Much like the National Baseball Hall of Fame for Major League baseball players, each participant, upon induction, receives the coveted American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame ring and officially becomes one of the Cooperstown Dreams Park Little Majors. The Kodak photo of each player with his teammates is affixed to the Commemorative Induction Plaque for future enshrinement on the walls of the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. Our family will cherish this moment for the rest of our lives!
(Congratulations to Indians for finishing 10th out of 104 teams)
While away, I had a chance to reflect on life in general and the Lord revealed several foundational shattering truths that I plan to share in subsequent blog posts. These truths challenged me to think about life in a different way and challenged long held beliefs that have become TRADITIONS.
Well, I’ve just returned to blogging after two weeks of vacationing and catching up on some much needed rest. While away, I had a chance to reflect on life, marriage, my relationship with God, ministry, and family. Over the course of the next few weeks, I will blog about my reflections and vacation experience. I’m refreshed and ready to get back to work.
BEFORE WE BEGIN…
Once again (just can’t seem to make up my mind) I switched back to the iPhone and put my BlackBerry Bold away.
Check out this video & you’ll understand why:
Mantis Bible Study 4.0 is the most advanced Bible Study Tool available for any mobile platform. Designed exclusively for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, Mantis Bible Study was created to be powerful enough for full-time Bible students and pastors, yet easy enough for the casual reader to use. Here are a few features:
Fantastic support for Bibles with integrated Strong’s Numbers – tap a number to open a definition, tap it again to close it
Additional support for Strong’s Numbers: drill-down to root word(s), tap to find where a number is used throughout Scripture, then tap and preview verses
Easily create bookmarks, notes, and highlights for any verse in the Bible, or even for commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, or other books
References to Scripture inside personal notes are automatically turned into one-tap cross-references
Create, edit, and move bookmarks and bookmark folders
Unique “Analyze Verse” feature shows a single verse in multiple translations on one page, along with any installed commentaries for the selected verse
Fast and flexible, yet simple search system
Save search results as a named folder full of bookmarks
Personal notes and translation notes appear inline with the text and can be toggled on and off, making it easier to view the notes within the context of its related scripture
Highlighting Bar allows highlighting of individual words and phrases in 4 colors
Inline verse-display toggle links for all cross-reference links (in commentaries, dictionaries and other books containing scripture references)
That’s right, it took ONE application to make me switch and after one week of continuous use, I’M HOOKED (for now…)!
By the way, what do you currently use, I’d love to hear your comments!
Ed Stetzer recently compiled a list of 48 questions to ask yourself for honing your personal accountability. Unfortunately, each year we hear of preachers, politicians, and athletes who compromise their integrity and make life-ruining mistakes. Sadly, many of those mistakes could have been avoided with the right accountability systems in place.
For all 48 questions, you will need to check out Ed Stetzer’s original post. Here are my top 15 personal favorites:
Have I spent adequate time in Bible study and prayer?
Did the Bible live in me today?
Am I enjoying prayer?
Have I given priority time to my family?
How do I spend my spare time?
Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
Have I been with a woman anywhere this past week that might be seen as compromising?
Have I been exposed to sexually alluring material or allowed my mind to entertain inappropriate thoughts about someone who is not my spouse this week?
Have any of my financial dealings lacked integrity?
Have I secretly wished for another’s misfortune so that I might excel?
Have I damaged another person by my words, either behind their back or face-to-face?
Is there anything that has dampened my zeal for Christ?
Congratulations on making history as the first African-American President of the United States of America! I admire you for your courage, passion, and tenacity. Additionally, you have proven that you are an effective leader because you assumed leadership when our country was on the brink of collapse. However, with these achievements, there is also some not so good news.
Have you ever been distracted at church even when you came wanting to worship God?Distractions during worship can minimize the powerful impact worship can have.We are easily distracted people.Upon further reflection, I’ve come to believe we have a very low tolerance for distractions (including pastors). Additionally, I’ve discovered that pastoring a large church presents its fair amount of distractions and challenges. It has been said that “confession is good for the soul.” Therefore, it’s confession time for me.
One of the greatest distractions for me: CELL PHONES.
Each week during the sermon I hear cell phones ringing. I wonder how many of these calls have been emergencies?
Let me guess – PROBABLY ZERO!
Cell phones are a great tool for communication but please consider how important it is to get that “important” phone call during church, a movie or anything else where the phone can be a horrible distraction to others. God may speak to you during worship; however, he won’t call you on your cell phone. Here are some alternatives; silent/vibrate mode, off button or leave the darn thing in your car.
While you’re at it go ahead and take the Bluetooth earpiece out of your ear…
it looks ridiculous during worship.
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Best regards,
Clarence E. Stowers, Jr.
