This book will  help you to break out of the box  of limited Christianity and tap into God's awesome power as you travel along with Dois Rosser who has taken his earthly fortune and invested it in the single most powerful means of changing the world today - spreading the good news of the gospel.  You will read about lepers in India who are joyfully builing a church and a Ukrainian church built with government donated bricks from a former Soviet missle silo.

I will not give away the story behind the title of the book but once you have read it you will  never forget it.  A friend recommended this book to me several years ago and it easily made it to my all-time favorite list.

C.S. Lewis said, "All the things that have ever deeply possesed your soul have been but hints of it - tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest - if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into sound itself - you would know it.  Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say, "Here at last is the thing I was made for."

When I read this I was reminded of the first person I saw come to know Christ.  God saved me when I was 26.  I was so fortunate to be a part of a church that discipled me and taught me how to share my faith.  After having searched for my whole life for true purpose, I still remember that  moment in time when after sharing my faith James Alexander said he wanted to accept Christ as his Savior.  When we parted ways I did not know how to verbalize it but now I know what my flood of emotions meant - "Here at last is the thing I was made for." 

This morning I spoke at FOTP as we continued the ABC’s of Financial Success series.  I mentioned this book by Dave Ramsey in my message.   Dave has been used to help tens of thousands of people become debt free. 

This book will help you have a reality check in regards to your finances.  It is filled with inspiring testimonies of people who have taken Dave’s advice and have truly experienced a total money makeover.

Dave’s website is www.daveramsey.com He can be heard Monday through Friday from 1-4 on KLIF Radio at 570 AM.

I started a new book yesterday.Reading a good book stimulates my mind and spirit in way that helps me know I must always maintain this practice.

The book is by Ken Gire.  I have read several of his other books and I would  list him among my favorite authors along with John Ortberg, Phillip Yancey and Max Lucado to name a few.

The title of the book is The Divine Embrace – An invitation to the dance of intimacy with Christ.  It probably doesn’t sound very appealing to men but Gire makes the point that when the Bible speaks of our service to God it often uses military terms like soldier or athletic terms like a runner.  But when it speaks of God’s love for us it uses romantic terms such as the church being the bride of Christ.

All I know is that the more we can grasp God’s wild, radical love for us the more likely we are to abandon ourselves and the white knuckle grip the world has on us in order to pursue following Christ with a recklessness that gains the attention of those who are far from God.

The book opens with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher who popularized the “God is dead” movement: “If these Christians want me to believe in their god, they’ll have to sing better songs, they’ll have to look more like people who have been saved, they’ll have to wear on their countenancne the joy of the beatitudes.  I could only believe in a god who dances.”

I want people who are in my presence to know that I believe in a God who dances with me.  I want people who visit FOTP Grapevine to know that there is a God who dances with us.  I want people who are far from God to see that kind of God and join the dance.

We are going to have two preview services for the Fellowship of the Parks Grapevine campus.  The first preview service will be on July 27 at 10:30 and the second will be August 17 at 10:30.  These two services will take place at the exisiting Faith Christian School facility.  We will  be laying the ground work for our official launch which will take palce on Sunday, September 7.

We are praying that God will raise even more people who are passionate about seeing others come to experience God's grace and forgiveness.  We are praying for 50 to 100 people who will be a part of our launch team.  I believe all of us who are a part of starting FOTP Grapevine will be able to look back someday and know that we were a part of something special.

The most exciting and the the most challenging times of my life have been when God has called me to begin a new work that ultimately would result in many coming to know Christ.  This is no exception.  I want those who decide to be a part to know that as it may not be easy but it will definitely be worth it.

On a side note, I will be speaking the Sunday at FOTP Keller as we continue the sreies The ABC's of Finances.  We will be looking at Financial Bondage.

"Sometimes in church circles when people feel lonely, we tell them not to expect too much from human relationships, that there is inside every being  a "God-shaped void" that no other person can fill.  That is true.  But apparently, according to the Bible every human being has a "human shaped void" that God himself will not fill." - John Ortberg in his book Everybody's Normal  Until You Get To Know Them

I want FOTP Grapevine to be a place where both of those voids are filled.

Well, the Mavs lost big time in their first round game with New  Orleans.  I am hopeful that they can when the next one before coming home.  NO has not won a game here in Dallas in foreverr so maybe the Mavs can turn it around.

 Now one more tid bit about my basketball career. I mentioned playing against Robert Parish and that had he not been ill he could have scored 100 points.  The fact is that a player in Lousiana did score 100 in a game that year.  Fortunately we did not ever play his team but I remember reading the sports page (which I did every morning) and seeing that Greg Procell had done it - scored 100 points in a  game.  Here is a  piece I pullied off of a website about him.

Greg Procell, Ebarb
Nation's alltime leading high school basketball scorer (6,702 points); averaged 46.7 points as senior at Ebarb High in 1969-70.

You can see his record 100 point game posted at http://espn.go.com/highschool/s/2001/0118/1023507.html

I am sitting here watching the end of the Spurs Suns playoff game and getting ready to watch the Mavs and the Hornets.  I do not want the Suns to ever win a championship as long as Steve Nash is playing.  It would just make the fact that we let him go, even more painful.  And….it is over! The Spurs win!

Now if only the Mavs can beat the Hornets on the road, my day will be complete.

Now a word about my basketball career:  My senior year my coach was interviewed in the local paper and stated that I was a good outside shooter.  At the end of a miserable season someone asked him about me and my outside shooting.  He replied, “He is a good outside shooter.  Unfortunately, we didn’t play any of our games outside.”

I also had the privilege of playing against Robert Parish who was a high school All American and now in the NBA Hall of Fame.  He played in more games that any player in the history of the NBA.

Parish was 7 feet tall when we played his team in Shreveport my junior year.  He scored 22 points in 2 quarters.  He was suffering from the after effects of having had the flu.  Good thing I guess or he could have scored over 100.  Even so, I think I did my part in helping  him become what of the greatest basketball players of all time. (Parish was voted one of the top 50 players to have ever played in the NBA).

I picked this book up because of the title and like many books by quickly scanning it, I decided it would be worth reading.  You have to have somewhat of a warped sense of humor like mine to appreciate an  author like Tim Steed.

This book is simply a collection of thoughts Steed has regarding the Christian life.  One chapter title is If You Can See It, Then Why Did You Step In It?  Here is tidbit:

“My Christian walk is like a hike through a Middle Tennessee cow pasture – delightful but dangerous.”

I always underline things in a book that I want to reflect on or use when I am speaking.  One indication of how well I liked a book is the number of pages with underlined sentences.  I have to be honest, there would be many pages between on this one, but the ones that were underlined were funny/inspirational and the pages that weren’t were easy to read.

This is only a good read for those who have that special sense of humor.  People who love movies like Dumb and Dumber (that excludes most women).

Hey I had heard bits and pieces about the movie Expelled but did not know the details.  The creation vs. evolution debate is a subject that I love to discuss.   Many good books out there on this subject.  The Wedge of Truth by Phillip E. Johnson is the one I read most recently.  Good stuff but some of it was above my head and a foot to the left.

Check out Expelled http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

I just love stories like this one.  Seems this guy in Oregon goes to the doctor with a bad headache.  Somewhere in the process they find out he has 12 nails in his head from having tried to commit suicide with a nail gun several months earlier.  You can actually see the x-ray showing the twelve two inch nails.

I can’t help but wonder if the doctor after looking at the x-rays said something like, “Mr. Smith I think we may have found your problem.  YOU HAVE 12 NAILS IN YOUR HEAD!”

The amazing thing about it is that they removed the nails with needle nose pliers and there was no damage done.  I mean if you put 12 nails in your head shouldn’t you hit something that makes a difference or causes a problem.  I  guess it all depends on what is in there and how big it is.

I wonder if sometimes we don’t walk around in life in pain wondering what is going on.  If we would take a few minutes to reflect we would realize it was those 12 nails (better known as stupid decisions) that are causing the problem.

Anyway I have lots of thoughts about things like this and would like to hear yours.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12425803/