2009 Books I Listened To

1. Around the World in 80 Days - Jules Verne
2. The Great Crash 1929 - John Galbraith
3. Giants of Irish Literature: Wilde, Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett
4. From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church
5. Upon This Rock: A History of the Papacy From Peter To John Paul II
6. “God Wills It!”: Understanding the Crusades
7. The Cassandra Compact: A Covert-One Novel - Robert Ludlum
8. Visions of Utopia: Philosophy and the Perfect Society
9. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam 1862
10. Fundamental Cases: The Twentieth Century Courtroom Battles That Changed Our Nation
11. The Murder Room - PD James
12. The Black Tower - PD James
13. Nerve Damage - Peter Abrahams
14. The Lost Spy: An American in Stalin's Service - Andrew Meier

2009 Books I Read

1. Kiss - Ted Dekker
2. When I was a Kid, This was a Free Country - G. Gordon Liddy
3. Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists - Ronald Walpole
4. James A. Garfield - Ira Rutkow
5. Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
6. The Blessing Way - Tony Hillerman
7. A Taste of Death - PD James
8. Schaum's outline of theory and problems of statistics
9. Systematic Theology, Vol. 1: Introduction/Bible - Norman Geisler
10. James K. Polk - John Seigenthaler
11. Chosen but Free - Norman Geisler
12. The One Year Chronological Bible
13. Saint - Ted Dekker
14. The Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK Rowling
15. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
16. Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
17. Black , Red & White (Trilogy) - Ted Dekker
18. Showdown - Ted Dekker
19. Skin - Ted Dekker
20. The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis
21. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell

What does 'it' mean in Greek?

Before:

"I baptize you with water, but one is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire" - Luke 3

"You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" - Acts 1

After:

"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as upon us at the beginning; God gave to them the same gift as to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ" - Acts 11

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body and we were made to drink of one Spirit." - 1 Corinthians 12

Between Acts 1 and Acts 11, we went from 'shall be baptized' to 'were all baptized'. IT happened, the strangest concept in all of Christianity, and probably much of the religious world.

IT - n. - Greek (c) 33 a.d.; the pouring of the Holy Spirit, a portion of the triune God, into the presence and personhood of a believing follower of God.

Joe Alan verses the Volcano Squirrels

Three months ago Maggie woke me in the middle of the night. "Do you hear that?" I hear some scratching over our bathroom area. "I don't hear anything." Back to sleep.
Next night: "Do you hear that?" I hear more scratching. "I'll look in the attic this weekend."

Two weeks ago, Maggie didn't have to wake me. We both spent the pre-dawn hours being entertained by the pitter patter of... well, we did not yet know. Just above our heads, practicing their sprints, back and forth with just a 1/2" of drywall separating us.

Mice? Did not make sense, as they are food scavengers, and burrowers, and don't tend to climb up 2 1/2 stories to make their nightly abodes. Squirrels? My first assumption, but only half true.

As I climbed through the attic, dangling my timid hand in and out of the rafters for some evidence of a hole in the roof, I am met by a chipmunk, I think. But not quite like a chipmunk.

In the glory of the internet, I found that we are infested by a family of Southern Flying Squirrels. I've lived most of my mid-life life in Georgia, and have never seen these nocturnal tree-loving RODENTS.

So, being the animal lover I am, after 3 nights of loud entertainment, I bought a Hav-A-Heart live-trap - a box designed to lure the unintelligent creature in via the aphrodisiac of peanut butter, and keep them for ready me to drop off in the next county. That was a week ago. All I have found is a licked-clean trap with no squirrels.

Then, realizing that they are RODENTS, and that I actually am not an animal lover, I placed seven (7) rat-traps smothered in peanut butter (p.b. on the trap, on the wood base, on the area around the trap) throughout the attic centered on two found entrances and some sort of leaf-strewn nesting area.

Maggie had solicited free advice from a Squirrel-Removal-Man: put up the traps and leave the attic alone for 5 days. Give them time to get used to the traps and get sprung. So, on day 5, just moments ago, in anticipation of the Great Squirrel Takedown, I venture up the rickety stairs to find one (1) dead squirrel and six (6) licked-clean un-triggered Rat Traps (oh yeah, and a licked clean Live Trap).

Two weeks into the standoff, I have made two trips to Home Depot, spent $44, climbed through the attic ~8 nights, laid in bed awake ~5 nights, watched half a dozen squirrels dash across the eaves, and catch one dead squirrel. I'm thinking it is time to bring in professional help. Or buy a shotgun. I'll ask Mags which she prefers.

What are we doing this for anyway?

Why do we gather on Sunday mornings?

1. Pray for self, neighbors, community, kingdom?
2. Face our sins - acknowledge in confession before God and the Body?
3. Offer ourselves in worship of God?
4. Read the Scriptures?
5. Share the work of God in our life with others?
6. Teach and be taught God's manners and ways?

Likely there are others.

And just as likely, even in a great church such as Stonebridge, many of the above go unfulfilled. We highly value (3) as it is generally pleasurable, even if a bit uncomfortable. We do a quick gloss over (4), without much demand. And don't forget (6), embedded in even the unchurched as a central portion of the morning activities. But (5) is a bit too out-of-the-box, too transparent to dive into. (1) is taken care of by the few prayer-volunteers who store up treasure in heaven for us, and (2) is best left alone, lest we hurt feelings (especially ours).

I think through this in conviction of myself rather than the Church as a whole. But I worry that we are missing a great life by accepting a mediocre one.

Why we are our own worst enemy.

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