Matthew Smith Concert Tour for February 2009

Matthew Smith of Indelible Grace is putting together his schedule for a concert tour for February 2009. He left a message on my Facebook wall asking if I knew of any churches willing to host a concert in NW Arkansas, but I imagine that even if you do not live in this area you could contact him and let him know you are interested.

You can find his website here: http://www.matthewsmith.us/
On his website you will hear samples of his music, his current tour locations, etc.

At his MySpace you will find out what is required to have a concert at your church along with more song samples and tour info. http://www.myspace.com/matthewsmithmusic

I love his music. It consists mainly of old hymn reworks. Beautiful, God-honoring and Biblically rich music.

I AM

The video below is dedicated to the Townsend family and the loss of Todd's cousin, John ... and especially to John's family, his wife, 3 children, and their baby growing in Sarah's womb.

By Slow Degrees Through a Barren Wilderness

After God had redeemed his people from their slavery in Egypt, and destroyed Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea, it is very significant that he did not immediately whisk them away to the promised land, but rather brought them first by slow degrees through a barren wilderness, where they sojourned and camped as pilgrims, and by heavenly supply fitted them with all the necessary provisions for their journey until they had finally reached their destination in Canaan.-- Go read the rest HERE

The above quote made a dear friend in Turkey come to mind, as well as a precious family of 6 that are staying with us at our home when they need to. These women and their families are facing many challenges, but God, in His tender mercy, is and will continue to provide all they need for their journey until they reach their final destination, the "promise land" for all those who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ... Heaven.

Is it worth it?

Not a Mistake... they died giving hope!!!

When Will the US Press Set the Record Straight?

London Sunday Times assessment of the War in Iraq

July 23 2008

The pathetic main stream American media continue to withhold the truth from the American public in order to serve their own biased agenda. The Investor's Business Daily editorial board asks, "What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn't tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we've defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq ."

London 's Sunday Times called it "the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror:" a terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq , has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul . The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq is one of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush's surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders by increasing our forces instead of surrendering. We can also thank the leadership of the new general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost expert on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and al-Qaida their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province , which had been written off as a basket case, and has spread out from there. Now, in Operation Lion's Roar, the Iraqi army and the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment are destroying those terrorists who are left; more than 1,000 operatives have been apprehended. Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling with Iraqi forces in Mosul , found little AQI presence, even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countryside.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has achieved "satisfactory" progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks, a big change for the better from a year ago. Things are going so well that Maliki has for the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United Arab Emirates , which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad , an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq .

But where are the headlines and the front-page stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, "the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks" that signaled political progress!

The war in Iraq has been turned around 180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don't seem to consider this historic event a big story. Obama now says that progress was underway in Iraq before the surge. Suppose those serving in our military take offense to the implication that they didn't make it happen - can we expect the press to set the record straight?

Why are so many Evangelicals supporting Palin?

Fast-forward the following clip 60 seconds in:

Guest Writer on The Media's Castration of Men and Our Need to be in Fervent Prayer

A dear friend wrote the following:

... I read your blog last night and thought you might find this [prayer request below] interesting. As you might can tell, I love politics! For the past week I have been meeting with Christian women in regards to our praying for [Palin] and what God has in store for our Christian faith in this country. "Greater things are still to be done in this city" is a worship/prophecy that has been spoken over America in the recent past. In explaining how important she is to the Republican party to several Christian women who don't think a woman should be in political leadership, I keep going back to Jdg. Debra. She brought Israel to their knees. She was not a blessing, but a necessity. In studying and talking this through, God has also brought it that we need to pray for the men who must follow her. For their conviction and strength. It points to what lacks with many men, both Christian and non believers, that men are loosing their masculinity. In my opinion the media castrates the courage of many men. For years the church as also spoken so of Jesus meek and mild and loving that Jesus strong and mighty and like a lion has been ignored.

Okay, so I say all this to ask that in your more eloquent blogging ways, that you prayerfully encourage your readers to pray not just for Palin, but for the generation of men that need to rise up.

Love ya...

I find it so humorous that she wrote "more eloquent blogging ways"... Why? Because how in the world could I have EVER put it more eloquently than what she already wrote!!! Excellent, my friend and to God ALONE be all the glory! May He use your words to convict the hearts of fellow Christians to, as you wrote so well, "pray not just for Palin, but for the generation of men that need to rise up."
My friend above has also included a prayer request below that I hope you all take to heart and also fervently bring before the Throne of Grace:

Our pastor here in Bigfork, Montana, Hal Curtis, is friends with the pastor of Sarah Palin's pastor in Wasilla, Alaska. His name is David Pepper and the church is Full Gospel Churchof Wasilla, AK.
Three days before Gov. Palin was announced by John McCain as his choice for VP, she came before her pastor to be annointed and prayed over for service to God. She didn't tell the church what was going on....just that she needed their prayer support. During the mere days since the announcement, the pastor and the church have been bombarded with questions from the media. They are trying to get the word out to Christians all over the nation to pray for God's protection of Sarah Palin and of their church. They suspect that the treatment of Jeremiah Wright will pale in comparison to what is coming their way as a conservative Christian body.
When the little Down's Syndrome baby of Todd and Sarah Palin was dedicated a few months ago, their statement to the congregation was "This little boy is my pro-life statement." According to David Pepper, Todd and Sarah are very strong in their faith in Jesus Christ and believe God has put them in this position to serve Him.
Let's remember to pray for Gov. Palin and her family as they walk through this very trying time!

So, get to work and start praying! Wherever you are, throughout the day, PLEASE PRAY!!!

Palin... The Real Deal!!! Obama's been smacked!

Go watch THIS VIDEO and make sure you do not miss THIS... and, of course, THIS. Absolutely do not miss Arugula vs. Moose jerky!!!

As for Obama...disoriented and demoralized in the aftermath of Palin's May-I-Smack-You-Liberal-Pansies-With-This-Here-Two-By-Four speech... ouch!

But then, I cannot ignore Voddie Baucham. He brings up my concerns. Concerns that should not be ignored. However, this election is what it is and though these concerns are real and this election is, well, very difficult to describe, I will vote for McCain/ Palin. Most importantly, I will be praying fervently for them and I hope you will be, too.

When I found out Palin was the VP choice I got a hold of everything I could about her... and my mind kept thinking of Deborah in the book of Judges. Deborah, the prophetess and judge of Israel, was the only woman to hold that office. What seems to be overlooked is that Deborah served as Israel's Judge when no men were willing to lead. In Judges Chapters 4-5, after 20 years of oppression, God told Deborah that it was time to deliver the people once again. She appointed Barak to lead the army, but he was afraid to go without Deborah. Yes, she had deep faith in God and she united the people of Israel and lead them to victory against the Canaanites. What we must understand is that this was not a blessing to have a woman in this role. Though there was victory, this was actually a judgment against the men who were not willing to lead. Remember that and pray.

Be informed! Ignorance is no excuse.

Jonathan VerHoeven is a 22-year-old Springdale, Ark., native who was home-schooled from 1990 to 2003. Now a graduate student at American Military University, he wrote: As a conservative Republican sick of the party’s compromises and scandals, this Presidential election season began depressingly for me. My first three choices dropped out early, leaving me with John McCain, a known pal of Democrats and the liberal media. Some choice, I thought bitterly at the start of the Summer. Yet I determined very quickly to vote for McCain in November. Why? I’m glad you asked!

John McCain is a war hero. That is indisputable. Anybody who spends nearly six years in a damp, filthy enemy prison cell and endures daily beatings throughout is a hero. The fact that McCain came out alive after having passed up a chance to be released four years before is even more telling. And if all that wasn’t enough, McCain returned to the Navy and to flying for eight more years. He’s served in Congress for the past twenty-six years, and though he has not always pleased us conservatives, I believe wholeheartedly that he loves this country. His combined forty-eight years of public service infinitely qualify him to be President. He can do the job.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has none of these qualifications. He’s never lifted a finger to defend this country, he’s never authored a piece of legislation, he’s only been in the Senate since 2004, and his love for this country is suspect considering his lack of regard the American flag and his close associations with anti-American and anti-white preacher Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist William Ayers. His primary claim to fame is as a "community organizer," which I assume has something to do with planning rallies and making speeches. So far, his campaign reflects this experience but not much else. Sarah Palin was not just cracking wise at Obama when she remarked Wednesday night that, "The American Presidency is not supposed to be a journey of ‘personal discovery.’ This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer." John McCain discovered the meaning of his life in that Communist prison, while Barack Obama is still searching for it and wants the American people to help. And the "world of threats and dangers" is bigger now than ever, demanding an American leader who knows who he is and what he is doing.

Ladies and gentlemen, our enemies are lining up to take a whack at us like kids waiting to smack a piñata at a birthday party. The really scary part is that the Islamic terrorists are the ones swinging a wiffle-ball bat. Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China are all sharpening axes–nuclear ones. Russia’s invasion of Georgia was about sending a message to all the freedom-seeking countries of the former Soviet Union: "You belong to us, and you can’t do anything about it." The invasion very well could have been the beginning of a new Cold War at a time when the U.S. also has to keep its eye on North Korea’s nuclear program, China’s rapidly expanding military, and Iran’s threats to destroy Israel. This is why missile defense, securing Iraq for democracy, and standing so close to China that we can see its brain through its ear canal are so important. President Bush knows that, and so does John McCain.

Barack Obama, meanwhile, wants to sit down and chat with the leaders of these countries and cut deals with them. I suppose he thinks he can talk Mahmoud Ahmadinejad out of hating the Jews, or Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev out of re-establishing the former might of the Soviet Empire. Perhaps these men are on their own journeys of personal discovery, and they and Barack can set off together on a contemplative pilgrimage through the philosophical jungle of our world. Or not. Barack Obama will be a President that Putin, Medvedev, Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-Il, Hugo Chavez, and Osama bin Laden can handle, intimidate, and outmaneuver. He will make the United States easier for them to defeat.

If we were to judge the two candidates’ foreign policies on a 0-to-10 scale, with ‘10' being good and ‘0' being poor, Obama scores a ‘0' and McCain scores a ‘10'. End of discussion. Domestic policy is a bit cloudier thanks to McCain’s history of compromising with liberals, but one factor stands out–McCain is pro-life, and Obama is not. ‘5' for McCain and ‘0' for Obama. McCain’s pitching a shutout here, and I haven’t even discussed Sarah Palin yet.

When John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, he made this race about Christian Conservatives again. That’s us, folks! She’s Bible-believing, pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and anti-corruption, a woman who believes in doing what’s right regardless of Republican Party interests. McCain has shown us that we matter to him enough for him to pick his future second-in-command from our ranks. After months of praying almost grudgingly for McCain’s victory, I can specifically pray for McCain-Palin because Palin is a qualified Christian who could potentially end up as President of the United States. I firmly believe that God has ordained Sarah Palin to redeem this election and to be a Christian light in the McCain campaign and the McCain White House. Her sudden appearance on the scene at a time when I was despairing for America’s future under Obama has convinced me that she is the closest thing to Deborah or Esther that we will see in our lifetimes.

There they are. You now know why I’m voting for John McCain. "Well, Jonathan," some of you are certainly thinking, "I’ve decided to vote for a third-party conservative candidate." Well, folks, doing that is not going to keep Barack Obama out of office. You may think taking such a radical stand is heroic or patriotic, but it’s not. How many conservatives have you heard thank Ross Perot’s supporters from 1992? By taking votes away from then-President Bush, all they secured for this country was Bill Clinton, who gave us Somalia, the Khobar Towers, the African embassy bombings, the USS Cole, Monica, and Whitewater.

The race between McCain and Obama is going to be a squeaker, and casting your vote for a third-party candidate will potentially earn us four years of weak-kneed, liberal leadership in the most important four years of this great nation’s history, not to mention keep Sarah Palin out of office. So much for standing up for a sister-in-Christ.

Third-party voters, if Obama wins this election, I will not be thanking you for "taking a stand." The people of Israel, Georgia, Iraq, Ukraine, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, and Colombia won’t be either, and neither will all the babies aborted under Obama’s uncaring watch. I’ll tell you who will be thanking you, though. Putin, Ahmadinejad, Kim, the Chinese, and Osama bin Laden will be. ...

This really is speaking the truth in love... be bold