THE BIG (UNTOLD) STORY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

According to this post in one of Joel Rosenberg's blogs, Muslims in the middle east are trusting in Christ for their salvation in record numbers! Of course, this big news isn't being reported in the mainstream media, but that doesn't mean that it's not happening. Here is an excerpt from Joel's report:

Consider the latest evidence:

* AFGHANISTAN --
In Afghanistan, for example, there were only 17 known evangelical
Christians in the country before al-Qaeda attacked the United States.
Today, there are well over 10,000 Afghan followers of Christ and the
number is growing steadily. Church leaders say Afghan Muslims are open
to hearing the gospel message like never before. Dozens of baptisms
occur every week. People are snatching up Bibles and other Christian
books as fast as they can be printed or brought into the country. The Jesus
film, a two hour docudrama on the life of Christ based on the Gospel of
Luke, was even shown on television in one city before police shut down
the entire TV station."God is moving so fast in Afghanistan, we're just
trying to keep up," one Afghan Christian worker told me, requesting
anonymity. "The greatest need now is leadership development. We need to
train pastors to care for all these new believers."

* UZBEKISTAN -- There were no known Muslim converts to Christ there in 1990. Now there are more than 30,000.

* IRAQ --

Cross Post from Scroggles!: The Flood and Global Warming

I'm reading through Genesis right now and have been noticing some interesting details about creation that I haven't noticed before. For example, during the flood account in Genesis chapter 7 the Bible states that:

¹⁸And the water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹And the water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

I understand that some people argue that Noah's flood could have been a localized flood instead of a world wide flood, but this passage seems to rule out the possibility of this flood not being world wide. When it says that all the mountains under the heavens were covered with water, that doesn't seem to leave any mountains on the earth remaining uncovered.

Also in Genesis chapter 9 after the flood has receded, God makes His "Rainbow Covenant" with Noah and all creation stating:

¹¹"And I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth"

To me, this promising from God seems to negate the possibility of God allowing global warming to cause world wide flooding that would turn the earth into a "water world". This doesn't mean that there can't be localized flooding, but there cannot be another world wide flood to wipe out all creation.

Baby's First Pictures

We just had our first ultrasound of baby! Doesn't baby look cute? You can see in the first picture that baby is waving to mommy and daddy.
(I still can't believe that I'm going to be a daddy!) Here's a shot of baby's big brain:
We decided not to find out the sex of our baby. We think it will be cool to be surprised at the birth. We're about half way through the pregnancy now and it sure did fly by! Baby will be here before we know it!

It was really cool seeing baby moving around inside there!

I'm Gonna Be a Daddy!

So I'm gonna be a daddy! We got pregnant in October and we are due around July 23rd. It's pretty crazy to think that I'm going to be in charge of another life! I'm going to be in charge of nurturing, protecting, and teaching another person. I will have a major influence on this person's life. I can influence their self esteem and identity and purpose. I will even influence what their likes and dislikes are such as what their favorite sport is and where they like to vacation. I will also affect their beliefs about life. I pray that God will help me to make all the right decisions and be the best father that I can be.

I am very excited about all of this as well! I'm looking forward to pouring out my love on this new person. I think I will enjoy protecting and caring for them. I want to share everything that I have learned in life with this person so that they can do even better in life than I have. I also can't wait to share good times with them doing various activities such as biking, backpacking, traveling, playing sports, etc. I also feel that it will be a privilege to introduce my child to my God.

I can't wait to meet this new person!

Scroggles!

My friend Theo (mathematician, philosophizer, programmer, Christian, blogger, pontificator) recently created his own website for blogging, journaling, ... etc. He invited me to join his blogging community and I thought it sounded like a fun opportunity to blog with people I know who also enjoy blogging. It will be cool to read their blogs and have them read mine as well.

I started a blog on his site called jason in real life. On this blog I mostly write down my thoughts on health, politics, news, religion, and other real life topics. I'm also co-blogging on a blog there about with a theme of science and creationism.

Don't worry, I plan to continue to blog on this website as well. I think I will mainly blog about more personal stuff on this site, but who knows. I could mix it up a little bit.

I hope you enjoy my new blogs! And be sure to check out the other scrogglers while you are there as well.