"Come out, come out, wherever you are"

Wow, it has been too long since I posted here. Some of you might have been getting the idea that I never made it back from Lakeshore. Rest a sure that I made it back safely. I have been back for a good two weeks.

“So why the long break from my blog” you ask. Well, I had full and wonderful intentions of sharing my experience at Lakeshore as soon as I got back. But the first three days were filled up with doing the things that had built up because of the trip while doing everything else that I normally do. After those days the whole blogging thing just fell from the priority list. So, each day would come and go with no new post on this blog.

This is tough for me because I was hopping to renew my blog a little bit by posting more often, and more consistently. But atlas, it was to no avail! Not with this long of intermission. But with ever intermission comes the next part of the play!

So, I am back and wanting to pick up where ever I left off...

Going down to Mississippi

I will be down in Mississippi for the next week. I am heading with a group from Immanuel Baptist Church(my church) to Lakeshore, Mississippi to do disaster relief work.

And yes, relief work is still needed down around the coast where Katrina hit. Many people are still without homes and living in FEMA trailers. There are still needs that have to be meet.

Our ties with the city of Lakeshore is Pastor Don Elbourne and his church Lakeshore Baptist Church. He and his church weathered Katrina and became a means for relief work in the town. My church supported them while after the storm and through the process of rebuilding.

Don Elbourne recently preached up here at Immanuel. It was an amazing sermon! It is such an encouragement to hear someone preach on the sovereignty of God that went through such a storm as Katrina.

A Defeated Foe

Beloved Christian, sin's days are numbered in your life! The ax has already been laid to the root of your sin. Like a tree that has been cut off at ground level, its leaves may still appear green for a while, but the fact is that its life is over. It is only a matter of time until every leaf withers and falls to the ground!

Sin is a defeated foe. The war against sin has already been won. Like the pockets of resistance that sometimes continue to struggle on in ignorance after the treaty of surrender has already been signed, so sin continues to fight on in our lives with no hope of ultimate victory. Though the believer's conflict with sin may at times be fierce, the final outcome of the battle is assured.

For the Christian, sin is but an early summer snow. Such snows fall occasionally even in the warmer climates, but they are only the death throes of a winter that is past. In a day or two they are melted and gone, and they have no power to stop the inexorable advance of summer. Christian, sin does not stand a chance in your life! You can fight against it with the confident knowledge that summer, not winter, is approaching! The remnants of sin that you still face are just the vestiges of what you once were; they are not an expression of who you are now, and they will soon pass away forever!



Charles Leiter in Justification and Regeneration, pp. 88

More Lists of Commentaries

After Ligonier started posting their list of commentaries, Tim Challies decided to throw out his recommendation on what commentaries to use. Once again, if you are not shopping for commentaries at the moment, lists like these are great to hold on too for future reference.

Also, my friend Steve Weaver posted several links to recommend commentaries a while back. His list is a list of lists. So it is pretty encompassing in scope.

Boyce's New Dean

Denny Burk has been announced as the new dean of Boyce College.

100!!!

This is my 100th post. Whahooo! This blog has been up and running since August 5th, 2007. It has been a joy having a venue to post and talk about things that interest me. It has also been a blessing to get a small but faithful readership. I know that I am not the most exciting person (in fact I can get quiet boring at times and take major breaks from posting things) to hang around. I do so appreciate your'alls kindness in sticking with me and taking the time to read what I post. You guys and gals are great!

So, what about the future of this blog? This is a good time to step back and take a gander at what I have been doing with my blog for the past 100 posts.

One of the thinks that really struck me at the Band of Bloggers panel discussion was blogging and ministry. My blog should be a minstry! My blogging as Christians is not to fulfill my own selfish ends. I need to consider my blog not as my own little venue to do what I please and say what I want. My life is not my own (Thank God! I would make such a mess of things if it was) it was brought with a price. And that means that every area of my life is to be in service of the one who owns me. So it is with my blog. My blog is to be for the service of my Christ who cares and governs me. If it is not in His service by increasing the glory of His name then it is of no value. More than that, it is actually an instrument of rebellion! This I do not want! My blog is my Lords blog.

The question then becomes, "How do I best use my blog in service for my Lord?" The way that I have ministered to you so far is by linking to articles and posts I like, posting quotes, and giving my thoughts on a particular subject (And of course some humor thrown in here and there.). All of this aimed to accomplish the title of this blog, Renewing the Mind!

But those are my thoughts. Here I turn and ask you, faithful readers of my blog, what do you think? What would you like seen done with my blog? In what ways can I minister to you through the medium of blogging? would you link to see more links? More of my own thoughts? More quotes from books? Me quit blogging all together? Something I have not throught of doing? Whatever you think can aid in renewing your minds please let me know.

By God's grace, may I complete another 100 post to the glory of his name!