Monday Music - Sun Song / Laura Veirs

Sunday Supplication - Wisdom to Take Hold

Almighty God, you have sent your only Son into the world to save us from sin and death. We thank you for his sinless life, his selfless sacrifice, and his example of godly life.

Give us the wisdom to take hold of all Jesus has so freely given. Thank you for his redeeming work in our lives and in our world. Help us to follow daily in his steps.

Forgive us and help us to turn away from wrong.  Transform us and give us the faith to press toward life, healing, restoration, holiness, and good deeds.  You are so gracious to us, and we ask you to make us able and quick to be gracious and forgiving toward others.

O God, you have shown mercy to us. Give us the attitude of Christ Jesus that we might be a testimony of your grace and instruments of your mercy to everyone around us. 

We pray in the name of Jesus, our merciful Savior. Amen.

Saturday Smile - Personal Theology

Friday Favorites - Funny New Show

Thursday Thinking - 5 Reasons You Should Walk

From Health Essentials - Cleveland Clinic...

People who walk regularly swear by the health and psychological benefits of their daily jaunt. Here are five reasons why they’re right.

1. Walking reduces stress, cheers you up and increases self-esteem

Read More About It

2. You can lose weight by walking just 30 minutes a day

Read More About It 

3. Regular walking lowers blood pressure, improves sleep 

and energizes you

Read More About It

4. Walks can be easier and more fun with a pedometer and a pal

Read More About It

5. People experience a major dip in snack cravings during 

and after a 15-minute walk

Read More About It

 

Wednesday Words - Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull.

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be—
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?

"Neither Out Far or In Deep" by Robert Frost, from The Poetry of Robert Frost.
© 1969 by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc.

Tuesday Tome - The NIV Study Bible

We're getting near to the end of the 2014-2015 Bible Reading Plan at Valley Christian Church. This is the reading schedule I follow while blogging at Useful Breath. It's also the plan many people use in my Pathways Class on Wednesday nights at Valley (which starts up again on September 16).

If you're thinking of reading through the Bible with me in the coming year, now would be a good time to start getting ready. The first step would be to make sure you have a good study Bible. The one I recommend is the NIV Study Bible from Zondervan. I would suggest getting the hardcover edition and a Bible cover that zips shut.

I will soon be putting together the 2015-2016 reading schedule. I invite you read along with me and follow my Useful Breath blog. If you live in the south metro of the Twin Cities, I hope you will consider being part of my Wednesday Night Pathways Class.

Publisher's description of the NIV Study Bible...
The NIV Study Bible is the #1 bestselling study Bible in the world’s most popular modern English Bible translation―the New International Version. This best-loved NIV Study Bible features a stunning four-color interior with full-color photographs, maps, charts, and illustrations. Since its first release in 1985, the Gold Medallion Award-winning NIV Study Bible has become the treasured and trusted companion of over nine million Bible readers. The in-depth notes are coded to highlight notes of special interest in the areas of character study, archaeology, and personal application. Visually arresting section breaks help you find your bearing in the Bible. Full-color photos, maps, and illustrations make this study Bible accessible and friendly. Referred to daily by millions of pastors, students, church leaders, and other Bible readers around the world, the over-20,000 NIV Study Bible notes are the handiwork of the same translation team that produced this Bible’s text. The very best evangelical scholarship that brought you today’s most popular modern English Bible also contributed to the most celebrated and widely used study notes in existence. All of these features, and more, also make it perfect for homeschool use. Like no other Bible, the NIV Study Bible places an entire resource library for Bible study in your hands. Features: • Full text of the world’s most popular modern English Bible―the New International Version (NIV) • Over 20,000 study notes, with icons to make important information easy to spot • Introductions and outlines provide valuable background information for each book of the Bible • In-text maps, charts, diagrams, and illustrations visually clarify the stories in the Bible • 16 pages of full-color maps plus time lines and presentation page • Words of Christ in red • NIV concordance plus subject and study notes indexes

Monday Music - Angels of Fenway

Here's a great song from James Taylor's new CD,

Before This World.

Click Here or on the Image Below

THE BLOG WILL BE BACK ON AUGUST 3

Sunday Supplication - What Is Eternal and True

O God, we trust you and we ask for your protection. We are weak, and we need your strength. We struggle with sin, and we need you to make us holy. In your mercy, guide us, and rule over us. Help us not lose sight of what is eternal and true.

In our weakness and selfishness, we often fail each other, fail ourselves, and fail you. We recognize our need for forgiveness and we give thanks for the hope and power we have in Christ.  Raise us and transform us by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Forgive us our sins, and make us ready and able and quick to forgive others, even as you forgive us.

We are sinners, O God. Have mercy us. You see our hidden faults and know our secret sins. Thank you for loving us where we are and for giving us the grace and guidance to rise above our weaknesses.

Help us to love you with heart, soul, mind, and strength. Grant us integrity that our lives might demonstrate our love and devotion to you.

Through Christ, we pray. Amen.

Saturday Smile - The Pastor On Vacation

You can do it, Dave. You can do it...

Friday Favorite - The Cactus Blossoms

The Cactus Blossoms are opening for the Charlie Daniels Band in Bayfield, Wisconsin 

tomorrow night at the Big Top Chautauqua. I sure wish I could be there.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO & VIDEOS

Thursday Thinking - Building Attention Span

Do you have the attention span to read something longer than a brief quote mentioned in a blog post? If so, or maybe even more importantly if not, you should check out David Brooks' recent opinion piece, Building Attention Span, published in the July 10 Washington Post. 

Here's a teaser excerpt to get you started...

The online world is brand new, but it feels more fun, effortless and natural than the offline world of reading and discussion. It nurtures agility, but there is clear evidence by now that it encourages a fast mental rhythm that undermines the ability to explore narrative, and place people, ideas and events in wider contexts.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE PIECE

Wednesday Words - On the Beach

Children playing on the beach,
Mad dogs running off the leash.
Babies eating small mudpies,
Poison puddles in disguise.

Surfers paddling out to sea.
Are there sharks? There well might be.
Children walking to and fro.
Are they wearing sunscreen? No.

Men who go without long pants or
Shirts are asking for skin cancer.
Naked women soon will be
Sent to chemotherapy.

Food left sitting in the sun,
Salmonella has begun.
Young girls talking to strange men
Who yesterday were in the pen.

The days get hotter,
Near the water
Here in Sodom.
Thank God for autumn.

"On the Beach" by Ramon Montaigne.