Free From Doubt- A blog by a seeker

Thank goodness the Science writer at the times has written a piece that allows us to relax about a few things. This comes in handy during these stressful times. At least on my upcoming camping trip I can feel good about using my A/C, packing my Nalgene water bottles and grilling up some franks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/29tier.html?ex=1375070400&en=e12e4cdaa75718f6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I almost cut myself with my razor this morning (accidentally of course) when I heard the latest news about the latest budget deficit news. The government is projecting a 482 billion dollar defict next year alone. I took us decades to accumulate a 4 trillion or higher combined debt and now we have 10 percent of that in one year?! Unreal. We have to borrow every dollar of that shortfall and like many American families these days our credit is not as squeaky clean as it used to be. We will shortly be at the mercy of China because they are who we are currently mooching money from.

I don't envy the next President. No matter who it is.

I've been reading a lot about some of the old time ball players lately and in particular enjoyed a book titled "The Glory of Their Times" which is a collection of oral essays by many of the players themselves. (The book was published in the 60's when many of the dead ball era players were old, but still alive.) All of the players had nothing but fond remembrances of the player on the left, Honus Wagner. I had heard that his baseball card was incredibly rare and worth millions but I knew very little about the ball-player. According to his peers and his life-time statistics he was incredible on and off the field. He played many years for the Pittsburgh Pirates and was a great hitter and defensive player. He loved the game. It also turns out that he was very photogenic. This picture portrays so much and I do believe that it is one the best images I have come across of the great Honus Wagner.

I have a good friend who meets with me every week for Bible study and prayer. We also worked together in the past but I have to say that our friendship is based more on our spiritual journeys than what we do for a living. It is also a good accountability relationship.

Anyway, we decided to go to a Good Friday Service this week instead of just doing our regular breakfast thing. We attended Good Friday mass at St. David's Episcopal Church in Roswell this morning. It was a service that was immensely solemn and included a veneration of the cross. It was an overwhelmingly moving service for me. We are bombarded by so much noise in our lives today. Our culture insists that we be distracted. We have TVs, phones, ipods, flashing signs, screaming kids, demanding clients and bosses and the magnified noise of our own self-criticism. There were two extended moments of intense silence during the service and I honestly think that my mind went into shock. It clearly did not know how to handle an absence of stimuli. I felt real feelings of panic and nervousness for a moment before I settled down and enjoyed the silence. For the first time in a long time I took a moment to "Be still and know that he is God."  I never get that feeling at North Point and I don't expect to. North Point is about loudness and culture conformity and marketing. That is ok and serves a definite purpose but for a brief time I merged with the stillness of my heart's meditation and felt at peace.

Then came the homily by Rev. Anne Elizabeth. I had forgotten how much I love this minister. She is one of the Godliest women I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Her words today were brief but powerful and they related perfectly to the sparseness of the setting and the seriousness of the event being memorialized. Christ's death and atonement for us. She spoke of Christ's ultimate relinquishment. He gave up everything for us. He took upon himself every form of abuse imaginable and despite that he responded with love in giving us the ultimate gift of love, salvation from our wickedness.

She told us that the best way for us to mark the occasion of Good Friday is to use Christ's gift to relinquish something in our own life. We need to give up our insecurities, our doubts and our sin to the altar of Christ's sacrifice. It was incredibly moving.  We then got in line to venerate the cross and take communion. I could sense God's presence clearly as I knelt on the hard, cold stone altar.

I sent an email to Rev. Anne Elizabeth later, thanking her for her words. Her response was amazing in its humility. She said that she was preaching to "herself."

A. I never thought I would see this kind of poll on Christianity Today.com, I guess it is a reflection of how much the adult film industry has seeped in to our culture.

B. It seems like a lot of people are lying....I guess the easy answer is I used to but don't anymore. Yeah..that's it.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/features/poll.html