Journey Through The Bible (1 Peter 1)

I’m currently studying 1 Peter, and here are some thoughts from Chapter 1.

– Salvation is given to us the moment we accept Jesus, but is not complete until He returns.
– Even when life’s direction isn’t clear to us, we must trust God to carry our his purposes, even in times of trial.
– Sometimes God uses trials to test our faith; giving us the opportunity to show that our faith is strong and pure.
– Trials burn away our self-reliant and self-serving attitudes.
– Before we accept Christ, we are often ignorant to what desires are evil. We don’t easily recognize selfishness, pride, greed, etc.
– Evil desires still exist after we accept Christ. We depend upon the Holy Spirit to overcome them.
– We cannot achieve perfect holiness on Earth. Attaining holiness is a process perfected when we get to Heaven.
– We should not be spoiled children but grateful children who fear (respect) their Father.
– Growth in purity and holiness will result in deeper love. Such love isn’t possible in the world at large.

The Tale of the Cleansing Puff

For the past several years my wife has been using a so-called “cleansing puff” instead of traditional wash cloths when showering. She loves cleansing puffs and has on several occasions suggested I use one, too. She said the rich lather generated from a cleansing puff makes her skin feel vibrant, therefore, I should try it too.

My goal when showering is to be clean and not stink. Therefore, I saw little value in using a cleansing puff. Besides I have no need for “vibrant skin.” But more importantly, no real man would use something called a “cleansing puff”! Real men use a bar of soap and that’s it!

A couple of months back I relented. I confess that I now use a cleansing puff. What happened, you ask?

Mrs. Vhost stopped buying bar soap. I was now faced with using body wash, which by the way is just a fancy term for “liquid soap”. As it turns out, a traditional wash cloth sucks up body wash like a Hummer sucks gas.

So instead of wasting valuable body wash, I bit the bullet and tried a cleansing puff instead. And it worked well. It requires much less soap and the rest, as they say, is history.

It took a lot of humility to begin using a cleansing puff.

Humility is a good thing. The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5-6)

Humility is not putting yourself down; it’s lifting God up.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.

Humility is not denying your strengths, but admitting your weaknesses.

Our culture teaches to do the opposite. Our culture tells us to take pride in our ambition, to be noticed and to be self-confident.

When we are prideful, we become dependent upon ourselves and don’t depend on God.

When we are prideful, we condemn others.

When we are prideful, we become content with the externals. “Doing religion” is more than just following rules and making yourself look good before people. It means a transformation of the heart from the inside out.

Humility is a daily decision. It is the core of any strong relationship, whether it be with God or with people.

My Playlist (7/1/2009)

What I’m listening to (as of 7/1/2009):

Summer of ‘69 (Bryan Adams)
Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)
Awesome God (Rich Mullens)
Spooky (Classics IV)
Animal (Def Leppard)

My Favorite iPhone apps

One of my three readers requested a synopsis of my favorite iPhone apps. So without any further delay…..

All apps are free unless marked by $$.

YouVersion: The Holy Bible in 16 English translations. This is a must-have app!
AOL Radio: Lot of choices for music and talk if you want something different than your own iPod music collection.
TweetDeck: Client application for Twitter.
Shazam: If you hear a song you like but you don’t know who sings it, let Shazam listen and it will give you the information you need.
GPS Tracker: Track your position on the planet.
App Sniper ($$) – Find iPhone paid applications on sale, oftentimes for free.
Labyrinth LE – Fun game.
Lightsaber – Must have for Star Wars fanatics.
Air Sharing ($$) – Transfer files to/from your computer wirelessly.
SpeedTest – Want to know how fast your Internet connection is? Try this from speedtest.net.
Network Utility – very basic network utility; discover your IP address, ping and scan TCP/IP ports.

Spit and Go

I just had a cavity filled last week…. it’s the third cavity I’ve had in as many years. I’ve had a lot cavities throughout my lifetime but three in three years is a bit much even for me so my dentist recommended a high-fluoride, prescription-only toothpaste. Prescription-only toothpaste? Didn’t know such a thing existed.

As it turns out, there are several things I didn’t know about dental hygiene. Maybe that’s why I have so many cavities. For instance, when Mrs. Vhost called the dentist office to get clarification on how to use the prescription toothpaste (yes we had to ask), we “learned” that you should not rinse after brushing your teeth. This was news to us. Was this some kind of new modernized care for teeth? How many years had this knowledge escaped us?

To find out more we immediately turned to a trusted source known as the Internet. I’m sure the folks at Google were wondering why there was a sudden surge in searches for “teeth brushing.” As it turns out, every expert on the ‘Net recommends rinsing after brushing. This was not what we’d been instructed so my confusion persisted.

To clear up the mess I turned to a source even more reliable than the Internet…. family. I have a cousin who is a dental hygienist. She would know! My cousin said she’d never heard of such a thing as not rinsing after brushing (thanks TP!).

That was good news… that meant I could rinse after brushing, at least with regular toothpaste. And I also learned some things….. For instance, did you know:
* You should brush for your teeth for 2 full minutes.
* For best results, tilt your brush at a 45 degree angle to the gumline.
* You should brush your tongue when brushing your teeth.
* You can’t rinse when using high-fluoride toothpaste (bummer). Just spit and go.

Are we a Christian Nation?

Are we a Christian nation? Some would suggest we are not. Read this and decide for yourself.