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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.

(Video length: 9:46)

 

See related posts:

• Maria Sue Chapman Memorial Service
• Steven Curtis Chapman’s Daughter Killed

The Big Picture has some great photographs from yesterday’s 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Peter Chattaway quotes T.S. Eliot, in his essay ‘Religion and Literature’, written in 1935. “The last thing I would wish for would be the existence of two literatures, one for Christian consumption and the other for the pagan world.”

Brad Wright explains the effect of measurement on behavior. “Just the act of measuring someone’s behavior, e.g., as is done in a survey, can change that person’s behavior by making them more aware of what they are doing … When we measure anything, whether in professional research or everyday-life, realize that we’re probably changing some aspect of it. If we want to change something, probably the first thing to do is to start measuring it.”

John Stackhouse mourns the disappearing of some Christian musical languages. “Christian contemporary rock is the main music language of ‘happening’ churches all over North America, Britain, Australia, and beyond. As simplistic as it certainly can be, both lyrically and musically, it has considerable range of expression when used by talented composers, singers, and instrumentalists. What it can’t do, however, is say everything that needs to be said.”

Nathan Busenitz quotes Cornelius Plantinga on the emptiness of life apart from God. “The truth is that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us. Much can make us content for a time, but nothing can fill us to the brim. The reason is that our final joy lies ‘beyond the walls of the world,’ as J. R. R. Tolkien put it. Ultimate beauty comes not from a lover or a landscape or a home, but only through them. These earthly things are solid goods, and we naturally relish them. But they are not our final good. They point to what is ‘higher up’ and ‘further back.’

Justin Taylor answers the question: What if two theologians I respect disagree about Scripture’s meaning? “The answer to this is virtually the same as if the question had been, ‘What if two theologians I respect agree about Scripture’s meaning?’ In either scenario, the proper response is to imitate the ‘noble Bereans’ of Acts 17. These were Jews who listened to Paul and Silas proclaim God’s Word in their synagogue. We are told that ‘they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.’ In other words, they combined eager reception of teaching along with daily inspection to see if they were hearing was true.”

OLYMPIC EDITION.

• No more perfect 10’s. The scoring rules have changed. There will be no perfect 10’s for gymnastics at the Olympics this year.
• Olympians to Watch. Christianity Today highlights several Christian athletes participating in this year’s Olympics.
• The TOP TEN Greatest Olympic Moments. (Summer Olympic moments only.)

Tony Kummer has some great advice on how to handle low summer attendance at church. Tony’s tips were directed towards children’s ministers, but I think they are great tips for all of us in churches.

1. Give thanks to God for those who have come.
2. Pray for those who are absent.
3. Remember that every child [person] matters to God.
4. Take advantage of the smaller crowd to build relationships.
5. Keep working hard and trust God to bring in the numbers.

Be sure to visit Tony’s blog and read the full post.

Yesterday’s post, A Visit to the Dentist, reminded me of a hilarious story C.J. Mahaney told at the 1999 Desiring God Pastors Conference about going to the dentist. C.J. is always funny, but he was in rare form here. Here is the clip:

(Audio length: 1:39)
[audio:Mahaney_Dentist.mp3]

You can listen to C.J.’s complete message here: 1999 Pastors Conference

Newsflash! The reason people are getting fatter is because they are eating more! “In 1970, the average American ate about 16.4 pounds of food a week, or 2.3 pounds daily. By 2006, the average intake grew by an additional 1.8 pounds a week.”

Justice Chick-fil-A style. Chick-fil-A restaurant founder S. Truett Cathy has decided not to press charges against two girls who caused $30,000 worth of damage to his home. Instead, Cathy has worked out a deal with the girls’ parents: the youngsters are banned from watching TV and playing video games. They also must read a good book and write “I will not vandalize other people’s property” 1,000 times. (HT: By Farther Steps)

Make me a Christian. A new reality show follows the three-week journey of 13 non-Christians who volunteered to give up their normal lives and attempt to live like Christians. The participants engage in Bible studies and mentoring from a team of church leaders. The show airs in the U.K. for three weeks starting August 10.

I went to the dentist last week to have a cavity filled. It was late afternoon, and as I settled into the chair, the dentist told me I was his last patient for the day and as soon as he was finished with me he could go home. That seemed to spark a thought in his head, and he asked me a question you never want your dentist to ask: “So, how tough are you?”

Usually that’s an easy question for a guy to answer (“Tough as nails!”), but you find yourself answering more carefully when it’s your dentist doing the asking. So, I responded: “That depends. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I was just thinking,” he said. “If I give you novocaine, then that will take longer, plus you will feel the pain of the novocaine when I give you the shot, and then your mouth will be numb for three hours, and you won’t enjoy your dinner tonight. But if we skip the novocaine we can get right to it. It might be a little uncomfortable, but it shouldn’t be too bad. So, I was wondering, how tough are you?”

Well, it was easy to see which way he wanted to go with this. I told him I was fine with discomfort but not a big fan of pain. “No problem,” he said. “Just raise your right arm if you feel any pain.” So, we went ahead, and he drilled my tooth without any novocaine. And fortunately it wasn’t too bad. We both got to go home early, and I enjoyed my supper.

So, how would you respond if your dentist asked you, “How tough are you?”

See related post:  C. J. Mahaney Goes to the Dentist

• Oil dropped below $120 a barrel briefly yesterday.
• Billy: The Early Years. The trailer for the new film on Billy Graham is now available online.
• Speed up Vista. Microsoft has released a PDF guide on improving the performance of Windows Vista.
• Rolling Stone tomb. Ever wondered what Jesus’ tomb may have looked like? Todd Bolen has some great photos of the Khirbet Midras rolling stone tomb in Israel.
• Mary Winkler gets custody. Mary Winkler, the woman convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her minister husband, has taken custody of her three daughters.
• Art * Music * Justice Tour. Sara Groves, Brandon Heath, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken and Charlie Peacock are joining forces for the Art * Music * Justice Tour. You can find more information and a schedule of concerts at the Art * Music * Justice Myspace page.

From the Christian Post: Top Hamas Leader’s Son Converts to Christianity

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.

You know it’s Monday when …

you melt faster than your ice cream cone.

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Abraham Piper had a fun discussion over at his blog on “What do you call your in-laws?” “For four years, I wasn’t comfortable calling Molly’s dad ‘Dad’ or ‘Bob.’ So I’d just start talking and hope he was listening.”

Tony Kummer gives some great tips on how to read the Bible aloud for children. “Bible reading is one of the most important activities you can do with children. I believe that every Sunday school session, family devotion and children’s church meeting should include a time of Bible reading. Since the Bible is God’s Word, we should do our best to listen to it.”

Vern Poythress warns against the potential idolatry of technology. “I love science, because it displays God’s wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-31). I love technology, because it shows what great gifts God has given to us, and what great human capacity God has given us to exercise dominion (Genesis 1:28-30). But I see hopes placed in science and technology that they cannot fulfill.”

Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar shares about the single biggest money mistake he ever made. “The single biggest money mistake I’ve ever made was the day I decided that my future self would pay for stuff that I wanted (not needed, but wanted) now … This one choice, the seemingly simple decision to go for it and buy something I wanted without really thinking about the long term consequences, shaped my life in a negative fashion for years.”

John MacArthur gives his answer to the question: If God is sovereign, is He responsible for evil? “God is certainly sovereign over evil … It did not take Him by surprise. It is not an interruption of His eternal plan … But God’s role with regard to evil is never as its author. He simply permits evil agents to work, then overrules evil for His own wise and holy ends. Ultimately He is able to make all things–including all the fruits of all the evil of all time–work together for a greater good (Romans 8:28).”

Jim Martin encourages parents to give your children time. “One elementary school teacher told me recently about watching some parents pick up their children after school. The parents wait in line in their cars at the school until they get to the designated pick-up spot. Then the children can get in their car. This teacher told me about the number of parents who are talking on the telephone as their children get in the car. They continue talking on the phone as they drive away. This after not having seen their children the entire day. Children need time. There is nothing that a parent can buy that will substitute for giving a child time and attention.”

Do you enjoy walking barefoot in the grass? Then you would love these new grass flip flops designed by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (?!?) . The flip-flops take up to three weeks to grow and each shoe is covered with over 5,000 blades of grass. When watered regularly the flip flops can be kept for over four months. These   …  look   …  very   …  comfortable.