Broadcaster Paul Harvey Dies at Age 90

Radio legend Paul Harvey, whose news and commentary segments always ended with his distinctive sign-off, “Paul Harvey….good day,” died today at the age of 90, ABC Radio Network reported Saturday.

He died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, surrounded by family, network spokesman Louis Adams said. No cause of death was immediately available.

Harvey never viewed himself as a newsman, even though some 18 million people tuned into his daily reports to hear his 15-minute take on the day’s events.

“I’m a professional parade watcher who can’t wait to get out of bed every morning and rush down to the teletypes to pan for gold,” he told CNN’s Larry King in 1988.

That he did with a vengeance since those teletype days in 1951, arriving at his Chicago studio in the pre-dawn hours to produce two news and commentary segments and his evening The Rest of the Story (written by his son, Paul) which were carried on some 1,100 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Radio Network stations.

CONTINUE READING THE USAToday Story here…

The following is a statement from ABC Radio Networks:

“Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history. As he delivered the news each day with his own unique style and commentary, his voice became a trusted friend in American households. His career in radio spanned more than seven decades, during which time countless millions of listeners were both informed and entertained by his “News & Comment” and “Rest of the Story” features. Even after the passing of his loving wife Angel in May 2008, Paul would not slip quietly into retirement as he continued to take the microphone and reach out to his audience. We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him. Our thoughts and prayers are now with his son Paul Jr. and the rest of the Harvey family. “

source: BNO News

Quebec: Churches On Sale For $1 – And No Buyers

One church seats 1,000, barely 100 people show up on Sunday, and the offering might be $125. The story of increasingly abandoned, barricaded or demolished churches in Canada’s french-speaking province of Quebec made page four of the print edition of today’s Toronto Star.  Churches are being offered for as low as $1, and even at that price, some don’t sell.

The fire sale of Catholic churches in Quebec continues unabated; they are victims of a population that, more than elsewhere in Canada, has turned its back on organized religion… Parishes are facing the prospect of finding no buyers for their churches… [One church official said,] “Even in selling them for $1, it’s happening that no buyer is interested in the churches for sale. This is new.”

In a country where the percentage of people calling themselves Roman Catholic is nearly twice that of neighbouring United States, Catholic stats for this one province zoom even higher.   There’s a reluctance to sell or close parishes because of Catholic doctrine which stresses the rites and sacraments — particularly the baptism of infants and Christian burial of those who pass on — but those doctrines are insufficient to compel regular attendance at mass.   In other words, even though they still consider themselves Roman Catholic when the census taker calls, most don’t have any consideration of attendance at other times, including marriage — Catholics in Quebec are more likely to live together than be joined in Holy Matrimony.   Many have a personal belief-set that is more atheistic or agnostic than Catholic.

The story describes an activist bishop in the 1950s wanted to make sure that churches were close at hand in the region of Sherbrooke; that region is now seeing a record number of church sales, with twenty-five sold in the last few years.

The Saint Eustache Church, north of Montreal (pictured here — photo taken from the choir loft) possesses world renowned acoustics and is considering a second life as a recording studio.

You can continue reading the whole Toronto Star story here.

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Bonus article

The Eight Things That Destroyed Our Marriage by Justin Davis Pete Wilson at the blog Without Wax (see our blogroll) put us on to this series of eight posts in February, 2009 by his friend Justin Davis, and I thought it would be good to have this available as one continuous piece.    It’s now posted here in the “Pages” section of this blog, and will remain up for many months.   You can direct link to it here.

Dobson Resigns His Focus on the Family Board Chair

Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role at the organization he founded more than three decades ago.

Dobson notified the board of his decision Wednesday, and the 950 employees of the Colorado Springs-based ministry were informed Friday morning at a monthly worship service, said Jim Daly, the group’s president and chief executive officer.

Dobson, 72, will continue to host Focus on the Family’s flagship radio program, write a monthly newsletter and speak out on moral issues, Daly said.

Dobson’s resignation as board chairman “lessens his administrative burden” and is the latest step in a succession plan, the group said. Dobson began relinquishing control six years ago by stepping down as president and CEO.

So reads a report posted mid-afternoon on the Religion page of USAToday.   Continue reading here…

Bonus article for today:

I Find it Difficult to be Led “…To be effectively led I must be ultimately yielded in two ways. First I must be willing to have the image of who I am chiseled in such a way that it slowly becomes a picture of the attributes of Christ. This is the work of a master craftsman, done with fine instruments over time. For God to do this to me, I daily must choose to remain pliable in His hand. And secondly, I must be yielded in my willingness to be led to where God needs to stamp my gifts and talents for His glory. To be effectively led I must be ultimately yielded in two ways. First I must be willing to have the image of who I am chiseled in such a way that it slowly becomes a picture of the attributes of Christ. This is the work of a master craftsman, done with fine instruments over time. For God to do this to me, I daily must choose to remain pliable in His hand. And secondly, I must be yielded in my willingness to be led to where God needs to stamp my gifts and talents for His glory.” ~Cynthia Clarke writing Feb 7th on the blog Girl In A Glass House.

The Law of Averages and the Word of Knowledge

There’s someone reading this and you’ve got a pain in your neck and shoulders.

As I type those words, I don’t actually know them to be true.   Given the number of readers of this blog, and given that they are all “computer people” who are given to the strains of sitting at a computer for all or part of the day, it’s a safe bet.

There’s some reading this and you’ve got pain in your neck and shoulders and Jesus wants to heal you.

The first part of the sentence is covered by the law of averages, the second part is a categorical statement based on my belief that healing is the “normal,” but we’re prevented from seeing it frequently because of lack of faith or sin.   In other words, Jesus is still positively disposed and favourably inclined to heal, but because of a variety of factors, we don’t see healing at a rate the first century Christ followers experienced it.

Jesus is healing someone right now of pain in the neck and shoulders.

That statement would be a word of knowledge; were it not a word which I wrote in my own flesh.   (Though granted, there may be someone with such a pain for whom my choosing their condition as my “for example,”  provides the faith-lift they need to see God really do something special.)

My point is that we can sometimes make categorical statements knowing that they are by no means false.

There’s a man here in church this morning and you’re struggling with an online addiction to pornography.

If the church is bigger than 20 people, I’m betting that it’s not rocket science to safely make that statement.    We know that peoples’ lives are constantly in flux and change when it comes to the things of the Holy Spirit.   So it was that I once heard someone say this:

There are two kinds of people here today; you’re either moving toward the cross or moving away from the cross.

Again, not rocket science.   Hearts burning ever brighter towards God versus hearts growing cold.   It happens.   People chomping at the bit for the next steps God has for them, versus people who are a heartbeat away from walking out the church, putting the Bible on the shelf at home, not soon to return to either.   It happens.

The line is also used in marriage counseling.   The pastor will take the husband and wife into the sanctuary and put them on opposite sides of the auditorium facing the platform; then tell them to start walking towards the cross.   Then he’ll tell them, “When you’re moving towards the cross, you can’t help but be drawn closer to each other.”

Someone else put it:

There are two kinds of people here, those whose best days spiritual are ahead of them, and those whose best days spiritually are already behind them.

Of course, there are no limits on what God can do down the road, and no limits on how he can use even our hardened hearts or closed minds to speak to us.

We are encouraged to look out for each other.    Love and encourage those whose faith is weak; who are in a spiritual valley.   Love and celebrate with those who are experiencing mountain top experiences.    You don’t need a word of knowledge to know this; the law of averages says there are people around you in both categories.    You don’t need to know whether someone falls into one category or the other; you simply reach out to people where you find them, and God will show you what to do next.

I am responsible for my own spiritual health, but I need to be aware that there are people around me who are writing their own story.   I need to support those structures that give them — and all of us — context to help move towards the cross; to see the best days in our walk with God ahead.

So how about you?  Best days yet to come, or coasting on some experience that took place years ago?    Start moving towards the cross!

Passionate Worship Music Not Sold in Stores One of my employees just put me on to a YouTube cut of a passionate vocalist, Kim Walker singing at Jesus Culture event in California for an indie recording project called We Cry Out.  The nearly 9-minute song is called Oh, How He Loves Us and you can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps If you enjoy that one, you can see a different artist at the same event, doing an 8-minute worship song, Your Love Never Fails http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA-N6Fdt7Ew

Left Behind Theology “Two women will be working in the field, one will be taken and one left behind.”   If those words have always modified a Thessalonians passage for you that deals with being “caught up to meet the Lord in the air,” chances are you’re a big fan of Left Behind theology. Open to other possibilities?  In the blogroll, go to “sermons” and click on “Greg Boyd / Woodland Hills” and either download or listen to the sermon for February 15th. Or use this quick link: http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_173.htm

Why II Kings is in the Bible – Besides the History Thing

I’m certainly not one of those “Everything happens for a reason” people, but I do believe every book in the Bible is there for many reasons, and with II Kings, the clearest message that I see is that when it comes to their relationship with God, not everybody ends well.

I wrote about II Kings on February 28th last year; and that article was based on a piece that first circulated in 2007; this is the third time around for these thoughts, so obviously it matters a lot to me.

In II Kings we see a succession of leaders, many of whom are relegated to the most minimal of mentions.   In the original The Living Bible, Ken Taylor in his most paraphrasial — ya like that word? — moment in the entire work actually lapses into point form in the later chapters.  It could be called the “bullet point” translation.   One could think that Taylor tired of the various Kings simply not getting it.  Basically there are four main types of stories told and each King is representative of one of them:

• Started badly, ended badly
• Started well, ended badly
  
• Started badly, ended well
• Started well, ended well

There are several benefits to reading this.   It should make you want to end well, to leave a legacy of faithfulness and devotion to God, His word, and His work.   But if you’re not solidly signed up in the eternal security camp, it also means you must end well.   It allows the possibility that I can blow this Christ-following thing, with severe consequences.

Of course it helps that God, by His Holy Spirit is constantly nudging us closer to His ways.   There are times in our lives however, when we don’t respond to His prompting.   In the Revelation given to John, a message to the church in Laos ascribes three possible states of response:  hot, cold, or lukewarm.    Although the descriptors here apply to the local church as a collective noun, I believe the same terms can also apply to us individually.

Many of those who are cold or even lukewarm will recommit themselves down the road, but in terms of the here and now, if you were to take a picture of the spiritual temperature of people using a “spiritual heat sensitive” camera, you’d find that not everyone is responding to what the Spirit is suggesting.   Or demanding; God’s not big on suggestions!   Some just love their sin too much.   Others are just spiritually apathetic.    Some are just too busy.

One of the biggest myths in the Church (capital ‘C’ this time) is to suggest that “It’s all good.”   To me, that’s not dissimilar from the Universalist perspective.  It’s all good if it all ends well.   Right here, right now, in the middle of the story, we don’t see so clearly how it will end.   We have absolutely, positively no idea what’s going on in the lives of people at the deepest level, so we can’t begin to assume what God may be doing, or what He may be using to work His purposes,  but if II Kings tells us anything it is that even Kings, representing the highest their country has to offer, can refuse to see the need to make God part of their lifelong equation.

Another myth is to say “We’re all on a spiritual journey.”   The Greeks held that there were four core ‘essences:’ Earth, Air, Fire and Water.   Knowing their list didn’t account for everything in the world, they held that there was a fifth essence, ‘quintessence,’ representing ‘spirit.’   Unfortunately many people live lives that are dominated by earth or air or fire or water or whatever modern equivalents represent our modern passions.   Their journey can’t be characterized as spiritual at all; or if it contains elements of spiritual life, it appears to be a journey to nowhere.

In Jesus time, we see life represented in the phrase, “heart, soul, mind and strength;” both in terms of Jesus early life in Luke 2:52, but also in how we are to love the Lord with all our being.   Some people allow their lives to be dominated by mental or intellectual accomplishments (mind) or physical prowess (strength) or their physical or emotional passions (the eros and philios loves; soul) rather than by a focus on their own spirit and the spiritual side of life.

Of course, it is not for us to know what God is doing in everyone’s lives.   We are responsible for the ending to our own story, not that of anyone else.

I want my life to be spirit-focused; to be quintessence-focused.   I want the center of that focus to be Jesus Christ.   I want to end well.   I want those around me to end well, too.

Thinking Out Loud — One Year Anniversary

You say it’s your birthday.   Well, it’s my birthday, too, yeah!

Twelve months ago today, overflowing with content from an e-mail newsletter, I launched Thinking Out Loud.    I chose the rather drab, gray theme for this because of its wide margin.   Content over aesthetics.    I didn’t realize that locked me into a teeny tiny type size, and didn’t know how to fix it.   Didn’t know how to add pictures.    Didn’t know how to approve comments.

Plus, I figured I wouldn’t write anything; I’d just use a huge backlog of articles I’d developed in other places for other reasons.    Boy, did I get that one wrong.   As every Israelite knows, the manna doesn’t stay fresh for long.

I also figured I’d read more stuff online, but didn’t realize that other bloggers would spur me on to read more books as well.   Do I get a diploma for doing this?   A little academic credit perhaps?

I did figure out enough HTML to get this to a bigger type size;  started adding a graphic or picture or some other visual to every post; but opted, for the sake of those on dial up, not to embed videos, but just link to them.   I’d still like to learn CSS, but enough on that topic since one of the goals of this blog is NOT to discuss gadgets or the technology itself.   (If this blog were a band, we would not do songs about life on the road.)

I think I did my best writing on other peoples’ blogs, though; carefully weighing whether my motive was just to get my link on theirs, or whether I truly had something unique or passionate to add to the discussion.  While I hate to cross-post things written elsewhere, and hate to steal topics; I’ll try to bring more of those subjects back home to this blog in the new year, without sacrificing the crazy T-shirts or the cartoons.

Our two biggest “draws” here — spiking the daily numbers really high — were the bankruptcy of R. G. Mitchell, a large Canadian book distributor and chain of retail stores; and anything to do with Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral.   In the past year I also put my book online using a blog template; started a blog for Canadian Christian bookstore owners;  continued using a blog page — with a single post — to update Christian community events and started a blog dealing with local issues in the community where I live (which actually consists mostly of rants!)

We joined the growing Alltop aggregator and thereby met even more writers and were introduced to a new world of readers.   Don’t forget that there are THREE Alltop sites of interest to you:

• Christianity is the one we’re on
• Modern Church contains a lot of our friends
• Religion is a catchall which contains a wide mix of bloggers

I’m also thankful for the bloggers who’ve engaged discussion and offered encouragement offline such as Jim Lehmer at Lord I Believe; Anne Jackson at Flowerdust; Pete Wilson at Without Wax; Jeff Goins at Wrecked for the Ordinary; and Dave Fisher at Pilgrim Scribblings.   (too many to link — see blogroll at right)

And Happy Birthday to Abraham Piper at 22 Words who celebrated his first anniversary just a day before ours!

I also need to thank my wife and family, who endure requests like “How do you spell…?” and “Can you guys stop using bandwidth for a minute?” and general explosions when either my computer or the one at WordPress isn’t doing what has “always worked before.”

I’ve added a new page yesterday, it’s called Keys To Taking Your Quantum Leap, aka Christianity & Quantum Physics.   It’s actually an e-mail forward that has gone viral in the last few days; just for those of you who don’t have a lot of “Forward friends.”    I also added a page for pastors that will change every few months; it kicked off with a collection of four posts from pastor Perry Noble.

I also want to thank Rick (see today’s previous post) for writing me this morning and reminding me what can happen online if we submit ourselves to the leading of God’s Spirit.

As the body of Christ, we can accomplish more together than we can alone; and the internet allows us the opportunity to celebrate what each other is doing; to be infomed as to what’s going on in the Christian faith community; and to be inspired to pursue excellence in all we do.

660 posts, and 20,000 page views (at this new address) later, thank you for reading and sharing and encouraging.

Putting a Face on the Grace of God

First thing this morning, I got an e-mail from Richard. Apparently he reads this blog, and thought I would be interested in something on his. Rick has known he is HIV-positive for seventeen years now. He’s just started blogging some very candid, and very well-written stories of his life.

The February 23rd post is entitled Old Time Religion With a Twist. In his e-mail he said he’s “not a mainstream Christian” — hey Rick, a lot of people who read this are in that category — but thought it would suit our readers. I definitely agree.

In it he describes a time when he was staying at a particular shelter that obviously touched his life in a special way. He describes the minister who founded the shelter:

“… He was a small, short fellow, but he always had a sweet smile on his face. His face looked like it was always in direct contact with God. He beamed and there was a radiance around him that lit up the room when he entered. He was a quiet man and I didn’t really hear him speak often. But I’ll always remember his face and the way he seemed to glow with a radiance I had never seen and to this day have never seen. …It wasn’t anything he said or did, it was purely the radiance about him.”

Rick, what you saw wasn’t that individual so much as you saw Jesus reflected in him. I wish that could be said of me, of all of us; but quite honestly, sometimes we fail to meet that standard; or by the time we’ve got it figured out what God wants us to be, it’s time to check out of this chapter of life and into the next one.

Your story reminded me of a girl I met years ago who was a former winner in the Miss Toronto contest. She got all the perks of winning that, including a new car, but realized the only time she had ever been happy was when she was a child attending a Christian summer camp. She got in her car and drove to where she thought the camp was, and she knew she was close, but never actually found the camp property. She shut off her engine in that place, and asked God to restore to her the closeness she had felt to Him in those days. (And He did, which is how I heard the story.) She recommitted her life to living as a Christ follower.

So many people, maybe even some reading this blog, have had a special moment where they felt ‘connection’ with Jesus Christ. But the busyness of life takes us away from what the church calls a ‘communion’ we are supposed to experience on a daily basis.

There is an inner longing to return to that place. You hear it in songs:

“We are stardust, we are golden; and we’re caught in the devil’s bargain; and we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”

For all my readers, I hope you’ll read Rick’s article, and all his blog — here’s the link again — and you’ll pray for him and try to be to others what the people at that shelter in El Paso, Texas were to him.

To Rick, thanks for entrusting your story to me. Today’s the one year anniversary of this blog, and you’ve just reminded me of the good that come when we meet online. The peace of Christ that you experienced at that time is available to you again today. Immerse yourself in what Jesus said and did in the Gospels and allow those stories to come alive right where you are. Determine to live in the truth they present. Then, reach out to Jesus in prayer and ask him to fill you with His Spirit so that you can experience that same love, and radiate that same joy to others. “As freely as you have received, now freely give.”

The Party Planning Committee Invites You To a Party

Recognize her?   That’s Phyllis from NBC’s The Office. Since this blog originates in Canada, NBC is probably working on a way to prevent us from uploading her likeness, since both they and their subsidiary Hulu, have blocked us from just about anything Office-related.  But I digress.   Phyllis is chair of the Party Planning Committee at Dunder-Mifflin, which seemed appropropriate since tomorrow we’re having a party.

Tomorrow this blog celebrates its one year anniversary online. One year and a whopping 660 posts.   Plus an estimated 400 comments left on others’ blogs since I really got into this.   What a ride it has been!   But I’ll say more about that tomorrow.

But — as I will again tomorrow — I want to thank you readers for making it all worthwhile.    For encouraging me to read more books.   For encouraging me to think through greater issues.   But mostly, for allowing me to post crazy links, cartoons, offbeat stories and for not expecting me to fit the regular blogger mold.

See ya tomorrow; Lord willing.

The part of Phyllis Lapin (aka Phyllis Vance)  is played by Phyllis Smith.

Anti-Conversion Bill in Sri Lanka Carries Penalty for Converting Someone

While attention in Sri Lanka and the world at large is focused primarily on the ongoing war in Northern Wanni against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the religious chauvinist Rajapakse regime has quietly embarked on a devious project to suppress freedom of religion in the Country…

So begins an online article concerning a major loss of religious freedom in Sri Lanka.   This legislation was first proposed in 2004, but worldwide protest prevented its passing.   This time around, Sri Lankan nationals feel the rest of the world has been silent.

Once passed (which is highly likely as the Christians and moderates are quite unaware and / or silent), this act carries a fine of Rs 150,000 and a 5 year prison sentence for someone convicted for ‘converting’ someone.

Read about this here, and here, and in greater detail here.

Grace Café

Click on the cartoon for more cartoons by Michael Waters.   Once you’re on the home page, select ” ‘toons.”

And thanks to all the cartoonists who’ve allowed us to use their work during the past year.   Tuesday, we celebrate one year of Thinking Out Loud.