In Psalm 119, the writer shares his love of God's word. He wants to learn it, be guided by it and meditate on it day and night. He views it as a light, and a comfort and in God's word he places his trust. I have not always resonated with Psalm 119. Instead, I have found reading and studying the scripture...well...hard, difficult, and at times frustrating. I have used it as a sword against those who disagree, and have had the displeasure of having it used as a dagger against me. I have spent hours trying to understand it and at times have found myself shaking my head because it didn't always make sense to me.

Someone posted a comment asking me to write a posting about Bible study. After thinking about it, I believe the best approach is to share some general principles more than a some kind of 'how to.'

I've found that the root of much of my frustration with scripture was my approached. Our educational system teaches us that information is meant to be mastered. We are given textbooks and told to read, memorize, understand and then tested on how well we can regurgitate the information. So we grow up reading fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, and other material the same way. Our goal is to understand, manage and master it.

I've approached the Bible much in the same way. I viewed it as information that I needed to digest and understand. There were facts, figures, principles and rules to know and dissimilate. I felt that I needed to master this book more than any other because this book is important. So I would attend bible studies, buy commentaries, listen to various discussions and lectures all so I would be able to answer any question about this book.

As far as Bigfoot hoaxes go, it was short-lived one. - from Bigfoot Hoax: "Body" Is Rubber Suit

I really wasn't following this story too much. After all...Bigfoot??? I went to the news article and started following the links and discovered a world I never knew existed. Oh, I knew there have been Bigfoot sightings and all. My daughter did a report in the 5th grade on Bigfoot and I helped her find some of the material. I had no idea there was a culture surrounding Bigfoot.

For those who don't know the story, there were a couple of guys who said they found a dead Bigfoot. Who are you going to call? SearchingForBigfoot.com. They 'paid' for the frozen body, had a press conference and then started thawing out the body. Steve Kull, a Sasquatch Detective (yes, that's right. His website is at: http://www.squatchdetective.com ) took some hair to analyze, but when it was heated it up it "melted into a ball uncharacteristic of hair." That made them suspicious, but when they got to the rubber foot...well...you get the picture.

For our economy, to be healthy, needs people to act as consumers and continue to increase their spending. Our local news paper said that the Christmas retail season was 'timid' because there wasn't a very large increase in spending over last year. It does make sense that for our economy to grow then spending must increase. Of course people spent less because of the increase in gas prices and other needed items.

There is a movement within some segments of the church to reject consumerism. If this movement becomes large enough, there is a potential for it to adversely affect our nation's economy (this article says that 25-45 person of the population see themselves as born-again or evangelicals). Will this happen? I have no idea. My question is, if it does, how will those rejecting consumerism or more specifically the push to over-consume be seen?

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I saw this and just knew I had to add it to one of my blogs:

(a) Heaven is important but it's not the end of the world: in the mainstream Christian tradition until the Platonists corrupted it, the ultimate destination is THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH, which will involve an ultimate resurrection (bodily, of course) for God's people (in some versions, for all people). The way the phrase 'heaven and hell' are used today implies you go straight to one or the other, ignoring the solid biblical testimony to an ultimate new creation in which heaven and earth are brought together in a great act of renewal (for those who want it, check out Ephesians 1.10, Revelation 21 and 22, Romans 8.18-27 and 1 Corinthians 15.20-28 -- though once you see this theme it's there everywhere). When Paul says 'my desire is to depart and be with Christ which is far better', and when Jesus says 'today you will be with me in Paradise', the wider context of both indicates that this will be a TEMPORARY state prior to the eventual resurrection into the new creation. This means (by the way) that the 'second coming' is NOT Jesus 'coming back to take us home', but Jesus coming -- or 'reappearing', as 1 John 3 and Colossians 3 put it -- to heal, judge and rescue this present creation and us with it.

Here's the source link from the Washington Post.

Well, I went and did it. I completely overhauled my UMSource site. Over the past year or two I've let the site become outdated. One of the reasons is the software I was using was prone to hackers. They never really effected the site much, but they did bother the server and my host would take the site down, tell me about the problem, then I would have to try to fix it. Usually this meant some type of upgrade which, at times, was a pain. I've moved the site to Wordpress which I hope works better.

I've also decided to change the focus of the site a bit. I believe the UMC needs to deal with issues such as being missional, emergence and even postmodernism. Within these 'buzzwords' there is a foundational need for true Spiritual Formation (There is a pop-spiritual formation which is a form of secular counseling with religious garb surround it). So, these are the issues I'm going to try to address, one way or another, on the site.

Along with those changes, I've invited a friend of mine Jeff Newtwon to put some articles on the site too. He is fully involved in a missional ministry and has wonderful insights.

Okay.... I had to post this. Found this over at Mustardseed. He posted his NFL Conspiracy theory. And since 1) he is right so far and 2) I am a huge Colts fan, I thought I would post a link to it: http://www.whatischurch.com/mustardseed/ Enjoy!

Dave.

On my way through Kentucky I saw this on a church sign near Lexington:

"Christians make good citizens"

What does this sign say about the church? About our nation? About God's call? What cultural issues does this statement impact?

Shell says biofuels from food crops "morally inappropriate" - Yahoo! News

Here's something that has never crossed my mind. A producer of biofuel believes that using food (I'm guessing corn) to create fuel is morally wrong. The argument is, if there are people without food, using the food we do have to create fuel isn't a good thing.

They said they could make fuel out of plant waste and wood chips (the trees suffer again) to make fuel instead of food crops.

Some food for thought. Of course, our concern is never with the hungry or poor, so perhaps it is good that some companies are (even if in the end it is self-serving). I'm sure if we put our minds to it, we already have the resources to get food to those without food. It just isn't really cost effective.

The bottom line will probably end up being how to cut energy costs. We will spend plenty of $$ to figure out how to do that. How to get food to those without (or even getting people clean water) will just have to wait.

Hmmm... Apparently a former minister and an MP with the governing Liberal Party in Australia says that they are "literally aborting themselves out of existance." She is concerned about RU486.

So, if she is right, could that mean that America could end up being pro-life?

Australia 'Will Be Muslim In Fifty Years'

The title comes from the last section of the article... So, if you are in a good mood, this is a good read...if not...well, perhaps you don't have to read it :)

All kidding aside, the point is basically that while life is good, it can also be painful. Sometimes in a world that is focused on happiness, it is good to find balance....

Salon.com Life | Getting over happiness