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An Arkansas woman has given birth to her 18th child. Michelle Duggar delivered the baby girl by Caesarean section Thursday at Mercy Medical Center in Rogers. The baby, named Jordyn-Grace Makiya Duggar, weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces and was 20 inches long.
“The ultimate Christmas gift from God,” said Jim Bob Duggar, the father of the 18 children. “She’s just absolutely beautiful, like her mom and her sisters.”
The Duggars now have 10 sons and eight daughters.
Jim Bob Duggar said Michelle started having contractions Wednesday night. She needed the C-section, her third, because the baby was lying sideways. Jim Bob said both baby and mother were doing well Thursday night.
Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Fellowship announced today that he has cancer. Some of you may be familiar with Pastor MacDonald from his books or through his radio ministry Walk in the Word. Here is part of what he had to say today in his announcement:
I have cancer. This of course confirms what I have taught so many times from God’s word . . . the effects of sin visit themselves randomly upon the creation in varying degrees and at various times (John 9:1-3). God promises only that His grace will be sufficient as His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), and that He has a purpose in the life of His child that will advance our good if we submit to what He has lovingly allowed (Hebrews 12:5-13).
So that’s it! I have cancer and I can diagnose the theology as well as any oncologist can diagnose the pathology. But here’s the great part. I truly believe those things. I am not especially anxious, I am not struggling with God’s goodness or asking a lot of penetrating ‘why’s?’ I am more aware of my pending mortality and the brevity of this life by eternal standards …
I have a tenderness to the pain of others and a deeper burden for those closest to me. I am more acutely aware of my sin and much less willing to weigh it or measure it or manage it. I just want to be clean and close and consecrated in my walk with Christ; and I am, more than ever. Truly!!! And for that I am very thankful. I have experienced an outpouring of love from our congregation and beyond that has made me more appreciative than ever to pastor a church and belong to the body of Christ. God is good, I’m gonna get through this in God’s way and in His time and I love Him more than ever. Today is a good day, and because of it, no matter how this ‘day’ ends, tomorrow will be even better. Isn’t it great to know the Lord and love His word and walk in fellowship with His followers? How blessed I am!
Please keep Pastor macDonald and his family in prayer as he begins radiation treatments at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California.
Today is John Milton’s 400th birthday, so I will be sharing some Milton with you this week. John Milton is generally regarded as the greatest English poet after Shakespeare. His most famous work is the masterful epic poem Paradise Lost. He also wrote other poems, as well as a number of political works.
Milton aspired at a young age to write a great epic poem. In order to do this, he devoted himself to years of study. He learned Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, and Italian in his undergraduate years. After receiving his M.A., at age 24 he undertook six years of private study in preparation for his poetical career. During this time he immersed himself in both ancient and modern works of theology, philosophy, history, politics, literature, and science. He also wrote several lengthy poetical works.
In the 1640’s Milton’s poetical ambitions got sidetracked by the English Civil War. Milton spent the next decade writing mostly political works. He did not return to poetry until after he went blind in 1652 at the age of forty-three. He wrote Paradise Lost during the years 1658-1663 and died in the year 1667.
Athough Milton was not orthodox in his beliefs (he had a deficient view of the trinity, and he rejected the duality of body and spirit), his works are well worth reading and studying by Christians. Paradise Lost in particular, with its focus on the fall of man, has many rich insights for believers.
Who will be TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year 2008? Some of the top contenders include Barack Obama, Tina Fey (?), Michael Phelps, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. TIME will let you cast a vote, but the editors will announce their own selection on December 19. Judging from the TIME cover photos of the past year, I predict … (Click here for TIME covers from the past year.) Feel free to share your own prediction in the comments.
From Reuters: “After 12 years at Fox News Channel and four decades in the news business, Washington managing editor Brit Hume will leave ‘Special Report’ and daily journalism for a quieter life, spending time with his grandchildren and following his Christian faith (the anchor still will contribute to the network as a political analyst).”
Hume made the following coments about his faith in Christ:
I certainly want to pursue my faith more ardently than I have done. I’m not claiming it’s impossible to do when you work in this business. I was kind of a nominal Christian for the longest time. When my son died (by suicide in 1998), I came to Christ in a way that was very meaningful to me. If a person is a Christian and tries to face up to the implications of what you say you believe, it’s a pretty big thing. If you do it part time, you’re not really living it.
The Insider: How do you envision life being different on a day-to-day basis? What will you do?
Mr. Hume: I thought about the three G’s: God, granddaughters, golf. That’s not comprehensive, because obviously I have a chance to spend more time with my dear wife, who worked with me here for so many years and was a vice president and bureau chief. She retired two years ago. … And since my son died, I have been, really, I felt rescued by God and by Christ. I have an intense desire to pursue that more ardently and have it be a bigger part of my life than it has been.
The Insider: How will that translate?
Mr. Hume: It’ll translate into Bible study. It’ll translate, I think, in the fullness of time, into work that I might be able to do, like to find the right cause, and so on. It’s a big world out there. A lot can be done.
Billy Graham turns 90 years old today. That makes him a nonagenarian. Happy birthday, Billy! Here is a nice tribute song to Billy Graham sung by Terry Taylor and Gene Eugene.
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“BILLY GRAHAM” - by Terry Scott Taylor/Camarillo Eddy
I don’t know about those other guys
There’s somethin’ in the back of their eyes
But Billy, you’re the man
Who don’t use slight of hand
Ain’t wearin’ no disguise
I love you, Billy.
I love the simple things you say
And you never seem to get in the way
No one is quite like you
Compassionate and true
“Just as I am”, I say
I love you, Billy.
Note: Billy’s grandson Tullian Tchividjian is celebrating “Daddy Bill’s” birthday over at his blog. Feel free to drop on over to read or add to the comments.
“I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman,” the former child star of “Growing Pains” told Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford Monday on TODAY in New York.
To get around the conflict, the filmmakers employed a bit of movie magic, Cameron explained. They dressed his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, like the movie’s female lead and shot the scene in silhouette.
“So when I’m kissing my wife, we’re actually husband and wife honoring marriage behind the scenes,” Cameron said as Gifford and Kotb melted from the romanticism of the moment.
Steven Curtis Chapman and his family share with Robin Roberts of Good Morning America how their faith has helped them cope with the tragedy of losing their 5-year old daughter, Maria Sue, last May.
The son of a top Hamas leader has converted to Christianity and prays someday his family will also accept Jesus Christ as their savior, an Israeli newspaper reported. Masab Yousef, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheik Hassan Yousef, revealed for the first time in an exclusive interview with Haaretz newspaper that he has left Islam and is now a Christian. Prior to the interview’s publication last Thursday, Yousef’s family did not know of his faith conversion even though he is in regular contact with them …
Yousef, who is now 30-years-old, was first exposed to Christianity eight years ago while in Jerusalem where out of curiosity he accepted an invitation to hear about Christianity. Afterwards, he became “enthusiastic” about what he heard and would secretly read the Bible every day.
“A verse like ‘Love thine enemy’ had a great influence on me,” Yousef recalled. “At this stage I was still a Muslim and I thought that I would remain one. But every day I saw the terrible things done in the name of religion by those who considered themselves ‘great believers.’ “I studied Islam more thoroughly and found no answers there. I re-examined the Koran and the principals of the faith and found how it is mistaken and misleading … There is only one way to Paradise – the way of Jesus who sacrificed himself on the cross for all of us.”
Yousef, who has taken the biblical name of Joseph, said he dreams of one day becoming a writer to tell his personal story and about the Middle East conflicts … He also dreams that someday he can return to his homeland and his family will accept Jesus Christ. “I know that I’m endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he’ll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity,” Yousef said.
Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers set a first round record in the Home Run Derby Monday night with 28 home runs. Josh recently returned to baseball after five years of drug addiction that nearly took his life. He credits God and Christ in helping him overcome his addiction. Here is the video from the Derby:
How am I here? I can only shrug and say, “It’s a God thing.” It’s the only possible explanation. There’s a reason my prayers weren’t answered during those dark, messed-up nights I spent scared out of my mind. There’s a reason I have this blessed and unexpected opportunity to play baseball and tell people my story …
Every day I’m reminded that my story is bigger than me. It never fails. Every time I go to the ballpark, I talk to people who are either battling addictions themselves or trying to help someone else who is … A father will tell me about his son while I’m signing autographs. A mother will wait outside the players’ parking lot to tell me about her daughter. They know where I’ve been. They look to me because I’m proof that hope is never lost.
They remind me that this isn’t really about baseball … I’ve been called the biggest surprise in baseball this year, and I can’t argue with that. If you think about it, how many people have gone from being a crack addict to succeeding at anything, especially something as demanding as major league baseball?…
This may sound crazy, but I wouldn’t change a thing about my path to the big leagues … You’re probably thinking, Bad decisions and addiction almost cost him his life, and he wouldn’t change anything? But if I hadn’t gone through all the hard times, this whole story would be just about baseball. If I’d made the big leagues at 21 and made my first All-Star team at 23 and done all the things expected of me, I would be a big-time baseball player, and that’s it.
Baseball is third in my life right now, behind my relationship with God and my family. Without the first two, baseball isn’t even in the picture. Believe me, I know.
NPR ran a feature on Larry today on their Day to Day program. The program began with that wailing guitar intro and vocals from “The Rock That Doesn’t Roll.” The announcer then shared biographical information about Larry interspersed with clips from Larry’s songs and comments from Larry’s brother, Charles Norman. Other song clips included: “Why Don’t You Look into Jesus,” “Sweet, Sweet Song of Salvation,” and “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music.” The entire segment on Larry was just over two minutes long.
Here is the blurb from the NPR site:
Day to Day, February 27,2008 · Guitarist, singer and songwriter Larry Norman died earlier this week. Norman is sometimes called the father of Christian rock, but his long-haired look and hard-rock approach made him something of an outsider to mainstream religion. We hear from his brother, Charles, about Larry Norman’s legacy.
It’s so funny what age is doing. I never thought getting older would be so great. But when it comes to depression, I have experienced less the older I’ve gotten. And I think part of it is, there are things that I know to look for in myself. I know winter time hits me like a ton of bricks.
My great-uncle told us when were kids, “If you’re born into this family, you need to go take a brisk walk every day.” He didn’t know what endorphins were, but he knew that we battled that downward spiral. If I will make myself get some exercise, that always helps. And then, invest in somebody else. That’s not hard when you’re part of a family. Even if I’m feeling like a piece of wood, I’ll wake up in the morning and I just think, “Somebody’s got to put the bacon on. I will feel better about this moment if I do eggs on toast with a little melted cheese for the kids.” It takes about four minutes to make breakfast for your children in the morning. You start doing little acts of getting beyond yourself. Sometimes it takes days or weeks. But you just learn there is a process to getting out of a slump.
Tiny little things that you have to do, responsibility that you can’t slough off, is good when you battle depression—making lunch for your kids, or having to do laundry because nobody has clean underwear. Rather than grind your teeth over it, go, “Thank God I have got to do this little task that makes me move.” And the more that [I'm] used to the rhythms of [my] own life, the more I realize, as bleak as this feels right this minute, it’ll pass.
Have you ever struggled with depression, whether mild or serious? What has been helpful to you when you are feeling down?
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