Bob shared some amazing wisdom per usual and poked fun at Joe Donaldson to start the session per usual. The two biggest takeaways I had were that: “the world is in rebellion against and has always rebelled against truth.” Bob was and I am referring to the truth of the scriptures, the word of God is living and active …

The second takeaway was a great quote that he credited to someone but honestly I can’t remember the original source. Plus they say the definition of originality is to forget where you got it. Bob said if you can’t be tactful be vague. I love that. If you glossed over that little nugget maybe you are the guilty party.

Last, Bob mentioned that many young preachers want to preach something new or cutting edge. He quipped about a young preacher who was going to preach a Mothers Day sermon about the mother of the prodigal son. Bob said good luck since there is nothing about her in the bible. The preacher said it would be partly supposition. This little story reminded me of 2 Timothy 4:2. Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out … It doesn’t say find a new Word to preach. Find a cutting edge Word to preach. Preach an edgy Word. Just Preach the Word.

Usually the end of Bob’s teaching is the most profound as he wraps up everything with 3 or 4 points- in laser beam fashion. I must confess I left at 11 til the hour and not a minute too soon for my golf game. If I missed some more nuggets leave them in the comments below.

Please rank your own list in the comments section. You know you need a 10 minute diversion for something as important as this. Hoping some of the long time experts will weigh in. You know who you are.

1. Creed Bratton – www.creedthoughts.com/creedthoughts enough said
2. Toby Flenderson
3. Andy Bernard- cause I sing his songs all day long
4. Michael Scott-
5. Dwight Shrute
6. Kevin Malone- somedays he’s first on my list
7. Ryan Howard
8. Darryl Philbin-
9. Pam
10. Jim
11. Meridith Palmer
12. Kelly Kapoor
13. Stanley Hudson
14. Jan Levison
15. Phylis Lapin Vance
16. Oscar Martinez
17. Angela Martin
18. Holly Flax

I just needed to get this one of my chest. Whether you are a Calvinist or an Arminian- I don’t truly care. The way I see you though is based on the amount of chatter you give to your argument- whichever side you’re on. Let’s face it- it’s one of those questions we’ll have to ask in heaven. The topic has been debated for centuries so why would we have the answer now. The more dogmatic you are about your particular persuasion the less credibility you have in my sight. I wonder how your heavenly father views it.

I personally lean much more towards the Arminian side of the debate but again who cares. All this topic can do is divide the Body of Christ. I believe we can all agree it will not unite us. Is it a matter of doctrine that will affect our eternal salvation- I think most would agree that it is not. So other than our personal ego’s why do we feel the need to debate it.

I wake up many mornings and want to be a Calvinist. It would make things so much easier to believe that God predestined certain people to be saved and certain to be condemned- which logically would have to follow. I want to make sense of this world, outside of “take heart I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Calvinism helps me make sense of the world. It helps me when family members who did not believe pass on. It helps me with the problem of pain and despair in this world. It helps me when I think of other religions and the masses on the wide path leading to destruction. I do believe certain things are predestined in our lives and that others are carried out by our free will.

I cannot personally put God in a box though. Of course the argument is always limited atonement so I won’t even talk about it. I think more in lines with C.S. Lewis. God is beyond time and space and our minds cannot grasp him for we think it terms of time and space. For me to say that God’s plan is this or that is a bit arrogant for me personally. Outside of his will being that none should perish (2 Pet 3:9), I’ll just have to leave that one alone. I do know this: trying to persuade others to take your side of this debate is not unifying the Body of Christ. It screams pharisee. It screams legalism. Whichever view you have.

Let the Calvinist be Calvinist and let the Arminian be Arminian and let’s get on with the great commission.

I fell in love with French Press Coffee and when I fall for something I really fall. They both gave me instructions on buying a press and producing my first cup.

I’m a visual kind of guy so maybe this will help you by seeing how I make a pot. I filmed a quick video preparing a cup of French Press. I really just wanted to try out my new flip video.

I watched a few videos online and there seems to be a lot of different ways to make a pot of French Press Coffee. Hopefully you get the overall big picture though.

Caution- I have only used these tips twice, once in a quick practice putting session and once in an 18 hole round. The practice session helped me get the feel down and the results from the round were astounding. I had 27 putts and made around 80 feet of putts with none over 18 feet (meaning I didn’t make two 40 footers and miss everything else).

Everyone will probably try this because of Phil’s win at the tour championship. Below I have linked up several videos of Dave Stockton teaching putting. Apparently these are some of the tips Phil used this past week. I’m sold.

The things I implemented so far were:

• the open stance and ball position
• forward press right into the stroke
• no practice stroke
• not thinking of making the putt (sounds crazy but it worked for me)
• square to square
• visualizing where the ball will enter the hole based on break and speed

Enjoy!