Pilgrim's Map of the Day

Wow, two weeks goes by quickly. I can't believe I haven't posted anything in that amount of time. My excuses are as follows: grad school finals, preparing to move, work, husband, father, friend, church worker, etc.... All that being said though, I have thought about blogging almost every day. So, here I am with some of the things around the internet that has sparked my curiosity and I think I should share.

* This is first link is of particular interest to me because it's subject is an event that takes place often in the town where I live. Follow this link to read the critique by A Little Leaven about what is going on over at "The Ramp in Hamilton, AL. Make sure to read the comments at the bottom. There are some questions that need answering there.

* Ever heard of the the Unified Field Theory of Biblical Prophecy? Read this article if you want to have your curiosity tickled or if you are just loooking for an excuse to study Biblical prophecy.

* I like to call this video "Divine Intervention." Think twice before you ride you motorcycle into a houst of worship.

In House Dirtbike Crash

Nuking the Fridge

What is nuking the fridge you may ask. Here's a hint, it's almost the same as "jumping the shark." If you still don't know, follow this link and watch the video that is sure to make you smile to find out.

Removing A Speck

Luke 6 tells us as Christians that we should not be hypocritical in our admonition of man but to make sure that we can see and remove the speck from our own eyes. This is very difficult to do but if we are truly followers of Christ then we must obey this commandment He gave to us. When we pray to Christ to make us into Christian examples we often don't remember that there are things that we must do in order to be such and many of those things seem difficult if we continue to think that our flesh is more important than that of our Savior. I had an incident happen in my life last night that I know was God giving me an opportunity to be a Christian without being a hypocrite in my own life.
School is soon to start back and having two young sons I worry about throwing them into that environment where the filters we have at home are removed. Ethan will be going to 2nd grade and Luke will be starting kindergarten. The night before Ethan's first night of kindergarten I sat down with him, just the two of us, and had a very meaningful conversation with him regarding what it meant to be a leader and not following the crowd. I will not go into the details at this time but I intend to have the same conversation with Luke on the eve of his schooling.
I can think back and remember that a funny thing happened to me the day that Ethan started school. I remember that I went to the driving range that day during my lunch to relieve some tension as I was worried about Ethan and how he was doing. While there, I was approached by a young lady who was the girlfriend of a boy I had grown up with and who I knew had been in and out of rehab and jail for drug related charges. As the two of us began to have a conversation I came to find out that the boy, now a man, was in the local jail awaiting to be sent to a more secure and structured facility. As I was talking to this girl God placed it on my heart that I needed to go to the local jail and apologize to this young man for not being a better example for him as we grew up and to let him know that I was there for him and could relate to what he is going through. I actually talked with my wife about this and made plans to go. Plans that I never followed through with before hearing that he had been moved to another location. A wasted opportnity to do what I had talked to my son about the night before. I was no leader and asking my son to do so was beyond hypocritical of me.
Needless to say this grieved my heart and I have spoken to the young man's grandmother about this and requested that she keep me informed of this young man's status. As I have given thought to what I will tell my yopungest son about being a leader before he starts kindergarten I have been reminded of the incident described above several times and it has continued to weigh on me. Strangely, last night I spoke with the young man's grandmother and she told me that he was out of jail and soon to have a child. I asked her for his phone number and called and left a message. To my suprise, he soon called back. God presented me with not only an opportunity to say what He had put on my heart two years ago, but also to be able to minister to this young man for a short time. Also, and to my benefit, I was allowed to remove a plank from my eye so I can openly and honestly discuss leadership with my youngest son now with no remorse. When I finished this conversation and hung the phone I was literally on cloud nine. I felt wonderful despite the fact that it was ten at night. Thank the Almighty God for his presence in my life.
If there are people in your lives that you feel you need to make things right with, let me say it is great. I felt like a million bucks last night and all I did was what I should have done two years ago. If you have planks you need to remove so that you can be a minister of truth to your family, friends, or others that God sends to you, remove them. It may seem hard to think about but it really is not. Christ died for you so that you can have these opportunities.

Where Was God In This?

Let me preface my comments by saying that I by no means intend for this to be insulting or mean-spirited. What I will write is nothing more than an observation and is not an observation of the subject, but of this world in general.

I just finished watching the story of Randy Pausch's last days prior to his death. If you don't know, Randy Pausch is the man who is famous for delivering a very inspiring and touching final lecture when he found he was dying of cancer. If you do not know the story simply Google "The Last Lecture." It is a very moving story and should be shared. I truly feel sorry for his wife and their children and if by some strange chance you are reading this, I would ask you to stop now.

As I watched this very well put together memorial to Randy I noticed that he held many things in his life close to his heart that I do. His family was obviously very important to him as well as how he positively affected the world around him. However, as I sat and watched something became apparent to me halfway through the memorial. I had not heard God, faith, belief, or Christ mentioned once. I am not saying they weren't but if they were, I missed it. At that point I began really listening for any semblance of belief in anything other than the strength of man. What I heard was multiple swear words and a man and wife who think/thought they had it all figured out. I make no assumption of this man's faith in God, but I can say that I have not seen it. It could be that the editor of the memorial edited all those parts out, but I think back to the now famous "Last Lecture" and I can not recall faith in God being a prevalent theme. To many, Randy Pausch's story represented something good in this world, but to me it represents what is wrong.

At the end of the piece was an interview with Randy a few days before he died. There he sat, scared and dying. Yet, he continued to rely only on himself and his strength. I at this point was dumbfounded that this man, who has been at the crest of eternity for months now, still found himself strong enough to handle this problem on his own. How sad and if my assumption is correct, I grieve for his soul. This man was given an opportunity to teach a message of hope and salvation and of eternal life but his story ends with nothing more than a resounding reminder of how helpless we truly are. Again, his strength was admirable, but how much could he have done for the kingdom during his pre-death media blitz. Now, there is no epilogue of hope to his story, just an ending. While to many their final memory of this man is his message of how to live life, to me it is one of how truly weak I am without Christ and God. The memorial showed multiple interviews with family and friends who talked about how strong Randy was but no mention of where he drew his strength from. I firmly believe that this man was convinced that he needed no strength other that his own and just as the serpent fooled Eve in the garden that reliance on her own wisdom was the only thing necessary, Randy was fooled too.

Again, I hope that I am wrong and if you know of error in my thinking, I implore you to comment and correct me. Until that time I will grieve over the fact that many churches are using this man for inspiration and teaching. I think his language alone when faced with eternity would void such but again, that's simply my opinion. I ask all of you to not lean on your own knowledge and thought for strength but instead follow the example of the Psalmist in the 71st Psalm who writes;

15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only. 17 O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.

How nice would it have been to hear Randy Pausch declare God's wondrous works.

In conclusion, Randy ends his last lecture by stating that his message was for his children. I still don't know what message that was. I only wished that Randy knew that the message we should be able to leave our children has already been written for us. Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Can you leave that message in truth with your children today?

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

If you don't come to this blog normally, the Pilgrim's Map is links to different sites around the Internet that include things that I find either uplifting, informative, or just plain funny. Make sure you check them out.



* First off, there has been a great deal of talk about the revival in Lakeland, Florida. So much talk that the national media is beginning to take notice. I won't make any personal comments about it but make sure you follow this link to a great site, A Little Leaven, and watch the video and read the comments. If would love to see your comments about it so comment here as well as there. Maybe we can get a good discussion up.



* Also from A Little Leaven, follow this link to watch a video regarding a man in Siberia who claims to be Jesus Christ. This is pretty creepy stuff, especially when you realize this guy has 10,000 people as followers.

* Jesus for President!!!! As I can guarantee you based on what I know today, I cannot with a clear conscience vote for either of the two current candidates. Go to this website to see a campaign for president that hits just the right spot.

* This is a great article from the folks at Dumb Little Man about some lessons that our kids can teach us on how to be happy. This is a must read.

* Warning, if you are an atheist you will not like this link. If you are a believer in God, you need to read this to arm yourself.

* This article from Already and Not Yet offers a needed refresher on exactly what the gospel is.