Six days in June

Tonight, I write to you to say this:
If you think all hope is lost and that our neighborhoods are too far gone..if you think people just don't care or have no decency left, I implore you to go take a walk along East 21st Street in Erie, Pennsylvania.

I'm not sure if I've ever been so moved by anything as I was today as I helped out with the Extreme Makeover side project that Grace is so privileged to be a part of. As I walked up and down that street over and over again, and I met the people who call that neighborhood home, I saw God's awesome hand all over that place. The smiles of the people who are just so thankful that somebody cares about them. The tears of joy that they are not forgotten after all. The sense of wonder and awe that these people have that somebody wants to do this for them.

Yes, Clara Ward and her home may be the focus here, but away from the cameras and out of the public eye, an incredible story is unfolding before our very eyes. A story I pray - O dear God - I PRAY, will have many chapters and that Erie, Pennsylvania will be a city transformed forever.

And it all will have started because of six days in June 2009.

Climate Change tax bill up for vote THIS FRIDAY

From icecap.us:

Waxman Markey Cap-and Tax bill comes up for a vote Friday. LAST CHANCE to put an end to this potential disaster in the making, one that will cost you dearly with millions of lost jobs, increased costs (a hidden tax) FOR EVERYONE averaging between $1600 and $4200 per year for the average American family according to the CBO, the Heritage, MIT and other studies. The cost of all energy and goods and services will rise to try and cover some of the costs for the bailouts and other trillion dollar programs the government wants to burden us with. Call your congressman’s office and tell them to vote no or they will have to go on the next election day. Our economy is too weak to absorb another shock.

This bill is the most flagrant attempted con-job and propaganda campaign in US history. If it helps Congress enact cap-and-tax legislation, it will give activists, courts and bureaucrats control over virtually every aspect of our lives. It will enable them to confiscate hard-earned dollars, convert them to payoffs for activists and companies that get on the climate-crisis bandwagon, consign uncooperative companies and scientists to the ash heap of history, and conceal the exorbitant costs of restrictive energy policies - on families, industries, jobs and transportation - until long after the bill becomes law.

For those of us in Northwest PA, please go here and let Kathy Dahlkemper know that you do not support the bill and that you would like her to vote no. As always, please be polite and civil.

There is no climate crisis. In fact, it is becoming more and more likely that the earth is entering a period of cooler weather. The alarmists, however, are getting more desperate as "proof" of climate change is becoming harder and harder to conjure up. I encourage you to follow icecap.us for articles that actually shed the TRUTH on the climate change propaganda that is being thrown in our faces each day.

i'm a coward

<sup>Colossians 1:21-23

21</sup>Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²²But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven...

This morning's sermon was one of the most convicting sermons in a long time.

Here's what I got out of it:
I'm tired of playing games. I'm tired of going through the motions. I'm tired of the nothingness of life. There is something more than this. There's GOT to be.

I'm spiritually retarded. And I. Am. Sick. Of. Being. This. Way.

Ask me in one month what I have done with the brokenness of the moment I am experiencing right now, and I'll probably say "nothing".

Because that's the kind of person I am. I'm too much of a freaking coward and too dang lazy to change. Why should I think this time will be different?

2 must-see videos

Some of you may have seen these two videos already, but I was introduced to them last week and I had to share them with those of you who have not yet seen them. They are absolutely hilarious:

Charlie Bit My Finger


David After the Dentist