Friday, October 10, 2003
October 10, 2003
4:39 PM 2700 conservative Episcopalians meeting in Dallas this week called on their national church leaders to repent of their growing acceptance of homosexuality. God bless those Bible-believing Episcopalians who are standing for the truth. 4:29 PM The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s time to say something nice about hell. 1:44 PM My predictions:
Cubs 5, Marlins 4 Ole Miss 38, Arkansas State 17 Samford 23, Murray State 21
1:41 PM By the way, the Rapture Index on the Rapture Ready website now stands at 161. 11:11 AM Had a nice visit with Don and Caroline Gerig who came by to check out the ongoing renovation project. Don served as pastor at Calvary 1976-86. During his ministry the church building on Madison Street burned down and the congregation moved to our current location on Lake Street. It took a great step of faith for a relatively small group of people to purchase these buildings from the First Presbyterian Church of Oak Park. Our current renovation will end up costing twice what it cost to purchase the property in 1979. But Don pointed out that the total cost of the original purchase plus the renovation is still less than $5 million—and the buildings and property together are worth much more than that. That thought cheered me up. 8:34 AM An e-mail that arrived overnight:
Thank you Pastor Ray. I read your FAQ book, and it has really helped me in my life. My name is David and I am 17 years old. After reading your book, I decided to no longer be a religious person but a true Christian. Praise the Lord and thank you. David in New Zealand
8:24 AM On my “just arrived and not yet read list”: The Transformation of American Religion by Alan Wolfe. The subtitle, “How We Actually Live Our Faith,” tells the story. Wolfe says there is a huge gap between what we say we believe and the way we actually live. No surprise there, but he produces evidence from across the religious spectrum to argue that in the great battle between religion and American culture, the culture has already won and in a sense, the battle is over and we don’t even know it. 8:16 AM I’m doing an interview with Adam McManus this afternoon at 3 PM an KSLR in San Antonio, Texas. 8:10 AM Speaking of the Cubs (and who isn’t these days?), Rick Morrissey writes about Sammy Sosa’s faith that helped turn the season around. He mostly means Sammy’s positive attitude, but he touches on spiritual issues in this excerpt:
Sosa said he never allows pessimism to enter his thought process. “No, because I believe in God,” he said. “If God is with me, nobody is against me. I just went forward. That’s one of the reasons I’m here today. I pray to the Lord every day.” I asked him what he prays for and Sosa said he didn’t have to tell me because I’m not God. I knew he was going to say that three weeks ago.
I love the final paragraph of Morrissey’s column:
As he was walking away from a group of media members, Sosa turned to me and said he was going to pray for me because I needed to change. It was comforting.
8:05 AM The Power Connection Junior High Ministry fall retreat starts at Phantom Ranch today. Darin Weil does a great job leading this ministry. The theme of the retreat is “Heart Transplant.” Let’s pray for safe travel for our young people and their leaders, and for a powerful work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 8:01 AM The sermon of the day comes from Steven J. Cole, pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship, in Flagstaff, Arizona. He preached on a man whose name many people cannot pronounce—Habakkuk. The sermon is called The Man Who Rejoiced in Spite of an Invasion.