Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 56,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Tom Hudzina, a Campus Crusade staff member at West Chester University

All you had to do to enter the giveaway was leave a comment… any comment.  I enjoyed reading every single comment, and want to express my genuine appreciation for everyone who took the time to leave one.  I would also like to thank Trevin Wax for mentioning the giveaway on his blog.

Tom was one of a small number of entrants who chose to inject a little humor into his comment.  The title of this post is based on his comment, which he posted in the form of a quote:

“I need more Piper (cowbell)!!”

I’ve confessed my general cultural ignorance before, so it may not surprise you that I had no idea what his comment meant; however, Google made it easy enough to find out.

Congratulations, Tom.  May the Lord richly bless your ministry to the students at West Chester University.

In [Mark 13] verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.”  And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.”  And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all:  Stay awake.”  Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming.  His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo.  This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo.  This word is where we get our name Gregory.

In verse 33, Christ declares, “Be on guard, keep awake.” And in verse 35, “Therefore, stay awake.” And finally our text closes with, “And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” Jesus message to his four disciples that day was to be alert and watch for his coming. His message is the same for us today.

The last word in our text is the Greek word gragoreo. This word when translated may mean to be watchful, be on the alert, be wide awake, or to be alive.

The early Christians reminded themselves of this message of Christ to be alert for his coming by naming their sons after this word gragoreo. This word is where we get our name Gregory.

You see we are all to be Gregory(s). We are all to be alert, wide awake, and watchful for Christ coming. We, in a sense, are called to be Gregory.

Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the coming of Christ.  We look back and celebrate the first coming of Christ, and long for his second coming.

I don’t think I always take the commands to be alert and watchful seriously enough.  Jesus reinforced those commands with a strong warning in the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13).  If you haven’t read it lately, take a minute and click the link.  It really is a sobering admonition.

I want to live up to the family name.  I want to be a true Gregory.  Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:20)

So, here are a few more CD’s that have become Christmas favorites:

• The Silent Night– Friction Bailey
  Very nice acoustic folk sound with some new arrangements of old songs, and a couple of good original tunes
• Over The Hills And Everywhere: A Christmas EP — Seabird
  Traditional Christmas hymns with distinctive new Seabird melodies
• Advent Christmas EP — Future of Forestry
• Advent Christmas EP, Vol. 2 — Future of Forestry
  Both of these EP’s apply Future of Forestry’s trademark sound to the traditional melodies of Christmas hymns. Volume 2, I think, has a little more variety and better musicianship than the first, including a beautiful organ-backed rendition of Pie Jesu, and a fantastic original song, “The Earth Stood Still”.
• Songs for Christmas[Box Set] — Sufjan Stevens
  It’s Sufjan (need I say more?)

If you use Spotify and would like to hear some of the new albums mentioned by Under the Radar, as well as some of those I’ve listed here, you can check out this Spotify playlist.

All of the books, booklets, and tracts in this giveaway were written by John Piper.  All are brand new.  The lot includes:

• Finally Alive
• This Momentary Marriage
• Filling up the Afflictions of Christ (hardcover)
• TULIP: What We Believe about the Five Points of Calvinism
  (booklet, out of print)
• 4 copies of For Your Joy
• 4 copies of In Our Joy
• 25 copies of Rain (tract, out of print)

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave any comment below.  The contest will end two weeks from tonight, at midnight central time on December 15.  I’ll draw a name and announce the winner in a new post on December 16.

Since I have no idea what it might cost to ship internationally, the winner will have to provide a U.S. shipping address.  I’ll mail the books promptly (once I receive your shipping information) by media mail, which means, unfortunately, that you probably won’t have them by Christmas… but then I never said I was Santa Claus.

Today’s explosive post comes in the form of an excerpt comes from the book, Kisses from Katie, by Katie Davis.  We’re reading it out loud together at home right now.  On a side note, do someone a favor this Christmas and pick up a copy of this book for them.  Get one for yourself, too, if you haven’t read it.  I may not always see eye-to-eye with Katie theologically, but her compassion and Christ-like, sacrificial service are not only deeply moving, but also very challenging and humbling.

In chapter nine Katie describes the endless barrage of questions that her adopted Ugandan children constantly unleash on her.

One of the questions that surprised me most was this: “Mommy, if Jesus comes to live inside my heart, will I explode?”

“No!” I proclaimed as the children and I headed to the Nile River for a few of them to be baptized that day.

Then I thought about the question a bit more.

“Yes, if Jesus comes to live in your heart, you will explode.” That is exactly what we should do if Jesus comes to live inside our hearts. We will explode with love, with compassion, with hurt for those who are hurting, and with joy for those who rejoice. We will explode with a desire to be more, to be better, to be close to the One who made us.”

It may be more accurate to say that whether Jesus lives in your heart or not, you will still explode, and whatever is in your heart will come out.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 ESV)

Sometimes, I’m sorry to say, I find my heart exploding with things that are unworthy of Christ.  Today, I pray for the grace to explode “with love, with compassion… and with joy” — the kind that can only come from Jesus living in me.

I’ve always been a little apprehensive about flying. Heights don’t bother me at all. High rates of speed don’t bother me. The thought of plummeting toward the earth at several hundred miles an hour, however, bothers me. I know, I know, airplanes are safer than cars. I’ve never found that very comforting, though. I have a chance of walking away from a car wreck; I don’t have much chance of walking away from a plane crash.

Okay, now that you know how neurotic I can be, you’ll have a much greater appreciation for what I’m about to tell you.

20 or 30 minutes after we boarded my very first flight, the pilot made an announcement over the intercom. “We’ve been fighting some electrical gremlins this morning. We have a lot of computers on here and we need to restart them. I’m going to have to power down the plane, so you’ll be in the dark for a little while. We hope that’ll take care of the problem.”

I briefly panicked. Great. I’m on a plane with a defective computer. We’ll get three miles up in the air and the stinking gremlins will strike again. How are you going to restart the plane then, captain? We’re all going to die. Little did the unsuspecting lady sitting beside me with her baby know when she boarded this plane that no one would ever see them alive again.

Then, as suddenly as it departed, my sanity returned. Eventually we took off, and I loved every minute of the flight. The turbulence didn’t even bother me. I had a window seat and saw things I’ve never seen before. One of the most amazing sights was the surreal alien landscape formed by the top of the low lying clouds near Denver. It was like a vast, sprawling field of something resembling heads of cauliflower, with a variety of other formations dotting the landscape. Here and there were what looked like the ghostly hulls of sunken ships, jutting up through the field of cauliflower. Off in the distance were mountain ranges and a huge lake, composed entirely of clouds. It was beautiful.

I saw a lot of other things too. I saw as I have many other times that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above ( and below!) proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1)

I also saw that my faith can still be very weak, in spite of my confidence in the goodness and sovereignty of God. I’m thankful that Christ sympathizes with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15).

I may tell you in another post at another time about my second flight, and the terrific thunderstorm that diverted it.

I’ve been a bad blogger lately if blogging consistency counts for anything (and it does), so I have no post of my own to add to this carnival.  There have been a few changes to the Carnival in the last few months, including new categories for submissions and a new Facebook page.  Here are this week’s posts, arranged in the order they were received, and within the categories to which they were submitted by the authors.

Devotionals

David R Wells presents First Fruits, not Leftovers posted at Revelation 3:10 – Blog, saying “Today’s passage… is about giving God our first and not our last.”

Raziel presents Lessons from the three Temptations posted at Pens Or Swords

Joe Plemon presents How the Golden Rule Could Fix Everything posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying “Could the Golden Rule REALLY fix everything? There is a huge IF involved.”

Josh presents 25 Great Waiting Quotes posted at What Christians Want To Know, saying “We all struggle with waiting. Whether it be waiting in line or waiting on God it is a struggle for us all. Take a look at these great quotes and verses.”

Koty Ray presents Too much people-pleasing posted at Teen Devotionals

Cindy Jeffrey presents Prayer for Patience and Calmness posted at Christian Prayers, saying “This site provides Christian prayers daily.”

Charles Chua C K presents 10 Keys to Live a Balanced and Happy Life posted at All About Living with Life

Christian Amit presents Jesus Heals the Woman with Blood Issue posted at Bible Study Lessons | Free Inductive Study Guide, saying “Bible study lesson on healing of woman with the issue of blood on Mark 5:24-34. Her faith in Jesus. Why did she touch Him? How was she instantly healed? Faith lessons and life applications.”

Zowada presents The Eternal Sunrise. posted at Zowada Blog, saying “In order for one to live in sight of eternity, one must also live in sight of their own imminent earthly demise.”

Russ White presents Adam and Maslow posted at Thinking in Christ

Adam Faughn presents Powerful Prayer posted at The Faughn Family of Four

Brandon Peters presents Putting My Future Fully in His hands posted at INSPIKS, saying “The end of December 2010 was probably the craziest time of my life. After getting home from Bible school I told God to do whatever He needed so that I could fully live for Him. I found out that is a very dangerous prayer.”

Ed Renk presents God Does Big Things in Small Places posted at InFaith’s Mission Blog

Narratives

Lahesha Williams presents 5 Tips for Proper Time Management in College posted at Lahesha Williams, saying “Many students do not know how to manage their time while they are in school. They think they have loads of free time, when in fact, they are just procrastinating all of their homework and tests. Here are 5 tips to develop some time management skills.”

LaTisha D Styles presents Fun Trivia: Books of the Bible | BiblicalFinances posted at BiblicalFinances, saying “Can you find the names of the books of the Bible in this paragraph?”

Ridge Burns presents Sounds of a Funeral posted at Ridge’s Blog

Henry Neufeld presents Why Justin Quit Reading the Bible posted at Jevlir Caravansary, saying “Does our encouragement of young people always have the results we expect?”

Uncategorized

Richard H. Anderson presents Matthew misread the Book of Zechariah posted atdokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos, saying “one in a series of articles on the priority of the Gospel of Luke”

Lisa Battista23 presents The Top 40 Informative Forums for Theology Students and Educators posted at Theology Degrees Online, saying, “You don’t have to be studying theology to be confused and curious about different religions and beliefs. From the most devout to the most skeptical, many people have questions about their own beliefs as well as others. These incredible forums offer information from experts as well as bloggers who are interested in sharing their knowledge with others.”

Engelbert Hudson presents 30 Incredible Q&A Sites to Help You Understand the Bible posted at Biblical Learning Blog, saying “The Bible is not an easy area of study. With thousands of years of history and various versions, students often have many questions. That’s where the use of Q&A sites come in. These 30 sites are incredible resources to help you better understand the Bible, and they are written by Bible experts, writers, preachers and other professionals.”

Are people impressed with us and our excellence (or lack thereof, as the case may be), or are they impressed with Jesus?  Mark quotes an excerpt from Jonathan Leeman’s book Reverberation and concludes with this thought:

When people leave our churches tomorrow, may they not say, “What moving worship, what a great worship band, what an incredible preacher, or what a cool building” but may they say, “What an incredible Savior.”

Read it all: What Will People Say When They Leave Our Churches Tomorrow?

This is an experiment. Due to the lavish generosity of a dear friend, our family owns an iPad 2. Right now I’m on the road without a laptop so I thought I would try to write a post using the iPad and the WordPress app. I didn’t think I would like it, but it’s not bad. The worst thing about it is having to use the small virtual keyboard to type. I’ll say a little more about the road trip in my next post.

That’s it.