Category Archives: Uncategorized

by Anthony Baker | July 6, 2017 · 11:11 pm

A Blessing and an Emergency Need

Please take a moment to read this… It won’t take long.

First of all, many of you know about the parsonage (house owned by the church I now pastor) that we are going to be living in soon. If you don’t know about it, just watch this video entitled “The Parsonage Project.”

Anyway, part of getting any work done on the old house involves finding free manual labor. Well, lo and behold, starting this coming Monday morning World Changers is going to be sending a whole crew of teens and some adults to work next week!

Listen, if you don’t know about World Changers, then click on HERE and HERE (Chattanooga link) to find out more. But this is a HUGE answer to prayer, guys! HUGE! It usually takes a lot of planning to get one of their groups to come out to do a project…but I just got the call THIS WEEK! And they are going to be here MONDAY! They had a project cancel at the last minute, so they called us!

(These kids even paid $280 each to go on one of these trips!)

But here’s the other thing… Simply put, we need money. Look, I’m not asking you to buy this pastor a new G5 private jet. I’m not even asking you to buy me a used car. All I’m asking is that you would prayerfully consider donating to help purchase supplies that will be needed for this crew to fix drywall, do ceiling work, paint, etc. That’s all.

Granted, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and some of it can’t be done by this crew – like replacing windows, replacing the old bath, fixing some roofing issues, and HVAC stuff – but they can accomplish a huge amount of labor-intensive, time-consuming work that would make way for other things. They just need money for the material.

The project manager, David Fox, who looked at the whole project this evening, said $1,000 to $1,500 would probably cover all the costs to put a huge dent in all we need done – and that’s because this group can acquire supplies at a big discount. Normally, city funds would help to purchase things for homes they would work on, but this project is outside of the city of Chattanooga, and it’s a church-owned home, so…

Seriously, folks, South Soddy Baptist Church is just a small church with very little funds. Spending $1,500 right now is not even possible. But I honestly believe God has His hand on this and has a plan for this congregation – and my family and me. If you could financially help in any way at all, you can either mail a check OR click on my generic PayPal Donation button here on the blog (and indicate what the money is for).

If you would like other contact info, just email me at PastorACBaker@yahoo.com. or call me at 423-645-8884.

The mailing address is: South Soddy Baptist Church, 11055 Dayton Pike, Soddy Daisy, TN 37379.

ALL donations are tax-deductible.

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by Anthony Baker | July 6, 2017 · 12:56 pm

The Orange Razor I Never Got

I don’t always like doing it, but I do shave my face and head. I’m not overly picky about the razors I use, but I do have my preferences. Usually I prefer the 5-blade kind.

I have, however, shaved with an old-fashioned “safety” razor in the past. Well, at least it’s safer than a straight razor.

But last night was one of those times when I received some very troubling news, the result being a restless night with less-than-needed sleep. Therefore, it’s not surprising I had a strange dream.

I don’t know what led up to it, but all of a sudden there was our oldest daughter, Alicia, griping at me for not writing a blog post about the razor she gave me as a gift. When I looked down (in the dream) I saw the razor she was talking about, and it was one of the orange razors they sell at Target and online.

So, I know dreams can be crazy, but sometimes they can tell us a little about ourselves. Evidently, as best I can figure, I like sharp blades and orange things.

That makes perfect sense, too, because I’m sharp and from Tennessee.

Maybe, since Alicia has never purchased a $9 Harry’s razor for me, she was really actually upset because I haven’t talked about myself? Yet, haven’t I done that before?

Maybe, my mind wanted me to tell Alicia to put an orange razor on my birthday gift wish list?

Maybe I’m low on vitamin C and I’m losing my edge…and I need to get a handle on things?

Well, I definitely need to get a grip on some things, and an orange (or maybe orange jello) would be nice. But I can tell you this one thing for sure…

…I never got an orange razor.

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Tagged as gifts, men's products, razor, shaving

by Anthony Baker | July 1, 2017 · 9:34 am

Chivalry

Like every summer, more articles have been published by young women who think modesty is overrated, if not harmful, and that men should just get a grip. Seriously, it’s like “Let me go naked in public, but don’t question my judgment, and by all means don’t lust, creep!” I’ve heard the arguments, but I just don’t get it.

Well, what you have here is a post by a different kind of girl, one who understands freedom and grace, but also self-worth and dignity – and yes, modesty. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me that she considers the following picture her favorite out of hundreds taken over 26 days throughout Europe.

In a world that is going mad, this post is a quick breath of fresh air.

Shutter Elf

Civalry in Verona

This was my proudest moment in all of my tour of Europe. The young men here are Eric (left) and Jeremey (right). We were at the home of Juliet in Verona, Italy, and this is the statue people visit there. The tradition is that you are to place your hand on her breast for good luck and fortune, but these guys were the two in the whole place that wanted to show her – a statue – what respect and love is.

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by Anthony Baker | June 27, 2017 · 1:00 pm

Dusty Keys

Shutter Elf

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Never lose the passion.

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Stepping Stones

Another post from my daughter, Katie Marie. Have you ever thought about steps?

Shutter Elf

Colosseum in Verona

The day that I went to Verona, Italy I was able to see the colosseum where opera productions are now held. As we were there, my small group walked around and climbed up to the top in several places. We ate lunch and fought the birds that were wanting a taste of the packed meal. But we never really discussed the historical impact of the structure. We mostly stayed quiet or pointed out how the rows of chairs at the bottom looked funny or how strange some people appeared to be.

Still, I thought about it. In the confinds of my mind I was thinking about how many people over hundreds of years – centuries – would climb these same steps and watch the slaughter that might have happened within its walls. I wondered how much torment took place and how many people cheered at the sight…

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by Anthony Baker | June 24, 2017 · 12:31 pm

Freedom

Another beautiful post by my daughter, Katie.

Shutter Elf

At what price does your freedom cost, if you consider to have freedom at all?

I have heard all of my life that freedom comes with a price and salvation, which allows for “freedom” was “free.” How can this be? Freedom, no matter what kind, was always paid for and always will be. Whether you or another person pays for it, the debt is owed.

The price of salvation was blood sacrifice. Yes, that sounds extreme because it is. The blood sacrifice of a being which was perfect and innocent in every way was required to pay the amount in full for the purchase of our souls’ freedom, and that saccrifice was supposed to be dear. It was to seal the covenant of redemption permenantly until the day of atonemnet, and it was the only way that there would be certainty of a life after death. The one person that was…

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Grandeur

If you haven’t yet subscribed to my daughter’s blog, here’s another opportunity to rectify the issue. You’ll be blessed.

Shutter Elf

These are the Swiss Alps. Unless you have seen them, you can not possibly imagine them. Even when I stood in their valleys I was unable to fully understand their height and breadth fully. The trees stop growing at a certain altitude, and there is no way to even begin to measure the trees in number or stature. Then the tops of the mountains are so high up, it seems to be a perfect place for angels to rest while they are in this realm.

I felt so small.

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IT’S TIME FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH

Wally Fry reblogged this, so I checked it out for myself. Now I’m going to reblog this post simply because it unintentionally addresses the question that Jesus asked of Peter in Mark 8:27, “But who do you say that I am?”

It really doesn’t matter what other people say about Jesus. It doesn’t matter what they think of Him. What matters is what YOU think of Him, and the only way to truly learn of Him is to objectively read about Him in the Bible. Read the following testimony and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

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by Anthony Baker | June 14, 2017 · 9:26 am

Obama, Clinton, and the Congressional Shooting

In light of the attempted massacre that took place this morning in Alexandria, Virginia, at a GOP baseball practice, now would be a good time for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to come out and speak to the nation, especially to those who are still angry with the results of the last election. I would suggest they say the following:

“We in the Democrat party have desired greater gun control in our nation. However, what happened today should not be linked to a lack of gun control, only pure hate. Hate has no respect for the rule of law, or the lives of fellow Americans. If we want our nation to survive as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, we’ve got to come together as a nation, a nation of people who respect authority, and pray for our leaders, not want to harm them.

At this moment in time we call for all Americans, both on the left and on the right, to come together as fellow citizens for the good of our country. There are many ways in which we can work together for the common good. There are many ways we can overlook our differences and come together as civilized beings in a civilized nation.

We pray for those who were wounded today. We suffer with them during their grief, and we as a nation we will offer all that we can to help them to recover. But if we are going to recover as a nation, we need to be praying for each other; we need to love each other; we need to respect each other; and, we need to respect the rule of law.

Whether you voted for our President, or not, he is still our duly-elected President. We do not have to support everything he promotes, but he is our President, duly-elected, by a system that was developed by our founding fathers and has served us well for over 200 years. We need to work within the system, not try to destroy it. We need to come together and find ways to improve it, but not replace it. As a unified people, people who respect the law, we can work through our issues in peaceful ways; we do not have to resort to violence.

God be with those who are wounded today, and God bless this great nation, the United States of America!”

If Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would only say something like this, we might see a change in what is going on in America right now. But if they don’t come out and say something like this, and continue to allow this type of violence to go unanswered, they will only be hastening our society’s eventual demise.

Today we pray for our Congessmen and their aids.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-4