In Matthew 14 Jesus came to the disciples walking on water. Peter said “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus told him to come on and Peter got out of the boat and was walking to Jesus on the water. Then Peter began to notice some other things. Matthew says that when he saw the wind, he began to sink. He cried out for Jesus to save him, which he did, and they got into the boat together.
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These puzzles and such are usually the last thing we share at the end of a post so you can spend some time on them. In the spirit of the season we’re just gonna toss this right up here first thing. We can discuss it in the comments if you need a little help or feel particularly good about yourself and want bragging rights. Either way. Click the image to view larger.
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Someone used AI (Artificial Intelligence, not short for Albert) to generate an image of a closed Waffle House with the windows boarded up. The first thing I noticed was the plywood on the inside, not the outside, of the windows which defeats the purpose and it’s not just the windows but also the walls. If you were covering your windows to prevent storm damage, you would not also removed the signage, side the building with OSB, then replace the lettering. I noticed the tables and chairs left outside and the odd yellow stop sign but didn’t say anything. Others have pointed out that you can see the lights through the plywood and I must admit to missing that little detail.
The Waffle House Index is real and while that’s not an official metric used by FEMA, they do use it as a rule of thumb. Several cities in Florida and Georgia saw all Waffle House locations close as Hurricane Helene approached. Perhaps North Carolina received the most damage and loss of life of the six states most affected by Helene. This is a once-in-a-lifetime level event. One helicopter pilot compared the damage and aftermath to Katrina but in the mountains. Instead of boats they airlifting food and water into places like Asheville that were flooded and left cut off from the outside world by all land routes. There were 226 confirmed fatalities (across the six states affected) but there are still thousands without power or access to drinkable water. One bit of good news: According to the Asheville Police Department, 270 of the 300 people reported missing have been alive and well.
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We are officially in the fall season and once we pass the autumnal equinox I quit complaining about all the posts about pumpkin spice, hoodies, bonfires and other fall things. Take at look at this post from back in August. I was struck by the assertion that we were given “basically no time to prepare.” Unless you work at Starbucks, and this person obviously does not, how much preparation do you need? If I wanted a pumpkin spice latte I think I could pull up to the drive through and order with zero prep time.
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James Earl Jones (Jan 17 1931 – Sept 9 2024) Jones not only gave permission but worked with Disney/Lucas Film to preserve the voice of Darth Vader through digital A.I. so the character can continue indefinitely. Click here to watch him read the alphabet.
Continue readingI know, it’s been a few weeks. When The Master’s Table restarted I said not to expect the Deja Vu or Happy Monday, then I immediately started posting every Saturday and Monday. The Monday posts have been pretty consistent but the Satur-deja Vu has suffered from Friday night football games plus the fact that I’ve been under the weather for over a week at this point. But here we go, let’s catch up on the things that kinda sorta matter.
Oh Facebook algorithm, you scamp. Let’s see what violent and/or graphic content you have spared us from this time:
Continue readingA few years ago I wrote a series of posts on what I consider academic discussions. The discussion and debate over Calvinism is, ultimately, academic. It is hotly debated only by people that are already saved. No one shares the gospel by saying “if you are of the elect then God has chosen you and will give you the faith to be saved.” Only after being saved do we debate whether we chose God or God chose us, and to what degree we had anything to do with it. The unsaved need to hear the gospel and ideally they would not hear Christians argue over Calvinism or any other doctrine. That needs to be an internal discussion. Another example is the age of the earth. I refuse to argue this issue because ultimately there is no way to know who is right and wrong and it doesn’t make any difference. If Jim believes the earth is 6,000 years old and Amy believes the earth is 4.5 billion years old, all that really matters is whether they believe Jesus was dead and made alive again for our justification. We could host a debate, make the respective cases and even have a panel of judges determine who wins. But the outcome of the debate would have no bearing on when or how God created the world. There would be no impact on how I love my wife, raise our child or treat my neighbor. There is no meaningful application.
Coincironical – adjective; a combination of the words coincidence and irony, used when you know it should be one or the other but are often told you are using irony wrong. Example: When I re-started the Master’s Table I said we would take it easy and probably not be doing the Satur-deja Vu and Happy Monday posts like we used to a regular basis then, coincironically, some weeks Satur-deja Vu and Happy Monday are all that gets posted. Last week I missed a Saturday post but it was a good day spent with family.
Family members and friends IRL know that my mother passed away a couple of months ago. She had a short struggle with ovarian cancer and spent just a few weeks on hospice care. Dad passed away 14 years ago and is buried at the Georgia National Cemetery near Canton, GA. This past Saturday, kind of a last minute thing with little planning, we met up with my brother and his family to view the newly cut head stone. I wrote lengthy obituary post for Lewis Bunch back in 2010 but after everything in May and June I was tired. My mush brain would hardly function well enough to do daily activities. When Dad was sick, Mom was his caregiver. It takes a visible toll on a person’s physical health to care for another person and manage a home at the same time. Teresa and I were in Kentucky back then and my brother Johnny did more than his fair share when Dad passed. So when Mom went on hospice care I was determined to be more available than I had been with Dad. Our immediate family had other things going on this summer as well but someone was with Mom during her hospital stay and then at her home at all times for several weeks. We made it work because that’s what you do for family. We were extremely blessed to have the support network of church members and extended family. The viewing and funeral turned into a reunion of sorts of old church friends, family and other close friends that we just don’t take the time to spend time with. At one point I stood in a small circle of my friends and realized a couple of them had never been in the same place at the same time.
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I am preaching through the book of Romans at Unity Baptist Church. As an aside let me say this: there is a long list of links in the RSS feed in the left-hand sidebar from our church website. The number of links to display is set at three (3) and always has been. One day it just started showing 10. I checked to see if the settings had changed and they had not. I changed the number to 10, updated my settings, went back into the design editor, changed it to three… and it still displays 10 posts, the maximum number allowed. At any rate, I am seven sermons into the Romans series and all of them are linked to the left of this post.
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As the summer games wind down, the United States may bring home the most medals since the epic 1984 Olympics in Los Angles. The US is projected to win 124 total medals but the race for gold is still a toss up between the US and China (as I write this on Friday evening). Here’s a recap of how the US has done over the last 40 years:
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The Master's Table 