In case you said, Why her?

Did you know Sarah Palin, McCain's new Veep was raised in the Assemblies of God and attends Juneau Christian Center, an AG church in Juneau? Interesting.

The following clip is from the Alaska District Council newsletter...

When Oops is a Good Thing

Happy Birthday, Shae!

Another huge milestone in the McDaniel family. Shaelyn Cherie turns 18 today. Unhappily for us, she's not here with us in North Fort Myers, but away at the University of Florida. (School begins on Monday.) She's only been away for a few days, so we are still trying to adjust to her not being here. I'm sure there will be other birthdays that we won't be able to be with her, but this is the first, so it's a little more difficult.

We're very proud of this little girl of ours, who has grown into a wonderful young lady. We are excited about how God will use her and what He has planned for her.

[And a very happy __st birthday to my OLDER sister, Cherie. Yes, that's where Shae got her middle name.]

Dorm, Sweet Dorm

Playing the Devil's Advocate

With apologies to Jon Acuff and his blog, StuffChristiansLike, please allow me to mention something that Christians seem to like...but I just don't get. It's been a long-standing puzzle for me, something that makes me cringe when I hear it.

It goes like this.

You're having a discussion about something - ways to do ministry, methods of outreach, structuring of teams, what you want for lunch...you know, something relatively important - and as you start to reach consensus on an idea, someone says, "Well, let me just be the devil's advocate on this."

Really? He needs one? And he needs you to fill that role?

I would think if I felt that phrase about to come out of my mouth, I'd stop and say to myself, "Hmm. If I am about to align myself with the Prince of Darkness, maybe I'm not on the right side of this issue."

I'm not sure how finding the will of God by being the devil's advocate would work out. Perhaps a full and correct translation of Matthew 16 would read more like this:

Jesus I'm going to be killed. The Pharisees and other leaders are out to get me. I'll rise again on the third day, but I'll have to die first.
Peter Okay, Jesus. Let me just play the devil's advocate on this...

Of course, you're free to pick which side you want to be on. If you feel the devil needs your help...