The Devil called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, “We can’t keep Christians from going to church. We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.”

“So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

“This is what I want you to do”, said the devil: “Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”

“How shall we do this?” his demons shouted.

“Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.”

“Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.”

“Keep them from spending time with their children.” “As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!”

“Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio, iPod, MP3’s or CD player whenever they drive. To keep the TV, DVD, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.”

“Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.”

“Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won’t talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.”

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God’s creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!”

“And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.”

“Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!”

It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge!

Most everyone in the US has heard about our drought here in Georgia.  Also, if you follow the news, you also remember that Sonny Perdue (Gov of GA) led a prayer on Nov 14, 2007 for rain.  He joined lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol for this prayer.  He prayed, “God, we need you. We need rain.”  (thats not the whole prayer, but thats part of it)  This was not the first time he led a prayer for rain.  In June, Perdue, State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, some Central Georgia farmers and others gathered at the Georgia Farm Bureau headquarters in Macon to pray for rain.

What did people have to say about it?

• The loudest opposition to Perdue’s move came from the Atlanta Freethought Society, a secular group that planned to protest at the vigil.  “The governor can pray when he wants to,” said Ed Buckner, who was organizing the protest. “What he can’t do is lead prayers in the name of the people of Georgia.”
• BBC UK – …But boy does the dotty stuff keep happening here: the latest being governor Sonny Perdue’s prayers for rain on the steps of the Atlanta statehouse. Anti-Americans, the softer European variety, look at that kind of behaviour and wonder at America’s capacity for self-delusion and religious literalism.
• Time/CNN – When Perdue’s spokeswoman said prayer was the answer, because “the issue at the heart of our drought is a lack of rain,” she was wrong. The issue is a lack of water, and the best way to retain more is to consume less–with less lawn-sprinkling, car-washing, irrigating and sprawl.

So what is the outcome, well take a look at the US drought maps below.  Since Nov, the rain has diminished the drought significantly, and the emergency expected for the summer has been averted!  Does this mean that we still don’t need rain?  No, we could still use rain over the next few months.  What it tells me is that our leader prayed for rain, and it was rain we got over the past 4-6 months.  It’s not rocket science people, its the power of prayer.

Then…

  Now…

Introducing the new Zune. I had an iPod for a while, and have no regrets, but due to price, and the fact that my iPod was having hard drive issues (it was its 2nd hard drive) I got a new 30gb Zune when it went on Clearance at Target for about $120. I have a pic (on left) next to an iPod (on right) below. It is slightly larger, but then again I had this older iPod, so it was only 20gb.

Overall, it is very compatible but here are some things in favor and against (comparing to the 4g 20gb iPod):

1) Zune software STINKS! You will need MediaMonkey… (Score 1 for iPod as iTunes was good) I dont understand why they did not integrate the use of WMP, but supposedly it may be coming.
2) Zune equalizer is basically non-existent. This is something I used alot on the iPod, escpecially the “smallspeakers” setting for using small headphones, and feeling like I got some bass out of ’em.
3) Zune is Color! WooHoo! The 4G iPod was not…
4) Zune plays video and pictures! WooHoo! The 4G iPod did not…

That all being said, neither the iPod or the Zune put out enough volume I think. I always have to crank my home system for volume. Oh well…

Overall I like it better due to the color, pictures, capacity and videos. I used MediaMonkey anyway, so that was not as big of a deal for me. I am up to about 18gb of “good” songs on growing. (Good means only those songs I like, I do not rip entire albums of b side and junk)

BTW, kudos to Amazon for selling MP3’s now! Yea!

(sorry to all the old folks who got lost on this geek post…at least I can still talk the lingo a little with the youngsters!)

Just a quick post about something that came up in Sunday School this week.

If you are doing something wrong, or if you did something wrong, and may do it again…what the Lord (or anyone else for that fact) wants is repentance, not an apology. You can say your sorry ’till your blue in the face, and I don’t think the Lord really gives 2 cents. What He is looking for in a repentant heart. So what does this mean? It means being truly sorry enough that you are willing to make a change so that it does not happen again! HECK, even the Washington Post was able to get this right in an article (which is saying something!) on 4/28/07, “Apology and forgiveness do not in themselves imply change. Repentance does.”

Next time, before saying your sorry about what you did, how about apologizing with some truth behind it: “I’m sorry that I am probably going to do it again” Doesn’t sound too good does it? Well then take some time, think about what you did, and what you can do to change it BEFORE you act like you are repentant of what you did.

Also, if you are thinking of praying to change the circumstance to make it easier for you, how about praying for strength of character to be able to make a change? As I saw a quote by John A. Lavender, “Before you pray for a change in circumstances, you should pray for a change in character.”

If you haven’t heard this from S.M. Lockridge, you are missing out on a great sermon! It is 3-1/2 minutes, so if you have time, sit back and be blessed! You can download a longer version here: http://www.4-14.org.uk/thats-my-king-s-m-lockridge

Yesterday was the first T-Ball practice for my son, and it was a blast!  Unfortunately, Andrew has the Flu so he could not make it, but being an assistance coach, I went to assist.  These kids were great.  It was fun to see all the personalities.  We have the  big hitter, the quiet types, the active types, the rough types and the thinkers!  Kids were fighting each other to catch balls, running to what they thought were bases and wearing their gloves on their heads at times.  Most of the Dad’s got involved and most of the Mom’s took some great pics and watched.

Who knows if we have the next Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth on the team, but who cares.  They were having fun, we were having fun, and it was a great experience.  Looking forward to next practice!

One of the reasons I agreed to assist was that the only thing I really remember from my old minor league days is that my Dad was a coach the first year.  how could I miss Andrews first year!?!  There is only 1 first year!  Get involved with your kids.  You won’t regret it!

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” – Mother Teresa

While driving the other day, I read this quote on a car bumper sticker. Wow! Yes, I do value life and am opposed to abortion, but I never heard it put quite this way. I do understand that every circumstance is different, but I also think that every life is more important than a circumstance. …and I tend to believe that most abortions that are performed, fit in this quote.

Not much else to say. That quote basically says enough!

Sorry about all the silly content lately, but a good one!

Click the Chef!