January 15, 2010: #50Pic Friday

January 17, 2010 — Leave a comment

Among the Tweeps I interact with on Twitter, Friday (January 15) was proclaimed 50 Picture day by Joshua White (@joshuawhite).

The images below were taken throughout my day – at home, work, wherever. In most cases, the caption below the image tells the story.  I had fun taking them – hope they give you some semblance of what my January 15, 2009 was like.

If you click this link, you can see the Twitter hashtag traffic for #50pic Friday.  Some of the newer entries have links for compiled, #50pic posts from those who participated.  Check’em out!

BTW, next time this comes around…consider joining.  It’s fun!

Dennis

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Forgotten God – Chapter 2

January 15, 2010 — 1 Comment

Last Sunday was the second week team-teaching a Sunday School class at church that is going through Francis Chan’s latest book: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter two title: “What are you afraid of?”

The main point that Chan talked about was how we have fears when if comes to our desire to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.  The two “fears” he writes about are:

First: A fear that God won’t “come through”, meaning that we pray for the Holy Spirit’s empowerment and nothing happens.

  • If we pray boldly and nothing happens or changes, does that man God failed?  [NO!] We may not say that outright, but do our inhibited prayers reflect that? [Hmmm…]
  • He pretty much calls us out [OUCH!]:

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Fretters, Get Fettered

January 12, 2010 — Leave a comment

A few days ago, Leonard Sweet posted something to Twitter and Facebook that got me thinking.

He posted:

“Starting in ministry, I fretted we had the meaning but missed the experience. Now I fret that we have the experience but miss the meaning.”

Those two sentences certainly could fill at least a couple of posts in and of themselves, and are are actually two fears that not only people in ministry experience, but those who work in non-ministry jobs.

Quite honestly, when I first read his post, my mind read “fettered” instead of “fretted.”  Immediately, my mind went to the song, Come Thou Fount:

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

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New Thru 30

January 11, 2010 — Leave a comment

So I’m starting the New Thru 30 reading program today – reading through the New Testament in 30 days.  If you’d like to join the reading fun – which is really life-changing too – the reading plan can be found here.

In the theme of Matthew 1:1-16, the following is offered…on your mark. Get set. GO!

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Great Words From My Friend Wayne

January 8, 2010 — Leave a comment

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. -Proverbs 27:17

Was convicted and challenged today by Wayne’s blog post.  Thank you brother!

Everyone, Check it out…I DARE YOU.  GO!

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“I’ve Got News”

January 5, 2010 — 3 Comments

I appreciate this Andrew Peterson song on so many levels…

I’ve Got News

So you think I’m something special, like I know a thing or two
Like my eyes don’t ever wander, like my aim is always true
So you think I’m not a dirty rotten scoundrel through and through?
Lady, I’ve got news for you.

So you think that you’re the only one to cry yourself to sleep?
That you’re the only one who’s scared they all forget you when you leave?
So you think that you’re the only one whose heart is black and blue?
Listen, I’ve got news for you, for you.
I might as well just tell you that it’s true, so true: listen, I’ve got news for you.

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The Year That Was 2009

January 4, 2010 — Leave a comment

So I considered not writing one of these posts…but alas, here it goes:

Highs*

  • Celebrated 22 years of being married to my best friend! Each year it gets better and better, and I thank God for blessing me with such a special woman.
  • Of all the books that I read last year (besides the Bible), Francis Chan’s Crazy Love was a highlight [I think I actually ended up reading it 3 times]. It really refined my heart – not that I’m perfect now…  The cool thing was that I had the opportunity to teach through the book during the spring quarter of Sunday School at church.   I pray that my understanding of God’s amazing, extravagant, and crazy love continues to grow and that I respond in a way that brings glory to Him.
  • I started blogging! It’s been a great experience.  In April, I started posting the Sunday service setlist from church and, as a result, I’ve actually connected with some great worship leaders – great for ideas and encouragement.

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Forgotten God – Chapter One

January 3, 2010 — 4 Comments

Today I started team-teaching a Sunday School class at church that will go through Francis Chan’s latest book: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit.

In addition to exploring our fundamental knowledge about the Holy Spirit, as a class we will look at what the Bible says about Him, at our understanding of the Holy Spirit, our misconceptions, and even abuses of our understanding.

Today we went through the introduction and first chapter, the later of which asked the interesting question: “I’ve got Jesus.  Why do I need the Holy Spirit.”  Without recounting my whole 3-hour lesson (just kidding!), the bottom line was that we DO need the Holy Spirit.  In fact, Jesus Himself stresses the importance and necessity of the Holy Spirit when He tells His disciples about the other Counselor that would come (John 14:16-17a).

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Top Five Posts of 2009

January 1, 2010 — Leave a comment

So I started blogging this year.  It was pretty interesting to actually write stuff down that I was thinking about, going through, or just blog about a song that hit me or a passage from my bible study.  Anyway, these are the top five posts in number of views for 2009:

#5: Potato, potahto. Tomato, tomahto. Unforeseen, Sloppy Wet. [110 views]

My comments on David Crowder Band’s cover of John Mark Mcmillan’s How He Loves Us – where DCB changed a few lyrics.

#4: How Would Jesus Tell The Christmas Story [189 views]

I asked the question: How would Jesus tell the Christmas story…the story of His birth?

#3: Hello? Anybody home? Think, McFly. Think! [232 views]

A post about how we how we easily miss or don’t fully grasp how great God is sometimes.  BTW, this post referenced Biff from the Back to the Future movie – which cracks me up every time someone gets referred to the blog post when they do a related Biff, George McFly, or Back to the Future internet search!

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Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2009 — Leave a comment

In General
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