I was checking Facebook this afternoon and noticed a link that Scott Thomas (Acts 29 director) posted with the caption,

John Piper is taking 8 months off to examine his ministry, marriage and family. Pray for Pastor John.

Now, I don’t know about you, but the first thought that came to mind (God forgive me) was moral failure.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

After reading the entire blog post from Pastor John, I’m actually speechless. Here’s an excerpt:

I asked the elders to consider this leave because of a growing sense that my soul, my marriage, my family, and my ministry-pattern need a reality check from the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, I love my Lord, my wife, my five children and their families first and foremost; and I love my work of preaching and writing and leading Bethlehem. I hope the Lord gives me at least five more years as the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem.

But on the other hand, I see several species of pride in my soul that, while they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with Noël and others who are dear to me. How do I apologize to you, not for a specific deed, but for ongoing character flaws, and their effects on everybody? I’ll say it now, and no doubt will say it again, I’m sorry. Since I don’t have just one deed to point to, I simply ask for a spirit of forgiveness; and I give you as much assurance as I can that I am not making peace, but war, with my own sins.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Wow.

I don’t always agree with Piper’s teachings, but those differences are with secondary issues. I pray God raises up more pastors and leaders like John Piper. Leaders who aren’t ashamed to admit they are human and as such have flaws that they allow God to reveal to them and then work out of them.

Click here to read the full article.

Went and saw Rob Schneider’s stand-up show last night and was pretty impressed. Of course he was funny, but I really liked his closing bit. Here’s my paraphrased version:

Everybody’s worried about something these days. Global warming, the economy, debt, cancer and other diseases; you name it – someone is freaking out about it. And those are all things to be concerned about. But life is too short to spend all your time worrying about them. You really want something to worry about? Think about this for a second: we live on a rock that is suspended in space, with NOTHING holding it up!!! Not only that, but it’s hurdling around a giant fireball and spinning at over 66,000 miles per hour!!!

Kinda makes all our worries seem small when you consider that.

I’ve only read one chapter of Free Book* by Brian Tome and can already tell I will love this book.

Any book where the author writes,

I’m also pissed that I’ll have to fight to keep the word ‘pissed‘ in this book because the publisher will want to cave to more conservative types who want to keep everyone boxed into a specific type of language.

is an awesome book.

That is all.

From the creators of LOLCATS and iCanHasCheezBurger comes the LOLCAT Bible Translation!!!

Seriously.

But it’s actually pretty funny, and, from the portions I’ve read, it’s at least more accurate than most children’s Bibles.

More info over at ChurchCrunch.

HT: ChurchCrunch.