Devotional Christian

The website Devotional Christian is being relaunched. It is meant to be a one-stop shop for daily devotional reading and resources.

Free Calfskin ESV Study Bible

David Porter is offering a free Calfskin ESV Study Bible. Check it out.

Food for Thought: Imago Dei

Living among Image bearers:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.” ~ C. S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

Does this change the way we view our unbelieving mechanic?

Google, God & Tebow

Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, the son of missionaries, recently used his platform as Heisman trophy and BCS National Championship winning quarterback for Gospel witness.

During last weeds BCS Championship game against the University of Oklahoma he wrote John 3:16 on his eye black.

Result:

According to World Net Daily, John 3:16 became the hottest search on Google that night.

Dungy Done...with Football that is

Tony Dungy, the first African American headcoach to win a superbowl, retired today as coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

He retired at 53 years young, in his prime and at the top of his profession. But Dungy, as a committed Christian, isn't retiring to the golf course or television booth. He's retiring to spend more time with his family and continue his prison ministry. He is the very definition of what a sports role model can and should be.

Pete Prisco, at CBS Sports described Dungy as the anti-Belichick, a coach who's character spoke louder than any ego ever could.

But it was Bob Kravitz of the IndyStar who might have put it best:

You remember the little things, the small gestures of humility and humanity and decency, the essence of Tony Dungy. Sure, there was the winning, lots and lots of winning, and of course there was the Super Bowl. But mixed in with all those big moments, those public moments, there were those small, private moments that spoke most eloquently to the man's stature...

...Simply, his NFL legacy will be that he won football games the right way. He won them while maintaining his humanity. He won them while insisting his players connected with their community.

All the President's Books

Karl Rove has provided us with a list of some of President Bush's reading material from the past several years.

Regardless of your political affiliations, I think we'd all agree it is commendable and necessary that people in positions of great leadership be well read, aware of both the contemporary and historical contexts they lead in.

HT: Justin Taylor

True Student Athletes

A fantastic article by the Star Tribune, "Division III: Playing for the love of sports, not money" details the joys and hardships of Division III athletics, the last vestige of the pure "student athlete" and amateur sports.

Food 4 Thought - Church in Power or in Peril

New blog idea:

Periodically I'm going to post quotes that I've found particularly thought provoking. I'd love to hear your comments or responses to them.

Our first quote came from Church History class here at the Pastor's College.

“The Church persecuted has always been the Church pure, and therefore the Church powerful. The Church patronized has always been the Church in peril, and very often the Church paralyzed.“
G. Campbell Morgan, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 465.

Top Google Searches - 2008

Interesting list from Google Zeitgeist about the top searches in 2008:

Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. obama
2. facebook
3. att
4. iphone
5. youtube
6. fox news
7. palin
8. beijing 2008
9. david cook
10. surf the channel

    Fastest Rising (Global)

    1. sarah palin
    2. beijing 2008
    3. facebook login
    4. tuenti
    5. heath ledger
    6. obama
    7. nasza klasa
    8. wer kennt wen
    9. euro 2008
    10. jonas brothers

Christmas Gift Ideas

Full Disclosure: This post is a totally selfish plug for Christmas gifts...but then again, you have not because you ask not!!

Just a reminder about my favorite gift: Books

So a quick reminder about my wish lists (always displayed on the right of the blog) at Amazon.

Theology & Non-Fiction

Fiction & Entertainment

Merry Christmas

Charlie, Check the Ego...

An interesting article at ESPN.com by Gene Wojciechowski.

His advice to Charlie Weis, now that he didn't get the axe for a lackluster first 4 years at Notre Dame: "Learn Humility"

One caveat, I'm not sure Gene's tone is exactly what we'd call humility in action.

Obama & Isaiah

In a recently posted interview Obama gave to Chicago Sun Times columnist Cathleen Falsani in 2004 about his faith he made the following comment:

• FALSANI:
• Do you believe in sin?
• OBAMA:
  Yes.
• FALSANI:
  What is sin?
• OBAMA:
  Being out of alignment with my values.
• FALSANI:
  What happens if you have sin in your life?
• OBAMA:
  I think it's the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I'm true to myself and my faith that is its own reward, when I'm not true to it, it's its own punishment.

I can't help but think of this subjective definition of sin in light of Isaiah's experience of the objective reality of his sin the presence of God's absolute holiness in Isaiah 6.1-7. Not only did Isaiah recognize that his sin was against God, but God symbolically atones for that sin, highlighting our need for salvation outside of ourselves.

HT: Justin Taylor

Friday Photos

Some of my favorite pics of Case!

Happy Halloween!!

Smile for the Camera...