Middletree

I liked them all, but these are listed roughly in order of preference: Permission to Speak Freely, Anne Jackson -- (My Review) A Hole in Our Gospel, Richard Stearns -- (My Review) Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide?, Karen Spears Zacharias -- (My Review) Snow Day, Billy Coffey -- (My Review) Wild at Heart 10th anniversary, John Eldredge -- (My Review) Jesus Manifesto, Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet -- (My Review) Plan B, Pete Wilson -- (My Review) Love and War, John and Stasi Eldredge -- (My Review) The Language of Love and Respect, Emerson Eggerichs -- (My Review) Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado -- (My Review) You Changed My Life, Max Lucado -- (My Review)

Originally posted December 2009: As I walked through the front door of the Post Office, I was faced with a choice. On my left was a vending machine from which I could purchase books of stamps, and to my right was the customer service desk, where I could make the same purchase from actual human beings. Because there was no line at the moment, I chose the human interaction. I strolled up to the middle-aged, slightly balding postal employee, read that his name was "Rex", and I asked for two books of stamps. As it was mid-December, Rex asked me "would you like Christmas stamps, or...". Once I realized he wasn't about to complete the sentence, I looked down and saw that he was holding some very un-Christmas-like stamps bearing images of the Liberty Bell and the word "Forever." Knowing that my wife had planned to mail several Christmas cards, I told him "One of each." To my surprise, the decision-making did not stop there. Because I had ...

Good news, Christians!  First Baptist Church in Dallas has created a website where you, the average working-class, red-blooded, patriotic, God-fearing American, can tell the world which businesses are naughty , and which are nice . The basis for such assignments is your assessment of whether or not said businesses are following your idea of an acceptable celebration of Christmas. If there are nativity scenes, references to 8-lb. baby Jesus, or the clerks greet you with "Merry Christmas" (just like the shepherds did in the bible), then they qualify as "nice". But if they say "Happy Holidays", they are clearly tools of the devil and must forever be branded as "naughty". (Side note: what about the Little Drummer Boy? If a place has him in their decorations, is he naughty, because he's not in the bible? Or is he nice, because he played drums for baby Jesus?) And once you know if a place is naughty, then...well, I'm not sure what you ar...

The Baseball Hall of Fame voters turned down Marvin Miller today. In the 1970's, Miller took over the baseball players' union and built it into the most powerful union in the world. Because of him, the worst major leaguers are guaranteed salary ranges in the mid-6 figures, and countless mediocre ones have been able to lock teams into multi-million-dollar deals, driving up ticket prices exponentially in the process. The Hall of Fame is there to remember the best of the best in baseball, whether they are players, managers, umpires, or those who contributed in some other way. The idea that a union leader, especially this one, should be honored is ludicrous.  In the last half-century, labor unions have done more harm than good in our nation, and have been instrumental (along with numerous other contributing factors) in creating an entitlement mindset among most modern U.S. citizens that is truly saddening. Some won't like the previous paragraph because they are convinced ...