I am very disappointed in my church. After (what I thought was) a good meeting with my pastor, I get this letter from the youth ministries, telling us that our teens are going to be working with, staying with and worshipping with "Full-Gospel, Five-fold Ministry, Oneness Apostolic Anti-trinitarians."

The letter reads:

This fall we heard from our students a desire to help serve the people in the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast. Students wanted to do something, but didn't know what that would be.

Earlier this fall we began to pray about taking students to the Gulf Coast over spring break. Leaders and students were excited about this option and we connected with an organization called National Relief Network to make arrangements for work projects.

During the fall, Sunshine Church built a relationship with Firehouse Ministries in New Orleans. Several groups from our church have been able to clean and rebuild that church. Firehouse now stands as a lighthouse in their devastated neighborhood.

We are excited about the relationship that Sunshine has built with Firehouse and we are excited to announce that we have changed our plans and will now be working and staying at Firehouse Ministries.

THE PLAN...Sunday we will worship at Firehouse...

A Family Forever, by Brenda Coulter

Christian Fiction, published by Steeple Hill Love Inspired
Buy it in stores after February 29 or order it now on Amazon.com.
Visit Brenda's blog, No rules. Just write,

You can read most of the first chapter at Brenda's website.

I've said before that I don't read a lot of fiction, it's a treat when mind wants to read something I don't have to process. This book fit the bill. It's a very fast read (for me, anyway) so it exactly fit what I was looking for last night. Yes, I'd recommend it.

The book is filled with Christian values; un-perfect people fail and recognize their failings. Parts of it reached me deeply and I cried through some of it.

I enjoyed the book (and I don't generally read "romance" - I like murder mysteries), so please head on over and read the first chapter.

We have a few students out sick today and we ended up with 2 students and 4 staff. I went to help out in another room and it was nice to work with other folks. The people I work with are great, I just like to see new faces now and then. Most of the classrooms in the school I'm at are SXI - it made me think about Terri Schiavo and my durable power of attorney.

I'm reading a Q&A here. I'm taking it (and a beer) to bed with me, along with a highlighter. The whole cessationism thing is all getting fed into the hopper - we'll just have to wait to see what comes out.

By the way, my daughter is a barnacle, too.

I've got another little blog where I'm keeping track of my reading habits.

When I keep track of what I'm reading, should I include magazines? Textbooks?

I'm reviewing the books as I go along (link is in the sidebar) just to see at the end of the year what I really do read and how my habits are shaping up.

I used to be a big fiction fan and now fiction is more like "brain candy" when I want a break from stuff I have to think about.

Questions I'll try to remember to ask at the end of the year when I look at all the books"
- Are there more fiction books or non-fiction?
- Are there more theology books, or "other"
- Are the books I read more relevent to my own life or will they help me minister to others?
- Are the books primarily from one (Reformed) viewpoint, or am I using my discernment to evaluate other views?
- How has my reading changed my beliefs?
- Have I "picked up" any new favorite authors?
- Have my reading habits changed? How?

at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

The "sea life" exhibit. We're planning another trip in a while so that we can see the King Tut exhibit.

I was reading another blog (I'm not going to name it) the other day and couldn't resist commenting. I generally try to not go to other people's blogs just to disagree with them (if there's an ongoing debate, I will participate - but I don't want to just be disagreeable).

But...this just kind of upset me (due to a couple of other things that have come up in my (real) life.

(Questions do follow the main post, but here they are now)
1) Do stupid choices in your past exclude you from a ministry today?
2) Can some stupid choices in your past actually equip you for a ministry today?
3) (for some of us) Can our lack of (certain) stupid choices keep us from getting close to those who made those certain stupid choices?
4) Can our attitude toward those who did make those choices impair our credibility to others who made the same stupid choices?

The short story is that a Christian radio host had an ex-prostitute and porn "actress" on for an interview and the host asked a lot of "what was it like" questions.

The blogger lamented that she just didn't understand how a person could take a Christian heritage and throw it away. (I listened to the radio interview and although the guest said that she had been brought up in a Christian home, she also said that she had been sexually abused at age 9, that she had dressed up as a playboy bunny at - and her mom thought it was "cute" and took photos; at age 8 her parents "drifted away" from God and she was not close to her parents or encouraged to be close to God. As a teenager she was rebellious and at 18 she was asked to leave home.)

The blogger further stated that she is "sick and tired" of testimonies of those who were "just plain stupid and disobedient towards God". She ended the post with "Who says that one has to go through such trauma to be used of God in order to glorify God’s healing and love."

In the comments (replying to me) she said, "She deserves her STD’s. She deserves the hardships of single parenthood and she deserves every other thing that comes with her stupid choices, and to say that God is happy with her stupid choices and chooses to use her now for a ministry is insane."

The attitude bothered me. Yes, what the woman did was sin. Yes, a Christian upbringing is a gift (although one could question if that was what this guest had). No, you do not have to be a prostitute in order to have a ministry to prostitutes. I get all that.

But the attitude. I have this vision of an "I lived a better life than you" club. We see it all the time. In my co-worker who doesn't want single women to hang out with married couples. The church who doesn't allow divorced people in. The "group" that excludes single moms.

That last sentence in particular. I can say that God is very unhappy with her stupid choices, yet still believe that He could choose to use her now for a ministry. Stupid choices in your past should not exclude you from ministry today.

Even though my past hardships were not choices that I made (miscarriages, a marriage with rough spots, early widowhood, etc.) I can easily minister to people who have those things going on in their lives right now.

• Can a person who made stupid mistakes minister to others who have made the same mistakes?
• Do stupid choices in your past exclude you from a ministry today?
• Can some stupid choices in your past actually equip you for a ministry today?
• (for some of us) Can our lack of (certain) stupid choices keep us from getting close to those who made those certain stupid choices?
• Can our attitude toward those who did make those choices impair our credibility to others who made the same stupid choices?

I'm proud of my daughter (although the spelling is a little "off")

Both my kids have blogs and this was posted on Manda's last Wednesday:

I hope all goes well for my mom tonight. She has a meeting with Pastor Bryan. A couple weeks ago we had dome people from new oraleans come to preach at our church. It was so wrong ... just wrong! The chick was calling herself profetess, and the guy was calling himself apostle. Like i said ... wrong. We are a Christian Reformed church. Not an apostic church. What did they think they were doing ... and the chick spent more time at the polpet then the pastor did it seemed like ... she said 5 minutes and went on for half an hour. and then she "imparted" the gift of profecy onto our pastors wives. Only God can gives us our gifts. And Pastor Dave is going down the same path they are. oh and "Apostle" Sherman L. Shelton told us something along the lines of God put our Pastors in authority we should submit to their authority and follow them even if they're leading us in the wrong direction. Thats the dumbest (i dont think thats even a word) thing i've ever heard! but my mom is going tonight to talk to Pastor Bryan about it, i really do hope all goes well and he understands and acts on her complaints ... GO MOM!

Blogging on Sunday's Sermon, the Lord's Prayer. I'm not one to see the real value on "formulizing" everything, but here goes...

From Luke 11:1-13

Let's "formulize" the Lord's Prayer into six "C's".

"Connect" - Father...
- tells us that we are close to the Father, but He is over us as a Provider who lavishes love on His family.

"Confess" - Hallowed be Your Name...
- tells us that God is holy and just (using the Biblical definition of "confess" - say the same as)

"Command" - Your kingdom come...
- Here's where it seems a little "word of faith-ish". I was at my dad's church just before a hurricane hit and the pastor "claimed authority over the storm and commanded it to change course.

"Collection" - Give us each day our daily bread...
Like the Israelites in the desert with their manna each day. Manna means "What is it?" and when we trust God for our needs, sometimes we get something that is not exactly what we're familiar with; but God does provide our needs.

"Cancelling" - Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us...
- keep a short accounts of debts.

"Conquering" - And lead us not into temptation...
we all have habits to change and sin/old nature to leave behind.

There you have it - the "formula" of the Lord's Prayer.

The rest of the passage deals with "Midnight Methods" - the persistent "bothering" of the neighbor for food. The sermons notes:
- when faced with an unexpected situation
- pray with boldness and persistence
- prevail over resistance
- be bold with shameless audacity
- and press through (be a pitfall)

The third point of the sermon is to know the character of the God to Whom we come.

God is the giver of good gifts, the One who provides, God my healer, the source of my faith and salvation.

That part is right...