Who has bewitched you?

Galatians 3:1-4
1. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified ?
2. This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith ?
3. Are you so foolish ? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh ?
4. Did you suffer so many things in vain -if indeed it was in vain ?

How many of us would dare to stand and say, "It was through a work I worked that brought me to salvation."? Hopefully none of us.

Yet how many of us fall into the trap of thinking we can be perfected by the flesh? Do we think that by looking a certain way, talking a certain way, or praying a certain way that we can be perfected by that? Do we lose sight of the glorious grace of Christ that drug us out of the filth of sin and instead begin trusting again in the works of our flesh?

Paul used extremely strong language in confronting the Galatians about this problem. Have you confronted your heart about this?

Our receiving of the Spirit to salvation is completely a work of Christ and our sanctification toward perfection is also completely a work of Christ. Let us, today, fall before him in Worshipful gratitude for bestowing on us, and working in us, a gift we do not deserve.

Ephesians 2:8-10
8. For by grace you have been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ;
9. not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

"I'll check for my test results one more time before I leave", I thought to myself as I clicked on the website for the 3rd time that day.

This is what came up.

Current Request Status
Official test results will be mailed by CTS subject to licensor approval
Request Date:	1/2/2009
Request Status:	Closed
Special:
Exam Location:	PEORIA
Overall Exam Results	Pass
Deficiency
Exam Name Exam Date Grade Fundamentals of Eng. 4/24/2009 Endorsed Princ. and Practice 4/24/2009 Pass

What that screens says is that I passed my Professional Engineering Exam and am now a licensed engineer in the state of IL!

All praise and glory go to God. I was less-than confident of a positive outcome. The test was much harder than I anticipated.

I still get a little giddy looking at that word "pass".

Big thanks to those of you who were praying for me back in April as I went to sit for this exam.

God Bless!

Can Government do a better job with Health Care?

Listen to the man. He has very informed and well researched opinions. This is a subject that's worth having an opinion over.

Burning Cash

The amount of our money the government has spent on this financial crisis is mind blowing.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/06/bailout-costs-vs-big-historical-events/

Audit The Fed

The Federal Reserve has loaned out and given away Trillions of dollars of tax-payers money in the last several months. This has been done quietly and without much media coverage. They have very little oversight and even less transparency in their dealings. And they are not required to disclose who they give this money too. After watching this video, please sign this petition to encourage your representative to support the "Audit the Fed" bill that's working it's way through Congress.



Ron Paul introduced this bill to Congress in February with the following speech: Madame Speaker,

I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.

Serious discussion of proposals to oversee the Federal Reserve is long overdue. I have been a longtime proponent of more effective oversight and auditing of the Fed, but I was far from the first Congressman to advocate these types of proposals. Esteemed former members of the Banking Committee such as Chairmen Wright Patman and Henry B. Gonzales were outspoken critics of the Fed and its lack of transparency.

Since its inception, the Federal Reserve has always operated in the shadows, without sufficient scrutiny or oversight of its operations. While the conventional excuse is that this is intended to reduce the Fed’s susceptibility to political pressures, the reality is that the Fed acts as a foil for the government. Whenever you question the Fed about the strength of the dollar, they will refer you to the Treasury, and vice versa. The Federal Reserve has, on the one hand, many of the privileges of government agencies, while retaining benefits of private organizations, such as being insulated from Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Federal Reserve can enter into agreements with foreign central banks and foreign governments, and the GAO is prohibited from auditing or even seeing these agreements. Why should a government-established agency, whose police force has federal law enforcement powers, and whose notes have legal tender status in this country, be allowed to enter into agreements with foreign powers and foreign banking institutions with no oversight? Particularly when hundreds of billions of dollars of currency swaps have been announced and implemented, the Fed’s negotiations with the European Central Bank, the Bank of International Settlements, and other institutions should face increased scrutiny, most especially because of their significant effect on foreign policy. If the State Department were able to do this, it would be characterized as a rogue agency and brought to heel, and if a private individual did this he might face prosecution under the Logan Act, yet the Fed avoids both fates.

More importantly, the Fed’s funding facilities and its agreements with the Treasury should be reviewed. The Treasury’s supplementary financing accounts that fund Fed facilities allow the Treasury to funnel money to Wall Street without GAO or Congressional oversight. Additional funding facilities, such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility, allow the Fed to keep financial asset prices artificially inflated and subsidize poorly performing financial firms.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act would eliminate restrictions on GAO audits of the Federal Reserve and open Fed operations to enhanced scrutiny. We hear officials constantly lauding the benefits of transparency and especially bemoaning the opacity of the Fed, its monetary policy, and its funding facilities. By opening all Fed operations to a GAO audit and calling for such an audit to be completed by the end of 2010, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act would achieve much-needed transparency of the Federal Reserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. More Info

Learning 'bout Lazarus

I have heard the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead so many times I though there was nothing left to learn.

Last night I told/read the story to my 4th grade class at VBS. It's amazing how much more you can get out of a story when you have to teach it. I can't say I really "learned" anything new, but the story just came alive to me in ways it hadn't before. I experienced the story more than I ever have. I felt the pain of the mourners. I saw their confused looks as Christ called a command to a dead man in a dark cave. I saw the incredulity as Lazarus, bound in grave clothes, came staggering out. I sensed their hesitation when Christ commanded someone to unwrap him. Would've I have been the first to move help Lazarus out of his wrappings?

Praise God for the truth of His Word!

2 Years of Wedded Bliss!

It was two year ago today that I watched Heidi walk down the aisle and took her to be my wife! She's been more of a blessing to me than I ever could have imagined. I praise God that He brought her into my life and placed in each of us a love for the other. As I think back over the past two years, I know that my prideful stubborn self could not have achieved the beauty our time together has shown. All glory and praise to God our father for placing in us a supernatural love and patience toward each other. Not that it's been a perfect love or a perfect patience, but, thank God, He's refining us more every day. I look forward to many wonderful years together as we grow towards our Savior's likeness.

I love you Heidi Knapp.

Beautiful Mind

Stephen Wiltshire has been called the "Human Camera." In this short excerpt from the film Beautiful Minds: A Voyage into the Brain, Wiltshire takes a helicopter journey over Rome and then draws a panoramic view of what he saw, entirely from memory.



Psalm 139:14 - I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.