A Little Fun: Paul Simon’s, “You Can Call Me Al”
by Deek Dubberly on June 7, 2010
in Misc., Music, Video
[Note to email and RSS subscribers: post contains an embedded YouTube clip. You may need to click through to my actual site in order to watch the video.]I’ve always liked this song. I was reminded of that by a friend last week. I’ve never been entirely sure what its about, though. Here’s the lyrics. Some say its about a man going through mid-lide crisis, but I’m not sure. Any suggestions? |
Ultra Slow-Motion Videos Are Too Fun!
by Deek Dubberly on June 4, 2010
in Funny, Misc., Video
(Embedded video clip may not appear in email or RSS subscriptions. Click through here to the actual site in order to watch video footage.) [HT: Boing Boing] Related Posts: |
How To Name An Abortion Clinic
by Deek Dubberly on June 2, 2010
in Abortion, Misc.
What’s sad about this comic strip is that its probably happened before.
For those uncertain as to what “CTRL + Z” means this Google search may help. [HT: The Oatmeal]
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The Danger Zone—The Bruised Reed (Part VI)
by Deek Dubberly on May 20, 2010
in Misc.
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The Caffeinated Calvinists Blog Network
by Deek Dubberly on May 15, 2010
in Blogging, Misc.
Check out the newest member of the Caffeinated Calvinists Blog Network! (Hint: its the fourth one down the list.) Thanks to Paul Dare for the invitation he extended in the comment thread of this post. Everyone else, make sure to click through to each of the above sites and check out what the Caffeinated Calvinists Network has to say. To any of those in this network that I don’t know yet, feel free to say ‘hello.’ I look forward to reading and interacting with each of you. |
Derek Webb Covers Woody Guthrie’s, “Blood of the Lamb”
by Deek Dubberly on May 12, 2010
in Derek Webb, Misc., Video
I love this song. It’s Derek Webb paying homage to a great song by a great artist. I know its been around for nearly four years. But I still think its just fantastically done. [Note to subscribers: the embedded video clip may not display correctly in your email or RSS reader. If that's the case then click here to go to my site and watch the video there. Thanks.] |
Happy Mother’s Day!
by Deek Dubberly on May 9, 2010
in Holiday, Misc., Personal
Here’s a picture of my Mom with her two babies. The year was 1984. The little girl is my older sister, Kristina. And yes, the little boy is me doing my best rendition of a one-and-a-half year old.
And here’s a picture that’s a bit more up to date. It was taken just over a year ago on my wedding day, April 11, 2009. (Sorry, sis. You didn’t make the cut on this second pic!
Last is a picture of me from this morning, Sunday May 9th, 2009. It’s Mother’s Day and I’m getting suited up to head over to my church and preach my very first Mother’s Day sermon.
I preached the entire story of Ruth. The sermon is dedicated to my Mom. Here’s the sermon audio:
God has blessed me with a wonderful, loving, and godly mother. I love you, Mom. And happy Mother’s Day. |
Have You Seen This Commercial? It Sure Makes You Think
by Deek Dubberly on May 8, 2010
in Misc., Video
This commercial accomplishes quite a bit in a minute and a half. From birth to old age, this lady’s entire life plays out beautifully. Sure makes you think about how quickly life goes by. I’ve posted similar videos before, but this one takes the cake. Time sure flies. Make yours count. [If you're reading this through an email or RSS Reader subscription the video may not be properly displayed, or displayed at all for that matter. If that's the case I'd encourage you to click through to my site in order to view the clip.] |
Check Out Our Church’s New and Improved Website
by Deek Dubberly on January 19, 2010
in Churchlife, Misc., Tech-related
My wife and I spent a good part of our long holiday weekend tweaking our church’s website. You should check it out and let us know what you think in the comments section. |
Another Hilarious ‘Doghouse’ Video from JCPenney
by Deek Dubberly on November 27, 2009
in 10 Helpful Tips, Funny, Marriage, Misc.
Back in June I wrote up a few tips on how to get out of the doghouse. It was inspired by a JCPenney’s advertising campaign. Here’s JCPenney’s latest installment in this series. Funny. |
Okay, This Really Is Funny
by Deek Dubberly on November 23, 2009
in Funny, Misc., Video
(If you’re viewing this in an email or on Facebook the video may not be displayed below. If that’s the case, click-though here to watch it on my site) |
Enough Grace to Get to Heaven…from a Video Game
by Deek Dubberly on November 19, 2009
in Churchlife, Funny, Misc., Tech-related, Video
I only wish I was kidding. The game is called Mass: We Pray. They have a website up. This has almost certainly got to be a joke. You can read more about the “game” here. Watch the game’s trailer below. (For those of you reading this through an email subscription or Facebook, you may have to click through to the actual post on my site to see the embedded YouTube clip.) [HT: Forward Progress via Challies] |
Super Slow-Motion Footage of a Drop of Water
by Deek Dubberly on November 12, 2009
in Misc., Tech-related, Video
Couldn’t resist posting this. Very Cool. (Note: If you’re reading this through an email subscription it’s likely that the embedded video will not appear. You may have to click through to my actual site to view the clip.) [HT: Cynical-C] |
What Does ‘Knowing God’ Involve?
by Deek Dubberly on October 30, 2009
in Biblelife, Churchlife, Misc., theology
J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing God, has been treating me very nicely this week. I’m reading a chapter a day and it is proving to be an excellent and timely work. In this little quip—which makes for one heck of a sentence—he outlines what is involved in the endeavor of knowing God. “Knowing God involves, first, listening to God’s Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God’s nature and character, as His Word and works reveal it; third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands; fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into his divine fellowship.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. I doubt many could. |
Charles Spurgeon’s Approach to Controversy
by Deek Dubberly on October 28, 2009
in Misc.
![]() Charles Spurgeon In his work, The Forgotten Spurgeon, Iain Murray summarizes Charles Spurgeon’s approach to controversy in five helpful and reflective ways. Here’s the five ways along with a quote from the book representing each.
We’d do well to have a godly handle on each of these five things in our ministries. |
The Hard Work of Moving and the Value of a Disciplined Mind
by Deek Dubberly on October 14, 2009
in GTD, Misc.
The Hard Work of MovingA little over a week ago my wife and I packed up and moved to a new home. If you’ve ever moved before then you know how big of a chore it is. Boxes, furniture, trucks, tape, narrow hallways, fragile dishes, what to keep, what to get rid of, where to put things, etc. Needless to say, moving is hard work. Somehow after all of our stuff had been moved everything that our volunteer help (parents and in-laws) didn’t know where to put wound up in the one room that was designated to be my new office. It was a disaster. There were numerous stacks of boxes piled high to the ceiling. I was left to stare at this mess of an “office” for several days. ![]() My new home office. There was no way around the fact that the only solution was to get in there and go through everything one box at a time. It would be slow-going, tedious work, but work that had to be done if my office was ever going to be functional enough to get anything done in. So after a few of days of procrastinating I got motivated and set my self to the task. One box at a time I filtered my way through the wreckage. I had to make a decision regarding everything. Would I keep it? Why? And where would I put it? If not, throw it away or give to charity? Do I know anyone else who could use it? Every gadget, every book, every accessory, every cable (there were a ton of cables!)—it all had to be be faced. Eventually there was enough space cleared for me to place the larger pieces of furniture in the spots they needed to go. From there it seemed liked the rest was easy. The smaller stuff goes more quickly. The Value of a Disciplined MindToday I was reminded of the hard work I did in sorting through and organizing my new office. While preparing a paper comparing and contrasting the Protestant doctrine of imputed righteousness with the Roman Catholic teaching of infused righteousness I came across this little gem from John Piper. In his helpful little book, Counted Righteous in Christ, he writes that,
His point is made as he encourages readers to do the hard work of thinking through a difficult chapter in his book. It took me back to before I had straightened up my office. Everything was so cluttered. People had filled the room with all sorts of items—some helpful, some not. I had to dig through it all and the end result was a nice home office. I fear that too many of our minds are cluttered the way my home office was before I worked through the mess and made things right. If we never take the time to dig through ideas, filter out the bad, and elucidate the good, then our minds will only be confused, crowded, and undecided. No matter what it is that we’re considering, we need to do the hard work of disciplining our minds to think through stuff. In the end, we’ll only be better off for having drawn our own conclusions. And who knows, maybe we’ll find gold. |
Three Little Thoughts On Christians and Trials
by Deek Dubberly on September 28, 2009
in Biblelife, Misc., theology
James 1:2-4 commands us to know and rejoice in the fact that God sovereignly allows trials and difficulties in our lives to mold us, strengthen us, and refine us into the holy people that He’s called us to be. Here are three little thoughts I observed present in this text from the letter of James:
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Albert Einstein’s Admiration of the Church
by Deek Dubberly on August 24, 2009
in Churchlife, Misc.
I’ve been reading through the volume edited by SEBTS president, Danny Akin, A Theology for the Church. It’s not all easy reading, but it is interesting. Writing in a section on, “The Doctrine of Revelation,” Greg Alan Thornbury makes the point that, “[The] notion that freedom accompanies the discovery of truth is what has made Christianity the singularly most powerful worldview in the history of the world.” In so doing he gives this intriguing tidbit from Albert Einstein:
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Edwards in the Hands of an Angry Classroom
by Deek Dubberly on August 19, 2009
in Churchlife, Misc.
Especially discrediting are negative first impressions. For many young people, though, that’s exactly what they get when encounter the writings of Puritans in their high school literature courses. A high school student I know recently went through his introduction to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Not surprisingly, his reaction was somewhat negative. Cold, condemning, judgmental, mean—that’s how Edwards is all too often portrayed to students every year in American Literature classes all over the country. Hughes Oliphant Old writes that,
Here’s how the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University introduces this sermon,
George Marsden, in his book, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, points out that Edwards “…is widely acknowledged to be America’s most important and original philosophical theologian,” and one of America’s greatest intellectuals. What really is unfortunate is that the only thing many students can remember about him is that he said things like this:
and this:
It’s ironic that literature classes so misunderstand Edwards as to only remember lines like these—lines which when pulled out of context seem completely cruel and unjust. I certainly don’t remember my American Literature class emphasizing the end of the sermon—the invitation to receive Christ’s mercy. Edwards writes,
He continues,
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Quotable Nuggets of Wisdom Concerning Money and Possessions
by Deek Dubberly on August 17, 2009
in Biblelife, Misc., Quote of the Day
![]() The Worship of Mammon, by Evelyn De Morgan (1909). I recently preached through Jesus’ master treatment of money and possessions in Matt. 6:19-34. Here are a few quotable nuggets of wisdom I came across in my studies. “I have held many things in my hands and have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.“ “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” “I value things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.” “I place no value on anything I possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God.” “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.” “When anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God’s glory and the greatness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faithless, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked.” “The measurements of your lives cannot be circumscribed by the point where blue sky kisses green earth. All the fact of your life cannot be encompassed in the one small sphere upon which you live. You belong to the infinite. If you make your fortune on the earth—poor, silly, soul—you have made a fortune, and stored it in a place where you cannot hold it. Make your fortune, but store it where it will greet you in the dawning of the new morning.” “During one of the many Roman persecutions, soldiers broke into a certain church to confiscate its presumed treasures. An elder is said to have pointed to a group of widows and orphans who were being fed and said, ‘There are the treasures of the church.’” “The point is that the things most highly treasured occupy the ‘heart,’ the center of the personality, embracing mind, emotions, and will; and thus the most cherished treasure subtly but infallibly controls the whole person’s direction and values.” “Either God is served with a single-eyed devotion, or he is not served at all. Attempts at divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep-seated commitment to idolatry.” “Jesus never said that this world was unimportant; but he said and implied over and over again that its importance is not in itself, but in that to which it leads. This world is not the end of life, it is a stage on the way; and therefore a man should never lose his heart to this world and to the things of this world. His eyes ought to be for ever fixed on the goal beyond.” “The primary work of the subjects f the kingdom in their relationship to God is to give implicit, complete, and wholehearted devotion to Him. This dedication will be marked by freedom from care, for God will sustain them.” “It is, no doubt, true, that believers themselves are never so perfectly devoted to obedience to God, as not to be withdrawn from it by the sinful desires of the flesh. But as they groan under this wretched bondage, and are dissatisfied with themselves, and give nothing more than an unwilling and reluctant service to the flesh, they are not said to serve two masters: for their desires and exertions are approved by the Lord, as if they rendered to him a perfect obedience. But this passage reproves the hypocrisy of those who flatter themselves in their vices, as if they could reconcile light and darkness.” “That is the great principle of which I must constantly remind myself — that I am a child of the Father placed here for His purpose, not for myself. I did not choose to come I have not brought myself here; there is a purpose in it all. God has given me this great privilege of living in this world, and if He has endued me with any gifts, I have to realize that, although in one sense all these things are mine, ultimately, as Paul shows at the end of I Corinthians 3, they are God’s. Therefore, regarding myself as one who has this great privilege of being a caretaker for God, a custodian and steward, I do not cling to these things. They do not become the centre of my life and existence. I do not live for them or dwell upon them constantly in my mind; they do not absorb my life. On the contrary, I hold them loosely; I am in a state of blessed detachment from them. I am not governed by them; rather do I govern them; and as I do this I am steadily securing, and safely laying up for myself, ‘treasures in heaven.’” |
John Calvin on Laying Up Treasures…
by Deek Dubberly on August 15, 2009
in Biblelife, Misc.
Cited from Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume XVI: Harmony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Ooh, and this one’s good too (from the same source):
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Great Dialogue from Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress
by Deek Dubberly on August 12, 2009
in Misc.
John Bunyan’s allegorical description of the Christian life of faith, The Pilgrim’s Progress, is an absolutely fantastic book—a must read for every Christian. The main character, aptly named ‘Christian,’ has a rather interesting conversation with one of the shepherds he met on the tops of the Delectable Mountains. Among other things it speaks rather succinctly of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
I just finished reading it again and it was even better the second time around. You can get your own copy here from Amazon for around $10. |
Happy Birthday, John Newton!
by Deek Dubberly on July 24, 2009
in Misc., News
![]() Famous pastor and hymn-writer, John Newton, was born on this day back in 1725. He's most well-known for his hymn, "Amazing Grace." Here’s a nice, little bio on Newton’s life and testimony that was put together by the folks at Mars Hill. [HT: Between Two Worlds]
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The Real Cause of Michael Jackson’s Death
by Deek Dubberly on July 17, 2009
in Biblelife, Misc., News
Really liked this video from Ray Comfort. |
Expositors’ Conference Ads I’ve Put Together
by Deek Dubberly on July 16, 2009
in Churchlife, Misc.
The church I’ve recently joined here in Mobile, AL—Christ Fellowship Bapist Church—is hosting a conference later this year. It’s called The Expositors’ Conference. It will feature Dr. Steven L. Lawson and Dr. Joel R. Beeke as they present, “A History of Expository Preaching from the Reformation to the Present.” I’ve been asked to come up with some 125 x 125 ads for the conference. These will likely be placed on a few prominent blogs and/or websites within Reformed circles on the web. It’s the first time I’ve ever tried to put together something like this. I’m not telling what software I used because you’ll probably laugh at me. Here’s the ads I came up with so far. Some of them are animated—that is, they blink at least. |
Lila Rose Lays Out Case Against Planned Parenthood
by Deek Dubberly on July 16, 2009
in Misc., News
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[HT: Take...Z] |
Another Great Pro-life Spot from CatholicVote.org
by Deek Dubberly on July 16, 2009
in Biblelife, Churchlife, Misc., News
Imagine Spot #3Imagine Spot #2Imagine Spot #1[HT: Jill Stanek] |
Francis Chan on a Balance Beam Challenging Us to Do Something with Our Lives
by Deek Dubberly on July 6, 2009
in Biblelife, Churchlife, Misc.
Here’s Francis Chan with a great analogy/object lesson about the way we live our lives and trusting God. For more on Francis Chan, check out these links:A couple of related posts you may consider reading: |
Death Is Not Dying (update)
by Deek Dubberly on July 3, 2009
in Churchlife, Misc., News
[HT: Already and Not Yet] Rachel Barker’s life tell a remarkable story. Staring into the face of death with the pronouncement of terminal cancer, she clings to the truth of the gospel with what appears to be unshakable resolve. A testimony for the ages, no doubt. Her website, DeathIsNotDying.com, highlights her tale. This is from the website, DeathIsNotDying.com:
[HT: Between Two Worlds & Josh Harris and Girl Talk] |
Conan O’Brien’s Take on Twitter
by Deek Dubberly on July 2, 2009
in Funny, Misc.
First, this is funny. Second, it’s ironic. Funny because it’s Conan O’Brien. Ironic because I’m going to post it on my Twitter account. [HT: Jill Stanek] |














Being a lover of freedom, when the [Nazi] revolution came, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks. . . .
Sometimes people get a bad wrap. Whether it’s deserved or not, a bad reputation in the public eye is hard thing to get turned around.
It really is a shame that Edwards is so commonly written off as a prudish, unrealistically zealous, hellfire preacher. But he is, and often.


Commenting on Matt. 6:19-21, 









This is an updated re-post from a few months ago. I just found out that the woman highlighted in this post, Rachel Barker, passed away this week. Please pray for her family, most notably her husband, Neil.