new book i'm VERY anxious to read!

Wayne Grudem published Business for the Glory of God toward the end of 2003 but I just recently became acquainted with the title. I must admit, I am extremely anxious to read this book!!!

The book's summary elaborates: "Wayne Grudem introduces a novel concept: business itself glorifies God when it is conducted in a way that imitates God's character and creation. He shows that all aspects of business, including ownership, profit, money, competition, and borrowing and lending, glorify God because they are reflective of God's nature. Though Grudem isn't naive about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin, he knows that Christians can be about the business of business."

I'll keep you posted with my own analysis!

ending the week right where we began

I know some of you could probably care less what happens with the financial markets but I generally pay attention. It DIRECTLY correlates with my job and besides I actually ENJOY paying attention. I would like to state (predominately for those of you that are clueless) that we have just completed a "historic" week in the financial world. After 5 days of uncertainty and extreme volatility, we have ended the week right where we began (which given the week is a definitely a GOOD thing). And although this week does not have any real bearing on what occurs next week (it could be better or worse next week), it's good to know we "weathered" this week's storm (Note: Ramifications from this week will probably be felt for a while because the financial landscape has indeed drastically changed).

With all the chatter by uneducated and fearful indivduals this week (mostly induced by the 'drive-by' media) about the potential collapse of the American markets, I have had great cause to revisit where my hope rests. Do I put my hope in the American financial system? Do I place it in our economy (which IS funadmentally sound)? Do I place it in the strength of the global economic system? Or better yet, my ability to control and/or generate my individual wealth??? Hmm... I've had to remind myself (or rather preach to myself) where my hope really lies. It lies in One who has infinitely more strength than the American economic system... my hope rests in Christ!

Khaki Salmon Palin

Sarah Palin has picked out an All-American set of names for her children. There's Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper. What would your name would be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out! Click the following link:

http://personal-space.com/script/script.php

FYI: If I was a Sarah Palin's child, I could quite possibly be Khaki Salmon Palin.... hilarious!

SNL

I don't typically watch SNL but they can have some hilarious pieces every now and then. It's only Monday morning but I've already heard so much about the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler skit where they are playing Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, respectively, that I had to rush to youtube.com this morning to check it out. You should too! I'm amazed at the near perfect impression of Sarah Palin that Tina Fey is able to pull off... Let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnRUKIMegn8

one 20 miler done

Whew! I'm glad to have the first 20 mile long run in preparation for the Philly Marathon behind me! I was up early enough this morning to have 10 miles out of the way before the sun even came up... yes kids, that means I was up super early on a SATURDAY. Of course, this is pretty typical for me. At any rate, this run is over and I now can enjoy the rest of my weekend. Though a bit humid, the day didn't turn out to be nearly as hot as I anticipated and I was extremely grateful for the breeze (compliments of Hurricane Ike). I was also grateful for the farmer's market, which just so happens to be on the way back to our cars--thankfully, my running partner for the day had a couple of extra dollars on her and we each were able to get a nice, juicy, ripe peach just before the end of our run. I've never had a better peach!

So one 20+ mile run down and 2 more to go before the main event on November 23. The next really long, long run is slated to be 24 miles on October 4 at the Tour d' Espirit (a 24 hour race, which supports Haitian medical missions). I'm already anticipating this one...

confronted.

I'm generally a pretty non-confrontational individual however, every now and then a little confrontation can be beneficial. I suppose the validity of this statement hinges on the nature of the confrontation. To clarify, what I am referring to is a little Holy Spirit confrontation. A little conviction in regards to exactly how needy we humans really are and staunch reminder of our depravity before an utterly holy God is never a bad thing. A firm confrontation about how we are in total need of a Savior and a reminder of the grace and mercy of our Lord to provide exactly what we need the most... Himself. I have been confronted....

Rutherford.

As if you couldn't tell upon visiting my blog (see quote above), I am a HUGE Samuel Rutherford fan. I think over the last year or so, for various reasons, he has quickly become, by far, my favorite saint of old. O to have just a fraction of the love for Christ that Rutherford did would be divine. If you've never read anything by Rutherford, I highly recommend Letters of Samuel Rutherford. And if you just want to take an abbreviated look at Rutherford, The Lovliness of Christ, which contains shorter selections from Letters, is great too. In hopes to whet your appetite to read Rutherford for yourself, I submit to you the quote I've been meditating on this day...

"Our salvation is fastened with God's own hand, and with Christ's own strength, to the strong post of God's unchangeable nature, 'I am the lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed' [Mal 3:6]. We may play, and dance, and leap upon our worthy and immoveable Rock; the ground is sure and good, and will abide the assaults of hell and the world." (-Letters of Samuel Rutherford)

verbal slip

This article in the Washington Times yesterday is quite interesting. Apparently, in an interview recently Barack Obama was outlining his "Christianity" and slipped up and said "my Muslim faith." I find this VERY interesting because though I am completely prone to making verbal slips of my own I don't think this is one I'd be likely to make. I'm pretty sure you'd never find me answering a question about my Christianity and accidentally saying, "my Buddhist faith," or even "my Catholic faith." If you believe the old adage "What's in the well, comes up in the bucket" to be true, what do you think about this statement by Sen. Obama? What really is in his "well?" Just curious....

quirks.

I was tagged by Laurin....Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking to them.
5. Leave a comment for each tagged blogger they've been tagged.

Here are mine...

1. I usually don't end up cutting the tags out of my new clothes until after the first time I've worn the new article of clothing. Yes, this is a bit weird and I have no clue why I do this!

2. I am in LOVE with talk radio (specifically, WREC AM 600). I usually listen when while I am getting ready for work in the morning, while I am at my desk at work (yes, I listen online :), when I am in my car going to and from lunch, you get the idea... As a side note, it is esp. interesting this time of year with the upcoming election!

3. I really bothers me to ride in a car when the doors aren't locked. Therefore, it is the very first thing I do when I get in my car.

4. I can chew gum for hours on end... the same piece. It would be no big thing for me to put in a piece of gum after lunch and not spit it out until I leave work for the day.

5. I get overwhelmed at work (and outside of work too at times) if I do not have a list of tasks that need to be completed. No list means stuff doesn't get done!

6. I like new school supplies... yes, this probably qualifies me as over-the-top odd but I love new pens, pencils, and highlighters. One of my favorite things about being in school was getting new school supplies each year. Now that I am no longer in school, this quirk translates to my love of office supplies... I love to organize my desk! I absolutely love the fact that everything at my desk has a "home." I think it is fun when I go to Office Depot or Office Max and need to buy something... although it is equally as fun just to go in and look! :)

I'm tagging... Bobbi, Ashley, Wren, and Heather!