Random Good Friday Thoughts

Well, I'm back from vacation, and I suppose 4 days of work just flew by. Thankfully, I have Good Friday off this year, but I don't think that's the case the next three years or something like that. Oh well, I'll probably just take that day off anyway. If you read my blog on Martin Luther King Day, you'll know that I wrote about him on that day. I try to focus at least 15 minutes of a holiday on the reason for the holiday. Today was easy to take a few minutes to think on Jesus. For a Christian, every day is really a Good Friday + Easter celebration, but at least I don't have to go to work. I've just been chillin' this morning listening to JJ Heller, writing a letter to my friend in rehab (see post below), doing a little reading, and working on the links for this blog (see revamped links on the right). I now have four categories of links: "Sanctifying Links," "Musical Influences," "Blogs By Those I Call Friends," and "Other Blogs Worth Reading." I limited the "Other Blogs Worth Reading" section to spiritually-based blogs, leaving all the great baseball blogs out there off of my link list.

Ultrasound Report: Whitney and I went in Tuesday for our first ultrasound. This time, things were a lot better! Not only did our baby have a heartbeat, but everything else was normal! The doctor said that the chance of miscarriage goes down considerably when seeing the heartbeat. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the chance of miscarriage depends entirely on the will of God - but things sure do sound good. Whitney was physically, emotionally, spiritually, and visibly relieved at the sight of what could soon be our first child. Based on the length of the little nugget on the ultrasound, we are supposed to be due November 15th, but we think that the real due date may be a little sooner.

Book Review: I finally finished the book on Elijah by A.W. Pink. Outstanding book. Really. I know it took me forever to read it, but I couldn't stop until I was all the way through it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is going to study 1st or 2nd Kings or especially Elijah. Pink has a phenomenal ability to take just a few words in scripture and make profound observations entirely for the glory of God and personal sanctification.

Book Preview: Also like I mentioned before, I started "Overcoming Sin and Temptation," a compilation of three books by John Owen rewritten into understandable English. I can tell already that this book is going to be life changing and very impactful. The Owen quote used often at the beginning of the book is, "Be killing sin, or it will be killing you." That quote alone is worthy of deep reflection and prayer. And it's true. As Christians, we absolutely must fight sin daily. If I could get one thing across in the duration of this blog -- it's the fact that Christians are in a war against sin and Satan, and we must fight or die! I think what I'm going to start seeing while reading this book is that sometimes it's the "little" sins can be killing me, slowly but surely, and I must learn to mortify them as well. Jesus went through way too much pain and suffering for me to take sin lightly. It was my sin that put him up on that cross on Good Friday long ago.

Rejoice with me, dear friends, that our redeemer lives. Boast in the cross today.