If Jesus moved here for a week...

If Jesus - the Jesus of the Bible - moved to your city for a week, would your city change?

Of course it would, and drastically so. Why? Because Jesus does not have a passive religion. He would be out healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead - the types of things you can't do without radically changing the city in which you do it.

So why aren't we doing these same things? Aren't we supposed to BE Jesus to the people in our cities? Doesn't the spirit that lives in Him live in us also?

In the book of John, Jesus said that those who believe in Him would do his work and even greater things than he did. GREATER than raising the dead? Hey. He said it not me.

But we're not doing greater, or even equal works. Our feeble attempts at evangelism pale in comparison. So what does this mean? It means we are an unbelieving people. If we believed - no, I mean if we REALLY believed - stuff would be happening. We would be doing Christ's work in the world. Because people ALWAYS act on what they believe. And lack of action speaks as much about what you believe as your action does.

But there's hope. The man with the demon-possessed son cried, "I believe!" and in the same breath "Help me overcome my unbelief!"

So we should be praying the same way. Almighty God, we believe. But Jesus, help us overcome our unbelief!

Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit and He is faithful. He empowered us to do his work and greater things still. If we would only sacrifice our earthly dignity on the altar of our King, we would begin to do unbelievable things out of the abundance of our belief.

Jesus I believe! Help me overcome my unbelief and be Jesus to Carson City!

someday i'll be a great photographer...but i still dig some of my amateur work

Why do we always wait to pray until it's the only thing we CAN do?

Everyone knew last November that this election was more important than previous elections of at least one major reason.

The appointment of new judges to the Supreme Court is both so rare and so crucial that we all – on both sides – wanted to make sure the man in office when time to do so rolled around was the right one.

Now, we Bush-supporters got our president – and we support him still – but many are now concerned that our confidence in his ability to choose the right Supreme Court justice was misplaced.

I won’t get into the argument about elitism. No one’s being elitist when they say they’d like someone a bit more experienced and knowledgeable than Harriet Miers. Obviously we need the best person possible to fill a position so crucial. The Supreme Court has the power to uphold or rewrite the constitution (whether it should have that much power is a different argument entirely) and as we have seen in other judges, that power can be and often is mightily abused.

“When a vacancy on the Court occurs, the president has a solemn duty to nominate the best and the brightest. He should choose not only strict constructionists, but those who can hold their own against the liberal activist justices who are steadily rewriting the Constitution and removing, brick by brick, its foundation,” said David Limbaugh in his (infinitely better informed and written) column.

He pointed out that the same people accusing opponents of Miers’ nomination as elitists would feel differently about choosing the best possible lawyer to defend them in court. “If they deserve the best in their individual struggles, don't all Americans in their collective struggle to remain free?”

But all that is kind of a side point.

We could debate all day whether Miers is the best person for the job and it wouldn’t accomplish anything. The president has made his intentions clear and it seems at this point (at least to me) that her nomination is inevitable.

So what action are we left with? To pray fervently for Miers that if she is not capable of the job that she will become so. That she will rise to the challenge and defy expectations on both sides.

Thank God for being sovereign. We may not be able to change the decision to put her on the Supreme Court. We can, however, if we believe in the power of prayer as I do, impact the way in which she fills those large shoes.

If she is going to be in such a public and powerful position, she is going to be under attack. It is our duty to uphold her in prayer and it is the most powerful thing we can do - infinitely more powerful, in fact, than any decision or ruling she or anyone else can make.

The Frank, Terry, Jeanna and Colorpass 2000 Conspiracy

The guys who deliver the big five-gallon jugs of water to my office haven’t been seen in two weeks.

In case you were wondering why this is bad, I offer up the following irrefutable reasons.

- I cannot make coffee.

- Probably they were murdered in some dark alley or something.

- I cannot make coffee.

- Their families probably miss them

- Without using water from the bathroom, I cannot make coffee.

As you can see, this is a crisis.

Of course there is always the chance that after their last visit, during which I cornered them both and made them pick from a list of names for my dog, they simply decided not to come back.

(Editor’s note: It is NOT my dog. It is my roommate’s dog. Nevertheless I couldn’t very well let her name it Chloe, could I? Chloe means “green shoot.” Okay fine, I voted for Chloe. But seriously why not? It’s a pit bull for crying out loud, though I’m not sure how that’s relevant.)

But the reason doesn’t really matter does it? Discovering what craziness has prevented them from coming to me does not solve the underlying problem that without THEM I am also without COFFEE – resulting in shoddy work, unclear thoughts, slurred words, drooling and strong suicidal tendencies. Plus the above italic note. Do you see what coffee deficiency does to me?

Before you start trying to confiscate my shoelaces, no I am not actually suicidal, nor do I think suicide is funny most of the time.

Also the printer keeps jamming but only when I print. That traitor Jeanna never has any problems printing.