I am a blessed man with 2 terrific sons and 4 beautiful daughters and 1 amazing wife!!! One of the things I don't do so well sometimes is share their accomplishments with folks. Not that I am expressing an inordinate pride, but they all bring me great joy in their own unique ways. I wanted to take a minute and do something I should do more often ... share some of my joy in them. In this case, I want to share a little bit of my oldest daughter's talent. Hannah is a gifted artist. She has had no formal training whatsoever, but she has some genuine raw ability.

Being the geek that I am, I bought myself an IPAD. I usually don't share my toys too often (because my toys are typically expensive ... and well... they are mine ;-)), but I downloaded an $.99 art application from the App store called ArtStudio Sunday afternoon after worship services. I popped it up and thought Hannah would really enjoy this. So I let her at my IPAD for a few hours and below are her wonderful efforts. Mind you, this is with no experience with the software. She was learning on the fly here. This is also done using just her finger and the IPAD in this app in a matter of about 3 hours. I think these are great! I can't wait to see what she can do when she really learns the application.











I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.

Jonathan

I have been pondering the idea of peace lately, having just preached a sermon on Jesus as the "The Prince of Peace."
In Philippians 4:7, the Holy Spirit promised "the peace of God" when we turn everything over to God in prayer. This peace, we are told "surpasses all understanding."

My question that I would be interested in hearing your PLEO-comments on is: Is the peace that surpasses all understanding governed internally, in the inner-man, or is it governed by external circumstances? Please try to explain your answer for the benefit of all.


As you think about this question, consider that rare person who stays calm despite their circumstances. Consider the various circumstances the word "peace" is used in the New Testament. Consider your own degree of inner peace and ask yourself, "Do I know this kind of peace?"

Looking forward to your comments.

Apparently, this 12 year old girl won a speech contest at her school with this speech, though it was not without national news worthy controversy.

She was at first encouraged not to speak on this topic. She chose to proceed anyway. She was then told she would not be able to advance to the next level of the competition if she used this topic. She chose to proceed anyway. She then was disqualified for giving the speech and after having a judge step down because she was offended by the speech, they overturned the decision and made this girl the winner. She will now compete at the next level of her competition.

I admire this young lady's courage, passion and ability. She speaks the truth here and it well worth the listen.

In one of the greatest personifications in all of Scripture, the wise man paints a powerful picture of wisdom. While there are many amazing statements about wisdom in Proverbs 8, one in particular struck me as signifantly poignant.

"For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord; But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.” (Prov. 8:35-36).

The language used here almost makes you think that the wise man is speaking of God, and not merely wisdom. I mean, does not the idea of "sinning against wisdom" not cause you pause? The fact that sinning in such a way is equated to "wronging our own soul" is astounding!

If anything can be taken from such a revelation, it certainly places an exclamation point on the reality that we must not turn our back on wisdom ... most importantly, the wisdom of God ... as she is so very precious to our soul!

Hupomone