Horselake Mountain, May 7

Tronson Ridge

Rest/Reflect

South Tronson Ridge

Bridge near the top of "Stairway to Heaven" trail.

Top of Number One Canyon looking east.

Mount Rainier looking west.

Columbia River Valley looking southeast.

Maia the Mountain-Dog

Ladybugs!

More Laybugs.

Top of Horselake Mountain with Maia.

New Jump on the "Waterslide" trail.

Tired but very happy.

Civil Discourse For Others

The usefulness of the Golden Rule is vastly underrated. You don't believe me? Just watch for yourself.

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Civil Disservice
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MTB'n in Austria on "The Knife's Edge"

Mountain Biking in Austria. I believe the trail is called "The Knife's Edge." BTW, no thanks.

Mortgaging Our Children's Future

Debt limit for dummies...

A Guitar Mystery Solved

As I tell my guitar students, the world is neatly divided into two classes of people, "guitar-players" and "cattle." If the video clip (below) makes your pulse race, then you are the former. If you've never, ever, ever wondered (consciously or subconsciously) how the Beatles managed in one chord to make you ache for what followed in "Hard Day's Night" then you are the latter. Note: Randy Bachman was one half of "The Bachman Turner Overdrive" who gave us the iconic "Takin' Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", etc. This is really cool. Enjoy.

Apologetics Columbo Style

I've been a fan of Greg Koukl's for some time, mostly for his ability to equip "Joe Average" to naturally and faithfully engage unbelievers in spiritually edifying conversation. This video is an excellent example of Koukl's gift. You can view the video here.

Why I Wear a Helmet When Biking

HT: Brian Visser

Perseverance

Okay, I admit it, I'm a sucker for sentimental sports parables. But I doubt I'm the only one who can viscerally relate to the "agony of defeat" and the aching desire to run a race like the athletes who persevere when simply persevering (not winning the prize) becomes the goal. The video below is a triple threat (hanky-wise) for my ilk, because it combines the drama of sport, the love of a father and a moving sound-track. Enjoy.

Priority of Home in Missions

"The first step in foreign missions is domestic mission. The first step toward Africa is right across the street." - From the blog-post here.

Religious People Boogeyman

I have for a long time been uneasy with the well-meaning attempts to pit "religion" against "relationship", and/or "religion" against "true faith" etc. The Bible condemns "false religion" and commends "true religion" (e.g. James 1:26-27.) But it never speaks of religion as malum in se (intrinsically evil.) As we reprove the insipid apathy and hypocrisy within the church, wouldn't it be best to use the categories that scripture gives us rather than inventing our own?

Jared Wilson has some very helpful insights on this topic here. Enjoy.

A quick way to walk a mile in another's shoes...

Remember: You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

HT: Toby Sumpter

Table 7

Budget Cut Misdirection (Unbelievable!)

Mercy Has a Backbone

As Paul wrote, "Forgive one another even as God has forgive you in Christ Jesus."



HT: Danielle De Jong

King Jesus

"I wonder, do you know him?"

That's My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

Strength in Weakness

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)

There is a constant temptation to believe that we are the most effective in ministry when our families and our churches are the strongest. We are indeed called to an obedient ordering of our families and churches. But we need to remember that God is never hindered by our sinful failings in community, and in fact delights to use our stumblings as so many opportunities to display His ever-readiness to forgive sins for Jesus' sake. It is the proclamation of God's grace that saves the world, not our perfectionistic pursuit of holiness. God's strength is not manifested in our strength, it is revealed in our weakness. As a pastor friend of mine recently observed:

"My postmillennialism is of a particularly robust variety. I believe the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, in spite of all our labors. I believe in a kind of consubstantiation for our mercy ministries -- the grace of God is apparent in, with, and under all our incompetencies. How so? It's a mystery, my son."

The War of 1812 (or was it....?)

Okay history students, pop quiz: Who fought in the War of 1812? Why was this war fought and who won it? If you're not really sure then here is a very short video for you. WARNING: This will not help you answer the above questions, but it will help you with your self-esteem issues. After all, ignorance loves company, right?

HT: Mitch Milner

Giving Thanks Always for Everything

One of my favorites parts of our weekly worship service is something we call "The Prayer of Thanksgiving." It's a prayer that is composed and prayed by one of our men to lead the congregation in expressing our thanks to God for His gracious provision and kind mercies.

During this prayer I am invariably prompted to thank God for things which I have either forgotten or neglected to thank Him for; including and perhaps even especially hard providences. Here is a wonderful example of the well-written prayers that our men offer up in the Lord's Service:


Heavenly Father,

We thank you for adopting us into your kingdom and putting us to work in the business of the impossible, the business where you call us to believe like Job when our lives seem to crumble. We know your power but forget our place. You speak to the void and it takes shape, you speak to dirt and it takes on your image, you speak to tiny crawling ants and they lift twenty times their body weight, you speak to the lost who hate you and they take up their crosses and follow you. Lord, we do not understand your ways, your readiness to forgive, your endless grace, your mercy, and your promises to bless us, but we are grateful. We thank you for making us your sons and daughters and for promising to sanctify us, to change us, to mold us. We are so thankful that you choose to use the broken, the weak and the unlovely to further your gospel in ways that seem impossible to us.

Thank you, Father, for not always giving us what we want, but always what we need. We confess that even though you give us our daily bread, our manna from heaven that satisfies our needs, we still grumble in discontent and catalog our wants. Please teach us to love our manna especially as you bring us through the wilderness. Thank you that when we bow down to our golden calf's you knock them down and make us taste the bitterness of sin, and then forgive us, knowing full well we will sin against you again.

Lord, thank you for margaritas and cold beer to gladden our sun-bathed hearts, with each sip we taste the joy that runs rampant in your kingdom. Thank you for gardens that give us tomatoes and beets and carrots and basil. Thank you for summer heat and for houses and cars with air-conditioning so we hardly break a sweat as we run from one to the other. Thank you for swimming pools, and lakes and rivers to cool and refresh our bodies.

As stock prices rise and fall we remember that we come empty handed into your kingdom, and that you give us all that we have. Please take back our tithes and offerings here, they have always been yours.

Lastly, Father, thank you for hearing the prayers of your stiff necked people, and thank you for hearing your son as he mediates for us.

All these things we pray in Jesus’ name, amen. (Jason Helsel)

Let Grace be Your Teacher

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age" (Titus 2:11-12)

We tend to think that God's law is the best "teacher" and the most effective way to get people (including ourselves) to "renounce ungodliness...and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives." But according to Paul, the grace of God is much better suited for this task. And Victor Hugo seems to agree. Viz.

Coffee!