Promotions gone wrong…

From the Oakland Athletics website:

MUG Root Beer Float Day
Wednesday, July 30th @ 10:35 a.m.
A’s vs. Kansas City Royals @ 12:35 p.m.

Join us on Wednesday, July 30th from 10:35 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. in the Eastside Club for the Oakland A’s 9th Annual MUG Root Beer Float Day presented by Pepsi. Help us raise money for a great cause while enjoying a frosty MUG Root Beer Float, served with delicious Dreyer’s vanilla ice cream, before you watch the A’s take on the Royals. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

So…..you’re raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by selling a cup full of liquid sugar (Mug Root Beer) topped with cold sugar (Ice Cream…Dreyer’s no less).  I don’t even know what to say about that…

Vacation…

I forgot to mention that I would be on vacation…which is why I haven’t posted anything new in the last week or so.  My wife and I are finishing up another vacation, this time at Lake Chelan.  Posts will resume sometime next week….

Reach Records

A couple of months ago my wife and I had the opportunity to go to the Resurgence Conference (videos here)at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  While there, we were blessed to hear some rappers from Reach Records (www.reachrecords.com) perform a couple of their songs.  Now, I’m the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan (or any fan at all) of rap music, but I was unable to listen to their evangelistic and God Exalting lyrics without being affected…challenged….encouraged.

Came across this video today and was affected yet again so I decided to share it, courtesy of  www.theresurgence.com:

What Unifies the Church…

From Ray Ortlund’s blog:

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

I couldn’t have said it better myself…Come to think of it, I couldn’t have said it anywhere as close to as good as Mr. Ortlund just did. 

(HT:  Jonathan Leeman at the 9marks blog)

 

The End Aim of the Gospel versus Religion

“Religious People obey God to get things.  Gospel People obey God to get God.”

- Tim Keller

Top 10 things Chewy likes to chew on in the backyard

We’ve got the world’s greatest dog named Chewy.  If he’s got one minor flaw, it’s that he likes to sneak stuff out of our house into the backyard (his domain) and chew on it.  Here’s the top 10 list of things he likes to sneak out of the house and chew on.  The rankings are based upon the number of times we’ve had to go get the stuff (1 being the most, 10 the least)…which was really embarrassing before we had a fence and the neighbors got to see all of Chewy’s ‘treasures’.  Here we go:

1. My underwear:  I’m not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that my underwear is his favorite.
2. Catrina’s underwear:  Nothing better than picking up my wife’s underwear in the backyard as the neighbors watch.
3. Dental Floss: He likes the Glide floss the best.
4. Chap Stick: He can’t get enough of the stuff.
5. Socks:  Male or female, ankle or crew, black or white….he doesn’t discriminate.
6. Shoes:  Flip-flops are his favorite….easier to get through the doggy door.
7. Napkins/Paper Towels:  especially if they’ve been used.
8. Anything from the bathroom garbage: Would be higher on the list, but we finally got a bathroom garbage with a lid.  One of our better investments.
9. Pencils/Pens:  The best was the time he got the highlighter…..colorful.
10. Popsicle sticks:  Grape is his favorite flavor.

Sin…

…lives in a costume.

Here’s an excerpt from a new book by Paul Tripp, called  Whiter than Snow:  Meditations on Sin and Mercy that is extremely good and extremely convicting:

Sin lives in a costume, that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty.
Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer.
Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership.
Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart.
The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom.

Evil simply doesn’t present itself as evil, which is part of its draw. 

Needless to say, that book just made it’s way into my Amazon Wishlist. 

HT:  Justin Taylor

Charles Carroll

Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the last signer to pass away at age 95 in 1932.  At age 89, he wrote his declaration of faith, which was:

On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for my salvation, and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.

Amazing…Read about more of the signers of the Declaration here.