I’m still pretty dumbfounded by what happened on Monday, I’m sure everyone is.  I found this article online and thought it was well-presented and written.  Hope you guys will take the time to read it, and pray for those at VA Tech, that God would use this horrible incident to bring people to a relationship with him, and that they would find comfort in Him.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Another prominent evangelical, Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., answers the question “Where was God while all this was going on?”

“He was hanging on the cross,” he states in his book Turn it to Gold.

“The cross is God’s ultimate solution to sorrow and suffering. Thus all of our pain is in His heart. Our God does not hold Himself aloof from our difficulties. He is right here, in the midst of our suffering, enduring more of it than any of us ever has or ever will. And not only that, but He gives us the power to bear our suffering.”

 Read the entire article here.

Hey guys, I was telling you about that article I read about the KKK leader who resigned his job, here’s a snippet from the article:

MILLVILLE — Local Ku Klux Klan leader Joseph V. Bednarsky Jr. has resigned as Imperial Wizard of the Confederate Knights, Knights of the KKK, and is subsequently disbanding the organization.

“I have decided that after many years of fighting for a cause that will never go anywhere, that it is best not only for myself, but my family that I resign my office as Imperial Wizard effective immediately,” he said, adding his family’s safety and Klan infighting also played a part in his decision.

“If you are thinking of joining a group like the Ku Klux Klan or one like it, please think about it before doing so,’’ he said. “Don’t make the same mistake that I made and waste half your life on a cause that is going nowhere.”

Read the rest of the article here.

“Happy to announce the arrival of our little boy on Monday, Feb. 5, 2007 at 9:59 a.m. His name is Micah Howard (after Shane’s grandfather) and he was 9 lbs., 13 oz., 20-3/4 inches long. We’re all doing wonderfully.”
–Amy, Shane and big sister Melia

Okay, I just want to do my best to get everyone up to speed, so you all feel comfortable doing this whole blog thing.  First things first, if you never intend to post anything yourselves, you don’t really need to do anything at all.  That being said, however, I hope that isn’t your intention; I hope you would be inclined to post something at some point.  In which case, please go to the main WordPress page and sign up for an account.  Then, email me (gsmallman@gmail.com) or Jim (theknoll@gmail.com) and we can give you author rights.

The other stuff is mostly asthetic.  In the top righthand corner of the screen, there should be two links, one which says “My Profile”.  If you click that, it has a place for your name, a picture of yourself, and if you have a website or blog, and also a place to update your password (because WordPress gives you a random password to begin).  If you put your name in, then you can adjust it so it will show your name at the top when you post to the blogish (in the drop-down menu below).

Other than that, if you have something you have something people would dig, or something on your mind, go up to the top and click “Write” and go to it.  We love to hear from you guys.  If any of that was confusing, call me and I can be your tech support.

Happy Blogishing.

I played around with black and white on this fine evening. Hope you dig. Cheers.

Greetings All,   I loved our discussion last Thursday…hope you also found it stimulating.  Amy asked if I could post some of the questions we discussed on our first night of study, so we could continue to ponder them…..Great idea, Amy! 

What is truth?   How can we know what we believe is true?  

Can something be true for me, but not true for someone else?   If so, is it Truth?  If something is Truth, does it, by definition, exclude all other “truth” from being real Truth?

Are there competing truth…or levels of truth?   Can there be “universal truth” that applies to everyone?   

Can our preference not necessarily be the Truth, or fact or even based on fact?  Must a Truth find basis in fact–or at least be verified in factual reality?   If something is fact, and carries with it truth or claim of being truth, am I free to let my experience (subjective experience) dictate what is truth?   Or…am I obligated to conform my experience to the Truth (the reality)?   Can I say, “But, this is true for me, despite the real truth, which has been verified by fact.” ?

When does something become Truth?  When I believe it? or whether I believe it or not?  If Truth is linked to reality or fact…then how do I search out the truth (or facts)?  What presuppositions do I bring to the task…? 

We must be able, as we investigate and seek for the truth, to keep an open mind, that is, not let our presuppositions disqualify factual information, which otherwise, but for our presuppositions, appears to be true.  And, we must remain flexible in our understanding of the facts, to let them speak for themselves, and if necessary, to adjust and shift our presuppositions to conform to the facts.  This begs the questiong if at some point we can come to an “ultimate truth.”  Should we come to a verifiably overarching or universal truth, which in itself excludes all other claims of truth as false, we are then faced with a major question…

Looking forward to seeing everyone this Thursday….XOX,  Curt

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I thought that was absolutely fantastic. Here are some quick photos from tonight.

P.S. Amy, I got your book signed afterall.

I thought Brennan Manning’s talk tonight was really great. Those of you who went, I would love to hear your thoughts about what he said. Although I had read his book entitled The Ragamuffin Gospel (which is in essence a longer, more intimate version of his talk tonight–well worth reading, by the way), just having him reiterate God’s profound, unending, deep, UNCONDITIONAL love for us was freeing, reassuring, and peace-giving.

I loved hearing Brennan’s testimony about how he was down-and-out–literally on the street–and his recognition that God loves him precisely the same then as he does now. It makes me thankful that I can experience the same redeeming love through the mistakes I’ve made (and will make in the future).

One thing that got me thinking though (and I briefly talked with Shane, Curt & Debbie about this on the way home)… If God loves us unconditionally, even if we are lazy, dirty, jobless, irresponsible, drug-using slobs who have no goals in life, and we take Brennan’s quote and say, “God loves me for who I am, and not for who I’m supposed to be,” where does that leave us in personal responsibility to change our circumstances? Do I have to? Can I remain lazy and hopeless and still love God? Or do I respond somehow and turn myself around into a productive, showered, working, responsible, sober human being? Would God want me to do that? What’s my motivation for doing so, anyway? It’s obviously not for God to love me, for I know He already does. Is that how I show that I love Him?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments. Also, it makes me think about the things I would like to change about myself. Although I have been productive these past couple of weeks I’ve been on leave, I struggle with being lazy at work. I procrastinate and waste time doing useless tasks when I could be doing things of substance. In addition, I’m physically inactive. And I’m not just talking about during my pregnancy. I know that my body is a temple of the Lord and I have not treated it as such. I’m sure I could be in much better physical health. I think I suffer from a general lack of self-discipline. Prayer is another struggle.

The list goes on. But the question remains: if God loves me as I am right now, what is to inspire me to make changes for the better? A good question to ask, and a timely one also… I’m sure we can all think of changes we want to make in ourselves this year. It’s a new year and a new opportunity to set goals and turn over a new leaf for 2007. So think about these questions and let me know what you think!

Hi friends,

We are going to see Brennan Manning this Thursday night as a group instead of our regular “ISH” group.  Debbie said she will have dinner available at 6:00 p.m. at her house if you want to eat there before.  Otherwise, please meet at the Palmer’s house at 6:45 p.m. in order to carpool to Fremont together.

If you did not pre-order tickets with Curt, you can buy them at the door for $11.00 per person.  Here’s the info about the evening:
“We’ll kick off the KFAX Speaker Series 2007 in January with best-selling Author Brennan Manning! Manning is a former Franciscan Priest, and is best known for writing works like The Ragamuffin Gospel and Abba’s Child. On Thursday, January 18th at 7:30 P.M., Manning will deliver his message, Healing Our Image of God and Ourselves, live on stage at our new location, Harbor Light church at 4760 Thornton Ave. in Fremont!

Tickets are $11 each, and you can buy yours online now, or by calling (510) 713-1100, extension 140.”

Feel free to invite friends, I have heard from many different people that Brennan Manning is a GREAT speaker.  See you Thursday night!

amy

Welcome everyone. Curt talked tonight about making a website for Ish, and I thought the best way to go about it would be to create a blog so everyone has the ability to contribute. So here it is. If you need admittance to this site to comment and contribute, email me, and I will invite you along.

I think in the future this site can be a cool interesting way to know how to pray for each other throughout the week, to keep in touch with those who aren’t able to be with us on a weekly basis, good way of keeping track of what is going on from week to week in terms of format of the evening as well as if or what the subject or text the evening will cover.

As far as picking WordPress, I love Blogger (owned by Google), but I know Amy works for Yahoo! and I could hardly make her participate in something a major rival is doing. They might blackball her at work.

I love you guys.

Here are some of the photos I took from tonight…

For more pictures from tonight, you can visit my Flickr site here.