Lousy Church Signs!!!

I have to start out with the recent flap down in Jonesville, SC with the Church of God pastor who placed on their church sign:

Obama, Osama
Hummm
Are they brothers?

Several friends and even my dear, dear sweet mother-in-law emailed to let me know about this one and I waited around to see what the church decided to do about it. As I understand, the church decided unanimously to keep the sign up but then by this past Tuesday afternoon, due to public pressure, the pastor decided to take it down. Good blog friend Streak posted on this one as it broke the news, so I let my commentary rest.

The next one incorporates the new teen text messaging vernacular with Holy Writ.

Read the Bible
The Holy Spirit Will
Send You a Txt Msg

And maybe He will be your BFF 2. Then this one, a new twist on divine math, with hackneyed spelling to boot:

Tuff Love
1 Cross
3 Nails

Nope, no "4 Given" in that one. Guess that part wasn't important enuff to put on the sign. This next one I link from a friend's blog who has got some guts to post this sign. After posting he emailed to let me know about it; I commented on his chutzpah. Well, as luck (or fate, or chance, or whatever) would have it, another friend sent me this one! So, in response to brother Chris' lousy church sign, Ewwwwwww!!!


I know, this one just about crosses the line--it ain't fit to be on a sign, much less reposted on a blog. (Incidentally, Evangelism Coach is the best evangelism blog you will read on the net.) A few more to round the post out, sans my wit:

God Does Not
Believe in Atheists
Therefore Atheists
Do Not Exist

Forgive Your
Enemies--It Messes
With Their Heads

Free Coffee
Everlasting Life
Yes Membership Has
Its Privileges

Don't Be So
Open-Minded
Your Brains
Fall Out

God So Loved the World
That He Didn't
Send a Committee

Believe it or not, that one was on a Disciples of Christ church sign, and NOT BAPTIST!! (Oops, I said I wasn't going to commentate...or something...) This next one never gets old.

Read the Bible-It Will
Scare the Hell Out of You

This one is my favorite in this installment of LCS, and on an Assembly of God church sign!

Artificial Intelligence
Is No Match For
Natural Stupidity

Oh, and by the way, you can create your own church signs now! Too much fun. Too much.

Boy Reads Entire Bible; Obedience Made the Difference

These are a couple of articles I would like to point everyone to from the For Faith and Family Blog. The first is an encouraging article about a boy, eleven years old, who read through the entire Bible in two years. He did not sway from the task his mom and dad said, "He did it all on his own," with no encouragement from them.

“I wanted to get closer in my faith to the Lord,” says Graves. He recommends reading the Bible from Genesis straight through to Revelation. “I don’t really like skipping around,” he says.

Graves likes the Gospels but also enjoys the history books. “But you can’t leave out the minor and major letters of Paul,” he says.

Graves learned a lot while reading his way through the Scripture. “I learned it doesn’t matter how young or old you are, you still have to witness to other people,” he says.

A great picture of the boy in his Scout uniform is at the blog. The second article is the testimony from a personal friend that surfaces occasionally on the web in SBC circles (his link is in the sidebar). It comes from Tim Wilkins, coordinator of Cross Ministry out of Wake Forest, NC. Tim came out of a homsexual lifestyle and now ministers to other homosexuals; the tagline of his ministry is More than Words, meaning that it takes more than words to lead a homosexual to faith in Christ. The quote that always stands out to me when I read Tim's testimony follows:

My sporadic homosexual activity continued until my early twenties, when I decided that although I honestly did not know how to be heterosexual, I did know how to be obedient.

Obedience makes all the difference in following Christ. Have a blessed Thursday.

Some Funny

I was talking with a family we had just met at my daughter's soccer practice...which by the way, I am coaching defense, how cool is that??!!?? Bet all y'all didn't know that, huh? Well, anyway...

The family's daughter was wearing some extremely cool sports glasses. I remarked how cool I thought they were and they began explaining an eye disorder that she had that necessitated the special glasses.

I expressed my dismay and then asked, "Is it congenital?"

"Oh no, she was born that way."

Sigh.

Keeping our Children's Hearts

As a parent, what is the most valuable thing you can think of? There may be several answers to that question. My oldest child is now ten years old and already I can see and feel the subtle effects of a world vying for her attention. The world exerts a strong pull. How can I as a concerned father who loves his children counter this phenomenon? The Apostle John teaches us, "Do not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15)," but possessing such a natural bent to love that which God abhors, how can I as a fallible man with the same natural tendency, keep his children from falling away from the faith later on in their lives?

I am steadily becoming convinced that the answer lies in who possesses the child's heart. Scripture teaches us much about the human heart; its proclivity to sin, its various expressions, its need to be guarded, and also its need to be held. The heart represents who you are; often you have heard someone described as having a "good heart" or a "bad heart". It is a description of who that person is at a fundamental level.

I am reading a book by Steve and Teri Maxwell, Keeping Our Children's Hearts. (I hope to list a full review of the book on the blog soon.) The authors state a fundamental premise to parenting and one that I have, to a degree, failed: to keep our children from abandoning the faith altogether when they are older, we must posses their hearts when they are younger.

As I have read the first several chapters, I have found that much of my parenting and discipline has not been borne of my relationship with my kids but rather more like behavior modification techniques; "you do this or x, y, and z will happen." The premise is so true; though God does discipline His children (Hebrews 12:5-11) and God expects (and even demands) obedience, He desires that we obey Him out of a heart of love for him.

Now don't get me wrong, my kids love me and I love them. Don't read that I have been an utter failure as a daddy in that sentence! However, I do not naturally have their hearts, as God does not naturally have mine. It may be possible to raise good, godly children yet not have their hearts. In my short tenure of ministry I have heard lament after lament of how a child had slipped away and was consumed by the world, having fallen away from faith in Christ. They make statements such as, "They're good kids, they just don't go to church like they should"; or, "Christ was such a vital part of their lives when they were younger, now, not so much."

My goal is to raise good, godly kids, not just now, but to give them a faith that will remain. It is not enough to have kids that behave well, do not cause any problems, or simply "mind". What is best are kids that love Christ and all that emanates from that love. And that is why the most valuable things in my life, as a parent, are my children's hearts.

Food Pantry Ministry Restores Church to Health

Texarkana Church 'Loving' Community to Christ

I don't think I have ever heard of a food pantry ministry being this effective. Give the article a look and if you want, let me know what you think.

Our Family Goals

My wife and I have been talking about this for quite some time and have just now gotten around to getting these down on paper. At breakfast this morning, our family "ratified" these and consecrated ourselves unto the Lord with these goals in mind. So, what do you think? Should a family have goals?

*************************************************************************************

The overarching goal in our family is that each member has a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9). These goals are intended to engender in our family a love for God, a love for each other, and faith that causes us to persevere in times of difficulty.

1. Our family will seek to serve God as a family (Joshua 24:15).

2. Our family will seek to glorify God in all we do (Matthew 22:37-38, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17).

3. Our family will seek to love and respect one another (Matthew 22:39, Luke 10:25-37, Romans 12:10, Philippians 2:4).

4. Our family will seek to be obedient (John 14:15).

a. Daddy and Mommy will seek to be role models of obedience to the children (Proverbs 31:28, Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21, 1 Timothy 3:4, 2 Timothy 1:5, Titus 2:4).

b. The children will be obedient to Daddy and Mommy unless their instructions are contrary to God’s Word (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-3, Colossians 3:20).

5. Our family will seek to spend time together as a family, as often as is necessary to maintain a strong bond one with the other.

6. Our family will seek to be self-controlled and self-disciplined (1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Timothy 4:8).

7. Our family will seek to speak edifying words that encourage (Ephesians 4:29).

8. Our family will seek to be lovers of God’s Word and that it becomes a focus in our lives (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Psalms 19:7-11, 119:97).

9. Our family will seek to be content with God’s provision and learn to enjoy and be thankful for that which God provides (Philippians 4:11, 19; 1 Thessalonians 5:18, 1 Timothy 6:6-8).

10. Our family will seek to be in the world but not of the world (John 1:10, Romans 12:1-2, 1 John 2:15, 4:4).

What a Library!

I will confess, my family has a penchant for books. Combined, we have nearly 2,000 books in our home and at my study at the church. I was not surprised however, stumbling across this list of books that would be in the perfect library, that many of the books we already own. Take a gander.

SPLAT!

Plus, Ill top it off with a few lousy church signs, in honor of the fact that I do not post out here like I should.

Need a Second Opinion?
Ask Jesus!

So much for "Seek first..."; you know the rest. And you've got to love homonyms; even the overused ones. Always good for church signs.This first one I cannot believe still makes it on church signs.

No Jesus? No peace.
Know Jesus? Know peace!

And...

Our Sundays are better than Baskin Robbins.

Now I don't want to go to church or get ice cream. This next pastor has some life issues.

Life stinks
But we have the pews for you.

Yeah, I cannot believe that one was on a church sign either. And from the same church:

Behind every good man
is a surprised mother-in-law.

Yep; some serious life issues. If I had something against my mother-in-law, I would just say it to her face; no way would I use the church's sign to air my grievances with her. Oh wait...

And for the 2008 presidential race...

God loves you
and He approved this message.

And with that, I bid you adieu...

A Cause for Praise

I blogged last on my good friend's daughter and asked you to pleas pray for her. Improvement has been really slow, considering her condition before what happened, but there is much reason to be thankful unto the Lord. I have copied a portion of the email I received today that gives us much hope for her complete recovery.

Today is day 17 since [our baby girl's] adventure began and day 6 at Kluge Children's Rehab Center. In case you were wondering, she did not have a stroke this time. It's like her brain is 'bruised' but it has the full potential to regain everything she lost while seizing. Whether or not she does regain it all remains to be seen. She can sit up in a wheelchair for 2-3 hours now; and her head control is improving, but not what it used to be. She is moving her left arm and leg more. She smiles easily and can say a few words, but 'hi' is not one of them yet. Her voice is still at a whisper. She ate about a teaspoon of oatmeal twice yesterday and the day before. They are changing her feeding tube feeds to match a more normal eating habit. She should be there by tomorrow. We're not sure how much longer she will need the feeding tube. She has gotten very good at pulling it out, but needs to improve her swallow before it can be removed permanently.

They are concerned that she regain "hi" in her vocabulary because that was her standard greeting for anytime of the day. She still has some way to go, but her progress thus far is a great reason to rejoice. Thank you for your prayers.