Pat Robertson, Marketing Genius?

I regularly read stuff about marketing, looking for ways to get the Center for Biblical Counseling of McKinney noticed. So I just had this thought: is Pat Robertson just an (evil?) marketing genius? The dude sure knows how to get people talking about him.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's a ploy to get noticed. I think he really believes what he says.

Tim Keller: How Do You Take Criticism of Your Views?

Great food for thought! I really needed this and will continue to think about it and ask God to change my heart in this area. Read it here: http://www.redeemercitytocity.com/blog/view.jsp?Blog_param=86

A Christmas Reflection

It is an often painful fact that our lives seldom go the way we planned. How many of us have the life we pictured at age 20? A well-known quote attributed to Woody Allen says, "if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." Most of us aren't quite that cynical yet it is true that things often don't turn out the way we'd planned.

In Luke 1 we're introduced to two women for whom things undoubtedly did not go as planned. There's Elizabeth (and her husband, Zechariah) who "had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years." Being childless in Israel was considered a disgrace. As a woman of that culture she'd have longed for a child; Luke 1:25 confirms that fact. And then there's Mary, who was legally pledged to be married to Joseph, but was not yet married to him. God sent Gabriel to tell her that she would conceive of a son by the Holy Spirit, and she would give birth to the Messiah. Two women for whom life wasn't going as planned. Elizabeth, no doubt, envisioned herself being a mother much earlier in her life. Mary, no doubt, hadn't planned on being a mother quite yet. Both were obedient to God. Elizabeth obeyed in naming her son John despite the protests of relatives. Mary made the timeless statement of obedience: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

The Son she bore was himself obedient, both to his earthly parents--"and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them" (Luke 2:51)--and to His heavenly Father--"he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). This was the ultimate act of love and obedience.

Christmas is a beautiful story, and a wonderful time of year. We enjoy the twinkling lights, the bountiful treats, and the gifts that express the joy of relationship. We should not miss, amidst all the trappings, the opportunity, even when things have not gone as planned, to say with Mary, "let it be to me according to your word."

Startling finding regarding young men and porn

From the November 2009 issue of Psychotherapy Finances:

The problem with trying to study the effects of pornography on young men, researchers find, is that you can’t assemble a control group. Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse from the University of Montreal explains: “We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography...We couldn’t find any.” The average age at which his subjects first watched porn was 10, Lajeunesse told The Telegraph (Britain, December 2). Roughly 90% of their “porn consumption” was via the Internet...Meanwhile, according to a Nielsen survey quoted in the November/December Psychotherapy Networker, 25% of U.S. employees admit to accessing Internet porn at work. A long article about the effects of pornography titled “Out of the Shadows” is available online at www.psychotherapynetworker.com.

Good words from Philip Yancey

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/november/28.65.html

Reflections on Tiger

Read this good post from my friend Ben Wilson over at www.marriagesrestored.com: http://www.marriagesrestored.com/marriages/2009/12/reflections-on-tiger-woods.html

I feel for you, Eddie Cibrian!

I heard on the news last night that Eddie Cibrian (I guess he's an actor; I hadn't heard of him until this story) is suing Life & Style magazine for defamation for claiming in an article that he was cheating on his girlfriend, LeAnn Rimes. Tacked onto the end of the story was the news that Eddie is in the midst of a divorce from his current wife.

So hey, Eddie, I just wanted to say that I feel for you, buddy. Where do people come up with this stuff anyway? The gall, suggesting that you could be cheating on your girlfriend!

Eddie's estranged wife told Us Weekly "she was tired of Cibrian's infidelity."

So I am wondering, is that defamation lawsuit for defamation of character? Really?

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/cibrian-ive-had-no-sexual-relationship-with-anyone-other-than-leeann-rimes-20092011