Happy Anniversary to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter who on July 7th celebrated 76 years of marriage. Carter was governor of Georgia and President of the United States from 1976 to 1980. He is the longest lived president in American history and they are the longest married presidential couple. At the age of 97 he continues to serve as a deacon and teach Sunday School at his church and Plains, GA, and they still volunteer one week each year at Habitat for Humanity.
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In iMonk Radio Podcast #96 Michael talks about shutting down the Internet Monk website and starting a new project, Jesus Shaped Spirituality. So let’s address the Internet Monk website first. He was warning people at the time that if where was anything they wanted to keep forever they needed to download it and save it. His plan was to heavily redact much of the material he had written and posted between the end of 2000 and the spring of 2008. He did delete some older posts but never to the extent he discussed early on. Internet Monk continued for another decade after Michael passed and there are 20 years worth of posts archived today at iMonk.blog
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Discussion of putting the Internet Monk website into mothballs, making it little more than a frontpage for the podcast, and Michael’s next big project Jesus Shaped Spirituality. I will have more to say later about that project but for now let’s keep this post the same size and shape as the other iMonk Radio posts.
The late Macho Man Randy Savage, shown here loving his country.
So on Saturday I said something like “we’ll see if Van Til comes in on Monday.” We’re giving Van Til the long weekend and I’m going to wish you all a Happy Monday myself. We’ll start with a couple of scripture ref’s and inspiration quotations as usual and then do a very red, white and blue post. Heat up the grill, it’s 4th of July Happy Monday!
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Photo Op – I was a 16-year-old high school student when I got my first summer job in 1992. My dad spent much of his adult life working in textile mills and he knew that a department would be a adding second shift that summer. Gary Quarles is a friend of the family, his father-in-law being my church pastor at the time, and he was going to supervise that second shift. He needed to hire a full crew so the old adage about who you know certainly proved to be true. John Thornton was the owner of American Rug Crafstmen in Sugar Valley, GA. He never moved to Georgia and drove down each day from Maryville, TN. After being chosen Entrepreneur of the Year in 1992 the local newspaper came out for an interview and Thornton gave him a tour of the mill. It was my first day of my first job. Gary, who has also pastored a Baptist Church for several years now, was literally explaining the job to me. I had only been there for about 10 minutes when the owner of the company and a newspaper photographer walked up to “my” station. True story.
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Ministering to students; Cornerstone 2008 coming soon; discussion of “Jesus Shaped Spirituality” and what to do with those ideas; music by Sarah Groves; discovered Internet Monk fanpage on Facebook (that page still exists but doesn’t get many posts these days); union with Christ.
Yes, you can get one free original glazed doughnut each time the hot light is on for the rest of the summer until Labor Day. I would support that business by paying for a cup of coffee to dunk that in, if it were me.
This is Happy Monday #485.
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There was a short list of decisions to look for the US Supreme Court to make before the end of June. Earlier this week they decided the New York law making concealed carry permits virtually impossible to obtain was unconstitutional. This does not mean that all New Yorkers and their guests can now carry firearms. It does mean they will have to draft legislation and put a policy in place that allows the license process to be fair moving forward. Forbidding anyone to carry is a violation of 2nd amendment rights but it doesn’t throw the door open to everyone being armed in public. The decision came down just yesterday that overturns Roe v. Wade. Both sides need to consider what that decision really means. The Supreme Court has not outlawed abortion, nor can they do so. Their decision is based on an interpretation of the Constitution that does not believe abortion is a protected right for all Americans. It removes the federal government from the issue and makes abortion a state’s rights issue. About half the nation (in terms of the number of states) have laws in place that will almost immediately restrict or eliminate abortion. Those 24 states are where you would expect them to be, in the central and southern parts of the country. States like California and New York will continue to have the most liberal abortion laws in the nation, just as they have for the past 50 years. While I agree that both of these decisions are the right ones, I’ve already heard voices from both sides that exaggerate the implications. The timing is unfortunate on these issues as well, considering how divided our nation is politically at this time. When I wrote Where’s the Middle back in 2008, I was so hopeful things might get better than I couldn’t imagine how much worse they would get instead. Again, to be clear, these are decisions that I believe are right but honestly never expected the Court to make. And if you are celebrating victory please realize that it’s about to get ugly. Hunker down, because far from over the real fight is just about to start.
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This episode begins with a reflection on the invitation as part of evangelism. Discussion is on the ways Michael has changed over the course of his Christian journey.
The Master's Table 