My Boy Driving

So my baby is 15 as of Wednesday, and today he drove me home from the DMV.

I feel old.

Crock Pot Potato Soup Recipe

Potato Soup

1lb Velveeta

4 cups 1/2 and 1/2

1 cup milk

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

10 medium Red Potatoes

1/2 slab Bacon; crumbled (optional)





Boil cubed potatoes for 10 minutes and drain.

Add Velveeta to Crock Pot on low setting and allow to start melting.

Melt butter in a sauce pan and slowly mix in flour until smooth.

Add milk, chicken broth, and half and half and mix with buttered flour until smooth, stir regularly. (Half and Half can scorch so be careful.) Bring to a light boil.

Transfer to Crock Pot.

Stir until smoothed, then add cooked potatoes. (If you like the bacon, add it here on top as a garnish, or some shredded cheddar cheese.)

When it's all hot, it's ready to serve.

Marine stabbed by suspected shoplifter in Georgia

This is from my hometoen newspaper, The Augusta Chrinicle. The story happened on Black Friday. Some holiday spirit, eh?



Marine stabbed by suspected shoplifter in Georgia
Fri Nov 26, 4:28 pm ET

   AUGUSTA, Ga. – A U.S. Marine reservist collecting toys for children was stabbed when he helped stop a suspected shoplifter in eastern Georgia.

Best Buy sales manager Orvin Smith told The Augusta Chronicle that man was seen on surveillance cameras Friday putting a laptop under his jacket at the Augusta store.

When confronted, the man became irate, knocked down an employee, pulled a knife and ran toward the door. Outside were four Marines collecting toys for the service branch's "Toys For Tots" program.
Smith said the Marines stopped the man, but he stabbed one of them, Cpl. Phillip Duggan, in the back. The cut did not appear to be severe.

The suspect, whose name was not released, was held until police arrived. The suspect was transported to University Hospital with possible broken ribs and multiple lacerations and bruises suffered when he fell while attempting to flee after having stabbed the marine. The Richmond County Sheriff's office said it is investigating.






(OK. So I made the last part up. But still, you know he had a few bruises when they carted him off. )


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101126/ap_on_re_us/us_marine_stabbed

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/crime-courts/2010-11-26/shoplifting-suspect-stabs-marine

How To “Spend” Your Life

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Well, it’s that time of year again. Yuletide spirits, roasting chestnuts, and Figgy Pudding fill our every waking moment. Oh, wait. That’s not it; it’s endless marketing, flattering advertisements, and blatant materialism. (And, what exactly IS figgy pudding, anyway! Seriously? Does anybody know!?)



One thing I believe all Americans can agree on, Christmas has become too materialistic. Hmmm...this could be what we need to unify our nation—Democrats and Republicans, Evangelicals and Atheists, Catholics and Protestants agree, the Season has the wrong focus. What to do?



Truthfully, I’m not sure, but maybe this idea, originally postulated by Fred Craddock, could start us in the right direction. How will we spend our Christmas? Or, as Craddock askes, "How will we 'spend' our lives?"



Craddock say he thinks many of us have the concept of “giving our all to the Lord” as though we take a $1,000 bill and lay it on the Altar. We then say, “Here’s my life Lord. I’m giving my all.” But Craddock says he thinks God views us giving all by sending us to the bank and having us cash that $1,000 bill in on quarters. I like that! See, then we go through life putting out 25¢ here and 50¢ there.



Ever spend a Friday at a nursing home, painting fingernails and listening to the same story for the hundredth time? Ca-ching, 25¢! Ever get a call from a neighbor’s teenager at midnight? You could have said “Get lost.”, but you just listened until two in the morning. Have you served on a committee, poured drinks at a fellowship, or driven a battered wife to a shelter? Ever rung a Salvation Army bell, picked out an angel from a Christmas tree, or gone to a shut-in's house singing Christmas carols? 25¢ here. 50¢ there.


For the most part, giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious. It is done in those little acts of love, spent 25¢ at a time. It would be easier to go out in a flash of glory, but it is more important to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul.



That is how Christ saw it. He said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25:40. In-other-words, what we do for the helpless in society, we are doing for Him. So spend a little more this Christmas. Not in dollars, but in the “quarters” of your life. Donate your time. Drop an extra dollar in the Sacks of Love offering or Salvation Army bucket. Take some food to a needy neighbor. Invite someone to church.



Mostly...just love somebody—25¢ at a time.

Palin Mocked For Saying Jesus Was A Christian

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I am no fan of Sarah Palin. Let me say that at the outset. I do not believe that she can win the presidency, but I also do not believe she could do any worse than the current holder of that office, either.



But I am greatly troubled by the constant barrage of criticism leveled at her by the main stream media. The double standard is appalling, and their oversight of VP Biden's flubs, while gawking with amazement at her slightest misstep shows the ever widening gap in their "unbiased" journalism. It is downright yellow.



But the latest just takes the cake. Liberal journalist Richard Wolfe of Newsweek has mocked Palin for saying that Jesus was Christian. Well...OK...so it was ALMOST that bad. What he actually mocked her for was saying that she took "divine inspiration" from The Chronicles of Narnia, the allegorical series of children's books written by the most prominent Christian apologist of the Twentieth Century. Said Wolfe, "How could she get divine inspiration from a series of kids books?"



Ahhh...the irony. Such a learned Englishman, such a naive little American girl. Tsk. Tsk. Sarah. Aren't you aware that C.S. Lewis and religion have no ties? How could you take children's literature and so ignorantly cast aspersions of religiosity on to its greatest bard? You ignorant, saucy little thing. I suppose you believe J. R. R. Tolkien to be a faith based writer as well. Ah, you dim witted Colonists' and your lack of understanding of proper English writing.



What a jack-wagon! Wolfe was quickly shut down by Host Chris Matthews. Here is a transcript:



WOLFFE: Look, divine inspiration from a series of kids books? I don`t think C.S. Lewis would really want Newsmax in --


MATTHEWS: But I wouldn`t put down C.S. Lewis.



WOLFFE: No, I`m not putting him down.



MATTHEWS: Right.



WOLFFE: But divine inspiration? There are things she could have said for divine inspiration. Choosing C.S. Lewis is an interesting one.


What a moron! But of course, try and find that tid bit of info in the main stream. It'll never happen.

Thanks Living

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So it's Thanksgiving Day, and our thoughts turn toward a list of things we are "thankful" for. I have such a list. Do you?
1) I have a “know-so-salvation.”
2) I have a wonderful wife and a healthy family.
3) I have the great joy of pastoring at a faithful church.
4) I have a great God and Savior.

On and on it could go...friends, shelter, cars, country, reaching self-actualization (OK. That one was to see if you're paying attention :)

Let me encourage you not to allow this Thanksgiving to come and go without taking inventory of your blessings.

However, I do not want us to be thankful for these things just because it is November. Biblical gratitude isn't something that should pass from our minds with the passing of a season. Biblical gratitude is an attitude of the heart; a God-centered response to whatever circumstances comes our way—each moment of each day of each year.

I believe that is what the Psalmist was thinking when he wrote “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1) I couldn’t help but think about that little phrase, “At All Times!” What a thought. It is more than just an admonition; it is a command to be thankful! Thanksgiving may be only one day a year on the world’s calendar, but for Believers, thanksgiving is to become "thanks-living."

If you want a great study, trace the words “thanks” or “thanksgiving” through Paul’s epistles and see how much gratitude is part of what it means to be a Christian. You see, when thanksgiving becomes a way of life, it is the first thing that comes out of our mouths, and we can begin to thank God in any circumstance. How you ask? It’s simple really; God will never allow anything to happen to you that is outside of His perfect will. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10). Once we know that God’s plan and purpose for our lives is perfect, that He makes no mistakes, we will say, “Thank You” for what ever comes our way, and we will practice Thanks Living.



May you, your family, and friends enjoy a blessed Thanksgiving season...all year!

A Rabbi Walked Into A Bar With A Box Of Oil

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2 Kings 9 and 10 tell the story of Jehu. This is the funniest, brutalist, and yet, most moving of the escapades of Elisha recorded in the Bible. While the story is long in its telling, it is direct and to the point in its application. Jehu, realizing God’s call and acting upon it in timely fashion, is able to overthrow the brutal regime of Jezebel. More specifically, it ends the regime of Joram, Jezebel’s vassal off-spring of the hellish union between her and Ahab.

The specifics are bloody and brutal, Jehu starts off as a hero and winds up a bloodied tyrant of a king, Jezebel ends up a crumpled mess on the palace floor, eaten by dogs to the point of unrecognizableness. Seventy princes are slain at Jezreel, and the line of ungodliness continues.

But, if you look hard enough, perhaps even with head cocked to the right and eyes squinted just so, you can see and hear the God of Psalm 2, laughing and shaking His head in bewilderment at the saga and drama of the lowly creatures He made. Their deft attempts to bring Him low, allowing the angels to snigger just a bit. The comedy revolves around a young rabbi and a task fitting for a priest.

Elisha tasks one of his seminary students with the job of anointing Jehu king of Israel. This is not altogether surprising, considering he also sent Gehazi to answer the door when Haaman came knocking. But it is not quite as irreverent as it may first seem. The young prophet would not attract the same attention as the venerable old Elisha, whom no doubt Jezebel had a cruel and crooked eye on all the time. Treachery, as Joram would later call this, would be less likely seen in the young rabbi. So he anoints Jehu as king, using his “box” of oil. This would not have been a simple, modern anointing…touching of the finger to oil, then transference to the head. Oh, no. This would be Six quarts of oil, poured casually over the entire body, head first.

Leaving the empty box of oil, the young fled quickly. Treachery is a tricky business after all. The funny part comes from Jehu’s reaction. When asked about the youngster’s motives, Jehu plays it cool. “It was nuttin.” When pressed by his comrades, Jehu, dripping from a fresh bath in 6 quarts of oil, fesses up to the prophet’s motive. They pronounce their intentions to recognize him as king, and off the troupe heads to Jezreel to see about the coup in proper fashion. Spelled: High Treason and Execution. He rides furiously, still covered in oil. I can imagine the dust and horse hair sticking to his skin and clogging up the pores.

Perhaps I read the Bible differently than you, but this always makes me crack a smile, and, turning my head just right, I think I might hear Elisha chuckle a bit also. The thought of this brute, covered with dirt, oil, and fur, bring down the most beautiful, and wicked, women who ever lived…her face painted, hair tired, looking very much like an ancient Tammy Faye Baker…must have brought some satisfaction to the old preacher.

Hard as we try, we are just human after all! And seeing the downfall of folks who come against you has some satisfying elements—at least when the down fall is God’s doing, not your own. I can sympathize with Elisha. Jezebel’s comeuppance was long overdue. And to think, it all started when a young Rabbi walked into a bar with a box of oil in his arms, looking to do God’s will.