Pray for our Soldiers

Afghanistan Firefight Heard on Voice Mail|KPTV.com

Our son Jonathon joined the army last summer, and is currently undergoing training in Arizona. We are thankful that he is not currently in harms way, but are keenly aware that he may be sent into a hostile area when he finishes his training. I hope we never come home to a voice mail like this. A soldier in Afghanistan tried to call his parents, but they weren't home. Later that day, in a firefight with insurgents, he leaned against his Humvee and accidentally redialed his phone. His parents still weren't home, but 3 minutes of the firefight was recorded on their voice mail. They were able to return his call and found him to be in good health after the firefight, thanks be to God.

Be warned, the audio is not clear. Also, if you can make out the language, it is the type of language you would expect among soldiers under fire. Enough said.

Click here to hear audio from the message left on the Petee's answering machine(WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE).

Alaska Governor Lives out Pro-life Values

The Associated Press: Alaska governor balances newborn's needs, official duties

Al Mohler: Welcome to the Word, Trig Paxson Van Palin

In a time when up to 90% of children who are determined to have disabilities before birth are aborted, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has chosen to give birth to a downs syndrome baby. The Associated Press article states:

There was never any doubt the Palins would have the child, and on April 18 she gave birth to Trig Paxson Van Palin.

"We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential."

Reading this story is the first I've heard of Palin, but I admire her for living out her convictions. In order to become governor of Alaska, she had to beat the Republican incumbent in the primaries and then beat a former two-term Democratic governor in the general election. Interestingly she has been described as a "maverick" by some in her state. It is rumored that the better known maverick, John McCain, may be considering her as a running mate. Stay tuned.

Healthy Kingdom Churches | Discipleship & Family Ministries

Healthy Kingdom Churches | Discipleship & Family Ministries

This morning I am meeting with Greg Ambercrombie of the Georgia Baptist Convention's Healthy Kingdom Churches department. We will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of our church, and how we might become a more healthy church. In his book, The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren insist that our focus should be on church health rather than church growth, because healthy churches, like healthy plants, naturally are growing churches. Please pray for this meeting that God will give us insight into the needs of our church.

Man asks court to change his name to 'In God We Trust' | AccessAtlanta

Man asks court to change his name to 'In God We Trust' | AccessAtlanta

How do we show God our gratitude for His blessings, especially those blessings received during life's most difficult times? How do we adequately communicate to others His faithfulness even through life's darkest storms? An Illinois man has come up with a rather unique way to do both. Steve Kreuscher of Zion, Illinois is asking a judge to allow him to legally change his name to "In God We Trust." He says the name would be a symbol of God's help during tough times. But that's not the only reason he wants to change his name. He is also afraid the phrase "In God We Trust" will be removed from US currency. I'm not quite sure how changing his name is supposed to slow or stop that process.

The fact is we don't need the courts to change our legal names. All of us who are believers carry the name of Christ already when we identify ourselves as Christians. There is no question of whether we carry the name. The only question is whether we live a life that gives honor to the name. Do we guard our hearts to keep them pure? Do we flee sin and pursue God's face? Do we place the welfare of others ahead of our own in a manner that is reflective of the selfless, unconditional love that God has manifested toward us?

Injured Western Oregon player helped around bases after hitting homer | StatesmanJournal.com

Western Oregon player helped around bases after hitting homer | StatesmanJournal.com

Sometimes it really is how you play the game. Click the link above to read an incredible story of sportsmanship. Thanks to Walter Price for bringing this story to my attention.

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I got a promotional offer in the mail today with four cards to give a friend for a free month. If you'd like one, just ask me. Or just click on the logo above.

If you have any problems with the link just send me an email, and I'll send you a new link.

Scheduling a Blogger Post

Blogger has a new feature currently available only in draft mode. It allows you to write a post now and have it automatically posted at some point in the future. Let's say you've written that great 10 part series on the mating ritual of the mosquito, but you don't want to publish the whole thing at once. You can upload all 10 pieces to blogger and have it publish an installment each day or week until they are all uploaded.

I think it's a pretty neat feature. Some people in our church sent me a link to a YouTube video via email several months back. I thought it was great, and since it dealt with the passion of Christ, I wanted to embed it on our church website just before Easter. I went ahead and wrote up the post, and saved it as a draft. Now all I had to do was remember to come back in early March and publish it. Well I forgot. It's there now. Although I have an early March date on the post, it was actually mid April before it went up.

With this new feature all I would have had to do is go ahead and set the date and time that I wanted it published back when I wrote it. Then it would have automatically shown up at the appropriate time.

How to do it:

1. Log into blogger in draft mode by going to draft.blogger.com.
2. Create Your Post
3. Click on "Post Options" in the bottom left-hand corner of the post editor.
4. On the right-hand side indicate the date and time you want the post published.
5. Click on the orange "Publish Post" button.

That's it. Your post will be published, but not before you want it to.

Additional Reading at Bloggerindraft.blogspot.com.