By pastorbillwalden
Some thoughts about Roby Duke, who died last December 26…
I don’t remember the first time I met Roby Duke, but it was sometime during my tenure at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, which was from 1989-1991. Richard Cimino was the High School pastor at the time, and he had met Roby, and started inviting him to play at High School events. My first distinct memory of Roby was a Halloween concert we did with him at CCCM around 1990. I was singing with Richard, Mike Minardi, Scott Stewart, and Terry McNabb in the Mirrors, and Roby played before us (or after us?).
As a band, we didn’t stink, but in retrospect, why on Earth did I ever try to share the stage with him? I guess I was a legend in my own mind. Blessed naivety.
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By pastorbillwalden
I love…
…Christmas munchies.
…that when we open presents, we always go one at a time, starting with the oldest person opening the present from the youngest person. That is a tradition from Debbie’s family that we have practiced our entire marriage.
…that my wife shines at Christmas. She is so considerate and thoughtful towards our family.
…that Christmas is a GREAT reason to have a day off.
…that Debbie gets three weeks vacation from her teaching job during Christmas.
…saying Merry Christmas to people, and that the holiday points to Jesus.
…some of the Christmas Carols and the incredible lyrics that have been written about the Incarnation. Some of the lyrics from “Hark The Herald Angel Sing”, written by Charles Wesley, include the following:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Now that is lyric writing!
…that our family always is together, and that now we have extended family with our daughter in law Melissa and our son in law Caleb.
…that though I used to hate Christmas (click here for that article) that now I love Christmas. It is a day of giving thanks, and being incredibly aware that God loves me, and has blessed me so much. I haven’t grown less aware of the wrongs in the world, but I have grown increasingly aware of His goodness in the world. For me, that has been the turn around and the thing that has changed my perspective. I have grown increasingly aware of God’s love for me, and His grace towards me, and that has put a new face on Christmas for me.
…that I can pray and have hope for others who struggle with the heaviness of this world, and with their evaluation of self. I love that God changes people, and inspires them, and heals them, and gives them hope and an expectation of good.
…that the Incarnation took place so that my glorification will take place. He stepped into my world so that He could someday take me to His world.
Friends and family…Merry Christmas, with much love…
Bill
By pastorbillwalden
First of all, let me apologize for writing an article on an intense topic (sexual addiction), and then not visiting my own blog much to follow the conversation. In fact, I have yet to thoroughly read all the comments from the previous thread. Sorry about that. I intend to read them. As of this writing, I still don’t have internet at our new house. That should change in the next few days. Oh, the pain of it all. 
I want to share a few more thoughts regarding sexual sin amongst Christians.
One of the comments I hear from men who are habitually looking at pornography is that “I can’t help it”, or, I am out of control”. Some would call that “addiction”. That was thoroughly discussed in the comments section in my previous article. However we want to label such habitual behavior is secondary to how we view the actual behavior.
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