Thoughts on worship

Here is a great post by Matthew Smith on his use of contemporary settings of hymns in worship. “The lyrics I was singing were not about my desires and how much I wanted to worship God, they were about Jesus and His desires, and they gave specific and beautiful reasons why He was worthy of worship.…

Vacation time!

Today starts a week of vacation for me.  After a day of lake time, projects and such today, we’re taking a short excursion up north.  We will be traveling to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with our granddaughter Jenna and taking in some of our favorite things there.  We’re going to start at the Soo Locks in…

Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle

I got a big kick out of reading Dan Gilbert’s blog posting today regarding LeBron James’ signing with the Miami Heat.  It was quite interesting that he should play the loyalty card so strongly, given that he tried extremely hard to woo Tom Izzo from Michigan State with tons of money and supposed opportunity, eschewing…

Growing right-minded children

Joel Miller had these words to say on encouraging his children to believe in God. “It occurs to me that the most important means to encourage belief in God, to encourage their love, trust, and hope in God is to encourage repentance and help them cultivate holiness. The greater the sanctification, the deeper the belief.”…

Morning by morning

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. These words come from Jeremiah, in his book of Lamentations.  They have been used as the basis for at least one great hymn and a couple of contemporary worship choruses.  They…

Happy Father’s Day, Dad

Thank you, Dad, for being the best father I could have had.  Thank you for modeling our Father in heaven, and showing me how to live a Godly life.  Thank you for showing me that the things of the Lord are those things that deserve first place, and by doing that everything else falls into…

Return on investment

In business, one of the ways to determine if spending money or time (which equates to money) is a good idea is to calculate a return on investment, or ROI if you like acronyms.  As homeowners, we calculate a different kind of ROI – can we get our money back from the improvement when we…

Pardon me

What a great song this is by Samuel Davies, president of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton. GREAT God of wonders! all Thy ways Are matchless, God-like, and divine; But the fair glories of Thy grace More God-like and unrivall’d shine: Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace…

A song for the morning

LORD, for the mercies of the night, My humble thanks, I pay; And unto Thee I dedicate The first-fruits of the day. Let this day praise Thee, O my God, And so let all my days; And oh let mine eternal day Be Thine eternal praise! John Mason 1683 from C H Spurgeon’s Our Own…

A song for the evening

GLORY to Thee, my God, this night, For all the blessings of the light; Keep me, oh keep me, King of kings, Beneath Thine own almighty wings. Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son, The ill that I this day have done: That with the world, myself and Thee, I, ere I sleep, at peace…