In my opinion, this is Tim Keller at his finest. He shares his story, plus talks about controversial topics such as hell and creation/evolution.
Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller "Fireside Chat" from Brian McGee on Vimeo.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Oxford
On Thursday I realized that we didn't have much going on this weekend. Since it's going to be awhile since we have another free weekend, and since my parents live in Midtown, I called Mandy and asked if she wanted to get away for the night. I've been thinking about taking a trip to Oxford for awhile now, and once Mandy said she was up for it, we decided to go. It turned out to be a great way to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.
Yesterday afternoon we checked into the 5 Twelve Bed & Breakfast. Gotta say that it was top notch.
Here's a picture of it.
After checking in, we headed to the Square. Stop #1 was Square Books, a great independent bookstore I'll be visiting again.
After that was the tricky decision on where to eat. We had heard great things about City Grocery and Ajax Diner. In the end, after reading reviews on Yelp, we settled on Ajax. Gotta say we made a good choice. The sweet potato casserole was unbelievable.
After a restful evening and a great breakfast this morning, we headed to Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner. I confess I couldn't remember much about Faulkner from my English classes, but after reading up on him on Wikipedia, I was ready to go. I love the fact that his home is in a normal neighborhood. "Normal" might not be the best word, since there are some beautiful historic homes all around, but it's not set off by itself.
We were there for just 24 hours, but it was such a refreshing time. Travel is one of those things that definitely refills my tank. Two more pics: the first is me with Mr. Faulkner, the second is me with the lovely Mandy Grisham. We will definitely be making this trip again!
Yesterday afternoon we checked into the 5 Twelve Bed & Breakfast. Gotta say that it was top notch.
Here's a picture of it.
After checking in, we headed to the Square. Stop #1 was Square Books, a great independent bookstore I'll be visiting again.
After that was the tricky decision on where to eat. We had heard great things about City Grocery and Ajax Diner. In the end, after reading reviews on Yelp, we settled on Ajax. Gotta say we made a good choice. The sweet potato casserole was unbelievable.
After a restful evening and a great breakfast this morning, we headed to Rowan Oak, the home of William Faulkner. I confess I couldn't remember much about Faulkner from my English classes, but after reading up on him on Wikipedia, I was ready to go. I love the fact that his home is in a normal neighborhood. "Normal" might not be the best word, since there are some beautiful historic homes all around, but it's not set off by itself.
We were there for just 24 hours, but it was such a refreshing time. Travel is one of those things that definitely refills my tank. Two more pics: the first is me with Mr. Faulkner, the second is me with the lovely Mandy Grisham. We will definitely be making this trip again!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Good News of Jesus
Last night Adam told God that he wanted to become a Christian. Here's how it went down...
After our micro church meeting Mandy went out, and I gave the boys a bath. During bath time Adam started talking to me about using his money to help poor people. He said that he felt bad that sometimes he didn't have his money with him when someone asked for money. But then he took it a step farther by saying that he made a mistake once when someone asked for money. That time he did have some, but he was on his way to the store to buy something, so he didn't give it. He felt sad about this. We talked about it, I gave him the synopsis of When Helping Hurts (not really but kind of), I told him that God loved him no matter what, and that I was proud of him for thinking about what it looks like to help people in need.
While Micah settled in for a show before bedtime, Adam said that he wanted to read the Bible with me. He picked up his topical Children's Bible and turned to the chapter called "How to Go to Heaven." In the first sentence was the word "Christian." He said, "Addie Mae (his cousin) is a Christian. Why can't I be a Christian?" I asked him if he wanted to be a Christian, and then if he knew what a Christian was. Response was Yes and Yes.
My initial thought was to let him think about it and then Mandy and I would talk to him today. But he kept asking questions. He also started confessing his sins. There was truly conviction over ways that he had hurt God and other people. We went to the water park with our micro church a couple of weeks ago. Our family stayed overnight in a hotel. Mandy was sick during the night, and Adam said that he should have been praying for her but he didn't.
There was more talk about sin and how it pushes us farther from God, even more about God's love and the fact that he sent Jesus to rescue us and forgive us from all of that sin, and how we can receive this love and give our lives to God by following Jesus. There were questions about what it looks like practically to follow Jesus.
The more we talked, the more I knew that he was ready. So I asked him if wanted to pray. He said that he did. I first asked him if he wanted me to pray, then he'd repeat. He said that he'd rather just do it himself. So he prayed. He needed help a couple of times, but it was a beautiful and honest prayer to God. And my belief about God tells me that Adam is now a Christian. We talked a bit more, then he called Mandy to tell him (she was also 7 when she became a Christian - that made Adam smile very big).
I am so thankful that God has revealed himself to Adam. This is an answer to a prayer that we (and others) have been praying since Adam was born.
During this conversation Micah came in once to see what we were doing. I said to him, "Adam is going to become a Christian." His response: "What do I get to turn in to?" I asked him if he wanted to stay in with us, and he said, "No, I'm going to go watch my show." He's 4. We have more time.
After our micro church meeting Mandy went out, and I gave the boys a bath. During bath time Adam started talking to me about using his money to help poor people. He said that he felt bad that sometimes he didn't have his money with him when someone asked for money. But then he took it a step farther by saying that he made a mistake once when someone asked for money. That time he did have some, but he was on his way to the store to buy something, so he didn't give it. He felt sad about this. We talked about it, I gave him the synopsis of When Helping Hurts (not really but kind of), I told him that God loved him no matter what, and that I was proud of him for thinking about what it looks like to help people in need.
While Micah settled in for a show before bedtime, Adam said that he wanted to read the Bible with me. He picked up his topical Children's Bible and turned to the chapter called "How to Go to Heaven." In the first sentence was the word "Christian." He said, "Addie Mae (his cousin) is a Christian. Why can't I be a Christian?" I asked him if he wanted to be a Christian, and then if he knew what a Christian was. Response was Yes and Yes.
My initial thought was to let him think about it and then Mandy and I would talk to him today. But he kept asking questions. He also started confessing his sins. There was truly conviction over ways that he had hurt God and other people. We went to the water park with our micro church a couple of weeks ago. Our family stayed overnight in a hotel. Mandy was sick during the night, and Adam said that he should have been praying for her but he didn't.
There was more talk about sin and how it pushes us farther from God, even more about God's love and the fact that he sent Jesus to rescue us and forgive us from all of that sin, and how we can receive this love and give our lives to God by following Jesus. There were questions about what it looks like practically to follow Jesus.
The more we talked, the more I knew that he was ready. So I asked him if wanted to pray. He said that he did. I first asked him if he wanted me to pray, then he'd repeat. He said that he'd rather just do it himself. So he prayed. He needed help a couple of times, but it was a beautiful and honest prayer to God. And my belief about God tells me that Adam is now a Christian. We talked a bit more, then he called Mandy to tell him (she was also 7 when she became a Christian - that made Adam smile very big).
I am so thankful that God has revealed himself to Adam. This is an answer to a prayer that we (and others) have been praying since Adam was born.
During this conversation Micah came in once to see what we were doing. I said to him, "Adam is going to become a Christian." His response: "What do I get to turn in to?" I asked him if he wanted to stay in with us, and he said, "No, I'm going to go watch my show." He's 4. We have more time.
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