Indecision and Irritation

It’s back!!  (No it’s not)  Why, sure it is.  See, a new post.  (But I wouldn’t say “back”)  Well, why not?  (That indicates some sort of consistency to come…be real)  It could be back.  (It could, but it won’t be)  We’ll see about that.  (Yeah, we’ll see)

Alright, inner monologue over.  Bottom line is I have no idea what to expect going forward.  I’ve almost posted again dozens of times over the last three years (holy cow, has it really been that long??)  I even sat down and re-designed and re-named the site months ago (we’ll get to that in a bit).  Myriads of topics have very nearly flowed from my fingertips to the keys, but alas, nearly is the key word there.  So why now? 

The simple answer?  A request from a friend.  A request from someone who said that they actually miss my mindless ramblings (my words, not theirs).  And to be honest, I miss it as well.  Sometimes you just need that little push I guess.  The more complex answer?  Well, there isn’t one.  That actually summed it up pretty well.  So, to my friend, thank you.  We’ll see what happens.

Now, onto the business at hand.  What’s new, what isn’t and what’s up with this new site? 

THE NEW

I said it above and I’ll say it again – I CAN NOT believe it has been nearly three years since my last post.  And thinking about that time has been a bit mind blowing.  At the time of my last post I was living in Ontario, OH with my wife and daughter.  I was working for a tooling company based out of Cleveland but was actively searching for new employment as it appeared my company was on the fast track to closure.  And, I had just purchased a $100 Mongoose hybrid bike from Wal Mart. 

Fast forward nearly three years.   Sure enough, my branch closed on September 24^th, 2009 (the company as a whole made it only until about April of the next year).  Fortunately for me (and I count my blessings for this every day), my early job searching paid off.  I helped load the last piece of office furniture onto the moving truck on Thursday, and I started my new job on Monday.  In Columbus.  That’s right, moved to the big city.   Three years, two jobs, two cities.

My wife and I (and a couple of brothers-in-law gracious enough to help at the last minute) loaded up in late October and headed to Southeast Columbus.  We’ve since moved up to the North side and are fully enjoying everything the city has to offer.  Oh, and that daughter I mentioned?  Well she has a sister now.  Yup, I am seriously outnumbered.  Three women in the house, all beautiful, and even the youngest fully enthralled with clothes, shoes and make-up.  I. am. So. Screwed.  Three years, two jobs, two cites, three houses and another child. 

 Now about that bike.  I had practically lived on a bike until about Jr High.  Always riding around the neighborhood, jumping my Schwinn 10-speed off of dirt mounds that it had no business attempting, and even racing a little BMX.  But I probably didn’t get back on a bike again until that Mongoose.  And I quickly remembered how much I loved to ride.  I also quickly realized that this bike was inadequate for the amount of riding I would be doing.  I mentioned above enjoying what the city had to offer, and that included bike trails.  Miles upon miles of bike trails.  And consequently, bike shops.  Real bike shops. 

I agonized over what kind of bike to get.  Mountain?  Definitely the coolest looking, but would I like being hunched over and would the fat tires be slow?  Road?  Fast, but I couldn’t wrap my head around those skinny tires being able to support my big bonedness.  Or hybrid?  Comfortable position, slightly wider tires than a road bike but still fast.  So, I forked over more cash than I ever figured I’d spend for a bike (little did I know…) and the Giant Cypress DX was mine.  I put a lot of miles on that bike in just a few months, but then I decided to by myself a little birthday present – A used 2006 Giant Warp full suspension mountain bike.  Hooked.  I quickly realized the inadequacy of that bike for me and before I knew it, I had sold the Warp and Cypress and shelled out nearly three times what I paid for that Cypress on a Hardtail 29er, the Giant XTC that I still ride (though heavily upgraded since then).   Add to that the cruiser that I just bought to pull the kiddos and I think it could be said that I have a small problem.  Three years, two jobs, two cities, three houses, another daughter and five bikes (and counting).

The last of the newness (especially relevant here)?  Social Networking explosion.  At the time of my last post I was still using MySpace (Daddy, what’s MySpace?) and had maybe 100 contacts.  I had just discovered Facebook, and Twitter was barely on the radar.  Fast forward to today and I don’t even remember my MySpace password (though I’m pretty sure I still have an account) and I have a shade over 400 “friends” on Facebook, all with the ability to link, share, like, tweet and re-tweet ad infinitum.  Why is that at all relevant?  Exposure.  The potential audience now is mind bending.  Not that I ever expect to write anything nearly that interesting, but still.  It’s a little crazy.

THE NOT NEW

I promise this will be shorter.  MUCH shorter.  The bottom line is that some things never change.  I still love my family more than anything, and you’ll likely hear a lot about them in the future.  I still love to read, though I don’t get to do it as much I like.  I still get irritated by religion and a good majority of Christians and finding a Church has not gotten any easier.  Politics and politicians still (to borrow a line from the ever wise Peter Griffin) grind my gears to no end.  And mix Religion and Politics together…well…

THE BLOG

…You get the new Blog.  As I said in the beginning, I actually did the majority of the re-design and re-naming months ago.  Cleaner, simpler, clearer.  I knew I wanted to write again but didn’t necessarily know what about.  I didn’t want to abandon the old path of topics, but I wanted it to be more than that.  I wanted more flexibility.  The new name is a bit of a ridiculous play on an old Sammy Kershaw song and is subject to change at any time, though for now I kind of like it. 

Now, assuming I decide to sit down with any amount of consistency at all, and assuming that you, dear reader, are at all inclined to follow along with this ridiculousness, what can you expect?  Honestly, I have no friggin clue!  If I were you I wouldn’t expect anything at all.  Basically just whatever strikes me hard enough to get me to sit down in front of this blasted keyboard and pound away.  Likely a lot of rants about Politics and Religion (duh), and with election season upon us, there should be no shortage of subject matter.  Probably some stories about the fam, hopefully some book reviews, and likely many trail reviews and anecdotes from the singletrack. 

As for features, most are the same.  There are links to different sites that I like or find relevant to the blog in some way.  I still have the C.S. Lewis quotes and running links to news from the Middle East and I added a running list of Mountain Biking headlines.  If you should desire to interact, you can subscribe to the feed, comment on posts (anonymously if you so desire), and link to a post on any number of social media outlets.  I encourage and appreciate interaction, though I don’t expect it.  Truth be told, this may very well be the last entry for another three years so it might not even matter.  Hopefully not but...we’ll see. (Yeah, we’ll see)

Book Review - UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

For anyone that has ever read any of my other posts, it should be pretty clear that one of my biggest issues is with modern day Christianity and how we practice it and present it beyond the four walls of our churches (and in some cases how we present it within those walls.) So, when I saw the book UnChristian at my local bookseller, I was instantly intrigued. And the fact that it was written by the president of the Barna Group and included three years worth of research made it all the more interesting.

The book itself is based, as I said, on three years worth of polls, surveys and interviews that were commissioned by Gabe Lyons, head of the Fermi Project and a co-author of the book. It looks at a half dozen or so common perceptions about Christianity (we're too judgmental, too political, too hateful etc.) and offers evidence for support as well as what our response should be. And while the concept for the book was excellent, it fell very short of what I expected in it's delivery.

First, let me say that statistics aren't really my thing. The only detail I really remember from my high school statistics class many moons ago was my teacher telling us that a statistic can say whatever you want it to say, and there is a lot of truth to that. For example, in a sermon I heard on Father's Day the pastor used a stat that said something like 85% of people in prison came from fatherless homes. And while that is certainly very striking, I was left wondering what percentage of all fatherless children end up in jail. Let's say you have 100 fatherless children, and three of them end up in prison with one person from a two parent home. 75% of the people in the prison are fatherless, however they make up only 3% of the total fatherless population. With all apologies for the quasi-statistics lesson, I hope you see my point.

That all being said, Kinnaman actually does a pretty good job of explaining how they qualified their questions and subjects so as to end up with the most accurate data possible. Of course, no matter the qualifications I always have a hard time believing that a couple thousand people could truly represent the entire population, but that's a whole other blog.

I guess my biggest issues with the book (outside my general mistrust of statistics) are form and function related. For what the book was billed as, I actually thought that there wasn't nearly enough data referenced. Each chapter included one or two charts showing the polling numbers for a particular topic, but they usually felt kind out out of place to me, as though they were just sort of forced in. And in other cases when the author was trying to make a point of his own, he would reference polls or data, but only briefly and with no numbers to back it up. I guess it just seemed to me that for all the massive research that was done, the book relied very little on the numbers and much too heavily on the authors own opinions on what we could do to change each perception.

Which brings me to my next issue. While Kinnaman may be a gifted leader and superb pollster, I think it may have been beneficial to leave the penning of the book to someone more accomplished. Not that I have any room to judge mind you, but I'm not writing a book, at least not yet and certainly not one of this potential importance. The points were a little disorganized and in some instances, such as the chapter on Christians being viewed as too political, I wasn't even sure what the point was. He also had a bad habit of making brief references, especially Biblical, while not providing any support or point of reference at all.

Thirdly, I had some issue with the essays at the end of each chapter. In addition to the research and the author's viewpoints, the book also relied on a group of twenty or so prominent figures in the religious community who wrote brief viewpoints at the end of each chapter in support of that particular topic. And again, while I applaud the concept I have to wonder who, if anyone, was editing the content of these essays. Don't get me wrong, there were a few that were excellent and on-target. But most seemed hurried, off-the-mark and worst of all, very self serving. Too many of them seemed to be nothing more than glorified advertisements for their own book, program or agenda. It was difficult to read at times.

There were a few other minor details that I might have liked to see changed, but nothing a major as what I mentioned. I might have liked to see the focus of the book expanded to include more than just 16-29 year-old's, but I fully understand why they chose that group. However, it might also be nice to have a follow-up to see if there really is a major perception switch being ushered in by a new generation, or is it simply youthful arrogance, independence and new-found freedom. What I mean is that, although I'm only 33, I know my perceptions and attitudes have changed since I was 16 or 20. Is the data collected unique to this current generation, or is it just typical of that age group? Whatever the case, it doesn't change the fact that regardless of the age group, the generation or the decade, there is an air about Christianity that we need to understand and change.

So bottom line, would I recommend this book? Surprisingly I think I would, at least to the right person. As I said previously, the concept of the book is excellent and for all my issues with it, there is plenty that will make you think, and think hard. And even in the case of the essays which I didn't care for, they gave me reason to hash out my own thoughts and beliefs in relation to what they were saying. This issue is one that all Christians should be concerned about but this particular book is not for everyone. It's fact-based and laborious at times with far too few anecdotes from the interviews that were conducted. But for someone with a true passion for this subject, that understands the type of book this is, it's at least worth a look. For a similar type insight but a far more enjoyable read, you should consider 'The Unlikely Disciple' by Kevin Roose. I'd tell you about it, but it's the subject of my next review so you'll just have to wait.

Book Review - A Tale of Two Sons by John MacArthur

Dickens. Shakespeare. Keillor. What do these men have in common besides being literary icons of their day? They all called the Parable of the Prodigal Son one of the greatest short stories ever told. And now John MacArthur takes us deep inside and shows us the stories within the story in his book 'A Tale of Two Sons.'

I have mentioned this book in previous posts and I actually bought it shortly after it's release in April of 2008. But I only finished it fairly recently. I picked it up in spurts many times over the months but always seemed to get sidetracked by a newer novel or just life in general. But when I finally committed myself to just sitting down and finally finishing it, I was very glad I did.

MacArthur does a wonderful job with this book (as he often does). I admit I was a little skeptical how a story so short could be analyzed for over 200 pages, but he manages to do it effortlessly. The first section of the book sets the historical context of the story. Oftentimes we lose sight of just how powerful some of Jesus' words were when spoken in the context of the day and culture in which He ministered. We overlook references that may have had a huge impact on his audience at the time, but mean little to us in our current culture. MacArthur also does a wonderful job of giving us an in-depth insight into Jesus' target audience, the Pharisees.

As the book continues, it is broken down into sections for each of the main characters in the story, the Father, the Prodigal and the Older Brother. Every chapter gives a masterful insight into each character and the role they play in the story. They too are filled with historical and contextual references that bring a whole new life to the story. One such detail that I picked up on was the fatted calf. In that day, only the wealthy would typically have a fatted calf and then usually only for a very special occasion. Because the animal had to be raised and treated very specifically make for a proper feast, and since a cow is only a “calf” for a short while, you wouldn't just have a fatted calf around all of the time. Likely, it was being raised for a very specific and special occasion, perhaps a wedding or something of the like. All of that makes it even more significant that the father would kill the calf for his returning son instead of continuing to save it for whatever big event was coming.

Additionally, I liked the details regarding the significance of events such as the way the younger son asked for his money, the extremely low and degrading nature of the job he was forced to take and the giving of the cloak and ring by the father. All of these make the story so much more dynamic when understood from Jesus' original audience's point of view. Probably the most resounding chapter for me though was that of the older brother. While we typically like to see ourselves reflected in the character of the Prodigal, I think we'd be surprised how much we are like the older brother sometimes. And that's a very dangerous character to be. He's always seemed to be the most overlooked part of the story to me, and yet Jesus specifically saves him for last. After all, he represents Jesus' primary audience at the time, the Pharisees.

Overall, this book was excellent. It's well researched, well put together ,and will make you look at this parable in a whole new light if not your own spiritual life. MacArthur even adds a chapter at the end about why Jesus taught in Parables which I found fascinating as well. In fact, it's something I'm going to touch on in another post I'm working on once I finish a couple more reviews. But until then, I would highly recommend this book. The Parable might be the greatest five minutes of storytelling ever, and it's even better once you view it from a two thousand year old perspective.

Book Review - Shoofly Pie by Tim Downs

Watch your back Gil Grissom, there's a new bug man in town.

Similar to the famous CSI character, Tim Downs has crafted a humorous, intelligent, eclectic and highly likable character in this first installment of what has already become a four book series. Dr. Nicholas Polchak is an entomologist with North Carolina State University who has chosen to hone his craft and concentrate his research in the emerging field of forensic entomology. Unfortunately for Nick, his penchant for taking it upon himself to assist the local authorities with their cases is not always appreciated. After his most recent run-in with the Wake County Sheriff's Department, Dr. Polchak is "encouraged" by his faculty superiors to spend the summer at NC State's Extension Research Facility in Holcum County North Carolina, which is just as backwoods as it sounds.

Hailing originally from Pittsburgh, PA, the small town environment is not exactly Nick's proverbial cup of tea. But he's content to ride out the summer minding his p's and q's while continuing his research with his assistant, Dr. Eustatious Tedesco (Teddy). That is until Mrs. Katherine Guilford shows up and offers Nick quite a sum of money to look into the apparent suicide of one of her life long friends. He soon agrees and what follows is a fast paced ride into the world of forensic entomology and small town ties.

Primarily a crime thriller, this book certainly delivers in most ways. As a former cartoonist, Downs seems to have done his due diligence in researching for this character. The forensic and entomological elements of the book flow very naturally without feeling forced. Most every character is well developed to where you get a real sense of who they are without having to endure agonizing periods of back story or self-reflection from them (the lone exception being the deputy, who I still don't get.) The pacing of the book is swift and always kept me wanting to read "just one more chapter." While Downs never delivers a shocking "I never thought he would turn out to be the killer" kind of moment, there are still plenty of little revelations along the way to keep the reader hooked.

That being said, I'd be remiss not to point out a couple of problems I had with the book, the first being the genre. Downs writes what would be classified as religious fiction and admittedly, it's a tough genre to nail. The only real connection I could find to this classification were a couple of seemingly out of place scenes that included a minister. You get the sense at one point that the author is trying to make a point that ultimately there is much more to death than just investigating the carcass that remains. That for all of Dr. Polchak's explanation and knowledge of the various stages of decomposition, the real concern should be with what happens to the soul. But that theme is never expanded on and so you're left as a reader to either dig deeply for it and gloss awkwardly over it.

Secondly, there is a whole prelude that is supposed to set up Mrs. Guilford's relationship to the other small town characters as well as establish her extreme insect phobia, which of course is supposed to be ironic in the face of Dr. Polchak being an entomologist. But the phobia is never well developed and that part of the plot falls kind of flat when it comes in to play during the climax towards the end of the book (which felt a little rushed and out of place).

Overall though, I really did enjoy this book. Tim Downs has created what may be one of my favorite characters in Dr. Polchack and his character alone makes this a worthy read. Is it a keep you on the edge of your seat thriller? Not really. Will it keep you guessing right up until the end? Probably not. Are there some plot elements that may disturb the over-analytical types? Likely yes. But if you enjoy the CSI type crime dramas and are looking for a nice summer book that's well written, fast paced and has some memorable characters, then this is well worth the read.

Book Review - BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker

Well here it is, my first book review, and as I said in my introductory post, I would like to put a little different spin on it. So the first order of business is to not tell you what the book is about. Quite honestly, I don't really care for the reviews that do that. I want to know what someone thought about a book, not read about their own version of the plot. The author got paid quite well to write the book himself, he doesn't need my help. That being said, if you would like to take a quick look at the synopsis of the book (and I recommend you do) as well as check out what other critics and readers had to say, click here before reading on.

As for what I thought of the book, let me first say that I am a huge Ted Dekker fan. I've referenced and mentioned his works multiple times in my other posts and I always eagerly anticipate his next books. I own and have read all 27 of his books so far, some more than once. I could probably get a bit carried away writing about his other books and his life and career as a whole, but his Wikipedia entry sums it all up pretty well if you want to check it out. Now, enough with all of that, on to the book.

BoneMan's Daughters is Dekker's first major novel not published by Thomas Nelson, that bastion of Christian publishing; his first "mainstream" release if you will. But that's not to say that it is a mainstream novel. This book is every bit Ted Dekker. Is it violent? Yes, it is. Is it dark? Of course it is. Are there a couple instances of very mildly offensive language? Definitely. But that's the whole point, and it's something I'll explain in greater detail in my next post.

What I've noticed in reading other reviews is that most people just don't get this book. Either they're uber-religious and condemn it outright for it's violence and crudeness, or they're mainstream readers used to reading Koontz and King and they blast it for it's unoriginal theme. Then there's the more moderate views. The Christian who gets that there is a theme to it and understands the use of violence, but ultimately still misses the true point, or the mainstream reader who just thinks it's a genuinely good thriller.

Let me be very clear here, this is a love story. A very intense love story. A very violent love story. It's a love story about a man willing to do anything up to and including sacrificing his own life if necessary in order to save his child from an unimaginable evil. Sound familiar? Exactly my point. And the best part is that the love in the story is as intense and beautiful as it is because of the violent nature of the evil that is portrayed. I love that Dekker continually plays on that in his books rather than shying away from it as so many others do. After all, quite possibly the greatest example of selfless love ever shown was Christ's death on the cross for us, and you certainly can't say that wasn't violent.

As for the literary elements of the book, I personally thought it was one of his best written since his earlier works. Maybe it had something to do with this quote from his blog about the book:

"Not since writing When Heaven Weeps following the death of my brother many years ago have I written such a personal story as BoneMan’s Daughters. I’ve dedicated it to Rachelle, but this love story is for you. For every daughter, every son, every father, every mother."

It's funny he says that, because as I got into the book I even thought to myself that he had not written a book with this sort of intensity since he penned the Martyr's Song series, which included When Heaven Weeps (a very gut wrenching read by the way). In general, I found all of the characters to be reasonably well developed and believable. The dialogue was for the most part smooth, and the book moved at a pretty steady clip.

For those hoping for one of Ted's shocking twist endings, you may be a little disappointed. There's a minor "a-ha" moment towards the end, but nothing like his previous books Skin and Adam. But that's OK. This book didn't need that and personally, I rather enjoyed the ending.
There are a handful of scenes that are not for the faint of heart, but generally if you enjoy a good thriller then I think this is well worth the read. Sure the whole serial killer preying on young girls theme has been done and done again, but Dekker does a nice job of adding his own personal style to it. It certainly stands alone as a quality mainstream thriller. But if you're willing to look just a Little deeper and see the love story that resides within the evil confines, well, you're in for a real treat. You'll be thinking about this book long after the cover is closed.

Coming soon - Book Reviews

Just wanted to alert you to some new content coming soon to the site. Yeah I know, everyone's a critic. But don't worry, I hope to put a less annoying spin on it than most. Basically, if you read this at all then you know I love to read. In fact, I'm currently reading three books. And I figured that as long as I'm taking the time to read them I might as well throw in my two cents on them. Maybe it'll encourage you to read one, maybe it won't. Whatever. But if nothing else it'll help keep me focused on both reading and writing more. Hopefully I'll have the first couple up this weekend. I just finished some pretty good books and I'm looking forward to posting them. Till then...

Moving, Old Furniture, and St. Francis

OK, I know it's been a few weeks, and for those few souls who indulge me by reading this, I apologize. But I have a good excuse, really. I moved. Yeah, that's what I thought, no more explanation needed.

I hate moving. Even for as relatively few times as I've done it in my life, I just don't like it. Don't get me wrong, this particular move was very necessary and long overdue, and I could not be happier with the new place. It's the first one that my wife and I have picked out together and it just feels more like home than the old house did. But I hate the physical process of moving. The sorting, trashing, packing, lifting, moving, unpacking, rearranging physical part of moving. But we're all done now, and except for a little decorating, we're quite settled in.

So, now I can finally get back to the task at hand; writing more. I've been keeping notes these last few weeks on some topics that have danced in my brain a little, and I hope to materialize them shortly, but I first want to share something that sprang from the weekend that we moved.

If you've ever moved, especially as an adult, you know that it's rather amazing how much stuff can gather in the darkest reaches of basements, closets, sheds and garages over time. I really had no idea just how much junk I had. And isn't it funny that no matter how much time has elapsed since you last laid eyes on something or even remembered it's existence, once you find it again you just can't imagine how you ever lived without it? Fortunately, I knew that our storage space would be a bit more limited at the new place, so I was forced to get rid of quite a bit. But I did come across a lot of old memories in the process.

Something of particular interest was a folder from about twelve or so years ago, right before I moved out of my parent’s house. It was a collection of papers that I used to have hanging on the wall of a basement office we had there. Some were quotes, some were bible verses, and most were pretty cheesy as I look back on it now. But one that I came across stuck with me and ended up tying in nicely with not only my last post, but also with something that happened later that weekend.

The paper was a quote commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, a thirteenth century friar and the founder of what we commonly refer to as the Franciscans. While the wording of the quote varies slightly depending on the source and it's never been directly found in any of Francis' writings, the idea is commonly thought to be his. In chapter XVII of his rule of 1221, Francis said, "Let all the brothers, however, preach by their deeds." This statement has been commonly reinvented to read something like what I had on my wall, "Go out and preach the Gospel, and if you must, use words." I have always loved that quote, but as time has gone on and I've given more thought to it, I've come to think it rather incomplete.

Before I tell you why though, let me share something else that happened that weekend. Prior to moving, my wife and I had decided to use our tax return this year to stimulate the economy a bit and get some new furniture and house wares. Basically, after a couple years of making do with all of my leftover junk we just wanted a clean start. But we also knew that what we wanted to replace, while old and a bit rundown to us, may be far and away better than what someone else may have. So, we contacted the men's group at our church and they gladly hauled away a mattress set, couch, stove and refrigerator, all to be cleaned up and donated to people who needed them.

Honestly, I had assumed it would be days or even a couple weeks before they could ready everything to be given away. But the very next day at church, one of the men from the group made it a point to track me down and let me know what had happened to our old items. At first, I admit I was a bit uncomfortable. You see, I didn't donate them so I could pat myself on the back about it. I never intended to find out where they went; I just trusted that God would place them with whoever needed them the most. In fact, I only share it with you here because it helps to illustrate my point. As it turns out, they almost immediately took the appliances to a woman they knew who needed them. But, as they were taking them in and setting them up for her, they discovered that she needed much more than just the appliances and ended up unloading the couch and bed as well.

Now, at this point it would have been easy enough to simply accept the woman's thanks, maybe even tell her what church they were from and pray that God might move through their actions and bring this woman to a relationship with God. But that's not what they did. They made a point to tell this woman exactly why they did this and tell her of God's saving grace. As it turns out, the woman made a decision that day to accept that precious gift of salvation. I have to admit, that really did move me.

And it brought me back to the paper I had found earlier that weekend with the quote from St. Francis on it. As I said, it seems a bit incomplete to me. Is it enough to simply show God's love by our actions? Maybe, but if we don't share the Gospel then what makes our actions any different from anyone else's? You can turn on the news and see coverage of any number of humanitarian efforts. There are countless agencies around the world doing amazing things for the less than privileged. They show tremendous love and mercy. And then look at Hollywood. George Clooney, U2, Brangelina and countless others are lending their time, money and fame to raise awareness of many injustices the world over. They too show great love and compassion. But to what end and in who's name do they do it?

So many "Christians" today are so quick to speak, but they never back up their words with actions. It's easy to tell people what they should or should not do, but what kind of clout does it carry if not backed up with actions? And I think that's part of the basis for the St. Francis quote. But it doesn't mean we should keep our mouths shut completely. In fact, as true believers, is it even possible to not speak of Him? Shouldn't we be so overcome by the undeserved gift of salvation that we can't possibly keep quiet about it? Granted, not everyone should get up on a Sunday morning and preach a sermon. It takes a special gift to be a teacher in that regard. But when it comes to backing up our actions, we most certainly should be willing to speak. Otherwise we're just another good Samaritan, taking the glory onto ourselves by not directing where it ultimately deserves to go.

Now, go out today and preach the Gospel, with your actions and your words.