A digital commonplace for a Regular Guy called Charlie Pharis
In one of those laid-back jazz kind of moods tonight. Got all four volumes of the great Blue Note Blue Box set cued up on shuffle. From Miles Davis’s It Never Entered My Mind to Horace Silver’s Senor Blues to Thelonius Monk’s ‘Round Midnight…this is one of the best collections of classic jazz, especially for the novice jazz collector. It’s one I come back to time after time on nights just like this one!
Did Jesus rise from the dead?
If you can answer that question in the negative honestly, if you can say, “No, he did not; the evidence does not support that conclusion,” then forget about religion. Get on with life, enjoy yourself while you have the chance. But if Jesus did rise from the dead, then the same logic applies. Stop fooling around with Christianity. Make your commitment to Christ and get on with the serious business of living for God. This life is not the end. There is a life beyond.
One day you will stand before your Maker, and you will answer for what you have done in this body. God forbid that you should say, “Well, yes, I kind of did believe in the resurrection. But I, you know, I lived in the world and for the world, and I took my pleasure where I could find it. I acted as if the future would take care of itself, and , well, here I am. I have nothing to offer you. I have been a bad servant.”
James Montgomery Boice, The Christ of the Empty Tomb (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 95.
Making my way through Psalms 96-100 today.
This powerful picture of worship resounds with the attributes of a holy, awesome God and our response to Him and His character. Pure praise, right?
Hold on, there. In with all the exhortations to praise, mingled in with the commands to worship, there are some other “necessities” that actually make worship what it was always intended to be.
My thoughts. As usual, the customary disclaimer applies. Oh, and your mileage may vary…
OK, so I think Chris is right about panty praise. I also happen to agree with him about Lee McDerment’s new CD. (Well, Chris, you may want to re-think the instrumental tracks on Lee’s CD.) But I digress…
I really have had it about up to here with those “Jesus is My Boyfriend” songs. But I digress…
In the interest of complete disclosure, though, let me hasten to add: I didn’t spend $400 on my last pair of jeans. (Heck, I’m not sure I’ve spent $400 on blue jeans altogether in my whole life!) In fact, I’m still convinced that Levi’s trump Lucky and 501 is a waaaay more manly number than Seven. But I digress…
I’m not enamored of the pseudo-sport involving “stepping on the gas and turning left.” I still don’t understand tattoos or ultimate fighting. But I digress…
And although I enjoy the aroma of a fine unlit cigar, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be lighting one up any time soon. I learned a long time ago that drinking a beer every now and again won’t send you to hell, but it’ll sure give the horse’s bladder a large sense of relief, and so you won’t get much of an argument from me over the finer points of lager vs. pilsner vs. pale ale vs. microbrews vs. PBR. But I digress…
I probably won’t talk in my messages about having needles applied to um…strategic locations. But I digress…
I’m not likely to punch anyone in the throat or anything like that. But I digress…
Having said all that, I’m about as all-American, red-blooded male as you’ll find, but that new Publix commercial – about the newlyweds who come to Grandma’s house for dinner, and leave with the tattered recipe card from Grandma – had me wiping a little dust a few minutes ago.
Come to think of it, several of those Publix seasonal ads have had the same effect! Sorry!
WHEW! That’s over! Just when it seemed like the glass-slipper maker was re-tooling the machines to include the colors red and black, Georgia’s basketball Dawgs snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
What a shame! (He snickers snidely to no one in particular.)
Oh, well, now they can go ahead and proceed with the coach’s firing as planned before they miraculously won the SEC tournament last weekend. And take the guy from Georgia Tech with you. (Although we all know exactly why neither of those guys will be getting the boot anytime soon.)
Go the doctor, you’ll get better in a week. Stay home and treat yourself, you’ll get better in seven days.
Corollary: If you take the latter course, you won’t be out the $30 co-pay or the $20 prescription that will “only ease the symptoms.”
Great! Now it sounds like somebody’s shootin’ up the neighborhood with a shotgun…thanks, pal!
Oh, what’ll I be listening to through the headphones on the sofa?
Unwinding tonight with Passion’s God of This City. At this very moment, Ms. Nockels is blowing the doors of Hosanna! (Kind of appropriate for Palm Sunday, eh?)
Good stuff!
Go lay down, Charlie…and get better, you old coot!
Coughing. Runny nose. Maybe a touch of fever. Cold. Anybody had the flu? Is this how this particular strain starts?
I’m putting on the headphones and going to bed…uh, sofa!
The last couple of weeks have fluctuated between intense and scary and encouraging and powerful and inspiring and a whole lot more! In my message preparation, my thinking, my planning, my reading, my interaction with people, and especially my DDTs* ($1 to Tony McCollum), God has been rocking my world. And He was just getting me set up for Unleash! (Insert goofy Sonic commercial “punch” sound effect here!)
*Daily Dynamic Times