August 2004 Archive
Toronto To Atlanta (08/31/04 - 0 Comments)
It is precisely 1403 kilometers from my house to my parent's house. I discovered that last night. It costs almost $70 (US dollars) in gas and takes just about 14 1/2 hours, though that includes a couple of quick bathroom breaks and a half-hour dinner break. Driving the I-75 in the dead of night is both rewarding (because it is usually wide open with very little traffic) and terrifying (because the traffic that is on...
Monday Ramblings (08/30/04 - 0 Comments)
It's going to be a long day. This afternoon we set off for Atlanta where we will be celebrating my sister's wedding on Saturday. The drive is a long one and we hope to drive all night and arrive just around breakfast time. It's a gruelling drive, but is better than doing the all day option and dealing with restless kids. At least this way they sleep most of the way! Next week promises to...
New Derek Webb Album (08/29/04 - 0 Comments)
Today I received the joyous news that Derek Webb, unofficial musician of Challies Dot Com, will be releasing a new album on November 9th of this year. It will be called "I See Things Upside Down" and apparently will be so hard-hitting and convicting that "it's going to make She Must and Shall Go Free sound like CCM." I can't wait to hear it!...
Judge Not (08/29/04 - 0 Comments)
The Olympics have finally ended. As Olympics go, this one was relatively free of scandal, which really means there were only a few scandals instead of so many that the whole two week time period falls under suspicion. It seems that the events that generate most controversy are the judged events. It is much more difficult to contest results in non-judged events. Probably the most contentious issue this time around has been the medal awarded...
Protect The Dignity of Labour! (08/28/04 - 1 Comments)
I have been thinking about writing this for exactly 148 days now. That is how many days the staff at the juvenile detention centre near my house have been on strike. The centre lies directly between my house and everywhere I ever drive, so I go by it just about every day. Every day they update their little sign to tell the world how many days they have been sitting outside, waiting for their demands...
Bring The Bible To Life! (08/28/04 - 0 Comments)
This morning I spent an hour wandering the aisles of WalMart while I had the oil changed in my van. Here's a shopping tip for you: you can beat the back-to-school craziness by shopping at Wal Mart at 8 AM on a Saturday morning. I very nearly had the place to myself! As I wandered I came across the electronics section where they sell electronics (obviously) but also video games, DVDs and so on. One...
Some Days I Blog... (08/27/04 - 0 Comments)
I realized yesterday that some days I blog while other days I write. Some days I write little snippets about my day and my life, while other days I concentrate on longer, (hopefully) well-thought-out articles. The past few days I've enjoyed blogging while the days before that I enjoyed writing articles. I guess that's the nice thing about having this site and not being accountable to anyone for the content. When I want to write...
The Original Olympics (08/27/04 - 0 Comments)
Someone sent me the following article yesterday. I have searched in vain to find a source to link to for it. I understand that it was written by Dr Peter Hammond, but that is about all I know. It provides an interesting perspective on the Olympic games. Various newspaper articles, media networks and the Olympic website have made reference to the fact that in AD393, the Roman emperor Theodosius banned the Olympic games for "being...
The Wedding Is In A Week... (08/26/04 - 0 Comments)
My sister's wedding is one week from Saturday. They asked me today if I would give a speech about her. I have a rather poor memory and I'm sure this will strain it to the max. Of course it doesn't help that for the past five years the family has been living just about 1000 miles away from me so I haven't had many memories of Susanna at all! So not only do I have...
One Of Those Sites (08/26/04 - 0 Comments)
I used to spend a lot of time at a reasonably popular forum where people from across the world gathered to discuss, well, just about everything. Though the site was dedicated to computer gaming, something I used to devote a lot of time to, the forums seemed to be devoted to just about everything else. We had some great discussions there, talking and arguing (usually nicely) about all sorts of topics, both spiritual and non-spiritual....
Comedy Gold (08/26/04 - 0 Comments)
X-ATI guy has written a hilarious satirical article about how to capture a woman's heart. Using the Bible as his guide, he invites us to use the same techniques Absalom used. 1. Remove Blemishes that Distract from your Appearance 2 Sam 14:25 But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no...
More Gmail Invites (08/26/04 - 0 Comments)
I have another five GMail invites to give away, so if you are interested in having your very own account, email me or post a comment with your email address and I'll send an invite your way. If you don't know, GMail is Google's new free email service that gives you a full gigabyte of mail storage (1000x more than Hotmail gives you). It seems like a pretty good system. Of course the only drawback...
Busy Days (08/25/04 - 0 Comments)
I've been a busy boy the past few days. I have been working with my clients who own CD & ,ultimedia storage e-commerce sites, entering all sorts of new products and getting them set for the Christmas season. And after that I have a new site to prepare for them that will feature all sorts of storage products beyond media storage. I also have a complete redesign to work on for my church's site and...
Trading On Mercy (08/25/04 - 0 Comments)
Have you ever thought about what kind of things you take for granted? In most cases, when you come to a stop sign, you stop, then look both ways. If there is a stop sign to your right or left and a car is approaching, you go ahead and pull through the intersection. Right? You just assumed that the approaching car was going to stop at that stop sign. You are trading on the obedience...
2005 Best Sellers (08/24/04 - 1 Comments)
In the past few years we have been treated to some of the worst Christian books to ever be published. As the Christian market expands and more and more publishers are bought by secular companies, I have little doubt that upcoming years we bring an even bigger crop of really bad books. Of course the news has not been all drab as we have also seen some wonderful books make it to the special order...
To Know Him More (08/23/04 - 1 Comments)
How many times has someone told you that they “accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior?” Have you ever asked them what it means that Jesus is their Lord? Have you ever asked them how Jesus is their Savior? What makes Him their Savior? And what does it mean that He is their personal Lord and Savior? How many times have you heard people open a prayer with the words “Dear God?” What do...
I've Said It Before (08/23/04 - 1 Comments)
I've said this before and in all likelihood will say it again. It seems that the articles I take lots of time to think about and write garner far less attention than the ones I rip off in 15 minutes and post, almost without proofreading them. On Saturday I had a very limited window to write an article but managed to write out a longish piece about relevancy. Between me and you I barely even...
"It's the Church... Stupid!" (08/22/04 - 0 Comments)
Steve Camp has posted an interesting article at his ministry site entitled It's The Church...Stupid!. He discusses the fact that in the New Testament times, pastoral training was handled not by seminaries but by the local church. He extends this to today to show that while seminaries may provide a wonderful education but do not produce good pastors. Going even further, he puts the blame for many of today's most popular heresies on the Christian...
How Relevant Is Too Relevant? (08/21/04 - 1 Comments)
Unless you’ve been hiding in dead, country churches for the past decades, you’ll know that there is a movement in the Evangelical church to be relevant to the culture around us. Obviously, there is nothing inherently wrong with being able to effectively communicate with the people in our society. Since the days of the apostles, Christians have gone to extraordinary measures to learn about the cultures they are living and preaching in. Missionaries have studied...
Book Review - Getting The Gospel Right (08/20/04 - 0 Comments)
“Getting The Gospel Right” is R.C. Sproul’s sequel to the popular book “Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification” and is a thorough treatment of the subject of Christian unity. It is essentially a response to a document that tested the boundaries of unity between Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants: “The Gift of Salvation” (also known as ECT II) which was released subsequently to the original “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” These documents were both written...
Thursday Ramblings (08/19/04 - 0 Comments)
Now I generally try to hold off posting ramblings until later in the week (generally Saturday), but I had an exceptionally busy day today so am going to use my weekly Rambling column early this week. One of my clients owns two (soon to be three) e-commerce sites selling CD and DVD racks and today they wanted to add all sorts of new products. Since I generally do the additions for them, that kept me...
What Could Be (08/18/04 - 0 Comments)
I spent almost the entire duration of my education in Christian schools. From the first grade until the eleventh I attended several different Christian schools in various parts of Southern Ontario. The only exception was a year I spent in Edinburgh, Scotland where I attended first the local public high school and then the American School of Edinburgh. While there were many benefits in attending Christian schools, not the least of which were training in...
Book Review - Hard To Believe (08/17/04 - 1 Comments)
“Hard to Believe” is another hard-hitting, no-holds-barred strike against the modern church. Much as he did years ago in “Ashamed of the Gospel”, MacArthur takes aim at easy-believism and a watered-down, seeker-friendly gospel. In particular, he criticizes the influence of those who preach self-esteem, a health and wealth gospel and aim to be overly seeker-friendly. This book forceful – so much so that there were several places where the force of his words and his...
Pope Rick I (08/17/04 - 0 Comments)
Thanks to Joel for pointing out a great article written by The Internet Monk. He writes about Rick Warren, calling him Pope Rick I, and his almost unbelievable statement that we should "never criticize what God is blessing." If you hang around my site at all you'll know that phrase has caused me more than a few moments of disbelief and has given me plenty to write about. Internet Monk is similarly unimpressed. Pope Rick...
Book Review - 20 Controversies That Almost Killed A Church (08/16/04 - 0 Comments)
Richard Ganz is pastor of a vibrant, growing church in Ottawa, Canada. I have had the privilege of attending that church many times over the years and have always been blessed by Richard’s exposition of Scripture. He truly is a very gifted teacher. While he is primarily a pastor, he has also written several books, the most recent of which is “20 Controversies That Almost Killed A Church.” The book examines Paul’s first epistle to...
A Bogus Invitation (08/15/04 - 0 Comments)
I've been reading "Hard to Believe" by John MacArthur and thought I'd share a quote from that book today. He has just said a rather shocking statement: that being saved is very difficult. I know this shocks some people, because we hear all the time that getting saved is easy. "Just sign this little card!" "Just raise your hand!" "Just walk down that aisle while the choir sings one more stanza!" "Just recite this prayer!"...
Saturday Ramblings (08/14/04 - 0 Comments)
Welcome to another edition of Saturday Ramblings, the weekly article where I attempt to make you believe I have something to say when really I've got nothing. I had all sorts of great ideas of what I was going to write today, but then I realized it's the first day of the Olympics and it would be fun to sit with my wife and watch Canadians lose at all sorts of events, so that is...
BlogSwap 4 - Freedom (08/13/04 - 0 Comments)
Today I am honored to post an entry by Doug McHone, author of CoffeeSwirls, one of my favorite blogs. Before we discuss freedom, Let's take a look at it's polar opposite:Slave:One bound in servitude as the property of a person or household. One who is abjectly subservient to a specified person or influence: “I was still the slave of education and prejudice” (Edward Gibbon). One who works extremely hard. A machine or component controlled by...
BlogSwap 4 - Entries (08/13/04 - 0 Comments)
Today is BlogSwap 4, the fourth in the ongoing BlogSwap saga. Today's assignment was to write about Freedom. Here is the list of participants: www.millerfamily.biz/blog/blogger.html http://simplegames.blogspot.com http://everydaymusings.blogspot.com/ www.sober-minded.com www.theirvins.com http://ochuk.gizzar.com/ www.coffeeswirls.com www.challies.com www.matt-hall.net www.whatisthis.com www.tulipgirl.com joemissionary.blogspot.com OreoChick...
Purpose Gone Wrong? (08/12/04 - 1 Comments)
A reader of this site posted an interesting story in the forum that I had not read before today. It is taken from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (which is a newspaper, if that isn't obvious by the name) and is entitled " 165 members ousted from Gardendale Baptist." To avoid copyright infringment I will not post the whole story, but will post some of the relevant snippets. Members of Gardendale Baptist Church voted Sunday to...
Salvation - A Past, Present & Future Reality (08/11/04 - 1 Comments)
Salvation is the central theme of the Bible, and indeed the very heart of the gospel. The promise of salvation is what stirs the heart of the new believer and continues to encourage Christians until the time they are called home. Salvation is a promise, a reality and a hope. Today I want to look at salvation as a past, present and future reality for every true believer. Past Those who are in Christ have...
9 Marks of a Healthy Church (08/10/04 - 0 Comments)
Last week I mentioned that I had discovered 9 Marks Ministries and that I was thrilled to find an organization that is dedicated to recovering many of the traditional marks of a Biblical church. While they mention that the nine marks they outline are not the only important marks of a healthy church, they do believe they are the most neglected. I am going to briefly outline each of the nine. And just to increase...
Clichéd Christianity - Amen (08/09/04 - 0 Comments)
About a month ago I wrote about Cliched Christianity and spoke of the danger of allowing words to lose their meaning. Today I would like to explore one word that has become little more than cliché to many Christians. I have chosen to begin at the end, so to speak, with the word “amen.” I choose this word because my own realization of the clichés I use began with this word. I had spent a...
6 Great... (08/08/04 - 0 Comments)
Today my wife and I are celebrating our sixth anniversary. That's right, on August 8, 1998, a scorching hot day by anyone's standards, Aileen and I were married in historical St. John's Anglican Church in Ancaster, Ontario. Our wedding represented was was probably the one and only time a Reformed pastor has spoken from that particular pulpit. The wedding was followed by a reception at the nearby Old Town Hall where we baked in the...
Saturday Ramblings (08/07/04 - 0 Comments)
I had big plans for today. I was going to write a book review and so some other good, deep theological writing. Alas, I woke up at 3:00 this morning feeling sicker than a dog. After being up the rest of the night I certainly wasn't in any shape to do an researching or writing so it's just going to have to wait for another day. It's too bad, really, as I was looking forward...
Procrastination, The Passion and September 11 (08/06/04 - 0 Comments)
I had planned on writing something about procrastination but decided I'd do it later. I'm funny. Anyways, I was thinking today about some similarities between The Passion of the Christ and September 11. That's a strange duo, I can't deny, but hear me out. After the Western world was shaken by the events of September 11, many Christians became convinced that this sort of event would drive people back to the church. And sure enough,...
The Application of Redemption To The Elect (08/06/04 - 0 Comments)
Today I will be writing about how redemption is applied to the lives of believers. An obvious prerequisite to this article would be one about how redemption was accomplished. I will not be writing about that at this time, so we will have to consider it sufficient to say that redemption was accomplished through the death of Christ. Without Christ’s atoning and substitutionary death, there could be no redemption. This article will be brief, for...
Drunk Toddlers (08/06/04 - 0 Comments)
Several months ago my daughter, who is one year old, got a urinary tract infection. It was nothing too serious - she just had a high fever and experienced a bit of pain. A bit of Tylenol and antibiotics cleared it up quite quickly. The problem is that our doctor decided that such an infection was sufficiently rare that he had better refer her to a specialist to make sure there was nothing more serious...
The Myth Of Mutual Submission (08/05/04 - 3 Comments)
Much has been made in the past few years of mutual submission within marriage. Where traditionally women were encouraged to submit to their husbands, today we are told that the correct Biblical pattern is a mutual submission where the husband and wife submit equally to each other. This teaching seems to contradict the traditional Biblical pattern on male headship. Today I want to take a quick look at mutual submission. The basis for this teaching...
Take This Cup (Redux) (08/04/04 - 1 Comments)
Many months ago, inspired by discussion revolving around The Passion of the Christ, I wrote an article I entitled "Take This Cup Away From Me." In recent days I have been continually struck by the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice and my lack of understanding as to how great it really was. My thoughts turned to the article I wrote and I decided I would rewrite it and post it again. So here it is. Jesus...
