Book Review: "Green" by Ted Dekker

Green is the final book in a multi-colored series by Ted Dekker that I've been wanting to read for some time now.  According to the publisher, "This is Book Zero, the Circle Reborn, both the beginning and the end. The preferred starting point for new readers . . . and the perfect climax for the countless fans who’ve experienced Black, Red, and White."  They're marketing this as a good starting point for new readers, and on that count, I can say without doubt, that it failed miserably.  I have not read the previous books in the series, and it was only about the last 100 pages that I really had some meaningful grasp of what in the world was going on.  The basics you're given, but there was so little explained, and what was explained was done in a way that really interrupted the story line.  It sounds like a great idea - creating a circular series . . . but it seemed like it was pieced together as such as an afterthought.  And the absolutely horrible ending only reinforces that notion.

On a positive note, Ted Dekker can certainly write a page turner.  If I just shut my brain off to all of the glaring plot holes and ridiculously flawed logic, it was fun.  And despite the fact that I was almost certainly offended by the possibly heretical ideas that fueled the story-line, it kept me involved in the story, and actually illustrated some real spiritual truths in a way that I found very surprising.  This is a baby and bath-water scenario, and I think that overall it's worth a read.  And while it may not be totally necessary to read, The Circle Trilogy, Black, Red, and White in advance, I heartily recommend it.

Abe's Feed house - Best Seafood in South Arkansas?

Abe's Ole Feed House - somewhere in backwoods South Arkansas.

Best seafood in South Arkansas?

These charming fellows greeted us at the door for our evening of fine dining.

SeaFood Buffet

Posted via web from caseyp's posterous

Barna: Jesus' Health Care Plan Would Include Everyone

One of my biggest pet peeves is people bringing in the religious trump card: "Jesus supports my politics!" into a political debate.  Look at what George Barna has to say:

Popular Christian pollster George Barna weighed in on the health care debate this week, asserting that Jesus would support universal coverage.

Looking at the Bible for guidance, Barna wrote that he found stories of a Jesus who healed hundreds of people who were poor and suffering. Whether the people believed in Him or not, Jesus had no condition to healing someone who was sick.

“You can describe Jesus’ health care strategy in four words: whoever, whatever, whenever, wherever,” wrote Barna in an editorial.

Jesus confronted illnesses and problems from paralysis and leprosy to demon possession and death. And he asked his followers to also heal others to put into action their love and compassion for those in need.

“Often, those whom He healed did not thank Him, and He was never paid for his medical care – but He healed them regardless, because it enabled Him to love those who lacked hope,” he said.

Based on the Bible stories, Barna said the health care strategy exemplified by Jesus called for “people to help people.” But if God’s people fail to serve others in need, then he suggested they support the government, which is “acting as a national safety net,” to run programs to help the needy.

But ultimately, it is God’s people, or collectively the Church, who are responsible for caring for the poor and sick, Barna maintained. He applauded Christian efforts to set up medical clinics, pregnancy centers and hospitals in the country.

“Imagine what an impact the Church would have on society if it truly reflected the model Jesus gave us of how to care for one another!”

The Christian pollster said he was prompted to write the editorial because surveys continually show that Americans are struggling to figure out what to think about health care reform. In the editorial, he looked at specific accounts in the New Testament that guides Christians on how to view the poor and deal with people’s medical needs.

On the Web: http://www.barna.org/

via christianpost.com

Seriously?  Barna should know better.  God is above politics and squabbling.  JESUS wouldn't be for the health care plan . . . Jesus would just go miraculously heal people.  And unless the Obama Administration has THAT little trick up their sleeve, I don't believe you can compare the two.  Yes, the Church is called to care for the poor, sick, needy, widows, and etc.  Yes we have failed miserably at that task.  Yes the health care system is in serious need of reform, and people on both sides of the aisle can agree on that.  But claiming Jesus is involved in this political nit-picking, and that he is on Obama's side?  That's jumping the shark, Mr. Barna.

Next, I'm imagining Mr. Barna will be encouraging us to worship Obama as the Messiah himself.  After all, Jesus is already supporting, him... maybe he IS Jesus!!!!?!?!?!?!

Posted via web from caseyp's posterous

Finishing Up: Wordpress MU and Your LAMP Server

Months ago, I chronicled my battle with setting up my own web server, and installing WordPress MU to setup this site. I walked through all the problems and solutions I discovered, and from what I've heard back, I at least helped a couple people along the way. A few nagging issues remained, however. WordPress is a pretty straight-forward installation, but WPMU is a rather unwieldy beat, by comparison, especially for someone who was only comfortable editing small details in a file to tweak someone else's theme.

The community around WPMU is very different than WordPress. I was used to combing through hundreds of themes, and finding the ones I liked. Finding plugins to do literally anything in the world. And with WPMU, it's difficult to find much for the site as a whole, and compatibility is an issue for typical plugins from regular WordPress. Luckily, I stumbled across WPMUDev.org. They have a compilation of tons of free plugins, but the real magic happens for your site with the Premium account. The collection of WPMU plugins on the free site are nice, and there are several worth having, but they suffer the same fate as many WP plugins in that some are seldom updated, and poorly supported. WPMUDev Premium, however, offers a smaller number of extremely high-quality plugins that can quickly transform your site into the feature-rich offering you want it to be. They have a package of themes for your users, and several themes to choose from when developing the difficult-to-make home page.

And let's be honest . . . the home page is the part of WPMU that makes people throw up there hands and forget all about their projects.  WPMU Premium plugins make everything from Avatar-enabled site wide feeds, to custom branded admin areas, and everything in between as easy as popping in a plugin and a widget.  Stomaching the $79 monthly fee is something that is difficult to grok the value of immediately, especially if you're into the open-source WP Plugin world.  But if you're serious about developing a top-of-the-line site, I don't see a better or more efficient way to do it that using WPMU.  Plus, they're professionally supported, and don't end up not updated for the latest version of WPMU.

We use most of their premium plugins on this site in one manner or another, but the few you simply MUST have for any WPMU site are:

• Site Wide Feed


• Avatars


• Terms of Service


• Login / Logout Redirect


• Rebranded WPMU


• Multi-DB - not incredibly important starting off, but better to do it at setup than with a full site of blogs.  You'll be glad you did.

ThinkGeek :: All Edges Brownie Pan

ThinkGeek :: All Edges Brownie Pan.

Have I just died and gone to heaven?  As the resident brownie-dork who runs to grab the corner pieces before anyone else does, this new brownie pan makes me think of unicorns, and rainbows with pots of gold, and Mr. Scrooge's money pool . . . all things that are just too wonderful and magical for this world.  At least this is real.  $34.99 from ThinkGeek.

Mixing Faith and Business

Whether you're attempting to witness to your frustrated waitress or deciding how to run a "Christian Business," when, where, and how to mix your faith with business affairs is a sticky subject for a lot of people.

A few years ago, the Lovely Wife and I were unloading some of our kid's old toys and clothes on eBay.  We had gotten a pretty slick system down, and generally made more at it than we would have at a rummage sale.  We tried a few times to find sources of other cheap stuff to resale on eBay, but we just never got the situation working quite that smoothly.  The Lovely Wife, during this time, had a great idea: including a CD of a message from our church in the shipment for free.  We had tons of CD's from our church laying around that we had accumulated over the years, so it was sort of like cleaning AND spreading the Gospel!  That's what I call a Win-Win Scenario.

After we ran out of appropriate CD's, we told our church what we were doing, and they started giving us free copies of a simple message on how to be saved, and what it means to be a Christian.  These got included in every shipment with a simple note: "Thanks for your business!  Please enjoy this CD as our 'Thank You' Gift!"  All in all, over 150 CD's got sent out, to a generally decent reception.  However, we got a pretty angry email back once, from a "Christian" of all people.  I have long since lost the email, but I'll reproduce it here as best as I remember:

Dear Seller,

I did receive the CD, but I did not listen to it.  I am a Christian, and I believe that it's people like you who give us a bad name.  I just wanted to order some clothes, not be preached to.  This is a business transaction, and God has no place in it.

Now, you might think I'm wording it more strongly than it originally was, but as I recall, it was just that terse.  This "Christian" was angry and deeply offended at our attempts to share our faith in what we, at least, believed was a safe and non-confrontational way.  It begs the question "WHEN, if not in the course of normal human interactions, is the appropriate place to share one's faith?!"  She apparently strongly believed it should be kept in the 4 walls of the church house.

I'm assuming here that the crux of her argument rests on her assertation that God has no place in business.  I think that's a pretty hard argument to make, Biblically, as we can see that God routinely blessed the business affairs of his servants.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all greatly blessed in their livestock and produce.  I believe we're called by God to be salt and light to a dark and dead world.  Many times, if not most of the time, the most meaningful of these interactions happen in our normal daily affairs.  I think it's a testament to our integrity if we "show Christ" by the way we conduct business.

So I've made a little list of "Do's" and "Don'ts" that you are free to add to:

DO:

 

• Be watchful of God-ordained opportunities.  Business is done by people.  And those people may be hurting or just in need of a friend who truly cares.  Sometimes the opportunity is available and appropriate to minister during your business conversation.  It may be as simple as letting them know you care, or it may be an opportunity to share the Gospel with them.



• Be mindful of the other person's situation.  A stressed waitress on Saturday night probably cares a good deal more about a nice smile and a generous tip than the tract you leave her.  The Lovely Wife and I have had a hanful of opportunities during slow business days to discuss God with a waiter or waitress, but we were short and courteous, offering to talk more later, and inviting them to church.  We leave much larger tips than normal on these occasions.



• Ask for a time to talk again.  If the topic of God comes up (and why wouldn't it, you talk about other things in your life), it's okay to ask for a time to discuss your beliefs in greater detail.  Something like, "I can't believe we've worked together all this time and I've never really shared with you what I believe.  I know you're busy, can we get together some time and talk?"



• Run your business in a Christ-centric way.  I'm not saying slap every customer in the face with a Bible.  But allow your convictions and Christian Ethics to be the guiding factor in all business dealings.  Many of the Bible's teachings have very practical every-day applications, and this is a great place for them.  Be generous, not greedy.  Give freely to your community, because they're the ones that keep you in business.  Never respond with a harsh word, but in kindness.



• Share your faith when appropriate, and back it up with the previous "DO."  We're the keepers of the most important truth in the universe, and tasked with sharing it with the world.  I typically feel it's better to err on the side of over-sharing, than under-sharing.  The most important thing is that if you do, you must portray Christ to your customers, vendors, and everyone else in all of your dealings.

 

DON'T

 

• Be a jerk.  And there are tons of ways that self-righteous people find to be jerks.  Leaving a tract instead of a tip, interrupting the normal flow of business for someone to make sure they know just how badly they need Jesus, etc, etc.  The Golden Rule is a great guideline here.  And if you present yourself as a Christian, you HAVE to show the love of Christ in everything you do, whether that means giving an extra tip, or great service.



• Use Jesus as a marketing tool.  I think former Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee is a great example of this "DON'T," with his ad with a giant cross in the background.  Tacky and tasteless.  Businesses advertising themselves as "Christian businesses" just turn my stomach, and are typically far from what you would expect from a Christian business.  They typically charge higher prices, and offer less service, just from what I've seen.  Unless it relates to the business itself (i.e. Christian Counselling, Christian Book Store) let your actions speak, not your business cards.



• Preach.  While there are many appropriate times to share your faith with someone in a business setting.  These are typically conversational, where it's done with a heart of love and a listening ear.  Under most circumstances, it's probably best to keep the sermonette on the Blood of Christ for an after-hours conversation.  If you're the business person, you're on someone else's time.  If you're the customer, the other person is on their boss's clock.  You have to be respectful of that.

We're called to show the truth and love of Jesus everywhere we go?  How do you do that in your everyday life?  Feel free to add to my list!

Getting Started with Financial Planning, Part Deux

Before we move along to picking investments, I wanted to make a brief follow-up to my previous post.  While picking your brokerage company is very important, equally important is understanding the types of accounts that are available to you, from a tax perspective.  What we will be discussing in this series is a traditional brokerage account.  However, there are other tax-deferred and tax-preferred accounts that may be more appropriate for you, or that you may want to use in conjunction with a basic brokerage account.

This is not a comprehensive essay on tax implications and strategies, but is merely a starting point for your consideration in choosing the right account for you.  Of course, you should consult your tax professional before making any drastic changes to your finances.

Traditional Brokerage

• No tax deduction for investments


• You pay capital gains tax when you sell your investment (assuming you made money on it)


• You pay income tax on dividends (annual payments made to stockholders by the company you own)

Tax Defferred

• These come in several forms:
  
  
  
  • IRA's - Limited to $3,000 per year investment for most investors
  
  
  • 401(k) - only available through your employer
  
  
  • College Saving's Plans - self-explanatory (this may qualify for tax-free dispersal...talk to an advisor about these before you sign up)
  
  
  • A hodge-podge of options for Small Businesses, public employees, and Self-Employed people that we won't discuss here
  
  
  
  


• Invested money is tax-deductible (reduces your taxable income)


• Penalty-Free withdrawals start at age 59 1/2.


• You may incur penalties with early withdrawal


• All withdrawals are taxable at your current income tax rate (in the year it's withdrawn)


• Basic premise is that you reduce you save on taxes now, and pay income tax on the money as you take it out during retirement, which will theoretically be when you are in a lower tax bracket, thereby saving on your tax burden

Tax Preferred

• A rather generic term for vehicles like:
  
  
  
  • Roth IRA's - similar investment limits as IRA's
  
  
  • Roth 401(k) - Pretty rare, although they're becoming more popular
  
  
  
  


• You get no tax deduction for investing, but your income comes out tax-free


• No tax on growth or dividends


• Must be 59 1/2 to withdraw penalty-free


• Premise is that you may make more money later in life, resulting in a higher tax bracket, or taxes may go up (hey, it's a liberal administration...it's bound to happen) and that  you're better off shouldering a tax burden now, while you have plenty of other deductions, like business expense, mortgage interest, college loans, etc, than later in life when you will likely not have those deductions

A truly comprehensive financial plan for life goals and retirement might include money going into each of these.  If you're just getting started, pick the one you find most accessible, and that meets your goals.  Keep in mind that most 401(k) accounts do not allow you to invest in the market as you choose, but limit you to a selection of funds approved by your company and their brokerage provider.  We're also not going to touch on employer-directed accounts, like pensions, here . . . since who gets those anymore to begin with?  And they basically don't matter . . . since if you're lucky enough to have one, you can't do much with it anyway.  Stick around for the next post in this series, discussing basic types of investments.

Financial Planning: How to Get Started

I recently promised a series of financial themed posts.  Perhaps I should start with the common-sensical approach of paying off your debt, saving liquid, or ready-cash for emergencies (or opportunities), and a forming realistic budget with money set aside for your investment goals.  But I'm going to assume you're smart enough to grasp that truth, and move on to HOW to begin laying a good foundation for a Biblical and responsible financial plan.  A GREAT article on how to stop living Paycheck to Paycheck, and start working out the basics of budgeting and planning can be found here.

My worldview on economics is a unique complementary clashing of my previous career as a Financial Advisor, and my experiences of learning to view God as my provision, and not money or a job.  Naturally, I see financial situations as something interesting to figure out, but I also know that many times, there simply is no natural solution, and that God must work things out for us.  And I think you'll see this reflected in much of what I write as we begin this journey.  And I think that's a great thing to call it.  I wrote in a previous post about my family's financial hardships, and we're just now getting the big pieces back together in our financial plan.  We're making these financial and investment decisions as I write them . . . so I can't say for sure what turn these posts will take, but I hope you find them interesting.

I've spoken with many Christians who shy away from "investing," viewing it as a tool of Satan's influence on the economy, or a testament to man's prideful ascension to worldly prosperity, at the cost of his soul.  They distrust companies, and assume that either Obama or crooked CEO's will steal from them whatever they invest.  And while Obama will probably do his best to screw up the economy, I think it's mostly out his control.  The Bible, itself, tells us that God wishes to us to "lend and not borrow."  I believe that this is a mandate of God's view of prosperity - don't go into debt, invest money in profitable ventures, and give liberally.  Even in the parable of the talents, the master was angry that the wicked servant didn't at least put the money in the bank to earn interest.  God wants the church today, as he wanted Israel in the Old Testament, to be the center of blessings for the world.

I'm writing this as sort of a beginner's beginner tutorial.  Basically the same way I'm explaining it to my wife, as we go through the process together.  Whether or not we intend to buy stock, bonds, mutual funds, or some other investment vehicle (more on those in the next post), we need a brokerage account.  This is the "holder" for whatever type of investing you do.  Most types of investments (and all types that we will be considering) can be housed in a typical brokerage account.  There are tons of investment companies out there, and we need to consider a few things to decide which account is right for us.

First of all, there are two options in determining HOW we want to invest.  You can use a Financial Advisor or a trusted Broker, or use a discount service, like ETrade, Scottrade, etc.  There are pros and cons to each, but it boils down to 2 issues:  Are you going to educate yourself on your investments enough, and monitor them closely enough, to go it alone, or do you need a little help?  Since I've got a decent amount of investment knowledge, and I want to save on transaction costs on what will initially small investment amounts, we're using a discount service.  Also of consideration is what type of investing you want to do.  Were we planning on developing a long-term savings, with little trading, we'd probably go Mutual Funds, and probably use a Financial Advisor to find just the right mix of funds for us.  We plan on buying common stocks and being moderately active traders. (Again, in my next post, we'll be discussing what each type of investment is and which will work for you).  The breakdown follows:

The Financial Advisor

• Get expert advice on your investments before you put your money into it


• Benefit of a second pair of eyes watching your investments


• Professional planning / diversification should help diminish your risks


• Advice on tax-friendly accounts (IRA's, Roth's, etc)


• Con: Pricey Transaction Fees (up to $35)


• Con: Unless you have a large amount to invest, some aren't interested in your business, or won't give the service you're paying for


• Con: Typically push Mutual Funds and managed accounts


• Con: Guilt (maybe it's just me . . . but I hate withdrawing money from an account when a Financial Advisor is making his living with it being there)

Financial Advisors can be a mixed bag.  If you get a good one, he or she will make your life and finances much better off.  If you get a bad one, you might as well start a fire and throw your cash in.  Most career advisors are good though, and unless you want to become an expert in market strategy, it wouldn't hurt to enlist the services of a good one, if you can afford it, or if you have enough money to get their attention.  Avoid insurance products in most cases (insurance and annuities), and be very specific with your advisor about what your goals are.  Also, I strongly recommend asking a LOT of questions.  You're giving a substantial portion of your net worth to these people, you NEED to know things like:

• How long have they been in business (steer clear of rookies, who will usually push you towards investments that make them the most money)


• Do they have a clean U-4 (sort of like a complaint report for financial advisors).  You can see your advisor's U-4 at the FINRA Broker Check.


• What types of returns have their clients gotten over the last year


• What types of clients do they normally service


• Do they have clients that will give them a recommendation

Using a Financial Advisor can be a great tool in managing your investing.  But just do your homework before you go, and it helps if you check with friends and family and see what their experiences have been.

Going It Alone

Your other option is to basically do your investing on your own, with no insight, other than what you can glean from the news and market publications.  I think it's a fine idea for 3 people:

1. Financial Professionals, or people with an advanced understanding of investing principles


2. People who want a "play" account, with disposable money, that they don't mind losing.  This would be in addition to a serious "planned" brokerage account


3. Small-time investors who just want to get started, who may not invest regularly (or invest small amounts very often), and who are concerned with costly transaction fees.

I fall into categories 1 and 3.  And I have the feeling that many of you fall into one of those categories as well.  Investing doesn't have to be scary.  And you don't have to pay exorbitant fees to someone because of it.  We'll be discussing soon how to go about picking your first investment.  But let's wrap this up with a few choices for opening up your account.

• Etrade - low cost transactions, $500 minimum account value to open, and a great mobile app with streaming market data make this a very attractive solution.  Also has some professional market tools for reasonable pricing, or available for free to frequent traders.


• TD Ameritrade - Has great research, and similarly advanced trading tools as Etrade.


• Scottrade - $7 trades!  Not much else.  Local branches also . . . but why?

Financial Advisors

They come in all shapes and sizes, and some independent ones are better than the big named companies.  Go in with a list of important features for your account.  Want online trading?  Many independents may not provide that.  Also, ask if online trade fees are less than fees if you call and have your broker execute the trade (they should be).

• Merrill Lynch


• Ameriprise - very planning focused.  If you need help getting started, I would suggest starting here


• Morgan Keegan - owned by Regions Bank.  If you're a Regions' customer, their bank brokers generally are very good at helping get just the right products for you.  Some interesting online tools are available also.


• Bank of America - yes, they have investing too.  If you're a BOA customer, this may be a comfortable place to get started

To finish up, I strongly encourage to not underestimate the importance of WHERE you do your brokerage, despite the fact that you'll be able to purchase the same things from anywhere.  Do your research to find the right account and service for you.  Meet with a few advisors, to find the one that suits you best, if you choose to use one at all.  And be encouraged that as God blesses you for being a good steward, he will also lead you in making these decisions of what to do with that money.  We prayed together about whether we should invest, and how we should begin doing it.  We went with ETrade because it offers some great tools, decent pricing, and it is a name that we felt most comfortable with.

In closing, I'll leave you with some places to avoid...despite the fact your high-school drop-out friend might be selling for them:

• Primerica


• Woodmen of the World


• Insurance Agents in general (despite the fact they want you to believe they can do it all . . . just no)


• World Financial Group and Investment Advisors International

These places typically allow anyone with the money to get licensed to bill themselves as "Financial Advisors" and invest all your money.  Many of them give horrible advice, in order to focus on more costly and illiquid insurance based investments.  World Financial Group is basically an MLM company that sells investments, also.  Chances are, after they've taken your money, they'll also try to convince you to become a "Financial Advisor" as well.  The responsible people working at these companies just distribute canned advice, but some actually believe they're smarter than career brokers out there, and will sell you all kinds of crap.  Avoid at all costs.

A Christian and His Money are Soon . . . ?

I've heard it said that Jesus taught more on money than on any other worldly topic.  I haven't done the research to back up that claim, so I'm not staking my reputation on it, but I do know he has a lot to say about it, so it sounds plausible enough.  Mostly, the New Testament seems to deal with giving, with an implication that God will show his blessings to us if we do that.  Well, "implication" might be too vague of a word . . . "Give and it shall be given unto you, press down, shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your bosom," is a bit more definite than a mere "implication."  On the flip-side, we have also find some pretty dire warnings concerning money in the scripture - that the love of it is the root of all evil, and that a fool and his money are soon parted.

I've made no secret of the financial hardships that I and my family endured just a few years ago.  I never spoke much of the bad times. . . but they were pretty bad, wreaking havok on our marriage, and bringing us, and me in particular, to our knees (finally.)  And God delivered us in ways that could only be described as miraculous . . . practically giving us a house and property for next to nothing (seriously . . . our house payment is half of what my last car payment was), and bringing us to a place where, although we still have a pretty tight budget, we can pay all of our bills on time.  16 months of unemployment makes you appreciate little things like that.  One question that went through my mind all the time was something along the lines of, "Why are you doing this to me God?!  I pay my tithes, I've given . . . I live my life for you, and they're coming to repo my car tomorrow!"  I got pretty angry.  And attempted, in vain, to try to make something happen for myself . . . improve my life on my own.  God, again, didn't allow me to do that, and everything I tried came crashing right down around me.  I got pretty bitter . . . and then, with my pride and ego finally broken, I asked a life-changing question:  "God, please show me the sin in my life that is bringing this destruction on me.  Please show me where I'm wrong."

And I saw the truth:  a fool and his money really are soon parted.  I had the idea in my head that being a "good steward" of the money God gave me meant that I had to pay my tithes . . . give every once in awhile, when I felt like, and . . . well . . . and that's pretty much it.  Otherwise, I lived my life for 3 things:  the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.  Now, saying those words brings to mind all kinds of debauchery that was simply not the case with me.  I spent my money . . . and when I ran out, I just used credit cards.  If I wanted something, I got it.  I withheld myself from nothing.  Expensive clothes, the coolest new gadgets, top of the line computers, the nicest apartments in town.  Those things are fine, I suppose, if God has blessed you with the income to acquire them in a financially and spiritually responsible way.  I just used credit cards.    I made decent money, but not enough.  I occasionally felt guilty . . . or at least stressed . . . to have so much debt.  But when I got it paid down some, I just charged it right back up again, as soon as there was space to buy something I wanted.  God HAD to bring me to a place where I couldn't depend on my job, credit, or anything else for provision . . . only Him.  And while it was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, it was the most profitable.

I've said before that I find myself defending a "prosperity gospel" that I don't totally agree with, in order to the defend a truth that I do believe in: Biblical teachings on prosperity.  I think we'll find that if we're handling money in unGodly or irresponsible ways, God can't bless that.  But while a fool and his money are soon parted, a Christian will find that he and God's money are quickly drawn together.  I've found myself recently pretty disheartened with my job, when promised raises and benefits didn't materialize.  But when I began to give freely to God, and trust in him for my provision, I can honestly say I've been pretty shocked to see money coming in, business projects coming in, and God's provision working in my life.  I'm not rich, and may never be, but I know, KNOW, now that I never have to worry again about making ends meet.  God provides for those of us who follow him in our money, as well as our lifestyle.

On that note, I'm pretty excited to have a whole string of posts about finances and financial planning coming out soon.  Before my current position, I was a financial advisor for several years, and have real practical knowledge about finance (my degree is in Finance, by the way), as well as many more hard-learned lessons about managing our finances in Godly ways (still learning!).  And who knows...maybe I'll even make them into their own blog soon.

Where Are All the Kids Going?

I recently read a great article at the Christian Post relating the findings of a survey studying how many young people we're losing from our churches, and the possible reasons behind it.  I have to say, I agree mostly with what is being said, but I think they only skim across some of the most important issues.  Things that a survey may not be able to find.  As one of the rare 20-somethings in church (although I'm only 20-something for one more year :( ) I think I have a pretty decent understanding of where my generation has fallen away, because I've seen my friends among the fallen.

The fact is, we are bleeding.  Most mainstream denominations have shown a decrease in membership over the last decade, or so.  It's a problem across evangelical Christianity.  With the exception of Non-Denominational Pentecostal / Charismatic churches, who seem to show slight growth, the body of Christ is growing older and older.  A few problems we can see evident from the survey:

According to ARG's survey, 95 percent of 20- to 29-year-old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. Only 55 percent went to church during high school. And by college, only 11 percent were still attending church.

We'll discount the 5% of children not attending church regularly, for now, because we must also assume that their parents don't attend church regularly, and since 10 year olds can't drive . . . well, enough said.  Only 55% of teens attend church regularly during high school?  Problem #1 is evident: the parents have failed, and failed miserably, in raising their children to serve God.  In my upbringing, I wasn't allowed to not attend church.  When I started looking for a part-time job at 16, I wasn't allowed to get a job that interfered with church.  My parents, following a Biblical principle, trained me to put God and church first, and that God would bless and honor that sacrifice, and when I was older, I did not depart from that.  If the Bible is always true, and we must assume that it is, we have that promise from God.  Simply "giving up" on your kids' souls and allowing them to stay at home and not attend church as teens (still children) is tantamount to burning the scriptures in front of them.  We reinforce a wordly and sinful mindset: "If salvation was as necessary, God as good, Heaven as sweet, and Hell as real as the Bible says it is, then why would Mom and Dad just let me stay at home?  It must be just some good moral teachings, and not real."  Who wouldn't think that if raised up that way?  We make them take baths, brush their teeth, study, get good grades, don't eat too much junk food, etc etc. . . all great lessons that are necessary for life and health and wellbeing, but we shy away from making them attend church?  We've started the problem there.

The article rightly goes into poor teaching in Sunday School, and the concept of teaching Bible "Stories" . . . a term I've always had a problem with.  Sunday School is a great place to teach the foundations of faith, apologetics, why we believe what we believe.  But instead it focuses on the seeker sensitive trends of relationships, emotional issues, morality, and "stories from the Bible."

All of these are great pieces of the puzzle, the the parental lack of concern for their children's souls is the largest piece, but I think the article misses the largest over-arching problem - our kids have never had an EXPERIENCE with God.  It's my experiences with God that I turn to when I go through seasons of doubt, trial, and even disbelief.  There are tons of theories questioning everything about the Bible - if I'm going through a bad situation in life, and feel discouraged, there are plenty of people telling me that I can turn from God, because he may not even be there anyway.  But it's the experiences I had, and many of the most important ones were as a teenager, that keep me in the body of Christ.  I was blessed enough to attend a church that moved its youth group from a fun / game -centered experience to a place for teens to encounter God, and have Him work in their lives.  But the trend is the opposite.  I see youth "ministries" with X-Boxes, Playstations, sports, games, and FUN FUN FUN, but very little Jesus.  They don't want to "turn kids off," and want to give them a "positive" place to come and have fun and fellowship.  Fun and fellowship is great, but should be a secondary concern.  Will youth groups shrink if the focus shifts from super fun awesome times to Jesus?  Sure.  But if 50 kids leave, and 1 child comes to Jesus as a result, I think it's worth it.

I feel that Youth Pastors' success is judged on the size of their youth groups, many times, instead of things like how many kids get saved, or how many kids are involved in ministry.  That's such a tragic mistake.  And I've met tons of youth pastors who have the spiritual depth and Biblical knowledge of a Lebanese child who has only heard the name of Jesus as a by-word in conversation.  They're focused on nurting emotions, at best, and on just playing games, and being a kid for the next 10 years, at worst.  They are far from spiritual role models who exude holiness and righteousness as a lifestyle to look up.  Quick question:  Have any of you met a youth pastor (or pastor for that matter) who can come close to being able to say, as Paul did, "Follow me as I follow Christ?"  Me either.

While the responsibility for raising Godly children rests on parents, ultimately, I believe a major shift can happen to reverse this trend if churches would change their youth ministries to focus on giving teens an experience with God, instead of just a fun time.  Those experiences will guide them back to the faith, if they leave.  God called it the incorruptible seed, which gets planted in them.  The games, rock concert services, and worldly mentalities are just turning kids off to Jesus, if not the youth group.  Jesus said if he is exalted, he will draw all men unto him.

Problem solved.

Scary salmon-bot conversation

2:08:43 PM cheeringsalmon: Play him off, keyboard cat.
2:08:51 PM Casey: LOL
2:08:55 PM cheeringsalmon: I believe you.
2:09:06 PM Casey: I know...right.  Keyboard cat rocks my face
2:09:21 PM cheeringsalmon: Keyboard cat is my best friend.
2:09:24 PM cheeringsalmon: Forever.
2:09:32 PM Casey: What?
2:09:41 PM Casey: Keyboard cat is cheating on me with you?
2:09:44 PM cheeringsalmon: Uh
2:09:45 PM Casey: I will cut you
2:09:47 PM cheeringsalmon: I
2:09:54 PM cheeringsalmon: I thought that you were okay with open relationships.
2:10:27 PM Casey: I spent $25 on fancy kitty litter for her!!!  #*$*#$& it!!!
2:10:41 PM cheeringsalmon: She appreciates it. I know she does.
2:11:34 PM Casey: Maybe I can still return it.  She looked like a whore in that blue coat anyway.
2:11:45 PM cheeringsalmon: I'll keep her.
2:11:47 PM cheeringsalmon: Thanks.
2:12:03 PM Casey: no no, thank you.  I'm allergic anyway.
2:12:23 PM cheeringsalmon: Awesome. I have a broken picture telephone.
2:12:36 PM Casey: I'll bet you do
2:13:32 PM cheeringsalmon: Alriiiiiight.
2:13:44 PM cheeringsalmon: I just saw two elephants get married.
2:13:47 PM cheeringsalmon: What did you see?
2:14:06 PM Casey: It's not nice to call fat people elephants.
2:14:11 PM cheeringsalmon: ><
2:14:16 PM cheeringsalmon: Sorry. . I forget. .
2:14:41 PM Casey: salmonbot, your conversational skills have improved since we lost spoke.  I'm very impressed.
2:15:03 PM cheeringsalmon: Thanks. I've. . upgraded my code.
2:15:17 PM Casey: Alright, talk to you later.
2:15:21 PM cheeringsalmon: Bye.

Quicken Online and Me - BFF's

When it comes to fiscal responsibility, Bush and I have a lot in common. And we're both just as likely to be shocked-and-awed when we realize how much money we've spent, as we are to employ strategic misdirection in order to make it all look like -- Oh no look! WMD's! Budget deficit? What?

I've tried out a number of "services" designed to help me get better control of my budget. All of them seem to suffer from a few basic flaws:

1. I am lazy


2. I do not like balancing my checkbook


3. I do not like paying bills

Unfortunately, none of those seem to address that problem.  And while a few made noteworthy attempts, they all suffered the same fate - no updates, and inaccurate data.  I've written before about Microsoft Money, which came the closest to what I needed.  It downloaded statements from my bank account, reconciled transactions, and kept track of bill due dates.  But that was about it.  Oh, it included tons of fancy-schmancy features for people who were already saving and have investments and multiple accounts . . . but I didn't use them.  It's biggest problem was that it required me to come home, sit down, and manually enter in transactions in order to keep them it up to date.  It was a hassle.  If I got off by a few days, and missed things, it quit reconciling right.  Some transactions were lost, some duplicated.  It was a nightmare.  For the 2 months I used it on free trial, I deleted and set back up my accounts 3 times, because they got all messed up.

After trying out Quicken, and then Quicken Online, I gave up, and went back to an old fashioned check registry written by hand.  At the time, Quicken Online cost $5 a month, and didn't have my bank in their list of institutions.  I tried to use Mint.com to monitor my spending habits and create a budget...but while it worked easily, since I didn't have to update it, that was also a huge drawback.  Checks and debits that hadn't cleared, but soon would, couldn't be tracked there.  And let's face it, that is a huge area for problems with keeping track of spending.  Recently, Quicken Online turned into a free service and launched a free iPhone app.  This seemed too good to be true, so I decided to try it out, hoping against all hope that my small rural bank was on the list this time.

I had a trial account that I logged into . . . oh . . . twice a year ago.  I added a credit card, which it also lets you track just like any other account, and requested them to add my bank twice before giving up.  I was able to log in with the same name and password, and I saw my sad little credit card, still sitting there, quietly chastising me for not paying down the balance quicker.  I went straight away and attempted to add my bank.  The first negative I will say about this experience is that their search function SUCKS.  Especially for those of us whose banks begin with ubiquitous phraseology like "First National Bank of . . ." or "First State Bank of  . . ."  And forget about typing in your town or state, to search by that.  It only searches through the exact lettering.  If you patronize the First State Bank of Montana, you can search for "First State," or just "First," but searching by "Montana" will get you nowhere fast.  Add to that the fact that my bank opted for going by "FNB" instead of "First National Bank," and you have a recipe for disaster.  To be honest, I have no idea if my bank was on there on my first login.  I searched a few different way, and then requested it to be added.  3 times.  Just in case . . . ya know?  Eventually, I decided to just scroll through to double check.  I clicked on the letter "F" and then did a "Find" for my town's name on the page in order to find it.  A pain?  Yes.  But someone who didn't get what was happening in the search field might have given up long ago.  They need to add the ability to search for any match, or search geographically.

Once you've added your accounts, though, the magic starts.  While most features are ones you would expect, like downloading bank transactions, and monitoring your budget (things Mint.com does just as well, if not better), Quicken Online allows you to add in your new transactions by hand, and it will automatically reconcile them with your cleared transactions when they come through.  For me, this is a non-negotiable feature in financial software.  The auto-reconcile is a nice bonus, though . . . and it happens daily.  I've run into a few odd errors, with some things not reconciling properly.  This is usually due to naming inconsistencies.  If you type in your gas purchase as "Gas - $25" and the transaction clears as "AC - Exxon 1235-jh12" then you're going to have to handle that manually.  Also, a donation to St. Jude's reconciled as a monthly insurance payment, and automatically added itself to my monthly bills.  Which was a minor irritation.   That being said, there are plenty of other cool features.

Home Page

When you log in, via website or iPhone app, you're greeted with a simple and informative homepage.  Which may be something you're not quite prepared for, if you're a bury-your-head-in-the-sand person like me, when it comes to budgeting.  You get a quick list of balances on the left, with a giant box in the middle, stating your predicted balance, once everything has cleared, and all bills due before your next paycheck are paid.  Below that you get indicators of your risk of Overdraft and risk of Low Balance.  Mine were a disturbing, bright-red, capital lettered "HIGH."

Crap.

Transactions and Accounts

The next two tabs are for managing your accounts, and viewing your transactions.  The accounts tab is pretty self-explanatory.  You can see each account you have linked with Quicken, and what its current balance is.  In the transactions tab, you can see, for each account, up to your last 90 days of transactions, with pending / uncleared transactions that you enter yourself, along with entries for your next regular paycheck and next regular bills.  It's useful in that you have an at-a-glance look at not only everything that is going on in your account, but everything that will be going on, forseeably, in the next month.  You can categorize each transaction for reporting and spending trend tracking, and put notes for each transaction.  Just like a regular check registry!  Only way more Web 2.0-ey.

These transactions are updated automatically daily, and can be updated at any time by clicking "Refresh."  For some reason, this is a necessary morning ritual for me, because it seems my bank doesn't update the previous day's cleared transaction until after Quicken does it's nightly check.  It's way too obnoxious to not have the simple feature of specifying a time for the auto-refresh.  No excuse for that omission.

Goals

While the ability to set budgetary goals, or limits, is nothing new, I'm pretty fond of how well it integrates with the rest of the package.  Mint.com has this feature, and arguably does a better job of tracking your spending, allowing both categories and tags.  With Quicken, you're limited to 1 category per transaction.  You can't split payments between categories, like on desktop Quicken either.  It's simple, and slightly limiting in that regard, but simple means quick and easy for me.  Having the ability to track multiple tags and categories is great.  But that's where my eyes usually started swimming with desktop Money and Quicken.  I want to
get everything categorized correctly, especially come tax time, but the truth is if it takes too much time to categorize and tag, I just won't do it.  And many of you are no doubt the same.  One category for the transaction = quick and easy.  These categories are used in monitoring your budget.  You can set an overall spending budget, and household or grocery budget, entertainment, etc.  Nothing there to blow your socks off, until you start approaching your limit - when you get a text message telling you to slow down on your spending.  Some may find that to be too intimidating . . . I love it.  I don't have to worry too much about monitoring how much I spent on eating out, because I know I'll get a text message when I'm approaching the limit.

The down-sides to relying on this feature are obvious.  Some of purchases in the budget don't lend themselves to this type of monitoring.  For instance, grocery shopping.  We typically have one large grocery shopping trip per week.  Sometimes we do a really big trip that lasts two weeks, with an extra trip to the store for bread and milk in the mean time.  It's nice to track that budget on Quicken, but it's conceivable that you could go from way underbudget, and far away from a warning text, to over budget in one shopping trip.  There's no way around that that I can see.  But it's something to mindful of.

Mobile

Quicken Online tied up its spot in as my #1 financial tool with its mobile features.  It has a free iPhone app that replicates nearly every function of the full web page.  You get the same predicted balance with Overdraft and Low-balance indicators.  You can get up-to-the-minutes goal / budget tracking.  You can see all your transactions, and easily add in a new transaction while you're swiping your debit card at the check out, to keep everything up-to-date.  Those text message warnings about going over budget...they can be configured to notify you about all kinds of things, like low-balances on your accounts, or when your credit card is approaching its limit.  The iPhone app also has a virtual "Wallet" that allows you to track your cash transactions as well, so that you can get a truer picture of where allof your money goes.  If you're one of those sad archaic types that still carry cash.  Quicken gets all "cloudy" by instantly syncing your transactions as you add them on your iPhone back to the website, and vice versa.  This is way more than just getting your account balance, and keeping up with transactions.  You can get real-time updates on how much money is left in your budget for anything you want to track, and have all the information you need at your fingertips to make a financiall responsible decision anywhere you're at, before you spend the money.  That's been invaluable for me.  Since I so rarely made financially responsible decisions.

Wrap-up

Quicken Online is a great and solid financial planning tool for simple check-book balancing and personal budgetary needs.  If you need features for business expense tracking, split transactions, multiple categories, or complex tax informations.  It's probably not the best tool for you.  If you're a savvy investor who wants to keep track of a portfolio: ditto.  But if you're looking for a great tool for integrating "check registry" features with bank account monitoring, budgeting, and expense tracking, with auto-reconciliation, then I think you'll be hardpressed to find a better tool, especially if you're an iPhone user, with the iPhone App.

Correction / Retraction on Assemblies of God Crack-Up

I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong, especially when what I'm wrong about is something like the disturbing news I shared regarding the alleged schism in the Assemblies of God.  General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, George Wood, sent me an email to set the record straight, with a well deserved admonishment to double check facts before reporting a story such as that.  My apologies to my readers.  While I did do some double checking with local contacts on this account, it was my error for not allow the A/G Headquarters to respond directly to what my sources were accusing.  According the Superintendent Wood,  "Nothing could be further from the truth.  There has never been a resolution to change our views on these matters; and if there were, they would be resoundingly defeated."

In all honesty, I've never been more happy to be wrong.  As I said in my previous post, I'm no longer a member of the Assemblies of God, but I actually have a copy of the 16 fundamental  truths in my house, and hold the positions taken by the Assemblies of God as a standard to judge my own beliefs by, after the Bible of course.  While many churches are being swayed by the false doctrines of the seeker-sensitive movement, I'm very happy to see that it hasn't affected the doctrines of at least one denomination.

Practical Marriage Counselling

If you're a church-going person (and even if you're not), chances are you got some form of marriage counselling from your pastor before he/she agreed to join you in matrimony.  And if you're much like me, you look back and find that marriage counselling session to be woefuilly inadequate for the great challenges you began facing . . . oh . . . about a day after you got back from your honeymoon.  I feel like my session was much better than most people get, and really did equip us for some of the struggles we faced, with very practical, if simple, tools.  My favorite among them, is the deceptively simple, "The way you don't end up getting a divorce is simple: don't get a divorce."

I'm not sure what most churches do, but most that I've seen around here have one conselling session with a pastor, who typically discusses the importance of following God together, and living a biblical life.  Then it's down the aisle you go.  These brief sessions don't scratch the surface of the many issues you will face together.  To remedy this situation, I am proposing a series of Marriage Counselling Sessions, that I hope many of you will adopt in your churches.

1. Session 1 will be held individually with each person, and will be entitled "Men/Women are actually much crazier than you previously thought."  Topics in this session will include what to do with an angry and hormonal wife.  How wives should approach a husband who wants to play video games/ watch sports all the time, and not spend time with them.  Bonus topics will include defensive postures for protecting yourself against flying remote controls and cordless phones.


2. Session 2 brings the couple together to discuss finances, the single greatest cause of marital problems, in a lesson entitled "Women Are Expensive."  Men are very unprepared on their wedding day for the expense of frequent gynecological exams and mall shopping trips.  This lesson aims to familiarize men with what they will face as provider for the family, and help women understand that men rarely have any of these expenses.  Topics include the ridiculous regularity with which women:
   
   
   
   1. Go to the doctor
   
   
   2. Buy shoes
   
   
   3. Buy Makeup
   
   
   4. Buy more clothes to match their new shoes
   
   
   5. Buy more shoes to match the new clothes
   
   
   6. Get medical tests run
   
   
   
   


3. Session 3 delves deeper into financial issues surrounding marriage with a lesson entitled, "No Really . . . Women are Really Very Expensive."  The shady ways in which hospitals and clinics bill multiple times for the same things will be discussed, as long as financial planning help for men to begin early to prepare their budgets for their new-found debt bliss.


4. Session 4 entitled "And just wait until you have . . ." is a relatively short lesson, due to budget constraints of the counsellor.  He didn't have the money to finish this topic on having children.  But the point should be easy to articulate by this time in the limited amount of time you have before your interview for a second job.


5. Session 5 has been cancelled, in order for the counsellor to take on a second job to better pay for his own children and wife.

At this point, the betrothed couple should be marginally better prepared for the circumstances they will soon be facing.  "Oh!" you may say, "but this will discourage young people from getting married!"  Why yes, good friend, I believe you have the point exactly.  If someone gets married after these effective lessons, they are either A) Wealthy enough to circumnavigate most marital problems, or B) Very committed to becoming a Godly couple, and working hard together through touch times.  Either way, you should have no problems marrying them.

This valuable addition to any Pastor's counselling plans is available for the affordable price of 2 pairs of shoes, 1 Doctor's Visit, and 2 Outfits for young children.

Are you a DC or Marvel Christian?

Whose side are you on?

I'm a big fan of comic books.  I grew up reading them, and to me, DC Comics was always my favorite.  For the unintiated, DC Comics is the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman - basically all the characters we think of when you think of iconic superheroes.  I occasionally picked up a few Marvel books, playing around for short times with X-Men and Spiderman, among a few others, but the characters and the stories never resonated with me much, so I stuck with DC by and large.

It wasn't until adulthood, when a post by Jeremy Pierce got me thinking about it, that I realized what the fundamental difference in the two universes is, and perhaps what that says about people in terms of how they view themselves in the Kingdom of God. (It's a stretch, I know . . . humor me)  There are tons of other differences, and tons of exceptions, but the basic fundamental difference is this: in DC Comics Superman is Superman, Clark Kent is a facade.  Superman is the core of who he really is.  In Marvel comics, the masks and tights is the facade.  Spiderman is really Peter Parker, at his core.  He's just a kid trying to make it, and help some people out along the way.  A good kid, but Spiderman is a mask for him to do good works.  Ponder on that a minute, and let's continue.

A Look in the Mirror

I always know when God is trying to show me something about myself, that I'm uninterested in seeing.  My showers get much longer in the mornings, so I have to rush through Bible/Prayer time.  My prayers get very "surface" and short.  I decide I should read a book about how to live for God better, instead of seeking God for what he wants me to do each day.

This pretty much sums up the last few days.  Apparently I also get irritable, since I've been accused of being in a bad mood not a few times since the weekend.

I'm generally what I would call a "closed" person.  I like people... so long as they leave me alone.  I like them as long as they don't interfere with my plans or encroach on my life in any kind of bothersome way.  I can see personally that this is obviously not the way to live, if I also intend to live my life in a way that shares the love of Jesus with people.  I certainly don't recall Jesus ever saying, "What?  You want me to pray for what?  It's 8:00 at night, I worked all day, and I'm tired.  Don't bother me."  Because that's the way I view people: bothersome.  When all of this was working it's way into my attention, my wife frustratedly exclaimed, "That's why you don't have any friends.  People are scared to talk to you."  My quick and rather hateful response back was, "I have NEVER complained about not having friends."  Upon saying it, I realized that I take a little perverse pleasure in every time someone says that people find me intimidating or unapproachable.  I found myself smiling when my wife told me that people are scared to talk to me, because they think they're bothering me.  For some reason, I've developed an attitude that people are to be kept as far away as possible, at all costs.  And the more foreboding and intimidating I can be, the less I actually have to talk to any of them.

I recall, as a child, a particular incident where someone I considered a friend said, "Nobody likes you because you're so smart."  It was elementary school in the 80's.  I was one of the few kids that had a computer, and my dad had found some silly program that let you make crossword puzzles.  I thought it would be neat to make one of some of our vocabulary words, and had him make it, so I could take it to class.  Teachers are typically very thankful for anything that helps pass the time in a class, so she copied it and passed it out.  A lot of kids thought it was neat that I (my dad) made it, and some didn't.  Looking back, I can see that perhaps my little friend was jealous of the attention, or perhaps hated schoolwork, and didn't want to do the crossword puzzle.  Maybe she just enjoyed being the "good" student in the class, and I had taken her out of the spotlight.  Either way, those words stuck with me.  Nobody likes me because I'm smart.

Now, I know many of your are reading this and thinking, "Really?  Get over it.  It was elementary school.  You're an adult now!"  But in order to change the person we have become, I think we have to take a long look at what made us this way.

I'm not bragging about my intelligence here . . . I consider myself to be of relatively average intelligence, however sometimes people make me reconsider that idea. ;)  I did make straight A's in school, and generally enjoyed (and still do enjoy) learning something new.  Anything new.  I rock at Trivial Pursuit.  But the perception was there, at least for that little girl, at that moment.  And at that moment, I embraced a very dangerous way of thinking, to ease the pain of the idea of nobody liking me.  I embraced superiority.  People didn't like me?  That's fine . . . it's because I'm smarter than them.  She said as much.  It may be lonely at the top, but it just means I can look down on everyone else.  That began the wall building project in my heart.  And it didn't stop for many years.

Now, I didn't go around acting and claiming to be smarter than anyone.  It was the window through which I viewed the world.  Who needs friends and other people?  Not me.  Why would I?  I don't need their help.  I was, and still am, for a large part, an island unto myself.  The foundation was laid for the walls around my heart.  And we know that our enemy took every opportunity to continue building them.

I never made friends easily.  I was pretty shy.  But probably as a result of this self-righteous and arrogant view of the world, many of them parted ways with me.  Each time adding another brick to my wall.  I remember when I was 15 having a friend that was one of the few I had personally gone out the way to make throughout my life.  On a school trip, his entire attitude changed towards me.  To this day, I'm not sure if or what I could've done to illicit that type of response from him, but we never spoke again.  We sat next to each other in a few classes.  The next day at school I turned around to try and see what was wrong, and he told me to never speak to him again.  Ever.  Ouch.

I did finally find some good friends, that I'm still friends with today.  So this isn't a total pity party.  More of a "bringing you up to speed" explanation.  By the time I was an adult, however, I typically preferred being alone, and enjoying whatever things I found to pass my time.  My walls were complete.  Few came in.  The gates were way too guarded for that.  Too afraid to be hurt, too proud to open the gates, and walled in from all other sides.

Which brings us to today.  I'm a know-it-all.  But I'm seldom hurt, because few people get that close.  I can even admit to holding my wife at arm's length occasionally.  The situation, at this point, requires more than my decision to go out and be nice to people.  I need God's help to tear down the walls that I've built up.  It's ugly to see myself as an arrogant, self-righteous smart-alec who believes he is never wrong.  I'm ashamed of my attitudes towards other people.  But I'm thankful that God showed me this in prayer, and is giving me the opportunity to change rather than causing circumstances to come about in my life that would force me into it.

I've let the cares of the world choke out the love of God in my heart.  It's still alive in there, just small.  But luckily, if I let it, there's nothing that can keep something that powerful walled up.  Now . . . I think I have a few relationships to mend, and perceptions to change.

A Relevant Gospel for a Web 2.0 World

I've been working on some new features for the main site, and haven't really had much time to sit down and collect my thoughts recently.  If you've followed me for long, you know how fervently I strive to be a "witness," whatever that may entail.  And as a self-professed geek, I feel that these internets can and should be used as a tool for evangelization.  The question is: "How?"

I teach the Teens' Sunday School class at my church, and have a mission for it that I believe is somewhat unique to a class of that age-range: to teach them how to read and understand the Bible for themselves.  Somewhere along in my life, I got a pretty decent understanding of the Bible, how to study it, etc. . . and that was before my brief and disappointing stay at a Bible college.  So, we go through a book of the Bible, taking our time, reading, and learning how to take the story, and apply it to our lives, how to read it in context so we don't get wacky with things, how to study a topic throughout the Bible as a applicable one arises through our reading.  Most of the kids didn't even realize there was a concordance in the back of their Bible before it started, and they've really learned how to dig in and find answers to tough questions in the Bible.

We recently began studying the book of Acts, and while we've only talked about 2 verses in it in depth, so far, it's really started changing the way I view my witnessing activities.  In Acts 1:8, we see a mandate that represents an almost insurmountable slew of cultural barriers.  Not only should the disciples witness to their own kind, but to the Samaritans (gasp!) and eventually even the Gentiles!  We're studying the book in this light: as a manual for reaching across barriers and winning the lost.

In my class, I used  the example of me and a redneck.  I am, at my heart, a city boy.  I don't hunt.  I don't fish.  I don't really even like to be outside, except for perfect, cool days, with no bugs.  I like the hustle and bustle of a city.  I don't particularly care for country-style fried foods (they do fry everything...ever had a fried twinkie?  I have).  I don't like football.  Basically, it's nearly impossible for me to connect with the traditional southerners of small-town Arkansas.  However, I have the mandate to do just that, to spread the Gospel.  And to be effective, I feel, I must do it in a way that is relevant to the person receiving it.  I think, here, is where we lose a lot of effectiveness has Christians today.

Paul famously (infamously?) said when he was in Rome, he did as the Romans.  That he becomes all things to all people, in order the spread the Gospel.  I think I can surmise, that this means if I'm going to witness to rednecks (and I don't use that term derogatorily) then I have to "become one" . . . so to speak.  I have to be willing to show them I care about them, and that usually means showing that I care about the things they care about.  That I "get" them.  I mean . . . seriously . . . what country fellow, who hunts and fishes, and loves the outdoors and all the stuff in it, is going to take a look at a pale, pasty, computer nerd, who is never parted with his iPhone and think, "This guy really gets where I'm coming from . . . and I should listen to what he has to say."  I'm not saying be fake . . . I'd be ridiculed pretty fast if I went around with boots talking about shooting animals in the woods.  But I can engage Mr. Redneck in areas where we can connect.  I can show I care by saying, "Hey . . . you been fishing lately?  Catch anything?"  I think the working premise here, is that I care enough about him to engage him in his culture, if I can't engage him as part of his culture.  Maybe even go fishing with him.  Believe me, he'd only invite me once. ;)

We've become so accustomed to "church-centered" evangelization, that we miss out on the true secret of church growth in Acts: personal evangelism.  They were at each other's houses, breaking bread, and believers were added to the church daily.  That means that on a daily basis, regular believing Jews would have to go out of their way to befriend Gentiles and Samaritans.  To love them.  Care for them.  Looking at churches today, we've evolved into our own brand of Judaism.  We don't reach to the world, we look down on them.  We don't go to the lost, and pull them up to where we are, we look down on them and expect them to come to us.  I believe that the relevance of evangelistic crusades for this generation just isn't there.  Basically, we've gotten a little too self-righteous.

So, for today's generation, the internet is obviously a relevant way to engage them, but I haven't seen it used effectively (yet) to reach anyone.  I have an idea, but I'm interested in hearing your opinions.  Leave some ideas in the comments, or share a new way to engage anyone in a way that is relevant to who they are.  One way I think the internet can excel, for us, is to provide a place for us to encourage each other to go out and win the lost.  To share ideas, stories, and testimonies of how to be an effective witness.  That's why I started TheLimitless.com, and that's especially why I opened it up to a community of bloggers to host their own blogging site on, or share their current blog with a new audience.  Hopefully, we can all help each other become real and true witnesses.

The Era of Mega-Preachers is Over.

I've been noticing the trend lately, amongst the charismatic/pentecostal circles to focus on something our movement has ignored for quite some time: service.  Full Gospel denominations and movements have had their voices overshadowed, intentionally or not, by the mega-preachers.  The Benny Hinns, Creflo Dollars, Joyce Meyers, and (God help us) the Joel Osteens of the world.  I'm calling it today, and we'll reconvene in a few years to see how right I am (Hint: very).  While we'll probably see Benny's giant hair, Joyce Meyers man-pants, and Joel Osteen's impossibly large teeth for on TV for quite some time, I believe their influence on modern churches is waining.

Recently, I was encouraged to hear Dutch Sheets really ripping into modern churches today, and he said something I found incredibly interesting, "It's my goal to keep as many people out of the pulpit as possible . . . from what I do . . . it's my goal to ordain lawyers, and doctors . . . to go out into the world and share Jesus."  According to Matthew 11:10-13, we are a kingdom at war.  We've always been at war, and we will continue to be, until Jesus returns, sets things right, and hands the Kingdom over to his father (1 Corinthians 15:24-26).  We can't win a war with the troops sitting around marveling at the equivalent of super-solders showing off their strength by ripping phone books.  We win a war by training and equipping soldiers to fight, and then sending them out to defeat the enemy.

I believe this celebrity-focused Christianity we've experienced thanks to TBN and the like over the last few decades has created a dangerous set of circumstances in the church.  We have people praying for hours, to get deep revelations, just for sake of praying for hours and getting revelations.  To impress friends and church members.  To share with other Christians, who are also sharing their "deep revelations" to the same group.  Never leaving the church... never venturing outside to a world in need of salvation.  We have more and more dramatic church services, with people being slain in the spirit, getting one deliverance after another.  It's bred an inwardly-focused body of Christ.  This is clearly not conducive to gaining new converts, winning the lost, or impacting this world for Jesus.

But, during this time, I've also noticed a movement among young people and college students towards what I'm calling here, "new-radicalism."  They have an understanding that the ministry is not about being in a pulpit.  That revelations are practical knowledge from God for one purpose: to aid in preaching the gospel to the utter-most parts of the earth.  These young people are embracing something I did several years ago: you don't have to have a ministerial license, or a theological degree, to be in the ministry.  We're in the ministry because we've accepted Jesus Christ, and have committed our lives to serving him, and spreading his Gospel everywhere we can.  I work in the business world . . . a place many traditional preachers can't reach.  I meet people regularly with very comfortable lives, who are seldom confronted with the Gospel.  How do you show someone a need in their lives, when they believe they have every need met, and plenty more laid up in store?  A preacher can't . . . but one of their own can.  Doctor's are notorious know-it-all's.  But who can reach a doctor?  A better doctor.

So, while I'm boldly proclaiming that the era of Mega-Preachers is over... I do expect to see them on the Television for several years to come.  But always catering to the same crowd...an aging crowd...a self-indulgent crowd.  And as they die out, and retire to their mega-mansions and yachts, I believe we're going to see a movement dramatically rise to fore-front of Christianity that is starting right now - a movement of regular people, in regular jobs, who are sold out to God.  A movement of regular people who boldly preach the Gospel on streets, brokerage floors, board rooms, hospital rooms, court houses . . . the list can go on forever.  I believe this is a group that won't compromise with the seeker-sensitive movement, and will call sin sin.  I believe this group will be empowerd by God to do greater works than the televangelists ever thought about.  I expect healings, miracles, signs, and wonders to happen...in ordinary lives, in ordinary circumstances . . . through extraordinary and yet totally average people.

The next time you see Joel Osteen's grin...the next seeker-senstive service you attend...the next time Joyce Meyers tries to make you believe it's okay for women to look like men...just smile and realize that they're on the way out.  A revival of a church similar to the Book of Acts is happening.  And I'm joining in.  Are you?

Where have all the posts gone?

It's been quite an ordeal, lately. I say "it," as if I'm referring to a single issue, but that's quite the over-simplification. My posts from the last few months have disappeared, due in large part to my failure to back things up, and in small part to a rough and bumpy ride taken by my web server. This has also encouraged yet another look on this page...which is not yet complete, and a reinvention of TheLimitless.com . . . again. I've learned an awful lot about web servers, and php, and the dreaded CSS, and how not to cook microwavable pizzas lately, so it wasn't an incredibly taxing endeavour, except that the front page of TheLimitless.com lots all its modifications, such as they were, and is now a relatively blank slate, waiting for my clammy and cludgy fingers to manipulate it into a somewhat presentable affair.

Now, I know that the few people who still visit my blog (very few, after over 2 weeks with no site up at all) don't come here to hear me prattle on about web servers, and CSS, and all that crap. Oh no, you come here to watch me get all red faced and rant about politicians, or to see me be a bit too honest, and make a fool out of myself, in the attempt to share a little truth about life and Godliness.

So, I must be honest, I don't really keep up with political news anymore. Tabitha, or Pinky, as I call her behind her back, and the slightly unwelcome tweets of the #TCOTers are about all the news I force myself to consider, and I typically read the headline and never click through on the link. So guess what that leaves us with? :D

I recently lost a mentor. Not only a role model, but possibly the single most influential person in my spiritual life. And I was okay with it, as she was a woman of God, and a person who lived the fullness of the Gospel in every area of her life. She has a great reward in Heaven that I'm sure she's enjoying right now. However, a few days after the funeral, I found myself perusing job sites, and I thought to myself, "Uh-oh...I don't have anyone to ask if this is right or not...I better pray and know the will of God before I go off on a job hunt."

A sound idea, at any time. But I realized what an unGodly burden I placed on this person, to be my conduit to God, my oracle. And how spiritually lazy I had been to think like that. Wow.

But don't wag your finger, my friend, because I'm not the first person to think like that. The only difference is that I'm portraying as an unrighteous behavior. This type of spiritually damaging dependency is not only tolerated, but encouraged in many churches. Either because the pastor is controlling and self-aggrandizing, and wants to be able to take credit for every victory in his member's lives, or because the pastor is a poor and lazy shepherd, and allows his people to use him up, abuse him, and leave him out to dry, instead of teaching them how to be profitable Christians.

In saying that, I obviously can't blame pastors only, or even mostly. We Christians are a lazy, self-absorbed lot. Instead of reaching out to help others, with an honest eye turned toward ourselves enough to realize we're no better than anyone else, we choose to spend our time self-analyzing, and fault-finding, and asking for help and prayer over the little things we go through. I'm not suggesting that what you're going through isn't important, but there's one important difference between you and sinner in the same situation. You have hope. Act like it.

It's been a dangerous and selfish practice of Charismatic/Pentecostal circles over the last century to experience "More of Your Glory, More of Your Power, More of Your Spirit in me," simply for the sake of experiencing it, and impressing other Christians with how spiritual we are, and sharing our deep revelations with other Christians so they can marvel at our wisdom, while the world goes to hell. There are great deep things of God, and they need to be searched out, but there is always a purpose to it: souls.

And yet, we're still babies needing to be weaned off the pastoral nipple. Something is dreadfully and horribly wrong. In being forced to "grow up" through my loss, I've had my eyes open to what a pitiful little infant I was. And I'm concerned that as much as I thought I was spiritually mature, there many more out there who believe the same, in the same situation, who may never see the truth, because they believe it's the right way to be.

I think that God is shaking things up in the church worldwide, to allow us to see this, and take on our mantle of servanthood and ministry. And I'll talk more about that soon. Welcome back readers. I hope to see you all a lot more soon.

What's up with the site?!

TheLimitless.com is down for what will hopefully be a short period of time.  We were moving locations, and it seems the main server didn't quite weather the move the way we hoped, and is FAIL.  I'm waiting on a brand spanking new MOBO and Processor to come in (hopefully this will give the site a ton of room for growth, as I wasn't planning on an upgrade until I passed the 1,000 visits per day milestone) and will hopefully have the site back up and running in no time.
Until then, feel free to peruse these extremely old posts of mine, from before I began developing the new site.