Firefox is trying to create a world record of the most software downloads in 24hrs with their release of Firefox 3. I’ve been using Firefox almost exclusively (except for testing sites I design, since 2005). Join the crowd by clicking the graphic.

Well, today I got an email saying I’ve been accepted at this year’s Youth Bible School. I’m pretty excited about going, since I haven’t been back East for over 2 years now and I’ve never been to YBS at Ephrata Christian Fellowship. HB from our church went last year, and came back with glowing reports of it, so it should be a good experience. Now I’d better head on over to kayak.com and get myself a plane ticket.

Answers in Genesis has a new look to their already fantastic site.  You can check it out for yourself at http://www.answersingenesis.org

I stayed up fairly late last night watching the debate on ABC’s Nightline between 2 Christians (Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort) and 2 atheists (Brian Sapient and Kelly) about the question of whether God exists.  There were many of the same arguments I’d heard before, with some newer ones that made me think a little deeper. 

The thing I found most interesting was the way the tables have turned in the way the argument over faith vs reason goes compared with 50 years ago.  Now it seems the atheists are playing defense, trying to defend their reason while the Christian’s are playing offense, taking head on the questions that fly thick and fast and asking many of their own to prove that God really does exist.  In the mid-1900’s it was the other way around, or so it seems to me, with Christians desperately trying to hold on to the possibility that God does exist despite the new “advances” in science that seemed to prove otherwise.  Of course, public education continues to teach the “scientific” ideas about origins which if you believe, makes Christianity false, however, there is a definite knowledge by most students of the creation vs evolution and God vs reason debates.

If you’d like to read about the whole debate yourself, here’s the link:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=3130360&page=2

I just finished reading the very intriguing narrative detailing the SMBI Costa Rica Tour over on Hans Mast’s blog, one of my regular reads.  Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute has to be one of the most unusual Mennonite Bible Schools out there.   I highly respect the work they have accomplished with young people, as well as the witness they are through their music and outreach ministries.  I encourage you to check it out.  (Oh, and you gotta love the photography) 

I probably won’t be going, but I might view the live webcasts of this event. I thought I’d post it here for anyone else out there in the blogosphere who might be interested.

The website is http://www.revivalconference.com/

“How long, Lord?” - Psalm 79:5

Will God send another great awakening? Can revival still change nations? There are over 10,000 conferences that happen every year in America. The “Revival Conference” is not to be just another conference but a honest, sincere, earnest plea for the desperate need of revival in North America. There is no cost to attend the event. There will be a minimal of materials sold. There will be no big bands. The conference will have the cheif object to be God-glorifying. The speakers will come on their own accord trusting God for provision. There will be no emphasis on money during the event. A minimal amount of materials will be sold. The event will be a simple, apostolic, yearning for a genuine biblical revival in our day.

FREE REGISTERATION

This conference is hosted by the ministry of sermonindex.net and is a inter-denominational event. The event will be hosted at the “Church Of God, Arlington Avenue” venue which has been freely given to be used for this event. The conference is not offically affiliated with any denomination or specific church.

There is no cost to attend the conference but it is asked that you pre-register at: http://revivalconference.eventbrite.com to secure a seat for the event.

SPEAKERS

Roger Ellsworth - has been pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Benton, Ill., since 1988. He is a former president of Illinois Baptist State Association and a former trustee at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Author of book “Come, Down Lord” an exposition on Isaiah relating to revival.
Harold Vaughan - After graduation from Bible School in 1979, Harold Vaughan launched out into full-time evangelism. To date his ministry has led him to preach in forty-six states and many foreign countries. The major emphases of this ministry are three-fold: Spiritual Life Crusades; Prayer Advances; and Christ Life Publications.
Denny Kenaston - saved in 1972 out of the “Hippy culture.” The Lord Jesus delivered them from drugs, drinking, and many other things that go along with that life style. Helped to form the Charity Christian Fellowship church where he serves as a elder. He also travels extensively in a church planting, and preaching ministry.
Don Currin - Don has a balanced ministry challenging believers with solid Biblical preaching while reaching out to the lost. He has conducted hundreds of evangelistic and revival meetings, men’s retreats, camp ministries, and sponsoring life-issues related conferences. He is also a desired conference and Bible college speaker.

Dean Taylor - is the current editor of the “Heartbeat of the Remnant” magazine which is distributed throughout the world through the Charity Gospel Ministries outreach. Dean has a burden and passion for revival and desires to see the Church be all that God intends it to be.
Ron Bailey - residing from Reading, UK where he is part of a local independent fellowship. At various stages of Ron’s pilgrimage he has been a formal pastor, home church leader, bible school tutor, conference speaker. Ron’s public time is now spent in preaching and teaching in the UK and overseas and in his website ministry Bible Base.

God allowed us the privilege of little Elijah’s brief stay here on earth. It was only a moment, so short, yet what an impact his tiny life has had on our church and our lives. We grieve because of his abscence, yet we know that his current experience is so much better. No more feeding tubes, no more respirators, no more struggling to breathe and cling to fragile human life. We look forward in anticipation to that glad reunion day, when God will wipe all tears from our eyes.

Elijah Appel’s funeral will be held at 10:00am, Wednesday February 21st 2007, at the Peace Lutheran Church in Silvana, WA. Here are directions from the I-5:

1. Take exit 208 (Silvana/Arlington)
2. Turn West towards Silvana on the Pioneer Hwy.
3. Drive through Silvana.
4. At the far end of Silvana, take a left at Larson Rd.
5. The church building can be seen immediately on the right.

I was introduced to some excellent messages from Summit Ministries.  Here are the topics covered in these audio recordings:

1. Why Students Walk Away from the Faith
2. How We Lost Our Minds - The Challenge of Postmodernism
3. Guarding Your Heart In A World Of Distraction
4. The Brave New World of Biotechnology
5. Why Does God Let Me Hurt. The Problem of Evil and Suffering
6. Is Jesus the Only Way?
7. The Difference a World View Makes

I just finished listening and taking notes on #’s 1 and 4.   I hope to plow through all of them fairly quickly.  Wow, very informational.  But beyond that, the speakers did an excellent job of connecting the realities of today’s world challenges with the answers that we have in God’s Word.  Though these people are definitely “cut from a different cloth” mentally and culturally, than I am familiar with, I had no problem understanding the message that came across. 

I strongly recommend these messages, especially to the college and pre-college crowd.  We need this kind of training to help us think the same way God does about today’s world, to see through “Biblical glasses” and engage the culture without succumbing to it’s pressures. 

Well, enough said.  I think you can order them from the site, or if you are a close friend and aquaintance, I’ll just lend you the CD’s I have.

I have spent most of my life acknowledging the importance of Christ’s birth, apart however, from the traditionally specified time of year. Because of this unique experience, I am able to view all the associated cultural and religious accoutrements from a different perspective than those raised with early memories of the season. This morning I came across a song that I’d heard of before, but never read all the words to. Noting the time that this song was written makes me wonder what the author, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, would have penned were he alive today:

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head

“There is no peace on earth,” I said,

“For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Historical Note: This hymn was written during the American civil war, as reflected by the sense of despair in the next to last stanza of the current, common presentation (above). The original stanzas 4 and 5 (below) speak of the battle, and are usually omit­ted from hymnals:

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound the carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn, the households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Last Friday, I had the unforgettable opportunity to visit the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hosted by the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. An advertisement I read says it all, “2,000 years in a cave - 105 days in Seattle”. The exhibit runs September 23, 2006 through January 7, 2007. It is housed in 12,000 square feet of switch-backed corridors which are lined with hundreds of historical artifacts and photos documenting the scrolls, from their creation to their discovery and subsequent restoration and interpretation. The tour begins with a short video detailing some of the main historical events, with commentary from respected archaeologists and history experts. Then you are handed a cell-phone-shaped audio device on which you enter the numbers corresponding to each photo or artifact you encounter on the tour. Dubbed “a self-guided audio tour”, it works pretty well and beats straining to hear the traditional human tour guide. Of course no other personal electronic devices are allowed. The scrolls themselves are situated at the very end of the tour in a dimly lit room. People speak in hushed tones as they make their way from one climate-controlled glass case to the next. The scroll fragments are periodically lit with special fiber optic lighting to slow the aging process and possible fading from exposure to light. Segments from various books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the books of Psalms, along with the sectarian scrolls outlining the importance of specific ways of life for the Essenes, the people who wrote the scrolls are displayed along with their English translation. It was an incredible experience for me to be able to see parts of the Bible that physically predate modern versions of our English Bible, the 1611 KJV Bible, even the original Greek language Masoretic Text and Textus Receptus from which the KJV was translated! If you find yourself near Seattle, I highly recommend the tour. Very educational and inspiring.