Eric Ludy’s sermon The Costly Gospel has a summary on his website. It says: If the power of the Gospel is to be fully realized in the life of a believer, then that believer must first be emptied. The principle of the Gospel is always "first death, then life."

Eric Ludy seems to have a wrong definition of the Gospel. Christians believe the Gospel to be the “good news” of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. The Gospel is that Christ has done the work for us.
The Gospel IS “first death, then life.” But that is because BEFORE Christ we are dead in our sins, before His grace enters our life our spiritual lives are dead.
When Christ grants us salvation - what the Gospel message is all about - then we have new life. II Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” According to the Scriptures we have life - the old has gone! Death is done with, we have spiritual life!
Contrary to what Eric Ludy seems to be saying here, there is no emptying that needs to be done in our lives before we receive the gift of salvation. The Gospel IS costly, it had a very high price. Fortunately for us it has already been paid.
Promotions for Eric Ludy’s book about Prayer stated that this book would “...lessen the gap between you and God.”
I hate to break it to you Eric, but that gap is completely gone from my life. You didn’t have any part in it - it was completely bridged by the once-for-all, perfect and complete sacrifice of Christ.

I remember the uproar over the spontaneous creation of songs praising President Obama.

Uproar... nah, let's say outrage.

I've seen people posting links randomly to songs glorifying America at McCain/Palin rallies and praising their choice of music, etc.

Just curious - why is a song glorifying a man worse than a song glorifying a country?

In other words, why - for a christian - is it wrong to make a person an idol but okay to make your country an idol?

That I am totally confused by all the posts about "xanga drama" that are appearing in my inbox. :)

Seriously. I just like blogging.

This was a really random weekend. Trip to NoDak. It's so barren. But I did see a hill. Or a divot. More like a divot in the otherwise flat landscape.

Babies were good. I love them.

Jericho's favorite part of toy story 2 is the credits when Mrs. Potato Head says Bouncy Bouncy Ball. :P

Today my child who NEVER repeats words said "Hi!" to me when I opened the van door.

Then I said "Hola!"

Then he said... "HOLA!"

And laughed hysterically.

So really he CAN talk and repeat words. He would just rather babble unendingly in his own language.

Sigh.

I love him. And Adah and Asher.

And I love the Gospel. Man. It's a life-changer. :)

Never wanted to share about Jesus. I mean really... ugh.

But then... THE GOSPEL. GRACE!!! FREEDOM!!!!! (insert my cousin 21 times removed William Wallace here...)

If you don't get it, I don't know if I can explain it.

But I really hope you get it. :)