Everywhere you turn as a Christian, you see the rising tide of defeat. Watch the movie Expelled, learn about the Freedom of Choice Act read about Proposition 8 in CA which is being labeled H8 and you quickly get the feeling that Christianity isn't welcome anymore in America. Its a sad thing to observe the tide change.
Well here's some good news for you. Watch this video put out by CBS and you'll see underground Christianity flourishing in China. Its a good view and will help cheer the heart if you're like me and find America's direction depressing.
Timmay.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Elise's Prayer
Okay, so I'm cross posting, but Elise truly has the faith of a child and it's worth reading.
Click for Elise's Prayer
Click for Elise's Prayer
Black Eye
Well, below is a picture of my black eye. Its healed up by now, but this is what it looked like at the time. So how did it happen? 25 miles into a 110 mile dirt bike ride in Salida, CO, a tree reached out and grabbed my bike. Yep, the tree got a hold of the pipe on my bike and basically stopped the bike in its tracks. I went over the handle bars and banged my helmet protected head on the beautiful forest single-track. What caused the black eye was the tight fitting goggles I had on, jamming my glasses into my face.
Good new was, the glasses, myself and the bike all survived the wreck so I hopped back on and continued out the remainder of the ride. And boy do I love riding in Salida. The trails are long, beautiful, and best of all, vacant.
So there it is... Without glasses for full effect.
Good new was, the glasses, myself and the bike all survived the wreck so I hopped back on and continued out the remainder of the ride. And boy do I love riding in Salida. The trails are long, beautiful, and best of all, vacant.
So there it is... Without glasses for full effect.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Embarassing Tim & good camping pics
Well, if you want to see a really embarrassing video of me dancing (I can't dance) go to my wife, Sarah's blog. You'll see lots of fun stuff. Definitely a lighter side of things. There you'll get to see the fun side of the Bennett family!!
(plus folks actually enjoy reading her blog as opposed to mine)
http://bennettbabble.blogspot.com/
Tim.
(plus folks actually enjoy reading her blog as opposed to mine)
http://bennettbabble.blogspot.com/
Tim.
What makes Christians different
I haven't blogged in a while because as you know, this is where I store my thoughts. When I have good thoughts, this is where they go and when I don't, nothing gets written. So lately I've been working and been busy a lot, but I have been thinking...
Something my 2 good buddies and myself have talked about on multiple occasions is Christians. One of my good buddies is a professional plumber who owns his own business. In his many years of business he has made the philosophy to never do business with a business owner who openly advertises to running a Christian business. We've queried him multiple times and forced him to divulge exactly why and how he got burned by Christian business owners and after much thinking he boiled it down to he never knew whether or not he could trust them. Sometimes they were good to do business with and other times they weren't. Sounds normal enough, eh? Everyone tends to be like that. But something in particular got to my buddy. He said it basically boiled to down to if the going got rough, they were most likely to bail and leave him in a jam. He also said with most business' you know if they're dirty or if they're good. They usually fall into one of those 2 categories, but with Christian business' you never quite knew and that left you open for getting burned.
So we discussed this. Why is it this way? After discussing this long and hard, we basically came to the conclusion that Christians are all too good at rationalizing away their bad behavior. Really, we want to do the right thing, but when the going gets tough or when we're really tempted we fall prey to the easy way out and do what's wrong. One might chalk it up to one's integrity, but tonight I've been thinking about it and I think there's more to it.
It all comes down to the one thing that makes Christianity different from all other religions in the world. The very thing that makes Christianity special. Without this one thing Christianity would be like ALL other religions. Its the reason Christianity is the one and only true way to God. Many will tell you there are many paths to God, that its extremely arrogant and rude of Christians to claim they know the one true way to God. That we have no right for proclaiming such audacities. Well I'm here to tell you the one thing that makes you hate Christians and their behavior is the one thing that makes Christianity so very special. Its about a relationship. Its knowing and talking with your God and Creator. Its about knowing Him intimately and personally. Its about laying your life down each and every day before God and saying, "Not my will, but yours." Its about spending time in prayer.
The fact that I don't do this every day is the very reason I give Christians the bad label of "Hypocrite". I tear up as I write this because its true.
Its not about rules and regulations. Its not about politics and Democrats or Republicans. No, its about a relationship with Christ. Whether this relationship flourishes or flounders is the exact reason you either meet a holy man or a hypocrite. Its just that simple.
That my friend, is what makes Christians and Christianity different.
Tim.
Something my 2 good buddies and myself have talked about on multiple occasions is Christians. One of my good buddies is a professional plumber who owns his own business. In his many years of business he has made the philosophy to never do business with a business owner who openly advertises to running a Christian business. We've queried him multiple times and forced him to divulge exactly why and how he got burned by Christian business owners and after much thinking he boiled it down to he never knew whether or not he could trust them. Sometimes they were good to do business with and other times they weren't. Sounds normal enough, eh? Everyone tends to be like that. But something in particular got to my buddy. He said it basically boiled to down to if the going got rough, they were most likely to bail and leave him in a jam. He also said with most business' you know if they're dirty or if they're good. They usually fall into one of those 2 categories, but with Christian business' you never quite knew and that left you open for getting burned.
So we discussed this. Why is it this way? After discussing this long and hard, we basically came to the conclusion that Christians are all too good at rationalizing away their bad behavior. Really, we want to do the right thing, but when the going gets tough or when we're really tempted we fall prey to the easy way out and do what's wrong. One might chalk it up to one's integrity, but tonight I've been thinking about it and I think there's more to it.
It all comes down to the one thing that makes Christianity different from all other religions in the world. The very thing that makes Christianity special. Without this one thing Christianity would be like ALL other religions. Its the reason Christianity is the one and only true way to God. Many will tell you there are many paths to God, that its extremely arrogant and rude of Christians to claim they know the one true way to God. That we have no right for proclaiming such audacities. Well I'm here to tell you the one thing that makes you hate Christians and their behavior is the one thing that makes Christianity so very special. Its about a relationship. Its knowing and talking with your God and Creator. Its about knowing Him intimately and personally. Its about laying your life down each and every day before God and saying, "Not my will, but yours." Its about spending time in prayer.
The fact that I don't do this every day is the very reason I give Christians the bad label of "Hypocrite". I tear up as I write this because its true.
Its not about rules and regulations. Its not about politics and Democrats or Republicans. No, its about a relationship with Christ. Whether this relationship flourishes or flounders is the exact reason you either meet a holy man or a hypocrite. Its just that simple.
That my friend, is what makes Christians and Christianity different.
Tim.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Elise Dancing
We went to Memorial Park for the 4th of July and Elise had a lot of fun dancing to the live music. Enjoy!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The Shack (Part 2)
Well, I've been doing some thinking and while listening to the sermon this morning, I realized something. I was wrong in my previous post. In my previous post, I posed the question if it was okay to be mad with God and basically answered, Yes, God's big enough to handle it. However, even though God is big enough to handle it and God is long suffering enough to allow us to yell at Him that doesn't under any circumstances make it right. The end of the book of Job shows this plain as day and I was mistaken for saying otherwise. My apologies for being wrong.
So now about The Shack. Well, I've read 2 more chapters and talked with some friends at lunch about the book. Basically, I personally feel like it's two separate books, merged together. The first part being real and the second part, fictional odyssey. However, my friends pointed out that the start of the book set the stage for a fictional odyssey and I should have been expecting it all along. They're right, but being the crazy person I am, I still wish The Shack would've gone on with the real part of the book. As the real part of the book was tangible real life that can be useful for someone else going through the same turmoil...
That being said, the fictional odyssey part is definitely worth reading and does a good job of challenging how one views God. You won't get very far in the book before saying, "Wow, I hadn't thought of that." (At least I didn't) So I do recommend it for reading. I won't however speak to its validity doctrine wise as I'm not nearly qualified enough to do so. (Not even remotely)
Basically, I'm even more so realizing that I don't have it all figured out...
Timmay.
So now about The Shack. Well, I've read 2 more chapters and talked with some friends at lunch about the book. Basically, I personally feel like it's two separate books, merged together. The first part being real and the second part, fictional odyssey. However, my friends pointed out that the start of the book set the stage for a fictional odyssey and I should have been expecting it all along. They're right, but being the crazy person I am, I still wish The Shack would've gone on with the real part of the book. As the real part of the book was tangible real life that can be useful for someone else going through the same turmoil...
That being said, the fictional odyssey part is definitely worth reading and does a good job of challenging how one views God. You won't get very far in the book before saying, "Wow, I hadn't thought of that." (At least I didn't) So I do recommend it for reading. I won't however speak to its validity doctrine wise as I'm not nearly qualified enough to do so. (Not even remotely)
Basically, I'm even more so realizing that I don't have it all figured out...
Timmay.
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