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Born to live, born to die, born to be crucified.
The babe from Bethlehem grew to be The Man.
From Mary’s womb the Creator came,
From that point on history was not the same.

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In the middle of all the commercialism, it’s easy to overlook the babe in the manger – not to mention the fact that this babe came to be the Lamb on the Cross, the Redeemer risen from the grave, the Councilor in your life and the King returning in the clouds.

Jesus – the reason for the season.

Baking ANYTHING is very low on the typical Colombian list of home made culinary activities.  Yes, there are a huge number of bakeries, 99.99% of which specialize in what I call “SENA bread” – they all use the same recipes that their baker learned at SENA.  A “pan de leche” or “chicharón” or “roscón” is about the same no matter WHERE you buy it.

Here in Pereira recently there has been a huge outbreak in the number of bakeries – they all look about the same and they all were built in the past few months.  I suspect that one of these days we’ll see a number of them sealed by the government due to money laundering charges.  Either that or the population will explode – in size, not numbers.

Getting back to typical Colombian home cooking.  It’s mostly stove top based.  Read the rest of this entry »

A comment on the Colombia Experts e-mail list got my thinker to thinking about bikes and riding in Colombia.  So here’s my response to the post, just in case anyone might be remotely interested in what I think about the matter.

At those prices you’re looking at the AKT brand.  They are actually a fairly decent little bike, getting around 10hp from their four stroke engine.  The vest is only required from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. now and is a good idea from the visibility viewpoint.  I still can’t understand why anyone would want to wear a black rain slicker on a bike with tiny LED’s replacing the tail light through the rain on a dark night – but they do.
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Del Tackett posted an interesting article entitled “When The Chair Just Doesn’t Fit” regarding certain issues amongst those who are involved in full time Christian service. Far too many folks see “The Pastor” (and it is capitalized in their verbal usage) as a perfect being only one step down from Jesus the Christ Himself – including many who fill the position. Read the rest of this entry »

This writer stands convinced that the best place to be is smack dab in the middle of God’s Grace and doing what He wants one to do. Being in such a place is not necessarily easy as sometimes the storm about one detracts from one’s ability to recognize that the Lord of All is on the vessel upon which one is traversing the stormy lake of life. He can calm the storm, but how exhilarating it is when He calms one’s heart instead so that one can find zest in the thrill of the ride.

The following is in response to an inquiry from a friend who was wondering about long distance relationships.  A lot of it has to do with relationships in general.  So, for what it’s worth, here it is.

First, for a relationship to be a long term success it has to have a firm foundation. Just like building a house. No good foundation – it’s gonna fall. This means that we need to think outside our current societal “box” so to speak. Our culture over the past decades has emphasized some of the worst foundations for long term relationships possible. Some of them are as follows. Read the rest of this entry »

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.  ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

A long standing gripe of mine is the current religious culture that glorifies those who are “real worshippers” (ie – can move audiences with their vocal or musical talents) all the while ignoring what real worship IS.  In the passage above we are told to “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice” and are told “this is your spiritual act of worship”.  For some reason I tend to prefer the teaching of the Apostles who REALLY knew Jesus and His teaching  to the current crop of religious folk who filter the Word through centuries of tradition and current fads. Read the rest of this entry »

Who is a Christian?

This is the title of an essay by Franklin Graham on the internet, on 09/20/10. He quoted Jesus as saying “that his true followers are those who have been ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God.” He was referring to John 3, but he didn’t fully quote what Jesus said. Jesus actually said, “Truly, truly, I say to you (Nicodemus), unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

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The following came to me via the internet.  I don’t know who wrote it, but there’s some food for thought here indeed.  If anyone can supply the proper attribution I’d appreciate it if you would.

I don’t carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
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