Saturday, April 21, 2007

WHEN GOD IS NOT WELCOME...

NOTE: The timid and faint-hearted or easily upset should not read this blog!

If you are as concerned and angry as I am about the continuing plague of violence affecting America, and you do not mind going to a "youtube" site, the following URL will call up one of several reasons why many of these tragedies affect youth and why they are likely to continue to happen.

WARNING: This video is STRONG stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uNtvFSxYM

What's left of the "greatest generation" weeps at what our country has become and at the evils which continue to destroy the souls of America's youth.

The first step in reclaiming our country is to once again make it "One Nation under God"! And the first step in that process is to pray that God will lift up citizen-leaders whose single hearted purpose is to restore faith and righteousness throughout government and society and in the daily lives of all the people.

If you agree, and you really mean it, pray already!

Until God is welcome again in schools, in media, in homes and in hearts ... and in churches ... Ain't nothin' different goin' to happen. It will only get worse.

And keep praying. Without ceasing!

Amen.

(And Tnx, FH!)

Monday, April 16, 2007

MISSIONS EMPHASIS WEEKEND

MISSIONS FOR THE WORLD
BEING SOME CURRENT AND FUTURES WORKS
OF THE VANCOUVER CHURCH OF CHRIST
IN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC EVANGELISM.


~~Saturday and Sunday were days of focus by the Missions Committee upon the continuing mission outreach of the congregation but with particular attention to two new major missions which are in their infancy now.
~~We were able to see a video DVD from Joy Dan Rogers in Ukraine, showing the ongoing efforts and developments at the Bible Institute there and some of the support also underway to the orphanages and hospitals in the Donetsk area. The Rogers are in their twenty-eighth year of being missionaries supported by this church.
~~News was also shared concerning new local church start-ups, the Let's Start Talking short-term Bible study programs in various countries, the recent works in Australia and Albania, current work in Togo West Africa, Taiwan, and Germany, and similar kinds of updates.
~~Considerable time was given to new missions centering upon our two new missionary families; Ben and Julianna Roberts and boys are going to Niteroi, Brazil; Andrew and Aimee Jo are going to Fort Portal, Uganda (soon after their August-due baby is born). In pictures below are Andrew presenting his plans to the church Sunday morning and the Roberts are captured in a laptop computer photograph. Over the upcoming year or two, the Missions Committee hopes to closely acquaint the congregation with these young folk who are committing to live the upcoming years of their lives in unfamiliar cultures. They are giving up the amenities of luxury to share the greatest treasure of all, the Gospel of Jesus, with people who would otherwise have little opportunity to find eternal salvation.
~~During the weekend there were displays by various groups and individuals depicting special programs, and groups with missions and ministries of all sorts: World Bible School correspondence classes, World Bible Institute lessons, informational booths for each of the countries of interest, photo panels of the Mexico housebuilding trips, and more. There were also classes, a pot-luck luncheon, a the presentation of new flags representing the major nations of emphasis, handouts, and lots of one-on-one visiting about each program, place, or person, often by people who have been in those special places or who are providing the support and liaison to those special places. With some folk dressed in national costumes and much effort spent on visual education, the weekend was a colorful festival of evangelism and information.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

A TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY HART

This weekend I lost a hero. He wasn't a military leader, or a star athlete, a statesman, or a even a relative. He was a cartoonist, and a brillant one, not only for his well-drawn B.C. and Wizard of Id comic strips, but for the carefully crafted dialogue he gave his unique characters. Through them he told the truth.

Johnny Hart was a believer in Jesus Christ. And when he came to this conviction he promptly included his faith in his syndicated newspaper comic strips. The modern media did all it could to dissuade him and when he did not flinch, many papers, including a major one just south of Vancouver dropped the series thinking they were satisfying their readerships. Johnny Hart, whose most famous work is B.C. which used stone-age characters to observe life and often its spiritual meanings, did not "cave in".

Week after week for years, one of my Sunday delights was to check out B.C. and when the theme of the day concerned matters of faith and the power of God, especially the story of Jesus and his gift of salvation, I would cut out the cartoon and add it to my collection. That file is inches thick, and the bulk of its contents concerns truth - Real Truth. As in ""The Way, The TRUTH, and the Life". Thanks for all of it, Johnny.

Maybe it is strange to shed tears for someone who had such a narrow kind of hold on me. I mean, it's just a comic strip! But it often spoke to my heart and spirit, and I especially relished the "stronger" messages it proclaimed to one and all, knowing that even non-believers were at least hearing the message. His precise wording and astute illustrations often presented complex and profound realities in a simple and thrilling package.

For all his funnybook and newspaper lessons, Johnny received a full spectrum of honors and derision. His enemies scolded, and mocked, and generally gnashed their teeth, but he quietly continued despite their spite. His fans rolled with laughter and delighted in the "Sunday Sermons" and weekday views of man as a part of God's world. It was spiritual manna for the soul. Sure it was unconventional. But it preached. Now, with his passing, more than one of us has shed tears of loss and the feeling of an emptiness that even the reruns will not completely satisfy. We have been diminished. A lamp is extinguished, and a window on the world has closed.

No one could read all of his output without realizing how confident Johnny Hart was in his Savior. He surely had not doubt about basics like resurrection and heaven. This is revealed in even greater detail in the many interviews and magazine articles about him, I'm sure there will soon be another round now, this time in articles of tribute. If you see any, clip them for my collection, a portion of which is pictured below.

I have other heros: some of the great writers, a few preachers, one very special college Bible teacher, a handful of Senior Saints, my own three kids and their mother, and a couple of life-long friends who really walk-the-walk. My grandmother Gail, a man named "Wimpy", another named Clark, have passed along. Still, a few others who have not only impressed me but have impacted my life in positive ways are still the subjects of my admiration. I believe heroes do the right thing; they put others first; they aren't hung up on themselves; they are giving, caring, encouraging, patient, and often profound in word and deed. Much like Jesus was.

Johnny Hart was one of my heroes, and I will miss him.

Here's a few of Hart's books, cartoons, and articles in which I delight.

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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

HOME-SCHOOLERS ON AMTRAK

On Tuesday Papa John went with the twins on a "Schools on Trains" trip as the core of our churches fine home school group went to Seattle on Amtrak.
This fine field trip program allows student groups to travel inexpensively to other cities along the train line for educational enrichment opportunities.
About thirty kids and chaperones went to the Big City and enjoyed the four and a half hour turn around by selectively seeing the sights in small groups. Our team of seven hustled across town on busses in the free-fare zone and quickly arrived at the Pacific Science Center at the foot of the Space Needle. With a few minutes to spare the kids quickly scattered throughout the exhibits and hands-on demo units until it was time for the IMAX movie we had come to see.
"The Alps" featured those magnificent mountians which bisect central Europe from northern Italy, across Switzerland, and into Austria. IMAX is a stunning film format in which the movie is projected on huge screen inside a spherical theater. It's like sitting in steep tiers of seats inside one side of an eggshell while the pictures are shown on the inside of the shell opposite you. The screen is 120 wide and six stories tall, so the scale is enormous and the effect is like you are nearly in the film yourself. Consider too that the format uses the largest film ever perfected for motion pictures and the clarity of the image is so convincing that the viewer becomes part of the setting and a virtual participant in the action.
The North Face of the Eiger, a vertical wall of rock and ice a mile high, was the setting of a memorial climb as John Harlin III made the nearly impossible climb that claimed his father's life in 1966. Incredibily, the Imax team was able to accompany him, and in the following days capture the amazing story on their stunning film. Check out a bit of the story at http://www.pacsci.org/imax/alps_love_story.html or by googling "Imax, The Alps".
Meanwhile, back on the train... These kids and their folks are an awesome group. Strangers commented on their happy, positive attitudes and the fact that they were calm, composed, polite, and required little correction on the entire three and a half hour trip. It's true. These are super kids and a joy to be with. They are friends; they are eager learners; they adapt well to adventure. That makes the trips fun.
Special thanks this time to our "wagon-mistress", Judy. Good job, girl! Let's do it again! So, Pike Market, here we come.
(PS When you visit the Science Center don't miss the butterfly room; it's a real treat!)

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Watching Geoffrey's Website


I hope you are watching Geoffrey's website along with the rest of us. He is really becoming a fine photographer. It is fun to watch him drive that nice camera in so many interesting places and later see the best of the results posted daily. I really like his new website format and the variety it displays by showing several photos on a theme.
While bowling it was interesting to watch the "Uncle Geoffrey" pop-up when a new picture formed in his mind and he went after it without the girls always knowing it. Of course, we all like to take pictures of Tabitha, who bowls well.
Ask Dana and the twins.
Thanks Geoffrey. for your view of things.
Visit www.wyattjourney.com and I bet you'll soon add it to your favorites.