Hi-Fi explained.

Time is short: Part II.

...but it looks like I get my "free" iPod, thanks to ya'll my good friends!

I hope that's a .22 cal. rifle.

Found photo (Flickr), Arkansas, June 1951.

Time is short!

Click here to put me in your debt: http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=13244468

I have less than ONE week for just ONE person to sign-up and COMPLETE one of these offers. Then I get my "free" iPod. It's not a scam, but time's running out! Let me know if you are willing to help. There's may be something in it for you, too. Ask me. Help!

Listen up, pilgrims!

Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

The Message

A Prayer for Bethel

"Lord Jesus, we pray that you will somehow give us ears to hear, hearts to love, and wills devoted to serve; that in the days to come this congregation may be known, not for our glory, but for thine alone – a congregation of people who know the Lord; that this place may be an oasis, a place where people come to find out about you, where lives are straightened out and made whole, where people find the peace that passes understanding. Give us, we pray, a heart to desire these things above all else.

We pray through Jesus Christ. Amen."

- attributed to Terry Fullum in "Miracle in Darien"

Michael Green saith:

The Six Characteristics of the Early Church that Relate to the Church's Mission Today

1. A Dynamic Church Life
2. Getting Inside the Mindset of the People Outside the Church
3. Focus on Jesus and what He has Done for Us
   
4. Challenge People for a Response to the Call of Jesus
5. Personal Ministry to Individuals
6. Sending Small Groups Out as Mission Teams

The Six Tools of the Early Church that Relate to the Mission of the Church Today

1. Praying For and With Individuals
2. An Invitation to "Come and see"
3. The Alpha Course
4. Home-Based Ministry
5. Church-based Evangelism: Christmas, Lent, Easter
6. Work on Neutral Ground

The Real Thing.

Smoke Shack Cafe
US Hwy 281 (Memorial Highway)
702 S Rice St
Hamilton, Texas 76531

(254) 386-5246

Mr. and Mrs. Sohm, Proprietors.

M-F 10 AM - 4 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 2 PM.

The interior is a time capsule of about 1955. This is clearly a purpose-built BBQ pit/stand, and I'd nominate it for the National Register of Historic Places on the building alone.

I tried the brisket. Just a little dry (my wife would say perfectly lean), but with a great crust and smoke ring and delicious flavor. Very tender. Excellent home-made sauce was provided for those wanting sauce...tangy and tart with cayenne pepper, mustard and vinegar flavors, but not too tomatoey. However, good brisket like this really doesn't need sauce.

A+ and worth the drive (but I'm no expert).

See what big letters I am using!

But when once Christ had called him,

Peter had no alternative: he must

leave the ship and come to Him.

In the end, the first step of

obedience proves to be an act of

faith in the Word of Christ.


But we should completely

misunderstand the nature of grace if

we were to suppose that there was

no need to take the first-step,

because faith was already there.


Against that, we must boldly assert

that the step of obedience must be

taken before faith can be possible. 

Unless he obeys, a man cannot

believe.


... Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What's worse than losing the War on Terror?

According to Senator Elizabeth Dole, it would be investigating the current Administration.

Grandchild #2 (granddaughter #1)

June Anne LaGrone's first appearance. Coming Out Party scheduled for October 1, 2006 (give or take a few days).

Honorable Mention.

Here's the same mug (see entry below) in red. This is a very nice glaze; it almost looks like a salt glaze. When you look closely (doesn't show well in the photos), there is a mottled dark pattern to the glaze beneath the very shiny outer glaze. Deep and very beautiful, and there's the rub.

Its beauty overwhelms its form and function, and thus falls short of the simple perfection I look for.

Near perfection.

As near to perfection as anything man-made I have ever owned or seen.

This is a coffee mug made by Waechtersbach in Germany. I've had a set of these since about 1978 (as you should be able to tell from the W-Germany imprint on the bottom). The size, shape, color, heft, and texture are all perfect. The glaze has developed a beautiful Raku-like crazing on the inside from years of having piping hot coffee poured into them in the cool of the morning. The color (an almost natural clay slip glaze) is reminiscent of the Bavarian beer mugs this company has undoubtedly made at some point. They have held coffee, tea, hot cocoa, bourbon, cognac, scotch whiskey, and even beer. They have been my companions in prayer and conversation, in solitude and in marriage.

But, they are no longer available.

The mug is still made in some very attractive colors and some very tacky designs, but this simple, natural color that compliments a strong, rich, black serving of Columbian coffee is history. I had eight of them in 1978, but twenty-eight years later I am down to four.

Human perfection is fleeting.