Cowboys Fans

Mercifully, another pro football regular season is over. Dallas Cowboys fans are used to this mixed feeling of "How could they do this?" versus "We'll win next year". Hope springs eternal. Disappointment does too, for Cowboys fans.

At least Cubs fans and Chiefs fans don't get their expectations up too high. But the Cowboys seem to be in the hunt every year. It's like they want to tantalize us, cat-and-mouse if you will.

It's all made worse by their advantages. A $1 billion stadium that seats 100,000 fans. A franchise worth over $2 billion. I'd rather they play in a rented college stadium and wear used uniforms, if they could get into the play offs.

You'd think Cowboys fans would bale on them, but once you are a part of Cowboys Nation, it's hard to renounce your citizenship. Being loyal, I proclaim again, "Go Cowboys!!"

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Hobby Lobby

I asked on my Facebook wall, "What should Hobby Lobby do?" The responses have been prolific, provocative, and insightful. Here are some highlights.

1) Disobey the Judge, and pay $1,300,000 a day in fines till out of existence. 2) Obey the Judge for now, set aside a multi-millions dollars legal war chest to try to kill the injunction permanently. 3) Refuse to pay the fine, and go to jail. 4) Realize they are a commercial enterprise, not a religious organization, and accept the fact that only religious organizations are granted religious freedom protection.

5) Christians are already known way too much for what they are against; avoid a long drawn-out court war over this. 6) Resist the injunction, even if it means the worst of all possible outcomes. 7) Close their doors. Use the money they would have used for legal fees and give their employees a nice severance package. Run a PR campaign to let people know why they did this.

For the full load of opinions, check out my Facebook wall. Pray for Hobby Lobby. Pray for our country.

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Head-cold Family Bonding

My daughter-in-law says no holiday is complete till someone gets sick. Charleigh has stomach flu. Five of us have had this miserable head cold.

I am grateful for anything that encourages family bonding, but this is nuts. I'd rather we all put a puzzle together, even though I hate to work puzzles. We could play board games; I dislike board games.

Just about anything would be better than being sick together. I don't do sick well. I am the world's biggest woos.

I do have one huge advantage at times like this. I have the world's greatest nurse, the babe, Babe Ruth.

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Read the Old Testament

If reading the whole Bible in one year is a bit intimidating, and you've already read the entire New Testament, how about trying to read through the Old Testament in one year?  The following is a systematic way to do so. Each month has proportionate readings. To cover the entire Old Testament in twelve months, you need to read only 76 verses a day. That's doable.

January through March 

January, Psalms, Proverbs 

February, Genesis, Exodus 

March, Leviticus, Numbers 

April through June  

April, Deuteronomy, Joshua

May, Judges, Ruth 

June, I & II Samuel 

July through September 

July, I & II Kings 

August, I & II Chronicles 

September, Ezra through Song of Solomon 

October through December 

October, Isaiah, Jeremiah 1-26 

November, Jeremiah 27-52, Lamentations, Ezekiel 

December, Daniel through Malachi 

Read the New Testament

Annually reading the entire Bible is the number one spiritual discipline of my life. Hands down. Nothing is even a close second. For some people, though, the thought of trying to read the entire Bible in one year is overwhelming. Let's strike a compromise. How about reading only the New Testament? You can read the entire New Testament if you cover only 22 verses a day. That's right. Only 22 verses per day. You can do this.

The attached schedule might help. It gives a systematic way to read the New Testament in one year. Each quarter begins with one of the Gospels; each month has proportionate readings.

 

January through March 

Matthew, Hebrews, and James are three heavily Jewish writings. 

Also read Romans. Paul wrote about 25% of the New Testament, second

only to Luke.

January, Matthew 1-19 

February, Matthew 20-28, Hebrews 1-10 

March, Hebrews 11-13, Romans 

April through June 

Mark, I and II Peter, and Jude, books heavily influenced by Simon Peter,

account for about 11% of the New Testament. 

Also read I Corinthians to Philippians. 

April, Mark 

May, I and II Peter, Jude, I Corinthians 

June, II Corinthians to Philippians 

July through September 

Luke and Acts were penned by Luke, who wrote 27% of the New Testament, more than any other author. He was the only Gentile to write a Bible book. 

July, Luke 1-16 

August, Luke 17-24, Acts 1-10 

September, Acts 11-28 

October through December 

John, I, II, and III John, and Revelation were written by the apostle, John the

Beloved, who wrote about 200/0 ofthe New Testament. 

Also read Colossians to Philemon. 

October, John 1-17 

November, John 18-21, I, II, and III John, Revelation 1-17 

December, Revelation 18-21, Colossians to Philemon. 

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Second Coming Joy

Christians should be looking forward to a better, happier day than we're experiencing now. We say we believe our Master will someday rule Earth, but I sense lots of despair among God's people now.

Many believers dread the thought of Jesus' second coming. Ruth and I one night went out after church with a young married couple. After a fun time, Ruth and I stood to leave. The other lady grabbed my arm and told me to sit back down. She then poured out her heart about the absolute terror she was constantly living in because of what she was hearing from preachers about the Second Coming. I remember her despair, and I remember my disappointment in preachers. What a shame that we have created a future scenario that scares rather than uplifts believers.

This doctrine is intended to be a source of joy, but we have often made it an Armageddon disaster of such cataclysmic proportions our people are terrorized by it rather than blessed by it. Please let me help us all here. Here are the essential ingredients of what we know for sure. Jesus is bodily coming to earth again someday to rule as King of kings and Lord of lords. All the rest is speculation theology. Possibly true theology, but still speculative.

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Newtown

I'm awake. Was able to sleep after writing my last blog. Woke up praying for parents and grandparents.

When I looked at my calendar, I noticed this is December 15, my Grandpa Hill's birthday. He would have been 116 today.

I couldn't help but wonder. What would Grandpa think about some of the terrible events that have happened in recent years in the country he fought to defend in two World Wars? Made me sad.

Pray for the Newtown families. Pray for the USA.

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Connecticut

It's the middle of the night. I can't sleep. I'm thinking of little children's bodies being removed from a school under the cover of darkness. I'm praying for parents and grandparents whose nightmare is only beginning. I'm hurting.

Yesterday's luncheon was fun, a wonderful time of laughter. Just as I got back in the car, my phone rang. Our Missions Pastor, Vince Blubaugh, broke the news to me.

After hanging up the phone, I cried out to Heaven, saying "No, God! No, Jesus!" repeatedly. Back at the office I caught a few quick news updates, and then immersed myself in work to keep my sanity.

At Christmastime we sing "Joy to the world, the Lord has come", often forgetting the joy came because the sad was already here in abundance. We celebrate the birth of the Light of the world, often forgetting our planet was shrouded in deep darkness. Jesus came because our world desperately needed Him. It still does.

"Thank you, Jesus, for coming to us in the Bethlehem event, and for coming to us in the Connecticut event, Please comfort us as only You can. Amen."

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Bible Year

Thanks to everyone who responded to my request that you let me know if you read the whole Bible in 2012. I think my guess of 40 to 60 is still a good estimate. Huzzah to you all!!

There has been one huge surprise, though--the unbridled enthusiasm of the responses. People are not only doing the reading, but also thoroughly enjoying it. That warms a Pastor's heart.

I've never known anyone who regretted reading the entire Bible. Maybe 2013 will be your year of reading and enthusiasm.

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Whitefield and the USA

In 1740 George Whitefield wrote, "All things concur to convince me that America is to be my chief scene for action." Thank you, Lord, for giving George Whitefield to us for the next thirty plus years. Historians often say American as we know it could have never come to be without his leading role of unifying the Colonies in the pre-Revolutionary War era.

He was the first nationally noted celebrity in America, founded our first benevolent institution (an orphanage in Savannah GA), preached to slaves and helped give them material for their Gospel songs, and even gave us the phrase "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

One of his greatest contributions to our country was what happened to his converts. People by the thousands were born again, but then faced the difficulty of not having any churches of like mind to join. The mainline churches, Anglican and Congregational, opposed the concept of being born again. The result was that a flood of new converts entered lowbrow backwater Methodist and Baptist churches, starting a wave of momentum in these two denominations that still washes over this land today.

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