Pressing On Toward the Mark ...

"Do not rush. Do not rest."

- Goethe

[scratchboard art: Michael Halbert]

Queen of the Night

“Meaninglessness comes not from being weary of pain, but from being weary of pleasure.”

- G K Chesterton

St John's Eagle Eye Gospel

In the four Gospels, or rather in the four books of the one Gospel, Saint John the apostle, not undeservedly in respect of his spiritual understanding compared to the eagle, has elevated his preaching higher and far more sublimely than the other three; and in this elevating of it he would have our hearts likewise lifted up. For the other three evangelists walked with the Lord on earth as with a man; concerning His divinity they have said but little; but this evangelist, as if he disdained to walk on earth, just as in the very opening of his discourse he thundered on us, soared not only above the earth and above the whole compass of air and sky, but even above the whole army of angels and the whole order of invisible powers, and reached to Him by whom all things were made; saying:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.
To this so great sublimity of his beginning all the rest of his preaching well agrees; and he has spoken concerning the divinity of the Lord as none other has spoken. What he had drank in, the same he gave forth. For it is not without reason that it is recorded of him in this very Gospel, that at supper he reclined on the Lord's bosom. From that breast then he drank in secret; but what he drank in secret he gave forth openly, that there may come to all nations not only the incarnation of the Son of God, and His passion and resurrection, but also what He was before His incarnation, the only Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, coeternal with Him that begot, equal with Him by whom He was sent; but yet in that very sending made less, that the Father might be greater.

- St Augustine

Baptized like Lazarus

“The meaning of Lazarus for us is the way he dramatizes the life of the baptized Christian. We have all died into Jesus and risen again, even in this life, as Paul put it in his letter to the Romans:


‘How can we who died to sin continue to live in sin? Or do you not realize that we, those who were baptized into Messiah Jesus, were baptized into his death. We were laid in the grave with him, by our baptism into death, so that just as Messiah was raised from the death in the splendor of the Father, we may journey on in renewed life.’

Followers of Jesus are the dead and the living. He daily wrestles us free from the grip of death. We have gone into the tomb and come back. We are Lazarus.”

- Garry Wills
[photo: lessing-photo.com]

Book List [what I've been reading/listening to lately ...]

you are what your mind eats ...

FROM, not BY!!!

Today, the central question Americans ask is 'How can we be more protected BY the government?'  Our Founders engineered the Constitution by asking 'How can we be more protected FROM the government?'

"I cannot help thinking that of late years, measures have been adopted and opinions sanctioned in this country, which have an evident tendency to stretch to the utmost the constitutional authority of our Executive, and to introduce the political evils of those European governments whose principles we have rejected."

-Thomas Cooper, 1799

[photo:flickr.com]

Extended Scripture Memorization by Andrew Davis

An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture
Dr. Andrew Davis [abridged]

The Value of Scripture Memorization

“make every effort to add to our faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge…” (2 Peter 1:5).

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom…” (Colossians 3:16)

How better can you obey Colossians 3:16 than by Scripture memorization?

Memorizing Books Is Better Than Memorizing Individual Verses

Most of Scripture is written to make a case… there is a flow of argumentation that is missed if individual verses are memorized.  [to read more click below ...]

American Charity

"The average American comes in a bit above ‘fair share’ and well below tithe, donating roughly 2% of annual income [to charity] – a rate, by the way, twice as high as in any other industrialized country."


- Kevin Salwen, author of The Power of Half

Book List [what I've been reading and listening to lately] ...

Leah in the Morning

“In the morning it is always Leah, never Rachel.”

-Tim Keller, Counterfeit gods
[using the Biblical allusion of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel to illustrate the utter disappointment that always follows the frenzied pursuit of fulfillment in sex, money, or power.]

Please Speak Directly Into the Microphone ...

" ... there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pointless indifference. . . . We are machines for propagating DNA . . . . It is every living object’s sole reason for being.” 

-Richard Dawkins  [compilation by William Lane Craig]

[photo: freerepublic.com - sorry, I couldn't resist posting the picture, especially when the quote was about man's chief end being to propogate his DNA ... ]

The Visual Family Budget

Dave Ramsey's recommended category percentage of overall spending:


Housing 25-35%
Utilities 5-10%
Transportation 10-15%
Healthcare 5-10%
Food 5-15%
Investments/Savings 5-10%
Debt Payments 5-10%
Charitable Giving 5-15%
Entertainment/Recreation 5-9%
Misc Personal 2-7%

[graphic: visualeconomics.com]