Ramblings, Thoughts, and What We Think . . .

This year at the SBC Annual Meeting, I was able to talk to Dr. Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Seminary.  I have long admired this man ever since I heard him preach in chapel while I was visiting SEBTS; he is in my Top 5 favorite preachers (David Platt, C.J. Mahaney, Russ Moore, Danny Aiken, Chuck Henderson).  I could list many reasons while I admire this man, but one of the reasons is his desire for missions.  Recently, Southeastern published a book containing 5 sermons from Dr. Aiken where he used 5 missionary lives to illustrate his expository sermons.  As I was talking to him at the Convention, he gave me a copy of this book, Five Who Changed the World, and was telling me about it.  He told one particular story about Jim Elliot, and while telling it, he had to pause to collect his thoughts as his eyes slightly watered.

Sunday, John Piper blogged this exact same story on Jim Elliot.  Rather than describing it to you, I have copied and pasted from his blog for you to read:

What do the supreme court ruling on guns and the martyrdom of missionaries have to do with each other?

Noël and I watched Beyond Gates of Splendor, the documentary version of End of the Spear, the story of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint in Ecuador in 1956. That same day we heard that the Supreme Court decided in favor of the right of Americans to keep firearms at home for self-defense.

Here’s the connection. The missionaries had guns when they were speared to death. One of them shot the gun into the air, it appears, as he was killed, rather than shooting the natives. They had agreed to do this. The reason was simple and staggeringly Christlike:

The natives are not ready for heaven. We are.  [emphasis mine]

I suspect the same could be said for almost anyone who breaks into my house. There are other reasons why I have never owned a firearm and do not have one in my house. But that reason moves me deeply. I hope you don’t use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun. Better to find some missionaries like this and support them.

Oh that we could all have the heart for the lost like Jim, John, and Danny . . .

Beth and I had the great opportunity to visit the Creation Museum near Cincinnati with the Thompson’s this past Saturday.  While this was our second visit, we felt like this time we were able to take in more since it was not as busy as this time last year.  The great thing about the museum is that it is set up so that you can go at your own pace.  If you want to read everything at that station or watch every video, you can without thinking that you are holding up the line.  I am also glad to say that Jason “drank the juice” and is leaning now more towards a young earth view which says that the Earth is really only about 6,000 years old.  While some may discredit this view, what they cannot discredit is the fact that this museum provides a great amount of science and logic to defend their view and to counter the opposing views.  One of the comments Jason made that I like was that he was sort of expecting that the museum would present these grand views but with no meat behind it to stand on.  However, after going through the whole tour, he felt like they had supported and defended every argument they produced!  Here are a couple of factoids that I remember and that stuck out in my mind:

• The word “dinosaur” was not invented until the mid-1800’s so of course it is not in the Bible.
• According to the Biblical timeline, Methuselah was born 200 years before Adam died . . . and overlapped the life of Noah.  So he could have heard from Adam about the Fall and then relayed the story to Noah.
• The center piece of their theory is the great, worldwide Flood.  This accounts for the shifting of the continents, the ice on Greenland, the great canyons and caves, and the crisp fossils discovered.
• From my own reasoning, if the land was in the Pangaea-like state before the flood, then Mt. Everest did not exist until after the flood.  If these massive mountain ranges did not exist, then this would allow for the whole earth to be covered and yet the people on the ark not die from being at 29,000 ft for nearly one year.

Hi!  It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me (Beth)…I’ve been in Indianapolis on a mission trip to help a Korean church along with many others from our church AND I’ve been in TN helping my mom and dad transform their home into a party/entertaining pad!  But, I’m not the only one that has been busy!  Will has been working hard and while I was in TN, he went to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indy.  When we both reunited in KY (pulling up into the driveway only minutes apart) last Thursday and had a wonderfully relaxing weekend!  We went to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday and we went to an outdoors store and got my Chaco’s!  (Thanks Chamni and Jacksonians!)  Check out our flicker page for pics from the mission trip and my trip home (my neices and nephew are precious!)

. . . no matter how ugly it is” was the sound heard around the dugout after the Creek’s 8-7 victory in the final inning against the Cuban church.  Trailing from the 1st inning, the Creek just could never get their bats going.  Everything was either popped up or hit right to a very skilled Cuban defense.  After a rough 1st inning, the Creek’s defense settled down and held their own even getting 3 outs on 3 pitches; however, it wasn’t until their last at-bat that any sort of rally formed.  Finally, the top half of the lineup produced some good hits and scored a few runs starting the comeback.  After cutting the lead to 1, pinch hitter Will J came to the plate and hit into a fielder’s choice to tie the game at 7.  After a walk to load the bases with 1 out, lead off Dave Raulston hit a dribbler to short who tried to turn a double-play, but quick-footed Dave beat out the throw at first and the Creek claimed the victory.  “I have been working out all off-season even losing about 10-15 pounds,” said Dave in a pre-season interview.  Aren’t we glad that he did . . .

Game ball has to go to Dave not only for getting the winning RBI, but for really being the only Creeker to actually hit the ball last night.  Props to Keith for coming into the game in relief and holding the opponents to only a few more runs.  While the Creek was missing some players, such as the fantasy sleeper Scott “Hurricane” Davis, next week’s bye week will hopefully help give the team a break as they get ready for the stretch run to the playoffs.  It is this reporter’s desire that they would spend next Thursday at the batting cage instead.

Rebounding from the disappointing loss last week, The Creek showed up to play yesterday in a dominating performance against the LDS church.  Led by the solid pitching of Kenny and the return of Justin to the lineup, The Creek led from the beginning and never looked back.  “It’s good to be back and helping out the team,” said last year’s MVP.  While maybe not completely 100%, his ankle had no effect on his swing as he placed the ball all over the field.  The Creek was also glad to get back outfielder Briggs after a 3 week layoff.  While there was no rust on his bat, we still have to wait and see how the glove is since Kenny’s fastball’s allowed hardly any hits to the outfield. 

Game ball goes to Kenny for notching a K and making the good pitches even with the crosswind.  Props go to Todd for his “rounding third-somersault flip-still scored” acrobatics due to this author’s horrible third base coaching.  Props also to Big JT for coming out of retirement (even bringing back the throw-back jersey) to join the team this year.

And finally, yours truly continues to be quick with the bat going 2-3.  Now if we could just turn those singles into doubles, we might keep moving up the lineup . . .

1 inning.  That was all it took for the hope of finally beating their rival to vanquish into thin air.  Going into the 4th inning, the Creek was leading 5-1 after some good solid base hits leading to runs and some lights out play at third by Purvis.  However, the thought was always there that the defending champs would not stay down for long . . . and they didn’t.  Westport Road rallied for a 9-run inning to go ahead 10-5 and then swept up the Creek 1-2-3 in the bottom half to change the momentum.  The Creek suffered from 2 errors in that fateful inning to let the champs get some momentum and then just could not get the bats to get hot again finally losing 14-6.  “We just weren’t ready to play them yet.  Some guys have only swung the bat 3 times this season,” said Coach Keith after the game.  The Creek look to regain their form, and hopefully their bats, next week at 6:30 as they continue their push for the trophy.

Game Ball goes to Purvis for his outstanding play at third fielding some shots down the line; one of those leading to the breaking of the web in his glove.  Props to Dave at short for making some solid stops as well.  Props also to 1b Will J for continuing his success at the plate going 3-3 bringing his 2 game total to 6-7.  On the injury front, rumor is circulating that last year’s MVP Justin may make an early return from the IR; Coach Keith had no comment as of the time of this report.

In the first game of the year, Coach Keith led the Creek to an easy victory but only after a few rusty innings at the plate.  SS Dave led off the game with a triple, yet the Creek could only manage 1 run.  After some good field play, the Creek’s bats never could really get hot.  A few runs here anda few runs there was all that they could come up with failing to capitalize and leaving men on base.  They even had 2 strikeouts; one by Will J looking and the other by Kenny swinging!  However, after giving up some runs in the 4th, the Creek responded with a strong 5th inning to put the game out of reach and closed the final two innings without giving up a hit.

All-Star third baseman Justin rolled his ankle earlier in the week and had to be put on the IR list for the season.  So the game ball goes to Flora and Purvis for filling in at third and doing a fine job.  Props to Coach Keith for rotating everyone around to get a look at players in different positions and to get everyone some playing time.  With a full roster this year (16 players), this is going to be a challenge some weeks.  Props also to Kenny for pitching a solid game.  No time to rest and celebrate; next up for The Creek is the defending champs and rivals, Westport Road. 

Finally, yours truly went 3-4; unfortunately, he was thrown out at 2nd after rounding the base to far on the first hit and struck out looking at both pitches another time.  How embarrassing.

“Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today, look at me - centerfield”

Today begins another journey for the elusive Men’s Softball Championship trophy by the Cedar Creek (”The Creek”) Baptist softball team.  Coming off last year’s heartbreaking lossto Westport Road in the last inning of the championship game by 1 run, the Creek returns all but 1 of it’s starting 10 from last year and is ready to capitalize on a third year of playing together.  While the loss of outfielder Chad Flannery will be big, the addition of Chris Flora should add some more power to an already potent lineup.  An off-season of basketball on Thursday nights has kept most of the team in shape.  Team MVP Justin looks to return for another All-Star season at 3rd base while clean-up hitter Todd Flannery takes the lead as assistant coach underneath the legend, Coach Keith.  This year, the Coach is coming out of the bullpen as he puts his trust in former 1B, Will Jackson, to carry the team on the mound.  We are also interested to see if his “golf swing” returns for another season at the plate.  Also excited about this year’s season, SS Dave Raulston has been working out and has lost 10 lbs. in his off-season routine.  “I am so excited this year.  I can not wait” exclaimed Raulston this past week.  Everyone’s favorite fantasy DH, Braylon Dole, is back for another season; with such high expectations, it will be interesting to watch his bat this year to see if he can keep up with last year’s pace.  Second basemen J Benge and left center Briggs have both been hitting really well in practice and are ready to control the bottom half of the lineup.  As long as the pride stays in check, there should be no stopping The Creek this year.

Stay tuned every Friday for your insider’s look at the game, the stats, and some interviews with the players as The Creek begins its journey for the title.

Earlier, I wrote a post about the upcoming Baptist Hymnal 2008 that Lifeway is publishing.  Well, I am a little behind, but the new hymnal is now complete with 647 theologically sound hymns and worship songs . . . and that is just the printed version!  They have also a new twist this year in that there will be an additional 301 songs and contemporary arrangements available online at Lifeway Worship Online.  This website will be the link to get access to all the online material available as well as a new blog to keep up wiht the lastest goings on in hymnal world.  I have not seen the online material on there yet, but it looks like August 8th might be the release date.  However, Lifeway has released the song titles for the nearly 1,000 songs/arrangements; here is the pdf file of the pew edition and the additional set. 

Now that finals are over for this semester, I hope to have some time to look through this list and see what’s new and what might be missing.  If you get a chance to take a look and have any comments, just drop them below because I would love to hear them.