Deal of the Day

I may not do this everyday, but I have a hobby of searching deal sites for the best deals out there.

Today, you can get $15 cash back if you spend $75 at Buy.com and use Paypal to checkout.

Yes, I did just post this two posts after my rant against consumerism.

A Little Self Deprecating Humor- For Those Who Have Ever Gone Out to Eat With Me You Understand

Indeed, I Do Not Have a Magic Wand

At Dinner Tonight

Addie: Can I have a treeeat?!

Daddy: They are not done yet.

Addie: (Begins to cry and yell) But I want a treat!

Daddy: What do you want me to do wave my magic wand and make the cookies be done?

Addie: (In a whiney voice) You don't have a magic wand.

Hijacking CHRISTmas Part I: The Root Problem

The Root Problem

I love Christmas. I love Christmas, because the coming of Christ is important. That is what Christmas is all about anyway right? Well, not so much in our culture. What is most associated with Christmas these days? Santa Claus, Reindeer, Elves, maybe even something benign like "family togetherness." I would imagine though that the number one thing that people think about during CHRISTmas time is presents. The fact that on the celebration of our Lord's birthday, we go out and spend ridiculous amounts of money on a bunch of crap that we don't need is an indictment on our culture. Of course it's nothing new, and it's not even confined to Christmas time. We do this all year round. A very good post by my cousin Ashley got me thinking about this.

We have to ask how we got here. Saint Nick was a good guy who went around giving presents to people who were less fortunate. I'm glad he did that, and that is a great testimony to what the Spirit of Christmas really is. God looked on us in our need and gave us the greatest Present in the world. Somehow we have turned Christmas into an opportunity to commit idolatry with the god of consumerism.

Our culture is driven by marketing and advertising which is designed to make you think a certain way. They put a fear in your mind, and then offer the solution to the fear. What does that sound like? Brainwashing? You think that's too strong? I don't. We are bombarded with all kinds of messages about what we need and don't need, all to get you to do one thing, buy a product that will relieve your fears. I am tempted to go off on a tangent here about false hells and false saviors like this dude would do, but I digress.

Our culture is constantly preaching to us, and we listen and conform our lives to it. So, for our families and our children it is not a matter of if they will be taught, but what they will be taught and who will do the teaching. Personally, I think I can teach my children more effectively and with better content than the culture at large. I would much rather be accused of brainwashing my children than allow our consumerist, secular humanist, culture of death to teach my children their values.

What does all this have to do with Christmas? Marketeers have hijacked this holiday, and even used "Christ" to do it. In my next post I'm going to talk about how this "root" has grown into a "tree" and in the final post I'm going to talk about how we can cut the "root" and tear down the "tree."

Question: What Was Jill's Study Bible?

Answer:
She had the "Reformation Study Bible" which is a great resource. You can find it here at the Westminster Bookstore.

While the Reformation Study Bible is a great resource, an even better resource that only recently came out is the ESV Study Bible. The scholars that worked on it are more broad than the Reformation Study Bible and it has more content. This study Bible can be found here at a cheap introductory price.

The Obscenity of the Cross

I was listening to a great sermon this past Sunday at church by this guy, and I was struck by the awfulness of the cross. Sometimes we wear it around our necks, or on our fingers (as I do). In many people's lives it becomes a decoration, when it was really a torture and execution device. Why don't you see people wearing nooses on necklaces? Why are there not electric chair earrings? I'm not saying we shouldn't have crosses around, I'm just saying that we don't need to forget the horrors of the cross.

This is a great quote from R.C. Sproul on the obscenity of the cross:

"In some instances, the prevailing indifference to the cross mutates into outright hostility. I once was asked to deliver a lecture explaining the relationship between the old and new covenants. In the course of delivering this lecture, I referred to Christ’s death as a substitutionary, vicarious sacrifice for the sins of others. To my surprise, someone in the back of the room yelled out, “That’s primitive and obscene.” I was taken aback for a moment, so I asked, “What did you say?” He said it again with great hostility: “That’s primitive and obscene.” At that point, I had recovered from my surprise, and I told the man I actually liked his choice of adjectives. It is primitive for a blood sacrifice to be made to satisfy the justice of a transcendent and holy God, but sin is a primitive thing that is basic to our human existence, so God chose to communicate His love, mercy, and redemption to us through his primitive work. And the cross is an obscenity, because all of the corporate sin of God’s people was laid on Christ. The cross was the ugliest, most obscene thing in the history of the world. So I thanked the man for his observation."

The cross was the most horrible, merciful, awful, compassionate, painful, loving, scandalous, restorative, punishing, justifying, propitiating, ugly, beautiful event in the history of mankind. God came and bore our sin in His body on the tree. He can truly empathize with any suffering no matter how deep and how persistent. We should not forget the full scope of the of the meaning of the cross.

What Lies Beneath

The last week or so I have felt a bit numb emotionally. Obviously, I still miss Jill often and hurt for Scott constantly. However, my grief has felt a bit shallow recently. A friend of mine gave Kristel and I a book entitled From Grief to Glory. I began reading it this morning not because I needed to feel comfort, but because I needed to feel. As I read of the loss of others, it did not take long before I once again could see and feel the deep wound to my soul that Jill’s passing has left. It felt good in a way. Does that make sense? I think at times we put makeup over our wounds instead of dealing with them. We busy ourselves so we do not have to think about the fact that we are not doing so well. Pain is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong and to slow us down. It works the same way with our wounded souls. If we ignore our pain we could stunt the growth that God intends for us during this loss. I would encourage you to find ways to stir your soul and see what lies beneath the surface. As painful as it sounds, let us tear open the wounds treated with superficial treatments and allow Christ to give us true life altering healing.

Cute and Funny Interchanges

I have been inspired by my good friends Kristen and Scott over at The Dunn Show to blog on dialogue that happens in my house hold. So I will start with humor and end on cuteness.

Daddy: Addie, why did you get out of bed?
Addie: Because I did.
Daddy: That's not a reason. You said you needed to poo-poo, but you really didn't. Why did you say you needed to poo-poo?
Addie: It's a reason!?
Daddy: (Through laughter) Well, you said you needed to, but you really didn't. What do you call it when you say something is true but it really isn't?
Addie: A mystery!


While rocking Addie before bedtime.

Daddy: I'm glad God gave you to me.
Addie: Thank you for saying that.

Things They Are A-Changin'

You'll notice a few things that may be new on the right side of the blog--->

The first box is "Organizations That I Like" these are my work websites, my church website, my favorite ministry website and Hannah Medical Center's website (not in that order).

The box below that one is a link to subscribe to my blog through an RSS feed. If you still don't have some kind of program to consolidate all of your readings into one place, get Google Reader along with your Gmail account. You WILL thank me if you use it. If you come to this site or any other site daily to see if there is new information on it, you need an RSS feeder. Google Reader is the best one I've used (yeah, it's the only one I've used, but it integrates with my email and that makes it the best. If you say otherwise, I reject your reality and substitute my own- to quote Adam Savage.)

The next box is my "Shared Items" these are articles or posts that I read that I think would be helpful to a wider audience. I consider these items as "must read."

The following two boxes are pretty self-explanatory- the blog archive, and the list of contributors.

The following box is "Blog Favorites", but it's actually Emily's so I can't change it. I will probably put my own list up and add some more great blogs to frequent.

The last box is the counter- again, self-explanatory.

Tax Saving Tip- Charitable Giving

The year is drawing to a close and and now is a good time to "make-good" on any commitments you have made to charitable organizations. The government has chosen to give those of us who are charitably inclined the great benefit of being able to deduct our contributions to 501(c)3 organizations from our income, reducing our tax liability.

Contributions to your church, your local homeless shelter, relief organizations, and other entities involved in charitable endeavors are all deductible on your tax return. In any given year you can deduct up to 50% of your adjusted gross income for charitable giving. If you give away appreciated assets, you are limited to 30% of adjusted gross income. The good news is that if you want to give away more than 50% of your income in cash or more than 30% of your income in assets, you can carry your giving forward into years where you may not be able to give the maximum.

For the most part, Americans are ungenerous. While we are one of the most charitable countries in the world with our personal income, the percentage of income that the average American gives away is only 3.2%. We are (still) one of the richest countries in the world, and we give only a token amount of our great wealth away.

As Christians our primary responsibility to give is to our local church, and then to give to other organizations that are worthy. The Hannah Medical Center is one of those worthy organizations. It is an explicitly Christian organization that seeks to communicate Christ’s love by providing life-affirming services to women facing pregnancy decisions and by upholding biblical standards for sexual integrity. I have had the privilege of being on the board of the Hannah Medical center for the past year. Jill Attebery was the Chair, and was passionate about what the Hannah Medical Center stands for. It would honor her memory to support a cause that she was passionate about.

To donate, please visit www.hannahmedical.org and click on the "donate now" button on the left hand side of the screen.

Please let me know if you have any questions about charitable giving or gifting.