I read Mark Driscoll's blog daily - there are problems that I have with Driscoll, but he still has a lot of very good things to say. I have massive problems with his stand on divorce and remarriage, but on gender relations he's very good.

Anyway, I read his blog yesterday and he had reprinted (with permission) an article from revmagazine.com. (ok - an aside, one of the resource links was " Group's Sermon Sparks: Build effective sermons, cast vision, show the need for friendship with Jesus, and point to biblical guidelines for friendship." Jesus calls us friend, but we need Jesus as Lord and Saviour!)

Back to my sticking point: This chart was in the article:

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RevMagazine lists "Church of Latter Day Saints" as the fourth largest "denomination". If the chart had kept going, would they have listed "Muslims" as well? How about Hindus?

I wish that Driscoll had made a point of saying that (while there are a lot of Mormons out there) they are not Christians!

During a time when Mormons want to be seen as "mainstream Christian" and Christians appear to want to blur the lines - we need to stand up and say,

"Mormons should not be on this chart - they are not a denomintion, they are a non-Christian religion."

Until we are brave enough to stand and proclaim Christ as part of the Trinity (yes, I have stood up and said that anti-Trinitarians are not saved) the Mormons, the anti-Trinitarians, and other non-Christian religions that want to "appear" Christian will make constant inroads until they are accepted as Christians.

When we have major Christian preachers posting articles without making the point, it makes it easier to accept the "change".

We need to stand. We need to make a stand.

(I know that this article was reprinted and that these were not Driscoll's words, but they were printed on his blog)

I'm going through a bunch of templates trying to find one that looks good in both IE and Firefox - and that has a sidebar that does what I want it to do. And then...you know...stuff happened.

(In the photo in the header of this one - those are my two kids in the lower left)

It's kind of a slow week for Carnival...summer time, summer time! I hope you're all enjoying. Here's this week's Carnival of Beauty lineup:

Sting my Heart as Iris shares her favorite Psalm in the post titled "Listen to my Cry..."

Join Malissa's Merry-go-round and let Malissa tell you why her favorite book of the Bible is the Psalms in "A Psalm a Day."

The Psalms are just too beautiful for commentary cites Blair at Scribblings by Blair. Join her as she focuses on Our Beautiful King, Our Groom.

Jennifer, Snapshot shares how seeds sown with tears are reaped with great joy.

Ellen, at MzEllen & Co. realized how close the Psalms are in the Creator's work in "Psalms in our Lives".

This was a short research paper for my general psychology class

The Psychology of Deafness
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEAFNESS
November 15, 2005

IS THERE A “PSYCHOLOGY OF DEAFNESS”?
When talking about the “psychology of deafness”, perhaps the first questions that must be asked are: “Is the state of being deaf pathology, or is it a culture?” Does this distinction matter? In either case, does the description, “psychology of deafness”, apply?

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Don't forget, the "Carnival of Beauty" is here this week!

Carnival submissions are due Tuesday by 3:00 (pm) - my email address is ellen at mzellen.com .

A few years ago my husband and I took the kids on vacation and one of the places we camped was Colorado National Monument. It's on top of a mesa and the road to the top can be tough on a car (if you've got one of "those cars")

We had a conversion van and I took advantage of the space and packed everything (including a kitchen sink - a dry sink that was made to be in the "way back"). The evening before, we had gone to a ranger talk and forgotten a flashlight so somebody walked along with us to lend us their light. One our way down out of the park, I was talking to the kids about how God puts people in our path to help us out.

But just as important - even more important - is that God will put us in the path of other people that He wants us to help in His name. And he did...

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I have a friend that I don't see very often - we work in different places now and life is busy...but when we see each other we don't do "fluff". When we were seeing each other on a regular basis, our visits included: I check on her, she checks on me. Sometimes it wasn't very pretty.

There are times that I visit myself with "fluff" I listen to music, walk, read, some other stuff.But other times, it's a real "visit". What is it that I need to tell myself? Do I have the honesty to face my own inner self and say what needs to be said? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

If I want my "visits with myself" to be profitable, I need to nurture an examination of where I am and where I need to be.Sometimes, it's not pretty.The quote is right. "Sometimes we have to take a break and visit yourself." But it shouldn't stop there - visit yourself for the right reason. Do the right things while you're there.

If your "visits" with yourself are full of fluff, your walk with God will reflect that.

If your "visits" with yourself focus on the "who" that you are, and where you should be, you'll find changes taking place. Good changes; God changes.Visit yourself, take the opportunity to connect with the "who" that you are and ask the One who is with you always what you should do next.

Scripture alone.

I'm still "settling in" to the new blog - sort of like settling into a new house. There's a place in the sidebar for "pages" and I've got a section for "what I believe". In the process, I thought I'd repost/revamp the originals and add a few things.

I am Reformed - my understanding of "reformed" is based, in part, on the "Five Solas".

My belief about Sola Scriptura is that the Holy Scriptures are our final authority. It is not that we don't recognize any other authority - we recognize our spiritual mentors, pastors, etc. But all of the other authorities are measured against Scripture.

Paul praised the Bereans for examining what he said against Scripture; we do the same. We don't have our Scripture interpreted for us through man - the man is judged against Scripture. If they don't agree - Scripture wins.

If a person tells me that something is permissible, but the Bible says that it is not - the Bible wins (example: homosexuality).

If a person tells me that something is not permissible, it is up to him to show me in the Bible where the law comes from (example: having a drink with dinner).

If a person is teaching a doctrine that is not in the Bible, that doctrine is rejected (Tongues as the sign of the New Covenant).

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Mr. Picasso Head...

Courtesy of The Road Not Chosen, one of my "visit every day" blogs.

based on today's sermon

Numbers 33 tells us that when the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, they camped at Marah and then went on to Elim. That's the short story. Exodus 15 gives us more detail.

The Israelites had crossed the river and had been in the desert for three days. In three days they had not found water until they got to "some sort of body of water" (the Bible doesn't say). Alas, the water was bitter, so they named it "Marah", which means "bitterness".

So, they grumbled. Moses is the one who cried out to God, who showed him a log; Moses threw the log into the water and the water became sweet, the Israelites were satisfied, they camped there and then they moved on. The next place they camped was a place called Elim, which must have been wonderful. There were many palm trees (the Bible says 70, which could be a number of fullness) and 12 springs. This was a real oasis - a fertile place of rest in the middle of the desert.

This was only the first of many tests in the desert. They would have difficulty, cry out to God, He'd rescue them and then they'd move - until next time.

Life is like that. We all have our Marahs and our Elims.

God's "rhythm of life" tells us that we need to have a Sabbath; a day of rest - a "mini-Elim" that God has given to us each week.

The bigger "rhythm of life" tells us that "life is a testing ground, not a resting ground." This morning the pastor quoted Elisabeth Elliot, "God is not interested in growing spiritual dwarfs. We only grow in the trials of life." (I don't have that exactly right, but it's close enough.)

Think of it like weight lifting. Your muscles only grow if you give them a workout - if you don't work out, you don't get stronger. But I've always been told that it's important to take a day off in between pushing a muscle group to give those muscles time to rest and heal. It's important that we not expect to see a life in Elim - if that happens, it may be because we're not working out enough.

God knows when we're ready for a workout. He also knows when we need an Elim in our life.

The Israelites needed Marah in order to appreciate their Elim. We're like that also - and it's important that when we're in the midst of our Marah that we recognize God's hand, either in causing it or allowing it - that's our workout. It's just as important that we recognize our Elims as God's sovereign rest.

Elim is not the "Promised Land" - we'll see that soon enough. It's a resting place along the way, an oasis in the desert.

We all have enough "Marahs" - for this day, I wish you Elim.