Last week I attended the Presbytery of the Southwest (PCA) meeting with Pastors Phil Kruis and Luke Evans, Parker Tenet who is the University of Arizona RUF minister, and Ruling Elders Dean Saxton and Paul Marien in Alamogordo, NM. I really enjoy attending Presbytery, call me crazy, but I am one of those weird guys that actually enjoys it. Presbyterianism is, I believe, the most biblical model and the most effective for church leadership, disciple, and shepherding. It is a beautiful thing really! At this meeting there was a lot of laughs, a lot of business was done, and...
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Mt. Wrightson/Madera Canyon, AZ
These are some pictures from a recent hike up Mt. Wrightson. The hike is a total of around 10.8 miles if you take the Old Baldy trail and has close to 4000 feet of elevation gain. The views are spectacular! The hike is strenuous but worth it for the views. The nearby observatory A view west toward Green Valley, notice the mine trailings A view up to the peak of Mt. Wrightson (in March 08) Wild Turkeys
Mosin-Nagant
The Mosin-Nagant is the first firearm I have ever bought. It has a date stamp of 1942, and was made in the former Soviet Union. I’m have never really been “into” guns, but for me, this is a very interesting gun with an interesting history. The Mosin-Nagant is a bolt action internal magazine fed, military rifle used by the Russian Imperial Army and later the Soviet Union. The rifle’s initial design in 1891 was a compromise between the two designs submitted by Sergei Ivanovich Mosin, and Léon Nagant, who was a Belgian. Mosin’s rifle was used with a Nagant...
The Sovereignty of God
The other day I had an interesting discussion. Really, it was a debate on the sovereignty of God. It was said to me: “God only knows about what is going to happen, but does not control things.” Well, naturally I reject this line of thinking and said so, but it got me to thinking about God’s sovereign control of the world and man’s responsibility. For most people, the idea that we are not in total control of our lives, but that God is in control, is incongruous. In the discussion I had, it was said that a loving God...
Preaching Concept
John Piper has a really interesting article on preaching on concept and not simply contextualization. The adventure of preaching sometimes is taking the Biblical truths we work through in the study and bringing it out in a helpful way in the pulpit. There are many books and theories as to how best preach. I think it is safe to say that the key to Biblical preaching is through great preparation and pray. Here is a quote from Piper’s article. We must pray and preach so that a new mental framework is created for seeing the world. Ultimately, this is...
Contemplations on Parenthood
Becoming a parent is an exciting and joyous thing. . . it is also a scary thing. The realization that we are bringing another human being into the world bears an enormous responsibility. Sarah and I have been discussing our philosophy of parenting. What I think both of us realize is that it is easier to talk about and will be harder to do, but at least we are talking and planning. I mean let’s face it, we will most assuredly mess up somewhere along the way. We desire to do much to raise our children in the fear...
Electricity Shortages?
So I was talking to my parents today and the first thing my dad says is “If we lose our connection, it’s because they are cutting off electricity for hours at a time here”. About 10 minutes into our conversation, sure enough, the connection was gone. Unfortunately, for them, it is 4:30, time for dinner. This is the 3rd day of electricity shortages. And this from a country that is supposed to host the World Cup in 2010 – yes, South Africa! Apparently, people have been warning that this would happen and now it has. The domino effect has...
Google Analytics
One of the really cool and amazing things about starting a website/blog is how quickly people seem to find it. One of the tools that We used on this site, on rinconpres.org, as well as many other sites I have worked on is Google Analytics. Google Analytics allows the webmaster to see who comes to the site, how long they stay there and what they are interested in seeing. It’s kind of neat to know that someone across the country or around the world is looking at your site. We have told some of our friends and family about...