When the subject of speaking in tongues comes up, some people will tell you that tongues are no more and that they were just something that was only for the time of the early church. This sounds plausible on first hearing, especially in some parts of the world where there are very few people who speak in tongues. Where I live, in the upper Midwest of the United States, very few people have heard of speaking in tongues and even fewer actually do it. No matter how true it sounds, there are many tens (likely hundreds) of millions of Pentecostals in the world who speak in tongues. This is a significant amount of observable evidence that cannot easily be dismissed. Further, the scripture that the assertion is based upon is easily shown to have been taken out of context.

The scripture that everyone quotes is 1 Corinthians 13:8. Now, as everyone also knows, this is the love chapter. Lots of reference to love here. And that's fine, love is an important topic. Yet, what all of these 'everyone' manage to miss is that the love chapter is part of the three chapters where Paul explains about the gifts of the Spirit. This means that the love chapter is not just about love, but about the importance of using the gifts of the Spirit in love, else they become meaningless. Love is the strongest force in the universe and is primary amongst all others. Hence, even though the gifts of the Spirit are awesome and powerful, they pale in comparison to the power of love.

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

1 Corinthians 13:8

I haven't run a cover song in a while, so let's dip into my collection and go with a classical version of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) originally written by the Eurythmics and here performed by Simply Three.

I've always loved Annie Lennox's singing voice, but in this version the violin does a wonderful job of capturing the vocal part.

A quick follow-up to last weeks post about my new job as a School Bus Driver.

I had my first solo route drive last Thursday. My morning route is known as the Blue Route and it is pretty much driving due North out of town, picking up students until I get to my furthest pickup and then heading directly South while picking up a few more and then delivering them to their appropriate schools.

I posted this picture on Facebook on Monday and I thought it might be time to update everyone on the life of a freshly licensed school bus driver.

For my non-U.S. readers, this is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, but the "big yellow" part will likely mean nothing to you. School buses are not unusual in other parts of the world, nor in Britain. The biggest difference is that U.S. school buses are bright yellow (well, technically they are Federal standard "National School Bus Glossy Yellow" and there is an interesting YouTube video here if you want more explanation.)

##Chapter 1

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

There seems to be near universal agreement that Acts was written by Luke and even that this is the same Luke who wrote the eponymous gospel. Seeing how easily biblical scholars can disagree on even the smallest details, we should enjoy and relish this small miracle.