Author: LAH

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Fourth Friday Fun: That’s Nifty

I came across this blog quite by accident, and thought it was interesting, funny, cute, amazing, you name it. While some of their stuff is also gross, disgusting, and not recommended, there were enough postings that I really enjoyed that I couldn’t resist directing you to their site. My favorites were the ones listed as “cool.” I particularly loved the pictures of the overloaded vehicles. Reminds me of fitting seven people into a rather small taxi in India.

(Please note that I have absolutely no idea what they will have posted on their front page when you click on the link above.)

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Book Review: Secondhand Jesus

packiam-book-coverYou’ve got to read this book!

Over and over, I started writing a review of Secondhand Jesus, by Glenn Packiam. And every time I deleted what I’d written and started over. Nothing I can say comes even close to doing justice with all that he’s got packed into this one volume.

Then, happily, Glenn gave the sermon at our church on July 5. Naturally, his talk was based on his book, just released last month by David C. Cook Publishers. (I reviewed his first book, Butterfly in Brazil, in June.) Now I don’t have to write a review. You can listen to Glenn yourself.

A video of the sermon is at the New Life Church website.

When you’re done listening, do yourself a huge favor, get your own copy, and read the entire book. You’ll see that that’s just the beginning.

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For God’s Sake

Everyone knows the 23rd Psalm:  “The Lord is my shepherd….”[1] It’s probably the most beloved chapter in the entire Bible. We love the first two verses that continue, “… I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul.” Green pastures and quiet waters sound lovely. I’d like that! That’s all about me enjoying life.

But how many people notice the second half of verse three? “… He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” That’s all about God. Not us. His name. Not ours.

We had some good friends over to dinner last night. They do a lot of ministry in China and other southeast Asian countries. We were kept on the edges of our seats as they related stories about how God is working in that part of the world. The sick are being healed, the Word is being taught, people are coming to the Lord in droves. The kingdom of God is advancing.

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Your Credit Report Card

“What do you mean, they said ‘No’?” We had been turned down for a new business credit card, even though our credit rating is exceptionally good. We were dumbfounded. What in the world could possibly be wrong? As it turned out, lots of things.

Our credit report was full of mistakes. The first and most obvious error? Apparently, some tired typist had combined Pete’s and my social security numbers into a new one that most likely belongs to someone else. I wonder what their report is like.

Then, the reporting company dinged us for having no major credit cards, even though our personal master card was listed on the report, and we were applying for a business card with the same financial institution! This was so inconceivable, the website provided no way to fix the problem.

And finally, information about our previous business card (and our perfect payment record) was entirely missing, even though we’d had it for years before the company that issued it went belly-up.

(There were additional errors that we were told weren’t significant, such as the zillion different ways people spelled “Holzmann.” Right.)

Unfortunately, it’s hard to run a business, even a non-profit one, without a credit card.

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Threshing Fact from Fiction: An Ignorant Christian’s Views on “Religulous” Part 2

[Don’t miss Part I of Jeremy’s article on Religulous.]

Why is faith a good thing?

To many people, the above question is an odd one. Of course faith is a good thing. Why question that? However, in “Religulous” it is one of Maher’s chief objections to religion (particularly Christianity).

The question is first raised by Maher after he asks the pastor of a small truck stop chapel how any rational person can believe in a talking snake in a garden 5000 years ago. The pastor responded by saying that, “It’s a faith thing,” to which Maher replies, “Yeah, but why is faith good?”

Maher’s argument is that a person who’s life is in danger or who is going through hard times would be justified to believe God, but for anyone else faith is pointless. His objection is that of many other skeptics: faith is unfounded and breeds comfort, but isn’t useful. I disagree.

Maher’s beliefs are incorrect for two reasons: first, he assumes that all faith is blind faith, and second, he thinks faith is not relevant. Although these two aspects of faith are inter-connected, I’ll begin by explaining the difference between faith and blind faith.

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Fresh Tomato-Basil Soup

Harvest is beginning. In spite of our recent hail, my garden is actually producing some edibles, and the farmers’ markets are overflowing. How to take advantage of all this fresh produce? Tomato-basil soup is a delicious way to use lots of tomatoes and fresh basil.

If you’re familiar with canned tomato soup—this is nothing like that. No modified food starch, only a minuscule amount of sugar… this is the real thing. Don’t worry, you can still serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches. Just make them with a hearty whole wheat bread and a more interesting cheese than American!

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Talking a Walk

I’ve been doing a lot of walking lately… walks with a friend, solitary strolls, birding walks, wildflower hikes, the-sky-is-blue-and-the-sun-is-shining walks. Sometimes I have a destination, but usually I’m just glad to be out enjoying nature.

God describes our life with Him as a walk. Over and over He tells us to walk in His ways. We are to walk in the light, not the darkness. We walk in the truth, not in falsehood. We walk humbly, not with pride. We are walk faithfully, obeying His commands. We walk in love.

As I was looking up “walk” to see just what God says about it, the verse that really caught my attention was  Leviticus 26:12: “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” [italics mine]

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Friday’s Fun Facts

Should you believe everything you hear? I was relaxing for a few moments, reading random websites, when a list of “old wives’ tales” caught my eye. I give full credit to www.snopes.com for their informative and entertaining work.

1.  Should you tap the side of a soda can before opening it, in order to prevent its contents from foaming all over your hand?

2.  Do you only use 10% of your brain?

3.  Can you determine the temperature by counting cricket chirps?

4.  Is the Great Wall of China the only man-made object visible from the moon?

5.  If you are kidnapped, blindfolded, and taken somewhere far away, can you determine which hemisphere you are in by which way water spirals as it does down the drain?

6.  Should we be cautious around water that was boiled in a microwave oven, in case it suddenly “explodes”?

Which ones did you answer yes to? Let’s have some fun, and maybe you’ll pick up a bit of healthy skepticism.

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Throwaway People – Redemption

Here is the conclusion of this 3-part series on discarded friendships. Shortly after our friend wrote the last article, expressing his pain at being summarily cut off from two meaningful relationships, he wrote this:

It’s both funny and sad, how human emotions wax and wane. One moment we’re utterly convinced our ruin is at hand, and in the next we’re dancing in the streets because some small thing has gone our way. … Last night I wrote of a month-long tension which was eating away at me from the inside out, and I couldn’t have meant it more. Today, however, just minutes after waking up, my heart was relieved and my resolve strengthened. All was well in the universe, mostly.

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Throwaway People – When Silence Speaks Volumes

Last time I mentioned that I would post a guest blog about how it feels to be “thrown away.” This was actually written at the end of 2008. Next time I’ll post what happened in these relationships, and what our friend learned from it all.

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Someone—actually, two people now—about whom I genuinely care has apparently decided to write me off entirely and close their world to me because of an argument we got into over a month ago. An argument in which neither one of us was entirely right or wrong.  And the sad thing is that even when we were at our most heated, I had taken my time to very carefully choose my words, calling them out not through insults, but instead attacking the double standards and hypocritical views which they portray on a daily basis. Even in the midst of this letter I went out of my way to say that while I knew my words would hurt my friend, my intent was to illustrate the truth in love, and that I would rather cause pain with honesty than encourage delusion. I later wrote a follow-up email in which I apologized explicitly for my own faults in the prior argument, which I detailed to emphasize that I knew and admitted to exactly how I was wrong.

Perhaps worse yet is the case of the other friend I mentioned, to whom I let slip a light-heated and superficial sarcastic quip to which they took immediate and serious offense. Sadly, this person (much like any other who knows me at all) is fully aware of my barbed sense of humor…. The remark which upset her was never intended at all as an insult, and it was made at a time during which there was no disagreement between us. She simply misinterpreted my words as a harsh jab, took offense, and hasn’t spoken to me in weeks. …

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