Churches Helping Churches

Maybe your church can give to Churches Helping Churches. Its a brand-new (one week old!) non-profit formed by Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Church and Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. It seems incredible that they could set up an organization to help out so quickly, but I am sure that with the resources available to the mega-church, and staff as well, you can get things done in a hurry when you need to.

Please visit their website: www.churcheshelpingchurches.com.

This past Sunday, Mark Driscoll spoke about his and Dr. MacDonald's trip to Haiti this past week. He shows some graphic video footage, so be warned and keep the young kids away...


There are more videos available at the Churches Helping Churches website.

This is just an opinion, but from what we know of Haiti's corrupt,

Joni Eareckson Tada

Our friend Ingrid just sent Janie a clip from Joni Eareckson Tada's radio program, and it reminded me that I had prepared this post but never posted it. Thanks so much Ingrid!

Joni is one of my heroes. A quadriplegic due to a diving accident in her teens, she still insists (after many years of quadriplegia) on God's goodness and sovereignty. This in the face of the fact that of course God could have prevented her accident. She is thoroughly biblical and more joyful than most of us with four working appendages.

Here she is on Larry King


This is a 3 part series...parts 2 and 3 will show up after the end of part one. Here is her website.

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And please, please, please find 49 minutes and 54 seconds and click here for a full length message by Joni called, "Suffering for the Sake of..." Don't miss this! Especially if you are going through a valley of your own. Joni has helped me get my feet under me more than a few times....

And by the way, here is what Ingrid sent...

Janie Update 1-22-09

"I'm free!" That's what Janie said as she came home smiling from

Haiti Orphans Meet Their New Parents

Our brother-in-law Joe works for Missionary Flights International, an air-support mission for ministries in Haiti as well as other areas of the Caribbean. MFI was priveleged to be a part of bringing 26 orphans out of Haiti to meet their new parents.

Adoption is a beautiful picture of the gospel:

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." Romans 8:23

"In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:5

Get your box of Kleenex and watch these beautiful children as they join their new families...

Janie Update 1-18-10

Deja' vu all over again!

So once again, Janie is home from the hospital and resting comfortably in the recliner with a drink and her ipod. We had mentioned that Janie would go in today to get the chest tubes out, but it played out a little different than we had thought.

It turned out that

Janie Update 1-14-2010

So its about 3:15 on Thursday, and Janie is resting comfortably in our living room recliner by the pellet stove with a drink and her ipod. She'd had a restless night and felt kind of funny this morning. "Is my breathing weird? Am I dizzy? Is this what shortness of breath feels like?"

She decided to call the cancer center to see if

Choosing To Trust God

Jerry Bridges, in his excellent book, Trusting God, says this about choosing to trust:

"The same David who said in Psalm 56:4, 'In God I trust; I will not be afraid' said in Psalm 34:4, 'I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.' There is no conflict between saying, 'I will not be afraid' and asking God to deliver us from our fears. David recognized it was his responsibility to choose to trust God but also that he was dependent upon the Lord for the ability to do it."

He goes on:

Theological Correctness Part 2

I want to make sure that I'm really clear about that last post. My concern with posting it at all is that I have seen Christians hurt each other by being overly blunt with "The Truth." I am talking about the hard-nosed verbal bludgeoning of another person in the name of defending the Gospel and the Kingdom or God when they are really most interested in winning arguments.

Or to put it another way:
The bull in the china shop of someone's emotions rarely wins someone over to their point of view; they just break a lot of breakable fine china.

Or to put it another way:

Theological Correctness

Yanked this exchange off of the discussion board at Abraham Piper's blog, "22 Words."

jennapants says:

December 7, 2009 at 2:32 pm

This post makes me think of the many times I’ve felt guilty for not *feeling* correct theology.

For instance, sometimes, when I’m trying to tell my Dad what’s going on in my life, he jumps in with the theological pep talk, usually asking first, “Who’s in control?”

I am incredibly grateful to have the sovereignty of God in all things ingrained into my being, but…

How He Loves

What a great song from David Crowder....watch "How He Loves" at Youtube. Lyrics by John Mark McMillan.

Matt Chandler's Cancer

I've mentioned Pastor Matt Chandler from The Village Church in Texas before. It turns out that he has recently (Thanksgiving) found that he has cancer in his brain. Take 5 minutes and listen to him describe his condition as well as his understanding of God's grace to him in the news of cancer. I found it very encouraging and I hope it encourages you as well.

The doctors removed as much of the tumor as they could get on December 4 and he will get radiation and chemo. Here is a recent 'tweet:'  Path report is 2ndary at best...good report doesn't mean much, bad report doesn't mean anything...my days r numbered and nt by ths report

Read some profound thoughts from John Piper on his own cancer from a few years ago here. And if you just can't get enough on this exciting topic, this is good too.

Ref Tagger

Reference Tagger from Logos Bible software...hover the mouse over a Bible reference...and there it is...no more clicking away from the blog to see the verse...go ahead, give it a try right here: Rom. 8:28. Nice, eh?

Click here to get the code for your blog or site. Super easy to install.

Out Of The Doldrums...Janie Update 1-5-10

Well, here is yet another of Janie's emails to our praying friends:

Hello. . . . .again!

So no chest tubes!  My chest xray today showed no change from yesterday so we are in wait and watch mode again.  I am really trying to not talk (hahahahahahaha),

Janie Update 1-4-10

Janie sent this email to our praying friends today:

Hello Everyone!

I was hoping this new year would start out a little happier than it has.  Last week I had a chest tube put in on the right side and it was taken out two days later.  The surgeon was confident it had done its job.  I had a follow-up xray today and much to my dismay

Janie Update 1-2-2010

Happy New Year! Here's Janie's latest. The chest tube is out (yay) but she still has the cough (boo). Please pray that the cough would just disappear so her lungs (both of them) can stay in place and not become detached again. Of course, if the Lord wants the cough to disappear through the use of medicines, please pray that just the right one would be thought of, prescribed and put to work with much success...and very soon too please!

Janie was (hooray!) able to make it to the New Year's worship night that we had planned...and she barely coughed at all! I am so grateful that she could go...it was her idea in the