the church through history

Ed Marcelle on the Resurgence Blog is doing a quick series on how people have “done church” over time in different eras. The fourth installment is about the church during the Industrial Revolution period that is ending. then there is this little teaser for what comes next: The world had changed. The Industrial Revolution had [...]

30 years of progress

the Sony Walkman was launched 30 years ago. In honor of this anniversary, the BBC asked a thirteen year old boy to swap out his iPod for one for a week. The results are priceless. Go read the whole article, but here is his astute conclusion. Personally, I’m relieved I live in the digital age, [...]

the cost of sexual immorality

Governor Mark Sanford’s sin of sexual immorality that has been recently publicly unmasked has had devastating consequences for his family, his staff of employees, his state, and for people who admired him from a distance as a straight shooting morally upright conservative politician. It is yet another example of the truth of something my preacher [...]

Right Now (as Van Halen would say)

When Farrah Fawcett died the other day, it was not a surprise as she had been very ill very publicly for quite some time. Michael Jackson dying the same day was shocking. I confess that I teared up a bit driving home. Not for grief over either one of them (although I do feel sorry [...]

John Newton on false and wasteful pleasures

Kevin DeYoung has a great quote from John Newton putting in perspective most of the things that we enjoy. “If you were to send me an inventory of your pleasures, how charmingly your time runs on, and how dexterously it is divided between the coffee-houses, play-house, the card-table, and tavern, with intervals of balls, concerts, [...]

wow!! now this is photography

Check out these awesome pictures and blog post from a fellow Aggie. So my second technique was using a high ISO to capture as many stars as I could inside the exposure. So how I did that was I cranked up my ISO to about 3200-4000. Side Note: The 5d Mark ii (which is the [...]

The Justification Debate

Here is a very useful pdf guide to the differences between N.T. Wright and John Piper on what the doctrine of Justification means. As you can guess, this cuts to the very core of salvation and life as a Christ follower there after. Take some time to investigate this matter for yourself in scripture. This [...]

humility

I saw this come across John Piper’s twitter feed yesterday and I was intrigued enough to chase down the link yesterday evening. JohnPiperApology for being a jerk, and a new attempt at why I don’t have a TV and rarely go to movies.http://ow.ly/fRb4about 16 hours ago from HootSuite this how he starts his post at the [...]

Aaron Ivey

Aaron Ivey is one of the worship leaders at the Austin Stone. He released a solo album this week, Between the Beauty and the Chaos. You can download it on Amazon or iTunes I highly recommend the whole thing. Aaron seems to fully embrace his inner Coldplay to very good effect. here is a direct [...]

Phiday Photos

We made a trip up to see my Dad’s river place last weekend. huge old trees some of my mother-in-law’s flowers

faith comes from hearing

At one of my less regular stops on the blogosphere this morning, I found an excellent example of how to interpret the Bible. Romans 10:17 says: 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. what does that mean and what doesn’t it mean? how do you know? Go read John [...]

another one down

First, watch this 3.5 minute video. then keep in mind that the only person that a hypocrite is lying about is himself. He agrees that the standard is higher than his actions. He just tries to bluff his way into the world believing that he is meeting the standard. Finally, Sanford’s lovely wife Jenny has [...]

the President on Iran

Andy McCarthy had a couple of posts on Monday seeking to understand why Barack Obama was so reluctant to criticize the sham Iranian elections, their results and the brutality of the regime in their aftermath. I don’t know if he is right or not, but these two bits jumped out as being plausible. The key [...]

calvinism and holiness today

courtesy of Iain campbell here is a different take than one would expect on the state of calvinism and holiness these days. here is how it starts: When I was a youngster and newly saved, it seemed as if the chief goal of all zealous Christians, whether Calvinistic or Arminian, was consecration. Sermons, books and [...]

twitter

I took up twittering this weekend. @bkingr, if anybody is interested. I just now found out from vitamin z that John Piper twitters too. check out his last four tweets. Liar, lunatic, or LORD. Yes. And let your jaw drop at his wildly over-the-top claim: Before Abraham was, I AM (John 8:58). about 1 hour [...]

The Meaning of Man’s Will

R. C. Sproul has a three part series on what it means when we say that man has free will. Fascinating stuff. This is the kind of stuff that keeps a person from swearing off the internet altogether. Here are the links: part 1 part 2 part 3 and here is a bit of the [...]

more on perspective

courtesy of vitamin z, here is something that I have thought of before from Chris Brauns, Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds “If we begin to get a glimpse of the vast glory of God, we will realize that many of our conflicts are like two ants arguing about which is [...]

singing my song

Joe Thorn is singing my song. I love to sing and I firmly believe there is a song for every occasion. Singing is a wonderful way to express thoughts, fears, feelings, hopes, concerns, dreams. Sometimes when no song lyrics come to mind, I will make them up. My kids feel like they live in a [...]

modern fatherhood

Dr. Mohler hits a glancing blow at something that really bothers me about the way fathers are portrayed in current popular culture. Fatherhood has been marginalized and the rule and authority of fathers have been depreciated, ridiculed, and continuously redefined. From the Berenstain Bears to The Simpsons, fathers are all too often the object of [...]

accountability

My sister sent me a link to this open letter to pastors on the importance of recognizing danger and taking steps to avoid it. Although it is addressed to pastors, it applies to everyone. If you care at all about avoiding a shipwrecked life and ministry, take the time to go read the whole thing. [...]

photo phriday

here are my sister’s sons hamming it up. I had one flash to camera left and one mounted on the camera bouncing off the white ceiling. Both set to TTL. here is the picture from which I cropped my current header. and a snap from the trip home yesterday evening while I waited at a [...]

iPhone 3.0 OS update

I have spent an evening with the updated operating system for my first generation iPhone. I must say that I really like it and I wonder why they couldn’t have done some of these things from the get go. I can’t tell you how many times in the last year and a half I have [...]

learning vicarious suffering

courtesy of vitamin z, I saw this quote from Tim Keller: “You need to get used to this reality. Once you become a parent, for the rest of your life, you’ll never be happier than your unhappiest child, because your heart is tied to your kids. That is a way of learning the gospel because [...]

Worship CD from Austin City Life

Austin City Life will release its first worship CD on June 28. Here is their myspace page where you can preview the tracks. here are some of the distinctives of ACL’s approach to music: City focused Gospel-centered Martin Luther on the Spirit High Colossian Christology Ancient hymns to progressive tunes Reflective worship that builds and [...]

iPhone OS 3.0

today is the day for the OS update release. This is the page for download. Nothing yet.