August Greetings

Well La-Dee-Da, it's August 2nd, and we were still posting in the July Thread.

Rules seem to be difficult for this group to follow. I'm glad I don't ever break any though...   

I was told last time I locked June's thread too soon... I let it go and I can't win...  

Had one of the best, if not THE best, services yesterday morning at church that we've had. It's amazing how Holy Spirit will move when we remove ourselves from the equation! As I mentioned in another post, I had slipped into the business of ministry instead of just passionately seeking His face. The old Keith Green song "To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice" has been on instant replay in my mind lately. "Trying" to do good for the Lord doesn't do anything. Burying your face in His word and in prayer will allow Him to move mountains right in front of you.

Of course Mark screams this all the time. It's not in our strength and abilities. It's in pressing into God who then shows up when "self" is out of the way. Of course He ends up using the gifts and abilities that He gave us, but it's now more powerful.

The frustrating thing is that I've known this from past experience, but it seems like the enemy lulls me to sleep sometimes and I begin to do things in my own strength again. I would never consciously say I thought "I" could make anything happen in people's lives, but by my actions of not pressing in daily, there must be something that thinks I can. Pride. I've heard the saying, and believe it to be true, that when you face the day without first getting before the Lord you're essentially saying "I've got this without you Lord".

Grin. I scream it because I am just like everyone else. Self tries it's best to out best God. GRIN! Preaching tomyself most of the time. Cause I am a get er done kind of guy... and I have to remind myself with God's help I will do my best. It's natural for us to do that backwards...with my help God will do his best....GRIN! God loves us even though we are fickle. GRIN!

Mark Jones

Sometimes I feel like I put that love to the test... The things I know to do, I don't do. The things I know not to do, I do... So frustrating!

I decided that I wanted a new Bible yesterday because the new Bible I just bought a couple weeks ago wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I bought one of those Life Application Bibles from Walmart a couple weeks ago because it has all that additional backdrop information about the people and places etc. on each page. I like having that information, but found that I don't read much of it most of the time. In order for all that information to be included in the book, they have to used ultra thin pages. That means anytime I mark in the Bible, which is about anytime I read, I can see it on the reverse side of the page. Not only does it indent the page wherever I write, but sometimes bleeds through. And don't even try to use a highlighter. That's an instant bleed through. In addition to the thinness of the pages, the margins are also very narrow, so it doesn't leave much room for my personal notes.

So I looked online for Bibles set up for notes. They have the "Note Takers" Bibles, but that just shifts the text towards the binding and has lines to the outer edge of each page. That's fairly nice, but I don't like being limited by predetermined lines. I then found the wide margin Bibles and decided that might be more what I was looking for.

So I motored down to the Christian book store to take a look see in person instead of just online. My assumption was correct and decided to go with a wide margin edition instead of one of the note taking, or journaling versions. Carson found a book she wanted, Phillip Jr found a Bible he had been wanting (it's got a camouflaged metal outside), the kids wanted the new Veggie Tales flick, and I got a couple CD's off the bargain rack.

We went to check out and I couldn't believe that we racked up a bill of $188.00!!! When we got in the car I looked at the receipt and realized that the Bible I picked out was almost $100. I hadn't paid attention to it in the store because it was the one I wanted and I just didn't imagine it would be more than $50-$60 for it. You know what they say about assumptions...

So here's the meat of this little post. I understand costs. I understand that things don't just fall from heaven like manna, but can a Bible really cost $100 without some sort of gouging? You can buy a paperback for $3-$4. Can a leather cover really cost $90+? Is it simply supply and demand? They can produce 1000's of the "cheaper" Bibles vs another type, so the cost of production increases? The shipping can't have added that much cost over any other Bible. What gives?

When you buy a bible like this often you are funding the outreach of that ministry. I know several organizations that work that way.

Mark Jones

Well that at least sounds plausible, and makes it seem a whole lot better.

Often you're paying inflated prices for materials and also a lot goes to the copyright owners of "The Word of God". This is why you can find $1 bibles at Dollar General because KJV has no copyright fees. I'm not dissing versions here just stating the reality that modern translations will cost more. Also, there will copyrights on the helps and extras included. I've always liked Thompson Chain bibles.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:Often you're paying inflated prices for materials and also a lot goes to the copyright owners of "The Word of God". This is why you can find $1 bibles at Dollar General because KJV has no copyright fees.  I'm not dissing versions here just stating the reality that modern translations will cost more. Also, there will copyrights on the helps and extras included. I've always liked Thompson Chain bibles.

I'd like to think that everyone works with God's word for the advancement of the kingdom alone without trying be selfish, but even if they do it for selfish gain, it's still getting His word out.

Philippians 1:15-18

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

We kick back off this Sunday afternoon with our back to school bash. It'll just be a fun and games to get everyone back together and then we start regular meetings the following week.

Looking forward to my new AR's coming in. Now I'll have the biggest class and my oldest son will be among the newcomers.

What brands of AR's are coming in...?

RRCmdrBennett wrote:What brands of AR's are coming in...?

I know we've got a Gross, Wilson, and two Watts. They're all pretty high caliber. ;-)

Ha...you guys are funny.


Tonight after work we will be camping out at the Ranger Kids Day camp location. We will be doing some yard work and then helping out on the RK events on saturday.

Regatta Races are in 2 weeks. Boat parts are cut out..pretty much for 2 15 foot long boats 4 foot wide. Just got to glue them up. We work on Sunday afternoon after church 12 to 4 pm for the next 2 sundays.

August we don't meet in the evening on sunday nights..church takes the month of august sunday nights off so we don't meet.

Lots happening. Gotta go to work.

Mark Jones

Phillip Gross wrote:

RRCmdrBennett wrote:What brands of AR's are coming in...?

I know we've got a Gross, Wilson, and two Watts. They're all pretty high caliber. ;-)

Definitely good to hear but watch out for AR Gross he comes from the olde Philip model...

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home." Unfortunately, it took more than a couple of heel clicks, but we're finally back from a Seattle trip. Such traffic! The locals are probably in the top 3 nationwide, as far as liberalism goes. But the green carpool lanes were pretty barren. 99% continue to drive around in solitude. I'm not waving the hypocrisy flag or anything.   

We have carpooling in Mississippi, too.

Instead of young people driving around in their vehicles and wasting gas, they all pile into one pickup truck, drive around, and waste gas!


Hey!

Would that count in Seattle for the Carpool Lanes?

hope you lads are having a good Sunday   

It was kind of a rough week for me.

ccm2361 wrote:hope you lads are having a good Sunday   

It was kind of a rough week for me.

Sorry to hear that. I'll be praying that things go better for you this week.

After tomorrow I have a 4 day weekend followed by 6 days straight followed by an 8 day vacation!!! Heading to KY and TN on vacation.

Gonna do some house hunting while your down south?

I think so. My sister inlaw has already sent me a listing from Zillow.com.

Two more days and I'm on vacation for 8 days. Suppose to go to TN but who knows a certain party (my sister inlaw) can't make a decision. Either way we'll still do things locally.

Well there's your problem right there Dan. You need to take the wheel and steer that ship where it needs to go. Then let the women folk ride along, or stay!