It is the duty of nations as well as people to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sin and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scripture and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord!
We have been the recipients of the choicest of bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwells in the heavens.
Abraham Lincoln,1863
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Posted by blestou on November 22nd, 2007 — Illustration, Church Life, Daily Life, Culture, Politics
Tony Kummer has added some new tools for the Said at Southern Network. The best new tool (imho) is the Network Search box. It is a Google custom search engine defined to only search Said at Southern linked blogs and resources. This way, you can search within a relatively narrow field for topics where you’d like some information from those with the mindset represented by faculty, alumni, and students of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Yes, of course it is not your only search tool - by all means open yourself up to the wider web community. However, this search tool will be incredibly valuable searching for book reviews from like-minded reviewers, or in finding a good starting point to think about certain theological topics. If I want to meditate on the Lord’s Supper, I might want to start with the thoughts of those in my own faith tradition, etc.
Overall, it is a great value-added tool capitalizing on Tony’s other tremendous work pulling the Said at Southern blog aggregator together. You can access the search from the sidebar on this site’s homepage or at Said at Southern. Well done!
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Posted by blestou on November 8th, 2007 — Church Life, Links, Ministry, Tech, Online, Doctrine, Uncategorized
A story is told of a man who had inherited some land from his father, who had inherited it from his grandfather. The man decided to build a house and make the land his home. He worked by himself, and then with his sons when they were old enough, for 20 years. Clearing land, making the ground level, laying the foundation, cultivating the landscape. He only did as much as he could pay for at any one time, sometimes working overtime or extra jobs to have enough for the next phase of his project. The structure went up, walls followed with a roof. Over the years, the interior walls were finished, counter tops and cabinets, stone all around the fireplace, colors on the walls. He lived in the house for many years, gradually perfecting the house, tending the land, walking through the woods with his grandchildren.
Then one day the man died. It was discovered that he had no savings – he had spent all he had on his home. His last will merely said, “Leave my land to the son who will make the best use of it.” So, the executor called all the sons around the table and asked them to describe what they would do with the land.
The oldest son said that real estate prices had skyrocketed in the region. He would devide the land into plots and sell them to developers. He would stand to make millions, which he could then share with the other brothers.
The middle son said that his father’s vision was perfect the way it was. He would move his family in and work the land, keeping to himself, and preserving the family’s tie to the inherited land.
The youngest son considered the words of his brothers and said, “Our Father did not intend the land for selfish gain. Nor did he think it wise to hide his land, for he invited all sorts of people to his house to spend time with him as a friend. Therefore, I would build additional houses on either side and invite many people to live here and continue the work of our father.”
The executor said, “To you I will give the land.”
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Posted by blestou on November 3rd, 2007 — Illustration
