[NOTE: As we have mentioned previously, Sunday, October 1, is our annual “Friends and Family Day” at the 9th Avenue church of Christ. Our goal is to have 600 in attendance at our morning worship service. Please know that you are invited and are encouraged to attend. Our Bible classes begin at 9:30 AM and our worship at 10:30. We will then enjoy a meal together. In past years, we have come ever-so-close to the 600 goal, reaching 585 on one occasion. Come and help us make this goal. If you need more information or directions, please feel free to call the church office at (205) 486-9247, or email me…

There are zillions of websites on the ‘web. We are thankful that many of you take a few moments from time-to-time to look at ours. But we also want to help you find other helpful sites. Recently I came across a site called The Restoration Movement. If you have any interest at all in the history of churches of Christ in America, this site is for you. While it is not content rich yet, it is growing. I am thankful for periodicals, such as the Gospel Advocate, that remind us often of those who went before. We need to be reminded of their work and sacrifice often. This site does…

Archaeolgists uncovered a human skull and some other bones yesterday in Ethiopia. Nothing new about that. What was truly amazing, though, was that, after less than one day of studying these bones, they were able to announce to the world that they had found the oldest human remains ever! These bones are said to be over 3.3million years in age, older than the famous Lucy remains. Question: How did these scientists figure that out in one day? To read a release from Aftrica about this discovery, click here. By the way, I find it interesting that they think this little girl died “in a flood.” Is it not feasible that…

Just wanted to pass along a couple of “web finds” today that might be of some interest to you. Enjoy! First, CNN recently had an online special report about young people and sports in America. We all know how much pressure many young people feel from parents and others to be great athletes at a very young age. Many young people are in several leagues, but it is becoming more popular for kids to be in just one sport–year round! Sadly, one of the fastest growing sports among young people is lacrosse. No, it’s not sad that it’s a growing sport, but one of the reasons for its growth is…

As the old saying goes, “There are two sides to every story.” That maxim is true in the story of the Pope’s recent comments as well. After backing off his former comments somewhat, the Muslim world still says more needs to be done. One source is even saying that the only thing that will help is if the Pope retracts his statements. The Muslim world is still in an uproar. Need proof? Take a few moments and read the article found here from Aljazeera Online. [Please pay extra attention to the final paragraph. It might be one you want to print out and put in a file on Islam.]

In our last post (which you may see by scrolling down), we shared the entire speech delivered by the Pope on September 11 in Germany. This speech has caused quite an uproar among the Muslim community. Now the Pope is backing off his speech somewhat and apologizing for it. In fact, he is stating that some of the quotes he used in the speech do not reflect his own personal opinions. The Vatican has tried to cool tensions ever since the speech was made. To read an article on this turn of events, you may click here.

By now, you have probably heard or read of the furor caused by Pope Benedict’s recent remarks concern Islam. His speech, delivered Tuesday at a German university, has created quite a backlash among Islamic leaders world-wide. If you have not heard of this controversy, please take a moment and read the article published by Drew Kizer, which contains most of an AP press release concerning the situation. You may read it by clicking here. Personally, I believe both sides have an argument. The Pope is correct in saying that Islam (pure Islam) is a violent religion. One need only look at history to prove that; or he may read the…

[NOTE: This article is one that I found from a few years ago in the Memorial Parkway Messenger. It is adapted somewhat. The first and last paragraphs are mine, the points were written by John Denney from Huntsville.]With our “Friends and Family” Day less than one month away, I thought the following points from an article by John Denney of Huntsville would be helpful to us. The concluding paragraph was added by me. It’s been said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” and I believe that is so true. A congregation may “think” they are friendly, but how would an outsider describe…

I check headlines and news websites quite often. I am always looking for stories that are imporant, but, also, ones that relate to morality, so they can be discussed on this blog. Somehow, though, I missed one recently that Christian Courier found. If you do not regularly read the articles found on their website, get in the habit of doing so. I check their site almost daily, because they post new articles quite often. It usually takes less than 5 minutes to read any article they post. Their newest article, as usual, is great. It deals with a claim by a modern-day “miracle worker” that went horribly wrong. Take the…

That was the front page article of the Washington Post morning paper five years ago today. Little did the paper, or any of us, know that our papers, websites, television stations and every other media outlet would be reporting on something completely different for days and weeks to come. Little did we know… that millions would sit, fixated by the simple sight of three buildings on fire. that an entire city could become so fear-driven. that we would even see people jump to their deaths live on television. that people we didn’t even know, or consider famous, would become the center of our thoughts. how much our nation is hated…