In an effort to make this blog more visual, I’m taking a tip from a few other bloggers and adding more images to punch up the commentary.
Hope you all like it.
If anyone knows of good sources for (absolutely) free stock photos, please enlighten me. I’ve used stock.xchange before, but other sites are welcome, particularly if they are a bit more unconventional.
Thanks in advance!
The issue of the use of eminent domain for seizing property is looming larger for churches. Couple this with a reluctance of many localities to allow a church building to be built because it means a loss in tax revenue that could have been generated by a similar retail property, and you have a big problem not enough of us are talking about.
WORLD magazine’s blog made note of this recently with a link to the The CSM (not a source I usually link to, obviously, but the article is right on). The response on the blog to the article has been that “house churches don’t have this issue.” Well, I wouldn’t be too sure that truly flimsy eminent domain can’t be used against a house church after President Clinton’s shock-inducing Executive Order 13112 (which is conveniently “offline” at the National Archives) that basically gives the government the right to use eminent domain to seize property that has been taken over by “invasive species.”
What is insidious about EO 13112 is that our entire country is swarming with non-native species. You have a flock of starlings (European) in your backyard? The government can seize your property citing EO 13112. Got any honeysuckle (Japanese) growing in your yard? The government can seize your property under 13112. Truth is, this can be cited down to even the microbial level, so no one’s “house church” is ultimately safe under this EO. To make matters worse, President Bush—rather than responsibly rescinding it—amended EO 13112 with EO 13286 which gives the Department of Homeland Security the right to seize land based on “invasive species.”
Now I am not a conspiracy buff, by any means, but we Christians should be sobered by this trend to block church buildings and to use eminent domain to seize church properties. (Though, I am one who believes that churches today should be less concerned with building since churches may lose tax-exempt status in my lifetime. Having an expensive property is one way to bankrupt a church with property taxes.) We need to not be asleep on this battle. We may lose it sooner than we think if we are not diligent.
The Supreme Court just stuck a knife in the back of property owners in the Kelo case and has set a very scary precedent for allowing the government to seize property for no real reason at all.
Valentine’s Day is a good day to be thankful.
I want to thank the Lord for the marvelous way He overwhelmed me with His love last night. Even in the midst of the gray of a Southern Ohio February, His love shines through.
I want to thank all the readers of Cerulean Sanctum. Every time I get an e-mail saying how much this blog has touched you, it makes my day.
Than you, too, to the folks at TheOoze that put up with my hard-nosed, decidedly-NOT-postmodern posts that seem to rile up a lot of people there. I really do care. When you find Truth, hold on.
Thank you to one of the great blog advocates out there, Hugh Hewitt. I don’t know how he does it, but I’ve e-mailed him a few times on blogging subjects and he’s ALWAYS written a personal response back. That’s commitment to other people when you get thousands of e-mails and still have the time to respond. (I wonder if his wife ever sees him, though!)
Thanks to LaShawn Barber who also has not let her popularity take away her personal touch.
Thank you to Diane over at Crossroads; she’s referenced several of my posts in the past and always leaves good comments here. She’s now talking about Reformed Charismatics (and that does not mean “ex-“—think Reformation here) and I for one welcome all the Reformed Charismatic bloggers that are starting to show up. You may be the future of the charismatic movement. (At least I hope so!)
Thank you to David over at not perfection for always having good things to say and for being a personal encouragement. It’s sad to see him leave blogging, but to everything there is a season.
Thanks also to Chris over at Paradoxology for not being afraid to tackle the hard questions of the Faith.
In fact, thank you to ALL the Christian bloggers out there. I read so many good blogs anymore that I feel humbled to even share the same Internet with you folks!
But most of all, thank you to my wife and son for loving me no matter what. Your love and care mean more to me than you can imagine. I love you both so much!
Take care, everyone, and don’t just tell someone you love them today, let them know why, and how thankful you are for them.
Blessings.