Lynn's Musings

That's My Girl

2012-02-03T18:45:00.002-05:00

Engbers, Cross Nab Covenant Player Of The Week Honors

Posted January 31, 2012

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN -- Freshman Bryant Engbers and senior Margaret Cross were named Covenant Players of the Week for Jan. 23-28.

Bryant Engbers

It is Engbers’ first time being recognized with this honor. The freshman forward from Sioux Falls, SD had a career night against Piedmont. Engbers scored 24 first half points and 26 for the game in helping the Scots to a 91-78 win. Engbers’ previous career-high in points was 14. He then scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds in a 90-81 loss to Rust College. For the week, Engbers averaged 17.5 PPG and 6.0 RPG while shooting 56 percent (14-25) from the floor.

Margaret Cross

For Cross, it is her second time being named player of the week, but only her first in basketball. The senior from Southern Pines, NC was a two-sport star this season when she suited up for the Covenant women’s soccer team. Cross led Covenant in points with 15 in a 63-44 loss at home to Great South member Piedmont. She went 6-of-12 from the field and connected on three 3-pointers while picking up one steal and one rebound. For the season, Cross is the second leading scorer for the Lady Scots at 10.4 PPG while averaging nearly 30 minutes per game.

Refreshing Friday

2012-02-03T07:47:00.001-05:00

The Refreshing hug of a best friend.................................

Friday, I like Fridays. Most Fridays promise a much needed break from whatever routine you are in all week. Possibly bringing relaxation, exercise, and refreshment. Now, not all weekends are far from refreshing, but even if it is just as busy, the switch up of patterns can have a rejuvenating affect.
One of my New Year's Resolutions this year is to be even more saturated in God's Word than ever before. It seems that every morning has brought with it new challenges and temptations of time lost, new projects, and panics of things that "must" be done.

This is what I have been reading:
2 Corinthians 7:1

¹ Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

These promises, the promise that 6:1 makes; that He wants to work through us. "Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain." Also, 6:16 “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Paul here is saying that God has already been among us, walked, talked, lived, and breathed among us. He wants to continue with each one of His children. Because of these promises we are to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God. I cannot do that unless I live in His Word.

Which brings me back to Fridays....Just reading, meditating on what these words mean feels this morning like taking the kind of walk that spurs you on, that doesn't zap your energy, but refreshes it, like a Friday morning.

Thank you Father, for your Word that cleanses, promises much, clears my mind and lets me know how much you want and desire a relationship with your daughter.

2012-01-31T08:17:00.003-05:00

Had an absolute wonderful weekend. A visit with friends that have known and loved you long; is like being in the South on a cool evening, sitting on the porch sipping coffee, feeling the breeze wash over your face, being refreshed to live on another day. I love you S. and B.

2012-01-29T14:37:00.001-05:00

Have you ever had the experience of picking up a book that you thought was going to be captivating at the least, or just one great spiritual insight at the most? Before I read Resurrection, I had already read Tolstoy's War and Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Anna Karenina. I expected Resurrection to be the best one of all. I probably put this book down in anger three or four times, not intending to pick it back up again. Only to have to finish it, because I was again drawn to it, out of a sense of "duty" to complete a task or because I wanted to find out what happened.

I am a political hack, so, every time Tolstoy would seemingly favored socialism over capitalism, I would say to myself, "OK, that's it. I am not going to finish it." One of my literary heroes was slipping off his white horse.

Frustration reigned until the very end, I truly could not figure out exactly where Tolstoy was going, where his viewpoint would lie, and whether he would land on the true Gospel.

A Russian nobleman, around the turn of the twentieth century, finds his life in a shallow rut. Not knowing what to do about it, he apathetically succumbs to his surroundings. He is called to serve on a jury and his past meets his future. The trial he is assigned to is the trial of a girl who is accused of poisoning a man to death. As the girl comes into the courtroom, his world turns upside down. She is a girl that he forced himself on ten years before. She, since that time, has given into the vision that she thought he had of her and has become a prostitute. This begins his journey of redemption.

The book has as many twists and turns as a Jack Bauer episode of 24, yet not so much with plot turns, as with emotional, psychological, political, social, and spiritual twists. One minute I would think that Tolstoy's answer to life's evils was a political answer, then I thought he was advocating a new social order, etc...etc.....At one point I was so frustrated with the main character I wanted to scream. He was arrogant, self-absorbed, and self righteous. This is exactly what Tolstoy is brilliant at. He knew human beings and human nature. I also knew that in this novel Tolstoy was expressing his point of view. It was the last novel he ever wrote. It honestly did not come together for me until the very end.

I learned a great deal about the Russian experience of that time. It comes across abundantly clear why the Bolsheviks were able to take over at the time that they did. The nation was truly ripe for "change" and revolution. Something had to change, the system was broken.

I have given you my impressions without giving away the story, because reading it is a must, and I do not want give it away.

It is considerably shorter in length than some of his other novels, so if you haven't read Tolstoy yet, this one might be the one to read first. It would, I promise, be the #1 book of the year in a book club, because it would be the source of the absolute greatest discussions. Give it a go!

2012-01-27T05:54:00.001-05:00

Imagine, thirty years after the end of World War II, Israeli Nazi-hunters, some of whom lost relatives in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany, find a silent old man deep in the Amazon jungle. He is Adolph Hitler. The narrative that follows is a profound and disturbing exploration of the nature of guilt, vengeance, language, and the power of evil—each undiminished over time. George Steiner wrote The Portage to San Cristobal of A. H. in 1979, I came across it referred in the footnotes of another wonderful book by Os Guiness, The Call.

I am spending time this week with my daughters at our lake house and saw it on the shelf last evening as Rebekah was donning some of the clothes we picked out for her yesterday. It caught my eye and I picked it up and it immediately brought back memories of insights learned. I had dated when I read it, 2000. The same year we were all embroiled in the turmoil of the Bush/Gore election. This book opened my eyes to just what ideas can do, and the consequences thereof, and that worldview matters. If Hitler were captured, brought back to Europe, and put on trial today, what would be the outcome of that trial? I'll leave that with any of you that want to read the book, frightening.

Open your hearts.......

2012-01-17T09:56:00.000-05:00

Still on 2 Corinthians chapter 6....verse 1 says that we work together with Him. I am blown away by that phrase every time I read it, but moving along. Verse 11-13 says, "We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also." Rebellion actually restricts us, hampers us, and inhibits us. The world believes just the opposite. Tear off the shackles of Christianity and your emotions will be set free. The total opposite happens. You are no longer free to be who God made you, to express the true joy that comes from Him.
Selfishness has hit an all time high. It is fashionable to live only for yourself, to say no to those in need, to be only friends with those you have things in common with. Watching a new TV show yesterday called "The Revolution," I felt bathed in new and exciting ways to say no to others that needed me, but I just couldn't be bothered with, new ways to be focused solely on myself. To say the least it was a rather shallow program. I understand the balance. The balance isn't always balanced. There are mental difficulties here, but the world seems to have gone to the opposite extreme; do all for self and if it fits in with your schedule then let someone in that enhances your beauty, your talents, and makes you feel like a star!
Paul says be like a child. Open your hearts, don't be restricted by fashionable selfishness. It never brings true joy. Yesterday at school one of my students stayed behind in class to tell me that what I wrote on her essay made her day. She was smiling a true smile of joy. Is it hard to reach out to teenagers that are sarcastic, crazy, loving, growing, overly sensitive, despise what they look like, think they hung the moon, love and live for comfort? Yes, it is like reaching out to anyone else. The descriptions of teens fit your co-workers, your relatives, and your church members. They just have grown up in a way that they know how to hide it.

Like many believers we are following Tim Tebow's career, because he is an outspoken believer in a world that pursues performance based perfection. Every game on the road or away he reaches out to handicapped children, brings them to the games, sits with them, ministers to them. He could easily concentrate on himself, being restricted by his selfish desires of fame, fortune, and success, but he takes the time to reach out to the ones that no one else wants to. The next time you see a segment on the TV about Tim taking his time to love these kids look at his face, his countenance, and see what you see.

The Spectre of Protection

2012-01-12T08:18:00.011-05:00

When God shows me a whole big, huge vision of a chunk of my heart that is not even trying to trust Him, it hurts, is confusing, stinks, is depressing, and not as unusual as I would like to believe. Last night talking to my husband about an upcoming event, I had a gestalt moment. Have you ever had those times when a split second revelation about the motives behind your anger, your sadness, your grief, or confusion comes skimming across your heart not with just a tiny pebble of reality, but a boulder? That's what happened to me. I was irritable and cranky about something very small that Ken and I were planning, then it hit me why I was being unreasonable; the past....the past came back with a vengance, the hurt, the pain and now the fears. Hurt from your past can be like a lead ball tied to your ankle, and I felt as if I was being thrown into the Chicago river. God shows us these sections of our hearts for a reason, but at the moment of realization all I felt was anger, confusion, and "I am not going to EVER get hurt again." Protectionism comes screaming at me like a spectre enveloping me into it's clutches, then the battle ensues. I don't want to be in the specter's enchanting vice grip, but I don't want to trust my heavenly Father either. Yes, I did say that. I don't want to trust. I want to hide. I must go to the sanctuary of God..

Psalm 73:15-28

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶ But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹ When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
²² I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷ For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Teaching............

2012-01-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday began the school's winter spiritual retreat. It is student led, and student organized. Love it! The students have to rise to the occasion; learning about the Lord of course, themselves, their strengths, their weaknesses. When they are left to sink or swim, they learn valuable lessons that last a lifetime.

When Bek and I arrived at the campground, I know she was nervous. I was a little bit nervous for her, and myself. I even called one of my students not by his correct name! How embarrassing. Now I know how the "newbies" feel. Great teacher I am. This is Bek's first experience with the school and I am praying that it will be super! She has been attending another Christian school, but since I was hired here at LPA her father and I were just waiting for the right time to make the transition. It seemed like the perfect time for everyone, but..... Bekah. She will be in my 10th grade English class. I am ecstatic about the opportunity to teach her. I just get teary eyed about the chance to have even a greater influence on my daughter. Words do not express.....I love that class too; they say what is on their minds, are opinionated, care about each other, love to debate (especially Theology), are excited about life, and learning. What more could I ask for? Oh, yea maybe a little order in a midst the chaos?...........

One of the reasons that I wanted to continue my blog once again is that I am dying to share the love I have for my students and the learning process. I know Ken, my husband, gets tired of hearing about them. I come home everyday with the joys of the day. The joys of interaction with the greatest kids on earth. Let me tell you a little about some of them. E. is a precious girl that stole my heart the very first time I assigned a creative essay. She wrote about being adopted from a far away land, the experiences she remembers of the orphanage, her former family, her new family, and how she so wants to tell the other children there about how Jesus has touched her heart. Then there are the "boys" that fight everyday to see who will carry my rolling cart to the next building. One student has already written two novels! Then there are the guys that want to sit around and debate theology! I catch them in the hallways talking about it on their own. One of the teachers during study hall has a "mini" theology lesson and debate with the seventh graders! They pontificate in class what they are learning, along with South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and Roll Tide football. Then there are those that don't say a word. Everyday I pray that I would somehow touch their hearts to see how valuable they are to Him and to me. I have students that blow me away on a regular basis.

This model of schooling also has its headaches, not to mention the headache I am in learning the system. The benefits outweigh the liabilities big time. I am still getting used to the software system, the greater accountability parental wise, the larger volume of parental interaction, and just the "rules" that come with being at a different school. I have messed up more than I can tell you. Forgotten to post assignments, forgotten to take down assignments, too hard, too easy, not enough homework, too much homework ....."Lynn....you are not doing it right!"

But......God's grace always is right there pleading for me to trust, to pray, to persevere.

Preparation

2012-01-10T07:44:00.005-05:00

So much to do.....

The classical school that I now teach in is a University Model. We teach three days a week, all the classes are honors or above, and it is parent involved. I love it! Mr. L. (the headmaster) did a great job yesterday getting me psyched up for another semester of learning. I still have four more week days in which to prepare. One of the beautiful things, teacher wise, about the school is that we have breaks long enough to prepare sufficiently, spend time with our number one disciples (our children) and to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually step back and evaluate, stimulate, and be still!

I have been emailing parents and students most of the morning about upcoming assignments, summaries of novels, due dates etc....and have already messed up on one due date, and can't blame renweb, the school software, but the unconnected web of my brain. Sometimes I really worry about myself. I thank God for grace.

In my personal life and my teaching life, I want to emphasize God's Word much more than I have in the past. I am praying for renewal in my heart, in my families' hearts, and in my students hearts. My passion in teaching is always to saturate whatever subject in a Biblical worldview. This year I want to even more open the eyes of my students to the powerful, pure, and beautiful word of God.

I have been studying II Corinthians for about six months or more, and have been meditating on the sixth chapter. It starts out in an incredible way; "Working together with Him...." What a statement Paul makes. This journey we are on is a joint endeavor. He says more about sanctification in four words than I have heard in some sermons. The next statement is just as powerful; "not to receive the grace of God in vain." That presupposes that we can. Case in point....God gives us grace for salvation right? No argument there. What about the grace to handle situations that cause us grief today? Just had a parent call and complain about an assignment. I am literally distraught. What do I do? I have a choice; wallow in self pity, self annihilation; and self doubt or call on the grace that God has supplied this day. I can't handle this by myself. I need a Savior to lead me back to Him, to show me that I am loved, and that together with Him He will use me in spite of my weaknesses. Thank you God. My blood pressure is now coming down.

More preparation on the way.................

Foundations for Soul Care

2012-01-09T07:50:00.008-05:00

I am reading such a good book. It is called Foundations for Soul Care by Eric L. Johnson. Two of my girls are majoring in Psychology, so I wanted to "read" up on what the Christian community was saying. I hit the jackpot in that respect. He first gives the history of soul care and delves into the many directions that it has taken in the past century. Wonderful reading. I have only finished 100 pages of the 600 page book, but his emphasis on the Word is key. So far, he has given me resources for my teaching, fodder for thought, and conviction of soul. It was not the book that I thought it would be, but it is much more. Obviously, you can get it at Amazon, but I ordered it from Westminster Bookstore; http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4207776029639604608

The Word is Key to all we do, all are hearts need, all we will ever need in order to fight the battles that we face. In 2012 my goal in teaching, in living, and by example is to make the Word more of the centrality to all my thoughts, meditations, and hopefully my actions.

Trying again......

2012-01-08T09:45:00.004-05:00

My friend B. wrote a super blog about friendship http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=4207776029639604608. It brought back so many wonderful memories of all of us, and the new ones as well. It also reminded me of the hours of fun, catharsis, and heart surgeries that I have experienced while blogging. In the last two years you could count on my fingers how many blog posts I have written, so my expectations are low, and just maybe that is the time to start again. It is a new year after all; God has healed my heart of much, given me new direction, and really a new life. Don't get me wrong, I will never fully leave behind the memories, the people, and the gifts that were given to me in the past, but there comes a time when one has to go on and see what else God has for them.

I am feeling content. Content to leave it all up to Him. He took the ashes and made them beautiful. I spent a whole lot of time living in the past and not trusting Him for the present or the future, and He was there all along..working His plans. What a God we serve!

I think I will go in a different direction this time. For the three years that I kept up this blog I pontificated my wisdom to the world. My wisdom, if I have any at all, is borne from the ashes that God sovereignly placed in my life along with the people, and the circumstances. I will concentrate on those and see what He does along the way.

Hey B... would you mind designing a new header for me? You are the best.

The Fear of the Lord

2011-08-01T06:12:00.007-04:00

^{II Corinthians 5:11

11} Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord.....,

Meditations:

Knowing the fear of the Lord....Do I know and experience the fear of the Lord? And what does that look like? I often fear man-"what do they think about me?" But do I really fear God? I don't fear condemnation, and that's what I am hard-wired to do. When we fear people, when we get concerned about what they think about us, whether they accept me or not, whether they "like" me, I then fear rejection. I don't have to fear God that way. Do I want to please Him so very much that I fear that I am not? Do I have a healthy "knowing" that He is the God and maker of the universe and that knowledge then changes my thoughts and actions? Do I place Him in a different category enough that I show awe, reverence and devotion for Him? Or do I just act like God is my "cosmic" buddy ready to help me out in times of need?

God is God! He is someone that I can't see yet evidence for Him is all around me and inside of me too. I can't hear Him but His Word speaks to me everyday.

Things I really fear; my children's opinion (wanting to see them happy not necessarily holy), my husband's opinion of me, being the kind of friend that leads to acceptance and not rejection. When all I think of is making people happy (so they will like me, give me attention, think good of me), then I'm only thinking of myself. I should be thinking about what is best for them not only for me. I am to do all for God's glory.

Help me this day to see and hear You for who You are, to truly bow my heart to You-because You alone are God.

"Not just once, but everyday we must renounce our trust in other would be lords, saviors, providers, and promise makers. We must let go of our anxious grip on or own lives, our sense of being in control, our own integrity and confidence in our religious experience. We must renounce the contracts we have entered that promised to make our life meaningful and say 'Amen!' to the will as it is read to us." p. 109

Michael Horton in The Gospel Driven Life

Endings and Beginnings.............

2011-07-25T13:51:00.006-04:00

Life certainly is about beginnings and endings. At times you can feel you are caught in the middle, but right now my life is just that: beginnings and endings. My only son got married Saturday to a wonderful godly woman. I could not be more thrilled with what God has brought together. Callie is perfect for Oliver in many ways. They are opposites in some areas, and are alike in others. I love Callie like she was one of my own. Thank you to her parents for bringing her up in a home that loved Jesus first of all.

On their wedding day, ending was the relationship that I had grown very fond of, kind of like sitting in my favorite chair where the pillows and fluff are molded to my body. Then somebody decides that you needed a made over chair. They threw out the pillows and the cushions, put new fabric on it, and even moved it to a different spot in the room. It is still the same chair, I just have to get used to the new rough edges, and the new pillows that have not been smushed to the contours of me. In fact, the chair will never be the same. The new chair will eventually feel soft again, but it will never be the same. To some, the old chair will become a faint and distant memory, except to the original owner.

My dear son has started on the same journey that I did almost 30 years ago. I barely remember what it was like to be that person, that sister, that daughter. My mother remembers, though. She remembers when I ran away to the neighbors house, she remembers when I played in the mud in the back yard right before church, she remembers old boyfriends, old playmates, old memories that have virtually been wiped away from my heart. They are written on her heart though. They will never go away, they will never be obliterated, or snuffed out. When she lays dying she will, if she can, still remind me of the time when.......

The endings and the beginnings are happening virtually at the same time.

With God they are always simultaneous. When we begin our walk with Him we are beginning, but is He? He thought of us before the foundation of the world. He held me and my son in His hands. We begin, but He was. When I lay dying, I will be ending, and beginning. I will also remember the pitter-pat of little feet on the stairs and the precious laughter of long ago. Beginnings and Endings......

I am just a "cracked" pot

2011-07-22T06:35:00.008-04:00

II Corinthians 4:7

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

I am the "cracked" pot-Christ is the power of God in me, that's the treasure.

The power is God's not ours. The power is God's not ours! We are (I am) just a cracked pot a jar of clay, molded and made to hold treasure, the promised Holy Spirit-the power of God.

How does a cracked pot shine? Through the cracks! By afflictions, perplexities, persecutions, brokenness that is how we shine. The world is driven to despair-there is nothing to hope for or to live for-but we who have tresure in jars of clay, die in order to live. We die through afflictions, perplexities, persecutions in order for Christ's life to triumph through us-we have the same trials as everyone else, but as we by faith triumph through them, we also die more to ourselves and live more unto God.

"Brokenness is not weakness, nor does it doom me to a life of uselessness. I am a cracked pot. My head knows that each broken place allows more of Christ’s light to shine into the world if I allow Him to be Lord of the cracks. If I stop trying to conceal them, patch them, cover them over, they can bring glory to God. my heart just struggles with the willingness to surrender."

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Shorter Catechism

Wishing

2011-07-15T09:12:00.006-04:00

I have been reading and meditating on II Corinthians for several months now. Having only made it to the sixth chapter I keep reading those first few chapters over and over again. It is chocked full of verses that encourage us not to lose heart, have courage, and to walk by faith.

Wishing

Wishing I were smarter, more organized, less talk, faster to listen,

could pour out my energy into one thing and have that one thing be beautiful,

much more compassionate, did I mention smarter,

not prone to wander,

where was I.......

Wishing all about me was all about You,

Your grace, Your Son.

All that I want to do should revolve around You-

where You want to go, who You want to befriend,

who You want to talk to, listen to, love-

more often than not it's all about where I want to go,

who I want to befriend, what I want to say,

and who I want to listen to,

You say.....

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the Sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,

and all these things will be given unto you.

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves

to claim anything as coming from us,

but our sufficiency is from God."

II Corinthians 3:4-5

Poor in spirit, mourning over my sin, desperately hungry and thirsty,

merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted-

These are the ways You want for me.

Knowing that even when I manifest your ways,

they are still Yours.

So very different from what the world says to be-

completely opposite in fact.

Without trials, without sufferings, without times where all is withheld-

do we ever even catch a glimpse of these attributes?

Having trials, sufferings, withholdings, wilderness times we are called to die-

"Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone;

but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it,

and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

John 12:24-25

Wishing................all about You

Words Have Meaning

2011-07-07T10:28:00.002-04:00

Viewpoint by T. M. Moore

“Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.”
Psalm 146:1,2

God, we know, loves poetry. That’s one reason He included so much of it in the Bible, which He has given to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

God knows that poetry has power to communicate truth in ways that narrative simply cannot achieve.Sometimes, even, God’s poetry imparts meaning quite apart from the words He gave the writers of Scripture. We see this in Hebrew poetry, in the use of parallelism to emphasize and underscore the verbal message.

Several different kinds of parallelism come into play in Hebrew poetry. Our text is an example of what’s called a “stairstep” parallelism. In this form, the writer makes a declaration, then enlarges it, then enlarges and elaborates it yet more. Note how the psalm grows from “praise” to “praise, O my soul” to “praise as long as I live...while I have my being.” It’s like ascending a staircase, going higher, reaching further, and extending and enlarging the original thought. Readers would understand that the effect of this poetic device is to make more emphatic the point of the thought – Praise the Lord!

Good poetry can do this as well. In John Milton’s wonderful Christmas poem, “Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” he uses structural devices as a kind of “picture frame” for his poem, or, if you will, like the walking bass undertone of a baroque concerto. The poem is divided into two parts, a prelude of four stanzas, in which Milton declares his intention of offering a gift of verse to Christ on the day of His nativity, and the song itself, which runs for twenty-seven stanzas. Milton arranges the lines and stanzas in a way that invites us to think in terms of Biblical numerology, to heighten his song of celebration for Christ’s coming to earth. For example, the prelude, in four stanzas, provides a structural summary of Milton’s message: God has come to earth for its redemption. The four stanzas follow the Biblical form for the number of earth – four: four winds, four directions, etc. Here is the first stanza:

This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the son of heaven’s eternal king,
Of wedded maid, and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his father work us a perpetual peace.

Look at the use of number: Lines 1-6 contain five beats, the normal line structure for 17^th century verse (called iambic pentameter). Notice also that the stanza consists of seven lines, a Biblical number for perfection, because it combines the number for God, three, and for creation, four. But the last line ends in what is called an Alexandrine foot – an additional, sixth, beat. Six is the number of man (think: 666). There are also three different rhyming sounds ending the seven lines. Everything in this structure is thus arranged to say that on Christmas God came to earth for the blessing of men.

In the song itself, Milton dramatically changes the stanza structure, and in a way that is unlike anything he’d ever done or had been seen in English poetry to his day. The structure is new and it jolts us – rather like the coming of Christ and His Kingdom. Here is the first stanza of the song:

It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born child
All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies;
Nature in awe to him
Had doffed here gaudy trim,
With her great master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the sun her lusty paramour.

Lines 1 and 2, and 4 and 5 have three beats – most unusual – while lines 4 and 6 have five – again, normalcy, what we’re used to day by day. The last two lines – of four and six beats – combine for the number ten, another number of perfection, while four different rhyme sounds remind us of God’s purpose to bless the earth. The repeated lines of three, each ending in a line of five, seem to picture the Deity descending into our everyday circumstances, while the last two lines suggest the result – something new and perfect.

It takes a bit of “second sight” on the part of readers to spy out the ways poetic structure can reinforce the message of a good poem. And while not all poets are as careful and astute as Milton, where they use the structure to impart meaning without words, their verses, and our enjoyment of them, are greatly enhanced.

Download the series, "Poetry and Second Sight." Click here: Poetry and Second Sight.

Donation for Nik and Lindsay

2011-04-19T14:08:00.002-04:00

Dear Friends,

Nik and Lindsay need your help. If at all possible please consider donating to this precious couple. Thank you. Lynn

Hi there,

I received your contact information from Nik Franks - I asked him to email me some folks we could pass along their fundraising webpage link to. We have setup a fundraising website to help raise money for the Franks unexpected medical and living expenses during this time. I was wondering if you would help us get the word out about their fundraising site by passing along this link to those in your circle of contacts that know Nik and Lindsay? Will you let me know if you can email some people and give them this link?

Here is the website: http://www.giveforward.com/teampierce

You'll notice on the website we have provided a way for folks to donate through RTS if they want a tax-deductible receipt instead of on this site. Also, a link to both their blog and their online meal calendar can be found there as well - however people can help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for helping us minister to the Franks family by passing along this link - we are very grateful for your help to spread the word!
--
Nicole Shropshire Chitty
678-977-3500

Tim Keller on Fear

2011-04-19T08:59:00.000-04:00

Great Sermon. Where I have lived for 3 years!

http://download.redeemer.com/rpcsermons/tragedy/Praying_Our_Fears.mp3

Devotion written by Nik Baby Pierce's Daddy

2011-04-19T07:19:00.000-04:00

Lindsay and I had a chance to come home for a little bit. We will be able to stay at the hospital again tonight. I just got off the phone with Pierce's nurse and he is doing well (again, relatively speaking of course). They should have the results of the brain scan tonight. We trust that the report will be good. The next hurdle will be trying to close the PDA vein in his chest. Hopefully, within the next day or two the creatan levels in his kidneys will be low enough that they can administer the drug that will close that vein. Pray that that will be the case and that the medicine will effectively close the valve and surgery will not be needed. Pray that the PDA closes with one dosage of the medicine.

His nurse just flipped him around in his bed again and they was amazed at how well he did. Pat, his nurse today, told me that most of the time when they flip babies they have to adjust their oxygen settings, but Pierce was fine. I am telling you, your prayers are being received answered by the Father; keep lifting them up.

Since we came home, I decided to read Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on 2 Samuel 12:15-25. The passage itself reads:

And the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, "Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm." But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

Before I comment on the passage itself, for my Hebrew Exegesis class this semester I have a major paper due and about a month ago I chose this very passage to base it on. Is that not crazy? I chose this passage because I love King David. David and Peter are in a close tie for my two favorite historical figures(btw, Pierce is the Anglo version of Peter, which meansrock). David is the epitome of a man; he is a ferocious warrior, a passionate lover, and a man after God's own heart. He has fallen as a believer into heinous sin and has despised and rejected the God he loves (2 Samuel 12:9). Nevertheless, God's grace never leaves him. And the passage of 2 Sam 12:15-25 proves that. Davis says that David is "in the grip of grace" in this passage. You can even take a look at a psalm such as Psalm 3 and see this (mentioned in an earlier blog post). This psalm is written sometime after David's fall into sin with Bathsheeba. It is a psalm of complete confidence in the Lord. Thousands of his own son's soldiers were pursuing David to kill him. But David had full, complete trust in the Lord, even though he had failed as a king, even though he failed as a believer (Listen Tim Keller's incredible exposition on this passage here). There is no way David could have trusted in God based on his performance. No, he trusted in God because of who God is. And that is what 2 Sam 2:12-25 is all about.

In 2 Sam 2:13-14, though David repents of his sin, the prophet Nathan pronounces God's judgment to David for the sin; David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die." There is no condemnation for David (Romans 8:1), but nevertheless the child that Bathsheba bore out of this adulterous relationship will die. Judgment has been pronounced. Does David just accept it and go on his way? No. David locked himself in his house and fasted and pleaded with the Lord to spare the child's life. The elders of his house did not understand what David was doing and tried to get him to get up off the ground and eat (v.17). Judgment had been proclaimed, why bother? When the child died after 7 days, the servants were scared to tell David the news for fear that he might kill himself (v.18). But when David figured out that the child died, he got up, cleaned himself off, put on some nice clothes, a little bit of cologne, and then went to the house of the Lord to worship (v.20). Afterwords, he went back home and asked his chefs to make him some food (v.20). The servants couldn't figure it out (v.21). David was just so distraught over the child that they thought he was having an emotional breakdown and was going to kill himself, now he is grubbing. But what does David say to them; He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (vv.22-23).

Though judgment had been proclaimed, David knew his God intimately. David knew that grace isn't something that God just does, grace is a major part of God's character. And that is why Davis can say that David is caught "in the grip of grace."

This judgment by God on David was actually an act of love. God gave David enough grace to know Him intimately. And this is worked out here in David's response. David does not dishonor God by trying to put Him in a box. He knows that God is a God who has "crowned him with steadfast love and mercy" (Psalm 103:4). David knows that God has the power and authority to relent his judgment and save the child. It would be incredibly miraculous for God to do this after He has proclaimed the judgment through Nathan, but David knew God could do it. God is the ultimate judge and final authority. "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Romans 8:33). David loves and respects Nathan, but Nathan isn't the ultimate judge. David knew that as long as that child was still alive, God could heal him and reverse his judgment. In short, David is asking from God something that seems totally impossible. And in this, God is honored and David is blessed. God is honored because David is saying in the pits of his heart, "I know you are the sovereign Lord and you can do anything, please be gracious and reverse this judgment." David is blessed because he is exercising a level of faith that is scarcely attained (David also is blessed with another child, Solomon, in vv.24-25 who goes on to be one of the greatest men to ever lived).

What I am NOT saying here: The reasons why Lindsay and I are in this situation are unknown. Only a fool would speculate to understand why God allowed for Pierce to come early. I cannot say that some guilt incurred by personal sin is the reason why Pierce came early. It could be, but I do not know? Certainly, sin is the ultimate cause. Sin has tainted every aspect of creation, especially child birth (Gen 3:16). Sin is the reason we get sick and die. It has been conquered through Christ, but sin is still ravaging this world until God makes it new (2 Pet 3:13). Sin is the cause for all of our pain and suffering at some level. I am also not saying that sin is o.k. If you sin, you will die (Romans 8:13). We should never presume on God's grace. Actually, as God's love grows in your heart you will hate sin more and more and begin to do everything to avoid it. There is grace for any sin, any sin. David proves that. But it is extremely dangerous to play a sin game of Russian roulet with God.

What I am saying here: Lindsay and myself do not deserve to have God's grace. Grace by definition is a "gift." But we know that God is gracious and He loves to shower His grace on us. Furthermore, we know God can make Pierce the "miracle baby of all miracle babies." We believe that with all our heart because God has given us the grace to have that kind of faith. Like David, we are not going to God flaunting how good we have been or how spiritual we are. No, we go to God first of all because of Jesus Christ. We can go boldly to the throne of grace because of Jesus. We are wretched sinners! If I did not believe that Jesus has covered us with His blood I would have no hope for myself, Lindsay, or Pierce. Second, we know God has the power to heal Pierce. That is why we are not just praying for him to just survive, we are praying for a full restoration, no complications or anything. We pray that Pierce will continue to baffle the medical staff, you who are following the blog, and us because of what God in Christ is doing through him. And it is not because we deserve it. Like David, we are just pleading to the One that has the power over sin and death. We are pleading to the only one that can cast our sin as far as the east is from the west, look down upon us and say "I love you more than your little mind can fathom. You don't deserve for Me to heal Pierce, you really don't deserve anything from me. But I gave my Son up so that I could love you intensely forever. And I am going to display My love to you by sustaining you through this trial, building your character, your endurance, your hope, and by miraculously healing your son. I can do this, I alone. I am the Great "I am" and there is no other god besides me. I love you, I love you, I love you. I gave my Son for you, how will I not graciously give you all things." That is where we are at, that is where David was at in 2 Sam 12, that is where all believers in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is at, whether they recognize it or not. It is where the entire world is at with common grace. Those who ate God would not enjoy the things in their short life if Jesus had not come.

Continue to pray for Pierce in this time. Jesus loves him more than any of us do.
We will be heading back to the hospital shortly. We will give you an update on his brain scan.

Grace and peace,

Nik, Lindsay, and Pierce

Update on Pierce, Please Continue to Pray

2011-04-18T08:31:00.004-04:00

Please continue to pray for this precious little baby and Nik and Lindsay his parents. Their blog is Amazing. Please read it, it will increase your faith. http://littlebabypierce.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-think-we-have-miracle-baby-on-our.html

"I think we have a miracle baby on our hands"

Jennifer, who is amazing and yet another nurse that has signed on to be Pierce's permanent caretaker, just told me that the nurse practitioner, Pat (who is also amazing), said "I think we have miracle baby on our hands." Pierce's potassium level is down to 6. Yesterday at 6:30 a.m. it was 10. That was when the doctor called us in because they didn't think he was going to make it. In fact, they had never even seen a preemie with that much potassium in their blood before, let alone one whose heart had pumped with lethal levels of it for 48+ hours. They told us that Pierce's condition of not being able to regulate his cells was irreversible. Still alive around in the early afternoon, we were told "if he makes it, he will be the miracle baby of all miracle babies."

Well, he is healing and is making glorious progress. He seems to be regulating and reversing his potassium on his own as they have not been able to do any treatments for it because his blood-sugar was so low. I have sensed God saying to the medical staff, "You don't determine when hearts stop, I do." It doesn't matter how much potassium is in a person's heart, if God doesn't allow or call for the heart to stop, the heart won't stop. Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father" (Matthew 10:29). A bird doesn't die unless God allows for it to die. This is the kind of God we are seeing at work here in Pierce's life. He is in absolute control of everything. Yesterday, when they told us that it is hard for 23-week-olds to mature on the cellular level and that for Pierce, everything was breaking down on the cellular level, I remembered that "in Him (Jesus) all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17) and that "He upholds the universe by the word of his power." (Hebrew 1:3). Jesus is in control of and sustaining every aspect of creation, even the tiniest quarks. Christ has sustained Pierce on the cellular level and has defied medical diagnosis. Praise God! Everyone praise God! He is the only one that could do this.

Please continue to pray, there is a long road ahead. We are still in a crucial period. Today at 7:42 p.m., lord willing we will make it to the 5-day mark with Pierce. And then on Tuesday, lord willing we will make it to the 7-day mark, which will be an incredible milestone.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Love,

Nik, Lindsay, and Pierce

Baby Pierce

2011-04-15T08:19:00.005-04:00

Please be in prayer for a young couple in our church who delivered their baby at 23 weeks. Little Pierce weighed in at 1 pound 8 ounces! He is the tiniest thing I have ever seen. He reflects the beauty and creativity of our great God, perfectly formed and lovely in His sight. He is stable, but the doctors have warned them there is only about a 35-40% survival rate with infants his size. It has been a roller coaster for Nik and Lindsay since she went into unexpected labor tuesday, and Pierce was born.

In the hospital on the walls of the NICU unit are pictures of a lot of the most pre-mature babies that have survived. Ken and I have been praying that little Pierce would be on that wall someday as a testimony of the grace of God. Pierce will be the youngest to have survived from this unit. Please pray. Nik and Lindsay are incredibly strong in their faith and are holding on to the only one who has life and death in His hands. If Pierce survives he will be in the hospital at least until August. The whole experience is daunting to say the least.

They are keeping a blog of posts to keep everyone informed and praying. Please go to

http://littlebabypierce.blogspot.com/ to see pictures of this precious little guy, and to read the faith that is pouring through Nik and Lindsay.

Mourning

2011-04-03T10:41:00.007-04:00

For three years I've cut music off from my life-it was just too painful to go there. We all know that music moves our emotions like no other medium. This morning, I am home from church because of illness. I turned on my i-tunes, cause I thought I would give it a try. I haven't listened to i-tunes for 3 years! I was doing my Algebra, which is a new love in my life, and urned on the musical Wicked. Oh I have purposfully not listened to it I couldn't listen to it without grieving all the wonderful people I was forced to leave behind. all the people that changed my life for good.

Six of us good friends flew to New York to go to the broadway play Wicked, oh how I am moruning them. I love them all still. I think about them, I pray for them and the one that is no longer with us I miss with an intense loss.

As the song says, "I have been changed for the better, " I have been changed by these 5 women, and oh how I miss them. I long for the day when we will be in Heaven with no barriers. Maybe this is the beginning of my healing-grieving the fact that it will never be the same, ever. In the between time though, God has worked His good in all our lives.

I love you guys-Thank you for being apart of my life-even if it was for a short time

In the Between Time

In the between time, somewhere between worrying and trusting, give me the grace to carry on toward faith.

In the between time, when my mind likes to awaken my heart to anxieties, dangers and fears, give me the grace to move even a little at a time, towards trust.

In the between time, when people, circumstances, and situations are not solved, not ended, or not re-solved, give me the grace to wait for Your solutions of peace, not my "get it over with so I don't have to deal with it mindset."

In the between time when loneliness strangles my soul, when I look up to Heaven and all I see or here is "silence," when I turn to the left or the right and see no one, give me the grace to make the choice of trusting in the unseen.

In the between time when Your saints are holding on to You before the trumpet sounds, give us the grace to know You are here, You are for us and You will call us Home.....

after the between time.

fear and today

2011-03-28T11:37:00.004-04:00

I was reading about Paul's weaknesses in 2 Cor. 12 this morning as I was contemplating my own. The more I contemplated them the more I was getting paralyzed just looking at them. Weaknesses in my kids somehow reflect back to me, weaknesses in my marriage, weaknesses of the flesh, of communication, of it all! If Paul could boast in his weaknesses would they be like mine? Maybe the only difference is that he kept on going, counting on Christ's Spirit to cover him.
This past year has been one of paralyzed fear. Of seeing my weaknesses and not wanting to go on. I will never be strong in myself. I am grieving that aspect of life. On the other side though is freedom, freedom to serve Him in humility. Even writing that seems like a pipe dream as my pride jumps up square in my face.
As I was reading about Paul's weaknesses in 2 Cor. 12, it seems as though there are some days when all I see are my weaknesses and they tend to paralyze me, today is one of those days. I will always be weak, and if I wait till I am strong I will never serve anyone. I am to serve in spite, and allow Christ to work in me. Today I need to by faith to appropriate that. Some days it is harder than others.

“It is rare that Christians earnestly seek the Lord’s face when things are going swimmingly, when material blessings abound and we seem to be protected from the vicissitudes faced by others. But in the blackness of discouragement, when we are harassed and downcast, we may indeed turn to the Lord and acknowledge our helplessness apart from his grace; we may do so knowing that God is a compassionate God and that Jesus’ compassion was particularly directed toward the harassed and the helpless.”
D A Carson

The Cross

2011-03-11T08:48:00.000-05:00

God's ways are so much more different than our ways. The Cross is a perfect example of that. In Matthew 16:16-18, Peter confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Christ, that is, the savior of the Jews, the one who would eradicate all evil from the world. And because of Peter's profession, Jesus tells Peter that he and the apostles will be "the rock" that He will build his entire church upon. The funny thing is, that about four verses later, in the same chapter, Jesus calls Peter "Satan" (16:23). Why does he do this? Because after Jesus affirms Peter's place in the church and tells him that nothing can stop the church's success (16:18), He also begins to tell His disciples that He is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Peter was going to have no part of that.

Peter was thinking, "Sweet! Jesus is going to conquer Rome and the world and I am going to be his Vice-Regent." Jesus was going to conquer the world but not with a sword and fire, as Peter had thought. Hence, when Jesus told him that He was going to Jerusalem to die Peter couldn't understand it and wasn't about to let that happen.

Peter couldn't see how Jesus' going to die on the Cross would actually be the greatest event in human history, that is, apart from the Second Coming. And in many ways, if we are honest with ourselves, we forget that too. We think that life should be victorious, that we should have "our best life now." The reality of it is though, is that we do have "our best life now" and the reason why we don't see it that way much of the time is because we are letting our deceitful hearts and the world tell us what "our best life now" should be. We get envious because of this or that person's life, family, job, body, health, church, or whatever (you can pretty much put anything on the list). Like Peter, we assess victory through worldly measures.

A lot of this worldliness comes because we have made the Cross some common ornament on the Christmas tree of Christianity instead of the golden star that sits on top. Through the Cross of Christ, believers have been "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). Paul says, "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's (1Corinthians 3:21-23). If you and I have true faith in Jesus' work on the Cross, we, right now, at this very second, are the most blessed creatures in the universe. Of course, it doesn't always seem that way. This life is hard, no doubt about it. But one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. And we can always possess joy, no matter what our circumstances. And the only way we can do that is knowing that through Christ's completed work on the Cross, the sadness of this life will turn into inexpressible joy in the life to come. It's the hope assured that is found in Christ's work on the Cross that pulls us through.

Embrace the Crucifixion. Hebrews 12:1-2, tells us to look to Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." What was the joy that was set before Him? It was that He would spend eternity with you. You are Christ's joy. When He returns, He will pour praise and glory upon you (1 Peter 1:7). All because of the Cross! Don't negate or despise the Cross like Peter did in Matthew 16. Live at the foot of the Cross every day, every hour. Revel in the Cross, celebrate the Cross. Don't mourn for the Cross, or get sad about the Cross. Don't tell God that you wish there was another way, like Peter did. The Cross was the Missio Dei, the mission of God. It is the victory of God in Christ. It is the only thing that can provide any true hope and joy for mankind. Embrace the Cross!

written by Nik

Living for Self

2011-03-05T09:19:00.001-05:00

St. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, "For the love of Christ controls us (or compels us in some translations), because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

There are a lot of things in our life that can and usually do control us besides Christ's love; personal comfort or security, family, relationships, money, career, pleasure, past hurts and disappointments, anxieties, etc. And when any one of these things apart from Christ is the primary force that is driving us, we slowly begin to grow colder and colder toward others around us and toward God Himself. The reason is because we are living for ourselves. And many people in this world will go through their entire life doing everything they can to worship the idol of self. And no matter what goals or accomplishments they attain, at the end of their life they are empty inside.

Life was meant to be lived for others. We are part of a bigger story that Christ is writing and he wants to us to be a part of it, but he can't if the only story that we think is important is our own personal story. The reason why Christians begin to get controlled by things other than Christ is because they have for gotten the deep, deep love that God in Christ has for them. You and I who believe in our hearts that Jesus was raised from the dead by God the Father so that we could be made righteous, are so loved that it is unfathomable. God loves you. It doesn't matter how well you are performing, if you messed up this week and snapped at a friend or relative, if you forgot to read your Bible, or you missed a church service; God loves you. That can never change (Romans 8:1; John 6:37). And many times when we are living for ourselves and not for God or others, it is because we have forgotten the sweet, unmerited, fully satisfying Gospel of God.

I am convinced that what changes people into mature Christians is that they grow more and more into a deeper understanding of the Gospel. For in doing so, you realize how selfish and ugly you really are, but yet how much Christ still loves you despite your filthiness. Jesus in John 7:47 says, "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." This is the story of the woman that came to Jesus, poured expensive perfume on him and then proceeded to kiss His feet, wipe them with her hair while using her tears as a cleaning solution. The reality is, we have all been forgiven much. It is just that at times in life we can take our minds and hearts off of the Cross, off of what God has done for us, off of His love for us. If love for others and for God has grown cold in your heart, when was the last time you meditated on the Cross? When was the last time you meditated on all the things that God has given you in your life? Of which the most important is eternal life. Following more rules, trying harder, or pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will never cause you to love people or God more. But knowing that you are unfathomably loved by God solely through the work of Jesus Christ and nothing in and of yourself, that will change you.

Devotion written by our RTS intern and friend, Nik Franks

Young Adult Fiction

2011-02-21T11:07:00.002-05:00

Can't wait to start reading these! I have already read the Hunger Games Trilogy.

The Best Books Are Young Adult Books
Ten Favorite Teen Novels from 2010
By: Sherry Early|Published: February 20, 2011 10:03 PM
Topics: Books, Religion & Society, Worldview, Youth Issues

PRINT
EMAIL FAVORITES TWITTER FACEBOOK

I’m fifty-three years old, and some of the best books I read in 2010 were young adult (YA) novels. These novels, marketed to young people ages 13-21, are the work of some of the best writers working today.
Unfortunately, because publishers see the market for YA literature growing in a time when other genres are not selling as well, there is also a lot of rubbish out there, and it can be difficult to separate the excellent from the dreck. Because of the age group, the authors are required to keep it simple—not simplistic, but too many fancy tricks or philosophical meanderings and you lose your target readers. At the same time, there seems to be a tradition in the relatively new field of YA fiction of dealing with Serious Issues: death, coming of age, romantic entanglements, sexuality, self-image, and even God and spiritual issues.
Not all, or even most, of the novels on the list below are “Christian,” but each one focuses on an aspect of young adult life that is vital to the Christian walk and witness.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the final book in the acclaimed Hunger Games trilogy. I have nothing new to say about the quality of the book or of the series. I loved it. I also thought the final book in the series provided a useful portrayal of a mythical confrontation with sin and temptation and despair. Dystopian worlds have been a popular setting in YA fiction for the past few years, maybe because they provide a safe and dissociative avenue for exploration of the problems that young adults face in this world. I would suggest starting with the first book in the series, The Hunger Games, and reading the books along with a partner with whom you can discuss the issues raised in the trilogy. [Ed. note: Be aware that the series is violent. You may want to read this one with your kids. —GRD]
Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson is a sequel to the award-winning Chains. These books are set during the American Revolution, and Chains ends in 1776 with the British in control of New York and our two protagonists, Isabel and Curzon, escaping from slavery and from a British prison into the wilderness of upstate New York. Forge covers the time period of the winter and subsequent spring at Valley Forge 1777-78, where General Washington and his ragtag army spent a miserable time trying to survive and recover from their defeats and victories at the hands of the British army. Forge focuses on Curzon and his survival in the army camp and his continuing quest for freedom.
Somebody Everybody Listens To by Suzanne Supplee. Retta Lee Jones is a singer with a dream; she wants to go to Nashville and somehow sing songs that will be on the radio, where everybody will listen to her music. She wants to escape her unhappy home and her estranged parents and become her own person. And as unlikely as it seems, Nashville and the country music scene become her path to adulthood. It’s a good story that doesn’t pull many punches about the danger and the improbability of even tying to make it as a singer in Nashville. Retta Lee meets drunks and bitter wannabes and lecherous men and star-struck teenagers. But she also makes friends with Ricky Dean, the tow-truck driver who fixes her car and gives her a job, and Emerson Foster, a student at Vanderbilt who becomes Retta’s encourager, and even Chat, the skeptic whose harsh criticism will test Retta’s resolve.
Hush by Eishes Chayil tells the story of two friends, Gittel and Devory, growing up in the Chassidic (Jewish) community in New York City. Gittel is a beloved daughter of a devout and Torah-loving family, and so is Devory. The two girls experience all sorts of adventures together: dressing up for Purim, befriending a goyim neighbor, watching the movie Cinderella at the home of a more modern Jewish friend. But when the two girls are ten years old, tragedy strikes, and Gittel is told repeatedly to forget, to pretend that nothing ever happened, to move on with her life, to hush. I would recommend this book for mature young adults and adults. The descriptions are not sexually graphic at all, but the content is, by its very nature, mature.
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter. Cammie Morgan is in her junior year at the elite Gallagher Academy, a secret school for young spies in training, and she’s about to encounter The Circle, a super-secret society of terrorist enemy spies that stretches back into history and could include literally anyone. This book is the fourth in a series of books about Cammie the Chameleon and her adventures as a young operative, and although having read the first three books would be useful in understanding the stakes in this high tension read, Only the Good Spy Young can stand alone. Read this one just for fun.
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins. Bamboo People is set in modern-day Burma, where the Burmese government is carrying on a vendetta against the tribal peoples of southern Burma—specifically, in this novel, the Karen people, or Karenni. When two young men meet—Chiko, an unwilling draftee into the Burmese army, and Tu Reh, a young Karen Christian accompanying his father on a mission of mercy—their decisions will mean life or death, possibly for many people. Ms. Perkins has done her research well, and Bamboo People shows the effects of war and persecution in a story that will draw young people into the issues and problems that face others their age around the world.
This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas. Nominated for the first annual INSPY awards in the YA fiction category, this book tells the story of an eighteen-year-old aspiring author victimized and stalked by an older mentor who happens to be a priest. The fact that the book contains nothing graphic or overtly sexual or violent makes the story even more creepy and disturbing. The book portrays a faithful Catholic family and a young adult who must work to reconcile her faith with the reality of man’s sinfulness. [Ed. note: Go here for some background on the story. —GRD]
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar. There is a LOT of bridge (the card game) in this book about a boy and his curmudgeonly, rich uncle. Uncle Lester, or as he’s affectionately known, Trapp, is an expert bridge player. He’s also blind. So Alton, the nephew, becomes Trapp’s “cardturner.” Basically, Alton plays the cards, and Trapp tells him what cards to play. A story about bridge? Really? Yes, but it’s a good story about bridge, and you can skip the technical parts if you want. And it’s also about greed and family secrets and building loving relationships.
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr. A preacher’s kid in a struggling family faces questions about her faith until a community tragedy eclipses personal concerns. Winner of the first annual INSPY award for YA fiction that “grapples with expressions of the Christian faith,” Once Was Lost takes a real look at what it’s like to grow up in a family where everyone is expected to be a model of Christian perfection but where the cracks in the foundation are beginning to show. The book doesn’t bash preachers or churches or the Christian faith, but it does show that not one of us can claim to have it all together.
The Long Way Home by Andrew Klavan. In 2009 Mr. Klavan, who up until then had written mostly thrillers for adult readers, started his Homelanders series with the book The Last Thing I Remember. The story began with good kid and karate student Charlie West waking up in a horrible predicament, being tortured in a basement by people he knew nothing about. He escaped, and then he realized that he couldn’t remember the last year of his life. But from what he can tell by the people who after him, it was a very bad year. In 2010 the second book in the Homelanders series, The Long Way Home, was published. In this new book, Charlie is still on the run from both the good guys and the bad guys, and he’s determined to discover who he really is, what he really did, and who the people are who want to kill him. Great story, lots of thrills and chills, but no gratuitous sex and violence. [Ed. note: Later this week, look for an excerpt and capsule review of the first book in the series, The Last Thing I Remember. —GRD]
Sherry Early is a Christian homeschooling mother of eight, founder and editor of the book blogSemicolon, and author of Picture Book Preschool.

In Search of Being Human

2011-01-01T10:34:00.002-05:00

All the time I feel I must justify my existence. Prince Charles

This year, I’m going to relax. I’m going to act like I belong here. I am not going to floss to gain a dentist’s esteem. I am not going to try to top your joke to show that I still got it. I am not going to drop 2 quarters in the charity bowls at a restaurant so the cashier will think I’m worthy. I will stop making lame excuses for being late. Yes, I am going to stop my efforts to prove myself worthy of being.

The fact is: I am.

The fact is: I didn’t do anything to make myself possible. Yet here I am; actual and real. It’s like finding yourself riding on an exclusive train and then the conductor walks up the aisle and says, “Ticket, please.” You anxiously search your pockets – only to finally pull out your naked hand.

“Yes,” he says examining your palm, “Yes, this will do very nicely. Welcome aboard.” Then he walks to the next person.

This year I’m going to look at my naked hand and repeat the conductor’s words, “Yes, this will do very nicely. Welcome aboard.” I am going to look at my hand and remember that existence was handed to me.

And then I am going to ride this train like I belong there. I will floss – because it is wise. I will joke – because it is fun. I will give – because I was given to. I will relax and ride this train all the way to the end. No more excuses and rationalizations. My seat is a gift. And the only proper response to a gift is to enjoy it with wisdom, gratitude and generosity.

Written by Roger Edwards of the Barnabus Center in Charlotte, NC

Movie Nights

2010-07-07T09:33:00.004-04:00

They say laughter is the best medicine, and I do believe there is something to that. When you combine a room full of women, the BBC Production of Pride and Prejudice, chocolate, and the best peanut butter cookies I have ever eaten, believe me there was laughter! We all met at Dawn's house, ate Kristen's peanut butter cookies, and headed upstairs to the video room. I had decided that for our movie nights watching Pride and Prejudice (6 hours) I would have devotions on pride one week, then prejudice the next, and so on. Isaiah, and James combined for seeing God for who He is, and for also seeing our own hearts for what they really are, and just how much we need Jesus. Immediately watching the ravings of Mrs. Bennett and her daughters brought tears to our eyes as we laughed so much! I left feeling like I then needed to call Ken Mr. Cross all the time, trying to figure out which of my four daughters fit which character (never revealing what I really think), feeling ever so sorry for Mary, and instinctively wanting to speak in a British accent!

Fun was had by all, am already looking forward to next week as we come face to face with ourselves and reality, watching Pride and Prejudice. Thanks gals.

Re-Run

2010-07-07T08:04:00.005-04:00

*This post I wrote about a year and a half ago. So very relevant still. Someone replied to that particular post with great insight, that follows.

How many people sit in our pews devastated and disappointed, or have left the pews for the bars where everyone really does know their names? When it comes right down to it, it is not the people in the church that have let them down so much as, in their minds, it is God Himself. They came to Christ wanting....__________ (fill in the blanks); a family, healing, love, prosperity. After a while the Jesus that they expected was not enough, was not there, people shafted them, and the world once again looks like a much safer place than the Church. Been there done that!

This week I read a review of a book in World Magazine. The author is a former religion writer for the LA Times. The book is about his "journey" of giving up his faith, a faith he came to years ago through disappointment. He was disillusioned and disappointed with his life in his twenties which culminated in his "giving" his life to Jesus. Now "Jesus" has disappointed him through the lives of people in the pews. Is there a pattern here? This is a good opportunity to do some self reflecting, some soul searching. What were the circumstances surrounding how you came to Christ? Like this reporter, was it disappointment with life? Did you think that Christ would give you the life that you always dreamed of? Was it a lack of family? Whatever it was it will be tested. What ever our human motivations were, the bottom line is that Christ is the one that has found us, and our motivations will be tested. If you were trying to escape a harsh family, a life that chewed you up and spit you out, or a life that was one onslaught of sin after the other, God will test your faith, guaranteed. Whether we haven't realized it yet or not, we didn't deserve His attention in the first place, or His love, if anything we deserved our circumstances, we deserved Hell for crying out loud. In His grace God woos us and draws us using a myriad of experiences-He never wastes a sin! As we mature though, He tests those motives in order to show us even more of His great mercy and grace!

Have you gotten to the point in your experience, walking with Christ, that the trials, tribulations of life seem much worse than when You first came to Christ? Have Christian people disappointed you seemingly more than the ones in your non-Christian past? Have you begun to question just what are you living for, is this what you signed up for? Are you"losing" your faith as the above mentioned reporter has? Only time will tell, but God is changing you so that the lessons of life will not shake you, on that you can be very encouraged. He is turning timidity into boldness, double-mindedness into perseverance, sight into a strong faith that will never disappoint. His Word is the anchor, His presence is the ointment, and His grace is sufficient.

"Sometimes the sun stays hidden for years. Sometimes the sky rains night after night. When will it clear? But.....Our hope endures the worst of conditions. It's more than our optimism. Let the earth quake..our hope is unchanged."

Our Hope Endures by Natalie Grant

Sunday Ken preached from Mark 5. Jairus's daughter was dying, Jesus delayed, a woman was healed, professional mourners laughed, a twelve year old looks dead, and God's glory was revealed. We are all so very self absorbed to think that life's circumstances only revolve around us.

This was the reply from"anonymous", so good!

LIMITING THE BREAD JESUS OFFERS

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" John 6:66-67

What caused the crowd following Jesus to turn away and leave? Jesus words about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. They were content to eat the bread He offered as long as it was physical provision. When hungry, they eagerly consumed the loaves and fishes. As soon as the subject turned to spiritual food, their interest faded. The concept was too radical; the cost too high.
Today, I can be equally limiting. I can pray for the miraculous provision necessary to pay an overdue bill but reject the bread that promises to expose, then heal, my anger. I will embrace bread for the body but reject bread for the soul. Yesterday while in prayer, Jesus spoke to me about my life's story, and I felt the Spirit ask me the question, "Where would you still like to be changed? How would you like for your story to be different a year from now?" I'm still thinking about that and will be prayerfully carving out an answer.
Whatever landscape Jesus touches changes. I would be shortsighted if I only desired His effect in the physical and not the spiritual. I can ask Him to bring peace to my home but forfeit the opportunity for Him to bring peace to the tormented places in my mind. I can ask Him to bring healing to my body but still live in want of the inner healing of my deepest childhood wound. I can ask for Him to provide the next meal for my family yet fail to eat the sumptuous spiritual meal He has prepared for the renovation of my soul.
Following Jesus is to embrace all of His teachings. While He will allow me to pray for superficial things and give me the choice on whether or not to go deep, the only one who loses when I choose superficiality is me. At the end of my life, I don't want my testimony to sound like this. "In 1989, I prayed and Jesus miraculously provided the money I needed to pay my electric bill." Rather, I pray that this story will be told. "I was once afraid of everything, unsure of myself, and played it safe. I ate of the bread of life and over the course of my lifetime, He changed me completely."

I don't want to go away, like the crowd. Your questions are hard, Your bread sometimes threatens the places where I'm comfortable, but I eat of You today. I am hungry. Amen

Grace

2010-07-06T07:37:00.003-04:00

From Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy: by Paul David Tripp

"It's time for us to embrace, teach, and encourage others with the theology of uncomfortable grace. As long as sin still lives inside of us, producing in each of us a propensity to forget and wander, God's grace will come to us in uncomfortable forms. You may be wondering where the grace of God is in your life, when actually you're getting it. But it's not the grace of release or relief; no, you're getting the uncomfortable grace of rescue, relationship, refinement.

So, if you are God's child, resist the temptation to doubt his goodness in the middle of your stress....No, you're experiencing uncomfortable grace, grace that's willing to break bones in order for your heart to be true. This grace is unwilling to give up. This grace will not turn its back. This grace will not accept the status quo. This grace will not compromise or grow cynical. God hasn't forgotten you. He loves you with real love, and he's giving you real grace. And he'll continue to do so until you're finally free of your propensity to wander away. Now that's real love."

Over Smoothies and Icecream.......

2010-06-30T14:48:00.005-04:00

A friend and I were eating ice cream and sipping smoothies yesterday and both of us were lamenting the circumstances of life that we find ourselves in. Nothing very earth shattering, just unfulfilled expectations of a God that doesn't guarantee that our expectations are also His. I asked her what does it all do to her faith, she said, "faith, sometimes I wonder if I have ever truly trust God for anything in my life more than a few minutes." Me too, I said, Me too.

I had planned my life differently, so had she. In a nice little box where our expectations would all be met. Yes, there is suffering, but we were to come through it "leaping and shouting and praising God." Then God decided to touch our lives by withholding the very thing (s) we felt we could not live without, and the "props" that go with them. Our own petty comforts, triumphs, and feel goods that keep us believing that we are still in control. We all have them. I think for a great deal of years I honestly didn't know that I used them to my advantage to manipulate life into something that "I" could manage; a word of affirmation, a job admired, significance sought for and gained, being sought after.....to name a few. Notice in my list is nothing about God. It is all about me, what I want to feel comfortable with, to navigate through life trying to make sense of a fallen, messed up place. That is one of the lessons that I am learning. Life doesn't revolve around me. I have preached that to my kids, and lately have found myself going all the way back to childhood reliving lessons I thought were already learned.

What does this have to do with faith? Everything. No I am not where I want to be. No, I am not the paragon of virtue that I thought I would be at this stage of my life.

Ken has been preaching through the book of Jonah. Now that is one prophet I thought I would never, ever identify with. After all, he runs from God knowing full well who God is, calling Him almighty, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness. Then he relents of his life more times than I can count. Read the 4th chapter:

Jonah 4

¹ But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. ² He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. ³ Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

⁴ But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

⁵ Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. ⁶ Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. ⁷ But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. ⁸ When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

⁹ But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

¹⁰ But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. ¹¹ But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?

I identify with Jonah's anger in a big way. I know that He has told us that He works through suffering. That we shouldn't be surprised when suffering comes into our lives. But, I have been ticked with Him. You know suffering is only suffering when it hurts. When our false images of God come crashing down, when faith is really something that you trust in but don't see, when we really aren't in control of anything that happens. Ken also reminded us that even though we might be frustrated by the way the book ends, someone had to write it. Someone who had gotten a lot less enamored by himself, someone that in the end realized that the world does not revolve around himself. Powerful.

Another friend sent me this quote:

"I know those moods when you sit there utterly alone, pining, eaten up with unhappiness, in a pure state of grief. You don't move towards me but desperately imagine that everything you have ever done has been utterly lost and forgotten. This near-despair and self-pity are actually a form of pride. What you think was a state of absolute security from which you've fallen was really trusting too much in your own strength and ability... what really ails you is that things simply haven't happened as you expected and wanted.

In fact, I don't want you to rely on your own strength and abilities and plans, but to distrust them and to distrust yourself, and to trust me and no one and nothing else. As long as you rely entirely on yourself, you are bound to come to grief. You still have a most important lesson to learn: your own strength will no more help you to stand upright than propping yourself on a broken reed. You must not despair of me. You may hope and trust in me absolutely. My mercy is infinite."

John of Landsburg, A Letter from Jesus

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-06-27T10:19:00.001-04:00

This is a book that I had heard of quite a while ago, bought, and it has sat on the shelf for months, until....Bekah was assigned it for her summer reading. While she was at the beach last week with a friend, I decided I would have to read it and finish it before she came home, which I did. At first I balked at the author's writing style. It is choppy, elementary, not very creative, and I just didn't care for it at all. Never having read anything else by the author I don't know whether the style is intentional or not. It could be a different way to describe the main character.

I finished it lickety-split because the story grew in interest, and I just wanted to know how it would end. The world, or the US in particular, has evolved into a totalitarian state where the President is a dictator, thug, and controls the peoples every move. He rules from "the Capitol" and life is abundant there, although, as in 1984, Big Brother is watching you. Their are 12 Districts that surround the Capitol. They are all involved in some form of commerce that they are known for; coal, agriculture, etc... The farther away from the Capitol the more meager the resources are to feed and clothe your family. The story revolves around a 16 year old girl who has lives in District 12, has lost her beloved father in a coal mine accident, and has taken on the role of protector, and provider for her mother and her 12 year old sister.

Every year the poorer families have to submit their children's names to a lottery, every district does the same. Once a year every district draws a name of a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-18 to go the Hunger Games Competition that is televised all over, and watched compulsively by all. The 24 children are put into an artificial arena and must fight to the death. The President does this to quell rebellions, and mentally keep people in line. The main character, Katniss, has taken the place of her 12 year old sister Primrose, whom she loves very much. Katniss is a hunter and that becomes her strategy to win in the arena.

Having taught ancient Roman history, it greatly resembles the Roman empire. The Emperor and Rome had an abundance of resources, although 3/4 of the people were slaves, yet the farther you got from Rome the more desperate the people were just to exist on a daily basis. The author uses Greco-Roman names throughout the story for the people that live in the capitol, but whether this is her intent, I don't know. The jacket cover says that she wants to show the ravages of war on young adolescents, but being the political animal that I am, having studied totalitarianism, communism, and every other "ism" it shows the wrong headedness that comes from NOT fighting for freedom. It also shows the inhumane way that a society such as Rome treated it's subjects, subjects of the State. That is before Christ came and literally changed everything. Christianity chipped away at the State treating people, individuals as made in the image of God.

I am now reading the second in the Series; Catching Fire. Will tell you how it turns out soon. Just looked on Amazon and the third and final book in the series is coming out August 24.

Worldview, Politics, and Culture

2010-04-29T11:16:00.005-04:00

As you know from past blog posts, Chuck Colson is someone I have learned much from, and respect highly. What our view of the world is shapes everything we do. Having a Biblical worldview is imperative as believers. The first step is to know what you believe and why you believe it, and to think through what you exactly believe. To know Jesus Christ as savior is the beginning, but it is only the beginning. Our knowledge of the Trinity, God's ways, and how that relates to mankind should be something we never stop learning about. It starts with questions. About a week ago I posted a blog about Bible Study methods, the first thing I said to do is ask questions. Those questions are not exclusively only about salvation. Scripture is as deep as the ocean. Salvation is the beginning point of reference to then learn, learn and learn! Part of what we learn is that God is much bigger than we ever thought, we are much more sinful than we could ever imagine, and that our view of reality has some changing to do. Our minds have to change, along with our behavior. This does not happen in a vacuum. It takes hard work, serious study, and lots of mistakes, always leading us back to Scripture. What an adventure this life is! And what an enemy the world's way of thinking is. We learn the world's ways by osmosis, it is seeped into our minds, hearts and souls, it is the very air that we breathe. Then Christ comes resides in us, we are in Christ, and He begins to show us the false thinking of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It will not change over night, and it takes work. But what exciting stuff, and just think, it never ends.

I challenge you. Study, don't just let someone do it for you. But, do start wherever you are. I am studying Ephesians right now. For the last three days, I have been meditating on the first verse. "¹Paul,^{A)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">} an apostle of Christ Jesus^{B)" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">} by the will of God." What does the will of God really mean? What would it mean to my life if I really believed I was here by the will of God? Does God's will depend partly on me, and partly on God? Does doing God's will mean I have to be one of "God's celebrities, a super Christian?" And how big is God? These are just some of the questions I have been asking myself about that first phrase. I have come to one conclusion, that I sometimes can't see the Scriptures message because all I am looking for is for myself, my concerns, and my EVERYthing. Repentance is an everyday occurrence with me.

Keep digging till He comes...................................Lynn

The Strength of the Christian by TM Moore

2010-04-18T10:26:00.003-04:00

*This is a wonderful reinforcement to us to read the great saints in all ages and to grow strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. We need the past writings of the saints as well as each other to do the task set before us! Lynn

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…
Ephesians 3.14-19

The Christian life is not a solo project. God has called us together into communities – the Body of Christ – because He knows that we only grow strong when we are in company with all the saints. As Paul indicates, we will increase in the power of the Spirit unto Christ-likeness as we learn and grow together with other believers. Together the saints of the Lord are able to correct, teach, admonish, help, encourage, strengthen, and pray for one another, and to stimulate one another to love and good works. If we really intend to grow in the strength of Christ, then we must do so in company with other believers, for only in the fellowship of the church will God enable us to realize the charge to be strong which He has imposed upon us.

Which makes active involvement in a local church an indispensable means for growing strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

But there is more required of us in benefiting from the company of all the saints. God is using the work of many believers beyond our local fellowship to help His people grow strong in Him. Good Christian writers and teachers are available to us in print, via the Internet, and even – in a few cases – by television and radio. We should seek out such believers as will consistently build into our souls the strength we need to grow into Christ-likeness. In my early years as a believer Dr. Joel Nederhood was a constant weekly companion on the radio and Francis Schaeffer was a daily instructor in print. These two saints helped to form important aspects of my soul at a crucial period in my own development.

But there are also available to us the works of great saints from every age of the Church, and we should seek out ways of learning from their writings as well. The works of Augustine, à Kempis, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley and many others have survived as long as they have because Christians have found them to be sources of great strengthening in their own development.

The saints of the past, together with the saints of the present, are wondrous gifts of God and means of grace whereby He helps us to grow strong according to the riches of His glory. Let us not overlook the benefits to be gained from regularly submitting to the teaching and writing of those whom God has approved, and has made available to us for our benefit. For only in company with all the saints will we realize our fullest potential for growing strong in the Lord.

Start your own ViewPoint discussion group. This week’s series is available in a free downloadable format, suitable for personal or group study. Download the series, "Strength of the Christian."

Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis

2010-04-15T08:14:00.006-04:00

My church is hosting a book club called Advent Books. Our next read for the month of May is

C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. I posted the following on Advent Books Blog to heighten the

interest in it for the members, maybe you also could read along with us. I post different kinds of

information about the book during the month leading up to the book club date, and also (for some)

write a study guide to go along with it. Till We Have Faces is one of Lewis's best. Read

the following to see what Eugene Peterson says about Till We Have Faces. Enjoy~

I came across this quote in a new book, Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson, on Till We Have Faces, and was thrilled! In the back of Practice Resurrection, Peterson has an appendix of recommended books called, "Some writers on the Practice of Resurrection," he then offers this synopsis of Till We Have Faces:

"There are no shortcuts in growing up. The path to maturity is long and arduous. Hurry is no virtue. There is no secret formula squirreled away that will make it easier or quicker. But stories help. By means of story we are immersed in the intricate complexities of person and places, sacrifice and trouble, failure and achievement, laughter and tears, to say nothing of the intricate simplicity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that word by word, day by day, gives form and beauty-the Genesis good, and very good!-to it all. But we must stay in the story as it is being told, give consent, and not impatiently or angrily go off and improvise our own. The Biblical story is our most comprehensive story for doing this. Other storytellers step in from time to time to help us find ourselves in the story. C. S. Lewis is one of our great storytellers. His Narnia Chronicles and Space Trilogy baptized our imaginations so that we could get a better grasp of what is involved in living the Christian life in our time and place. The last novel he wrote, Till We Have Faces, he thought was his best. I agree. But it is also the most difficult the most demanding. The root of the difficulty is that it is about the most demanding of human tasks, becoming mature, growing up to the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ."

Why You Think by Glenn Sunshine

2010-04-14T10:43:00.002-04:00

Chuck Colson has got to be my all time favorite hero. If you are at all interested in Worldview thinking, please add this book to your library. When I was a centurion, I met Dr. Sunshine on several different occasions, sat under his teaching, and he is definitely worth reading. Also, please peruse the Breakpoint website, it is chock full of resources for Bible Study, current events, great books, etc...etc..

Chuck Colson's Two Minute Warning for this Week

2010-04-09T08:34:00.001-04:00

Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris

2010-04-08T09:16:00.001-04:00

It’s strange to see an Amish girl drunk. The pairing of a bonnet and a can of beer is awkward. If she were stumbling along with a jug of moonshine, it would at least match her long, dowdy dress.

But right now she can’t worry about that. She is flat-out wasted.

Welcome to rumspringa.

The Amish, people who belong to a Christian religious sect with roots in Europe, practice a radical form of separation from the modern world. They live and dress with simplicity. Amish women wear bonnets and long, old-fashioned dresses and never touch makeup. The men wear wide-rimmed straw hats, sport bowl cuts, and grow chin curtains—full beards with the mustaches shaved off.

My wife, Shannon, sometimes says she wants to be Amish, but I know this isn’t true. Shannon entertains her Amish fantasy when life feels too complicated or when she’s tired of doing laundry. She thinks life would be easier if she had only two dresses to choose from and both looked the same. I tell her that if she ever tried to be Amish, she would buy a pair of jeans and ditch her head covering about ten minutes into the experiment. Besides, she would never let me grow a beard like that.

Once Shannon and her girlfriend Shelley drove to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a weekend of furniture and quilt shopping in Amish country. They stayed at a bed-and-breakfast located next door to an Amish farm. One morning Shannon struck up a conversation with the inn’s owner, who had lived among the Amish his entire life. She asked him questions, hoping for romantic details about the simple, buggy-driven life. But instead he complained about having to pick up beer cans every weekend.

Beer cans?

“Yes,” he said, “the Amish kids leave them everywhere.” That’s when he told her about rumspringa. The Amish believe that before a young person chooses to commit to the Amish church as an adult, he or she should have the chance to freely explore the forbidden delights of the outside world. So at age sixteen everything changes for Amish teenagers. They go from milking cows and singing hymns to living like debauched rock stars.

In the Pennsylvania Dutch language, rumspringa literally means “running around.” It’s a season of doing anything and everything you want with zero rules. During this time—which can last from a few months to several years—all the restrictions of the Amish church are lifted. Teens are free to shop at malls, have sex, wear makeup, play video games, do drugs, use cell phones, dress however they want, and buy and drive cars. But what they seem to enjoy most during rumspringa is gathering at someone’s barn, blasting music, and then drinking themselves into the ground. Every weekend, the man told Shannon, he had to clean up beer cans littered around his property following the raucous, all-night Amish parties.

When Shannon came home from her Lancaster weekend, her Amish aspirations had diminished considerably. The picture of cute little Amish girls binge drinking took the sheen off her idealistic vision of Amish life. We completed her disillusionment when we rented a documentary about the rite of rumspringa called Devil’s Playground. Filmmaker Lucy Walker spent three years befriending, interviewing, and filming Amish teens as they explored the outside world. That’s where we saw the drunk Amish girl tripping along at a barn party. We learned that most girls continue to dress Amish even as they party—as though their clothes are a lifeline back to safety while they explore life on the wild side.

In the documentary Faron, an outgoing, skinny eighteen-year-old sells and is addicted to the drug crystal meth. After Faron is busted by the cops, he turns in rival drug dealers. When his life is threatened, Faron moves back to his parents’ home and tries to start over. The Amish faith is a good religion, he says. He wants to be Amish, but his old habits keep tugging on him.

A girl named Velda struggles with depression. During rumspringa she finds the partying empty, but after joining the church she can’t imagine living the rest of her life as an Amish woman. “God talks to me in one ear, Satan in the other,” Velda says. “Part of me wants to be my like my parents, but the other part wants the jeans, the haircut, to do what I want to do.” When she fails to convince her Amish fiancé to leave the church with her, she breaks off her engagement a month before the wedding and leaves the Amish faith for good. As a result Velda is shunned by her family and the entire community. Alone but determined, she begins to attend college.

Velda’s story is the exception. Eighty to 90 percent of Amish teens decide to return to the Amish church after rumspringa. At one point in the film, Faron insightfully comments that rumspringa is like a vaccination for Amish teens. They binge on all the worst aspects of the modern world long enough to make themselves sick of it. Then, weary and disgusted, they turn back to the comforting, familiar, and safe world of Amish life.

But as I watched, I wondered, What are they really going back to? Are they choosing God or just a safe and simple way of life?

I know what it means to wrestle with questions of faith. I know what it’s like for faith to be so mixed up with family tradition that it’s hard to distinguish between a genuine knowledge of God and comfort in a familiar way of life.

I grew up in an evangelical Christian family. One that was on the more conservative end of the spectrum. I’m the oldest of seven children. Our parents homeschooled us, raised us without television, and believed that old-fashioned courtship was better than modern dating. Friends in our neighborhood probably thought our family was Amish, but that’s only because they didn’t know some of the really conservative Christian homeschool families. The truth was that our family was more culturally liberal than many homeschoolers. We watched movies, could listen to rock music (as long as it was Christian or the Beatles), and were allowed to have Star Wars and Transformers toys.

But even so, during high school I bucked my parents’ restrictions. That’s not to say my spiritual waywardness was very shocking. I doubt Amish kids would be impressed by my teenage dabbling in worldly pleasure. I never did drugs. Never got drunk. The worst things I ever did were to steal porn magazines, sneak out of the house at night with a kid from church, and date various girls behind my parents’ backs. Although my rebellion was tame in comparison, it was never virtue that held me back from sin. It was lack of opportunity. I shudder to think what I would have done with a parent-sanctioned
season of rumspringa.

The bottom line is that my parents’ faith wasn’t really my faith. I knew how to work the system, I knew the Christian lingo, but my heart wasn’t in it. My heart was set on enjoying the moment.

Recently a friend of mine met someone who knew me in early high school. “What did she remember about me?” I asked.

“She said you were girl crazy, full of yourself, and immature,” my friend told me.

Yeah, she knew me, I thought. It wasn’t nice to hear, but I couldn’t argue. I didn’t know or fear God. I didn’t have any driving desire to know him.

For me, the Christian faith was more about a set of moral standards than belief and trust in Jesus Christ.

During my early twenties I went through a phase of blaming the church I had attended in high school for all my spiritual deficiencies. Evangelical megachurches make good punching bags.

My reasoning went something like this: I was spiritually shallow because the pastors’ teaching had been shallow. I wasn’t fully engaged because they hadn’t done enough to grab my attention. I was a hypocrite because everyone else had been a hypocrite. I didn’t know God because they hadn’t provided enough programs. Or they hadn’t provided the right programs. Or maybe they’d had too many programs.

All I knew was that it was someone else’s fault.

Blaming the church for our problems is second only to the popular and easy course of blaming our parents for everything that’s wrong with us. But the older I get, the less I do of both. I hope that’s partly due to the wisdom that comes with age. But I’m sure it’s also because I am now both a parent and a pastor. Suddenly I have a lot more sympathy for my dad and mom and the pastors at my old church. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

At the church where I now pastor (which I love), some young adults remind me of myself when I was in high school. They are church kids who know so much about Christian religion and yet so little about God. Some are passive, completely ambivalent toward spiritual things. Others are actively straying from their faith—ticked off about their parents’ authority, bitter over a rule or guideline, and counting the minutes until they turn eighteen and can disappear. Others aren’t going anywhere, but they stay just to go
through the motions. For them, church is a social group.

It’s strange being on the other side now. When I pray for specific young men and women who are wandering from God, when I stand to preach and feel powerless to change a single heart, when I sit and counsel people and it seems nothing I can say will draw them away from sin, I remember the pastors from my teenage years. I realize they must have felt like this too. They must have prayed and cried over me. They must have labored over sermons with students like me in mind. I see now that they were doing the best they knew how. But a lot of the time, I wasn’t listening.

During high school I spent most Sunday sermons doodling, passing notes, checking out girls, and wishing I were two years older and five inches taller so a redhead named Jenny would stop thinking of me as her “little brother.” That never happened.

I mostly floated through grown-up church. Like a lot of teenagers in evangelical churches, I found my sense of identity and community in the parallel universe of the youth ministry. Our youth group was geared to being loud, fast paced, and fun. It was modeled on the massive and influential, seeker-sensitive Willow Creek Community Church located outside Chicago. The goal was simple: put on a show, get kids in the building, and let them see that Christians are cool, thus Jesus is cool. We had to prove that being a Christian is, contrary to popular opinion and even a few annoying passages
of the Bible, loads of fun. Admittedly it’s not as much fun as partying and having sex but pretty fun nonetheless.

Every Wednesday night our group of four-hundred-plus students divided into teams. We competed against each other in games and won points by bringing guests. As a homeschooler, of course I was completely worthless in the “bring friends from school” category. So I tried to make up for that by working on the drama and video team. My buddy Matt and I wrote, performed, and directed skits to complement our youth pastor’s messages. Unfortunately, our idea of complementing was to deliver skits that were not
even remotely connected to the message. The fact that Matt was a Brad Pitt look-alike assured that our skits were well received (at least by the girls).

The high point of my youth-group performing career came when the pastor found out I could dance and asked me to do a Michael Jackson impersonation. The album Bad had just come out. I bought it, learned all the dance moves, and then when I performed—how do I say this humbly?—I blew everyone away. I was bad (and I mean that in the good sense of the word bad ). The crowd went absolutely nuts. The music pulsed, and girls
were screaming and grabbing at me in mock adulation as I moonwalked and lip-synced my way through one of the most inane pop songs ever written. I loved every minute of it.

Looking back, I’m not real proud of that performance. I would feel better about my bad moment if the sermon that night had been about the depravity of man or something else that was even slightly related. But there was no connection. It had nothing to do with anything.

For me, dancing like Michael Jackson that night has come to embody my experience in a big, evangelical, seeker-oriented youth group. It was fun, it was entertaining, it was culturally savvy (at the time), and it had very little to do with God. Sad to say, I spent more time studying Michael’s dance moves for that drama assignment than I was ever asked to invest in studying about God.

Of course, this was primarily my own fault. I was doing what I wanted to do. There were other kids in the youth group who were more mature and who grew more spiritually during their youth-group stint. And I don’t doubt the good intentions of my youth pastor. He was trying to strike the balance between getting kids to attend and teaching them.
Maybe I wouldn’t have been interested in youth group if it hadn’t been packaged in fun and games and a good band. But I still wish someone had expected more of me—of all of us. Would I have listened? I can’t know. But I do know that a clear vision of God and the power of his Word and the purpose of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were lost on me in the midst of all the flash and fun.

There’s a story in the Bible of a young king named Josiah, who lived about 640 years before Christ. I think Josiah could have related to me—being religious but ignorant of God. Josiah’s generation had lost God’s Word. And I don’t mean that figuratively. They literally lost God’s Word. It sounds ridiculous, but they essentially misplaced the Bible.

If you think about it, this was a pretty big deal. We’re not talking about a pair of sunglasses or a set of keys. The Creator of the universe had communicated with mankind through the prophet Moses. He gave his law. He revealed what he was like and what he wanted. He told his people what it meant for them to be his people and how they were to live. All this was dutifully recorded on a scroll. Then this scroll, which was precious beyond measure, was stored in the holy temple. But later it was misplaced. No one
knows how. Maybe a clumsy priest dropped it and it rolled into a dark corner.

But here’s the really sad thing: nobody noticed it was missing. No search was made. Nobody checked under the couch. It was gone and no one cared. For decades those who wore the label “God’s people” actually had no communication with him. They wore their priestly robes, they carried on their traditions in their beautiful temple, and they taught their messages that were so wise, so insightful, so inspirational. But it was all a bunch of hot air—nothing but their own opinions. Empty ritual. Their robes were costumes, and their temple was an empty shell.

This story scares me because it shows that it’s possible for a whole generation to go happily about the business of religion, all the while having lost a true knowledge of God.

When we talk about knowledge of God, we’re talking about theology. Simply put, theology is the study of the nature of God—who he is and how he thinks and acts. But theology isn’t high on many people’s list of daily concerns.

My friend Curtis says that most people today think only of themselves. He calls this “me-ology.” I guess that’s true. I know it was true of me and still can be. It’s a lot easier to be an expert on what I think and feel and want than to give myself to knowing an invisible, universe-creating God.

Others view theology as something only scholars or pastors should worry about. I used to think that way. I viewed theology as an excuse for all the intellectual types in the world to add homework to Christianity.

But I’ve learned that this isn’t the case. Theology isn’t for a certain group of people. In fact, it’s impossible for anyone to escape theology. It’s everywhere. All of us are constantly “doing” theology. In other words, all of us have some idea or opinion about what God is like. Oprah does theology. The person who says, “I can’t believe in a God who sends people to hell” is doing theology.

We all have some level of knowledge. This knowledge can be much or little, informed or uninformed, true or false, but we all have some concept of God (even if it’s that he doesn’t exist). And we all base our lives on what we think God is like.

So when I was spinning around like Michael Jackson at youth group, I was a theologian. Even though I wasn’t paying attention in church. Even though I wasn’t very concerned with Jesus or pleasing him. Even though I was more preoccupied with my girlfriend and with being popular. Granted I was a really bad theologian—my thoughts about God were unclear and often ignorant. But I had a concept of God that directed how I lived.

I’ve come to learn that theology matters. And it matters not because we want a good grade on a test but because what we know about God shapes the way we think and live. What you believe about God’s nature—what he is like, what he wants from you, and whether or not you will answer to him—affects every part of your life.

Theology matters, because if we get it wrong, then our whole life will be wrong.

I know the idea of “studying” God often rubs people the wrong way. It sounds cold and theoretical, as if God were a frog carcass to dissect in a lab or a set of ideas that we memorize like math proofs.

But studying God doesn’t have to be like that. You can study him the way you study a sunset that leaves you speechless. You can study him the way a man studies the wife he passionately loves. Does anyone fault him for noting her every like and dislike? Is it clinical for him to desire to know the thoughts and longings of her heart? Or to want to hear her speak?

Knowledge doesn’t have to be dry and lifeless. And when you think about it, exactly what is our alternative? Ignorance? Falsehood?

We’re either building our lives on the reality of what God is truly like and what he’s about, or we’re basing our lives on our own imagination and misconceptions.

We’re all theologians. The question is whether what we know about God is true.

In the days of King Josiah, theology was completely messed up. This isn’t really surprising. People had lost God’s words and then quickly forgot what the true God was like.

King Josiah was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. People call Jeremiah the weeping prophet, and there was a lot to weep about in those days. “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land,” Jeremiah said. “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way” (Jeremiah 5:30–31, NIV).

As people learned to love their lies about God, they lost their ability to recognize his voice. “To whom can I speak and giving warning?” God asked. “Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10, NIV).

People forgot God. They lost their taste for his words. They forgot what he had done for them, what he commanded of them, and what he threatened if they disobeyed. So they started inventing gods for themselves. They started borrowing ideas about God from the pagan cults. Their made-up gods let them live however they wanted. It was “me-ology” masquerading as theology.

The results were not pretty.

Messed-up theology leads to messed-up living. The nation of Judah resembled one of those skanky reality television shows where a houseful of barely dressed singles sleep around, stab each other in the back, and try to win cash. Immorality and injustice were everywhere. The rich trampled the poor. People replaced the worship of God with the worship of pagan deities that demanded religious orgies and child sacrifice. Every level of society, from marriage and the legal system to religion and politics, was corrupt.

The surprising part of Josiah’s story is that in the midst of all the distortion and corruption, he chose to seek and obey God. And he did this as a young man (probably no older than his late teens or early twenties). Scripture gives this description of Josiah: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2, NIV).

The prophet Jeremiah called people to the same straight path of true theology and humble obedience:

Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16)

In Jeremiah’s words you see a description of King Josiah’s life. His generation was rushing past him, flooding down the easy paths of man-made religion, injustice, and immorality.

They didn’t stop to look for a different path.

They didn’t pause to consider where the easy path ended.

They didn’t ask if there was a better way.

But Josiah stopped. He stood at a crossroads, and he looked. And then he asked for something that an entire generation had neglected, even completely forgotten. He asked for the ancient paths.

What are the ancient paths? When the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah used the phrase, he was describing obedience to the Law of Moses. But today the ancient paths have been transformed by the coming of Jesus Christ. Now we see that those ancient paths ultimately led to Jesus. We have not only truth to obey but a person to trust in—a person who perfectly obeyed the Law and who died on the cross in our place.

But just as in the days of Jeremiah, the ancient paths still represent life based on a true knowledge of God—a God who is holy, a God who is just, a God who is full of mercy toward sinners. Walking in the ancient paths still means relating to God on his terms. It still means receiving and obeying his self-revelation with humility and awe.

Just as he did with Josiah and Jeremiah and every generation after them, God calls us to the ancient paths. He beckons us to return to theology that is true. He calls us, as Jeremiah called God’s people, to recommit ourselves to orthodoxy.

The word orthodoxy literally means “right opinion.” In the context of Christian faith, orthodoxy is shorthand for getting your opinion or thoughts about God right. It is teaching and beliefs based on the established, proven, cherished truths of the faith. These are the truths that don’t budge. They’re clearly taught in Scripture and affirmed in the historic creeds of the Christian faith:

There is one God who created all things.
God is triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Bible is God’s inerrant word to humanity.
Jesus is the virgin-born, eternal Son of God.
Jesus died as a substitute for sinners so they could be forgiven.
Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus will one day return to judge the world.

Orthodox beliefs are ones that genuine followers of Jesus have acknowledged from the beginning and then handed down through the ages. Take one of them away, and you’re left with something less than historic Christian belief.

When I watched the documentary about the Amish rite of rumspringa, what stood out to me was the way the Amish teenagers processed the decision of whether or not to join the Amish church. With few exceptions the decision seemed to have very little to do with God. They weren’t searching Scripture to see if what their church taught about the world, the human heart, and salvation was true. They weren’t wrestling with theology. I’m not implying that the Amish don’t have a genuine faith and trust in Jesus. But for the teens in
the documentary, the decision was mostly a matter of choosing a culture and a lifestyle. It gave them a sense of belonging. In some cases it gave them a steady job or allowed them to marry the person they wanted.

I wonder how many evangelical church kids are like the Amish in this regard. Many of us are not theologically informed. Truth about God doesn’t define us and shape us. We have grown up in our own religious culture. And often this culture, with its own rituals and music and moral values, comes to represent Christianity far more than specific beliefs about God do.

Every new generation of Christians has to ask the question, what are we actually choosing when we choose to be Christians? Watching the stories of the Amish teenagers helped me realize that a return to orthodoxy has to be more than a return to a way of life or to cherished traditions. Of course the Christian faith leads to living in specific ways. And it does join us to a specific community. And it does involve tradition. All this is good. It’s important. But it has to be more than tradition. It has to be about a person—the historical and living person of Jesus Christ.

Orthodoxy matters because the Christian faith is not just a cultural tradition or moral code. Orthodoxy is the irreducible truths about God and his work in the world. Our faith is not just a state of mind, a mystical experience, or concepts on a page. Theology, doctrine, and orthodoxy matter because God is real, and he has acted in our world, and his actions have meaning today and for all eternity.

For many people, words like theology, doctrine, and orthodoxy are almost completely meaningless. Maybe they’re unappealing, even repellent.

Doctrine is something unkind people fight over.

And orthodoxy? Many Christians would have trouble saying what it is other than it calls to mind images of musty churches guarded by old men with comb-overs who hush and scold.

I can relate to that perspective. I’ve been there. But I’ve also discovered that my prejudice, my “theology allergy,” was unfounded.

This book is the story of how I first glimpsed the beauty of Christian theology. These pages hold the journal entries of my own spiritual journey—a journey that led to the realization that sound doctrine is at the center of loving Jesus with passion and authenticity. I want to share how I learned that orthodoxy isn’t just for old men but is for anyone who longs to behold a God who is bigger and more real and glorious than the human mind can imagine.

The irony of my story—and I suppose it often works this way—is that the very things I needed, even longed for in my relationship with God, were wrapped up in the very things I was so sure could do me no good. I didn’t understand that such seemingly worn-out words as theology, doctrine, andorthodoxy were the pathway to the mysterious, awe-filled experience of truly knowing the living Jesus Christ.

They told the story of the Person I longed to know.

Excerpted from Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris Copyright © 2010 by Joshua Harris. Excerpted by permission of Multnomah Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Bible Study Methods

2010-04-07T10:18:00.004-04:00

Hey, do you want to study the Bible but really don't know where to begin. Below is a place to show you how to do just that. I will be giving a few posts on Bible Study Methods for the next few days, so just plunge right in and see how you can really never plumb the depths of God's magnificent Word.

Read it. ____Read______ it, and ____Read________it again!

Ask________Questions___________. Who is the author, why do you think they wrote it, who was their audience, what are they trying to say, where is the action taking place, who are the major players, what isn’t being said, are there any terms or words you do not understand, WHAT DOES IT MEAN, WHY DID HE SAY THAT? I don’t understand is one of the best ways to deal with a passage. If you think you know it all already you might want to look at your heart and find out the spiritual blockage that is keeping you from a right relationship to the Scripture.

___Outline____________it, in a very concise way. After you have read it several times sit down and try to put the events, words, sermon, and actions into a very brief type outline.

___Re-Write it_______________it. Sum it up in one or just a few more words.

Reduce it to one_____Word!_____________.

___Re-write__________your outline using different terms. Such as philosophical, theological terms. Again you will have to stop and ask questions. What does this passage teach me about the character of God, the attributes of God, the Trinity, specifically the Son (yes even in the Old Testament) or the other members of the Godhead?

Application Phase:

Write down what you saw in this passage that you hadn’t seen before.

Write down your application. Again ask questions, what will I do with this passage, what will I change in my life, how can I incorporate it into my life, is there something I have to repent of?

Take a Psalm today, or any other passage and do the above exercise with it. Enjoy!!!

Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky

2010-04-06T10:31:00.004-04:00

I am in the process of reading Crime and Punishment. I am at the very end, and have not been able to put it down for other different readings that I have had to do. I downloaded it from Audiblebooks.com and the man that reads it is fantastic. I also have read parts of the novel when I couldn't for some reason listen to it on the computer. Listening to it while the reader acts out the parts is something I would highly recommend. It has really made the characters come alive, and some of the Russian dialogue makes much more sense.

The main character has murdered an old pawn broker woman who takes advantage of the poor and her sister who happens to come in right after the first murder. The old pawn broker is one that the murderer feels deserves to die, but when he is forced to kill her sister as well, who was a meek and mild, religious woman who was regularly beaten by her sister, he is faced with all sorts of conflicting emotions that he can't rationalize away. He finds himself in torment being chased down by a detective, and scared of being caught, he befriends a drunken man who is conflicted because of all the rotten things he has done to his poor family, leaving them destitute because of drink. The drunken man has a daughter of eighteen who is forced into prostitution just to keep the younger children somewhat fed. Our murderer meets her and is confronted by her faith and devotion to God. She continues to trust, believe and have faith in a God that has allowed all sorts of suffering upon her. He cannot deal with her faith. He asks her in a most poignant way, "What has God ever done for you?" Her response brought me to tears. She pauses for a long moment, and replies, "Everything." Her faith at this point makes mine look at the most, weak and faltering. God to her is worthy to be worshipped and adored because He is God, not for what He can or cannot or even will not do for her. Oh to have that kind of faith. Oh to worship God not for His blessings, but for who He is. I like Peter have denied Him over and over again. Maybe not in words, but in deeds. Please forgive me Father. Oh may I worship You above all else. Because You alone are worthy.

Waiting till He comes again, not just in the future, but in my heart as well...............................Lynn

Indescribable by Chris Tomlin

2010-04-05T07:32:00.001-04:00

Christ's Resurrection Power is still at work! What an awesome God we serve.

Biblical Worldview and Miley Cyrus

2010-04-01T10:03:00.001-04:00

If you ever need a demonstration of the importance of a Christian worldview, look no further than Miley Cyrus.

The 17-year-old pop star tells Parade: "Let me make it clear . . . I am a Christian. Jesus is who saved me. He’s what keeps me full and whole." But she goes on to say,

People are always looking for you to do something that is non-Christian. . . . But it’s like, "Dude, Christians don’t live in the dark." I have to participate in life. If I wear something revealing, they go, "Well, that’s not Christian." And I’m like, "Yeah, I’m going to go to hell because I’m wearing a pair of really short white shorts." Suddenly I’m a slut. That’s so old-school. . . .

My job first is to entertain and do what I love, and if you don’t like it, then change the channel. I’m not forcing you to watch me. I’m not forcing you to talk about me. I would do that pole dance a thousand times again, because it was right for the song and that performance. But, dude, if you think dancing on top of an ice-cream cart with a pole is bad, then go check what 90% of the high schoolers are really up to. It’s funny. I don’t know if a lot of parents remember what they were like as kids. But I’m like, "Dude, as if you were an angel!"

At least Miley knows who her Savior is, and praise God for that. But when a young girl can't see any connection between her Christian faith and the need to not act like a stripper in front of millions of kids, than I'm afraid the Christian church is falling down on the job.

From Breakpoint

End Well

2010-03-30T07:39:00.008-04:00

II Kings 20 and 21 are very interesting. The last half of Hezekiah's life is worth some pondering. The other night at the class I take at RTS, Dr. Currid made the statement that it is difficult to end well. I think we might call this Hezekiah syndrome. Here we have a king of Judah, one of the very few, that followed Yahweh with a whole heart. He tears down all the high places, executes who he is supposed to, and does things the right way, Yahweh's way. Then towards the end of his life he is hit with a crisis of faith. He gets very ill. Isaiah comes to him and tells him the sickness is unto death, so get your house in order. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and begins praying and begging God to save him. A good thing you say, yet his prayer shows us where his heart is at this point in his life. He begs God on the basis of his own righteousness.

³ "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: ⁵ "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.' " II Kings 20:3-6

The story doesn't end there. Somewhere along the way Hezekiah entertains some guests in Jerusalem, the palace, and the treasuries in particular, to some officials from Babylon. Oh boy. What does this tell us about the king. He has come to think pretty highly of himself. Even in the above prayer he thinks that he is something else. He has fallen prey to the subtle slimy pit of success. He has been a very successful king up to this point. He has fought battles and won them, he has smashed the high places, defeated the Assyrians, and done it all in the name of the Lord. Success can be very seductive, and we see that Hezekiah fell for it. He pleads his case before God, not as a humble servant, but as a self righteous leader. For not following God's ways there are consequences, and for Hezekiah they are very sad. Back to the story....he shows off the treasuries, and Isaiah finds out and says, "What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

¹⁶Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁷Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. ¹⁸And some of your own sons, who shall be born to you, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." ¹⁹Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?" II Kings 20:16-19
Hezekiah, blinded still by success, comfort and peace, actually "looking good syndrome," has just responded to the whole sale take over of his people as, "well at least there will be peace in my time, my legacy is in tact." Here God through the prophet Isaiah has just said that his unborn, yet to be born sons are going to be eunuchs in Babylon! And all he has to say, is that well at least there will be peace in my time. How sad, and yet how I identify!
This all began with a crisis of faith concerning his sickness. Which causes me to ask some questions of myself. How do I respond in a crisis? Am I able to take good from God and good alone? How much do I count on "my ministry" being successful? How much credit to I take? Do I really see that it is all of God? How about my attitude about any righteousness that I might have or possess? Do I think too highly of myself? Or do I think too lowly of myself? Do I feel sorry for myself for not being as successful as I wish to be?
Dr. Currid said that it is difficult to end well, I think he is right, and we will only by God's grace alone as we humble ourselves before His throne.
Be Thou My Vision
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
2. Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
3. Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
4. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
5. High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

The Power of Movies

2010-03-29T10:18:00.005-04:00

*When I was a Centurion, Chuck Colson's ministry to train men and women for worldview ministry, I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Johnston and to read a couple of his books. Through his influence I started a worldview movie night for women at my church. The first movie we analyzed was The Matrix, pretty fun. Ask Lorraine what that was like! I highly recommend Colson's web site and his resources as a wonderful teaching tool as well as highly informative for you personally. It is choked full. Robert Johnston is just one of many.

PERSPECTIVES:The Power of Movies

By Dr. Robert K. Johnston|Published Date: March 28, 2010

Movies and the Church

Chuck Colson has asked if I would begin a regular column on the church and cinema. And I am happy to do so. Besides being a movie lover himself, Chuck knows that effective engagement with culture by Christians must include the arts as well as politics, the imagination as well as reason, popular culture as well as high culture. Just as we must learn to exegete Scripture, we must also learn to understand and respond to the movies we see. Chuck is right.

The typical American sees more than 45 movies a year. Given that a film takes two hours or so to see, we might reasonably conclude that for even the regular church-goer (only 18 to 20% of our population is in church each Sunday), the stories we see on film consume as much of our time as the Stories we hear in church. And this is for those of us who are regular church attendees. A much smaller percentage also read Scripture regularly outside of church, but similarly there are movie devotees who watch two or three movies a week.

If Christianity is incarnational – that is, if God’s Story is always understand culturally (for example, Luther realized that he must translate the Bible for Germans into the vernacular) – then we must take our context seriously. This is the God-appointed way for the Christian faith to come alive and have the impact God desires it to have. Popular culture, and specifically Hollywood, is a major part of our culture. Though it sometimes needs critique, to ignore it is to shackle the Gospel.

One man’s journey

Perhaps a personal story might be the best way to introduce myself. As a freshman at StanfordUniversity in the sixties, I went on my birthday to see Becket. Nominated for twelve Academy Awards and starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole, the movie tells the story of King Henry II and his drinking buddy, Thomas a Becket. To speak plainly, Henry was a terrible king – whoring, waging war, overtaxing the citizenry. His pleasure and pride were all that seemed to count. No one dared stand in his way except the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had, of course, an independent authority through the Church.

When the Archbishop died, however, the King ingeniously appointed his drinking buddy, Thomas, to the post, assuming that in this way any criticism would soon cease. A brilliant move (!), except that Thomas chose to take his new vocation, his calling to be God’s servant, seriously. If he was now Archbishop, he must serve God and not the King. Henry was livid, but to no avail. It was not long until Thomas was martyred in Canterbury Cathedral on the altar steps.

Becket is a classic. I recommend it highly. But that is not the reason I recount the story. Rather it is because that night in the Varsity Theater in Palo Alto, California, I heard God speak to me, calling me to Christian ministry. You see, my struggle at that time with accepting the call to become a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was my image of the pastor as needing first to be a holy person. My club leader in Young Life, and my youth counselor at my church were such persons in my eyes. And I knew I was no saint; certainly not someone who wanted to be a martyr!

But in the Varsity Theater that night, I heard God saying to me through his Spirit, “You need not be holy. Thomas wasn’t. You only need to be obedient to my call, and I will then make you holy.” I responded and said, “Lord, I want to be loyal to you. Help me be your servant.” Here is the power of the movies.

Transcendent experiences

Last fall in my theology and film class at Fuller Seminary where I teach, I asked all 50 students to share their own personal experiences of the spiritual power of film, if in fact they had had such an experience. About half wrote that they had had similar transcendent experiences at the movies to what I had recounted. Some of the movies that had proven transformative were older classics – Field of Dreams, Shawshank Redemption, Braveheart, The Elephant Man, Forest Gump. Some were of more recent vintage – Bolt, Big Fish, About Schmidt, Traffic, Crash, Lars & the Real Girl.

Interestingly, few of these movies that had changed students’ lives were explicitly religious. In fact, it was only those who said they had never met God at the movies, never had a transcendent moment at the cinema, who listed “religious” movies as spiritually significant – A Walk to Remember, Lord of the Rings, Man on Fire. These movies, they said, had taught them lessons, had reminded them of Christian truth already known. But they had not been transformative. The major exception was Chariots of Fire, which like Becket was a “secular” movie about a Christian hero.

Movies can help us know about God. But they can also, on occasion, help us know God. Hope you’ll join me in our journey each month as we explore the spiritual possibilities of movie-going.

Dr. Robert K. Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller School of Theology in Pasadena, California. Additionally, he serves on the BreakPoint Centurions faculty and the Executive Committee of the City of Angels Film Festival in Hollywood, CA.

Perseverance

2010-03-26T11:21:00.005-04:00

^{II Peter 1:3-11:

3}His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

¹⁰Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, ¹¹and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What happened to a perfectly good word like perseverance? I went to look it up in the ESV and it is practically non-existent. Now I am sure that the godly men who have put their heart and soul into translating the ESV have a wonderful reason for translating the greek word used in the NIV as perseverance, into the ESV word translated as steadfastness, but perseverance gets to me where it hurts. We live in an age of instant everything; instant pudding, instant cameras, instant money from the cash machines, instant gratification. An interesting study would be to compile a list of everything our not so distant relatives had to wait for and the things we don't have to wait for now at all. Steadfastness is a good word too, I am not really knocking it, but even in sounding out the word perseverance it grinds out like a mule grinding corn, round and round and round again.

This whole passage full of instruction that I frankly need in my life right now, but I want to just touch on this word and the action involved in it-perseverance.

Let's first mention who it is that just said that-Peter! Our impetuous, spur of the moment, mutilator of ears, and denying Peter. Wow. What a difference. How is it that he learned these things mentioned above? May I offer one of the ways, through failure. Jesus looked right at Peter after all was said and done, and asked him if he loved him, three times he asked if he loved him, which is the same amount of times that Peter denied him (John 21). Humble yourself Peter, humble yourself before me, don't think you can do it on your own, Peter. Love me, and know that I love you in spite of it all. Know that I can at any given time look into your eyes, into your heart and see exactly what is in it, and I love you in spite of it all. Now, learn. Learn humble yourself, continually. You fell, you fall, humble yourself, see how much you need Me, and go and feed my lambs. Show them that I love them too. Scenes like these have been a part of my experience for many moons. Failure, humility, seeing myself for who I really am, a sinner saved by grace alone, then seeing Him for who He really is, high and exalted, yet willing and able to look at my heart and love me anyway.

This is what perseverance is made of.......Oh, so waiting for my bridegroom...........Lynn

Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoevsky

2010-03-24T11:34:00.002-04:00

I have read The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, but have never read Crime and Punishment. I am already into it by about 40 pages, and have been very moved. I may even like it better than I did The Brothers Karamazov. Below is a Breakpoint (Chuck Colson) commentary on it. Christian author Ken Boa does a marvelous series on the Great Books which you can get on CD from his website. When I taught the Great Books I used his cd's as a resource. They are well done. Anybody want to read Crime and Punishment with me? Let me know. This month he is reading Anna Karenina by Tolstoy which is one of my all time favorite novels. That would be a good one to put on the classic list for us to read together.

The novel tells the story of Raskalnikov, a student in St. Petersburg, Russia. Burdened by the poverty, oppression, and decadence that he sees all around him, Raskolnikov isolates himself from most other human beings. In his self-alienation, he begins to see himself as a superior being, a kind of “superman,” who transcends the moral laws that bind other people. He looks for a way to “validate” himself and his feelings of superiority—a process that Boa calls “suicide by self-affirmation.”

Dostoevsky had lived in Western Europe, and as a Christian, he saw the dangers of its fashionable intellectual ideas like nihilism and utilitarianism. A “pattern in his work,” Boa says, is the conflict of Christianity with utopian worldviews. Dostoevsky wanted to make it clear that “ideas have consequences.”

In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov’s nihilism and utilitarianism lead to his murder of two women. “Under the spell of an idea,” he decided that a miserly old pawnbroker does not deserve to live—and then he kills her sister when she discovers the crime.

Paradoxically, these evil acts become the turning point for Raskalnikov. This “rational and proud” young man, spurred by guilt, begins to move toward “humility” and “openness” to other people. He comes to realize that the moral law that he disdained is written on every human heart, and that he is just as bound by that law as every other human being.

Guided by a young woman named Sonia, who has been forced into prostitution to feed her starving family, Raskolnikov learns that suffering, not rebellion, leads to redemption.

Finally turning himself in, he is sentenced to eight years in a Siberian prison. Still, his repentance is not yet fully genuine. He is still the man who was willing to “sacrifice his existence for an idea.” Only when he realizes that he loves Sonia—that he finally has developed the ability to care for another human being besides himself—is he ready to experience full redemption. The epilogue ends as he begins to read the New Testament that she has given him.

Boa notes that some critics have called this a “weak happy ending,” not understanding that “in . . . the very structure of the novel, we see that the gospel is central within the novel’s plot.” Sonia has acted as a “Christ figure” all along, helping to liberate Raskalnikov from the Nietzschean “will to power” that had enslaved him.

As you can see, Crime and Punishment offers some very sobering and valuable food for thought for us today. As Ken Boa points out, this book helps to show us that we’re still surrounded by the bankrupt worldviews that have descended directly from the utopian ideals of Dostoevsky’s time—and that the way out is not through focus on our self (as our culture teaches us today,) but only through surrender to Christ.

This is What it is All About

2010-03-23T10:20:00.007-04:00

“This knowledge [of our own sinfulness], though it strikes man with terror and overwhelms him with despair, is nevertheless necessary for us in order that, stripped of our own righteousness, cast down from confidence in our own power,deprived of all expectation of life, we may learn through the knowledge of our own poverty, misery and disgrace to prostrate ourselves before the Lord, and by the awareness of our own wickedness, powerlessness, and ruin may give all credit for holiness, power and salvation to him.”

John Calvin Calvin’s First Catechism, A Commentary
From Graced Again.

I was talking to a gal last night who was wondering about why God had put her in the circumstances of being single. She was confused about the expectations people had put upon her, what she thought were the expectations of God, and of course, the desire to be married and raise a family. We all have things in our lives in which we are not happy with, where our expectations have not been met, where we just want what we want and are not getting it. It is the same for all believers. We were not meant to have it all on this earth. We will always be struggling with something, for the above mentioned reason by John Calvin; dependence, seeing our powerlessness so that we will see God for who He is, and ourselves for who we are and depend on Him alone.

Part of our sanctification is the renewal of our mind.

Romans 12:1-2:

^{1 "}Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

God uses various circumstances to do that very thing, change our minds about that which the world tells us is right. God uses His Word in the light of our situation to show us just where our thinking is off base with His. This involves struggle; struggling with what we know to be true about God and that which screams at us everyday via, the media, the pundits, the siren songs of this world. We will never change or renew our minds if we do not face hard things. Those circumstances shows us the false props, the bad thinking, and the ways in which we are dependent on anything but Him. Which would be better, to live in dependence on God, or have just the right circumstances in life to make us dependent on the things the world counts as good? Believe me I say these things with fear and trembling, because I know I have false thinking, false understandings of things. I am struggling now with situations that are in my life that scream at me saying, "this was God's plan, does He really know what He is doing?" The things, circumstances, goodnesses, mercies that God has given me right now, are just that, mercies given to me by the God of all grace, and so are the circumstances that draw me deeper, and deeper into struggle with the Almighty. Pray with me today to be filled with a holy dependence not on the things or blessings that God has given, but the God Himself.

Blessed Be Your Name

by Matt Redman

- - -

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

The Insidiousness of Loneliness

2010-03-19T11:01:00.004-04:00

Loneliness can be a trap laying dangerously in front of us on our journey steeped in the enemies entanglements with the world. The Bible teaches us that we are to be there for our fellow members in the Body of Christ, we are to live out the one anothers of Scripture, we are to live life with one another. All of those are true, yet when those wonderfully, good and sweet tastes of Heaven become the meal, and the goal, then we have lost sight of what the real goal is.

Reading I Kings 17-19 this morning hit this point home to me. Elijah, the man of God that faced off the 400 prophets of Baal, won a tremendous victory for the God of the Hebrews within his own camp. This was not some foreign kingdom, these were the chosen people of God that had prostituted themselves to Baal and Molech. God calls Elijah, he uses him in a mighty way. Then Jezebel says she is going to do to him what he did to her beloved prophets, and he runs. He sits under the broom tree despairing of life, yet God feeds him and gives him gives him drink. He, through the angel of the Lord tells him, "the journey is too much for you so eat and drink." The Lord is taking pity and mercy on Elijah, he fellowships with him, he treats him as a friend would. From there Elijah travels on for 40 days and 40 nights to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai), and hides himself in a cave. God shows up again. Elijah complains again, saying he alone is left to serve him, he alone. God continues to minister to this man of God. He shows him a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, and after the fire, God whispers to him. God once again asks him what is it that you are doing here, Elijah?" Elijah says once again, I alone am left to serve You. I am alone. God gives him a few things to do. He tells him to anoint a Hazael to be king over Syria, anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, and Elisha was to be anointed prophet in his place. The Lord also revealed to him that there are 7,000 faithful in Israel. I don't know about you, but 7,000 is not alone. Elijah leaves and goes to find Elisha, but he doesn't anoint him, and there's no record that he has anointed the above kings either. Elisha says let me go kiss my parents, and Elijah's response is less than enthusiastic. He says to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" (v. 20) Elisha goes kisses his parents, and sacrifices his oxen. God in verse 18 says the people had "kissed" Baal symbolizing that they had abandoned the true God for Baal. Elisha destroys his means of livelihood, kisses his parent and runs to catch up to the pouting prophet Elijah. Elisha has abandoned his home and business for God.

These passages hit me like a ton of bricks. For I, over the last two years have had some of the same complaints (all of this is relative to what Elijah went through, but the application still stands) the same aloneness, and basically the same disobedience that Elijah has. Yet God over and abundantly provided for Elijah. We left a place where I had a lot of really close friends, to a place for the past two years I have felt sorry for myself because God had taken those friendships away. Of course it was all His sovereign plan, so who else can I blame? He has fed me, he has given me companionship through His Spirit, He has been there for me, tenderly showing me who He is and has always been, even in the painful past. I have continued to complain, wanting more than Him. I have fallen into the trap of the insidiousness of loneliness. I deserve these relationships, I want them, I am alone to fight to the battles, and yet God has been there all along. Oh, God please forgive me. Elijah basically, up to this point, has never learned his lesson, yet God never abandons him. I think some where along the way he does learn, grow, and become wiser, and God all along wanted to have fellowship with this lonely, pouting prophet.

Father I repent in dust and ashes. You know that I am but dust, please let me desire nothing on earth besides You.

The Cross

2010-03-17T09:07:00.004-04:00

Easter is coming. We celebrate the resurrection. We celebrate with abandon, but the only way is through the cross. In meditating about Easter you can't get very far without thinking hard and long about the cross. Michael Card years ago called it a violent grace. A man hanging on a tree taking the curse for you and me. You can't have a true resurrection without a death first. Life comes through death, and Christ showed us the way when He hung on the cross.

The cross has become something that modern Christianity doesn't always like to talk about. Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, was shocking to us, and so it should be. Seeing in stark reality what our Saviour and our God went through for us is more than we can handle. The early church did not depict Christ on the cross. The earliest art form that we have discovered where Christ is hanging on a tree dates around 420 A. D. We could stop an wonder at this, but could it be that crosses were too much of a reality in that culture to graphically depict it? Maybe everyone was well aware of what dying on a cross meant. Maybe they had family members that had died in such a gruesome way, too many painful memories. A violent grace, the cross. Meditate with me today about just what it cost our Saviour.

One might lay down his life for a righteous man, but for a sinner such as I?

From a Simple Woman's Day Book

2010-03-16T09:25:00.003-04:00

Idea from Upside Down Bee

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... is a view that I crave, the view of the lake at Tillery, the rolling hills, the beginnings of green shoots, and the water.
I am thinking... about friends from the past and friends in the here and now, and of all the things that I want to get done in a short period of time, and why all the rush?
I am thankful for... New Beginnings.
From the learning rooms...(if this applies) I seem to always be learning about how selfish I can be with my time, and my energy.
From the kitchen... How can I get out of the kitchen.
I am wearing... Still in my pj's.
I am creating... a devotional book for the kids and teens of Advent Church.
I am going... to the grocery store, and to get my nails done, hopefully.
I am reading... Finished a novel by Ted Dekker last night, Green . Now am reading an excellent commentary on Judges, Such a Great Salvation by Dale Ralph Davis, and the book of I Kings.
I am hoping... I can finish the devotional book today.
I am hearing... the birds singing outside in a wonderful symphony of song.
Around the house... is only quiet.
One of my favorite things... to sit here and think and pray.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Several more soccer games, plans with Jessica and Dawn, class at RTS.

Simple Woman's Day Book: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Asleep/Book Review

2010-03-13T16:57:00.005-05:00

Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic that Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries by Molly Caldwell Crosby

The last two times Ken and I have had a date night we have literally gone to the bookstore. Yea, how cool is that! One of the perks of living in the city is the larger stores and offerings that a city has. In Charlotte there is an independent bookseller by the name of Joseph Beth, it is an independent bookstore, but I think there are about five of them across the country. One of the perks of this bookstore is that it has a terrific restaurant. Last night I had the turkey and spinach salad with cranberries and feta cheese, and also the summer squash homemade soup. It was wonderful, I couldn't even finish all of the salad. If you are ever over this way you should stop in and see them and eat while you browse, or eat and then browse.

They have quite a few places to sit and read, so after dinner I found a rocking chair beside the fireplace and finished an entire book. Kind of like going to a movie with your spouse, yet your are reading instead! Ken sat next to me and half way finished the book he was reading.

I picked up a book that I literally couldn't put down. Asleep chronicles some of the case studies of a forgotten epidemic that first appeared in the United States in the 1920's. The disease called sleeping sickness or encephalitis lethargica first had been noticed during WWI in Paris and Vienna. People would just go to sleep, for some up to almost 200 days at a time. The reason it fascinated me so, was that my mother, off and on during my growing up years, would say things like, "oh maybe they have sleeping sickness," or " they sleep so much maybe they have the sleeping sickness." To my surprise, when I picked up the book last night at the bookstore, it really was a real disease. I just thought my mother was making it up. She was born in 1923, and somewhere along the way had heard of this epidemic and it must of made an impression on her.

The author chronicles cases in Europe and then in the United States. Tens of thousands died of the disease, but it was over shadowed by the flu pandemic in 1918 which killed somewhere around 20 to 40 million people worldwide. Sleeping sickness did strike worldwide, but did not kill near as many as the flu did, thus it became the forgotten disease. Actually it was forgotten for several reasons; the flu epidemic, they never understood what the pathogen that caused it was, and to this day the reasons for the disease remain a mystery. One third of the people that caught the disease died, the others that lived had strange neurological symptoms that debilitated them. Many of the people languished in asylums for decades before dying of the disease. Very sad. They would wake up and then sometimes as long as two years later would exhibit sometimes bizarre symptoms called parkinsonism. They would loose the use of their limbs, and the saddest thing of all they would lose their minds.

How sheltered we are as a society. We have never had to encounter an epidemic like the 1918 flu or sleeping sickness. I remember my father talking about how my cousin had polio (before I was born) and had to be in an iron lung for many days, don't remember how many. The disease stunted her growth, left her limbs partially paralyzed and she died at about the age of 30+ from it. We have had many modern medical miracles in my life time. It is staggering to think about the progress we have made. I was completely fascinated by this book. Crosby doesn't just bore you with the facts and the progress that epidemiologists have made towards it, but she tells story after story of actual case studies of real people. That is truly what makes the book worth reading.

On a different note:

I could make an analogy of the progressive era here. I know it is pretty far fetched, but here goes. The twenties ushered in the era of the progressives; Utopian thinking, governmental fixes for all that goes wrong, big government everything, etc..... It seems when the progressives were infiltrating the psyches of the people they were literally falling asleep. They have been in a coma for decades and we as a society better wake up before we have given over all of our freedom to a "progressive" government that wants to rule our lives. I am afraid that there will be "neurological" consequences even if we are able wake up and take back the freedoms that we lost while we were in our slumber, allowing them to take our property, free markets, and God given rights.

The book is fascinating and it gave me a piece of a puzzle from my childhood that I wasn't even aware of as reality.

Rare Jewel of Christian Contenment by Jeremiah Burroughs

2010-03-03T09:14:00.002-05:00

Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

Sovereign Grace Publishers, 99 pages.

Months ago I was reading Christian Classics along with Tim Challies at Challies.com . I had read the previous classics that he was highlighting on his website, but for some reason life took over and I never finished the book on contentment. I have recently picked it back up and, I can't emphasize it enough, every word, every phrase, every sentence is jam packed with profound wisdom. He wrote in the 1600's and his thoughts are just as relevant today as ever. Have you ever struggled with being content? I have and I am.

He writes as a teacher writes to his students, giving them outlines, with headings and sub-headings. Chapter 5 is titled How Christ Teaches Contentment, and the outline is I. The lesson is Self-denial, II. The Vanity of the Creature, etc...etc....Good stuff. I read it in the mornings along with my Bible reading. Even though it is only 99 pages long, the print is horrendous. With my eyes I practically have to have a magnifying glass to read it! But well worth it.

I would recommend you reading it, and if you need Bible Study material it would be very helpful to glean from on the topic.

Blessed are the Meek

2010-03-03T08:06:00.004-05:00

“Blessed are the meek,”

-Meek means being done with ourselves.

Prisons come in all shapes and sizes. Prisons of our own making usually are padded with faded dreams, expectations and heart breaks. Oh, don’t get me wrong, most of them are all good things. A friendship gone wrong, expectation of life, loves, children, husbands, God-All begun with hope that would lead to peace, contentment, and happiness. A prison of our own making starts out with wonderful things with all sorts of promises. The bars are made of the steel of dreams gone bad. It happens slowly at first. Picking yourself up by the bootstraps, trusting in you own way of dealing with dreams gone bad, visions that don’t fit with your expectations of what life is supposed to send your way. The prison bars are constructed slowly-you begin with a little, but before long you are caught in a prison that has such a hold on your heart you can’t see God in your life at all. The prison bars have been sheet-rocked solid, tight. God is there. He is always with us. He is with us in the prison as He was with Daniel in his prison, and in the prison of our own making that He has allowed. If we took a hack saw and begin sawing the sheet rock, and cutting through the steel bars-will that free us? When and if we ever get free what does true freedom feel like? If you have lived in a prison long enough you don’t really want to be free-its scary-

What does this have to do with being meek? Go back to our definition –Meekness is being done with ourselves. The only reason we are in our prisons is because self is possessing us.

Turn to Psalm 73 Read all

Sigh-“Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” But maybe not to me! Only those other guys.

My kids are not perfect, my husband can be so very human, I have problems with my time, my house, my schedule, my mother, my friends (oh yea, I forgot this week I have no friends because so and so didn’t say anything to me at church-they must not “really” be my friend)-

Try to follow along in your outline-The consequences of envy are very destructive. Envy cuts through to our contentment, our joy, because it makes self prominent. That’s why this passage is so very relevant to being meek. We begin to believe God is good to everyone-but us; because we didn’t get what we wanted. The wicked, according to Asaph, have prosperity, health, and are completely burden free. God’s goodness, because of envy, is despised, not believed, and “our” truth becomes irrational. I don’t honestly think (as opposed to feel) that anyone is burden free. Another consequence to envy is our theology (what we know about God, becomes unknowable. God is good, but not in this situation. Maybe, I don’t really know God at all (v. 11). We begin to believe that God is no longer trustworthy or reliable. This leads us to those prison bars being erected all around us; not just around our hearts, but our minds as well. We then begin to believe and act like it all depends on me. Look at verses 13-16; READ

God I have been so good, I have given to my church, my family-I have gone the extra mile and given my cloak-But it was all for naught-It was in vain-for nothing, because YOU didn’t do what I wanted or expected you to do-esp. for all my sacrifices. Trials are for my good-but I can see no good from this, and if I tell or if I’m honest with somebody about this it might mar your reputation (v. 16). Are we more worried about what others think of God, or what others are thinking of us? Have you ever felt like that? If I’m known-if people really knew me, my situation, or what was really going on in my heart-they too would stop trusting you. Oh, that is the height of pride (v. 16). “It was oppressive to me.” “God opposes or oppresses the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

The consequences of being dependent on your self are myriad. Let’s look at the few in this passage. In verses 13-17 the word “I”is used 10 times in 5 verses. You become self absorbed. You don’t possess what others have, so you are live in a pity-party of selfishness. The illusion here is suicide-life is no longer worth living. We believe that God is good to everyone, but us… Our heart becomes grieved and embittered (v. 21) and I have become a brute beast (v. 22). We no longer see reality.

Let me take off on a Rabbit Trail-The Psalmist here is very upset because he envies the possessions of others-specifically the wicked. Verse 9 says, “There mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth." This is a complete anti-thesis of our verse in Matthew. about being Meek. The meek-those that are done with themselves-will inherit the earth. Let’s contrast this with possessing the earth.

Look at Luke 9:23-25

“Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very soul?”

Meek means to be done with self-loose your life-gain your soul.

Let me tell you a very hard truth that these passages reveal to us-Freedom, from our prisons, only comes as we possess nothing. Put another way; in order to be free we must possess nothing, but Christ. When we possess we hold on to. Meek means to be done with whatever the self is holding on to-Christ said we are to lose your life-and you will gain your soul-inherit the earth means we have it all!

Back to Psalm 73:17-This is how Reality is Restored-it’s restored through God’s perspective (v. 18) We begin to see life as it really is, people for who they really are, and we begin to replace our envy with compassion. People last for eternity, and God’s justice will be accomplished. Our reality is not only restored concerning life and people, but ourselves as well verse 23-I am always surrounded by God’s presence-It never left me-even in the prison cell. Finally reality is restored about God Himself. Verse 24-26 No one on earth do I desire besides you-I have you-I possess nothing and have it all at the same time. Verse 28 but as for me this is repeated from before-“it is good to be near God” God is good to me-and He always will be. When I trust in His goodness He makes me done with myself which makes me humble, grateful, and trusting. And this in turn gives me a love for the lost-“I will tell of your deeds.”

Isn’t it interesting as we consider the verse on meek, that meek means an open hand not possessing anything, and yet the second half of the verse has to do with having all things. This is one of the grand paradox’s of the Christian life, like being in the world and yet not of the world. You see Christians going to both extremes-hiding in their Christian ghettos never touching the world and therefore being irrelevant or to the opposite extreme-adopting everything concerning, yearning so for the world that they also are completely irrelevant. The Christian life is to be lived somewhere in the middle, in the trenches, in the battle, by faith. The paradox between having no possessions yet possessing all has two extremes as well. The monastics lived in monasteries possessing no worldly goods, having no family, having no trade, and they ended up, as a whole, being irrelevant to transforming culture. On the other extreme you have those who hoard away their possession, protecting their things (people, children, possessions) because they can’t trust God for them. We sometimes say, “My daughter/son can’t marry or be a missionary and travel across the world taking my grandchildren. I can’t get involved with people or get too close-they might move away, I might get hurt…” Let me warn you this only leads to prison cells. The Christian life is to be lived radically somewhere in the middle-by faith trusting God to always be good and to actually believe that He is Lord and we are to radically live for His kingdom-on the job, in our homes, everywhere-that’s what we are called to do-our focus is to be living and working for the advancement of His kingdom. What I mentioned before about being in a battle-The battle doesn’t happen on either side of these extremes. The battle occurs in the middle when you are walking by faith.

Our Psalm ends with being free from our prison of envy that we are truly meek, trusting so radically in the sovereign Lord that He is our refuge-and we tell others of His deeds.

Graced Again

2010-03-02T08:37:00.002-05:00

“Men who are not secure in Christ cast about for spiritual life preservers with which to support their confidence, and in their frantic search they not only cling to the shreds of ability and righteousness they find in themselves, but they fix upon their race, their membership in a part, their familiar social and ecclesiastical patterns and the culture as a means of self-recommendation. The culture is put on as though it were armor
against self-doubt, but it becomes a mental straitjacket which cleaves to
the flesh and can never be removed except through comprehensive faith in
the saving work of Christ.” Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life

Gracedagain is compiled by Tom Wood, Church Multiplication Ministries, a non-profit, whose mission is starting, strengthening, multiplying grace-centered churches through consults and coaching church planting pastors, leaders and emerging leaders.

Sign up on the web; http://www.gracedagain.com

By Faith

2010-03-01T20:05:00.005-05:00

John 5:14-22

14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working."18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.

Go and sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. What could be worse than being an invalid for thirty-eight years? Jesus had just begun working in this man’s life. Just beginning a journey where upon the man would see that there are worse things that can happen to you besides being an invalid for thirty-eight years. Often when we first come to Christ it is out of a physical need, an emotional upheaval, or something that has knocked us for a loop. Even if you have known Jesus all your life (it seems) you will come to a time of great need when it is not your parents turning to Christ for you, but you will turn to Him all by yourself. This man began his journey with great physical needs, and Jesus points him in the direction of the exploration of his sins. Wait a minute, does this mean Christ is saying that the man is responsible for his physical condition? No, but Jesus is always taking us one step further, maybe farther than we want to go. He is nudging him toward truth. The truth is that he was powerless toward his illness, and he is powerless to do anything about his sin as well. Jesus is not sending him into some “works” righteousness kind of mentality. This man will see that there really are worse things than the pain of lying by a pool, friendless, and powerless for thirty-eight years. Has Jesus led you down that path too? Where you feel absolutely powerless to anything about your sin, in whatever form yours comes in? That is exactly right where Jesus wants you! He took care of your sin on the cross, and paid the penalty for that sin, not just in a salvation kind of way either. He wants you to depend on Him for it all. The Galatians were “bewitched,” as Paul said, by thinking that grace was a thing that only applied to salvation, then we work for everything else. Listen to this:

1”O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith."

You will more and more understand the depths of your sin, and the depths of Christ’s love for you, by faith. He is always leading us towards this point, by faith. ‘For the righteous shall live by their faith.”

More on Nathaniel

2010-02-28T20:36:00.003-05:00

John 1:45-50

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

More concerning our friend, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel, oh how I identify with him! Cynic that he is, skeptic and someone who’s heard it all before, is Nathaniel. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth, he says? What do I doubt, what do you doubt? What are you cynical about? Can anything good come out of the political landscape today? What about different dynamics of church, and home life? Promises, promises-broken-I’ve heard it all before. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Can Jesus really be for real?

Jesus’ remark here is astounding. He says-“Behold, an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” Jesus knows Nathaniel’s weakness and his strengths, and they are all summed up in that one statement. At first glance, we might think that Jesus is praising him, which He is, and He is affirming, validating, even his sarcasm, but Jesus also tells him that he saw him under the fig tree-that He saw him, that he knows him. Nathaniel knew then that the Son of God looked right through him, right deep down into his sarcastic, cynical soul, knew him, and loved him. At that point Nathaniel must have seen a mirror pointing at his face-the games he had seen played out all around him, he had played as well. He had hidden. He had not been completely truthful when it came to himself. It is all well and good to be truthful about others sin, but not about his own. Jesus, tongue in cheek, was saying –“Oh, Nathaniel, you are a man who doesn’t think anyone tells the truth anymore-except you. So you think you tell the truth, right out there, say what you mean, but, I saw you, I know you, you are just as deceitful as all the rest. Jesus says He saw Nathaniel hiding, or maybe he was pulling a fast deal under that fig tree. Whatever Nathaniel was doing, hiding or doing something unsavory, Jesus saw Him and He knew him, and He called him to follow Him, in spite of knowing all about him. Amazing!

No Fear

2010-02-26T08:51:00.011-05:00

"There is no fear in love..." What does that really mean? No fear of punishment, no fear of retribution. I understand that part. Christ took our punishment. I no longer fear His wrath. Is that all that this statement is referring to? Not that that is not enough. Not having to fear that my sins will somehow eternally come back to haunt me, that the nameless fears of who and what I really am will not swallow me up and suck me down into a tube of black that will drown me in the end. That is no small thing. What about the fears that ravish my mind and hold me back from living the way the Lord of love wants me to live? Fear is a constant in my life. Fear of so many things. Fear of not really being loved, delighted in, cherished. Yes, God loves me enough to take care of my eternal state, but what about the everyday deep, deep longings that eat at my heart. You know those desires that want someone or something to treasure me. I think I stopped longing quite a while ago, lest I be disappointed all over again. I have looked for this kind of delight in human beings, and they come up short every time. Those that I truly love are left wanting in my presence as well. Is there really a love that satisfies the cavernous well that is bored into my heart? If we are always afraid, then we will never love, and fear leads to anger, resentment and disappointment. Been there, done that. I have also thought I could love God in a vacuum. Love without any expectations whatsoever. All this does is lead me to denial. A love that casts out fear, is one that lives in the dirt, the mire, the sin of everyday life. A love like that is completely a God thing and will not be achieved any other way except through the love of the Holy Spirit.

I John 4:10-21 (ESV)

10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Isn't it interesting that John here says no one has ever seen God. Don't you feel the weight of that sometimes. If only I could talk to Him face to face, then I would really feel His love, be able to love others, heck I could even love my family the way He wants me too! I see the ones that I want to love all the time and they see me. I see the way they take me for granted, the same way I do them, the way they are selfish, the same way I am....ad infinitum! I sin everyday, they sin everyday, and they are the only ones I have ever seen! Then I enter the sanctuary of God and see Him. His love is on a completely different plane than I can ever imagine. His love is something that I will contemplate for eternity. My pittance of what I call love is always hidden in the muck and the mire of my sin, their sin, and the worlds sin. That is why we start with the fear of the Lord, how ironic. To cast fear out we combat it with the fear of a different color. I have to humble myself before the only one who really knows everything about true love, and then I proceed to love, if ever so dimly, like He did, in the sin of everyday life. Isn't that what He did? He loved us first, then He proceeded towards the cross. It seems I really don't know love at all.