Archive for February, 2004

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Published
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Mike
on February 19, 2004
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Randy Harris and I are covering 2 Corinthians in class today. Reading 1 Cor 1-4 and all of 2 Cor puts you on full alert against spiritual elitism.

When people think their experience (or church) is vastly more spiritual . . . when they think they and they alone have decided to take the Lord/worship/discipleship seriously . . . when they think they’ve outgrown most other Christians and churches . . . when they keep talking about how they want “more” . . . when they begin elevating some gifts above others . . . when they begin feeling sorry for all the unenlightened . . . when they begin convincing themselves that if others ever really get serious about Jesus they’ll look more like them . . . WATCH OUT!!

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

“As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

“When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.”

“Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”

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Published
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Mike
on February 18, 2004
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Let’s see if this is right . . . The city of San Francisco has decided that a California law isn’t constitutional, so they aren’t follow it. Isn’t that really a court’s job?

It is nice, however, that the governor of California, has weighed in with his moral authority to advocate the sanctity of marriage. That means a lot.

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Published
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Mike
on February 17, 2004
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Pudge is gone. Rafael. Juan. And now A-Rod. The ultimate betrayal, by the way: he’s going to the Yankees! (That could come back to haunt us if the rules change and a last-place team is allowed in the play-offs.)

It was fun being able to watch A-Rod the last few years, but who ever thought that signing him for $252,000,000 would be good for the team? Perhaps the key word here is TEAM. You can’t win with all the $$ going to one superstar.

Now . . . when are the Rangers going to get around to trading for John Lackey so we can watch him pitch more often? (I shouldn’t wish this on John, though. The Angels ought to be back in contention this year.)

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Published
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Mike
on February 16, 2004
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We saw “Miracle” this weekend. Now THAT is a movie!! Can’t you still hear Al Michaels uttering what is now one of the most famous lines in sports broadcasting history: “Do you believe in miracles?”

The whole nation was frustrated by the plight of 52 hostages in Tehran. Yellow ribbons were appearing on mailboxes, truck antennaes, ponytails–as well as around old oak trees–as a kind of communal prayer for the return of the hostages. Jimmy Carter was pleading with us to be people of character, committed to building a future with hope.

Here are a few words from the SI obit for coach Herb Brooks when he died, at the age of 66, this past summer:

Brooks’ leadership helped turn a ragtag team into champions. He had hand-picked each player.

“You’re looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back,” Brooks once said. “I look for these players to play hard, to play smart and to represent their country.”

Interviewed years later on why he headed to the locker room shortly after the Miracle on Ice, he said he wanted to leave the ice to his players, who deserved it.

“It was not my spot. I always say sort of flippantly, ‘I had to go to the bathroom.’ Or, ‘If I’d have went on the ice when this thing happened, someone would have speared me or something.’ It’s a great feeling of accomplishment and pride. They had to do it; it was their moment.”

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Published
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Mike
on February 14, 2004
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“There are two kinds of preaching that people won’t put up with: bad preaching and good preaching.” - Fred Craddock

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Published
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Mike
on February 13, 2004
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Highland has reserved a showing of “The Passion” at a local theater on Friday, February 27. Tickets will be on sale Sunday morning, the 22nd.

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Published
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Mike
on February 13, 2004
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The Zoe Group, led by Brandon Scott Thomas (a “Highland boy”), will have a live recording session on Monday, February 23 at the Paramount Theater. It begins at 5:30, and admission is free.

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Published
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Mike
on February 13, 2004
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From C. S. Lewis:

“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to hink of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

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Published
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Mike
on February 12, 2004
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There are a couple insightful paragraphs in today’s paper in an article by Berry Tramel entitled “Why Does Bobby Knight Get So Angry?”

The second theory [of why he gets so mad] is sanctimony. That’s the one I buy. Bob Knight’s teams play the game the way it ought to be played, and he runs a clean program, and by gosh, he believes he’s right, whether you’re talking fly fishing or military history.

Trouble is, righteousness is a burden. You can see it in political parties and in pulpits. Folks who believe they have the corner on honor and justice can be driven bonkers by those who see the world a little less black and white.

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Published
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Mike
on February 11, 2004
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This word just in from MOM. I could not have seen the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 because the show was on Sunday nights while we were in church. Same reason I never saw the last half of “The Wizard of Oz.” (Didn’t know until I was an adult that the Wizard was some little guy behind a curtain.)

Well, the whole Dr. Atkins thing has to bother you, doesn’t it? Apparently the man had “a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and high blood pressure.” I’m telling you, dear friends: be suspicious of any diet where guacamole is not a prime food source.