"Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27 (HCSB)
6 years ago
Monday, October 27, 2008
Pictures from Churchill Downs
Flower garden inside
These horses are impressive up close.
Historic Infield at Churchill Downs
Where the rich folks go to burn their money
Number 11 won this one...I picked him.Too bad I didn't put money on it.
Addison and Harper are waiting to rub the horses' noses.Harper's getting a start by rubbing her own nose.
Addison looking down the track in the hopes of seeing some horsies
Harper playing on the railing
The girls, just like their daddy, paying more attentionto the nice John Deere tractor than the horses
Silly picture time
How cute!
Addison enjoys taking pictures.
Harper tried her hand at self-photography.
Addison was trying to look as cute as possible to get a free snack.
It was a pretty good crowd on opening day.
The handlers taking the horses to get ready to race
This was the crowd to our right.
Headed to the gate
Them suckers are fast!
Other side of the signs:"You must be at least this short to be a jockey."
And They're Off!
Sunday afternoons are for naps...at least according to my Mama, they are. Lately my Sunday afternoons have been for homework but this past Sunday, I was invited by my friends, Shane & Lana Burchfiel and their sweet girls Addison & Harper, to go to opening day of the horse races at historic Churchill Downs. If you visit Louisville, you can't help but notice the influence of equine activities. The Kentucky state slogan is "Unbridled Spirit" and I believe everyone here has all the different odds payouts memorized.
Many sizable cities have begun placing painted statues all over the place. Usually these animals mean something to the town or act as a symbol of the city. For instance, Athens, Georgia has a bunch of bulldog statues sprinkled all around town, obviously as a tribute to the mascot of the University of Georgia...Go Dawgs! Usually these statues are painted in strange and brightly ornate ways to grab attention. Well, in Louisville, we have horse statues. They're life-sized and gaudily decorated statues but they're kinda neat. The statue in this picture is not a good example because it's in a small garden inside Churchill Downs. The ones in town are crazy looking. Anyway, I haven't been to the horse races since I was a kid and went to the Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens near Pine Mountain, Georgia. After church and a quick lunch, Shane, Lana, the girls and I all hopped in the car and headed to the races. It was a pretty cool thing to do and we had a great time.
Because we are common people, we weren't allowed to hit up the "Millionaire's Row" so we sat down in the "regular folks" section. Actually, if you want to be close to the track, it's best to sit down there. We were so close to the horses that we could smell the...dirt on the track. What did you think I was going to say? We sat for a few races, watched and listened to all the people trying to make their fortune by betting on the races (it was kinda sad), then perused all the overpriced souvenirs in the gift shop. It was a fun time and it only cost $3 to get in. Anytime you can have fun without spending a pile of money, it's good with me. I had a great time hanging out with my friends. Thanks to the Burchfiels for inviting me! I'll post some pictures as soon as I can figure out a way to make them show up.
CRH
"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory." Isaiah 6:3b (NASB)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
My First, and Probably Last, Blog on Politics
Today I read a bit of dialogue taking place between a couple of people on Facebook. The subject was politics. The conversation was an argument over political “groups” on Facebook and their effectiveness. The discussion didn’t involve me but it did cause me to think about my own political opinions and how they’ve been affected by my walk with Christ.
As long as I can remember, I’ve been very conservative. I heard a saying once that if you’re not a Democrat in your 20’s, you don’t have a heart, and if you’re not a Republican in your 30’s, you don’t have a brain (or something along those lines). Well, I guess I’ve never had a heart because, while I’ve never been a card-carrying Republican, I’ve been a Conservative since I was a teenager. Years ago, I was a political junkie and lived to listen to all things political. I watched all the news shows, especially the Fox News Channel, and I was a huge fan of conservative talk radio. I almost never missed an episode of The Neal Boortz show (probably the biggest source of my Libertarian leanings) and even found myself listening to Rush Limbaugh occasionally. It didn’t take me long to get sick of Rush because he’s so full of himself, but you get my point, I liked political stuff.
These days I don’t listen to any of that stuff. Neal Boortz is entertaining but I just got tired of him trying to point out the hypocrisy of Christians while being a hypocrite himself. I don’t listen to Rush anymore, well, because he’s Rush and he’s obnoxious. I don’t watch the news channels anymore because I don’t watch any channels anymore. I have a TV but it’s unplugged and sitting in a closet. It’s not that I don’t think politics is important anymore. Obviously politics affects us all whether we want it to or not. I think it’s quite important and I participate in it, I just don’t give it undue attention.
Politics seems to bring out the bad side of people. I’ve seen people whom I would consider to be intelligent people, say some pretty stupid things just to get their person (or party) of choice in office. I remember when it was coming time to elect the successor to Bill Clinton, there were some Democrats saying that we should change the U.S. Constitution to elect him for a third term…that was stupid. Soon after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, I remember hearing some Republicans say that we should change the Constitution to allow someone who wasn’t born a U.S. citizen to be President…that was stupid too.
This election season has brought out the “stupids” as well. I’ve heard everything from “Sarah Palin is going to kill all the polar bears” to “Obama is a terrorist and he’s going to make the U.S. a Muslim country.” Good grief! As my professor at West Georgia, Dr. Hovey, once told my class on a totally unrelated topic, “Don’t be stupid!”
The discussion I mentioned at the beginning was about Facebook groups. These groups often involve arguments such as these, or worse. The reason I mention them is that, in the discussion of these groups, one of the people involved said that she would stop inviting people to join the groups when, as she put it, “Obama becomes elected and I have to simply resign myself to praying to God to help our nation over the next 4 years.” I know plenty of people with this kind of attitude and I would submit that it’s the wrong attitude to have about the election.
First off, Christians should be praying for God to help our nation no matter who wins the Presidential election, but that’s not the real problem I have. The problem is that we all try to do everything we can do, we take every precaution and make all necessary arrangements for success, and if everything we do ultimately falls through, then, and only then, do we depend on God for His help. That is exactly the reverse of what we should do. Our first step should be to trust in God no matter what’s happening. Remember, God is sovereign. That means He is totally in control and nothing surprises Him. Whether Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama wins the election, it’s not going to be some huge surprise to God and He’s not going to be sitting in heaven, wringing His hands, trying to figure out a way to deal with it. I hope Sen. Obama doesn’t win but I have a feeling he will. I’m definitely not the political prognosticator who has all the knowledge and experience and can guess who will win with much accuracy, but I just have a feeling that there will be more people to vote against Sen. McCain than there will be to vote against Sen. Obama. Please hear me, no matter who wins, Jesus is Lord…and I’m not just saying that to be trite, it’s the truth. I hope that people will not read that and say “Yes, that’s true” and then go right back to worrying about what’s going to happen.
I don’t know what the Lord has in store for our country. Perhaps the next four years will be a time of renewal for America. Maybe great strides will be made to ensure the freedom of all people by defending the unborn, to protect the sanctity and covenant nature of marriage, etc. Then again, maybe a direct assault will take place on these things and maybe the Lord will use this time to open the eyes of our nation and the world. As I said, I don’t know what’s in store for us. I do know, however, that God WILL be glorified. It may not seem like it to us, as a matter of fact, it may seem to be the opposite, but what man means for evil, God means for good.
I sincerely hope that everyone reading this will place their hope not in a candidate and not in a country, but in Christ. One of my favorite songwriters, Derek Webb has a song that captures this idea quite well: “My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. No, my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood…it’s to a King and a kingdom.”
We are all sinners. The Bible tells us that “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)...no one is exempt from the judgment of God’s righteous and perfect wrath, but that's not the end of the sentence. The next verse says "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). In order for us to escape eternal punishment for our sin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, was tortured and murdered in the most humiliating and degrading way possible, as our sacrifice. His was the only sacrifice sufficient to forgive us of our sin, no other sacrifice could possibly cover our sins. If we believe in Christ, in that King and His kingdom, and trust in Him as our Savior, we are forgiven of those sins and welcomed into fellowship with God. I hope you sincerely put your trust in Him.
CRH
I love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2
As long as I can remember, I’ve been very conservative. I heard a saying once that if you’re not a Democrat in your 20’s, you don’t have a heart, and if you’re not a Republican in your 30’s, you don’t have a brain (or something along those lines). Well, I guess I’ve never had a heart because, while I’ve never been a card-carrying Republican, I’ve been a Conservative since I was a teenager. Years ago, I was a political junkie and lived to listen to all things political. I watched all the news shows, especially the Fox News Channel, and I was a huge fan of conservative talk radio. I almost never missed an episode of The Neal Boortz show (probably the biggest source of my Libertarian leanings) and even found myself listening to Rush Limbaugh occasionally. It didn’t take me long to get sick of Rush because he’s so full of himself, but you get my point, I liked political stuff.
These days I don’t listen to any of that stuff. Neal Boortz is entertaining but I just got tired of him trying to point out the hypocrisy of Christians while being a hypocrite himself. I don’t listen to Rush anymore, well, because he’s Rush and he’s obnoxious. I don’t watch the news channels anymore because I don’t watch any channels anymore. I have a TV but it’s unplugged and sitting in a closet. It’s not that I don’t think politics is important anymore. Obviously politics affects us all whether we want it to or not. I think it’s quite important and I participate in it, I just don’t give it undue attention.
Politics seems to bring out the bad side of people. I’ve seen people whom I would consider to be intelligent people, say some pretty stupid things just to get their person (or party) of choice in office. I remember when it was coming time to elect the successor to Bill Clinton, there were some Democrats saying that we should change the U.S. Constitution to elect him for a third term…that was stupid. Soon after Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California, I remember hearing some Republicans say that we should change the Constitution to allow someone who wasn’t born a U.S. citizen to be President…that was stupid too.
This election season has brought out the “stupids” as well. I’ve heard everything from “Sarah Palin is going to kill all the polar bears” to “Obama is a terrorist and he’s going to make the U.S. a Muslim country.” Good grief! As my professor at West Georgia, Dr. Hovey, once told my class on a totally unrelated topic, “Don’t be stupid!”
The discussion I mentioned at the beginning was about Facebook groups. These groups often involve arguments such as these, or worse. The reason I mention them is that, in the discussion of these groups, one of the people involved said that she would stop inviting people to join the groups when, as she put it, “Obama becomes elected and I have to simply resign myself to praying to God to help our nation over the next 4 years.” I know plenty of people with this kind of attitude and I would submit that it’s the wrong attitude to have about the election.
First off, Christians should be praying for God to help our nation no matter who wins the Presidential election, but that’s not the real problem I have. The problem is that we all try to do everything we can do, we take every precaution and make all necessary arrangements for success, and if everything we do ultimately falls through, then, and only then, do we depend on God for His help. That is exactly the reverse of what we should do. Our first step should be to trust in God no matter what’s happening. Remember, God is sovereign. That means He is totally in control and nothing surprises Him. Whether Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama wins the election, it’s not going to be some huge surprise to God and He’s not going to be sitting in heaven, wringing His hands, trying to figure out a way to deal with it. I hope Sen. Obama doesn’t win but I have a feeling he will. I’m definitely not the political prognosticator who has all the knowledge and experience and can guess who will win with much accuracy, but I just have a feeling that there will be more people to vote against Sen. McCain than there will be to vote against Sen. Obama. Please hear me, no matter who wins, Jesus is Lord…and I’m not just saying that to be trite, it’s the truth. I hope that people will not read that and say “Yes, that’s true” and then go right back to worrying about what’s going to happen.
I don’t know what the Lord has in store for our country. Perhaps the next four years will be a time of renewal for America. Maybe great strides will be made to ensure the freedom of all people by defending the unborn, to protect the sanctity and covenant nature of marriage, etc. Then again, maybe a direct assault will take place on these things and maybe the Lord will use this time to open the eyes of our nation and the world. As I said, I don’t know what’s in store for us. I do know, however, that God WILL be glorified. It may not seem like it to us, as a matter of fact, it may seem to be the opposite, but what man means for evil, God means for good.
I sincerely hope that everyone reading this will place their hope not in a candidate and not in a country, but in Christ. One of my favorite songwriters, Derek Webb has a song that captures this idea quite well: “My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. No, my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood…it’s to a King and a kingdom.”
We are all sinners. The Bible tells us that “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)...no one is exempt from the judgment of God’s righteous and perfect wrath, but that's not the end of the sentence. The next verse says "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). In order for us to escape eternal punishment for our sin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, was tortured and murdered in the most humiliating and degrading way possible, as our sacrifice. His was the only sacrifice sufficient to forgive us of our sin, no other sacrifice could possibly cover our sins. If we believe in Christ, in that King and His kingdom, and trust in Him as our Savior, we are forgiven of those sins and welcomed into fellowship with God. I hope you sincerely put your trust in Him.
CRH
I love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
When Life Gives You Lemons, Memorize Scripture
One of my classes this semester is called Personal Spiritual Disciplines. My professor, Dr. William Cutrer, is quite an entertaining guy and he's challenged us to memorize Scripture as one of the assignments. I haven't done much Scripture memorization since I was a kid but we are all commanded in Scripture to "let the word of Christ richly dwell within you" Colossians 3:16. A good way for the Word to dwell in us is to memorize it. In Biblical times, Jewish children would memorize whole books of the Torah, and many still do. It's amazing to me to understand that the Scripture quoted by Jesus when He was tempted by Satan was Scripture he learned as a young boy. There are many good reasons to memorize Scripture and I highly recommend it.
For the class assignment, we were given several passages from which we could choose. I've decided to memorize Psalm 19 because it's been one of my favorites for a while and I thought it would be nice to know it by heart. I say it's one of my favorites but actually the first verse is the main reason I like it. "The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." How can you look at the sky on a clear night and not appreciate what a glorious God He is to have made such beauty? The first verse makes plenty of sense to me. It's a straightforward, declarative sentence and I understand it. The verses that follow are more poetic and it takes a literal-minded person like me a little while to "get" the symbolic nature of the language. In case you don't have your Bible handy, here are the first six verses of the text:
A Psalm of David
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6 (NASB)
The poetic language of verses 2-6 has confused me a little bit. There are some people who can read something like this and instantly know what the author means but I'm not that type of person. It takes me a little while to figure it out.
Today while I was at work at Chick-fil-A, I had the pleasure of "squeezing" lemons for our lemonade. It should probably be called juicing lemons because we use a juicer, but all the people who have worked there much longer than I, always call it squeezing, so we'll go with that. It takes a lot of lemons to make the lemonade y'all love so much. We go through about 800 - 1200 lemons a day depending on the amount of business we have, and we "squeeze" them one by one, by hand, with a juicer. It's a very monotonous job. Now you're wondering "Why in the world is Casey telling me all this about stupid lemons?" I know, I'll get on with it. Today while I was working on the lemons, I began to recite the portion of Psalm 19 I have memorized just to practice saying it and make sure I have it down pat. While I was going over it, I finally realized what the poetic language about "words" and "speech" and something about a "bridegroom," meant. Once I realized it, it made the passage even more alive and more glorious to me.
I realized that the verses following verse one were explaining how the heavens were indeed telling of His glory. I realized that it is saying that every day and every night, the heavens testify, not with words but with their beauty and majesty, to the intricacies with which God created the universe. The universe is bigger than our minds can fathom and the God who made them is even bigger. When I thought about verse 5, I had to smile. David is describing the sun as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. He's saying that the sun, in doing what God designed it to do, is bursting forth with gladness and declaring God's glory "and nothing is hidden from its heat." Now I'm not married yet but even I understand how a bridegroom, especially a new one, would burst forth from his chamber. He would be excited, happy, and full of joy!
It was so exciting to finally better understand what this passage meant. I was so excited that I finished squeezing lemons in no time. I don't think I've ever finished them that quickly. You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to make something known to you. You might be in the middle of doing something boring when He decides to reveal a little bit of His glory to you. May we, like the sun, gladly declare God's glory as His creation!
CRH
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Philippians 4:23
For the class assignment, we were given several passages from which we could choose. I've decided to memorize Psalm 19 because it's been one of my favorites for a while and I thought it would be nice to know it by heart. I say it's one of my favorites but actually the first verse is the main reason I like it. "The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." How can you look at the sky on a clear night and not appreciate what a glorious God He is to have made such beauty? The first verse makes plenty of sense to me. It's a straightforward, declarative sentence and I understand it. The verses that follow are more poetic and it takes a literal-minded person like me a little while to "get" the symbolic nature of the language. In case you don't have your Bible handy, here are the first six verses of the text:
A Psalm of David
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6 (NASB)
The poetic language of verses 2-6 has confused me a little bit. There are some people who can read something like this and instantly know what the author means but I'm not that type of person. It takes me a little while to figure it out.
Today while I was at work at Chick-fil-A, I had the pleasure of "squeezing" lemons for our lemonade. It should probably be called juicing lemons because we use a juicer, but all the people who have worked there much longer than I, always call it squeezing, so we'll go with that. It takes a lot of lemons to make the lemonade y'all love so much. We go through about 800 - 1200 lemons a day depending on the amount of business we have, and we "squeeze" them one by one, by hand, with a juicer. It's a very monotonous job. Now you're wondering "Why in the world is Casey telling me all this about stupid lemons?" I know, I'll get on with it. Today while I was working on the lemons, I began to recite the portion of Psalm 19 I have memorized just to practice saying it and make sure I have it down pat. While I was going over it, I finally realized what the poetic language about "words" and "speech" and something about a "bridegroom," meant. Once I realized it, it made the passage even more alive and more glorious to me.
I realized that the verses following verse one were explaining how the heavens were indeed telling of His glory. I realized that it is saying that every day and every night, the heavens testify, not with words but with their beauty and majesty, to the intricacies with which God created the universe. The universe is bigger than our minds can fathom and the God who made them is even bigger. When I thought about verse 5, I had to smile. David is describing the sun as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. He's saying that the sun, in doing what God designed it to do, is bursting forth with gladness and declaring God's glory "and nothing is hidden from its heat." Now I'm not married yet but even I understand how a bridegroom, especially a new one, would burst forth from his chamber. He would be excited, happy, and full of joy!
It was so exciting to finally better understand what this passage meant. I was so excited that I finished squeezing lemons in no time. I don't think I've ever finished them that quickly. You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to make something known to you. You might be in the middle of doing something boring when He decides to reveal a little bit of His glory to you. May we, like the sun, gladly declare God's glory as His creation!
CRH
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Philippians 4:23
Monday, October 20, 2008
First of all...
Well, I, along with most everyone else it seems, feel the need to blog now and again so I've decided to set one up. I'm not promising it will be anything of any great merit but it's a place for me to put into writing whatever I happen to be thinking, working on, contemplating, praying about, searching for, or any other cogitation I may have...thus the name. That name could change in the future because I have my crack marketing team (Kevin Lester) working on something more clever as we speak...or as I type, to be technical. Anyway, if you happen to stumble onto my blog, I hope you're not scared away by my complete lack of sense. If you have anything you want to know about, you might want to ask someone else but I'll be happy to act like I know what I'm talking about.
For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm Casey Harpe and I'm an Evangelical Christian. That's a fancy way of saying I love Jesus and I'd love to tell you about Him. I'm a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I recently joined a local church called Grace Church Louisville and I rejoice in that. It's so wonderful to be a part of that church. I am quite obnoxious about grammar and spelling so if you catch a mistake here, you should publicly ridicule me until I fix it. I'm originally from the great state of Georgia in a little town called Gay...yes Gay...and no, I'm not, but I was a Gay Boy Scout. If you don't know anything about Gay, you should Google the "Cotton Pickin' Fair" as it's probably the only thing that keeps Gay on the map. I come from a very loving family and I have many really good friends, both at home and new friends here at school. I guess the bottom line is I love Jesus and my new church home, I love my Mama, and I love my family and friends.
I'm not really sure how much or how often I'll be posting to my blog but my hope is that if you take the time to read it, somehow you might get something from it. It will probably be a way for me to vent whatever is on my mind, so there's no telling what all you might find here. I hope you come by often and let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Casey
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Philippians 4:23
For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm Casey Harpe and I'm an Evangelical Christian. That's a fancy way of saying I love Jesus and I'd love to tell you about Him. I'm a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I recently joined a local church called Grace Church Louisville and I rejoice in that. It's so wonderful to be a part of that church. I am quite obnoxious about grammar and spelling so if you catch a mistake here, you should publicly ridicule me until I fix it. I'm originally from the great state of Georgia in a little town called Gay...yes Gay...and no, I'm not, but I was a Gay Boy Scout. If you don't know anything about Gay, you should Google the "Cotton Pickin' Fair" as it's probably the only thing that keeps Gay on the map. I come from a very loving family and I have many really good friends, both at home and new friends here at school. I guess the bottom line is I love Jesus and my new church home, I love my Mama, and I love my family and friends.
I'm not really sure how much or how often I'll be posting to my blog but my hope is that if you take the time to read it, somehow you might get something from it. It will probably be a way for me to vent whatever is on my mind, so there's no telling what all you might find here. I hope you come by often and let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Casey
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Philippians 4:23
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