Sorry, I just don't understand blogging very well. I see that I have a new follower who has blocked me from reading his or her blog, which I would really like to do so that I will know who is reading my blog. If you're reading this, let me know how to get to your blog so that I can read it please.
I also don't understand how to do the pictures. I would like to shrink the picture of Russell and Callie and put it next to the engagement blog. How do I do that?
I like having this outlet of blogging but I'm just not understanding it all yet. All of you experienced bloggers out there, please be patient with me and give me some help!
Thanks.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar; Jon and Kate Gosselin
OK, I know that having 17 kids is weird; a bunch of pro-life, conservative Southern Baptists who dress like Pentecostals and practice birth control like Catholics is even weirder. But I still can't help myself for being drawn to the shows that the Duggars have been in, most recently 17 Kids and Counting. I have to admit that it is fun to watch what all of these people do, and the fact that they genuinely seem to love and care for each other and NEVER FIGHT is phenomenal. Hey, Jon and Kate's 8 kids fight, and we know that is reality. I greatly admire Michelle's parenting skills; she never seems to raise her voice, always smiles (even in the throes of labor pains), and has the most well-disciplined bunch of kids who ever graced the small screen. Jon and Kate yell regularly at their kids and each other, and I cannot even imagine Kate gently taking a kid aside and murmuring to him or her softly and then the kid behaving like a gem. I'm getting a good laugh just typing that scenario!
I've read criticism of both the Duggar and the Gosselin families, and I do not necessarily disagree with a lot of it, even though I am a big fan of the tv shows that they respectively star in. But here is my bottom line (thanks, Frank Melton, another blog in and of itself). Both families are practicing Christians, are up front about it, and TLC does not try to hide that fact. Both families are shown praying, reading the Bible, and attending church (in the case of the Gosselins). Both families are shown trying to teach their kids right from wrong with a heaping dose of family values thrown in, albeit in completely different ways. Yea, TLC! Thanks for showing America that there are Christian families out there, and thanks for not trying to be "politically correct!"
I like both of these shows and will continue to watch.
I've read criticism of both the Duggar and the Gosselin families, and I do not necessarily disagree with a lot of it, even though I am a big fan of the tv shows that they respectively star in. But here is my bottom line (thanks, Frank Melton, another blog in and of itself). Both families are practicing Christians, are up front about it, and TLC does not try to hide that fact. Both families are shown praying, reading the Bible, and attending church (in the case of the Gosselins). Both families are shown trying to teach their kids right from wrong with a heaping dose of family values thrown in, albeit in completely different ways. Yea, TLC! Thanks for showing America that there are Christian families out there, and thanks for not trying to be "politically correct!"
I like both of these shows and will continue to watch.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Prayer: Key to Revival
I've had this book on my list for a long time, not because it has taken me long to read, but because it is a book that I constantly reread. I first read it over 20 years ago, and absolutely loved it. Paul Y. Cho is a pastor in Korea, and he attributes the fast growth of his church to prayer. He details in the book how he prays, how his congregation prays, and gives examples of types of prayer. I turned several of my friends on to this book, and we all loved it and talked about all the time how prayer changes lives.
A few months ago I picked up the book to read again. I had not read the book since it has become so easy to search online for information. Was I discouraged at what I found! Paul Y. Cho now goes by David Y. Cho because he had a vision from the Lord to change his name. Apparently his ministry has expanded and that he now has quite a following, almost cult like. He has also had some sort of falling-out with his son over the direction of the ministry.
I am reminded of Francine Rivers' book And the Shofar Blew. Rivers details the life of a young pastor, on fire for the Lord, who comes and turns a dying church upside down. In doing so, he becomes godlike and obsessed with money and power. (Of course, this change takes many years; it does not happen overnight.) After almost losing his career, his children, and his wife, he faces what he has become and makes the changes that he needs to in his life. This book, while it does not make the reader sympathetic to the main character, it does make one realize how these things happen and more understanding of the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jim Bakkers of the world.
Has Paul Y. Cho become another televangelist who has become enamored of himself and lost focus on what is right? I hope not, and I am certainly not supposed to judge him. But I was so disturbed by what I found on the Internet, that I will not be teaching this book in a small group setting (a friend and I were tossing around this idea), nor will I be recommending it to others.
I will still continue to reread this book occasionally and take it for what it was to me back when I first read it. However, I will read the old copy that I have and will not be buying the "new, revised" edition. I am saddened that this book which has probably touched so many lives has become a part of what seems to me to be a cult following of Cho and his teaching.
A few months ago I picked up the book to read again. I had not read the book since it has become so easy to search online for information. Was I discouraged at what I found! Paul Y. Cho now goes by David Y. Cho because he had a vision from the Lord to change his name. Apparently his ministry has expanded and that he now has quite a following, almost cult like. He has also had some sort of falling-out with his son over the direction of the ministry.
I am reminded of Francine Rivers' book And the Shofar Blew. Rivers details the life of a young pastor, on fire for the Lord, who comes and turns a dying church upside down. In doing so, he becomes godlike and obsessed with money and power. (Of course, this change takes many years; it does not happen overnight.) After almost losing his career, his children, and his wife, he faces what he has become and makes the changes that he needs to in his life. This book, while it does not make the reader sympathetic to the main character, it does make one realize how these things happen and more understanding of the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jim Bakkers of the world.
Has Paul Y. Cho become another televangelist who has become enamored of himself and lost focus on what is right? I hope not, and I am certainly not supposed to judge him. But I was so disturbed by what I found on the Internet, that I will not be teaching this book in a small group setting (a friend and I were tossing around this idea), nor will I be recommending it to others.
I will still continue to reread this book occasionally and take it for what it was to me back when I first read it. However, I will read the old copy that I have and will not be buying the "new, revised" edition. I am saddened that this book which has probably touched so many lives has become a part of what seems to me to be a cult following of Cho and his teaching.
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