Ray Fowler .org

You know it’s Monday when …

your warranties on everything run out.

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Yesterday’s message in the The Road to Jerusalem series was called Traffic and Tears on the Road to Jerusalem, taken from Luke 13:31-35.

Luke 13:31-35 – 31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day — for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” (NIV)

The main idea of the message was that we must not let anything divert us from following Christ on the road of discipleship. We must also have compassion on the lost as Christ did. Here is the outline of the message:

I. Walk strong in the path of discipleship (verses 31-33)

    A. Don’t let others set your agenda.

    B. Don’t be afraid to confront evil.

    C. Follow God’s calling wherever he leads.

II. Have compassion for the lost (verses 34-35)

    A. God longs for lost people to come to him.

    B. Those who reject Christ will face God’s judgment and wrath for sin.

    C. One day all will acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Updated with photos and video: There was a public memorial ceremony for Larry at 10:00 am today (March 1, 2008) at The Church on the Hill, 2707 Maranatha Ct., Turner, Oregon, just south of Salem. Here are some photos. (Notice the plain, pine casket as Larry requested.) Here is a brief description of the service. And here is a link to the video montage that was shown at the service.

What a gathering! Perhaps 500 (?) of us poured into a church in Salem this morning to pay our respects to Larry. As we entered we were handed ‘circus programs’ (instead of a boring pamphlet) that read: Larry Norman Presents: A Going Away Party.

It was a gathering of friends, family and fans alike. As people caught up with one another organ music filled the air. Then, all of a sudden: SCREEEEEEETCH! It was the sound of a record player needle ripping across vinyl.

    “I ain’t knocking the hymns,
    Just give me a song that has a beat.
    I ain’t knocking the hymns,
    Just give me a song that moves my feet.
    I don’t like none of those funeral marches
    I ain’t dead yet!”

What followed was a wonderful montage of music, photographs, and videos of Larry throughout his life. Friends and family spoke and there were a few performances. After it was all over we ate hot dogs, popcorn and Cracker Jacks! A party. Just like Larry wanted.

What can I say? Sounds like Larry!

(Note: Here is another description of the service.)

Related posts:

• Larry Norman Funeral Video Montage
• Larry Norman on NPR
• Some Larry Norman Videos
• My Tribute Song to Larry Norman
• Larry Norman Sings Goodbye Farewell
• Larry Norman Passes Away (1947-2008)
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (1)
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (2)

Extreme sports edition.

Daredevil Robbie Madison jumps 322 feet (the length of a football field) to
set a new motorcycle distance jumping world record on New Years Eve.

(Video length: 0:35)

HT: Neatorama
 

Every basketball player dreams of hitting the game winning shot at
the buzzer. How about doing it from the full length of the court?

(Video length: 0:44)

HT: Presurfer
 

Mike Parsons rides a 66-foot-high wave at the Jaws Maui Tow-In
World Surfing Championship.

(Video length: 1:29)

HT: Christ is Deeper Still

Vox Day waxes eloquent on the New Atheists:

This trio of New Atheists, this Unholy Trinity, is a collection of faux-intellectual frauds utilizing pseudoscientific sleight of hand in order to falsely claim that religious faith is inherently dangerous and has no place in the modern world. I am saying that they are wrong, they are reliably, verifiably and factually incorrect. Richard Dawkins is wrong. Daniel C. Dennett is wrong. Christopher Hitchens is drunk, and he’s wrong. Michel Onfray is French, and he’s wrong. Sam Harris is so superlatively wrong that it will require the development of esoteric mathematics operating simultaneously in multiple dimensions to fully comprehend the orders of magnitude of his wrongness.” (Vox Day; The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens, pp. 13-14)

HT: Evangelical Outpost

Chris Turney shares some interesting information about the history of Leap Year in today’s New York Times:

Many of the earliest calendars were based on the phases of the moon. Each 29.5-day cycle amounted to one month, and the first versions counted only 10 months in a year. That turned out to be too few months, but even when two more were added, the problem remained: the calendar could not keep up with the seasons …

By Julius Caesar’s time, the calendar was running 90 days behind. Acting on the advice of an astronomer, he created a calendar based on the time it takes the Earth to circle the Sun. During the well-named “year of confusion,” in 46 B.C., Caesar lengthened several of the months and added a couple of temporary ones as a correction. The jubilant Roman public believed Caesar had extended their lives by the extra 90 days (you just can’t buy publicity like that). And by 45 B.C., the calendar was back in phase with the seasons.

The Earth’s trip around the Sun does not take exactly 365 days, however. It lasts an extra 5 hours and about 49 minutes. By adding an extra day every four years, Caesar could roughly make up for the discrepancy. Even then his scheme ended up being 11 minutes a year too long. This may not sound like much; you wouldn’t notice the difference during your lifetime. But by the mid-16th century, the calendar had moved ahead 10 days.

This shift had serious implications for the question of when to celebrate Easter. In 1582, a task force called by Pope Gregory XIII proposed that 10 days should be removed from October that year. And to make sure the calendar would then be self-correcting, leap years were subtracted from the last year of most centuries. Only those divisible by 400 would get the extra day. (That means 1600 was a leap year, but not 1700, 1800 and 1900.) This way, the calendar would gain only half a minute a year, and it would take 2,880 years before another day would need to be added. The trusty Gregorian calendar had arrived.

Happy Leap Day!

Related posts:

• Why Are Easter and Passover a Month Apart This Year?
• Determining the Dates for Easter and Passover

I am playing Mr. Mom for a couple weeks while my wife, Rose, is away visiting family. I have done this before, and I am not very good at it. At first things go pretty smoothly, and I think, “This isn’t so hard after all.” But over the next several days things around the house begin to shift, and then to slip, and finally to slide. By the time Rose gets back, we are generally in freefall. Here are some of my observations this time around:

• Food:  The church has been wonderful in bringing meals over for the boys and me. They do this because they love our boys and do not want them to starve. My boys made a big point of describing my cooking in gory detail to everyone just to make sure. They are true survivors.
• Kids:  Boy, kids ask a lot of questions. About all sorts of stuff. All the time. They also get sick and need transportation to go places. Who would have thought?
• Bedtime:  I hate going to bed alone. I fight it for hours, then finally crawl into the sheets exhausted. I know, I’m a wimp.
• Homeschooling:  Three kids in three different grades take a combined total of seventeen different subjects every day. That adds up to a whole lot of work for both them and their teacher. (That’s me while Rose is gone.)   I am proud of how hard they work at their studies and amazed at what Rose does every day, all year long.
• Mealtimes:  Mealtimes without Rose are quieter with less laughter. Friends from church have brought over some great meals, but nothing beats the whole family sitting around the table together enjoying mom’s good home cooking.
• Clothes:  My magic dresser seems to be broken. What’s up with that?
• Cell phones:  Cell phones with unlimited family minutes are a wonderful blessing when your loved ones are far away.
• Fridays:  I miss Friday Morning Cracker Barrel with my Rosi. Enough said.

I am counting the minutes until Rose returns.  Literally!  (Update: I had a countdown timer here actually counting down the minutes, but now the timer has finished and Rose is safely back home. Praise the Lord!)

Related posts:

• The Return of Mr. Mom
• Mr. Mom Calls Texas

Bobby Lee Cutts, Jr. was sentenced to 57 years to life in prison yesterday for the killing of his pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Marie Davis, and their unborn daughter, Chloe. Cutts and Davis also have a 3-year-old son, Blake, who is now being raised by Jessie’s mother, Patricia Porter. Through tears of grief Patricia spoke directly to her daughter’s killer in the courtroom, extending the following words of forgiveness before the judge imposed the sentence.

I have had this conversation in my head with you a million times. It is a day I will never in my life forget. When I walked in that room, the presence of evil was so strong in there you could hardly breathe, and I knew my daughter was dead. I never ever thought she walked out of that room. And when you walked up there that morning, Bobby, I never in my heart wanted to believe you could have hurt her, but in my soul I knew you had.

I remember pulling into the driveway the next day and asking God, “Where is my daughter?” and he said, “She’s with me, and she’s fine.” And I made up my mind that day that whoever did that, I would forgive them because I never wanted to allow that kind of hatred into my life. I would have never been able to raise Blake and hate you. And I’ve written a lot of things here, and none of them seem to make any sense. None of this makes sense. There’s mornings I have to cover her picture up or I can’t get out of bed. And I just move on. I pretend that one day she’ll walk through the door again, but you and I know she won’t.

I serve an amazing God, Bobby, a God that forgives and heals and restores people. And I want you to know today that I do forgive you. And I know that it’s only through him that I am able to do that, and I pray that you find him, and you find the forgiveness that nobody else in this room can give you. It doesn’t matter what anybody else in this room feels for you. And that one day you will tell the truth. I think you lied to so many people. I don’t think you know how to tell the truth. I think you’re going to have to learn all over again.

And, your Honor, I may not have a family to go home to after this, but I pray that you make a way for this man to someday be able to get out of there and begin a new life, and to hold his son, maybe as a man. And I hope you pray that I’m able to raise him to forgive you. He knows what you did. You would not believe the stories he’s told us.

In a press conference after the sentencing, Patricia was asked: “Not even just [during] the trial, but beforehand you were very forgiving. How are you able to do that?” Patricia responded:

I know it sounds very cliche, but it’s because of Christ, because I’m forgiven, because I remember when Jesus hung on the cross and he asked his Father to forgive people that killed him. Nobody understands what it’s like to lose a child more than God did. He was able to forgive, and because of that I am able to forgive.

What a tremendous testimony to the power of God’s forgiveness in the believer’s life through Jesus Christ. “Love your enemies, do good to them … Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful … Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:35-37)

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.

Related posts:

• Larry Norman Funeral Video Montage
• Larry Norman’s Funeral/Memorial Service
• Some Larry Norman Videos
• My Tribute Song to Larry Norman
• Larry Norman Sings Goodbye Farewell
• Larry Norman Passes Away (1947-2008)
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (1)
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (2)

Here is a great quote I found over at Of First Importance:

“God could have poured out judgment on mankind in the Garden, therefore the only reason there is any history is because God has purposed to send his Son into the world, to pour out judgment on him and thereby bring salvation. Jesus is the only reason there is human history, and therefore he is the goal of human history. Thus everything God says and does in history explains and prepares for the salvation of his Son.” (Timothy Keller, “Preaching the Gospel in a Post-Modern World,” p. 34)

Here are some sneak-peek photos from the upcoming movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

                                          Lucy on the Beach
 

                                        Trumpkin on the Beach
 

                                      Caspian Fighting a Telmarine

Want more? Head on over to NarniaWeb to view these photos and more in high resolution. And remember – the Prince Caspian movie is only away!

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

Mother to child: “Don’t play with your food, dear.”

Child: “I’m not playing with my food. I’m eating my toys.”

Click here for more Random Thoughts.