Life Is Good

This past Sunday afternoon as Jennie was heading out the door she announced that the Sunday evening meal was going to be cereal. I was a little bummed out until a few hours later when I was shoveling Frankenberry into my face.

It was a fun dinner. The kids were excited because we usually don't get the unhealthy cereals and also, for years, I'd described to them my favorite childhood cereal: Count Chocula. Even Jennie was mildly amused, enjoying her crunchy treat (likely well coated with non-nutritive cereal varnish). On bowl two, as I was finishing up the Count Chocula induced chocolaty milk, I was thinking about enjoying life and God's blessings.

Here are a few ...

* Count Chocula and Frankenberry.

* The Red Sox winning their division.

* The Red Sox ending the season with a better record than the Yankees.

* The Red Sox making the playoffs.

* Cool weather and fall football.

* Watching Josh enjoy fall football, pre-game jitters and all.







* Watching Hannah cheer for her brother and finding her niche in the 'heavy lifting' department.











* Enjoying a beautiful fall day at the farm.

* Enjoying Caleb enjoying Prophet.


* Finding solitude in the woods and communing with God on a cool fall night.

"a God who intended to create beings like us"

"the odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the big bang are enormous....I think clearly there are religious implications."

"it would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us."

- Physicist Stephen Hawking

1) Stephen Hawking, quoted in John Boslough, Masters of Time: Cosmology at the End of Innocence (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1992) 55.
2) Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 127.

Step of Faith

One of the basic tenents of Christianity is the belief that God answers prayer. The Bible teaches that God is powerful and prayer makes a difference. Here is an excellent prayer from James Emery White's book A Search for the Spiritual that anyone can start with .....

"God, I am not even sure that I believe you're there listening to this, but if you are, I want to find you. I really do want to know the truth. If you exist, please show yourself to me."

Do Blogs Violate The Bible?

A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly. (Proverbs 12:23 NIV)

A man of knowledge uses words with restraint.... Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. (Proverbs 17:27 and 28 NIV)

When words are many, sin is not absent; but he who holds his tongue is wise . (Proverbs 10:19 NIV)

* * * * * * * *

By rights, this should be my last blog entry. Oh the wisdom of shutting up! These Proverbs were penned by Solomon, a ruler considered to be one of the wisest in ancient history. They came from this past Sunday's sermon at church entitle 'Lip-O-Suction' which was based on the Bible verse in James which says "be quick to listen, slow to speak". The sermon did make me pause and consider if blogging is really a positive activity. Am I just shooting my mouth off, showing my stupidity?
It made me think back about why I created this blog in the first place. We live in a culture that is filled with activity and distraction. We keep ourselves so busy that it's easy to just float along and amuse ourselves. We never turn down the noise long enough to consider if there is more to life than all this. What is the meaning of life? Where did we come from and why are we here?
I believe that we are God's creation, created for a purpose. God's primary purpose in creating us was so that we could have a relationship with Him. I created this blog with the hope that readers would take a moment to turn off the noise and consider the God whole loves them. My goal has never been to spout off my own opinions (although sometimes I fall into that trap) but to do what I could to turn our attention to God.
The Bible teaches that God has revealed Himself to us through his Son, Jesus. To learn more about how Christ brings us to God you can click here to take the Life Hound 8 Minute Challenge

Mouth In Motion Before Brain in Gear - Workplace Edition

It's not easy being a Massachusetts Yankee living in the south, even though diversity and tolerance promotion seems to be the first agenda item at my company's staff meetings these days. Today we had a diversity ice breaker. Raise your hand if you're a male, raise your hand if you're a female, raise your hand if you were born in the south, raise your hand if you were born in the north, raise your hand if you were born outside of the United States. Then this wiseguy co-worker leans over and quietly says: 'Hey, being born in Massachusetts IS considered being born outside of the United States"! That was a swipe at Mass's liberal reputation.

- - -

There is one thing that I don't understand about the corporate world. My company will kick off a big initiative. It will be an important, high level project that is frequently talked about by management. But then they ask for 'volunteers' to help with the project! What's with this volunteering approach? If you're sitting around and have time to volunteer for stuff maybe they don't really need you anyway! Let's take the first three people that volunteer and eliminate their positions. See if the company can live without them!

- - -

I think the government needs to adopt one practice from the corporate world. That would be the concept of billing your time. Whenever we get asked by a project to assist with research or do analysis, we usually ask for a project number to bill the time to. I think the government should do the same thing. This would have been nice during General Petraeus's testimony before congress. The guy is supposed to come in and report on the situation in Iraq and instead our elected representatives waste at least 100 minutes of his time. He listens to congressman dis the Iraqi government, his microphone doesn't work, and protesters are allowed to disrupt the hearing. All this occurs before he even gets a chance to say his first sentence. Petraeus should have been allowed to bill that wasted time to congress. What a joke.

Life Hound Stories

The Lord has blessed me with some great kids. This is my son Josh enjoying a smore on a recent family camping trip. Josh is a great kid. He is very active and loves all athletics. He is currently playing football. Josh is into Transformers and loves to play with his brother and a friend from the neighborhood.

Josh's story is the latest on the Life Hound Stories page. Click here to read it!

Oldsters - Memory Lapse

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, "Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly."

The other man said, "What is the name of the restaurant?" The first man thought and thought and finally said, "What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know... The one that's red and has thorns."

"Do you mean a rose?" "Yes, that's the one," replied the man.

He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, "Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?"

_ _ _ _ _ _

"LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. (Psalm 39: 4-5)

_ _ _ _ _ _

A theme throughout the Old Testament is the brevity of life. This is hard to imagine when we are young but as we get older we realize what people mean when they say 'time flies'. Yet God has an eternal purpose for each of us and wants to build a relationship with us that never ends. You can learn more about having a relationship with God by taking the Life Hound 8 Minute Challenge

Important Additions to Life Hound

My analytics reports indicate that people from all over the world stumble upon my blog. Over the last month I've gotten hits from Ireland, Germany, Mexico, and Turkey. I am an American, though, and I have an American mindset and American challenges.

One of the great challenges that I think we face in this country is the tremendous amount of media and distraction that can fill our minds and our time. We are a sports and entertainment obsessed nation. Songwriter Randy Stonehill used to write about our 'fear of silence'. He once surmised that if we ever permitted silence into our lives we would have the unpleasant experience of 'hearing what our aching hearts had to say'.

I started this blog 10 months ago because I believe that people in our culture fill their lives with so many distractions and diversions that we miss out on the awesome gift of the presence of God in our lives. (Me included.) I believe that God created mankind to experience a loving, relationship with Him but we are so 'distracted' down here that we miss out on that relationship. I chose as a theme for this blog 'the hound of heaven' based on the idea that God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us.

I have added two important new links to the upper right hand corner of this blog under the heading of LIFE AND DEATH STUFF. 'Life Hound Stories' is intended to be a place where I will post the stories of those who have said 'yes' to Christ and have jumped into a relationship with God. I have added my own story first but hope to add many more in the coming months.

Also under LIFE AND DEATH STUFF is a more critical link to a page entitled the 'Life Hound 8 Minute Challenge'. This link outlines the basic teachings of Christianity, which can be reviewed in 8 minutes. It contains truths that all readers should review and decide upon.

I hope you'll check out and comment on these new posts! Again they are in the top right hand corner of the blog under LIFE AND DEATH STUFF.

Oldsters - Just Like A Kid

Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: "Slim, I'm 83 years old now and I'm just full of aches and pains. I know you're about my age. How do you feel?" Slim says, "I feel just like a newborn baby."

"Really!? Like a newborn baby!?"

“Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants."

The World's Funnest Game

Caleb, Josh, and I played our NEW Settlers of Catan game for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I got to place my settlements first. I was the Pumpkonians and the game lasted 4 hours and 1 minute because Caleb (the Strawberrians) and I kept going back and forth with the longest road. (Caleb ended up with it.)

I ended up winning but I was very proud of how the boys did. The game ended at 12:16 a.m.! In the picture you can see Caleb's longest (red) road. Caleb ended with 9 points and Josh ended with 8 points. We ate Jennie's chocolate chips during the game and when Jennie got home she was mad at us.

Since then we've had another game, this time with our friends Julian and Brenda. It was their first time playing but they did quite well. Julian tried some techniques that I'd never seen before: extortion via placement of the robber and the three way trade. It was great fun! (I won't mention who won since it wasn't me.)

Oldsters - Ahead of the Curve

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100% The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, "Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again." The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I've changed my will three times!"

WalMart Bitternes

A couple of weeks ago Jennie brought home a huge box of 4 lamps from Walmart that had to be assembled. I got an uneasy feeling when I noticed that the box appeared to have been opened and carelessly resealed with Scotch tape. I proceeded to open the box, because I knew Walmart would never place a returned, defective item back out on the floor. It took me 2 hours to take everything out of the box. As I started assembling the first lamp I noticed that a lampshade was defective. I spent another two hours putting everything back in the box.

Yesterday, when I got home from work, I noticed a familiar looking box in the living room. In fact, it had that same, messy, Scotch tape look. I glared at Jennie. She sheepishly replied that she had a big argument with herself about taking another chance with those Walmart lamps. I glared at her again as she ran out the door to go scrapbooking with some of her friends.

As her car pulled out of the garage I proceeded to dive into box number two. My first step was to carefully inspect all four lampshades. Things were looking up, defect free lampshades ..... check. My optimism quickly vanished, though, when I peered into the box and saw a partially assembled lamp. Why would a partially assembled lamp be in the box?!

I didn't panic though. I figured some nice Walmart employee was just trying to help me get started. I pulled out the instructions and immediately noticed that there was an important piece missing from the assembled lamp. I frantically searched the box and quickly realized why box number two had been returned .... a critical, missing piece.

I spent another two hours repackaging the box (not as carefully as I had repackaged box number one). I spent an additional 30 minutes vacuuming the residual packaging stuff off the carpet. I attached a note to the box informing Jennie that no more Walmart lamps were allowed in our home. I slid the box to a part of the living room where Jennie would be sure to trip over it when she got home. I'm still bitter, but expect to be over it by Christmas.

“Then came Peter to him (Jesus), and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matthew 18: 21 - 22

It's All About Me!

A couple of years ago the youth group from my old church was raising money for a missions trip by selling t-shirts. I bought one and still have the shirt. The church's name is printed on the back and on the front, in large letters, it reads "It's Not About Me". One day, while I was wearing the t-shirt out in public, a person who was walking in my general direction took note of the shirt. She made eye contact with me and in perfect deadpan said "Yeah, it's about ME"..... I think she was joking.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.' " Matthew 16: 24 - 25

The Current Struggle

I don't get many newsletters in the mail but I did have two arrive on the same day this past week that both made reference to the West's struggle with Islam.
In the first newsletter, Ravi Zacharias warns that the West's inability to consider the potential impacts of Islam may result in the continuation of our way of life being 'theoretical'. Zacharias says:
"By the complete failure of the West to understand Islam and its secular prophets who evict Christianity from the academy, we are gambling away our own destiny. If this trend continues the survival of our cultural context will become 'merely academic'." - Ravi Zacharias, RZIM Volume 11 Fall 2007.
The second newsletter contains a piece written by former Navy pilot Stuart Witt who describes his experience on a flight which transported the body of American Marine Jared Landaker (pictured above) home to California. Lieutenant Landaker lost his life serving in Iraq. Click here to read Stuart Witt's narrative which was included in the Focus on the Family newsletter.

The Lost Art of Listening

"What miserable comforters all of you are. Won't you ever stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes you speak so endlessly?" The words of Job as recorded in Job 16: 2 - 3

The book of Job in the Old Testament records the travails of a man named Job, the ineffective assistance provided by his friends, and God's perspective in the whole matter. When Job first loses his wealth and family and then comes down with a painful illness, three of his friends arrive to provide encouragement. They start off well. The Bible records that they sat in silence with Job for seven days. Once they opened their mouths, in an attempt to diagnose Job's sin, their attempt at assistance went down hill.

Job's friends did well initially. They sat in silence with Job, showing their empathy. But when they stopped listening, they became a discouragement to Job.

I am a church goer and have greatly benefited from spending time with believers in fellowship. But the church, being an institution made up of fallen people, is not always exactly what God intended. I think that some churches are plagued by leadership and congregants who don't listen. In fact, in some cases 'listening' is not a discipline that is valued in the church.

I remember when a Catholic friend of mine told me about a trip that her church took to South America (El Salvador I think). I asked her what the purpose of the trip was and was shocked to learn that she had gone on a 'fact finding trip'. Us Protestants don't go on fact finding trips, that requires listening!

Back in college I spent the summer as a counselor and basketball instructor at a camp. The camp also employed high school students as maintenance workers and kitchen help. One night, before the campers arrived at the beginning of the summer, one of these high school guys came into my room and poured out his heart about an unhappy ending to his relationship with his girlfriend. He went on for about 20 minutes and I didn't say anything. I prodded him with a few open ended questions, but that was about it. Suddenly, he stopped, looked at me, and said 'Thanks a lot for your advice! It really helped me.' I hadn't said a thing.

Listening is a critical skill for knowing God. We have to listen to His word (the Bible) in order to grow close to Him in relationship. Listening is also a critical skill for human relationships. The church desperately needs listeners!

Trusting God

"Pleasing God is an incredibly good longing. It always will be. But it can't be our primary motivation, or it will imprison our hearts. Pleasing is not a means to our personal godliness, it is the fruit of our godliness for it is the fruit of trust. We will never please God through our efforts to become godly. Rather, we will only please God - and become godly - when we trust God." - From the book TrueFaced, Thrall, McNicol, Lynch, pages 46 and 47.

"But His joy in those who reverence Him, those who expect him to be loving and kind." - Psalm 147:11

I was raised in the church and greatly benefited from my exposure to church life. This experience, however, was not perfect. The emphasis in church training on the disciplines (i.e. pray, Bible study, etc.) is important but can be detrimental if it becomes the focus of a seeker to place more emphasis on pleasing God than trusting God.

Organized religion can inadvertently perpetuate this problem. Some churches teach: "do x, y, z and you will get to heaven". This violates the New Testament teaching which says: 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: (it is) the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast' (Ephesians 2: 8-9). Reconciling your relationship with God is a matter of trusting that Christ paid for your sins on the cross. We must live in that trust on a daily basis. We are to make Christ our Lord and confess that alliance to others.

You've Got To Watch This Video

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 9

It's hard to believe that our nephews are having kids of their own now. To the left Benjamin shows interest in Jacob's straw.

Caleb really enjoyed playing with Benjamin and Anna.

Benjamin is wise to Jennie's attempts at thievery.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 8

The funnest games that I've ever learned have come to us through Jennie's sister Beth's family. A few years ago they introduced us to an addictive game called Settlers of Catan. We played at least five times while on the Cape.

From left to right Jessie, Terry, and Jacob are in deep strategical
thought as the game begins. Don't worry, nudity is not a require- ment of the game.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 7

I had a great time golfing with Jennie's brother Chris, his girlfriend Robin, and Jennie's brother- in-law Terry. Robin (pictured left) does some land- scaping.



Terry (pictured below) is a great golfer (although he did have home course advantage).






Robin putting out.









Chris being goofy!

Notes From July 2007 Trip To Cape Cod - # 6

When we arrived on Cape Cod we got to visit with Jennie's sister Beth and brother Chris (pictured left). Chris is the chief BSer in the family.















Meanwhile, Emma and Jacob (pictured above) show amusement at the picture taking visitor.







At left Jennie is thrilled to be with her family.









This is a picture of Jennie's nephew Jacob. At this point he is ready to bust the camera over my head.












Cute little Anna.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 5

Here are some more pictures from our summer vacation. We stopped at Bowcraft in New Jersey on the way to the Cape. Bowcraft is a mini amusement park that the kids loved. Above the twins are getting ready to ride what I used to call the 'Tilt-a-Whirl' with their cousin Erin. Below the twins are on a ride that I call the 'umbrellas'. It was a great day and all the kids had fun!

Can Science and Faith Co-exist?

Several years ago I read Michael Denton's excellent book Evolution: A Theory In Crisis. Since then I've been fascinated by the origins debate that is taking place in our lifetime. A few days ago a close friend of mine shared with me a 'letter to the editor' that he wrote to Scientific American in response to a recent article addressing science and faith. Julian makes some very interesting points so I'm sharing his letter with Life Hound readers .....

From: Julian Macri
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2007 12:06 AM
To: The editors of Scientific American
Subject: Letter to the Editor

Regarding the debate in “Should Science Speak to Faith?”, I must say I was very disappointed in Professor Krauss’s condescending attitude toward people of faith. His approach will only harden people’s feelings, won’t advance the debate in a positive direction, and will only further make it appear as if science and faith cannot co-exist. As a Christian and a physics graduate of MIT, I believe I speak for many when I say that science and religion can co-exist and, in fact, complement one another. As I attempt to keep up with the latest discoveries and theories in cosmology and physics, my faith has actually increased because it opens the door to possibly explaining some of the things told in the Bible. How can there be this invisible place called Heaven? Scientific theory is pretty convincing about the existence of more that 3 dimensions of space so perhaps Heaven exists in these other dimensions. What does it mean when the Bible says that we are from ashes and dust? Some evolution theories indicate that life may very well have arisen from clay and that the heavier elements necessary for life may have come from the ashes of supernovas. How is it that God create the Earth in 7 days and that God can see the future? Einstein pretty much established that time is relative and attempted to even argue that time itself may not even exist!

Both science and religion are trying to achieve the same thing and that is to find “the truth”. While science attempts to do this by observation, religion does it via revelation. What is observed or revealed can be clouded by interpretation (or misinterpretation) and that, I believe, is where the difficulties arise. We must all be open-minded about this debate. We must learn to respect one another’s positions and beliefs. Only then, together, can we hope to understand that observation and revelation, science and faith, can both support one another.

Julian Macri

Charlotte, NC

luvmusic@alum.mit.edu

Raw Scripture - Entry 4

The writings of Paul from the book of Romans .....

"For salvation that comes from trusting Christ - which is what we preach - is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths. For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord, and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation."

(Romans 10: 8 - 10)

The God Who Is Waiting - # 3

I recently read in my Bible about King Rehoboam (of Judah). The writer of 2nd Chronicles says "... when Rehoboam was at the height of his popularity and power he abandoned the Lord, and the people followed him in this sin." (2 Chronicles 12:1) As my son Joshua likes to say 'typical, typical, typical'. We (I) are so much like Rehoboam. When things are going great in our lives we 'abandon the Lord'. We fill our 'time and attention vacuum' with the blessings of life and put God in the back seat. We forget about Him. But then, when something goes wrong, we cry out to God.
Our nation behaves the same way. In an effort to be inclusive we try to sanitize our country by removing God. We can't mention Him in the public schools or in the public forum, but as soon as a national crisis occurs our leaders ask us to pray to God for His help. During the Cuban missile crisis President Kennedy encouraged Americans to go to church and pray for the nation. (Pictured is President Kennedy with pilots who flew reconaissance missions over Cuba.) After 9/11 President Bush called for a national day of prayer.
Fortunately, God does not hold this immaturity against us. 2nd Chronicles records that Rehoboam had a period of repentance. The historian records "When the king humbled himself, the Lord's anger was turned aside". (2 Chronicles 12:12) The Bible teaches that God is patient, kind, and gracious. He sent His Son Jesus down to earth to die on the cross, in our place, as payment for our sins. The Hound of Heaven always pursues us. Have you given your life to Him?

The God Who Is Waiting - # 2

Psalms 17 continues in that vein. The Psalmist, in a prayer to God, says "Show me your strong love in wonderful ways, O Savior..." God DID show His strong love for us by sending his only Son to die on the cross for our sins, in our place, on the cross. Jesus DOES show his strong love for us daily by being our advocate before God. The Bible says that He is constantly making intercession to the Father on our behalf.

Filled with the Holy Spirit the writer of Psalms penned his response to the God who loves us. He wrote "But as for me, my contentment is not in wealth but in seeing you and knowing all is well between us." The most important thing to the writer was not the pursuit of wealth or earthly distractions but the pursuit of a relationship with the Creator of the universe.

On average we are granted between 70 and 80 years on this earth. Those who have given their lives to Christ will spend eternity with God. Yet, we spend so little time pursuing that relationship!

(Quotations from the Psalms are from The Living Bible.)

Notes From The Road - July 2007 Trip To Cape Cod - # 4

Here is another entry about our vacation on Cape Cod.....


This past Saturday we had an enjoyable day with great weather in Harwich at Bank Street Beach (pictured above). (I think the town of Harwich is one of the great secrets of Cape Cod. It is quaint, beach accessible, but not overcrowded.)
Sunday was spent relaxing at Beth's house and playing games. The competition involved Settlers of Catan and Nerts. We said goodbye to Chris and Robin who headed back to Rhode Island.

On Monday the ladies decided to do some shopping at the Christmas Tree shops and other outlets nearby. The men went to Two Brothers Pizza for lunch and then had some rounds of Settlers of Catan. (I won my first game due to a strategically placed wood port.)

The God Who Is Waiting - # 1

One of the great challenges of our generation is the ease with which we can distract ourselves with amusements. We have television, the Internet, professional sports, movies, etc. These distractions can sidetrack us from the more important things: relationships.

The greatest relationship that can be hampered by our propensity for self amusement is our relationship with God. The Creator of the universe desires to have an intimate, personal relationship with us. We need to make it a life priority to pursue a relationship with Him. First, we must turn our lives over to Christ. Then we must seek Him on daily basis in prayer, scripture meditation, and fellowship with other followers.

Living a life connected with God through His Son Jesus Christ is a great life of peace and purpose. The Biblical writer of Psalm 16 knew the joys of walking with God. He wrote: 'The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy!' He then wrote words of direct praise to God: 'You have let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence.'