Sharing the Gospel
This from John Adams...

"Can you present the Sermon on the Mount orally, keeping true to Jesus' original emphases and meaning?"

A bit uncomfortable now, I admitted that I couldn't.

"Neither could I. But that's the problem with Christian evangelism today. So many Christians profess to believe Christ's words, but they couldn't tell you what He said."

This struck me deeply. If I am to be an effective witness, I must commit the essentials of the Gospel and Christ's message to memory. When I've hidden them away in my heart, I will be much more capable of sharing them with others.

This past summer in an evangelism course at church I talked about the need to have the faith so close to the tongue, so natural a part of who we are, that when people ask us about our faith, we can speak naturally and easily. This post reminded me that we need to be able to speak scripturally the same way. I am terrible at memorization myself. Most of what I have memorized has come from use. But to read and know the Bible that well is essential for us as Christians. Even at older ages (like mid-50s) it is never too late to get that deeply into the Bible.
(It's good to see John Adams blogging from time to time. A freshman in college has a lot of studying and adapting to do. I always look forward to his insights. Thanks, John)

Early Judgements
Instapundit has a post that includes a cover shot of The Saturday Evening Post from Jan. 1946. He links with a post on Jessica's Well in advance of Sunday's NYTimes Magazine headline: "Who Botched the Occupation?" In the upper corner of the 57-year-old cover: "How We Botched the German Occupation."

One thing about the media (and actually any of us in the blogosphere can be guilty, too) is the rush to make insights and judgements as quickly as we can. Nine months after the end of WW II was far too early to determine how we could have botched the occupation. At least with any amount of real insight. While we all know that things are not going as well in Iraq as we would like, only time (and history) will be able to tell us what this all means. Let's not forget history where we as a nation have helped our former enemies become economically stable and advanced. May we maintain our ethics and vision in Iraq so that they, too, may one day be allies in democracy.

Free? Yes, Free!
Had a conversation yesterday about the upcoming free Thanksgiving Meal for the community at our church?

Her: Nothing's free.

Me: This is.

Her: No. There's no such thing as free.

Me: What about grace?

Her: Nothing's free. What's the catch.

Me: It's free. No catch.

Her: Come on. Are you going to ask for donations?

Me: Nope! It's all free. Like grace.

Her: Don't get theological on me. There has to be a catch.

Me: Nope.

Her: Well, maybe.....