The girls pets all made it home and they had a Welcome Home party for them. Below is a picture from Emily’s class where Angel was welcomed home with all of her friends. I will post more pictures from all of the girls shortly. (Weber, Rose)

Thank you to all who helped out the girls with their school project. You made this school project special.

Monica Lewinsky’s Ex-Boyfriend’s Wife for President

I was walking down the street in Chicago yesterday and saw this t-shirt in a shop. It made me giggle so I snapped a picture. While I don’t try to get too political on this blog, I did think that this kind of illustrates just how absurd our political process has become and the characters to choose to run for office. As for me, this election I’m voting for none-of-the-above.

So what did you do for Valentines day? My girls and I had some dancin’ fun at the Father-Daughter Dance!

Like the heart shaped pizza? Special from Papa Murphy’s.

Click to see the Valentines Dance Album

UPDATED:

I created pages for each of the pets to follow them on their adventure!

Rose
Weber
Angel

My triplet daughters have a second grade school project that I would like some help with. It’s called Pets around the World. Essentially, they each have been given a small stuffed pet and a journal. Their mission is to send their pet on an adventure with the eventual homecoming sometime in April. Here is where I need your help.

To participate in this adventure, you would have to agree to accept this small envelope, add to the journal and then forward it to a friend. Eventually, as April 1 approaches, the person who has the animal at that time would then send it back to the school in time for their reunion party.

My oldest daughter did this in 2nd Grade also and Weber took a trip around the world!

How do you participate? Leave a comment to this post and I’ll contact you to get your mailing information. This is an awesome experience for the girls because it helps them learn about other cultures and to realize that we are all pretty much the same!

If you live outside the U.S. or know people outside the U.S. that would be willing to participate, please comment below! Eventually, I’ll have a separate page here to track each of the animals on their journey around the world.

Do you want to get an SMS message anytime I create a new blog post? It’s easy now with a new web application called Pingie. You can sign up to get pinged by clicking on the link below.

Add to Pingie

Did you ever wonder how to get from Here to There? Now, thanks to Google - you know!

I used Air 5’s - Here’s Me Letting Go on Flatland’s latest podcast.

Air 5’s MySpace Page
Air 5’s Website

I just read an Open Letter to Tony Campolo by Drew Dyck of New Man Magazine. In it, he questions a couple of positions that Campolo seems to hold - 1) Muslims obtaining salvation apart from belief in Christ and 2) homosexuals shouldn’t have to change who they are to be saved.

These are two topics I have discussed in previous posts [Understanding the Emerging Church and Time for a discussion in the church about Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Issues or God’s Grace - 101]. These attitudes are rampant in post-modern thought. We are living in a world where compromise is the norm and taking a stand for truth is abnormal.

I have been reading Lee Strobel’s new book, The Case for the Real Jesus. Although I am still in the first few chapters of the book, one point has been sticking in my mind as I read it. Over the years, in an effort to make Christianity more appealing to non-believers, the church has watered down it’s theology. As a church, we have stopped placing an importance on the redemptive act of Jesus’ death on the cross. In an interview with Daniel B. Wallace Ph.D., Strobel was trying to understand the authenticity of the scriptures in light of recent allegations that the Bible is full of mistakes and contradictions and missing some books that teach something else. Dr. Wallace, in addressing a particular allegation said, “It’s disturbing that when it comes to the Christian faith, people don’t really want - or know how - to investigate the evidence. Christians are not being led into proper historical research by their pastors. I have been saying for some time that I don’t think the evangelical church has fifty years left of life to it until it repents.” Strobel responded, “In what way?” Wallace continued, “First, we have to quit marginalizing scripture. We can’t treat the Bible with kid gloves. We really need to wrestle with the issues, because our faith depends on it. And second, we need to quit turning Jesus into our buddy. He’s the sovereign Lord of the universe, and we need to understand and respond accordingly.”

Isn’t that the crux of the whole situation we find ourselves in right now? As a church, we don’t teach theology so when some new theory comes along, we don’t have the knowledge or tools to defend our faith. Some things might even sound good so we compromise our beliefs because we don’t have a theological foundation to stand on. Then someone else comes along with some new special knowledge and we go along with that because we are already started down the road of compromise. We have faith - but we don’t have maturity. It is my opinion that today’s church has become what Paul described when he addressed the church in Corinth.

The Corinthian believers had become aware of the need to reorient their pre-Christian attitudes and actions along Biblical lines, but at first their transformation was incomplete, and they were just “babes in Christ,” to be pitied and nurtured in their immaturity. The Greek word sarkinos implies this infant stage.

However, as the years went on, they continued in their immaturity. By this time they should have grown to Christian adulthood, themselves helping others through the infant stage, but instead they had willfully and sinfully remained in their immature state. For this Paul rebukes them.

It is imperative that we continue to grow in Christ. Everyone needs to learn to emphatically defend their faith. We need to continue to help others through the infant stage into Christian maturity so when beliefs, such as espoused by Mr. Campolo are raised in the church, they can be debated with an argument based in knowledge and not feelings.

A good place to start would be our 21st Century Christian series or any other series we have posted at Grace Learning Center. Another resource that I enjoy is the online theology course at Reclaiming The Mind.

tryphorgettin

This is a funny video. What will happen if too many people forget?

Jeff Leake, pastor at Allison Park Church in PA, wrote this blog entry recently,

Thoughts On God’s Will

Discovering God’s will is less about searching for it, and more about doing it!

This was the theme of this past weekend’s message. Just like a car driving in a night-fog can only see a few feet ahead, so often this is like trying to discern God’s direction. God gives us revelation for the immediate. As we do what we know, we get more light.

Simple obedience unlocks God’s future!

God’s will is so much more about who you are becoming than where you are going, who you are going with, or what you will be doing.

But at some point, a major decision will have to be reached in certain areas of life. When I am making that decision, I look for FIVE INDICATORS to align.

#1 - What Does The Bible Say? - this is the foundational question. The primary way God speaks is through His revealed Word. He will never tell us to do something against His Word. The more we learn the principles and precepts of the Bible, the easier it is to discern God’s ways.

#2 - What Does The Holy Spirit Say? - the Holy Spirit is a person and our counselor. He speaks to us through his ’still small voice’, through inner promptings.

#3 - What Do My Spiritual Advisors Say? - parents, pastors, leaders, and spiritual friends are a great source of caution or confirmation. As we gain direction from God, we test it and improve it through their advice.

#4 - What Do My Circumstances Say? - most often God aligns his direction by and open or closed door. There are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes God says move forward in faith even though the door is closed. Sometimes an open door may be a trap from the enemy. But many times our circumstances align with the previous three indicators.

#5 - What Do I Want? - Psalm 37:4 says, ‘Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.’ This tells us two things. The more we seek to please God and enjoy His pleasure, the more God will lead us into what we want. But even beyond that, the more He will shape our desires to want the right things.

What I like most about this is the line, Discovering God’s will is less about searching for it, and more about doing it! . I think we can get so wrapped up in trying to discover God’s will for our life that we completely miss opportunities to walk in His will. I am an analyst by profession. I analyze everything (and yes - I really mean everything!). It drives my wife crazy. She often tells me that I talk myself out of something before I even try. I admit - sometimes (o.k. - most times) I have paralysis of analysis. There are times where I think I should do something, but yes, the more I analyze it, the less likely I am to follow through with my idea. This is an area that I have been trying to improve on. How many times have I missed an opportunity to serve God because I talked myself out of it? Wouldn’t it be easier to just obey God? As Jeff says, “As we do what we know, we get more light.”