Starting off the week

Psalm 107:31 - "Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

The picture you're seeing is of Julianne's second day at pre-school. It was Cowboy Day and she was a rarin' to go. Jill tries her best to keep a straight face but can't do it. Julie is the Human Cartoon. Every day she comes into my office and sits at her little desk and "works" for about an hour. She'll empty my trash can and sort some papers but mostly she'll draw pictures for me. My office is like a regular art studio now.

Hey, it's been a great time lately.

Jill's up and around and making this home look great - the renovation projects and other chores we've been tackling are starting to show. She has really decorated the home and made it look awesome. Jill has a definite gift.

Peter is getting more and more into the football season, and he's adjusting well in the Grace Christian Academy life.

Julianne is Julianne.

Nicholas is graduating in San Antonio this week. Alexis will fly down to TX to see him.

My writing jobs have picked up lately. Google, 24OnDemand, Premier Basketball League, even a possible movie script...I'm fighting to keep everything in order. Plus the Collegian program I wrote is going great at the churches and schools around the country.

Last night was great. We had five University of Tennessee students join our Sunday evening Bible study, and the whole place was energized. Bobby McCoy came over and spoke about his life and God's greatness, even after the accident that left him in a wheelchair. He was - and is - an inspiration to us all. He gave a message that fits our family to the Nth degree: in spite of all the world's trouble, God is still very, very good.

I agree wholeheartedly. God is good - all the time.

Big Saturday

We were all excited this morning. Fed Ex arrived , and - woo hoo! - I received a nice check for some sports league work for the upcoming season - nothing like seeing a little up-front payment to get the morning started! Writing has slowly but surely been getting more steady; the previous months showed me the severity of the economy to many businesses. A lot of them needed me to write for their web page, manual or articles, but could not scrape the money together. A few energized businesses have helped me a lot. And besides all that, the rain and a little Miracle Gro have combined to make my gardens pretty monstrous.

Peter played linebacker for GCA vs. a Chattanooga team and he got in a few good licks. Nicholas' graduation is this week, at San Antonio. Praise the Lord from Whom all blessings flow!

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From Paul Little:

As we face the claims of Christ, there are only four possibilities. He was either a liar, a lunatic, a legend, or the Truth. If we say He is not the Truth, we are automatically affirming one of the other three alternatives, whether we realize it or not.

(1) One possibility is that Jesus lied when He said He was God -- that He knew He was not God, but deliberately deceived His hearers to lend authority to His teaching. Few, if any, seriously hold this position. Even those who deny His deity affirm that He was a great moral teacher. They fail to realize those two statements are a contradiction. Jesus could hardly be a great moral teacher if, on the most crucial point of His teaching -- His identity -- He was a deliberate liar.

(2) A kinder, though no less shocking possibility, is that He was sincere but self-deceived. We have a name for a person today who thinks he is God. That name is lunatic, and it certainly would apply to Christ if He were deceived on this all-important issue. But as we look at the life of Christ, we see no evidence of the abnormality and imbalance we find in a deranged person. Rather, we find the greatest composure under pressure.

(3) The third alternative is that all of the talk about His claiming to be God is a legend -- that what actually happened was that His enthusiastic followers, in the third and fourth centuries, put words into His mouth He would have been shocked to hear. Were He to return, He would immediately repudiate them.

The legend theory has been significantly refuted by many discoveries of modern archeology. These have conclusively shown that the four biographies of Christ were written within the lifetime of contemporaries of Christ. Some time ago Dr. William F. Albright, world-famous archaeologist now retired from Johns Hopkins University, said that there was no reason to believe that any of the Gospels were written later than A.D. 70. For a mere legend about Christ, in the form of the Gospel, to have gained the circulation and to have had the impact it had, without one shred of basis in fact, is incredible.

For this to have happened would be as fantastic as for someone in our own time to write a biography of the late John F. Kennedy and in it say he claimed to be God, to forgive people's sins, and to have risen from the dead. Such a story is so wild it would never get off the ground because there are still too many people around who knew Kennedy. The legend theory does not hold water in the light of the early date of the Gospel manuscripts.

(4) The only other alternative is that Jesus spoke the truth. From one point of view, however, claims don't mean much. Talk is cheap. Anyone can make claims. There have been others who have claimed to be God. I could claim to be God, and you could claim to be God, but the question all of us must answer is, "What credentials do we bring to substantiate our claim?" In my case it wouldn't take you five minutes to disprove my claim. It probably wouldn't take too much more to dispose of yours. But when it comes to Jesus of Nazareth, it's not so simple. He had the credentials to back up His claim. He said, "Even though you do not believe Me, believe the evidence of the miracles, that you may learn and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father" (John 10:38).

Source: http://www.everystudent.com/features/faith.html?gclid=CI388r6nyZwCFU0i2godmS0BJA

Recent events

I'm heading over to Concord Christian School this morning to help introduce Blueprint Doulos, the teamwork and leadership program I wrote, designed for Christian youth groups and high school students. In late September I'm supposed to meet with some organizations in Orlando who may make it a national ministry. Jill and I are praying about this. If it can be part of a Christian organization's growth, then it'll be a blessing to me to be able to provide it.

We've had a busy household around here. As Jill and I were renovating, I pulled up some carpet in the main fireplace room and found that underneath looked to be some pretty nice wood flooring. I ripped up the rest of it to find some awesome parquet flooring, hidden from sight for over twenty years, It's changed the look of the whole room.

Then Dave Whitaker, wife Lynette and daughter Kaylan were traveling through to get Kaylan settled in for college. I worked on the staff at Heart to Heart Bible Church in Phoenix AZ where Dave was the pastor. That was almost ten years ago. The whole family looks like they haven't aged a bit... well except for Kaylan. She was only eight when we left. Now she's a beautiful young lady, ready to strike out on her own.

Then I get a call a couple of days later. It's the Moorehead family from the Kansas City area. What a riot! They were also passing through, so we stopped the work day and threw out the spread for a lunch that ended up lasting three hours or so. What fun. Dan and Kathy Moorehead are dear friends from the old college days. They were chugging along the interstate with their family, also on the way to droppiing off their son Nathan for college. It was a great time. I keep telling Dan he needs to move here to Knoxville, but will he listen? We have everything you'd want in a town... mainly restaurants. Tons of eateries here in the town. Hey, that's pretty big incentive.

Peter will be playing football tonight for Grace Christian Academy. They're playing a school in Chattanooga, an away game. Peter will be putting some time in as a linebacker and maybe a bit as a lineman. He's really adapted to the speed and the flow of the game and he'll be ready to go tonight.

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Psalm 143:8 - "Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust..." It's in the morning, before the rush of the day, that I best feel God's gentleness. Yes, that's it, His gentleness. He lets me arise and get my thoughts in order, but He wants to help me sort them out in the correct manner, with an eye toward Him. As I get this proper view of the day, I am ready to walk the pathway with better sight toward all the challenges I'll face.

Self control

Galatians 5:22, 23 -"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. "

(self control is the Greek word enkrates from en = in + krátos = power is literally one having power to "hold oneself in" or to "master self". Enkrates means the ability to have dominion over self. The individual exercising enkrates is displaying restraint over his own emotions and appetites. He is able to control his impulses and desires. By showing enkrates I am displaying the fruit of the Spirit. And boy, is this a hard one to follow.

I can recall the time in college when the stress was so bad and the testing so great that I literally saw red. A felloow student was showing callousness and rudeness, and I had reached my limit of him (ever happen to you college students with roommates?) I had to do everything possible from exploding in anger, and to be truthful, it scared me.

Years later, as a teacher, I was accosted by a parent who was so angry she was almost shaking. We scheduled an appointment with the principal and some other mediators. I realized the situation would be volatile, and I was also aware of my need to keep things in control, so I had some deep prayer prior to the meeting. Thank the Lord, even though the accusations and emotions were loud and personal, they didn't really reach me - in other words, they didn't get to me. When it was explained to the woman that all of her accusations were false, she immediately directed her anger at another person in the room. I then realized how dangerous the situation could have been - she was provoking someone in the room to lose their temper. (None of us did.) By leaning on the Lord I was able to make it through.

Enkrates - control of temper, appetite, direction, desires, focus. This is pretty near impossible if I attempt this on my own, believe me. However, I find that God's power through the Holy Spirit makes it possible. It is indeed a fruit of the Spirit.

The right attitude about possessions

The writing career is fun - but it's also a long row to hoe.

I face some pretty tough times - as we all do - in having enough work for us to take care of our household needs. The writing profession is not immune to the financial trials of the nation, and each assignment is met with great appreciation. As I pray for guidance and direction each day so that I might receive the work and payments to take care of our household, I am reminded of the balance to be struck so that greed doesn't enter the picture. The fine program Discover the Word (www.rbc.org) had this as a great explanation:

The Greeks tell the story of rich King Croesus who wallowed in his gold. But he became beside himself with mortification because he could not make the Athenian philosopher Solon envy him.

There is a Yiddish tale about a poor man who was given three wishes. But there was a condition: whatever he wished for would be granted to him, but the same would be given double to his neighbor.

First, he wished for a beautiful wife and got her, but his neighbor received two beautiful wives.

Second, he wished for a palace and got it, but his neighbor got two palaces.

Third, so filled with jealousy, he used his third wish to be blind in one eye and it was so, and his neighbor became blind in both eyes.

... people who have accumulated money are not necessarily happy.

A reporter asked Nelson Rockefeller, “How much money does it take to be happy?” He replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Accumulating money has been compared to drinking salt water. The thirst remains ...

"You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s" (Exodus 20:17).

Source for story: http://www.rbc.org/radio-tv/discover-the-word/2009/07/15/program.aspx Brad Zockoll, 2009