Yesterday was the closest I’ve come to not being allowed into the US of A. The trouble I have is that the rules keep changing, and when I attempt to find out what the new rules are, I am regarded with suspicion as if I’m trying to game the system. So I try to come prepared, but every now and again they throw me for a loop. Probably just for their own amusement. This time I had to give up fingerprints and a photograph, but eventually they let me in, even if my fingerprints are now on file in some nefarious database somewhere in the headquarters of the FBI or CIA or TSA or IRS or who knows where. I feel a little less welcome every time I come to America.
A Transgender Golfer – “A former male SWAT team member filed a lawsuit in California against the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) after the now transgender woman was denied in her efforts to join the women’s golf tour, her lawyer said Wednesday.” I have to say, I’ve got more sympathy with the golfer than the LPGA in this case. If our society is crazy enough to say, “If you say you’re a woman, we’ll treat you as a woman,” what right do we then have to say that you can’t compete as a woman, even if you’ve got the body of a man? We can’t have it both ways! Let him (her?) compete until society figures out why this is all insanity.
The Story of the T-Shirts – Here’s an interesting story from CNN. It tells why the Chilean miners were all rescued wearing t-shirts saying ‘Gracias Senor’ – ‘Thank you Lord.’
Is the Sabbath Still Required for Christians? – I mentioned last Sunday that I have an underdeveloped theology of the Sabbath. JT has Tom Schreiner’s take on the Sabbath requirements in the New Testament. I think I hold to his view. But I need to do more thinking about it.
Mustard Seeds and Willow Trees – I enjoyed this post from Erik Raymond. “I sometimes have something of a Willow tree perspective on ministry. As a church planting pastor I have plans. I have goals. I have ways to measure these things and get us where we need to go. These expectations are also fueled by other ‘successful’ ministries that seem to make rapid, evident, growth in numbers and influence almost seem normative.”
