Kansas City wins the Super Bowl
Travis Kelce proposes
Taylor Swift says yes
America rejoices
Firefly is renewed
The McDonalds ice cream machine is fixed
World peace
Mom: <sniffling>
Child: What's the matter, mom?
Mom: Dad's not allowed to volunteer at VBS anymore.
Child: Why?
Mom: He did a craft project on Elisha and the youths again.
Nurse at my second vax appointment: Did you experience any side effects from your first shot?
Me: Yes, I turned into a newt.
Her: <confused>
Me: I got better.
When people abbreviate Christian Nationalism to CN, I can't be the only one who initially reads said abbreviation as "Cartoon Network", right?
Right???
This is the proper order to read the Chronicles of Narnia:
1) The Horse and His Boy
2) The Silver Chair
3) War and Peace
4) To Kill a Mockingbird
5) Heir to the Empire
6) The Magician's Nephew
7) The Mouse & the Motorcycle
5) Prince Caspian
W) Bondage of the Will
(1/2)
The normalizing of Christian nationalism (or American Patriotic Christianity) is going to end up being way more harmful to the church than any external threat from the progressive Left.
Looks like we're freaking out about the mark of the beast again.
<deep sigh>
Here's the truth: God doesn't play games with your salvation. It's not a mystery. You can't accidentally lose it because of a microchip or bar code or anything like that.
I know pastors aren't supposed to be political, and we especially aren't supposed to throw our public support behind specific and individual candidates, but I am once again endorsing the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as my preferred 2024 election option.
The other day, someone asked me why I was more active on Twitter than on Facebook.
I responded, "Because I'd rather be annoyed by strangers instead of being annoyed by people I know."
Guys...
What if I told you it's M
@tt
W
@l
$h's job to say stupid and inflammatory things to get clicks because that's how he gets paid?
The best thing you can do with the entire pundit caste is ignore them. Don't give them your time or attention.
It's really that easy.
Personal announcement:
I have accepted a call to teach full time at
@flbc_edu
and our seminary.
Please be in prayer for my congregation as they make decisions about the future in the next couple of weeks.
"What do you do?"
"I'm a pastor."
"Oh."
Sometimes I wonder if there's a normal life experience that parallels the level of awkwardness the above conversation produces.
Saw an older couple (late 80s or early 90s, probably) having a lunch date.
As they finished, the husband acted as if he had something to say. When his wife leaned in, he pecked a kiss on her lips. She giggled and he looked up and winked at me.
Best thing I've seen in a while.
Please pray.
My son is taking his behind the wheel test right now. He's already failed twice.
I think he'll be really discouraged if he doesn't pass this time.
He's well prepared, but quite nervous.
Twitter friends,
I haven't been posting much, & that's mostly been intentional. My family has been going through a lot of big things all at once. So far, I've been able to manage well enough, but tonight I'm feeling mentally & spiritually exhausted.
Would appreciate prayer.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: “When we face our founding fathers in the afterlife and they ask us what sacrifice did you make for your country we better have a damn good answer for them.”
🔥🔥🔥
One of the worst trends in American Christianity is that having a "personal" faith has now become having a private & unique faith.
Personal faith means that Jesus' death and resurrection applies to me.
Private & unique faith means you have invented your own religion a la carte.
One of the houses in the neighborhood always gives out Hot Wheels for Halloween.
They barely had any trick-or-treaters this year, so my boys got a ton of cars.
They asked if I wanted a Dad Tax car, so I also got a Corvette tonight.
"I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith;
I'm more grateful for the work of
@DrJordanBCooper
and
@bwolfmueller
than I ever have been.
We need more Lutherans creating and distributing good, solid, confessional Lutheran content.
Did I stop at Target on my way to church to buy a Transformer? Yes, yes I did.
Am I going to use the Transformer during the children's sermon to teach the Transfiguration? Yes, yes I am.
Did I need to watch a video to figure out how it works because I'm old? Yes, yes I did.
My 15-year old broke down today over the way people in his life are treating each other over COVID.
You know what? I'm done with it all.
I'm absolutely finished with the arrogance & condescension & complete lack of respect each side is showing the other.
Love your neighbor.
This is a printed copy of the final paper for my Doctor of Ministry degree.
I would appreciate prayers, as the defense of the paper is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Please pray for the family and congregation of a pastor in our church fellowship. He was killed yesterday in a motorcycle crash.
I am friends with his son-in-law and good friends with a daughter of the congregation.
This is my "thesis-in-a-box". For two years I've lugged this thing around to my various writing locations as I've written, re-formed, expanded, edited, and completed the final paper for my Doctor of Ministry degree.
As of today, I no longer need it.
@BurgerVonStadt
Moralistic therapeutic deism. It has contaminated every part of the church. We want to be right before God and the world because of our good behavior. And when we can't do that, we'll settle for being better than someone else.
Somewhere in Italy, 1521...
Leo X: Should I really excommunicate Martin Luther?
Unnamed Cardinal: You can do anything you like, your grace. You just need to believe in yourself. Remember, it's called the Vat-I-can, not the Vat-I-can't.
I'm so frustrated with this Easter sermon that I'm about ready to just get into the pulpit on Sunday morning and say, "He is risen! He is risen indeed!"
Would probably be the best sermon I've ever preached.
I graduate in just a little over two hours, and I guess my official title will be Rev. Dr. Jason Gudim. The classes and research in my Doctor of Ministry program were absolutely worth it, but titles have never done much for me.
Today, my son uttered this sentence:
"Man, I can't stand Tom Petty."
In unrelated news, he walked the rest of the way to our homeschool co-op this morning.
Just spent 90 minutes with C*nturyL*nk customer service trying to figure out why the internet wasn't working at church.
The reason: They spelled Lutheran wrong in the church name (they had it as "Luthern"), so the modem wasn't recognizing our login credentials.
Sigh.
A high-value man:
- Will never give you up
- Will never let you down
- Will never run around and desert you
- Will never make you cry
- Will never say goodbye
- Will never tell a lie and hurt you
A high-value man:
- Is a bachelor in his 40s + 50s
- Has a vasectomy
- Child-free by choice
- Travels extensively
- Reads voraciously
- Swims in the sea every morning in the sunshine
- Enjoys the very best of life unfettered by the concerns and responsibilities other have
Alright, praying friends. The Derek Chauvin trial is in jury deliberation.
Please pray that justice would be done and that peace would prevail in the streets.
I'm preparing to head into church today, but will be ready to duck out at a moments notice if things go sideways.
Building on what
@garonnevik
and others have been saying:
Deconstruction of the faith happens when Christianity is built on something other than the power and historical reality of the Gospel.
(1/)
Tell you what...
I grew up in the generation that wondered how the holocaust ever happened and we swore it would never happen again.
Those words have never felt more empty.
For all of the Lent fasting or not fasting talk out there...
I am once again inviting you to consider praying the Litany every day. It's one of my favorite Lenten disciplines.
You won't regret it.
Here me out on this...
What if biblical masculinity involves faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and then responding by sacrificially loving your neighbor (including women) in the various vocations in which God has placed you?
If you're starting to have second thoughts about going to church tomorrow morning, don't.
God has good gifts to give you, and he gives them out of the abundance of His grace and mercy.
He gives them because Christ died and rose again in your place.
All because He loves you.
This may sound corny, but it's absolutely true:
Every time I get over-stressed or overwhelmed by life, I see the peaceful look on my kids as they sleep, and I'm reminded that my baptism should have the same effect on me.
Ok...here's the deal:
CRT is bad. It's worth discussing & debating & should be denounced.
But...this should not be our go-to response in the church when brothers & sisters in Christ are crying out for help & support as they are victims of actual racism.
I was ordained into the office of the ministry eleven years ago.
In spite of all my faults, God has been faithful and has demonstrated time and time again that he can still work through talking donkeys.
Please pray.
My son is taking his behind the wheel test right now. He's already failed twice.
I think he'll be really discouraged if he doesn't pass this time.
He's well prepared, but quite nervous.
For those lamenting the American Church's obsession w/politics (both left & right), understand that what you are seeing is a symptom, not the root.
The root cause is believing that God is a genie, the Bible is a lucky charm, & we are the main characters of our own story.
We're in the midst of a blizzard right now in Minnesota. I'm well aware that the weather is miserable and quite dangerous in parts of the state. But...
WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A WHITE CHRISTMAS AND THIS IS TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!