Donny In Seminary

Books of 2011

2012-01-02T11:21:00.000-05:00

Here are the books I read in 2011. I'll list any book which I read at least 50% of in 2011. Books only partially finished will be noted with an * and books read on my Kindle will be noted with a "k." I'll comment on the books as warranted:

What are People For?, Wendell Berry - a Kentucky farmer who looks at life from a much needed perspective. You won't agree with everything he says, but you will look at rural areas and people with a new appreciation and question some of your most basic assumptions about Western life. Everyone should read something by Berry.
Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen - A classic. Machen rips off the facade of liberal Christianity and calls it what it is; a different religion.
To Change the World, James Hunter* - I didn't finish To Change the World, but I did drive Dr. Hunter to the airport after he lectured at RTS. He is very engaging, passionate, and brilliant. It was a real treat to spend 30 minutes chatting with him.
Culture Making, Andy Crouch
Christ and Culture, Richard Niebuhr
Handbook on the Prophets, Robert Chisholm
Doctrine of the Christian Life, John Frame
Bioethics and the Christian Life, David VanDrunen* - VanDrunen is an advocate of Two Kingdoms theology and it presents itself in his bioethics by seemingly advocating for a type of morality for believers and an ambivalence toward the actions of unbelievers.
Making Biblical Decisions, Franklin Payne*
In Living Color: Images of Christ and the Means of Grace, Danny Hyde - Does the 2nd Commandment apply to Jesus?
The Death of Adam, Marilynne Robinson
Republocrat, Carl R. Trueman
Justification, James Buchanan - a great book on justification (this must come as a surprise given the clever title) written in the 19th century.
Justification, NT Wright - a not as great book on justification. Maybe from here on out we can all just agree that if you write a book on justification, you need to come up with a better title than just "Justification."
Sex, Economy, Freedom, & Community, Wendell Berry*
The Deep Things of God, Fred Sanders - Sanders unpacks (as much at mere mortals can) how the Trinity affects everything and why this is a central and crucial doctrine of the Christian faith. If you don't believe in the Trinity you aren't Christian (this means Mormons are not Christian. Period.)
Living in God's Two Kingdoms, David VanDrunen
Concise Reformed Dogmatics, J. van Genderen* - Okay, I didn't really read 50% of this because it is a really big book. I mostly just wanted to be able to put it on the list because a books that contain the word "dogmatics" in the title always look impressive.
The Making of a Leader, J. Robert Clinton (no relation to #42 or the Sec. of State)
To Be Told, Dan Allender - Allender helps you discover the story God has been writing in your life and how to get in step with him in crafting a beautiful ending.
Tilt, Small Shifts in Leadership that Make a Big Difference, Erik Rees, Jeff Jernigan - not worth your time
Why We Love the Church, Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck - k (that second k wasn't a typo, I read it on my Kindle)- I really liked this book and think more evangelicals ought to read it.
Ten Myths About Calvinism, Ken Stewart - Or ten ways I want to distance myself from "those" Calvinist and still be friends with Arminians. There were parts of this book that I really liked and other parts seemed like an unnecessary apology to a non-issue, kinda like water apologizing for being wet.
Prodigal God, Tim Keller
Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People Vol. 2, Michael Craton - Best history of the Bahamian people you'll ever read...heck, who are we kidding, you're never gonna read a history of the Bahamian people. But if you do...this is the one.
The Rage Against God, Peter Hitchens - I thought this was going to be the story of Peter Hitchen's journey from atheism to belief. It really was Peter Hitchen's argument for why atheism leads to socialism and then why that's a bad thing, interspersed with his personal anecdotes from living in Moscow in the eighties. Nonetheless, it was an engaging read from the brother of the recently deceased archbishop of atheism, Christopher Hitchens.
Who Chose the Gospels?, Charles Hill - This was written by one of my professors from RTS. If you want an easy to read book that completely debunks the theory that the early church just picked out the four gospel account which were most politically expedient...then look no further.
God So Loved He Gave, Kelly Kapic and Justin Borger - This is a really great book if for no other reason than I made the Acknowledgments (Justin is one of my closest friends from seminary). This is a look at the Redemptive Historical story of the Bible through the lens of generosity. It is a much needed adjustment to our consumptive American evangelicalism.
The Art of Prophesying, William Perkins - not what you think. Perkins was the Father of English Puritanism and this was his text book on preaching.
The Book of Exodus, Brevard Chiles* - best technical commentary on Exodus
Exodus, NIV Application Commentary, Peter Enns* - best overall commentary on Exodus
Living for God's Glory, Joel Beeke - k
The Gospel in the Pentateuch, Henry Law - k
A Golden Chain, William Perkins - k
Beer if Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing, Charles Bamforth - k - if you like beer, this is a really neat read. Bamforth is a professor of brewing at UC Davis (who knew you could major in Brewing?) which means he is an organic chemist who loves beer. The spiritual aspect of the book is blech ...but when he talks about beer it is fascinating.
The Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology, Geerhardus Vos - k
Provocations, Soren Kierkegaard - k - I'm not really sure how to get that "o" with a slash through it.
Affirming the Apostles' Creed - JI Packer
The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism, Kevin DeYoung and Jerry Bridges - Another good one from DeYoung and somebody else.
Renewing Your Mind, RC Sproul

Currently, almost all of my books are in storage in a container somewhere in Orlando. I miss them. Soon, we'll actually end this transitional period and have a home in New Jersey. Until then, all my books sit in a box which is in a bigger box which is stored in a yet bigger box somewhere in Central Florida...kinda like the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones only nobody's face will melt off when they open up my books.

The Places of 2011

2012-01-01T23:10:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted in quite some time. The main reason is reflected in the variety of places of 2011. This has been quite the transitional year: a new baby, graduating, moving overseas, candidating for pastoral positions, accepting a call, moving back to the US, and leaving Florida for good. Here are my places of 2011. Again, the rules are that I must have spent at least one night during 2011 for it to make the list.

-Orlando, FL - This was home base for most of the year.
-Winter Park Hospital, Winter Park, FL - Okay, Winter Park is really just a neighborhood in Orlando, but it gets a special mention because we kicked off the year with the surprise early delivery of our youngest, William Oliver. Highlight of the year!
-Virginia Beach, VA - PCA General Assembly
-Freeport, Bahamas - After graduation I accepted an interim pastoral position at Lucaya Presbyterian Church in Freeport. What a tremendous blessing! Who knew I'd spend 5 months after graduation in the Bahamas?
-Alamogordo, NM and El Paso, TX - What a unique part of the country! The desert and mountains were gorgeous.
-New Providence & Summit, NJ - This part of NJ must be why it is called the "Garden State." What a lovely area! I came to New Jersey twice this year to candidate at Covenant Presbyterian in Short Hills, NJ. Kim and I are super excited to be moving there in 2012.
-Plant City, FL - The Strawberry capital of the world. If you have strawberries in your fridge they probably came from Watsonville, CA (these are probably poisonous and have been shown by "science" to cause a condition known as "hot-dog fingers.") or Plant City, FL (sweet, juicy, and delicious). My sister and brother-in-law live in this quaint little town.
-Brandon, FL - Visiting the folks
-Chattanooga, TN - the Motherland. We're here in Chattanooga until we move to New Jersey around the end of January. It has been so good to be around mountains again.

The First Next Step

2011-05-23T11:56:00.001-04:00

Seminary is over. Perhaps the most difficult part of the last few weeks has been accepting the fact that this chapter has concluded. I liked this chapter. Some chapters of books can stand alone as great works in and of themselves. I think of the “Grand Inquisitor” from Dostoyevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. That chapter was Dostoyevsky’s dealing with his own lack of faith in a haunting and chilling way. It is brilliant and you can read that chapter without reading the whole book. But it, like any single chapter, is better in the context of the whole book. The seminary chapter of my life was great. I’d like to think it could serve as a stand alone story, but it is better in the context of the whole.

So, the question is…what’s the next chapter? I’ve been praying about the next chapter ever since I started the previous one. And the Lord, in His graciousness, has provided the first “next step” for us. In a few weeks time, our family will pack up and move to Freeport, Bahamas.

I have accepted an interim pastoral position at LucayaPresbyterian Church (EPC) in Freeport, Bahamas. We will be there at least through the end of August. They are currently searching for a full-time pastor and I will help them fill in the gap until the right man is found. This is a great opportunity for me to get some more experience preaching and beginning to exercise the gifts the Lord has given me. And while we would have made the same decision if the location had been in, say…Iowa (nothing against Iowa, Kevin Costner thinks it’s darn near “heavenly.”), it doesn’t hurt that the church is located mere miles from some of the most beautiful water in the world. Make no mistake, though, this is not a vacation, I’m there to work…but we’ll manage to find time for some fun too! I will be preaching weekly, leading a Bible Study and prayer meeting, and doing some pastoral visitation.

I do solicit your prayers. I’ve never preached on a weekly basis. It will be a totally different kind of work week for me. Please pray that God’s Word would fall on fertile ground (first in my heart and then in the hearts of the people) as I preach each week. But even before we begin this, we have to pack up our house in Orlando, say our goodbyes, and prepare to leave for several months. Leaving is always a difficult thing. We are made to live in time and space. We are made to occupy a particular place. One can’t help but develop roots in a place and every move requires those roots to be dug up. It is a bittersweet time. We are so excited for this next chapter. But starting this chapter means that the last one is done. We’re excited for the what lies ahead but we mourn what we’ll leave behind.

And we’ve only been given this first “next step.” We don’t know where the Lord will take us after our time in the Bahamas. We’ve applied with several churches. We trust the Lord that there is a church looking for us as we look for them. But we don’t yet know where that is. Again, we solicit your prayers. We are learning how to trust the Lord in new and exciting ways. That’s the positive way of saying that we are living in anxiety producing times. Like many lessons, however, experience is the best teacher. But all things being equal, I wish I could just read about it in a book. Thankfully, God is a good story-teller. He’s writing a great work in my life and I’m hopeful that this next chapter will outshine the previous one.

The End is Just a Means to an End

2011-05-19T23:59:00.000-04:00

So, this is it? I finished my last exam of my last class of my last semester of my last year of seminary. It is finished. To be honest, it was kind of anticlimactic. You’d like to hear sirens, bells, or whistles go off…but no such luck. I turned in my final and shook the Registrar’s hand. He whispered, “Congratulations.” I whispered back, “Thank you.” There you go. I’m done. I milled about the school for a little while, not really wanting to acknowledge that it was over.

I’m really going to miss that place. RTS has been really good to me. I’ve come to love the professors, administrators, and staff. I love the library. I love the bookstore. I love hanging out with all the other students. And I’ve done well there. I’ve received grades that far exceed my acquisition of knowledge (maybe I shouldn’t admit this until after graduation). I’ve been given great leadership opportunities. I’ve made connections with some of the brightest minds in the Church. But now it’s over.

I was walking toward the door to leave…and I couldn’t do it. I made a detour into the bookstore. I didn’t need to go into the bookstore, but I had to delay my walking out the door and finalizing the end of my student days at RTS.

Going into seminary I knew that it is a means and not an end. Seminary is path to be trod and not a destination. But I got comfortable there. Life was pretty good there. Why would I want to leave?

I’m struggling with the reality that the dominant metaphor of life is a pilgrimage. We are all pilgrims on a journey. In John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, the protagonist, Christian, is relieved of his burden of sin early in the book. The vast majority of the book is not about Christian’s need for forgiveness of sin. It is about Christian’s journey through this world to the world which is to come. While it would be easier for him to stop and live in one of the many places along the way, those are not his final destination. Those stops will never satisfy.

The vast majority of our lives is not about the removal of our sin. Don’t misunderstand, that is crucial and without it none of the other stuff happens. But the vast majority of our lives is a pilgrimage to the Holy City. We live in what is called the “Already and Not Yet.” We are already citizens of that city. We are already in Christ. We are already fully justified in Christ and adopted by the Father. But we are not yet in that city. We do not yet see things are they are. We look through a mirror darkly. We are not yet free of this body of sin. We are not yet glorified with new bodies. We do not yet have every tear wiped away by Jesus himself. We are already and not yet.

Kim and I came to seminary because we believe that the LORD has gifted and called me to shepherd his flock by pastoring in the local church. To stop at seminary because it is comfortable, because it is nice, because we’re happy is to miss the whole point. Similarly, to stop in my Christian life once I’ve experienced the forgiveness of sin is to miss the whole point. Yes, Jesus came to die for your sins…but there is so much more! There is a pilgrimage to be made. There is a greater goal than your personal happiness and well-being. There is the greatness of our God and His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven! This is not the end.

God Never Wastes Suffering

2011-02-08T21:00:00.004-05:00

This is an article I wrote for our church in light of our situation with Will(which has been resolved) and several other situations in our church family. I continue to be saddened by the suffering that those around me experience and yet hopeful for what God is doing in its midst.
____________________________________

The past few weeks have been trying for our church family. I have been so impressed by how we have rallied around the ICU; for Kim and me with Will’s premature birth and now for the Owen family as Nick battles for his life. These could be added to various trials many others are facing, such as the Butterfield’s year-long ordeal with a whole host of issues. Every one of us is probably dealing with some sort of suffering in some manner or another. These events try our faith and test our belief in a good and sovereign God.

What are we to make of suffering? This is an issue with which philosophers and theologians have always wrestled. The Biblical truth is that God never wastes suffering, and neither should we. When the early Church Fathers were formulating the Apostles’ Creed, they summarized the whole activity of Jesus’ life by saying “He suffered.” This is hard for our American Christian ears to hear. So much of our culture is predicated on the avoidance of suffering. Think about all the advertising with which you are bombarded on a daily basis. Every bit of it tells you that you don’t have to suffer if you would only buy this product or use this service. But God can use suffering to tear away the façade and to teach us lessons that would otherwise be unheard.

Suffering has a purpose. “The testing of our faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-4). “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:1-4). The idea that suffering is out of the ordinary for Christians is a concept foreign to the pages of Scripture. Suffering and trials are a part of our life. And God intended it that way. He uses it to work out faith in the lives of His people. And we would do well not to short circuit the process. Rather, we need to see our sufferings as a conduit to faith. This doesn’t necessarily dull the pain we feel or the heartache we experience but it does give a purpose. Suffering should point us to the ultimate reality of God. When our ultimate reality is God our perspectives are changed. The minor things in life no longer seem so important. Our hearts are more captivated by that which is major. In the midst of suffering the truth of the Gospel takes on a depth that is otherwise unknown. Halfway through our NICU stay a nurse pulled me aside and said, “You know, this experience is going to make you a better pastor.” I replied, “Sure, but I wish I could have just read about it in a book.” We don’t like suffering, but God uses it for His glory in our lives. Suffering is a reality of living in a fallen world. As believers we can either run from it or seek the LORD in it. John Piper wrote a book “Don’t Waste Your Life,” and when he was diagnosed with cancer, he wrote an article titled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” I have been struck by Piper’s idea of not wasting our suffering. God doesn’t waste suffering and neither should we. Here are three ways to assure that our suffering is not wasted.

Acknowledge that God is sovereign and he allowed whatever suffering we face for our good. This truth can be hard to swallow. It becomes impossible to accept when we fail to see our lives in the light of eternity. But we must remember that not a single molecule of the Universe is outside of the sovereign control of God. What others may intend for evil, God intends for good (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28).
Seek our comfort in God and not in relief from suffering. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Ps 20:7). In our day and age, we are blessed with such amazing medical advancements. Medically, we can do things which were only dreamt of a generation ago. And yet suffering remains. God will use this to remind us that He and He alone is our comfort. If we find our comfort in doctors and medicine or in anything else that offers relief, we will only be disappointed.
Take the opportunity to join with those who suffer by giving. The early church saw tremendous growth through its willingness to sacrifice for those who suffered. When babies were abandoned in ancient Rome, the Christians would rescue them and raise them (much to the consternation of the Roman officials). When plague and disease ran rampant in communities, the Christians stayed and ministered to the sick and dying. The Church was and continues to be built through generous giving. In the midst of suffering you and I have the privilege of giving our time, our money, our skills, and maybe even our lives to join with those in need. This is what Christ did for you. This is what it means to be generous with your life. This is what it means to live out the Gospel for others.

God never wastes suffering. If we do not look for the LORD in the midst of trials then we will miss that purpose and we will waste our suffering. You are not alone. Christ has given himself to enter into our suffering and he will supply every one of your needs (Phil 4:19). May God be glorified in our suffering.

All are Home and Accounted For

2011-01-18T22:27:00.007-05:00

Our days in the NICU are over. Praise the LORD!
Kim and I went in this morning and Will had met all the benchmarks to be discharged. It was weird actually putting him in real clothes and his car seat today. He only looks like he was strapped in for a space shuttle launch. In reality it's just a Chevy Venture...but it does have leather seats and cruise control. But it was good to say a final good-bye to the nurses. They were great, but it's nice to not be seeing them on a regular basis. It was sad that I started to figure out the work rotation schedule.We're thankful for this process. Kim and I have been so encouraged by how so many friends and families rallied to watch Hunter and Millie, cook meals, and just generally do anything we needed. I'm pretty sure I could have started making completely random requests and someone would have done it.
"Hey friend, remember when you said call if we needed anything? Well, I need a fake mustache just like Tom Selleck's."
"Sure thing. Do you want it like Magnum PI or the new one with touch of gray like Blue Bloods?"
"Magnum PI."
"Give me twenty minutes."
I mean, I never needed a fake mustache much less one that looks like Tom Selleck's, but if I did you guys would have gotten it to me. I can't really say how much you all mean to us. I haven't even mentioned how you prayed for us. I know you prayed for us because when I made jokes at inappropriate times, Kim laughed.We are so glad to be home. It is a little weird, though. Around 5pm, I started getting that feeling like I was running late. Usually we were getting ready to head back to the hospital at that time. We've also been letting the nurses change all the diapers. Well, the nurses ain't around no more. So we're back to the diaper changing routine. Sometime when I'm feeling especially excited about changing diapers I'll post Martin Luther's comments on diapers. It'll make you rethink baby poo...but in a good way.
Now the real fun begins. We're so blessed that the LORD has allowed us to have Will. Kim and I have the privilege to raise him and his brother and sister in the fear and admonition of the LORD. I was encouraged at church on Sunday as I led the congregation in reading Psalm 127. The second half of the psalm says:
³Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
⁵Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Tomorrow Is The Day (We Hope)

2011-01-17T20:08:00.002-05:00

If all goes well tonight, Will is going to be discharged in the morning! He's been feeding well. Several of the nurses told us that often the nursing just clicks for the baby. One time he struggles and the next time he guzzles. They didn't say it like that, but maybe I'll pass it on to them. It's kinda catchy.
Kim and I left the hospital around lunch time. My mom was coming back from Tampa with Hunter and Millie. I told Kim, "Let's grab lunch somewhere." Kim said, "I'm not that hungry. I think I'll just get something at home." I replied, "You could do that, but this is going to be the last chance for a long while when you and I can eat out alone." She quickly replied, "Panera it is." I'm in a little bit of panic mode right now. We've got a baby coming soon. We're still nearly three weeks ahead of schedule.
We've got the car seat out of storage. I found another small box of newborn clothes. We been slowly accumulating diapers. I think it will all come together. Cause the lil' dude is coming home whether we're ready or not. And I couldn't be happier.

It's Time to Hit the Training Table

2011-01-16T22:36:00.003-05:00

Will is doing well. Now our only goal for him is to develop in feeding. He needs to be able to eat from a bottle or nursing consistently for two days. We're hoping that by mid-week we're checking out of the Hotel NICU. It gets a little harder each day to leave the little guy.
Today was a good day on the feeding front. Will took a full feeding from a bottle. He took a full feeding nursing. These are both firsts. If you really want all the details, feel free to email or call and I'll tell you that you really should get out more.
My sister and Mom have taken Hunter and Millie to Tampa for the weekend. They'll get back home tomorrow. We'll then start trying to adjust to our new normal. That should be fun. Please keep our family in your prayers. We can't do this without you.
Speaking people without whom we couldn't have done this. This is one of our favorite nurses. I'm posting her picture because she's going to be taking three days off and I'm hoping that we don't see her again. That's kinda what I tell every nurse whenever they start their off days. It's nothing personal, we just wanna get outta there.

Look Ma, No IV!

2011-01-15T23:02:00.003-05:00

Sorry that I didn't update yesterday. I was just too dadgum tired. I'm sure you understand. Here are the developments since I last wrote. Will had viral meningitis caused by an enterovirus. All of the lab results indicated that he doesn't have a bacterial infection. With those results the doctors felt that is was time to remove the IV. This is great because they had been using a vein in his head for his IV. Apparently veins in babies' arms and legs are small. This makes sense. You never see newborns with bulging bodybuilder veins. That would be freaky. But, babies do have great veins in their heads, so they often get IVs in the head. But anytime you stick something in to someone's scalp you never think, "This is normal, everything is okay." Nope, if you have something stuck in your scalp, you want it out. And the good news is that Will's IV is out. This is also good news because it also means that Will no longer needs to receiving any medication or fluids through an IV.So, now Will is all clear on the breathing/lung front. He is all clear on the meningitis front. He's even wearing clothes. Until now he'd been kickin' it in a diaper and blankets (only because they don't make a Snuggie in his size). Now we are only waiting for him to pick up the strength and coordination to nurse. He still receives milk through a feeding tube in his nose several times a day. We're slowly working on introducing feeding by bottle and nursing. Once he can do this we'll all be home. We're really really really looking forward to that.
As you pray for us, please pray that nursing would just click for Will. We've been told that sometimes the baby will just all of a sudden get it. We're still waiting for that. It can't come soon enough. We also need strength. The longer this more tired we get. It's like we got lined up for a race and the starter pistol went off and we started sprinting. That sprint slowed to a run and then to a jog. Now we're beginning to think that knowing the distance of the race would really help us in pacing.

Enterovirus!!!

2011-01-13T23:19:00.003-05:00

I never thought I’d be happy to say this but I am thrilled to say that Will has/had the enterovirus! I’ve never prayed for one of my children to have a virus. Will’s lab results came back positive for the enterovirus. He was negative for the more serious viruses that can cause meningitis. His body has already or nearly kicked the enterovirus, so this is a good step in the right direction. We are still waiting for some lab results that will help us rule our any bacterial infection. Lord willing, we’ll be off antibiotics tomorrow.

Our final benchmark is Will’s feeding. He nursed twice today, but he still needs to get stronger. He will feed by mouth 3 times a day until he is able to increase. Once he is able to nurse well on his own then we should be able to bring Will home. I can’t tell you how much we are looking forward to that.

My sister has come over from Tampa to stay with the kids while Kim and I go to the hospital during the day. She also bought us meat. But not just meat, steaks. And not just steaks, but steaks in bulk from Costco. But wait, there’s more! (Sounds like Billy Rubin) We also got bacon. So what do you do with steaks and bacon? You take bacon and wrap it around the steak. That’s right, meat wrapped around meat! Can it get better than this? Maybe only if you could inject meat into the meat and then wrap it with meat…but now I’m just talking nonsense.

Thanks for praying for our family. We’re so thankful for all the Lord has done. We have been blessed with three great kids. We’re looking forward to when all five of us are home.

The Good in Suffering

2011-01-12T23:54:00.002-05:00

I’ve often caught myself saying things like, “Will came too early.” I’m learning to stop and change my wording. Will was not born early. He came at the exact time he was supposed to. He may have been premature but he wasn’t early. God knew exactly what he was doing with our little guy.

I’ve been reading and re-reading Psalm 139 over the last few days. The first few nights after Will was born, I would steal away to the NICU and read this Psalm to him.

Psalm 139:13-15

(13) For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

(14) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

(15) My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Every little part of Will was known by God. He knew what was going on. He is fearfully and wonderfully made. His frame was not hidden from God. Those first few nights I would stand over Will’s little body hooked up to hoses and wires and remind myself that none of this was a surprise to God. God knew what was happening to him. That was really hard. It’s always one thing to read God’s Word and believe it and another to experience these trials and believe it.

(16) Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

While Will was premature he was not early because our great God and Father knew every one of Will’s days from the beginning. God is using this truth in the midst of our trial to produce faith. This is a lesson that is difficult for our American (or more broadly speaking Western) sensibilities. We don’t do well with suffering. So much of our society is built upon medicating suffering without ever dealing with it. But God’s Word tells us again and again that suffering has a message for us. James 1:2-4 says that “testing produces steadfastness” which leads to “perfection and completion.” Romans 5:1-4 says that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This hope is anchored in the reality that Christ died to justify God’s people. 1 Peter 1:5-9 says that “though now for a little while…you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” There are several more passages that link suffering to faith (2 Peter 1:3-7; Heb 10:36ff, etc.). None of these passages gives the idea that this is out of the ordinary for Christians. Suffering and trials are a part of our life. And God knows this. He is okay with it because each of our days were known “when as yet there was none of them.” He uses these to work out faith in the lives of His people. We must not short circuit the process. We need to see our sufferings as a conduit to faith. This doesn’t dull the pain we might feel or the heartache we might experience but it does give a purpose. And if we do not look for the LORD in the midst of trials then we will miss that purpose.

Will continues to improve. His platelet level is up a little more. He gained a little more weight. He even nursed with Kim tonight. He still isn’t getting a full feeding by mouth, but we’re making progress. As he continues to gain strength and coordination we will increase the volume and frequency of his feeding by mouth. The cause of his meningitis is still unknown. We are praying for a virus. I never really thought I’d ever pray for a virus. Whether it is viral or bacterial, Will is showing good improvement. If it is bacterial we’ll need to remain in the NICU for several more days for antibiotic treatment. If it is viral then we might get discharged sooner. Until the lab results are in, though, we wait. We are so thankful for you and for you continued prayers. This journey has been much longer than we expected, but God is generous and faithful. Kim and I have learned much and William will have a great testimony of God’s work in his life.

This is the monitor showing Will's weight after he nursed for the first time. Apparently Will's weight is sponsored in part by GE. I thought the rainbow is a nice touch.

This is how I enjoy spending my NICU time. Reading a book (on my sweet new Kindle) and holding my lil' dude. Maybe I should be sponsored by Amazon.

Well, at least it's not that...

2011-01-11T22:05:00.004-05:00

I promised pictures...and I deliver on my promises.

It's not a lot of pictures, but pictures nonetheless.

We’re still waiting for the full results of Will’s spinal tap. We have, however, been able to conclusively rule out Bieber fever. Baby, baby, baby, I can’t tell you how relieved we were to get this news.

Will’s lab work should be in by Friday. That will give us some good info about what kind of infection we’re dealing with. He has meningitis. Broadly speaking this is an inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. The two main types of meningitis are bacterial and viral. Of the two, viral is much better than bacterial. Most of the bad things you’ve heard about meningitis come from bacterial forms of it. Whatever the form, though, it has been addressed early. He’s getting antibiotics and has been for several days. He’s also getting an antiviral medicine in case it is a certain form of virus. If it is an enterovirus the course of treatment is to let it run its course. We don’t know for sure which type Will has, but so far everything is pointing to a viral meningitis from an enterovirus. This would be consistent with the bug Kim has been struggling with all week. Will’s platelet level is up. His weight is up. He seems more energetic and alert. All these seem to point to Will being on the upswing of this meningitis. The doctors have been very reassuring to me. They haven’t seemed frazzled by the meningitis, so I’ve managed to remain calm. I have been so impressed by our nurses and doctors. I’m deeply thankful that when I was loafing through Biology 110, at least someone understood what was going on. I’ll stick with parsing Greek and Hebrew verbs.

Please continue to pray. We are receiving great care. As soon as the neonatalogist gets the lab results he’ll consult with a pediatric infectious disease specialists. Then we should find out what the next few days are going to look like. Until then we wait and I exercise the mental discipline of not thinking about worse case scenarios.

Now, concerning little William’s lungs. It seems that things are on the upswing. His breathing is stabilizing. His respiratory rate is down. He’s been able to feed off a bottle. The major hang up on this front goes back to the meningitis. The infection has sapped his energy and Will just doesn’t have the strength to feed from the bottle. As he develops strength he’ll develop coordination and be able to eat more from the bottle and then to nurse. Sometimes he just forgets to breathe while eating. I can relate, I’ve gotten that way at the Golden Corral.

Quick Update

2011-01-11T14:12:00.003-05:00

I just re-read my post from last night. I didn't really proofread it before I posted it, so I apologize for the incoherence. I really do understand that the comma is only helpful when it is used properly. My excuse is that I was watching the final quarter of the Auburn-Oregon game and entering into deep stages of exhaustion. Not the best time to start writing, at least not if you want anyone to understand what you writing.
We're still waiting for lab results, so we don't have a definite word on what kind of infection Will has. He is doing better today, though. His platelet levels are up. His color is better. He packed on a whopping 2 ounces. He was pretty active when I held him. He was much more alert...I guess. I'm not really sure how alert a one week old preemie is supposed to be. The doctor and nurses seemed encouraged, though...and when they are encouraged, I am encouraged.
The spinal tap lab results should be done before the end of the week. Everything still seems to point toward whatever Kim has/had. The Pediatric Infectious Disease doctor (now you're talking specialist) wasn't willing to make any kind of diagnosis until those labs came back. So now we wait...well, we've been waiting, so now we wait some more.

This is Spinal Tap

2011-01-11T00:09:00.000-05:00

This is Spinal Tap! This is the point where I think of some clever way to work in the best quote from Spinal Tap:

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

This morning we got word from the doctor that Will was going to be getting a spinal tap. His platelet levels continued to dip over the evening. He’s not to the point where he needs a transfusion, but it is a concern for the doctors. In case your medical knowledge pales in comparison to the walking Grey’s Anatomy that I’ve become, a drop in his platelet level is an indication that there is infection of some sort somewhere in his little body (clear as mud, right?). That’s about all we knew. Now, when I hear spinal tap I think invasive procedure. So I went down and talked with the doctor to determine just how necessary this was going to be. Turns out it was necessary. So Will got his spinal tap. The full results will take a few days but what we know right now is the somehow Will has contracted meningitis (Wow, I spelled that right on the first try). The question remains as to what kind of meningitis he has. The doctor doesn’t believe it is bacterial, but he’s on antibiotics until we know for sure. If it is a bacterial infection then Will will need 14 days of antibiotics. That’s a much longer NICU stay than we’re hoping. Who are we kidding? We’ve already had a much longer NICU stay than we were hoping. If it is a viral infection, the question is what kind of virus. Most likely it is the same thing that has been giving Kim a fit all week. The doctor calls it an enterovirus. If it isn’t that, then we’re dealing something possibly more serious. So, for those of you praying for us, we’re praying for enterovirus. The good news is that we’re starting to get a handle of what has been slowing Will’s development. He did look better today. He’s also slowly learning how to feed from a bottle better. He still has a way to go before he can get a full feeding from a bottle, much less from nursing with Kim. That’s our major benchmark.

On another note, Kim and I are back home. We’ve decided that while Will isn’t nursing Kim can heal and rest better in her own bed. When Will starts nursing we’ll look at going back to boarding. It’s also good to be with Hunter and Millie. We’re working on trying to get to as close to whatever our “new normal” is going to be even before we bring Will home.

I’m sorry I don’t have any new pictures today. I’ll work on getting some up tomorrow. He really doesn’t look all the different. They did switch his feeding tube to his other nostril, so you could take an old picture and do an mirror image and it’d be like a new picture. I’ll leave that one to you.

Sunday: Church, Lunch and Platelets

2011-01-09T23:48:00.006-05:00

We made it to church this morning. That was a blessing. I don't think Kim and I have ever felt as ministered to as we did today. It was good to be with our church family. I actually enjoyed answering the same question over and over again. Simply put, I felt loved. Our Affirmation of Faith today came from the Westminster Confession of Faith 2.2.

God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleaseth. In His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.

I nearly cried as we affirmed this great truth about our great God and Father. I did cry when my friend Justin led the church in prayer for our little Will. It was good to be there.
We had a great time with our friend Ted and Staci after church. They treated us to a great lunch. Ted and Staci have a 7 year old who spent several weeks in the NICU when he was born. It is good to talk with friends who really understand what’s going on. We have been blessed with such great friends.

Today, we got the news that Will’s platelet count was low. It was a little low last night and went lower this morning. This is most like the result of some sort of infection. He’s on an antibiotic and we’ll get test results in the morning. If it is something viral, he’ll go on anti-viral meds then. We’re also praying for Kim. She’s been going up and down with a fever and general “feeling yuck-i-ness” (that’s the technical medical terminology…I asked a nurse and she said so). She was great a church and during lunch and then she’s been mostly asleep since then. Whenever she has a fever she has to go 12 hours without one before she can go back in the NICU. That’s really hard for her (and me). It is entirely possible that Will’s infection is the same thing Kim’s struggling with.

I went down tonight and spent some time just talking with him. He grabbed my finger and pulled it close into his chest. I pretty much melted into a puddle of goo (sorry for more technical medical terminology). It was so fun to just look into each other’s eyes (even though he can’t really see much more than fuzzy spots and light…then again, it’s not like seeing me up close is all that much of a treat, maybe fuzzy spots and light is an improvement). We had a great chat and he passes on his deep appreciation and love for each one of you as do Kim and I. It is an encouragement every day to see all the people who are following along with Will’s story and praying for our little guy. We are blessed.

Kim's Sister and Dad came to visit this weekend too. It was great having them here. We're looking forward to when Jennifer comes back in February for Will's birth (what do they say about the best laid plans?).

Kim's Mom has been here all week doing yeoman's work with Hunter and Millie. I'm not sure how we would have worked this stuff out without her.

And finally, a little more fun picture. Have you ever worked on a car and gotten your hands really dirty? I mean so dirty that you have to use Lava soap? Lava soap has pumice in it and an industrial strength degreaser to work all the gunk off your hands. It also takes off the top layer of skin. Now, have you ever thought, "You know, I'm not sure that just taking off the top layer of skin will get my hands so clean that I'd consider them sterile. Is there a soap product out there that might chemically remove the top 3-4 layers of skin?" Yes. Yes there is. It's called Triseptin and we use it to scrub in every time we enter the NICU. My hands are starting to look like a lizard when he's molting. Fun times. Fun time, indeed. Thank you for praying!

Slow and Steady

2011-01-08T23:04:00.006-05:00

Tonight was pretty good. We got out for a family dinner (minus Will). When Kim got back we got to give Will a bottle. This was a big advancement for him. He's never taken food by mouth. For a moment, life seemed a little more normal.We're hoping that we'll be able to start breastfeeding soon. Maybe as soon at tomorrow morning. These are all just little steps toward getting home. Will's respiratory rate has come down. I can't tell you how many hours have been spent staring at this monitor waiting for the bottom number to get below 70.The doctor told me that it appears that we're on the backside of the respiratory issue. This is great great great news. But the mantra continues to be slow and steady. We can't rush him. He'll make the next step when he's ready and I'll continue to learn how to be humble and patient. It's almost like Will is trying to teach me to slow down.I'll finish this update with one of my favorite pictures of this whole process.TRON: The Legacy Begins
This was part of the light treatment Will received. It's a bed of fiber optic cables. It glows a brilliant blue and I just thought it looked cool. It gives him the same light therapy the overhead lamp does but without the heat so that his backside gets light without burning his rump. No one likes that kind of rump roast. This is going to be an awesome picture to pull out on Prom night or at his Rehearsal Dinner.

An Update and Some Thoughts on Our Experience

2011-01-07T23:03:00.001-05:00

I’m at home for the night. Kim’s sister got into town and they are staying at the hospital tonight. Today was much better than last night. I had a great chat with the doctor this morning. Aside from him declaring that Will is destined to be a Patriots fan, it was a great chat. The gist is the Will is still dealing with some jaundice. His bilirubin (call in the next 20 minutes and we’ll throw in 2^nd liver disorder for free) level is still high. The fifth day is typically the highpoint for these levels, so the doctor got proactive with the light therapy.

Unrelated to the jaundice is Will’s respiratory rate. This is the bigger issue. He’s still hovering around 90 breaths/minute. He needs to be below 70. Once he’s below 70 he can start feeding by bottle or breast. Will has to show that he can eat well before he can go home. This is what we are desperately waiting for. There are a few ancillary issues with the breathing. Will has a low-grade fever. This could be a result of the light therapy. It could be his body has yet to figure out how to regulate temperature. Or it could be an infection of some kind. If it is an infection, it could change the diagnosis vis-à-vis his breathing issues. Most likely the fever is nothing and the breathing will resolve itself in due time. I have to constantly remind myself that I’m not in control. The doctor keeps saying that Will is in control and he’ll set the pace.

In a sense, he’s right. But I can’t help but think that the doctor is mistaken. Job 38 and 39 detail the LORD’s response to Job. In no uncertain terms the LORD tells Job that He, and not Job, is in control. If you’ll permit my paraphrase, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Was it you? Oh yeah, that’s right, you weren’t there. Who decided the measurements of the earth? Was it you? Oh yeah, that’s right, you weren’t there. Who told the waves, ‘You can come this far and no farther?’ Was it you? Oh yeah, that’s right, you weren’t there. Who was it, Job? Who? Tell me? That’s right, it was ME!” The doctor is wrong because the LORD is in control.

This has been a humbling experience for me. When we found out that Will would be in the NICU after birth, I immediately thought, “No he won’t. He’ll come out completely healthy because I serve a sovereign God.” I was actually negotiating with the NICU nurse about how many hours he’d be required to stay before Will was born. I had her down to 6 hours. I was a cocky seminary student who was going to show the neonatal department that my God was sovereign. My God was going to give me a perfectly healthy 34 week old preemie. The one minor problem with my theology was that the God I was talking about wasn’t sovereign. Because the God I was talking about was my own vain imagination. I thought God owed me a healthy baby. I thought God would dance to my tune and on my time. I have been humbled because I’m learning that in so many ways I only talk a good game. I fancy myself Wyatt Earp dealing faro at the Oriental but in reality I’m a lot more Johnny Tyler.

Wyatt: You skin that smoke wagon and we’ll see what happens!

Tyler: Listen mister, I’m getting awful tired of your…

[Wyatt slaps him]

Wyatt: I’m gettin’ tired of all your gas, now jerk that pistol and go to work! I said throw down boy!

[Wyatt slaps him harder]

Wyatt: Are you gonna do something? Or just stand there and bleed?

(If this reference doesn’t make sense, you need to get your hands on a copy of Tombstone and a bag of popcorn.)

I trust the LORD with Will’s life. I trust the LORD with the lives of all my children. God does not owe me another breath of life. God does not owe Will one more breath. Every breath we have is a gift. Psalm 8 talks about the God who created the Universe, who placed the moon and the stars in the sky. Then it asks the question, “What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?” The God who holds the expanse of the Universe in the span of his hand (Is 40:12) cares for little William Oliver. He is the God who formed his inmost parts. His eyes saw all of Will’s days when there was not yet one of them (Ps 139). This is the sovereign God in whom I can trust. This God does not march to my tune. He is crafting his own song through Will’s life. I will continually pray for Will’s health. I will continually present my petitions to the LORD, but I must not allow them to become commands. I can’t think that anyone other than the LORD is in control.

Catching Some Rays

2011-01-07T14:17:00.009-05:00

Will is getting some light therapy for his jaundice. We're also hopeful that if college isn't in his future he can make it on the Jersey Shore. The nurses mentioned that he'll need to work on his hair.

I'm a big fan of the eye shades. He's also got the "Thinker" pose.
The update on his situation is that his respiratory rate is still too high. It needs to drop below 70. His bilirubin levels are on the rise, but this is somewhat expected. The light therapy should reduce those levels. We're monitoring for infection because he's had a low-grade fever but it could be from sleeping under a french-fry lamp. If the nurses pull out a large shaker of salt then I'll start to raise objections.
Please keep praying that his respiratory rate slows. Once it slows we can start feeding him with a bottle or at the breast. Until then he's fed via a tube through his nose. And until Will demonstrates that he can feed well then he's stuck in the NICU. It's a wonderful place but we want to get the heck outta there.

Boarding

2011-01-06T18:38:00.001-05:00

We've been given "Boarding" status for tonight. It is a day to day situation, so whoever was praying for that...keep doing it. And keep praying for Will's respiratory rate to drop to below 70.
We are so thankful for all of you.

I Promised Pictures

2011-01-06T16:45:00.008-05:00

I promised some pictures, and I don't want to be called a liar...so here ya go. He is a super cute kid. Here's the latest:
We're still waiting on his respiratory rate to stabilize. Keep praying that it will settle below 70. You don't have to know what that means, just pray for it. He can't nurse until it drops and he can't go home until he begins to nurse well.
We were hoping to get "Boarding" status at the hospital. That would allow us to remain in our room but Kim not be a patient. It is a service Winter Park Hospital provides for free if space is available. Unfortunately, every pregnant woman in Central Florida decided to give birth and we've been bumped out. If space becomes available then we can move back in. This would be a really great thing because it keeps us close to Will.
On a positive note, though, the NICU is moving us into a private room. The accommodations are austere unless you're a preemie. We can't eat or drink in the room, but we can sleep there. And that is a blessing. As far as praying, you can pray that his breathing rate slows and we can get "Boarding" status at the hospital.

Update on Will

2011-01-06T11:39:00.002-05:00

I’m so sorry that I didn’t write anything yesterday. I’ve vastly underestimated how much energy this little adventure requires. I just didn’t have it in me write up a post. My apologies. My double apologies for the fact that there will be no new pictures in this post. I came home to relieve Kim’s Mom, who has been watching Hunter and Millie. I left the camera at the hospital, so I’ll try my best to upload some pictures tonight. I promise. If you’re still reading even though you know there will be no pictures, then thank you. It takes dedication to keep reading when you know there is no pictorial pay-off.

So, Will is making steady progress. Every time I’ve gone into the NICU I’ve been encouraged by little steps he’s making. The nasal cannula is out. Will is completely off breathing assistance! This is great news. His respiratory rate is still a little erratic. If you want to know it is Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN). There’s probably about 2% of you that have any idea what that is and the rest will now be able to ace that question on Jeopardy!. Basically, Will needs it to slow down and stabilize his breathing rate before he can breastfeed. The doctor wants to see him with a stabilized respiratory rate and breastfeeding for 5 days before he can discharge him and we can go home. This was somewhat discouraging for me. He’s still making good progress and there is very little that I could complain about…but I was hoping that we’d make it back home by Sunday (if not earlier). I guess we're dealing with the "Bondage of the Will"...ha! seminary jokes. My apologies to everyone else. So, our prayer request is that Will’s respiratory rate would slow down to below 70. The good news is that we were going to be in the hospital for the Super Bowl and now we’ll be at home with a one month old. That’s pretty cool.

Will is also dealing with a little bit of jaundice. I’m told this is perfectly normal for preemies. Of course, you could tell me that it’s perfectly normal for a tuba to be sticking out of his left elbow and I could only say, “OK.” I just have no grid through which to evaluate anything. Jaundice is determined by the level of bilirubins in the bloodstream. Bilirubins is pronounced like “Billy Rubens.” When the doctor told me his Billy Ruben level was high, I thought, “Who is he talking about?” Billy Ruben sounds like an infomercial host. “Hi folks, Billy Ruben here with an amazing new product…the Chop-inator!” But, we need his bilirubin level to go down as well. If not, they will give him some light therapy, and by “light” I mean photo-light not gentle-light. I actually got that one the first time, but I see how it could be confusing.

Things For Which I'm Thankful

2011-01-04T15:27:00.010-05:00

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind. In the midst of having a baby in the NICU I have found myself continually thinking about how blessed we have been in this little adventure. Here are some things for which I'm thankful (in no particular order):

I'm thankful that William Oliver is making steady progress.
I'm thankful that he is slowly being weaned off oxygen. The CPAP mask has been removed and now he's only using a tube on his nostrils.
I'm thankful that Kim is doing really well. She is healing nicely from the stresses of surgery.
I'm thankful that our nurses have been fantastic and helpful.
I'm thankful that our family has been great. My family came over from Tampa and Kim's mom flew in last night from Chattanooga.
Speaking of...I'm thankful that Belle's flight made it from Chattanooga. It was set to get into Orlando at 8:40pm...I picked her up at 1:30am. Better late than never, right?
I'm thankful for Bud and Grey Leonard who came on Sunday night to pray with us before Will was born. The also brought me dinner...and I'm always thankful for dinner.
I'm thankful that Bud thinks we named Will after him. It's good to have your Church Administrator/elder/Chopper Fighter Pilot/landlord/manly man/Bud happy.
I'm thankful that I've managed to keep going despite the fact that I've only slept a few hours over the last two days. Praise God for caffeine and adrenaline.
I'm thankful that when Will gets an x-ray they use this little thing...
I'm thankful that they have scones, cookies, and coffee in the "Relaxation Lounge". They also have massage chairs and while I haven't had a chance to use them...I feel better just knowing they are there.
I'm thankful that when the Neonatalogist uses terminology that I don't understand I find comfort in believing that at least he understands what he is saying.
I'm thankful that nine years ago tomorrow (January 5, 2002) I married my best friend and now we have three beautiful children.
I'm thankful that when I went into surgery I didn't have to wear a hair net because really...what would be the point? Although the Anesthesiologist didn't have to point it out every few minutes.
I'm thankful for spell check because I don't know how to spell anesthesiologist.
I'm thankful for Staci and Ted for watching Hunter and Millie for the first night. You guys are awesome.
I'm thankful for Jennifer and Rodney for watching Hunter and Millie last night.
I'm thankful for Fritz staying at my house with the kids until I got back from the airport (which was supposed to be around 9:30pm and turned into 2:00am). Fritz, you're my hero.
I'm thankful for free wireless internet at the hospital.
I'm thankful for Rena, the massage therapist, who gives massages to new Moms...and Dads! She started working on my back today and asked me, "What do you do for a living? Are you at a desk most of the day?" I said, "I'm a seminary student and I read a lot." She told me, "Yep, I can tell." I wonder if what she's trying to say is that seminary has given me the flexibility of a porcelain doll.
I'm thankful for the "Busy" button on my cellphone. I'm so glad people want to call and I'm so glad that you understand when I ignore you.
I'm thankful that every time you hear the lullaby chime in the hallway, someone just had a baby.
I'm thankful for RTS-Orlando and how they have cared for us. Dr. Sweeting was coming by the hospital today. Some professors have sent encouraging emails. The registrar helped me with a class I had to cancel and reschedule. The secretaries have sent emails asking others to pray for Kim and Will.
I'm thankful for Pastor Frank and Agnes for coming by to see us last night. It was a lot of fun to talk and to show off my Kindle to someone who I knew would get really excited.
I'm thankful for Hunter and Millie. They are a great Big Bro and Big Sis combo. (Staci, thanks for the shirts!!)
I'm thankful for a God who would bless us so much by giving us Will, Millie, and Hunter. Children are blessing from the LORD.
I'm thankful that Will was born at the exact time that he was supposed to be born. It has been good for me to realize that even though my plans are not sovereign, I can lean hard into a God whose plans are.
I'm thankful that Will's cardiogram came back clear and his heart murmur is nothing and will resolve itself.
I'm thankful that Will took some milk this morning. The sooner he figures out how to use his stomach and how to eat the sooner we get to come home with him.
I'm thankful Kim's preferred doctor was on-call Sunday night.
I'm thankful for friends who live in different time zones. When it's 1:00am and you're sitting in an airport cell phone lot and you need someone to look up something on the internet its good to have friends in Alaska. Aaron and Katie, thanks for answering the phone and talking with me and praying for us.

I could go on and on, but I'll just post a few pics and call it day for the blog. We love you and please keep praying that Will will get to go home when Kim is discharged. We'll trust in God's timing but we want to leave the hospital together.

We Had a Month...

2011-01-03T08:38:00.006-05:00

I’ll give you the brief snapshot from my perspective. Kim will fill in more details and story later. We went to church yesterday and all through the morning and after the service Kim complained that something felt different about the baby. That afternoon while I was getting ready to dig in for an NFL induced Sunday nap (the best kind) Kim kept feeling contractions. This was no big deal because we had a month before the little one’s due date (Feb. 7 to be exact). The contractions were pretty regular, but again, we had a month. After we talked with her doctor on the phone we decided that we’d head to hospital and check things out. Our friend Staci came over to watch the kids. I grabbed a book and my Kindle (most awesomest Christmas gift). Kim grabbed her purse and a few things. As we drove to the hospital Kim kept talking like this made sense because she’d been feeling things with her pregnancy differently over the last few days. She told me it felt like the baby had dropped. She cleaned those corners in our house that seem to accumulate stuff, you know the areas where you give yourself permission to just toss and worry about it later. You know when you clean those areas something’s going on. But I didn’t think this was anything because we had a month.

We talked about the class I was going to take in Atlanta next week. I’ve been busting my hump trying to get reading done beforehand. The book I grabbed on the way out the door was for that class. I figured if we were going to be waiting around for a few hours that I’d get some reading done.

Once we got the hospital they hooked Kim up to all the monitors and such. Sure enough she was in labor. They gave her some meds to stop it and I thought, we be home in a couple of hours because we had a month. The meds didn’t stop the labor. They started talking like we might have this baby today. All I could think was, “We have a month.” The started handing us paperwork. Paperwork?! That means you really think this is going to happen. But we had a month. They started asking questions about the birth. We didn’t have answers because we had a month to think about those things before we needed to answer them. They asked us if we had a name. NO, we don’t have a name…we had a month.

The doctor came in and sure enough, we were having this baby right now. They took Kim and got her prepped. I started writing down a list of stuff I’d need to get at home when I got a chance. We didn’t really bring anything to the hospital because…we had a month.

William Oliver Friederichsen was born at 9:00pm January 2, 2011. He weighed 7lbs 6oz and is 19.5inches. He is in the Neonatal ICU for now. His lungs are not filling like a full-term baby would. He’s on oxygen and we’re praying that soon he’ll be able to get off it and breathe all on his own. While it is a serious issue, it looks worse than it is. We haven’t been able to hold him much and that’s been pretty hard. Overall, though, Kim and I are doing pretty well. If you’re in the area feel free to give us a call if you want to visit and we’ll just be honest with you and let you know if you can come. You can drop Kim an email for encouragement, she’d appreciate it.

The Books of 2010

2011-01-02T00:10:00.001-05:00

Here are the books I read in 2010. Books noted with an asterisk have only been partially finished (at least half). Books underlined are highly recommended.

*Old Testament Theology, Bruce K. Waltke
*Biblical History of Israel, Ian Provaan, et al.
Life Together, Deitrich Bonhoeffer
Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free, F.F. Bruce
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Books I & II, John Calvin
The Story of Christianity, vol. 2, Justo Gonzalez
Reformation Thought, Alister McGrath
Worship, Hughes Oliphant Old
Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Bruce Waltke
*Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, B.B. Warfield
Ancient Future Worship, Robert Webber
*Seek the Welfare of the City, Bruce Winter
Going to Church in the First Century, Robert Banks
Paul’s Idea of Community: Early House Churches in Their Historical Setting, Robert Banks
The Message of Acts in the History of Redemption, Dennis Johnson
Paul in Fresh Perspective, NT Wright
Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, Graeme Goldsworthy
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus
Here I Stand, Roland Bainton
The Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George
*Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation, ed. E. Gordon Rupp and Philip Watson
Selected Writings of Jonathan Edwards, ed. Harold Simonson
*A Patristic Greek Reader, Rodney Whitacre
*St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Lectures on the Christian Sacrament, ed. FL Cross
Fools for Christ, Jaroslav Pelikan
Christ, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship, Leonard Vander Zee
Heart of a Servant Leader, John Miller
Pastoral Theology in the Classical Tradition, Andrew Purves
*Reformed Dogmatics vol. 4, Herman Bavinck
SimChurch, Douglas Estes
The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, ed. Gregg Strawbridge
Children at the Lord’s Table: Assessing the Case for Paedocommunion, Cornelius Venema
The Elements of Counseling, Davis & Meier
To Be Told, Dan Allender
The Pastor as Minor Poet, M. Craig Barnes
Understanding Who You Are, Larry Crabb
The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling, Jay Adams
*Church Dogmatics, book I, Karl Barth
The Theology of the Book of Revelation, Richard Bauckham
Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures, Hermann Ridderbos
The Leader’s Journey, Jim Herrington, et al.
Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David Gordon
Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups, ed. Richard Foster
Christ and Culture, Richard Niebuhr
*The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
*Selected Poems, T. S. Eliot
*Broken Down House, Paul Tripp

The Places of 2010

2011-01-01T22:12:00.003-05:00

I have annually stolen this idea from my friend Jared Bridges.
This is a list of places I visited in 2010. To count as a "visit" I had to have slept there.

Orlando, FL
Chattanooga, TN
Shelbyville, KY
Louisville, KY
Nashville, TN
Oaxaca, Mexico
Destin, FL
Tampa, FL
Columbus, GA
Sarasota, FL
Bonita Beach, FL

Christmas Prodding

2010-12-21T14:43:00.002-05:00

May I offer a gentle Christmas prodding cleverly disguised as a blog? Floating around this amorphous collection of information we call the internet are chain emails and facebook wall posts encouraging Christians to “take back Christmas.” These messages encourage Christians to only patronize businesses that will say “Merry Christmas” as opposed to “Happy Holidays”or even worse, “Season’s Greetings”. Please allow me to gently push back against this trend for following reasons.

First, we act as if businesses and corporations actually have the ability to define what Christmas is. Why do Christians feel the need to “take back” Christmas? When was Christmas given to them in the first place? Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco are not the arbiters of truth. They are simply organizations out to make a buck. They figured out that people spend money at Christmas. Their goal is not to spread the truth of Christmas, but to get you to spend more money. That’s it. That is their nefarious agenda. They do not have the ability to define what Christmas is, nor can they halt you from celebrating it. If they think it is more profitable to say “Happy Holidays” than “Merry Christmas”, what does this matter to the Church? Regardless of their stance, you should be wise to the fact that they view you as a wallet with legs. How they want to entice you to spend money during this season does not affect the meaning of this holiday an iota. Some perspective would do wonders here. Our brothers and sisters in Africa don’t deal with this issue. They are too busy trying to stay alive in the midst of people who want to kill them for their faith. It’s a little bigger deal than a clerk saying “Happy Holidays”.

Second, one of the biggest complaints I have with our modern practice of celebrating Christmas is how materialistic it has become. Starting in October we receive catalog after catalog of stuff you can buy your kids. Seriously, I saw a TV ad for Christmas shopping in July this year. Christmas for the vast majority of Americans is about giving and getting stuff. This is a mockery of Christmas. Our God cries out to us and says that we can be saved through His Son. Our materialistic culture cries out to us and says that we can be saved by having the right stuff. Which message do you think we more readily receive? The reason some companies hold onto phrases like “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” is that in years past they realized some people were offended by the words “Merry Christmas”. These people stopped buying their stuff. If people don’t buy their stuff, they don’t make money. So, they changed the words. It was primarily a business decision. Today, this business decision makes some Christians upset. Soon, many of these businesses will probably make the decision to change back. It has nothing to do with what they may or may not personally believe. It is all about profit. The irony is that by fighting to make businesses recognize “Christmas”, you are only fighting to make Christmas more of a consumeristic occasion. You are only providing a monetary incentive for businesses to mock the real reason of Christmas.

Third, is this the battle that we want to fight? Everyday hundreds of babies are legally killed. There is ethnic cleansing occurring all around the globe. Christians are killed every day for simply professing Christ. And we get in a huff about whether a clerk will say “Merry Christmas” to us. Where are our priorities? The energy expended on this issue could be channeled to much more productive causes…if only we cared as much about the important issues as we care about our nostalgic notions of what Christmas is “supposed to be.”

So tell that clerk “Merry Christmas”, but don’t think that you have helped to fulfill the Great Commission by doing so. Make your decisions about what stores you will or will not frequent, but think about the long term ramifications before you boycott a store for saying “Season’s Greetings”. Do you want people pretending that they give a darn about the birth of the Savior so that you will shop at their store? Don’t for a second think that a store advertising “Merry Christmas” is an indication that Christ is being honored in our culture as LORD. I offer two pieces of exhortation if you want to our culture to see Christmas differently. First, live your life like Christ makes a real difference to you. Second, tell the world around you about the truth of the infinite God who became an infant in order to save the world.

Advent Haiku - Days 19, 20, & 21

2010-12-21T08:06:00.001-05:00

Day 19 - Lamentations
Jerusalem hurls
her desperate hopes against
God's forgetfulness.

Day 20 - Ecclesiastes
Whatever God does
and whoever else may be
who knows? The wise wait.

Day 21 - Esther
Probability
counts for nothing when Esther's
G-d is in the plot.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 18

2010-12-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

Day 18 - Ruth
Tough old Naomi
bounces a child on her knee -
her wild hope come home.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 17

2010-12-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

Day 17 - Song of Solomon
Yes, he will haste like
a gazelle. Nothing is more
impatient than love.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 16

2010-12-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

Day 16 - Job
God answered Job but
not his question. Maybe he
will do that again.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 15

2010-12-15T12:05:00.001-05:00

Day 15 - Proverbs
Too clever by half
are the foolish. The wise know
the folly of God

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 14

2010-12-14T14:58:00.001-05:00

Day 14 - Psalms
If there were glory
only, praise like the last psalms,
would that be the end?

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Days 12 & 13

2010-12-13T20:01:00.001-05:00

Day 12 - Ezekiel
In the end it is
all in the name of the city:
The Lord is there.

Day 13 - The Twelve Prophets
Then, as before, will
Bethlehem bear the shepherd
of the scattered sheep.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Days 10 & 11

2010-12-11T08:56:00.001-05:00

Day 10 - Isaiah
In the wilderness
a voice cries for centuries
seeking an echo.

Day 11 - Jeremiah
Rachel refuses
to be comforted - even
when we turn the page.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 9

2010-12-09T13:10:00.000-05:00

Day 9 - Kings
She came with riddles.
His more than answers more than
took her breath away.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 8

2010-12-08T23:34:00.001-05:00

Day 8 - Samuel
Hannah, drunk as an
apostle at Pentecost,
magnifies the Lord.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Days 4, 5, 6, and 7

2010-12-07T12:43:00.001-05:00

Day 4 - Numbers
Dawn in my distance,
the wise watchers will see him,
star of their searching.

Day 5 - Deuteronomy
Moses from Pisgah
overviews all. It is not
space but time he lacks.

Day 6 - Joshua
Going over Jordan
Joshua above all sees
that the ark goes first.

Day 7 - Judges
Said the trees to the
bramble, 'Come, be our ruler!'
'Wait!' said the mustard.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Day 3

2010-12-03T08:14:00.001-05:00

Day 3 - Leviticus

If she is too poor
to afford a sheep, she may
offer two pigeons.

from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar".

Advent Haiku - Days 1 & 2

2010-12-02T13:15:00.003-05:00

The following Advent Haiku is taken from Richard Bauckham's "Haiku for an Advent Calendar". It is located at his personal website here.

Day 1 - Genesis
After paradise
not even Lot's wife looks back.
Memory turns round.

Day 2 - Exodus
The bones of Joseph
in their gilt sarcophagus
travel night and day.

Prayer for a Brother in Afghanistan

2010-11-18T10:51:00.006-05:00

Below is copy of a letter obtained from a Christian brother held prisoner in Afghanistan. You can read about the circumstances at World Magazine. Click Here for the article. Please pray for this man and his family. Pray that he would be strong and resolute in his faith.

"We desire in our prayers to remember them that are in bonds for the testimony of Jesus, as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being ourselves also in the body. O send from above, and deliver them from those that hate them, and bring them forth into a large place.
O let not the rod of the wicked rest upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous should put forth their hands unto iniquity.
O strengthen the patience and faith of thy suffering saints, that they may hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee, and according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that for thy name's sake are appointed to die."
- Matthew Henry, Method for Prayer, Christian Focus Pub., 2006 p. 108

We're Trying to Run a Society Here...

2010-11-10T21:00:00.006-05:00

This week, a professor at the University of Central Florida discovered that nearly 200 of the 600 students in his class cheated on a Mid Term examination. Statistically speaking, if you’re sitting in that class and didn’t cheat, then either the person on your left or your right did. Now, I should be completely honest. When I was a freshman taking Spanish in high school, I cheated. I wasn’t prepared for the vocabulary exam, so I conveniently left my vocab list on the floor where it wasn’t obviously out but was clearly visible to me. Senor Silva walked by and saw what I was doing. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “You are cheating. I will fail you if you don’t put this up.” I swallowed hard, shoved the paper into my bag and promptly failed the exam. Lesson learned.

This cheating scandal is on the heels of what may be the biggest story of the college football season. The biggest story should be that TCU and Boise St. are on a crash course to destroy the college bowl system. But instead, the biggest story is whether or not Cam Newton of Auburn University is the SEC version of Boba Fett, mercenary quarterback for hire. Did he take the money and run for several touchdowns and possibly a Heisman Trophy? I’ll say this, I’ve watched him play and he is one of the most exciting football players I’ve seen in a long time. The guy can flat out play. But did he break the rules? And if he did, are we surprised? Time will tell, but I don’t want this to be true. I want to marvel in the ability of this athlete and not have it tainted by the fact that he cheated.

The quote in the article about the cheating scandal at UCF that made wince was from a student. He said, “This is college. Everyone cheats…. They're making a witch hunt out of absolutely nothing, as if they want to teach us some kind of moral lesson.” Did you catch that? “As if they want to teach us some kind of moral lesson". How dare UCF hold their students accountable to some moral standard by declaring they can’t cheat? At least, that’s the sentiment of the student.

The irony is that this is the natural repercussion of a society (largely led by educational institutions) that has abandoned a moral compass. Sure they have honor codes, but in the classroom any foundational basis for ethics is undercut and deconstructed. A student is left to determine for himself what is right in his own eyes.

This is similar to the moral degradation that Ancient Israel found itself in the book of Judges. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The people were lost. They cried out for help, and God had an answer. God’s answer was to promise them a king. This king would rule and defend them and restrain and conquer all enemies. This king would restore the kingdom to its intended glory. This king was not Saul. It wasn’t even David, but he would come from David. This king is the fullness of God in humility and humanity. He is God with us, Immanuel. This king is Jesus.

We’re trying to run a society here. The problem is that the people are lost. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes and it taints everything. We need the one true King. I have hope that our society will one day be radically and forever changed by the reign of Jesus Christ. This is a hope in which we can trust. This is a hope that will truly marvel those who will believe.

More Thoughts on "How to Raise Boys That Read"

2010-09-26T15:41:00.004-04:00

I’ve been thinking about the article I posted on facebook the other day. The article was about raising boys who read. Today, there is a growing gap between the proficiencies of boys and girls in reading ability. According to the author of the article, the main contributor to this trend is the over stimulation of boys with electronic media (e.g. video games). To combat this, parents and teachers often resort to the “gross” genre of books. These are the books that appeal to every boy’s fascination with all things disgusting, gross, and crass. The author makes the statement:

One obvious problem with the SweetFarts philosophy of education is that it is more suited to producing a generation of barbarians and morons than to raising the sort of men who make good husbands, fathers and professionals. If you keep meeting a boy where he is, he doesn't go very far.

I agree with this statement…mostly. We must raise boys who can read well so that they can accurately handle the Word of God and lead the next generation of the Church. As I read through and interacted with the comments, though, something dawned on me. This article (or the well-meaning facebook friend who posts it) could leave a parent with a tremendous sense of guilt or even pride. Let it be said that neither guilt nor pride are healthy for those who find their identity in Christ. There is much wisdom in this article, but that statement has to be tempered. It must also be stated that raising your boys on fine literature is no guarantee that they will become good husbands, fathers, or professionals. Nor is letting boys play video games or not reading them Tolstoy a one-way ticket to Idiot-ville. There is a much greater force at play than our parenting. Don’t misunderstand me; parents have a high calling to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the LORD (Eph 6:4). But God’s sovereignty is much bigger than my effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) at parenting. God works through parents, but parents are not ultimate in determining the future of their children. I was never read good literature as a child. I played a lot of video games. Yet, by God’s grace, I’m a pretty good husband/father (I’m pretty sure Kim would back me up on this.). Let us never be lulled into thinking that a great education will make our sons more righteous. The Apostle Paul wrote, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1). A steady diet of good literature will make your son more literate, certainly more intelligent, and probably less moronic, but it is no guarantee that he will be “good.”

The Blessings of Suffering

2010-09-23T00:28:00.003-04:00

The other day I was supposed to share in class about some Devotional Classics I’ve been reading. I sat in front of the class and told them, “I’ve had a lot going on lately. It all seems to have coated my soul in Teflon and nothing I’ve read has stuck. I’m sorry, but I can’t share with you about the readings. Instead, I’m going to tell you about my last few days.” I went on to tell them about some dear friends of mine who found out they were pregnant with their first child. A few weeks into the pregnancy they learned that their baby had a birth defect that would kill their child within hours of birth if not during birth. They carried their child for several more months, enjoying their little boy for the short time they could. During those months we found out that we were pregnant with our third child. A week and a half ago, we were in the doctor’s office viewing our 20 week ultrasound. While the technician was telling us how wonderfully perfect our little baby is my phone vibrated. I instantly knew that it was the text message telling us that our friends’ baby had died. In that instant I was slammed with the heights of joy and depths of grief. I felt sad, joyous, relieved, grief-stricken, guilty, angry, happy… a flash flood of emotions washed over me in a moment.

After I shared, my professor talked about a passage from Julian of Norwich in which she prays for suffering. This is such a strange concept to my 21^st Century ears. My default setting is to avoid suffering at all cost. This is really a silly notion, though. I can’t get very far through my day before I’m standing nose to nose with the affects of suffering. It is part of living in a fallen world. As Julian lay dying, though, she thought of Christ on the Cross:

…I have never asked for any kind of revelation or vision from God – I only wanted to have the compassion I thought a loving soul would have for Jesus by witnessing his suffering. It was at that moment that I saw red blood running down from under the crown, hot and flowing freely, just as it must have been beneath the crown of thorns that pressed upon his head. I fully perceived at the moment that it was Jesus, both God and man, who suffered for me, for I now knew it directly without anyone telling me.[1]

Slowly, I think I’m beginning to see the role of testing and suffering in faith. But this understanding does little to mitigate the pain of living in a fallen world. I’ve heard many well-meaning folks talk about losing a baby like it’s a good thing because the baby is with Jesus now. While I believe the child of these believers is now with Christ because of his covenantal promises, I find that my heart still grieves over this loss. It isn’t supposed to be this way. I cannot look at this as a “happy” thing. I will not look at the deadly affects of sin on God’s good creation and say it is a good thing. But I can be thankful for it. I am thankful because there is a God who stepped into this mess. There is a God who is not only compassionate but empathetic to us in our sufferings. And through his sufferings and victory over death he will redeem this world. Death will be no more and then he will wipe away every tear. I will not like it but I will be thankful that I can lean hard into a Savior who understands the pain of death far more intimately than I do. I will not like it but I will look with faith and hope to the day when the death of Christ fully accomplishes the death of Death.

[1] Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, in Richard J. Foster, Devotional Classics: Revised Edition: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups, Revised. (HarperOne, 2005), 75.

Serving Those in Extreme Poverty

2010-08-16T12:35:00.010-04:00

Like much of the US, the state of Florida is being enundated with political attack ads. One particular series of ads is centered around whether on particular candidate either does or does not agree with the current Arizona laws regarding illegal immigration. The illegal immigration issue is a serious one that will not be solved by simple pat answers. Border laws and strict enforcement will not prevent people from trying to provide for and save their families. It is a symptom of a much larger issue that is not unique to the US or Mexico. It is a problem, however, that can be understood and resolved only through the power of the Gospel. The Armonia ministry was begun with the goal of alleviating this extreme poverty through the power of the Gospel.

Context is always helpful, so a brief history lesson is necessary. Over 500 years ago, Spanish explorers came to Central America looking treasures and riches. They found many fascinating and profitable things, but they also found a native people who didn’t exactly understand who these new people were or what it meant for their way of life. The native peoples initially thought the Spaniards were gods who were part man/part horse whose skin shined like metal and they arrived on floating mountains. In truth they were simply men on horseback with armor who arrived in tall sailing ships. The native peoples had no grid for this new encounter.

The Spaniards then began a wholesale extermination of the native peoples. This continued until 1552 when a friar, Bartolome de las Casas, published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. In this book, Casas pleaded the case of the native peoples of Mexico. The King Phillip II of Spain ordered an end to the extermination of the native peoples as a result of this book. Since extermination was no longer an option, the Spaniards forced the native people off the best lands and into the mountain highlands. Now, 500 years later, these native peoples still live in these mountain highlands. They are the poorest of the poor in the Mexico with little hope of a better life. Generally, these are the Mexicans that in hopes of saving their families illegally cross the border into the US. The dispossession and oppression of these peoples drive them from their own land and to the US in hopes of surviving. The roots of our country’s immigration crisis goes back to before the US was a country.

The Armonia ministry was founded by Dr. Saul Cruz to serve the poorest of the poor in Mexico. Many of the kids in these villages have no chance of getting an education. They have no chance of doing anything in their villages to improve life. They often have no chance. Armonia brings kids from these villages to Casa de Margarita (The Daisy House) to educate them and give them a chance at getting into a university in Mexico City. After graduation, these kids commit to coming back and working with the younger students before they return to their villages to serve. While in the house, the kids are often exposed to the Gospel for the first time. To this day, many of their villages are essentially unreached people groups.

Saul’s ministry flies in the face of conventional wisdom in the West. Our ideas of alleviating poverty often includes giving hand-outs and essentially Marxist or socialist philosophies. He was actually mocked and attacked by a Marxist professor during his PhD defense. His Gospel solution is the only one that will work, but the enemy seeks to continue to oppress people.

Even in the evangelical world, we will descend on a poverty stricken people, hand out bibles, money, and clothes. Then we leave and feel good that we have “shared the Gospel with the poor.” In fact, we’ve only taught them that they don’t need to embrace the call to build cultures that honor God.They simply need to rely on rich western Christians. We teach them that work is something that rich people do. If the poor are lucky, the rich will share with them. We cannot make the poor our “pet projects.” The poor need to recognize that they are created in the image of a Creator God. They have a call to create. They have a call to work. This honors God because it reflects his character. They are stewards of God’s riches every bit as much as Christians in the West. They have to learn this. We have to teach them. When the Church parachutes in and redistibutes our Western wealth, we only hurt and further disadvantage and oppress the poor. The Church must come alongside the poor and empower them to create and to work. Do the poor need our resources? Yes. Do the poor need our money? Yes. Do the poor need our time? Yes. Do the poor need our relationships? Yes. Our obligation is to be radically generous and divinely wise so that we help and not hurt.

In the process of this relationship we verbally proclaim the truth of the Gospel. These two wings (social action and verbal proclamation) allow the Gospel to soar. This is the ministry of Armonia. Armonia helps the poor by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and by empowering the poor of Mexico to serve others.

It is far too tempting in the US to answer the symptoms of poverty. We can try to shut down the border to keep out illegal immigrants. But the answer to this problem is to address the causes of poverty at its root. And that answer is the power of Gospel to redeem broken people. Is this not what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer? “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.” May the God of Grace give us the wisdom of help the poor and disadvantaged.

Gregory of Nazianzus on the Mystery of the Incarnation

2010-04-29T11:40:00.002-04:00

“He was tempted as man, but he conquered as God; yea, he bids us be of good cheer, for he has overcome the world. He hungered—but he fed thousands; yea, he is the bread that gives life, and that is of heaven. He thirsted—but he cried, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.’ Yea, he promised that fountains should flow from them that believe. He was wearied, but he is the rest of them that are weary and heavy-laden. . . He prays, but he hears prayer. He weeps, but he causes tears to cease. He asks where Lazarus was laid, for he was man; but he raises Lazarus, for he was God. He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver; but he redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price of his own blood. As a sheep he is led to the slaughter, but he is the shepherd of

Israel

, and now of the whole world also. . . He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the tree of life he restores us; yea, he saves even the robber crucified with him; yea, he wrapped the visible world in darkness. . . He lays down his life, but he has power to take it again; and the veil is rent, for the mysterious doors of heaven are opened; the rocks are cleft, the dead arise.”
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 29.10
Thanks to Dr. Swain for sharing this in class.

Modern Day Corinthians

2010-03-23T15:45:00.002-04:00

"The problem with the Corinthian church was not so much that they were relapsing into paganism, as that their Christian faith, however sincere, had not yet transformed the worldview they had adopted from the surrounding culture. They had not grasped how the theology of the cross not only constitutes our basis for our salvation but also and inevitably teaches how to live and serve - and such teaching is in radical contradistinction to a world dominated by self-promotion and social climbing" - DA Carson & Doug Moo, Intro to the New Testament p. 427

Gotta Work on My Vocabulary

2010-01-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

I'm taking a class that surveys the Biblical books of Judges through the Poets. One of the texts I am using is Bruce K. Waltke's An Old Testament Theology. It's a great book that outlines the themes and structures of the books of the Old Testament. Dr. Waltke (who is teaching my class) does have an amazing vocabulary. I mean, it's sick. Here's a list of words I had to look up just in the one chapter I read tonight:
regnal
fecund
peripeteia
irruption
onomastic
redivivus
nugatory
majordomo
surd
usufurcts
My dictionary didn't even have all these. I had to look some of them up on the internet. Crazy. I'll give bonus points to anyone who can define these without a dictionary.

A Little Bit of a Stretch

2009-09-25T12:57:00.006-04:00

The other day I preached in my Preaching Lab on Judges 13. I spoke about the divine visitation that Samson's parents received heralding his birth. One of the interesting aspects of this divine visitation is that was totally undeserved. The Israelites not only were doing evil in the sight of the Lord (v. 1) but this is the first point in the book of Judges were that phrase is not followed by "And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord..." (see 10:10, 6:7, 4:3, etc...). The apostasy of Israel had spiraled down in such a way that they no longer even cared to repent. Sin was just a part of life. The sinfulness of sin had completely escaped their minds and hearts.
Consequently, the Israelites found themselves at the altars of Baal and Ashteroth, the local fertility gods, and worshipping by having sex with temple prostitutes. It's easy from our 21st Century perspective to look down on their gross immorality...but we're not that different, just more sophisticated.
Every day we are bombarded with the a gospel. It's a gospel message that says consume me and you will find happiness. The whole Marketing and Advertising profession is built on a gospel message that says, "Your life is deficient. This product bring fullness to your life." Check out the claim on the back of my Gobstoppers package:

"Inside this scrumdiddlyumptious package you will find mystic & marvelous surprises that will entrance, intrigue & delight you beyond measure."
That's pretty bold coming from a glob of dextrose, maltodextrin, and less than 2% corn syrup.
But, we fall for these false gospels everyday. Lord, would you give us the faith to repentant of our desires to find satisfaction apart from you and turn to you through Christ, who alone is our satisfaction.

Back from the Summer

2009-08-22T10:39:00.004-04:00

Kim and I just got back from our summer at Camp Vesper Point. It was a tremendous summer, full of great ministry. There were many opportunities to explain the Gospel to kids who had never heard or understood it. There were also many opportunities to explain the Gospel to the counselors. The Gospel isn't just the message that we preach to unbelievers, so that they can know Christ. The Gospel is also the message we preach to believers, so that they can be changed by Christ. The message of repentance and faith is for our sanctification as much as it is for our justification.
We are glad to be home and gearing up for another semester of school. We got back to Orlando the day before Summer Greek I started. I had the privilege of being the Teaching Assistant for Greek I, and that was also a great experience. It was, however, my first real "classroom" teaching experience. Personality-wise, I am much more of a "feeler" than a "thinker." It really pained me to mark off on quizzes and tests...especially when many of those guys are my close friends. But, we must be faithful to teach well, which includes grading honestly...even when I just want to put happy face stickers on everyone's tests! (not really, but you get the picture).

Donatists and Rascal Flatts

2009-05-15T09:59:00.003-04:00

The Donatist Controversy was a church crisis during and after the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (302-305AD). The controversy centered around priests and bishops who renounced their faith under the persecution of Diocletian and how to re-admit penitent priests back into the church. One of the central issues was whether on not the baptisms performed by these priests were valid since they became apostate. Should people who received baptism from one of these priests be re-baptized? Is the efficacy of the baptism dependent upon the faith of the one who administers it?
The Donatists answered these questions by saying the baptisms were not valid because they were invalid due to the faultiness of the priest's faith. The majority of the church said the baptisms were valid because the faithfulness of Christ gurantees the efficicacy.
I give this history lesson because of a song I heard on Christian radio the other day. It was "God Bless the Broken Road." This song was originally performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and made hugely popular by Rascal Flatts. The song was re-recorded by a Christian artist and has received wide air-time on Christian radio. The original and the "Christian" versions of the song are the same. Yet the superior recording (done by the non-Christian band) is not played while the other version (performed by the Christian band) is. What makes one acceptable for Christian radio and the other one not? Do we tie the efficacy of a song to the faith of the one performing it? What if a popular Christian recording artist abandoned the faith? Is the spiritual connection you may have had through that person's music now invalid?
I think we can take a lesson from the Donatists controversy and recognize that art is not good because it is "Christian." There are Christians who make good art, but let's be honest, there are lots of non-Christians who make better art (and while we're being honest, there are lots of Christians who make terrible art...don't get me started about the front half of every Christian bookstore. Retailers: Please note, "bad art + bible verse = Christian art" is not a valid equation). The value of art is not tied to the faith of the artist. We should be wise in understanding art. We should understand the message that the work of art (be it song, painting, sculpture, film, etc.) is communicating. That message and the aesthetic of the work must be evaluated and judged against the rule of Scripture, but don't make the life of the artist the point of measurement. There isn't a one of us who hasn't been radically affected by the presence and power of sin.

Which is Clearer?

2009-05-02T22:49:00.004-04:00

I've come across two different interviews of famous (or sorta famous) people who are attempting to articulate their understanding of the Gospel. One of the interviewees is well-known pastor. The other is the lead singer of one of the most popular rock bands of all time (and probably the only person whose picture actually does appear in the dictionary under the definition of "cool."). Who do you think more clearly articulates the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Interview #1
"I often put it this way: If there is a God, some sort of Divine Being, Mind, Spirit, and all of this is not just some random chance thing, and history has some sort of movement to it, and you have a connection with Whatever—that is awesome. Hard and awesome and creative and challenging and provoking.

And there is this group of people who say that whoever that being is came up among us and took on flesh and blood—Andrew Sullivan talks about this immense occasion the world could not bear. So a church would be this odd blend of swagger—an open tomb, come on—and humility and mystery. The Resurrection accounts are jumbled and don't really line up with each other—I really relate to that. Yet something momentous has burst forth in the middle of history. You just have to have faith, and you get caught up in something."

Interview #2

"But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humbled … It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven."

You can click here for the full Interview #1 and here for Interview #2 and to find out who is who.

In Prison

2009-04-21T23:03:00.004-04:00

I spent Monday morning in prison...by design. I've helped my church start a Bible Study at a local prison facility. Monday was my first morning in the facility with the inmates, and it was awesome. The men there are so spiritually hungry and open. They've reached the end of a rope that few people on the outside understand. It is in those darkest valleys that we can best understand out need for a Savior.
I spoke with the men about the Crucifixion of Jesus. I tried, however, to take a little different tack than was expected. We spent most of our time discussing the Crucifixion by looking at Genesis and Psalm 22.
We started in Genesis and laid the groundwork for the story of redemption. We also looked at Genesis 15, God's covenant with Abraham. The most striking aspect of this passage is the nature of the curse component of the covenant. Typically in a covenant, it was ratified with the sacrifice of animals. The animals were split in two and the parties of the covenant would walk through the pieces of the sacrifice. The significance was that the one who violated the covenant would be treated like the animal that was sacrificed. The nature of this curse in Genesis 15 is that only God walked through the sacrifice. God ratified the covenant with Abram and promised that if Abram broke the covenant the curse would rest upon God, himself.
With this idea, we turn to Psalm 22 and looked a this great Psalm of lament. There are two parts to this psalm. The first half is a lament. The psalmist alternates between suffering and faithfulness of God to deliver us from suffering. The second half changes in tone from lament to joy because we begin to see God's plan for redemption, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile. There is no distinction between rich or poor; near or far; born or unborn. All of God's children will come to him through the suffering of his servant.
The descriptions of the Crucifixion in Psalm 22 are amazing. The opening verse was quoted by Jesus in the Matthew and Mark accounts of the Crucifixion. We know that Jesus must have been meditating on this psalm as he hung on the cross. As he bore the full measure of God's righteous wrath on my behalf, he experienced the same lament the psalmist described. Jesus was not unaware or unsympathetic with our sufferings because he suffered the same things (Heb. 2). But Jesus also knew that this psalm turns to joy. There is joy because the Father is faithful. Jesus knew that God's wrath would be satisfied and we would be "delivered from the sword" (Ps 22:21). "The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord!" (Ps 22:26). As Jesus meditated on this psalm he knew His righteousness would be proclaimed to a generation yet unborn and they would know that because of His work IT IS FINISHED! (Ps. 22:31). And these are the very words that John records as Jesus' last words on the cross, "It is finished."
The inmates really connected with the idea of suffering. They knew that they have both caused suffering and are experiencing suffering. I was struck with the fact that I am no different from these men in prison coveralls. I too have experienced suffering...and caused much suffering. But God is not unaware or disconnected from our suffering. Even repentant criminals can know that the Creator of the Universe understands their suffering more intimately than they understand it themselves. And this same God bids us to come to him in faith and repentence. If this isn't Good News, then nothing is Good News!

Grandmother Levi's Funeral

2009-04-20T23:36:00.002-04:00

The past month I have lost both of my grandmothers. It has been a difficult month. My Grandmother Levi (maternal) died in March. She was a lovely woman who deeply loved the Lord. I miss her a lot.
My family asked me to officiate the funeral ceremony. It was an honor to do so.
You can listen to my funeral message here.
One really neat part of the funeral service was that we were able to play a song my grandmother had recorded years ago for a friend's funeral. It was also played at my grandfather's funeral. I have managed to make an MP3 copy and posted it here. I hope you enjoy it.

March 2009 Newsletter

2009-04-09T19:32:00.001-04:00

Click here for our latest newsletter.

The Heart Tied Up

2009-03-12T07:35:00.003-04:00

Catherine Larson, author of "As We Forgive," shared with a group from school about the Rwandan genocide in the early 90's. In 1994 Hutus killed a million Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers. Many of those killed were hacked to death with machetes and farm tools. Before 1994 Rwanda was held up as one of the success stories of the modern missionary movement. It was 80% Christian. Much of the violence perpetrated was Christian on Christian violence. Catherine quoted a Rwandan bishop who said, "It appears that our hearts were more tied up with Hutu and Tutsi than our hearts were tied up with Christ."
This is the problem with my own heart. There are so many things that vie for the attention of my heart. I know they all pale in comparison to the glorious riches of the Gospel, but I still allow them to tie up my heart. Republican, Democrat, American, white, black, rich, poor, evangelical, liberal...these are all things that can identify us. What is it that draws our hearts to these labels. I believe it is that they offer us hope. These labels offer us a hope of belonging, a hope of a better life, a hope that will not be fulfilled. "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12). The hope of glory is Christ in you (Col 1:27), therefore our identity must first and foremost be in Christ.
I have never participated in genocide. But I know that my heart is capable of the division that caused the genocide, because my heart strays from the One who offers true hope. May the words of the old hymn "Come Thou Fount" be our prayer:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Ridderbos on the General Character of the Kingdom of Heaven

2009-03-08T22:49:00.003-04:00

"It is clear that the great future announced by Jesus is considered entirely from the standpoint of divine kingship. And then it is not a question of a general timeless statement concerning God's power and reign, but especially of its redemptive-historical effectuation which will one day be witnessed. That is why the idea of a coming of the kingdom is pre-eminently the idea of the kingly self-assertion of God, of his coming to the world in order to reveal his royal majesty, power and right. This absolutely theocentric idea of the kingdom of heaven should always be borne in mind, if we want to have a correct insight into the general purport of Jesus' preaching. It is the basic motive of all his preaching. It explains why from the outset the annoucement of the fullness of time had a two-fold content both with Jesus and with John the Baptist, namely that of redemption and that of judgment. The one as well as to the other is the direct consequence of the plan of God. The kingdom means redemption, because God maintains his royal justice towards those who put their trust in him as his people. And it means judgment because God maintains his royal will in opposition to all who resist his will. This excludes any nationalistic element. It is not in the first place the heathen who are called to repent, but it is Israel. It is the glory of God, not the pre-eminence of the people which is placed in the center both at the beginning and during the progress of the preaching of the kingdom."
Herman N. Ribberbos, Coming of the Kingdom (P & R Publishing, 1962) pp.19-20.

The Future

2009-02-26T10:18:00.003-05:00

HT: Challies.com

Jesus Love Me

2009-02-25T19:37:00.002-05:00

Millie's favorite new song:
Jesus love me
I know
the Bible tells me so much

The Kindness of the King

2009-02-16T14:09:00.006-05:00

EvenSong is our monthly evening communion service at church. The seminary interns are asked to take turns preaching the homily and this week was my turn.

I spoke on II Samuel 9:1-13. It is the story of David's kindness to Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was crippled in both his feet. He was the son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul, David's enemy. He was living in exile at Lo-Debar. The picture the author paints of Mephibosheth is that of a person with no real value in society...yet, David is loyal to his covenant with Jonathan and showed kindness to him. This story is a beautiful picture of the loyal kindness Christ has for us. There is nothing worthy in us, but Christ in his faithful covenant kindness offers us grace.

Mephibosheth's story ends with him no longer fatherless and an outcast, but sitting and eating at the table of the King as one of his sons.

The key to interpreting this story is seeing David not just as a great man, but a picture of the King whom God will call to rule his people. If we fail to make the connection of these two, then we will be tempted to think the point of this story is to be nice to disadvantaged people. We should be nice all people...but not because of this story. The message of II Samuel 9 is much deeper than that. David is not the promised one, but that King will come from his seed. That King is Jesus. Those who come to Christ in faith and repentence also enjoy this kindness:

Eph 2:4-7 (ESV) 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus

We are left with the picture of Mephibosheth reclining at the table of the King where his infirmities are completely covered by the kindness of the King. And because of the kindness of the Greater King we can come to His table and see our infirmities covered.

Seminarian Tricks

2009-01-31T13:14:00.004-05:00

I finished Hebrew I this week. I fully acknowledge my citizenship in Nerd-dom by proclaiming that Hebrew I was really fun (and not very difficult). I got an A (a 99.6% to be exact, but who's counting?).
The Spring Term starts next week, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm taking 13 hours and sitting in on an additional class.
My class load includes:

Educational Ministry of the Church - philosophy of church programs and teaching
Gospels - intro to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Genesis to Joshua - Intro to the first six books of the Bible. From what I hear, we'll spent 80% of our time in the first half of Genesis and then try to cram the rest into the last two weeks of class. Who really needs to know what Leviticus means anyway?
Hebrew II - Continuation of Hebrew I
and Greek Exegesis - Translation theory and practice by translating Paul's letter to the Galatians.

I'm also sitting on a Hermeneutics class. Hermeneutics is one of those words pastors and seminarians use when they don't really know what they're talking about but can't let you know that they don't know (Exegesis is another one of those great words). So, they'll say something like, "Well, Barth is brilliant but I just don't agree with his hermeneutic." Which means, "I have no idea, but you'll think I'm smarter than you."
Basically, it is a class on how you interpret the Bible. You don't read Robert Frost the same way you read Dostoevsky and you don't read Stephen Ambrose like you'd read an IRS tax form. Why? Hermeneutics. You take into account the genre, purpose, authorial intent, etc when you read something and it affects your understanding. We have to do the same thing with the Bible. Genesis is written differently that Psalms, which is different from Ezekiel which is different from the Gospels, which is different from Romans.
I'm only sitting in on the class because of the Campus Crusade/RTS agreement. My classes with CCC count for my Hermeneutics requirement...but since this is such a foundational class, I figured I ought to do the reading and go to the lectures. Lord willing, some church that hires me down the road will be thankful for this minor sacrifice.
Kim is also taking a class. Systematic Theology II. She'll be spending some time reading Bavinck. That's another seminary trick; say things like. "Well, Bavinck would say..." or "I was reading Ridderbos and..." It makes you sound really smart. But, non-seminarians can play too. Just say, "I was reading (insert Dutch sounding name here) and was really challenged by his view of infralapsarianism." Most seminarians will nod approvingly, so as not to appear that they aren't aware of this profound theologian. It makes you look smart.
So, that's my semester. One thing I've noticed about this term's reading list...thicker books. It will be more work...but just think how smart people will think I am when they see these books on my shelves!

Jack Bauer and Abraham Lincoln

2009-01-14T15:28:00.003-05:00

I was watching 24 the other night and during Jack's questioning before a Senate panel he commented that he adapted his mode and methods to best attack the terrorists. He knew that he was breaking laws and subverting rights, but it was necessary for the good of the country. My thoughts were drawn to an Abraham Lincoln quote, " Are all the laws but one to go unexecuted and the government itself go to pieces lest that one be violated." This was Lincoln's response to Chief Justice Taney's issue of a Writ of Habeas Corpus for John Merryman during the Civil War. Lincoln essentially told the Supreme Court, "Mind your own business, I'm working here." Arguably our greatest president ever completely ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court. How'd that go over today?
It seems that this season of 24 will be testing this quote. Can a group of citizens (Bill, Chloe, Tony, and Jack) operate outside of any authority to bring down terrorists? Where is that line drawn when you are no longer protecting the country but withholding others' rights? I'm really curious to see where this heads.

What I've Been Reading

2009-01-07T20:31:00.004-05:00

I was asked the other day what books I'd read in seminary this term. I thought it would be a good idea to post the books I read and brief blurb about each of them. I'll post my Winter Term books in a few days and then the Spring Term books.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord
John Frame
This is an intro to Reformed doctrines of Scripture. It is written in a simple, straight-forward manner.

Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy
Samuel Enoch Stumpf
This is a standard textbook on Philosophy. If you really like reading philosophy you probably wouldn't read a textbook. If you don't like reading philosophy you probably don't want to read a textbook about philosophy. Overall, it was one of my least favorite reads of the semester.

A Method for Prayer
Matthew Henry
This is a fascinating prayer book from everyone's favorite free Bible commentator. Henry outlines how to pray by praying Scripture. Each chapter has various types of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Petition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) and each prayer is nearly all Scripture. Ligon Duncan has added an appendix that outlines Henry's prayers to make an easy prayer reference. I will continue to use this book for many years.

With One Voice
Reggie Kidd
Reggie was one of my professors. His book is kinda about worship, kinda about music, kinda about the heart, and kinda about Jesus. Reggie writes about three common styles of worship; Bach, Bubba, and the Blues Brothers. I found this to be an edifying read. I often found myself thinking about parts of the book long into the week.

Lectures on Calvinism
Abraham Kuyper
This book is a series of lectures that Kuyper delivered at Princeton in 1898. In the lectures he outlines how Calvinism interacts with various spheres of life. Kuyper makes a great argument for why Calvinism is the only worldview that adequately addresses religion, art, science, politics or the future. There are awkward moments where Kuyper writes less as theologian more like a white European colonialist...but overall it is a phenomenal book. My pastor in Lexington told me that if evangelicals had read his book we would have had a far better impact on society over the last 100 years. I agree.

The Gospel Myster of Sanctification
Walter Marshall
Walter Marshall (1628-80) was an English Puritan pastor. His book on sanctification is a liberating read. Marshall finds a sweet spot between the twin dangers of legalism and licentiousness. He outlines a biblical model to help the Christian pursue holiness. It was an encouraging book. It has 14 chapters and my only criticism is that there is little progression from one chapter to the next. If you want to read it, make sure to get the modernized translation...the original language is a little taxing.

Creation Regained
Albert Wolters
If I recommended only one book from my Fall semester, it would be this one. This is a biblical basis for a reformational worldview. The book centers around Creation, Fall, and Redemption. God created all things perfect. Sin marred and affected all things. Christ will come back and redeem all things. The heart of this is seen in Wolter's explanation of God's Structure (Creation as it was meant to be) and Direction (Creation as it was affected by sin). The fall affects all aspects of God's creation but God has called all Christians to participate in Christ's redemption of the world.

Tell the Truth
Will Metzger
This is an evangelism standard. Metzger helps Christians to share the whole Gospel to the whole person by the whole people. If you have questions about how to share your faith, this is a great manual to reference.

A Faith Worth Sharing
Jack Miller
This is a memoir of Jack Miller's experiences sharing his faith. He shares his successes and colossal failures in trying to share his faith. When you finish you realize that he has shown you how to share Christ with all the different types of people in your life. I often found myself reading his stories but thinking of similar people or situations in my life. You will be encouraged about sharing your faith by the book.

Evangelism and Sovereignty of God
J.I. Packer
Dr. Packer is a living legend of evangelicalism. In this book Dr. Packer clears us the confusion about the antinomy of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. Do you pray for your friends who do not know Christ? If you do then you believe in the sovereignty of God. If you believe in the sovereignty of God, then you should pray for the lost.

Christ-Centered Preaching
Bryan Chapell
Chapell serves as the president and professor of preaching at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO. He outlines the reason and methods of redemptive expository preaching. His method helps the preacher to find the redemptive focus of the text and then preach the Gospel answer to the problem. His process gives the preacher a structure to make sure that his sermon is clear, coherent and unified in presenting Christ.

The Supremacy of God in Preaching
John Piper
Piper's book addresses the heart of the preacher. Why should the preacher preach? He must explain and proclaim the supremacy of Christ to the world. In Part I Piper explains the Goal, Ground, and Gift of preaching in a Trinitarian formula. In Part II Piper showcases Jonathan Edwards as an example of preaching the supremacy of Christ.

We also read an unpublished book by Edmund Clowney and Tim Keller titled Preaching the Gospel in a Post-Modern World. It is a written form of lectures that they presented to students at RTS. It, like Chapell, helps the preacher to address the root sin issue in the listener's life and apply the salve of the Gospel to that wound.

If you have questions about any of the books, feel free to drop me and email. I'd love to share my thoughts on them. Enjoy!

Faith & Repentance

2009-01-07T20:24:00.002-05:00

God is a loving God. Sin is deadly. Jesus saves. These statements are all true. But the question is, “How do these become true in my life?” Jesus taught that they come by repentance and faith.

What is repentance? Repentance is a 180 degree turn. It means to renounce any belief that you are able to make yourself right before God. It means to confess to God your sin, wrong attitude, evil desire, and guilt. It is turning from yourself and turning to Jesus Christ in faith.

The other side of the coin of repentance is faith. What is faith? Faith is the knowledge of God’s promise, the belief that God’s promise is true and the trust that God’s promise will work. If I am rappelling down a cliff, I can know that the rope will hold my weight and still not rappel. I can believe in the knowledge that the rope will hold my weight and still not rappel. I will only rappel if I trust the rope to hold my weight. Trust is putting the belief in the knowledge into action. It is not enough to stop short of trust. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

Repentance and faith go hand in hand. Faith is turning to Christ and repentance is turning from sin. You cannot do one without the other. This also means that when you trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation, he becomes your Savior and your Lord.

So, where does this sit with you? Do you understand the Good News? Do you believe it is true? More importantly, do you trust your life to it? Would you like to receive Jesus Christ? It is a call to repent of your sin and self trust and believe in faith in the person of Jesus Christ. The reward is to know God as a father. John 1:12 says, “But to all who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

If you truly want to repent and believe in Jesus Christ, you can do so right now. You can pray and ask for understanding of the Gospel. You can ask God for the ability to repent and turn from sin and self trust. You can ask God for the faith to trust in Christ. Here is a sample prayer:

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I need your forgiveness. Thank you for living a sinless life and dying a sinner’s death on the cross for my sins. I now turn from my sinfulness and self-trust, and I place my trust in you alone for the forgiveness of my sins and the free gift of eternal life. I now receive you as my Risen Lord and Savior. Thank You for taking my sins upon yourself and giving me the gift of your righteousness through faith. Take control of my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Places of 2008

2008-12-31T12:07:00.004-05:00

Here is a list of all the places I spent at least one night during 2008. My friend Jared Bridges has been doing this for years and I think it is really cool. You can see his lists here.

Chattanooga, TN
Orlando, FL
Oviedo, FL
Chantilly, VA
Daytona Beach, FL
St. Petersburg, FL
Brandon, FL
Lexington, KY
Signal Mountain, TN

The Angels Rejoice at Christmas

2008-12-23T11:38:00.002-05:00

This is an excerpt from a sermon Martin Luther gave for Christmas. It is included in my church’s Advent Guide. It really struck me because I find my heart very cold at Christmas. It is far too easy for me to just go through the motions of Christmas and not worship the eternal Son who condescended into our time and space as fully God and fully man.

“See what God did in heaven about this birth which the world despised and did not even see and know. The joy was so great that the angels could not stay in heaven, but had to break out and tell man on earth. The angels proclaimed to the shepherds ‘tidings of great joy.’ This is a mighty comfort to us. What the world despised the angels honored. They would have had a much bigger celebration if God had allowed them, but he wished to teach us through his Son to despise the pomp of the world.
All the angels in heaven, not one excepted, sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ What a shame that all men should not preach this word when all the angels in heaven play it on organs and pipes in eternity! The angels had no bigger congregation than two shepherds in a field. They were filled with too great joy for words. And we who hear this message, ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings,’ never feel one spark of joy. I hate myself because when I see him laid in the manger, in the lap of his mother, and hear the angels sing, my heart does not leap into flame. With what good reason should we all despise ourselves that we remain so cold when this word is spoken to us over which all men should dance and leap and burn for joy! We act as though it were a frigid, historical fact that does not smite our hearts, as if someone were merely relating that the sultan had a crown of gold.”

The Good News After the Bad News

2008-12-10T11:03:00.002-05:00

The issue of sin is a gloomy one. It is even more so when it becomes apparent that sin is not only an out there issue, but an in here issue. There is Good News, though. God is not unaware of our tremendous need. He knows that are dead, lost, and helpless in our sin, and he has provided the solution in person of Jesus Christ.
God is just. He must punish the sin that seeks to rob him of that which can only be his. God is also merciful. He loves to show mercy. Our sin deserves God’s punishment, but God in his mercy has provided another way. This is through Jesus Christ. It is through what Jesus Christ did and what Jesus Christ promises.
Jesus is God. He is God who took on humanity and lived the sinless life. Jesus was faced with every temptation that we face. The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “we do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Every issue that you face, Jesus faced. There is no pressure, issue or temptation that you deal with that Jesus has not met head on and been victorious. This is the Good News, because we all struggle with issues that constantly seem to drag us down. We all feel the weight of failure before God. We have all felt unworthy. God knows those issues, and he has overcome them. And that victory can be given to you. Instead of the defeat and weight of failure, we can be credited with Jesus’ victory and freedom.
How? Jesus lived the life we could not live and then died the death we deserved to die. Death on the cross was one of the most horrible manners of death. The pain would be excruciating, slow, and brutal. But the physical pain of the cross was not the worst suffering that Jesus faced. He also faced the full wrath of God, paying the full penalty for sin. The punishment that God demanded for sin was fully paid by Jesus. God’s justice had been satisfied, and those who have faith in Christ stand before God as righteous. But that isn’t all, Jesus did not remain in the grave. In a demonstration of the satisfaction of God’s justice and of Jesus’ victory of his enemies, he rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection is the proof of his victory for us. Because of what Jesus did, we can believe in what Jesus promises us. The apostle Paul wrote, “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus’ record of withstanding temptation is given to you through his death and resurrection.
Jesus not only promises us a new record before God, but a new heart. Our heart before Jesus was enslaved to sin. That enslavement has been broken through Christ and he has given us a new heart with new desires. Through Christ our passions are turned so that we long to honor God and enjoy him. We are given the Holy Spirit who empowers and guides our lives. We still live in a world that is dominated by sin and we will continue to feel the affects of sin in our own lives until heaven, but we begin to know the freedom from the bondage of sin.
And the benefit of a new record before God and a new heart for God is added with a new creation. God will completely redeem his world. We will be completely delivered from the power and presence of sin in this world. There will be no more death or pain. Our bodies and souls will be made new and whole. The world will be as it was intended.

Pray for Reform in The Russian Orthodox Church

2008-12-05T16:44:00.003-05:00

Alexy II, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church died today. I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia over the years. While I can't say that I "have a heart for Russia," it has been the focus of nearly all my overseas ministry. In my experience I have found Russians to be very spiritual, but very skeptical of the Gospel. Their spirituality stems from 1100 years of Christian influence from the Orthodox Church. Their skepticism of the Gospel is not helped by the bad doctrine of the Orthodox Church. I believe that a Reformation in the Russian Orthodox Church will be key to that great land being reached with the Truth of Jesus Christ. Please pray with me for the Russian Orthodox Church. Pray that a new Patriarch who will turn the church to faith in Christ alone will be installed.

The Bad News Before the Good News

2008-12-05T16:27:00.003-05:00

Few people would ever deny the presence of sin in the world. We can all pick up a newspaper and see evil and suffering. In this regard, it is easy to see sin. Sin becomes a little trickier, however, when we turn our gaze from 'out there' to 'in here'. It is much easier to ignore personal sin. It often becomes an issue of comparison. “I never killed anyone.” Sin is easier to see or acknowledge in someone else, usually Hitler.
While we’d like to think that sin is a problem out there, it is in reality a problem in here. We all know the thoughts that we have. We all know the how we often do or say that thing that we don’t really want to do or say. We all know that we have made mistakes. We all know that things are not as they are supposed to be. We have felt sin’s corruption and guilt, even if we would like to dismiss it and think of it only in terms of someone else’s problem.
The basic issue of sin is one of idolatry. It is usually the sin beneath the sin. When God laid out his Ten Commandments, they were done in the pattern of an Ancient Near Eastern treaty. The treaty was a promise by God to man that He would be their God and they would be His people. In the pattern of this treaty, the first command is a general overarching command and the following specific commands expand and explain the general. The first command of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” This first command is that we would love God first. All the other commandments detail the manner in which we are to love God. This is the same way with sin. Our first sin is that we have not loved God. The manner in which we have broken that command is secondary to the fact that we have put something else in the place of God. This is idolatry. We have crafted little idols into which we place our hope, trust and security. We all have turned to idols. The brokenness of the world drives us to idols. The corruption of our heart looks for peace in idols. Our guilt chronicles the pattern of choosing idols throughout our lives. Idolatry is present in all our lives, and it is the underlying issue in each of our hearts.
Now that we’ve come to terms with sin being an 'in here' problem, it is crucial to look at the effects of sin. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus that people are dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-5). He also wrote to the church in Rome that the result of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We are spiritually dead before God. We stand before him with a guilty record and a corrupt heart in the midst of a broken world. And being dead, there is nothing that you can do about it.
What is your issue? What is your idol? What are you worshipping? The basic message of the Gospel is to turn from your idols and worship the one true God.

A Message about God

2008-12-04T16:35:00.002-05:00

There is a God. It is a pretty simple statement with which most people agree. Increasingly, though, people have questioned this most basic of statements. There are many avenues we could look at to try and prove there is a God. But it ultimately boils down to this, there either is or there isn’t a God.
If there is no God, then none of this matters. Really, nothing matters beyond yourself…so if you can get away with something, do it…and enjoy. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. And that’s it. You live, you die, nothing of consequence happens in between. It may seem consequential to you, but after you’re dead, it is completely inconsequential to you. That, however, probably doesn’t sit with you. You have a sense that there must be something more. But if there is no God, there is nothing more.
But what if there is a God? If there is a God, what is he/she/it like? If there is a God, has he told us anything about himself? The Bible speaks of a God who is there and who has spoken. There is a God. He is a God who is both infinite and personal. He created all things and knows all things.
There are many attributes of God but two speak with great import to our situation. The first is that God is just and requires punishment for sin. The second is that God is merciful and loves to show grace.
God’s justice is tied to the fact that he is holy. Holiness is being set apart, separate, pure, and undefiled. For God to remain holy, he must eradicate anything which would defile him. God’s justice sees sin as a gross offense and seeks to punish and eliminate it. Our sin is a rebellion against God. God will not tolerate a stain on his perfection. His justice demands that sin be punished. “Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation,” (Exodus 34:7b) and “…for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:8, 9).
The situation is dire for all humans. There is not a one who has not done evil. None of us can escape the wrath of God based on our own goodness. God will justly mete out punishment.
But God is also merciful. God loves to show grace and mercy. God created all people in his image. He loves us. We are made to reflect his goodness and this pleases him. “As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” Ezekiel 33:11. God desires to show us mercy.
These two attributes are not in opposition to each other. It is not that one of these attributes takes a back seat to other. Both are fully realized. God’s justice has been fully realized and his mercy has been and will be fully realized. They do not oppose each other; rather they meet in one specific point. They meet at the Cross.

From the Shoulders of Giants

2008-11-19T20:22:00.001-05:00

My friend Eric Parker just released his most recent music project, From the Shoulders of Giants. He has taken some old forgotten hymns from the Trinity Hymnal and updated them. I am constantly amazed at Eric's talent. I'm not sure how he does it all, but I'm pretty sure he's got a flux capacitor that gives him 32 hours to every 24 for of my own. I hope you enjoy.

A Method for Prayer

2008-11-11T07:17:00.000-05:00

In my Sanctification class we have been reading Matthew Henry's A Method for Prayer: Freedom in the Face of God. Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote a commentary on the whole bible that is easily found online. If you're looking for a free online commentary that is trustworthy, you can google Matthew Henry Commentary.
He wrote a book that lays out a biblical method for prayer. I have described it as type of resource for prayer. Henry outlines a biblical model for prayer and then fills the bulk of the book with prayer. It isn't a long treatise on what prayer is, or how to pray more effectively or fervently. It doesn't promise you that God will answer your prayers for health and wealth. Instead, it lays out a model of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Conclusion) and Henry uses Scripture as the content of the prayer.
Henry's prayers are full of Scripture. It isn't that Henry quotes some Scripture. The prayers are full of Scripture, meaning that there is room for nothing other than Scripture. Henry only adds his own words to connect on verse to another.
Here is a little sample that I think is very appropriate given the current political events:
Chapter 5 12.3.7.4 For the magistrates, the judges, and justices of the peace in the several counties and corporations
Make those that rule over us just, ruling in the fear of God; and let those that judge remember that they judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with them in judgment, that therefore the fear of the Lord may be upon them. Make them able men, and men of truth, fearing God, and hating covetousness, that judgment may run down like a river, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Enable our magistrates to defend the poor and fatherless, to do justice for the afflicted and needy, to deliver the poor and needy, and to rid them out of the hand of the wicked, and let rulers never be a terror to good works, but to the evil.

David Before Saul

2008-10-03T14:27:00.001-04:00

This is a journal entry for my Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies class. I am commenting on chapter 3 "David" of Reggie Kidd's book, With One Voice (see post below).

When I lived in Minsk after college, I had the opportunity to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia. It is easily one of my favorite cities. No night in the summer and no day in the winter. It is called the Russian Window to the West. One of my best experiences in St. Petersburg was spending a day at the Hermitage. It has one of the greatest collections of Rembrandt paintings in the world.
I had visited once before and been struck by the size and use of light in The Prodigal Son Returns. To prepare for this second trip I read Henri Nouwen’s work on the Prodigal Son and planned to spend some time in front of this piece. It was time well spent. Needless to say, I have been a Rembrandt fan since. I have enjoyed the honesty and candor that Rembrandt brings into his paintings. His other work on the Prodigal Son shows the younger son’s excessive lifestyle. Rembrandt painted this as a self-portrait, as if he were identifying himself as son who ran from the Father.

In reading this chapter on David, I was quick to want to look at Rembrandt’s Saul and David. As with any Rembrandt, the lighting tells the story. My eyes were drawn immediately to the crown upon Saul’s head. Saul is wiping away tears. He has a thousand yard stare, his shoulders slumped under the weight of royal garb, scepter or spear dropped. He is a broken man. The weight of the crown is too much.
Following the lines of the Saul’s body, his right arm, the angle of the harp and the secondary lighting source, my eyes are moved to David. He too is appears to be gazing somewhere else. But his fingers are active and his mind engaged. His head is slightly cocked as if his mental state is of deep concentration…or to borrow a sport cliché, he is in the zone. Interestingly, my lines around David do not guide me to his face, but to his chest, or more specifically, to his heart.
The movement of the painting is from the crushing weight of Saul’s crown through his complete dejection to David’s heart and his soulful playing of the harp. It is the transfer of Kingly authority.
The beauty of this painting is how Rembrandt has captured the ethos of the I Samuel passage. In chapter 15 Saul has not fulfilled the Lord’s specific command to destroy the Amalekites. He has tried to reason and rationalize his choices, but it was a blatant disregard of God’s command. Samuel is called to break the news to Saul that it is over for him as King…and in the process to “hack Agag (the Amalekite king) to pieces” I Sam. 15:33 (I only wish I knew the Hebrew phrase…I guess I’ll have to wait until Hebrew I this January). The Spirit of the Lord leaves Saul in chapter 16 and an evil spirit comes upon him. This spirit is only soothed by the playing of a skilled musician. Enter David. David’s skillful playing gives Saul relief of the evil spirit. It must weigh on Saul’s heart heavily, however, that the days of his reign are numbered and God will raise up another King. This will be a king who understands Samuel’s words in I Samuel 15:22-23:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt
Offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
And presumption is as iniquity and
Idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of The Lord,
He has rejected you from being king.”

I think Rembrandt captures that the weight of the crown of Israel is going to be transferred to one whose heart is attuned to God. David was a man after God’s own heart. He is playing as one who is not thinking about music, but as one who is allowing the music to flow from his heart. Immediately preceding the Spirit of the Lord leaving Saul, David is anointed by Samuel and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him. In an artist’s way, this is what Rembrandt is capturing. It is breath-taking.

The weight of being King was transferred from Saul to David, but David was not the ultimate King for which God's people longed. There would be another greater King. Rembrandt's work is breath-taking, but what is more breath-taking to me is that David was only a shadow of the King to come. The one to come would not just be a "man after God's own heart" but he would share God's heart.

The Financial Crisis

2008-09-30T14:10:00.000-04:00

I am in no way an economist. I studied History and Religion in college. I avoided business classes. I am, however, learning to become a good steward of the resources God has given. I believe in order to do this best, I need to understand my human nature and learn to make wise decisions, not emotional decisions. This, incidentally, is one of the keys to Warren Buffett's financial decision making process (and I think he's doing just fine).
In thinking about the current financial crisis I have come up with two words that summarize the whole mess: Fear and Greed.
Our nation's current emotional gauge is pegged on "Scared Spitless." We watch the news daily cry out that the sky is falling. The talking heads tell us that soon we'll all be living in caves and foraging for nuts and berries just to survive. The vision in my head resembles Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome. This stokes our fear. The important thing to remember is that the media is a business. Their job is to titillate or stoke fear. If the media tells you that everything is fine, nobody worry, it's going to be okay...you'll stop watching. If they can, however, stoke your fear, then you will watch more. If you watch more, they can sell more advertising. If they can sell more advertising, then THEIR financial crisis is averted. Ironically, that advertising also plays into the other key word of this Financial Crisis, Greed.
Yes, corporate America is greedy. Banks and financial institutions really screwed up. Their greed is putting the financial solvency of our country at risk. Many people will loose fortunes and jobs. But the real problem is much closer to home than Wall Street. Their greed was only possible because of our greed. Main Street is far more responsible for this than Wall Street.
As you're watching the coming of the Apocolypse on TV, you see an ad for that new thing. You know that thing, the one that is new and better than the old thing. It has been completely redesigned and improved. This thing will do what no other thing has ever done...and it's cooler than the other things. The people at your office will be envious of your new thing. The ladies at your Bible study will want one, too. You'll be a happier person with this new thing. Life will be better with this thing. Skies will be bluer. Grass will be greener. Your wife will be prettier. Your hair will be fuller. You can run faster and jump higher. You'll look 10 years younger. You will be a better person. You MUST have this thing.
The truth is, this thing is crap. You don't need it. You don't even really want it, but some genius twenty eight year old ad wizard has learned how to manipulate your basest instincts so that you think this new thing is salvation in a bottle. So you buy the new thing. It could be dinner out, a new flat screen tv, an iPhone, a hybrid SUV, that bigger house or the perfect vacation. You don't have to money to buy it, so you charge it, mortgage it or refinance it. Then Wall Street has offered to fulfill desires with a Faustian pledge. You can have whatever you want, TODAY! We all want to think we're smarter than this, but the truth is, we've all succumbed to it. We're all part of the problem because we all look for someTHING to fill the need in our life that only someONE could fill.
So what do we do? How do we respond sensibly and wisely to this situation? I propose that there are four responses that the average Christian can make.
First, we need to pray for our leaders and for whoever is going to be our leaders in the coming years. They will need to make difficult decisions about this situation. God is not worried, surprised, or afraid of this situation. He is the one who ones a thousand cattle on the hills (Ps 50:10). A thousand cattle may not sound impressive, but contextually it meant God owns everything.
Secondly, get your own house in order. Eliminate debt. Use a budget. Spend responsibly. Get rid of the stuff that is choking your life.
Thirdly, care for your neighbors. How is the family next door dealing with this issue? How can you offer them hope that extends beyond the current crisis? What can you do to help them today? Pray for them and let them know you are doing so. Be involved in their lives.
Fourthly, work for a solution to the current situation. Your vote will speak powerfully. There are lots of people in Congress nervous about November. They don't want to lose their job over this issue. There is a presidential battle that will be decided by a slim margin. Let it be known that you will vote for the candidate seeks to wisely solve this problem. What works for your house will work for the government. Avoid debt. Spend wisely. Get rid of things that choke the life out of our econonmy.
Again, I re-emphasize that I am not an economist, but in looking over alternatives to the $700 Billion bailout plan, I came across one proposed by Dave Ramsey. It makes sense at a basic level (another key to Warren Buffett's investment strategy). You can read it here.

Great Quote From Reggie Kidd's Book

2008-09-27T15:11:00.001-04:00

Reggie Kidd teaches my Intro to Pastoral and Theological Studies class. He wrote a book about worship and its connection to our heart and our theology...at least that's what I've gotten out of it so far. If you enjoy music and theology, then go to his website and pick up a copy...and send him an email telling him that I told you to...you never know what will help that grade go from a B to an A...

The quote is from Bono (of U2). In addition to being the authority on all things hip and cool, he's a pretty deep thinker. Bono said, "Music is Worship; whether it's worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer,...whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire...the smoke goes upwards...to God or something you replace God with...usually yourself." -Bono, Introduction to Selections, x, xi.

Intro to My Fake Sermon

2008-09-27T14:59:00.000-04:00

One of the classes I am taking is Communications I. It is essentially a Preaching class. Part of the class is working through the process of crafting a good Christ-centered sermon. I was assigned to preach on Philippians 2:1-11 (click on the passage to read it). Basically, I'm preparing a fake sermon. The only guys who hear it are the four other guys in my small group...and sometimes my Comm. professor, Larry Kirk (but that's only because my voice tends to carry in small rooms).

So, I thought it might be interesting to share with anyone who might be reading the intro to my fake sermon.

My family and I decided to do something that I vowed never to do. We decided to go to Disneyworld. Now, it wasn’t that I was opposed to going to Disneyworld. I love Disneyworld, it’s the happiest place on earth, or so they say. The issue was that we decided to go to Disneyworld on one of those hot, muggy, humid, I live in a Florida swamp summer days. It was also a Saturday, which meant that every tourist from St. Louis to Shanghai was going to be there. It was blazing hot and incredibly crowded. It was not what I would describe as joyful. Now, the novelty of Disneyworld usually trumps the heat and crowds, but this particular year we had been given annual passes to Disney. We had already been dozens of times that year. The novelty of a six foot talking mouse had worn off on me.
I was pounding the pavement pushing our double stroller with our two kids and working through the bitterness in my heart about swimming upstream through the masses of humanity to get to all rides so that I could spend a majority of my day waiting to ride on a ride that lasts a minute and half. We got to the “Small World” ride. It is an absolute Disney classic, complete with animatronic dolls from every continent singing in their native language, “It’s a small world…” It’s cute the first time the song plays, but then it repeats, again and again. Around the seventh time I’m struggling with really violent thoughts about baseball bats and the German doll in lederhosen. I believe I have painted a completely joyless picture of my time at Disneyworld.
Then I look at my kids. They are wide-eyed and amazed. They are singing along. They are pointing and laughing. At that moment, there is nothing greater than what they experiencing. I was so set on my own experience, my own feelings, my own rights, my own self that I was missing the reward of being at the Happiest Place on Earth with my kids. My lack of humility robbed me of the joy I could have had by joining with my children in their wonder at this ride.
We all struggle with a lack of joy at times because selfishness robs us of the unity with others. Often our humility is pushed aside so that we can exercise our own rights. We miss the reward of the joy of unity with other believers because we find it difficult to consider them above ourselves.
The apostle Paul addresses a similar issue, though under drastically different circumstances. The church at Philippi was struggling with selfishness and dissention internally and externally and this was robbing it of the joy of living in Christ. In the 2nd chapter of Philippians, verses 1 through 11, Paul shows that humility is a key to the joyful life because humility was Christ’s path to the Father.

Chapel 9.17.08

2008-09-17T20:10:00.001-04:00

Who is God? There are all sorts of answers to this question. We all live for God (or more specifically a god), even atheists. The question is not whether one lives for God, but who or what that God is. I really appreciated Dr. Swain's three questions to help define who I viewed as God. He developed his chapel message from II Cor. 5:14-15

14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and 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.

In verse 15 he explained how the love of Christ allows those who live to no longer live for themselves, but for Christ. What does it mean that they lived for themselves? Dr. Swain's three questions brought this question to light:
1. In whose strength do I rely on?
2. Whose rules do I follow?
3. Whose glory do I seek?
When I ran my life through the grid of those questions, I saw that in so many ways my god is me. In so many ways I live for myself.
This is a humbling thought.
It was really brought home later in the day during my Evangelism class. Dr. Childers had us look at three motives for evangelism. The first motive is that God commands us. It pretty simple, the Bible is very clear that we are to share Christ. The second motive is that we have a compassion for the lost. We need to have a broken heart for the lost and see them as God sees them. These first two motives are legitimate, but insufficient. The third motive is the most important. The third motive is zeal for God and His glory. That's when it clicked for me. I have zeal for a god and his glory.
In whose strength do I rely on - Me
Whose rules do I follow - Me
Whose glory do I seek - Me
My evangelism is weak because my motive is not a zeal for God and His glory, but a zeal for me and my glory. May I be controlled by Christ, that I may live no longer for myself but for him.
What about you? Who is your God? What motivates you to share your faith?

Life in Seminary

2008-09-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

I've felt like I should do this for a couple of weeks now. It isn't that I feel like I have anything especially profound to say (luckily, it doesn't seem that profundity is a requirement for blogging), but I felt this would be a good way to record my progress through seminary. This has been and will continue to be a pivotal time in my life. I hope to be able to share how God is at work reforming my heart and applying His grace to my life. I won't, however, keep my it strictly to seminary stuff. Hopefully, I'll occasionally post about current events or life in general.
If you enjoy this or are encouraged in any way, please let me know. That would be very encouraging to me.