LaRosa Johnson {dot} com

God always seems to give me a kick in the pants at just the right moment. The other day I was blogging about what to do with this website, and I emailed my pastor and another friend from church to get their opinion on the matter. Well, yesterday it became quite obvious, at least to me, that I definitely need to focus in on my studies and keep that as a significant priority.
Most days I carpool to work, and yesterday I happened to be playing Pastor Bob’s sermon from the 9:30 am service because I got to church late and missed the first few minutes of the message and wanted to hear what I missed. During the sermon he made a few comments about dispensations and the ceasing of gifts (as he was giving a recap of 1 Corinthians 13). The guy I carpool with made a comment or two about tongues, and I responded a little bit without going into too much detail. Well, on the way home, he told me that he had tried to do a little bit of research on dispensationalism (using our software… hey it pays to work @ a Bible software company sometimes). So, on the drive home we spent most of our time talking about the Church and Israel and trying to understand/explain the difference between the two. Without getting into much of the details of the discussion, I’ll just say that I felt completely inadequate in being able to answer the questions that he asked. I was barely able (or not able at all) to explain my stance and understanding of dispensationalism and the distinctions between Church and Israel and the blessings of each.
All of that to say, I need to hit the books that much harder. In regard to what I previously blogged about, I think this served as one of those things that God allowed to help nudge me in the direction that I need to take in regard to my training and studies. To quote my pastor in his email reply to me, “Truth is, knock out the training for the next 2-3 years and then your return to blog ministry will be that much more effective.” I’m thinking that’s the route I likely need to take and this conversation yesterday is added proof of that. If anything, it’s making me pray that much harder concerning where I’m at and where I want to go in my knowledge of the Scriptures.

After tonight’s classes at church, I was having a conversation with my pastor and one of the deacons (who teaches my Greek class) and we were talking about the increased workload that I’ll have when the new year starts. I’m not sure if I’ve discussed it here before, but I’ll likely be picking up 1st year Hebrew alongside 2nd year Greek, while still doing pastor’s ministry workshop classes among other things. With all of that, I realized that I need to address what I’m going to do with Trailblazin Ministries.

Here’s a glimpse at what I’m facing. I’m looking at the current pace of my studies here at Trailblazin Ministries and it has taken me 1.5 years to get through a rather small book of the Bible. With that, throw in the fact that, up to today, I’ve only done 80 devotions in that time, which averages out to a little over one devotion per week. That doesn’t include the Bible studies, podcasts, music reviews or anything else I do with the site. Quite frankly, by my own standards, an average of one devotion per week isn’t a lot; when I started off the year, it was my goal to do at least two or three devotions per week, but apparently that didn’t happen. Now, when you add on the workload that I’m about to add, will the rate of devotions suffer even more? Will it be a single devotion every other week?!

If I’m honest with myself, I know that it’s going to take a lot out of me to make the most of my studies, but at the same time I don’t want the website to suffer because I realize that it’s a ministry in and of itself that is helping others grow in their spiritual walks. In my mind, a website is only as good as the content that is contained, and I’m the kind of person that hates to keep a website stale. It bugs me to no end when I don’t have enough time to study and get a devotion up because I feel like the website isn’t doing what it’s supposed to or that I’m not doing my "job" well enough.

The bottom line, at least here, is that I realize that the time I devote to the website will decrease as my studies increase. From there, the question becomes: what do I do? Do I let the website just sit stale and update it whenever I can? Do I try to squeeze in the extra time to at least remain at the level I’m at now, and probably wear myself out in the process? Or do I toy with the idea of shutting down the site entirely while I pursue my studies and let the Lord lead from there? The one thing that I do know is that this site is a resource to believers all over the world, and it’ll even serve as a benefit, probably more so once I’m done with my training because I’ll be better equipped to serve. I just need to figure out what to do with it while I’m in the heart of my training.

Right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do. At the very least, I’m going to finish out the year strong with the podcast and attempt to finish the James devotion series. In the meantime, I think I’ll seek some wisdom from my pastor and others and see what they think I should do. The one thing I know for sure is that I don’t want to neglect the gift that I’ve been given, but at the same time I want to give my best at all times. So, I guess I’ll leave this as a rant and see where things go from here…

Over the past couple years I’ve purchased a lot of Bibles. I’ve purchased everything from the Thomas Nelson Study Bible (NKJV) to a MacArthur Study Bible (NASB) most recently. In between I’ve purchased quite a few other Bibles, such as an ESV thinline, a NASB thinline, and the list goes on. Needless to say, I have an affinity towards Bibles.
Well, over the past few weeks I’ve been looking at the newly released ESV Study Bible, thinking that I wanted to purchase a copy. I was impressed with the full color maps that I had seen online, as well as the vast array of study notes that were being put in. The more I thought about it though, I didn’t really want to bring myself to start using another Bible. I had just gotten used to my latest MacArthur SB, marking it up, knowing where passages are, and so forth; so, I didn’t really want to break down and buy yet another study Bible, let alone in something that wasn’t my preferred translation for everyday use. After weighing the pros and cons, I pretty much made up my mind that I wasn’t going to purchase another Bible until my current one wears out, unless it’s given to me or I’m buying it for someone else. That being said, the MacArthur SB is currently my “bread & butter” Bible that I use for everything.
The more I thought about it, it really started to make sense. When I’m using my study Bibles most is when I’m actually studying the Bible. Take into account the fact that most of these Bible notes are put into electronic form in Bible software (i.e. WORDsearch or Logos), there’s really no need to go out and buy a new physical Bible when all I really want are the notes; I can just get them for the software and call it a day. Given that I’m not buying another Bible, that’s the approach that I’m taking; I’ll wait until the notes are released electronically and then I’ll get it for my Bible software, which is where it becomes most useful to me anyway. That solves quite a few problems I have. First, I won’t end up with study Bibles stacking up all over the house. Secondly, I won’t have to fear giving them away thinking that I may need/want the notes contained therein one day. Thirdly, it’ll probably save me money.
So, that brings up another thought. As a student of the Bible, I, for whatever reason, don’t think it’s all that wise to have a study Bible as my primary Bible. When I read the Bible for devotion or whatever, I shouldn’t have the inclination to look down and see what another theologian has to say on a passage, instead of trying to “tough through it” on my own first. Plus, when I’m reading, the notes can become distracting or get in the way. For example, in many of the epistles of my MacArthur SB, there are sections where the Bible text is less than ten lines of text because the notes are so long for a particular set of verses. That is a hindrance when I’m only wanting to read the Bible, and not the notes. Also, when I’m in the pulpit, I really don’t want to be using a study Bible, as I’d much rather have a regular Bible sans study notes.
The solution? Obviously, against what I said I’d do in keeping to my MacArthur SB, it’ll require buying a new Bible. In doing so, I’ve done my homework and realize that this time around I don’t want to just buy a cheap Bible knowing that it will only last me for a handful of years; I’d much rather have something that I can possibly have for years upon years. Something with a quality cover and binding, so that I don’t have to worry about pages coming out or the cover falling off. I also realize that I’ll want to jot down notes & thoughts in it, so it’d have to have wider margins for writing. All of that led me to look at the NASB Wide-Margin Reference Bible with goatskin leather by Cambridge Bibles (distributed by Baker). The sad part in all of this is that it costs $229.99, and I never thought I’d ever spend that much for a Bible. But, the more I think about it, it’ll be a solid purchase and be something that can last me for years (maybe until I leave this earth?) and be a solid resource. Given the price, I’ll likely be waiting until tax time ’09 to purchase it, but it’s definitely on my wish list as the next (and hopefully last) Bible that I’m going to purchase.

Last night I decided to hold an impromptu family Bible study with my wife & kids. I felt it was something that we finally needed to get around to doing and make the most of our time together and make a better effort of trying to raise up our children in the ways of our Lord. In doing this, I wanted to keep first things first. Our kids have grown up in church, but I’ve never really addressed the issue of salvation with them, and I figured it was time, with Ryan being 8 years old. With that in mind, I took our first time of study together to present a gospel message to Ryan.

After having Robin open us up in prayer, I asked Ryan to tell us what he knew about God, what it meant to be a Christian, and what Jesus did on the cross. He wasn’t able to really answer the questions (I think he knows the answer, but was being timid and not wanting to really answer, thinking he’d say the wrong thing). I then asked him about Adam and Eve, and he was able to give a little detail on that. I then asked him if he wanted to read the story of Adam and Eve and their fall. He said yes, so we turned our Bibles to Genesis 3 as I had Robin read aloud the first few verses of the chapter. Once she was finished, I explained the story of how they were perfect and then decided to "break God’s rules." I then asked him to repeat the story back to me in his own words, which he did. I told them that because of what they did, that’s why we all do bad things.

From there, I wanted to take him down the "Romans Road" and give him the gospel, explaining what Jesus did for us. I first took him to Romans 3:23 and had him read that aloud. I explained to him that we all do bad things, even mommy and daddy, and that was because of what Adam and Eve did. From there, we then went to Romans 6:23 and I explained to him how wages work. I told him how I go to work to make money (wages), and showed how doing bad things earns us a "bad" type of money that leads us to hell. Then I told Ryan how Jesus gave us a free gift in Jesus Christ so that we wouldn’t have to go to hell. We then flipped over to Romans 5:8, which I read to him. I used this to explain that even though we’re bad people and do bad things by breaking God’s rules, God still loved us enough to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the punishment for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to go to hell. I used this to detail what Jesus had done for us and who He is. He understood all of that, having a worried look on his face, knowing that he had done bad things. We finally turned to Romans 10:9, 10 and I showed him what he needed to do to be saved. I told Ryan that he needed to believe everything about Jesus and then tell God that he was "sorry" for all the bad that he had done and that he wanted to live for Him. He clearly said that he believed that Jesus was the Son of God, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. I made it clear that by believing and trusting those things, that Jesus had taken his punishment for him.

I then asked Ryan if he wanted to pray, repent of his sins, and become a Christian. It took him a minute or two to answer, but he said that he did. His only concern was that he didn’t know how to pray (other than saying grace before a meal) and asked if I could help him. I told him I would. Before we did, I made sure again that he understood what he was about to do. I even went down some of the Commandments and asked if he had broken those. He said yes to them (i.e. lying, hating people, stealing, etc.) and realized that he had broken God’s rules. We then bowed and I had him repeat a prayer, thanking God for sending His Son and for saving and forgiving him of his sins, then telling God that he wanted to live for Him. After we said amen, I told him that he was now a Christian.

Before we ended, I gave him a little talk on some of the things that he needed to do in order to live for God and to be a good Christian. I asked him first what he thought he needed to do. He said things like, "listen to mommy and daddy" and "be nice to my brother and sister." I also explained that it meant following directions at school and making good decisions (being responsible, which has been as issue of late). I also told him that it meant reading his Bible everyday to learn more about God, Jesus, and how to be a better Christian, as well as praying. I also told him about repenting to God when he did bad things.

All in all, I’m a very happy father right now. I praise the Lord that He has claimed another one of His own and that it’s my oldest son. It’s my prayer now that I will be able to continue to walk with him and train him up in the Faith and that he would be an example both to his siblings and friends. Thank You Jesus! Now that’s what’s up!

My man AppleJaxx just hit me up with a link to a video of him preaching and I just wanted to share it with you. I already knew my man was an ordained minister, but I had yet to hear him teach. So, without rambling on, I present “Alive in Christ pt. 2″ by AppleJaxx aka E.O.

Alive In Christ pt. 2 from Fadacy on Vimeo.

This morning I received an email from a friend of mine asking my thoughts on an article/video that claims that Barack Obama is not a Christian. Now, I’m not one to talk about politics, as it’s one of those things I loathe. Considering the spiritual implications of things concerning this year’s election, I felt it was necessary to give a response to my friend, and to do so without even talking about politics. I took things from a purely biblical and spiritual standpoint, without picking sides, given that I’m not fond of either candidate, at least personally (but who cares what I think). Anyway, this is what I sent my friend…

I never really considered him to be a “Christian” candidate anyway… and I’m not one to judge anyone’s salvation, but there are lots of red flags & doubts that are raised especially when he doesn’t believe that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to heaven; he just believes that it’s his way there… Any Christian that believes that isn’t really a Christian cuz John 14:6 makes it perfectly clear.
One way or the other, I’m not particularly pleased with either candidate. I’ll likely write in my presidential vote because I can’t vote for either one of them in my right mind.
I’ll close with this though, from 1 Timothy… this should be the prayer of all believers concerning this election, as well as any other governmental affairs…
1 Timothy 2:1-2 – 1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (emphasis added, my own)
We should be praying for those in authority over us; not that they would be Christians (although we are to pray for their salvation), but that we can continue to live our own lives in a godly manner and worship our Lord freely.

Why am I sharing this? Simply, I want believers to keep divine viewpoint in mind and remain people of prayer. God bless!

Over the weekend I had considered moving my photo gallery to another service. I was tired of the multiple steps or hacked together methods that were required to "easily" upload photos to my photo gallery. If I used Picasa2, I would have to export to an XML gallery, and then upload that, then go to the website and import it. Just too much work, and sometimes it didn’t work. Then I tried the Windows Photo Gallery hack that was implemented, but that gave me no control over the size of the pictures that were uploaded. That wasn’t good either.

So, I looked at Flickr and saw what they had to offer. The storage and upload limit was cool, but being limited to only 3 sets without paying was very limiting, so I passed. I then looked at Google’s Picasa and it seemed to be an option, especially in tandem with the desktop application that made uploading photos extremely easy. That seemed like an option (other than the 1GB storage limit, which wasn’t really a problem since I’m only using about a tenth of that at the moment). So, I uploaded some photos and albums to give it a try. All worked well, but I had trouble using the existing code to make my own gallery on TM using their API. Apparently, most of the code that I tried didn’t work on my host for whatever reason (or I just wasn’t setting it up right, which is a likely possibility). That left me back at square one because I didn’t just want to link people to my Picasa page; I wanted people to stay at my site.

With that disappointment, I was back at square one. Last night I spent some time updating my install of Gallery2 and I did some searching on their site while my site was doing the upgrade. Well, I found a plugin that someone had written that puts a button in Picasa for uploading pictures directly from Picasa to my Gallery2 install. I downloaded and gave it a try and it worked great! It worked almost as good as Picasa’s default upload function for uploading to its gallery. So, my photo gallery is all up-to-date with the latest code, and now I have an easy way to upload my photos (with control over photo size pre-upload). Maybe that will motivate me to take more pictures, we’ll see.