Favorite Hymn

This is my favorite hymn. It was written by Francis of Assisi in 1225. The musical score was written the year of 1623. One of my favorite modern arrangements is by the David Crowder Band. God bless you on this beautiful day.







All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening, find a voice!

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

A Whole New Universe

I woke up this morning to a whole new universe. When I went to sleep last night I slept in peace knowing that our solar system had 9 planets, and they were all orbiting the sun the way God made them. Then I woke up.

Leading astronomers have declared that Pluto is no longer a planet today, August 24, approving new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. The International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930.

No more Pluto. What's next, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, or the unfortunately named Uranus?

This is all apart of the lunar landing conspiracy.

Change Will Do You Good

When you are through changing, you are through. ~Bruce Barton

Life is a series of changes, growth, and progression. Nothing ever remains static, unless of course you are dead. Some people are exceedingly afraid of change, some people embrace it, but regardless, you must accept that it is a fact of life. Change is good. It is part of the design of the Creator.

My only sibling is my sister Brittany, and she is making a big change in her life this week. She is moving off to college. Even though in reality she is only moving 7 miles away from home, this transition takes you 1 million miles away from familiarity and comfort. For those who know Brittany, here is a peek into her new world on campus. Change is good.

An Unfinished Work of Art

Paul Gardner once said, “A painting is never finished.” The scriptures constantly refer to God as a creator. The ultimate painter if you will. I often imagine God as a cosmic Michaelangelo with a paintbrush in his hand constantly making changes and revisions, adding texture and color, and stepping back to look at his painting and smiling, not because it’s finished, but because he takes great delight in the creative process.

C.S. Lewis constantly referred to the fact that we were all made in the image of God, and everything we do, everything, comes from a beautiful desire that he already has. Think about it. Genesis refers to a God who went on a creative binge and designed what we call the universe. If you can remember back to your childhood, can you reminisce about the excitement you had when you were finished with your first watercolor? There seemed to be a passion to create. The education philosophy for elementary aged students in this day and age revolves around the “creative learning” process. God has instilled in us a passion to create, because he is creative.

Like I said at the beginning of this article, God is creating you as you sit here and read these squiggles on this post. In the early years of greco art, being commissioned to paint a human subject was one of the highest honors you could receive. The process of a human subject painting was a long and arduous one. The subject would have to remain perfectly still for months on end as the painter worked his mess of lines and colors into depth, character, and beauty. I sometimes wonder if God is asking me to “please sit still, I’m not finished”.

©2005 tommybailey.com

Snakes On A Plane

Absolutely.

How can it get any better than this? (Actually, Spiders on a Plane would be a bit more horific, but I digress).

Click here to read more about this movie.

Did We Actually Go To The Moon?

If you will reminisce with me, around 10 years ago a big controversy surrounded the original lunar landing. A documentary was released showing evidence that the landing on the moon was a hoax, a big staged production from the Americans in order to beat the Russians to the moon. If you want to read more about the hoax click here. If you want to read the arguments against the hoax click here. The controversy is long gone, although wannabe conspiracy theorists like myself enjoy holding on to these types of things.

According to NASA, the footage of the transmissions seen by millions of viewers on July 20, 1969 has failed to turn up after 1 year of searching for it. Is it really lost? Hmmmm....

Happy Birthday

Former President Bill Clinton will be turning 60 this Saturday.

I always thought of Slick Willy as young and vibrant, but he's not looking very young or vibrant. It's amazing what a few years in the presidency can do to you. What's astounding though is that Bush Sr. who is 82 years old still sky dives out of airplanes, now that's vibrant.

Sacred Creativity

This is one of the best articles I've read on creativity. Give it a read.

Sacred Creativity
-Dan Wilt

Northview's Boot Camp

This past week Northview's Children's Department put on a one night extravaganza for kids in our community. They called it Boot Camp. It was absolutely amazing. Never have I seen such a force of people working at their fullest potential to reach kids in the community. Here are a couple of videos that recap the weekend.



This video is a wrap-up of the entire weekend.



This video was used as part of the "skit" that was used throughout the night. It's a real helicopter flight.

Pitch Your Tents?

I saw this and just laughed histerically.


You might remember the "pitch your tents" guy. Blake is a youth pastor who was preaching at the adult service, and while meaning to say "pitch your tents", he mangled the words. The video clip became an instant internet classic, and propelled Blake to unreal fame. Anyways, as if the guy hadn't been hammered badly enough, some guys decided to play a prank on him. They posed as the FCC and went to his church offices. You can view the original video and what happens next here... Blake Prank Video. This poor guy deserves a raise! Read more…

Courtesy of Pastor Greg's Blog Palm Valley Church

Click here to view video.

Silence

This is a post I wrote 2 years ago, and I thought I'd share it again.

Elisha stood on the mountain waiting to hear from God. I can imagine Elisha’s heart jumping as he heard the mighty windstorm approach. The wind was so harsh that the scriptures say rocks were torn loose. I can also imagine Elisha’s heart sinking as he realizes that God is not to be found in this violent gale. Then an earthquake makes an approach. Elisha’s heart jumps at the thought that God may be in this earthquake. The anticipation of an encounter with his creator must have been nerve-racking. After the earthquake was over…Elisha stood alone. Suddenly there was a fire. At this point, he had to believe that the fire must be God. God had used fire many times before to speak, so clearly it was him, right? After the smoke cleared the area Elisha stood--alone. Then a whisper. The scriptures describe this whisper as “gentle”, so gentle in fact that Elisha had to move towards it to understand it. This is when Elisha met God.

This story is full of truth. Not just a principle to live by, not just a compass to guide, but a truth to shape us. We are to be silent. We are to wait. We are to listen. It is hard as a human to do this. This is not just a 21st century problem. This is a problem that we find time and again through the living story we call the Bible. We can’t blame our inability to decipher the whisper of God on TV, cell phones, internet, etc. That is the easy way out. The problem is internal, not external. We must shape our inner core to be silent at all times. This is when we are worshipping him most fully---when we are silent on the inside.



Silence is the very presence of God---always there. But activity hides it. We need to leave activity long enough to discover the Presence---then we can return to activity with it.
-M. Basil Pennington

MP3 Players and Sports Drinks

Terrorists planned to use MP3 players and Sports Drinks to blow up as many as 10 airplanes headed for the United States.

A senior congressional source said it's believed the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone.

Courtesy of CNN

May God's grace appear in this situation.

Salvation Garden

In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

James 1:19 The Message Paraphrase

Simple humility comes when you realize that it is only by God's strength do you become more in the image of Christ. I loved the picture Eugene Peterson brought in his paraphrase of a "salvation-garden". May my life be more like a garden, ready for the master gardener to tend.

I Wish The Summer Would End

This post is just me bloviating about the intense heat of the summer.

No more I say! Let the winter come forth soon. Please.

With sugar on top.

Gas Prices Are Rising...Again

One of the largest gasoline manufacturers in the world, British Petroleum (BP), was forced to shut about 8 percent of the nation's domestic oil production after discovering "unexpectedly severe corrosion" in its pipelines in Alaska. This means that gas prices in the US could go up another 4 to 5 cents just this week. Not good.

Facedown Saturday August 5

Northview Community Church has 3 worship experiences each weekend. This particular weekend we are devoting the entire experience to worship through music, prayer, scripture, we are calling it Facedown.

Last night was our first worship experience and from the very first note that was played during rehearsal you could sense that we were walking into something that God was already doing. It was a beautiful time of worship with Northview and I can't wait to do it two more times. I'll update later.

In other news, Lebanon and Israel are still in the midst of war. May His kingdom come.

For Guitarists Only

If you are a guitar player and have played with a band it is a possibility that you have used a capo. On a certain occasion you may have put that capo on the wrong fret, thus destroying a song by playing it in a different key than the band. A guitarists worst nightmare.

Check this out.

Addison Road

A Message About Facedown

This message was sent out to the Northview community, but I thought I'd share it here as well. God bless!

Snow...What Bliss

I so want to be in Johannesburg now, nevermind the drugs and rampant killing, it's snowing and cold!!! Yes.

Wed Aug 2, 2:00 PM ET
Snow fell on South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for the first time in 25 years as icy temperatures gripped vast swathes of the country, the weather office said.

"It (the snow) is by no means freakish but I would certainly classify it as rare," said Kevin Rae, assistant manager of forecasting at the South African Weather Service in Pretoria.

Forecasters said snow was reported in the southern Johannesburg township of Soweto and the posh northern suburb of Sandton, as well as the nearby towns of Carletonville and Westonaria.

Johannesburg last had snow on September 11, 1981.

"Sleet has been recorded occasionally since then, but never snow," added climatologist Tracey Gill. Bloemfontein, the capital of the central Free State province, got its first snow in 12 years, receiving 13 centimetres (5.2 inches). Comparable widespread snow across the country had been recorded only twice in the past 20 years, in 1981 and 1988, said Rae. Some welcomed the colder weather, however. At the Tiffindell ski resort in the southern Drakensberg mountains of the Eastern Cape province, guests were elated. "They are very excited," said the resort's chief snow-maker, Johan Smuts. "It is not every day that you get to see snow fall in Africa." In warmer weather, Smuts oversees the manufacture of snow for the resort through a process involving water and air compression. Tiffindell usually gets about five snowfalls a year, he said, but rarely 25 centimetres in one day, as on Tuesday. The weather service posted a warning on its website of very cold temperatures for the southeastern high elevations of the country into Thursday. It expected snowfalls to continue over areas of the central Free State, the Drakensberg and the Eastern Cape, but to have passed by Friday. In the northern provinces, the snow was expected to clear by Wednesday afternoon, said Rae. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.

His Kingdom Come

As an American I have no context and no real knowledge of how ugly and terrible the fighting between Israel and Lebanon really is. The kingdom of God is needed in the Middle East. Today my prayer is that "His Kingdom come, and His will be done" today.

Sweet Phone

I love this phone.

A Tuned Piano

"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life."

©2006 thinkerup.blogspot.com