Easter Services

If you are in the Chicago area and are thinking about going to church on Easter, please come out to First Church of God in Oak Lawn, IL.   Watch the video for more info (and to see what you're getting yourself into).  :)

Easter Invitation

A Gumshoe article

Article on 'The Gumshoe'
You can get to the trailer from a link at the end of the article but for those who would like to see the trailer first, you can follow this link:
The Gumshoe trailer

Hebrews 1

Looking back on last year's posts I noticed that I have two regarding Hebrews.  I may re-post those when I get to the correct days, but I have to add to what I've said in the past.   Actually, last year I didn't post anything on this chapter in Hebrews.   I find it interesting that no matter how many times you read the Bible, new things pop out at you.  They may not even be new things, they may be something you've read and re-read but suddenly you take notice of them or their meaning is something that fixes in your heart at a particular point in time.

Hebrews 1:14 is what stuck out in my mind with this year's reading.  "Therefore, angels are only servants-spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation."  We are the people who will inherit salvation if we turn to God.  Angels are sent to care for us.  Guardian angels have been on my mind lately, I'm not sure why.  The question of whether they are really part of our world.  This is my answer.  They are, they are sent to care for us. I have to admit that reading the passage alone isn't what drew my attention to the meaning.  I'm using Joyce Meyer's amplified Bible and one of her notes made me go back and re-read the verse.  She says, "What a comfort to know that God provides angels to  minister to and help us."  What?  Wait... let's go back.."Therefore, angels are only servants - spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation."

One more thing I have to admit, and you can believe it or not as you so choose.  I believe it, because I was there, but I have to admit that part of me sometimes forgets this event.  When I mentioned to my daughter that I had been thinking about guardian angels lately and whether they were around, she said, "Well, Mom, you saw one remember?"   How is it that my own memory is working against my understanding of His Word?  

I had told her a while ago that when I was her age, somewhere between 8 and 10, I woke up one night - yes, I am sure I was awake before you even ask the question.  I'm sure because I thought, no one is going to believe I'm awake, I don't and I need to make sure I am.   I opened my eyes and at the foot of my bed was a figure shining white, glowing brightly - so I did what any 8-10 year old would do in that situation and threw the covers over my head.   When I managed to uncover my head - after moments of heart pounding fear - the figure was no longer there.   

I've gone through all the possibilities of what that could have been in my mind, but there really aren't too many.  The possibility that anyone who hears the story usually offers is the "it must have been your mom" argument.  The problem with this - and any un-supernatural explanation - is the glowing brightness.  In addition to that my mom was wearing a forest green robe to bed at the time so no brightness would have been coming off of her anyway.

Angels - they're out there. :)  And I'm glad they are.

The Jesus Inquest by Charles Foster

This book provides a case for and against the resurrection of Christ.  I have to admit, I found this book somewhat difficult to read.  Not because I didn’t understand what the author was saying, but because it often annoyed me and made me think that he did not particularly think his audience was that intelligent.  At least when he was X.  This book took on a slight schizophrenic feel since the author was both X (against) and Y (for).  At first I thought that would be an interesting way to treat the arguments, but after reading the book for a while, I found myself reading out of order.  Since each chapter has subsections in it, I found myself skipping from X’s thoughts on one section to Y’s on the same section and then back to X’s.

There were some arguments made by X that I could see immediately were poor arguments.  While I have studied a bit, I am not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination and was surprised to notice this.  Interestingly enough, the author in his preface diminishes the work of Lee Strobel, but it was through, in part, to reading Lee Strobel’s work that I was able to pick out Mr. Foster’s X poorer arguments, arguments which were proven to be poor when Mr. Foster’s Y arguments were made.  I will probably keep this book as a reference tool now that I have it, but I think there are probably better books out there for those who are looking.  I would check out Lee Strobel.