God In The Flesh

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only Begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3, 14 [NIV]
  
• O: Jesus has always been.
  
• A: I have a relative who doesn't quite understand the concept of a triune God. She doesn't understand how God and Jesus have co-existed forever. She doesn't understand how Jesus could simultaneously be the Son of God and God Himself. Doesn't understand why, then, He was born a baby by His mother, Mary. She was raised in one of those old, old religions that puts more effort into making it's own rules than it does into just living right by God. Today's version of the Pharisees. John the Baptist makes it very clear in the opening of his Gospel, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. When it all began, there was God and the Word. And not only was the Word with God, but the Word was God. Who was the Word? John continues, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only Begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Only one person has ever been referred to as "the One and Only Begotten." Jesus Christ. "Who came from the Father." Jesus Christ. "Full of grace and truth." Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who came to dwell among man, became man so that he could die to once and forever pay the penalty for our sins. The ultimate price, paid by the Almighty. The Son of God. The Word. God in the flesh.
  
• P: Thank You, Father, for loving me so much that You would stoop to my level, become man, die for my sins, then arise and go to prepare a place for me to spend all eternity. You truly are an awesome God!
  

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Obama Tells How To Save Energy

I wish I had known it was this easy years ago:



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Joe

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Soapy Joe 9

Average Joe Radio
presents

Soapy Joe
featuring
Average Joe American

Episode Nine:

Phone: (317) 644-6129
Email Feedback: joe@averagejoeamerican.us

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Living Right

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: First off, you need to know that in the last days, mockers are going to have a heyday. Reducing everything to the level of their puny feelings, they'll mock, "So what's happened to the promise of his Coming? Our ancestors are dead and buried, and everything's going on just as it has from the first day of creation. Nothing's changed." They conveniently forget that long ago all the galaxies and this very planet were brought into existence out of watery chaos by God's word. Then God's word brought the chaos back in a flood that destroyed the world. The current galaxies and earth are fuel for the final fire. God is poised, ready to speak his word again, ready to give the signal for the judgment and destruction of the desecrating skeptics. Don't overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to change. But when the Day of God's Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment. Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. 2 Peter 3:3-12 [MSG] They're busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' and love having me on their side. But they also complain, 'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' "Well, here's why: "The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won't get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Isaiah 58:2-8 [MSG]
  
• O: How critically important it is not just to appear to live right, but to actually do so.
  
• A: Christ will return for his followers. Of that there can be no doubt. But how will those followers be identified? Will they be the openly "humble" who take public pride in their humility? The leaders of the mega-churches we see every Sunday on TV? Just how will God identify those whom He calls Home at the time of the Second Coming? It really isn't hard to appear to live a holy life. Anyone can play a role in public. But God sees our heart. He knows our thoughts -- even before we form them. To live right by God means to live right before God -- in our hearts and in our minds as well as in our actions. There is no fooling the Father.
  
• P: Father, help me to resist the enemy and to live according to Your will, on the inside as well as the outside.
  

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Another Inconvenient Truth

I guess practicing what he preaches is inconvenient for the former VP.



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Joe

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40th Birthday Bash

This week I'll hit the big Four-O. Yesterday, my wife put together a birthday celebration for me. I constantly say that we don't need to have get-togethers for my birthday, but my wife's family gets together for every birthday, and to my wife it is very important to have everyone get together for my birthday, as well.

So the first part of the plan was to have her parents come into town on Saturday night to spend the night. They would have some time to play with the kids and visit, then go to church with us the next morning, then we'd have our little birthday get together.

My wife is very big into baking, mostly cakes and cupcakes, but generally anything. So she made this huge three-layer cake. It was unbelievably big and, in fact, a pretty large part of it is still in the freezer. I'll probably be eating cake for weeks.

I had to work Saturday morning, but only until about noon. When I came home at noon, my son was all excited about the birthday surprises they had planned for me. At one point he said, "Don't look in the oven," because there was a special surprise hidden there for me. We then went to the play room to set up the air mattress for the in-laws to sleep on. I was getting quite hungry and asked my son to ask his mother to put the pizza in the oven. He said, "You mean order the pizza?" I soon learned I should have taken his advice.

Several minutes later, my wife came running into the room, shouting, "I need you! I turned on the oven to preheat it and the kolachies were still in there and now they're all burning and the plastic plate is melting all over the oven!" I ran down the stairs to the rescue, deep into the terrible stench of melted plastic. I grabbed a pot holder and pulled the entire rack from the oven, with the smoldering kolachies on it, and sat it on the sink. I turned off the oven and stood back in shock.

It took some four hours to allow the oven to cool, chip out the majority of the plastic, then heat it back up and clean out the rest, as well as chip the plastic icicles off the oven rack (never should have let it cool completely). The stench of melted plastic never seemed to go away. My wife was devastated about the destroyed kolachies. She had made them for me before, but never from my grandmother's original recipe. Maybe I should explain kolachies.

As a kid, every year at Christmas my grandmother would make these amazing danish type snacks she called kolachies. She would make them for myself, my father, and my brother. We would each receive our own specially prepared cookie tin filled with kolachies, and we treasured them so much that we wouldn't share them with anyone. In fact, we would always joke about trying to eat each other's kolachies before eating our own. Not possible, as we all guarded our prize closely. Each year, to make them more special, I imagine, Gram (my grandmother) would tell us that they were so much work, and it got harder and harder for her every year, and that she just hadn't made any that year. Then, eventually, they would come out. My grandmother passed away a few years back, and the kolachies went with her. Except that my wife took it upon herself this year to get my grandmother's original recipe from my brother's wife. And this year, she made them as a special surprise for me.

So after getting the plastic all cleaned up, my wife said she wanted to make another batch of kolachies for me. She said it was important to her that I have the kolachies. I was concerned that first it would take too much time and be too much work for her, and I wanted her to be able to visit with her parents, and second that they would come out of the oven tasting like plastic. I suggested she bake something else as a test first before going to all the work of making the kolachies.

To make a long story short (if it's not already too late), the biscuits she made as a test product came out fine, and she proceeded to prepare a second batch of kolachies that tasted so incredibly like Gram's that it's almost too good to be true. She got up early the next morning to finish them before church, and also made homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast.

After church, I took the kids out to the backyard to play on their new Slip-n-Slide while my wife prepared the burgers, brats, hot dogs, cheddar dogs, and corn for the grille (some day I'll share the corn recipe, because there is nothing better than real Indiana sweet corn prepared just right on the grille). As the kids splashed and laughed in the backyard, my wife had her second surprise in the works. I turned around as someone came out the patio doors and was shocked to see my brother and sister who had driven in from Cincinnati. Quite an unexpected, pleasant surprise. I hadn't seen my sister since my daughter's birthday party in May, and hadn't seen my brother since just after we bought our house in December.

My wife, never one to settle, wasn't done yet. She found a recipe for Sonic's Cherry Limeade and made a big punch bowl full of it. If you haven't had it, it is an incredible drink.

After grilling and eating, she gathered everyone into one place in the living room for me to open gifts. There were mostly gift cards to various bookstores (including Amazon), which as you probably know is perfect, because I am quite an avid reader.

My in-laws gave me an electronic dart board, which my son and I have played together the past two nights. He's actually doing quite well at throwing the darts and making them stick into the board. Pretty incredible for a four year old. Tonight we had a darts tournament, then went out for "the grand prize," which was a four-flavor Icee at Speedway.

My wife sprung her last big surprise on me after all the other gifts were open. She gave me an envelope that felt a bit thick. I opened the envelope and was shocked to find a reservation for this Sunday for a Richard Petty Ride-Along at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (yes, the Brickyard). This coming Sunday, I'll be racing around one of the most famous race tracks in the world in a stock car, all decked out in racing gear, and probably won't be able to stop talking about it for weeks (unless, of course, the experience kills me).

You know, I'm not normally big on having a celebration for my own birthday. Not that I want to stop the aging process, or anything. I just don't want to see everyone go to such trouble for me. Hey, it's gonna happen every year until the day that I die, so what's the big deal, right?

Well, this year my wife made it a big deal. She made it a very special day for me, and I know she went through a great deal of planning and work to make it all just right. And when the plastic kolachie tragedy struck, she didn't miss a beat.

Pretty awesome day, pretty awesome wife.

Your comments?

Joe

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Victory Parades

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it's logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil's hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 [MSG] In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. 2 Corinthians 2:14 [MSG]
  
• O: Christ turns funeral processions into victory parades.
  
• A: What is the one thing that most people fear more than any other? Death. Really. When you get right down to the nitty gritty, most people would say that their greatest fear is dying. And the majority of those who would say that are among those who don't know themselves to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. My mother passed away several years (6 or 7) ago after a long and ugly battle with cancer. It consumed her, literally. She knew that it was cancer long before the disease could be medically diagnosed. When it was diagnosed it was found to be running rampant through her body. Hope was slim. Hope, that is, of defeating the cancer and maintaining her earthly existence. But it wasn't her earthly existence that really mattered. Her real enemy was not cancer. My mother defeated the ultimate enemy -- Satan -- long ago when she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. It is for this reason that the things of the earth had no hold over my mother. Not even cancer. She knew her Lord, knew where she was spending eternity, and was eager to meet Him. It was her conviction to her faith that allowed her to let go gracefully of this life, to receive her new body, and to be welcomed into the loving arms of Christ. And it was that same conviction to faith that she taught her children that allowed us to let her go -- to actually encourage her to go home to the Lord -- and that turned her funeral procession into a victory parade. As hundreds and hundreds of souls that she touched showed up to pay their last respects to my mother, while we felt the loss of her passing, we celebrated in her victory over death through eternal life with God. I still miss Mom dearly today -- sometimes achingly. But I rejoice in the fact that I'll some day see her again in Paradise.
  
• P: Lord, Thank You for victory. Thank You for making it possible to spend eternity with You, just as my mother is doing now.
  

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Kolachies!

My wife made some of the most amazing treats you could every imagine. It's something my grandmother used to make for myself, my brother, and my father every Christmas (there's a long story behind that, I'll share it with you later). It's been several years since Gram passed on, and every Christmas, the absence of Kolachies made her absence more conspicuous. My wife has made me something similar from time to time using a recipe she found online, but they were never quite the same. This year, for my 40th birthday (later this week), she made some of Gram's original recipe, which she obtained secretly form my brother's wife. I have to tell you, they are incredible! I'll share more about them, including pictures (but NOT the recipe) later. -- Joe

The Proof Is In The History Books

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: For a long time now, I've let you in on the way I work: I told you what I was going to do beforehand, then I did it and it was done, and that's that. I know you're a bunch of hardheads, obstinate and flint-faced, So I got a running start and began telling you what was going on before it even happened. That is why you can't say, 'My god-idol did this.' 'My favorite god-carving commanded this.' You have all this evidence confirmed by your own eyes and ears. Shouldn't you be talking about it? ... I show you what to do, where to go. If you had listened all along to what I told you, your life would have flowed full like a river, blessings rolling in like waves from the sea. Isaiah 48:3-6, 16 [MSG]
  
• O: God -- through His Word -- has shown us what to expect. The proof is in the history books.
  
• A: Those who would dispute the accuracy of the Bible have (and will continually) distorted historic events to try to present the "evidence" of why the Bible is not true. I was recently in a discussion online with one such person who claims to be a devout Christian very active in his church, who just happens to believe that the Bible is not the divinely inspired Word of God, but rather a collection of symbolic parables, allegories, and some history that we can use as a suggested guide to living. I won't attempt to judge this individual whose claims don't seem to fall in line with his actions. I know what I believe, and I know it because it is proven. More than a fourth of the Bible is prophetic -- telling us what will happen at a time later than it was foretold. Throughout history, these prophecies have been fulfilled -- come true -- time after time. How then, with such evidence of predictions come true, can we not believe in God's Word? I told you what I was going to do before hand, then I did it and it was done, and that's that. Case closed.
  
• P: Father, Thank You for closing the case on Your Word. Though doubters will continue to spout their lies trying to discredit You and further the cause of the enemy, Your Word is the indisputable truth.
  

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How The Grinch Stole Daddy

This week was my third week in a row of working six days. As I was preparing to leave the house this morning, my son came walking around the corner into the family room and said, "Daddy." I was trying to be quite stealth and get out of the house without waking anyone. Usually that's no problem because I'm leaving the house at 6:30 am. Today I wasn't leaving until 7am, and I guess that extra thirty minutes was enough extra time for my son to wake up before I left.

As I tried to explain to my son that I had to go to work I felt very much like the Grinch telling Cindy Lou Who that he had to take her Christmas tree back to his work shop to fix it because the lights only work on one side. "I'll fix it up there, and I'll bring it back here."

I told my son that I would be home early today -- around lunch time -- and that we would then play outside with his new yard sprinkler toy. As he turned away to walk back upstairs to bed I called him back and asked him for a hug. He hugged me and I lifted him up off the floor in my embrace.

He then wandered back upstairs and I headed off to work. For the past two hours I have been watching the clock, counting down the time until I'll head back home and hug my kids Hello instead of Goodbye. Only three hours left.

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Joe

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Earthly -vs- Ultimate Leadership

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: Have you not been paying attention? Have you not been listening? Haven't you heard these stories all your life? Don't you understand the foundation of all things? God sits high above the round ball of earth. The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas— yes, like a tent canvas to live under. He ignores what all the princes say and do. The rulers of the earth count for nothing. Princes and rulers don't amount to much. Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted, They shrivel when God blows on them. Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind. Isaiah 40:21-24 [MSG] Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. Isaiah 40:28-31 [MSG] "Take a good look at my servant. I'm backing him to the hilt. He's the one I chose, and I couldn't be more pleased with him. I've bathed him with my Spirit, my life. He'll set everything right among the nations. He won't call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. He won't brush aside the bruised and the hurt and he won't disregard the small and insignificant, but he'll steadily and firmly set things right. He won't tire out and quit. He won't be stopped until he's finished his work—to set things right on earth. Far-flung ocean islands wait expectantly for his teaching." Isaiah 42:1-4 [MSG]
  
• O: God plays the most important role in world events.
  
• A: Election time is just over three months away. We'll elect a new President, and those we have to choose from may leave a bit to be desired. As the media rallies around their darling pick and tries to pour on as much influence as they can, it can be quite confusing to the masses as to what the candidates really stand for. And if the media have their way, this election would have already been fought and won on their air waves. But thankfully there is more to world events than what world leaders would choose or what the media might desire. Our God, who ignores what all the princes say and do, is still in control. He doesn't just influence what happens, He has orchestrated the entire timeline of civilization. He has chosen the Ultimate Leader who, when the time is due, will steadily and firmly set things right on earth. While the upcoming election may be as important (if not more) as any in our nation's history, it is only one small speed bump on the road map of God's divine plan.
  
• P: Lord, Thank You for taking the world into Your hands, and for the fact that no matter what our earthly appointed leaders may do, Your Chosen One will return one day to set things right on earth.
  

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Soapy Joe Show Returns Next Week

I'm taking a brief (7-8 day) break from producing and listening to podcasts. Kind of clearing my mind and getting back in touch with the music.

Soapy Joe will return next week with new exclusive music from Joshua Smith and Rick Paul.

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Joe

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McCain's Newest Video? Uggghhhhh!

I just don't understand what the McCain campaign hopes to accomplish with this one. They invite you to follow the link above and cast your vote for which video hits the air next. But, I just don't get it.



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Joe

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The Joe Show 81 - Birthday Gift

Average Joe Radio
presents

The Joe Show
featuring
Average Joe American

Episode Eighty-One: Birthday Gift

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Direct video link.



Direct video link.



Direct video link.



Direct video link



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Phone: (317) 644-6129
Email Feedback: joe@averagejoeamerican.us

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God's Greatest Gift

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy." You call out to God for help and he helps—he's a good Father that way. But don't forget, he's also a responsible Father, and won't let you get by with sloppy living. Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It's because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God. Now that you've cleaned up your lives by following the truth, love one another as if your lives depended on it. Your new life is not like your old life. Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth comes from God's living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God himself! That's why the prophet said, The old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; Grass dries up, flowers droop, God's Word goes on and on forever. This is the Word that conceived the new life in you. 1 Peter 1:13-25 [MSG]
  
• O: God sent His Son to save us from our sins. He wants us to spend eternity with Him. But the gift of salvation is not carte blanche to live our lives here however we want.
  
• A: I was speaking with a new Christian recently who had questions about two points of salvation. First, she asked how someone who had committed violent acts of violation or murder could be saved and go to Heaven. She understood God's plan of salvation, but couldn't understand God's grace -- or God's capacity to have such grace -- as to forgive such heinous acts. We talked and came to the second point, which she found even more troubling. "If someone is saved, and then commits such an act, he can still go to Heaven?" she asked. I explained that God's forgiveness is boundless for a sincere heart. She then asked, "So they can be saved and then do whatever they want, and they'll still go to Heaven?" A later sermon at church explained to her how our salvation cannot be lost, but how we might suffer consequences for our sins even though we are saved. This passage sums that up quite plainly. Salvation is a gift. It costs us nothing. It cost God everything through the sacrifice of His only Son. As true followers of Christ, we are to live life as God would have us live it. Why? If we can't lose our salvation, why does it matter? Because if we love God, we should want to please Him, and we do so by living a life of love and a life that brings others to receive His gift of salvation. We don't avoid a sinful life for the sake of keeping our salvation and avoiding punishment, we avoid a sinful lie for the hope of hearing God say,"Well done, my good and faithful servant."
  
• P: Father, help me to model the life of a Christ follower, to live a life of love, to be a mirror that reflects your grace to everyone I encounter.
  

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Joe

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Joe Show 81 Coming Soon

Don't despair, episode 81 of The Joe Show will be live Tuesday evening, with a great new (exclusive) track from Chris Demarco. Plus, you can register to win a huge twelve CD birthday giveaway. Listen for details.



Joe

Book Review: Emotional Infidelity by M. Gary Neuman

Over the past two weeks or so, I've been reading M. Gary Neuman's Emotional Infidelity, and blogging it in the same style as I did Rudy Giuliani's Leadership. Last night, after finishing chapter two in the book, I decided it was time to find something else to read.

I am mostly a reader of fiction, and occasionally some political or historical non-fiction. I don't often read self-help style books. My wife and I purchased Emotional Infidelity several years ago, and after I finished reading my last book, I decided to try a change of pace while I look for something else compelling to read. It is for that reason that I decided to give Neuman's book a try.

As I read through the first two chapters of the book, I read about many sound principles that can be implemented in any marriage to help make it stronger. What I didn't read, however, was anything that was new to me. Granted, maybe I needed to read a little further into the book to get to the good stuff, but how long is a reader expected to give an author to sink the hook? Two chapters -- nearly a hundred pages -- is more than long enough, if you ask me.

I'll concede the fact that this book might be golden for couples that are having marital problems. That is, if you could get them to sit down and read it together, but it seems to me that one of the first causes to marital problems is the failure to engage in open discussion with each other, and if you can't talk about your marriage, how likely are you to actually read this book together?

For me, the book was just more of what I already know (whether I actually practice it all or not is another story). I'll be hitting the book stores today looking for some compelling fiction, most likely, while I wait for Ted Dekker's next work, Sinner, to come out in September. As for those with marital problems, maybe they should consider seeing a counselor.

For all my posts on this book, click here.

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Joe

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Ping.fm

Just signed up for Ping.fm, Plurk, and FriendFeed. Updated links all over the social networking world. In fact, I'm writing this post on Ping.fm. It allows you to post one message to many blogs or social network services all at once. For example, I can make one entry and update my status at MySpace, LinkedIn, PlaxoPulse, Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, and Plurk all at the same time. Or I can write one post that will go to my blog, my Tumblog, and more. Check it out at http://ping.fm and sign up using "thispingsforyou" as the Beta code. --Joe

All Bark, No Bite

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others. The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period. ... Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove. Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands? Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works? The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. James 2:10-11, 14-26 [MSG]
  
• O: Faith without works is dead.
  
• A: Good deeds don't earn us a place in Heaven. We are saved by faith. But what is faith? Defined as "belief in something without proof," faith requires us to accept as fact that which we cannot provide evidence of. But what of good deeds then? If good deeds don't earn us a place in Heaven, why bother? If it's just enough to believe, what does it matter what we do? ANSWER: Real faith changes you. How can you have faith in God -- believe in God -- and not believe in His Word, or not want to follow the example He set through His Son Jesus Christ? If you just don't care what God says, what kind of faith do you have? By the same token, if you do have the kind of all-encompassing faith that makes you want to please your Creator by following His examples and obeying His direction, how then can deeds not matter? If I truly love my wife and am devoted and committed to her, it stands to reason that I would want to please her. And if I want to please her, then, would I not please her by doing things that make her feel good and happy and loved? Does my love for her alone please her? No! To just say that I love her isn't enough. I have to show her my love by doing something. My deeds are the acts that validate my love for her. It is just so with God. Although he knows my heart, and doesn't need to see proof of my faith, others are not omniscient. It is my faith and love for God that make me want to share Him with others. If I share only His Word but don't live an example of it through my actions, what is my faith worth? It is by setting an example through living the kind of life that God would be pleased with -- by these acts or deeds -- that others can see His Glory. Without those deeds, it's just words. Words without action are meaningless.
  
• P: Father, I want to please You in all that I do. Use me as a tool however You see fit so that I might reflect Your Glory upon others.
  

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Joe

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Secrets to A Great Marriage

Secrets to A Great Marriage, from M. Gary Neuman's Emotional Infidelity

Same-Gender Friendships

• You can undermine your marriage by focusing on same-gender friendships instead of your spouse.
• Sharing with our spouse is the lifeblood of marriage. Without it, there are no ingredients to mix.
• We have to be careful not to share so much with family and same-gender friends that there's nothing left over for our partners.

So far, this might sound like the author believes we shouldn't have any friends, regardless of their gender. I don't think that's what he's getting at. I do believe that we need to be very cautious of friendships with members of the opposite gender, particularly those who might be our friend but not our spouse's friend. Many, many relationships begin as friendships between two people of opposite genders. Rather than trying to make sure that you don't let it go too far, I think it best to draw the line long before the relationship even reaches the stage of friendship.

As for same-gender friendships, all guys need their buddies, and all women need their girlfriends. I don't dispute that. And I don't think that it becomes a problem until "guys night out" becomes such a ritual that it takes precedence over all else. Or the first person you call to share news of your promotion, new backyard grille, or the cool car show coming to town is your buddy instead of your wife. When you reach the point that you spend more time sharing with your buddies than with your spouse, or call them first with important personal news, then same-gender friendships have gone too far.

What might be healthiest is for married couples to befriend other married couples -- preferably committed and devoted married couples -- and to spend their buddy time together as a group. I imagine we'll hear more of that from the author in upcoming chapters.

Your comments?

Joe

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Country First

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Joe

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Whatever Politics Demand

Ever wonder where Barack Obama really stands on the issue of Iraq? Barack says he'll go to Iraq to meet with the troops and General Petraeus (and several leaders of terrorists nations, if we're to believe everything he has said over the past few months). Need a refresher course on the Barack Obama Guide to Iraq? Enjoy....



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Joe

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More Great Marriage Tips from M. Gary Neuman

Secrets to A Great Marriage, from M. Gary Neuman's Emotional Infidelity

Ten Rules for Avoiding Emotional Infidelity

Rule 8: Avoid Cordial Kisses and Hugs, or Dancing with Members of the Opposite Gender

• If you ever need a polite excuse for avoiding a kiss or dance, explain that you have a cold and fear it's contagious.**

Rule 9: Don't Drink Around the Opposite Gender

• Even a single glass of wine or shot of scotch is enough to relax you and lead to a more personal conversation that may be damaging to your marriage at a later time.
• If you're at a party and really want to join in the festivities, plant yourself next to your spouse.

Rule 10: Show Your Commitment to Your Spouse Daily

• Do something thoughtful for your spouse every single day.
• Doing something for your spouse reminds you throughout the day how special this person is to you.
• Have lots of photos of your spouse, kids, and pets around the office as a visual reminder to you and others of your priorities.

** I cannot say that I condone of this method. I do not think that it's right in any situation to encourage dishonesty. First, being dishonest in such a way as the author recommends might encourage the person to try again in the future, only leading to more dishonesty to duck out then. What a tangled web we weave.... Instead, I think in this case, as in all others, honesty is indeed the best policy. If I found myself in this situation (which would mean I have already failed, as I should do everything to avoid the situation in the first place), I would simply say, "I'm sorry, this dance is saved for my wife." That might even draw a, "Maybe next time" response, to which I would smile and say, "Sorry," while just shaking my head in disagreement. There is no reason I can think of not to openly tell a person that you only engage in such close physical contact with your spouse. After all, if what we want is to get the message out that we are devoted and committed to our spouses, why not be completely open about it at all times?

Your comments?

Joe

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Excuses or Blessings?

Today's Daily Soap {Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer}

• S: What you've been shown here is somewhat like a letter in a sealed envelope. If you give it to someone who can read and tell her, "Read this," she'll say, "I can't. The envelope is sealed." And if you give it to someone who can't read and tell him, "Read this," he'll say, "I can't read." Isaiah 29:11-12 [MSG]
  
• O: Excuses accomplish nothing.
  
• A: It seems that I get this from my own employees regularly. I ask them to do something and their first response is to tell me why they can't. Not to ask for further instruction. Not to ask for assistance. But to say that they just can't do it. And they are more often than not just lame excuses with no basis in reality. People who have received repeated training will try to tell me that they don't know how to do the simplest of tasks. Excuses. Not reasons. We can be like that with God. "I can't tithe because I have bills to pay." "I can't go to church because I have to work on Sunday." "I can't pray in front of a group because they'll laugh at me." All of them excuses, and God knows it. We are only fooling ourselves when we try these lame excuses. And what do we gain? A little extra fun money? A couple extra hours of sleep on Sunday? But at what cost? Since starting to tithe, I have seen God bless the 90% that I don't return to Him. I seem to have more money between paydays than in the past, and there is no earthly logical reason for it (especially with the cost of gasoline driving the price of everything up). Church has changed our lives -- you can see it in my entire family. The excuses cost you more than just doing what is right. And it's the same at work, as I've promoted newer employees because of their productivity while reducing the hours of tenured Associates. The excuses have cost them hours and money, while getting the job done has paid rewards to others.
  
• P: God, You've taught me a lesson that works both spiritually and professionally. By putting an end to the excuses and returning to You that which You have given me, I have been blessed. And by putting those same principles in place at work, I have seen Your blessings there, as well.
  

Send feedback to Joe by email, or by calling 317-644-6129.

Your comments?

Joe

podsafe music network | ioda promonet | magnatune | airplay direct
ariel publicity | kennedy resource development | populuxe records | indie heaven
miles high productions | iris distribution