First Baptist Church - Gulfport, MS

Camille II

“Camille II” one person has labeled Katrina. While growing up in Mobile, Alabama in the mid-to-late-seventies, I heard stories of the Category 5 hurricane that hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1969. Camille left 256 dead and billions of dollars in damage. There was the infamous tale of the hurricane party where several people gathered at a beach house to celebrate the storm’s arrival. When crews came in the next day, all that was left was a floor slab. It’s amazing how some people react to such obvious displays of power. It’s like Lt. Dan on the top mast of the shrimp boat “Jenny”, raising his fists and shouting at God to come and get him.

UPDATE (8/30)

Teresa Kavanagh, 35, of Biloxi, shook her head is disbelief as she took photographs of the damage in her hometown.

"Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now," she said.

Evolution

Apologies vs. Repentance

This morning I read Tom Ascol's latest over at Founders Blog and found it to be very helpful to me since I have a situation in my life that is similar. He starts:

As a father of six children and the possessor of one heart I have had many opportunities to both to practice and to teach the art of acknowledging sin and seeking to make amends. What I have discovered both paternally and internally is that expressions of true repentance are much more rare than the dime-a-dozen-variety apologies.

He goes on to offer a great explanation of the difference between true sorrow and feigned words of apology.

Please continue reading here.

Redneck Love Song

My buddy from South Georgia [he who must not be named] sent us a Redneck Love Song to be stored away for use on Valentine's Day. It included such beeeeautiful memorable one liners as:

Collards is green, my dog's name is Blue
and I'm so lucky to have a sweet thang like you.

and...

Yore hair is like cornsilk a-flapping in the breeze.
Softer than Blue's and without all them fleas.

can't forget...

Yore complexion, it's perfection, like the best vinyl sidin'.
despite all the years, yore age, it keeps hidin'.

Ending with...

Some men buy fine diamonds from a flea market booth.
"Diamonds are forever," they explain, suave and couth.

But for this man, honey, these won't do.
Cause yor'e too special, you sweet thang you.

I got you a gift, without taste nor odor, more useful than diamonds...
It's a new troll'n motor!!

The Force is strong with this one...

How in the world...????

http://www.cfsl.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=370980#370980

WOW.

Church Discipline

Article here

Luke: "Search the Scriptures, Father, you can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your liberalism."

Vader: "It is too late for me, my son. The post-modern church will show you the true nature of church discipline. They are your master now."

Einstein's Other Formula

Got this from another engineer...

The "Church" redefining biblical authority & marriage?

On the heels of my last post...

"Christianity is in the midst of a global identity crisis because we have not addressed ecumenically the questions of authority and interpretation of scripture," Hanson said.

Although Hanson did not elaborate, mainline churches traditionally are uneasy with literal readings of Scripture, particularly in fundamentalist churches, regarding the end of the world and political unrest in the Middle East. In addition, mainline churches have been divided over what the Bible says about hot-button issues such as homosexuality and women's ordination.

See more: United Church of Christ - Lutheran leader calls for an ecumenical council to address growing biblical fundamentalism

Also check out this PDF article on the United Church of Christ's (UCC) stand on marriage. Here's some excerpts:

The message of the Gospel is the lens through which the whole of scripture is to be interpreted. Love and compassion, justice and peace are at the very core of the life and ministry of Jesus. It is a message that always bends toward inclusion.

Indeed, it is not possible to rely exclusively on scripture for understanding marriage today. For example, biblical texts that encourage celibacy, forbid divorce, or require women to be subservient to their husbands are not considered to be authoritative because they are primarily expressions of the cultural norms of the ancient Middle East.

Therefore, theologically and biblically, there is neither justification for denying any couple, regardless of gender, the blessings of the church nor for denying equal protection under the law in the granting of a civil marriage license, recognized and respected by all civil entities.

Theoden - "So it begins..."

Church and politics

The Founders Ministries Blog has been responding to this past weekend's Justice Sunday II rally at a prominent SBC church in Tennessee. Tom Ascol shares his thoughts about the church and politics. Very good stuff. Here's a quote...

It is right and proper for Christians to be involved in every level of politics as individual citizens. But when they call for a Christian congregation to become institutionally involved in political activism they are guilty of distracting that church from its God-given mission. It is precisely because of this that the religious right's proposals are disastrous for evangelical churches

Whole thing here.

(There's another great quote from Martyn Lloyd Jones in there as well.)

A little softer please! This Bible's tough to swallow...

ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) proposes new "gender-neutral" changes to its hymnal:

Then, after two hours of debate, delegates gave sustained applause for the approval of work on the new book that attempts to be open to different cultures and new musical styles. It will offer alternatives such as "Holy Eternal Majesty, Holy Incarnate Word, Holy Abiding Spirit" for the male-dominated Trinitarian image of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" in prayers during Sunday services.

See more: More inclusive prayer book, hymnal is applauded by Lutheran assembly

QotD (Quote of the Day)

"The distance between moralism and true morality is vast, and the thing that creates this distance is knowledge of the holy. Those who content themselves with petty rules spend all their time fussing about with hemlines, curfews, and scruples about alcohol. But those who see this folly and go off in their own little libertine direction are no better. The former act as though their moralism is grounded on the dictates of a gremlin-like god who lives in their attic, but his word is law. The latter say that this is stupid, and aspire to become the gremlin themselves."

There are three options: Pursue legalism, pursue license, or pursue the Lord. How rare is the third option truly ever explored.

From Michael Spencer: Comment on On Knowing Too Much: Sober Preparation for a New School Year

Gov. Bush criticizes ban on FSU nickname

If the NCAA keeps this stupid junk up, there will be such a back lash from FSU, Illinois and others. I for one am getting really tired of all this PC crap. I've heard it ever since I went to FSU. Enough is enough!! Sheesh, it'll be the Florida Gators' mascot next because it offends zookeepers or something. AHHH!!

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Jeb Bush criticized NCAA officials on Tuesday for their decision to penalize Florida State for using an American Indian nickname and symbols, saying they instead insulted the university and a proud Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The NCAA's finding that the school's Seminoles nickname is "hostile and offensive," instead of honoring American Indians has the opposite effect, the governor said, because the tribe supports the school's use of its name.

"I think it's offensive to native Americans ... the Seminole Indian tribe who support the traditions of FSU," Bush said on his way into a Cabinet meeting. "I think they insult those people by telling them, 'No, no, you're not smart enough to understand this. You should be feeling really horrible about this.' It's ridiculous."

Whole article here.

Texas Man Aims to Visit Every Starbucks

Hey, what about Yarbucks!?!

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Documenting a caffeine-powered quest to visit every Starbucks in the world has become the mission of a Nebraska attorney.

Bill Tangeman, 32, of Kearney, who was a journalist before going into law, is making a documentary film about a Houston native who goes by the name Winter, who set out in 1997 to get a caffeinated drink at every corporate-owned Starbucks store on the planet.

On his Web site (http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net), Winter, who was born Rafael Antonio Lozano, said that as of Aug. 8, he had visited 4,775 Starbucks in North America and 213 in other parts of world. Outside of North America, Winter has gone to Starbucks in Spain, England, France, and Japan. There are 5,715 corporate-owned Starbucks in the world, according to the Seattle-based company's August newsletter on it Web site.

Winter said his trek has been satisfactory on many levels, not the least of which is that it has allowed him to be on a nearly constant road trip for eight years.

But having the incessant goal of reaching the next Starbucks provided another benefit.

"Every time I reach a Starbucks I feel like I've accomplished something," Winter said, "when actually I have accomplished nothing."

Tangeman got in touch with Winter and has since spent several days on the road with him, gathering about 40 hours of film for the movie, which will be called, "Starbucking."

The speed at which new Starbucks are opened has been a major obstacle in Winter's quest, Tangeman said.

Tangeman wants to complete "Starbucking" by the end of the year in hopes of submitting it to the Sundance Film Festival, which begins in late January in Utah.

from FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Out There

"Little Boy"

Been thinking today and looking at some memorial websites regarding the Atomic Bomb that was dropped 60 years ago tomorrow (August 6, 1945) on Hiroshima, Japan. No matter which side of the issue of the bomb's usage you fall on, you cannot deny that our world has definitely lived in the shadow of that cloud ever since...

from the A-BOMB WWW Museum

"A bright light filled the plane," wrote Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb. "We turned back to look at Hiroshima. The city was hidden by that awful cloud...boiling up, mushrooming." For a moment, no one spoke. Then everyone was talking. "Look at that! Look at that! Look at that!" exclaimed the co-pilot, Robert Lewis, pounding on Tibbets's shoulder. Lewis said he could taste atomic fission; it tasted like lead. Then he turned away to write in his journal. "My God," he asked himself, "what have we done?"

Global Warming Kills Space Shuttle

I heard Rush Limbaugh mention this yesterday and looked up some stuff.

Here's a take from Politick: Global Warming Kills Space Shuttle

NASA grounded the Shuttle again, after foam fell off and hit the Discovery. The backstory here is the killer foam used to not be a problem - the Shuttle previously used foam with freon. Environmental Correctness caused them to change, to save the ozone layer. As early as 1997 NASA knew that the new foam could cause a problem: it falls off and causes much more damage than the prior foam. It was one of the likely reasons for the loss of the Columbia (NASA possibility #3). The $Billions spent to "fix" the causes of the loss of the Columbia now appear to be largely wasted due to a lack of political courage to unwind this prior decision. You have to wonder how the bureaucrats replaced the rocket scientists at NASA and traded the negligible impact of Shuttle freon vs. the much larger impact of effluents left in the upper atmosphere each launch, let alone the $Billions spent and lost since this change was made - one Shuttle gone, the fleet grounded, $B spent to 'fix' the wrong problem. Is NASA just a big PR gig? The real solution is to go back to the future - cheap disposable launch vehicles were always a better path than the 'reusable' Shuttle. And waste the politically-correct PR-centric bureaucrats. And get a private space program going.

One Bean to Rule Them All

Did they run out of Bible stories?

BigIdea.com - News: Lord of the Beans coming this fall

From the Waste Basket of Obi-Wan

Star Wars: Blogs Moose Poodoo

Obi-wan must have kicked around a lot of ideas on paper on how to deliver the news that a certain relative was a vile mass-murdering half mechanical agent of pure evil before deciding on a more elegant, civilized point of view...

"You know that saying about a 'chip off the old block' and 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'...because, you know those are just figures of speech.."

(crumple)

"Say, what if I told you that your old man sort of had this wild side...?"

(crumple)

"Ok, first, it wasn't entirely my fault, but..."

(crumple)

"Yousa mightsa be sayin there was one or twoie little bitty accidentees.."

(crumple)

"Ok, Good News, your father is still alive...Bad news, your father is still alive.."

(crumple)

"...And when I say "spice freighter pilot", I of course mean "Dark Sith Lord bent on total domination"...

(crumple)

"Let's play a game of charades, 5 words, and I'll give you a hint, 3 of the words are 'Father' 'Your' and 'Darth'..."

(crumple)

"Tell you what, if you don't freak out about what I'm going to tell you, I'll give you a cool lightsaber and a twin sister..."

(crumple)

"Did I ever tell you about the legend of Darth Vader the Not-So-Wise?..."

(crumple)

"There's a saying you can't pick your family, but you can pick your nose.."

(crumple)

"Ok, if you ever meet this girl named Leia, do not, do NOT kiss her..."

(crumple)

"So here's the thing - you're Dad is a homicidal Dark Side maniac who tried to strangle your mom and is now one of the most vile and hated men in the Galaxy. Here, have a cookie."

(crumple)

"I won't sugar coat it, your dad had a little bit of a temper..."

(crumple)

"...he was a cunning warrior, and a good friend [note to self: place hand over mouth] mmrphl-mumble-andnowhe'sDarthVader-mmphlrl-mumble..."

(crumple)

"You have any black clothes? Cuz...your father..likes black..."

(crumple)

"Your father is....um...Yoda. Yeah. Yoda's really your dad. Darth Vader owes him a lot of money, too..."

(crumple)

"..Before the dark times...before I sort of chopped off your dad's legs.."

(crumple)

(toss match in waste basket)