"Even the mediocre can have adventures,and even the fearful can achieve."
- Sir Edmund Hillary

John Piper on William Tyndale at the New Attitude conference. He also applies the principles Tyndale lived by to our lives. It is worth a listen. Find it here.

A MAN LEADS HIS FAMILY

When President Truman retired from office in 1952, his income consisted of a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 per year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally,licking them, granted him an "allowance" and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

However, when offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined,
stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the president,and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

When Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing:"I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."

They don't make 'em like the used to.

HOLDING UP THE MOON

EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

I received this note from a friend who often preaches in China:

Dear Larry and Joy:

A 7.9-magnitude earthquake recently hit Sichuan province,
China, has caused severe disaster, thousands of people lose
their lives and homes, many are still missing. Last month I
had visited the city, located in the hardest hit area, to teach
a week-long training course for church leaders. I contacted
some of them yesterday knowing that the damage is far
beyond measure. The rescure efforts are undertaking but the
situation is difficult. They do need our prayer urgently!

Please encourage your church to pary and ask for God's mercy
for Chinese people who are now suffering in this tragedy.

Your kind concerns about this urgent request are much appreciated.

In His Love,
Stephen

Great article on how to teach the Bible from Russell Moore at Southern Seminary. Here.

"The Calvinist is the man who sees God behind all phenomena and in all that occurs recognizes the hand of God, working out His will; who makes the attitude of the soul to God in prayer its permanent attitude in all its life-activities; and who casts himself on the grace of God alone, excluding every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of his salvation." B.B. Warfield, alvin as a Theologian and Calvinism Today, pp. 23,24 (1909).

"I am persuaded that the use of a good Catechism in all our families will be a great safeguard against the increasing errors of the times, and therefore I have compiled this little manual from the Westminster Assembly's and Baptist Catechisms, for the use of my own church and congregation.

Those who use it in their families or classes must labour to explain the sense; but the words should be carefully learned by heart, for they will be understood better as years pass.

May the Lord bless my dear friends and their families evermore, is the prayer of their loving Pastor. "

C. H. Spurgeon

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT

You can watch the trailer here.

I can't wait. I love a hero. I especially love a hero with inner demons to conquer.

My idea of the perfect movie is a story of good guys and bad guys that are distinguishable. The good guys chase the bad guys, catch them and, well, kill them. In addition, hopefully, there will be car chases and explosions, or swords and horses, and maybe a maiden to rescue.

I think Christian Bale is a great Batman. He believes, he struggles, he suffers. He wins. Then, he realizes, it came with a cost. And there is more to be done.

Life is like that, isn't it? To accomplish something for the good, you have to suffer and bleed and struggle. Then you win and vanguish the bad. It is a good thing, but you realize you paid a price. Yet, someone had to do it and you were the one. A Japanese proverb says: who does the hard things? He who can.

SHE HAS BEHELD HIM FACE TO FACE

I just heard that Dottie Rambo died Sunday when her tour bus crashed. I had no idea she was 74 years old. She was busy, I can tell you that. She published 2,500 or so songs. The 1991 Baptist Hymnal has "We Shall Behold Him" and "Behold the Lamb." The 2008 hymnal will also have "Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome" when it comes out this summer. She also wrote "I Go To the Rock" which you might remember from the movie "The Preacher's Wife", where it was sung by Whitney Houston.

LIGHTNING & VOLCANIC ERUPTION

You have to go see this picture of a lightning storm above an erupting volcano in Chile. I would love to have seen this in person.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

One of the other Democrats (see previous post) in the race has lost another advisor. After dumping his pastor for inflammatory and, well, crazy, comments, Obama now has to distance himself from an advisory that has ties to Hamas, the radical, terrorist, Palestinian group. Robert Malley admitted he has regular contact with Hamas, which is listed by the State Department as a terrorist organisation. You know, if our State Department thinks they're bad, they must really by bad, because those guys will drink with anybody.

Take It Or Leave It called Obama for comment and he responded "Hamas? I thought he said Hummus! You know, he was having drinks with hummus. Wow, we really do need a change." This was right after he said there were 57 states. I asked him about that, too, and he said he was the candidate for the geographically disadvantaged.

No Republicans were hurt in the production of this post.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL CANDIDATE

McCain is kicking off his environment tour, touting global warming. Maybe he'll ask Al Gore to run as his VP. Seriously, this is going to be the Republican nominee? Is there a chance that I'm having a bad dream and I'll wake up to find there is actually a Republican in the race?

HILLARY WANING

Clinton’s moment may have passed. At the beginning of the campaign, she seemed to feel that she was the heir apparent, that it was her time. The also rans got beat up and left, the perennial losers and a few more. Then, it was Clinton and Obama and the unthinkable happened. People liked Obama (well, Democratic people). People didn’t like Clinton so much. In state after state, she had the lead until she got there. Then she arrived and began campaigning, and the lead vanished. Was it Obama’s charisma or her lack of it?

After earning only a split instead of a 2-fer with Indiana and North Carolina, Clinton is hanging on by her fingernails. Unfortunately for her, she won small in Indiana and lost big in North Carolina. Despite the storm over Obama’s angry pastor, he has maintained his lead in delegates and increased his popularity nationwide among Democrats.

Clinton is behind in elected delegates, ahead but fading in the lead among super delegates, losing the popular vote and being doubled by Obama in the number of states carried. While he is flush with cash, she is loaning money to her campaign. She is having a tough month. But, she is tough, and she is campaigning tough. It has not won her enough to catch up, but is exposing Obama’s weaknesses. And it is causing the Democratic leadership to get nervous. So, they are calling for her to quit. The more she bloodies Obama, they think, they less his chances for nomination.

Clinton has the right to stay in the race until the convention. Obama is going to get bloody if he gets the nomination (do you think the Republicans have not dug up these same weaknesses?) so he might as well get his scars now. And, you never know what will happen.

Clinton’s new message seems to be “The Democratic Party can't win with just eggheads and African-Americans". I agree, but it doesn’t sound much like what you hear from politically correct Democrats. It is a dilemma for Clinton. If she points out the obvious, she is playing the race card. Guess what we learned long ago, Ms. Clinton. The Black candidate can play the race card, the Anglo cannot.

One guy that knows a lot about losing is George McGovern, crushed by Richard Nixon in his run for president. He wants Clinton to turn out the lights and go home. He used to support Clinton, but has now decided to endorse Obama. Politicians love to land on the winning side. Loyalty is hard to come by.

McGovern said it's virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination. McGovern said he is still friends with the Clintons. We’ll see. Dick Morris also used to be a friend of Bill and he says it’s over. Zogby, the pollster, says it’s over. Does anyone have a recording of Don Meredith singing “turn out the lights, the party’s over” on Monday Night Football?

Subject: why did the chicken cross the road?

BARACK OBAMA:
The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN:
My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:
When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions.
I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new
platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .........reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!

The difference between boys and girls. At Consumed.

"As I read the New Testament, I do not see any example of the church understanding its gospel or its mission to be the direct shaping of the laws of the land or the improving of its structures." Certainly, the apostle Paul never tells the church to spend its time explicitly instructing the Roman emperor or shaping the pagans' view of culture." Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

CONSOLING THOUGHTS FROM CALVIN

There are days I think there is no way the SBC can survive. Today I read this from Calvin. If he can be optimisticly faithful, surely I can. No one has tried to kill me yet. It is from his Commentary on Micah 4:6-7.

Micah 4:6, 7 reads: "6. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that I have afflicted: "7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever."

Commenting on verse 6, Calvin says:

"Although the Church is at the present time hardly to be distinguished from a dead, or at best a sick, man, there is no reason for despair; for the Lord raises up His own suddenly, as He waked the dead from the grave. This we must clearly remember lest, when the Church fails to shine forth, we conclude too quickly that her light has died utterly away. But the Church in the world is so preserved that she rises suddenly from the dead. Her very preservation through the years is due to a succession of such miracles. Let us cling to the remembrance that she is not without her resurrection, or rather, not without her many resurrections."

ANSWER TO JOANNA'S QUESTION

I guess because one is running for President.

A blonde and her husband were lying in bed listening to the next door neighbor's dog. It had been barking for hours. The blonde jumped up out of bed and said "I've had enough of this" and went downstairs.

The blonde finally came back up to bed, but her husband said "The dog is still barking, what have you been doing?"

The blonde replied "I put him in OUR backyard, let's see how THEY like it!"