Unveiled faces

A powerful bit of poetry to start your day. jb

http://bobbyrossjr.com/2009/05/12/tamie-tuesday-facebook-quiz-wants-to-know-how-church-of-christ-are-you/ The link will take you to a blog written by Tammie Ross, guest blogger and wife of Bobby ross from the Christian Chronicle. The blog speaks of the Fasebook quiz that asks the question that I have used to title the blog. I just wanted you to read the blog and then think about the ways in which we divide ourselves. I am convicted by the blog, and by the fact that sometimes I view others as less spiritual than myself because they hold to a different idea. I speak often about Romans 14, and the principle applied there, yet I seldom put it into practice. I would like to ask us to all pray like Daniel prayed in chapter 9; that w would all admit to our wriongdoing in this labeling of others in our fellowships, and then put away our label makers and practice loving one another (John 13:34-35). Let us all join together, tear down the fences, walls and opinions that divide us. Reach

Taking the Witness Stand I found myself wondering today if I were in the running for a job or award, even if it were the top two, would I compromise what I believe to win? This is the exact circumstance that Ms. Carrie Prejean found herself in at the Miss USA pageant. Asked a politically charged hot button question by “celebrity blogger” and judge Perez Hilton, Miss Prejean said what she believed…and it may have cost her the title of Miss USA. The question posed by Mr. Hilton was, ““Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?” The answer from the contestant was unpopular and seen as divisive; “…I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be — between a man and a woman.” The judge was upset by the contestants answer, saying she should have kept her politics out of it (ev

The first time we probably did not even realize what it was, actually the first hundred times we more than likely miss diagnosed it. Perhaps it was excitement, or adrenaline, or fear, or hunger, or…a hundred or a thousand other things. It is even difficult to describe in words what the physical sensation was like. It feels almost feverishly prickly, sweaty palms, rapid breathing, followed by a rush of goose bumps and maybe even chills up your back. The hairs on your arm and the back of your neck stand at attention, your cheeks alternate between flush and pale, flush and pale, flush and pale like the blinking of an old fashioned neon sign. Do you remember what it was like for you the first time your heart lept in your chest, and you did not think that you would ever be able to swallow it again, that forever after that time you would have this lump there as you tried to live your life… What was it for you? What was it that first shocked your system into life, into a love so intense th

It has been a while since I have been on here to write, and I apologize to both of my loyal readers. I just wanted to let you know, that we are in a time of transition and I will probably be more irregular than normal over the next few months. My family and I will be moving back to Wichita Falls in June of this year. We have accepted the Campus Minister position at the campus of Midwestern State University. My home congregation (Tenth and Broad) is the employing congregation, and I will be working with a great bunch of people. Also in June, Dalton is graduating from high school here in San Jose. Wow! Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday he was riding around with me in my pickup singing "Pick-up Man" by Joe Diffie. Dawn is also in the process of finishing up her semester of college. She was recently inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa organization. This is the 2 year college equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa. I am so proud of Dawn. She is able to keep us all squared a

Have you ever been frustrated that someone would just not take your advice? I mean no matter how you approached them, they just would not react as you wished they would. What was your reaction to that? Thomas A Kempis has an interesting thought on this idea... "Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." What do you think? Reactions? Simply His, jb

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building up a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself. C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity Last week I spent four days in Lubbock, Tx at Sunset International Bible Institute with some of my classmates. As you can imagine, when preachers get together there is a lot of talking. And then we talk s

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Have you ever felt the need to conceal something? Perhaps you were ashamed of something that you did. Maybe it was a good thing even, but you just did not want anyone to know. Like the fact that you love Barry Manilow, or maybe you were a huge fan of Hee Haw. There is generally something in our lives that we hold very close to the vest and work diligently at not allowing anyone to see, or know. The passage above was written by the apostle Paul to the church that met in Corinth. Corinth was a town that was renowned for its sinful behavior. Paul could very well have been writing about them in another letter when he said, “they invent ways of doing evil.” Corinth was a place well known for sexual perversion, idolatry, men an