Apostle David Johndrow - Fire And Grace

Today is a bonus post for my regular readers. Last night my life-long favorite hockey team won the national championship, better known as the Stanley Cup . Congratulations to the Boston Bruins ! Before you dash off to read something more interesting than a blog about sports, consider this. Each one of us has a God given destiny. For the some of the Boston Bruins, last night was part of who they are in Christ - whether they know it or not. I suppose there are some that have chosen this path, and on it they will miss God. For others, this may in fact be the path that leads them to Jesus. Enough spiritualization, here are 5 1/2 reasons why you should at least checkout the video highlights of the winning game HERE . Or you may read about it  HERE . -1 Because the Action Doesn't Stop: Hockey, unlike football and baseball (snore) plays until there is a reason to stop the play. (like basketball and soccer) There is no stopping for a huddle to make plays, no waiting ...

I think that I have spent more time exposing my privates to strangers in the past month than I have in my entire lifetime. In fact I am feeling almost like a criminal. My dignity has gone out the window, and some of the medical procedures and exams are more embarrassing than that which which took place in the men's locker room in high school! First I'd like to make a disclaimer.  Tony C Today  seems to push the envelope which is a shock to my New England Puritan roots. I couldn't find the post in which he had a photo of the female reproductive tract - it was over the top. Today I am going to follow his lead as a more experienced Christian than I. If today's post offends your Christian sensibilities, please be sure to place part of the blame on him for leading me down this wayward path. I posted briefly on dignity a week or so ago, and the situation has only gotten worse. As a conservative, puritanical New Englander, we don't talk about a...

A few months ago the doctor gave me a rather stern warning about my weight and my current health issues that are related to it. Although my blood pressure has always been about 140 over something - hey I am mostly a Type A - he thought it should be lower. So at 276, 111 pounds more than I weighed when I graduated high school, I made a few changes in the way I ate. Then my wife asked me to join a sadomasochistic trainer to do circuit cardio twice a week. The shrink-wrapped 6-pack has to go! In the first In It to Lose It class, I nearly blew my cookies; God's way of letting me know that eating cookies was a large part of the my weight problem. (Actually in 2004, I had an injury to my foot from improper use of the treadmill along with cheap sneakers and I stopped exercising.) The class, however; it was pretty bad! I should have left my water bottle closer to the floor and brought an oxygen tank. The  one-to-ten  pain scale used in hospitals, now needs to be extended to ...

Stereotypes are bad, but have you ever thought why we have them? It's because they are true to some degree. Most people claim that they want to be individuals, but they often end up identifying with a larger group. Christians certainly can be like that. That's what makes light-bulb jokes about denominations sort of funny. HERE are some if you'd haven't heard how many evangelicals it takes to change one. I like Jeff Foxworthy's  "you might be a redneck if" routines. In the very same style of humor, I have created my own one-liners about religious people. There is no conclusive or factual way to tell if someone is religious - but some of the following things sure do make you think. You might be religious if you think that _______ . . . . the church is a building. . . . the King James is the only authoritative Bible translation. . . . all Catholics are not saved. . . . tongues are the only evidence of salvation. . . . 4 Spiritual Laws, Roma...

- If we are having global warning, how come this is the coldest winter in decades, and what do we need 80 inches of snow for? - Does Jay Leno hate watching David Letterman like I do? - If ghosts can walk through walls and glide down stairs, why don't they fall through the floor? - What will actually happen in Egypt? - How come my favorite bloggers don't write more blogs? Tony C Today ,  Charlie's Church of Christ and The Church of No People ? - Wonder what Curtis is doing in Heaven? - Why are the little styrofoam pieces called peanuts? - God you were amazing on Sunday, can we have more on Friday? - How come people want to talk about religion, but few really want to do it? - If Facebook goes out of business, how will we find every one again? - What happens to dead people's email accounts? - Will my snow blower last the season? - Wonder what my CD will actually sound like when it's all finished? - Why do doctors leave the room when you chan...

Headphone Mics - Man this is a handy gadget! You can do all sorts of gymnastics in the name of Jesus. When preaching, it will fire you up with the word of God! You can be expressive, and dynamic! Gone are the days of pulpit mics, and lapel mics along with organ music! Altar Calls - Still a staple of the the evangelical church. Funny, the truth is that 94+% of Christians got saved through making friends with some one that was already saved. Maybe we could have relationship calls? Overhead Projectors - no more hymnals. I guess that is because they don't tech folks to read music in schools anymore. Just plaster the lyrics to the song on the overhead. But someone, please teach the worship leader the same words! The Word "Freakin'" - it sort of goes to show you that we are not of this world. Usually accompanied by crap, shoot and gosh dang it. Titles followed by "Pastor" - I am not sure how all this started. In the olden days of...

Well Election Day 2010 has passed, and political aspirations have been decided for some number of years divisible by two. When I think of politics, I think of bull. There was plenty of that - but connecting the dots of my rather warped thought process, I thought of the Running of the Bulls. I found the following description of the yearly festival on Wikipedia . I have changed a few words to make my point - those are in bold The Running of the Bulls (in Spanish "encierro," to shut/lock up) [back room deals with live bull] is a practice that involves running in front of a small group (typically a dozen) of bulls [house speaker, Majority Leaders, etc] that have been let loose. The most famous running of the bulls is that of the on the first [Tuesday of November] ; although there are others in towns and villages across country. Unlike bullfights, which are performed by professionals, anyone may participate in the Running of the Bulls [elections] . The purpose of this even...

Well for a lot of Christians Halloween is taboo. There are some that will allow it if the costumes are not related to witchcraft or the demonic - skeletons, mummies, Freddie Krueger or A-Rod. I suppose for others it's free-for-all, and anything goes. There are lots of reasons for not having Halloween : - It doesn't center are around a biblical event like Christmas or Easter, though all three are formed around pagan celebrations. - The word pumpkin isn't even in the Bible - tolerance isn't either, but that's another blog. - The few times dead things got up and walked around, it wasn't dark out. (Matthew 27:52, John 11:44) etc. - Some Satanists actually do human sacrifices on Halloween. - It's a Wiccan festival. - The trick-or-treat ritual was practiced by the Druids and their followers in medieval times. - Candy is bad for your teeth. But in case that doesn't scare you off, here are 5 1/2 costume ideas for your Halloween celebration or...

I think the only kind of worship service I haven't participated in is one with snake handling. Believe me, I'm content to leave that one alone. All that experience is worth something - I once wrote a blog for Tracy over at Abundant Life... like most guest-bloggers, it had to be one of my best evers ! IMHO - it was. ;) It's taken a long time (since March), but here is the sequel. In my most sarcastic style (which my wife won't let me use at home), I thought I would follow up with, in no particular order, 10 more popular hot-button issues in the church today. -1 Building Funds: According to Dave Ramsey, most Christians don't tithe - I've been there. Some folks think that a church buildings (along with Christmas and Easter) are just a pagan tradition from the third century, and they also believe only house churches are the "true church." So how much pressure can churches put on believers to make love offerings, give tithes, gifts, alms and donate t...

Once you get into Christian culture, there are some things that you need to learn, but they won't be taught from the pulpit. I have noticed that even new Christians pick these lessons up very quickly. -1 Watch Your Language Around Church Folks: I don't care where you are from, if someone is in a church, they usually stop using the "F" word and most of the other ones they wouldn't use in the presence of a 5-year-old. Especially if the pastor/preist is around. Why is that? I don't know about you, but I have never had a sermon on freakin' profanity. -2 Sermon Notes: Most churches give out a bulletin of announcements. While some outline the service, they inevitably gets used to make a sermon note or two. I have even seen sermon note spaces and my favorite, fill-in-the-blank sermon notes. If I forget my pen, they have some cheesy small pencils in the chair backs. -3 Pray With Your Eyes Closed: Maybe it is Billy Graham, but why Christian pray with their ...

We took my wife out to dinner for her birthday, and the conversation was fun. Here is a snapshot. 6-year-old: Mom, when you were pregnant, how many babies did you have? My wife: Just one, Honey, you. 6-year-old: Did you sell some? I really think that she spends too much time at the barn and around animals...

In the beginning Al Gore [Judas] created the Internet [the Heavenly Realms]. It was 1969, and it took 4 host computers to make "Hello World" appear on the monitor screen [oracle of God]. At the time, a partnership with the world  seemed like a good thing. Though no one owns the Internet [heavenly realms], it is governed by The Internet Society [denominational authorities]. The Internet , mostly unseen - virtual - is very real. The fact that millions of computers; all connected to form a huge network [religion] accessed by billions of faithful users [believers], trading packets of information [prayers of the people], is a miracle! The World Wide Web [Christianity] is only one way to use the Internet, and it's quite useful for the average citizen [parishioner]. The users [saints] know that the "Web" can help us perform  many types of "computer tasks" including: shopping, banking, research, entertainment, and social networking [ch...

Ever since I was a kid, I liked to play games. Matchbox cars, catch, hockey, cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, but board games such as Clue, Checkers, Parchisi, and Monopoly; those were some of my favorites. The video world seems to have taken over, and kids are a lot less imaginative then they once were, but they still like to play games. I was thinking about the disciples and Jesus. They hung out a lot. It seems like it was so serious all the time. All that preaching, healing, casting out demons, the Pharisees creating tense moments, and Jesus sort of letting them experience life long enough to teach them a lesson. I was thinking, what if some of pop cultures best sellers were available to the King of Kings, it might have lightened things up, don't you think? -1 Monopoly: Count out your play Minas, Talents and Denarii and drop a couple of hundred under Free Chariot Parking. Set aside the plastic houses and stables, and choose a game token: the donke...