Another Cool Feature

Make my blog a widget on your blog! (Like anyone is going to do that). If you click the link below, you will see the widget and then you can customize it and then press "Get Widget" and it will give you code to paste into your blog. Again, I just thought it was neat and truly do not think anyone will take advantage. However, if there is any one who does, let me know. I am sure we can find some help for you somewhere.

Click here to get the widget.

Read More

New Cool Feature

I found a neat new feature for my blog. I am sure many of you have already found it. It is called RefTagger. By adding a brief bit of HTML in the footer of my blog, I can automatically have verses pop up in a little window when the mouse has rolled over the verse. For example, I type 2 Timothy 2:2 and it should provide a link to the verse so it is easily read.

I can type a whole chapter (Psalm 63), I can type several chapters (Matthew 5-7), or a couple of verses (Eph. 2:8-9).

I will try this to see if it is easier for me then typing the HTML for Studylight.org, which is what I have been doing. Let me know what you think.

Read More

I'm Back...I Think...

I have another friend and fellow Baptist that is in the blogisphere now. Check out Don's blog at philetus.blogspot.com. He writes about theological issues and has some original articles also available through his site. Of particular interest is his article on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Done has done much research of the Dead Sea Scrolls over the last couple years and was able to put together an interesting overview of what they are, their history, and their impact for today. I would encourage you to print out his booklet and read through it. If you like, contact him through his blog and let him know how much you liked it.

With Don starting his blog and my friend Mark, continuing to post on his blog, Converging Heritage, I thought, maybe I ought to get in gear and start blogging again. I just have found too many excused to not to.

Things that have kept me from blogging this month:

• Transforming a bedroom into a home office
• Building a website for my friend's business
• Family "stuff"
• "Teaching" an online Philosophy of Religion class for OBU MTI
• Distraction over an up-coming interview at a church
• Laziness
• Company
• Changing the faucet on our kitchen sink
• Church "stuff"
• Games (with the family, on the computer, and online)

Needless to say, I have found a great number of reasons not blog. But, I am going to attempt to get back into the swing of things.

Here is what I plan to blog on in the upcoming weeks (not that I think anyone is greatly anticipating anything I will be blogging on next - this is more for me as a "to-do" list):

• Finish the sermon preparation series
• Post a couple of book reviews
• Random thoughts which have been rolling around in my head during the Philosophy of Religion class.
• Thoughts on bible studies I am going through on my own
• AND, of course, more "the funniest thing I have heard today" - looking for those throughout the day are what keep me sane

"all this and more, coming soon!" That is, unless I find a good excuse to not do it.

Read More

Another Cool Craftsman

Craftsman Tools have a cool little clip on their site. Last Halloween, they had a skeleton made entirely out of tools. This is another one of those.

Follow THIS LINK to see the Craftsman crew chief.

I am not sure how much longer they will have it there so click it quick and watch. Pretty cool.

Read More

The Discovery Bible Announcement

In a previous post, I discussed a valuable resource that I use in my studies. It was called The Discovery Bible.

I received an email the other day from those who are responsible for the development of The Discovery Bible. The email included an announcement. It says:

Attention all pastors and teachers who desire more depth and variety in their sermons and Bible studies:

We are glad to announce the soon release of the digital Discovery Bible New Testament, now with a greatly expanded Greek dictionary (over 2,000 pages) and prophecy-guide.

This new edition discusses every term in the Greek NT that is difficult to translate with just one English word. Hundreds of reference works have been consulted, culled or quoted – sharing the fuller meaning of the original text in an interactive, “click-and-discover” way. This requires no knowledge of Greek or memorization so anyone can plumb the depths of the sacred text. Messages can come alive with fresh meaning from thousands of beyond-translation insights from the Greek NT in an easy-to-use, practical format.

I emailed them and let them know how excited I was to hear about the release of The Discovery Bible.

Today I received a phone call from Dr. Gary Hill. We discussed the upcoming release of the electronic version and the print of The Discovery Bible. Dr. Hill told me the new version will also include the Old Testament.

Just as a reminder, The Discovery Bible is a resource allows anyone to grasp the connotation of the original languages without having studied the original languages. It has a feature called H.E.L.P.S. in it. H.E.L.P.S. stands for Hill Emphatic Language Pointer System. See the previous post to see some graphics of how this system works. Dr. Hill and I discussed how crucial it is that pastors and Bible students study the original languages in some manner. This resource allows anyone to study the impact of the original language without having memorized the language.

In addition to The Discovery Bible, Dr. Hill is also is working on developing on-line learning curriculum and live conferencing. It is really interesting and would be a great tools for schools and other institutions.

What an honor it was to talk one-on-one with Dr. Gary Hill. I am really looking forward to the release of the updated version. To check out the things Dr. Hill is working on, Aletheia Media's website at www.aletheiamedia.com.

If you have an opportunity to purchase The Discovery Bible, I would encourage you to do it. It will be money well spent.

Read More

2t22.org is Back Up and Running

In addition to my blog, I have a website that I created to help students I teach and other Bible students to find good resources easy. The site is The 2 Timothy 2:2 Objective and is found at www.2t22.org. In fact, this blog is something of a natural outgrowth of that ministry.

Anyway...2t22.org has been having problems since October and I could not for the life of me figure out why. I called Comcast over and over again. They were having problems trying to get their pages reconciled with Microsoft Vista (there's a shock). But they had apparently fixed it and I was still having trouble. Long story short (too late)...I was able to fix the problem, which seemed to originated with the place I registered the domain name - some setting I changed and messed things up.

So, now it should be available. If you have not seen The 2 Timothy 2:2 Objective, please stop by and look around at the links, the archive, and the store. Let me know what you think. And if you have a link that needs to be posted, send it to me at rolland@2t22.org.

Read More

The Coolest Skeleton

Since it is Halloween I thought I would post an appropriate picture. This is the coolest skeleton on the web.


This is a picture made entirely of Craftsman tools. You can see their ad HERE and it will show you which tool is making what part of the skeleton. You can even make it dance. I thought this was a great advertising idea. I bet someone at Craftsman got a bonus for this.

Now, I know as a Christian I should not even know Halloween exists, so if anyone is offended by this, just think of this skeleton as Martin Luther's skeleton and I am posting it in celebration of the day he nailed his 95 Thesis to the Wittenburg door.

Anyway, Craftsman tools...too cool.

Read More

Hey...That's How You Do That!

Have you ever been reading someone's blog and see that they had entered a copyright symbol or had the correct accent marks on a word such as Attaché or used a ¼ or even utilized a • to set off a list? Did you ever wonder "How in the world do they do that?"

Well, this is how. Below is a list of characters which can be inserted in just about any text when using a PC (if you are one of those are just too cool to not have a PC and must prove to the world how individualistic you are that you must use only a Mac, you can click here to get this list for a Mac. I cannot find any place that you can click to get a life.)

Those of you who blog regularly (Kim and Mark), now you can insert these cool symbols which will show everyone that we all spend probably way too much time on our blogs.

Here is the list (please note that I found this on the web and it is not my creation). To use these, hold down your Alt button and keep it held down while you enter the number. First, I found that you have to use the numbers on your number pad. The numbers at the top of your keyboard will not work. Second, you will not see anything while you are typing, but when you enter the number and then release the Alt button, the symbol will show up.

----------------------------------------------
ACCENTED VOWELS
----------------------------------------------
Á (A-acute) -- alt-0193
À (A-grave) -- alt-0192
 (A-circumflex) -- alt-0194
Ä (A-dieresis) -- alt-0196 or alt-0142
à (A-tilde) -- alt-0195
Å (A-ring) -- alt-0197 or alt-0143
----------------------------------------------
á (a-acute) -- alt-0225
à (a-grave) -- alt-0224
â (a-circumflex) -- alt-0226
ä (a-dieresis) -- alt-0228 -- or -- alt-0132
ã (a-tilde) -- alt-0227
å (a-ring) -- alt-0229 -- or -- alt-0134
----------------------------------------------
É (E-acute)-- alt-0201
È (E-grave) -- alt-0200
Ê (E-circumflex) -- alt-0202
Ë (E-dieresis) -- alt-0203
----------------------------------------------
é (e-acute) -- alt-0233
è (e-grave) -- alt-0232
ê (e-circumflex) -- alt-0234
ë (e-dieresis) -- alt-0235
----------------------------------------------
Í (I-acute) -- alt-0205
Ì (I-grave) -- alt-0204
Î (I-circumflex) -- alt-0206
Ï (I-dieresis) -- alt-0207
----------------------------------------------
í (i-acute) -- alt-0237
ì (i-grave) -- alt-0236
î (i-circumflex) -- alt-0238
ï (i-dieresis)-- alt-0239
----------------------------------------------
Ó (O-acute) -- alt-0211
Ò (O-grave) -- alt-0210
Ô (O-circumflex) -- alt-0212
Ö (O-dieresis) -- alt-0214 -- or -- alt-0153
Õ (O-tilde) -- alt-0213
Ø (O-slash) -- -- alt-0216
----------------------------------------------
ó (o-acute)-- alt-0243
ò (o-grave) -- alt-0242
ô (o-circumflex) -- alt-0244 (PC)
ö (o-dieresis) -- alt-0246 -- or -- alt-0148
õ (o-tilde) -- alt-0245
ø (o-slash) -- alt-0248
----------------------------------------------
Ú (U-acute) -- alt-0218
Ù (U-grave) -- alt-0217
Û (U-circumflex) -- alt-0219
Ü (U-dieresis) -- alt-0220
----------------------------------------------
ú (u-acute) -- alt-0250
ù (u-grave) -- alt-0249
û (u-circumflex)-- alt-0251
ü (u-dieresis) -- alt-0252
----------------------------------------------
Ÿ (Ydieresis)-- alt-0159 (PC)
ÿ (ydieresis) -- alt-0255 (PC)
----------------------------------------------
OTHER ACCENTED CHARACTERS
----------------------------------------------
Ç (C-cedilla)-- alt-0199
ç (c-cedilla) -- alt-0231
®¢ (Eth) -- alt-0208 (PC)
©£ (eth) -- alt-0240 (PC)
Ñ (N-tilde) -- alt-0209
ñ (n-tilde) -- alt-0241
Š(Scaron) -- alt-0138
š(scaron) -- alt-0154
Ý(Yacute) -- alt-0221
ý(yacute) -- alt-0253
®≠ (Thorn) -- alt-0222
©≠ (thorn) -- alt-0254
----------------------------------------------
LIGATURES
----------------------------------------------
®≠ (fi) -- alt-0222
Æ (AE) -- alt-0198
æ (ae) -- alt-0230
Π(OE) -- alt-0140
œ (oe) -- alt-0156
----------------------------------------------
PUNCTUATION SYMBOLS
----------------------------------------------
§ (section) -- alt-0167
• (bullet) -- alt-0149
¶ (paragraph) -- alt-0182
¿ (questiondown) -- alt-0191
¡ (exclamdown) -- alt-0161
« (guillemetleft) -- alt-0171
» (guillemetright) -- alt-0187
… (ellipsis) -- alt-0133
– (endash) -- alt-0150
— (emdash) -- alt-0151
“ (doublequote left) -- alt-0147
” (doublequote right) -- alt-0148
‘ (singlequote left) -- alt-0145
’ (singlequote right) -- alt-0146
‹ (guilsingleleft) -- alt-0139
› (guilsingleright) -- alt-0155
· (period centered) -- alt-0183
‚ (quote single base) -- alt-0130
„ (quote double base) -- alt-0132
----------------------------------------------
MATHEMATICAL/GREEK SYMBOLS
----------------------------------------------
° (degree) -- alt-0176
± (plusminus) -- alt-0177
÷ (divide) -- alt-0247
‰ (per thousand) -- alt-0137
ú (minus) -- alt-0173
Å~ (multiply) -- alt-0215
½ (one half) -- alt-0189
¼ (one quarter) -- alt-0188
¾(three quarters) -- alt-0190
¹(one superior) -- alt-0185
²(two superior) -- alt-0178
³(three superior) -- alt-0179
µ (mu) -- alt-0181
¬ (logicalnot) -- alt-0172
ƒ (florin) -- alt-0131 (PC)
ß (germandbls) -- alt-0223
----------------------------------------------
MONETARY SYMBOLS
----------------------------------------------
¢ (cent) -- alt-0162
£ (sterling) -- alt-0163
¥ (yen) -- alt-0165
°Ë (euro) -- alt-0164
----------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT SYMBOLS
----------------------------------------------
® (registered) -- alt-0174
© (copyright) -- alt-0169
? (trademark) -- alt-0153
----------------------------------------------
ISOLATED ACCENTS
----------------------------------------------
´ (acute) -- alt-0180
¨ (dieresis) -- alt-0168
– (circumflex) -- alt-0136
˜ (tilde) -- alt-0152
¯ (macron) -- alt-0175
¸ (cedilla) -- alt-0184
----------------------------------------------
OTHER SYMBOLS
----------------------------------------------
ª (ordfeminine) -- alt-0170
º (ordmasculine) -- alt-0186
¯ (dagger) -- alt-0134
˘ (double dagger) -- alt-0135
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
Here is an abbreviated version of a list like this (click here).

Hope this helps you. Let me know if does.

Read More

Remembering Being a Bapitst

I came across a an interesting mnemonic device the other day that will help one remember what it means to be a Baptist. It is in the form of an acrostic:

Biblical Authroity
Autonomy of the Local Church
Priesthood of the Believer
Two Ordinaces (Believer's Baptism and Communion)
Individual Soul Liberty
Separation of Church and State
Two Offices of the Church (Pastor and Deacon)

This is a pretty decent overview of what it means to be a Baptist. While there is more that could be detailed here, this would give someone a great understanding of the basics to which Baptists hold. When I saw it, I wanted to share it with others. I hope this is helpful to someone.

By the way, I retrieved this from and specifically from the section detailing different Christian denominations, and under that, the Baptist link . This website would be useful when investigating different world religions. While I do not think it is a "Christian" site, it is worth browsing through as it give objective facts about all kinds of different religions.

I like memory devices like this because they help communicate difficult information easily and quickly. It is like the FAITH evangelism stradegy in which each letter stands for another aspect of helping someone understand salvation. Again, just easy ways to remember. And I am always needing more and more help in that department.

Read More