B I N G O!

Ok so it has been a long time since I have posted. I just haven't felt the need to post anything though different ideas have crossed my mind.

But anyways I just wanted to make a statement about the game of BINGO. I played on Sunday night with my girlfriend and her mom. It astounded me how many old ladies there were there. Maybe it is just me but I was having a hard time figuring out which of my 15 cards might have a BINGO. How come these old ladies could do it but they have such a hard time performing the task of driving? Maybe I notice this because I am 19 let me know if that's the case. But that's really all I have to say for now I think I will start writing more though.

An Essential Truth...

I have begun going through the adult confirmation class that is being offered at my church. I figure it will be a good way to review some of the points with Christianity and Lutheranism. After all studying the Word is a lot of who we are as Christians.


But anyways I have some cool stuff I picked up one thing was a picture of the Trinity. This is of course the belief that God is one but also The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at the same time. What I was provided with were some explanations as to how one thing can be three parts at the same time.

Illustration #1

The Apple

Pretend you have three parts of the apple the core, meat, and skin. Now all parts are apple but all have distinct characteristics to them. If you ate them you would definitely understand that. Still all of the pieces are apple and without one piece you can not have an apple. In the same way God is three distinct pieces however each one makes up the whole which is God and you can not have God without one of the pieces.


Illustration #2

H2O (aka water)

No matter what form we see this in for example liquid, gas, ice it is still water. In this way it can take different forms but it is still water all the time. The same way God takes different forms but is still God all of the time. You can also look at it that there are two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen that make up a water molecule. These different pieces form water and you can not have water without them.



Those were a few of the cool illustrations that I picked up as ways to describe how it is possible for God to be three pieces at the same time but still always being one.

The battle for Christmas

Hey anyone who wants to help out with the cause especailly the Speaker of the House should go ahead and do it.

Thanks Drudge.

Is that what it is...

Lutheran Carnival XI

Check out the new Lutheran Carnival. Dan did a great job with it.

This is my life... and I miss the small stuff

As I sit down to write this post I am first wondering why I am not sleeping yet and second this idea has been running through my mind for a couple of days. Hopefully it makes some sense as it comes out.

I have come to the realization that this time that I am here at college really is part of life. Sometimes it is easy to forget that while being within the confines of the campus things really are going on around me. That even though I am "trapped" in the dorms I am part of the world. It seems that it is often that I trudge through my life right now not realizing that I am not only preparing for the future but that there is also a present right now.

It is to easy to live in the future. And frankly I think that when this happens I lose sight of what is going around me. In a sense I lose the purpose that God has planned for me right now. Now don't get me wrong I haven't been reading Rick Warren or anything but I think that sometimes I miss the small opportunities I have to share Jesus with people all the time because I find myself to focused on the future.

I guess what I am trying to say is the age old adage that sometimes we just need to "stop and smell the roses". Either that or we need to think about the small opportunities that we have around us everyday to share the Gospel that was so graciously granted to us so that we may spread it to everyone.

I'm not sure if this is really where I meant to go with this post but there it is. Also I haven't really tried to find a good Bible passage to put this next to yet. If anyone can give me a suggestion that would be nice. Plus I get extremely excited when people post comments and give me new things to think about.

It's time to go to sleep so I can be awake for those "moments" tomorrow. With the help of the Spirit I can put my faith in knowing that if I take advantage of the moments I will have the words ready to share.

Is there better things to argue about?

So now we have the "under God guy" Michael Newdow fighting to get In God We Trust off of United States currency. Apparently this statement is very offensive to him and should be of great important to a religously free country. Read about it here.

Common Struggles

Last night at our weekly bible study we did something called a faith walk. Basically the idea is you go around in a circle and share how your faith has developed across your whole life. The rest of the group listens and can also ask questions if they might want to know further about something that is mentioned. This was the first time that I have really ever done something like this. As it turned out we barely got through half the people there before we decided it would be better to continue on later.

What I guess I noticed was that many of the people that were talking had dealt with a lot of the same problems that I had. This is something that people always talk about the idea that everyone goes through a lot of the same stuff you just never really think about it. Anyways it was comforting to find out some of the people that have also experienced the same types of problems I have had in dealing with my faith instead of just assuming that everyone else has them too.

What really is ours?

My pastor gave a sermon this week which focused a lot on stewardship. Not the idea that we should be giving more money than we are but realizing that all that we have been given was given in a way that it might glorify God.

He told a story about a couple of guys Jim and George. George had a rake that one year he loaned to Jim so that he could rake his leaves. Jim raked his leaves but never remembered to give the rake back to George. Each year Jim would use the rake for his leaves in the fall, grass clippings in the summer, and various other times throughout the year. See since he used it every year he just kept forgetting it belonged to George. The problem was not that Jim ever broke the rake and was afraid to give it back. In fact he took very good care of it like it was his own rake. Over time he had completely forgotten George loaned it to him and he now thought it was his own. George did get the rake back though a few years later when Jim died. His family was going through the shed and came across a rake that had the name George on it. They then returned the rake to its rightful owner. See the fact that Jim used that rake for so long never meant that he owned it. Ownership is not transferred by use as my pastor stated.

Then where does this leave us. Well in the same way God loans us all the we have including the body that we inhabit on Earth. He gives us these things and expects us to take care of them, but no matter how long we use them they are never truly ours. They have always been God's. So do we really own anything? The answer would be no, we are only using our gifts from God for our purposes here on Earth. "Ownership is not transferred by use."

Which is more important?

So I started thinking this morning which of these holidays can be considered the most important. Christmas the day our savior was born or Easter the day that he rose again proving that he was the savior? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

How does your offering get used?

So the other day I had the chance to go to a meeting with the President of our district Rev. C. William Hoesman. He is a great guy I really enjoyed being able to meet with him.

For those of you who don't know the district is a part of the LCMS which helps to facilitate things between churches and the synod. They also help with issues that hit closer to home such as district ministries like campus ministry. There is also some things that they do like help congregations and pastors to work things out if a problem arises. They do not however control the churches or decide what they should be teaching. They are there as a service to the churches.

Anyways the way funding works in the Michigan District. Is that money is given to the church in the collection plate. Then the church takes that money and keeps some of it for its own ministries. It then gives the rest to the district. The district here at least keeps 50%, some keep more some less, and the rest goes on to the synod. So if less money is put into the collection plate then the district has less to fund some of its ministries. This is what is happening in things such as campus ministry. Which I talk about because I am affected by it. Apparently the district budget is shrinking and this is attributed to more giving going directly to certain ministries rather than having the church be a steward of their money. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that the money is all going to the same purpose, sharing the Gospel, just in different ways. The problem lies however in the fact that while some more visible ministries are growing others that are equally as important just not as well known are being left behind so to speak.

In Mount Pleasant I am experiencing what the shortage can do to a ministry that I am involved with. This being campus ministry. No one can deny that it is important but since the district is receiving less money there ability to support these programs is also becoming less. Not because they want it to it's just how things are working right now. So I guess we should remember to keep in mind that the money we put in the collection plate each week is doing a lot more than we sometimes realize.

I really don't know where to go with that other than to explain what was presented to me on what types of things are happening. I would love to hear thoughts that anyone else has on the way that certain ministries are funded by God's people.

My Church at CMU

This is the outside of the church I realize it is dark I'll try to see if I can make that better soon.






The altar.






This is the room just outside the sanctuary where we have our fellowship and bible studies and what not.






This is our "famous" scrolling red sign. We describe our church by it often.

Setting the Mood for God

There is a danger in worshipping with the feeling that is created by the mood which is set around the one doing the worshipper. The Holy Spirit does not require a certain setting to work at the full extent of his abilities. If we say that we can get a better experience by setting the mood with the music, lighting, etc. we are deceiving ourselves of how the Spirit actually works in our lives. We do not do anything to cause him to act in us and when we set the mood he does not care that we have tried to do design a place where his work can be accomplished easier. By doing and believing thus we undermine the abilities of God.

Just a good article for more thought on one of the specific ways in which we try to set-up the mood.

Discovering Bach

So I have come to like many of Bach's works now that I have begun to listen to some of them. I had a great discussion on the tabletalk chat about which one's I should listen too since I am just starting out. I happened to stumble upon the Itunes Essentials in the music store which coincidentally released a list of many of Bach's works. If you don't know where to start and you are an Itunes user I suggest you check it out. Oh and if anyone wants to recommend some personal favorites for me to listen to feel free.

Not Easy

The life of a Christian is not easy. We were not created to please the world. It is not easy, it is not supposed to be. We were not created to be a "part" of the world. There is something more important as our purpose.

Is the modern day youth group on the right track?

There was a great discussion on youth ministry on Issues etc. today. A lot of mention was given to the fact that maybe when we separate the youth from the rest of the church we do them more of a disservice. If you want to check it out it's online at Issues etc. Look for the discussion in an mp3 format. If you listen to the beginning of the second hour I even got a question in. If you have a few minutes and any interest in the youth the time will be well spent.

Lutheran Carnival VIII

The Lutheran Carnival is up once again over at Full Throttle and an Empty Gas Tank. Take a Chance to look it will be worth the time.

Has God Changed?

Lately I hear a lot of talk about all of the "new" things that God is doing. Or come to church and God will show you how he wants to make you new. There are all sorts of things focusing on the "new". The idea that God is somehow doing something different for people now then he was say 10 years ago or at the beginning of Christianity seems to be the common ploy to get people in the pews.

Maybe I missed something but I'm pretty sure the saving grace that was given to us from God by Jesus is not changing at all. God is the same today as he was when he created the heavens and the earth. By getting people into church by saying that church in this time is "not your parents church" seems to be a deception. While worship might be conducted in a slightly different way than it was a generation ago, is the message any different? If God has changed the way that he chooses to save people I suppose I am behind the times, but I'm pretty sure he is the same God he has always been.

I guess it bothers me that the new wave in Christianity is that of "you were right the church isn't doing what it is made for, let's redesign its purpose so more people can start coming." In my opinion if you change the function of the church from equipping people and strengthening their faith and turn it into a form of entertainment just to get people in the door the point is being missed.

Can tradition be changed to help the church gain more members? Yes, as long as that change is made responsibly and not in such a way that people feel they are a new type of Christian. Nor should the church be willing to change just because people are not "feeling" as good as they used to when they leave the church. The bottom line is God is still operating the same way as he always has. If we try to say that there is some new form of Christianity out there we are only harming the people we want to help.

Luther is great

I am starting to get into some of Luther's stuff. Specifically the Bondage of the Will. I am really enjoying it. I have worked with the catechism and some of Luther's "lighter" stuff before. But getting into some of his more theological works is really interesting. Everything that I read lately confirms to me why the Lutheran position of "grace by faith" is really the only true thing that we can depend on. Because if we try to tell ourselves that we can do it without God's help we are sorely mistaken. Anyways I hope that I will have some more to post about the subject in the coming weeks. Including a post on where to me mainstream Protestantism is beginning to miss the mark with teaching people about the grace which is freely offered through Jesus.

National Porn Sunday

That's right you probably read this title the same way I read the advertisement at breakfast last week. What you don't know is that this advertisement was by a Christian fellowship on campus called His House. But that is only the start of the way this day was being set-up. I figured looking further into the matter was in good order. It turns out there were many more churches that participated across the country on Sunday. The idea for the service is explained at NationalPornSunday.com.

The idea is to spend a service talking about dealing with the sin of pornography. Good intentions but lets face it singling out one sin seems to send the message of we are gonna tackle this "law thing" one item at a time until we have nothing left. Forget everything else we'll spend a whole week talking about one specific sin. I'm starting to rant which I try not to do but this is a type of preaching that seems to be hitting a lot of the quick growing mainstream churches nowadays. Oh yeah and sometimes they forget that God's love doesn't banish the teaching of the Law into oblivion.

To make matters worse the site that sponsored the whole thing is XXXchurch.com They claim to be the "#1 Christian Porn Site" I guess if you have to sensationalize to get people to visit go for it. But are they really getting people there for the right reasons, or do they think someone might click to look at porn but low and behold they find this site and everything is better. I don't know that this form of media sensationalism is the best way for people to get to know the churh.

Oh and a further look into the faq's of the website reveals these nice answers to some questions.

Why don't you have more Bible stuff or have it be more Christian?
We have Bible studies and sermons that you can listen to and a prayer wall where you can post prayers. However, we refuse to have this be your typical Christian crap website with crosses and bibles all over the place and communicating things that most in the world can't relate to. Just the truth communicated in a no-nonsense way.

Huh, I guess Jesus or God aren't needed just the word Christian is enough to help out.

The Name
XXXchurch is provocative, memorable, and it combines the seedy and the sacred. Enough said.

Combine the seedy and the sacred huh that also sounds like a great way to treat the things the Lord has created for us.

Anyways, I have gone on long enough but this really got me upset. To tackle the issue of sin like this there has to be a better way, and one that doesn't just get people upset to get a point across.

"We the people"...who worship the one true God...

So as I was sitting in my Public Administration class today my professor brought up a very interesting point. He was talking about the Federalist papers which were written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton. They are a collection of articles written by the three men in order to drum up support for the Constitution. The interesting thing comes in the statement which my professor made as to the style of writing that these authors used. He mentioned that many of the papers are written with the same type of style as many of the books of the Bible.

The papers are written in such a way that the authors did not know exactly what was going to happen if the new Constitution was ratified. They made the best guesses as to what the situation was going to be. While we know significantly more about the situation of God there is still things that we will not be able to understand until Jesus returns then we shall know exactly what the meaning of everything written is.

But all in all it was interesting that the framers of the Constitution would even write in a way like the Bible. It sure seems to offer a lot of proof that they did intend that the government could be involved with the affairs of the government, but they did not want the government to control their church.