what if there were less to life
than Life and love and sacrifice?
Just one concern to keep things right;
me, me, always, me!

But then again that’s how we live.
with "life" and "love" and lies.
Just one concern, though nothing thrives;
me, me, always, me.

But, truth be told it really is
worth it all, our lives to give.
Just One concern, the One who forgives–
me, me, always, me?

So soul remember, though the night is dark,
that the Son of God is the Ark.
Gathered therein, He secured his mark;
Free, free, always, free!

Apparently, there was an attempt to get this ad aired during the Superbowl, but unfortunately NBC shot it down. So much for that. But, maybe the viral venue will help spread some exposure.

I’m glad to see the pro-life movement coming from a new angle. This is worth looking at.

"I know now," writes John C. Miller, "[what was missing] was the expectation that lives of faith will be changed lives. I had expected too little from [my church members]. I was content with surface reformations."

In this short passage, Miller pours out his failure as a pastor to expect from his congregation that the professing Christians ought to act like professing Christians. It wasn’t until "seasoned" Christians started being converted to the Gospel of grace that he realized his flaw. When he realized his error, he learned not to assume people’s faith, based only on their words.

He started to look for the genuine fruit of the Spirit, for the "Streams of Living Water." Miller says that it wasn’t long before the prayer meetings in the church were overflowing onto the church lawn.

We should all be so blessed to have pastors that do not assume the salvation of their congregations simply by virtue of their congregation-hood. May our pastors and preachers, have the courage, the humility, and the love to look for the fruit and to ask the hard questions.

Psalm 42:11

"Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation and my God."

Centuries before the promise of God in the messiah came to fruition, the true saints of God knew that it was only in God that true comfort and encouragement could be found to lift a weary soul.

Today, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us use it as fuel to say to our soul, "Hope in God, for you will again praise him, your hope and your salvation!"

I had a long, pointless conversation with a friend this afternoon. It started with his claim that he had most likely grasped a baseball a trillion times throughout his life. I said that I doubted it, so we went to the calculator to crunch some numbers.

It didn’t take long to discover that he definitely hadn’t grasped a baseball a trillion times. But what’s more, we couldn’t really come up with anything that we’d ever done (or ever would do) a trillion times. We went through breaths, heartbeats, footsteps steps.; we even tried thoughts, but couldn’t quantify a thought. All attempts came up several hundred billion short.

I don’t know why, but that’s alarming. There is a number that we’re quite aware of, but in our life cycle, we can’t really touch it. Much like the lost soul, deep down quite aware that he doesn’t measure up, yet he continues to try.

So, the conversation ended up having a point. Somehow it reminded me of the finite nature of life, the urgent need to seek the savior while he can still be found, and the humbling reality that is. Just as James says in James 4:14:

"You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."

What a shame it is that we won’t have the time to do anyhing a trillion times. But a bigger shame to waste that time trying.

A few days ago I introduced my disgust of children’s television. Today, as I logged into the MySpace page for my photography, I was greeted with something I didn’t expect. This little link, right in the middle of the main page:

This was alarming for me. I’m betting you can figure out why. First of all, MySpace’s terms clearly state that users must be at least 13 years old to join. And while it does appear that Hannah Montana has a fan base of slightly older girls (as far as I can gather from message boards), who do you really think an afternoon Disney star’s real fans are? I’m betting it’s comprised mostly of preteen girls. Probably as young as 7 and 8 years old.

In fact, all over the web Miley Cyrus is toted as "age appropriate entertainment for preteens". If she’s gained a fan base of 13, 14 and 15 year old girls, it’s not the target market.

Then why is Miley Cyrus showing up as a featured article on MySpace’s front page where it’s against the rules for her target market to join? Here’s my hypothesis.

Yes, MySpace is no place for children. But my gripe is not with MySpace–at least not solely with MySpace. The entertainment industry stands to make huge amounts of money from the moral decline of our children. According to a study 10 years ago, by the time girls hit 18, only 11% still held their virginity. And that age is dropping rapidly. It’s not hard to see why.

When you sign up on MySpace, the website serves a random selection of advertisements covering a range of different topics. If you go digging through the "Accounts" page, you can find a place to choose which ads you want MySpace to focus on, but by default you get a good taste of all of it. Here are a few of the ads that I came across. Click them to see them in full size.

Chat, flirt, meet up? Really?

Or, how about this little doozy. There not even trying to hide it.

Now, I thought that maybe for children, MySpace would be more selective with their ad serving. So, I signed up as a 14 year old to see what would happen. Guess what? Nothing changed. Same ad set, subtly selling sexuality. In fact, even when I adjusted the ad preferences to show ads for "automobile enthusiasts" guess what kept greeting me at the top of almost every page:

If you’re a parent this should be concerning. Even if your child isn’t using MySpace. Why? Here’s the most subtle but clearest reason. Right along side MySpace’s ad for a "Day in the Life" of Miley Cyrus, appeared this ad…. for NipTuck:

NipTuck is one of those shows I probably wouldn’t even recommend adults watch. But there’s a link here. There’s a reason ads for Miley Cyrus, aimed at 10 year old girls,  are showing up in the same market as NipTuck, for 20 year old girls. The answer is sex. Sex is a massive, massive industry where people stand to make massive amounts of money, most of which is in entertainment of some sort. It’s not an evil super-villian attempting to destroy our children for the sake of chaos, disorder and pain. It’s just a group of greedy business men who want more money and are willing to sacrifice our children’s innocence to get it.

Miley Cyrus may never personally tell our daughters to give-it-up at some party, but her witting cohorts will.

For the sake of their children, parents must realize that what is being said and shown is not the only thing that is being said and shown. Sometimes harmless household objects are used as deadly weapons. Almost everytime, harmless children’s television content is used as a deadly weapon and no one is going to protect the children if their parents won’t.

Psalm 103 may be my favorite Psalm to date. Particularly Psalm 103:8-12:

The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

This week in scripture meditation, I focused on Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Sometimes I forget that David didn’t have the benefit of looking back and relying on the finished work of Jesus. He had to have faith in the to-be-fulfilled promise of a coming Christ whom he could cast his transgressions upon. Yet, even without the fulfilling of the promise, David asserted in faith that God had removed his transgressions from him, as far as the east is from the west.

This Psalm boasts encouragement of pure Gospel caliber. Grace, unadulterated and totally saturated. As Christians, with all confidence in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can shout this verse into the face of any temptation and any sin, knocking to the floor the enemy disarmed.

But for me, these verses haven’t only encouraged me against the enemy’s accusations. It also drips with the Lord’s good favor and patient correction, his love, that at the behest of grace, the Church enjoys in Jesus.

In Christ, God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger and overflowing with unmovable love (v8). That little word “chide” simply means to “rebuke sternly”, and we’re assured that his stern rebuke will not persist and his anger will subside (v9)–a beautiful promise fully fulfilled in Christ (1 John 2:2). Because of Christ, he does not give us what we truly deserve for our sins, but look’s on Jesus’ righteousness which now clothes us (v10). For his children, the infinite height of the heavens is the only right comparison to his great love (v11).

And finally, two of the most comforting promises are these, stated here in Psalm 103. By Jesus, all the condemning violence of our sin is removed from us–infinitely far away. We cannot be reunited with them (v12). But also, God is compassionately mindful of our sin-weakened state. He will faithfully prevents us from undertaking so much temptation that we can no longer bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13, Palm 103:14).

In the armor of God, I believe this is the stuff the Sword is made of.