Is Santa Real?

Here is a blog I read today about the history of Santa Clause. Enjoy.

http://www.theresurgence.com/saint_nicholas

Last Minute Gift Idea: TOMS Shoes

A Story

I read this story in John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life,” as it was quoted from James Bradley’s “Flags of Our Fathers.” Sorry for the harsh language. I thought it was interesting that a man so young would be willing to sacrifice so much for others to have happiness and peace.

He’d fast-talked his way into the Marines at fourteen, fooling the recruits with his muscled physique….Assigned to drive a truck in Hawaii, he had grown frustrated; he wanted to fight. He stowed away on a transport out of Honolulu, surviving on food passed along to him by sympathetic leathernecks on board.

He landed on D-Day [at Iwo Jima] without a rifle. He grabbed one lying on the beach and fought his way inland.

Now, on D+1, Jack and three comrades were crawling through a trench when eight Japanese sprang in front of them. Jack shot one of them through the head. Then his rifle jammed. As he struggled with it a grenade landed at his feet. He yelled a warning to the others and rammed the grenade into the soft ash. Immediately, another rolled in. Jack Lucas, seventeen, fell on both grenades. “Luke, you’re gonna die,” he remembered thinking….

Aboard the hospital ship Samaritan the doctors could scarcely believe it. “Maybe he was too damned young and too damned tough to die,” one said. He endured twenty-one reconstructive operations and became the nation’s youngest Medal of Honor winner–and the only high school freshman to receive it.

My Nerdy Self

So I am admittedly a nerd. I like books, computers, etc. So right in line with my nerdiness, i have discovered this:

http://www.logos.com/mac/biblestudy

This is some of the coolest bible study software I have found. Currently I am using Quickverse Black Box edition for mac, and I like it a lot, but Logos seems to be where its at.

The version seen in the above link is actually the base version, there are four versions above this one that just add more and more features. Hopefully one day I will be able to afford the base version, because it really would be a good resource for a minister/professor.

A Prayer

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following your will
Does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.

And I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road
Though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always,
Though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
And you will never leave me to face my struggles alone.
~Thomas Merton, 1915-1968

This is an interesting prayer I found in the book “Understanding God’s Will” by Kyle Lake.