The UmBlog

Since moving to suburbia we have enlarged our managerie from dog and cat to ducks and bunny. We lost a cat this winter, probably to traffic. We got another cat. She was moved outside and has disappeared this last week. Last night we forgot to lock our ducks up. This morning one of the females was missing. My son found her chewed up in the woods. I think we have a fisher cat feasting on our animals. That's a bummer. I fear the knowledge of food in the duck pen will bring the thing back and it will not be stopped by my cinder blocks. The kids are so sad. update July 1: it came back .

It's time for some true history on Francis of Assissi. Thank you Mark Galli . Francis of Assisi is said to have said, "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." This saying is carted out whenever someone wants to suggest that Christians talk about the gospel too much, and live the gospel too little. Fair enough—that can be a problem. Much of the rhetorical power of the quotation comes from the assumption that Francis not only said it but lived it. The problem is that he did not say it. Nor did he live it. And those two contra-facts tell us something about the spirit of our age. I highly commend the rest of this article .

Image by matt [sucka MC] via Flickr Image via Wikipedia Came across a great resource to read through the Bible or portions of it in a daily fashion with portions sent to you by email, Bibleplan.org They also link to other reading plans . They offer many versions and languages as well. As Kevin would say, "Nice."

After a church discipline series, I thought it appropriate to write some about forgiveness . In Matthew 18, Peter tries to show off his graciousness to Jesus.  18:21Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 18:22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!   The textual note in the NET says , Or “seventy times seven,” i.e., an unlimited number of times. See L&N 60.74 and 60.77 for the two possible translations of the phrase. When my family discussed this over the dinner table a few weeks ago, one member said, "OK, I'll keep count." Even though we discuss the Bible over dinner sin still abounds in the Umland home. Apparently, the offenses are legion between the children. They might legitimately reach 490 or 77 offenses in a day. I told the smart child that, literally understanding the Bible is good. I also told the child that Jesus was using numbers that i...

I was contacted by a reader of my church discipline  series who was disciplined by a G12 church. I had not heard of G12 churches before. The wiki article was helpful but the entry at the Apologetics Index was very helpful, especially the comments . It seems humans have a hard time not sliding from discipleship into control. Perhaps, God has blessed those who get kicked out of a G12 church.

Since I bought this bike I've ridden at least 500 miles on it and I love it. See my pictures from when I bought it here . I haven't ridden my recumbent since December and it is for sale . The townie is my regular commuter bike. It's heavy and it only has 7 gears, but I don't need that much for 6.5 miles each way with many hills. I only miss the gears on the pedals when I'm barreling down hills. I like being upright. I like riding without hands. I did notice one drawback this morning though while I was riding hands-free. The front wheel started to shimmy. I couldn't reproduce it each time this morning, but it was crazy when it did happen. I think this is the risk of the cool feature that enables the comfort on this bike. It's not a true diamond frame. At the juncture of the downward frame components, Electra welded in a 6 inch extension, which pushes the seat further back from the pedals. Like a recumbent of sorts, I am pedaling slightly forward of my seat, ...

Sarah Flashing writes a great post affirming women's spiritual gifts. I need to quote two paragraphs from her post. Some women, I am learning, are uncomfortable discussing their spiritual gifts if they are not identical to how they function in their roles, because for them these gifts might overshadow what they perceive to be the true functions of a woman, wife, or mom. Yet Paul had no problem with any member of the church desiring spiritual gifts; therefore, giftedness and function/role ought never to be pitted against each other, especially in this way. How a woman is a wife and a mom and how she serves within the body of Christ will both be impacted by her personality, her interests, her talents, and her gifts. Enabling a false distinction between the two creates a dualism God never intended. The post is partly inspired by a book review at her personal blog.