Okay, we can get a dog now.
(HT: David Heddle at He Lives)
Mar 07 2010
Seasons in the Sun
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-3, NIV)
Do you know what’s a bad sign? When the pastor preaches a series on tithes, stressing the need for giving, and then announces a sermon based on this passage from Ecclesiastes. You can pretty well bet that there are big changes afoot. Or if he’s not happy for a long time, and then preaches a series from Titus on the qualifications of a pastor. Yep, that’s a bad sign, too.
Pastor opened with the Ecclesiastes passage today, and then dropped the bomb – the church is closing. Next week is the last service. This came as a surprise to everyone except the church board. Maybe it wasn’t such a surprise, because giving has been way down, and he just finished an extended series on the importance of tithes. Apparently that series didn’t have its intended effect.
At a previous church, the pastor seemed to have lost his enthusiasm for preaching, and then preached a several week series from Titus. Uh, oh. Sure enough, he then announced that “God had called him elsewhere in ministry.”
What’s the right way to close a church, or to announce your resignation as a pastor? Is there a right way? In both instances, there were misunderstandings, hurt feelings, anger, and finally for most, acceptance that God is in control, not us. Obviously we haven’t worked through all of that in the present case, but I trust and pray that it will happen.
Feb 28 2010
Question for the Day
How closely is your faith and day-by-day walk with the Lord tied to the place you worship? Does it add to, or detract from your faith?
Dec 08 2009
Where You Heading, Son?
For the time being I will be posting at Pursuing Holiness (where Laura has kindly invited me to share occasionally) and once in awhile at Grumpy Old Men–The Prequel (where the Minnesnowtans are apparently screaming for real content).
Nov 27 2009
Things I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Blogging
A week short of five years ago, I launched a blog called King’s Kid at Blogspot.com. It was a great experience, but I found – and still find – that Blogger/Blogspot is too limited in its capabilities. I moved on to a hosted site at Wordpress with carefulthought.wordpress.com. That was a great experience as well; in fact, I liked it so much that I started this blog on my own servers and domain, but still using the WordPress framework. It’s time to move on to bigger and better, or at least other, things. I’ve received a couple offers to post on other sites, and I may take up those offers, but this is it for this venue.
Here’s what I’ve learned in five years, in no particular order:
- God is faithful, even when we fail Him
- Blogging is a great way to vent, but venting is no substitute for real content
- Your blog is unique, just like other the other 200 million blogs out there, so give people a reason to visit you
- Stay faithful. If you have a political blog, focus on that, if it’s a faith blog, focus on that. Readers seem to prefer blogs with a single topic or theme
- Don’t dwell on stats, but if your stat counter is stuck on zero, that’s a bad sign
- Post regularly
- Appreciate your readers
- Don’t be afraid to step on toes, but do with grace
- Trolls are a fact of blogging life. Deal with it.
- There’s a huge amount of information available on the internet. Some of it is even accurate.
- Give full credit for your content. If it ain’t yours, attribute it.
Thanks for reading!
Steve
Nov 26 2009
Anybody Out There? Anyone?
[[Sound of crickets chirping.]] Just Checking… Readership has dwindled quite a bit of late, so I think it’s time to put a bow on Careful Thought and put it on the shelf. It’s been a slice, folks. Be blessed.
Nov 23 2009
Careful Thought?
My new friend Joyce is taking me to task on my use of the Obama Joker image. The point – is it a good Christian witness to portray the president, or anyone, in a negative light. She has a valid point and I struggle with this. Is it a derogatory image or is it simply drawing attention to our duly elected president’s political agenda? What is our role as believers in confronting wrongs? Jesus himself called the Pharisees hypocrites and whitewashed tombs.
She quotes Gary Thomas: “Just because someone I’m opposing is wrong doesn’t make me right.” Not sure I agree fully. We are called to be meek, which I understand as ’strength under restraint’, and not as a synonym for weak or inoffensive.
Am I off base here?
Nov 21 2009
Shackleton’s Scotch Update
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica’s ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.
The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whiskey that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.
Whyte & Mackay, the drinks group that now owns McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the 100-year-old scotch for a series of tests that could decide whether to relaunch the now-defunct Scotch.
Workers from New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drills to reach the crates, frozen in Antarctic ice under the Nimrod Expedition hut near Cape Royds.
(HT: Don Surber)
I’ll need a sample as well. For tests. Scientific tests.
Nov 18 2009
Finding Shackleton’s Scotch
Ernest Shackleton
“It’s better to imagine it than to taste it. That way it keeps its mystery” – Al Fastier, who has been charged with recovering Shackleton’s whisky
It’s lain untouched for a century, but now the whiskey left behind in the Antarctic ice by explorer Ernest Shackleton is to be recovered. But Al Fastier, who is leading the expedition, has pledged not to sample the brew. More details (Daily Telegraph)
(HT: BBC Quote of the Day)
I’d volunteer for the expedition, but not if I had to swear not to taste it.
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