There’s more than one way to read the Bible, what matters is that you are reading it. I have read the Bible through in a single year but I don’t push that on people. If there are books in the Old Testament you have never read then you need to sooner or later; even though I would agree that the New Testament speaks more directly to Christians. “All scripture is good” but all scripture is not equally useful to our daily walk.
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Google Maps will soon change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Google’s policy regarding geographic features is to list them as they are recognized by official federal sources. Mount McKinley was renamed Denali during Obama’s second term and Google relabeled it as such. The label will now change again to reflect current federal policy. On US versions of Google Maps, the label Gulf of America will appear. On international versions of Maps both names will appear since, outside of the United States, the name is in dispute.
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Sponsored by coffee and brought to you by the weather. It happens to be raining at my house this morning but we are looking forward to several days in a row with temps above freezing, even at night. It won’t last but it’s a welcome break.
This is Happy Monday #572.
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Even if you can’t see the stereogram that makes some beautiful coffee bean wallpaper. There is an image there and this one’s pretty easy. In my experience, I can almost never see these on my phone. I’m an old guy and still begin each day on my laptop.
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When Toby Mac says “Pray for California” it’s not a slant against anyone else in the country that needs prayer. He is not endorsing Hollywood and saying he couldn’t care less about Appalachia. There is an ongoing natural disaster, people are hurting, several have died, and he asked his followers on social media to pray. I donated to relief efforts going to NC and know people that traveled there with church groups to deliver food and supplies. But now California is on fire and I can pray for them, too. It’s not just celebrities with million dollar homes; there are some hard working people that have lost everything. I have visited family in Modesto, California, and attended a Primitive Baptist Church the Sunday morning I was there. They sang old hymns, read the KJV, the men wore ties and coats and the women wore dresses. It was a lot like the Baptist churches I grew up in in the South. Even if, even if, the fires are an act of God’s judgement it is not our place to judge but to pray for those affected by tragedy, share the gospel, and offer food, clothing and shelter as we are able. The comment above reminds me of this:
I prefer apples to oranges.
Oh, I get it, you hate oranges. You didn’t even mention bananas or pineapples. DO SOME RESEARCH!
Plainville, 1949 – I just learned that a film was made in 1949 showing people and places in Plainville, GA. It’s on YouTube, and the video quality is absolutely terrible, but wow. The screen grab above is the back of Unity Baptist Church, where I have been the pastor since 2014. Additions were later made to each side, including a Sunday School wing that doubled the interior square footage of the building, and the outside was bricked up in 1955. The bell tower still looks just like it always has so I am beyond certain that I can identify this building. Here is a link to the video starting at the 1 min 30 min mark for those really interested.
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According to the Bible? Cats are not mentioned in the Bible. Which is kind of weird if you think about how much time the Hebrews spent in Egypt before the Exodus. They lived there 400 years so they not only knew about cats but the Egyptians worshiped them (as well as other animals and the Nile River). The Egyptian pyramids were the first social media; lots of cat pics and people writing on walls, communicating not in words but emojis. Dogs are mentioned in the Bible but never in a good way. The dogs came and licked the sores of Job; Jesus called the Syrophoenician woman a dog in Mark’s Gospel. No mention of cats.
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The Master's Table 