Sunset over Lake Michigan

Sunset over Lake Michigan
Originally uploaded by thom.michaelj

Cool, huh? Also, just trying the blog-from-flickr feature.

I took this pic with my phone camera while in Michigan with Natalie for her family reunion.

SCOTUS Decision in Favor of Gun Owners

I am so happy to be posting these links.  The much-awaited D.C. et al. v. Heller case that went before the Supreme Court has been decided.  In a narrow 5-4 vote the Court has overturned the D.C. gun ban law, calling it unconstitutional and specifically stating that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self defense in the home."  While not a sweepingly broad decision, the case makes it much harder now to deny citizens the right to at least own a gun and keep in ready to be used in the home.  Only time will tell just how much more will come as a direct result of this decision, but it's at least a positive step in the right direction.

Read the SCOTUS Blog's report, or go straight to the decision (pdf).

Spiritual Receptivity

I am a little over halfway through A.W. Tozer's classic The Pursuit of God (also available to read online).  This is my first read of the book, and, despite the language being just a bit old-fashioned (it was written around the middle of the 1900s), he is an amazing man of God with a lot of interesting things to say.  I just read one portion tonight that struck me as something that I need to keep in mind, now more than ever, in my position working at a church (but, really, to a certain degree, these are thoughts that everyone should think though).

Failure to ... [be spiritually receptive] ... is the cause of a very serious breakdown in modern evangelicalism. ... The tragic results of this spirit are all around us: Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit.  These and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.

Strong words, eh?  I'm just fascinated by how relevant those words are, even today.  "The preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings" - how did he know we'd be more interested in exciting music and cool slideshows than strong teaching of the Word?  "The mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit" - I know some preachers who are not the most elegant with words, but have an amazingly Godly spirit and a servant's heart.  Tozer warns that these misguided desires are "symptoms of an evil disease" - harsh, perhaps, but true.  Let us pray that our church cannot be described with any of these symptoms of a "deep and serious malady of the soul."

Survey: More Americans dropping dogma for spirituality

Read the link: Survey: More Americans dropping dogma for spirituality - USATODAY.com

I can hardly believe some of this.  Well, actually, that's not true.  I believe every word of it; especially being near a college campus for four years, I don't doubt any of this.  I just hate to see it in words, as stats, proof of the lack of teaching that is going on and the compromise that people are willing to make.

The Never-Ending Adventures and Journeys of the Jesus Followers

I just started reading another book, this one by the guy who spoke at the NACCM Campus Ministers' Retreat a couple weeks ago, Don Everts.  It's called Jesus with Dirty Feet, and it's a look at Jesus that attempts to do away with all of the cliches, ideas, stigmas, mindsets, and perspectives that we seem to collectively have from our 21st-century viewpoint (well, 20th-century, actually... it was written in 1999).

To greatly paraphrase his very first chapter, the term Christian and Christianity has been greatly distorted and misunderstood in modern-day society.  So, for now on, whenever you hear the term Christianity, think the following:

The Never-Ending Adventures and Journeys of the Jesus Followers.