Jesus or Bust

I am utterly amazed at the grace, mercy, love, and patience of Jesus Christ.  Have you ever become annoyed by someone asking the same question over and over you have already answered?  Sometimes we are like that with Jesus.  Life settles down, things get routine, and we start questioning: what am I doing?  Do I make a difference?  Am I answering his call for my life?  It is not a bad thing to ask these questions, but remember if you started off following his plan, and you have not willfully disobeyed him, then you just may be going through one of those times where you just have to stick it out.  It is the daily faithfulness of the everyday saint, not the famous sermon or hit song, that is the engine of the Church.  Sometimes it helps to just think of this part of the journey as the straight stretch; enjoy the peace, enjoy the pace, and be ready for the hills and curves up ahead.  Also, don't forget to fasten your sign securely, so everyone knows that no matter what lies ahead, it is "Jesus or Bust."

That One Thing

Curly, the enigmatic tough cowboy played by Jack Palance in the "City Slickers" movies, had a great quote.  He told the New Yorkers to "find that one thing."  Of course, he never said what that ONE thing was!  For Christians, we know the one thing is Christ.


Let's not grow apathetic in our faith.  If we are blessed, we should focus on blessing others.  If we are talented, we should focus on serving others.  If we are feeling aimless, we should make missions our purpose.  Take a step of faith, even a small one, and see what God can do.  Corrie Ten Boom once said, "Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible."  You don't have to be a missionary in the slums of Calcutta for this to be true.  


Turn your perspective inside out- it is not about us, but Christ- and you will see amazing things happen in your life and faith.  Remember: hang on to that ONE thing!

Fiction or Non-Fiction?

What speaks to you most?  Do stories and their messages stick with you, or do you need to hear it plain and simple?  Let me know what you think!

Technology

iPad and Kindle...what are these new gadgets?  What do they have to do with Faith and Facts or Millennium?

In short, they are more ways for people to read  books- without paper.  I have to make a decision: do I pay to convert my books to an "EPUB" format so they can be sold and distributed directly to iPad and Kindle users?  Unlike paper, the answer is not black and white.

The Kindle and the iPad are handy and impressive.  The Kindle is essentially a document reader connected to the Internet so you can purchase books and read them on the spot.  The iPad is a little more like a small, flat, touch screen computer also connected to the Internet.  You can read books like the Kindle (and even "turn pages" with the touch screen), but you can also get on Facebook, Twitter, send email, watch video, listen to music, and other handy applications.

Will Faith and Facts and Millennium be available on the iPad and Kindle?  Actually, they already are!  You can download them in Adobe .PDF files, which are now able to be viewed on the Kindle with the latest software update, and the iPad with the new .PDF converter app that costs $.99.  Of course you can still download the books and view them the "old fashioned way" on a computer, or you can get a shiny new print copy sent right to your door.  There are 6 + billion people in the world that get mail; there are a billion computers in use around the world, and there are a few million Kindles and iPads out there, owned undoubtedly by folks who also have a computer at home.  I'm going to stick with the .PDF files for now.

Sometimes it is best to to hold off a bit and see where all the dust settles before rushing off to embrace the latest technology.  All the folks who bought Sony Beta VCR's and HD DVD's know what I'm talking about.

Originality or Purpose?

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."  C.S. Lewis.  


I have struggled a bit with the limited scope of Faith and Facts, yet every time I question what I wrote, the Lord patiently confirms that I have said what he put on my heart.  Faith offers much for the mind, but ultimately it is a simple matter of the heart.

Question of the Week

The question of the week: to kick this blog off, how do you think Faith and Facts could possibly help an unbeliever or new believer with their faith?