself do right”
“When I do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”
“What a miserable person I am.”

These are the words of Paul as found in the New Living Translation of Romans 7.

And you have just read the introduction to Sunday's sermon! We're going to explore the problem that we all have in battling sin.

Paul ends his confession with a question and answer that goes something like this:

Who can rescue me from all this?

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.