The visitation will be this Friday, June 8, 2007, at Hurst Funeral Home in Greenville, 1-3pm and 7-9pm. The funeral will be Saturday, June 9th, at Faith Baptist Church in Greenville at 10:00am with a lunch following. Any and all are welcome — email me if you need directions or anything.
Well, just two years after Dad passed away from cancer, tragedy strikes again. Mom, who was wrapping up her vacation in Maine, slipped off some wet rocks into the ocean. Stefanie tried in vain to reach her. A coast guard vessel picked her up, but it was too late to revive her. This newspaper article summarizes everything.
Mom had always dreamed of a vacation in Maine. She had two great weeks out there right on the ocean. This sure makes for a poopy weekend, though. Arrangements and details will follow…
Well, I’m back from vacation! I had a terrific time in Maine and New Hampshire. I’ll soon have some pictures up detailing some of the more interesting things that happened… Stay tuned.
Looks like Microsoft finally got the picture. After installing Windows Vista this week, I got an interesting popup bubble for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program:
“Only those who believe obey; only those who obey believe.”
Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. “Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?” Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in strking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is that the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, “here am I.”
If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your light will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Dan Edelen has a great post this week on two Christianities. Dan draws a difference between those whose Christianity relies on external structures (e.g. Church, worship services, one nation under God, etc) and those whose Christianity relies on the internal presence of the Holy Spirit. A very good article worth chewing on. He certainly explains some of the behaviors exhibited in the American Church.
I’ve always been a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin’s always had an interesting way with snowmen. Someone went to the trouble of collecting a whole bunch of the strips: http://www.drurywriting.com/david/05-SnowmanArt.htm.
ht: Amy
