I spent four years at what I consider to be an excellent university, one that has far more to offer than most other educational facilities in the world, because it incorporates a living faith into all of its teachings. As someone who was uneducated in the Christian faith, Liberty helped me find a solid foundation for my life that has defined my work and ministry ever since.

When I was finishing high school, I was overwhelmed by a desire to live my faith properly. Having grown up in public school, I determined that I would pursue a Christian university to help me get my life in order. I had to go to college, according to my parents, so I tried to pick a school that would educate me in faith, as well as in life. With a little providence from God,  I landed an academic scholarship to cover the cost difference between a state school and was off to Lynchburg, Virginia–to a school in a state where I didn’t know anyone. I was as terrified as I was excited…but Liberty did not disappoint me.

At Liberty, I received an education in business, the Bible, and life. I endured some of the most challenging classes on business finance, strategic planning, and marketing.

At Liberty, I experienced friendship like never before: I spent two years on a dorm with a bunch of guys who truly cared for me: laughing, praying, encouraging, and even weeping with me. And I met my best friend there, my wife. My fun-loving, adventurous, Spirit-filled companion in life.

At Liberty, I was given the opportunity to serve Christ by serving others. I was able to lead small groups of men in Bible study, care for the spiritual development of the entire floor, and manage a huge food service operation. And I was trained by good leaders every step of the way.

I owe a great debt to my alma mater. I owe a great debt to it’s founder and God’s visionary: Jerry Falwell. And I have a great heritage that I must carry with me into my service for the Lord.

Congratulations Liberty, on a Dream Realized, 50,000 students!

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100221/dr-falwell-s-enrollment-vision-fulfilled-50-000-students/

A flat tire on the way to your big presentation, a new boss that is impossible to please, a big zit on the night of Prom.

Life is filled with trials… BIG & small.

But the way we define the size of the trial often depends upon our age, experience, and maturity.

A zit on prom night looks a lot different to a mother than it does to the high school girl who is getting ready for “the big night”. A new boss that cannot be pleased can be harder to work with to the person whose life is wrapped up in his work than to a person who is daily in prayer for Christians dying for their faith in Asia.

I must be sensitive to the specific circumstances of the trials of others…I do not know all the details of the situation. I, myself, have been consumed and distraught over issues that really were minor. Things that might have been minor to others have been great trials to me. But I am CONVINCED that it is of utmost importance that trials be seen in their proper perspective.

It disgusts me that I consistently see typical American Christians emotionally distraught over life circumstances that seem embarrassingly small to me. They are not small to God, mind you, who has the capacity and desire to care for every hair on our heads…but they are small from the perspective of a Christian who tries to be aware of and supportive of the activity of God and the church in the world. They should not consume our attention and emotional energy.

I won’t try to create some arbitrary rating system for the size of specific trials here, rather I would like to share a few key principles that I believe help us to maintain a proper perspective on our own trials:

• Christians are called to lives of sacrifice. To give their money, their time, their wants, and even their very lives to the work of God on the earth. If we are seeking great things for ourselves, or additional comfort for our already comfortable, well-fed, air-conditioned, rich, home-owning, SUV-driving lives, let us remember those who have none of those things. Let us seek to share our blessings with others, and empathize with those who truly suffer. Let us pray for those who will die today for the sake of the gospel. Let us hold the perspective that we are rich Americans, and that normal people have far less than the vast majority of us.
• Christians are called to lives of service. As Christians, our mandate is to love others through physical acts. Serving others on a weekly basis has an amazing effect on our perspective of our own lives. Don’t just give, don’t just pray, go. Serve others at a food pantry, at a church office, or in a ministry of the church. When you are physically touching people who are suffering physically, emotionally, and financially, you’re worries will fade into the background of your life.
• Christians are called to the lifestyle of soldiers. The exhortation of Jesus and others in the New Testament is the call of a life of focus. Not to marry if you are not called to do so. Not to raise a family unless you are called to do so. Not to get tied down with the everyday worries of life. Owning a home, raising a family, having a car payment…these things might one day prevent you from being able to follow Jesus’ call. Be content to live simply, and be earnest in seeking God’s will when it comes to things requiring long-term commitments and financial obligations.

There is so much more to this…what would you choose to add to this blurb?

Last summer, I began experimenting with the idea of using a computer to run our home television. Being too cheap and indifferent to traditional television programming to pay for cable, I sought out a way to use ESPN’s 360 website to watch college football games for free. (They stream all their live football games via the web now). And wishing to preserve my VHS collection without buying more shelf space, I looked for a computer that would allow me to hold electronic copies of my movies.

A little research, a little experimentation, and a bit of searching for a good deal on ebay, and I had a home theater PC: a computer designed like a large DVD player, complete with wireless keyboard, mouse, and remote control. I also had free software to catalog my music, pictures, and videos.

Since then, Stacy and I have watched countless movies, football games, and television episodes on our 32” computer monitor via the web. Although we occasionally still tune into a local program using our antenna, we are happy to get programming differently. Very happy.

If you are looking for a change, a cheaper entertainment solution, or a way to preserve your precious VHS collection, I suggest looking into Boxee’s Home Theater PC application. It’s free and easy to download and install (only registration required because it works off your profile via their website), and it works great. It will allow you to see how a computer will soon replace the television, and it will allow you to consider a future transition away from cable TV by purchasing a PC or a Boxee box for your home television.

www.boxee.tv

Let me add a few important disclaimers to this post:

Please keep in mind as you read this, that I am a bit of a computer guru. If you are not computer saavy, remember the MythBusters disclaimer: don’t try this at home. (Find a tech saavy friend to help)

Home Theater PC’s are not mainstream and difficult to find. If you are looking to make a leap to a home theater PC, I do suggest searching for an HP machine (the only time you’ll see me suggest an HP computer), because they are the only ones I have found that come with Blu-Ray, TV Tuner cards, and a remote. Try searching tigerdirect.com or newegg.com

VHS tapes are not easy to convert into electronic copies. I didn’t do the conversions myself in most cases, but rather collected the movies I own from others, being careful to keep proof of my VHS purchases and only obtain copies of movies that I own.

My time here at DTS continues to press some important details into my heart and mind. None so much as this: When you preach or teach from the Bible, make sure you are saying what Bible really intended to say!

Too many sermons, books, and teachers have abused the Word of God with “good intentions”, and I strongly desire to help break the cycle. In that spirit, I recommend using good tools in all your Bible study, and avoiding outdated ones. I have purchased the entire volume of work on the Bible by Warren Wiersbe for that very reason…hoping to keep it open next to my Bible whenever I am preparing a sermon, to ensure I am following a clear train of thought.

Let me place the weight of my comments on a far smarter person than I, however. If this blrub peaks your interest, than PLEASE read the post by one of the translators of the NET Bible, on good and bad tools, and see why we are so blessed to studying the Bible in 2010. Read it here.

China has an internet filtering policy in place that has led to the arrest of a few thousand people for hosting or posting malicious content in 2009. While I don’t know the numbers or the effectiveness of their policies, I am incredibly amazed at the recognition of the dangerous influence of porn and other online content by their government leaders. I do wish the U.S. would consider limited our freedom in this respect as well, in order to save millions of people from being exposed to and later addicted to content that their parents are too ignorant or uncaring to shield them from.(Read the AP news article here)

I’m a bit extreme in this area, and I’ll save you from a long speech on the subject, but I do wish we could ban adult entertainment/pornography, gambling, and hard alcohol in the U.S., for the good of our citizens. I do not see any noteworthy contributions that these things make to our society, and I am sometimes physically sick from their effects on relationships, careers, and ministries.

Build a fence on our borders to keep illegal immigrants out? Sure.

How about killing some industries and banning some content in our country for everyone’s good?