Sunday, November 16, 2008
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Election Humor
This is perhaps one of the funniest election/political spoofs I've ever seen. I can't embed it... so follow this link and enjoy.
Sarah Palin Rap
"All the mavericks in the house put your hands up.
All the plumbers in the house pull your pants up."
Sarah Palin Rap
"All the mavericks in the house put your hands up.
All the plumbers in the house pull your pants up."
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
No Way!
So, I get a newsletter from Emily's school Principle in early October and I find out that JIM BELUSHI came to her school to read books to the students. What the heck?!? Come to find out that Jim Belushi went to Lincoln Elementary School way back in the day and occasionally stops in to read for the kids at the school. How cool is that? For the record... Emily has no idea who Jim Belushi is... and did not say a word about this when she got home. If not for the Priciple's newsletter... I would have never even found out! There's gotta be some irony there...
Here are some pictures of the event below:
Kudos to Mr. Belushi for taking the time to come back and hang out at his old school! Very impressive!
Here are some pictures of the event below:
Kudos to Mr. Belushi for taking the time to come back and hang out at his old school! Very impressive!
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Election Day
"If you do not vote... then I do not want to talk to you about our country's problems." -Michael W. Smith
Amen.
Amen.
Monday, November 03, 2008
News Flash
My little boy, Mr. Aaron, went 'number one' in the toilet tonight for the very first time in his life. I'm sorry if that's too much information... but it's the big news of our day here in the Howard household...
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Sermon Snippet: Unpacking Holiness
Leviticus 11:44 tells us something the Lord said to the Israelites and is repeated in various other places throughout scripture: “I, the Lord, am your God. You must be holy because I am holy.”
So what exactly is Holiness? The Biblical concept of Holiness implies separation. Now, I have known and understood this for quite some time. College professors beat this into my head, I’ve read books… I’ve done biblical studies. And I’ve heard over and over again this concept of Holiness as being separate or set apart.
But it wasn’t until recently when I was reading a book called ‘Be Holy’ that this concept changed a little bit for me. Before this book, I had the concept that Holiness was about being separate FROM something. Holiness means separation from culture. To be separate FROM something immediately implies a set of DO NOT rules. Don’t associate with them. Don’t watch movies. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. If we don’t do enough things… then maybe we’ll finally separate ourselves enough to be holy.
But then I read a chapter on the Old Testament foundations of Holiness written by Joseph Coleson and he said something that resonated with me and freed me from thinking about Holiness in a limited way. He wrote this: ‘Biblical holiness is about separation – but separation as a positive concept, not a negative one. With respect to God’s people, biblical Christian holiness means we are separate TO God.’
In other words, our holiness should be thought of in positive terms. That we are separate TO the Living God… we are set apart for relationship with God Most High. And it’s only through that relationship that we can hope to be changed and renewed and freed to be the men and women that God created us to be.
At General Conference this past summer, I listened to a talk on personal holiness that was given by Dr. Chris Bounds… who is a theology professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. He said something that echoes this concept… He said: ‘The end of holiness is not the death of sin… the end of holiness is love.’
The end game of holiness is not to be separated FROM something. That will happen and should happen… we SHOULD want to separate ourselves from sin and those things that cause it. But that’s not the end game of holiness. Ultimately, the end game is to be separated FOR or TO God! Holiness is about choosing to engage in a love relationship with God that would change the core of our being. Once our core is changed… everything else in our lives starts to fall into place.
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
So what exactly is Holiness? The Biblical concept of Holiness implies separation. Now, I have known and understood this for quite some time. College professors beat this into my head, I’ve read books… I’ve done biblical studies. And I’ve heard over and over again this concept of Holiness as being separate or set apart.
But it wasn’t until recently when I was reading a book called ‘Be Holy’ that this concept changed a little bit for me. Before this book, I had the concept that Holiness was about being separate FROM something. Holiness means separation from culture. To be separate FROM something immediately implies a set of DO NOT rules. Don’t associate with them. Don’t watch movies. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. If we don’t do enough things… then maybe we’ll finally separate ourselves enough to be holy.
But then I read a chapter on the Old Testament foundations of Holiness written by Joseph Coleson and he said something that resonated with me and freed me from thinking about Holiness in a limited way. He wrote this: ‘Biblical holiness is about separation – but separation as a positive concept, not a negative one. With respect to God’s people, biblical Christian holiness means we are separate TO God.’
In other words, our holiness should be thought of in positive terms. That we are separate TO the Living God… we are set apart for relationship with God Most High. And it’s only through that relationship that we can hope to be changed and renewed and freed to be the men and women that God created us to be.
At General Conference this past summer, I listened to a talk on personal holiness that was given by Dr. Chris Bounds… who is a theology professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. He said something that echoes this concept… He said: ‘The end of holiness is not the death of sin… the end of holiness is love.’
The end game of holiness is not to be separated FROM something. That will happen and should happen… we SHOULD want to separate ourselves from sin and those things that cause it. But that’s not the end game of holiness. Ultimately, the end game is to be separated FOR or TO God! Holiness is about choosing to engage in a love relationship with God that would change the core of our being. Once our core is changed… everything else in our lives starts to fall into place.
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Saturday, November 01, 2008
National Bloggers Month
Well,
I read a few years ago that November is considered National Bloggers Month... so in order to celebrate that... I will be posting at least one time each day this month. In fact, this will be my second go at this. Last November, I pulled this off (barely... with the help of a few people) and this year I'm going to give it another shot. Makes it a little easier that I hardly ever write on my blog anymore... so I'm fairly certain that I could pull off something for 30 or so days.
I'll start today with a few quick news bites:
-Emily and I are going to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars today in the theatres. It may surprise some of you to hear that I haven't seen this yet. But I was waiting till Emily and I had a chance to see it together. And then when we get home, we'll have about 5 episodes of Clone Wars to catch up with recorded on our handy dandy DVR.
-I'm starting a four week sermon series tomorrow on Holiness. I'm very excited. (I'll post a snippet of it for my blog post tomorrow.) I've been excited about what I'm hearing within the Wesleyan church about Holiness Thought and Theology. In fact, if you are interested... I highly recommend 'Be Holy...' the third in the Wesleyan Theological Perspectives series released by Wesleyan Publishing House. Very engaging read!
-I still love being a Lead Pastor. Some days are better than others. But most days are better as a lead pastor than most days as a staff pastor. If that makes sense... haha.
-Emily knows how many years the Cubs have gone without winning a World Series. Just throwing that out there. She is well aware of the numbers now.
-I absolutely love my little boy Aaron. He's into everything... He loves cars, trains and construction vehicles. And he is really starting to talk now!
-I love my wife about as much as you can love another human being. Just thought I'd throw that out there too. Did you know we celebrated 10 years last summer? Hard to believe.
I think that will about do it for now. I'm sure you'll hear more than you want to about my life in the next month if you track with me all month! Cheers!
I read a few years ago that November is considered National Bloggers Month... so in order to celebrate that... I will be posting at least one time each day this month. In fact, this will be my second go at this. Last November, I pulled this off (barely... with the help of a few people) and this year I'm going to give it another shot. Makes it a little easier that I hardly ever write on my blog anymore... so I'm fairly certain that I could pull off something for 30 or so days.
I'll start today with a few quick news bites:
-Emily and I are going to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars today in the theatres. It may surprise some of you to hear that I haven't seen this yet. But I was waiting till Emily and I had a chance to see it together. And then when we get home, we'll have about 5 episodes of Clone Wars to catch up with recorded on our handy dandy DVR.
-I'm starting a four week sermon series tomorrow on Holiness. I'm very excited. (I'll post a snippet of it for my blog post tomorrow.) I've been excited about what I'm hearing within the Wesleyan church about Holiness Thought and Theology. In fact, if you are interested... I highly recommend 'Be Holy...' the third in the Wesleyan Theological Perspectives series released by Wesleyan Publishing House. Very engaging read!
-I still love being a Lead Pastor. Some days are better than others. But most days are better as a lead pastor than most days as a staff pastor. If that makes sense... haha.
-Emily knows how many years the Cubs have gone without winning a World Series. Just throwing that out there. She is well aware of the numbers now.
-I absolutely love my little boy Aaron. He's into everything... He loves cars, trains and construction vehicles. And he is really starting to talk now!
-I love my wife about as much as you can love another human being. Just thought I'd throw that out there too. Did you know we celebrated 10 years last summer? Hard to believe.
I think that will about do it for now. I'm sure you'll hear more than you want to about my life in the next month if you track with me all month! Cheers!
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