Winston Churchill once said, “To every person there comes in their lifetime that special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for the work of which would be their finest hour.” 

Although Churchill was not speaking directly of God, as followers of Christ we are able to find a parallel. There comes a time in every believer’s life when God taps on our shoulder and gives to us an opportunity to use our talents and abilities for something that is only fitted to us. When the Lord taps on your shoulder and opens a door, in obedience, we must follow and not faint. We must push forward and not fall back. Regardless of what it is, where it is, or how hard it may seem, there is only one option for each of us: Obey. What a tragedy it would be for God to tap us on the shoulder and find that we were are not ready or that we are unprepared. I believe that for the Christian the worst thing that could happen to us would be to miss God’s will for our lives.

I must admit that my posting here has not been what I desired it would when I started. My desire and intent for starting this blog was to write about matters of the Christian faith, denomational work and things pertaining to the church. Although I have written in that spirit, it has not been with any frequency.

I want to redefine and establish at least for myself what I want to accomplish here. I intend to write more about church life and the burden for community. In the near future I will be writing a series of posts on the local baptist association and what I believe is its future. Throughout the next three months, I hope to write on the issues that will be dealt with at the Souther Baptist Convention annual meeting in Louisville, KY that I am planning to attend. On Friday, there will a post entitled “Scripture of the Week”. This may be a scripture that spoke to me during the week or it may be a preview of one of Sunday’s messages. In the middle of the specific posts, there will be variouos posts dealing with ministry, church, and faith.

It seems that all we hear of these days when it comes to sports teams is the negative. Whether it is news of professional players taking steroids, teams fighting on the floor of a basketball court, or athletes being arrested for serious crimes, it seems to be one bad story after another. So, to hear something uplifting is encouraging.

An act of true sportsmanship took place when the Dekalb Illinois high school basketball team played the Milwaukee Madison high school team. Dekalb head coach Dave Rohlman taught led his players in a most selfless act that you will have to read for yourself. Click here to read the article.

College football is a wonderful thing. This season has been very exciting to watch and follow. With the regular season and conference championships over, there are no games being played now. Sigh. However, the bowl season looms large on horizon. Posted below is this year’s bowl schedule. My personal predictions are in red. Feel free to leave your predictions in the comment stream. Good luck.

This year at the Florida Baptist Pastor’s Conference in Lakeland, Florida, the conference attendees will be given a special treat. Among what is arguably the best lineup in quite some time (of which I will write more about later). Those attending this year’s conference will have a chance to listen to Christian humorist Tim Hawkins. Enjoy this sample of what you will hear in Lakeland.

I am often amazed b y the staying power and resiliency of the human spirit. The people who live along the Gulf Coast of the United States (TX, MS, AL, LA, FL) model this staying power as well as anyone else. Yearly, for approximately six months, they are forced into a “keep-one-eye-fixed-on-the-gulf” frame of mind. Since 2005, the Gulf Coast has been ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ivan, Ike, and Tropical Storms Gustav and Faye.

It is difficult and heartbreaking to watch the residents along the coast endure storm after storm. Without a doubt, the nation has seen the protedctive hand of God in the misdt of all these storms. Here are just a few of the pictures of the latest storm to hit the Gulf Coast.

Through all the destruction, despair, and devastation, God is still praiseworthy. He is to be praised. The Bible tells us He is our Rock and our Fortress. Nothing escapes God’s care and knowledge. My favorite contemporary Christian music group of today is Casting Crowns. They recorded a song that speaks  of our necessity to continually praise our Creator, even in the worst of times. The song says it all, “Praise You in This Storm.”

This is painfully funny.

Our world is in desperate need of what this man is seeking.

This is a very interesting post by Ed Young on Church Pirates. A must listen.