prayeramedic.com » NWI Local Interest

The Story Behind Labor Day

Dan — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:30:30 +0000

Just as every life has a story, so does every holiday: Did you know that Labor Day began because of events in Chicago? On May 11, 1894, a national conflict between labor unions and the railroad industry occurred in the south side of Chicago, known as the Pullman Strike. Just like today, companies worked people as much as possible and compensated them as little as possible. President Grover Cleveland dispatched the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marshals to break up the strike and several people were killed in a violent fight that ensued.

Labor Day was essentially a political effort for the government to sweep its actions under the metaphorical rug by appeasing laborers after its horrendous actions. Here’s a short video on the ordeal from YouTube (embedding disabled).

Now the holiday acts as an imaginary line at the end of summer, and it’s a chance for laborers everywhere to enjoy a day off – although many still don’t get the day off. Just thought I’d fill you in with a history lesson.

Ride Your Bike… Put Bluntly

Dan — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:30:16 +0000

I’ve been riding my bike a lot lately, or at least a lot more than I used to. We’ve got some great trails up here in Northwest Indiana such as the Erie-Lackawanna that provide great scenery and a (mostly) safe route. I saw the following sign recently and I couldn’t help but laugh at its truthfulness:

Well put. This photograph was taken by Carlton Reid, and the stencil street art it documents is the work of Peter Drew of Adelaide, Australia.

No related posts.

Let’s Be Young Again… EPIC FAIL

Dan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:30:42 +0000

And yet another ridiculous antic from Pastor Steve Munsey.

Of course all you have to do to be young is wear a tight graphic tee and a pair of jeans….

H/T: Museum of Idolatry

Win a prize for inviting a friend to church!

Dan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:37:54 +0000

I didn’t know whether I should cry or vomit when I saw this. This is a video clip from First Baptist Church right here in Hammond, Indiana:

Be sure to catch the part around minute 2:12 where Pastor Jack Schapp points out that each visitor cost the church $12.50. I’m sure your neighbor will feel welcome when he finds out you won a prize for inviting him to church!

This church is only a half hour from my house and their affiliated bible college is only 5-10 minutes down the road. I actually attended this church a few times as a kid when I lived in Hammond. I don’t think I ever attended a service where they didn’t brag about numbers or how big they are. Granted, this is the extreme, but it’s close to home. And it’s becoming more common than most of us would like to admit, even if in more subtle forms. I am disgusted. Physically feeling ill right now. God, forgive them for they know not what they do….

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ministry progress is not measured by numbers!!!

H/T Museum of Idolatry

Earthquake This Morning

Dan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:53:54 +0000

There was an earthquake this morning in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, near Elgin, IL. Several folks around here felt it. It reminded me of the words of Jesus:

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:6-8).

A nursery rhyme – the flesh vs. a new heart in Christ

Dan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:49:25 +0000

I went to an excellent Scott Phillips concert Saturday night at a local church. Scott is traveling throughout the country partnered with WorldVision, reminding the Church that She is an organism – not an organization – and showing the world the hope, freedom and love that can only be found in authentic Christ-centered community. To get a feel for his sound, combine the acoustic complexity of Shawn McDonald and Shane & Shane with the authentic, witty lyrics and storytelling experience of Derek Webb, but in a new and refreshingly unique way. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying his albums since the concert, particularly the organic heartfelt sound of his album “Love and the Like”. But the song that really struck me during the concert, which is incidentally the topic of this post, comes from his new album “Next Stop Willoughby”. Here are the lyrics to A Nursery Rhyme by Scott Phillips:

There is a man in me who is already free
And I’m just waiting
For him and I to meet; he’s who I’m meant to be
But I’m still waiting

And somewhere underneath, beyond what I can see
A heart is beating
A heart as pure and clean as newborn babies’ dreams
I feel it leading

And all because…
Chorus:
Mary had a little Lamb – his fleece was stained with blood
And everyone who killed the man
Was the target of his love
Oh-oh, oh-oh

Its enough to know that I’m a son in the battles yet to overcome
Its grace transcending
Because the war is already won, you know the bleeding and the dying’s done
Oh brother, what a happy ending

And all because…
(Chorus)

Bridge:
Every crime in my history, every crime that is yet to be
Disappeared when I first believed, whoa oh oh oh
So when the sun shines down on me, when the dark overshadows me,
Everywhere I’ve yet to be, the Lamb is sure to go
The Lamb is sure to go

That chorus blew me away when I first heard it, not only on account of Phillips’ lyrical genius, but also because of the profound truth that we have become new creatures in Jesus Christ, He has given us new hearts, and one day our sinful nature will be entirely eradicated and we will dwell with Christ forever in perfection. The battle of the flesh vs. our new hearts in Christ is familiar to every Christ follower. The daily struggle between the two is best described by the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-25 (ESV):

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul accurately captures the concept of the flesh by calling it “the sin that dwells within me” in this passage. Conversely, he refers to the new heart as his “inner being.” He doesn’t divide his nature in an attempt to eradicate his own personal responsibility for sin, but rather to explain the reality that we have to live with these two natures until we die and are united with Christ in perfection.

But isn’t my heart evil?
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I continually point out aspects of Christianity that no longer effectively serve the Church (the people not the steeple), of which there are many. But aside from church architecture, monologue sermonizing, fakeness, and many other things the pastor-CEO’s teach, one of the most dangerous teachings in modern Christianity is that our hearts are evil. I’m not talking about nonbelievers here, Scripture makes it clear our hearts are evil apart from Christ. I am talking about once we become Christians. Pastor-CEO’s primarily base this off of Jeremiah 17:9, which says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (King James Version). This really is not an accurate translation of this passage, however. The passage would be more correctly rendered, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, ESV).

Without Christ, the heart is certainly desperately wicked, but when we receive the indwelling Spirit of God, Jesus gives us a new heart. He promised this to His people long ago in the book of Ezekiel. Speaking of the new covenant in the Messiah, God said:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. –Ezekiel 36:25-27 (ESV)

‘Flesh’ in this passage merely refers to our physical being. But notice two phrases: “I will give you a new heart,” and “I… will cause you … to obey.” The Apostle Paul again offers an extremely helpful explanation. He says that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV). Very simply put, because of Christ I am a new creation and can now choose to live from my new heart. I am no longer bound by my flesh in its hostility to God and inability to please Him (Romans 8:6-8), I can now choose to obey, and His Spirit even causes me to obey.

Christ’s perfect righteousness gets credited to my account, and when God looks at me He no longer sees my shortcomings and fleshly desires, but He instead sees the holiness of His Son, Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV). We will never be free from our fleshly nature while here on earth, but we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead available to us in order to die to our flesh daily and choose to follow Christ and walk in His Spirit (Ephesians 1:19-20; Romans 8:11; Galatians 5:16).

And that’s all because Mary had a little Lamb. His fleece was stained with blood. And everyone who killed the man was the target of his love.

Unemployed? Some ideas…

Dan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:52:49 +0000

Seth Godin came up with some phenomenal ideas for unemployed college students to attempt to accomplish in a year, but I think the list could be helpful for a much larger audience. If someone were to accomplish even a few of the items on this list, his or her job prospects would increase exponentially.

Check it out

P.S. I’m very proud of myself for using “his or her” rather than “their” in the second-to-last sentence. The English language doesn’t have a gender-neutral pronoun that works well in those kinds of sentences. We use “their” to avoid sexism in language, but it is actually improper English. I’ve been reading books on grammar to improve my writing lately, and I HIGHLY recommend Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, Second Edition. By the way, improving your writing is also a good strategy for enhancing your job prospects.

Weekly Wisdom

Biblical Reminders on Election Day

Dan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing
(Psalm 146:3).

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Don’t forget to vote for Jesus every day.

Grandma's House

Dan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:20:00 +0000

In my last post, entitled “It’s raining, it’s pouring”, I showed a bunch of photos of the flooding in my neighborhood. I talked about having to evacuate my grandma from Munster, here are some photos of her house as of this morning:

A guy walking through it was up to his knees in water, so that’s probably about how much is in the house.

Please keep my grandma in your prayers.

It's raining, it's pouring…

Dan — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:23:00 +0000

Wow! We got hit with some rain. It took me almost an hour to get home the other day, and I was within a mile of my subdivision! Why? Because two of the only ways to get in were flooded, so I had to take Route 30 to get in a back way. The only problem is that Route 30 was backed up and hardly moving.

Later last night I got a call from my grandma in Munster, saying she got an evacuation order because the river was cresting. So I (somehow) managed to get to her house via back roads without turning my little Honda Accord into a glorified canoe. We then proceeded to load all of her prized possessions into my car, my mom’s van, and my brother’s truck. Wow. Imagining having to pack up everything you value in less than an hour because you know the water is about to ruin everything else. We tried to raise the furniture onto bricks and take everything off of the ground as well. My grandma, along with her neighbors, mostly elderly, were beside themselves. One of her neighbors is in her late 80′s and can’t walk. Very sad. By the time we finished loading up my grandma’s stuff, the city made us leave.

I posted several photos at NWI Connect, and here are a few more (different ones):

Notice the fence line in comparison to the water level in our backyard.

It took us awhile to figure out how to get out of our neighborhood. Stalled cars were everywhere.

Do I need a boat to navigate in my neighborhood?

It’s not so bad in this picture, earlier cars were stalled out everywhere in this puddle. I had a friend who hydro-locked her car.

Maybe shopping at Meijer’s wasn’t such a good idea.

Share your stories!