If you have any name ideas, please post them in the comments.  My wife wants Gilgamesh for a boy, but I told her that’s too medieval.  Just look at the picture of the dude, no way I’m naming my kid after that guy.  Although, he does have a sweet beard.

My wife’s grandmother was a twin, so there is a slight possibility we will have twins.  At this point we do not really want twins, but that is not really for us to decide.

So it looks like we will have two diapers to change early next year.  We’re sure on the due date, but hopefully that will be figured out relatively soon.  Either way, I can’t wait for our family to grow yet again.

I wanted to follow this up because of an email I received this morning.  The email talked about a ‘new stamp’ that President Obama commissioned the USPS to print.  Perhaps you have received a similar message at some point.  After doing some research I found the email to be a mix of lies and truth. (read the Snopes article)  The following are three points that are from the Snopes article, logic, and the Bible.

1) The stamp was actually introduced on September 1, 2001 as part of the USPS Holiday Celebration Series.  That’s 10 days BEFORE the September 11^th tragedy.  Obama was not the US President at that point.

2) Most Muslims are not evil.  Most Muslims do not commit hate crimes.  If you remember, the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 was done by a Christian hate group.  They claimed to be Christian (but as you and I should know, this was definitely not a Christian thing by any means).  So we can’t be prejudice against Muslims in a country that esteems itself in religious freedom.  Do I agree with Muslim teaching?  No, I am a solid Christ-follower.  But this is government stuff we’re discussing.

3) Probably most important, I think all of us (including myself) need to stop bashing the government, no matter who is residing.  Even if we do not agree with what they are doing, God put them there for a reason. We need to pray for them.  Check out these three verses.

Romans 13:1 – Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established—the authorities that exist have been established by God.

1 Peter 2:13-15 – Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 -  I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

As a Christ-follower I need to pray for and support our government officials.

In all of the current government affairs going on, it’s easy for some to get discouraged.  In fact, when the election was happening I was following it all and decided to stop because it was depressing and frustrating.  My peace comes in knowing that I serve a much higher authority, Jesus Christ.

I’m not trying to fight against a particular party, so please don’t read this blog in that way.  The fact is that God calls us to something different, something greater.

The hikikimori end up getting so caught up into video games, manga, and anime, that they have no desire to be involved in society.  No job, no school, no family.  I read in article that says over 600,000 people in Japan are considered NEET.  It’s kind of depressing to think about it.

I’m wondering if we are entering into a time of that within the United States.  There has been a sharp rise in college graduates moving back home for several years before they get a job, and lack of motivation has a strong influence on this.

The worst part of it all is that someone has to enable them.  Without a job you cannot buy your basic needs, which means that whoever the sluggard is living with is supplying the needs.

Proverbs 6:6-11 says:

⁶ Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

⁷ It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

⁸ yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

⁹ How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

¹¹ and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

I’m not sure about you, but this verse is warning enough for me.  Sure, I play video games, watch movies, and read comics, but it is in a fair balance with everything else that happens in my life.  May none of us ever fall into the category of NEET.

One of my biggest goals through this whole process is for the marriages in our community group to be stronger.  Did you know the #1 cause for divorce is money issues? I know it’s going to be challenging, but I really think we will all be better for doing the study.

With that being said, two simple rules of financial freedom are (1) stop spending money you do not have and (2) stop spending money on things you do not need.  I can official say that my wife and I have stopped accruing debt.  Though this is not the end of the road, it is a great step in the correct direction.  The second rule is one that I think most of us tend to struggle with.  And this blog is a confession of sorts.

I am a big fan of video games, especial RPGs.  For those of you who do not know what an RPG is, just think of the Lord of the Rings as a video game.  One series that I love to play is called Dragon Quest, and the mascot is a blue slime (kind of looks like a blue Hershey’s Kiss with eyes).

Back when Dragon Quest VIII came out in 2004, a special controller was also released for the Playstation 2.  A few weeks ago I won the controller on eBay for $7.  Honestly, I did not think I was going to win the auction.  But low and behold, I now have a slime controller.  Talk about a waste of money.  Just look at the thing.

Yes, I think it is very cool, but that $7 could have gone so many better places.  We really need to stop wasting money on things as such.  Help keep me accountable to this.  If we are all wise with our money, imagine how the world could change.

The new generation of leaders are no longer concerned with your background.  I come into contact with people who claim to be Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, etc, and we can see eye-to-eye on so many levels.  I first started to realize this while listening to Catholic radio in Cincinnati.  Even though we are not even close on some practices and beliefs, our overall mission is identical.

With the state of our society’s faith, I think Christ-followers are realizing that separation is damaging not only to the Church, but the perception of the Church.  This realization is helping Christians to re-unite.

Our community needs Jesus.  Our country needs Jesus.  Our world needs Jesus.  And if we really want to make a global impact, then we can no longer be divided because one person wants to sprinkle and another wants to immerse.  This is a valid argument, but not one that should cause denominational division.

So which direction is the Church moving?  I think we have seen a huge increase in church-planting over the last decade, so much that networks are being developed (Acts 2:42, NewThing, and The Acts 29 to name a few).  These networks are trying to work together to start new churches around the world because we are discovering that new churches are the best way to spread the Gospel.

The future will see less and less concern about denominations and doctrines, but focus on which network you are a part of and what is being done to tell people about Jesus.  After all, this is more important.

After perusing through the pages, Boyett has some good stuff to offer.  His first goal is to point out that we have a preconceived notion of what a man should be based on our culture.  Though this is comical in approach, there is some seriousness as he tries to show that a Christian man is not necessarily the same as a macho man.

Boyett deals with issues on dating, grooming, health, and even sex.  I can honestly say this would be a good read for any male who wants to be a Christ-follower.  He hits on some very touchy topics that can actually help shape your view of what men should be.

If you want to buy it, click here.

To learn more about the author, check out his website.

One of the things that was most noticeable throughout the entire time we were there is how many people said, “Thank you.  God bless.”  They were very grateful for the work we were doing.  The crazy thing is, we didn’t even do that much.  As little as each one of us did last night, it was still a tremendous help to these people.  All I had to do was sacrifice 2 hours of my day.

So here’s the question that was going through my mind on the way home, “What more can we offer?”  I’m not trying to downplay the volunteer work we do at MorningStar.  I think everyone should help out there if they can (and I know you can).  But as Switchfoot once put it, “we were meant to live for so much more.”

Two hours of my time was a small sacrifice.  What else can I sacrifice?  What can you sacrifice?  How can we help the downtrodden of our society?