Only Jesus Only?

Good stuff from Rick Atchley:

Only Jesus Only?

whew, the streak is over

Just as second place in the division was headed toward the Cards like a runaway freight train, some heroics in the 9th inning of last night's game causes St. Louis fans everywhere to breathe collective sigh of relief.

In spite of Izzie almost giving the game away.

So, in honor of the occasion, if you're looking for gift ideas for your favorite Card fan, look no further:

overpriced coffee at St. Arbucks

A great comment by Jay...

Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Western Xian of the Emergent sort and the other an African Anglican. The Western Emergent type stood there, after turning down his iPod, he unfolded a prayer labyrinth that he kept tucked away in his J.Crew messenger bag, and started through this eleven stations of the ancient practice, while reading something by Brian McLaren at each point of contemplation. He then prayed, “Lord God, thank you that I am not a fundamentalist, or that I am not hung up on little things like doctrine, or Scriptural authority. Thank you for opening my eyes to the folly of the enlightenment systems, and for bringing me to a place where I can deconstruct everything and find safe haven in my small community of equally willy nilly 20-somethings.” After praying he went away for a cup of overpriced coffee at St. Arbucks.

When the African Anglican prayed, he was overwhelmed by the false humililty of the postmodern punk. He fell to his knees and prayed, “Oh God, I live in a land that church history has completely passed by. The thelogical arguments of the west are too small for us. Please give us the word in our native tongues. Let Christ incarnate himself in our culture. Please God Have mercy on us, translate yourself to the church here, for we are a people who need the gospel”.

I tell you the truth. It was the African, and not Mr. Emergent guy from America, who went home right with God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The scenarios are endless…

Comment by Jay — June 21, 2006 @ 10:54 pm

Thanks Jay.

Whac-A-Mole philosophy of life

Whac-A-Mole philosophy of life (from the perspective of a mole):

"You can stay in the hole all the time and you'll always be safe, but sometimes you just have to take the risk of being whacked, in order to enjoy the clear blue sky."

(from a 'King of the Hill' episode the other night.)

Give me Jesus

I'm weary, disheartened, and disgusted by denomination-centric religion.

Watching a local station last night I listened to the minister of a large (3000+) congregation as he was interviewed. He made reference to the 'competition' more than once.

Why do we take so much pride in the particular group of believers we worship with? In fact, why does our domination/sect-association even muster the smallest molecule of pride?

Can we simply not take pride in my savior, Jesus Christ? ... and in only Him?

I've grown up in the Church of Christ, and the pride is very strong there. Lately we've been worshipping with another denomination. I had naively assumed that the CofC had the monopoly on this type of pride, but I was wrong. The stench of this pride is still there.

There's a wonderful movement back toward unity among the groups of believers that came out of American Restoration Movement, and that's fine and well, but it's not enough.

I'm still at a loss as to why we simply can't unite as believers of Jesus Christ. Period.

I'm not saying that we should attempt the impossible task of dissolving all the various sects and denominations, but we should at least celebrate and support our common beliefs. As believers in Jesus Christ, we're asked to do that, but so many times we choose not to. Why?

"I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

Seems pretty obvious to me.

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

Tulsa Health Department

I was shocked out of my gourd this morning -- a guy from the Tulsa Health Department actually called me about the complaint I submitted!

He was very helpful and appreciated the fact that someone actually took the time to submit a complaint. They visited the store, issued a warning, and told them next time they would be fined.

Wow. Kudos to the THD on a job well done.