Buzzing About the Neat Worker Bee

A High Quality and Affordable Microphone

My work has become highly dependent on live streaming since COVID hit. I wanted a good quality microphone to improve live stream quality without breaking the bank. I found a lot of options that were of uncertain quality, but affordable, and plenty of well known quality with a price to match. Then, I found something neat: the Neat Worker Bee.

Tongues of Liar (March 1, 2021)

What does it mean to have a lying tongue? Why does the Proverb distinguish it from bearing false witness? Join me as we continue our series on Six Poisons from Proverbs 6.

The Thylacine

From black to gold to black to gold to black
Adrift in the worn brush of wild’ness past
Not seen, not heard, not pawed upon soft grass,
No prey to catch, to chase through pitch and burrow,
The rotten stump, a boarder jet and blond,
No more remunes, for breath and sigh is lack.
Unseen amidst the wood and leafed wrack,
No rush to feast, no rush to hide from row.
Transfigured now but on a yellowed sheet,
The gold made white, no longer fur but line,
An acetate and alkaline marked brine,
The only echo left, long past last bleat.
Unless the beast still prowl, one fight is all to show:
A frayed print against forgetting’s undertow.

52 Verses, 52 Books, 52 Weeks (Week 8: Job)

Melanie Haynes shares a thought provoking devotional thought this week from the story of Job. What are we to think when things go wrong?

Picking the Right Highway (February 15, 2021)

As I wrap up the series _Delighted in God_, we look at the judgment of God and how even judgment is a call to delight in the one who shows us mercy.

Apple and Parler

I hear a lot of consternation from quite a few people I know about Apple removing Parler. I’ve spoken out against deplatforming on a number of occasions — whether I agree with the views or find them distasteful — but I think this particular case is a more nuanced issue. I also suspect, if anything, Parler was given an extra long leash, not a short one. Here’s why I say that.

So far, I take Apple at their word, because I think they’ve earned it by years — or rather decades — of consistency. In the 12 years since the App Store was first offered, I’ve seen them remove both Left and Right leaning apps that, for example, fail to meet Apple’s standards for illegal content moderation. Most often this requirement has been invoked due to failure to moderate explicit or illegal drug related content — something much of Big Tech rarely seems to care about, but Apple consistently has.

I strongly believe Apple is sincere in saying Parler would be allowed back on if they implemented an effective form of moderation, something Parler actually agreed to do by submitting the app to the App Store in the first place. I doubt many people have read the App Store agreement every single app submitted is required to agree to, but the terms are clear and Parler was violating Apple’s terms of service (this wasn’t a new requirement Apple created).

Pastor Stemler

I learned this afternoon of the death of one of the best pastors I’ve had a joy to know, Pastor Herbert Stemler. This is a photo of him and me from the night of my ordination in 2012.

Prayer for the Presidents We Like and Don't Like Alike

Barring some surprising twist as key states recount votes, it appears we are going to have a new resident in the White House come January. I am going to write the exact same thing I posted on Facebook almost two weeks ago about Justice Barrett’s confirmation:

If you are celebrating the election of Vice President Biden as the next President, please pray for him (and Sen. Harris, too). If you are upset about the election of Vice President Biden, please pray for him (and Sen. Harris, too). We desperately need to spend more time praying for our leaders than politicking over them.

This is very much what the Bible commanded us to do over the last four years for President Trump and Vice President Pence, and it is what it will continue to command us to do for President Biden and Vice President Harris (1 Tim. 2:2, 1 Pet. 2:17).

Too often, my own heart wants to pray for and respect leaders who are in the party I choose and not “the other party.” I (and I suspect most of us) need to constantly be repenting of that.

Every time the White House switches parties, it is good to do a check to see if we are aligning with the Scripture’s call to give honor to and pray for our leaders. If my intentions about prayer and honor change as the administration changes, I have either been sinning or am about to be sinning (perhaps both!).

We shouldn’t honor and pray for President Trump and then stop when we arrive at President Biden. Likewise, if we’ve been failing to honor and pray for President Trump, we shouldn’t just start with the next administration, we should repent and pray for the forty-fifth president even as the time is fast approaching for a forty-sixth president.

I shared more on these matters in my message for Little Hills this past week, prior to the election. It’s embedded below for anyone interested in digging more into what Scripture says on these things.

Remembering Lou Brock

I had the honor of getting to know Lou Brock just a tiny bit over the time I served as chaplain at Lindenwood. In the picture I have attached to this post, we are awaiting the start of the May 2013 undergraduate commencement exercises at LU. I first met him the evening prior at the pre-commencement dinner President Evans always hosted. I had the opportunity to have a very nice conversation with both Mr. Brock and his wife over dinner that night. The Brocks were always incredibly kind and they were excited about Jesus and their church.

I almost missed the chance to ask to take a picture with him. I had figured he might want to get away from being pestered by fans when he had the opportunity to hang up his Cardinals Hall of Fame red jacket and swap it for a black suit (in the role of a spouse of an LU board member). When I finally worked up the nerve to ask — after all, I was actually killing time in the presence of Lou Brock — he was happy to oblige and was just as gracious as he had been the evening before and in the times later on when I would see him at other LU events.

Mr. Brock is now with his Savior, freed from the illnesses that had beset him the past few years. Praying for his family today and praying for their comfort in Jesus.

Prayer Walk

Today is FaithTree’s second ever online prayer walk and several hundred people have already spent time going through a loop of prayer prompts that help us to think about what to pray for, listened to encouraging devotionals from God’s Word and shared their own prayer requests. It isn’t too late to take part (if you are reading this on August 20) and you don’t have to live in St. Louis to take part — we have people from all over the world participating! Check it out here