|
When I Don't Desire God - How to Fight for Joy |
|
|
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Monday, 03 March 2008 |
|
This book has been one of those rare treasures that I have longed to read and never quite got around to it. First, I had to obtain the book, and it sat on my Amazon Wishlist for quite some time, till my Mother-In-Law actually purchased it for my birthday this year. My how I wish that I had obtained it sooner and read it before now.Building upon the Christian Doctrine of Joy in God as central to the disciples walk with Christ as well as his efforts to glorify God - this book delves head first into the practical aspects of how one goes about pursuing that desired depth of joy - even when you aren't particularly inclined to do so!John Piper is possessed of the rare ability to take difficult issues, concepts, and ideas and break them down into the most pragmatic and useful sorts of advice - this book is brimming with wisdom that every Christian covets - whether they know it or not.While Piper does spend time addressing these issues for those who are accosted with chronic physical, mental, and emotional issues - he doesn't at all shy away from "the normal Christian" who finds himself distracted from God's Glory. He discusses the myriad of ways that the world around us convinces us to buy into the lie: leisure is more important, prayer can be put off, family devotions aren't really that critical, just one more episode of ....., etc.As per the book "... to be satisfied by the beauty of God doesn’t not come naturally to sinful people. By nature we get more pleasure from God's gifts than from Himself. Therefore this book calls for deep and radical change -- which on God can give." While it is true that "Only God can create joy in God. This is why the old saints not only pursued joy but prayed for it: Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us (PS. 90:15)". That being said, God clearly uses means within this world to accomplish His purpose, an this book documents the best of those means and makes them available to you in an eloquent wartime manual for the Christian Soldier. I'd advise you to get your hands on this volume and soak up the wisdom and advice that flows from its pages. ISBN-10 #: 1-58134-652-7
ISBN-13 #: 978-1-58134-652-7 Recommended?: Yes |
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Friday, 29 February 2008 |
|
JQuery is a relatively powerful Javascript library that can be incorporated into webpages and used to extend them in some exciting and creative ways. Not only does it provide AJAX functionality out of the box, there are literally hundreds of ways to manipulate your page in the browser. A friend of mine (Joseph Szobody - Signature Tech Studio) has been encouraging me to learn to leverage this library and suggested this book as a method of diving in. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
No One Living is Righteous |
|
|
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Monday, 28 January 2008 |
|
So our Friday nights have gotten more interesting as we began our seven week look into The Doctrines of Grace. Last Friday night I had to opportunity to present some information on Total Depravity and posted the results to the wiki - so what are you waiting on? Go read my article: No One Living is Righteous ! |
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Tuesday, 08 January 2008 |
|
Here are some pictures to help sort out which name belongs to which kid, how they are related to each other, and ultimately how they are related to me. I suggest you keep this email handy so that when you read the others you can easily refer back to it and sort out who is who. We celebrated Beth’s 12th Birthday last Saturday! I’ve uploaded the pictures from the party to the H57 Photo Album, and you can see them here: Beth’s 12th Birthday Party. | 
| Samantha She’s 14, in the 8th grade, loves to sing (Honors Chorus at school, Adult Choir at church) makes good grades, and is an all around Good Kid ™! | | 
| Bethany She’s 12, in the 6th grade, loves to play her Trombone (she’s first chair!), is perhaps more full of fun and joy than any two other people in the house, and is our resident Fashion Diva™. | | 
| Collin He is 3, in daycare, loves to be either Spiderman or Batman, beats up more bad guy’s before breakfast than most people do all day long, and is our resident Monkey Get In Trouble Too™. | | 
| Abby She is 2, in daycare, loves all manner of beauty products, brushes her hair and changes her outfit before breakfast more times than most people do all week, and is our resident Drama Queen™. | | 
| Ethan He is 1 (the one holding the green sippy cup!), in daycare, eats almost as much as I do (I’m seriously considering starting a savings fund now just to feed this kid as he gets older) loves to hug and give slobbery kisses (teeth coming in) that make the dog cringe! He is our resident Monkey Boy™. | | 
| Daniel He is 4, in pre-school, and loves Power Rangers, Super Hero’s, and Playstation 2! Seriously, this kid rocks on the PS2, I hope he goes Pro when he gets older. He is our resident Monkey Do™. NOTE: This is Scott & Mary Ann Hines’ oldest son. Mine and Tracey’s nephew. | | 
| Luke He is 1, stay’s home with mom (and dad), loves …. Mom (and dad), and has one of the most beautiful smiles you will ever run across. He has recently started walking and is our resident Cuddle Monkey™. NOTE: This is Scott & Mary Ann Hines’ youngest son. Mine and Tracey’s nephew. |
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 January 2008 )
|
|
|
Bad Journalism, an Apology, & Politics! |
|
|
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Friday, 04 January 2008 |
|
Remember the link I provided a few days ago (Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit) regarding MP3 Shredding? Well, apparently I was passing around some rather poor journalism - according the this blog on c|netNews.com titled RIAA shreds Washington Post story in debate - now this comic seems appropriate. :-) So, I do apologize for spreading panic and malcontent! You can safely burn your CD's to MP3's again ... as long as you don't share them with anyone else! On the other hand, my favorite Candidate (Mike Huckabee - http://www.mikehuckabee.com/) won the Iowa Caucus! With 95 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, had the support of 34 percent of voters, compared to 25 percent for Romney. Fred Thompson had 13 percent, McCain had 13 percent and Ron Paul had 10 percent. Whoot! You can read the CNN Article here, some fun Endoresments here, and see some cool videos here. |
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 January 2008 )
|
|
|
Written by Rob Hines
|
|
Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
|
That's right! Today the red headed young lady is twelve years old - how cool is that!? She's skipping school to stay home and play her favorite computer game, read her book, and just be all around lazy. Is that not a birthday dream? Friday night she will have friends spend the night, and then Saturday morning there is to be a big to do at the local skating rink in her honor. She is pretty pumped up about the whole thing and very much looking forward to it. We all woke up early this morning and snuck into her room to sing Happy Birthday - she attempted to sleep through it, and I must admit that she put forth a valiant effort ... but we just sang louder and more offkey in order to foil her attempts. |
|
|
Blog 
